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 139

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 139

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Two sons of Mr. and Mrs. Wagner entered the service of their government in the last war and did their full duty by their country. Walter enlisted on September 28, 1917, and was sent to the Presidio as a cook, and from there he was despatched to Camp Sheridan, Ala., where he served until he was dis- charged, on March 10, 1919. Henry became an enlisted . soldier on May 4, 1918, and was in the Fourteenth Company of the C. A. C., and trained in the Philippines, and then went to Fort Mills, and

A matty

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HISTORY OF SANTA CLARA COUNTY

was discharged at the Presidio on August 26, 1916. These two boys are now in partnership as Wagner Bros., proprietors of a boiler works in San Jose.

Mr. Wagner is a Republican, and above all a loyal American very much interested in civic reforms, and he used to be a member of the Workmen order. Mr. and Mrs. Wagner are members of the German Methodist Church. Mr. Wagner has a high standard in all his dealings with his fellow-men, and these commendable traits have found favor with all who know him, so that he is not only prosperous in busi- ress, but rich in friends.

ANTOINE MATTY .- Arriving in California in 1853. the late Antoine Matty witnessed practically the entire growth and development of the state and was well known as the proprietor of the popular resort known as Wrights Station, which he conducted for over three decades. A native of France, he was born in Ville d'Antrevaux, in the Maritime Alps, April 20, 1840, a son of Francois and Teressa (Colombet) Matty. His mother was a sister of the late Clemente Colombet, a pioneer of the Santa Clara Valley. Mr. Matty's father was a cabinetmaker by trade and passed away when seventy-six years of age.

When a lad of twelve years Antoine Matty accom- panied his uncle, Joseph Colombet, on his emigration to the United States and after landing in this country they started across the plains to California in 1853. When they left St. Joseph, Mo., their party included twenty-five persons and Joseph Colombet was chosen captain of the little band. On approaching the mountains they soon became acquainted with hard- ships and privations and passed the location where the ill-fated Donner party had stopped. Winter fell upon them while they were traversing Carson Valley, and leaving six men in charge of the stock and wag- ons, the rest of the band pushed on toward Cal- ifornia. On the way to California their stock of food gave out and after days of wandering without food they crossed the trail of two hunters, whom they compelled to supply them with food for which they paid liberally, Mr. Colombet carrying $5,000 in his belt. The next night they were again lost but ran across the pony express and through the assistance of the men in charge were able to reach a new trail. They met up with many Indians but without excep- tion they manifested toward the party a spirit of friendliness. In due time the party reached Stockton and came on to Mission San Jose. Antoine Matty took up his residence with another uncle, Peter Colombet, assisting him in his work. Another uncle, Clemente Colombet, built the summer resort "Warm Springs" and Antoine continued with him until 1855, when he went to San Francisco, arriving there during the reign of the Vigilantes. For a short time he was employed as a clerk in the auction rooms of Smiley Brothers & Company, and in 1859 made his way to Virginia City, Nev., where for eight months he worked in the mines, returning to San Francisco at the end of that period. For thirty-five years he was proprie- tor of Wrights Station, the well-known resort in the Santa Cruz Mountains, near the line which divides Santa Clara and Santa Cruz Counties. This is one of the most attractive and popular resorts in this part of the state and the property is valued at more than $80,000. Mr. Matty owned 360 acres but re- tained 134 acres. He made extensive investments in real estate in the Santa Clara Valley and sold to the

Western Pacific Railroad Company the site for their new depot in East San Jose, construction of the line having been started in 1920.

In 1896 Mr. Matty was married in San Jose to Miss Sarah Slomon, born in County Galway, Ireland, but reared and educated in Boston, Mass., coming to California by the isthmus route. She passed away 1. November, 1903, a few months after the tragic death of their son Lonis. Six children were born to their union. Teressa met an accidental death when eighteen. Frank, who resides at Wrights married Katherine Goodman and has two daugh- ters, Antoinette and Aileen. Annie married Emil Meyer of Wrights Station, and they have two chil- dren, Arthur and Alyce Marie. Mr. Meyer is the owner of the Mar Vista Vineyard, situated at the summit of the Santa Cruz Mountains. Louis was burned to death in a forest fire at Wright's Station in August, 1903, when he was forty years of age. Thomas C. died at the age of twenty-six. Alice, a very capable young business woman, is now in the employ of the California Hotel Corporation. When fifteen years of age she became station agent at Wright's Station for the Southern Pacific Railroad Company and con- tinued to hold that position for nine years.

Mr. Matty received his citizenship papers at San Jose as soon as he came of age and he thoroughly identified his interests with those of his adopted country. He was the organizer of the Wright School district, and was identified with the Exempt Fireman of San Jose. He was also a valued member of the Santa Clara Pioncer Association, No. 45. It was organized in 1853 with four hundred members of whom but five are now living. Some years ago, when Vendome Parlor, Native Daughters of the Golden West, built a log cabin at Alum Rock Park in memory of the pioneers, Mr. Matty at his own ex- pense had the trees felled on his property at Wrights and prepared the logs for the cabin. He was also a member of the Sempervirens Association, a society organized to preserve the redwoods for future gen- erations. Mr. Matty passed away April 12, 1922, lacking only eight days of living eighty-two years.

WILLIAM GIOTTONINI .- Prominent among the progressive ranchers of Santa Clara County who have been most successful in growing alfalfa and to whom the present high state of dairying is due, may well be mentioned William Giottonini, who lives on the Sabatti ranch, which is also known as the Cali- fornia Dairy, on the Alviso Road, about three miles north of San Jose. A native of Italian Switzerland. Mr. Giottonini was born in Canton Ticino, at a pic- turesque place called Frasco, on July 1, 1896. the son of Benjamin and Polyanna Giottonini. his father a Swiss farmer, being one of the first natives of that canton to come out to California. On the first occasion when he made his way here, in 1860, he was a young man, and he remained in California twelve years; returning to Switzerland, he married and reared there a family of ten children. Joseph is employed at the California Dairy; Lucy has be- come Mrs. Lesnini and lives at Kings City: Al- bert is in Mexico, and the rest are Prudence, Angea. Pauline, Mary, William and Katherine (twins), and Benjamin Giottonini.

When William was eleven years of age, his parents came with their family to California, and this time they settled in San Luis Obispo County. William

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attended the grammer school at San Luis Obispo, and a year after he arrived here, he began to work for himself. He followed dairy ranch labor for six years in Harmony Valley, and when he was yet twelve years old, he milked twenty cows each day. He then went to Kings City, and for a year worked for wages in a dairy; then, for a short time he was at Fresno and also at Coalinga; and next pitched his tent for a while at Red Bluffs, Tehama County, and at Portland, Ore. Returning to California, William worked again at Fresno, then at Los Banos, and after that he came to Santa Clara County.

On July 26, 1921, Mr. Giottonini joined Pasquali Tonini, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this volume, and in partnership they bought an alfalfa ranch of forty acres, also leased a dairy ranch of equal size about three miles north of San Jose on the Alviso road. There they have a very fine herd of some sixty-five milch cows, with which they are scoring great success. In national political affairs Mr. Giottonini is a Republican, but he is also a good "booster" for the locality in which he lives, putting aside narrow partisanship and supporting the best men and the best measures, and he is first, last and all the time an American.

FRED BOWEN .- Another representative of an interesting pioneer family who has added to the high reputation of California mechanicians is Fred Bowen, the senior member of Messrs. Bowen & Ro- necker, the leading plumbers and sheet metal work- ers in Santa Clara. He was born in Monterey County on September 12, 1883, the son of Alfred Bowen, who was a native of Centerville, and the grandson of Joseph Wythe, a sailor who hailed from Scotland, and who steered for California in the gold-mining days. The Bowens have thus been identified with this section since the early days of the Pacific Commonwealth.

Fred was only four years of age when he came to San Jose, but he well recalls the street cars drawn by horses. His uncle, John Bowen, was a machinist who worked in Joe Enright's shop, and he set up the steam engine used to furnish the first substitute for horsepower for the railway. Later, the company turned to electricity as the motor power. The lad rode on the first electrical car on First Street, and the riding was sport, indeed.

When eleven years of age, he began to work out, and for twenty years he ran the steam engine in the brickyard and subsequently ran stationary engines for other institutions at various other places in the county, so that he gained a wide acquaintance. He then took up plumbing and worked for Levin & Son, and as he could not have had a better apprentice- ship, he learned plumbing as thoroughly as he had steam-engineering, and was just the man to form the promising partnership with Charley Ronecker.

The firm of Bowen & Ronccker was established in the spring of 1921, and they have been busy as bees ever since. They operate a general plumbing and sheet metal business and guarantee to do whatever is undertaken so that it need not be done over again the next day. This assurance means so much in the present age of careless inefficiency that the up-to-date folks of Santa Clara have not been slow to appreciate their efforts. They and their five employes have all they can do. They have many residences to their credit and the excellency of their work is the merit which attracts a constantly . increasing patronage.

At San Jose in 1907 Mr. Bowen was married to Miss Louise Bimmerly, a native of San Jose, where she was reared. She is a daughter of August Bim- merly, who died in San Jose on March 14, 1921, and of his good wife, nee Louise Boughtenthistle, both pioneers. Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Bowen-Evelyn and Harold. The Bowens re- side in their hospitable home on Willis Avenue.

BEVERLY ALLEN ENGLAND. - A sturdy pioneer of Santa Clara County whose reminiscences of California reach back for almost seventy years is Beverly Allen England, who can narrate many inter- esting happenings of the early days here, where he was long associated with Martin Murphy, Jr. A na- tive of Missouri, he was born at Steelville, Crawford County, Mo., on October 12, 1842, the son of John and Jane ( Cornigham) England, both natives of Vir- ginia. They were married in Missouri and there the father died in 1848, followed to the grave a year later by the mother, leaving six orphaned children. two boys and four girls.

The fourth of the family, Beverly A. England, was reared by an uncle, Ruggles England, who started across the plains in 1853 as captain of a train of cight wagons and ox teams. Beverly was then a lad of eleven years, and he rode a horse all the way from St. Joseph, Mo., to Hangtown, Cal. They stopped for a time at the ranch of Martin Murphy Sr., Santa Clara County's earliest pioneer, and then for nine years he worked for his uncle, who had gone to the mines in Butte County, and as a bookkeeper in the hotel and post office near the mines. On his return to Santa Clara County he engaged in farm- ing with his brother at Milliken's Corners, where his brother-in-law, the late J. W. Johnson, had lo- cated. Mr. Johnson had first crossed the plains in 1849, later taking up a Spanish grant at Milliken's Corners, the title to which proved defective, so that he was compelled to pay for it a second time.

At Santa Clara Mr. England was married to Miss Jennie Simpson who had also crossed the plains in 1853, but in another train. Two children were born to them, Gus A England, whose sketch appears on another page of this history, and Harry England, who married Miss Mary Wicker of San Jose, and they are the parents of two children-Winifred and Lorraine. Mrs. Beverly England died in 1913, and since that time Mr. England has made his home with his son Harry in San Jose. For many years Mr. England rented land in the vicinity of Santa Clara and farmed there successfully. He has always taken an active interest in the phenomenal development of Santa Clara County, coming here, as he did, long before there were any railroads, and as an American citizen preferring the political tenets of the Demo- cratic party, he has done what he could to make this favored section come into its own. As a boy, in crossing the plains, he proved to be one of the valued and dependable members of the emigrant train, and he was sent out to reconnoiter for roads and the best places to camp, as well as to look out for hostile Indians, and the lessons of this experience continued to bear good fruit in later life. Now, as one of the oldest living pioneer settlers of this local- ity, he can look back upon a life filled with interest- ing experiences, beholding as he has, a transformation that it has been the privilege of but few to witness.

James Sure

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HISTORY OF SANTA CLARA COUNTY

JAMES TURNER .- A persevering, successful hor- ticulturist, who finds real pleasure in hard work and who has become influential in his community through the force of his example as a man whose thrift and proficiency have made him successful, is James Turner, a native of Chicago, III., where he was born in 1863, the son of James and Mary (Gantz) Turner. Reared in the metropolis of the West, Mr. Turner attended the public schools of that city. He started his business experiences as a traveling salesman and, continuing this for many years, he traversed every state in the Union except Florida. Then for twelve years he conducted a brokerage business in Boston. Mass., where he met with good success.

Mr. Turner's marriage united him with Miss Jessie Crawford, and in 1912 they moved to California and, locating in Santa Clara County, purchased his pres- ent ranch of forty-three acres, which is located on the Los Gatos and Santa Clara road, about two miles south of Campbell, Cal. He has erected a substantial and attractive residence. His ranch is a very valu- able property and his orchards, which are mostly set to prunes, are now in splendid bearing. Mr. Turner has been active in building up the commun- ity. and was one of the prime movers that organized the Campbell Investment Company, the builders of a row of business buildings on Campbell Avenue, in- cluding the postoffice, a moving picture theater and three stores, and the Growers' National Bank build- ing, constructed of white enameled brick. He was one of the organizers of the Growers National Bank at Campbell, of which he is president and a director. He is a member of the California Prune and Apricot Growers' Association. In national politics Mr. Tur- ner is a Republican, and in 1920 was a prominent candidate as such at the primaries for state senator. He was made a Mason in Home Lodge No. 508. A. F. & A. M., Chicago, and he is also a member of San Jose Lodge No. 522, Elks. Mrs. Turner is a member of the O. E. S. and the Woman's Federated Club. She organized the idea of "prune week" and her energy and enthusiasm put it through. When a member of the Grange, she wrote a paper advo- cating a prune week, urging the Grange to take it up. The article was published and later it became a national matter and now prune week is well es- tablished all over the Union. Mrs. Turner has been very prominent in civic and social affairs and shares with her husband deserved popularity.

LOUIS M. RICHARD .- A successful rancher whose prosperity naturally leads one to both study and admire his progressive methods, is Louis M. Richard, now living on the Alviso-Milpitas road. not far from Alviso. He was born at the Mission Dolores, in San Francisco, on November 17, 1861, the son of August Richard, who came to California in 1857 and, having married Miss Josephine Aggeon, established himself as a market gardener. He and his good wife were blessed with six children: Louisa A., now deceased, became Mrs. Anderson; Annie is Mrs. Carabal; Louis is the third in the order of birth; Emelia and Eugene are both deceased; and Henry of the family circle.

August Richard was a native of the Basses- Pyrenees, in France. and when he came to Cali- fornia as a young man, he brought with him the experience and traditions of a corner of the globe where the natives thoroughly understood how to

coax nature to do her best. He did not find it difficult therefore, to specialize in fancy truck farm- ing for exclusive trade; and on settling in Alviso, in 1869, he was able to purchase a home tract of twenty- one acres of land on the Alviso road. Louis attended the Alviso school and remained at home with his father until the death of the latter in 1883.

Pushing out into the world, Louis Richard worked for wages on farms in the vicinity of Alviso, and then, in 1886, he started to farm for himself on the old Young Ranch of 400 acres located at the north end of the Zanker Lane, off the Alviso-Milpitas road. This was a grain and stock ranch, and he leased it until Mr. Standish purchased it in 1914. In that year, Mr. Richard moved onto the farm of 120 acres on the Alviso-Milpitas road, devoted to grain rais- ing; and he has since resided on the ranch. Since then he has also purchased a small ranch of twenty- seven acres at the north end of the Zanker Lane, just west of the Standish Ranch; and there he has re- cently completed a well, to obtain the water necessary for irrigation purposes, and has succeeded in getting an abundant supply. A broadminded Democrat in favor of every progressive movement, Mr. Richard has been especially active in supporting whatever tended to conserve the resources of the state; and for a number of years he rendered good service to his fellow-citizens in the capacity of game warden for the northern part of Santa Clara County.

NEWMAN HALL .- Erected in 1914, Newman Hall of San Jose will ever stand as a monument to its builder, the late Archbishop of San Francisco, Patrick William Riordan, through whose generosity it was made possible, while its name will recall that great prelate of the Roman Catholic Church, Cardi- nal Newman, whose kindly spirit won for him the love and veneration of his people.

The Newman Club of San Jose was organized pri- marily as an institution among the Catholic girls to foster the ideals that have been the basis of progres- sive civilization during the Christian era. The earliest manifestation of the idea of a Catholic university club seems to have been at Oxford. The Newman society there, under the direction of the Jesuits, organized in the early '90s. The first club of the kind in America was an organization of Catholic stu- dents at Harvard in 1895. Similar organizations followed until there are Catholic clubs in most of the state universities and a number of the normal schools and teachers' colleges, and at Vassar, DePauw. Cor- nell, Bryn Mawr, Smith, Columbia, Brown, Stanford.

The substantial brick and concrete structure erected at 75 South Fifth Street, San Jose, about seven years ago, is now the home of 160 young women students of the State Teachers College at San Jose. It was one of the last activities that marked the life achievements of Archbishop Riordan, his death oc- curring in December, 1914. A large, one-story struc- ture, it has a large auditorium with a splendidly- equipped stage, an ideal recreation hall, a library, reading room, great hospitable-looking fireplaces and an open lanai attractively fitted with porch furni- ture, and there is no question regarding the enjoy- ment of the young women who are fortunate in this environment. Here they may find not only a place for rest, study and recreation, but a place where they may attend lectures, hear good music, and enjoy other cultural advantages, all of which are to better equip them for their profession as teachers.

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Father Collins, the rector of St. Patrick's Church of San Jose, is chaplain of the club and through him spiritual pabulum is liberally supplied; it has a board of directors consisting of twelve ladies of San Jose, while the discipline and the details of the busi- ness is in charge of a resident secretary. In addition to its marked Christian character, it breathes out a strictly Californian spirit and is a valuable adjunct to the State Teachers' College.

BART GATTUCCIO, M. D .- Among the many physicians who loyally responded to their country's call during the late war, giving of their professional services during that crucial time, must be mentioned Dr. Bart Gattuccio. Ahle and dependable, he is fast taking a place among the foremost practitioners of San Jose. He maintains a suite of offices in the Bank of San Jose Building, where he has been located for the past three years. Dr. Gattuccio was born in Tratra, Province of Palermo, Sicily, on July 28, 1893, the son of Joseph and Sarah (De Matteo) Gat- tuccio, who came to Santa Clara County when Bart was but a lad. His parents are ranchers in the Ever- green district, owning a thirty-acre fruit ranch.

Bart Gattuccio attended the Evergreen grammar school and later the San Jose high school where he graduated with the class of 1912. He then matricu- lated at the Hahnemann Medical College, at San Francisco, now affiliated with the University of Cali- fornia and there he took the regular four-year medi- cal course, graduating in 1916. After that he served as an interne at the San Francisco County Hospital for a year, then went to Santa Cruz and opened up an office and practiced in Santa Cruz County for a year. The war breaking out at that time, he enlisted in the medical service of the U. S. Army and was stationed at Ft. Riley, Kans., at Camp Lewis, and Camp Kearney, where he received his honorable dis- charge, having been given his commission as first lieutenant. The war being over, doffing his uniform for civilian attire, he returned to San Jose there to resume his practice.

Dr. Gattuccio's marriage, which occurred Decem- ber 16, 1920, united him to Miss Anna Wallfisch who was born in New York City, but reared in San Francisco. He is prominent both socially and pro- tessionally, and enjoys a large and growing general practice. Fraternally, he is a member of the Amer- ican Legion, and is a member of the national, state and county medical societies, in all of which he is a popular leading member.

THOMAS C. HOGAN .- San Jose owes much to such experienced and enterprising men as Thomas C. Hogan, the junior member of Messrs. Popp & Hogan, the popular printers, for a first-class exposition of the "art preservative of arts," and the steadily-increas- ing patronage accorded this wide-awake firm is well deserved. A native son, and one always alive to whatever makes for the development and fame of the Golden State, Mr. Hogan was born at San Jose on December 4, 1865, the son of Henry Hogan, a painter who rose to be a contractor. He married Miss Bridget McCarthy, with whom and their children he came from Boston across the Isthmus of Panama in 1863. Landing at San Francisco, the family pushed inland to San Josc. There were cleven chil- dren and nine grew to maturity; but only six are now surviving.

Having progressed through the public schools, Thomas became a student at St. Joseph's College,

at San Jose, and then he learned the printer's trade. He worked for a while on the Times, and then on the Mercury, and then, in 1893, he went into busi- ness for himself. Those familiar with his skill, and that of his partner, their taste, methods of transact- ing business and their high-grade products, will not be surprised to learn that Messrs. Popp & Hogan have done well from their start.

A member of the Native Sons of the Golden West, and their San Jose Parlor No. 22, Mr. Hogan is also a member of the Y. M. I., the Eagles and the Elks. He belongs to the Roman Catholic Church, and he is a Democrat. He has served for two years on the board of library trustees of San Jose, for two years on the board of education, and for four years as a member of the city council.

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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 139

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