History of San Joaquin County, California : with biographical sketches of leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its growth and development from the early days to the present, Part 125

Author: Tinkham, George H. (George Henry), b. 1849
Publication date: 1923
Publisher: Los Angeles, Calif. : Historic Record Co.
Number of Pages: 1660

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Samuel Humphrey, the second, was born May 17, 1686. He was married four times and had nineteen children. His wife, Lydia North, daughter of Na- thaniel North of Farmington, Conn., was the mother of his son Ezekiel, who is the ancestor of the line under discussion. Samuel settled at Simsbury, Conn., where, like his father and grandfather, he appears to have been a prominent citizen, for his name occurs many times in the town records. He was an ensign and sergeant. About the year 1739 he removed with his wife and family to Goshen, Conn., and settled upon a tract of land which he had bid off at a division of land at New Haven in 1738. This tract was located in the north part of the town, where the family gave their own name to the road on which they lived. It is interesting that up to 1880 nearly all of this land was still in the possession

of his lineal descendants. Samuel died in Goshen, October 16, 1759.

Captain Ezekiel Humphrey, son of the above, was born August 28, 1719, in Simsbury, Conn. He mar- ried Elizabeth, daughter of Samuel Pettibone, Jr. The Humphrey genealogy says: "Captain Ezekiel Humphrey was a man of remarkable mental and physical stamina and one distinctive mark of the family seems to have come conspicuously to the sur- face in him and his immediate descendants. He him- self stood six feet four inches high and had five sons that averaged over six feet. He also had a large number of grandsons and great-grandsons, all of whom were men of equally large stature. Captain Frederick, one of the sons, was six feet four inches high and weighed 350 pounds. It is rare that so tall a family be found. These peculiarities-large stature, great physical strength and stamina with courteous manners-renders them worthy successors of their ancestors, the historic Humphrey Knights of Old." Captain Ezekiel was representative to the General Assembly in 1777. He died in 1795. The line continues through his son Elijah.

Captain Elijah Humphrey was born September 20, 1747. He married Chloe Wilcox, daughter of Eph- raim Wilcox of West Simsbury and his wife Ruha- mah Pinney, widow of Thomas Bidwell, Sr., of West Simsbury. Elijah was a sea captain engaged in the merchant marine between New London and the West Indies. In 1788 he was lost at sea together with all on board, this being his third shipwreck in making the then dangerous voyage to the West Indies. His second son, Allen, carries the line on.

Major Allen Humphrey was born in 1777 and married Polly, daughter of Benjamin Bodwell and his wife Mary Woodbridge of Simsbury, Conn. Allen was a clothier by trade and removed with his family in 1811 to Claridon, Ohio. His was the third family that settled in that town. He bought 300 acres for a farm upon which he lived until his death. He served as major in the War of 1812 and was com- mander of the post at Cleveland, Ohio, at the time of General Hull's surrender at Detroit. He died December 22, 1825, at Claridon and was buried there. He left nine children, the fourth being Elijah Huron.

Colonel Elijah Huron Humphrey was born in Can- ton, Conn., June 30, 1805, and removed with his parents to Claridon in 1811. He married Sybil So- phronia Sweat. In early life he was a saddler and harness maker, but afterward became a lawyer and was admitted to the Ohio bar. Colonel Humphrey served in the Civil War on the Northern side and achieved some fame by the capture single-handed of the notorious rebel Scott. He died about 1890, leav- ing eleven children, of whom the second son was Decius Ervin.

Decius Ervin Humphrey was born August 4, 1836, at Claridon, Ohio. Early in life he became a school teacher in the Ohio schools and while following this profession met his wife, Mary Goodfellow, also a school teacher. She was born in Ballygawley, Ire- land, in 1831 and, due to the loss of her father, came to America alone at sixteen years of age. Her parents were Presbyterians, probably of Welsh or English descent. In America she took a degree at Mt. Holyoke College and became a school teacher. This marriage took place about 1860 in Ohio. In 1862 they emigrated to San Francisco, where they both continued to teach school. Mr. Humphrey be-

Mary E. Humphrey

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came the principal of the Hays Valley grammar school, at that time one of the largest schools in town. He was considered an authority on the sub- ject of English grammar and methods of teaching it. His premature death in 1878 following a severe siege of typhoid fever cut short a successful career and left his wife with three young sons. She continued an honored member of the staff of San Francisco teachers until her death in 1889. The names of their children who survived infancy were Anthony Byrd, John and Harry Ervin.

Anthony Byrd Humphrey, the subject of this sketch, was born at Harmony, Ohio, June 27, 1862. With his parents he came to San Francisco when less than a year old and there received his educa- tion in the San Francisco public schools under the direction of his teacher parents, who desired him to be educated for a doctor. His father's death when he was sixteen years old, however, caused him to decide that he would not accept the balance of his education from his mother who had two younger sons, one less than eight years old. In addition to this he had always had a longing for ranching as a calling and so after a year he left home and took · work with a farmer with the idea of learning to ranch. At first the struggle was hard, for he was a city bred boy and unused to the roughness of the men with whom he toiled. On one occasion when he applied for work he was turned away because they hired Oriental labor; and this incident made such an impression on his mind that he never in later years hired anything but white men on his place. His first venture for himself was made in Texas at Sweetwater. Previous to this in November, 1883, he had married Mary Elizabeth, daughter of John Jones of San Joaquin County and formerly wife of E. A. Hall of Waterford, Stanislaus County, California, by whom she had four children: William Hall, of Waterford; Georgianna, wife of Charles Camp, of Modesto; Alice Maud, wife of Judson P. Ross, of Modesto; and Katherine. Mrs. Hall was well known for her beauty of personality and char- acter and loved throughout the country by all who had ever known her. At Sweetwater, Mr. Humphrey created a sensation by starting a dairy. Although the Texas hills, at that time, 1885, were covered with beef cattle such a thing as a dairy was un- heard of and there was much laughing and jeering at the idea; but the milk for which he charged fifty cents a gallon, which at that time was equal to fifty cents a quart today could not be made to cover the demands of the jeering customers, for although the wealthy cattlemen laughed at him, their wives were determined to have the milk at any price and Mr. Humphrey figured to charge enough to cover the fun at his expense. Although the business thrived the health of his wife and infant daughter suffered as a consequence of the severity of the climate and so the Texas property was traded for a place at Anderson, California, and 1886 saw the family back in the Golden State. Within two years the Anderson property was traded again for the ranch at Mayhews, Sacramento County, where Mr. Humphrey is still located and where the success he has achieved has made his name well known throughout the ranks of California farmers. This place, at that time, was known as the Weinstock & Lubin place, because it belonged to the gentlemen of that name who later became such well known merchants in Sacramento.

It is situated on the Folsom Road nine miles out of Sacramento at Mayhews, and since it has be- longed to Mr. Humphrey it has been known as Grape Wild Farms. It consisted at that time of 350 acres for which Mr. Humphrey paid the unheard of price of $70,000. In addition to the property traded in he paid a small cash sum and assumed the balance on a mortgage of large proportions. As the ranch had never, up to that time, paid its own ex- penses, it must have been the courage of pioneer blood that had the confidence to attack such a load, but Mr. Humphrey believed that by the application of certain practical ideas the place would be well worth the difficulties to be overcome and that his confidence was well placed has been demonstrated by the results obtained, for the ranch under his man- agement has produced great quantities of so fine a product that it has made a name for him in Eastern markets and has not only paid its own expenses, but in addition has gone a very long way towards helping to develop into a paying property the land in San Joaquin County which his minor daughters later inherited from their grandfather, John Jones.

In 1889 in collaboration with R. D. Stephens, one of the pioneers in California's fruit industry and at Mr. Stephens' suggestion he arranged to make their own cars of fruit and ship them to Eastern auc- tioneers under the name of Stephens & Humphrey. They were the first California growers to take this step and it at once repaid them in the increased prices they received and the fact that they were able to take advantage of their knowledge of the condi- tions of Eastern markets and to control their ship- ments accordingly. Mr. Humphrey specialized on the table grape, known as Tokays, of which he has sometimes shipped as high as 50,000 crates in a single season. Shortly after he had purchased the ranch he devised a system of tying his grapevines to stakes twelve feet high with cross bars on top and in this way he avoided a large percentage of mildew and decay after the fall rains and exposed the grapes to the sunlight in such a way as to acquire the beautiful red color for which his product has so often occa- sioned favorable comment in the New York and other Eastern markets. He is a firm advocate of the policy of keeping grapevines off the ground either by stake or trellis system, which he has used on other varieties of grapes on the San Joaquin ranch, a policy which of late years has been adapted by many other growers. He was among the first to realize the necessity for artificial irrigation and to start a system of wells on his place. In the early '90s he began to bore wells. These wells had to be sunk to a depth of 150 to 175 feet, and although they were expensive to bore, supplied a large stream of very clear water when they were once installed. The first power used were the old gasoline engines which were later replaced by electric motors. An under- ground system of concrete pipe made on the ranch has also in late years taken the place of the ditches, which although attractive to look upon, were diffi- cult to maintain. There are now twelve wells on the place supplying water to every part of the 400 acres which make up 'the original Grape Wild farm at Mayhews.

Perhaps Mr. Humphrey's most valuable contribu- tion to the industry of California farming was the theory which he advanced, advocated, practiced and demonstrated to be correct, that a fruit ranch can be

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much more economically conducted in conjunction with a small dairy and stock plant and that alfalfa planted in orchards is a decided advantage. Before 1900 he had planted to alfalfa a large portion of the Grape Wild orchard, his theory being that by so doing he would counteract, in a measure, the bad aspects of artificial irrigation, namely, the tendency of the ground to sour from the surplus water which was not used by the trees and the increased need for cultivation as a result of the application of the water, as alfalfa would consume the surplus water, keep the ground open and introduce oxygen into the soil. In pear orchards it would lessen the danger of spreading the blight which constant cultivation in- creases. The next difficulty to be met and overcome after the planting. of the alfalfa was the constant drain upon the soil from so great a crop as both fruit and alfalfa. To meet this emergency Mr. Humphrey installed a limited dairy which would con- sume the alfalfa and in turn would supply the cheap- est and best form of fertilizer to continually build up the soil. He chose Guernsey cattle because his hay production being restricted over what it would have been in open fields it was necessary for him to have a breed of cattle that would return the most milk for the food consumed, and because he could not run a large herd, he went in from the start as far as he could for pure breds, his idea being to sell breeding cattle. This plan he adhered to and through a number of years has built up an enviable reputa- tion as a Guernsey and Berkshire breeder. The next step was to dispose of the skimmed milk and to do this he went into pure bred Berkshire hogs. Although these herds were started and the foundation laid on the ranch at Mayhews, the ranch with which they are really associated in the mind of the public is the ranch at Escalon, also known as Grape Wild Farms, to which the larger part of the herd was removed in 1910 and where Mr. Humphrey has installed a very complete and modern dairy and hog plant. Each year he exhibits his stock at all the fairs of the state where he never fails to carry off his share of the prizes. At the Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco he took the grand champion boar and junior grand champion boar in Berkshires, both of which had not only been raised but bred by himself. The boar was sold to an Eastern breeder at the un- precedented price of $3,000 and the junior boar went to the University of California experimental farm at Davis. He has shipped stock to many Eastern states, to Hawaii, to the Philippines and to China. Visitors have come to see his stock from as far away as Australia.

In 1894 Mr. Humphrey had the very great mis- fortune to lose the wife who had been his greatest help and inspiration during the first hard years on the ranch at Mayhews. She it was who had day by day walked over the property with him discussing, planning and advising and her genius at making things grow and understanding of plant life in gen- eral was a marked quality. It was after her death that his little daughters inherited from their grand- father, John Jones, the ranch at Escalon, which con- sisted of 800 acres of what had once been very fine wheat land, but which, due to many years of continu- ous wheat crops had at the time it was inherited come to a state where it seldom produced a paying crop of any kind. When Mr. Humphrey had brought the ranch at Mayhews to a state where he could

spare the time and attention, he attacked the Escalon property upon the same principles that had brought so much success at Mayhews. He leveled the ranch so that it could all be irrigated and before the irriga- tion district was installed had bored four wells and had intended to bore others. One hundred acres were planted to vineyard and olives and as fast as was feasible the balance was put into alfalfa. Then began the system of fertilization which has been so beneficial that a vineyard planted a year ago to

cuttings on ground which has been under irrigation, alfalfa and fertilization for some years has made in one year a greater growth than did the original vine- yard in several years which was planted on ground that had been impoverished by forty years of continu- ous wheat growing. The grape which Mr. Humphrey chose for this vineyard is also a discovery of his own. He calls it Lady Finger because of its white color and long slender shape. It is presumably an Oriental variety, which had never been cultivated in this coun- try until he introduced it and which he obtained in some cuttings sent to him years ago by the University of California for experimental purposes. It is very tender, with a thin, inoffensive skin and a very sweet flavor. In reality it contains less grape sugar than any other variety, but it contains practically no acid. It has reached the height of perfection on the Escalon place and is quite popular in the markets. It is Mr. Humphrey's ambition to put nearly all the balance of the Escalon property into vineyard and orchards and towards this end he is devoting his entire time and attention.

Mr. Humphrey is a remarkably active and ener- getic man, able to stand great strain and heavy labor without showing the effects. He has been and is still so devoted to his calling that for many years he has consistently declined all public and honorary positions as he has always felt that his greatest con- tribution to society could be made by devoting him- self entirely to the calling he has chosen. He was for several years president of the Berkshire con- gress, but with this exception and possibly one or two other minor ones he has not broken the rule he made early in life. Of late years the two ranches have been thrown together for the purpose of sim- plification in handling into a close family corpora- tion, the A. B. Humphrey Company. Mr. Humph- rey has two daughters, Bessie Byrd, born May 31, 1885, wife of F. E. Greene, a son of the late L. D. Greene of Vorden, Sacramento County, California, and Winnifred Electra, born November 24, 1886, wife of L. B. Landsborough of Mayhews, a son of L. M. Landsborough of Florin, Sacramento County. Mr. and Mrs. Landsborough live on the home place at Mayhews, where Mr. Landsborough is interested with Mr. Humphrey, and Mr. and Mrs. Greene live in Berkeley, where Mr. Greene is interested in a road paving business.

Mr. Humphrey's success can be traced clearly. to two or three traits or policies. First is the logical manner of thinking which has developed his prac- tical theories-the quality of reasoning from a given condition and result; second, his prompt application of a principle as soon as it becomes clear to him, his persistence in adhering to a plan, his own strenu- ous labor and close attention to detail over a period of many years, years in which there have been but few vacations-a developed executive ability and a policy of always delivering the very best quality of

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goods obtainable and of square dealing in all his relations. A favorite remark of his is that "the cus- tomer is always right and he must be pleased."

MRS. LENA S. FAKE .- A highly-esteemed resi- dent of San Joaquin County who has an interesting lifestory to tell, is Mrs. Lena S. Fake, the widow of the late and highly-honored Captain George J. Fake, residing at Tracy. She was born near Ingeln, in the Province of Hanover, Germany, on August 18, 1853, the daughter of Henry and Hannah (Dohrs) Seegers, and accompanied them to America in 1868, along with an uncle, Christoph Dohrs, a mining man of promi- nence and wealth in San Francisco, who had been visiting his relatives in Germany during that year. Fourteen days were required to cross the Atlantic, after which they left New York, aboard the steam- ship California, bound for Aspinwall. Then they crossed the Isthmus on the railroad up from Panama and came on the steamship George Law, arriving at San Francisco on October 1, 1868.

Henry Seegers was a farmer and shepherd by occupation, and soon after his arrival in the Golden State, he made his way into the San Joaquin Valley, where he formed a partnership for agricultural pur- · suits with Harry Fisk, near what was known in those early days as San Joaquin City. He took up Sec- tion No. 28 of land, and the dwelling and farm-build- ings were erected from lumber and materials hauled across the arid plains from Stockton, a distance of

thirty-three miles. Fire destroyed the buildings, however, in 1898, and thus a well-known landmark of the sixties was removed. Mr Seegers passed away on August 15, 1900, at the age of eighty-two, and his faithful widow followed him on May 4, 1906, having attained her eighty-first year. Both of these highly intelligent and progressive pioneers left behind an enviable record for their useful lives, and made a sub- stantial contribution toward the California of today.

The second daughter and oldest living of a family of six children, Lena Seegers received a good com- mon-school education; and in 1872 she was married to Captain G. J. Fake, a native of England, who was born at Bury St. Edmund's on November 25, 1824. He was educated at Thetford Academy, and on reach- ing his eighteenth year, went to sea. Six years later- such were the rapid strides of his advancement-he was made captain of a merchant marine service. In 1853, he sailed his first vessel through the Golden Gate, after a hazardous voyage around Cape Horn, and from that year he maintained a home at San Francisco. He not only became master of his own private vessel, but he engaged in shipbuilding, as well, and constructed such well-known vessels as the schooner "Superior," used in powder and ammunition freighting between Santa Cruz and South America. In this enterprise, he was associated with a brother, William Fake. Several famous vessels came under the captain's ownership, but none are now in ser- vice. In 1886, Captain Fake made his last deep-sea voyage on a tour of the Orient, and Mrs. Fake ac- companied her husband, as she had on all of the voyages he made after they were married.

On retiring from active sea-life, Captain Fake re- moved inland to San Joaquin County and in 1889 acquired a productive ranch of 320 acres, near Vern- nalis, where he built his home and where he and his good wife lived until 1914, when, on account of fail- ing health, he disposed of his ranch. At Tracy, on

September 11, 1914, he passed away, thus rounding out an exceptionally useful life as one of the bravest sea-captains who ever stood before the mast. A daughter, now the wife of W. H. Cuthell, resides near Duncans Mills, on the Russian River, in Cali- fornia. Captain Fake was a member of various Ma- sonic lodges; a stand-pat Republican and a sincere be- liever in the goodness of God and who could have had better reason for entertaining such faith than one who had, for years, coursed the stormy main, sail- ing through peril after peril into sunshiny open. Af- ter her husband's death, Mrs. Fake lived for a short time at Oakland, but in 1919 she erected a comfort- able residence at Tracy, deeding the property to the Lutheran Church, with the proviso that she may continue to reside there during her natural life. This is only one of the numerous things she has found pleasure in doing, being active in all church work, charitable pursuits, etc., quietly and modestly pur- suing her way, content that virtue and Christian large-heartedness are their own reward.

JUDGE D. M. DENEHY .- A retired merchant whose years of industrious, successful activity and long record of fair-and-square dealing have won for him the esteem and confidence of a wide circle of friends and acquaintances, is Judge D. M. Denehy, ex- postmaster of Acampo, in which town he has been the central figure since early days. Born near the Lakes of Killarney, County Kerry, Ireland, on No- vember 11, 1851, he was the son of Dennis Denehy, an Irish pedagogue teaching in the national schools of that country. He had married Miss Mary Murphy, and they had three children when they came out to the United States and settled in Fairfield County, Ohio. Our subject was then six years old, and he went through the nine grades of the district school.

Striking out for himself as a young man, he went to Iowa, and having learned the trade of a black- smith in the Buckeye State, he followed his trade there. In 1874 he came to California, working at his trade for different contractors at railroad and levee construction in the San Joaquin and Sacramento val- leys, and visiting the Acampo district while thus en- gaged. In the month of January, 1876, he opened up a blacksmith shop at Lodi. He remained only a few months, however, until May 1, of the same year, when he came up to Acampo. Here he built his blacksmith shop, which he operated until 1890, when he went back to Lancaster, Ohio. There he engaged in the natural gas and real estate business until 1892, when he returned to Acampo, Cal., and for two years resumed his work at the forge. In 1894 he engaged in the general merchandise business at Acampo, and for twenty years successfully conducted a general merchandise store there. He has bought lands at Acampo and in the vicinity from time to time, until he has become a substantial property owner.

In 1894, Mr. Denehy was appointed special agent for the General Land Office, and later he became postmaster of Acampo. Since 1902, also, he has been serving as judge in the Justice's Court, and this re- sponsible office he still holds, although in 1914 he sold his store at Acampo and retired from active busi- ness life. He has always been a consistent Democrat.

Judge Denehy was married at Acampo on Novem- ber 27, 1877, to Miss Lilly Mullen, a native of Placer- ville and the daughter of Dennis and Bridget Mullen, who came to California in the sixties and settled in the

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HISTORY OF SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY

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History of San Joaquin County, California : with biographical sketches of leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its growth and development from the early days to the present, Part 125

Author: Tinkham, George H. (George Henry), b. 1849 Publication date: 1923 Publisher: Los Angeles, Calif. : Historic Record Co. Number of Pages: 1660

Author: Tinkham, George H. (George Henry), b. 1849
Publication date: 1923
Publisher: Los Angeles, Calif. : Historic Record Co.
Number of Pages: 1660