History of Contra Costa County, California; with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its growth and development from the early days to the present, Part 46

Author: Munro-Fraser, J. P
Publication date: 1926
Publisher: Los Angeles, Calif. : Historic Record Co.
Number of Pages: 1118

USA > California > Contra Costa County > History of Contra Costa County, California; with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its growth and development from the early days to the present > Part 46

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In 1864 Mr. Fleming married Bridget Beahan, born in the same county and grew up there with him, and also accompanied the Flemings to Boston, where she remained until he sent for her. They had ten children, five of them growing to maturity, viz : Edward, living in Oakland and the father of two boys and four girls; Thomas, in Richmond; Mary, making her home with Thomas; Sarah, died aged twenty-three; and Joseph, met an accidental death in the California Cap Works in 1922, when forty-eight. The children were reared on the Tewksbury ranch in Wild Cat Creek, whither the father had moved in the late sixties. The mother died in

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1888 at the age of fifty-five. Mr. Fleming continued to farm and raise grain and stock until he was forced to retire on account of old age and he then made his home in East Richmond with his children. He died in 1917 at the age of eighty-seven, respected and beloved by a wide circle of friends. He often said that he gave the first $20 towards building St. Paul's Catholic Church in San Pablo, and for over fifty years enjoyed passing the collection box in that church. As a citizen he did his duty on the jury many times, was public spirited and enjoyed the close friendship of many of the old settlers in and about San Pablo. At his passing the county lost one of its highly respected citizens.

BENJAMIN BOORMAN .- The oldest man now living in the Rich- mond section of Contra Costa County both in years and residence is Ben- jamin Boorman, who lives on Cutting Boulevard, Richmond. This ven- erable citizen, now past ninety-four years of age, is hale and hearty and delights to recount the days of long ago to his many friends and visitors. A native of New York, he was born in Chautauqua County, on March 27, 1832, the son of Benjamin and Sarah (Hosmer) Boorman, both born, reared and married in England. They came to the United States and located in New York State where they were farmers and there they spent their last days, both passing away at the age of ninety-four years. After many years of hard work on the farm the elder Boorman sold the place to our subject and his brother who carried on the work for a time. When Benjamin was twenty he decided to go to Wisconsin and after five years spent in that state took Horace Greeley's advice to "Go West and grow up with the country" and went to Kansas where he followed the trade of car- penter, he having learned the rudiments of that calling while living in New York State; he had also worked at blacksmithing and at the harness- maker's trade in his home state. Settling in Leroy, Coffey County, Kans., Mr. Boorman followed his trade of carpenter and also took up eighty acres of land there. He became active in politics in that frontier state and served as a deputy sheriff and constable ; was also a delegate to the county convention that was to select the county seats of the various counties.

Still following Greeley's advice, Mr. Boorman disposed of his hold- ings in Kansas and joined a government train going to Camp Floyd, then located near Salt Lake City. He later joined some friends and they started from Fort Leavenworth for California, Mr. Boorman being se- lected to captain the train, and he was the first man to drive a team over Simpson's Pass in Nevada. Coming direct to this county, where he had an old friend named Charles Mayburn, a farmer on the San Pablo Rancho, Mr. Boorman leased land and began raising hay and grain and some good stock, for he always has been a lover of good horses. His operations did not pan out as he expected; so he went to Nevada and bought a wood ranch, cutting the wood and hauling it to Virginia City; his first contract for wood was made with Governor Blaisdell. He did very well in this venture but put his savings into mining property and

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promptly lost them. This was in 1862-1863. He then made a visit to California, but went back to Nevada and bought lumber in the Sierra Valley, California, for $20 per thousand, hauling it to Austin, Nev., where he sold it for $500 per thousand. The year 1864 was spent in Montana where he worked as drifter at mining in Alder Gulch; he soon got an- other job as drifter, which paid him nine dollars per day, soon being in- creased to ten dollars. At one job he worked three months and averaged $500 per day for his employer. His wages were paid in scrip, which proved to be worthless ; so he went on to British Columbia and bought an interest in a claim, continuing until in 1865, when he decided California was good enough for him and he came back to Contra Costa County and leased 600 acres from the Castro family and raised hay, grain and stock, supplying the former products to the feed stores in Oakland. He raised some very fine draft horses which he exhibited at various fairs in Oakland, and out of six specimens exhibited took five first premiums. He made some money and became a substantial citizen of the county.

In 1893 Mr. Boorman bought ten acres of land upon which he erected his present residence. Part of this tract he laid out in town lots, and he was the first man to sell the right-of-way to the Southern Pacific Railway when they came through here. At that time the population of San Pablo, West Berkeley, Oakland and Brooklyn was only a few more than 500 souls. He has lived to see the wonderful changes wrought in this section and has always taken a keen interest in the events from day to day. For sixteen years Mr. Boorman served as a deputy county tax assessor, his territory extending from the county line on the south to the Union Oil works on the north. He was assessing here when Richmond came into being and he knew everybody in this section and everybody knew Benjamin Boorman. He has the record of collecting poll taxes, in this section, col- lecting from 1800 employees of the Standard Oil Company refinery and 500 persons from Hercules Powder Works; that was at the time when the collector received a percentage of collections and of course was very ac- tive in getting hold of the men who had to pay. For nine years he served as a trustee of the San Pablo school district.

In 1875 Mr. Boorman was united in marriage in Contra Costa County with Mrs. Anne (Cross) Wood, born in Liverpool, England. She was the widow of William Wood, an Englishman, by whom she had six chil- dren, three of them now living, viz .: Robert, Frank and Luceta, wife of Paul Dunlap. Mrs. Boorman had come to California from England in 1856. Of the union of Mr. and Mrs. Boorman three children were born, two of them living. Mrs. Adelaide Picton, living in Richmond on Twenty- eighth Street, has five children. Mrs. Emily B. Axtell makes her home with her father and is engaged in educational work. All his life Mr. Boorman has been a Republican. He is a Mason, holding his membership in McKin- ley Lodge, and was the first man to join this lodge in Richmond. Mrs. Boorman died on July 23, 1919, at the age of eighty-two years. Now at the age of more than ninety-four years Mr. Boorman can look back upon a

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life well-spent and forward without fear for he has done what he could towards the development of this county he selected for his permanent home. He has bought and sold some real estate and made a success of whatever he undertook. His friends are legion and he is an interesting conversationalist, covering many points of early history of this country.

BLOOM B. ROGERS .- One of the best-known men of Contra Costa County, where he has lived practically all of his life, Bloom B. Rogers is a native son, and both his father and mother were also natives of Cali- fornia, for Grandfather Rogers crossed the plains in an ox-team train in 1850, founding the family here in that early day. Born in Walnut Creek, Contra Costa County, June 2, 1875, Bloom B. Rogers is a son of C. W. and Martha (Leach) Rogers, the former a native of Drytown, Amador County, and the latter of Ione, in the same county.

C. W. Rogers, son of the old pioneer, was born during the stirring pioneer times, and received his education in the famous old Lincoln School in San Francisco. Coming to Contra Costa County in 1860, he engaged in the butcher business in Walnut Creek, and later built the Ala Costa Inn at that place, which is still standing and is now owned by his brother, W. A. Rogers. He also operated a liquor establishment in con- nection with the hotel, as did practically all country hotel-keepers in those days. The old oak tree which stands in front of the Oak Center Cafe was one of the landmarks of the town, land surveys being made from the tree, and other community happenings starting or ending there. Held in high esteem by his friends in the county, C. W. Rogers was elected constable, and served in the days when land squatters caused much trouble for the settler. He later was elected sheriff of Contra Costa; in 1888 he moved to Martinez, and served six years in that office. At the end of that period he was elected constable and appointed night watchman of that city, and later he had charge of the pumping and water testing station of the Southern Pacific Railway. After a life too short in span of years, but full of kind deeds and long public service, this old settler of Contra Costa County passed to his reward in 1910, survived by his devoted helpmate and six children: Bloom B., of this review; Mrs. Viola Larkin; Mrs. Harriett McCann; Charles A .; Mrs. Noami Youney; and Mrs. Ruth Miller. Prominent fraternally, he was a charter member of Central Parlor, N. S. G. W., of Walnut Creek, and a charter member of the Martinez Camp, Woodmen of the World. In political affiliation he was always a stanch Republican.

Bloom B. Rogers was educated in the schools of Walnut Creek and Martinez. He worked for the Southern Pacific Railway when a boy, and later learned the printer's trade in the composing room of the Martinez Enterprise. For a time he was engineer with the Port Costa Water Company, and he was also in the employ of the Peyton Chemical Com- pany, the Pacific Gas & Electric Company, the Standard Oil Company, and

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the General Chemical Company. During the World War he went East and was a lead-burner with the Du Pont Powder Company in Wisconsin. He was in charge of the lead plant for that concern in Butte, Mont., and he also was superintendent of the lead plant for the New Cornelia Copper Company at Ajo, Ariz. One of the best-known men in the county, with friends in every section of it, from the country districts to the larger cities, he was elected constable of Martinez in 1922, taking office in 1923, and is now most ably filling the position held by his father before him, for which he is most admirably fitted.

The marriage of Mr. Rogers, occurring on April 18, 1898, united him with Annie Devery, a native of Ireland. A man of unusual public spirit, he is actively interested in advancing the interests of his home county, both socially and economically. Fraternally, he is a member of the Blue Lodge of Masons ; the Sciots, of Antioch; Martinez Parlor, N. S. G. W .; the Woodmen of the World; the Loyal Order of Moose; and the Phoenix, Ariz., lodge of Elks.

HON. ROBERT WALLACE, JR .- He who seeks to promote the cause of justice, and in the course of a long life advances directly or in- directly the educational, commercial and agricultural interests of his com- munity or county, is entitled to mention in the pages of its history as a public benefactor. Such is the record of Judge Robert Wallace, a native son and an early pioneer of Contra Costa County, whose efforts have always been directed towards the county's betterment and welfare. He was born on September 28, 1859, at San Francisco, a son of Robert and Ann (Shepard) Wallace, both natives of Northshields, England. The father was reared in England, where he learned the trade of the ship caulker. He emigrated to America, and locating in San Francisco, Cal., in 1857, worked at his trade until he retired. The mother died in 1892. Robert Wallace, Sr., invested his savings in real estate, and in 1870 pur- chased 160 acres in Contra Costa County, south of Brentwood.

Robert Wallace, Jr., was reared on his father's ranch and after leaving school managed the home place; later he purchased 160 acres adjoining and became a very successful agriculturist. In 1903 he was elected justice of the peace of Township Nine, Contra Costa County; and through his able, conscientious and just decisions he has so won the con- fidence of the community that he has been re-elected to this important post ever since.

Judge Wallace was united in marriage with Alice J. Murphy, a daughter of John Murphy of Concord, and this union has been blessed with four children: Robert H., Ray L., Elaine A. (Mrs John P. Brewer ), and Richard J. The family home is now located at Brentwood. Fraternally, Judge Wallace is a member and Past Master of Brentwood Lodge No. 345, F. & A. M., and a Past Patron of the Eastern Star. He is a trustee of the Masonic Temple at Brentwood, and much credit for

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the conception, erection and completion of this new and beautiful building is due to the enthusiasm, untiring efforts and wise counsel of Judge Wallace. He is a member of the Contra Costa County Agricultural As- sociation and of the Point of Timber Cemetery Association, being the only surviving member of the original board. He is vice-president of the Bank of Antioch. The name of Robert Wallace, Jr., will be long and honorably associated with the history of Brentwood and Contra Costa County.

ALFRED FRANK .- A native son of Contra Costa County and now a farmer in the San Pablo district, Alfred Frank was born on October 20, 1867, a son of August Frank, who was born in Germany and was there educated until he came to California. He first located in the Eden district near Hayward, and then came to San Pablo and bought 160 acres of Juan B. Alvarado and began making improvements. He married Annie Hennings, also born in Germany, and they had two children: August, now in Hayward, and Alfred, our subject. The father died in 1868 at the age of thirty-eight. Mrs. Frank married for her second husband Frank Wrede, and they had four children: Christina, Mrs. L. Miller; Fred, deceased; Matilda, Mrs. Henry Phillips; and Miss Anna, all born on the Frank ranch in this county. In 1876 the family moved to the Eden district in Alameda County, and there the mother died in 1907 at the age of seventy-one.

Alfred Frank attended the public schools and worked at ranch work on the farm until about of age; then he came back to Contra Costa County and took charge of the old ranch where he was born. He and his brother had fallen heir to the property, which in the settlement of the Spanish grant diminished to eighty acres. This property he has improved with an orchard of apricots and peaches in commercial quantities. There had been a family orchard set out by his parents at an early period. He also erected the present buildings on the place, and has been prosperous in his undertakings.

Mr. Frank was married on December 16, 1897, to Miss Alvina Thode, born and reared on San Pablo Creek, where her father, Nicholas Thode, was one of the pioneer farmers. Her father and mother were born in Germany, came to the United States single, and were married in San Francisco. The father came as a young man, being accompanied by his father. For some time he engaged in dairying in South San Francisco, and then came to this county and farmed on the adobe lands for a time, after which he bought land on the creek and improved a fine farm. The Sheldon ranch, which he bought, was a part of the Sobrante Grant, and when that was settled he lost all but twenty-nine acres, upon which he lived until his death, in 1911, at the age of sixty-nine. His good wife, Emma Thode, died in 1924 at the age of seventy-six. They had seven children, viz .: Fred and Alvina, twins; Adelle, Mrs. Nels Engelbret;

John Seddes

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Clara, Mrs. William Hughes; Emma, Mrs. James Connor ; Rudolph ; and one son, Otto, who died in infancy in 1880. The children were born, reared and educated in Contra Costa County. Mr. and Mrs. Frank have two girls: Alice, now the wife of Stanley Bergesen of Pittsburg; and Zetta, the wife of E. B. Jones of Richmond. Both girls are graduates of the Richmond High School. Mr. Frank is a very public-spirited man, doing all he can to aid in the development of this section. He is a booster for Contra Costa County, believing there is no other place in the State its equal for opportunities to make good. The family have a host of friends and are highly respected by all who know them.

JOHN GEDDES .- Among the earliest pioneers in eastern Contra Costa County was the late John Geddes, for over forty years identified with the agricultural development of the section known as Byron Precinct. He was a native of Halifax County, Nova Scotia, and was born on a farm on June 23, 1837, the son of William Putnam and Elizabeth (Blackie) Geddes, both natives of Nova Scotia, where they lived and passed away.

John Geddes helped his father with the farm work and went to school when he could be spared. In the winter time the snow would at times be six feet deep, and young John often had difficulty in getting to school; besides, he was obliged to help earn a livelihood by working in the woods, and therefore his education was meager. While still in young manhood he and his brother, Charles B. Geddes, sailed from Halifax via Boston and New York, and thence via the Isthmus of Panama, to San Francisco, arriving there in December, 1868. The brothers went to Stockton and engaged in work on the railroad then in course of construction from Tracy to Livermore. The next fall they rented a section of land in San Joaquin County. The first two years were too dry to raise crops, but the third year made up for it in a bumper crop of wheat and barley. They had three sections in wheat and a half-section in barley; altogether they farmed there for fourteen years.

On November 9, 1875, Mr. Geddes was married to Miss Jessie Carroll, born in Colchester County, Nova Scotia; and they became the parents of eight children : Emma, now the wife of Robert Clark, residing at Knightsen; Elizabeth, at home with her mother; Henry, who died at the age of three years; George, who married Mabel Shafer and lives at Knightsen; Herbert, who married Lola Masterton and lives in Brent- wood, and farms a portion of the Geddes homestead; Harry, who mar- ried Ruth Ellsworth and is a farmer near the home place; Lloyd, who married Edith Chadwick and resides in Brentwood; and Marguerite, the wife of E. J. Lang, chief chemist for the Associated Oil Company, resid- ing in Long Beach. The Geddes family removed to Contra Costa County and purchased 320 acres of land, which has been continuously farmed to good advantage. While Mr. Geddes gave most of the old home place

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to his sons, he continued to live there the balance of his life, content to grow old on the place which had been his home for so many years; and there he died on July 9, 1926.

ANSON STILES BLAKE .- Born in San Francisco on August 6, 1870, Anson Stiles Blake is the son of a Forty-niner in California. His father, Charles Thompson Blake, became a very prominent factor in the early development of the Northwest. The public schools of San Fran- cisco furnished the early education of our subject, which he supplemented with a course at the University of California at Berkeley, graduating therefrom in 1891 with the A. B. degree. Upon leaving college he first worked as secretary of the Bay Rock Company on Sheep Island for two years, and then one year was spent in the mercantile trade in his native city. In 1894 he joined his father in the Oakland Paving Company in Oakland, continuing with that concern until 1913, when he sold out the interest. In 1904 the Blake & Bilger Company had been organized, and at the time of the earthquake and fire in San Francisco they were prospecting for rock deposits on the hill at Castro Point, Contra Costa County. These were found satisfactory, and thereupon they purchased from John and Luke Fay the entire property fronting the Bay and began operations, getting out rock for various purposes. In 1914 the interests held by Mr. Bilger in the corporation were sold to Blake Brothers Com- pany. Since 1907 there has been quarried some 4,000,000 tons of their manufactured products, and this has been sold within a radius of 100 miles of the Bay cities. In the days of sailing vessels the ship took crushed rock for ballast, and it was carried to various ports of the world. A. S. Blake is president of this concern and has offices in San Francisco at 593 Market Street. E. T. Blake is vice-president and engineer, looking after the operations of the quarry. They employ some seventy men the year round and furnish a superior product to the trade. Both brothers erected modern and commodious homes in Contra Costa County in Kensington precinct, on the hill overlooking the Bay of San Francisco and the cities fronting the Bay.

Mr. Blake is in reality a pioneer of this section of the county, hav- ing been interested with George Schmidt, in 1897, in the purchase of the Ann Galvin property on the hills and on the flats. They paid for the first-mentioned the sum of $17 per acre, which included $7 court fees in settling the grant; and this they subdivided and sold at $80 per acre. The flat land they bought for $65 per acre, divided it into fifty-foot lots, and sold them for $50 per lot.

Mr. Blake is much interested in the gathering and preserving of California historical data, and is a member and a director of the Cali- fornia Historical Society. Blake Brothers Company is a member of the Richmond Chamber of Commerce.

In 1894 Anson S. Blake was united in marriage with Anita Day Symmes, born in San Francisco the daughter of Frank J. Symmes, a navy

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officer, and granddaughter of Thomas Day, a pioneer of the Golden State. They occupy their home in Kensington precinct, which Mr. Blake erected in 1922. As a man and citizen, Mr. Blake is held in the high- est esteem by all who know him, and is always ready to do his full share towards assisting any enterprise for further developing his State.

WILLIAM F. RUST .- The actual founder and first citizen of what is now the city of El Cerrito, is William F. Rust, better known to the older generation in this locality as "Uncle Billy" Rust, now living retired and enjoying a well-earned competency. He was born in Han- over, Germany, on November 27, 1857, and attended the schools in his native land until he was sixteen, when he began an apprenticeship as a blacksmith in Hanover. After serving the required number of years he became a journeyman and in 1877 came to America, landing in Chi- cago, where he remained a little over a year. During this time he became familiar with American methods and with enough of the language so that he had no trouble in making himself understood and understanding others. After visiting a sister who lived in Kansas City, Mo., where she was one of the very early pioneers, he went to Cheyenne, where he was employed by the U. S. Government as a blacksmith, at Camp Carling. When the soldiers were ordered to Arizona at the time of the Apache uprising, he was regularly enlisted in the service and remained with the command for two years, when he was discharged.

In 1883 Mr. Rust came to California, stopping in San Pablo, then a town boasting of a dozen saloons and about an equal number of houses. It was a regular stopping place between Oakland, Point Isabella and Martinez and was a lively place. He was engaged at his trade, and while there became acquainted with Henry V. Alvarado, now superior judge of Contra Costa County. In 1888 he made a trip to Europe to visit his relatives, and when he came back he decided he would look for a location and engage in business for himself. Looking about for a suit- able location, he concluded that if he could get a site for a shop he would locate on San Pablo Avenue, near the Contra Costa line. Mr. Castro, the pioneer of this section, owned a great deal of land, which was leased to tenants for crop rent, and from one of these, Henry Albertsen, he leased a plot of ground for $20 per year. After he had built his shop, hauling the lumber from Berkeley, he was called upon by Mr. Castro, who made no objection to his shop but considered that inasmuch as he owned the land he ought to have some rent for it, not knowing that Mr. Rust had already bargained with Mr. Albertsen. He readily agreed with Mr. Castro, and they decided that $5 per year would be ample compensation. As this was a likely farming country, his trade grew gradually, much of it being drawn from among his friends in the San Pablo district, and he decided that he would engage in the imple- ment business. In 1902 he made a trip back to Germany, taking his family; and in 1903, after his return, he erected a store building, having

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History of Contra Costa County, California; with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its growth and development from the early days to the present, Part 46

Author: Munro-Fraser, J. P Publication date: 1926 Publisher: Los Angeles, Calif. : Historic Record Co. Number of Pages: 1118

Author: Munro-Fraser, J. P
Publication date: 1926
Publisher: Los Angeles, Calif. : Historic Record Co.
Number of Pages: 1118