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 36
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In 1864, Mr. Reed returned home to visit his parents, Jasper and Mary Reed, and while there, February 22, 1865, married Miss Eliza A. Johnson, of Burr Oak, Michigan, with whom he retraced his steps, vic New York and the Isthmus, to Cali- ifornia, arriving in San Francisco, April 15, 1865, having made the journey in twenty-two days. By this union there were five children, viz: Ora A., Charlie, Hattie E., Hiram, and Myrtie.
His wife died November 20, 1875, and in November, 1876, his youngest child, Myrtie, while playing with fire which was burning in tbe stubble-field, was burnt to death, her clotb- ing catching fire. In 1877, Mr. Reed married his present wife, Miss Alzina Waters, a native of Northumberland county, Canada, who is the mother to his youngest child, Maude May.
In business Mr. Reed was, and is, rather prosperous, After selling his ranch in Alameda county, he bought, in 1869, one in Santa Ana valley, and selling out again, he, at last, in 1872, bought his present fine farm of two hundred and forty acres, located five miles from county seat, railroad and church, two miles from school, and thirty from water travel. The land- light adobe soil, rolling hills and valley-yields ten bags of wheat, ten bags of barley, or two tons of hay, per acre, and is almost sure to bring a crop every year. He also possesses a fine orchard of one hundred bearing trees, which furnishes all kinds of delicious table fruit. There are eight head of cattle, fifteen hogs, twelve horses, and thirteen colts, on the farm, and his yard is full of shrubs and ornamental trees, roses climbing over the porches.
CHARLES A. WOOD.
CHARLES A. WOOD was brought, at the early age of eleveu, by his parents, Davis and Mary Wood, from Illinois to Cali- fornia, They started from Earlville, Illinois, via New York and Panama, had an enjoyable trip of a month, and arrived at Gilroy, June 1, 1855. When fifteen years of age, he accom- panied his parents to their next place of removal, which was in Tulare county, where they were engaged in stock-raising for three years. Theu, in 1863, they moved to Merced county, where he engaged, of his own account, in sheep-raising, until 1874, when he sold out, having been quite successful. Before selling, he, in 1873, entered this county, which he concluded to make his home. He is at present engaged in farming and stock-raising, owning a farm of thirty acres, which is located eight miles from county seat, the same distance from railroad,
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thirty miles from water travel; a church being eight miles, and a school one-half a mile within his place, and the post-office of San Felipe is only two miles distant. He owns nine horses and a few hogs.
The character of the land is san ly loam, which he devotes to raising fruit and vegetables, having all varieties of table fruit. On the farmn are three powerful artesian wells, supplying the whole place with water. Alfalfa Hourishes on the ranch ; in fact, all kinds of products grow readily.
His home overlooks Soap valley, and Soap lake can be plainly seen from the rear of his pretty house.
Mr. Wood was born in Illinois, July 8, 1844, was married in 1868 to Miss Marian Louther, and has six children, viz .: Dena E., Lulu G., Mabel A., Clara A., Elise M., and Freda E Wood.
EDMUND NASON.
Another of our enterprising and flourishing citizens we find in Mr. Edmund Nason, who was born in Eaton, N. H., April 29, 1825, being a son of Mr. Joshua and Mrs. Phebe Nason (the latter having been a Miss Danforth). This gentleman lived in his native State until he was sixteen years of age, when he started out to make his point in the world. He went to Lowell, Mass., remained there until July, 1852, thence to New York, whence, after a sojourn of six weeks, he started on his journey to California. As, at that time, the traveling overland was rather a tiresome journey, he went by steamer to the Istli- mus of Panama, and from there, after a stay of two weeks, to San Francisco. The voyage was a very pleasant one.
Arriving in San Francisco in September of the same year, he drifted into Nevada county, where he was occupied with mining, but with indifferent success. After residing for differ- ent periods in the counties of San Francisco, Alameda and Marin, he at last, in 1868 reached this county, which he made his permanent home, carrying on the business of dairying.
His farm contains ahout seventy acres of good, strong-soiled land, mostly sown with alfalfa, yielding splendid crops, and having good, strong-flowing wells reaching a depth of eighty- five feet. The farm is located about seven miles from the county seat and railroad, three-fourths of a mile from school, twenty miles from steamboat communication, and seven miles from church. He keeps, generally, forty head of horned cattle, several hogs and six head of horses on hand. In 1847, he mar- ried Miss Mary M. Stilling, a most amiable lady, a native of Ossipee, N. H., who bore him six children, viz .: Francelia Adella, Ida Mary, J. Elmer, Alice P., Mary Emina, and Minnie Nason.
WILLIAM NOBLE,
The residence of Mr. William Noble is situated five miles south from the county scat, on the railroad ; is within one and a half miles of a school, and five miles from church. An excel-
lent view of the Gabilan mountains is obtained from its front veranda, and the trains of the Southern Pacific Railroad run a short distance in front of it. There is a fine running stream of water near the harn, which affords plenty of water l'or herds of stock during the whole year, and one thousand five hundred feet in the rear of the residence is a hne, living spring, which is elevated forty feet above the residence, and is con- ducted to a reservoir, supplying the premises with excellent water. There is also a fine orchard connected, containing one hundred young trees, bearing all kinds of tahle fruits.
The farm contains three hundred and twenty acres, partly adobe, rolling hills and level, saudy loam, averaging fifteen sacks to the acre, and his live stock consists of five head of cattle, eight horses, one thousand sheep, and eighty hogs.
Mr. Noble was born August 11, 1849, in Gentry county, Missouri. Married Miss Gussie Holt, June 1, 1870 (she being a native of Cumberland county, Nova Scotia), and has three children-Arthur C., Minnie M., and Pearl Noble. His parents were John and Sarah Noble.
Mr. Nohle pursued the husiness of farming, exclusively, ever since he was a hoy. In 1850 his parents moved to Iowa, and in 1864 came out to California. They journeyed overland by ox-team, his father bringing six oxen and ten horses with him. They took the Platte river route, and had good luck during the whole trip, which lasted six months, when they arrived, October 15, 1864, in Shasta county, California.
The original intention of the family was to locate in Oregon, hut as they failed to join a large enough company to venture on such a trip, the country being at that time overrun by hostile Indians, they concluded to make their home in Califor- nia. Since their arrival here Mr. Noble has resided in the following places: Shasta county, Pajaro valley, Gilroy, and, in July, 1867, he came to this county, where the subject of this sketch went to farming for himself.
S. F. WATSON.
MR. S. F. WATSON, one of the sturdy pioneers of this State and county who have made the State what it is, owns a farmu of three hundred and twenty acres near the town of Tres Pinos. This farm, consisting mostly of sound loam land, yiekl- ing average crops of about fifteen bags to the acre, is inter- spersed with valleys and hills. and is located six miles from the county seat, close to the railroad, thirty miles from naviga- tion, one-eight mile from school, and six miles from churchi.
In earlier times, Mr. Watson was mostly engaged in stock- raising, having at times as many as one thousand fivo hundred sheep on his pastures. But now he pursues mostly farming, keeping only a few cows, bogs, and four horses on his farm.
The family history of Mr. Watson is quite interesting, and would hill up quite an amount of space if we had much of it at our disposal. Suffice it tosay, that he was born in Virginia, March 22, 1834. He followed farming until 1846, when his
FARM & RESIDENCE OF W.I.REED, SANTANA VALLEY, SANBENITO CO. CAL.
GEORGIA RANCH, RESIDENCE OF W.W.ENGLAND, LONE TREE DISTRICT; SAMBENITO CO. CAL.D.
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RESIDENCE OF J.RUPE, 2 MILES NORTHWEST OF SAN JUAN, SAN BENITO CO. CAL.
RESIDENCE OF RICHARD PERRY, SAN FELIPE, SAN BENITO CO. CAL.
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parents, Jacob and Phebe Watson, moved with their family to Independence, Jackson county, Missouri. From there tbey started to California, where they arrived at Sacramento, Sep- temuber 4, 1849. They came by the way of Carson river and Fort Hall, avoided Salt Lake, had a pleasant trip ; no trouble with Indians, but got short of water on the desert, While the family was in Sacramento, Mr. Watson mined at Mormon Island in the American river, with good success. From there the family moved to Nicholsville, on the Feather river, and resided there until 1851, when Mr. S. F. Watson and his parents became tired of roughing it, and concluded to return to Mis- souri, but on their arrival in Sacramento his inother was taken sick, thus necessitating a delay. In the meanwhile Mr. Wat- son and his eldest brother went to Oregon by steamer; got shipwrecked twice, and were at last obliged to finish the journey by land. After a short stay in Oregon they returned overland to Nevada county, where their parents had moved during their absence.
In 1852 they all moved to Santa Clara county ; remained there until 1854, then to Hollister, and finally, in the same year, to his present residence, which is beautifully situated on the south bank of the San Benito river. He has an orchard of one hundred and thirty-five bearing trees, of all kinds of fruits, also a vineyard containing some fifteen varieties of grapes, and around his residence the yard is full of flowers, shrubs and trees.
In October, 1865, Mr. Watson married his estimable wife, a Miss Bridget Connor, a native of Ireland, and adopted his orphan nephew, Charles Watson, having no children of his own.
JESSE ROSS.
In a cosy little home, represented in this history, lives Mr. Jesse Ross, a native of Harrison county. Indiana; born Novem- ber 30, 1832, and is a son of William and Sarab Ross, of that place. Mrs. Mary Ross, formerly Miss Herrington, whom Mr. Ross married in the year 1867, is a native of Davis county, Towa, and Marvin Ross is their only son.
Mr. Ross, after receiving a good common school education, and learning to farm on his father's farm, became a blacksmith, a miner, and a farmer, which shows that he labored hard to obtain all he possesses.
He resided in the States of Indiana and Iowa before coming to California, where he arrived at Placerville, July 25, 1852, having made a journey of eighty-seven days overland, which was brisk traveling as the wagon train did not stop two nights in the same place. The trip was not quite without unpleasant incidents, for at one point the train was stopped by Indians, who, having torn up a bridge, demanded toll of the party before allowing them to proceed. Mr. Ross mined with moderate success for eight years, at Placerville, and in Calaveras county; then in 1860, he went to Sonoma county, where he stayed until November, 1871, when he moved to his present home.
From the time he lived in Sonoma county until now, he farmed and continues to do so. He owns a farm of eighty-six aeres, mostly sandy loam land, which, however, produces about twenty centals of wheat per acre. On ten acres he generally sows alfalfa and clover, which, being kept in fine condition (being well irrigated), produces good crops. His live-stock con- sists of ten horses and two cows; and his house is sur- rounded by a nicely arranged yard and small orchard, bearing good fruit. The farm is well fenced and improved, and is located one mile from the county seat, on the railroad, one inile from school and church, and thirty miles from any ship- ping point.
RICHARD PERRY.
In 1856, this county received another valuable acquisition in Mr. Richard Perry and wife, formerly a Miss Julia A. Rule, whom he married in 1854. Mr. Perry is a son of Mr. Nathaniel aud Sarah Perry, who at the time of his birth lived in Caro- lina county, Maryland. He was born March 22, 1813; became when grown up a sailor, and pursned that vocation until January, 1844; then became a collector for a coal merchant in Louisville, Kentucky, where he remainel one year. From there he went to Galena, Illinois, where he worked four years in a lead mine, and then in 1849 he resolved to go to California.
He joined, with a team of oxen, a party going overland; upon reaching the Black Hills the party broke up, and Mr. Perry in company with fourother gentlemen kept on to Carson valley, Nevada, where most of the party remained to rest. Mr. Perry aud a friend being eager to start for the gold mines, left the party and went to Hangtown, which they reached August 12, 1850, just one month before the rest of the train reached the same place.
Mr. Perry, having been a sailor, a clerk and a miner, after reaching Nevada, pursued mining again in the following locali- ties : Hangtown, American river, Michigan Bluff, and again on American river until 1852, when he determined to give up mining and become a farmer. In order to do this, he, having had a good success in the mines, went to San Jose, where he farmed until 1856, when he, liking San Benito county better, moved into it and still remains, carrying ou the business of farming and dairying.
His farm, which is located seven miles from the county seat, four miles from railroad, thirty miles from shipping point, three-quarters of a mile from school, seven miles from church, and two miles south-west of San Felipe post-office, contains seventy acres sandy loamu, and some excellent pasture land. The land will yield from fifteen to twenty sacks of wheat, and thirty sacks of barley. He also cultivates potatoes, corn, all sorts of vegetables, berries, etc. He kceps sixteen head of cattle. nine horses and thirty hogs constantly on hand.
While on the Atlantic coast Mr. Perry owned an interest in three different boats, which proved successful investments. Mr. Perry has three daughters, Fannie L., Katie, and Lelia Perry.
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C. H. WATERS.
C. H. WATERS became tired of picking up stones and plowing among stumps of a Canada farm and enduring the long, frigid winters of that locality, so at the age of twenty- three he decided to seek a more congenial clime, and set out from his father's farm in Canada West, April 16, 1867, for Cali- fornia, coming via New York and the Isthmus. He arrived in San José, May 13, 1867, and afterwards resided in Salinas and Hollister.
He came to San Benito county in 1869, and hegan farming and raising of improved horses, of which he has some very superior. The farm consists of two hundred and fifty acres in the home ranch, and a tract of four and a half acres in the city of Hollister, on which is a good dwelling and harn. On tbe lots there are eight hundred bearing fruit-trees, and the tract is surrounded by cypress, eucalyptus, and poplar trees, planted alternately as seen in tbe illustration.
The farm yields fifteen sacks of wheat and thirty-five of harley per acre on average years. It is part adobe and part sandy loam. It is situated on the south-west hank of the San Benito river, and is partly rolling hills. A few live-oaks adorn the hill-sides. An avenue of evergreen trees leads to the resi- dence. On tbe place is a nice young orchard of fruits, etc.
He keeps forty-five horses and colts, two milch cows, nearly one hundred hogs, and a nice stallion of the Messenger and Morgan stock, named "Royal George," who weighs one thou- sand six hundred pounds. He is a mahogany bay, sixteen and a half hands high, and shows good speed, baving a record of three minutes.
Mr. Waters has two steam threshers; one in the San Joaquin valley and the other in the Salinas valley. He manages one and his brother the other. Mr. Waters and L. M. Ladd are farming two thousand acres on the Arroyo Seco, in the Salinas valley. The farm is the property of P. Zahala. The buildings are extensive, consisting of a dwelling-house of five rooms, windmill, tank and tank-house, wood-house, blacksmith shop, driving shed, and a harn one hundred feet long and fifty- six feet wide, and a shed one hundred feet long on one side. It stables one hundred borses, of which they use that number. Also room for hay and grain for feed and seed.
Mr. Waters married Miss Annie White, August 7, 1873, who was a native of San José, and a Normal school graduate. The children are named Harry and Herhert Waters.
In 1875 Mr. C. H. Waters and family made a visit to his native home in Canada, going ria the Central Pacific and Union Pacific and Chicago. On his return he and his brother John made arrangements with the Railroad Company for a special train to consist of sixteen or seventeen coaches, to carry some two hundred of his neighbors aud relatives to California, at a great reduction helow the regular rates; the train to fol- low the express without change of cars. They did so start from
Toronto, Canada West. They followed the express, which was ditched several times, hut the special would run up to the wreck and wait until it was repaired, when they would follow again. His parents, three brothers, and four sisters returned with him to California. Upon their arrival in Sacramento their car was side-tracked, the family remaining in the car, while Mr. Waters took his father up to see the then new cap- ital building. While they were gone the car was attached to a freight train and inoved off toward San Jose. When Mr. Waters returned to the depot and found his cars gone, he informed the train-master of his mistake, who telegraphed to side-track the cars. They did so, and when Mr. Waters and bis father arrived on the passenger train, they attached his car to it and went into San José.
R. D. PEASE.
R. D. PEASE has a beautiful residence and farm of two hun- dred and seventy acres, on the road to Santa Ana valley, four miles from Hollister. From his veranda several fine views can be had of the hills and valley, and Gilroy can be seen quite plainly. Almost any part of the Hollister valley can be seen from his residence. His farin is all under fence, and a living creek runs through the back part of the ranch, making it a fine stock farm as well as for grain. The dwelling is second to none in the county, being nicely arranged inside and out. He also has barns, granaries, windmill, tank-house, and black- smith shop.
The orebard contains about eighty bearing fruit-trees, of all kinds of fruit for table use. Mr. Pease has begun a new era in farming by summer-fallowing part of his farm every year, thus insuring a crop every year, having lost only one crop since he came to the county.
There is a row of roses on either side of the path leading from the road to the house. The yard contains several shrubs and ornamental trees. His residence cost $3,000, and is an ornament to the county. A nice picket fence incloses the honse yard. The house has all modern improvements; bath-room and water-pipes all through the house.
R. D. Pease was born in Niagara county, New York, June 26, 1835. When one year old his father moved to Michigan. He worked on his father's farm until sixteen years of age, when he left home and hired out as a farm hand in Kalamazoo county, Michigan, and continued working there for five years, when he concluded to try his hand as a miner in the gold mines of California. He left New York, and was forty-two days coming by the Isthmus, and reached San Francisco in December, 1857. He muined at Columbia, and afterwards on the South Yuba and in Klamath county. He followed mining five years with poor success.
He resided near Mission San Jose, Alameda county, seven years, and then moved to his present liome, December, 1870.
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He married Miss Mabel Sherman in 1866, a native of New York. They have one child named Carrie Pease.
Mr. Pease owned and run a steam thresher in Santa Clara and Alameda counties for nine years, it being one of the first steam threshers in that vicinity.
Mr. Pease has a splendid well of water on his farm; in fact, one of the best in the county, it being free from alkali. He keeps six milch eows, a few hogs, and eighteen head of horses.
W. C. LAND.
W. C. LAND was born in Texas, November 22, 1835. His father was a cattle-raiser. At the age of nineteen, he left home for California with a large drove of cattle, partly his own, num- bering two thousand head. He left Clarksville, Texas, May 15, 1854, passing Fort Yuma and making the trip in seven months, and losing but few cattle. He arrived at Los Angeles Decem- ber 15, 1854. In 1855 he located in San Joaquin county, and began stock-raising on a large scale, and buying and selling cattle, having at times as many as five thousand head. He followed this business for eight years, when he sold his cattle and went into copper-inining in El Dorado county, and lost all he had accumulated.
In 1867, he took his family to Anstin, Nevada, and engaged in the cattle business without any capital, and followed it for seven years with success. He cleared $57,000 and retired from that business.
He married Miss Maggie Dennis, a native of this State, December 25, 1864. Their children's names are : Annie Lanra, Louis, and Eddie Land.
He came to Hollister in May, 1875, and engagel in loaning money and dealing in real estate, having formed what is called College Addition to Hollister. Since 1879 he has been devot- ing his entire time to mining in Bodie and Mill creek. He was one of the first who discovered gold in Mill creek, in Mono county, twenty miles sonth of Bodic.
He has five hundred acres of land, one hundred and seventy- five of which is in San Benito county. He has three hundred and twenty acres of " willow land," which is black sandy loam, located in San Luis Obispo county, which he rents for fifteen hundred dollars a year. It produces wheat and all kinds of vegetables. It is the home ranch of the "old Osa Grant," upon which are produced such large erops of potatoes, beans, etc. He also has property in San Francisco, and in Bodie and Mill creek.
In 1832 Mr. Land's father emigrated from Mississippi to Red River county, Texas. He located on Blossom prairie, and soon after was obliged to abandon his house aud flee to the haek- berry thicket with his family, to protect them from death at the hands of the Indians, who were then very hostile; but with the assistance of James and Reese Bowie (from whom the Bowie knife takes its name), who were relatives and friends of theirs, they kept the Indians in check. They cleared about twenty
acres and raised hogs and corn enough to outlive the dangerous times in Texas. In 1844 his father purchasedl a farm in Cass county, Texas, on which he produced cotton, and at the same time carried on his stock farm in Red River county. In 1853 ho sold his Cass county farm and concentrated all his business in Red River county. When W. C. Land left his home for California in 1854, his father was the largest cattle owner in Texas
JOB MALSBURY.
JOB MALSBURY was born in Clermont county, Ohio, June 11, 1833. When he was six years of age his father died, and left the family in destitute circumstances, and the mother was compelled to give Job away to a friend of hers, named Moses B. Riggs, a cousin. Here Mr. Malsbury remained until he was twelve years of age, when he returned to live with his mother until he was eighteen years old. At that time she died. He then hired out as a farm laborer, at $12 per month, until he obtained enough to start for California, which he did January 2, 1853, by the Panama route, and reached San Francisco on the 16th of February.
He followed mining at Placerville, six years, from 1853 to 1859, with good success. He then went to Santa Clara to school, determined to make up for the lack of opportunities while young. He afterwards farmed for several years at Ever- green, Santa Clara county.
He came to San Benito county in 1868, and engaged in farm- ing and stock-raising, on two hundred acres, located five miles from Hollister, in the " Fairview District." The farm is allu- vial soil, with some adobe, and yields fifteen sacks of wheat per acre, on an average, and thirty of barley. He keeps three milch cows, sixty hogs, and twenty-five head of horses and colts.
He married Miss Henrietta Shaw, June 9, 1859. She was born in Lake county, Ill. They have had six children viz .: Albert J., Sanford W., Wilber, Amy, Cora, and Otis Mals- bury. Wilber was kicked by a horse and died when 17 months old.
Mr. Malsbury has an orchard of one hundred and fifty kinds of fruit-trees, and a vineyard of foreign grapes, Both orchard and vineyard do well. A. creek, at the right of the baru, as seen in the view, affords abundance of water for stock. A fine grove of white oaks surrounds the residence and barn. Santa Ana Peak is plainly seen in the background, raising its head above the range of the other mountains. A grand view of the whole valley, including Gilroy, can be had from the residence and it is appropriately namedl "Fairview " by Mr. Malsbury, who was one of the first farmers in that section.
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