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 174

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

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building. The enterprise of these young men places them in the front rank of the upbuilders of the county.

Mr. Elmer's marriage united him with Miss Edith M. Ames, and they are the parents of one child, Ames Elmer. Mr. Elmer is very popular in all the bigger undertakings for the betterment of both San Jose and Santa Clara County, and took a very active part in all of the war drives during the World War. Mr. Elmer is a past president of the 100 Per Cent Club and was chairman of the 100 Per Cent Industrial Exposition held in San Jose in 1920, which was a record breaker for being the largest ever held here. He is vice-president of the International 100 Per Cent Club and is charter member and director of the San Jose Commercial Club. Mr. Elmer is also a member of the Country Club and is past president of the Hester Improvement Club, and he is very active in the movement to make San Jose double its population. He is decidedly enterprising and progres- sive, and he is an enthusiastic member of the San Jose Chamber of Commerce. Fraternally, he is a member of the San Jose Lodge No. 522 B. P. O. Elks, and in national politics gives his allegiance to the principles of the Republican party. The family reside at 75 Hanchett Avenue.

JOHN JACOB WAGNER .- A resident of Santa Clara County for over forty years, John Jacob Wag- ner lives on a highly improved ranch on the Calde- ron Road, near Mountain View, and is strong, bright and interesting at the age of eighty. He was born at Trevis, Germany, July 4, 1842, a son of Mathias and Anna Maria (Crondhaver) Wagner, both natives of the same kingdom of Prussia. The father was a farmer and mother passed away in 1854, aged forty- three. They were the parents of six children, John Jacob being next to the oldest. The only member of his family who came to America, he embarked from Havre, France, early in 1859 and landed at Castle Garden, March 28, 1859. He stopped in New York for a short time, then started on his western journey, working and traveling until he reached Texas in 1863, but the following August of the same year he removed to Helena, Mont., and was em- ployed in the gold mines there. On July 5, 1871, he left Montana and on March 2 of the following year he arrived at Gold Run, Placer County, Cal. Here he mined for five years when he took a trip back to Germany and remained there on a visit until March 25, 1878, when he returned to California, and went direct to Nevada County, where he worked in the placer mines.

Mr. Wagner's first marriage united him with Miss Lucy Strupp, a daughter of Peter Strupp, also born and reared in Germany. His second marriage oc- curred in Nevada County, and on March 5, 1885, with his wife and five children he came to Mountain View. He bought land, set it out to orchard, also worked in the lumber yards at Mountain View at different kinds of work. He first bought three acres and established his home, and it is still his home; later he bought five acres and improved them, but finally sold them. Mr. and Mrs. Wagner are the parents of seven children: Lucy, died when two years old; Jacob, married Miss Teressa Hinch of Eureka, and they resided in Berkeley until his death three years ago; Annie, is now Mrs. Herbert G. Harvey, living at Grand Forks, N. D., and they are the par-

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ents of four sons; William, is married and resides in Stockton, employed by the Southern Pacific railroad; Lewis, is a druggist and proprietor of Wagner's Drug store, the leading drug store in Mountain View; Frederick, served in the late War in France and is now at home; Francis, died at the age of twelve years. Mr. Wagner is a naturalized citizen and is thoroughly American; he has led an industri- ous, useful and honorable life and has reared his family so that they are highly respected in the local- ities in which they reside.

MRS. SIERRA NEVADA HUBBARD .- A native daughter, Mrs. Sierra Nevada Hubbard was born in Mt. Gregory, Eldorado County, Cal. She is a daugh- ter of Hubbard and Betsey (Newhall) McKoy, natives of Vermont of Scotch and English descent. They removed to Wisconsin and from there Mr. Mc- Koy crossed the plains in an ox-team train in 1849, his wife with her two children coming via Panama to join him in 1852. Mr. McKoy first followed mining at Mt. Gregory, then was in the hotel business in Georgetown, after which he returned to Mt. Gregory and engaged in sawmilling until 1868, when he moved to Santa Cruz and engaged in the hotel business. Again he began lumber manufacturing and had a sawmill at Felton until he sold his lumber interests and retired. He passed away at Felton aged seventy- three. His widow made her home with her daughter, Mrs. Hubbard, but while on a visit to Santa Cruz she died, lacking only three days of being eighty-eight years old. She was active, hale and hearty till the last. A wonderful woman, possessed of a remarkable memory; her narration of early events of pioneer days in California were very interesting. She was the mother of five children as follows: Daudencio Hubbard, resides in Sacramento; Lil- lian Betsey, is Mrs. Hayes of Oakland; Sierra Ne- vada, is Mrs. Hubbard: Annie L., was the wife of Joseph Ball and passed away at Ben Lomond; Norma Cecelia, Mrs. West, resides in Oakland.

Sierra Nevada was the first child born after her parents location in California, being named for the region in which she was born, and was educated in the public schools of Mt. Gregory and at Felton. She was married at her father's home in that place, July 18, 1871, to Thos. Benton Hubbard, a native of Macon County, Mo., born November 14, 1840. His father, Daniel Campbell Hubbard, was born in Ken- tucky and became an carly settler of Macon County, Mo., where he served as sheriff for many years. They were of that sturdy type of American manhood from which came that noble race of trail breakers whose deeds are yet reflected in the progress of the state. Thos. B. Hubbard crossed the plains by wagon in 1852, when twelve years old. Arriving in Eldorado County he soon began mining and pros- pered. In 1858 he removed to Woodland. After his marriage, in 1871, they resided in Woodland for a short time, but soon moved to Felton, where they engaged in the hotel business, and then began lum- bering with his father-in-law. Hubbard McKoy, run- ning a sawmill. The partnership continued for a few years when McKoy sold his interest and retired. A few years later Mr. Hubbard established a lumber yard in San Jose and soon afterwards he formed a partnership with Daniel and Neil Carmichael to op- crate a sawmill in the Santa Cruz mountains. A mill

was also erected in San Jose to do the company's city work-and they built up a big business. Mr. Hubbard was the manager of the San Jose office and yards and was kept very busy and active until his death on November 23, 1917, and since then the business has been managed by his son, A. L. Hub- bard. Mr. Hubbard incorporated the Thos. B. Hub- bard Corporation, of which he was president till he died. He served as supervisor of Santa Cruz County.

Mr. and Mrs. Hubbard had three children; Albert Lester, manager of Hubbard & Carmichael Bros., is also a supervisor of Santa Clara County; Irene, Mrs. Grant, resides with her mother; Susie B., Mrs. Eaton, lives at Lawrence. Mrs. Hubbard is not only a native daughter but is now also one of the pioneers of California. She is active and helpful in matters that have for their aim the building up of the valley; is a member of the Flower Lovers' Club of Santa Clara County, San Jose Chapter No. 31, O. E. S., the White Shrine of Jerusalem, and of the Red Cross. Liberal and progressive she gives generously of her time and means as far as she is able to worthy enterprises. Her daughter, Mrs. Grant, is equally interested with her in civic and social circles being worthy matron of San Jose Chapter, O. E. S., is a member of the executive committee of the local chapter of Red Cross, and is past president of the San Jose Woman's Club.

FOSTER WOODEN CHASE .- Among the old and highly respected citizens of the Summit dis- trict, Santa Clara County, is Foster Wooden Chase, born at East Machias, Me., December 4, 1848. His father, Cyrus Chase, was also born in East Machias and was a lumberman. The Chase family is traced back to England when four Chase brothers came from England to Plymouth colony a few years after the landing of the Mayflower. Great-grandfather Ephraim Chase was born in Massachusetts, and was a pioncer of East Machias, Me., locating there in 1763. He was a millwright but became a lumberman. At the Battle of Machias he commanded one of the three schooners that captured a British sloop-of- war for which he received a commission as a com- mander in the Navy. The grandfather of our sub- ject was Levi Chase, a native of Maine, who mar- ried Lucy Foster, a daughter of Wooden Foster, who also came from Massachusetts to Machias, Me., where he was the pioneer blacksmith, and he, too, took part in the Battle of Machias and with his brother Jacob were the first to refuse to deliver lumher at the demand of the British sloop-of-war. Later on Wooden Foster was in the U. S. revenue service and commanded a revenue cutter.

Cyrus Chase married Sophronia Bagley, who was born at Eastport, Me., a daughter of John Bagley who came from New Hampshire and had served in in War of 1812. Cyrus Chase started for the Cali- fornia gold fields via Panama in 1852, but died on the way aboard ship. Later in life the mother joined the children in California, where she spent the re- mainder of her days.

Of their nine children Foster W. is the next to the youngest and the only one living. After completing the public schools he entered Washington Academy for a short period, but he soon began working in the sawmill in East Machias, continuing from thirteen to eighteen years of age. His brother, Joseph W. Chase,

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HISTORY OF SANTA CLARA COUNTY

had gone to California in 1859, arriving via Cape Horn in San Francisco in the spring of 1860. He had a sawmill in the Santa Cruz Mountains, so when Foster Chase arrived in 1867, having come via the Golden Age from New York to Aspinwall and the Golden Gate to San Francisco, he came to the pres- ent ranch then owned by his brother J. W. In the spring of 1868 he took charge of his brother's lumber yard at Lexington until 1873, when the dis- tributing point was changed back to the Summit and he continued in charge until the lumber busi- ness was discontinued. Mr. Chase then took charge of the present ranch until he purchased it in 1890 and since then has made valuable improvements, having now a fine bearing orchard. He owns 180 acres on the Soquel Road, 36 acres of which is de- voted to the growing of prunes.

Mr. Chase was married at Lexington to Miss Nancy Howell, a native of Missouri who crossed the plains with her parents in 1852 when eighteen years old, their union proving a very happy one until her death in September, 1904. Six children blessed their union as follows: Maude resides in Soquel; Ralph makes his home on the ranch; Charles died at eighteen months; Walter lives at Modesto; Irma is Mrs. Ringold, a resident of this county; Chester, who for years was associated with his father in im- proving the place, is now operating the Chase ranch on his own account. Mr. Chase has a splendid record as a citizen and neighbor; his kindness and hospitality is well known and the younger genera- tion are also highly esteemed. Foster Chase has al- ways been a friend to the cause of education and served as a trustee of schools for many years.

HENRY C. DOERR .- An inspiring illustration of what a man may accomplish, both during his life and in the beneficent influence which such an active, well-spent and highly-useful life may leave behind, is afforded by the late Henry C. Doerr, one of the sons of the esteemed pioneers, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Doerr, of San Jose. He was born, a native son, in San Jose, on January 6, 1871, and all his days were more or less actively identified with the growth and increasing prosperity of Santa Clara County.

Having enjoyed the usual educational advantages, Mr. Doerr grew up to engage in trade, and at the time of his death was both president and manager of the Garden City Electrical Company, and also president of the San Jose Builders' Exchange. He belonged to the Merchants' Association, in which he was an active director, and he was also a director of the San Jose Cooperative Delivery System. He ever had the interest and the welfare of both the city and county at heart, and was constantly work- ing for the advancement of each, and was the in- stigator in having the car line extended to Alviso and the development of the harbor, so that his demise has been naturally very keenly felt.

Mr. Doerr was afflicted with sickness only a few weeks, and at first. in the hope of combatting his ills, he was taken to the O'Connor Sanitarium. Later. he was removed to the home of his parents, where everything possible that medical skill and profes- sional nursing could endeavor was tried in his be- half. Death came quietly at last on April 27. 1920, at the Doerr residence at 266 South Second Street.

Fond to a reasonable degree of social life and pleas- ure, llenry Doerr was one of the leaders in Ob- servatory Parlor No. 177, N. S. G. W. and he also belonged to the Elks and other fraternal orders. Whoever knew him, esteemed and loved him, and his memory will long and sacredly be cherished by more than one mourning circle.

ROBERT EDOUARD REGNART .- A native son of Santa Clara County, Robert Edouard Regnart was born in San Jose, October 26, 1876, a son of Robert and Emily (Keat) Regnart, born in London. England. Grandfather William Regnart was a wholesale butcher in London; he accompanied his four sons, William, Robert, Harry and Arthur, to California in about 1870. The four brothers pur- chased 160 acres in the Cupertino district on what is now Regnart Road. The brothers were also en- gaged in mining and for a time Robert Regnart fol- lowed mining in Arizona. The grandfather and two of the brothers, Robert and Arthur, eventually re- turned to England, but William and Arthur remained. honored old-time residents of the county.

It was in 1880 that Robert Regnart, accompanied by his wife and two children, returned to London, where he engaged in the butcher business, meeting with success. He kept the forty acres in Santa Clara county and had about six acres of orchard on the place. His wife died in 1900. Robert Regnart now resides in Godmanchester, England. The three chil- dren, born of this union, are: Robert Edouard, of this review; Louis, who lives in London, served in the English army during the World War and was on both the Italian and Western fronts; Edwin, also served in the English army and was in the Darda- nelles campaign and severely wounded-he is now in the government employ in Lancashire Hospital.

Robert E. Regnart was graduated from Tottenham College, but did not enter the university. He was em- ployed in the offices of Hope Brothers, London, but his desire to see the land of his nativity became so strong he finally decided to cast in his lot with the glorious state on the Pacific; so in the fall of 1897 we find him again in Santa Clara County. For a time he made his home with his uncle, Harry Regnart, in Santa Clara. Then he decided to improve the forty acres owned by his father in Regnart Canyon and devote his time to horticulture. There were only six acres in trees, so he set to work clearing the balance of the land and breaking the virgin soil. He set out prune and apricot trees and now has a full-bearing orchard of thirty acres yielding a nice income; also built a comfortable residence with the necessary farm buildings, including a dryer for the curing of the fruit.

Mr. Regnart was married in San Francisco in 1903. where he was united with Miss Jessie Regnart, a native daughter of Santa Clara County, whose father. William Regnart, was an early settler and success- ful horticulturist in this famous valley. Their union was blessed with seven children: Stanley, LeRoy, Doris, Oswald, Bernice, Maurice, and Thelma. Mr. Regnart is a member of the California Prune & Apricot Association. Fraternally he is a member of the Odd Fellows Lodge at Cupertino and with his wife is a member of the Rebekahs, and religiously adheres to the teachings of the Episcopal Church.

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MRS. MARTHA B. HAMMOND .- A womanly woman, cultured and refined, was the late Mrs. Mar- tha B. Hammond, a native daughter of Santa Clara County, who was born at "Hillside," the old home of the Snyders, on Permanente Creek near Mountain View, February 24, 1863. She was a daughter of John and Martha (Kifer) Snyder, pioneers of the county, who are elsewhere represented in this work. Of their five children, Martha was the next to the youngest and enjoyed her youth to the fullest; being fond of the great outdoors she had much pleasure as she grew to womanhood at Hillside, especially when driving over the splendid roads of Santa Clara County with her favorite horse. After completing the San Antonio grammar school, she entered the College of the Pacific, where she continued her studies with great credit to herself until just before graduating, she was married November 17, 1881, to Dr. W. H. Hammond, who was born in Ohio, but reared in Iowa. He received a good education and taught several terms in the Hawkeye State and then came to Santa Clara County, teaching in the San Antonio district, and it was then he became acquainted with the Snyder family. He had always a predilection for the study of medicine and with that end in view, he continued to teach to obtain the funds to put him through medical college. Entering Cooper Medi- cal College in San Francisco, he was duly graduated with the degree of M. D. A post as government surgeon was offered him by the King of the Hawaiian Islands, which he accepted and soon after his mar- riage to Miss Snyder, they sailed for Honolulu. On his arrival he was stationed on the Island of Kauai, where he practiced medicine as well as filling the du- ties of his post for more than a year. While living there, their daughter, Muriel, was born. Mrs. Ham- mond, owing to her great love of her home, was nat- urally homesick and longed for the lovely Santa Clara Valley, particularly the Permanente Creek region of her childhood. with its beautiful foothill mountain scenery, so Dr. Hammond resigned his position and they returned to California, where he located in San Jose and engaged in the practice of medicine. He served ably as county physician for two terms. Hav- ing had a seige of pneumonia, his subsequent cx- posure in his night work forced him to retire. Mrs. Hammond had received from her father, a ranch on Permanente Creek and there they built a residence and here Dr. Hammond rested comfortably, but the disease had made too great inroads on his health, and he passed away in June, 1893, about two years after he had retired. He was a man of fine education and address, was a Mason and Odd Fellow and was also prominent in medical societies. After his death Mrs. Hammond continued the improvement of her place, setting out orchards and vineyards; later the vineyard died and she continued orcharding, having about one- fifth of her 163-acre ranch in prune orchard. The place is beautifully located, twelve miles west of San Jose, being watered by Permanente Creek, so named because it is always flowing. A ditch has been con- structed to take the water out of the creek above the ranch for irrigating the orchard.

Mrs. Hammond was a great lover of nature and particularly was she fond of roses, her grounds be- ing well laid out with an abundance of roses pre- dominating. Her younger sister, Letitia, who had resided with her mother, had become Mrs. Kendall, so Martha Hammond took up her home

at Hillside as a companion to her mother and there she was called to the world beyond January 29, 1909, her interment being at the Snyder family plot at Oak Hill Cemetery. She was a woman of affable and graceful manners, dearly loved by all who knew her, and her loss was deeply felt by all. She was a fine Christian character, although not an active member of any denomination. Her only daughter, Muriel May, owns her mother's ranch and continues the care of the place; she plans enlarging the or- chards materially, and having the same love of na- ture, delights in caring for the roses and lovely trees of her mother's planting. She was educated at the Washburn School in San Jose, and was married in 1906 to Raymond T. Haines, an orchardist, and be- sides operating the home ranch he also owns a ranch at Coyote which he cares for. Their union has been blessed with one child, a daughter, Althea. Rever- ing her mother's memory, whose earnest desire was for her daughter always to keep the ranch in the family, Mrs. Haines naturally takes much pride in carrying out her mother's plans.

WILLIAM MORRISON CURTNER .- A man of varied interests, William Morrison Curtner, son of Henry Curtner and his wife Lydia (Kendall) Curtner, was born near Centerville, Alameda County, California, February 28, 1864. When he was four years old his father moved to the Curtner Ranch at Warm Springs, where he was reared. He attended the public school and Washington College. His be- loved mother passed away when he was thirteen years old. After finishing his college work he went to a cattle ranch in Nevada, which was owned by his father and William Downing. He remained there only a short time. The ranch was sold, and William Downing having purchased a part of the Curtner Ranch, he entered into partnership with him in the cattle business. He remained in the cattle busi- ness three years, then sold his interest in cattle and removed to Irvington where he was engaged in farming for several years, then sold his land at Irvington and came to the ranch on which he now lives. This ranch is located on the southern end of the Curtner Ranch and is in the northern part of Santa Clara County. This ranch he has developed by conserving its water supply and planting orchards. The hill part of the ranch is devoted to raising early vegetables and is tenanted. After coming to this ranch he had charge of his father's land interests for ten years, and a part of it until his father's death. He also owned stock in the Abel Curtner Land & Livestock Company of Nevada of which he was secretary. He has varied interests outside of his ranch, but the home place is where he has spent the most profitable and pleasurable part of his time. The home is located on an interesting spot, chosen three times as a place of abode. The veil of time has hidden the story of the first dwellers. Only as excavating is done is their presence shown by the finding of interesting Indian relics. Then it was chosen by the early Spanish settlers as a site for a hacienda, being a part of the Rancho Aguas Calien- tes. They built the adobe buildings, which are now on the property, planted the old fig and pear trees, and the cacti fence which at this time are more than 125 years old. Their whispering leaves tell again of a period in the Santa Clara Valley before the ad-

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Martha B. Hammond

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venturer and the prospector came. The old adobe still echoes the changing of spurs and merry clatter of horses feet as their riders gather under the trees- the days of boundless hospitality that fled when the "ctranjero" came. By the side of the old, old trees the olive, orange and lemon, the chestnut, walnut, almond and fruits of all kinds thrive, making a pre- sent-history as interesting as the past.

Mr. Curtner is a director of the Security State Bank in San Jose. In politics he is a Republican. He belongs to the Sierra Club, the San Jose Country Club and the Commercial Club, and he is a member of the Presbyterian Church. He married May L. Weller, daughter of Joseph Rush Weller and his wife Marion (Hart) Weller. He has two children, William Weller and Marion Lucy, now Mrs. Theo- dore Warford Weller of Boston, Mass. His son received his college education at Harvard University and Leland Stanford, Jr., University, receiving his A. B. and M. A. degrees at Leland Stanford, Jr., University. His daughter attended Wellesley and Leland Stanford, Jr., University, receiving her A. B. at Leland Stanford, Jr., University.

ALFRED FARLEY HILLS .- A veteran of the Civil War who has been very prominent in Educa- tional circles in California is Prof. Alfred Farley Hills, who was born in Westfield, Vt., July 13, 1845, a son of James D. Hills, who was born in Windham, N. H., of English ancestry, his forefathers coming from England to Massachusetts in 1638. Professor Hill's mother was Caroline French, who was born in New Hampshire of an old Massachusetts family traced back to England. The father removed from Vermont to New Hampshire, where he was a farmer; he and his wife were members of the Pres- byterian Church and both passed away in New Hampshire, leaving six children, three of whom are living: Mrs. Charlotte A. Abbott and Albert French, a twin brother, who served in the Civil War in the same company and regiment as Mr. Hills. When Alfred F. was a child of four years his father moved to Hollis, N. H., and there he received a good educa- tion in the public schools. Leaving his books he en- listed on September 28, 1861, in the Seventh New Hampshire Volunteer Infantry and served for three years and three months without a day off. He was at Fort Wagner, the siege of Morris Island, Olustee, Fla .; siege of Petersburg, and at Richmond. He was mustered out in December, 1864, at Concord, N. H., and honorably discharged. After remaining at home a year he engaged in clerking in Boston for a time and then entered Pinkerton Academy at Derry, N. H., where he prepared for Harvard and where he was graduated in 1872 with the degree of A. B. Coming out to Illinois he taught school at Pittsfield for two years and in 1874 removed to California. He taught school at San Gregorio and then at San Mateo for five years, after which he was principal of schools at Half Moon Bay in San Mateo County, then taught in various counties in California, with four years in Arizona and two years in Nevada.

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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 174

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