A memorial and biographical history of the counties of Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Ventura, California Containing a history of this important section of the Pacific coast from the earliest period of its occupancy to the present time, together with glimpses of its prospective future; with full-page steel portraits of its most eminent men, and biographical mention of many of its pioneers and also of prominent citizens of to-day, Part 74

Author: Storke, Yda Addis
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Chicago, The Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 738

USA > California > San Luis Obispo County > A memorial and biographical history of the counties of Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Ventura, California Containing a history of this important section of the Pacific coast from the earliest period of its occupancy to the present time, together with glimpses of its prospective future; with full-page steel portraits of its most eminent men, and biographical mention of many of its pioneers and also of prominent citizens of to-day > Part 74
USA > California > Santa Barbara County > A memorial and biographical history of the counties of Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Ventura, California Containing a history of this important section of the Pacific coast from the earliest period of its occupancy to the present time, together with glimpses of its prospective future; with full-page steel portraits of its most eminent men, and biographical mention of many of its pioneers and also of prominent citizens of to-day > Part 74
USA > California > Ventura County > A memorial and biographical history of the counties of Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Ventura, California Containing a history of this important section of the Pacific coast from the earliest period of its occupancy to the present time, together with glimpses of its prospective future; with full-page steel portraits of its most eminent men, and biographical mention of many of its pioneers and also of prominent citizens of to-day > Part 74

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Mr. Reed was married in Livonia, New York, in 1860, to Miss Frances E. Risden, a native of New York State.

S OLON SMITH, whose fine ranch lies at the northwest end of the Carpenteria Valley, was born in Hanover, New Ilampshire, in 1842. In infancy his parents moved to Kendall County, Illinois, being then pioneers to that wild, unsettled West. Solon was there reared and followed farming. At the age of twenty-one years he camne to California by the Isthinns route, landing in San Francisco in 1863. The following four years he passed in Nevada aud California, during the summer working at logging, and in the winter at farming in the Sacramento Valley. In 1868 he returned to Illinois, and was married at Joliet, Illinois, to Miss Amelia Bronk, who was born in Kendall County, same State, in 1846. Mr. Smith then followed farming in Illinois until 1883, when he brought his family to California and settled on his present property in the Car- penteria Valley. He owns sixty-five acres of fine land, forty acres of which he plants yearly in Lima beans, and the rest is in bar-

ley and fruit. Mr. and Mrs. Smith have three children: Allen David, Lennis Leonard and Roy Solon. Mr. Smith is a worthy and respected citizen.

D. GATES, proprietor of the Santa Barbara Foundry, situated on Bath street, was born in Valparaiso, Porter Connty, Indiana, January 18, 1864. His father was a farmer and native of Ohio. His parents moved to Chico, California, in 1875, and to Los Alamos, Santa Barbara County, in 1877. In 1878 Mr. L. D. left home, feel- ing that the occupation of a farmer was too narrow for his enterprising and inventive mind. He first went to San Francisco, and was there employed by the Pacific Rolling Mills. In 1879 he went to Sacramento with the Pioneer Flonr Mill, and then with W. M. Guttenberger of the Sacramento Foundry, where L. D. learned the trade of machinist. He was there three years, then one year with the Mint Brass Works, in making tools. In April, 1884, he returned to Los Alamos on account of illness of his father, and there established a foundry, remaining until 1886, when he came to Santa Barbara and pur- chased 100 feet front on Bath street, between Ortega and De la Guerra, and erected a ma- chine shop. He also built a foundry, where he makes all kinds of iron castings, as heavy as 1,500 pounds, and, should business require, as heavy as three tons. He is proficient in boiler-making, moulding, and with his natu- rally inventive mind is proficient in all me- chanical work. He has invented an attach- inent for burning oil, and a three-cylinder engine, making his own designs and castings. His first job in Santa Barbara was setting an engine of an electric light plant in Santa Barbara city. He owns a fifty-acre ranch of

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valley land, and with his undoubted inventive mind is sure to succeed.

September 1, 1890, Mr. Gates married Miss Emma Brooks, " a fair maiden of nine- teen summers past," and a resident of Santa Barbara.

R. L. NORTON DIMMICK was born September 29, 1823, in Bethany, Wayne County, Pennsylvania. His father, judge in one of the courts of that State, moved with his family to Vermillion- ville, Illinois, in 1833, and became one of the commissioners of La Salle County. Here the boy Norton received his early education, and commenced with Dr. Bullock the study of medicine, which he afterward pursned in Philadelphia, and later graduated from the Medical University of New York. He com- menced practice in Vermillionville, but soon removed to Freedom, Illinois, where he was married in November, 1853, to Elsie J. Nil- son, a native of Norway, who came to this country with her parents in early childhood. They had two children who died in infancy. Here overwork and exposure compelled his removal to Ottawa, about 1857, where he opened a drug store, and there, with his brother, Philo J. Dimmick, continued in business until 1872. His health, however, not improving, and having entirely lost his voice, he sought the genial climate of South- ern California and settled in Santa Barbara. Here he obtained a new lease of life, and after two years regained his voice and a measure of health that enabled him to live a quiet but useful life for twelve years. He built a home, surrounded by a beautiful gar- den of rare, curious and interesting plants from many lands. There with his fine cabi- nets of conchological and geological speci-

mens, and his many albums of sea algæ, on which he was considered authority, made his home one of the most interesting places in Santa Barbara. The Doctor was a man of happy temperament, of clear judgment, and of a liberal public spirit, as our city library (of which he was a trustee) and other public interests will attest. He was also a member and Trustee of the Baptist Church. His death at the age of sixty years was as great a loss to to the city as to his many personal friends. Of a man so well beloved and so highly respected little need be said; for while he lived, not to know Dr. Dimmick was not to know Santa Barbara.

HAUNCEY HATCH PHILLIPS, of San Luis Obispo, was born in Wads- worth, Medina County, Ohio, July 5, 1837, of English ancestry. He came, in 1864, to California, being a passenger on the celebrated ship Constitution, and first located in Napa, and soon obtained employment in the banking house of Goodman & Co., where he remained five years, his services being satisfactory in a high degree to his employers. He held the position of Chief Deputy Col- lector of Internal Revenue, for the Napa district, but soon removed to San José. where he received a re-appointment, and after the consolidation of the First and Second dis- tricts he made his residence in San Francisco, where he lived until November 30, 1871. His management of the Internal Revenue office at Napa, San José and San Francisco was distinguished by the most satisfactory settlements made with the Government, and also a correct and accurate system of detail work in his offices. In the fall of 1871 Mr. Phillips removed with his family to the town of San Luis Obispo, where he engaged in the

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banking business with Horatio M. Warden, under the firin name of Warden & Phillips, which partnership continued for two years, when the firm dissolved. The Bank of San Luis Obispo was then organized, under the direction of Mr. Phillips, with a paid-up capital of $200,000. He filled the office of Cashier and also of president of this bank until 1878, when he resigned. During the great panic of 1875 the Bank of San Luis Obispo never closed its doors, as nearly all the banks in the interior had done. Since 1878 he has devoted his energy entirely to real-estate interests, and his sale of Spanish grants and large private ranches, placed under his management, has been one conspicuous success. At various times he has purchased large estates and divided them into small lots, effecting a sale in a remarkably short space of time, and creating lively little set- tlements or towns in what was a vast tract of grazing country. Prominent among the transactions of this nature is the division of the Morro, Cayncos, Steele Brothers and Huer- Huero ranchos. In March, 1886, Mr. Phil- lips was one of the incorporators of the West Coast Land Company, an organization of which he is really the projector, and which company is doing on a larger scale only what business he did by himself a few years pre- vious. He is the manager of the company, but with the combined capital of many prom- inent inen in San Francisco and also in San Luis Obispo, the company is able to negoti- ate larger tracts of land than can be success- fully accomplished by a private individual.

He was married January 18, 1862, to Miss Jane Woods, of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, and they have the following children: Mary, now Mrs. Henry A. Sperry; Jane; Eliza, now Mrs. H. A. Vachell; Chauncey Hatch, Jr .; Josephine, Chester Delaney, and Nelson Burnham. Mr. Phillips is a inan of fine

physique and fine appearance. He takes .great interest in matters affecting the public welfare of the city and county, and enjoys the highest confidence and respect of the community at large. Mr. Phillips has a residence at Templeton, but his permanent home is in San Luis Obispo.

- ENRY J. DALLY, one of the earliest pioneers to Santa Barbara County, who, after a varied life upon the sea and land, visiting the ports of the world, came to this coast in 1843, and here he has since re- sided. He was born in New York city, March 22, 1815. His father, John Dally, was a sail-maker at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, where Henry J. was early put to work. In- heriting the desire for a seafaring life, at the ago of eighteen years, in 1833, he went to New Bedford, and there shipped on the bark Winslow, a whaling vessel bound for the Pacific. On account of hardships, he, with eight companions, deserted at Cocas Island, near the equator; the island being barren, they lived for fifteen days on fish and sea-gulls. They were taken off by the ship Alınira, of Oldtown, Massachusetts, and they remained with her for two years, leaving her at Peru. He then returned by ship to Nan- tucket Island. and then back to New York in 1837, after an absence of four years. Finding home life very tame and quiet, he soon longed for the excitement of the sea, and after a visit of fifteen days lie went to New Bedford and shipped on the Pacific and New Brunswick, and nutil 1843 he followed a sea-faring life, visiting nearly all foreign ports and passing through many exciting ad- ventures. On the east coast of Africa, be- cause of trouble with a fellow sailor, he was put on shore, in a land of supposed cannibals,

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with a supply of three biscnit and a bottle of water. But he found the people friendly, and though suffering great privations, he finally shipped on a slave trader, a Moorish brig bonnd for Mozambique. After repeated changes of vessels and several trips to the east and west coast of Africa he started for Okotsk Sea in the North Pacific, on a whaling expedition, and being successful, returned and landed at Monterey, in 1843. Here he spent one year, then joined an otter company hunting down the coast; but, failing in that, he went to San Luis Obispo, where he took up the business of carpentering.

In 1846 he was married to Miss Felicita Rodriguez, at San Luis Obispo, where he continued the trade of carpentering until 1848, when he was elected County Sheriff, and re-elected in 1850. He resigned, owing to the dangers of the business. In 1852 he went to Carpenteria and bought land and also kept a wayside inn until 1867, when he sold out and came to Santa Barbara, where he has since resided, following the trade of carpenter, cooper and boat builder.

1Ie has five children, all living. Though seventy-five years of age, he is hale and hearty, and having passed through the spec- tacle period his eyesight is now as strong as ever, having regained what is sometimes termed " second siglit."

K. FISHER, who is a member of the City Council from the Fifth Ward, and a man largely interested in the progress and development of Santa Barbara, was born at Fisher's Summit, Bedford County, Pennsyl- vania, in 1836. His father moved to that locality in 1832, and established and named the town. The subject of this sketch left home in 1854, and as a butcher received a

contract from the Huntington & Broad Top Railway to supply constructing parties with meats. In 1854 he went to Nebraska, and for two years speculated in lands in and around Omaha. Then for three years he was wagon master for Major Rossells & Waddell, and took charge of freight trains across the plains from Kansas City to Salt Lake City, carrying supplies and merchandise. In 1859 he went to Colorado, and was engaged until 1863 in mines, and speculating at Central City, Black Hawk, Delaware Flats and Den- ver. He was one of the pioneers to Boise City, Idaho, and helped lay out the town. Until 1867 he was engaged in mining and speculating in Montana, Arizona and at Salt Lake City. In 1867 he came to Los Angeles, and in 1868 to San Diego, where he ran hacks and did teaming about the city. He also had mining interests at Julian. In 1871 he came to Santa Barbara in the employ of the Atlantic & Pacific Railroad, and in 1873 he bought out the California Market on State street, where he has since been connected in business, having many outside interests. Mr. Fisher sold an interest in Angust, 1889, to Mr. More and Mr. Hollister, under the firm name of I. K. Fisher & Co. He also owns a half interest in a 670-acre ranch at the month of the Santa Ynez River, and one-half inter- est in a 226-acre ranch at Ortega. He also owns 270 acres near town, where he does some farming, and also keeps a fine stock of horses, abont fitty head. He breeds the Richmond blood for speed and carriage driv- ing. He owns 419 acres on the Hondo Creek, which is fine grazing land.

Mr. Fisher was elected to the City Council from the Fifth ward in 1884, and was re- elected in 1886 and 1888.

Mr. Fisher was married in Santa Barbara in 1874, to Miss Lizzie Holmes, and of three children only one survives. Mr. Fisher has

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been a member of the I. O. O. F. for twenty years. He is also a member of the Knights of Pythias and A. O. U. W. He is an owner and director of the Santa Barbara Water Company, and has many other interests in and about the city.

HARLES H. McKEVETT, prominent as a business man of Santa Panla, was born in Cortland County, New York, October 3, 1848. His parents were born in the same State. His grandfather, Alexander McKevett, was born in Scotland and came to New York when a boy. Mr. McKevett com- menced work on his own account in the oil business in Pennsylvania, first for wages and afterward under contracts to drill wells, and still later in operating for himself. He fol- lowed the oil business in Pennsylvania and adjoining States successfully for twenty years, and by his enterprise secured a comfortable fortune; and then, desiring to secure a home in a more genial climate, he came to Califor- nia, in January, 1886. He visited different parts of the State and selected Santa Paula for a location, although at that time there was no railroad to that place. He purchased 425 acres of the Bradley and Blanchard rancho, extending from near the center of town out into the country. Part of this he subdivided and sold. The remainder he has improved. Has now over sixty acres of both citrus and decidnous fruit trees; also thirty acres of e.tcalyptus. Mr. McKevett was one of the organizers of the Bank of Santa Paula, Janu- ary 17, 1888, of which he was vice presi- dent; George H. Bonebrake, President, and J. R. Ilangh, Cashier. On September 23, 1889, the bank was converted into the First National Bank of Santa Paula. Mr. Mc Kevett was elected president, which position he now

holds. This bank has a paid up capital of $75,000, is the only national bank in the county, and is doing a good business. He was one of the organizers and president of the Santa Paula Lumber Company: this is now part of the Ventura County, Lumber Company of which he is a director. He is treasurer of the Santa Paula Fruit Packing Company, and is secretary of the Santa Paula Academy.

Mr. McKevett is a member of the Univers- alist Church, is a Knight Templar and an Odd Fellow, and in politics is a Republican In 1873 he was married to Miss Alice Stow- ell, a native of Pennsylvania. They have three children, two of whom were born in Pennsylvania, and the third, a daughter, in Santa Paula.

HOMAS McNULTA, the present City Attorney of Santa Barbara, was born at New Rochelle, New York, October 8, 1845. He enlisted November 21. 1861, and served during the war of 1861-'65 in the Fifty-third New York, Company D, Epinenil Zonaves, and the Sixty-second New York, Anderson Zonaves, and as Lientenant and finally as Captain of a Tennessee militia company, formed from employés of the Quartermaster's Department at Nashville in the fall of 1864; and with the exception of a few months when he was disabled, was con- tinnonsly in the service until the close of the war in May, 1865. He is now a member of Farragut Post, G. A. R., at Vallejo, California.

After the war he became Deputy Circnit Clerk of MeLean County, Illinois, and served in that capacity abont eighteen months, de- voting his spare hours to the study of the law, and literary and general educational sub- jects, and then entered the office of Weldon & McNulta, at Bloomington, Illinois, and

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regularly pursued his legal studies with that firm for two years, and was admitted to prac- tice in the Supreme Court of Illinois.

Shortly after his admission to the bar he formed a partnership with his brother, Gen- eral John McNulta, and was associated with him as counsel for the Indianapolis, Bloom- ington & Western Railway Company, and also the Gilman, Clinton & Springfield Rail- way Company.

Mr. MeNnlta was married in Bloomington, Illinois, in May, 1873, to Miss Georgia Rob- inson, a native of Atlanta, Georgia, and re- moved to Santa Barbara in that year, where he has since resided.

He was elected District Attorney in 1877; has held the office of City Attorney by ap- pointment for four terms, and is now holding that position and engaged in the practice of his profession.

ENRY W. BAKER, one of the promi- nent ranchers of Saticoy, came to Cali- fornia in 1859, and to his present raneh in the fall of 1875. He was born in New Hampshire, December 28, 1828. His father, Davis Baker, was a native of that State, born about the year 1790. He was a faithful member of the Congregational Church, passed his life on a farm, and died in 1842. The ancestors of the family were English people. Mr. Baker's mother, nee Hannah Church, was a danghter of Mr. Elihu Church. Henry W. Baker was one of a family of nine chil- dren, seven of whom are now living. He received his education in the public schools of his native State, and his life has been principally devoted to agricultural pursuits. He purchased a farm in Lake County, Cali- fornia, in 1866, which he improved and on which he was engaged in general farming for

nine years, raising both stock and grain. At the end of that time he sold out and went East on a visit. Upon his return to Califor- nia, he bought his present farm of forty acres, and has sinee added forty acres more to it. This property he has improved by building, tree-planting, etc. In his orchard he has apples, pears, peaches, apricots, prunes, figs, oranges and lemons. He is doing a grain and bean farming.

Mr. Baker is a Republican and is one of the reliable and substantial men of Ventura County. His widowed sister, Mrs. Leavitt, keeps house for hiin. She is a member of the Congregational Chnreh.

- -

A. PICO .- It is quite safe to say that there is not a family in California who has withal borne a more conspicuous part in the early settlement and history of the State than the Pico family. The name is familiar to the student of Southern Cali- fornia history. It has been the writer's priv- ilege to meet several members of this honored and historic family, and he can not fail to give expression here to a sentiment which is not only founded upon pleasant personal ac- quaintance, but is also expressed by those who have known the Pico family in times of war, times of peace, and under various trying vicissitudes incident to the settlement and growth of the Commonwealth.

Don José Jesus Pico, of San Luis Obispo, is one of the aged surviving members of this family, born at Monterey, this State, Marelı 19, 1807. There he lived until 1840, when he moved with his family to San Luis Obispo and assumed the administration of the affairs of the mission at that place, which duty he discharged until the change of government took place. In 1847 he held the office of

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Alcalde of San Luis Obispo, and in all mat- ters eivil, business and social, his expressed wish and opinions were accepted without dis- sent or question. He possessed a stont heart and a clear, keen judgment in matters of private or public policy. He later devoted several years to the care of his ranch and stock interests, and now lives in retirement in San Luis Obispo city. He has five sur- viving children. Mrs. P. A. Forrester, a widow lady, and Mrs. William J. Graves, of San Luis Obispo, are daughters. Benigno and Fredrico, of San Fernando, and Zenobia A., of San Luis Obispo, are the surviving sons.

Benigno l'ico was born in Monterey, March 17, 1837, the third of the family. For some time he parsned the hotel business at Port Harford, and in 1877 went to San Fernando and opened the present well-known and popu lar Pico Hotel, which he still conducts. He is a popular landlord and a highly respected citizen.

Zenobia A. Pico is a native of San Luis Obispo County, born in 1843, on the family homestead near the city, where the family lived from 1849 to 1868. He was first As- sessor of San Luis Obispo County for one term of two years, and then City Assessor, in which office he is now serving his third term. He married, March 8, 1868, Miss Mary Baxter, and they have three children.

ON. C. A. STORKE, a prominent eiti- zen of Santa Barbara County, was born in 1847, in Yates County, New York, whence in early life he removed with his parents to Oshkosh, Wisconsin, where he lived until the age of sixteen years, when, on February 28, 1864, he enlisted in Company G, Thirty-sixth Wisconsin Regiment, under 34

Colonel Frank Haskell, who was killed at Cold Harbor. This regiment joined the Second Corps during the Wilderness cam- paign, under General Hancock, participating in the battles at Spottsville, North Anna, and at the terrible slaughter at Cold Harbor, where, out of four companies, sixty-nine per cent. were killed, and the rest captured. The prisoners were sent to Libby, Andersonville, Savannah and other prisons, suffering fright- fully from privations and exposure. Of the twelve men of his company, Mr. Storke helped to bury eight out of eleven, one liav- ing been paroled. He himself was reduced from 165 to 95 pounds weight during the seven months of his imprisonment, before he was paroled. He went home and was dis- charged May 26, 1865. He now prepared for college, passing three years at the college at Kalamazoo, Michigan, then going to Cornell, where he was graduated in 1870, taking the Goldwin Smith and the President White honors for the senior year.

Among his classmates were Governor Foraker, of Ohio; J. Julius Chambers, of the New York World; Hon. T. W. Spence, of Wisconsin; Hon. S. D. Halliday, of the New York Legislature and others of note. From Cornell Mr. Storke went to Brooklyn, where he taught for two years in the Adelphi Academy ; thenee he came to Santa Barbara to teachı in the Santa Barbara College. After one year he went to Los Angeles, where he founded the Herald, but soon returned to Santa Bar- bara, and began the practice of law. In 1882 he was elected to the Assembly, and served in the sessions of 1883 and 1884, and he was again elected in 1888. when he made himself a record by his work for the investigation of prison management.

Since 1877 he has been connected with the Sespe Rancho, Ventura County, then owned by his father-in-law, T. Wallace More, who

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was murdered there on March 24, 1877, the prosecution of his murderers engaging Mr. Storke's best efforts for some four years thereafter. Of this rancho, 600 aeres are still owned by Mr. Storke, as well as 300 acres of the Dos Pueblos Rancho, and con- siderable city property.

Mr. Storke is a Knight Templar Mason and Vice-Post Commander, G. A. R.

Mr. Storke was married in 1873, to Miss Mattie More, of Santa Barbara, by whom he had four children; and on September 10, 1890, to Miss Yda Addis.

APTAIN FRED HILLARD was born in Norwich, Connecticut, July 24, 1822. His mother was a Brew- ster, a direct descendant of the Elder Wil- liamn Brewster who came over in the famous Mayflower. Fred Hillard spent his boyhood and received his education in his native town. At the age of nineteen he joined a whaling sliip and for five years was before the mast, traveling extensively around the coast of Europe. At the end of this period he shipped to Chili and Peru and on the coast of South America. On this vessel he filled the position of fourth mate. lIe was on this coast until 1848, when he came to San Francisco, right in the heat of the gold excitement. Captain Hillard pro- ceeded at once to the mines near Sacramento, but was unsuccessful, and soon abandoned the search for gold. After disposing of his land claim at Sacramento, he was engaged on a freight vessel, sailing between San Fran- cisco and San Diego, and continued in this business until 1850. The steamship Ohio was then being operated on this coast, and Captain Hillard was engaged as fourth mate. In 1852 he was its captain. It was on this

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Author: Storke, Yda Addis Publication date: 1891 Publisher: Chicago, The Lewis Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 738

Author: Storke, Yda Addis
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Chicago, The Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 738