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 117

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 117

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The marriage of W. F. Hoque united him with Miss Bertha Merriweather, born in San Benito County in 1877, a daughter of David and Amanda Merriweather, both born in New York State, and who crossed the plains in the early 50's and settled at Mission San Jose. There the father engaged ex- tensively in the sheep business. Mr. and Mrs. Hoque have four children: William D. and Elmer A. are ranching; and Herbert and Florence are attending school. The two eldest sons enlisted for service in the U. S. Navy for service during the World War, from Stanislaus County and after their discharges

returned to that county and are ranching near Mo- desto. In his national political convictions W. F. Hoque is a Democrat, but locally he is broadminded and supports the men and measures he considers best suited for the interests of the county and the people. He is always ready and willing to do his part to promote the greatest good to the greatest number and stands high in the community.

FRANK W. COOMBS .- The standing of Frank W. Coombs is vouched for from the fact that for thirty-two years he has occupied the position of chief engineer at the State Hospital at Agnew. A native son, he was born at Stockton, Cal., January 7, 1862, the son of William L. Coombs, an early settler of California, who came via the Isthmus of Panama in 1852. His grandfather, Samuel Coombs, was born September 1, 1832 at Waldo, Maine. Frank W. is the descendant of a Massachusetts family of dis- tinction, his great-great-grandfather on the paternal side having served in a Massachusetts regiment dur- ing the Revolutionary War. The grandfather, Sam- uel Coombs, was born in Maine and brought up on a farm. He later embarked in the lumber business and located at Bangor, Maine, where he resided un- til his death at a comparatively early age. He mar- ried Miss Sarah Mayhew, born in Maine, the daugh- ter of a soldier of the War of 1812. She survived her husband, came to California with her son Wil- liam L. Coombs, and passed away in Stockton in her eighty-first year.

William L. Coombs was brought up and educated in Bangor, Maine, and from early boyhood worked in the lumber yard and mill. Starting for California in the spring of 1852, they arrived in San Francisco the same year and went directly to Stockton. For a time he was engaged in mining in the southern mines, but later accepted a position in a store in Stockton. He located in San Jose in 1868, engaging first in the laundry business but later assumed the responsible position of chief engineer of the San Jose high school. In Stockton, Cal., Mr. Coombs married Miss Emma E. Griswold, a native of New York State, and they are the parents of two children, Ed- ward and Frank W., of this review. Mr. Coombs died in San Jose in 1916, aged eighty-four, his widow survives at the age of eighty, hale and hearty and in full possession of all her faculties

Frank W. attended the Horace Mann school in San Jose. When about seventeen years of age he was employed as fireman by the Southern Pacific Railway Company and remained with them for six years. He then spent two years in Washington, and in October, 1888, he became an engineer at the State Hospital at Agnew and has creditably filled this position for thirty-two years, working his way to his present position as chief engineer. On April 16. 1890, at Stockton, he was married to Miss Frances Boehm, daughter of Jacob and Mary ( Haas) Boehm. born and reared in Oregon City, Ore. They are the parents of one son, Leonard Tracy, who saw service in the heavy artillery during the late war, and after his discharge became traffic engineer for the Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company at San Fran- cisco and is now maintenance engineer for that com- pany. He graduated from the University of Cali- fornia in 1913 in mechanics and electricity.

Mr. Coombs has been a member of Garden City Lodge I. O. O. F., since 1880. Politically he is a stanch Republican. The family reside at 98 North

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Fifth Street, San Jose, in a house which was erected forty years ago. He has always been interested in all movements that pertain to the general welfare of the community and his cooperation can be counted upon to further any measures for the public good.

HAMILTON C. WHITNEY-Prominent among the substantial representative citizens of Santa Clara County whose fortunes have come to them as the reward of their own perseverance and indomitable energy is Hamilton C. Whitney, who is now living in retirement at his home in San Jose. A study of the record of his long and useful life doubtless will prove a source of profit and inspiration to many young men of today who embark upon self-supporting careers no better equipped than he. Mr. Whitney was born in Wellsville, N. Y., October 13, 1834, a son of H. C. Whitney, also a native of New York. Remov- ing from New York State to Ohio his father was en- gaged in farming, and there he passed away; his mother having died when he was but a babe in arms. In 1847 he accompanied the family of William Whitney, although no relation, to Michigan, where he engaged in work on farms.

The marriage of Mr. Whitney occurred on May 21, 1854, and united him with Miss Olive Whitney, the daughter of Eli Whitney, a native of New York. She was born in Seneca County, Ohio, June 12, 1836. Mr. and Mrs. Whitney removed to Warren, 111., and were farming at the outbreak of the Civil War. In July, 1862, Mr. Whitney volunteered and enlisted in Company B, Ninety-sixth Illinois infantry. During the great Battle of Chickamauga, he was wounded by a ball which penetrated his left lung, passing en- tirely through his body; he lay on the battlefield from the afternoon of September 20 to the evening of the 28th, when he was picked up by Confederate sol- diers. It seems almost impossible that a human be- ing could survive the terrible agony and suffering he endured those eight days. He was paroled on the battlefield and spent three months in the field hos- pital, when he was well enough to return home. Two months later he was sent to the hospital at Chi- cago, and on July 28, 1864, he was honorably dis- charged. Immediately he returned to his home in Illinois, but was never able thereafter to engage in farming.

In 1877 he came to Greenville, Plumas County, California, and engaged in butchering, then he re- moved to Utah for a short time and conducted a store at Park City. During the year of 1886, Mr. Whit- ney removed to Templeton, San Luis Obispo County, California, where he became postmaster from 1892 to 1900; then he migrated to Oakland, and it was here that he retired from active life, purchasing a home in the beautiful residential district of Piedmont. The charms of the beautiful Santa Clara Valley ap- pealed to him as a more restful place to spend his declining years, and in the fall of 1914 he removed, with his family to Los Gatos, where he resided for a number of years; recently he purchased a fine resi- dence property at 357 North Nineteenth Street, San Jose, and is enjoying the comforts of a modern home, content to spend his remaining days in the Garden City of California. Mrs. Whitney is a direct descend- ant of the Whitney family of colonial days; her father served in the War of 1812; her grandfather was in the Revolutionary War, and other members of her family were prominent in early American history. On

May 21, 1904, Mr. and Mrs. Whitney celebrated their golden wedding anniversary; fifty friends enjoyed the hospitality of their beautiful home in the Piedmont hills. Mr. Whitney is a staunch Republican in his national politics, and cast his first vote for Abraham Lincoln in 1864. Mrs. Whitney cast her first ballot while a resident of Utah, although it was for local offi- cers only. Fraternally, Mr. Whitney is a Knights Templar Mason; also a member of the Sheridan Dix Post No. 7, G. A. R., San Jose, with his wife he is a member of O. E. S. Two children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Whitney; Frank E., an invalid since 1856, passed away in 1897; Clarence Eugene was married to Miss Luela May Beebe, and they now reside in Campbell, California.

Following is a poem written by Mrs. Olive Whit- ney, and dedicated to her husband May 21, 1904, the fiftieth anniversary of their wedding, and entitled, "Reminiscence of Life's Journey":

Fond memories come crowding around, As I sit and muse today, On the joys and sorrows I have found Along life's checkered way.

My thoughts will backward turn to you, And the far, far distant past, And I wonder if it can be true, That time has flown so fast.

'Twas fifty years ago, dear heart, Just fifty years ago, When you and I first made the start For Life, come weal or woe.

And well we knew that we must meet, As we journeyed on together, Somewhere on life's crooked street, Storms as well as sunny weather.

We did not mind the hardships Nor were the long days sad, For we were toiling for each other, And this made our young hearts glad.

We were very, very young, then, dear, Scarce eighteen years and twenty,

Of earthly cares we had no fears, For we had love in plenty.

With us time glided swiftly, fleet, For two short years and more, Then we thought our joy complete, With a gift from heaven's shore,

Of a wee, tiny, little bud, While we were scarce in life's flower,

But we thought God was very good, And we blessed him every hour.

Thus time sped sweetly, swiftly by, And we had just begun, To think all was sunshine in our sky, Then came the cloud of '61.

Aye, the dark, dark cloud of war had rolled All o'er our own fair land When every loyal man was called To meet the rebel band.

A.C Whitney Olive Whitney

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HISTORY OF SANTA CLARA COUNTY

Then came the darkest shadow That we had ever known,

When you were called to go, And we were left alone.

Those times tried men's souls, dear heart, And women's, too, as well, When with you we were forced to part And in suspense to dwell.

But we weathered the storm and you returned All bent, and maimed, and sorc,

But the lesson that you in the war had learned Made you appreciate home the more.

Oh, that was a sad, sad time, dear, I could not stay the falling tear, When the little boy you loved, dear, Fled from you in fear.

But the time flew quickly by, dear, And then to us was given Another precious bud, dear, Fresh from the gates of Heaven.

While our first born lived we were ne'er alone, He was with us many years, And when the angels called him home, WVe wept most bitter tears.

But our baby boy is with us yet, And although to manhood grown, My mother's heart cannot forget And I claim him still my own.

Another now on him has claim, And I am very glad he sought her; I do not lose my son, but gain A darling little daughter.

Yes time has sped on dear, And come storms or sunny weather, We'll stand up for the right And face our lot together.

And when the time shall come at last, That we are called away, For the time between us, to be quickly past I most earnestly pray.

And when we meet on the other shore, Where earthly toils are done, We'll take up life and start once more On a journey well begun.

And when we gain that happy land In truth we'll strive to grow Still united in heart and hand As fifty years ago.

Now in the sunset of life, with many years of ac- tivity behind them, one may safely predict for Mr. and Mrs. Whitney years of peace and prosperity, which accompany their success and prestige which they so richly deserve.

CHAUNCEY H. WHITMAN .- For twenty- seven years Chauncey H. Whitman has been engaged in the hardware business at Campbell, and during that period he has built up a reputation as one of the most reliable and enterprising merchants of the town. A native of Wisconsin, he was born in Win- nebago County, near Omro, April 6, 1861, a son of Benjamin H. and Martha (Ross) Whitman, both now deceased. After graduating from the schools of his state, he engaged in the hardware business, which he followed in Wisconsin, Ortonville, Minn., and Centerville, S. D., until he decided to make California his future home. In 1895 he arrived in San Jose, and purchased an orchard near Campbell, and on March first of that year opened his present estab- lishment at Campbell, which he has since success- fully conducted. He carries a large and well-assorted stock of shelf and heavy hardware, also handles paints and oils, and conducts a complete plumbing business. With the passing years his business has enjoyed a continuous growth, having now assumed large proportions.

Mr. Whitman married Mrs. Mary (Ayres) Davis, of Illinois, and they have a large circle of friends in Campbell. He is a Knight Templar and a thirty- second degree Scottish Rite Mason, and a member of Islam Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., San Fran- cisco. Mr. Whitman is now the pioneer merchant in Campbell, which has given him the well-merited title as dean of the business men. He is an ac- tive member of the Campbell Improvement Club and a charter member of the San Jose Com- mercial Club, and in matters of citizenship he is loyal, progressive, and public-spirited.

WILLIAM SHERMAN GARDNER .- A repre- sentative citizen of California, keenly interested in all the problems pertaining to progressive horti- culture, agriculture and the development and advance- ment of the county is William Sherman Gardner, an orchardist living southwest of San Jose on Phelps Avenue. He was born in Santa Clara County at the old Kenyon homestead on Homestead Road, Decem- ber 13, 1864, the son of Daniel and Sarah (Kenyon) Gardner, the former born in Ohio, the latter a native of Missouri. Daniel Gardner came in an ox team train to California in 1850, when twenty-three years old, and after spending some time in the mines in Northern California, came on to Santa Clara County in 1853 and settled on part of the Quito Ranch. Later he bought 167 acres on the McCall Road and farmed there; he also set out fifty-five acres of orchard, among the first to set out fruit trees in that section. He died there at the age of eighty- seven years, the mother preceding him about one year, at the age of sixty-seven. Grandfather James M. Kenyon also brought his family across the plains in the early '50s and was a pioneer of this county. Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Gardner were the parents of six children; William S., the subject of our sketch; Frank and Clarence H., deceased; Fred H. resides on a part of the home place, as do Mrs. Mattie D. Harmon and Alice M., who became the wife of F. D. Sanders. During the Civil War, Daniel Gardner was a lieutenant of a militia company formed in Cali- fornia but was never called out of the state; he re- ceived his commission from Governor Stanford. He was always an adherent of the Republican party.

William Sherman Gardner enjoyed the advantages of the public school system in the district of Sara-

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toga, also helping his father on the farm. When he became of age he engaged as a fruit grower and operated a ranch of his own. At Saratoga on June 18, 1890, Mr. Gardner was married to Miss Hattie Smith, also a native of California, born in San Fran- cisco, and the adopted daughter of Mr. and Mrs. G. M. Smith. Her father was James Harris Ham, a native of Portland, Maine, who came around the Horn to San Francisco in about 1854. A passenger on the same sailing vessel was Miss Harriet Hill Brown, who was born in New Hampshire, and the acquaintance thus made culminated in their marriage in San Francisco. Mr. and Mrs. Gardner became the parents of four children: Winnifred, deceased; Lillian; William Raymond; and Daniel Harris. In religious faith, they are affiliated with the Congre- gational Church.

FATHER JEROME SEXTUS RICARD, S. J .- Distinguished among the already large number of scholarly leaders in the Roman Catholic Church in America, Father Jerome Sextus Ricard, director of the Observatory of the University of Santa Clara, and popularly termed, on account of his remarkable suc- cess in predicting weather changes, the Padre of the Rains, has come to be especially famous along the Pacific Coast, and has conferred additional fame on the steadily-developing institution of learning with which he has been so long and actively identified. He has also set the scientific world to thinking about several matters of profound interest, including the sun-spot conundrum, concerning which he has a theory of his own; and if all the fellow scientists in the universe do not exactly agree with him, he has at least caused them to sit up and notice the exist- ence and the industry of the University of Santa Clara, and has directed their thoughts frequently toward one of the garden spots of the Golden State.

He was born at Plaisians, near Avignon, France. on January 21, 1850. a son of Leger and Mary Ann (Eysartel) Ricard, the only one of seven children in America, the rest of the family being three brothers and three sisters. His grandfather, Joseph Ricard, was a substantial French peasant, and his father fol- lowed the same rural occupation, on which account our subject, too, worked on the home farm and tilled the soil. His early education was in the common schools of the Plaisians district; and there he was taken up by the parish priest, who taught him Latin and Greek. He then entered the Jesuit College at Avignon, France, and there pursued a regular college course. He then traveled extensively through Algiers and Northern Africa, and having returned to Mar- seilles, he took a boat for Alexandria, Egypt, bound for Syria. His plans, however, were changed. He stopped at Messina, then went to Naples, and after that to Rome and Turin, and there he finished his course in belles lettres; and then, meeting the Superior of the Jesuits, on June 21, 1871, he joined their order. He was sent to Monaco, and was sta- tioned near the Casino, and there he studied, prepara- tory to taking up the work of the ministry.

On September 10, 1873, he came to Santa Clara. as one of five Jesuit students from Northern Italy and France, and he then entered the University of Santa Clara, where he pursued a three years' course in rational philosophy, including logic, psychology, on- tology, cosmology and moral science. He next went to Woodstock College in Maryland, and there pursued

the regular four years' theological course; and having concluded the work required of him, he was or- dained, by the late Cardinal Gibbons, in ceremonies lasting through August 24, 25 and 26, 1886, and so made a member of the Roman Catholic priesthood. He then returned to Santa Clara College and became professor of mathematics and moral philosophy; and when. in 1890, the Observatory was installed, he de- voted to it his spare time. Since then, under his able leadership, the interest in the work of the Ob- servatory has grown, and the astronomical depart- ment has become the most widely known of all the divisions of the University.

There is a fairly good working telescope, with an eight-inch objective made by Clark of Cambridge, and mnounted by Fauth & Company, of Washington, D. C .; and there is also a complete radio receiver, 120 feet high. There is a seismographic laboratory con- taining two instruments for recording earthquakes, and a second telescope with a four-inch objective, to serve as a companion, or quid, to the astronomical camera, a brand-new camera, one of the most up-to- date instruments in existence, being now on the way from Paris. There is also a fairly complete set of meteorological instruments. Three assistant profes- sors, all graduates of the University of Santa Clara, are adjuncts to Father Ricard.

The Santa Clara Observatory publishes a seismic bulletin, which appears occasionally, and contributes astronomical matter, from time to time, to the lead- ing San Francisco and San Jose papers. It also pub- lishes an astronomical magazine devoted to astron- omy, sun-spots and the weather, and it makes weather observations gratis for the Government. In many respects, Father Ricard has departed from the old ruts, and as with Copernicus and Tycho Brahe, he has been singled out for unfriendly criticism and oppo- sition, even perhaps to the point of persecution. He has a new view regarding sun-spots, especially in reference to the weather, and he has been prompt and frank in making known his revolutionary theories. The old method consisted in taking the spots in the sun indiscriminately, making no distinction between position and position, making the sum of them for a given month, a given year, a given period of years, and then comparing the average sum with the known records of sun-spots and weather for corresponding periods of known weather conditions; but according to the new method proposed by Father Ricard, sun- spots are considered as having an effect on the weather, only when they stand on the central merid- ian, in which case, if they happen to be in the North- ern hemisphere, they produce storms, on the Western Coast of the United States; but if they are in the Southern hemisphere they produce the opposite effect, and thereby the sun-spots account for all the weather in the United States and Canada. This is an entirely new theory which originated solely with Father Ricard, and while he has been the subject of attack and unfriendly criticism, the basic principles of his theory have not suffered at the hands of his op- ponents, and he has become, in consequence or despite the opposition, world-famous. On July 8, 1921, he published his observations on sun-spots and atmospheric waves looking back to 1913, when he declared that daily observation revealed only a few sun-spots and faculac, and this coincided with the year as a stern, rare, extreme minimum. But even so, the

J.J. Ricardof.

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physical law connecting the sun-spots with highs and lows in relation to cause and effect held as invariably as since. The only difference has been that whereas, throughout 1914-20, one could, by means of the spots and faculae, account for every high and low in the weather way, the fewness of the spots and faculae during 1913 has left very many highs and lows un- accounted for. Since the conclusions were reached the review of sun-spot weather work has been pushed back to the year 1907 with the same results. All the highs and lows have now also been accounted for by means of planetary conjunctions and oppositions to which the sun-spots are originally traced.

Personally, Father Ricard is a very interesting and congenial character, and at seventy-two is bright and active, all of which was evident at the Golden Jubilee Celebration in his honor at the University of Santa . Clara on May 30, 1921, which was largely attended. It marked the fiftieth year of his entrance into the order of the Jesuits, and the bells of fourteen mis- sions rang forth merrily as the joyous day opened with high mass. Graduates of Santa Clara, dignitaries of the church, and friends and visitors. ten thousand persons or more in all, gathered to pay homage to the Padre of the Rains, and against the old adobe walls of the historic mission the redwood altar at which the mass was sung was banked with flowers, and tower- ing high was a redwood cross standing out in a back- ground of golden broom, so that the veteran prelate may well be said to have taken his place in the sun, following his prediction that for the big celebration the skies would be bright.

The celebration commenced at eleven with a solemn high mass, at which Father Ricard was the celebrant. His Grace, Archbishop Edward J. Hanna, of San Francisco, preached the sermon. Assisting at the mass were: The Rt. Rev. Joseph S. Glass, bishop of Salt Lake City; the Rt. Rev. Thomas Grace, bishop of Sacramento; the Rt. Rev. John J. Cantwell, bishop of Los Angeles; Monsignor James P. Cantwell, Rev. William Flemming of San Rafael, Rev. Thomas O'Connell of Oakland, and Rev. Joseph P. McQuaide of San Francisco. Thirty-three choristers, from St. Patrick's Seminary at Menlo Park, sung the mass, while at eleven o'clock, in various portions of the state, fourteen historic missions tolled their bells. Immediately following the mass, the tolling of the bells of the Mission Santa Clara was the signal for the alumni to rise and observe a "minute of silence" in memory of the Santa Clara men who were killed in the World War. Then came a public reception to Father Ricard, and after the alumni luncheon, atlı- letic contests, alumni election and banquet, speeches were made by William F. Humphrey, president of the Olympic Club and the toastmaster; Rev. Timothy L. Murphy, president of the University; Chauncey F. Tramutolo, president of the Alumni Association: Joseph Scott of Los Angeles, James A. Bacigalupi, John J. Barrett, Senator James D. Phelan, James L Flood, Col. Charles E. Stanton, M. Delmas, Arch- bishop Edward J. Hanna, and, last but by no means least, Father Ricard. The speeches commenced at half-past eight o'clock in the evening. and an hour later there was illuminated flying, when the celebra- tion concluded with an aerial parade, during which the name "Ricard" was spelled in the skies.

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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 117

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