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 135

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

USA > California > San Joaquin County > 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 135

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"This is a fictional story of life in the great San Joaquin Valley, based on actual historical facts. The heroine is America Kelsey, the first white girl to live in the section of California now known as San Joaquin County.

"The names in most instances are those of people who actually lived there during the strenuous days depicted. The Indian tribes, history tells us, were as described.

"The author has used the writer's license in weav- ing a romance that demands the use of fiction through- out. In fact, it's not a history-it's a romantic story of California life. To possible heirs of characters whose names have been used in this story, I beg their indulgence."

W. J. Buzzell met Captain Weber at San Jose, and together they came to Stockton; and the two men were closely associated until 1850, when Mr. Buzzell sold his tavern and removed to Santa Cruz. There were six children born to him and his wife. Helen was born at Sutter's Fort, August 2, 1845, and mar- ried H. A. Reed, of Half Moon Bay; she now resides with her daughter, Mrs Max Brown, at Burlingame. David died at the age of two years. Elizabeth A. was born at Stockton, September 9, 1847, and was the first American girl born at Stockton. She married Christopher Grattan, and they had two sons and one daughter; after his death she married L. A. Gunn, and she is now a widow residing at Berkeley, Cal. Willard J. was born at Santa Cruz, June 10, 1850. Joseph was born at Santa Cruz, August 8, 1852, and was reared and received a good education in that place. He became a farmer and married Miss Mary Lawrence, in 1888, at Stockton; and they had two children. Later he became deputy sheriff under Thomas Cunningham, and on November 28, 1895, was shot and killed near Paradise Cut, while in the discharge of his duty. The home he built for his family at Mossdale was swept away in the flood of 1911. Subsequently to his death, his widow became Mrs. O. A. Seamands. Mary Teresa is now Mrs. Abe Nichols, of San Francisco, and has one daughter. Mrs. William J. Buzzell passed away at the age of thirty-four, while residing at Half Moon Bay. The father later married again and had one son, Herbert, now residing at Half Moon Bay. The tormet was

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HISTORY OF SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY

accidentally drowned in Half Moon Bay, close to the spot where he entered the Golden State in 1840.

Willard J. Buzzell received a good grammar-school education, and since he was thirteen years old has been making his own way in the world. He grew up on his father's ranch near Purissima, and for several years was employed as a stage driver through the La Honda and Pescadero territory. In 1865 he set- tled at Stockton and found work on the Dr. Grattan ranch east of the city, and while there attended the public school on Cherokee Lane. From 1869 to 1871 he was employed on the Clowes ranch. In 1872 he removed to San Francisco and entered the employ of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company, in the freight department, at Third and Townsend streets, where he remained about one year. Then he went to Silver Reef, Utah, and engaged in placer mining, with his headquarters at Salt Lake City; he spent ten years in that locality and made and lost a fortune. Return- ing to San Joaquin County, he was employed by E. C. Clowes as foreman on his extensive grain ranch, and this job occupied him for eight years. On May 16, 1907, he became the bridge tower foreman at Moss- dale on the Southern Pacific Railroad bridge. . Mr. Buzzell belongs to the Fraternal Brotherhood. He is a stockholder in the Home Builders Association at Salt Lake City, and in the Coast Tire & Rubber Corporation of Oakland.

MARQUIS LAFAYETTE McCALL .- A highly esteemed business man and rancher of San Joaquin County, residing on the Waterloo road, is M. L. Mc- Call, who was born in Jefferson County, Mo., March 24, 1882, the son of M. L. McCall, a native of Ohio, who had married Annie Eliza Williams, who bore him five children: Clarence; Llewellyn, now deceased: Jennie, Mrs. Percy L. Bliss, of Oakland; Marquis La- fayette, of this review; and Lyman C. In 1890, the McCall family came to California; and soon after settling at Stockton, Mr. McCall built the Aurora flouring mill on East Weber Avenue, which he con- ducted until he retired in 1904. Those who remem- ber him recall a wide-awake, high principled man who was ever ready to lend his aid to all worthy pro- jects for the development of his adopted city and county. He died on May 10, 1914, at Stockton, at the age of sixty-eight years. Mrs. McCall passed away at the age of sixty-three years, on December 10, 1913.

M. L. McCall, the subject of this article, attended the Jefferson school and the Stockton High School. He worked with his father in the mill from the age of thirteen, at the same time attending school. In 1904, the father turned the mill over to his two boys, M. L. and Clarence A., who carried on the business until 1910. The mill had a capacity of 150 barrels of flour per day; it usually was operated on a capacity basis.

At Stockton, on November 24, 1915, Mr. McCall was united in marriage with Miss Ellen Victory Mar- tin, born on the old Martin homestead; and part of the house in which they live was built in 1853. After their marriage the young couple began their married life by settling on the old Martin ranch, about ten miles from Stockton, which is now owned by them and consists of 180 acres of fine farming land. Mr. McCall is a member of Charity Lodge, No 6, I. O. O. F., and politically supports the best men and mea- sures regardless of party lines. He is ever alert to do what he can for the betterment of his locality and believes that the interests of one should be the in- terests of all.

HENRY D. BINGER .- More than one third of a century has passed since Henry D. Binger became a resident of California, his arrival in the state dating from 1888. He was born at Rodenburg, Hanover, Germany, on December 6, 1852, a son of Christopher and Elizabeth (Hauschild) Binger, who were also natives of Hanover. The father followed his trade of blacksmith in his native country, but in 1862 he came to America. He arrived at Castle Garden, New York, with his wife and four children, the eldest son Charles having preceded them to Ohio. Chris- topher Binger, after purchasing the railroad tickets for the family to their destination, Napoleon, Ohio, had only five dollars left. However, as soon as he ar- rived in Napoleon he went to work, as did also each member of the family, so they soon had secured a foothold in the new country. He died at eighty- six years of age and the mother passed away when past eighty years. They were the parents of six children, five of whom grew up: Mrs. Anna Hog- refe, of Napoleon; Charles, living in Humboldt, Kan .; Mrs Mary Rohrs, deceased; Mrs. Katie Rohrs, of Napoleon, and Henry D., the youngest, and the subject of this review.

The education of Henry D. Binger extended from the time he was six years old until he was nine, when he came to Napoleon, Ohio, with his parents, in 1862. On the voyage across the ocean he had a comrade, John Bockelman, several years older, who on arriv- ing in New York City, while on the steamer. before they landed, enlisted for service in the Civil War. Un- fortunately, Mr. Bockelman died from pneumonia brought on by exposure while in the service.

On his arrival at Napoleon, Ohio, Henry D. Binger immediately began the battle of life, working on his father's ranch and also on other ranches, giving his wages to his father to help support the family, until he was twenty-one years of age. In 1875 he made the trip to Stillwater, Minn., where he was employed at rafting logs down the Mississippi River for a sea- son, then was employed two years in a stone quarry. In 1878 he returned to Napoleon, Ohio, and there bought a forty-acre place and farmed it until 1886, when he sold it and leased a farm for a couple of years. Coming then to California, he settled on thirty acres two miles east of Lodi on the Lockeford road. Twenty-four acres he planted to Zinfandel grapes, the first wine grapes planted to the east of Lodi. In 1898, Mr. Binger installed an irrigating system consisting of a No. 5 Sampson pump driven by a twelve horse- power engine. He was the first man to irrigate his land east of Lodi. That year was unusually dry and it cost Mr. Binger $400 to irrigate his vineyard, but it was the means of saving it. Three years later, he set out almond trees on his remaining six acres. Mr. Binger was the architect and builder of his two- story house, constructed of concrete blocks.

Mr. Binger was married in Ohio on April 28, 1878, to Miss Dora Boling, a native of Hanover, Germany, and daughter of Christopher Boling, who was a farmer in Ohio, where he passed away. Mrs. Binger is the second eldest in a family of four children, Anna, Dora, Mary and William. Mr. and Mrs. Binger are the parents of three children. William and Carl re- side in Lockeford, and Gertrude is Mrs. Barker of Lodi. She has two children, Dorothy and Charles. Mr. Binger is non-partisan in his political views, pre- ferring to vote for the candidate best fitted to per- form the duties of the office for which he was selected.

Hl. I. Binger

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Mr. Binger and his family are members of the Ger- man Lutheran Church in Lodi. He has made two trips back to his old home in Ohio, first in 1911 and again in 1920. Each time, however, he was glad to get back to his own home and enjoy the wonderful country and climate of California. He may well be called a self-made man, and is numbered among the progressive agriculturists of San Joaquin County.

EDWARD B. CARROLL .- A pioneer of more than ordinary interest and distinction was Edward B. Carroll, in whose memory Carroll Hollow was named. A native of New York City, N. Y., he was born in 1820 and had the privilege of a fine education in that state before enlisting in the Unitd States Army, in 1835, and serving as first sergeant in a company sent to Florida to quell an uprising. After this task was completed he settled in Charleston, S. C., and was for three years occupied as a steel engraver. He was a member of the National Guard of that state, but saw no service. Early in 1846 he enlisted for service under General Scott, and owing to his activities he was ad- vanced to the position of first lieutenant under Capt. L. S. Gallagher and Col. W. B. Burnett, and was with the troops when they entered Mexico City. Three years later, in 1849, Mr. Carroll came to California in advance of Stephenson's regiment. During the journey he endured severe hardships in crossing the desert and mountains, but finally reached southern California, where he found employment in the mines. A few months sufficed to show him that he was not going to make his fortune there; so he gave up min- ing in those parts, and we next find him in Sacra- mento, Cal., whence he went to the mines in Tuol- umne County. Among his party were two men, Brighton and Wright, who afterwards came into no- tice in 1850, when they erected a rude-looking build- ing with sides and roof of zinc, located at what was then known as Rio Buenos Ayres, but which later be- came known as Carroll Hollow. During the early fifties, there came to California two men named Green Patterson and Grizzly Adams in quest of bear, and he became a lifelong friend of these men. Mr. Carroll was a noted rifleman, known in every part of the state as a crack shot. Through his strategy, daring and thorough knowledge of the habits and haunts of the bear, he captured and caged the largest bear ever in captivity; later this bear was taken East by Grizzly Adams, and while on an exhibition tour in Massa- chusetts became so troublesome that Mr. Adams was compelled to shoot him.

During the year of 1850 Mr. Carroll located in the natural pass in the mountains between Livermore and San Joaquin valleys, and built his cabin by the side of a beautiful stream of water. Here, three years later, he erected a fine tavern, a portion of which is standing today in what is known as Carroll Hollow. Those were the days of maurauding bands of out- laws who traversed the country murdering and pil- laging; history records fourteen murders which oc- curred in this natural pass, during those trouble- some times, and how many more there were will ever remain unknown. Green Patterson, the well-known pioneer, was murdered in this canyon early in 1866; also six members of the Golden family were killed by ruffians, who were never brought to justice. Green Patterson became intimately associated with Edward B. Carroll in the early days of Carroll Hollow. He was a half-breed Cherokee Indian who had served in

the Mexican War. He became wealthy, owning some sixty thousand acres in San Luis Obispo County. It is believed that his brother-in-law, "Sandy Simpson," was murdered for his money at Carroll Hollow. Among the other very early associates of Edward B. Carroll, were William Bright and Horatio Wright, who were among the very earliest settlers at Rio Buenos Ayres-now Carroll Hollow. They were there before Edward B. Carroll. Horatio Wright became a partner with Mr. Carroll in running the store and roadhouse. They were among the first to become in- terested in the Tesla coal mine and brick and tile factory about seven miles up the gulch from Carroll Hollow. Coal and clay are found in close proximity at this place. Horatio Wright had a brother, George Wright, who was a banker in New York City. Desir- ing to obtain more money with which to develop this project properly, Horatio Wright went back to New York City to see his brother, the banker; but he never returned and was never heard from again. In all likelihood he was murdered. Designing capitalists soon precipitated the project into litigation, and the original owners, of whom Mr. Carroll was one, were defrauded of their holdings. Mr. Carroll, in company with John O'Brien, Joseph Conn, and William T. Coleman, was among the first to reach the Tesla coal mines; but through this fraudulent litigation they were never able to take out enough to make it pay, and whereas each one should have been wealthy, they all died poor.

Mr. Carroll's marriage occurred in 1875, and united him with Mrs. Thomas Clarig, whose maiden name was Anna Morley. She had three children by a for- mer marriage, who were adopted by Mr. Carroll; and the family made their home in Tesla, a few miles from the place where Mr. Carroll first built his rude cabin. He passed away in 1881, survived by his widow and three adopted daughters. Mrs. Carroll then removed to Oakland, Cal., where she passed away on September 14, 1918, a highly honored pioneer woman. She was one of the survivors of the ill-fated steamship "Central America," which went down off Cape Hatteras, September 12, 1857, with $4,000,000 in gold and several hundred passengers in a very severe storm on her trip from Havana to New York City. Mrs. Carroll, who was then Mrs. James Reading, was one of the few passengers rescued. The "Central America" was originally the "George Law," which had been refitted and rechristened "Central America." and was being used as a Pacific mail steamer. She was an old hulk-in reality unseaworthy.

The eldest daughter, Mrs. Mamie (Carroll) Burns, owns and resides upon eighty acres where stand the original buildings, erected by Mr. Carroll in 1850. It is one of the most interesting places, historically, in the San Joaquin Valley. She was born at San Fran- cisco, was orphaned by the death of her father when she was a little girl, the mother being left a widow with three children: Mamie, Elizabeth, and Maggic. Upon the mother's marriage, in 1875, to Edward Baldwin Carroll, all the three little girls were adopted by him, and all of them grew up in Carroll Hollow. Mamie was married in the month of April. 1902, to Mr. James Burns, who was born at San Francisco. He is and for the past fourteen years has been a state fire warden, working out from their historic old home at Carroll Hollow. Elizabeth is the wife of Jack Elm- horn, chief engineer on an ocean liner plying in the Pacific to the Hawaiian Islands, and resides in San

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Pedro. Maggie became the wife of Harry W. Teeple, who was a well-known Southern Pacific conductor. She makes her home for the present at Los Angeles, Cal., with her only son, Harry C. Teeple, who is in the employ of the Shell Company at the corner of Lincoln and Mission roads in the southern metropolis. At the breaking out of the late World War, Harry C Teeple was the youngest man on the San Francisco Chronicle office force to enlist. He has an honorable record, having served for the period of the war in the United States Navy on the steamship "Pueblo." The history of Carroll Hollow constitutes an interest- ing chapter in the annals of San Joaquin County, and no one knows more of it than its oldest living inhabi- tant, Mrs. Mamie Carroll Burns.

HARVEY SMITH CLARK .- In the long years since Harvey S. Clark came to California, he has taken an active and helpful interest in the development of the central section of the state, being numbered among the prominent and influential citizens of the Lodi section of San Joaquin County. He was born at Janesville, Wis., May 8, 1869, a son of Harvey Spencer and Mary (Smith) Clark, both natives of Michigan. The maternal grandfather Smith was a frontiersman in the lumber region of Michigan, and the father, Harvey Spencer Clark, was born and reared there. When he was married to Miss Mary Smith, he moved to Wisconsin, where he worked at his trade as a printer; later he moved his family to Detroit, Mich, and worked at his trade there. In 1875 the father came to California, and a year later was followed by his family. He engaged in farming in the vicinity of Lodi; later he was appointed post- master of Lodi, and served in that capacity for six- teen years. There were three children in the family: Luella, Mrs. Burkholder; Harvey S., of this sketch; and Wallace, who died in October, 1922, all of Lodi. The father passed away at the age of seventy-eight years, while the mother is still living at 315 East Pine Street, Lodi.

The father purchased a quarter-section of land in the Elliott district, two and a half miles northeast of the Elliott schoolhouse, and Harvey S. attended this school for three years; after the family removed to Lodi he attended the Lodi grammar school. Three years were spent in learning the printing trade with the Lodi Sentinel. Then he became a journeyman printer and worked at Woodland and Sacramento, afterwards coming to Stockton and working two years on the Stockton Independent. On account of his father's failing health, he then returned to Lodi and assisted his father in the postoffice. He was ap- pointed postmaster several years before his father's death, and served for thirteen years, during which time the city and rural delivery system was inaugu- rated. When a change came in administration he was succeeded by a Democratic postmaster. Mr. Clark was then elected to the office of city clerk, and served for seven years, resigning this position on February 1, 1921, to devote his entire time to his ranch, southeast of Lodi on Wyandotte Avenue, consisting of thirty- five acres planted to vineyard of the Tokay, Alicante and Cornichon varieties of grapes, with some fruit and alfalfa. . He has a fine and complete irrigation system, consisting of one five-inch and one three-inch pump, driven by a twelve-horse-power and a seven- and-a-half-horse-power engine, respectively.

The marriage of Mr. Clark occurred on June 25, 1916, in Sonora, Cal, where he was united in mar- riage with Mrs. Minnie I. Murray (nee Chaney), born and reared in Des Moines, Iowa. Mrs. Clark has one son, Paul Murray, a graduate of Stanford Uni- versity, class of 1922, where he majored in geology. Mr. Clark is a Republican in politics, and is promi- nent fraternally, being a member of the Masons, a past chancellor of the Knights of Pythias, and a mem- ber of the Modern Woodmen, of Lodi.

ROBERT BLACKSTONE FORSYTH .- A na- tive son of California, who from early manhood has been active in the reclamation and protection districts of the county, is Robert Blackstone Forsyth, born at New Hope, San Joaquin County, August 3, 1875, the eldest son of a family of three children born to Robert Blackstone and Julia (Posey) Forsyth. A brother, Daniel Forsyth, resides at Thornton; and a sister, Carrie Bell, is Mrs. Ray, of Sonora. The father, Robert Blackstone Forsyth, came to California from Illinois in 1858 via Panama and settled on a ranch in the Ray school district. He lived to be seventy-nine years old, but the mother passed away at the age of twenty-eight years, when Robert was a small boy of six summers.

Robert Blackstone Forsyth received his education at the Ray district school and was engaged in general farming pursuits until he was twenty-four years old, when he and his brother Daniel started in the dredg- ing business, constructing a dredger, and helping to build levees in the reclamation district of the county. They worked along the Stockton levees in the Vic- toria, Staten and Lisbon districts as chief engineers; and later they built a dredger at Yuma, Ariz., for the California Development Company and ran it, helping in the canal work on the Colorado River irrigation district through the Imperial Valley, which has be- come one of the most productive districts of Cali- fornia. The brothers continued in partnership in the dredging business until 1906, when Robert Forsyth sold his interest to his brother and settled on a forty- acre ranch a quarter of a mile south of the old Ray district schoolhouse. Most of the forty acres was unimproved land, which Mr. Forsyth set to a vine- yard of Zinfandel and Tokay grapes. This vineyard is now a fine, productive one, irrigated by a six-inch pump driven by a fifteen-horsepower motor.

On August 6, 1908, in Los Angeles, Mr. Forsyth was married to Miss Hazel Hack, born in Freeport, Sacramento County, on the Sacramento River, a daughter of Nathan D. and Lavina (Kirtland) Hack, both natives of California. "The father was a rancher at Freeport. His father, George Hack, a native of England, crossed the plains to California from Wis- consin in the fifties. At Freeport, on January 3, 1881, Nathan D. Hack was married to Miss Lavina Kirtland, the eldest daughter of Thomas and Nar- cissus (Tucker) Kirtland. Great-grandfather Kirt- land was a native of England who settled in Ohio at an early date and came to California in the pioneer days. Thomas Kirtland, the grandfather of Mrs. For- syth, was a blacksmith at Jenny Lind, Cal., and later moved to Freeport, where he had a blacksmith shop. George Hack owned a 300-acre farm at Freeport, and there he resided until his death. N. D. Hack, the father of Mrs. Forsyth, owned 100 acres of land at Freeport, on which he reared his family of five children: Hazel, Mrs. Forsyth; Pearl Irene, Mrs.

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R. B. Forsyth Hazel Forsyth.

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York of Sacramento; Nathan D., at Live Oak; Blanche, Mrs. Stokes of Stockton; and Mabel, Mrs. Crawford of Freeport. For four years after Mr. and Mrs. Forsyth were married, they lived on the dredger in Merritt Island District. In 1912 he built a com- fortable residence on his forty-acre ranch, which has since been their home. They are the parents of one daughter, Bernice, attending the Ray school. For many years, Mr. Forsyth has been a trustee of the Ray school district. In politics he is a Democrat, but independent in local matters; and fraternally he is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias of Lodi.

HENRY F. ELLIS .- A leader in every movement for the advancement of his home district, Henry F. Ellis of Lodi, manager of the Stewart Fruit Com- pany here, had an interesting career in the newspaper field before becoming associated with the fruit indus- try. A son of California pioneers, Mr. Ellis was born in Napa County, January 23, 1866, his parents being Ralph and Caroline (Everets) Ellis, both now deceased, the former a native of New York, while Mrs. Ellis was born in Indiana. Ralph Ellis came to California in the gold-mining days and located at Downieville, Sierra County, where he was agent for Wilson and Evarts, who conducted a bank there. Gold dust was then used to a great extent as a medium of exchange, and Mr. Ellis used to carry it across the country to Marysville, making frequent trips through this wild, unsettled district. He was for some time county clerk of Sierra County, and on removing to Napa County held the office of sheriff there from 1865 to 1870. He also farmed in that county and built and operated the first grist-mill in the state at St. Helena. In 1870 he came to San Joaquin County and for seven years farmed south of Stockton, going then to Lodi, where he ran a flour mill. He sold this in 1881 and established the "Lodi Sentinel," a weekly newspaper, displaying char- acteristic versatility and initiative in taking up this entirely new line of endeavor. Later he turned this paper over to his son Frank, and with another son, W. R. Ellis, went to Woodland and bought the "Woodland Mail." He was a charter member of the Lodi Lodge of Masons, and was its first master. Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Ellis were the parents of five children: W. R. Ellis, of Sacramento, former secre- tary of the California State Highway Commission; Frank, of Stockton; Henry F., of Lodi; Mrs. Freeman B. Mills; and Mrs. Margaret E. Porter.

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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 135

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