USA > California > San Benito County > History of San Benito County, California : with illustrations descriptive of its scenery, farms, residences, public buildings, factories, hotels, business houses, schools, churches, and mines : with biographical sketches of prominent citizens > Part 21
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232
W.
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180
N. C .. 381
59
Cyrus Jones
R ..
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322
460
of Equalization.
O. T. Chubb. . James A. Clayton
R.
239
R. R. Commis'r.Geo. Stoneman.
Chancy P. Phillips
J. J. Ayres
W.
400
Senator
A. Craig
D
432
.W. J. Hill.
N.C.&R. 495
63
.Keating.
W.
180
Assemblyman . . J. J. Harris
D
463
... M. Pomeroy
R. .
362
. . C. Y. Hanmond
N. C .. 278
Judge Sup.Co'rt .James F. Brcen.
AND W.
R. H. Brotherton
Ind. ...
13
Co. Treasurer .. . T. L. Baldwin.
R.& N.C 540
141
. . A. L. Farrish
D.
399
.. R. P. Lathrop.
Ind ..
163
41
. . J. J. Hunt
D.
437
. . S. T. Black.
R.
181
Sheriff.
. Wm. T. Brown
D.
451
. J. C. McClure
R.
281
. D. Hoffinan.
N. C .. 364
District Att'y . .. J. J. May
D.&N.C 606
117
N. C. Briggs
R. .
487
Assessor.
.H. Dowdy
.E. B. Kent
N.C.&R 379
Surveyor.
.. T. A. Talleyrand
R. ..
592
.F. P. McCray
D.
507
School Supt ..
... J. N. Thompson
D.
685
271
W. H. Housh
R. .
414
R. 630
156
" .J. M. Black
D ..
474
Governor
.. Geo. C. Perkins.
R ..
227
Wm. F. White
W.
247
D.&N.C 621
.Hugh J. Glenn
R ..
243
D. C. Reed
R. .
414
39
67
244
State Treasurer.John Weil
L. B. Clark
A. G. Escandon
D.
699
Members of State BoardTyler D. Heyskell.
W
171
R.&N.C 910
717
193
D.
R.
298
Rep. to Congr's. R. Pacheco.
Wallace Leach
D.
298
102
101
County Clerk. . J. J. Hunt. D 599
.. J. R. Eardly R.
93
School Supt. . A. Martin
Surveyor F. P. McCray
T. A. Talleyrand. R. 416
D. . . . .
717
338
85
Coroner.
. L. B. Howard.
" John Breen R ..
RECORD OF ELECTIONS HELD IN THE COUNTY.
88
19
22
R ...
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241
P. D. Wigginton
. . Benjamin Casey
R. D. N.C.1040 1027
County Clerk .. . H. B. Harris.
N. C ..
478
87
103
THE SAN JUSTO RANCHO AND ITS OWNERS.
Supervisor No. 2.R. Rucklige. D. .... 334 189
G. S. Nash ....
R. . . .. 145
Supervisor No. 1.Jno. W. Hawkins
I.D ... 21
John Breen. ..
. R.
140
137
C. E. Mitchell.
. R. 3
TO EXCLUDE IMMIGRATION OF CHINESE.
Chinese Imigrt'n. Against 1026 1024
For. .
Supervisor No.3.F. B. Mycr.
D.
83
A. T. D. Bulten
R. 67
44
A. Leonard ..
R. . 123 40
PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION HIELD NOVEMBER, 18SO.
President
W. S. Hancock D 645 218
=
J. A. Garfield R 427
Congressman
. Romualdo Pacheco R 408
. Wallace Leach D 012
204
. John F Godfrey N ... 53
Assembly
. H. W. Cothran
R 413
. John H. Mathews D 652 239
SUPERVISOR, DISTRICT NO. 1.
Supervisor
. R. Rucklidge
442
441
. T. L. Baldwin.
1
L. M. Ladd.
1
San Justo Rancho.
THE San Justo Rancho, containing thirty-four thousand six hundred and nineteen acres, was granted by the Mexican Gov- ernment to General Jose Castro, and by him sold to Francisco Percz Pacheco, who conveyed it to Flint, Bixby & Co., and they to Col. Wm. W. Hollister, the part occupied by the Hollister Homestead Association, upon which the town of Hollister is located.
The firm of Flint, Bixby & Co., consisted of Thomas and Benjamin Flint and Lewellyn Bixby, who entered into co-part- nership in Terre Haute, Ind., March, 1853, to purchase stock and drive " across the plains " to California.
Having collected about two thousand four hundred head of sheep in the vicinity of Quincy, Ill., with an outfit, they drove across Iowa, crossed the Missouri river at Council Bluff's, thence followed up the North Platte by the emigrant trail via South Pass, Salt Lake City, Southern Utah, Los Angeles, and up the coast to the vicinity of San Jose. Thus ending the trip June, 1854. In October, 1855, they purchased the San Justo Rancho, using the part occupied by them for many years, almost exclu- sively for sheep-raising.
They were the first to introduce the Spanish Merino sheep from Vermont, and have since bred them continuously. They have been identified with many of the business interests of this part of the State, having been partners in the firms of J. Bixby & Co., Irvin, Flint & Co., B. P. Flint & Co., Coast Line Stage Co., California Beet Sugar Co., Cerro Benito Quicksilver Mining Co., etc.
HEAVIEST FLEECE.
The heaviest unwashed fleece on record is that of " Grizzly." a French Merino huck. The sheep was fourteen months oldl, and the fleece weighed forty-two pounds, and was shearel by Flint, Bixby & Co., in San Juan, in 1859.
The climate of California is peenliarly favorable to the growth, increase and health of the sheep. Our mild winters perinit them to grow throughout the year ; and it is an accepted principle among those familiar with the subject, that a sheep born and bred in California is, at two years of age, usually as large and heavy as one of three years born and bred in the Atlantic States. The ewes produce twins and triplets moro frequently here than east of the Rocky Mountains. The health of the herds is better. No fatal disease has ever prevailed to any serious extent. The " scab" exists in many herds, but in a mill l'orm, and few have died of it. It is the general opinion of sheep-breeders that the sheep bred in California will produce more wool than those of other States.
HON. THOMAS FLINT.
HON. THOMAS FLINT, son of Hon. Wul. R. F'lint, now living in Anson, Maine, was born in New Vineyard, Somerset county, Maine, May 13, 1824. He belonged to the eighth generation from Thomas Flint, who settled in what is now South Danvers, Massachusetts, about the year 1642. His carly life was spent on a farm-being a farmer in summer and a student in winter. He was educated in the public schools and academies of his native State, studied medicine in Waterville, Maine, and graduated at Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, in the class of 1849.
He came to California via Chagres and Panama in 1861, arriving in San Francisco July 7th, by steamship Northerner, and went to the mines at Coloma and Vulcano. He returned East, and crossed the plains in 1858.
He has practiced his profession only incidentally. He was a member of the Board of Supervisors of Mouterey county three years, and Supervisor for two years in San Benito county, from its organization. He is at present a meruber of the Board of that county.
He was clected State Senator for the Eight District, consist- ing of Santa Cruz, Monterey, and Sau Benito counties, in 1876, which term expired in 1880.
He was one of the Commissioners appointed by the Courts in the partition of the Ranchos Nativadad, Vergeles, San Antonio, and Jusistac.
Mr. Flint is a Royal Arch Mason, and present Master of Texas Lodge, F. & A. M., No. 46, and belongs to the Order of the Eastern Star. He is a Director of the Grangers' Business Association, of San Francisco, and of the California Farmers' Mutual Fire Insurance Company. He has been a member of the Republican State Central, Third Congressional District, Monterey and San Benito County Committees.
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THIS SECTION ADAPTED TO GRAPE GROWING.
Thomas Flint occupies a prominent place among the pioneers and influential citizens of California, and has had much to do with its growth and prosperity. He has honorably filled many places of responsibility and discharged the duties con- nected therewith with fidelity. His public position has made his name generally known throughout the State. While serv- ing as Senator for his district he showed himself possessed of the qualities of an able legislator who constantly sought the welfare of his constituents.
lle is also a practical farmer, drawing his knowledge of farming from many years of practical experience. Since he came to California, lic has taken an active interest in all pro- jects to advance and elevate farming pursuits, having the best of success in all his undertakings.
BENJAMIN FLINT.
BENJAMIN FLINT, brother of Thomas, was born February 21, 1827. He also was raisedl on a farm, but studied medicine, and graduated. He started for California, February 22. 1849; arrived on the somewhat noted ship Humboldt from Panama,! Angust 29, 1849, after a very long, tedious passage, and went to the mines, aud was moderately occupied in mining and in other oceupations. He returned East in 1853 to make the over-, land trip.
He was ouce a candidate for County Judge of Monterey county. He was Vice-President in the first organization, of the Southern Pacific Railroad, and a Director in several corpo-' rations. He was a member, of the Society of California Pio- neers, and of Texas Lodge, F. & A. M.
LEWELLYN BIXBY.
LEWELLYN BIXBY was born October 4, 1825, in Norridge -. wock, Maine; received his education in common high-schools in Somerset county-raised a farmer. He came to California in company with Dr. Flint, in 1851, and went to the mines. He. returned East in company with T. and B. Flint. He is at present looking after the interests of Flint, Bixby & Co., in Los Angeles county.
INCIDENTS OF THE OVERLAND TRIP.
They arrived at San Jose with nearly three thousand head of sheep, including increase of the original. They started from the Mississippi river. They added to their stock one hundred and twenty-five head of cattle purchased in Utah.
The party used ox-teams and wagons for transportation across the plains, driving on an average about twelve miles daily. They had but little trouble while on the journey, and bad only one man shot and killed while on guard, about midnight, by I, Indians who attempted to steal borses-having cut three horses from their stake-pins-when driving up the Platte river in the Pawnee country.
Grape Growing.
THEOPHILUS VACHE has about twenty-five varieties of grapes, all doing well. He raises the Muscat of Alexandria, Black Hamburg, Flaming Tokay and other choice varieties for table use, and uses the product of French vines for wine-making. He makes from ten to fifteen thousand gallons of wine per year, most of which be retails at his wiue depot in Hollister.
Mr. Vache has also a large variety of fruits on his ranch, including dates, figs, mulberries, plums, peaches, pears, apples, apricots, etc., but makes a specialty of his vineyard. Every variety of grapes that has been tried, flourishes and yields hand- somely in this county. One thousand vines will grow on an acre, and after coming to maturity, will yield at least twenty- five pounds to the vine.
The Gabilan mountains, which border the valley on the west, are particularly adapted, not only to grape culture, but to tbe culture of all kinds of fruit.
Desirable spots for vineyards in the Gabilan mountains can be obtained for a small consideration, and with a little additional expenditure, in a few years a person can have a never failing source of revenue, besides-contributing materially to the growth and prosperity of the county. There is no reason why San Benito county should not be famed for its vineyards.
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THEOPHILUS VACHE.
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. THEOPHILUS VACHE is a native, of France, where he was · born January, 10, 1814. He learned of his father the baker's trade and followed it while iu France, and part of the time since he came to America.
He came to New Orleans in 1840, and remained there only six months; thence to Santa Fe, New Mexico. In 1842 he was living. in Chihuahua, Mexico, following the business of baking. After a year he returned to Santa Fé and remained until 1845, when he returned to France vic New Orleans. After remain- ing at home a few months he sailed for Peru, arriving in 1846. He remained tbere until 1849, when a four months voyage brought him to San Francisco, at which port he arrived July 8, 1849, and at first worked in a bakery.
. In 1850 he came to this county, and engaged in dairying and sheep raising. In 1854 he located bis present vineyard and farm, which consists of three hundred and twenty acres, some eight miles from Hollister and about four miles front the railroad.
The farm is foot-hill land with a good sand soil. It is of tbe very best kind for grapes, and produces all kinds of vegetables and cereals. He has a splendid orehard of all kinds of fruits. He also keeps twenty-five cattle, twelve horses and otber etock.
Mr. Vache is the happy possessor of the only vineyard of any particular importance or pretensions in the county.
RESIDENCE OF JUDGE JOHN. K. ALEXANDER, SALINAS CITY, MONTEREY CO. CAL
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BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES OF RESIDENTS.
Biographical.
HON. J. F. BREEX.
HON. J. F. BREEN, Superior Judge of San Benito county, is one of the most earnest men in law or literature in the State. He is one of the survivors of the ill-fated Donner party.
He was born on the 21st of January, 1841, near Keokuk, Iowa. His father, with his family consisting of his wife and seven children, cmigrated to California in 1846. After being relieved from Donner Lake, in 1847, his father located perma- nently in San Juan, in the year 1848.
Judge Breen graduated at Santa Clara College in the year 1861, studied law with Clark & Carpentier, in San Francisco, and was by the Supreme Court licensed as an attorney and counsellor-at-law, in April, 1862.
He engaged in the practice of the profession at San Juan, Monterey county, and has continued to do so, without inter- mission, excepting the times when on the bench, or absent on legislative duties. In 1864, he was elected to the office of District Attorney of Monterey county. In 1866 he was re-elected.
In 1868 he received his first and only political defeat at tbe polls, having, in 1868, accepted from the Republican party of Monterey county, the nomination for Assemblyman, on a plat- form pledged to the ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment to the Federal constitution. The county being Democratic in politics, the platform of equality of all men was not strong enough to resist the waves, and the ebbing tides bore him to the classic shades of " Salt river," where he landed with colors nailed to the mast.
In 1870, be was elected County Judge of Monterey county. which position he resigned when the county was divided by the erection of San Benito county.
On the erection of the county of San Benito, in 1874, he was appointed County Judge of the new county, which position he filled for the term of four years.
In 1877, he was elected to represent the county of San Benito in the lower branch of the Legislature. He there served on Committees on Judiciary and Public Lands, and also on the special Committee on Labor Investigation. The purpose of which was to inquire into the cause of the labor riots in San Francisco.
It is believed that some of his votes in the Assembly (he was one of the hopeless minority of fifteen who voted against the Incendiary Act) so favorably commended him to the "Work- ingmen's party" that he was by that party nominated as one of the delegates at large. Together with bis co-nominees, he was defeated, but scored the highest vote of any one on tbe ticket.
At the election held iu 1879, under the New Constitution, he was unanimously, as far as different political organiza- tions were concerned, nominated for Superior Judge of the county. He was elected without opposition. He now hokls the office.
Judge Breen is Republican in politics. He is very popular at home, as is shown by repeated elections in a Democratic county. He is pleasaut in his intercourse with the people, and is a cultured student, a keen observer, and quick to discern and weigh the facts presented before him in a judicial capacity.
Some account of the Donner party, of which Mr. Breen was one, is given on page fifty-three. But we cannot close this article without giving some extracts from a work eutitled " History of the Donner Party."
SUFFERINGS OF THE BREEN FAMILY.
The following extract refers to the mother of Judge Breen :- Very noble was the part which Mrs. Margaret Breen performed in this Donner tragedy, and very beautifully has that part been recorded by a woman's hand. It is written so tenderly, so delicately, and with so much reverence for the maternal love which alone sustained Mrs. Breen, that it can hardly be improved. This account was published by its author, Mrs. Farnham, in 1849, and is made the basis of the following sketch. With alterations here and there, made for the sake of brevity, the article is as it was written :
There was no food in Starved Camp. There was nothing to eat save a few seeds, tied in bits of cloth, that had been brought along by some one, and the precious lump of sugar. There were also a few teaspoonfuls of tea. They sat and lay by the fire most of the day, with what heavy hearts, who shall know! They were upon about thirty feet of snow. The dead lay before them, a gbastlier sight in the sunshine that succeeded the storm, than when the dark clouds overhung them. They had no words of cheer to speak to each other, no courage nor hope to share, but those which pointed to a life where hunger and cold could never come, and their benumbed faculties were scarcely able to sieze upon a consolation so remote from the thoughts and wants that absorbed their whole being.
A situation like this will not awaken in common natures religious trust. Under such protracted suffering the animal outgrows the spiritual in frightful disproportion. Yet the mother's sublime faith, which had brought her thus far through her agonies, with a heart still warm to those who shared them, did not fail ber now. She spoke gently to one and another ; asked her husband to repeat tbe litany, and the children to join ber in the responses; and endeavored to fix their minds upon the time when relief would probably come. Nature, as unerringly as philosophy could have done, taught her that tbe only hope of sustaining those about ber, was to set before them a termination to their sufferings.
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BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES OF RESIDENTS.
What days and nights were those that went by while they waited: Life waning visibly in those about her ; not a morsel of food to offer them; her own infant, and the little one that had been cherished and saved through all by the mother now dead, wasting hourly into the more perfect image of death ; her husband worn to a skeleton; it needed the fullest ineasure of exalted faith, of womanly tenderness and self-sac- rifice, to sustain her through such a season. She watched by night as well as by day. She gathered wood to keep them warın. She boiled the handful of tea and dispeused it to them, and when she found one sunken and speechless, she broke with her teeth a morsel of the precious sugar, and put it in his lips. She fed her babe freely on suow-water, and scanty as was the wardrobe she had, she managed to get fresh cloth- ing next to its skin two or three times a week. Where, one asks in wonder and reverence, did she get the strength and courage for all this ? She sat all night by her family, her elbows on her knees, brooding over the meck little victim that lay there, watching those who slept, and occasionally dozing with a fearful consciousness of their terrible condition always upon her. The sense of peril never slumbered. Many times luriug the night she went to the sleepers to ascertain if they all still breathed. She put her hand under their blankets, and held it before the mouth. In this way she assured herself that they were yet alive. But onee her blood curdled to find, on approaching her hand to the lips of one of her own children, that there was no warm hreath upon it. She tried to open his mouth and found the jaws set. She roused her hus- band, "Oh! Patrick, man, arise and help me! James is dying." "Let him die !" said the quiserable father, "he will be better off' than any of us." She was terribly shocked by this reply. In her own expressive language, her heart stood still when she heard it. She was bewildered and knew not where to set her weary hands to work, but she recovered in a few moments and began to chafe the breast and hands of the per- ishing hoy. She broke a bit of sugar, and with considerahle effort forced it between his teeth with a few drops of snow- water. She saw him swallow, then a slight convulsive motion stirred his features, he stretched his limhs feebly, and in a moment more opened his eyes and looked upon her. How fer- vent were her thanks to the Great Father, whom she forgot not, day or night.
Thus she went on. The tea leaves were eaten, the seeds chewed, the sugar all dispensed, the days were hright, 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 stupor from which she often found it difficult to aronse them.
The fire had sunk so far away that they had felt hut hittle of its warmth the last two nights, and casting her eyes down into the snow-pit, whence it sent forth only a dull glow, she thought she saw 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 eheer and encouragement, brought him to understand that she wished him to descend by one of the tree-tops which had fallen in so 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 he 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 hottom safely, and presently spoke to her. There was naked dry carth under his feet ; it was warm, and he wished her to come down. She laid her haby beside some of the sleepers and descended. Immediately she determined upon taking them all down. How good, she thought, as she descended the bouglis, was the God whom she trusted. By perseverance, hy entreaty, hy 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 the means of sus- taining life which God seemed to have placed heforc them. The lives of all might be 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 should be 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 ahout the fire, hut 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, but 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 heseeching gaze, set in the light, liquid hlue that overflows the pathway of the opening day. She prayed earnestly as she gazed, for she knew that there were hut few hours of life in those dearest to her. If human aid came not that day, some eyes that would soon look imploringly into hers, would be closed in death before that star would rise again. Would she herself, with all her endurance and resist- ing love, live to see it ? Were they at length to perish ? Great God ! should it be permitted that they, who had heen preserved through so much, should die at last so miserably ?
Her eyes were dim, and her sight wavering. She could not distinguish trees from men on the snow, but had they heen
107
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES OF RESIDENTS.
near, she could have heard them, for her ear had grown so sen- sitive that the slightest unaccustomed noise arrested ber 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 eon- scious that it told the story of her despair. Yet she strove with some half-insane words to suggest that somebody would surely come to them that day.
They repeated the litany. The responses came so feebly that they were scareely audible, and the protractedl 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 clay was three or four hours old she placed her trembling feet again upon the ladder to look ont once more. The eorpses of the dead lay always before her as she reached the top-the mother and her son, and the little boy, whose remains she coukl not even glanee at since they had been mutilated. The blanket that covered them could not shut out the horror of the sight.
But this time something caused her face to flush as if the blood, thin and eold as it was, would burst 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 voiees! 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 advaneing toward her. She knew that now there would be no more starving. Death was repelled for this time from the precious little flock he bad so long threatened, and she might offer up thanksgiving unchecked by the dreads and fears that had so long frozen her
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