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 141

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 141

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

She attended the schools in San Jose, enjoying both grammar and high school advantages, and then clerked for Nathan & Dohrman, the Palace Crockery dealers. On May 2, 1894. she was married to the late Emil G. Hirsch, a native of Chicago who came to Santa Clara as a young man, and for eighteen years worked for the Eberhard Tannery Company. He was elected justice of the peace in Santa Clara and served for a term; during this time he studied law and became well versed in all legal matters. He then went into undertaking, after he and his tal- ented wife had taken the courses at Barnes School of Embalming, from which both graduated, receiv- ing state licenses. However he passed away just as he had the business established, leaving a daughter, Ora Lee, a graduate of Santa Clara High and the Practical School of Business in San Jose and during the war saw service as a yeomanette, rising to the position of Chief Yeomanette. She is now the wife

of Theodore E. Merritt, a broker in Oklahoma City, Okla. Judge Hirsch was a prominent Mason and was past master of Liberty Lodge, F. & A. M., Santa Clara, and was also a member of San Jose Chapter, R. A. M. and San Jose Commandery, K. T., and Islam Temple A. A. O. N. M. S. in San Francisco. He was also an Odd Fellow in which he was a past grand.

Mrs. Hirsch drew the plans, and built and paid for her fine building at the corner of Benton and Jackson streets, in Santa Clara, which is designed exclusively for undertaking; and she is able to de- velop her ideas as to the ideal thing in undertaking, as fast as the ever-growing patronage makes it pos- sible to expand. She belongs to the Rebekah lodge of Santa Clara and Santa Clara Chapter, Order of East- ern Star; and also to the Kings Daughters in the same city, and she is a member of the Episcopal Church in Santa Clara. She is a niece of J. J. Son- theimer, the father of Urban Sontheimer, justice of the peace of San Jose, and of Gustav Nelson, the retired capitalist of that city, and she is also a niece of the late John J. Stock of San Jose. Thus popular and welcome in business, religious and fraternal cir- cles, Mrs. Hirsch exerts an enviable influence for good, to the brightening and stimulating of many lives, and accomplishing far more than merely the making of success in a commercial enterprise.

CHARLES M. RICHARDS, M. D .- Prominent among the representatives of medical science in Cali- fornia may well be mentioned Dr. Charles M. Rich- ards, the Roentgenologist, of whom both San Jose and Santa Clara County are justly proud. He was torn in the pretty home town of Watsonville on No- vember 10, 1881, the son of William S. Richards, who came to California with his family in 1878 and five years later removed to San Jose, where he be- came president of the Security Bank, which he had organized. He married Miss Alice Alexander, a cul- tured lady who exerted a wide influence, made many friends and passed from this life to the Great Beyond on April 22, 1920, Mr. Richards having preceded her, his death occurring on June 10, 1915.

Dr. Richards began his educational training at the Washburn School, after which he matriculated at Stanford University from which he was duly grad- uated, with the Bachelor of Arts degree, in 1903. Going East, he commenced the study of medicine at Harvard, and in 1907 was graduated from the medi- cal department of Harvard University, with the degree of M. D. "cum laude." He spent a year as interne in the Boston City Hospital, then went to Europe and studied in Vienna. Returning to America Dr. Richards settled at San Jose, the only place in which he has ever practiced, and from the beginning of his career here he has been unusually success- ful. He belongs to the American Medical Associa- tion, the State and County medical societies, and also the Pacific Coast Roentgen Ray Society, American Roentgen Ray Society, the Radiological Association of North America. In addition, as a representative nian of affairs, he is vice-president of the Security State Bank of San Jose.

Dr. Richards was married at San Jose on August 28, 1907, to Miss Alice Rodgers, a native of Quincy, Cal., and the daughter of Chas. G. and Elizabeth ( Hemler) Rodgers; and their union has been blessed with the birth of two sons: William S. and Charles M.

Emma Hirsch

901

HISTORY OF SANTA CLARA COUNTY

Richards, Jr. The family attend the First Pres- byterian Church of San Jose. Dr. Richards is a member of the Elks, the Rotary and the Country clubs, and he devotes some of his leisure to his hobby, the study and enjoyment of music, being di- rector of the Elks Concert Orchestra of San Jose, and the Richards Club,-a chorus of male voices. He is a former member of the San Jose Library Board and the Board of Health, and during the World War he served for eighteen months in the U. S. forces as captain in the medical corps with Base Hospital No. 30 in France. Since returning from the service he has limited his practice exclusively to X-ray and radium work.

ANGELO DI FIORE .- Coming to California in the vigor of his early manhood forty-eight years ago, Angelo Di Fiore, is an excellent representative of the pioneer element of his day. Daring, enterprising, and full of life and energy, he at once became identified with the development of the horticultural resources of the state. A native of Italy, he was born in Paler- mo on January 23, 1848, a son of Dominic and Rose Di Fiore, his parents coming to the United States forty-two years ago. Both parents have passed away.

Angelo di Fiore was educated in the public schools of Italy and Santa Clara County, and came to Amer- ica when he was twenty-two years old. He worked on ranches for a time and later traveled over the East and South, dealing in oranges and other fruits and became well known as an honest and conscien- tious dealer. In 1874 he settled in Santa Clara County and his first purchase of land consisted of twelve acres on which he built his house and planted his orchard, and still is the home-place. He bought another place of eleven acres near by and set that to fruit trees; then he purchased forty acres in the Berryessa district, and in addition to that has 240 acres above Saratoga; fifty acres now in grapes, which is one of the most profitable ranches in the fertile Santa Clara Valley. It is known as the Sum- mit Rock Ranch, and in order to reach this vineyard he was obliged to build seven miles of private road. Success has come to him through his faithfulness, industry and hard work, and he is counted among the most enterprising and successful orchardists of his community.

Mr. Di Fiore's marriage occurred in Santa Clara and united him with Miss Rose Flora, and they are the parents of five interesting and intelligent chil- dren: Rose, Elizabeth, Angeline, Domenico and Genevia. In national politics he supports and votes for the candidates as endorsed by the Republican party. The optimistic spirit which he possesses sus- tained him through all the trials of frontier existence and brought him, in the enjoyment of a competency, to the present era of prosperity and progress.

BYRON MILLARD .- Anyone who has been in San Jose for a considerable time knows what su- perior postal facilities that progressive, fast-develop- ing city enjoys, but not everyone is aware that the public is indebted for the perfected and well-main- tained service largely to Byron Millard, the genial and accommodating postmaster. He first saw the light at Green Lake, Wis., on October 9, 1861. His father was George S. Millard from New York State, who had married Miss Phoebe J. Cook, also a native of that state; and they became early settlers in Wis- consin in the '50s. After a while, they migrated to

California and San Jose; and here the esteemed old folks lived until their deaths. They had six children, and Byron was their third child.

He attended the grammar and high schools in Wisconsin, and for several terms taught school in that state and in North Dakota. Then he was in the railway mail service for six years in North Dakota and Montana, but in 1893 came out to California. He went into the book and stationery trade, and in part- nership with his brother, F. J. Millard, started the firm of Millard Bros., still under that name. They started in a modest way, worked hard and have been very successful.

On October 14, 1891, Mr. Millard married Miss Gertrude B. Tilden, a graduate of Jamestown College and a member of a long-established New England family. Their union has been blessed with four children: Phoebe passed away at the age of eight; Bryant Tilden is a graduate of Stanford and as a civil engineer worked on the State Highway; Roger B. is in high school; and the next younger is Ger- trude B. Millard. The family attend the Trinity Episcopal Church and they share Mr. Millard's en- thusiasm for fishing and camping in the mountains.

Mr. Millard's party preferences lead him to affiliate with the Democrats, but he is both broadminded and public-spirited, and has served very acceptably as a member of the board of education. He belongs to the Lions Club and was a director of the Cham- ber of Commerce for a number of years, and always takes an active part in civic affairs. Very naturally he came into line for still greater service to his tellow-citizens, and he was made postmaster in July, 1913, serving until 1922, his appointment being one of the first in the state by President Wilson.

ROBERT I. BENTLEY, JR .- A well-organized, highly productive and very prosperous establishment of which San Jose is justly proud is the Muirson Label & Carton Company, whose president is Robert I. Bentley, Jr., a native of Santa Clara, where he was born on April 3, 1887. His father, Robert I. Bentley, was born in Chicago, the son of a Methodist Epis- copal clergyman who came out to San Jose in early days. The father came with his folks to San Jose when he was six years of age, and eventually became manager of the Fifth Street Cannery. Now he is president of the California Packing Corporation. He married Miss Georgia Dixon, a native of Santa Clara County, whose parents came across the plains with the Pyle family. Growing up, Miss Dixon taught school and so had a special share in helping to lay the first timbers for the commonwealth's foundation. Both parents of our subject are still living.

The family left for Sacramento when Robert was still a child, and he attended the Military Academy at Belmont and afterwards finished at the University of California. Then he was with the California Fruit Canners Association in San Francisco until 1910, and after that went into business for himself. In 1914 he came to San Jose and with G. A. Muirson estab- lished the business with which his name has become so intimately associated. Mr. Muirson was presi- dent until his death in December, 1919, when Mr. Bentley succeeded to that responsible office. The company employs fifty men, and has another plant at Stockton where it gives steady employment to as many more skilled workers. Mr. Bentley belongs to the San Jose Chamber of Commerce and also to the Rotary Club. In national politics a Republican, he

902

HISTORY OF SANTA CLARA COUNTY

does what he can to favor sound legislation favorable to a healthy state of business good for everybody.

At Oakland, on April 27. 1908, Mr. Bentley was married to Miss Edna Whitney, of that city, and they have two children,-a son, Robert I. Bentley, third, and a daughter named Edith Adams Bentley. Both the Country and the Sainte Claire clubs claim Mr. Bentley as one of their own, and he is fond of golf and other outdoor recreations. Patriotic and public- spirited to a high degree, he was major of field artillery in the recent World War, enlisting as a pri- vate in June, 1917, and served six months in France.

JAMES MILTON KIDWELL .- Hard work, economy and perseverance constitute the basis for the success of James Milton Kidwell, a rancher on the Homestead Road, two miles west from Santa Clara. He is a native of Missouri, born near Newark, Knox County, August 30, 1878, the son of Lee and Martha (Eve) Kidwell. The father was a native of Kentucky and removed to Danville, Il1, when a young man and farmed there; later he removed to Knox County, Mo., where he farmed near Newark until he sold the place and returned to Illinois, engaging in farming and stock raising near Danville, Vermillion County, in time becoming the most extensive feeder of cattle in that region. He died in 1885, aged only thirty-five years, leaving a widow and five children, of whom James Milton is the third oldest. The mother con- tinued on the farm for a year when she moved to Knox County, Mo. She was also born in Kentucky. but her brothers were living in Missouri, and there she purchased eighty acres of land and reared her family. A noble woman, she lived for her children and did all she could to rear and educate them well. She passed away at the age of sixty years.

James Milton Kidwell divided his time between at- tending the local school and working on the home farm until twelve years of age, after which he worked out on farms for wages, which he gave to his mother. so the most of his education has been obtained by self-study, reading and in the school of experience, and he has become a well-informed man. Soon after reaching his majority he was married at Shelbyville, Shelby County, Mo., August 17, 1898, to Miss Lena Cox, a native of Knox County, Mo., the daughter of James Howard and Rebecca (Plunkett) Cox, born in Indianapolis, Ind., and Sangamon County, Ill., re- spectively, but were married in Missouri and became well-to-do farmers near Newark, Mo. The father is now seventy-two years of age and the mother is sixty- five. Of their six children Mrs. Kidwell is the sec- ond oldest, and she received her education in the pub- lic schools in Missouri. Soon after their marriage they purchased twenty acres at Epworth, Shelby County, and engaged in general farming, until they decided to come to California. Selling their holding they arrived at Santa Clara. Cal., March 13. 1902, where Mr. Kidwell was in the employ of the Pacific Manufacturing Company for eighteen months when they returned to Shelby County, Mo., purchasing an eighty-acre farm. However, their longing and desire to live in the land of sunshine and flowers became so great that they sold this farm and on April 7, 1909, they returned and purchased a home in Santa Clara and Mr. Kidwell returned to his former place of em- ployment, continuing until 1912. when he purchased an eleven-acre ranch, a part of the old Woodham place on Woodhams Avenue, later seventeen acres

adjoining, so he now owns twenty-eight acres in a body. The ranch is amply irrigated and in full-bear- ing prunes and apricots. He also has leased a thirty- seven-acre orchard on the Homestead Road and farms this in connection with his own place. He also owns another residence on Homestead Road as well as town property in Herald, Sacramento County. He has been a close student of horticulture and has be- come one of the best-informed men in that direction in his section. Mr. and Mrs. Kidwell are the parents of two children: Hazel is now Mrs. Morton of San Jose; Carl, a native son, born April 7, 1912, is at home. Mr. and Mrs. Kidwell are both stanch Republicans; fraternally Mr. Kidwell is a member of Santa Clara Lodge No. 238, I. O. O. F. They are both consistent members of the First Baptist Church of Santa Clara in which Mr. Kidwell is a deacon and trustee, while Mrs. Kidwell has been clerk of the official board for several years and is a member of the Ladies' Auxil- iary. She is a woman of much energy and business acumen, and Mr. Kidwell gives much of the credit for his success to her faithful cooperation, encourage- ment and assistance.

EDWARD FRANCIS DISTEL .- Among the men who stand for progress and improvement in all that has to do with the public life of the community and has made a place for himself in the business circles of San Jose, is E. F. Distel, manager of the San Jose Engraving Company. He was born in San Francisco on February 11, 1869, the son of Francois and Josephine (Anstett) Distel. The father came to California in the early sixties and engaged at first in the shoe business and followed this occupation until his death in 1880.

Edward Distel received his education in the schools of San Francisco and then started engraving at the age of sixteen. He was one of the first men to learn the art of photo-engraving in California, studying under Van De Castell and R. S. MeCabe, who intro- duced photo-engraving in San Francisco. The devel- opment of this new art was an epoch-making event in the printing world, as it revolutionized the whole field of illustration. So accustomed is the present generation to life-like illustrations and elaborate lay- outs, worked out with the utmost artistry, as, for instance, in magazine advertising, that it is difficult to realize the radical change that photo-engraving has brought since the days of woodcuts and lithog- raphy. The first money he ever earned was on March 17, 1887, when he made some of the first photo-engraving for R. S. McCabe Company, who furnished all the daily papers of San Francisco, namely, the Morning Call, Evening Bulletin, Daily Alta California, Chronicle, Examiner, Evening Post, Franco-Californian and the Daily Report. On Oc- tober 9, 1902, he came to San Jose, where, on Oc- tober 10, 1902, he established the business in which he is now engaged and where he employs six men. At first it was a hard struggle to get the business on a profitable financial basis but he has now at- tained success, the well-deserved reward of a man who has had to put forth every effort in his early years of business.

Mr. Distel's marriage united him with Winifred Veronica Wise, born in Watsonville, Cal., whose father, Preston Wise, was a veteran of the Mexican War and settled in California in the year 1852. In religious faith Mr. Distel is a Catholic. He is past

-- - -

I m Kidwell Lena a Kidwell

905

HISTORY OF SANTA CLARA COUNTY

grand knight of the San Jose Council Knights of Columbus, and is a member of the Elks, Loyal Or- der of Moose, the Grand Fraternity and the Native Sons of the Golden West. A firm believer in the principle of protection Mr. Distel in national politics is a Republican.

HENRY W. LESTER .- The owner of a large acreage comprising some of the finest orchard prop- erty in the Edenvale district, Henry W. Lester has made a decided success in the field of horticulture. The oldest living son of one of Santa Clara County's most esteemed residents, Mr. Lester was born at Norwich, Conn., on June 6, 1876, his parents being Amos and Carrie (Spicer) Lester, both members of old Colonial families of New London County, Conn., prominent since pre-Revolutionary days in the life of the state.

In 1890 Henry Lester accompanied his parents to California, and his boyhood days here were spent on the ranch, attending school at San Ysidro, where he graduated. He former a partnership with his brother, John S. Lester, and they operated a ranch on Malone Avenue for some time. In 1912 he pur- chased 130 acres of the famous Hayes orchard at Edenvale, and since then he has acquired forty-seven acres devoted to a fine orchard, on Senter Road, near Edenvale. These valuable properties are yielding heavily, producing 650 tons of green fruit in 1921, and they are bringing in a handsome income. Mr. Lester has three irrigation systems on his two places, their cost totaling the sum of $20,000, and he usually requires the services of three men the year around to take care of this large orchard property, using both horses and Yuba tractors in its cultivation.

At Trinity Church, San Jose, in July, 1913, Mr. Lester was married to Miss Ethel Edith Cottle, the daughter of Mrs. Edith R. Cottle, the Cottle family being well-known pioneers of Santa Clara Valley. They have one daughter, Edith Ethel, and reside at the Cottle home place on Snell Road. An industri- ous worker and a man of the strictest integrity, Mr. Lester is keeping up the traditions of his forebears, and well deserves the success that has come to him.

MRS. JAY ORLEY HAYES .- California has al- ways done honor to her women of intellect, culture, influence and leadership, and Santa Clara County will not fail to provide a wreath for those who have contributed to enrich its life. Prominent among such women of true nobility must be numbered Mrs. Jay Orley Hayes, a native of Racine, Wis., where she was reared in an environment of education and cul- ture. Clara Lyon Hayes is the daughter of William Penn and Adelia (Duncombe) Lyon; the former born in Chatham, N. Y., the latter in St. Thomas, Ontario. Both were of English descent. She has one brother, William Penn Lyon, who is business manager of the San Jose Mercury Herald. Her father, William Penn Lyon, was a truly self-made man, who by his strong personality, ability and hard work rose to the high- est place in the judiciary of the state of Wisconsin, to which state he had moved in youth. He occupied many positions of honor and trust in Wisconsin. He was twice elected district attorney of Racine County, was twice elected to the State legislature, both terms serving as speaker of the Assembly; was first captain of Company K of the Eighth Wis- consin Volunteer Infantry, later for three years was

colonel of the Thirteenth Regiment and was mus- tered out of service as brigadier-general. While at the front he was elected judge of the first Wis- consin circuit, later being appointed Justice of the Supreme Court of Wisconsin to which position he was elected several times, during the later years of his service there occupying the position of Chief Jus- tice of the Court. He voluntarily retired from the bench at seventy years of age but later was appoint- ed to the State Board of Control, a board charged with the government of all the penal, reformatory and charitable institutions maintained by the state, and served for about seven years as president of that board. In all these positions he acquitted him- self with distinction and honor; his striking ability, modesty of manner, his fairness to and sympathetic interest in and consideration for others, endeared him to all with whom he came in contact and at- tracted to him a host of loving, loyal friends. The evening of the lives of both Judge and Mrs. Lyon was spent at Edenvale, Cal., with their loving chil- dren and grandchildren.

Clara Lyon, after being prepared for college, en- tered the University of Wisconsin, where she grad- uated in 1876 with the degree of bachelor of science. A few years later she went abroad, traveling through the British Isles and on the continent for a year and a half. She was united in marriage in 1885 with Jay Orley Hayes, an attorney-at-law and mining man. The first year they resided in Ashland and then moved to the mines on the Gogebic range where they lived for a little more than a year, when they came to Edenvale, Cal. Here she devoted her life to her family and children and individually saw to their care and comfort as well as to their training and education while they were growing. When she felt her duty to her own was accom- plished she threw herself into the work of the Moth- ers' Clubs and Parent-Teacher Association, and she helped to organize and establish the work in Santa Clara County. For this work she has been called by many the mother of the Mothers' Clubs of Santa Clara County. She was the first president of the San Jose High School Mothers' Club. She was dis- trict president of the P. T. A. and has been delegate to national conventions on different occasions. On account of her deep interest in the moral education of children Mrs. Hayes prepared a book list for use of supplementary reading for the schools and mem- bers of the P. T. A.

Mrs. Hayes was the representative from Santa Clara County on the Woman's Board of the Panama Pacific Exposition held in San Francisco in 1915. For many years she has been intensely interested in many public and charitable organizations and was a director of the Associated Charities of Santa Clara County for many years. The Travelers' Aid Society has also engrossed her attention, Mrs. Hayes hav- ing been appointed to organize the society for Santa Clara County and she has been a director since its organization. She also aided materially in organiz- ing the Association of the Collegiate Alumni for Santa Clara County and was its first president.

Mrs. Hayes in 1919 served in the capacity of fore- man of the grand jury in Santa Clara County and is said to have been the first woman foreman of a grand jury in the United States. She is an active member of the True Life Church and a trustee from

906

HISTORY OF SANTA CLARA COUNTY

the date of its organization. Her interest in the work of the True Life Church led her to compile and have published a hymnal for the use of the Church for which she wrote twenty-five hymns, one of which appeared in "Heart Songs," a collection of favorite songs published by the Chappel Company of Boston. She assisted her mother in arranging and editing Judge Lyon's letters written during his serv- ice in the Civil War and a volume of the letters with a few of his addresses delivered upon patriotic occasions was presented to each veteran who had served under him during the war or to the families of those who were gone.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

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 141

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