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 148

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 148

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Reared and educated in Massachusetts, Emory C. Singletary started for the far west in 1840, being then a youth of sixteen years. After some time spent in the vicinity of the Great Lakes, he located in Walworth County, Wis., and there engaged in farming and stock raising, and became an extensive dealer in cattle. He became well acquainted with many of the prominent men of the states through which he journeyed, and was acquainted with Abra- ham Lincoln. In 1853, accompanying a party in which there were nineteen men, Mr. Singletary crossed the plains to California. Leaving his Wis- consin home in February, he outfitted in Middletown, Logan County, Ill., and May 16, 1853, left Council Bluffs, having with him his family and driving 200 head of cattle. Leaving Salt Lake City on the left, the party came down the Humboldt Valley, and had several skirmishes with the Indians on the way, but arrived at Beckwith Pass, Colusa County, Cal., in October, in good condition, having nearly every head of stock. Purchasing land near Colusa, he em- barked in farming and stockraising, and for several years was the largest and best-known cattle dealer in the state. Later he became a horse breeder of note, and shipped many horses to the eastern mar- kets. He also became one of the largest landholders of the state, at one time holding title to over 35,000 acres. In 1873, he sold 9,700 acres of land and re- moved to the Santa Clara Valley, hoping to regain his health, which had become impaired, and there he resided until his death. He formerly owned about 20,000 acres of land in Kern County, which he later sold, and also owned the Calden ranch of 2,200 acres. In 1874 he was one of the organizers and the first vice-president of the First National Bank of San Jose, and was a stockholder at the time of his death; he was also a stockholder in the Bank of Visalia, Cal. For a number of years he carried on a large business as a money lender, being one of the best- known brokers of this locality. In 1884 he built his fine residence on Stockton Avenue, surrounded by all the comforts and luxuries of that day.

Mr. Singletary was twice married. in Walworth, Wis., he married Caroline A. Wilson, a native of Ohio, a daughter of Alexander Wilson, a pioneer farmer of Wisconsin. She passed away while resid- ing in Colusa County, Cal. On January 11, 1877, Mr. Singletary married Miss Florence Grigsby, who was born near Potosi, Grant County, Wis., a daugh- ter of William E. Grigsby. Educated in the public schools of Wisconsin and in the State Normal School at Platteville, Wis., she taught school in her native state and in fowa for a number of terms. Coming to the Pacific Coast in 1870, she was a teacher in

Paul HP Cordes Cordes

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HISTORY OF SANTA CLARA COUNTY

the Bishop Scott School, in Portland, Ore., for a year. In 1871 she taught in Santa Clara County, and subsequently entered the San Jose Normal School, from which she was graduated in 1874, and in which she was afterwards a teacher until her mar- riage. She was the mother of two children, Emory Grigsby and George Curtis, twins, the former de- ceased and the latter a resident of San Jose. Mr. Singletary was a member of Friendship Lodge No. 210. F. & A. M. For a number of years he was one of the directors of the State Agricultural Society, and was a life member and one of the first organ- izers of the Marysville, Cal., fair. Mrs. Singletary is a member of the Isabella Chapter, D. A. R., and is a member of the Episcopal Church of San Jose.

PAUL H. CORDES .- Another citizen of the kind which Americans have always appreciated, and of a type which Germany, especially in earlier years, fre- quently gave to both America and California, was the late Paul H. Cordes, who was born at Hanover, Germany, August 18, 1840, and came to America in the spring of 1855, when he crossed the Atlantic as a steward, thus earning more than his way. He married Miss Mary E. Bicknell, July 3, 1859, who died at the home place near Gilroy on June 3, 1892. survived by a son and two daughters: Paul Henry, died 1907: Mrs. T. F. White, and Mrs. George D. Monnin. May 16, 1897, Mr. Cordes married Mrs. Izora Viers, who died February 29, 1915. For many years before he acquired land, Mr. Cordes worked as a gardener, at Oakland, growing vegetables extensively in the '60s upon land, at the corner of Fourteenth Street and Broadway, where now stands the metrop- olis. When he sold out, it was to engage in more extensive grain farming in the San Joaquin Valley.

Mr. Cordes made it a principle and a practice to treat his employees as he would like to have been treated when he first started out at the bottom of the ladder; with the result that he was always able to command loyal service. By industry, foresight and strictest integrity, he acquired, one by one, sev- eral ranches, totaling over 438 acres-bare fields, when he took hold of them, and requiring much pioneer work before they could be made to bear fruit. He gradually developed these lands, and in 1875 the family located at "The Nest" near Gilroy, in Santa Clara Valley. Mr. Cordes was widely es- teemed, for he was half a century ahead of his gen- eration. He was among the very first to see the future of the fruit industry, and had many vines and trees set out before other folks thought of doing the same. He had learned the secret of real success as a boy, and he lived to be seventy-eight years old and to enjoy the fruits of his hard and honest labor, pass- ing away on June 6, 1917.

THOMAS F. WHITE .- Interesting among the efficient executive whose proficiency is undoubtedly due to a sensible reference frequently to the exper- ience of the past, is Thomas F. White, who resides upon the P. H. Cordes place, on the Watsonville Road, about seven miles northwest of Gilroy. He was born at San Jose, on St. Valentine's Day, 1867, the son of Thomas and Mary A. (Ford) White, whose life-story is given elsewhere in this volume; and was reared and schooled mostly at Gilroy. He grew up as a farmer's boy, and worked for his mother until he was twenty-three years of age; and then he struck out for himself into the world.

On June 24, 1896, Mr. White married at Gilroy, Miss Anna L. Cordes, the eldest daughter of the late Paul Il. Cordes, a sturdy pioneer of California and the Santa Clara Valley; and this union was blessed with the birth of three daughters, Miss Marie L. White, Miss Laura F., and Miss Gladis White, who were educated in Oakland and San Francisco. For several years Mr. and Mrs. White resided at San Jose: and from 1897 to 1902, Mr. White served as a deputy sheriff. In 1903 he removed to Oakland, where he entered the employ of the Traffic Depart- ment of the Oakland Rapid Transit Company; and since then he has owned a fine residence in that city. He retired from railroad service, however, at the time of the death of his father-in-law, June 6, 1916; when he took active management of the Cordes es- tate. He is a Republican, and member of the Wood- men of the World; is a hard, intelligent worker, and a mighty good citizen.

ROLLA BUTCHER, SR .- A distinguished and influential pioneer whose interesting life story, setting forth a career of great usefulness, inspired by high ideals and practical aims, will ever be a part of the history of the Golden West, was the late Rolla Butcher, who, for many years identified with notable mining interests, became known and honored among financiers for the shrewd judgment characterizing all his business affairs. He was born in Wood County. Va., in 1825, and his early days were spent upon his father's farm. He studied hard to acquire an educa- tion and in his young manhood was a teacher in the schools of his section; later he was extensively en- gaged in the lumber business on the Kanawha River. but the heavy floods of 1856-57 entailed such losses as to compel him to retire from this pursuit.

Going from his native state to Missouri, Mr. Butcher took up teaching. taking particular interest in teaching geology and metallurgy, and later took up metallurgy as a profession, becoming an eminent exponent of that science, and in time was honored by the naming after him the city of Rolla, Mo., the seat of the School of Mines and Metallurgy, of the Uni- versity of Missouri. He then resolved to make min- ing his life work and in 1857 joined Albert Sidney Johnston's expedition to Salt Lake; his primary pur- pose was to put his knowledge of mining into prac- tice in the great mining country of the Far West. and secondarily to get the protection of the military forces during those perilous days of Indian and Mor- mon uprising.

At Salt Lake City he became interested in mining, going from there to Idaho, and thence to Mon- tana, where he became acquainted with such men as the Walker brothers, Senator William A. Clark, Mar- cus Daly, Senator George R. Hearst, and other pioneer mining men. Going to Butte County, Cal., he was married there and remained for a time, then returned to Idaho, and from there went to Butte, Mont., where he developed some noted mines, among them the famous Alice Mine, which was afterward sold to Walker Brothers of Salt Lake City; this was later listed in the Eastern stock market for $10,000,- 000. Mr. Butcher also owned and operated the Star West Mine.

While in Butte County, Cal., Mr. Butcher met and married Miss Emma Ann Smith, who was born in

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HISTORY OF SANTA CLARA COUNTY

Essex County, England, on April 24, 1834, the daughter of Samuel and Elizabeth (Cheke) Smith, both descendants of distinguished English families. Her father, Samuel Smith, an Essex County farmer, was born on October 13, 1809, while her mother, Elizabeth Cheke, was born at Essex, England, on June 5, 1811, a descendant of Sir John Cheke, the famous English statesman and scholar, whose life span stretched from 1514 to 1557, and whose life story may be found in English histories and also in the Encyclopedia Brittanica. He was a professor of Greek and actively identified with the introduction of classical study at both Oxford and Cambridge. He became the tutor of Edward, the son of King Henry VIII, and when the former came to the throne he was also his counsellor. Samuel Smith came to the United States with his family in 1862, and after a short stay at Council Bluffs, he crossed the plains with his family, traveling by ox team; while en route his death occurred near Silver Creek, on the banks of which he was buried. Mrs. Smith continued to reside in Utah, reaching the age of ninety-three, and was the mother of four children, of whom Mrs. Butcher was the second. She received a common school training in her native country and was the first of her family to come to America, ac- companying friends with whom she had lived in Lon- don. After a trip of six months, across the ocean and then across the plains to Salt Lake City, they ar- rived in Butte County, Cal., in 1857, and there she was married to Mr. Butcher. Three children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Butcher: Rolla, is represented elsewhere in this volume; Josephine married A. C. Hollenbeck and passed away in 1900, leaving a daughter, Elizabeth; Arthur C., is an orchardist, re- siding on a portion of the original Butcher ranch at Butcher's Corners, Santa Clara County.

In 1881 Rolla Butcher sold out his mining interests on account of failing health and came to Santa Clara County, Cal., where he bought 160 acres and started in to improve this land, which was located between Santa Clara and Sunnyvale. He was left but a short time in the enjoyment of his home, however, as he passed away February 13, 1882. His widow still makes her home on part of the ranch, in the enjoy- ment of all her faculties at the age of eighty-eight. She can look back on a well-spent life, as through her wise management and the industry of her sons the ranch property was brought to a high state of im- provement and brought in an excellent income, al- though her husband's long illness had left his finan- cial affairs considerably involved at the time of his death. During his lifetime Rolla Butcher was a con- sistent Democrat and influential in his party's coun- cils. Patriotic and public spirited, he was particularly interested in education for the masses and served as an active member of the board of education of Butte, Mont., and as its presiding officer for several terms. He was also county commissioner of Silver Bow County, Mont., and had to he so chosen, any office of trust in the gift of the people would have been at his command, so highly was he respected.

ROLLA BUTCHER .- A prosperous rancher who may well be proud of both the enviable traditions of his cultured, historic family and also his own relation as a native son of the Golden State, is Rolla Butcher, who first saw the light in Butte County, and now resides on the State Highway, between Santa Clara and Sunnyvale. He was born May 26, 1864, the son of Rolla Butcher, a native of Virginia, who had mar- ried Miss Emma A. Smith, who was born in England. The father was reared to manhood in his native state and then went out to Missouri, where he followed teaching and became a noted metallurgist. In 1857 he came out to Utah with Albert Sidney Johnston's expedition, later in Idaho and Montana continuing the distinguished career elsewhere narrated in this historical work. He passed away in 1882, leaving a fine record for valuable contributions to human prog- ress, particularly as a mining man, and one greatly interested in educational matters. Mrs. Butcher is still living at the age of eighty-eight and resides on the ranch adjoining the home place of her son.

Rolla Butcher attended the public schools of his locality and later went to Ames, la., where he pur- sued the civil engineer's course at the Iowa State College, graduating with the class of '83. Prior to that he had been in Butte, Mont., had carried the first copy of the first paper printed there, and as printer's devil on the Butte Tri-Weekly Miner had set up the first report received of the Custer mas- sacre, late in June, 1876. Later he learned the black- smith trade, and on coming to California, whither the Butcher family had removed, he became a regis- tered pharmacist.

In San Luis Obispo County, on November 20, 1895, Mr. Butcher was married to Miss Minnie Matthews, a native of Petaluma, and the daughter of Elias M. Matthews, who was born near Dayton, O. In 1852 he crossed the plains of California, arriving at Los Angeles about Christmas time. He brought his wife and two children with him from South Bend, Ind., where he had lived and worked as an architect and builder, and where he had taken for his life com- panion Miss Juliette Phelps. The family removed from Los Angeles to Petaluma and Mr. Matthews passed away at San Luis Obispo at the age of eighty- nine, while Mrs. Matthews died when she was eighty- one. They were the parents of four children, Mrs. Butcher being the fourth.

For many years Mr. Butcher was a fruit buyer for a wholesale house in San Francisco and through that experience he has become thoroughly familiar with the fruit business and well acquainted with the fruit men of California. He is now a successful horti- culturist, and one of his orchards is planted entirely to cherries and interplanted to peaches, and is highly cultivated. In all these enterprises Mr. Butcher has been ably assisted by the good counsel and en- couragement of his wife, a truly noble woman, and they are both highly esteemed as among the most substantial citizens of Santa Clara County. The family reside on their ranch, admirably situated on the State Highway near Butcher's Corners, between Santa Clara and Sunnyvale. Two sons have been born to them, Rolla Matthews and Craig Cheke, both in their names honoring their worthy ancestors. The former served in the Marine Corps during the war and the latter is helping manage the home place.

Susanna W. Fourcade

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HISTORY OF SANTA CLARA COUNTY

SUSANNA W. FOURCADE .- A prominent and successful rancher of Paradise Valley, Santa Clara County, Cal., is Susanna W. Fourcade, whose skill as a manager of her property has effected her entrance into a field in which men only are thought to excel. Most of her life has been spent in the Santa Clara Valley, her parents coming to California in 1869, when she was four years of age. Mrs. Fourcade was born in Sunderland, County of Durham, England, on May 4, 1865, and is a daughter of the late John Douglas, who had married Miss Susanna Stovert, and they were both natives of England. Her grandfather, John Stovert. was a shipbuilder and became very wealthy and he died in England. John Douglas and his father, Martin Douglas, were rope manufacturers in England, but after coming to California John Douglas speculated in mining stocks. He died at the age of seventy-seven and the mother, at seventy.

Mrs. Fourcade was reared in Santa Clara County. Her first marriage in San Jose, in 1882, united her with Manuel Gallarda, a native of New Mexico, and they had five children; P. H. is in the real estate and nursery business at Chowchilla, Cal., John W. is a vineyardist and orchardist there and is the father of four children; Alexander is married and has four sons and is a dairyman in the Chowchilla district; Rose Ethel is the wife of Peter Peller and they reside in Santa Clara County; Alice married John Pasch and is deceased, and her son, Robert F., has been reared by Mrs. Fourcade. In 1896 Mrs. Fourcade moved into Paradise Valley and managed and worked a ranch while the children were growing up. They cut 300 cords of wood from the timber on this ranch. In 1907 she purchased fifteen acres of fine valley land one-half mile from her other home and set out a vine- yard and it is now full bearing; seventy-nine tons of grapes from twelve acres, a record yield, were sold from this ranch in 1920.

In San Jose on December 22, 1920, occurred the marriage that united her with Mitchel Fourcade, a native of California, born near San Luis Obispo on May 29, 1866. He spent fourteen years of his life in San Luis Obispo County, then came to Para- dise Valley where he has continually resided to the present time. He has always been a hard worker and the success that has come to him has been through honest toil. Mrs. Fourcade is a member of the California Prune and Apricot Association and also of the California Grape Growers Exchange. She is the possessor of ample means, representing years of constant toil and the exercise of good judgment in the conduct of various enterprises with which she has been associated and she is an esteemed and worthy citizen of her locality.

ANDREW P. DALHGREN .- A sturdy pioneer of Santa Clara County, held in high esteem by all who knew him, was the late Andrew P. Dalhgren, who was born in Oland, Sweden, May 24, 1847, and came to America at the age of thirty years, locating in Santa Clara County at the Almaden mines, where he was employed as blacksmith. He soon became the active foreman of the furnaces and filled this im- portant position for thirty years. Throughout all the years he was faithful and thorough in his work and was a valuable employee.

The marriage of Mr. Dalhgren, in Sweden, united him with Miss Johanna Christina Larson, who was born in Oland, Sweden, November 22, 1845. They

became the parents of five children: Emma C., is a teacher in the Uvas district school; John O., is em- ployed at the U. S. Navy yards at Mare Island and is the proud possessor of the Congressional Medal of Honor bestowed upon him for meritorious service with the Marines at the time of the Boxer War in China; he is also a veteran of the Spanish-American War; he is married and has three children and the family reside in Vallejo. Henry A. is an ex-service man who served overseas in the U. S. Army with the "Grizzlies" for thirteen months; he is a rancher and carpenter and resides on the home place; Almar J., is a rancher and resides at home; Fred H., is also on the home ranch. During the year of 1891 Mr. Dalhgren purchased a tract of 160 acres on the Little Uvas and added to it from time to time until the ranch now consists of 560 acres. In 1909 his sons planted eighteen acres to vineyard, which has been yielding good profits ever since; twenty acres are in hay and grain and the balance is used for stock and pasture. Every variety of climate and scenery can be obtained on this ranch and many people enjoy the camping privileges of this beautiful section. Mr. Dallgren passed away at his home place on May 23, 1913, at the age of sixty-four years. In his political affiliations he was a Republican, and he was a mem- ber of the Odd Fellows.

JOHN HAROLD STANFIELD .- A native son of California, representing the third generation of the family in Santa Clara County, John Harold Stanfield occupies an enviable position in business circles of Los Gatos and is now capably filling the position of superintendent of plant No. 13 of the California Prune and Apricot Growers' Association. He was born in Los Gatos, September 9, 1893, and is a son of James J. and Suc M. (Place) Stanfield, honored pioneers of Santa Clara County. The father has won a position of prominence as an orchardist and financier and is one of the best known and most highly respected residents of this district. Their family numbered two children, of whom the daugh- ter, Helen, is deceased. The son, J. H. Stanfield, was graduated from the Los Gatos high school and afterward spent three years as a student at Santa Clara College, pursuing a course in mining engi- necring. Subsequently he went to Alaska, following his profession in that country for three years, and then returned to California. For a time he had charge of the management of his father's ranch and then became inspector for the California Prune and Apricot Growers' Association. His excellent work in that connection led to his promotion to the posi- tion of superintendent of plant No. 13 at Los Gatos in 1919, and under his capable management the ac- tivities of the organization at this point have been attended with a gratifying measure of success.

Mr. Stanfield was united in marriage to Miss Sara Shiels, of San Francisco, and they now have two daughters, Susan Belle and Sara Margaret. His public spirit finds expression in his membership in the Chamber of Commerce and he is a member of Los Gatos Lodge No. 292, F. & A. M. An energetic, alert and progressive young business man, he has already advanced to a substantial point on the high- road to success, and he worthily bears a name that for almost seven decades has been synonymous with business integrity and enterprise in this locality.

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HISTORY OF SANTA CLARA COUNTY

JAMES GOULD .- The life record of James Gould constituted a fine example of manliness and industry and his demise deprived Santa Clara County of one of its most valued and highly respected resi- dents. He was a native of the state of New York and was born at Newburgh on the Hudson, in 1836, his parents being John and Mary ( Lombard) Gould. He attended the grammar schools of his native city and then served an apprenticeship to the carpenter's trade, which he followed in connection with farm- ing. From 1873 until 1876 he resided in Worthing- ton, Minn., going from there to Forest Grove, Ore., where he spent four and one half years. His next re- moval took him to Spokane, Wash. When they

settled in Spokane there were only 250 white people in the town, but plenty of Indians, great beggars, always asking for muck-a-muck (meaning bread and meat). Mr. Gould was engaged in carpentering and farming. He could have taken Government land in what is now Spokane, but it did not appeal to him because it did not lay so well for farming. He re- mained there until 1897, and then came to California, purchasing a ten-acre tract on the Shannon Road, in Santa Clara County. To the cultivation and im- provement of this place he devoted his attention until his demise, transforming it into a highly productive prune orchard. It was an almond orchard when he bought it, but he grafted it to prunes, and they are now large healthy trees that produce a richer and better fruit than on the native prune. His orchard is noted for its excellent fruit, and he took particular pleasure in caring for it. He was an honored vet- eran of the Civil War, in which he served for three years as a member of Company F, One Hundred Forty-fourth New York Volunteers, valiantly de- fending the Union cause, and was twice wounded in battle. Mr. Gould was the fourth in a family of eight boys and one girl. Seven of the boys fought in the Civil War. a splendid record for one family. A brother, Charles Gould died in service; another, Wesley Gould, was six months in Salisbury prison, and the only one of the family living.

Mr. Gould was married in Hancock, N. Y., on March 4, 1860, to Miss Mary Elizabeth Hughes, who was born at Summit, N. Y., the daughter of Harvey and Elizabeth (Docks) Hughes, born in Albany and Otsego Counties, N. Y., respectively. Her father was a farmer and in time removed to Delaware County, N. Y., where he resided until his death, his wife having preceded him several years. This worthy couple had seven children, Mary Elizabeth being the third oldest in order of birth. Two of her brothers, Albert and Warren Hughes, served in New York regiments in the Civil War. Albert was wounded at Gettysburg and also at Atlanta. Both have now passed away. The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Gould was blessed with five children, three of whom grew up. Martha Elizabeth, called Libbie, is Mrs. Alfred R. Stratton of Spokane, Wash ; Orrin J., a newspaperman, passed away in Spokane in December, 1906. Fred H. was in the U. S. Army for nine years; he served through the Spanish-American War, both in Cuba and the Philippines, and later was in the Boxer rebellion, and in recognition of distinguished service performed while stationed in the Philippines, was awarded a medal. He is now superintendent of mails in the Watertown, N. Y., postoffice. When Congress declared war on Ger-

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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 148

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