USA > California > San Luis Obispo County > History of San Luis Obispo County and environs, California, with biographical sketches > Part 52
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Goodchild, a noted lawyer of his time, James left home, the eighth child in his family, at the age of eleven, when his father died at sea on his return from a tour of the world, and embarking at Plymouth went to Port Jackson, or Sydney, Australia, with his uncle, Charles Codrington, a stockman with whom he had been invited to live. To reach there, he sailed around the Cape of Good Hope, and on that journey spent one hundred seven days on the ocean.
He attended St. John's grammar school at Newcastle, Australia ; but deciding, when he became fifteen, that he would join his brothers, John, Cecil and Harry, in California, he returned to England, travelling alone, via Cape Horn. He thus encircled the globe at a remarkably early age, the return trip consuming one hundred days; during which, from the time the vessel left Port Jackson until it reached London, it entered no port and made no stops. Happily, he found his mother, three sisters and two brothers at the familiar home place ; and with them he remained until 1872.
In his sixteenth year, and when accompanied by his mother as far as Southampton, he left England again, this time shipping on the steamer "Tasus" for America and Aspinwall, from which place he crossed the Isthmus of Panama. A bloody revolution was going on there, and delayed him and his fellow-passengers for several days; but he finally reached the steamship "Mahongo," formerly a United States gun-boat, and sailed north to San Fran- cisco. The voyage on the Pacific took twenty-eight days, and the vessel stopped at several Mexican ports and San Diego, reaching San Francisco in June, 1872. After a few days in that busy city, young Mr. Goodchild came to Salinas by rail, and thence by stage to the mouth of the Tepesquet, where his brothers were engaged in sheep ranching. One of these brothers, Harry Goodchild, became deputy county clerk of Santa Barbara county and died in Michigan ; and Cecil practiced law at San Luis Obispo, and died there.
In the fall and winter of 1876-77, James Goodchild started in the cattle business ; but the terrible drought of the period brought him, as well as thon- sands of others, adversity, and within a short time he lost hundreds of cattle His stock was marked with a brand that he purchased from his brother, Cecil -a figure six laid down.
In the more prosperous year, 1887, Mr. Goodchild bought his home ranch, consisting of eighty-seven and a half acres, then a mere stretch of desert, near the head of the Santa Maria Valley on the bank of the Sisquoc, upon which he has made all the improvements, creating an area of decided value. To this tract he has added some fourteen hundred acres of deeded lands lying in the Santa Barbara National Forest.
In 1881, James Goodchild was married to Miss Mariantonia Ontiveros, daughter of Ramon Ontiveros, and a granddaughter of Juan Pacifico Onti- veros, a charming lady and devoted wife, who has since died, leaving him with seven children : James William, Alexander Ralph, Francis Ramon, Edward Alego, Allen Christopher, Faith, and a son, Thomas Harry, who died at the age of seventeen.
A gentleman by instinct and culture, and in all his intercourse with his fellow men, and a patriotic citizen of independent views in politics, Mr. Good- child, since he came to the Santa Maria valley, has led a life remarkably quiet if contrasted with his early rovings by sea and land. Ile has not been out of the state since he came here in 1872, and has visited San Francisco only a
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ow ques He has also never been south of Santa Barbara since pushing into the interior of California. He has no grandchildren : but his sons assist him ably in the management of the little home ranch, seeded largely to alfalfa, and in his extensive and important cattle business, for which some seventeen hundred acres are set aside. His intellect keen and his mind well stored, Mr. Goodchild has the power both of entertaining himself profitably ard interesting others.
JOHN H. POND .- The student of biography cannot help being im- pressed with the fact that in all too many cases in life one or another ambitious and very deserving man or woman has been compelled to tread a pathway not only such as they would not willingly have chosen, but which, as far as our human ken permits us to judge, they never should have entered upon. In other words, one who is conversant with human affairs must admit that many persons who are eminently fitted for this or that line of activity or responsible undertaking have been prevented by untoward circumstances from entering into their reward, at least in this imperfect world. The life of John 11. Pond, one of the most intelligent citizens of recent years in San Luis Obispo County, and a man who was always conspicuously active in move- ments for the uplifting of society, well illustrates these propositions; for he had a mind, a studious temperament and a well-balanced judgment, which should have enabled him to become a jurist of ability and influence, whereas he was compelled to exert his power as a man of ideals while pursu- my plainer vocations, though perhaps just as essential as those of the law and of letters.
But six years before the death of his father, he was born on March 27, 1831, in Macoupin county, Illinois, of parents who originally came from Tennessee. Ile thus had to shift for himself very early ; but he took for his motto "Whatever is worth doing is worth doing well." and so from the very beginning in school and at work, he stood high among his fellows. Even after having finished his formal schooling he continued his studies and wide reading, with the result that he was generally conceded to be a man of supe- rior intelligence and unusual information.
Leaving school he was apprenticed to a saddler and harness-maker ; and so well did he do his work there that it is said that a farmer, on one occasion, remarked to his master: "I'll buy the harness if you'll let John make it." Finishing his trade, he made for the great West, crossing the prairies as the most reliable of several assistants to a man who was leading westward an Dimense flock of sheep. Thoroughly surfeited, however, with the work of a -lo. 1-herder. he left the train at Salt Lake City : nor could he afterwards War to have anything to do with sheep. Moving about on his own account di Lake for a year, he mended harnesses and saddles, and also worked mw ale United States Army forces stationed there.
Want 1852 or 1853 he arrived in California, and at Sacramento he plied " pryde ar a saddler, maintaining a large shop. He next yielded to the gold lopend egaged in mining, experiencing there the same alternate success moppenresa have buoved and depressed thousands of others. Quitting Moswie he leite l at Rio Vista, Solano county, and again opened a harness
On May 2. 1872, he was married to Mrs. Mary ( Lowe) Robinson, who lerin Sussex county, N. J., on September 17, 1835. Her father
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was the Rev. Benjamin J. Lowe, who was born near Princeton, the son of a well-to-do farmer and the grandson of a Holland emigrant of the same name. Benjamin Lowe was educated at Princeton, and was ordained a Presbyterian clergyman, after which he preached in New Jersey and Ohio. On retiring, he migrated to California, and eventually died in San Francisco. Her mother was Mary ( Linn) Lowe, whose birthplace was Harmony Vale, in Sussex county, N. J., and who was educated at the Moravian Seminary at Bethlehem, Penn., made famous through one of the early poems of Long- fellow. Mary Linn's father, John Linn, was born in New Jersey. He became first an attorney and then a Judge of Sussex county, and was finally elected and re-elected to Congress, dying at Washington during his second term. A fitting monument has been erected to him in the Congressional Burial Ground. Mrs. Lowe died in Ohio, the mother of seven children, only one of whom, the fourth eldest, is now living. This daughter, Mary, was educated at Grandeville Seminary, Ohio, and in that town married Charles Robinson, a native of the same state. He was a merchant, and died in the same town in which he had his business. After his death, in 1865, Mrs. Robinson came West to San Francisco, having here a sister, Mrs. M. C. Hlillyer ; and six weeks after her arrival she was married to John H. Pond; and in time she became the mother of a second son, Harry Fry Pond-the popular under- sheriff of San Luis Obispo County. She already had one child. Louis, by Mr. Robinson, and he resides in San Francisco.
Mr. and Mrs. Pond removed to Ventura, bought some land and farmed there, but about nine years later transferred their residence to San Luis Obispo County, locating at Shandon, where they pre-empted a hundred sixty acres. A year later they took up the homestead, now the residence of Mrs. Pond. It consisted of one hundred sixty acres about ten miles east of Cres- ton, on Indian Creek, in the Highland district, and there they went in still more extensively for farming and stock raising. They bought the adjoining property until they owned a ranch of nine hundred sixty acres, a flourishing center of grain- and stock-raising. Lately some six hundred forty-five acres of this property has been sold.
Amid his books and papers, and enjoying the companionship of his de- voted wife, Mr. Pond spent his last days contented and happy, maintaining to the end a live interest in public affairs. Hle served as school trustee. and helped to build the schoolhouse in his district. He died on October 4, 1916, leaving behind him an enviable reputation as a private citizen.
Having rented much of her property, Mrs. Pond continues to reside on the home place since her lamented husband's death, devoting her spare time to works of charity, and participating in the activities of the Presbyterian Church. As a Democrat, she maintains a live interest in politics. No one who meets and converses with this charming lady will fail to recognize in her a bond between the present age and a period in which many of the gentler graces were particularly cultivated.
CAPTAIN MARCUS HARLOE .- A race of shipbuilders for genera- tions has been the record of the Harloe family, and that San Luis Obispo County should profit by the long residence within her borders of Captain Marcus Harloe augurs well for the possibilities that held him here when he had traveled much and had met so many opportunities in his carlier life. Captain Harloe was of English and Scotch ancestry, but was born in Ireland
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near Dublin, March 17, 1833, a son of Matthew Harloe, for many years a British revenue officer. Matthew Harloe married a daughter of William H. Taylor, a Scotch shipmaster of Campbellstown, Argyleshire, whose ship, on one occasion, was seized by some French pirates : when he was put to torture to make him disclose the whereabouts of the ship's treasure, it was discovered that he was a Mason, and he was at once released and restored to his ship.
In 1847 Captain Marcus Harloe came to the United States, and in 1848 shipped on the "New World" for Liverpool. In 1850 he rounded Cape Horn on the "Wisconsin." a sailing vessel from New York bound for San Fran- cisco; and from the latter point he shipped on another vessel. In 1851 he was first mate on the river schooner "Eagle," running between Sacramento and San Francisco, and in 1852 was first officer of the brig "Walcott." Hay- ing attained his majority, in 1854, Mr. Harloe became master of the schooner "Louise," in the coasting trade, owning a quarter interest in the vessel, which he sold in 1856. Hle then became half owner in the schooner "Black Prince," which he built, and of which he remained master until the fall of 1859.
On December 20, 1859. Captain Harloe went east and bought the schooner "Wild Pigeon," in Providence, R. 1 .. chartered a cargo from New York and sailed for San Francisco, March 20, 1860, via the straits of Magellan. In the cargo was the material for the steamer "Salinas." the first vessel constructed by the Pacific Coast Steamship Company. After discharging the cargo at the foot of Third street in San Francisco, Captain Harloe put the vessel in the Mexican trade. When the Civil War broke out, he sold the "Wild Pigcon" and took charge of the tugboats "Merrimac" and "Monitor" in San Fran- cisco bay. Ile was elected harbor master of San Francisco in 1865, and served efficiently two years and nine months, when he resumed tugboating.
In 1867 Captain Harloe became identified with Santa Barbara county. when he came to settle up the affairs of the estate of his father-in-law, Isaac J. Sparks, whose daughter Flora married Mr. Harloe. Aug. 12, 1866. In 1864 he shipped as master of the steam schooner "Gussie," plying between Carpinteria and San Francisco: later, for three years, from 1870, he was master of the "Commander" of the Holladay and Burnham line, and master of the Pacific Mail line from San Diego to Seattle. He was next connected with the Pacific Coast Steamship Co., as master of the "Ventura" and the "Constantine." In 1880, Gov. George Perkins appointed Captain Harloe chief wharfinger at San Francisco, and he filled the position for three years, after which for some time, until he retired from service, he commanded the stemmer "Santa Maria." running along the coast and to the Sandwich Islands.
In 1875, Captain Marcus Harloe brought his family to San Luis Obispo county and settled them on the Huasna rancho, on a tract that comprised unTE Thousand acres of land which he utilized for stock and general farming purposes. Since that time the Hlarloe family has been identified with this Ollis rancho was a part of a Mexican grant secured by Isaac J. Stes- wed bequeathed to his daughter. Mrs. Harloe. Mrs. Harloe's mother www. Wiress Sparks. Of the union of Captain and Mrs. Harloe eight elilfile sorelbørn Fannie E., deceased ; Rosa S., who died, aged five : Marcus S \ch W. Wilham George: John D., an attorney in San Francisco: chiles Lan. decea ed: and Florita I., the wife of Fred Wood.
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Active in the councils of the Republican party, Captain Harloe was elected to the State Legislature from his district in 1889; and during his term he was a member of the committee on commerce and navigation. He served as supervisor of San Luis Obispo County for two years. During the exciting campaigns he did excellent work for his party, many times turning defeat into victory when the contests were close. He was a friend of education and one of his hobbies was the establishment of the union high school: and he aided greatly in securing the passage of a bill to render this plan possible. He served as a school trustee for many years.
It was a matter of pride with Captain Harloe that he held the highest license ever granted any master of vessels by the United States government. This permitted him to act as inspector or commander of ships in any ocean and was added proof of his ability in the management of ships. He was a Mason and was a charter member of the oldest lodge in San Francisco but was later transferred to Arroyo Grande Lodge No. 277. F. & A. M. He was also a member of San Luis Obispo Chapter No. 62. R. A. M .. and San Luis Obispo Commandery No. 27, K. T.
After landing in California Captain Harloe became a thorough advocate of western progress and maintained close connection with maritime and civic matters until his death, June 28, 1908, at which time the nation and state. as well as the county of San Luis Obispo, lost one of their most influential citizens.
DONALD C. McMILLAN .- Few, if any persons familiar with the recent history of San Luis Obispo and the inner workings of this developing town, will question the enviable position attained there by Donald C. McMillan, a native of Delhousie, Restigouche county, New Brunswick, where he was born on June 29, 1849, the son of James McMillan, who hailed from Arran. Scotland. Mr. McMillan's grandfather Donald brought the family from Scotland to Restigouche county, where he became a farmer on the shores of Baie de Chaleurs. James McMillan also had a farm there and eventually came to California, largely as the guest of his son Donald, dying here some twenty years ago in McMillan's Canon. The mother, also a native of Arran. was Helen Cook before her marriage, and her father was John Cook, who had made his way to the same country in New Brunswick. The mother is still living, with her two daughters, in San Luis Obispo, having celebrated her ninetieth birthday on the 27th of October. 1916.
Nine children were born to James McMillan and his wife. Arnold died in infancy : James owns a farm in McMillan's Canon, and resides in San Luis Obispo; John is in Wisconsin; Alexander is a farmer in McMillan's Canon near Shandon ; Peter owns a farm near the same place, and resides in San Luis Obispo ; while Donald and his sisters Helen, Barbara and Catherine all reside in the old Mission town. Donald was brought up on a farm on the Baie de Chaleurs at Delhousie, enjoyed such training as the public school of that section afforded, and as a lad learned the business of a merchant.
In 1872 he came for a while to San Francisco, and the same fall, for a few months, to Cayucos, from which place he went to Carson City, Nev .. where he contracted to get out logs and timbers for the mines. Continuing in this enterprise for two years, he returned to Cayucos, and in 1875 started a general merchandise store there, the firm being known as Dunn, McMil- lan & Co. In less than a year he bought out Dunn, and continued the busi-
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ne -- Mm-dd, awilly selling a half interest to Grant. Lull & Co. at Cambria. after winch he managed the Cayucos store, as a half-partner, for five years. Sircung with an porelent. and being badly injured, he sold out and went !: Wielmigten Territory, where he spent the winter. In the spring he returned to Carycos again and once more started, this time on his own account, in the general merchandise business. He built a store building and residence, in which he lived and did business until a year after the railroad came to Paso Robles.
In 1887 he sold his store: and having previously purchased from the Atlantic & Pacific Railroad Co. 640 acres of land located in a cañon (after- ward named McMillan's Canon by Colonel Bingham, who surveyed the land there). he added improvements, and made it an exceedingly promising in- vestment, only to find that the company could not deliver a clear title, and that the land must go back to the Government. Then he located a pre- emption and timber claim of 320 acres ; and settling temporarily on it, made improvements there, raising grain and cattle and also engaging in dairying. In those days, the milk was placed in pans and skimmed by hand, and yet he made good butter and plenty of it, which he shipped to San Francisco. finding there a ready market. He also bought 160 acres of land adjoining, and now he has 480 acres, all tillable, and in a body. Grain raising occu- pied him for years, and he was one of the first to gather his crops with a combined harvester after it had come into use.
About 1894 he met with a second accident, and finding himself unable to do heavy farm work, he became a commercial traveler, representing E. J. Bowen & Company, the big seed-house in San Francisco, in whose service he traveled for ten years through most of the Southern States from Georgia westward, his address and conversational ability easily ingratiating him with strangers, and making him invaluable to his firm.
In the fall of 1904, on account of Mrs. McMillan's health. he rented his ranch and moved to San Luis Obispo, where he built a comfortable resi- dence: still occupied by them. From here he looks after his varied interests. Soon after settling in San Luis Obispo he became interested, with sixty to sev- enty other representative citizens from different parts of the county. in the Daily Telegram Company, publishers of the Daily Telegram, and was induced give his time for three years to the financial management of the paper. He served as president of the company ten years, or until they sold out. The Telegram was started to advance all good causes, in particular that of good government and temperance: and it stood for progress and purity. 11 1914 Mr. McMillan again took charge of his farm, and he is still oper- wong and superintending it. ready at any time to get into harness if it is messary. He runs two teams and puts in about 260 acres of wheat every
Whole in Cambria Mr. McMillan was married to Miss Elizabeth Cook, she were born in New Brunswick, a daughter of the late Alexander Cook. w 1500g of Alexander Sterling Cook, who is also represented in this Wird dor Fer Helen came to brighten their lives; but at the age of Terab ilive . cars, while attending the San Jose State Normal School, she Woo di wa Lihel Mer her untimely death, the bereaved parents adopted or aaplian cinle Vres Ruth Fonner, now a student at the San Luis Obispo PREIS Toat upon whom they are showering their affections.
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14. 6. Sutton.
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For years Mr. McMillan was a school trustee, first in the Cayucos and then in the Shandon district ; and in both communities he helped to organ- ize the Presbyterian Church, long serving as Sunday school superintendent. and now rendering good service as an elder in the Presbyterian Church at San Luis Obispo. An active Republican in matters of national politics, Mr. McMillan has ever proven a public-spirited citizen, while in matters of busi ness his word, always as good as his bond, has been a valuable contribution to forwarding the best interests of the ambitious town.
HERBERT CHARLES SUTTON .- The town of Paso Robles, with its various lines of activity, has drawn within its hospitable and ambitious limits many men whose business capacity and fine traits of citizenship would be a credit to any community in the country. Foremost among these is Herbert Charles Sutton, dairyman, auctioneer, grain buyer, liveryman and promoter of the city's most substantial interests. \ native of New Zealand. he was born in Thornberry, March 6, 1882, a son of Thomas Sutton, who came from south Lincolnshire, England, and removed to New Zealand at the time of the first gold excitement. He landed at Auckland from a sailing vessel in 1859, followed mining for a time and then turned his attention to farming and stock-raising. Mr. Sutton was an importer of fine horses and cattle from England and Scotland, and in the carly days took many prizes and medals. He died . when his son, Herbert C., was only six months old. His wife, Jessie Reed, was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, a direct descendent of Rob Roy. Her grandfather was William Abercrombie. Mr. Reed started with his family to New Zealand, but before he reached there. his destination being Auckland, he died in 1849, a few days before landing. Mrs. Sutton was reared in that country and lived there until her death in 1893, when her son was but eleven years old. Of the union of Mr. and Mrs. Sutton seven children were born, five of whom are now living. Of these, only Herbert C. and Miss Alice Catherine Sutton, of Paso Robles, are residentsof California.
Herbert C. Sutton was the youngest member of the family and was reared in New Zealand, attended the public schools of that place, and after the death of his mother made his home with his sister Alice. Then he went to live with an uncle, George Sutton, a farmer. When he was seventeen, with two brothers he purchased a farm of three hundred acres in Winton district, and began raising cattle and sheep. Two years later, after a suc- cessful business, they sold out and returned to the home farm, which they ran until 1908, selling out after Herbert C. had decided to come to California.
In May, 1908, Mr. Sutton landed in San Francisco and a few weeks later came to Paso Robles and purchased four hundred eighty acres in the Adelaida district, where he raised grain and stock until 1910, when he sold out and bought the Paso Robles Livery Stable, which he conducted in connet- tion with the auctioneering business. He later bought out the other livery stables and managed a big force of men, and for three years was very suc cessful : then he traded his livery business for a fine orange grove in River side county, and went there to live and further improve his property. Fight- een months later he sold his grove at a good profit, and returned to Paso Robles and opened a livery stable. He ran this until July, 1915, when he sold out and started in the dairy business. While in the livery business, he began. buying grain and has since carried on that line of industry. He represents
SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY AND ENVIRONS
EM an-Guthrie & Co. and the Sinsheimer Co., and for them in 1916 he bought a hundred thousand sacks of grain. In February of 1916 he opened Sutton's Dairy, two miles south of the city on the state highway, on the old Hogg ranch, and there he has a fine herd of seventy milch cows of the Durham and Holstein breeds. For delivery, he uses a Ford truck. He does wholesale and retail business, covering his territory morning and evening. llis milk is handled in the most sanitary and up-to-date manner, and always passes the highest test.
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