USA > California > Santa Clara County > History of Santa Clara County, California : including its geography, geology, topography, climatography and description > Part 67
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George T. Wagstaff. Was born in Guernsey county, Ohio, August 30, 1832, where he was educated, and served in his father's store until he started for California. He arrived in this State in August, 1852, and lived for the first seven years in Pine Grove and La Porte, Sierra county, owning, during that time, several of the largest mines in that district. From there he went to Hamilton, Butte county, where he sojourned three years, con- dueting a hotel, and being Postmaster. We next find Mr. Wagstaff assisting
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in the laying out of an orchard in Ventura county ; from there he proceeded to Paso Robles Springs, San Luis Obispo county, where he herded sheep for three months; thence to Napa county, being employed by R. B. Woodward for seven months; next to Knoxville, Lake county, for two years, engaged in quicksilver mining; and finally to Mountain View, and got married, but left for Sutter county, returning, however, at the end of eighteen months to settle in Fremont township. For six years he was in the employ of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company ; he then rented the hotel at Mountain View Station, owned by Weilheimer Brothers, which he conducted for three years, at the end of which he opened his saloon, being also engaged in trans- actions in hay and grain. Married Murilla J. Levin, a native of the State of Illinois, by whom he has three children : Belle, born, January 25, 1867; Selah, born, July 15, 1868; Lotta, born, March 2, 1872.
Honorable Joseph Sawyer Wallis. The subject of this sketch was born in Salem, Massachusetts, October 24, 1825, and received a liberal edu- cation in his native State. In the eventful year of 1849, Judge Wallis organ- ized, at Salem, a company of twenty persons, mostly young inen, under the name of the Naumkeag Mutual Trading and Mining Company, of which he was President, for the purpose of operating in the gold fields of California. He sailed, with his company, in the ship Capital, Thorndike Proctor, Mas- ter, from Boston, January 24, 1849, arriving in San Francisco, July 19th, of the same year. At Sacramento the company disbanded, when the Judge organized another company, and went to the mines on the middle fork of the Yuba river, mining with success till the 4th of November fol- lowing, when he returned to San Francisco, and applied himself to the study of law. On the 15th of August, 1855, he was admitted to practice at the Bar of the Supreme Court of this State. He followed his profession at San Francisco till November, 1857, when he removed, with his family, to Mayfield, in this county, where he has practiced his profession ever since. He has ever been an active and prominent Republican in politics, of the rad- ical type. In 1848, he was an alternate delegate from his native place to, and attended, the National Free Soil Convention, at Buffalo, New York. In 1858, he was elected a Justice of the Peace, for Fremont township, and, in the same year, was chosen an Associate Justice of the Court of Sessions, for this county, and served one term. In 1862-63, he represented this county in the State Senate. He was married to Sarah Green, July 25, 1854, and has four children living, viz .: Eva, born October 27, 1855; Josephine, born March 20, 1857 ; Joseph, born March 18, 1859; William A., born June 11, 1861. Talbot H. Wallis, born July 3, 1851, the present Deputy State Librarian, is his step-son.
Frederick William Weisshaar. Born in Saxony, Weimar, July 2, 1832, where he received a collegiate training, and was educated a theoret-
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ical farmer, a business he followed before leaving his Fatherland. In the year 1852, he emigrated to the United States, and first settled in Baltimore, Maryland, but not finding in that city a congenial occupation, he went into the country and worked at various employments; in a short time, however, returning to Baltimore, he made arrangements to proceed to New Orleans, but being laid low for nine weeks with yellow fever, he changed his location to St. Louis, thence to Lexington county, Missouri; made two trips more to New Orleans, and finally started for Nicaragua, intending to settle there. At this period, Walker, the filibuster, held sway in that region, and being in want of men, among other necessaries, determined to press Mr. Weiss- haar into his service, but not desiring the questionable glory, and probable fate, of a soldier of fortune, that gentleman laid his case before the Prussian Consul, who at once effected his release, thus saving him from the eventnal fate of Walker and his buccaneers. Mrs. Weisshaar, not being smitten with this country of snakes, scorpions, and freebooters, prevailed upon her hus- band to leave its inhospitable shores. He therefore left for California, and arrived at San Francisco, June 26, 1856. After working at day's labor for a twelvemonth, he obtained employment in the furniture business of Mr. Bidwell; and there continued until the excitement consequent on the discov- ery of gold on the Frazer river. Our subject at once made up his mind to start for British Columbia, but, fortunately for himself he changed his inten- tion, and entered the furniture store of J. A. Collins, for whom he worked until he sold to James B. Goodwin, with whom he remained until the year 1862, in which year he came to Mayfield, where he purchased land, which, dividing into town lots, he soll, and now owns several houses in Mayfield, besides a farm on the coast. Mr. Weisshaar has been a School Trustee for nine years, and has been re-elected for three years more. Married, at New Orleans, Odilia Diss, by whom he has F. William., born December 9, 1856; Joseph, born March 19, 1858, died of lock-jaw, April 13, 1868; D. L. Elizabeth, born January 4, 1860; Louis G., born July 5, 1861; Fran- cisca M., born January 1, 1865; Emil F., born November 8, 1866; Nathalia F., born February 26, 1868; Pattilia J., born November 20, 1869.
John A. Wright. Born in Middlesex county, Massachusetts, Septem- ber, 19, 1842, where he learned his trade of carpenter. In 1862, he shipped on board the bark Panama, in the capacity of ship's carpenter, and in her sailed for Australia, and finally concluding the voyage in San Francisco harbor, where he arrived in the Fall of 1863. He at once went into the ship and house building trade, which he followed until 1869, when he came to Santa Clara county, and commenced working at Mayfield, but ultimately removed to Mountain View, where he now resides, and carries on the bus- iness of a contractor and builder. Mr. Wright is the constructor of many of the finest edifices in his neighborhood.
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HISTORY OF SANTA CLARA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
GILROY TOWNSHIP.
W. Z. Angney (Deceased). The subject of this narrative, whose por- trait appears in this work, was born in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, October 3, 1818, and died at his residence in Gilroy township, January 28, 1878. He received his education primarily in the grammar department of the High School of his native place, and at the age of seventeen years entered Dickenson's College, from which seat of learning he graduated, with honors, at the end of four years. He then entered upon the study of law, reading for two years, under Mr. Alexander, of Carlisle. Soon after, Mr. Angney removed to Jeffer- son City, Missouri, where he was admitted to the Bar, at the same time as P. O. Minor, of San Jose. Here he remained between four and five years when, the Mexican war breaking out, he joined the army, and was appointed a Lieutenant; a subaltern's work was to be his only for a short time; he was soon promoted to a company as Captain, and in the campaign rose to command a Brigade of Regulars, in all of which responsible positions he displayed both skill and courage. At the close of hostilities he was chosen one of the Delegates to Washington, D. C., in the interests of New Mexico in regard to her admission into the Union. After a year on that duty he returned to New Mexico, and in 1851 eame to California, in charge of a large party, he being the first person to drive sheep over that route. After traveling through California for some months, he made a visit to his native State, but returned to the Pacific coast, via Panama, and took up his resi- dence in San Francisco in 1863, where he entered upon the practice of his profession, and continued it for one year. In the course of time Mr. Angney had become well-known and gathered about him a great many clients and a large practice; but, having conscientious scruples in regard to the practice of law in San Francisco in those days, he abandoned the office and the desk, and, purchasing a band of sheep, came to Santa Clara county, and established himself upon the ranch of three hundred and seventy acres, where his widow now resides. Mr. Angney had always taken an active part in all enterprises that tend to enlighten and elevate the mind. He was a member of the Legislature in 1867-68; was elected to the Senate for four years in 1875, and it was when home from his labors in the Upper House that he was gathered to his Father. Captain Angney was consid- ered a fine scholar, a polished gentleman, a true friend, a bold enemy, and, above all, an honest man. His friends loved him; his enemies feared him;
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he was also a fine entertainer, full of humor, full of cheerfulness, and the best company in the wide world. He was twice married: first, in 1850, to an English-Spanish lady, of Santa Fe, New Mexico. One daughter was born of this union, Miss Annie, now in England. He was married again, in San Francisco, April 24, 1863, to a Miss Witham, a native of Oxford county, Maine. After the death of our subject the following verse was found in his pocket :-
" We die not all, for our deeds romain To crown with honor or mar with stain. Through endless sequence of years to come, Our lives shall speak, though our lips are dumb."
George Anson. Was born in Logan county Kentucky, January 18 1816. When eleven years of age he went with his parents to Pike county, Missouri. In 1835 we find Mr. Anson in Black Hawk Purchase, forty-five miles above the mouth of the Des Moines river, afterwards becoming Van Buren county, State of Iowa; being reared a farmer, here he remained until 1850, when he crossed the plains to California, arriving at Hangtown (now Placerville) August 26th of that year. He proceeded to Coloma, where he mined until October Ist, and then came to Santa Clara county, remain- ing until February, 1857, when he returned to the mines, continuing there until August; then, coming back to this county, farmed for a year near San Jose, when he purchased a ranch near to Dr. Bascom's, and there dwelt until the month of November, 1853; at this time he came to Gilroy township, bought a squatter's claim, near the town of that name, and in July, 1858, purchased his ranch of two hundred and eighty-seven acres, two miles north-west of Gilroy, where he is now, and has since resided. Mr. Anson remains single.
Silas G. Babb. Born in Henry county, Tennessee, July 25, 1841. When but four years of age he moved with his parents to Arkansas, where he resided for nine years; then he moved to Navarro county, Texas, and five years later, to Tarrant county in the same State. In the year 1857 he proceeded to Arizona Territory where he remained until 1858, in April -of which year we find him in San Diego, California. In the Spring of 1859 he moved to San Benito county and engaged in mining in Holcomb and Bear valleys from the Spring of 1860 to the Fall of 1861, at which time he pur- chased stock and drove them to San Luis Obispo, where he arrived in October, 1861. Leaving his cattle here he proceeded to Santa Cruz county and commenced operations in the redwoods which he continued until the Spring of the following year; he then came to Santa Clara county and located on Hanna Brothers' ranch, where he worked for wages until the Spring of 1867. In the Fall of that year he removed to Salinas, Monterey 38
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county, and there established the first meat-market in Natividad. In April, 1868, he opened the first butcher shop in Salinas City which he conducted eight months, and selling out in November, returned to Santa Clara county and located at Gilroy. In 1869 he purchased stock and took up government land at the head-waters of the Los Baños creek, in Fresno county, but has made his residence in Gilroy. Mr. Babb remained in the stock trade until the Fall of 1875, and in 1876 embarked in an express and truck business, but sold out in 1880. Married, in California, January 1, 1871, Elizabeth Philbert, a native of Missouri, and has: Sarah E., born June 4, 1875; Minerva M., born October 16, 1877; George W., born November 9, 1878; Maggie H., born September 7, 1SS0.
William Wallace Beauchamp. Was born in Platt county, Missouri, July 30, 1836. In 1844 he took up his abode in Holt county, and there was reared a farmer. In 1850, in company with his father he crossed the plains to California with ox-teams, and first located in Contra Costa county, where they arrived in October of that year. Here he resided for ten years except one twelvemonth which he passed in Oregon. In 1860 he came to this county and farmed near Santa Clara, and in 1863 removed to his present ranch comprising one hundred aeres in Gilroy township. Married, September 26, 1858, Mary E. Lovell, a native of Kentucky, and has: Delia A., born October 10, 1860; Theodore Edwin, born November 18, 1865; Robert Lee, born December 13, 1867; Laura A., born July 27, 1869; Wil- liam Ira, born Angust 17, 1876.
George E. Bennett. Born in Litchfield county, Connecticut, August 25, 1831, where he was educated and served eighteen months at the black- smith's trade. In the year 1850 he came to California via the Isthmus of Panama arriving in San Francisco in November, 1850. He first proceeded to Stockton, and thence to Sonora, where he engaged in merchandising, and teaming to Stockton besides. In the Spring of 1852, with a brother, he became interested in a saw-mill doing business at Sonora under the firm name of Slacy, Turner & Bennett, but, owing to failure of health, he dis- posed of his interest therein and started in the stock business about five miles north of Stockton. This enterprise he disposed of in the Winter of 1852-3, and becoming a speculator in beef, he finally drifted into the sheep business in San Joaquin county. Mr. Bennett now became interested in stock-raising in the counties of San Luis Obispo and Monterey until 1862; in that year he took up his residence in Gilroy, Santa Clara county, to have the benefit of its educational advantages for his children ; and there, in 1865, he opened the establishment which he now conducts. Married, April 11, 1858, Eunice Pidge, a native of Michigan, and has: Joseph Edmund, born
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January 28, 1859; William C., born May 15, 1861; Elna, born June 15, 1863, died June 17, 1867; Alice G., born May 18, 1866; Abbie J., born July 12, 1867, died September 10, 1868.
F. W. Blake. The present editor and proprietor of the Gilroy Adro- cate, was born and educated in the city of London, England. His father was a physician and his mother a daughter of William Lansley, master- builder and contractor of Andover, Hants. His brothers were educated in their father's profession, and one is now practicing in England, and another in San Francisco, California. F. W. Blake had no taste for medicine, and a clerkship was obtained for him in one of the bonded warehouses of the Custom House on the river Thames. For five years he was thrown daily in contact with the officers of trading vessels, and after the death of his parents in his twenty-third year, he was persuaded to accompany a friend, the cap- tain of a merchantman, on one of his voyages. In May, 1861, he landed in New York: after remaining there a few weeks he moved westward to Chicago. He soon after joined the telegraph expedition and crossed the plains, winter- ing in Salt Lake City and arriving the following Spring in San Francisco. The first twelve years in this State were spent in the mercantile business; the last eight have been devoted to journalism. He was always partial to controversy and literature, and when he entered upon the duties of the edi- torial sanctum he was a ready writer. The San Benito Advance, founded by William Shaw, an able journalist, lost none of its popularity under the man- agement of Mr. Blake. The Gilroy Advocate has since prospered under his control. Few country papers have a more respectable standing. It ably chronicles all matters of local interest. It has done much to establish the reputation of Gilroy as one of the best localities for a home in the State. Mr. Blake is in the prime of life, of firm purpose, and resolute disposition, but with a kindly heart, ever ready to lend a helping hand to the necessitous and worthy.
William Brannan. Born in County Mayo, Ireland, December 25, 1830. When four years old he accompanied his parents to the United States, who located at Oswego, New York, where the subject of this sketch was reared. We next find Mr. Brannan serving his apprenticeship at Buffalo, there remaining five years in the confectionery business; his parents then moved to Chicago, where his father died. On account of ill-health our subject was obliged to abandon his trade; he therefore followed the sea for a livelihood, until he came to California in November, 1850. On arrival he at onee went to the mines in El Dorado county and there worked for fifteen years; then left and went to hotel keeping on the Placerville and Carson valley wagon road ; then moved to Gilroy and went in the grain, hay and livery business on Eigelberry street, at which place he now resides.
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HISTORY . OF SANTA CLARA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
The Honorable H. W. Briggs. The subject of this narrative was born in Rome, Oneida county, New York, August 25, 1819, and is consequently in his sixty-second year. His early schooling was received in the institutions of learning in Lewis county in that State, until he attained the age of thir- teen years, when he entered a business house in the capacity of clerk, in Rome, and there remained three years. At eighteen he moved to Lake county, and commenced the career of a school teacher; from here he proceeded to Giles county, Tennessee, where he married and for several years taught at Beech Grove Seminary and Marshall Academy, and afterwards at Spring Creek .Academy, Madison county, Tennessee, moving thence, in 1847, to Davis county, Iowa, where he started a mercantile business in Troy. While a resident of this town Mr. Briggs was appointed postmaster; and took an active lead in all the enterprises which tended to build up the place and promote its growth. He was elected to the Board of Supervisors in 1849, and in 1851, he was chosen to fill the high position of County Judge, on whom devolved, at that time, all of the duties now performed by the Supervisoral Board, and by the Probate Court, together with criminal jurisdiction. That he was eminently successful in this sphere of his labors is best told in the fact that during his four years tenure of office only a single appeal was taken from his to a higher court, and in this, his judgment was sustained, a bright example of an evenly balanced mind, and all the more creditable when it is taken into consideration that during these years Mr. Briggs was forced to divide the cares of his mercantile labors with those of his legal position. In the year 1859, disposing of his business, he came to California, intending to embark in farming operations, therefore in the month of October of that year, on arrival in Santa Clara county, he purchased a tract of land in the Berrevessa settlement near San José and commenced tilling the soil, but unfortunately losing his leg by an accident in a threshing machine, July 18, 1860, this vocation was brought to a premature end. Though being the victim of misfortune Mr. Briggs was not to remain inactive; he was elected at the Presidential election of November 6, 1860, on the Republican ticket, to the Assembly, when he received one thousand four hundred and seventy-four, out of fifty-nine hundred and seventy-two votes polled, beating his opponent by one hundred and thirty-six. During his presence in the Legislature Mr. Briggs took a prominent and active part in the debates had at the outbreak of the Rebellion, while so appreciated were his labors, that at the close of the Session he was appointed Register of the United States Land Office at Visalia, Tulare county, California. While here, in addition to his official duties, Mr. Briggs conducted a mercantile business and edited a newspaper called The Visalia Delta which was published by his son. In 1868 he trans- ferred the scene of his operations to Gilroy where he took charge of the mercantile business of J. M. Brown, which he afterwards purchased and still
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conducts, and was shortly afterwards appointed Postmaster for that town which office he still holds. No sounding culogium is needed from us, nor do we purpose to ring the praises of the Hon. H. W. Briggs; let the foregoing facts speak for themselves and be a beacon to the young to emulate such a bright example of courage and perseverance. He married, firstly, July 4, 1843, Mary M. Stinson, a native of Tennessee, who died in 1854; by whom there are Mary, Henry M., Walter F., Fred C., and Engene A., all now living, but the youngest, sad to say, is blind-but as if the Creator had been determined to make up in one way what had been lost in another, he has blessed this young man with marked talents and a sweet disposition, and, besides being a graduate of the Blind Institution at Berkeley, Alameda county, he is a skilled musician, which science he teaches, and a poet of no ordinary ability. Mr. Briggs married, secondly, Julia Willey, a native of Genesce county, New York, in 1856, who is now living. While Judge Briggs has been an incessant worker in his business, he has been equally active in the moral and intellectual movements of the day, and has always taken a warm inter- est in the welfare of the children in the communities in which he has lived, He has been a Sabbath-school Superintendent for more than thirty years, and a School Trustee for twenty-seven years, and never seems quite so happy as when surrounded by the little ones who seem to know intuitively that he likes them.
E. E. Brock (Deceased). Was born in Franklin county. Virginia, January 13, 1802. When a young man he went to Missouri, and was there raised and educated. He afterwards movel to Wisconsin, and there followed farming and lead-mining for a number of years. Mr. Broek took an active part in the Black Hawk war, and in 1847 returned to Missouri, en route for Cali- fornia. In the Spring of 1848 he started across the plains for this State, and, arriving on the Yuba, commenced mining, which, however, he was obliged to abandon, on account of sickness in his family. He then came direct to this county, located in the town of Santa Clara, being engaged in farming and stock-raising, and there continued until March, 1862, when he removed to the farm his widow now occupies in Gilroy township. He departed this life May 21, 1869. Mr. Broek was twice married. The widow who survives him, whose maiden name was Eliza S. Day, he espoused June 20, 1843. She is a native of West Virginia. The family by the first marriage consists of Augustus, Robert, Llewellyn, and Benjamin, born in Wisconsin; and by the second wife: Lizzie, born September 12, 1844. in Grant county, Wisconsin; Frankie, born in Wisconsin; and Emma, Ella and Elisha, born in California.
B. Bryant, M. D. A native of Spartanburgh county, South Carolina.
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Here he received his earlier education, but in 1837 he moved to Memphis, Tennessee, entered the Bratanica! Medical College, and graduated in March, 1848, after which he commenced to practice in Camden, Wilcox county, Alabama, and, remaining there one year, came direct to California, arriving in San Francisco June 12, 1849. At this time medical men were scarce, and those who had come to the country had betaken themselves to the mines; it was therefore a humane prevision which started Dr. Bryant, sup- plied with an ample store of medicines, to Sacramento, there to establish a hospital, combining with its care the discharge of other professional duties. In Sacramento he remained until December Ist, when he returned to Mem- phis, and there fitting out teams made the journey across the plains, with two dozen companions, who were to prosecute mining with him " on shares." This journey was completed in 1850. Putting his men to work in the mines, the Doctor, with his family, transferred his residence to Yuba county, where he built a hotel, and conducted it with marked success until the Fall of 1852, in which year he sold his interest to a man named Rice, and came to Santa Clara county, locating in Gilroy, November 20, 1852. On Decem- ber Ist he purchased one thousand acres of land from Daniel Rhodes, and soon after acquired two other tracts of seven hundred and five hundred acres each, making the aggregate of his possessions to be two thousand two hundred acres. On this property the Doctor commenced the raising of sheep, a business he conducted until 1877. Moved to San José in 1866, and was interested in banking, real estate, etc. Has always practised his profes- sion in the county, save for the period mentioned-1866 to 1877-and is, with the exception of Doctor Ben Cory, the oldest practitioner in Santa Clara county. Married, firstly, December, 1845, Nancy L. Whitley, of South Carolina, who died in the year 1860. By this union the children are: Perry M., David T., William G., and George P. Secondly, married, April 6, 1864, Henrietta Reeve, a native of Ohio, by whom he has: Calhoun B., and Edgar R.
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