USA > California > San Luis Obispo County > History of San Luis Obispo County and environs, California, with biographical sketches > Part 87
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On his return from Alaska, Charles Claus was married at San Luis Obispo, September 18, 1903, to Mrs. Cecilia (Carmine) Pedraita, a native of Giubiasco, Ticino, Switzerland, and the daughter of John and Josephine Bomio) Carmine, farmer folk in the pastoral region of her birthplace. Miss Carmine was brought up in Ticino, and there was first married, to Rufino Pedraita, also, a native of the same place. He was a wheelwright and car- jenter by trade, and came to California in 1882, settling at Cayucos, after which, the next year, he sent for his wife. Together Mr. and Mrs. Pedraita osaged in the hotel business at Cayncos; and their old place, the Cosmo- @obtain llotel, having been burned ont, they ran the Exchange Hotel as its Aboressur, continuing for sixteen years in that field, and in the meantime Have the corner bank building in Cayucos.
Then Mr and Mrs. Pedraita removed to San Luis Obispo, and for six womb conducted the Golden State Hotel there; but on account of Mrs. ISdrone severe suffering from inflammatory rheumatism, they left the Wrap city and went to Rinconado, where they bought from Maho Bros. De godeover mine at which the marvelous cure of the unfortunate lady was (e brd The Rinconado was an old Spanish mine known as la Mina de los 1 0 01 " The Mine of the Friends, or Lovers," which had not been worked Le port or outs years, lying ten miles from Santa Margarita, a veritable colem Bong the top of which one can see through Santa Maria valley into somto With County ; and a month after Mrs. Pedraita had first partaken of
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the mineral water flowing from a spring in the mine, she was so completely cured that she threw away her crutches and has never suffered from the affliction since. For three years the thankful and confident couple managed the mine, and then they bought the old Eight Mile House ranch and moved here, engaging in farming and dairying with a dairy herd of a dozen or more cows, and also raising fruit and alfalfa, the place being well watered by creeks and springs from which good water is piped to the residence, dairy house and barns.
A new sorrow, however, soon overshadowed her life: on June 7, 1900. Mr. Pedraita died, closing such a life that he is mourned alike by the com- munity and his devoted wife and eight children. These offspring are : Theresa, now Mrs. Bell, of San Jose: Angelina, who married Mark Vanoni, of Geyserville : Charles, of San Jose; Ida, Mrs. Christensen, who resides at Questa ; Romilda, the wife of William McCusick, the rancher, living near Santa Margarita ; Clara, who has become Mrs. Myer and also lives at Geyser- ville; Beatrice, who is Mrs. Tate, of Santa Margarita; and Adeline, who is at home.
After Mr. Pedraita's death, Mrs. Pedraita leased the mines for several years; and although she still owns the property and it is equipped with two retorts of ten pipes each, she no longer has it operated. The Rinconado ranch has about two hundred seventy-one acres, devoted to stock-raising, besides four mining claims. Mr. and Mrs. Claus also own a ranch of one hundred sixty acres about two and a half miles from Santa Margarita, which is used for a range, well stocked with the finest of cattle.
Mrs. Claus is fortunate in having two brothers and a sister in California- Peter Carmine, a rancher in Adelaida district ; John Carmine, a dairy rancher at Josephine ; and Mrs. Caroline Bassi, of Green valley. She is a member of the Fraternal Brotherhood of San Luis Obispo, and has served as school trustee of Rinconado. Mr. Claus, on the other hand, has twice been a school trustee of the Alma district. Both Mr. and Mrs. Claus are representative Democrats.
PATRICK O'DONOVAN .- When it comes to knowing something about Creston, its early days and its first school house, then Patrick O'Donovan will surely tell you, for he is now the oldest settler there, having come when there were only two other settlers in this entire neighborhood. In County Kilkenny. in the beautiful Emerald Isle, he was born, far back in 1840, the son of William O'Donovan, a farmer. Brought up on the home farm, he attended the national schools. In 1865, he came to the United States, and worked for a while in the marble quarries at Tuckahoe, N. Y.
Two years later, young O'Donovan came to California and took up his residence, for six months, in Solano county, where he worked in a nursery. He then hired himself out to farm at San Jose, and while there married Miss Bridget Taylor, a native of County Wexford, Ireland, after which he came to San Benito county, where he farmed for four years.
In 1874, he moved still farther, taking up his present place in San Luis Obispo County. The land was then claimed by the railroad company, but he located and built upon it, and when it reverted to the government, he homesteaded and finally proved up on what he wanted. He dug a well, built his comfortable house-hauling the lumber necessary from Pismo-and also erected a barn. Then he began in dead earnest to raise stock, grain and hay.
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and. as might be expected, he had proportionately good luck. Itis ranch is located on the north fork of the Huer-Huero and is well watered with springs, ant he raises Durham cattle and hogs successfully. He bought other land adoming, and now owns over eighteen hundred acres, all improved and fenced. situated five miles southeast of Creston. For some three or four years he rented ont his own ranch, and followed the raising of grain on Carissa Plains. As a result of the marriage referred to, Mr. and Mrs. Patrick O'Donovan Have five children-four boys and one girl. William, Edward and Ambrose 're successfully operating together a large ranch, a part of the Ambrose tract, while John is a farmer on his own ranch at Creston. The daughter, Mary, I - become Mrs. John J. Ryan, of Creston. Mr. O'Donovan was one of the original stockholders in the Farmers Alliance Business Associatim, was a director in the company and, with the late Andrew Nelson, paid in the first money to secure the lot for the present warehouses, which meant much to the grain growers, as it reduced the storage charges.
A true-blue Republican who has been a member of the county central committee, Mr. O'Donovan has served upon the grand jury, and was deputy assessor under Charles King. He has also been a school trustee of the Huer- Muero district nearly all the time since the district was formed, and part of This time the clerk of the board. This reminds one that when he built the that school house it was at his own expense. It was constructed of logs to the caves, and the balance of shakes and boards. It was but 14x24 feet in -in, and the benches and desks were made at the same time. The school- louise stood only about half a mile from his place, and Patrick O'Donovan Wi- amobe the first to build a road through the section. He is well read and keens abreast of the times, and having a retentive memory with his genial 400 witty disposition, is an interesting talker and, with his estimable wife, 19 Very kind hearted and hospitable.
JACOB SILAS TWITCHELL. One is so accustomed to read, hear my speak of the hardships to which the pioneers who settled in California Were exposed, and all the privations they suffered before they came out of the Wilderness and the snows into the fairest land God ever gave to man, that Ther is great danger of dealing in generalities and so failing to be suitably popr sed by what these same pioneers really underwent in order to lay the Plundations of this commonwealth. It is only when we ponder over the almost unbelievable details of a story such as that in which the ancestors of love Silas Twitchell figure and loom large that we marvel first at what Ingen had to suffer in order to bring about the more improved conditions of 0604 ble, and. secondly, that those who enjoy such domestic blessings do mg, on forums cases at least, appreciate what they are heir to. Jacob's grand- colpo, bial , who died at San Juan, came from Scotland, first settling in plan for o yassin . west to Illinois, and finally, in 1847, starting on a two man- 100 Tross the continent to California. He was accompanied by his a, som al Forenz Twitchell, Jacob's father, who was born in Ohio and 108 marned. 10 kentucky, Miss Irene Hopper, a native of that state, and a Mi smock William Hopper, who came across the plains at the same time, obviso diol at San Juan, while Irene's mother died at Templeton.
Will o pesois made so that they could be easily converted into boats und o @ ferale crossing of streams, the elder Twitchell and his son set out ramide of fear- before the great gold excitement, and passed their first
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winter at the Mississippi river and the next at Salt Lake City. There were five hundred wagons in the ox-team train, but notwithstanding the size of the cavalcade, the emigrants were frequently attacked by Indians, and in two of the engagements seven of the pioneers were killed. To add to their plight, some of the oxen were captured by the Indians, after which the hard-pressed pioneers had to use cows to draw some of their wagons. On July 1, 1849, the Twitchells arrived in the tent town of Sacramento, and there, five days later, Celesta Ann Twitchell was born as the first white child. For a while Jacob's father worked in the mines, and so successfully that he accumulated no less than $60,000; but one day when he had left his cabin at Angels Camp -the same historic dug-outs forever associated with Mark Twain's story of the Jumping Frog of Calaveras County-robbers entered his shack and robbed him of all that his hard toil had provided.
After that, Sanford Twitchell removed to San Juan, Monterey county, and there, on May 15, 1862, Jacob S. Twitchell was born. Sanford entered upon and improved government land, converting the wilderness into a farm, and in 1880 he located in San Luis Obispo County, in the Asuncion district, where he bought a farm seven miles west of Templeton. Again he entered and improved land, taking title to three hundred twenty acres, and there, on April 6, 1900, he died. Sanford Twitchell had nine children: Celesta Ann, now Mrs. Peacock, who lives at Stockton; Martha, who became Mrs .. Adkins and who lives at Oceano; Phyllis, deceased : Marion, who resides at the old homestead; William, who lives in San Luis Obispo County ; John, who lives in Summerland ; Charles, who died at the old home in 1898; Hannah, now Mrs. Wells, who lives on Carissa Plains; and Jacob Silas, the subject of our sketch.
While attending the Monterey public schools, Jacob grew up on a ranch, and even as a lad learned to drive big teams and to ride after cattle. Em- ployed by Flint & Bixby, in 1877, he came to San Luis Obispo County on a trip, which consumed six weeks before he could return, and in 1880 his father's family came to this county. Jacob remained home until he was twenty-six years of age ; then, on December 17, 1889, he married, at San Luis Obispo, Miss Sophia Woon, a native of Nevada, and the daughter of Albert Woon, a Canadian, whose father had come from England. Albert Woon had been a carpenter, and later had set himself up as a wheat merchant ; and while cross ing the continent he had stopped for a while in Nevada. Arriving at Santa Barbara, Mrs. Woon died, and at San Luis Obispo the father also passed away. The Woons had three children the others beside Mrs. Twitchell being Carrie, who died at the age of sixteen, and Frnest, who lives in Carpinteria.
After marrying, Jacob Twitchell took a trip to Humboldt county, then returned to San Benito county and to Panoche valley, where he homesteaded and farmed for fourteen years. In 1903, he removed to Oceano and engaged in the livery business. Three years later, he came to the place where he is at present. He bought three hundred thirty seven acres three miles from Creston, and there has attained the success in farming, dairying, stock-raising and the growing of grain which has made him one of the most experienced ranchers of the locality. Ile is also farming three hundred twenty acres on Carissa Plains. Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Twitchell have five children : Maud. better known as Mrs. Wilson, of Carpinteria ; Carrie, who has become Mrs
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Kendriel ... of Santa Margarita; Mattie, Mrs. Sutfin, of Santa Barbara ; and Octavia and Bertha, who are at home. By all these he does his full duty as a parent, and what is more, he takes a special pleasure in working for the children of other folks, having served as school trustee of his district. He is a Republican in politics.
EDWARD BOUCHER BALLARD .- In the very interesting, half-ro- mantic career of E. B. Ballard may be seen how the changes and chances of fortune have conditioned the selection of much of the best citizenship of the Golden State. Born at Brighton, England, September 23, 1860, Mr. Ballard is the great-great-nephew of Rear-Admiral Volant Vashon, of the English Navy, who was knighted Commander of the Bath, and the grandson of Volant Ballard, born about 1774, who accompanied the expedition of Vancouver to the northwest coast of America and who, in 1825, because of a share in the capture of the Guadalupe, was also made Rear-Admiral, dying in 1833. He is the son of James Ballard, a native of England, who was born at Hereford in 1818, and who became a captain in the English Navy, serving there until he was married, and retiring in 1868, although he lived to be ninety-eight years old.
E. B. Ballard's mother, too, had equally interesting family and historical associations. She was Miss Charlotte Hale before her marriage, a native of Ilambleton, Hampshire, England, and the daughter of Edward Hale, a country gentleman, whose wife was Catherine Downman, the daughter of Admiral llugh Downman, who was with Nelson at Trafalgar.
Seven children were born to Captain and Mrs. James Ballard, and of these. E. B. Ballard was the eldest, a brother, Captain Caspar Ballard, being the youngest captain in the English navy, and now commanding the super- dreadnought, H. M. S. Ilibernia. Educated at the public school at Clifton, and at the Military school near Eton, E. B. Ballard enlisted in the English army and was commissioned first lieutenant of the Third Battalion. Prince of Wales' Own. Unfortunately, however, from a child of two years he had been a sufferer from asthma. Obtaining no relief, he was finally advised by physicians to seek the climate of the western United States. He therefore resigned his commission, and came to lowa. Finding himself in no respect improved, and discouraged almost to despair, he was lucky to get a line from a friend, written, perhaps, half as much in jest as in earnest. Ilorace Annesley Vachell, the English writer, now of established fame, having seen a pumpkin at Arroyo Grande weighing one hundred three pounds, wrote to Ballard to come on to the Coast, where cabbages grew to a hundredweight ; and in 1882 be hastened here to find, to his continued discouragement, that the asthma -till bothered him.
It was then that Mr. Phillips, who had laid out Uner-Huero rancho and alibdivided the lands adjoining, induced Mr. Ballard to accompany a party one camping trip to that locality, and Mr. Ballard accepted and reached the wwwof what is now Vachell ranch. He had never been able for years to sleep Miroschont an entire night without getting up, generally at two or three wefork .. to more freely breathe ; and anticipating the same experience again, he were surprised, on arising, to find that it was daylight, and that there was weat around but the Chinese cook, who told him he was "heap lazy man." ITSsmr 411 1 eight o'clock, and the rest of the party had gone about whatever (no av led to do. After sleeping a couple of nights more at the camp, Mr.
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Ballard told his host that he did not know whether he could make a living there or not, but he could certainly sleep soundly, and if Mr. Phillips would sell him some land, he would attempt to settle near him. On going back to Arroyo Grande after thirty days at Creston, he again had the asthma, and that was enough to convince him as to the wisdom of his move.
On first reaching California, in 1880, with his friend, Mr. Vachell, they purchased the Tally-Ho ranch at Arroyo Grande, which they farmed until 1886, when it was sold. It was in 1884 that Mr. Ballard, with his friends, the Vachells, came to Creston, being among the first to settle on the new subdivision. They bought three thousand acres, and later divided it and dis- solved partnership. Mr. Ballard kept six hundred forty acres, his present home site on Huer-Huero west. In 1885, he built on the place, and has since made it his home, being engaged in general farming and stock-raising with much success, and once more in possession of good health, enjoying life thoroughly.
At San Luis Obispo, Mr. Ballard was married to Miss Georgiana P. Hays, a native daughter of San Francisco, whose father was Dr. W. W. Hays, a pioneer, who came to California by way of Panama, and was the first prac- ticing physician in San Luis Obispo county, continuing to practice there until 1901. Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Ballard : Volant Vashon, a graduate of the Boston School of Technology, who is now with the Interstate Commerce Commission, valuing railroads; Helen Mabry, a graduate of Miss Orton's Classical School at Pasadena, who has been engaged for two years in teaching and is now doing graduate work at the University of California ; and William Hlays, who is in attendance at the same university
A member of the Episcopal Church, Mr. Ballard finds additional social recreation in the circles of the Independent Order of Foresters at San Luis Obispo.
ELLARD W. CARSON .--. \ native son of the Golden State, and one who since his school days were over, has been associated with mining interests. Ellard W. Carson was born in San Jose, on September 2. 1877, a son of George Carson, a native of Detroit, Mich., and grandson of James Carson, a native of New York City, who was engaged in copper mining in the Lake Superior region, and a man who made and lost several fortunes in mining ventures. He met an accidental death while on a mining trip through being run over by a railroad train. George Carson received a good education in the schools of Michigan and New York, and was married in Detroit to Eleanor Carter, a native of Vermont. About 1874 he came to California, locating in San Jose, where, with Charles Hensley, he installed the first telephone system in that city. He later became connected with the New Almaden quicksilver mines in Santa Clara county, and retained his con- nection with the mining enterprise there for many years, becoming cashier and chief accountant, but finally retired with his wife to private life in San Francisco. There were eight children in their family, Ellard W. being the third in order of birth.
He attended the public schools in San Jose, graduating from the high school in 1896. His father having connections with the mining company at New Almaden, it was but natural that the son should take up that line of work. Beginning at the bottom, he spent seven years in the various depart ments, ranging from mucker to assistant superintendent, resigning then to
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recept a position with the Oceanic Mining Co. in San Luis Obispo County, where he was superintendent until 1908, serving also as superintendent of the Cambria Quicksilver Mining Co. Resigning his position, he went to Los Angeles, bought a residence, and for the next six years followed mining engineering in California, Arizona and Nevada. In 1914 he returned to San Luis Obispo County to reopen the Cambria mines, and continued in his posi- tion of superintendent until they were closed. On the opening of the Oceanic, he became manager there, where he has remained to the present time.
Mr. Carson was united in marriage in San Francisco with Miss Catherine Miles, who was born in that city, where she graduated from a girls' high school and the San Francisco Normal, and was engaged in educational work for three years. Five children have blessed their union-Carter, Ellard, John, Catherine and Mary.
Mr. Carson was a member of the board of education while he lived at New Almaden, and part of the time was clerk; he was also trustee of Mam- moth Rock and of San Simeon districts during his term of residence in this county. He is a member of the American Institute of Mining Engineers, and of the Sierra Madre Club of Los Angeles, where he also holds member- ship in the St. Cecelia Church ; and he is a member of the San Luis Obispo Lodge of Elks. On national issues, he is a Republican, while in local affairs he supports the men and measures he considers best suited for the good of the people of the section most interested. He is wide awake to the opportunities offered in every calling in the state, and wherever he is known he has friends.
HENRY CLAY KELSEA .- Never, perhaps, in modern times has the soldier been so often in the minds and hearts of patriotic citizens, and yet it is not alone the warrior who is fighting the battles of the present, and therefore deciding the issues of the future. Such a veteran as Ilenry C. Kelsea comes in for a full share of honor and good wishes, thinking people everywhere recognizing the fact that he contributed his part in determining many of the stable conditions of today and securing many of the blessings we all now enjoy. The grandson of William Kelsea, a native of New Hamp- shire, of Scotch descent, who was a captain in the War of 1812, and once owned the town site of Lisbon, N. II., Henry's father was Benjamin Franklin Kelsea, a farmer, who grew up in New Hampshire where he was born, became a merchant and the postmaster under Lincoln and Johnson at Center Har- bor. in that state, and there died. Henry's mother had been Miss Martha Merrill, who was born at Landaff, N. H., the granddaughter of Ebenezer Merrill, also a native of the Granite State, and a relative of the Ladd and the Noah Webster families.
Born at Lisbon, September 11, 1845, the only boy in a family of two 1oltreb. Henry Kelsea attended the public schools of his district six months in the year, and worked on his father's farm the rest of the season. He also wwwlel the Meredith high school; leaving which he clerked in his father's At sixteen, he started to learn the machinist's trade, entering a shop 10. Class, now Lakeport, N. H .; but when the bugles summoned the god of the land to the support of the Federal Government, the young man co In forpli auil placed himself at the service of his country.
Tto ThiumC20. 1861. he began his notable military career by enlisting in R & bos co 1. bt the 5th N. 11. Vol. Inf. Ile fought particularly with the
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Army of the Potomac, took part in thirty-two engagements, including such notable battles as that of the Wilderness, Antietam, Cold Harbor, Deep Bot- tom and Gettysburg, and was present at Lee's surrender and saw General Lee and his staff paroled. During this arduous service, he was wounded in front of Petersburg, July 19, 1804, through the exploding of a shell, which broke his collar bone and rib, at a time when the bullets were so thick that some of them cut his leather belt and he lost his canteen ; and when he was mustered out at Arlington Heights he was one of only one hundred sixty-one of the heroes who remained from a regiment of two thousand eight hundred. At Concord. N. 11., on July 5, 1865, young Kelsea, who had thus proven his right to citizenship in a republic, was honorably discharged; and ever since he has enjoyed the esteem of his fellow-men. Particularly has he received all possible courtesy and honor in the circles of the veterans themselves, hav- ing been a member of Phil Sheridan Post 34, at Salem, Mass., and later of Shiloh Post, G. A. R .. at Compton, and post commander for about twenty seasons, as well as assistant inspector general under Department Commander W. A. Barnes.
Resuming again the vocations of peace, Mr. Kelsea put in a summer with the Morse Telegraph Co., and then went to Danvers, Mass., where, for two years, he worked at the shoemaker's trade. Believing that he could better his condition by taking up some other line of work, he accordingly selected the trade of carpenter and, going to Salem, Mass., worked at that trade until he became an efficient workman. Hle then began taking contracts and followed the business in Salem, Marblehead and Boston.
The 30th of August, 1870, witnessed the marriage of Henry C. Kelsea and Miss Mary E. Wilkins at Danvers, where the bride was born, the daughter of Frederick A. and Sarah K. ( Fuller ) Wilkins, both members of old families of English descent. Her grandfather Wilkins had fought in the War of 1812 against the British, and her father was a shoe manufacturer at Danvers, and for twenty-eight years the postmaster of the town. When ill-health overtook him, he resigned from office ; but ere the government could accept his resig- nation he had died. Miss Mary Wilkins was brought up in Danvers, attended the public school there, and finally graduated from the high school.
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