USA > California > Monterey County > History of Monterey County, California : with illustrations descriptive of its scenery, farms, residences, public buildings, factories, hotels, business houses, schools, churches, and mines : with biiographical sketches of prominent citizens > Part 33
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Thus she went on. The tea leaves were eaten, the seeds chewed, the sugar all dispensed, the daye were bright, and compared with the nights, comfortable. Occasionally, when the sun shone, their voices were heard, though generally they sat or lay in a kind of etupor from which she often found it difficult to arouse them.
The fire had sunk eo far away that they had felt but little of its warmth the last two nights, and casting her eyes down into the enow-pit, whence it sent forth only a dull glow, she tbought ehe eaw the welcome face of mother Earth. It was
such a renewing sight after their long, freezing separation from it! She immediately aroused her eldest son, John, and with a great deal of difficulty, and repeating words of cheer and encouragement, brought him to understand that sbe wished him to descend hy one of the tree-tops wbich had fallen in eo as to make a sort of ladder, and see if they could reach the naked earth, and if it were possible for them all to go down. She trembled with fear at the vacant silence in which be at first gazed at her, hut at length, after she had told him a great many times, he said, "Yes, mother," and went.
He reached the bottom safely, and presently spoke to her. There was naked dry earth under his feet; it was warm, and he wished her to come down. Sbe laid her haby heside some of the sleepers and descended. Immediately she determined upon taking them all down. How good, she thought, as she descended the boughs, was the God whom she trusted. By perseverance, by entreaty, by encouragement, and with her own aid, she got them into this snug shelter.
Relief came not, and as starvation crept closer and closer to himself and those about him, Patrick Breen deter- mined that it was his duty to employ tbe means of sus- taining life which God seemed to have placed before tbem. The lives of all might he saved by resorting to such food as others, in like circumstances, had subsisted upon. Mrs. Breen, however, declared that she would die, and see her children die, before her life or theirs sbould he preserved by such means. If ever the father gave to the dying children, it was without her consent or knowledge. She never tasted, nor knew of her children partaking. Mrs. Farnham says that when Patrick Breen ascended to obtain the dreadful repast, his wife, frozen with horror, hid her face in her hands, and could not look up. She was conscious of his return and of something going on about the fire, but she could not bring herself to uncover her eyes till all had subsided again into silence. Her husband remarked that perhaps they were wrong in rejecting a means of sustaining life of which others had availed themselves, hut she put away the suggestion so fearfully that it was never renewed or acted upon by any of her family.
The eighth day was passed. On the ninth morning she ascended to watch for her star of mercy. Clear and bright it stood over against her besecching gaze, set in the light, liquid blue that overflows the pathway of the opening day. Sbe prayed earnestly as she gazed, for she knew that there were but few hours of life in those dearest to her. If human aid came not that day, some eyes that would soon look iuiploringly into hers, would be closed in death hefore that star would rise again. Would ehe herself, with all her endurance and resist- ing love, live to see it ? Were they at length to perish ? Great God ! ehould it be permitted that they, who bad heen preserved through so much, should die at last so miserably ?
Her eyes were dim, and her sigbt wavering. She could not dietinguish trees from men on the snow, but had they heen
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near, ehe could have heard them, for her ear had grown so sen- sitive that the slightest unaccustomed noise arrested her atten- tion. She went helow with a heavier heart than ever before; she had not a word of hope to answer the languid inquiring countenances that were turned to her face, and she was con- scious that it told the story of her despair. Yet she strove with some half-insane words to suggest that somehody would surely come to them that day.
They repeated the litany. The responses came so feebly that they were scarcely audihle, and the protracted utterances seemed wearisome. At last it was over, and they rested in silence.
The sun mounted higher and higher in the heavens, and when the day was three or four hours old she placed her trembling feet again upon the ladder to look out once more. The corpses of the dead lay always before her as she reached the top-the mother and her son, and the little boy, whose remains she could not even glance at since they had heen mutilated- The blanket that covered them eould not shut out the horror of the sight.
But this time something caused her face to flush as if the blood, thin and cold as it was, would hurst its vessels! What was it? Nothing that she saw, for her eyes were quite dimmed by the sudden access of excitement ! It was the sound of voices! By a superhuman effort she kept herself from falling. Was it reality or delusion ? She must at least live to know the truth. It came again and again. . She grew calmer as she became more assured, and the first distinct words she heard uttered were, " There is Mrs. Breen alive yet, anyhow!" Three men were advancing toward her. She knew that now there would he no more starving. Death was repelled for this time from the precious little floek he had so long threatened, and she might offer up thanksgiving uncheeked hy the dreads and fears that had so long frozen her
When these members of the third relief party reached the deep, well-like cavity in which were the seven Brecns, the three Graves children, and Mary Donner, a serious question arose. None of the eleven, except Mrs. Breen and John Breen, were able to walk. A storm appeared to be gathering upon the mountains, and the supply of provisions was very limited. The lonely situation, the weird, desolate surroundings, the appalling scenes at the camp, and above all, the danger of being overtaken by a snow-storm, filled the minds of Oakley and Stone with terror. When it was found that nine out of the eleven people must he carried over the snow, it is hardly to he wondered at that a proposition was made to leave a por- tion of the sufferers. It was proposed to take the three Gravee children and Mary Donner. These four children would be quite a sufficient hurden for the three men, considering the enow over which they must travel. The Breens, or at least euch of them as could not walk, were to be ahandoncd. This was equivalent to leaving the father, mother, and five children.
JOHN STARK SAVES THE PARTY.
The members of the third Donner relief party are said to have taken a vote upon the question. This scene is deseribed in the manuscript of Hon. James F. Breen : " Those who were in favor of returning to the settlements and leaving the Breens for a future relief party (which under the circumstances, was equivalent to the death penalty), were to answer 'aye.' The question was put to each man by name, and as the names were called, the dreadful 'aye' responded. John Stark's name was the last one called, because he had, during the discussion of the question, strongly opposed the proposition for ahandonment, and it was naturally supposed that when he found himself in so hopeless a minority he would surrender. When his name was called, he made no answer until some said to him: 'Stark, won't you vote ?' Stark, during all this proceeding of calling the roll, had stood apart from his companions with howed head and folded arms. When he was thus directly appcaled to, he answered quickly and decidedly, 'No, gentlemen, I will not abandon these people. I am here on a mission of merey, and I will not half do the work. You can all go if you want to, but I shall stay hy these people while they and I live.'"
It was nobly said. If the Breens had been left at Starved Camp, even untd the return of Foster, Eddy, Miller and Thompson from the Lake, none would have ever reached the settlements. In continuation of the above narration, the fol- lowing is taken from the manuscript of John Breen: "Stark was finally left alone. To his great bodily strength, and unex- celled courage, myself and others owe our lives. There was probably no other man in California at that time, who had the intelligenee, determination, and what was absolutely necessary in that emergency, the immense physical powers of John Stark. He was as strong as two ordinary men. On his hroad shoulders he carried the provisions, most of the hlankets, and most of the time some of the weaker children. In regard to this, he would laughingly say that he eould carry them all if there was room on his haek, hecause they were so light from starvation."
By every means in his power, Stark would cheer and eneour- age the poor sufferers. Frequently he would carry one or two ahead a little way, put them down, and return for the others. James F. Breen says : "I distinctly remember that myself and Jonathan Graves were hoth earried by Stark, on his hack the greater part of the journey." Others speak similarly.
Each one of the persons who were taken from Starved Camp hy this man and his two companions, reached Sutter's Fort in safety. James F. Breen had his feet hadly frozen, and afterwards hurned while at the camp. No one had any hope that they could he saved, and when the party reached the fort, a doctor was sought to amputate them. None could he found, and kind nature effected a cure which a physician would have pronounced impossible.
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BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES OF RESIDENTS.
In concluding thie chapter, it is quite appropriate to quote the following, written by J. F. Breen : "No one can attach blame to those who voted to leave part of the emigrants. It was a desperate case. Their idea was to save as many as pos- sihle, and they honestly helieved that hy attempting to save all, all would he lost. But this consideration-and the further one that Stark was an entire stranger to every one in the camps, not hound to them hy any tie of hlood or kindred, nor having any hope of reward, except the grand consciousness of doing a nohle act-makes his conduct shine more lustrously in the eyes of every person who admires nature's true and only nohility."
Those who were hrought to Starved Camp by the second relief, and saved by a portion of the third relief, were Pat- rick Breen, Mrs. Margaret Breen, John Breen, Patrick Breen, Jr., James F. Breen, Peter Breen, Isahella M. Breen, Nancy Graves, Jonathan Graves, Elizabeth Graves, and Mary M. Donner.
Mr. Breen lived to see all his children grow to maturity and hecome estahliehed in life. On the twenty-first of December, he peacefully closed his eyes to this world, surrounded hy every member of his family, all of whom he preceded to the tomh. All the surviving members of the Breen family are still residing at or near San Juan.
Edward J. Breen married in 1858. His wife died in 1862, leaving the following children : Eugene T., Edward J., and John Roger. Patrick Breen, Jr., married in 1865 ; his wife is living, and their children are: Mary, William, Peter, Eugenc. Simon P. Breen married in 1867; his wife is living ; their children arc: Geneva and Mary. James F. Breen, the present Superior Judge of San Benito county, married in 1870; his wife is liv- ing ; their only surviving children are Margaret and Grace. Peter. Breen died, unmarried, on July 3, 1870, hy accidental death. Isabella M. Breen was married in 1869, to Thomas McMahon, and with her husband resides at Hollister, San Benito county. William M. Breen was horn in San Juan in 1848, and was not of the Donner party. He died in 1874, leaving a widow and one child, Mary.
MARGARET BREEN the heroic woman, devoted wife, and faith- ful mother, had the satisfaction of living to see her infant fam- ily, for whose preservation she had struggled so hard and wrought so ceaselessly, grow to manhood and womanhood. In prosperity, as in adversity, ehe was ever good, kind, coura- geous and " affahle to the congregation of the Lord." She was always self-reliant, and equal to the most trying emergencies; and yet at all.times, she had a deep and ahiding faith in God, and firmly relied on the mercy and goodness of Him to whom ehe prayed so ardently and confidently in the heavy hour of her tribulation. The hope of her later years was that she might not he required to witness the death of any of her chil- dren ; hut it was willed differently, as two of them preceded her to the grave. April 13, 1874, ripe in years, loved hy
the poor, honored and respected hy all for her virtues and her well-spent life, she quietly and peacefully passed from the midst of her sorrowing family to the other and hetter shore
PATRICK BREEN.
PATRICK BREEN is a California pioneer of 1847, and came overland to this State with the celebrated Donner party, whose trials and sufferings are a part of the early history of California, some particulars of which have just heen related.
Patrick Breen was horn March 12, 1837, in Iowa. He left Keokuk, Iowa, for California, leaving St. Joseph, Missouri, in May, 1846, and reached Sutter's Fort in May, 1847. He was snowed in at Donner Lake, and, with the other members of his father's family, passed the winter there, enduring great hardships and privations. He was then a youth, hut remem- hers many of the incidents of those fearful scenes. He came to San Juan in 1848, and engaged with the family in farming and etock-raising.
His own farm consists of one thousand acres, eight miles from Hollister and near San Juan. It is of level and rolling land, and of an excellent quality, producing nearly all kinds of 'cercals, fruits and vegetables, hut is mostly devoted to raising of wheat.
He married Miss Amelia Anderson in 1864, who was a native of Australia, and they have children as follows: Mary, William, Peter, Eugene, and Amelia Breen.
JOHN BREEN.
JOHN BREEN is also a pioneer of the State, having reached California two years hefore the rush of gold-seekers. He was also with the Donner party, whose tragie history is so well . known. The party set out with ox-teams, taking the South Pass route. They experienced no trouble with the Indians or from other causes, and hy proceeding slowly were snowed in, in November, 1846, at Donner Lake, and provisions hecoming exhausted, the family endured great suffering hefore they were rescued.
John Breen was born in Upper Canada, Fehruary 21, 1832, and is the son of Patrick and Margaret Breen, heretofore men- tioned. He was born on a farm, and his father moved to Iowa when he was two years of age. He attended the public school until the family set out for California, at that time an unknown region.
He was rescued and reached the region of Sacramento in 1847. He, although a hoy of sixteen, mined with good success at Morman Ieland and at Hangtown.
He stopped a few months at what was called San Jose Mission, and then reached what is now his home on the edge of San Juan, in September, 1848, and engaged in the usual farm occupation of that dato, which was chiefly etock-raising. He went to the mines however in the spring of 1848, and remained until 1849.
$45
TOWN RESIDENCE OF C.H . WATERS, MONTEREY ST HOLLISTER. CAL.
DELMONICO
PLEASANT VIEW RANCH, RESIDENCE OF C. H. WATERS, 1% MILES FROM HOLLISTER. SAN BENITO CO CAL .
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BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES OF RESIDENTS.
His farm consists of three hundred and thirty acres of grain and vegetable land in San Juan. Hc has a stock ranch of one thousand two hundred acres in the upper part of the San Benito valley, situated six miles from San Benito post-office. This ranch is devoted exclusively to stock, and here he kecps about two thousand sheep. Of other stock he generally has ahout his place, four cows, four horses, hesides hogs and other stock.
He married Miss Leah Margaret Smith, a native of Illinois in 1852. The names of their children are: Lillie, Edward, Adelade, Joseph, Frank, Kate, Belle, Charlotte, Gertrude, and Ellen Breen.
CHARLES Y. HAMMOND.
CHARLES Y. HAMMOND is one of the pioneers of the State, having arrived on July 28, 1850, on foot, at Georgetown, He left Rockford, Illinois, with a four-horse team in company with David Cornell, via Salt Lake. They were alone and in company with no train, making the journey in five months. They lost all their horses for want of food, and were finally compelled to finish the journey on foot.
Charles Y. Hammond was horn in New York, July 18, 1826, on his father's farm, where he remained until he was eighteen years of age, when he left home for a residence in Illinois, as agent for the Hall and Pitt's Threshing Machine, and followed that husiness for two years, when he returned to his old home in New York State.
Mr. Hammond is a veteran of the Mexican war, having enlisted soon after his return to New York, in Company K, Second Regiment, United States Artillery, and served his country until peace was declared with Mexico, when he was honorahly discharged in 1847. He then returned to Illinois and followed farming and threshing until 1850, when he went in search of gold.
He mined at Horse-shoe har, on the American river, in 1850, soon after his arrival, and met with good success until winter. He then went to Hangtown and mined until 1851, thence to Jackson, Amador county, where he remained until 1867, engaged in quartz and placer mining, and also in the lumher business.
Mr. Hammond has followed journalism for ten years on this coast. He founded the Yolo Mail at Woodland, Yolo county, in 1868. He was also connected with Thomas A. Springer in publishing the Amador Ledger. Springer was at one time State printer, but has recently died.
Mr. Hammond came to San Benito county in 1871, and engaged in farming and stock-raising on six hundred and forty acres. His location, described elsewhere, is twenty-two miles from Hollister, on the right hank of the San Benito river. It is a sandy loam in the valley, and rolling hill land of good soil. One hundred acres is level. The average yield is fifteen' sacks per acre of grain. He keeps ahout fifty head of cattle, fourteen
horses, hesides hogs and other stock. He also farms six hun- dred acres of the Quien Sahe ranch, which he rents.
Mr. Hammond is Postmaster at Cinnahar. He is also Justice of the Peace for that township, and has held the position for four years.
He married Miss Maria S. Rohinson in 1853, who was also from New York. Their children's names are: Virginia, Nellie, Nettie, Charles S., Frank C., and Grant Hammond.
H. W. COTHRAN.
H. W. COTHRAN, son of Joseph and Temperance Cothran, was horn in Owen county, Indiana, Decemher 9, 1833. His early life, like that of most boys of that day, was attended hy many hard trials in obtaining an education. There were no free schools, and he walked three miles to attend a private school held in a log cabin; tuition $1 per month. His father moved from Indiana to Illinois in 1848, where he remained until his death. For the first month's work he ever did he received six dollars.
In 1859, H. W. Cothran set out for " the West," hut con- eluded to take a life partner, Miss Mary J. Pope, who was horn in Franklin county, Illinois. The names of their children are: Charles, Edward, Abraham, William, Clara, Anna, Ella, and Burnice Cothran.
Mr. Cothran resided in Williamson county, Illinois, for eight years, engaged in various kinds of business, and on April 5, 1859, started for California with ox-teams. Only one ox of the lot reached California, and as they gave out cows were substituted. He reached Petaluma, California, October 20, 1859. Hc first resided in Marin and Colusa counties.
He came to San Bcuito, at that time Monterey, in 1869, and practiced medicine for two years, and then bought is farm and moved there in 1871. The farm is one hundred and seventy-nine acres, about three miles from Hollister in a north-east direction. The soil is a hlack, gravelly loam, and the average production of wheat is thirty hushels. He has one of the best wells of water in the valley. He keeps generally twelve horses, three cows, a large number of hogs, poultry, etc.
JOHN W. GREEN.
JOHN W. GREEN is a native of Oneida county, New York and horn April 24, 1824. His parents, John and Sarah Green, were farmers, and they removed to Michigan when John was eight years of age, and resided in Ypsilanti prior to going to California.
Hc married Miss Harriette A. Letts, February 22, 1847. She was horn in Palmyra, New York. They have four chil- dren : Emma S .. Harriette A., Frances E., and Ellen I. Green. J. W. Grecn is a pioneer of the State, having crossed the mountains in' 1850. He endured many hardships on the jour- ney, walking the entire distance from Joliett, Illinois; to Sacra-
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mento in five months. His search for gold was not successful, and he returned East the following year, but not satisfied with the change, hc returned, and in the winter of 1852 and '53 mined in Nevada city for thirteen montbs, and made six thousand five bundred dollars, with which be again returned to Michigan; But like most others who have tried the climate and ways of California, he decided to return and locate, which he did with bis family, coming by water, and reaching San Francisco, April 24, 1868.
He located that year in Peach Tree valley, and engaged in sbeep-raising, and, in 1872, he moved to his present place and engaged in general farming, on two hundred acres situated about three miles from Hollister. The farm produces corn, wheat, and barley. He bas also good vegetable land, and plenty of good water on the farm in shape of springs; bence the name applied to it-"Spring Brook farm." He keeps about twelve horses, two cows, some sixty-five hogs, sheep and other stock. His home is very pleasant in its surroundings, and the yard is supplied with trees, sbrubbery, and flowers, and everything indicates the home of a prosperous owner.
FIRST SILO.
J. W. Green was the first one on this coast that perfected a " silo." Hc constructed one of one hundred and thirty tons capacity, in 1880. This has proved such a success that he con- templates enlarging it to five hundred tons the present season of 1881.
He avers tbat the ensilage of feed will, in a few years, be found so profitable and convenient as to come into general use. He considers it the most profitable way to provide for tbe feed of stock, and his experiments have settled that fact. Mr. Green is deserving of great credit for his experiments in the ensilaging of feed, which will, no doubt, eventually change tbe manner of managing stock on dairy and other farms.
JAMES F. CORNWELL.
JAMES F. CORNWELL was born in Mason county, Tennessee, December 4, 1829. His parents were Bernard C. Cornwell and Mary C. Lyndsey, wbo were farmers and stock-raisers in Tennessee. Mr. Cornwell left De Kalb county, Arkansas, overland, for California, by way of St. Louis, April 12, 1854, and after a journey devoid of any great events, reached Bear river, Nevada county, August 20, 1854. Here he remained two weeks. He mined in various places for seven years with poor success. He resided, at different times, in Gold Hill. Nevada, for four years ; in Napa county, one year; Colusa county, three years; Siskiyou county, one year; and Silver Mountain, one year.
He came to this county August 20, 1870, and engaged in farm- ing and stock-raising. He bas one hundred and sixty acres,
twenty-six miles from Hollister, and twenty miles from the rail- road, four miles to church, and about the same from school. The soil is grazing land, and is composed of some bottom mixed with rolling hill. Mr. Cornwell gives attention largely to sheep, and has now a flock of two thousand four hundred. He also has eight horses, seventy cattle, one bundred hogs, besides other stock. He is one of the most successful farmers of that section.
He married Miss Calla Whiton, January 21, 1864, who was a native of Missouri. Their children's names are : Barnard L., Jessie J., Warren L., Hattie M., and Nellie J. Cornwell.
W. W. ENGLAND.
W. W. ENGLAND was born in Georgia, on January 16, 1833. His parents were Elisha and Mary E. England, and he remained in Georgia until February 11, 1855, when he started for California, from Marietta, Georgia, via New York, by steamer Illinois to Aspinwall, and from tbe Isthmus, in steamer John L. Stevens, reaching San Francisco, Marcb 17, 1855. He went to El Dorado and Cold Springs and tried mining with moderate success; also, on Mill Creek, Calaveras county, six miles from the "Big Trees," and other places in California, until 1858, when he went to Frazer river, and spent three months in prospecting, and returned, " broke," to Sacramento.
He came to this county in 1869, and has a farm of one thousand two hundred acres, located twelve miles from Hol- lister, devoted principally to grazing. Eighty acres of it are farmed and produce good crops of grain. He also has a good orchard and vineyard, botb in bearing. He also raises all kinds of berries in abundance. He keeps about fifty head of cattle, borses, bogs, and otber stock.
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