History of San Luis Obispo County and environs, California, with biographical sketches, Part 50

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

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dates back to Colonial times. The Jones family also took an active Fart in the Civil War, Harrison Jones, a brother of Albert, having served in a Massa- chusetts regiment as captain from start to finish.

Born in Augusta, Me., Albert was the son of Michael Jones, a farmer, but also a tanner by trade. Albert Jones was an expert log-driver on the Kennebec. By way of Panama he came to California, landing in san Fran- cisco in 1852; and having worked for a year in the mines, he went to Santa Cruz county, where he built and operated several saw-mills, most of the time having a partner. In the early sixties he was twice sheriff of Santa Cruz county ; then, with J. W. Scott, he engaged in the livery business in Santa Cruz. About this time the Indian wars in Arizona and New Mexico enabled the savages to burn railroads; and for a number of years Albert Jones bought and inspected railroad ties for the government, which he shipped to Arizona. From Santa Cruz, in 1881, he came to San Luis Obispo for the Loma Prieta Lumber Co., serving as manager of their yard; and when it was consolidated with Swartz & Beebee. he became a third partner in the new firm of Swartz, Beebee & Co., continuing in that enterprise until the railroad put in its own yard, and the firm sold out to the new competitors. Over ten years ago he retired from business : and he spent the rest of his days at his Ortega Springs ranch, in Cholame valley, managing it until he died in January, 1909, at nearly eighty years of age. Highly esteemed, both as a citizen and as a Mason, he was buried in Santa Cruz with all Masonic honors. His younger brother, Captain Harrison Jones, located in Los Angeles and died in the early seventies.

The wife of Albert Jones, who was Miss Mary Elizabeth Wilson before her marriage, was born in Tatmagouche, N. S., the daughter of William Wilson, a farmer, who was accidentally killed by the fall of a tree when she was only eighteen months old. On November 24, 1907, she died on their home ranch in California, mourned by many and especially, outside her family circle, by her Episcopalian friends. Two years previously she had laid to rest her son, Charles Albert. The only other child, Miss Sophia Frances Jones, survived her. Charles Albert was born in Santa Cruz, where he was educated, and later became a cattle raiser at Ortega Springs ranch until 1899, when an unfortunate accident (a fall from his horse) caused partial paralysis, which resulted in his death in May. 1905.

SOPHIA F. JONES .- Born in Santa Cruz, Sophia F. Jones was educated at the public and high schools of that city and, in 1881, entered the University of California, matriculating in the College of Letters. There she remained until, while a senior, she was called home on account of the illness of her mother. She then engaged in educational work, teaching for twenty-three years in Kern and San Luis Obispo counties. In October, 1886, she came to Cholame valley to teach, and she and her brother cach pre-empted one hundred sixty acres, filling the requirements of the law and proving up.

After the death of her brother, she devoted all her attention to the care of her mother and father until they died, and after that to the management of her estate. Her father had bought the Ortega Springs ranch in 1887. At first the ranch included three hundred twenty acres, to which Miss Jones later added twice that amount; and as there was an abundance of spring water. she was able to irrigate the land and to successfully engage in the cattle-raising business. More recently, she has rented five hundred sixty

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acres of the estate for the raising of grain and the remainder for the raising of cattle. The land is very fertile ; and her gardens are the wonder of visitors to the ranch, her vegetables grow in such abundance and luxuriance.

Miss Jones, always a social favorite, is a member of Santa lucia Parlor, Native Daughters of the Golden West of San Luis Obispo, and of Bethlehem Chapter, O. E. S., at Paso Robles. During the many years she engaged in educational work, she gave her best efforts to instruct the students in the most advanced methods, keeping in touch with the leading educators of the state, and specializing along her particular line of teaching. She is a member of the Episcopalian church.

JOSEPH AND JOSEPH CLARKE WELSH .- A native son of the Golden West and a representative of one of the pioneer families of San Luis Obispo County, J. C. Welsh was born in the Los Osos valley, December 29. 1869. His father, Joseph Welsh, was a native of Ireland, born in Monaghan county in 1836, and his grandfather, Thomas Welsh, was born there also, and was a farmer. Joseph Welsh was reared in his native county until a young man, when he made up his mind that he could better his condition by coming to this country ; and accordingly, in 1860, he arrived in California by way of Panama and went to work near the town of Bloomfield, Sonoma county. After four or five years he went to Tomales, Marin county, and leased land and farmed for several years, meeting with fair success.

Learning that acreage could be bought very cheaply in San Luis Obispo County, as one of the large grants was being subdivided. he came here in 1869. and with a partner, Levi Young, bought from W. W. Stowe 2,120 acres on the Los Osos and began farming, raising sheep and cattle, continuing this four years. The partners agreed then to divide their property and Mr. Welsh continued alone until 1876, when he made a trip back to Ireland and took charge of the home place, which had been farmed by his father for many years. He remained there until 1884, when he sold out, settled his business affairs and returned to California; and once again he engaged in ranching on a place in Clark valley until 1912, when he retired to San Luis Obispo, living here until his death, July 20, 1913.

Mr. Welsh had made a trip back to Ireland to claim his bride, Charlotte McCullagh, of Scotch descent, but a native of county Monaghan, where she was born May 30, 1838; and they were married on June 3, 1865, returning at once to California. They had two children, one of whom was Thomas M., who married Miss Agnes Lewis and had three daughters, Floride, Lois and Jean, residing in this county : and the other and younger was Joseph C. Welsh.

Joseph Clarke Welsh was educated in the schools of San Luis Obispo County and of Ireland, whither he had been taken by his parents. Return- ing to California, he lived at home until he was of age, assisting his father with the work on the farm. Later, with his brother Thomas M., as a partner, he leased the home place and for nearly six years was engaged in dairying and general farming. In 1897, he purchased his brother's interest und continued alone. In the meantime, he had bought four hundred acres of land Hle farmed on a large scale until 1913, when he retired to San Luis Obispo

On November 10, 1897, Mr. Welsh was united in marriage with Miss Luda Findley, who was born in Washington, D. C., December 12, 1876. IWey have one child, a daughter, Mary Lucille. In 1914, Mr. Welsh secured

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the contract to carry mail from San Luis Obispo to San Simeon, and is still engaged in that occupation. He represents that sturdy type of manhood everywhere discernible in the upbuilders of this country, and wherever he is known he is respected.

CHARLES CARSON .- A charming instance of filial devotion and the happy union of two representative families form the high-lights in the inter- esting story of Charles Carson and his estimable wife, well-known resi- dents in the pleasant district of Adelaida. Mr. Carson is a native of New Brunswick, where he was born at Norton Station, on November 27, 1867. His father was James Carson, a farmer and carpenter in that district, who. on leaving his native place, moved to Holton, Me., and later to Boston, where he spent his last days. His mother, who died in Maine, was Miss Annie Britton before her marriage. She was born in Dublin, Ireland.

The seventh eldest of ten children, and the only one living in California. Charles Carson was brought up in New Brunswick, where he attended the public schools, and then, from his fourteenth year, in Maine, where he worked as a painter and later was employed in a hotel. In the great boom year of 1887, he first came to California, stopping for a while in Los Angeles, where he drove a wagon for the wholesale butchers. Adamson & Stevens, a firm later known as Burbridge & Adamson. At the end of three years he entered the service of Grant Bros., railroad contractors, working for seven or eight years as their foreman in California and Arizona; after which he resigned to come to Fresno, where he was busy for another year.

The next camping ground of' Charles Carson was in the great northern State of Washington, and there fate smiled upon him; for at Aberdeen he met and married Miss Maud Harris, a daughter of Dr. Andrew Harris, who was a skilled and successful veterinary surgeon, well and favorably known along the coast. Andrew Harris was married in Indiana in 1847 to Sarah McClellan, a native of Ohio, who was an own cousin of General George B. McClellan of Civil War fame. She was a daughter of William and Mary Likens, and was born on February 29, 1828, in Wayne county, (). From Indiana Dr. Harris moved to Wisconsin and then to Missouri: and about 1859 or 1860 he drove his ox teams across the great plains and located at Salt Springs, and then in the San Joaquin Valley, not far from Stockton. In 1870, he took up his residence at Cayucos, where he had a dairy of seventy cows; and three years later he homesteaded a hundred sixty acres at Adelaida. which he improved and made into a first-class farm, meanwhile following his profession as a practical veterinary surgeon. In 1890, he settled down in San Luis Obispo, and there, on March 22, 1905, he died. Mrs. Harris, who was always a most faithful wife, made her home with Mrs. Carson, dying on December 9, 1915. Her daughter found great pleasure in administering to her mother's comfort in the latter's declining years. Four children besides Mrs. Carson made up the Harris family : Samuel, David and Mrs. R. A. Clink, of San Luis Obispo ; and Mrs. Mary McMurry, of Oregon.

Mrs. Carson was a babe in her mother's arms when she crossed the plains She was reared and educated in California, and after her marriage removed to San Luis Obispo County, about 1902. First the Carsons went to Templeton. and then they settled at Adelaida, where they soon bought a ranch which they conducted for three years. This they finally sold. whereupon they bought two ranches, one of which they disposed of later, while the other, of

SAS THIS OBISPO COUNTY AND ENVIRONS

etw hurlent with arms ofevoted to the raising of grain, hay and stock, con- ArreTes then pirespor plaer

Ves FanHe 008 Much better how to farm than Mr. and Mrs. Carson, who Wrote Sine pros povitry & a specialty. In partnership with James Whitsitt, the row enver lomires forty acres in the neighborhood. Together they muster De the trine of cattle, buying calves and letting them run upon the (oog In this latter enterprise they have enjoyed handsome returns, while dos have been particularly fortunate in their poultry business. Their success must be freely Attributed to their own experience and enterprise ; but doubt- Win some of is & due to their erection here of large and sanitary chicken- hontes, on the Corning plan. Wherever you go you may search, and search Alely before you find a more attractive poultry ranch than theirs.

WILLIAM HENRY TULEY .- The distinction of being the oldest set- tler on the Estrella plains belongs to W. H. Tuley and his wife. He was born in Howard county, Mo., January 23, 1843, a son of Nathaniel Tuley, who came from Virginia, where he was born, a son of Charles Tuley, likewise a Virginian, who moved to Lewis county, Mo .. with his family and engaged in farming. Nathaniel Tuley married in Howard county, Mo., and then moved to Lewis county, and two years later to Randolph county, the same state, where he farmed and passed his last days. His wife was Eliza Towles, a native of Kentucky, who died in Missouri. They had three sons and one daughter, three of whom are living.

William H. Tuley was brought up on a farm in Randolph county, near Huntsville, attended the public school there and worked on the home farm until his enlistment in the Confederate Army in 1862. He served in a Missouri cavalry regiment, under General Joseph Shelby, in Missouri and Arkansas. He then went with Price's army as an infantryman to the first Battle of Corinth. On their return to Missouri his time was out, and he re-enlisted for three years or during the war. He furnished his own horse, saddle and arms and took part in the various battles of his command until the close of the war. He then returned home and was married in Boone county, Mo., in Sep- ember, 1865, to Miss Nancy Tuley, who was born near Monticello, Lewis Bounty, in that state. Her parents were Henry and Margaret (Ilenton) Tuley, and were natives, respectively, of Virginia and Kentucky. They farmed in Lewis county, moved from there to Kansas, settling near Osawatomie, and from there went to St. Clair county, Mo., and in 1870 came to California. The father died in San Luis Obispo and the mother on the Tuley farm on Estrella plains. Mrs. Tuley was educated in the public schools of Kansas and Mis- somri, and was reared on the farm of her parents.

In the fall of 1871. Mr. Tuley brought his family to San Luis Obispo, od two years later. in 1873, came to this location, where he has since resided, and which has been the scene of his activities for forty-four years. He 102 Cripted one hundred sixty acres, and homesteaded a like number, adding to be looldines until he has six hundred forty acres five miles northeast of Pho Rables. On this land he has made all the improvements, put up sub- AlMT buildings and plowed the land, raising grain from year to year, md ir met with most gratifying results. Ile long has had all the modern maplewwwes and machinery necessary to carry on his large operations. To AW Hartol. however, Mr. Tuley worked on the coast for the first two years. atol ilhiring this time Mrs. Tuley took care of the cows, raised chickens, sold

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butter and eggs and earned the money to pay on the pre-emption. In early days all the grain had to be hauled over the mountains to San Luis Obispo. He was one of the original incorporators of the Farmers' Alliance Business Association that built the larger Alliance warehouse in Paso Robles, which has been of great benefit to the grain-growers of this section. He paid in the first money, and had stock certificate No. 1, and was one of the original directors, serving until he resigned.

For many years Mr. Tuley also served as school trustee of the Estrella district, and took an interest in all movements for the upbuilding of the county. In political matters, he still votes the Democratic ticket on national issues, but in local matters selects the men he considers best qualified to fill the position, regardless of party lines. He and his wife are members of the Church of Christ.

To Mr. and Mrs. Tuley nine children have been born: William Edgar is mining in Arizona; Joseph S. farms in Arizona ; Lucy J. has become Mrs. Clark of San Luis Obispo County ; Jacob Thomas is farming in the Pleasant Valley district ; Nancy Mildred is Mrs. Wimmer of Paso Robles; John B. is a farmer on adjoining property ; Elbert S. resides in Sacramento; Lillie B. remains at home ; and Dovie Ethel is now Mrs. Bayer of Estrella.

ANNIE L. MORRISON .- A native of Illinois, Mrs. Morrison was born in Sycamore, November 22, 1860, a daughter of Benjamin Franklin String- fellow, born in Pennsylvania, November 7, 1828. and of English extraction on the paternal side, while the mother, whose maiden name was .Annie Archer, was of French descent. Her grandfather was sent from France by his family with valuable papers, jewels and money. to escape the terrors of the French Revolution, and he came to Philadelphia. Her mother was Mary Jane Barton, born in Ireland but brought to Philadelphia by her parents when she was an infant. Mary Barton was the daughter of William and Rebecca (Smith) Barton. The Barton family were from the north of Ireland. They were Protestants, originally from Scotland, where the name was Dumbarton. Mrs. Morrison's father and mother were married in Phila- delphia, November 4, 1852, by Rev. Charles Demmi, and began married life at Darby, Delaware county, Penn. There her father was badly hurt by one of his horses, being kicked on the knee ; and as a consequence he was in a hospital in Philadelphia for more than a year. Ile came out very lame and unable to work, and his wife supported him and herself by sewing, the hos- pital having absorbed all their money. At last her father decided he would "go West." and in the late fifties went to Sycamore, Ill.

Her parents had a large family, eight of whom lived to be men and women, and one of her earliest memories is that of seeing her mother with a little bundle of baby's clothes which she would caress and cry over, telling the children they belonged to their little brother Willie, her first son, who died when he was six months old. Her parents never amassed much property. "Times" during the Civil War were hard, the children many, and they carly learned to help themselves. However, her mother, on the little she had to do with, kept her children neat, in school, and at Sunday school, and instilled into them the principles of decent, honorable living. Iler father had a very good mentality, and his children inherited brains. Mrs. Morrison also inherited her father's near-sighted eyes, and says she has lost, in consequence, half the joy of living ; for even with glasses, she has never been able to see much of the

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Tweakers wwwkir that many others, blessed with good eyesight, do not properly Value With Her brothers and sisters, she attended school in Sycamore. Her oldest lin that_ Bennie, was a fine boy, very good to them all, and very devoted ib lik- motor Ile became a fine mechanic and at twenty was pattern-maker wa big fonikdy. The other brothers, Harry and John, are well-to-do farmers - Harry i Liga and John near Sycamore, Ill. Three sisters, Mary, Caroline all Mabel. are married to farmers. One sister, Elizabeth, has never married; and he keeps house for her bachelor brother, John.

In spite of her near-sighted eyes, Mrs. Morrison was a sort of wonder TtCEchool. She learned marvelously easy, could sing and "speak pieces," and son acquired the ability to do well a few things all the others couldn't bor. She liked to lead, and could get a following, and says, "I smile as I think of the joy of the little girl whose best dress was a clean calico, when she reached the place where girls in pretty dresses asked 'Annie' if they could play with her crowd. I had been sneered at because of coarse shoes and sunbonnets by these same girls ; so it was only getting my innings, for it had cost my little soul hours of bitterness when they had twitted me of my lack of finery." She early learned to pit brains and character against mere money- bags, and has never found it worth while to change their relation. At the age of thirteen she went to town and worked for a Mrs. Pitcher for five months, at one dollar a week, to earn money for books and clothes so as to go on into high school. She worked for her board until fifteen and went to school, working vacations to earn money for books and clothes.

At Mrs. Pitcher's, she met Duane J. Carnes, a law student, who became a power in her life. He is now a Judge of the Appellate Court of Illinois. He directed her reading and to him and his parents she owes much. By the time she was fifteen, she had read all of Scott, Shakespeare, Dickens, Macaulay, Thackeray, and George Eliot, then published : and the American poets were bosom friends. At the age of fifteen and one-half she taught her first school. The county superintendent of schools, H. P. Hall, went to their little farm for her on June 3, 1876, and told her he had a school for her at Hogridge ; the name sounded Shakespearean to that girl just then. "I had to wear my short skirts for a month, until I drew my first salary check, $25.00; then I bought lots of goods, and as trains were in style, my best dress swept the floor in a beautiful curving train. Also my curls disappeared, I bought a jute switch .ind managed a fine 'chignon.'" She taught at Hogridge three terms, and at Charter Grove, Prairie, and the Casey school.

The summer before she was eighteen she went to Michigan, where she 1.tight three years, near South Haven, at Covert and at Glenn. She then returned to Hlinois and taught at Hinckley, in the town school, and then was pre-principal at De Kalb. She had always dreamed of coming to California ; Juk io April, 1884, she arrived in Los Angeles. She passed the teacher's exam- men in July, and was fourth best out of forty-three who entered for cer- Mence vi whom only eight won them. In September she went to Winters, Todo county, and taught there three years-one year at Apricot school, and Wwwww. Primary teacher in the town. On April 19, 1887. she was married to Iwilion Brown Morrison, a native of Stirling county, Scotland, who came NY Lililesnia when twenty-five years of age. They had a very beautiful wailing m the Christian Church, the Rev. Philip Bruton, pastor and friend, perhumains ile ceremony. As they both had many friends who united in

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decorating the church, it was a bower of bloom ; and six little girls, her pupils, were the dainty bridesmaids.

After the wedding they came at once to Templeton, where Mr. Mor- rison was in business, as will be seen by the article on Templeton. They had a little four-room house, and were trying to "grow up with the country" and win a fortune. In November, 1892, they moved into their new home just erected on an orchard tract, and that orchard was a thing of beauty to them. The time came, in 1900, when it spelled ruin instead, as the story of Templeton explains. They had two girls, Mabel Conise, born December 12, 1888. and Marian Cecile, born May 29, 1892, when they moved to their pretty home. Marjorie Helen was born there, August 17, 1894, and Robert Duane came early on the morning of July 17, 1896.

Mr. Morrison had trusted out his work and sold machinery on credit for thirteen years. The result was inevitable. The dry year of 1898-99 came, and at least $5,000 worth of property and outstanding bills were a total loss. "What was worse, the best thirteen years of life went into the hole along with all his earnings and mine. His health broke completely, and it was up to me to be father and mother both to those helpless little children. I tackled the job, and my worst enemy would hardly say I made a bad end of it." She earned money writing and reporting for the San Luis Obispo Breeze and Tribune, collected for these papers, and finally got work reporting for the Los Angeles Times, and the San Francisco Examiner, Call and Chronicle. She wrote for the Sunday papers, and for Sunset and Overland. Sunset gave her a trip in 1905 to the Portland Exposition, and to Shasta Springs in 1907.

In August, 1901, she again went to teaching, going into the mountains and staying there four years at Alamo and Huasna. "I had to watch out for rattle- snakes and mountain lions. Once when I was belated, only torches made of twisted newspapers and carried in my hands, while my trembling horse walked with his head over my right shoulder for two miles through a canon, saved one or both of us from a mountain lion that was following us in the brush beside the road. The lion was shot a few days later near our cabin. Again I had to swim good Nero across the Huasna with a buggy load of provisions when the rain was falling in torrents and the stream was a foam-capped yellow flood ; but God takes care of fools and children, so we landed about a quarter of a mile below the ford. I think God takes care of mothers, too, when they need it as badly as I did then." She taught straight through for thirteen years. Meanwhile, she had gotten the three girls ready for teaching, and her son was in his last year at high school. They had a little home clear of debt. It had cost every cent of $3,000. The children. the three younger ones, proudly paid off the last $200 in June, 1913.

By then she was a physical wreck, ready for the hospital, and there she went. A great surgeon-great because he can take a poor wretch all gone to wreck, use his skill, and turn his patient out almost as good as new-did this wonder for Mrs. Morrison. Meantime the school powers had retired her on part retirement salary in June, 1914. "A bad sickness extending over three months in 1916 left me thinking I was on the junk pile, for sure. In August I was employed by H. A. Preston to write a history of our county for the Historic Record Company of Los Angeles. I had lived in the county for thirty years, and had surely lost out, and in a measure won out. within its borders. I had driven all over its mountain roads ; } knew its beauty and its

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History of San Luis Obispo County and environs, California, with biographical sketches, Part 50

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