History of Sacramento 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, 1923, Part 58

Author: Reed, G. Walter
Publication date: 1923
Publisher: Los Angeles : Historic Record Co.
Number of Pages: 1026

USA > California > Sacramento County > History of Sacramento 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, 1923 > Part 58

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

be a joy to them as well as to himself. Being such an enthusiast for the comforts and the pleasures of the hearth, he has never joined any fraternal order; but all who have known him well will attest to the fact that he has always in life made his social rela- tions to others correspond to the teachings of the largest and the truest of fraternal orders, extending, wherever and whenever he could, the open, uplifting hand, and seeking to apply in all his earthly walk the splendid tenets of the Golden Rule.

(Since this article was written, Mr. Brown, while apparently in good health, was stricken with heart disease, and passed away on the 11th day of June, 1923, the community, and Sacramento County as well, thus losing one of their most progressive and enter- prising upbuilders.)

RAY C. WARING .- A thoroughly proficient exec- utive, whose efficient administration of an important public trust reflected the highest degree of credit both upon himself and upon the eminent department he so ably represented, is Ray C. Waring, until recently the deputy district attorney of Sacramento County, and formerly a deputy of the state supreme court. He was born in the capital city, on December 17, 1878, and his parents were Charles A. and Mary (Van Guelder) Waring. His mother's folks came out to California in 1852, and his father, an attorney- at-law, was a native son. An uncle of his father was the first settler in the town of Washington, Yolo County.

Ray Waring attended the grammar schools of Sacramento, and then went to Boone's Academy, at Berkeley, where he studied law privately. Later he was admitted to practice in the courts of California. He had previously been in the secretary of state's of- fice, and he was appointed deputy clerk of the supreme court of the state of California in 1911. He has a thorough knowledge of the law; and he has become a favorite with all who have any dealings with him on account of his affability, and his desire to serve. He is a member of the Native Sons of the Golden West, and he has the honor to serve on the state cen- tral committee of the Republican party. Fraternally, Mr. Waring is a Scottish Rite Mason, an Elk. a mem- ber of the Mystic Shrine, and also an Odd Fellow. He enjoys a deserved popularity and wichds an en- viable influence in the councils of the Republican party, and as a broad-minded, non-partisan booster in local affairs.

WILL C. WOOD .- An idealist and an advanced thinker along lines relating to the modern educa- tional system, who is interested heart and soul in the proper education of the children of California, is Will C. Wood, the able superintendent of public in- struction of California. He was born at Elmira, Solano County, Cal., on December 10. 1880, the son of Emerson and Martha Jane (Turner) Wood. On his father's side his ancestry runs back to Puritan New England, where his English forebears settled in 1632. His mother's family were Southern people who emigrated from Missouri to California in 1864.

Will C. Wood received his early education in the rural schools of his native county. He attended the Elmira high school, graduating in 1898, and then entered the Vacaville high school, from which he graduated with the class of 1900. After the comple- tion of his secondary studies he entered Stanford University, but discontinued his studies there in

310

HISTORY OF SACRAMENTO COUNTY

1902 to enter upon his work of teaching. His first school was conducted in a one-room rural school building in Suisun Valley. At the close of one term there he was elected principal of the Fairfield gram- mar school, where he taught until February, 1906. During this time he served as a member of the county board of education of Solano County. In 1906 he accepted the principalship of the Wilson School in Alameda, and held this position until January, 1909, when he became city superintendent of schools for Alameda. Meanwhile he was studying at the University of California under Prof. F. B. Dresslar, Dr. Alexis F. Lange and Prof. George H. Howison; his work at the University included a the- sis on the "Aims and Values of Nature Study," a course in nature study for the elementary schools, and a thesis on "The Educational Theories of Plato." As city superintendent, Mr. Wood devoted himself largely to elementary-school problems; he reduced the size of classes, introduced organized play and work, and worked out a plan for articulating the elementary and high schools. While he was city superintendent of Alameda, he studied at the Uni- versity of Michigan for a time. In January, 1914, he assumed his duties as commissioner of secondary schools. In this position he drafted the county high- school fund bill, the junior-college bill, and other legislation, making possible better articulation of the elementary and high schools. In the summer of 1917, he served as acting professor of secondary education at the Teachers' College, Columbia University; and he held a similar position at Stanford University during the summer sessions in the years 1920 and 1921, and during the summer session of 1922 at the University of Southern California. In November, 1918, he was elected superintendent of public in- struction, receiving a majority of 41,240 votes. Mr. Wood served the four years' term with credit to himself and general satisfaction to the people of California; so much so, in fact, that he was reelected in 1922 for another four years' term.

Mr. Wood has held a number of important chairs in the educational world, in particular as regent of the University of California, secretary of the Cali- fornia Teachers' Association in 1908 and 1909, director of the National Institute for Moral Instruction, and president of the National Council of State Depart- ments of Education in 1919 and 1920; and he is a member of the National Education Association and the California Schoo masters' Club. Fraternally, he is a member of the Phi Delta Kappa fraternity at Stanford University, and is a Mason. In politics he is a Republican, and in his religious beliefs he is a member of the Unitarian Church. He is the editor of the "California Blue Bulletin" and a contributor to various educational journals. Jointly with Mark Keppel, the county superintendent of schools of Los Angeles County, Superintendent Wood drafted Con- stitutional Amendment No. 16, which was an initia- tive measure duly passed by the vote of the people in November, 1920, guaranteeing the amount of money which shall annually be contributed by the state for the support of the elementary and second- ary schools of California.

A speech which Mr. Wood delivered at San Fran- cisco, July 4, 1923, marks him as one of the foremost and most progressive educators in America. In con- trasting the old "Fourth of July celebration" with the modern significance of the new Independence

Day, in which the people of America are fast coming to learn that neither a person nor a nation "liveth to himself alone," and that the function of the schools is to train for world citizenship as well as for love of native country, Mr. Wood said:

"Wars are due chiefly to misunderstanding between nations, and misunderstanding between nations is due usually to lack of understanding of one another. World peace and concord depend upon the elimina- tion of provincialism and the study of the history and institutions of our neighbors to a degree enabling us to maintain peaceful relations with them. The citizen of America must therefore broaden his knowl- edge of history and of institutions in order to under- stand the international problems he must assist in solving.

"Specific training in citizenship in our schools should, I believe, begin with a two-year course in community civics in the seventh and eighth years. In the high school proper, three years of social science in preparation for citizenship should be required to mcet the extended needs of our time. Equipped with a knowledge such as one should get through school organization, our young people should go out into the world with reasonable preparation to meet the problems of American democracy."

In championing such an expanding outlook as re- gards the training of California's children, Mr. Wood has shown the way in which future educators will not fail to follow.

Born and reared on a California farm, Superin- tendent Wood's sympathy is with rural education, and in fulfilling the duties of his official office he evinces an earnest desire to improve the condition of the rural schools of the state. He has had experience in both elementary and high schools; and the factor that has contributed most to his success is his ability to ap- proach the problem of education as a single problem. He heartily believes in public education, to which he has devoted his life, and the foundation principle upon which the things he advocates are based is well set forth in the pregnant epigram: "The schools must make Democracy safe for Democracy."

Will C. Wood married Miss Agnes Kerr, of Fair- field, Ca1., on July 12, 1905. Mrs. Wood is deeply interested in educational matters and shares with her husband the aims and ideals of his public life. They reside comfortably at 608 Twenty-first Street, Sac- ramento.

SETH A. WILTON .- More and more popular among the place-names of Sacramento County is that of Wilton, pleasantly recalling the progressive and prosperous rancher, Seth A. Wilton. A native son, he was born at Georgetown, in Eldorado Coun- ty, on June 2, 1857, the son of Aretus J. and Isa- belle (Marshall) Wilton, the former a native of New York, the latter of the Dominion of Canada. The parents were married in New York. His father crossed the great plains with his wife and daughter and reached Placerville, in November, 1852; and he devoted most of his life to mining. He died in the vicinity of Georgetown at the age of eighty-two, while his devoted wife was seventy years old when she breathed her last. They had four children to bless them in their domestic circle. Jane was the eldest and is now deceased; then came George, who is re- siding in Fresno County; Seth was the third-born; and Merritt, the youngest of the family, is also dead.

311

HISTORY OF SACRAMENTO COUNTY

Seth A. Wilton attended the Volcanoville district school, and then followed mining until he was thirty years old, working in the quartz and placer mines in Eldorado and Placer Counties. After that he came into Sacramento County in 1887 and at first engaged in the raising of sheep and cattle in the mountains, during the summer time, while he lived in Sacramento County in the winter. In 1895 he removed to his present location, and there purchased 124 acres of land, part of the old Putney estate, one of the oldest ranches in this county and part of a grant. From time to time, he sold part of what he had, until he now owns eighty-five acres. This was formerly known as the George Putney ranch. When the Cali- fornia traction line was built, a station was erected at his ranch; and the interesting settlement around that place now carries the name of Wilton, in ap- propriate honor of our subject, who conducts a strictly up-to-date dairy and poultry farm there. He is a Re- publican, and has been a trustee of the Davis school district for eleven years. He had charge of the lib- erty loan drives during the late World War, and had the entire southeastern side of Sacramento County to look after.

Mr. Wilton was married at Georgetown, Cal., on July 26, 1877, to Miss Lydia A. Dow, a native of Pittsfield, N. H., and the daughter of Abraham and Malinda (Hilliard) Dow, members of the family dis- tinguished by the noted temperance reformer. Mrs. Dow died when Mrs. Wilton was a mere tot. She attended the Pittsfield schools, and in 1870 came out to California with her brother, Cyrus Dow, and lived for three years in San Francisco, when they moved to Georgetown, where she later married. Her father died at the age of seventy-eight. When Mr. Wilton settled on the Putney ranch, he was located six miles northeast of Elk Grove. A son, Cyrus M., married Miss Ida Weybright and resides at Ashland, Ore. Mr. Wilton belongs to Georgetown Lodge, I. O. O. F., and the Encampment at Elk Grove, and to the Elk Grove Parlor, N. S. G. W.

ASA OWEN .- Well-known among that class of men whose enterprise and public spirit have had to do with California's development is Asa Owen, a prosperous orchardist of the Orangevale section of Sacramento County. He was born in Orion, Mich., February 28, 1855, the ninth in a family of ten chil- dren born to Charles C. and Elizabeth (Clark) Owen. natives of New York and Connecticut, respectively. Charles C. Owen accompanied his parents in 1831 to Michigan, traveling with ox teams to Buffalo, and via the Erie Canal to Lake Erie, being seven days on the water before reaching Detroit, then a pros- perous trading post and village of two blocks extent. In June of the same year the family located on a homestead, which they called Royal Oak, and there they engaged in general farming pursuits. The decd to the land of 320 acres was signed by Martin Van Buren and was sold by the government for one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre. The Clark family also came to Michigan about the same time and located on land near Orion, where they prospered. Charles C. Owen passed away in 1864 and the mother sold the Michigan farm and removed to Southern Minnesota; she lived to reach the age of ninety-six years, passing away at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Purdy, in Nebraska. Asa Owen received a good

education in the schools of Michigan and Minnesota and at an early age began to farm.

In 1878, Mr. Owen was united in marriage with Miss Ida E. Powers, born at Stevens Point, Wis., a daughter of the late O. H. and Loana (Johnstone) Powers, natives of New York and England, respec- tively. Eleven children have blessed the home of Mr. and Mrs. Owen: Netta May is the widow of Fred Morrill of Janesville, Minn., and she has seven sons and seven daughters; Lloyd is a rancher at Alma City, Minn., and has seven children; Hammond is married and has three children; Edith is the wife of Joseph Burke and they have one daughter; Edna is the wife of George Elledge and they have one son; Lee and Ray are deceased; Lillian is the wife of Ed. Brazil and they reside in Oakland, Cal .; Inez is the wife of Ray Singelton and they have two daughters; Lela, deceased, was the wife of Ted Blankenship; and Guy K. was accidentally drowned in the American River. July, 1922, at the age of twenty-one. Mr. Owen is a Republican in politics and for more than twenty years has been a member of the I. O. O. F., Marvin Lodge, No. 128, Janesville, Minn. For eleven years he acted as school trustee in Minnesota before his removal to California in 1902. Arriving in California he located at Orangevale, where he purchased twenty acres newly set to orchard; then he later added twenty acres more which he has set to oranges, peaches, grapefruit, etc. For ten years, Mr. Owen operated a ranch of 160 acres about three miles from his present home, where he raised hay and stock; this place was sold about eight years ago.

JOHN S. LAWSON .- An experienced contractor enjoying an enviable reputation for high grade, yet moderate priced, work in plumbing and heating. is John S. Lawson, of Del Paso Boulevard, North Sac- ramento. He was born in New York City, on Sep- tember 15, 1888, the son of Thomas Lawson, a plas- terer, now deceased, who had married Miss Mary Garrett. at present a resident of New York City, and the center of a circle of devoted friends. The worthy couple did the best that they could for our subject, and he was sent to both the grammar and high schools of New York.

When ready to prepare for the real battles in life, John S. Lawson served his apprenticeship as a plumb- er, and after that he worked as a journeyman in New York, where in time he also became a master plumber. In April, 1917, however, he enlisted in the World War, and he began with the quartermaster's store, and finished with the heavy artillery, as a member of the 9th Company, 160th Regiment, giving in all eighteen months of his life for his country, although he did not succeed in getting across to Europe. He belongs to the Master Builders' Association, and the Master Plumbers. Being a good business man, he also takes an active part in civic affairs. He has been a genuine booster for both Sacramento and Sacra- mento County, and in appreciation of his local spirit he was selected by a large majority to the office of president of the North Sacramento Chamber of Com- merce, the first to hold that office.

In 1921, on August 7, Mr. Lawson married Miss Elizabeth De Saules, a Sacramento girl, who agrees with her husband in liking the natural world about her. Mr. Lawson is a Mason of the third degree, and also belongs to the Sciots. Both Mr. and Mrs. Lawson are popular in local society.

312

HISTORY OF SACRAMENTO COUNTY

ARTHUR D. RYAN .- Municipal commissions visiting Sacramento have never failed to praise its superior police system, no small credit for which is due to Arthur D. Ryan, the experienced and broad- gaged inspector of police, who carries his honors modestly and well deserves his popularity. He is a native son of Sacramento, having first seen the light there on January 15, 1882, when he entered the family circle of Capt. Thomas and Clara (Hastings) Ryan. His father, a native of Boston, came out to Sacramento in early days, and for over fifty years was a captain on river boats; he died in May, 1923. Mrs, Ryan died, years ago, beloved by all who knew her.

Arthur Ryan attended both the grammar and the high school of Sacramento, and then for ten years he was in the employ of the Southern Pacific Rolling Mills. After that for a couple of years he was on the boats of the Sacramento Transportation Company, and in 1904, on the 29th of August, he came to the Sacramento police department. First, he was a patrol- man, then he became a sergeant, and next a detec- tive, and then he was a detective sergeant. In July, 1920, he was appointed inspector of police, a post of still greater responsibility for which he seemed well equipped by a rare experience. Brimful of devotion to Sacramento City and County, Inspector Ryan never loses an opportunity to better local conditions, believ- ing implicitly that, for every substantial and lasting improvement in social environment, a proportionate community blessing is sure to follow. He is a Re- publican.

Arthur D. Ryan and Miss Elizabeth Becker, of Sac- ramento, were married at Sacramento, on April 2, 1916. Inspector Ryan belongs to the Eagles, and in that order is justly popular. Many reforms in the administration of the police in Sacramento are traceable to the Inspector, whose record is fast be- coming enviable.

MARTIN I. WELSH .- A learned and gifted at- torney, well-known beyond the confines of the coun- ty in which he has attained to his latest and greatest success, is Martin I. Welsh, a native of San Jose, where he was born on October 1, 1882. His father, Garrett Welsh, was a pioneer of Santa Clara, to which county he came in 1851, having traveled to California by way of the Isthmus; and at Santa Clara he and Miss Mary Connelly were married. The estimable lady lived to be seventy-six, and to know much of the sweetness of life; and her devoted hus- band, who was also an affectionate father, saw his seventy-third year, ere he laid aside the cares of this world.

Martin Welsh was educated at St. Joseph's Col- lege, as well as by the public schools, and then he went to St. Vincent's College at Cape Girardeau, Mo. His father's death imposed restrictions upon his fu- ture career, and on his return to San Jose, he went to work early. At first, he took up the study of law privately, then prepared for and sustained the bar examination, and in 1912 was admitted, with the usual credentials, to practice in the courts of California. Removing to Sacramento, he commenced his actual practice here. He was superior judge of Sacramento County for a term, and then deputy district attorney under E. S. Wachhorst, the United States commis- sioner, for two terms, eventually resigning from that office. He is a member of the state and county bar associations, and in each has striven to support

sensible judicial reforms and forward movements. He endorses the Democratic party platforms, but that does not mean that he is controlled by any narrow partisanship.

Mr. Welsh married Miss Marie E. Eubanks, of Santa Clara County, forming a happy union later blessed with the gift of three children, Eleanor, Mil- dred and Marie. The couple enjoy an enviable place in the best social circles of Sacramento County, while Judge Welsh is an ex-grand sachem of the state Iroquois clubs of California.

SYLVESTER CORNELIUS TRYON .- A lover of fine horses and an expert in judging them, as shown by the records his horses have made, Sylvester Cornelius Tryon has devoted most of his time to raising and training race horses and his stable has been famous throughout the country. Born near Fort Wayne, Ind., January 6, 1851, he is a son of Horatio and Abigail (Cone) Tryon, the former a native of Ohio and the latter of Georgia. The father, wife and three children, among them the subject of this sketch, crossed the plains by horse and mule teams in 1863, and settled in the Sacramento Valley. Shortly after their arrival Horatio Tryon bought a 420-acre ranch, eight miles south of Sacramento, on the lower Stockton road, and this he improved and farmed to wheat and barley. Later he moved to Lake County, where his death occurred; the mother is still living, at the ripe old age of ninety-five years, and makes her home in Santa Rosa. Four children were born to this pioneer couple; Emily Jane, now deceased; Sylvester C .; Ephraim H., deceased; and Edward P., of Stockton.

Sylvester C. attended the Prairie school, which is still standing, and his old teacher, . Mrs. Nelson, is still living in Sacramento, aged ninety-three. On finishing his schooling he farmed the old home ranch for a time, then went to Nevada and engaged in the cattle business for eight years. Selling his holdings in that state, he returned to Sacramento and farmed the old place again, raising cattle and horses. This home ranch is still in the possession of the family.

Mr. Tryon discontinued ranching many years ago, finding that his real interest lay in horses, and since that time he has devoted his time entirely to training and driving race horses. He has trained and raced horses for many of the famous horsemen of the early days, among them John Mackey and the Haggin brothers. He broke, trained and drove the famous horse "Anaconda," owned by J. B. Haggin; this was a double-gaited horse, with a trotting race record of 2:0914, and a pacing race record of 2:0134. He also trained and drove "Hylas Boy," "Maud Patchen" and "Knight," the sire of "Anaconda." Mr. Tryon has raced horses all up and down the Pacific Coast, in Montana, and on the Eastern circuit. He is the offi- cial time-keeper, and has held that position a number of years, at the state fair race track in Sacramento, receiving the appointment from the secretary of the National Race Track Association of Hartford, Conn.

Mr. Tryon owned, among other horses, "Pocahon- tas," "Clara G.," "Castillo," and "Colonel Hawkins"; and he also owned and drove the fastest double team of trotters in the state, which won many races at the old Bay District track in San Francisco, and the Sac- ramento and Stockton race tracks; he also owned the fastest team of pacers in the state; and "Prince," a famous pacer, won him many races in both Sacra- mento and Stockton.

S. C. Tryon

315

HISTORY OF SACRAMENTO COUNTY

The marriage of Mr. Tryon united him with Amy Leimbach, daughter of Herman Leimbach, a pioneer of Sacramento County, and four children have been born to them. Walter H. owns a stable of trotters at the state fair grounds, Sacramento, and is employed by C. M. Cowell, as a trainer and driver of race horses. Ralph W. is employed in the Southern Paci- fic shops. Alonzo H., who is better known as "Lon- nie," started with horses at the age of fifteen, and is now engaged in training and running horses at Tia Juana, Cal .; he owned "Paisley," a two-year-old that died, and "Melachrino," the fastest runner in the state, and raced him on the Eastern circuit in 1922 with success, winning large purses, and earned the name there of "The Western Plunger." The fourth child is Mrs. Blanche Kirkpatrick, of Los Angeles. It will be seen that Mr. Tryon has had an eventful life, and he has added much to the fame and romance of California.

DANIEL E. STUART .- It is unusual in these days of many changes to find a man, even a native son, operating the home ranch, on which he was born and reared; and when we do find him so engaged it goes without saying that he has made a success of agriculture and has brought the pioneer acreage to a high state of cultivation. Born on what was known as the Woods Ranch, four and a half miles from Courtland, on Grand Island, September 15, 1884, Daniel E. Stuart is the son of Arthur W. and Olive Pauline (Phillips) (Woods) Stuart, the father a native of Maine and the mother a native of Wisconsin. Arthur W. Stuart came with his parents to California when only two or three years old. His parents set- tled near Dixon, Solano County, and he was reared and educated in Yolo and Solano Counties, later com- ing to the delta country of Sacramento County. A widow at the time of her marriage to Mr. Stuart, the mother inherited the ranch of 200 acres which has since been the family home. Daniel E. was the only child born of Mr. and Mrs. Stuart's union. A step- sister, Lily Woods, was drowned in 1888.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Sacramento 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, 1923, Part 58

Author: Reed, G. Walter Publication date: 1923 Publisher: Los Angeles : Historic Record Co. Number of Pages: 1026

Author: Reed, G. Walter
Publication date: 1923
Publisher: Los Angeles : Historic Record Co.
Number of Pages: 1026