USA > California > San Benito County > History and biographical record of Monterey and San Benito Counties : and history of the State of California : containing biographies of well-known citizens of the past and present. Volume II > Part 12
USA > California > Monterey County > History and biographical record of Monterey and San Benito Counties : and history of the State of California : containing biographies of well-known citizens of the past and present. Volume II > Part 12
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Mr. Wilkinson's marriage occurred in New York, May 23, 1888, and united him with Miss Annie Sawdon, who like himself was a native of England. Two children have blessed their marriage, Herbert, who assists his father on the home ranch, and Leonard, who is also still at home.
HON. M. T. DOOLING.
The qualities indispensable to the successful career of a jurist are found in the character of Judge Dooling, who as the judicial head of the superior court of his district has won a recog- nized place among the most profound thinkers of the many scholarly men adorning the bench of the state of California. Nature liberally endowed him with a fine mind and accurate reasoning powers. Education developed his native endow- ments. Self-culture brought to him intellectual attainments that were the culmination of the aspi-
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rations of youth. A long experience as a jurist, supplementing successful professional practice and service in the assembly of the state, gave him the ripened judgment, the impartial spirit, the wide information concerning the laws of the state and nation, and the wisdom of opinion that have been the admiration of friends and the pride of his county.
From a period shortly after the discovery of gold in the west the Dooling family has been identified with the history of California. It was during the year 1850 that Timothy Dooling came via the Isthmus and the ocean to San Francisco, thence to the mines of Nevada county, where he remained for about eighteen years. While re- siding in that county the son was born whose name introduces this article and whose personal- ity has been a pronounced factor in the profes- sional history of Hollister. About the year 1868 the family came to San Benito (then Monterey) county and purchased a part of the Hollister grant or San Justo rancho, where the father en- gaged in ranching until his death in 1895, at the age of seventy-two years. Many of his traits descended to his son. Public-spirited energy and keen mental endowments were characteristics of the father as they are of the son, and in his adopted home he won a large circle of warm friends. Although he never became prominent nor did he attain wealth, yet his might be called a successful life, for he accumulated enough for the wants of himself and family and he won the respect of all associates.
Upon the completion of the studies of the pub- lic schools M. T. Dooling entered the college of St. Mary's, San Francisco, from which he re- ceived the degree of A. B. in 1880 and the degree of A. M. in 1881. For two years after the com- pletion of the classical course he remained in the college as instructor in the department of ancient and modern languages. After leaving the col- lege in 1863 he began to study law in the office of B. B. McCroskey at Hollister. Two years later he was admitted to practice before the su- preme court and immediately began to practice with John L. Hudner, under the firm name of Hudner & Dooling. Somewhat later he was a law partner of H. W. Scott. Meanwhile he was active in the local councils of the Democratic party and indeed it may be said of him that for
years he has been one of the foremost Democrats in the county. While still a law student in 1884 he was elected as the Democratic nominee to the legislature, where he served one term of two sessions, meanwhile taking an active part as a member of the committee appointed to secure a system of irrigation. Since 1888 he has been present at every Democratic state convention in California. Each time he has been appointed a member of the committee on platform and resolu- tions. With justice it may be said of him that his political service has been conducted in the inter- ests of all the people, irrespective of partisan views, and in return for this service he has been honored with the confidence of the people.
Both the Republicans and the Democrats united in electing Judge Dooling to the office of district attorney of San Benito county, in which position he continued from 1892 until 1897, mean- while receiving a second election at the hands of the voters. In 1897 he resigned as district at- torney in order to accept the position of judge of the superior court, to which he had been elected the previous year. In 1902 and 1908 he was re- elected without opposition, both political parties supporting him with ardor and enthusiasm. For his high office he is eminently quali- fied by native talents and by experience. His decisions are characterized by impar- tiality. His exposition of the law is clear and accurate. It might be said, according to the ancient imagery, that Minerva, the goddess of wisdom, smiled upon him at his birth and crowned his brow with the green laurels of an honorable renown.
The devotion of Judge Dooling to the profes- sion of his choice has not prevented him from maintaining a warm interest in progressive civic projects nor has it rendered less ardent his alle- giance to fraternal organizations. Among the Native Sons of the Golden West he is especially prominent, and on various occasions he has offi- ciated as grand trustee of the grand parlor. In 1907 he became grand president of the organiza- tion, and is now one of its past-presidents. His membership in this order is by virtue of his birth in California, his birth having occurred in Ne- vada county in 1860. Since the organization of Fremont Parlor No. 44 at Hollister, he has been one of its leading members. The Woodmen of
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the World and the Ancient Order of United Workmen also number him among their mem- bers. With his wife, a native of Illinois, and in maidenhood Miss Ida Wagner, he has a high po- sition in the most select social circles of Hollister, where since his marriage in 1887 he has made his home in an attractive residence, whose inner ap- pointments reflect the refined tastes of the family and within whose portals many of his happiest hours are passed.
CHARLES JOY.
To one inured in youth to the keen wintry blasts and disastrous - storms of Maine, the change to the mild and beneficent climate of California cannot but be congenial. Such has been the experience of Charles Joy, who was born in 1849 in that remote northeasterly com- monwealth and who in boyhood became familiar with the brief summer seasons and the pro- tracted periods of wintry winds characteristic of New England. The schools of the time and place were inferior to those of the present, but such opportunities as they offered he grasped to the utmost and thus gained a thorough knowledge of the common branches. Later study and habits of thoughtful reading enlarged his sphere of information.
Severing the ties that bound him to the home of his childhood, during the autumn of 1866 Charles Joy came from Maine via the Isthmus of Panama to California and settled in Salinas. It was his hope to engage in agricultural pur- suits and as soon as he had accumulated suffi- cient capital to justify such a proceeding he rented land and embarked in raising grain. During the years that followed he had charge of various tracts as proprietor and lessee, in- cluded among these properties being a portion of the Sherwood ranch, which he rented for four years. At the same time he cultivated land adjoining in the Alisal district. Later he managed a large tract at Natividad and leased part of the ranch owned by David Jacks in the Deep Well district.
After having farmed on the Zabala ranch for two years Mr. Joy removed to a part of the Espinosa ranch, where since he has leased and
managed sixteen hundred acres. Of the large tract eight hundred acres are under cultivation to barley and the balance of the land is utilized for the pasturage of stock. A thoroughbred Norman stallion is kept on the ranch and a spe- cialty is made of the raising of horses, which always command the highest prices in the local markets. In addition to his investments from an agricultural standpoint, Mr. Joy is a stockholder in the Soledad Mercantile Company and main- tains an intimate association with other enter- prises for the upbuilding of the county. Mar- riage united him with Mrs. Margaret Watts, a native of Canada and for some years a resident of Santa Cruz ; she has one son, Charles, who is now in the employ of the Southern Pacific Rail- road Company.
Masonry for years has had the allegiance and profound sympathy of Mr. Joy, who believes in the philanthropic principles of the order and con- tributes to its works of charity and brotherly kindness. Besides belonging to the Salinas Lodge, F. & A. M., he is associated with the Royal Arch Chapter of Salinas, the Knights Templar Commandery of Watsonville and the Eastern Star of Salinas. Interested in educa- tional affairs, during the period of his residence in the Arroyo Seco school district he served as school trustee for twelve years and also filled the same position in the Natividad district. Frequently he has been chosen a delegate to county conventions of the Republican party.
WILLIAM AUGUSTUS ROTHE.
The original identification of the Rothe family with the history and development of California dates back to the year 1849, when Julius A. Rothe joined a party of Argonauts and made the long and dangerous journey to the shores of the Pacific. An experience of brief duration in the mines did not prove sufficiently successful to tempt a continuance in the occupation and he eventually turned his attention to farming and stock-raising, which he followed at Castroville and in the Corral de Tierra. While living in California he met and married Miss Ruth Ray- ner and they became the parents of seven chil- dren, their son, William Augustus, having been
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born in Santa Clara county in 1864, during the residence of the family in that part of the state.
Selling out his holdings in 1878 Julius A. Rothe moved to Missouri and bought a tract of land near Jefferson City, where he engaged in raising cattle and hogs and also made a spe- cialty of such crops as were adapted to the soil and climate. In 1881 he brought the family back to the Pacific coast and settled at San Juan, San Benito county, where he rented a ranch owned by Henry Miller and engaged in raising stock. In 1887 his death occurred while he was making his home on that ranch, and afterward his widow removed to San Jose, where she now resides.
When the family removed from this state to Missouri and settled on a farm in that state William Augustus Rothe was a lad of fourteen years, who previously had been a pupil in the schools at Castroville and the Corral de Tierra. Later he completed his education in Missouri schools and after returning to California he be- gan to engage in farm pursuits, removing after the death of his father to Monterey county, where he took up a homestead of one hundred and sixty acres in the Piney canon. Later he added to his holdings in the same locality by the purchase of a tract of three hundred and twenty acres, where for two years hie engaged in raising horses, cattle, hogs and chickens. A subsequent experience as a farmer at San Juan for one year was followed by removal to Mount Hamilton, where for two years he made his home and where for a time afterward he continued to raise stock, although occupied personally as an em- ploye on the San Jose electric cars. Returning to Monterey county in 1895 he resumed the stock industry on his ranch in the Piney canon, where he still owns land and stock. During 1907 he rented and removed to a tract of fifteen hundred acres owned by Jesse Bardin in the Arroyo Seco canon and this place he manages in conjunction with his own ranch, having about one hundred and fifty acres in grain and hay and the balance in pasture.
Possessing considerable mechanical ability, Mr. Rothe has been enabled to do much of the re- pair work in connection with his machinery on the farm and in addition for eleven seasons, prior to 1907, he operated a threshing machine engine. His work in that capacity was excep-
tionally proficient. In stock-raising his specialty has been hogs, but he is equally familiar with other stock and ranks as an expert judge con- cerning the best points of all breeds. While he has had little leisure for activities outside of the- range of his farming interests he has been close- ly identified with the Woodmen of the World at Salinas and Soledad Circle, Foresters of Amer- ica. During 1887 he was united in marriage with Miss Twitchell, of San Juan, this state, by whom he has a son, Elmer, now assisting in the- management of the large landed interests em- braced within the limits of the ranch.
THOMAS PORTER BRALEE.
The changing fortunes of a sailor's life caused the establishment of the Bralee family on the western coast. It was Thomas Bralee, a sea- faring man, who in the course of his voyages from port to port visited California prior to the discovery of gold and prior to the era of Amer- ican authority. The life history of this sailor was eventful and interesting. He was born in 1821 in the shire of Worcester, England, and came of an honorable but poor family. The- necessity of earning his own livelihood prevented him from attending school, yet such was his native ability that he impressed strangers as an educated mån. When only eight years of age- he was put to work in a rope factory. The toil was wearying and the hours long, but necessity is a stern taskmaster and enacts laws from which there is no evasion.
As soon as old enough to be accepted on ship- board the boy left the rope factory and shipped on a lumber vessel bound for Quebec. The voyage came to its expected destination in due season and he thereupon left and went on to New York City. thence to Baltimore, from which point he shipped on board the frigate Savannah for California via Cape Horn. It was during 1846 that he saw California for the first time. he being then in the United States service under Commodore Jones. While there he assisted in raising the United States flag over Monterey. but as war had not been declared, the flag was pulled down. However, in 1847 he was one of a party that landed from shipboard and raised our flag permanently over Monterey.
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When the ship cast anchor at a harbor in Peru the command was assumed by Commodore Sloat and Thomas Bralee continued with the latter until he received an honorable discharge at Monterey at the expiration of three years of faithful service. Immediately afterward he joined forces with a friend in the building of a brick-kiln and they had burned one hundred thousand brick, but this they left in the kiln to go to the gold mines. Mr. Bralee remained about eighteen months. On account of sickness he left the mines and came to Monterey, where he began to build brick chimneys. He was expert in the use of tools and made a living in that way. During 1852 he took up a claim of one hundred and sixty acres, but on the survey it was found that his tract included only about one-half of what it should have contained. It was all bot- tom land and the next year the adobe house was washed away in a flood. The owner then re- moved to higher ground and built a habitation, which answered its purpose until he erected a more suitable residence in 1862. During 1869 he sold the land to Mr. Berwick. In the early days of his occupancy of that tract deer were plentiful and bears would come at night quite close to the house. Sometimes his stock were molested by wild animals, but on the whole he met with good luck. One of his specialties was dairying in the Mexican style and he sold the butter at $I per pound.
On leaving the Berwick ranch and investigat- ing other property Thomas Bralee bought seven hundred acres of hill land and there he engaged in stock-raising, dairying and general farming until he sold out in 1892 upon his retirement from agricultural responsibilities. His last days were quietly passed in Monterey and there he died December 27, 1902, at the age of eighty- one years. His wife, who had passed away in 1875, was born in County Sligo, Ireland, and bore the maiden name of Alice Scanlian. Four children were born of their union, of whom two are deceased, William having died at the age of twenty-three years. The survivors are Thomas P. and Alice, both of whom were educated in the Carmelo school, an institution organized largely through the instrumentality of their father and served by him for years in the capacity of trustee. In politics he voted with the Re-
publican party. Fraternally he belonged to the Masonic order and the burial service was con- ducted under their ritual.
The city of Monterey is the native home of Thomas Porter Bralee and May II, 1852, the date of his birth. For some years in early life lie had successful oversight of the home ranch with its seven hundred acres and cattle belonging to the farm, and its orchard of five acres. In 1892 he came to Monterey, where he makes his home at No. 305 Webster street. Following the example of his father, he supports Republican principles and favors all movements for the gen- eral welfare of the community whose upward growth possesses the deepest interest for him and in whose ultimate prosperity he cherishes the utmost confidence.
COPLEY BROTHERS.
Representative of the agricultural possibilities to be obtained in Monterey county is the progress made by the Copley Brothers, William C. and Ed- ward J., proprietors of twelve hundred acres ly- ing six miles from San Lucas, besides which they rent one hundred acres of adjoining land. Though this is by no means as large an under- taking of the kind as is to be found in this vicinity, still it would be hard to find one conducted on more modern principles, for the proprietors are enterprising and thoroughly up-to-date in all of their ideas and have equipped their ranch ac- cordingly.
Both of the brothers were born on the family homestead in Wild Horse canyon, the birth of William C. occurring in 1883 and that of Edward J. in 1885. They are the sons of Andrew J. Copley, Jr., of whom a sketch will be found else- where in this work. The sons were reared and educated in their boyhood home in Wild Horse canyon, attending the district school, and by dili- gently applying themselves to their studies they laid a foundation to which in later years they have continually added by the reading of well- selected literature. Even while attending school they were of great assistance to their father in carrying on the ranch, so that long before they had thought of future plans in life they were un- consciously becoming attached to the line of work
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JUANA E. BONIFACIO
JUAN BONIFACIO
ChasBonifacio
4.
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they were destined to follow. It was thus natural that upon leaving school they should continue this training, and as their father was in need of as- sistance they took up responsibilities and duties on the home farm which by this time they were competent to fill. This combining of interests and labor continued to the pleasure and profit of all concerned for a number of years, or until 1902, when the sons determined to assume an undertak- ing of their own, and for this purpose purchased a tract of twelve hundred acres in Long valley upon which they have since resided. Of this they have two hundred acres under cultivation, and one hundred acres which they rent they have in barley. This, however, is but one branch of agriculture in which they are interested, for the raising of cattle, horses and hogs forms probably one of the chief industries of the ranch. All of the ranch not under cultivation is used for grazing purposes.
William C. has formed domestic ties, his mar- riage uniting him with Miss Bernice Butterfield, ·of Watsonville.
CHARLES BONIFACIO.
A native son of the state and a representative of one of the oldest families of California, Charles Bonifacio was born in Monterey, October 7. 1866, a son of Juan and Juana ( Espinosa) Boni- facio. The former was a brother of Marinacio Bonifacio, who was famous in history as the sweetheart of General Sherman. Their home is located in Monterey and is one of the landmarks and places of interest, as at the entrance General Sherman planted a rosebush, and it is now point- ed out to the traveler as the "Sherman rose." It has never bloomed, and according to tradition the reason is given that he never returned to keep faith with his betrothed. The family that is represented by Mr. Bonifacio is connected with the Pinto family, his paternal grandmother being Carmella Pinto. His mother, Juana Espi- nosa, was born in 1846 and is a descendant of the Boronda and Espinosa families. Jose Manuel Boronda, great-grandfather of Charles Bonifacio, was one of the original Spanish fami- lies of California, and he had a son, Juan De- mata Boronda, who was born in 1813 and lived to reach the ripe old age of ninety years, dying 26
in 1903. He was the owner of the Laurelles rancho. Taking the records of the families with whom he is connected, it entitles Mr. Bonifacio to a just claim to Monterey county, which has been the scenes of his labors from infancy.
Born in Monterey and living here until he was seven years of age, Charles Bonifacio was then taken to the Santa Rita rancho by his mother, and there he attended school and grew to manhood. His first independent venture was as a hired hand on the dairy ranch of the late Z. Hebert and for six years remained with his employer. The following four years he was employed on the Laguna Seco rancho, and then worked for . C. F. Langley for two years. During all this time he was learning the different branches of the stock business, as well as the methods of general farming as carried on by the successful men by whom he was employed, experiences which inspired in him a desire to become the owner of an industry of his own. When he left the employ of Mr. Langley he bought stock of him and leased one thousand acres of the Chupenes ranch. and for two years built the foundation of a successful business. In 1900 he removed to the Soledad Mission ranch and operated it on shares with the owner, B. F. Gould, as a dairy ranch, until 1907, meeting withi success in their undertaking. Here Mr. Boni- facio learned the details of the dairy industry. and in the above named year he moved to his present ranch near Soledad, which is especially adapted to the dairy industry. Two hundred acres are in alfalfa, and on the one hundred acres of bottom land he maintains one hundred cows, and the milk is all made into cheese on the ranch. It is equipped with a modern plant for that purpose, and the daily output is twelve twenty-five pound cheeses. At the fairs where he has exhibited his cheese he has taken many premiums during the last three seasons, for they are counted among the best in the state. One of the principal industries carried on by him is the raising of high-grade stock, making a spe- cialty of full-blooded Holsteins, and he has a demand for his young bulls from all parts of the country. At the present time he has a herd of young stock, numbering about two hundred three-year-old animals. He has a range of about two thousand acres, where the stock can roam at
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will. Besides cattle, he has many hogs that are a source of income to him.
Mr. Bonifacio has always been interested in the welfare of his locality and served as trustee of the Chupenes school district. He is a mem- ber of Soledad Circle, Foresters of America. In all movements for the upbuilding of the county Mr. Bonifacio has never neglected the duties of a citizen, and has been a liberal supporter to all public enterprises.
ALEXANDER EATON.
There now survive but a comparatively small number of the men who, in the years immediately following the discovery of gold in the west, be- came pioneers of California. From every part of the globe they traveled hither by the thou- sands, eager to prospect for gold in the mines that already had brought wealth to many of the early Argonauts. Few attained the riches they had hoped to wrest from the mines. Some per- ished in the midst of hardships and privations, while fortune was smiling upon their material labors. Some returned, with their gold, to east- ern homes. Some turned their ambitious efforts to other occupations, having decided that the climate and soil of the west offered inducements for permanent residence. In the last-named class we may mention the name of Alexander Eaton, a pioneer of 1852, now residing in the city of Salinas. It was during September of the year named that he landed in San Francisco, after a voyage via Cape Horn on the barque Fanny Major, which completed the long trip from the east in one hundred and fifty-seven days. A diary of the voyage, which he kept from day to day, long remained in his possession, and its eventual loss was a source of regret to him.
Born in Orange county, N. Y., January 8, 1830, Alexander Eaton received a common school education, and at the age of fifteen years entered upon an apprenticeship to the blacksmith's trade, which he followed after the completion of his term. His parents, John and Hannah (Short) Eaton, were of Scotch and English descent re- spectively, but were born in Orange county, where also they were reared and married. After having lived long and honorable lives in the same
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