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 119

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

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About this time the rebel ram Arkansas came down the Yazoo River, ran through the northern fleets then lying at anchor and, thinking themselves se- cure, were commencing to clean their boilers. Lieu- tenant-Colonel Ellet again called for volunteers, this time to accompany him and attempt to destroy the

Arkansas by ramming her at her moorings, being then anchored under the protection of the Confederates' batteries of Vicksburg. His son Edward, still a pri- vate sharpshooter, was the first man to step forward for the service, much to his brave father's dismay. The trip was made. For over an hour they were under the fire of Vicksburg batteries, concentrated on the little wooden ship. The Arkansas was struck and badly damaged, but owing to an eddy in the cur- rent, she was not destroyed. Her gunners worked hard as the Queen of the West backed away, and Lieutenant-Colonel Ellet and his son Edward drew their pistols and at such close range, literally laid the rebel gunners at their guns, effectively checking their fire. For this gallant performance, Edward Carpenter Ellet was appointed by Congress as sec- ond lieutenant at the same time that Lieutenant- Colonel Ellet was made a brigadier-general.

In the meantime, Admiral D. D. Porter being away, Admiral Farragut had run the batteries alone at Port Hudson and was below Vicksburg, from which point he sent word to Porter to dispatch him a cou- ple of rams, as he was afraid of a ram-attack from the rebels. In response, Colonel Charles Rivers El- let, commanding the Switzerland, and Colonel John A. Ellet, who was the son of John I. Ellet, the Cali- fornia pioneer heretofore mentioned, commanding the Lancaster, were designated to run the batteries of Vicksburg, and report with their rams to Admiral Farragut below. The Lancaster was sunk by the heavy shell fire from the shore and upper batteries; and the Switzerland had her boilers and steam pipes burst, but floated down the river out of range. Lieutenant Edward C. Ellet was on the Switzer- land, which was soon enveloped in steam, so that all the negroes in the engine room were scalded. A shot, weighing 120 pounds, had pierced the boiler, and even on deck the heat was intense to suffoca- tion. The engineer, Granville Robarts, a relative of the general, seeing the danger, stopped the engines and saved himself by jumping overboard into the river; then he caught hold of the slow moving wheel, which lifted him to the plank used by the deck-hands to dip up water, climbed back onto the deck after the heat had subsided, and went back to the boiler room after the explosion.

Lieutenant Edward C. Ellet served on the staff of General Ellet until the close of the war, and during that time he was appointed special messenger to take to Washington captured Confederate currency to the amount of $1,800,000; this he carried in two satchels and delivered it at the War Secretary's office in per- son to Secretary Edwin M. Stanton. While there he met President Lincoln, who came into the war office on business while young Ellet was talking with the War Secretary. Mr. Lincoln sent for Secretary Chase of the Treasury, who also came. General Halleck happened in at the same time and young Ellet was introduced to all of them, was highly com- plimented, and given a three days' pass in the city. Upon Edward C. Ellet's honorable discharge Major D. S. Tallerday, commanding the Marine Regiment at Vicksburg on January 19, 1865, wrote underneath the precious document an unsolicited note of high acknowledgment and recognition, reading: "I have known Lieutenant Ellet for the last two years. As an officer, he is ever ready to do his whole duty; he is

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brave to a fault; while as a gentleman, he is unex- ceptionable."

Thus, the services rendered to the Union by the Ellets was of the greatest value. They were inspired by pure patriotism. The idea of the ram fleet was conceived by a master mind, that of Charles Ellet, Jr., the foremost engineer of the nation at that time. They carried out their plans boldly and fearlessly, personally leading every charge, displaying the great- est courage and bravery amidst the greatest of dan- gers, not stopping at death itself. After the war, Ed- ward C. Ellet was appointed. Military Constable of Yazoo County, Miss., and given a company of Union soldiers to aid him in enforcing law and order during the reconstruction period.

Miraculously escaping death from the yellow fever, he went West with a troop of soldiers on an Indian expedition as far as Fort Bozeman, Mont., in 1867. With two companions he made his return down the Missouri River in a skiff as far as Sioux City, pass- ing through the country of the hostile Sioux Indians at a time when buffaloes were so numerous that his journey was seriously impeded by vast droves cross- ing the river in front of them. From Sioux City he made his way back home to visit relatives at Bunker Hill,. Ill .; and in 1869, enamored of the West and frontier life, he was induced to go out to Eldorado, now the county seat of Butler County, Kan., which was then being settled by Union soldiers who took up claims of homestead. There he started the first hardware store and organized one of the first banks in Butler County, and became a great political leader, serving as chairman on the Republican County Central Committee and dictating the policies of the county for many years. He was prominent in estab- lishing Eldorado as the county seat. He was ap- pointed government agent for the Piute Indians in 1884. Leaving his banking interests in the hands of his partner, N. F. Frazier, and his father, General Alfred W. Ellet, after whom the public park in El- dorado was named, his father then became president of the bank. About this time General Ellet was of- fered a commission as major-general in the U. S. regular army. This he respectfully declined, express- ing his desire that as long as there was no need for his services in actual warfare, in defense of his coun- try, he preferred to enjoy private life.

Edward C. Ellet then went to Winnemucca, Nev., where he was Indian agent for a year; from Winnemucca, during this period, in the due course of his official duties, he made a trip to San Fran- cisco and back on horseback, after which he returned to Eldorado and resumed banking. Although hold- ing great political power in the State of Kansas, Edward C. Ellet never ran for a political office. On March 14, 1902, he was appointed by Governor W. E. Stanley as member of the board of directors of the State Penitentiary for the term of three years, and elected president of the board at their April meeting. On July 28, 1902, Governor Stanley appointed him delegate to the annual congress of the National Prison Association, at Philadelphia, which met Sep- tember 13 to 17, 1902, after which he was sent to Yucatan, Mexico, to buy sisal for the state. While there he was entertained by the governor of the State of Yucatan in royal fashion. In 1903 he re- signed his position on the State Prison Board and sold out his banking interests to his son-in-law, R. E. Fra-

zier, who was the son of his partner, and accepted an appointment as special agent of the United States General Land Office with headquarters at Seattle, Wash., serving as such from 1903 until 1908, when he resigned, came down to Mayfield, Calif., and in company with his son, Charles Ellet, bought out the old Mayfield Bank and Trust Company. He became its president and his son Charles became its cashier. They came to Mayfield in December, 1908, and January 1, 1909, took charge of the bank. In 1918 he retired from active participation in the bank, leaving its management to his son, Charles Ellet, who reorganized it and brought his brother, Alfred W. Ellet, who was then deputy bank commissioner for the State of Kansas, out to assist him.

On October 20, 1870, Edward Carpenter Ellet was married at Bunker Hill, 111, to Miss Frances Webster Van Dorn, whose family history is no less notable than that of her illustrious husband. She was born at Bunker Hill, Ill., on January 31, 1854, and is a daughter of Thomas Jefferson Van Dorn, an Argonaut who is a near relative of the famous Southern cavalryman, General Earl Van Dorn of the Confederate Army. She is also a direct descendant of the historic Pilgrim father, Governor Bradford of Massachusetts, and is furthermore a blood relative of Washington Irving, the celebrated author. Mr. and Mrs. Edward C. Ellet have made their home at Mayfield since 1908, and with the ex- ception of a stroke of paralysis in 1920 sustained by Mr. Ellet, both are enjoying a reasonable state of health, are well and favorably known and most highly respected. They have become the parents of three children: Henrietta Wilbur Ellet Frazier, who married the late R. E. Frazier, noted banker and oil man. R. E. Frazier discovered oil in the Eldorado field in Kansas, and brought in the first private well in that field on the Linn lease, it being the second well in that district. He succumbed to the influenza epidemic in December, 1918. Mrs. Frazier is now a resident of Menlo Park, where she has lived since 1919, and is the mother of one child, a daughter, Henrietta Ellet Frazier, who is a student at the Cas- tilleja School for Girls at Palo Alto. Alfred W. Ellet, vice president, and Charles Ellet, cashier of The Stanford Bank, both noted elsewhere in this work, are, respectively, the oldest and youngest of the three. Edward Carpenter Ellet has lived a full, useful and remarkable life, and now, as the sun is about to set on his earthly activities he hands down the glories of a noble ancestry undimmed and un- tarnished to a worthy progeny, while the nation is left stronger and better for his strenuous, patriotic and illustrious career.

WILLIAM DARSIE .- Prominent among the re- tired residents of Palo Alto whose life stories, as the chronicles of those who have accomplished something worth while, are always interesting, may be men- tioned William Darsie, who was born in Scot- land in 1843. He was also educated in that older, more settled land of academic traditions, and there found stimulating office employment until he was twenty-six years old. The New World, however, then began to bid more intensely for his interest, and he came out to the United States and settled in Penn- sylvania. He had had such an experience that he was able early to take up the manufacturing of coke; and in that important industrial field he continued until

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HISTORY OF SANTA CLARA COUNTY

he retired from active business affairs, in 1905. He then bade good-bye to the cold winters and the hot summers of the Keystone State and turned his face westward, and having entered upon the delights of semi-tropical California and surveyed the land for that corner of the Golden State most roseate and promising, he located at Palo Alto and soon acquired a beautiful, spacious and comfortable home, with at- traetive grounds. There he spends most of his time, and having a wonderful flower garden, he adds to his knowledge of the floral world by outdoor work and recreation.

When Mr. Darsie married, he took for his bride Miss Jean Pettigrew, a native of the United States, and an accomplished lady of attractive natural gifts; and they reside at 567 Melville Street. They have three children, William, Elizabeth and Jean.

CHARLES ELLET .- A rising young financier of Santa Clara County, whose influence is being felt more and more in laying broad and deep the foun- dations of the great California commonwealth, is Charles Ellet, the efficient and popular cashier of The Stanford Bank at Palo Alto and Mayfield. He was born at the historie Ellet homestead at Bunker Hill, Macoupin County, Ill., and reared at Eldorado, Kans., being a son of Edward Carpenter Ellet, the patriot, banker and politician, who built up and owned one of the first banks in Butler County, Kans., in the county seat town of Eldorado, in the early '70s, and later established several other banks in Kansas, and in 1908 came to California, purchasing the con- trolling interest in the old Mayfield Bank, the prede- cessor of The Stanford Bank, and whose inspiring life story is elsewhere given in this volume, as is also the history of several of the other distinguished forebears and relatives of our subject, who have con- ferred undying glory in the service of their country. Edward C. Ellet married Miss Frances Webster Van Dorn, also a native of Bunker Hill, Ill., and it is pleasant to relate that both she and her honored husband are still living, highly esteemed residents of Mayfield. Her family history is no less interest- ing than that of her husband. The daughter of a California Argonaut, Thomas Jefferson Van Dorn, who crossed the plains in '49, she is a near relative of the famous Confederate cavalry general, Earl Van Dorn, and a direct descendant of the historic Pilgrim father, Governor Bradford, of Massachusetts, like- wise a relative of Washington Irving, the celebrated author, as well as the great orator and statesman, Daniel Webster. Charles Ellet was reared at El- dorado, Kans., and there he remained until he was twenty years of age. He pursued the public school courses and then profited by a course at the Uni- versity of Washington, at Seattle, to which city he removed in 1904. Three years later, in April, he was married to Miss Edna Anna Dodge, only daugh- ter of Mr. and Mrs. Frank R. Dodge, of the Farmers and Merchants National Bank of Eldorado, Kans., and a year thereafter he came south to Mayfield. His father, a banker of over thirty years' experi- ence, had sold out his banking interest in Kansas, and desiring to come West, he accepted an appoint- ment as special agent of the U. S. General Land Office, with headquarters at Seattle, in 1903, a posi- tion which he resigned in 1908, when he came down to Mayfield and bought out the Mayfield Bank and Trust Company, which later became known as The

Mayfield Bank. Edward C. Ellet resigned as its president in 1918, turning the institution over to his son Charles, who at once completely reorganized and enlarged it. Charles Ellet then sent East for his brother, Alfred W. Ellet, deputy bank commissioner of the State of Kansas, who came to Palo Alto in 1918 and became vice-president of The Stanford Bank. Mr. Ellet's first wife died at Mayfield, Oct. 5, 1909, and left two children; Zelda, who is a stu- dent at the College of Sacred Heart at Menlo Park, and Edward Carpenter, who attends the William Warren School for Boys in the same place. On marrying a second time, Mr. Ellet chose for his wife Miss Martha H. Blois, their wedding occuring on April 27, 1916. They have become the parents of five children, four of whom are living; Charles Ellet, Jr., now five years old, was a twin brother of Thomas Van Dorn, who died at birth; Martha Jane was the next to enter the family, followed later by Elizabeth and Frances, twin daughters. Charles El- let is also president of the Stanford Realty Com- pany and is personally a large property owner at Mayfield, where he resides, and at Palo Alto. He was twice elected town treasurer of Mayfield, and is a power politically in the northern end of the county. He is especially interested in good roads and he has had much to do with the rebuilding of the State Highway at Mayfield, declared by State Engineer Freeman to be one of the best built puh- lie highways in the whole United States. Mayfield is at the very gate of Stanford University, and how could it fail of being one of the most promising communities in the Golden State, when, as Mr. El- let says: "Mayfield is by choice as well as by law, a dry town, where no saloons can ever again exist, with her former cesspool nuisance cured by a mod- ern sewer system, costing $35,000; with an inex- haustible supply of artesian water so pure that the Southern Pacific Railroad Company, after a chemical analysis, selected this site on which to erect their 60,000 gallon water-tank for through trains, with Mayfield's dream of an Interurban Electric Railway doubly realized by the Blossom Route to San Jose, and the Waverly Avenue Extension from Palo Alto; with the opening of the Santa Cruz branch from the main line of the Southern Pacific making Mayfield an important junction point; with the very exceptional train service of over sixty steam trains a day during summer months to and from San Francisco, with a municipal water plant valued at $35,000, being run on a paying basis; with miles of cement sidewalks, curbing and paving; with the completion of the great State Highway through the town; with the Leland

Stanford Jr. University, one of the richest endowed institutions of higher learning in the United States, next door, and San Francisco only thirty miles away, the Garden City, San Jose, only fifteen miles distant, and with the famous California Redwood Park, the Wonderland of the West, just about twice as far away." Who can doubt the wisdom of Mr. Ellet in pinning his faith to the new old town and the wisdom of The Stanford Bank in encouraging to its legal limit all rational enterprises here promising a reason- able degree of success.

The new home of The Stanford Bank in Palo Alto which has just been completed, is described elsewhere in this volume. It had a brilliant opening on June 2, 1922. Assets have already passed the half million

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HISTORY OF SANTA CLARA COUNTY

mark. Truc to its name and environment, it carries out the Romanesque style of architecture with its stately pillars and arches in keeping with the dream of Leland Stanford, when he first conceived the idea of building a great university. This banking house has been remodeled after plans of Mr. A. F. Roller, of the firm of M. G. West & Co., the celebrated bank architects and specialists, of San Francisco. Mr. Ellet is a hard and conscientious worker, who realizes that the success of his career as a banker of necessity rests upon the general welfare of the community. He be- longs to that class of financiers who understand that service is the cornerstone of all truly worth-while business. Having an accurate knowledge of business and financial conditions at Mayfield and Palo Alto, he finds his greatest satisfaction in advising and help- ing his patrons on to the sure road of prosperity.

MRS. APHELIA F. COCHRANE .- A highly cultured woman, whose interests in civic affairs, as well as in educational matters, have enabled her to contribute much for the edification and happi- ness of others, is Mrs. Aphelia F. Cochrane, a suc- cessful ranch owner of the Morgan Hill district in Santa Clara County. She was born in Bangor, Maine, November 3. 1845, the eldest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. George Farrington. The father, George Farrington, was born in England, the son of an old prominent family, a highly educated and cultured man. who came to America in the early '30s, lo- cated and became a prominent citizen and merchant in Bangor. He married Miss Hannah . Elizabeth Philhrook, a native of Newport Maine, whose parents were English and Scotch. They were the prosper- ous owners of a 200 acre farm. Their close relatives were merchants of the sea, having been the owners of many ships going to foreign ports. The maternal grandfather and an uncle, Nathaniel Drew, on her mother's side, served in the Revolutionary War, the latter being commissioned a major during his serv- ice. They became the parents of three girls, Aphelia, the subject of this sketch. Emma and Jeannett, the latter now deceased. In 1850 the parents left their children with their grandparents and came to Cali- fornia via Panama and located in San Francisco where the father died a few years later. Mrs. Far- rington married again, becoming the wife of A. J. Van Winkle, a native of New Jersey and a pioneer of this state and a man of splendid character. Hc owned a number of stock and dairy ranches in Hum- boldt, Sonoma and San Mateo counties, also prop- erty in San Francisco. He was the owner of the West End Distillery, San Francisco, and was the inventor of the method of aging wine by the process of extracting the fusel oil and making wine into brandy and received patents on his invention from England, Germany, France and the United States. He had located in San Mateo County at an early period, long before the railroads had pushed their way down the Pacific Coast. In 1859 Mrs. Van Winkle returned East and brought her girls to California. They left New York on the S. S. Baltic and reaching Aspinwall, crossed the Isthmus of Panama and boarded the S. S. Sonoma and arrived in San Francisco the latter part of November. Miss Emma F. Van Winkle, as she is known to the art world, having taken the stepfather's name, is a graduate of the Hopkins Art Institute in San Fran- cisco and is recognized as an artist of considerable

note. Mr. Van Winkle passed away, but his widow still lives in San Francisco, aged ninety-five years.

Aphelia Farrington was educated at the Denman school on Bush Street, San Francisco and took a two years' course at a finishing seminary in that city. In 1864 she became the wife of John Cochrane, the ceremony taking place in San Francisco. He was born in Amherst, N. H., and came to California in 1848 via Cape Horn in a sailing vessel. He was identified with many mining enterprises, became wealthy and owned large holdings in various parts of California. He owned a ranch of 250 acres ad- joining the Presidio in San Francisco and carried on a large, prosperous dairy business, known as the Pioneer Dairy; he also set out the first cherry orch- ard in California at this place, sending East for the trees; he also had other property interests in the city. At one time he owned the McNulty ranch in Colusa County, made famous as the greatest grain ranch in the world by the late Dr. Glenn, in the Sac- ramento Valley. It contained many thousands of acres and had a frontage of ten miles on the Sacra- mento River; the fencing alone costing $20,000. For a number of years Mr. Cochrane operated this place, after selling it. In 1869 Mr. Cochrane and his fam- ily removed to the Santa Clara Valley where he had purchased the old McElroy ranch of many hundred acres. This ranch is located on the watersheds of the Coyote and Packwood creeks, twenty miles south of San Josc. Here Mr. Cochrane built up one of the finest dairy ranches in the state, employing Swiss butter and cheese makers, selling his products in San Francisco. He built the road, now known as the Cochrane Road, which was completed in 1893. He was one of the leaders in all local movements for the betterment of the community and took an active part in promoting all progressive measures, as a real booster for Santa Clara County. Mr. and Mrs. Cochrane were the parents of five chil- dren: Emma F. died at the age of eleven years; Minnie B. passed away at the age of nine years; and Charles, the youngest, died when sixteen years old; Aphelia May is the wife of A. J. Jackson and the mother of two children, Alfred and Gladys; Elsie B. is the widow of the late Henry C. Doerr and resides with her mother. Mr. Cochrane closed his eyes to the scenes of this life on November 20, 1899, after a long and useful career and is held in lov- ing memory by all who really knew him. The Coch- rane ranch, which consists of many hundred acres, has 125 acres devoted to raising fruit which yields bountiful crops cach season. The entire acreage is still in the possession of the family. In 1914, Mrs. Cochrane erected a comfortable modern residence on a sightly elevation on the property. She has been actively identified with the Presbyterian Church of Morgan Hill, having helped to build it up from a small mission church to its present standing and served for four years as one of the trustees. She has been prominent in temperance work and in the circles of the W. C. T. U. since its organization at Morgan Hill and she is beginning her third term as trustee of the Live Oak Union high school. She contributes liberally to the Y. M. C. A. and the Y. W. C. A., as well as to all other worthy causes. She is a charter member of the Morgan Hill Civic Club; also was one of the foremost workers and promoters of the Ye Friendly Inn of Morgan Hill,

while

J. Leochnave

John Cochrane

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an organization that has but one motive-the bet- terment of the locality. It was first suggested by the W. C. T. U. and the idea carried out in detail by a few of the most progressive and enterprising citizens of the community. In 1914, Rev. A. M. Porter, then pastor of the Presbyterian Church of Morgan Hill, first took up the subject with the parent board of San Jose in behalf of the citizens of Morgan Hill and the first meetings were held in the Presbyterian parsonage. Mrs. Cochrane has contrib- uted many articles to the press during her travels and her popularity has contributed much to the advance- ment of the causes with which she has been identi- fied-a splendid example of the value of character and trained intellect.

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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 119

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