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 22
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When these members of the third relief party reached the deep, well-like eavity in which were the seven Breens, 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 eamp, and above all, tbe 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 be carried over the snow, it is hardly to be wondered at that a proposition was made to leave a por- tion of the sufferers. It was proposed to take the three Graves children and Mary Donner. These four children would be quite a sufficient burden for the three men, considering the snow over which they must travel. The Breens, or at least such of them as could not walk, were to be abandoned. This was equivalent to leaving the father, mother, and five ehildren.
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 described in the manuseript 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 'nye.' The question was put to each man by name, and as the namnes were ealled, the dreadinl ' 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 abandonmont, 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 soure said to him: 'Stark, won't you vote ?' Stark, during all this proceeding of calling the roll, had stood apart from his companions with bowel head and folded arms. When he was thus directly appealed to, he answered quickly and decidedly, 'No, gentlemen, I will not abandon these people. I am here on a mission of mercy, and I will not half do the work. You can all go if you want to, but I shall stay by these people while they and I live.'"
It was nobly said. If the Brecns had been left at Starved Camp, even until the return of Foster, Eddy, Miller and Thompson from the Lake, none would have ever reached tho 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- eellerl courage, myself and others owe our lives. There was probably no other man in California at that time, who had the intelligence, 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 broad shoulders he carried the provisions, most of the blankets, and most of the time some of the weaker ehildren. In regard to this, he would laughingly say that he could carry them all if there was room on bis back, because they were so light from starvation."
By every means in his power, Stark would cheer and encour- age the poor sufferers. Frequently he would carry one or two abead a little way, put them down, and return for the otbers. James F. Breen says : "I distinctly remember that myself and Jonathan Graves were both carried by Stark, on his back the greater part of the journey." Others speak similarly.
Each one of the persons who were taken from Starved Camp by this man and his two companions, reached Sutter's Fort in safety. James F. Breen had his feet badly frozen, and afterwards burned wbile at the camp. No one had any hope that they could be saved, and when the party reached the fort, a doetor was sought to amputate them. None could be found, and kind nature effected a cure which a physician would have pronouneed impossible.
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In concluding this chapter, it is quite appropriate to quote the following, written by J. F. Breen: " No one can attach blaine to those who voted to leave part of the emigrants. It was a desperate case. Their idea was to save as many as pos- sible, and they honestly believed that by attempting to save all. all would be lost. But this consideration-and the further one that Stark was an entire stranger to every one in the camps, not bound to them by any tie of blood or kindred, nor having any hope of reward, except the grand consciousness of doing a noble act-makes his conduct shiue more lustrously in the eyes of every person who adinires nature's true and only nobility."
Those who were brought 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, Isabella M. Breen, Nancy Graves, Jonathan Graves, Elizabeth Graves, and Mary M. Douner.
Mr. Breen lived to see all his children grow to maturity and become established in life. On the twenty-first of December, he peacefully closed his eyes to this world, surrounded by every member of his family, all of whom he preceded to the tomb. All the surviving members of the Breen family are still residiug at or near San Juan.
Edward J. Breen married in IS58. His wife died in 1862, leaving the following children: Eugene T., Edward J., and Jolin Roger. Patrick Breen, Jr., married in 1865 ; his wife is living, and their children are: Mary, William, Peter, Engene. Simon P. Breen married in 1867 ; his wife is living ; their children are: 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, by 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 born 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, she was ever good, kind, coura- geous and " affable 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 firinly relied on the mercy and goodness of Him to whom she prayed so ardently and confidently in the heavy hour of her tribulation. The hope of her later years was that she might not be required to witness the death of any of her chil- dren; but 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 by all for her virtues and her well-spent life, she quietly and peacefully passed from the midst of her sorrowing family to the otber and better shore.
PATRICK BREEN.
PATRICK BREEN is a California pioncer 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 born 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, but remem- bers many of the incidents of those fearful scenes. He came to San Juan in 1848, and engaged with the family in farming and stock-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 cereals, fruits and vegetables, but is mostly devoted to raising of wheat.
He married Miss Amelia Anderson in 1864, who was a native of Australia, and they havo children as follows: Mary, William, Poter, Eugene, and Amelia Breen.
JOHN BREEN.
JOHN BREEN is also a pioneer of the State, having reached California two years before the rush of gold-seekers. He was also with the Donner party, whose tragic 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 becoming exhausted, the family endured great suffering before they were rescued.
John Breen was born in Upper Canada, February 21, 1832, and is the son of Patrick and Margaret Breen, heretofore men- tioned. He was horn 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 Island 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 date, which was chiefly stock-raising. He went to the mines however in the spring of 1848, and remained until 1849.
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W.W. ELLIOTT 800 WITH 106 LEIDESDORF ST. S.F. CAL
MOUNTAIN VIEW RANCH, AND RES. OF D. MSKIN
NNON, SALINAS CITY, MONTEREY 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. He 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 keeps about two thousand sheep. Of other stock he generally has about his place, four cows, four horses, besides hogs and other stock.
He married Miss Leah Margaret Smith, a native of Illinois in 1852. The names of their children are: Lillie, Edward, Adclade, 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 born in New York, July 18, 1826, on his father's farm, whcro he remained until he was eightcen 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 business 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 honorably 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 lumber 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 bank 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, besides hogs and other stock. He also farms six hun- dred acres of the Quien Sabe ranch, which he rents.
Mr. Hammond is Postinaster at Cinnabar. He is also Justice of the Peace for that township, and has hield the position for four years.
He married Miss Maria S. Robinson 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 born in Owen county, Indiana, December 9, 1833. His early life, like that of most boys of that day, was attended by 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 hereceived six dollars.
In 1859, H. W. Cothran set out for " the West," but con- cluded to take a life partner, Miss Mary J. Pope, who was born 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 withi 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. He first resided in Marin and Colusa counties.
Hc came to San Benito, at that time Monterey, in 1869, and practiced medicine for two years, and then boughit 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 black, 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.
He married Miss Harriette A. Letts, February 22, 1847. She was born in Palmyra, New York. They have four chil- dren : Emma S., Harriette A., Frances E., and Ellen I. Green.
J. W. Green is a pioneer of the State, having crossed the mountains in 1850. He endured many hardships on the jour- ney, walking the entire distance fromn Joliett, Illinois, to Sacra-
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BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES OF RESIDENTS.
mento in five months. His search for gold was not successful, and he returned East the following year, but not satisfied with the change, he returned, and in the winter of 1852 and '53 mincd in Nevada city for thirteen months, and made six thousand five hundred dollars, with which he 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 his family, coming by water, and reaching San Francisco, April 24, 1868.
He located that year in Peach Tree valley, and engaged in sheep-raising, and, in 1872, lie mnoved to liis 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 has also good vegetable land, and plenty of good water on the farin in shape of springs; hence the name applied to it-"Spring Brook farm." He keeps ahout twelve horses, two cows, some sixty-tive logs, sheep and other stock. His home is very pleasant in its surroundings, and the yard is supplied with trees, shrubbery, 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." He 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 that the ensilage of feed will, in a few years, he found so profitable and convenient as to come into general use. He considers it tlic most profitable way to provide for the fecd 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 the 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, who were farmers and stock-raisers in Tennessee. Mr. Cornwell left De Kalh county, Arkansas, overland, for California, hy 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 has 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 hundred 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 horn 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, hy stcamer Illinois to Aspinwall, and from the Isthmus. in steamer John L. Stevens, reaching San Francisco, March 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, both in hearing. He also raises all kinds of berries in abundance. He keeps about fifty head of cattle, horses, hogs, and other stock'.
Miss Fatima C. Jemison, the wife of the subject of this sketch, was horn in Missouri in 1840; and came across the plains, in 1860, with three sisters and one hrother. She was married March 6, 1861, at the age of twenty-one. Sho was esteemed by all who knew her, and was a devoted wife and Christian. She died August 28, 1878. She has two sisters living. Mrs. Poole, and Mrs. McNeill. One sister, Mrs. Brooks, died November 7, 1871. One hrother resides in Wash. Ter.
The names of Mr. England's children are: Georgia, Arthur, Carrie, Decater, Minnic, Ella, and Theodoria England.
G. W. TOWLE.
In the year 1834, there lived in the State of Illinois the family of Thomas F. and Ellen Towle, to whom a son was horn May 18th of the same year, who is the subject of this sketch, and whom we know as G. W. Towle. His parents took him, when two years old, to Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, where Mr. Thomas F. Towle carried on a nail factory. Afterwards they resided on Brady's Bend, on the Alleghany river, Pennsylvania.
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BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES OF RESIDENTS.
. When G. W. Towle became eighteen years of age, he took Creeley's advice, and went West to make his fortune. He took passage to Panama, crossed the Isthmus on a mule, and arrived in San Francisco in February, 1852, from whence he started for the mines.
He mined on the Ynba river, Chipp's Flat and Plum valley, successively, but had poor success; so getting tired of it, he, in 1854 retraced his steps to Pennsylvania, where, getting restless again, he, in 1856, journeyed west to Illinois, then to Missouri, where his heart was captivated, and he was married, in 1857, to Miss Lydia E. Ackley, a native of Morgan county, Ohio. From Missouri he went with his wife to Nebraska, but was foreed to return to Pennsylvania on account of fevers and ague, which are very prevalent in Nebraska. They stayed in Penn- sylvania until spring of 1859, when he got the gold fever again, and taking his wife with him, crossed the Isthinus, and arrived in California in 1859.
In 1860, while mining at Island Bar on Feather river, he had the misfortune to break his leg, which laid him up for six months; after which, in 1862, he turned his steps to Humboldt mines, Nevada, but having poor snecess again, he eoneluded to change his business, and followed shipping wood from Stockton to San Franeiseo, being employed in that business for four years. He at last came to this eounty, his present home, in the spring of 1869, where he is still employed in cattle-raising and farming.
In the fall of 1880, Mr. Towle purchased the O. A. Payne ranch, of the administrator, which comprises eight hundred acres of excellent pasture land. The formation of the land is rolling hills, The farm is situated twenty-one miles from the county seat, fifteen miles from railroad and nine miles from Paicines, on the Tres Pinos creek. Church and school are close by. He generally keeps four hundred head of eattle, ten horses and eighty hogs on this farm.
Mr. and Mrs. Towle have seven very bright ehildren, whose names are respectively: Charles E., George W., Lena E., Wil- liam Albert, Benjamin F., Freddie, and Thomas B. Towle.
JOAQUIN BOLADO.
JOAQUIN BOLADO is a self-made man, having acquired his large property with his hands and intelleet as his only eapital. He was born in Spain, Mareh 4, 1822. When a boy he was clerk for his uncle in a shipping and forwarding business in Santander, Spain. He went to Mexico at the age of twenty and hired out to a merchant at a small salary as a elerk, and after three years' service he was admitted as a partner and followed the business in Taeatecas from 1841 to 1849, when he sold out and eame to California in search of gold, having the gold fever bad, hut soon recovered after reaching the mines in July, 1849, and left in September, 1849.
He made a contraet with six men in Mexico to come to Sonora to mine for him, but when they arrived they quit work,
saying that a contract inale in Mexico was not valid in Cali- fornia, although he had paid their passage to Sonora. After some experience in mining he came to San José, and thenee to Monterey and San Francisco,
In 1867 he came to San Benito aud engaged in stock-raising. and in general farming since 1873. He has nine thousand six hundred acres, one thousand of which is near Hollister. His other ranel joins Tres Pinos. Two thousand five linudred aeres is grain land, of rolling hills and valley, and averages twelve eentals per aere of whent. The balance is line wild- oat pasture land.
He keeps seventy-five head of cattle, ten thousand sheep, twenty-two mules, twenty hogs, and several horses, some of which are very superior breed.
Mr. Bolado has two fine houses on Sutter street, San Fran- cisco, aud his family resides there during the winter, and in the suinmer sojourn at his country seat, of which we have made oue of our largest illustrations. We invite the reader to examine this beautiful location as sketched by our artist.
In his orchard are three hundred or four hundred trees, henr- ing all kinds of fruits-figs, cherries, plums, prunes, pears, strawberries, and all kinds of table fruits. His vineyard! of oue thousand vines, ineludes all kinds of foreign grapes.
Mr. Bolado inanages his large ranch, and is, as he says, his own foreman and manager. The ranch is also inclosed with fence and subdivided into fields suitable for stock pastures, with plenty of living water and springs in every fiekl. Also an abundance of live and white oak for shade in all the fields. He employs some twelve or fourteen hands in all his various business operations.
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