History of San Luis Obispo County and environs, California, with biographical sketches, Part 31

Author: Morrison, Annie L. Stringfellow, 1860-; Haydon, John H., 1837-
Publication date: 1917
Publisher: Los Angeles, Calif., Historic Record Company
Number of Pages: 1070

USA > California > San Luis Obispo County > History of San Luis Obispo County and environs, California, with biographical sketches > Part 31

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A. C. Jessee was an own cousin of Gen. Robert E. Lee, of ancestry traceable back to English royalty. In England the Jessee family were military men, and a Major Jessee became known in the history of Virginia and married a sister of Lord Tennyson. The expression frequently used by General Lee in the heat of an engagement, "Give them Jessee, boys," alludes to the prowess of that family.

After the marriage of A. C. Jessee, he farmed in Missouri until 1846, when with his wife he joined a party coming to California. Outfitting with sup- plies, oxen, mules and horses, the party set out under the leadership of Lil- burn H. Boggs, later governor of California ; and after an eventful journey of five months, arrived in California. Mr. Boggs had incurred the hatred of the Mormons on account of the part he took in expelling them from Missouri; and when they heard he was guiding a party westward, they sent him word not to stop at Salt Lake or trouble would follow. He armed his company, secured two brass cannons which he had had cast in New Orleans, and with his band of fifty fearless men, among whom was Archer Catron Jessee, took up the long journey to the new Eldorado. The party had many skirmishes with Indians en route, and when they neared Salt Lake, took a circuitons route to avert trouble, and arrived safely at their destination.

During all this time Mr. Jessee was one of the most trusted and cour- . ageous men in the company, and later figured prominently in the history of the state. He settled on the present site of Sacramento, soon after enlisted under John C. Fremont, and was made First Lieutenant under Captain John Grigsby, in Company E, Ist California Battalion. He took part in the battle on the Salinas plains, where Captain Byrns Foster and others were killed, and in the skirmish at San Fernando. He was a member of the Bear Flag party, served through the Mexican War, and was discharged in 1847 ; after which he returned to Sacramento county, and later went to Napa county, where he resided fourteen years and engaged in farming, stock-raising and dealing in land and livestock. He was the first sheriff of Napa county, served two terms and in 1864 moved with his family to Lake county. There he con- tinued his chosen vocation until 1869, when he came south to San Luis Obispo County and took charge of the Murphy ranch. In 1873 Mr. Jessee went to San Bernardino county and undertook the management of a large dairy ranch ; and while there he was induced to invest in a gold-mining proposition. He had been successful as a farmer and stockman and had accumulated land in various parts of the state where he had lived : these he sold, to invest in the mining enterprise at Florence, Arizona, in 1876. The following year he was taken ill and died on August 19, 1877. After much litigation over the mining property, all was lost and the family was left almost destitute; but with the frontier spirit of determination, the widow, with her children, came back to Santa Barbara county and settled in the Santa Maria valley in 1878.

To Mr. and Mrs. Archer Catron Jessee the following children were born : Anna, who married F. M. Grady of Sebastopol and had one son. Jefferson, both she and her son being now deceased; James Lee, a rancher in Yolo county ; Parlee, the wife of J. R. Wilkinson of Riverside county : John V., a civil engineer and surveyor in San Benito county; Archer Catron, who died at the age of five years ; Willard, a rancher near Arroyo Grande ; Aurelia, who married C. B. Dutcher and lives at Sisquoc ; and Madison, Perry D., Francis Marion, Henry Haight, and Virginia, all residents of Santa Maria.

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JOHN F. BECKETT .- Few names are more inseparably associated with the history of San Luis Obispo County during nearly a half century than that of John F. Beckett of Arroyo Grande, who, as a teacher, public official, farmer, business man and promoter of important enterprises for the betterment of general conditions, has proven the value of his citizenship and the integrity of his character. He was born in Polk county, Iowa, February 19. 1847, and when five years old, in 1852, was brought across the plains by his parents, who located in Oregon, remained there seven years, and in 1859 came to California. It was in March, 1869, that Mr. Beckett arrived in San Luis Obispo. He began teaching in the public schools soon after, and about two years later established the first commercial nursery in the county. Later he moved it to Arroyo Grande, with which city he has ever since been closely identified. For fourteen years he taught school in various parts of the county ; for seven years he taught in Arroyo Grande: and one term the gifted writer. Charles Edwin Markham, who was a personal friend of his, taught in an out- lying portion of the same district. In May, 1879, a new state constitution was adopted in San Luis Obispo County by over four hundred majority. This changed the school law in such form as to create a county instead of a state system. In the political campaign following its adoption, the four political par- ties favoring it went into convention and nominated a county ticket, saving that. as they had won the constitution, so they would control the politics of the county. The other two parties, Democrat and Republican, later did an un- heard-of thing for them : they convened the same day and nominated a joint ticket. Mr. Beckett being the candidate chosen for county superintendent of schools. In the campaign following. Beckett won in all the precincts except those two in which the opposing candidate and his sister held positions.

For thirty-two years Mr. Beckett has been dealing in real estate in Arroyo Grande and other parts of San Luis Obispo County, and has handled over $3,000,000 worth of property in the county without a foreclosure of mortgage to a single settler, a most wonderful record. He has put on as many subdivisions as any other man in the county, is a large landowner. and has farmed more or less ever since he has been in the county. Among the large tracts handled have been the following ranches: Oso Flaco, Chi- meneas, Tar Springs and Tally-ho : the Verde Colonies (One, Two and Three) : the Crown Hill addition ; the Corbett tract : E. W. Steele's re-subdivision of the Corral de Piedra ranch: Beckett Park and Beckett Park subdivision tract, which he considers the crowning work of his career and which is deserving of mention. This tract is situated at Pismo Beach, and comprises 1,500 acres (of which he now owns about 1.200 acres), with six avenues one hundred to one hundred twenty feet wide, running three miles east from the ocean, and with as many wide boulevards crossing north and south ; the whole, with the beautiful setting of the beach, and with 4,000 feet of water frontage where the beach stretches away five hundred feet wide at lowest tide, being destined to become the heart of a most beautiful ocean beach city. He gave twenty-four acres for a park for Arroyo Grande and a -ite for the Methodist camp grounds.

Mr. Beckett was a member of the Russian River Rifles of Healdsburg While a resident of that city during the closing years of the Civil War, and iter of the Woodland Guards, of which he was orderly sergeant and in line for promotion when he left there. He has been prominent. also, in fraternal is les He is a member, and for four years was Chancellor Commander, of the

John MBeckett

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Knights of Pythias ; he helped organize the Uniform Rank, was Captain three years, and later Major of the battalion, and following this was Major on the staff of Brigadier General James Driffil, commanding the California Brigade. He has taken a very active part in politics, is a pronounced Republican, was elected and served in the state Assembly one term (1912-13), and was a member of the following legislative committees: Ways and means, banks and banking, labor and capital, live stock, dairies and dairy products, and roads and highways. He led the Progressive vote during the session, favored female suffrage, and addressed the Assembly on that issue, having his speech printed in the Assembly Journal. His campaign for this state office was a memorable one in San Luis Obispo County. With fifteen other candidates for the Assembly, and eight candidates for the Senate, he had been black- listed by the Beer Bottlers' Association, acting for the State Brewers' Asso- ciation, the California Wine Growers' Association and the Royal Arch. The net result of the liquor campaign as waged by those forces was to defeat all but one candidate for the Senate, and five candidates for the Assembly. In his county the liquor forces spent three thousand dollars to defeat him, but he won at the polls by a good majority.

During the session of the legislature several interesting occurrences took place which won for Mr. Beckett especial mention. A bill was referred to the committee on labor and capital for the purpose of reforming abuses of telephone, telegraph and power line conditions ; and committees of linemen and representatives of the telephone, telegraph and power companies from all over the state met in conferences, adjourning from day to day, for three days. On the third day extended discussions took place in which it was shown that in many instances the companies had done much better work for the line- men than the bill called for. Changes were asked for that would mean an immediate expense of $500,000 to the companies: and when these were put to the linemen, they admitted that it would be unfair to make the expenditure all at once when it could be made by degrees. Mr. Beckett thereupon offered the suggestion that, inasmuch as this was a bill affecting only private capital, the linemen and representatives of the power companies go into private conference, settle their own differences and then submit a bill that would be suited to all. This was done, and the bill passed unanimously.

Another bill provided that the City of Los Angeles take over the tide lands in the vicinity of San Pedro and administer them. After an hour's argument on the floor of the Assembly, Beckett said, "Inasmuch as the City of Los Angeles has been able to wrest the seeming title of these lands from the Southern Pacific Company and restore it to the state, it follows as a logical sequence that the City of Los Angeles is the proper custodian to take over and administer those tide lands in the interest and for the benefit of the whole people." This was carried. An amusing incident is nar- rated. The member from San Joaquin county introduced a bill to exter- minate meadowlarks. A Miss Libby, secretary of the Audubon Society of Southern California, in the course of a lecturing tour arrived in Sacramento and did some work to prevent the destruction of the "meadowlark song- birds." In a closing address, before a vote was taken, the member from San Joaquin made this statement: "Two years ago the person who lied about meadowlarks wore pantaloons: this year the person wears female clothes." Mr. Beckett arose and, after being recognized by the speaker, said: "Mr. Speaker, I arise to a question of privilege." The Speaker replied, "Mr. 15

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Beckett, you cannot arise to a question of privilege when a vote is pending." Beckett knew that and sat down; he simply wanted to accentuate the situ- ation. On roll call, he voiced a vigorous "No." The bill was defeated, its proponent voting almost alone. After the vote was taken the Speaker called, "Mr. Beckett." He replied, "Mr. Speaker and Gentlemen of the Assembly, ! arise to voice my indignation against the language used by the member of this Assembly who dares to call a woman a liar." Next morning the Sacra- mento papers complimented Beckett as a defender of women. On the desks of all members appeared cartoons by Hartman showing Beckett on one side of a picture pointing to the member from San Joaquin county; and under- neath Beckett's picture were the words, "A near Socialist." On the opposite side was a caricature in the form of a jay bird with a long beak, between the two a brook filled with lilies of the valley, the flower of each representing a woman's face, and under the jay bird was the legend "Stuck in the brook" Stuckenbruk ). Later Mr. Beckett received a note from the president of the Audubon Society, thanking him for his action in defending Miss Libby.

John F. Beckett was commissioner for San Luis Obispo county at the Mid-Winter Fair in San Francisco. He served as delegate to many state and Congressional conventions, and attended as a delegate a state mining con- vention in San Francisco. He is well informed on the geology of the oil fields, and is an authority on other mineral lands. He served a term of three years, from January 1, 1880, to January 1. 1883, as county superintendent of schools of San Luis Obispo county, the first term under the new constitution; during which he, with the members of the county board of education, drafted a new school manual including a course of study which was mentioned by the state superintendent of schools as one of the best in the state. Mr. Beckett was for many years a member of the county board of education. Although in part a self-educated man, he received his start in the public schools of Oregon and California, and at Sotyome Institute in Healdsburg. When he began teaching school at the age of twenty-two, he took up text-book study by himself, passed successful examinations, and finally re- ceived a diploma entitling him to teach as principal in any of the public schools of the state during life.

Mr. Beckett was united in marriage with Miss Isouria Archer, a native of Iowa, and they have two sons, Clarence B. and John A., both living at Oceano. Mrs. Beckett passed away in 1909 after a useful life, and her demise was mourned by a wide circle of friends. Mr. Beckett is as public-spirited as he is successful, and every movement for the upbuilding of the county has his hearty co-operation. He is a live correspondent for local papers, is well and favorably known throughout the county and state, and seems to have many years of usefulness yet before him.

PATRICK JAMES BLACK .- A pioneer of California and a man of more than local prominence, Patrick James Black was born in Ireland, April 3, 1830. He was reared and educated in a Catholic seminary in France and later attended St. Servan College. His studies were taken with the intention of entering the priesthood, but he never did so. In 1851, when he was twenty- one years of age, he came from England to the United States on a sailing ves- sel. Ile had a fine voyage, alhough he encountered severe storms which neces- sitated putting in at Talcahuano, Chile, for repairs, and remaining several weeks. Arriving in California in July, he came at once to the mines in Tuo-

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lumne county ; and after a time spent in mining, he went to San Francisco and taught one of the first schools, which was held in the Catholic Mission there.

For two years Mr. Black was bookkeeper in the office of Allen, Lowe & Co., agents for the famous Hudson Bay Company. He likewise traveled all over the state in the interests of the Botanical Society of Scotland, gath- ering data and studying trees, vines, shrubs and flowers. He made a trip into the Yosemite before the discovery of the big trees had attracted much atten- tion, making a collection of cones and seeds ; and became well acquainted with Galen Clark, the pioneer of that valley. Nine years were spent in mining at Vancouver Island, in the Frazer river district, and in the Caribou district in British Columbia.

Locating in San Luis Obispo County in September, 1868, Mr. Black engaged in the sheep business for many years, and for a time was manager of the Suey rancho, in Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties, which con- tained forty-five thousand acres. Patrick James Black was married in British Columbia to Maria Morris, a native of Australia, and they have eight sons : John P .. James G., Edward W., Charles F., Albert F., Ernest C., William V. and George. These sons and their father are all members of the B. P. (). Elks.

For a man of his years, Mr. Black is very well preserved and keeps abreast of the times by continued reading. He has been very active during his life. and in the early days was fond of hunting. At one time, with a party of friends, he spent six weeks on a hunting trip into the Kern river district and shot bears, antelopes (of which there were thousands), and deer on the present site of Bakersfield. He has been an interested witness of the mar- velous growth of California, and is familiar with almost every section of the state. He is now living, retired, with his son, John P., who is mentioned elsewhere in this volume.

HON. T. R. FINLEY .- The bench and bar of Central California have many able representatives, men who stand high in their profession because of their profound knowledge of the law, and men who stand high in their com- munities as leaders in forward movements for the best interests of their sec- tion of the country. None of these men are more elevated in the confidence of the people than is Hon. T. R. Finley of Santa Maria, whose twenty years of practice at the bar in California have given him a wide knowledge of the needs of his constituents-a matter of the highest import reflected in the culmina- tion of a successful campaign wherein, in November, 1916, he was elected to the assembly from the fifty-ninth district.

Mr. Finley is a native son of the state, born in Santa Rosa, June 3. 1854, a son of William H. and Ann J. (Maze) Finley. The former was born in Kentucky and died in California, at the age of seventy-two years; the latter was a native of Tennessee and passed away at the same age. Her ancestry dates back to England, whence the first of the name to settle in the United States came to make their home in Virginia, moving from there to Tennessee, and then to Missouri. The paternal side represent the sturdy Scotch whose settlement in this country was made in North Carolina, whence they moved into Kentucky and thence to Missouri. They were married in December, 1852, and in April of 1853 they started on their wedding journey across the plains. with ox teams, for the new Eldorado of California, to hunt for fortune in the gold fields. On arrival here, Mr. Finley mined for a time, and

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then emigrked in the raising of cattle; and later he followed farming with success, wotil he retired from active life. There were three children in the family. WWarle- Howard, a realty broker in Los Angeles; Alice, now Mrs. 1. 11 Lewis, of Los Angeles: and T. R. Finley, the subject of this review.

[ R Tinley was reared on a farm and early became familiar with the duties necessary to the conduct of a successful farming industry. He was som to the public schools in Stanislaus and San Joaquin counties, later at- fender christian College in Santa Rosa, and then took a course at Hastings Lam Sebavi, from which he graduated in 1884 with the degree of B. L. and began the practice of his profession in Modesto. Very soon after, he went to Redding. Shasta county, and successfully followed his chosen profession until 1896, when he settled in Santa Maria, where he felt that a wider field was open to him ; and from the start he was successful in building up a large clientage.

The comfortable home at 309 East Chapel street, Santa Maria, is pre- sided over by Mrs. Finley, who in maidenhood was Miss Margaret Mearns, a native of Bowmanville, Canada, and a daughter of George and Eliza A. (Smart) Mearns. Her father was a searcher of records for land titles for the old Clay Street Bank of San Francisco, and as such had a wide acquaintance among the pioneers of that city. She was united in marriage with Mr. Finley in San Francisco, in 1888. Of the union of Mr. and Mrs. Finley, three chil- dren have been born: William Howard, who is engaged with his father in the oil and gasoline business, is a graduate of Belmont College, and also took a special course at the University of California : George Mearns, a graduate of Belmont and of the University of California, is now in charge of the gaso- line distributing station near Santa Maria : and Theodore, who graduated from Belmont, is now a senior at the University of California.

Mr. Finley has been keenly alive to the opportunities of this section of the state, and has invested wisely in real estate and in the oil industry. He purchased the Hall and Hall lease and compressor plant in the Santa Maria oil fields in 1915. The retail plant is located one mile south of Santa Maria on the state highway, while the manufacturing plant, with a capacity of five hundred gallons daily, is in the oil fields near Orcutt.

In 1902 Mr. Finley was a candidate for district attorney of Santa Bar- hara county, but was defeated by thirty-six votes. In 1916 he became a vondidate for the assembly from the fifty-ninth district and made a very Sne cessful campaign, clean and free from the personalities that usually spring Mein the heat of a campaign. Mr. Finley won by a good majority. Because of My experience in public affairs, he holds the confidence of the people of his Matant. for, since he is outspoken in all matters, and is an exponent of good poli on 1 every improvement that will bring settlers to the county, they wWan- ben "where Finley stands."

Als Tinley is a Royal Arch Mason and a member of the Knights of Cyklox- With his wife, he favors the Christian Science belief. He is in ry Well qualified for the important office to which he has been Het Tio Are people of his district, and will without doubt ably and wor- Daly bodde-wut them in the legislature in its forty-second session. He is a mimler i the following important committees: agriculture, medical and is oft fim di nous, bil industries, ways and means, and roads and high- Maya helle buy chosen chairman of the latter; and having made a partic-

M. Strommin

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ular study of the good roads question, he is the right man for that important position. Early in the session, Mr. Finley introduced a bill, carrying an ap- propriation of $250,000, which provides for a road from the western boundary line of Kern county near Maricopa, to a point on the state highway near Santa Maria, passing through the Cuyama valley.

MARION SHIMMIN .- The possibilities of San Luis Obispo County have called forth the most creditable ambitions of a few men who are destined to make their way in the commercial world. and whose strength of character and conservative judgment have been fundamental to the growth of the commonwealth. This has been emphatically true of Marion Shimmin, whose well-directed energies have placed him among men of standing in the city of Paso Robles and have invested him with an enviable reputation for busi- ness sagacity and integrity, tested during the passing of many years. Those who come in contact with him are in accord in believing that so long as the destiny of this great state is committed to such citizenship as he represents, no one need fear for the future of California.

Mr. Shimmin's father was William Edward Shimmin, a native of the Isle of Man who, in 1850, joined one of the great ox-team trains crossing the desert wastes, came to and mined in Nevada, and finally reached California. While he was in Esmeralda county, Nevada, he discovered, with Brawley, the Aurora mines, and was one of the men first to put a pick into the famous Garibaldi. He made and lost several fortunes, went back and forth between the West and the East, and in the end sent for his family, who arrived in San Francisco, via Panama, April 19, 1863.

Marion Shimmin was then four years old, having been born in Wisconsin April 20, 1859. His father and his household resided in Nevada until the fall of 1864, when they removed to Grass Valley. Later they returned to Nevada, and still later, in 1868, settled in Mendocino county, California. . \ great stock of cattle, horses and wagons had to be transported overland, and Marion, not yet ten years old, rode horseback from Nevada to Mendocino county and assisted in driving and guiding the stock, so often inclined to stray away. They located in Sherwood valley, where Mr. Shimmin became a large stock-raiser. In 1874, they again moved. this time to Tulare county : and in 1881 he came to San Luis Obispo County, where the father, invalided through a sunstroke, died in 1882. The wife of William Edward Shimmin was Wealthy Paul Farwell, a daughter of Isaac Farwell, a well-known resident of Wis- consin, where she was born. After a life filled with her share of frontier ex- periences. she died in Fresno county, aged eighty-five years and the mother of eight children.

Fifth among these in the order of their birth, Marion early became used to the rounding up of cattle, riding after stock in Sherwood valley and cov ering the very ground where, so soon afterward. the terrible Little Lake tragedy occurred. His schooling was limited to frontier facilities, and in the middle seventies he was in charge of a band of horses, going from Mendo- cino to Tulare county. The next year or two he was with the family at Fresno; but Mendocino and an uncle there drew him back in 1876, and for some time he again rode the open range. His uncle offered him a partnership in his great ranch : but owing to the condition of his father, young Shimmin felt that he ought to care for his parent's interest, and so continued farming and cattle-raising in Fresno county.

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History of San Luis Obispo County and environs, California, with biographical sketches, Part 31

Author: Morrison, Annie L. Stringfellow, 1860-; Haydon, John H., 1837- Publication date: 1917 Publisher: Los Angeles, Calif., Historic Record Company Number of Pages: 1070

Author: Morrison, Annie L. Stringfellow, 1860-; Haydon, John H., 1837-
Publication date: 1917
Publisher: Los Angeles, Calif., Historic Record Company
Number of Pages: 1070