History of Santa Clara County, California, with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its growth and development from the early days to the present, Part 110

Author: Sawyer, Eugene Taylor, 1846-
Publication date: 1922
Publisher: Los Angeles : Historic Record Co.
Number of Pages: 1928

USA > California > Santa Clara County > History of Santa Clara County, California, with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its growth and development from the early days to the present > Part 110

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In Forbestown, on October 10, 1866, Elias Shaw was married to Miss Maria Goulson, who was born in Leicestershire, England, May 27, 1840, and came with her parents to the United States in 1848 on the old ship Franconia. The family settled at Avon, Wis., remaining there until 1852, when they started across the plains in an ox-team train, and after a journey of five months and four days arrived at the Eureka mine, in the Sierras, going on to Forbes- town, January 1, 1853. In 1857 the family returned via Panama to Avon, Wis., where they continued to reside until 1864, when they again crossed the plains This time their wagons were drawn by mules and they made the journey in four months and five days. About two years later Maria Goulson was married to Mr. Shaw and they soon located at Pescadero, San Mateo County, where they engaged in farming. About 1869 Mr. Shaw went East and purchased some fine standard-bred stallions and brood mares and started to drive them across the plains, being one of the very first men to attempt to bring fine stock into the state this way. Unfortunately while in Utah the Indians stampeded the horses and got away with them, and thus Mr. Shaw suffered a severe loss, as he had invested heavily in this expensive, fine-blooded stock. He followed ranching until his death in 1894, his wife surviving him many years, passing away on May 16, 1919, a devoted Christian woman, kind and charitable, who was greatly loved by all who knew her. A woman of retentive mem- ory, she was able to narrate very interesting experi- ences during the Civil War, of her crossing the plains, the early mining days and of the Vigilantes. She was the mother of four sons and three daugh- ters, all of whom are living, our subject and his twin brother being the youngest.

James G. Shaw attended school at Pescadero, fol- lowing this with a course at the Chestnutwood Busi- ness College at Santa Cruz. He remained at home assisting his mother on the farm until he was seven- teen years old, then clerked in a grocery store at San Mateo for two years, and then for four years was manager of a lumber camp store in the Santa Cruz Mountains. The following year was spent in traveling through the East and in 1907 he came to San Jose and entered the employ of the Walsh-Col Company, then located on South Third Street. Be- ginning at the lowest rungs of the ladder, he worked hard and faithfully, and in October, 1919, he was made secretary and manager of the company, which was then located on North Market Street and doing a very extensive business as wholesale grocers, serv- ing San Mateo, Alameda, Santa Clara, San Benito, Santa Cruz, Monterey and San Luis Obispo counties. As an experienced dealer in foodstuffs, Mr. Shaw served with H. B. Martin on the Food Committee during the World War In February, 1922, he re- signed his position with the Walsh-Col Company to look after his individual interests.

A pioneer in the motor transportation business in San Jose, in April, 1919, Mr. Shaw, with a partner, G. R. Beard, started the Service Motor Transporta- tion Company, owning and controlling 154 miles of franchises granted them by the Railroad Commis- sion of California, these franchises covering five coast counties. The business has had a rapid growth so that in 1922 he incorporated as the Shaw Trans- portation and Drayage Company, of which he is president, their location being at 364 North Market Street, where they handle over 200 tons of merchan- dise per week, operating four trucks. In 1922 Mr. Shaw incorporated the Shaw Warehouse & Broker- age Company, with offices at 364 North Market Street, and warehouses at 110 Bellevue Avenue, on the Western Pacific Railroad. He gives his un- divided attention to this business, which consists of warehousing, assembling, distributing, forward- ing, buying and selling, this being the only concern in the valley combining the functions of the ware- house and brokerage business. His experience has enabled him to make a close study of the problems of the buyer and seller, as well as the manufacturer and consumer, and he has splendid and practical views. He is in a position to afford his clients rates to and from all points, both domestic and foreign, inasmuch as he is a director and vice-president of the traffic bureau of the San Jose Chamber of Com- merce. He also arranges to insure goods en route and attend to all forwarding charges for export ship- ments, and has established an inspection bureau which will forestall any question as to grades of fruit shipped, between buyer and seller, when goods have reached their destination. On account of the great tonnage and many industries centered in and around San Jose, it fills a long felt want. At the present time, owing to natural advantages afforded by water-shipment, the port of San Francisco is enjoying very low rates, which encourages many large Eastern manufacturers to reach out for Pacific Coast business. However, on account of the ex- tremely high rates in and out of San Jose, and local draying charges, the cost of distributing merchandise in the Santa Clara Valley through San Francisco

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channels are very high. With a warehouse function- ing in San Jose, it is possible to load car loads at the pier in San Francisco, which are then forwarded to the warehouse in San Jose, thereby eliminating at least fifty per cent of the cost as outlined above.

At San Francisco, in April, 1909, Mr. Shaw was married to Miss Minnie Budd, born in New York, but reared in San Francisco, an accomplished woman who shares in her husband's ambitions and interests. They are the parents of one child, Stanley Shaw. Mr. Shaw is a member of Observatory Parlor, N. S. G. W., of San Jose; a charter member of the San Jose Commercial Club, and belongs to the Elks and the Rotary Club. In politics he is a Republican, and he is a familiar figure among the sportsmen of the locality, enjoying fishing and hunting for his recreation. Public-spirited in the development of the great resources of the state as fast as possible and upon the most permanent basis, he embraces every opportunity to aid and boost any enterprise that is put forth to build up his county and state.

DUTTON BROS .- Prominent among the most en- terprising, progressive business firms of San Jose to whom not only that up-to-date city but all Santa Clara County is indebted for material and permanent ad- vancement in an important line of industry, is that of Messrs. Dutton Bros., the orchardists, who have a ranch of nearly 100 acres about three miles north of San Jose, the trim farm at the present being one of the interesting "show places" of that district. The Duttons are not only scientific, successful orchardists, but they are public-spirited citizens, ever ready to further the growth, development and pros- perity of the environment under which they live and carry on their extensive operations.

Both of the Messrs. Dutton were born in Chi- cago, -- Albert on January 31, 1893, Willis on August 27, 1896, -- the sons of Llewellyn and Fannie ( Hiatt) Dutton. The father, an architect who designed many office buildings and homes in Chicago, in 1903 came to San Francisco, where he continued his profes- sional occupation. He designed many notable build- ings in the Bay City, and was the architect of the ornate edifice, the First National Bank Building in San Jose. The mother, who had only these two chil- dren, died at Redlands a few years ago. In 1915, Architect Dutton removed to San Jose to reside, and he bought a ranch of ninety-seven acres on the Alviso Road, about three miles north of San Jose. Of this rich farm land, five and one-half acres are in full- bearing pear trees, and there are seventy-five acres of very promising pear trees which our subjects themselves set out and twelve and a half acres are in prune trees, also in excellent bearing.

Both boys attended the grammar and high schools of San Francisco, and Albert took a course of two years at the Davis branch of the University of Cali- fornia. Both boys were also in the service during the last war. Albert entered the U. S. Army in August, 1917, and he was sent to Camp Fremont. where he was trained in the machine gun company of the Eighth Infantry, Eighth Division. On October 25, 1918, they sailed for France, and on the ninth of November they landed at Brest; but, notwithstanding the armistice, the regiment remained in France until May 20, 1919, when it returned, and on June 1 Albert Dutton was discharged at Camp Lee, Vir- ginia. Willis entered the service in August, 1918,

and he was sent to the training camp at Logan, Utali, where he attended a school for mechanics. He was in the Fortieth C. A. C., and he was later sent to Fort Scott, San Francisco, and from there to Camp Upton, New York, at which point he arrived on Octo- ber 9. After being there for two weeks, he went to Camp Grant, Illinois, and in December he came back to San Francisco where, two days before Christmas, 1918, he was discharged as a private. Willis is a member of the American Legion, No. 89 of San Jose. In November, 1919, the two far-sighted and ambitious young men purchased from their father his partly-developed ranch, and they are not only man- aging it, but they are constantly making improve- ments which greatly add to its value, and which in- crease. the agricultural wealth of this region.

Willis is single, but Albert married at San Jose, on June 9, 1917, Miss Frances Merithew. She was born in San Jose, the daughter of Myrtle (Coyken- dall) Merithew, whose husband died prior to Fran- ces' birth. Mrs. Merithew, after some years, mar- ried a second time, and now she is Mrs. Myrtle Syske, of Santa Cruz. Miss Merithew was a pupil in the grammar, and a student in the high schools in San Jose, and later she took up voice study at the College of the Pacific. One son has blessed this for- tunate union, Albert H. Dutton.

ALEXANDER ROSE COELHO .- All Milpitas, as well as other parts of Santa Clara County, unite in honoring the memory of Alexander Rose Coelho, now deceased, who founded a prosperous family for years well-to-do and enjoying the priceless blessings, the esteem and good-will of everybody. Mr. Coelho was born at St. i,ucia, Pico, in the Azores Islands on March 6, 1848, the son of Matthew Rose and Mary (Jacqualine) Coelho, and when twenty-two years old came to California and settled at Hayward, in Alameda County, and there he engaged in farm- ing on leased land. He remained at Hayward for one year, and then he came to Alviso, in Santa Clara County, near which town he farmed for three years. His next move was to Milpitas, where he purchased 120 acres of land about two miles to the east, on the Calaveras Road; and after that he continued to add to the area of the ranch until it comprised, at the time of his death, in 1910, some 400 acres. Twenty- five acres of this land he had set apart as an orchard, and there he raised the finest prunes and apricots, while the rest of the land was devoted to farming.

On December 7, 1871, Alexander R. Coelho was married at San Francisco to Miss Matilda Adelaide Macedo, the daughter of Manuel and Francisca Macedo and a native of beautiful Fayal in the Azores; and their union was blessed with the birth of thirteen children: Mary is Mrs. Joseph Smith of Berryessa, the wife of the well-known orchardist; Manuel is in Campbell; Julia died at the age of twenty-six, and Alexander at the age of thirty; Matilda is Mrs. Manuel Picanco of San Lorenzo; Matthew was thirty-three years old when he died; Thomas is on the home ranch; Emma attained to her twentieth year when she was called to the Great Beyond; Frances is Mrs. Harry Francisco of Berry- essa; Cyrus lives at San Jose; Lucy is the wife of William Borge, an orchardist, and they make their home at Milpitas; John C. Coelho is also an orchard- ist, and lives on the Stevens Creek Road; Anne en- joys the comforts of the parental home, which was built by Mrs. Coelho on the Calaveras Road in 1913.

It Stough

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Eight grandchildren also have honored these worthy progenitors: Ernest is the son of Mrs. Mary Smith; William the son of Manuel; Zelma is the daughter of Alexander, who is deceased; Alexander is the son of Matthew; Thomas married Miss Emna Borge, and they have two children, Ellis and Melba; and Evelyn and Lorraine are the names of Frances' two children. Miss Anne, the youngest daughter, who remains at home, the valued companion of her mother, took a musical course at the College of Notre Dame, from which institution she was graduated with honors in 1921.

JOHN WILLIAM STOUGH-A well-known and worthy representative of the real estate interests of San Jose is John Wm. Stough, a prominent agent for California lands, who has been associated in this line of business for the past seven years. Although Mr. Stough has traveled extensively throughout the Union, he is firmly convinced that no part of the civilized world can compare with California as a permanent place of residence, its healthful climate and rich soil surpassing those of all other sections of the globe in point of excellence.

A son of Edward and Elizabeth (Welch) Stough. John Wm. Stough was born, January 21, 1872, in Burlington, Kansas; his father was born in the rural district adjacent to Gettysburg, Pa. His parents were married in Pennsylvania, later taking up their resi- dence in western Kansas. The paternal grandfather, Rev. Samuel Stough, was a native of Holland, and a Lutheran minister, who came to Pennsylvania and was engaged in his chosen profession for a number of years. Our subject well remembers the great bands of Indians on their raids throughout Kansas; also the swarms of grasshoppers that devastated the country. He was the oldest of a family of seven children, and at the age of twelve was required to make his own way, which he did not hesitate to do. Three brothers and three sisters are also residents of California: his mother passed away at Hanford. Cal., after which the father returned to Pennsyl- vania, where he passed away.

Bill Stough, as he is familiarly known by his many friends from his railroad days, entered the employ of the Santa Fe railroad out of Ottawa, Kansas, as a newsboy; his lessons of economy and thrift help- ing him to save his money, which he sent to his mother. For six years he was thus engaged, and during that time made the acquaintance of many public men. among them being the railroad officials, professional men. and professors of the University of Kansas, also of the Baldwin University, located at Baldwin, Kansas. He has the record of working as newsboy on every train running out of Kansas City. When he reached the age of twenty, he re- moved to Denver, and was engaged in the same line of work on the various lines centering in that eity; however, he returned to Kansas City and followed railroading for some years.

The marriage of Mr. Stough, in 1893, united him with Miss Eva Gertrude Coulson, a native of Chan- ute, Kans., where she was reared and educated. Mr. Stough was later employed by the various railroads throughout the north and west, spending about one year running as conductor on the W. P. R. R. out of Stockton. During all the years of service with the various railroad companies, he had managed to accumulate a considerable amount of money; which he invested in mining property at Salmon, Idaho,

and where he had the misfortune to lose all his hard- earned accumulation of years. In 1905 he removed to San Jose and established a restaurant, and in time he owned and operated three restaurants on Bassett Street, adjacent to the depot, which brought him ample returns for his industry and toil. He began with a capital of $87, but by strict economy was able to save considerable, which he invested in Fresno County unimproved land. He was engaged in the restaurant business ten years, and during this time he was able to hold his land in Fresno County, later trading it for apple orchards in the vicinity of Wat- sonville. He has been amply rewarded for his indus- try and frugality, until he now owns several apple orehards, with an output of 30,000 boxes of apples in a single year. Eight years ago, in 1914, he established his real estate business, dealing in California lands, making exchanges of all kinds. His success has been almost phenomenal, as he has handled more than a million dollars since taking up his residence in the Santa Clara Valley.

In 1921, Mr. Stough, with Hans Sumpf, of Coal- inga, purchased 394 acres in Coalinga and organized the South Coalinga Oil Company, capital $500,000, in which he is a director and active in its develop- ment. Here they are drilling and operating, this being a splendid location, as there are producing oil wells on both sides of their property.

Mr. and Mrs. Stough are the parents of two daugh- ters: Mrs. Vera Travis, residing in San Francisco, and Enez, a student in the San Francisco high school. The family reside in San Francisco, where Mr. Stough spends his week-ends. He also owns valu- able real estate in San Francisco, one building being an apartment house. Politically he is a stanch Re- publican. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Ma- sons, having attained to the 32nd degree, being both a Knights Templar and 32nd degree Scottish Rite Mason and a member of Aahmes Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., Oakland. Mr. and Mrs. Stough are popular members of the local chapter of the Eastern Star. Mr. Stough is a member of the Chamber of Commerce. Real Estate Men's Association of Santa Clara County and Commercial Club, and is still a member of the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen.

ALEXANDER L. CRABB .- A public-spirited man such as every community sooner or later needs, and one who has amply demonstrated his dynamic value to Santa Clara County through his consistent and never-flinching advocacy of the conservation of water for irrigation purposes, is Alexander L. Crabb, a na- tive son proud of his identification with the great Pacific commonwealth, who was born at San Lean- dro, in Alameda County, on November 7, 1869. His father, Manuel E. Crabb, was a native of the Portuguese mainland, and when he was only seven years old he went to sea; and for years he remained a seafaring man, shipping here and there on ocean-going sailing vessels. It thus happened that in 1852 he came into San Francisco; and having enjoyed the attractive, if decidedly primitive Bay City and environs and discerned something of the future possiblities of the new Western country, he made for the inland and turned his back upon the sea. At first, he went to the gold mines, but after an ex- perience of forty-eight hours with pick and shovel he concluded that he could find a mine of another kind of gold elsewhere, and so came to San Leandro, where he took up farming. He married Miss Rose Con-

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stancia, an exceptionally worthy woman, and their union was blessed with the birth of three sons, Manuel, Jr., Alexander and Antone.

When Alexander Crabb was eighteen years of age, he started to make his own way in the outer world, and so became a messenger at San Leandro in the service of the Western Union Telegraph Company. In 1891 he was made station agent at Milpitas, and twenty years later, when the Bank of Milpitas was opened, he became the first cashier, and he has held that responsible position, to the satisfaction of every- one dealing with the bank ever since. His genial per- sonality has rendered him approachable, and his val- uable connections have given him and the important financial institution he represents many legitimate ad- vantages in the transaction of noteworthy business and the building-up of a patronage whose increase means something to the town as well as to the bank.

Mr. Crabb is the owner of two ranches near San Leandro-one a farm of six acres, the other an eleven- acre tract devoted to the growing of cherries and currants. This land was unimproved when Mr. Crabb purchased it, and to him is due the credit for setting it out to fruit trees, and to further developing its re- sources. Meanwhile, he has found time to do some- thing for the town as well as for himself; he has long been a member of the board of school trustees of Milpitas, and was formerly chairman. In politics, he endeavors to keep himself independent of party limitations, while he recognizes the great value of social relations, and heartily maintains an active mem- bership in the F. & A. M. of San Leandro, the Royal Arcanum and Templars of San Jose, and the Islam Temple at San Francisco.

At San Francisco on September 25, 1894, Mr. Crabb was married to Miss Mary F. Little, a native of San Francisco and the daughter of James H. and Sarah Little. Her father was a pioneer of San Francisco, where he was well-known for his development of the local transfer business and both parents are now deceased. Five children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Crabb. Alexander James is an automobile dealer in Milpitas; Irving M. is with the Milpitas Lumber Company; Ethel has become Mrs. Stevens of Stock- tion: Ruth and Herbert are at home. Alexander J. Crabb married Miss Aileen Volkers of San Jose, and they have had three children, Madaline, Helen and Alexander; and Mrs. Ethel Stevens has two chil- dren, Leland and Helen.

JOHN PANCERA .- Among the many men of foreign birth who have been successful to a marked degree is John Pancera, an early resident of San Jose who was for some time engaged as a merchant but who is now retired from the stress of business life. He was born in Novara, Italy, on March 13, 1858, the son of Joseph and Lucy (Martinetti) Pan- cera, who were large farmers of that province. Mr Pancera has worked hard all his life, beginning early in life on a farm and later became a stonemason. He attended the common schools of Italy and grew up in the Piedmont country, on the boundary line of France, Italy, and Switzerland, and as Mr. Maz- zini, his employer, contracted in all three of these countries, Mr. Pancera learned something of the French language.

When in his seventeenth year, Mr. Pancera bade goodbye to his parents and friends and came to America, being the first of his family to immigrate to this country, leaving two brothers and four sis-

ters. He sailed from Havre, France, and reached New York in March, 1875, and came on direct to Eureka, Nev., where his first employment was burn- ing charcoal, and he continued in this work for a year. Then going to San Francisco and later to Santa Cruz, he worked at whatever he could find to do. He arrived in San Jose in the latter part of 1876, and went to work for a wealthy resident on the Alameda, taking care of the garden, orchard, lawn, and the stock, receiving fifteen dollars for a month's wages, and as he had to pay the employment agency five dollars for the position, it was not encouraging for a newcomer. He then went to work the next year for the Delwick Restaurant on Santa Clara Street, in San Jose. In 1879 he opened the Eureka Chop House which was located on Market Street, and the next year disposed of it and went to Denver, Colo., where he worked for Barklow Bros., propri- ctors of the depot hotel and restaurant, for three years. On June 12, 1884, he came back to San Jose, and started a general merchandise business on the Milpitas and Berryessa Road, two miles north of the San Jose post office, successfully operating this busi- ness for fifteen and a half years. In 1903, he bought the property on Reed and South First streets, and opened up a grocery and general merchandise store on April 24. He bought and remodeled both the store building on the corner and the residence immediately north of it, and here conducted his business until November 16, 1920, when he closed it out, and sold the property in February, 1921. He owns forty acres of unimproved land at Ducor, in Tulare County. Mr. Pancera also built a residence and store on the Milpitas Road which he later sold. He has made three trips to his native land to see his mother, and in 1900, while on one of his trips, accompanied by his wife and daughter, he visited the Paris Exposition, Naples, Rome, Venice, Florence, Milan and Bologna. His second visit was in 1903, and in 1912 he made a third trip. His father passed away in 1895, his mother surviving until the year 1912, when she had reached the age of seventy-seven years, passing away soon after Mr. Pancera had returned to America.

Mr. Pancera's first marriage, which occurred No- vember 23, 1879, united him with Miss Mary Shalvey, who was born in Ireland, and they became the parents of two children: Rosa (deceased) and May L. Mrs. Pancera died in 1902, and a year later, in 1903, Mr. Pancera married Miss Susie Shalvey, a sister of his first wife. Mrs. Pancera was born in County Cavan, Ireland, and was the daughter of John and Mary (King) Shalvey, farmer folk, who lived and died in that country. Mrs. Pancera was educated in the National schools of Ireland, was reared in the Cath- olic faith, and came to Amercia when twenty years of age, settling in San Jose in the year 1891. She is a member of the Catholic Daughters of America. Mr. Pancera is a member of the Knights of Columbus and of St. Joseph's Benevolent Society, having been a member for over thirty years and a trustee for over twenty years, he has also been treasurer since 1900. The family now live at 743 South First Street, where they are enjoying all the good cheer of the California climate in their comfortable home. They are members of St. Joseph's Catholic Church of San Jose. Mr. Pancera's first vote was cast in favor of Hancock and English, in 1880, but he now votes with the Republican party.

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History of Santa Clara County, California, with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its growth and development from the early days to the present, Part 110

Author: Sawyer, Eugene Taylor, 1846- Publication date: 1922 Publisher: Los Angeles : Historic Record Co. Number of Pages: 1928

Author: Sawyer, Eugene Taylor, 1846-
Publication date: 1922
Publisher: Los Angeles : Historic Record Co.
Number of Pages: 1928