History of San Luis Obispo County and environs, California, with biographical sketches, Part 51

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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Twostabile- 1 kouw many of its inhabitants, having taught in the county uwer len yente,, mud I went to work. I got intensely interested in its won- Merlot unterx , 1 Mmked and rode miles and miles ; I haunted the courthouse office Of data. Sind I think I have written a truthful history. The work Taacinayet hly nul fhave gotten much valuable information during the time. Final TwoM & Vated San Luis Obispo County, but that was during my hard Tomess I Want To stay with it now until I get my final summons to another wycintri .. "

LEWIS C. ROUTZAHN .- It is to the credit of such men as L. C. Routzahn that the flower-seed industry has been made a paying proposition in San Luis Obispo County, for since he settled in this state on account of ill health, he has risen from a very small beginning. in 1893, to one of the largest flower growers in the United States. Mr. Routzahn is a native of Illinois, having been born in Mt. Morris, a son of John and Katherin (Har- baugh) Routzahn, pioneer settlers in northern Illinois.

Lewis C. Routzahn was reared amid the pioneer conditions in the north- ern part of Illinois, and received his primary education in the public schools, afterwards attending Wittenberg College and the Theological Seminary at Springfield. Ill. He was ordained in the English Lutheran Church, and for over eight years was located at Three Rivers, Mich., and two years at Salina. Kan. It was on account of ill health that he came to California; and after looking about for a location, he selected the section about Arroyo Grande as a desirable one. Here he took up the study of flower seed growing and began on a small scale, possibly with no thought at the time of the influence he would wield in the near future. By degrees the business has been expanded, Mr. Routzahn giving it his constant attention; and during the past twenty- four years he has originated over one hundred varieties of flower and vege- table species, many of them standards, and on the markets today in various parts of the world.

Notwithstanding heavy losses by a fire in 1913. and since that by severe floods which washed away considerable of the land that was devoted to the growing of flower seeds, Mr. Routzahn is well pleased with the success he has made since embarking on his present career. He keeps abreast of the times in all things that pertain to his chosen vocation and is an authority on seed growing and preparation. During the passing of the years he has made his influence felt in various spheres, notably as one of the organizers and as a director of the San Luis Savings Bank, and also as a director of the Arroyo Grande Bank. He has served as a director of Wittenberg College; and as is but natural with one who is so partial to good schools, he has served as a trustee for many years of the high school of Arroyo Grande. He has supported Democratic policies and at one time was a candidate for the state assembly on a reformed platform, but failed of election. He is a Mason of the Knights Templar degree, and in religious affiliation is an English Lutheran.

Mr. Routzahn was united in marriage at Polo, Ill., August 12, 1885, with Lillian McClure, daughter of Thomas McClure. She was educated in Mt. Morris College and in Chicago. Of this union there have been born, Warren Wille, who married Florence Merrill; Paul Richard, who married Janet Hazzard ; and Louis Webb, who married Nola Hazzard. During the years of his residence in San Luis Obispo County, Mr. Koutzahn has been widening

SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY AND ENVIRONS

his circle of close friends, and by all with whom he has had business or social relations he is highly respected as one who has done much for the county of his adoption.

JOHNSON M. KALAR .- Born near Kerns. Randolph county, W. Va .. September 15, 1864, Johnson M. Kalar came of a line of agricultural pio- neers, among whom was his grandfather. Jacob Kalar, who owned a farm on the Cheat river. His father was George W. Kalar, who was born on Cheat river at the mouth of Pleasant run, on the site of the Battle of the Wilderness, and who died near the place where he lived. His father and his uncle had a narrow escape during the Civil War that is little less than thrill- ing. It happened that they were hemmed in by both Union soldiers and Confederates, and before they got beyond harm's reach such a hail of bullets passed above and around them that the tops of trees were taken off as if they were so much grass before a mower. Johnson's mother, who was born near Kerns, and who now makes her home in California, was Miss Sarah E. Phares before her marriage. She became the mother of ten children, of whom seven are living.

Johnson Kalar worked industriously on a farm until he was about seven- teen, meanwhile attending the public school. On July 21, 1881, he bought his time from his father, promising him that if he would let him go into the world and do for himself he would send back home each year the sum of one hundred dollars until he had reached the age of twenty-one. The father needing his services, but also having a thought for the son's future, made no serious objection to his going, and not many months passed before young Kalar found himself at Chualar, Monterey county, California, with just five cents left in his pocket. Even this balance he expended for postage to write to his mother, and having borrowed twenty-five dollars, he set out with obli- gations to the extent of four hundred and twenty-five dollars staring him in the face. In three weeks, however, he had earned, by very hard work on the hay press, the round sum of forty dollars, and thereafter he applied himself to one kind of work after another, driving a header or a plow, or filling sacks, but always getting somewhat ahead. He farmed for a while with his uncle. and then sold out certain interests and removed to Butte county, where he both farmed and engaged in mining.

Somewhat successful, he came to Soledad with the intention of selling teams he had left there and returning home to his parents; but unable to dispose of them to advantage, he was forced to remain in California. Thomas Fall, who owned a well-known San Luis Obispo County ranch, sought the services of the young colonist and induced him to rent some land and strike out in agriculture for himself. The first year he lost everything, and in order to keep going was compelled to give R. M. Shackelford a crop mortgage ; and from that time on he began to succeed. The first season or two he was able to pay off his obligations and to lay aside some money through his raising of grain and stock, and in 1898 he began to buy land, adding from time to time until he has seventeen hundred eleven acres in the home place east of the Salinas river and four hundred forty acres west of the state highway about a mile from San Miguel. These ranches would extend for five miles, were it not for a break of half a mile owned by another party. It was with much labor and expense that this land has been brought under cultivation, some of it costing twenty dollars per acre to clear from brush and to break. 24

SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY AND ENVIRONS

Mr. Kalar has become greatly interested in horticulture, making a spe- colty of almond culture, and on his home ranch has set out eighty-six and one half acres in four varieties of almonds, 1XL, Texas Pacific, Nonpareil and Ne Plus Ultra. The four hundred forty acres west of the river has been subdivided into tracts ranging from six to twenty-five acres ; one-fifth of the area has been set to almonds and the balance will be planted in the near future and sold to homeseekers. The whole tract lies sufficiently elevated to make it most excellent for almond raising. Over one hundred acres has been checked and sown to alfalfa, and to irrigate these lands he has laid over eleven thousand feet of cement pipe, made under his direction and from sixteen to eighteen inches in diameter. Five different sets of buildings, seven large barns and a concrete structure, 54x20x13 ceiling, for a cheese factory, but now a separator room, attest to the scope of Mr. Kalar's operations. Ile has sunk wells, and has installed pumps and gas, water and electrical appara- 'us to operate the machinery on the place. He rents out his dairy, which in- eludes sixty to seventy cows.

On February 3, 1895, at San Miguel, Mr. Kalar was married to Miss Bertha Dake, who was born in Oregon, a daughter of John and Harriett ( Bixby) Dake, natives, respectively, of New York and Wisconsin. They were married in the latter state, and in the pioneer days crossed the plains with ox teams and wagons to Oregon, where Mr. Dake engaged in lumber- ing and burning charcoal. In 1880 the family moved to San Jose, thence to Santa Cruz and later to San Miguel, where the father died. The mother passed away in Santa Rosa. Mrs. Kalar is the fourth child in a family of nine children and was reared and educated in Santa Cruz. Mr. and Mrs. Kalar have had nine children, seven of them living: George is attending Ilcald's Business College at Santa Cruz; Carl is at the Paso Robles high school: Marion, Douglas, Hiram, John and Woodrow complete the family circle. In every sense of the word, Mrs. Kalar has proven a good helpmate. and a large share of the credit for what they have attained is certainly due to her. Both are members of the Methodist Church of San Miguel, of which Mr. Kalar is also a trustee. In political affairs he is an ardent Democrat.

STEPHEN HENRY TOBEY .- Not every Californian can trace back his meestry with the same case and pride as Stephen Ilenry Tobey, long a leader m the enterprising community of Shandon. His great-great-grandfather, atlas Tobey, was born on November 4, 1704, and died on December 14, 1790. Mis great great grandmother, Mary Tobey, was born on October 22, 1705. url died on April 21, two years after the demise of her husband. It may be A sed that the Tobeys are of English descent, and it goes without saying what the family tree had its root in the old Puritan stock of historic Plymouth. de tobey's great grandfather was Captain Stephen Tobey, of Sandwich, Bifftable county, Mass. ; and Stephen Henry Tobey possesses the old cap- (' ky, written while he was master of the ship "Suwarrow," on a trip from Ho geht p New York City. This Captain Tobey was married on Thanks- warme D. . in 1771 to Rebecca Ellis, who died on April 14, 1822; and he died The grandfather of our subject was Ellis Tobey, who was omii Tothe, on January 6, 1791, and who owned, at one time, the farm now constraining the site of the State of Maine Insane Asylum at Augusta. Ile wirral Mary Illa Yeaton, a daughter of Phineas and Phoebe (Wentworth) Verton. the latter being a daughter of Timothy and Amy ( Hodgdon ) Went-

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worth, of Berwick, Me., who settled in Hallowell, the same State, in January, 1778. Phineas Yeaton descended from Philip and Ducas (Smith) Yeaton, also of Berwick. The father of Stephen Henry Tobey was Charles E. Tobey, who was born at Augusta. He was a cabinet-maker and followed that trade in different States. Drifting South, he settled in Arkansas, where he married Angelina Poplin, who was born in Georgia of an old Southern family. After his marriage he took to farming, and owned a farm in the river bottom near Little Rock. With his adopted State he served in the Civil War, having charge of the commissary in his regiment. Later he removed to California and took up a homestead ; but tiring of this, he went to Texas, where he died at Nocona, at the age of ninety-six years. The mother died at Dallas, aged eighty-four. Of their eleven children, eight are still living-one, the subject of our sketch, being in California. A son, George Tobey, was a pioneer in the Shandon district, where he pre-empted one hundred sixty acres and home- steaded another block of the same size ; but while farming, he sustained such serious injury to his ankle through a runaway team that it caused his death.

After the usual farm experience and a taste of the public schools such as was common to most boys in Arkansas at that time, Stephen Henry, at the age of sixteen, began to learn the marble cutter's trade. to accomplish which he was apprenticed to his brother-in-law, T. J. Smith, at Fort Smith, Ark. ; and at that trade he worked ten years. When, however, in the spring of 1884, his brother George died in California, he came to the Coast and in partnership with a brother, Charles E. Tobey, took charge of George's ranch. In a short time they had paid off all the debts. Soon after, they bought out the other heirs, and together they continued for several years. They also bought out their father's estate in Shandon. They had now eight hundred forty acres in a body ; and there, when the brothers dissolved partnership in 1895, Mr. Tobey continued with his proverbial success. Today he owns six hundred twenty acres just east of Shandon and two hundred acres of this is bottom land. He has a flowing artesian well and also a large spring, so that the entire land can be placed under irrigation. There grain and Durham cattle are raised, together with the finest of draught horses.

On October 8, 1868, at Charleston in Arkansas, Mr. Tobey led to the altar Miss Olivia Parks, a belle of the town, and the daughter of Captain William James Parks, who was born in Mobile, Ala., and who was a farmer in Franklin county. Ark., where he died at the age of fifty-eight. He served as a Confederate Captain in the Civil War, and was particularly active as a Master Mason. Her mother was Amanda Dovety House, who was born in Alabama and died in Arkansas at the age of fifty-four, the mother of fifteen children, of whom seven are still living. Two children have been born to bless Mr. and Mrs. Tobey's union: Irene, who is now the wife of Clifford Barnes, a hustling farmer two miles from Shandon, and who has one child, Mace ; and Kathleen, who is at home. As a trustee and clerk of the Shandon School District for the past fifteen years, Mr. Tobey has manifested a pro- nounced interest in the cause of education ; and it is largely through his efforts that the very creditable new schoolhouse at Shandon, completed in 1914-15 with every modern convenience, was built. Mr. Tobey is a Democrat in politics, and decidedly progressive. He finds in his excellent wife a worthy and sympathetic companion.

SAF LUIS OBISPO COUNTY AND ENVIRONS

COL. WILLIAM V. POWELL .- The name of Powell has been a familiar one in the Santa Maria valley since 1881, when Col. William V. Powell took up a homestead of eighty acres south of the river on the main highway leading to the north, now the state highway, and improved a ranch with buildings and fences, living there until the final roll call. He was born on May 22. 1826, in Brown county, Ohio, under pioneer conditions ; for that was then considered the frontier. His education was secured in subscription schools. Ile early learned the details of farming. From 1830 to 1835, he lived in Indianapolis, Ind., going from there to Shawnee Prairie, Tippecanoe county. where he remained until 1847, when the next move carried him to Miami county, the same state.

In 1850, we find him a member of a train making the trip to California with ox teams and prairie schooners, a difficult and hazardous journey at that time. It is supposed that he came with the hope that he might wrest a fortune from the mines; however that may be, he remained three years, and then returned to Indiana. On September 11, 1853, he was united in marriage with Miss Mary A. Smith, youngest daughter of John Smith, a direct descend- ant of the Pilgrims, whose uncle, Caleb B. Smith, was a member of Lincoln's cabinet. A great-aunt of John Smith was Abigail Adams, wife of President Adams. This Smith family lived in Virginia during the War of the Revolu- tion, and members married into the house of Randolph. The father of John Smith fought at Guilford Court House. The Powells are of English descent. Thomas W., grandfather of Col. Powell, was educated in London and at the age of seventeen sailed for America, bearing a lieutenant's commission in the King's Light Horse Cavalry. Twelve years later he deserted the English to offer his services to General Washington, for what he thought to be a more just cause. He fought through the Revolution and also under General Jackson, at New Orleans, where he was wounded in his left hand. He died in Boone county. Ind., in 1835, regretting that he could not live long enough to "lick 'em again."

Colonel Powell was engaged in the peaceful vocation of farming, near Xenia, now Converse, Ind., when the Civil War broke out. He put aside the plow, turned his teams out to pasture, and enlisted in the service of his country, helping to organize Company I, 99th Indiana Volunteers. He was elected captain and served with his command during the war. under General Sherman. On May 20, 1865, he was promoted to major : and on being mus- tered out, was commissioned lieutenant colonel.

After the war, he resumed his farming operations near Remington, Jas- per county, Ind. In 1871, with his wife and two sons, Addison M. and Wil- Tm G., and his daughter Eldora, he again came to California, and settled in Mendocino county, where he engaged in farming and raising stock, and intro- duced the first Poland-China hogs into that part of the state. It was while Time there that their daughter Ida was born, in 1874. In 1881 he moved to Me ropbien part of Santa Barbara county, as mentioned, and took up his To ware0, 01 there he lived until his death. His wife had passed away in We and aler ler death he made his home with his daughters. Eldora Tayrona the -Text James Means of Hollister, Cal., and has one son. Walter Te wau upilove of the Union Sugar Co., at Betteravia. Ida M. is Mrs. 1 1.4hh with her family of three daughters and one son lives with her 0 4 . Do old b mestead. While not a recorded member of the Dangh-

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ters of the Revolution, she is one in fact. Addison M. Powell was a scout and guide for the United States Military Expedition that explored the Cop per river country in Alaska during 1899-1900. He wrote "Trailing and Camping in Alaska," "Echoes From the Frontier," and other stories. He makes his home with his sister when in Santa Maria valley.

While a resident of this valley, Colonel Powell was interested in every good work that came to his notice that had for its object the upbuilding of this section of the state. He was an advocate of good roads, good schools, churches, transportation facilities and the establishment of good markets, and with other pioneers laid the foundation for the present prosperous con- dition of the valley. When he answered the final call he was mourned by a large circle of friends who valued him for his upright character and his sterling worth.

ALLEN LLOYD THOMAS .- It is no insignificant matter for a man. trained to a profession and invited by a smiling world whose honors he had expected to enjoy, to turn aside into other paths and there endeavor to make his way: but this is what Allen Lloyd Thomas, by adoption a Californian. and long an esteemed American citizen and successful rancher, did. his bold example suggesting more than one valuable lesson to the youth of today. In historic old Shropshire, England, he was born, in 1854, the grandson of John Thomas, who passed his entire life in that country as a farmer, and the son of John and Margaret Thomas. The father was a tiller of the soil in Shropshire, but later removed to Montgomeryshire, where he followed agri- culture on a larger scale until his death on July 5, 1903, in his seventy-fifth year. An uncle, Professor Gethin Davis, was a noted educator and clergy- man in England, for many years the head of the College Llangollen in Shrop- shire.

Allen Lloyd Thomas was educated for the bar ; but he chose farming instead. and until his marriage followed that occupation in Montgomeryshire. His marriage occurred at St. Nicholas Church, Liverpool, on June 22, 1883, when he was joined in wedlock to Miss Annie Williams, a native of Mont- gomeryshire and the daughter of Evan Williams, who was born there, and who farmed on a large scale. After a most exemplary life, during which he was for sixty years or more clerk of the parish of Llanfihangel- a position his father, John Williams, had held before him most of his life he died at the fine old age of eighty-one. Her mother's maiden name was Elizabeth Brom- ley, and she was born and died in Montgomeryshire. Of the eight children born in the family, and of the five who are living, Mrs. Thomas was the youngest : and she is the only representative of her family in California. She received her education in England.

After their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas came to the United States. arriving in New York City on July 4, 1883 ; soon after which they crossed the continent to California. They settled in Alameda county, where he event ually became superintendent of the Watkin Williams Wynne ranch at Liver- more, continuing there for five years. Then, with his family, he made a trip back to England to see his relatives and friends, remaining for two years ; but the call of the West was too strong to be resisted any longer and he returned to California, and soon afterwards, in 1892, they came south to San Luis Obispo County, where he had accepted the management of the Eureka ranch of six thousand acres.

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After he had given several years to the responsibilities of that position. Mr l'homas decided to become a landowner and purchased forty acres on the Salinas river, which he cleared and improved, setting out an orchard which is now in full bearing condition. This was accomplished in face of the trouble made them by jack-rabbits and squirrels, whose depredations necessitated. in some cases, replanting a couple of times. Such, however, is the quality of the rich bottom land of their ranch, that their orchard of prune trees has come to be regarded as one of the best in the country. In advertising their fruit, too, they have been very successful. the B. P. O. E. prunes, as they are called, having come to be a commodity in regular demand in all the stores. Mr. and Mrs. Thomas also lease other lands where they engage in stock-raising, making a specialty of breeding fine Shropshire Smithdown rams, and bringing into California thoroughbred rams and ewes.

When Allen Lloyd Thomas and his accomplished wife came to build the residence so appropriately named Mount Pleasant, they exercised judgment and taste that was soon apparent. There, at least once a year. they used to entertain their friends at a great barbecue and dinner. features of which were the toasts and responses, music and the dance, making up a program of varied pleasure. On all occasions, Mr. Thomas' charm as a conversationalist. the result of extensive and solid reading, contributed to the happiness of the guests. Another source of attraction at the home of this hospitable couple was the children, of whom there are five. Marguerite Ann has become Mrs. J. C. Spillman, of Atascadero ; while Trevor Lloyd, Florence Genevieve. Helen Laurine and Archibald Lincoln assist the mother in her present horti- cultural enterprisc.

In King Solomon Lodge, F. & A. M., of San Francisco, Mr. Thomas was made a Mason, and he was also a member of San Luis Obispo Lodge, No. 322. B. P. (). Elks. He was one of the founders of the Eureka school district. helped build the first schoolhouse and served as one of the trustees. Politically. Mr. Thomas was decidedly a Republican. Throughout the county he enjoyed a wide acquaintance : but particularly in the county seat he was known and Appreciated for his legal knowledge. Esteemed by all and mourned by many. he died February 28. 1910.

Since that time Mrs. Thomas, assisted by her sons and daughters, has continued to operate the ranch with such success that at the Upper Salinas Valley Fair, at Paso Robles in 1916, the Thomas prunes and other fruit took prizes and medals. In San Francisco, at the Panama-Pacific International Exhibition, their exhibit received very favorable comment. Mrs. Thomas and her family are hospitable and generous to a marked degree. They are ad- Herents to the teachings of the Episcopal Church.

JAMES WILSON GOODCHILD .- A second and the only other repre- umative in California of his generation of the distinguished Goodchild family of clergymen, lawyers and substantial merchants, which may be traced back @ The year 1420 and was associated with English gentry, is James Wilson 01-011001. the brother of John Thomas Goodchild, who, after having circum- createdthe globe, has settled down to the quiet, but by no means humdrum 16 .m & Ir ster ms and enterprising Santa Maria Valley farmer. Born un \rail 30 1855, at 1 ast Tilbury, England, where his father, Rev. William Charge Geodelod, was vicar, the grandson of Thomas Goodchild, a clergy- wir at yle Clor le of England, and the great-grandson of William Thomas

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History of San Luis Obispo County and environs, California, with biographical sketches, Part 51

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