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 79

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 79
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 79
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 79

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

The Doctor remained in California, and was elected County Physician of Mariposa County, and also held the same position in Placer County. He built the County Hos- pital and sold it to the city, and was County Physician and had full charge of the indigent

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sick in Stanislans County. After leaving that place he went to San Francisco, where he practiced his profession for a number of years, and was a member of the Medical Society there. In 1861 he was appointed by Governor Downey, State Vaccine Agent. He is now a practicing physician of Ventura County and has charge of the County Hos- pital of Ventura. His long experience and special qualifications fit him to perform the duties of this office with both credit to him- self and the county.

The Doctor was married, in 1853, to Miss Catharine Curtis, in Sacramento. They have two sons: Joseph Edward, born in El Dorado County, May 20, 1855, now a lawyer of Santa Crnz; and Ide, also born in El Dorado County, February 18, 1857, is assisting his father in the hospital. Mrs. Marks arrived in Cali- fornia in 1847, and was elected an honorary member of the Pioneers' Society of Cali- fornia.

OSE DE LA ROSA was born in the city of Los Angeles, Mexico, January 5, 1790, at one o'clock in the morning, and was baptized in the cathedral the same day at seven o'clock in the evening. He is the son of Señor Don Jose Florencio de la Rosa and Doña Maria Antonia Narzisa Rosa. His baptismal name is José Maria Telisforo de la Solida de los Santos Angeles de la Rosa. He has the distinction of being the first printer in this State, having arrived from Mexico in 1834. He was sent by the Mexican govern- ment, as government printer in California. In the year 1845 he was appointed by the government as Alcalde of Sonoma (which is the same in the English language as district judge). He remained in Sonoma until 1867, when he removed to Martinez, Contra Costa

County. IIere he resided until 1879, and in that year he came to Ventura, where he still lives, in the enjoyment of good health, at the advanced age of one hundred years. He is a devont Catholic.

GRAHAM .- Among the rising citi- zens of the Santa Clara Valley, men- tion should be made of the gentleman whose name heads this sketch. He arrived in California, April 28, 1876, and at first worked for wages. By his intelligent in- dnstry and perseverance he now owns 160 acres of land, which he has improved. He came to his present locality December 28, 1882. Here he is engaged in farming, raising barley, Lima beans and potatoes. Last year his beans averaged twenty-six centals to the acre. Two years ago twenty-eight acres of corn averaged forty-six centals of shelled corn to the acre, which he sold for ninety cents per hundred pounds. Mr. Graham also raises horses, hogs and poultry. He keeps a hired man and a Chinaman cook.

Mr. Graham was born in Richland County, Ohio, December 1, 1848. He is the son of Samnel Graham, a native of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, born in 1815. His grand- father, James Graham, was also a native of Pennsylvania. His mother was Rachel Clingan. She was a native of Virginia and was brought by her parents to Ohio when three years old. Her father, James Clingan, was a native of Ireland, and emigrated to America in an early day. The subject of this sketch is one of a family of six children, five of whom are living, three danghters and two sons. He was reared at Mansfield, Rich- land County, Ohio, and received his edu- cation in the public schools of that place. Mr Graham has made one visit to the East

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since coming to California, and contemplates returning again for a visit this summer. Politically, he is a Democrat.

Mr. Graham is unmarried and conse- quently one chapter of his history remains unwritten!

ILLAM GOODWIN DANA, deceased, was better known as Cap- tain Dana. He was born on Friday, May 5, 1797, the first child of William and Eliza (Davis) Dana, of Boston, Massachusetts. His father, William Dana, was born in that city in 1767, and married Miss Davis, the daughter of a prominent artillery officer in the Revolutionary army. William Dana died at St. Thomas, June 3, 1799, aged thirty-two years.

Among the commercial people of the United States there has been accorded to New England the credit of largely developing com- merce, and making explorations among the South Sea Islands and along the western shores of North America. Boston, Salein, New Bedford and Nantucket were localities well known to all classes of people, and their residents were regarded as the best repre- sentatives of active thought and energy. From such an ancestry came Willian G. Dana. His youth was spent in Boston, where he acquired a good education, and at the age of eighteen years his unele, a Boston merchant, sent him to Canton, China, where he remained nearly two years; tlience he jour- neyed to Calcutta, India, where he remained one year. From India he cruised to the Sandwich Islands, where he remained for a time, and in 1820 established a large commercial business on the island of Oahu, where he erected a large warelionse. Later Mr. Dana made several voyages as ship cap-

tain from Honolulu to California and to the South American coast. In 1825 he located at Santa Barbara, and three years afterward built a schooner, which is said to be the first seagoing vessel ever launched by an American on the Pacific coast. In 1835 Captain Dana having become a naturalized citizen of the Mexican Republic, applied for and obtained a grant of the Nipomo Rancho, comprising 37,887.71 acres. This grant was one of the earliest on record, and as he had his choice in a very large area of country he made a selection which, as has been shown, was for many purposes a wise one. In the autumn of 1839 they removed their residence from Santa Barbara to Nipomo, and upon his property he erected a large adobe house, which still continues to be the home of some of the family. The splendid old house s ands a con- spienous object on an elevation overlooking a large area of the grant, a monument to the history of the county, second only to the old missions, and naturally around it cluster many interesting reminiscences. The Cap- tain was distinguished for his hospitality and generosity, and the Nipomo Rancho was a favorite stopping place for Americans jour- neying through the country, and many are the guests who have been entertained at this place. Nipomo was the only place then on the road between Lan Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara, and it was twenty-five miles from San Luis Obispo and eighty-five from Santa Barbara. In political life Captain Dana was for a time quite active, and under Mexican rule he was Prefecto, the highest office in the gift of the government. At the first election for officers under the constitution of the State of California in 1849, he received the largest vote for the Senate, but owing to imformalities in the election the office was accorded to Don Pablo de la Guerra, a native of Cali- fornia, and connected with one of the leading

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Spanish families of that country. Ile sub- sequently became President of the Senate. Captain Dana died at Nipomo, February 12, 1858, and his remains were interred in the cemetery at San Luis Obispo. His widow died at the same place, September 25, 1883.

He was married August 10, 1828, at Santa Barbara, to Maria Josefa Carillo, the eldest daughter of Don Carlos Antonio Carillo, the Governor of Alta California. By this union there were twenty-one children, twelve of whom are now living: William C., born May 6, 1836; Charles W., born June 27, 1837; John F., June 22, 1838; Henry Carillo, July 14, 1839; Ramon H., Jannary 11, 1841; Francis, May 14, 1843; Edward Goodwin, December 24, 1846; Adeline Eliza, March 30, 1848; Frederick A , June 12, 1849; David A., August 27, 1851; Elisha C., October 23, 1852; Samuel A., April 3, 1855.

HARLES DAVIS is a native son of California, and with his brothers Joseph and Buchanan, is the owner of 1,200 acres ot land, adjoining San Miguel on the north. He was born in Monterey Connty, eight miles north of the town of San Miguel, February 21. 1864. He is the son of Mr. George Davis, a pioneer of the State, who came to California in 1843, and is now one of the oldest living pioneers. He is a native of the city of New York, born May 6, 1816; was a soldier in the Black Hawk war; went to the Rocky Mountains and trapped and traded on the north and south forks of the Flat River, following that business seven years. The company he was in had many fights with the Indians, whose weapons, at that time, were mostly bows, arrows, hatch- ets, spears and knives, while the whites were armed with muzzle-loading, flint-lock rifles.

They got inany bear skins, which they sold at good prices, and everything they had to buy was high. Mr. Davis followed it more for the wild, exciting life than anything else. Kit Carson was one of his companions at that time, also Doctor Newell and Bill Doty. In 1840 they went to Oregon and farmed for a year, raising wheat. They came to California overland, and had to fight their way through, arriving at Sutter's Fort in July, 1843. Captain Sutter had a blacksmith shop, and all the farmers in the county were near there, and the Captain also had a small store. At that time there was not to exceed fifteen Americans at the Fort.

In company with them was a family by the name of Sumner; and on this overland jour- ney, fraught with so many excitements and dangers, Mr. Davis became acquainted with Miss Elecay Sumner, and soon after their arrival at the Fort, in July, 1843, they were married, Captain Sutter officiating. The newly married couple moved to Cost Creek, built a house, and Mr. Davis continued hunt- ing. They had flour, acorn coffee and an abundance of deer and bear meat. From there he moved to the American Fork, just above where Sacramento now stands. General Fremont with his monntain men came there in 1846, and Mr. Davis piloted him and his men up to Bear River, twenty-five miles above Sntter's Fort.

Mr. Davis was one of the thirteen men taken prisoner by Castro Alvarado. He says they were well treated and paroled on their honor. The Mexican soldiers were sent back to Mexico.

With his brother-in-law, Jefferson Shad- den, Mr. Davis engaged in furnishing cattle to the miners. It paid well, beef being four hits per pound. They raised melons, and received a half ounce of gold for each melon. In the fall of 1849 they engaged in mining,

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inade money and spent it freely. In 1860 he came to San Luis Obispo County and took a pre-emption and homestead claim, and en- gaged in raising sheep and cattle, having as high as 9,000 sheep at one time.

Of their thirteen children, eight are now living,-four girls and four boys. His sons, Charles, Joseph and Buchanan, are farining the ranch, one-half mile from San Miguel, which comprises 1,200 acres, to hay and wheat, and are also raising valnable horses and cattle. These gentlemen have been reared in the county and are interested in its growth and prosperity.

RA VAN GORDEN is a pioneer of Cali- fornia, who came to this State in 1846, He is a native of Lawrence, Tioga County, Pennsylvania, born February 12, 1820. His father. Gilbert Van Gorden, was a native of Pennsylvania, born in 1779, and a farmer by occupation; he served in the war of 1812. He married Lucinda Ives, a native of the same State, and daughter of Benajah Ives, also of Pennsylvania. They were the parents of eleven children. His death occurred when he was ninety-seven years of age. Mr. Van Gorden's grandfather was a native of New York, and was a soldier in the Revolution; he was wounded and is pensioned by the Gov- ernment. The Van Gordens originally came from Ilolland.

Ira Van Gorden was the oldest of the fa- mily, only three of whom are now living. He was reared on a farm in his native State, and attended the public schools in winter and worked on the farm in the summer. When seventeen years of age he moved to Berrien County, Michigan, which was at that time a new county, and the State had just been ad- initted into the Union. For two years he

worked by the month, for $15 a month. He then removed to Bond County, Illinois, where he farmed on rented land In 1846 he re- moved with his family to California, and settled at the Santa Clara mission. He served as a soldier under General J. C. Fremont, for three months, as long as his services were needed. He then went to the San José mis- sion, and from there to the redwoods, near Oakland, and sawel lu nber with a whip-saw and made shingles. In 1848 his wife died, and Mr. Van Gorden took his children and went to the mines, where he mined for three months; the children staid with their aunt. Winter set in and he returned to the mission ; while mining his largest pan of gold was $776, coarse grains like wheat and some pieces of $3 and $4 each. At one time he struck a pocket, which lay in a crevice between slab rock, and he picked the gold out with a pick and knife, the amount being thirty-four onnees. At the San José mission he raised three acres of onions, and sold them ou the ground for $4,000. From there' Mr. Van Gorden went to Los Angeles County, and en- gaged in raising and shipping grapes, and at this business be also did well. He then went to San Diego County and engaged in stock- raising from 1854 to 1855. From there he drove 260 head of cattle and forty horses to Tulare County, where he took up Govern- ment land, and continued there in the cattle business for eleven years.

He was married in 1841, in Illinois, to Miss Rebecca IIarlan, a native of Indiana, and daughter of George Harlan, a farmer of that State. They have had three children, two of whoui survive: Jerome, now residing in Cambria, and George, residing in San Simeon. In 1848 Mrs. Van Gorden died. Mr. Van Gorden was again married in Tulare County, to Miss Agnes Mary Balaam, a native of Arkansas, of English ancestry. They have

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six children, viz .: Gilbert, Ira, Sarah, Ann Vine, Sherman and Earl. In 1868 he came to his present ranch in San Luis Obispo County. He purchased 4,468 acres of the San Simeon Ranch, and continued his stock- raising and farming. On part of the farm is a large dairy of 200 cows. When he first inoved upon the property he lived in the old adobe ranch house. In 1870 he selected a secluded nook from the coast winds, and erected a beautiful home, where he is spend- ing the evening of his successful life with his family. On the ranch he raises hay, grain, patatoes, cabbage and fruit. In 1886 Mrs. Van Gorden died, and he has since remained unmarried. Mr. Van Gorden was a charter member of the Grange. In his political views he is a Republican, and is one of the best known and most influential citizens in this part of the county.

EV. SAMUEL T. WELLS, a former pastor of the Presbyterian Church at Ventura, was born in Greenfield, Massachusetts, August 6, 1809. His father, Calvin Wells, was born in Greenfield, Massa- chusetts, and for most of his life was engaged in the lumber business. He removed to Western New York in 1815, settling in Byron, Genesee County. Mr. Well's grand- father, Colonel Daniel Wells, was a soldier in the war of 1812, was a man of wealth, but lost his property by the embargo. Early in the history of this country the sovereign of England sent a man named Welles over to Long Island to act as sheriff, who settled at the east end of that island, and this was the inception of the family in America. The name Wells is derived from the original Welsh from Welles. Secretary Gideon Welles, of President Lincoln's cabinet, was

one of the family, one branch of which went to Hartford, Connecticut, and the other to the South; since then they have scattered over all New York and Michigan and into other States. Mr. Wells' mother, Elizabeth Taggart, was a danghter of Domine Taggart, of Colerain, Massachusetts, a Presbyterian minister from Londonderry, Ireland. He had a Congregational Church, but had elders to govern it Presbyterian fashion. He was fourteen years a member of Congress. All of Mr. Wells' brothers and sisters are now deceased except the youngest.

The subject of this sketch received his academical education in Wyoming, New York, his collegiate at Union College, Schenectady, same State, and his theological training at Princeton, New Jersey, under Dr. Alexander. In 1842 the American Tract Society appointed him their agent in the West to establish the colporteur system, and he acted in that capacity twelve years. It was the commencement of that system of book distribution, and in the reports it was stated that his field was the best work in the United States. The forty men under his manage- ment sold and gave away a great many thou- sand dollars' worth of religions books. In 1855 he received the appointment of Synodi- cal Missionary for lowa, with headquarters at Dubuque, and he organized sixteen churches in that State. In 1860 the Presby- terian Board appointed him agent of col- portenrage for California, and in that year he came to the coast. The first year here he preached for the Calvary Presbyterian Church at San Francisco, and also superintended his colporteurs, who at the end of four years had placed $22,000 worth of religious books in this State. While in Oakland, there was no cemetery there that was not in some way encumbered; and Mr. Wells became instru- mental in starting the Mountain View Ceme-

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tery on the plan that all the money received for lots after paying for the ground should be expended in improvements on the property. The result is that this property of 200 acres is now the most beautiful cemetery in Cali- fornia.

In 1870 Mr. Wells came to Ventura and took charge of the Presbyterian Church. There was then only one active man in it and a few women. Their edifice had been sold for taxes, and they were in debt $1,600; they had about given up all hope. Mr. Wells took the field and with less than half the salary he had had at Oakland, in three years had the debt paid and the society in flourish- ing condition; it is now self-supporting. Since his arrival here he has served on a committee for raising the salary of pastors, and has been very efficient in that work for six years. He purchased 300 acres of land, when land was cheap, at $15 to $20 an acre. The railroad was afterward run through it and the company paid him $150 an acre for it, and this has made Mr. Wells financially independent for the rest of his life. Across the street and near the church in which he has taken so much interest, he bought a fine lot and erected upon it a substantial, com- fortable and tasteful residence, moving into it November 10, 1888, where he can quietly pass the evening of a well spent life. His brother, Calvin, is proprietor of the Press of Philadelphia; and his youngest son, Samuel Calvin, is one of the editors of that paper.

May 25, 1842, is the date of Mr. Wells' marriage to Miss Catharine McPherson, of Schenectady, New York, and they have four children: Moses T., born in Allegheny City in 1843; Rosina M., born in Schenectady in 1845; Elizabeth Jane, in Allegheny City, in 1847; and Samuel Calvin, in Pittsburg, in 1849; and seven grandchildren. Mrs. Wells

died April 12, 1853, in her forty-fifth year; and in 1857 Mr. Wells was again married, this time to Miss Eliza Swan, of Burlington, Iowa; and by this marriage there are no children.

- HOMAS SHARON, a prominent rancher and capitalist of Paso Robles, and an early settler in California, was born in Peterboro, Ontario, June 24, 1823. His father, Henry Sharon, was a native of Scotland, and a captain in the British army. He enlisted in 1803, and fonght under the flag eleven years, when, in 1814, he returned and became a valiant soldier of the cross. He came to America as a Methodist minis- ter, and preached as a missionary among the Indians and early settlers of Canada. He married Miss Elizabeth Moles, a descendant of the Harveys. They were the parents of twelve children, five of whom still survive. He was a minister for forty years, and died at the age of eighty-seven.

Thomas Sharon, our subject, is the second of the children now living. He never went to school in his life, and is, in one sense, a self-educated man, having been a student all his life. His father and mother were edu- cated and gave him much help in getting his education. He left Canada for New York, and from there emigrated to Wisconsin, when about twenty-one years of age. He engaged in surveying, and after acquiring money enongh he purchased eighty acres of land, and became a farmer. He has added to his prop- erty from time to time until he has become the owner of from five to six hundred acres. In 1846 he started for California, but was obliged to return on account of the Indians. In 1852 he again started for California, and arrived in Stockton, in 1853. He engaged

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in surveying, and opened the first land-office in Stockton, which he continned until he be- came a farmer. In 1855 Mr. Sharon re- turned East, and lost all he had made, except $275, by the failure of Page & Bacon. Re- turning to California in 1877, he was en- gaged in fruit-raising, money-lending, etc., in San José, until 1887, when he came to Paso Robles. Two miles east of the city he bought a section of beautiful ranch land, with a large spring in the center. From this ranch he has since sold 100 acres. He built his residence near the spring in a romantic spot, and planted an orchard of French prunes and other fruit. The trees have made a re- markable growth, some of them only two years old measuring nine inches in circum- ference. On this property he is raising wheat in large quantities.

Mr. Sharon spent a portion'of his life among the Indians, studying their habits, and is the author of a book entitled " Life Among the Sioux," and also a work entitled " Viola, or Life in the Northwest." Both books met with ready sale. Another portion of his life was spent traveling in the South, before the war, a correspondent for the New York Tribune, While there he got a view of the institution of slavery, which caused him to become a warm friend of the down- trodden and oppressed. The treatment given by a slave-holder to one of his slaves caused him to write a little book on slavery, entitled the " Dawn of New Orleans." It was warmly received and had a wide circulation in the North. He also traveled and lectured on slavery, and did what he could to help slaves to liberty. When the Republican party was organized, and Fremont nominated for Pres- ident, he delivered many political addresses in that exciting time, before many thousand people. Many times his life was threatened, and at times danger seemed imminent, but le

passed through all the excitement without receiving a scratch. Those times are passed, the country is now united, and the great stain that marred the escutcheon of States has been removed, and Mr. Sharon rejoices in the humble part he was permitted to take in making this country the finest under the canopy of heaven.

Mr. Sharon was united in marriage with Miss Sophronia Burch, a native of the State of New York, in 1847. They had four chil- dren, born in Wisconsin, viz .: Cyrus K., Alice, Willis and Edward. After eight years of wedded life Mrs. Sharon died. Mr. Sharon was again married, in 1858, to his present wife, Miss Celia Ralph, a native of New York, and daughter of Mr. John Ralph They have two children, a son and a dangh- ter, born in Wisconsin: Ellsworth G. and Jessie Mand. Cyrus resides in Texas, Alice in Iowa, Willis in Tennessee, and Edward in Dakota. Ellsworth is in Santa Margarita, and Jessie Maud, a beautiful and accom- plished young lady, is with ber parents. They have a fine ranch and pleasant home. They are members of the Methodist Church, and aided materially in the construction of the Mission Church at Paso Robles. Mr. Sharon has risen by his own exertions to be a man of affluence. This busy, active man cannot expect much longer to remain on earth, but he can truly say, " Lord, now let- test thon thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation."

C. TWITCHELL, a farmer of Santa Maria, was born in Waldo County, o Maine, in 1856. His father, M. C. Twitchell, was a school-teacher and farmer, and moved to Dallas County, Iowa, in 1857, Our subject was educated in the common

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schools, and at the age of sixteen years began working out, preferring that to study. He first came to California in 1876 and passed four months about San Francisco; then re- turned home, and in the fall of 1877 again returned to the coast, to make California his permanent home. His first business was at Oakland, where he bought an interest in a freight boat, which he ran abont the bay, bnt after a few months sold out, and in 1878 came to Santa Maria. He first purchased 160 acres, south of town, but he has since added to the amount of 265 acres. Being somewhat of a trader in lands and also inter- ested in real-estate business with O. W. Maulsby, his acreage property is quite vari. able. His farming is for stock purposes, and he sows about 200 acres for hay and feed. He keeps about forty head of horses and cat- tle, and has also been extensively engaged in raising hogs, which he purposes to make his chief business.

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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