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 175

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 175

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During this time he made his home in Santa Clara County on his orchard home near Campbell, which he had purchased in 1882. About five years ago he retired from teaching and now gives his time to caring for his orchards embracing eleven acres of splendid land devoted to raising prunes, apricots

and apples, his place being located on the San Jose- Los Gatos Highway.

Professor Hills was married at Idagrove, Iowa, August 20, 1884, being united with Miss Harriette G. Barber, a lady of culture who has aided him in every way. She was born at Derry, N. H., a daughter of Joseph Fuller and Nancy (Moulton) Barber. The father was born in Boston, Mass., in 1808, and the mother in Hookset, N. H., May 3, 1821. The Barbers are traced back to Samuel Barber, who came from England and was an early settler in Massachusetts. One of his descendants, Mrs. Hills' great-grandfather, Samuel Barber, served in the Revolution and was at the Battle of Bunker Hill. The Moultons are also an old New England family. Joseph F. Barber owned a wharf and was also a ship owner. After his marriage he removed to Derry, N. H., purchased a farm and was thus employed until the family removed to Woburn, Mass., where he resided until his death, while his widow died in Iowa. Mrs. Hills was educated at Adams Female Academy and the Pinkerton Acad- emy. After teaching at Chester for a year she spent three years in Woburn, Mass., and then came out to Galva, Iowa, where her brother, Clarence Bar- ber, was a stockman. The acquaintance with Mr. Hills back in New England was renewed and re- sulted in their marriage. They have one child, Ethel, the wife of Ralph E. Williams of Campbell. Mr. Hills was one of the original members of the board of trustees of Campbell Union high school. While teaching in Mono County he was president of the county board of education. He was a member of Ocean View Lodge No. 143, I. O. O. F., at Half Moon Bay, and is a member of E. O. C. Ord. Post No. 82, G. A. R., having served as commander of the post and as an aide on the staff of Department Commander Martin. Mrs. Hills is ex-president of E. O. C. Ord. Relief Corps, Los Gatos, and was secretary to the Department President, Alice M. Gil- lette. Prof. Hills is a member of the Harvard alumni. Well read and a ready spcaker he is an interesting conversationalist.

CHARLES J. VATH .- An American by adoption who has become both an exemplary, devoted citizen and as great an enthusiast for California as any native son, is Charles J. Vath, who was born in Germany on November 28, 1869, the son of a government official, Sebastian Vath, well-known for his progres- sive ideas and methods. He had married Miss Bar- bara Geiger, an accomplished woman who, like her husband, made many friends. They provided a good home and sent Charles to the best local schools, so that he was given a helpful start in the world.

Fate provided that when only fifteen he should come out to the United States, and it also demanded that he should work hard soon after arriving here: but his ambition led him to attend night school, and in this way he overcame what might otherwise have been a serious handicap in a country to whose language and customs he was a stranger. He located in New York for five years, and then passed ten years in San Francisco in the butcher trade.

Removing to San Jose in 1901, Mr. Vath cstab- lished himself as a bottler of all soft drinks. He owns the most modern of equipment, and from his well-equipped plant at Fourth and Virginia streets, he ships to Santa Clara, San Benito and San Mateo

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counties. He belongs to the Rotary Club, the Elks and the Olympic Club of San Francisco; is a stand- pat Republican, and never neglects an opportunity to further the best interests of the community in which he lives and thrives.

On July 10, 1895, Mr. Vath was married at San Francisco, to Miss Frances Wrede, a native of San Francisco, and they have one child, a promising son named Herman S. Vath, who saw service with the U. S. Army as clerk of a hospital corps during the recent World War, and is now carrying on the busi- ness. He married at San Jose, Ethyl Scheele, who was then living in the Garden City.

FRANK A. HUNTER .- Among the worthiest representatives of interesting and long-honored pio- neer families to be found in all Santa Clara County, handsomely maintaining the old California hospital- ity, are Mr. and Mrs. Frank A. Hunter, progressive farmers living on the the Agnew Road, northwest of Santa Clara. Highly successful as horticulturists, they are famous for their Bartlett pears. They own forty acres of choicest orchard, a part of the old Hunter home-place. Mr. Hunter was born on the old Hunter homestead on October 8, 1860, the son of A. B. Hunter, familiarly called by his friends Gus Hunter, a native of Augusta County, Va., where he was born on November 26, 1826. At an early age, his parents took him to Illinois, and from there he and his step-sister moved to Washington County, Mo., where they went to school. A. B. Hunter con- tinued his business in Missouri until 1849, when he set out across the great plains to California; and having proceeded to the Feather River, he remained there at Bidwell's Bar until the fall of 1850. He then went to American Valley, in Plumas County, and became one of the first settlers. In 1852 he settled for a couple of years in Santa Clara County then went to the mines but in 1855 he returned to Santa Clara County and located his farm of 160 acres west of what is now Agnew, and there erected a fine residence. He identified himself with the Santa Clara Cheese Factory, and was its treasurer.

On September 18, 1855, A. B. Hunter was mar- ried at Santa Clara to Ann Rutledge, a descendant of Edward Rutledge, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and a cousin of Ann Rutledge who had the distinction of having been the first sweet- heart of Abraham Lincoln; and several children hlessed their union. John Finley was born on August 22, 1856, and he was accidently killed on Oc- tober 29, 1881, while hauling lumber for a barn-the load falling and killing him. Minnie J. married Cal- vin Miller, the orchardist, operating above Alum Rock, and they reside in San Jose. Frank A. is the subject of our sketch. Carrie T. is now the wife of Grandin Bray, the retired rancher, and they live at Santa Clara. Archibald Ernest Hunter, who was born on November 26, 1874, is well established in the automobile trade in San Francisco. This chap- ter in the history of the family is interesting es- pecially on account of the antiquity of the family. A. B. Hunter belonged to the third generation of Samuel Hunter, who was born in Virginia. of pre- Revolutionary stock coming from the Cavaliers who migrated from England.

Augustus B. Hunter was a prominent man of affairs in Santa Clara County for many years. He held many positions of trust, and always had the

confidence and esteem of his fellow-citizens. In 1881 he was elected a member of the State Legisla- ture and this office he filled for two terms. He re- tired to San Jose in 1882 and in 1888 he was elected councilman from the second ward and served in that capacity for several years. As a truc Argonaut of the "days of '49," he named his stock ranch in Plumas County the American ranch, and from the ranch the valley was called American Valley; and at the ranch he opened a trading post or store, which he conducted very successfully. When, in the fall of 1852, he sold out, owing to impaired health, he intended to go to the Sandwich Islands, but he con- cluded first to visit friends in Santa Clara Valley. He found the climate so beneficial that he was soon restored to health, and he determined to buy a home near Lawrence Station, and to settle down to farm life. The cattle business was a great industry then, and this contributed to exercise his energy and sagacity. By thrift and industry he accumulated a handsome fortune, and as his children grew to man- hood and womanhood, he provided generously for each of them. During the later years of his life. Mr. and Mrs. A. B. Hunter resided at 86 North Sixth Street in a commodious house he had built there, and for many years he had been a prominent member of the Santa Clara lodge of Odd Fellows. The character of his life, the good he wrought, and the noble ambitions he still held out as a possible goal, make the manner and the time of Mr. Hunter's taking off a matter of the deepest sorrow and re- gret. On the afternoon of October 16, 1902, Mr. Hunter was killed, by accident, on the road above Alum Park. He was returning to San Jose with his wife from a visit to their daughter, Mrs. Miller, and when at a point in the road where there is a dangerous grade, the horse became frightened. Be- fore anything could stop him, he backed the buggy over the grade, some thirty or forty feet. Mrs. Hunter was held in buggy by the top, and in some way or other protected from serious injury; Mr. Hunter, on the other hand, fell out, and either the horse or the buggy crushed him. He lived to ask his wife if she was hurt, in answer to her solicitous inquiry, but was dead when picked up by Charles Bozhe, who had witnessed the accident and gone to their assistance. When at the bottom, Mrs. Hunter, who was not badly hurt, called to her hus- band to learn of his injuries. "Are you much hurt?" she asked. "Yes, mother, I am badly hurt; but are you safe?" Mrs. Hunter found that her foot was caught in the buggy in some way, and that she could not release it until she unlaced her shoe, which she did, and crawled to where her husband lay; but when she reached him, he had ceased to breathe, his words of tender solicitude as to her injuries being the last he spoke. The aged couple were devotedly attached to their children, and the children recipro- cated with an affection that was beautiful to see. Their very visit to the Millers was in accordance with their custom of spending a night or two with each of their children at least once a week.

Frank Hunter was reared on the old Hunter home- stead and educated in the local school and in a private school in Santa Clara, and from early days he assisted his father on the farm. On Decem- ber 24, 1882, he was married to Miss Lydia A. Ortley, a daughter of Captain John Jacob Ortley,

P.a.Hinter Lydia A. Hunter.

을

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who was born in New York City on September 14, 1827, and there resided until his eighteenth year. Having learned the sailmaker's trade, he shipped on the barque Rosina on June 26, 1845, and voyaged to South America; and he was afterward employed on the brig Don Juan, which was engaged in the slave trade. He remained with that craft only a short time, however, and once more shipped on the Rosina, where he remained for three and a half years; and then, as an able seaman, he sailed on the Union to New Orleans, and made two later trips as second mate. He then came out to California on the ship Caroline Reed, in 1849, and he was after- ward in the service of different vessels on the Coast, while he for many years was proprietor of the Union line of packets plying between Alviso and San Fran- cisco. He came to own certain warehouses in Al- viso township; while in the town of Alviso he had a comfortable home and thirty-five lots, and he was a school trustee for ten years. On the day be- fore Christmas, in 1858, Captain Ortley was married to Almira Wade, by whom he had ten surviving children: Lydia A., the wife of the subject of this story; Julia D., Lucy W., Mary L., John J., Almira L., Emily E., Oliver J., William B., and Hattie R. Mrs. Ortley died in 1907, closing a fruitful, happy life in which she had made many friends. Captain Ort- ley passed away in 1913. Almira Wade crossed the great plains with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Wade, in 1849, and having settled near Alviso, the Wades ever afterward were identified with movements for pro- gress in the Valley. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Frank A. Hunter engaged in farming on the Hunter ranch, and here he raised alfalfa and grain, and conducted a dairy. In 1888 they became the owners of sixty acres of the old homestead; they built a new house and in connection with rairying they set out a year orchard, raising berries while the orchard was young. Three children have been born to them: A. B. Hunter, is a rancher, with a fine pear orchard in the Jefferson district, where he lives with his wife, Mary Jane Malley before her marriage, and their two children, A. B. Hunter, Jr., and Clifford B. Hunter. Elva is the wife of B. L. Ward. the undertaker at San Jose; they have two children, William B. and Frances H. Clifton mar- ried Maud M. Coyle; and they are ranching in Yuba County. Mr. Hunter is a member of the California Pear Association and politically indorses the prin- ciples of the Democratic platform.

H. J. LUND .- A horticulturist and viticulturist, located on the summit in the Santa Cruz Mountains, is H. J. Lund, who was born at Taasinge, Denmark, September 9, 1868, a son of Anders and Karen (Han- sen) Lund, the father being a general contractor. The parents are now both dead. H. J. is the second oldest of their five children and he and a brother, John Lund, are the only ones in the United States. As soon as his school days were over, H. J. went to work on farms, and in 1891 he came to the United States, first locating in Washington, but remained only a short time, when he removed to Oregon, remaining a year, and then came to California in 1900. He spent two years in Oakland, and then in 1902 he located in Santa Clara County, rented an orchard and engaged in

fruit raising. Later he leased a 174-acre place of orchard and vineyard.

He believes in cooperation, so was one of the first in his section to become a member of the California Prune & Apricot Association. In August, 1920, he purchased his present orchard and vineyard of twenty aeres on the Summit, where he is raising prunes and grapes. It is the consensus of opinion he raises the finest table grapes in his region.

In Stockton Mr. Lund was married to Miss Hazel Smith, who was born in Los Gatos, a daughter of William P. Smith, one of the carly settlers of the foothill city. There union has been blessed with four children: Kathryn, Ella, Andrew and Wilbur, the two last being twins. In politics Mr. Lund is a Social- ist. He served as trustee of Lexington school district for several years, beng clerk of the board.

OCTAVE J. FRANCIS .- An early settler of Cali- fornia arriving here in 1862 is Octave J. Francis, a native of Canada, born at La Prairie, near Montreal, November 27. 1843, a son of Benoit and Flavy (La Fevre) Francis, natives of Canada, descended from old French-Canadian families. They removed to Malone, N. Y., in 1846, where they reared their family on the farm. Later in life our subject returned to Malone and brought his parents to his California home where they were cared for until their death at seventy-two and sixty-eight years, respectively. Oc- tave J. was the fifth oldest of a family of eight children born to this worthy couple and from a youth learned habits of industry on his father's farm, three miles from Malone, and also attended the local pub- lic schools. When nineteen years of age he started for California, coming via Panama to San Francisco in 1862, on the old Constitution. He came immedi- ately to Santa Clara County and followed farming.

In 1866 he made the trip back home via Panama. returning via the same route a year later. In 1869 he again returned East via Panama and the same year brought his father and mother out by rail, just after the railroad was connected at Promontory Point, Mr. Francis then purchased sixteen acres of raw land in Union district, setting out an orchard of prunes, peaches and apricots. His family made their home on this place while he was engaged in the saw- mills in the Santa Cruz Mountains. In 1870 he began work in Froment's mill, and worked up to sawyer. After eight years he left, to become sawyer for Jim Cunningham, on Boulder Creek, for two years, and then with Hubbard & Carmichael Bros , with whom he was head sawyer for twelve years, continuing steadily with them until all the available timber was made into lumber and the mill shut down, when he retired to his ranch where his family had resided all these years. In 1917 he sold the ranch and purchased a residence at 26 Asbury Street, San Jose, where he now makes his home.

Mr. Francis was married in San Jose to Miss Ade- laide La Montague, who was born at Malone, N. Y., also descended from an old French-Canadian family, their union having been blessed with five children: Dennis was accidentally killed in 1915 while driving in an automobile race in Fresno; Victor, Milton and Roy are engaged in the automobile and garage busi- ness in San Francisco; the latter was an aviator and was the first boy who ever flew over this county,

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and during the World War he was instructor at Kelly Field, Texas, holding a captain's commission; Venia is Mrs. P. A. Jerome of Lassen County. Politically, Mr. Francis gives his allegiance to the Republican party, while, religiously, he is a member of St. Joseph's Catholic Church.

HAROLD J. STANLEY .- An energetic business man of progressive ideas and up-to-date business methods is Harold J. Stanley, proprietor of the Ford Garage and Ford agency at Los Gatos. He was born in Alliance, Stark County, Ohio, June 7, 1891. His father, B. T. Stanley, was born in Damas- cus, Ohio, while his mother was Anna Nicholson, born at Harrisonville, the same state. They were farmers there until 1904, when they brought their family to Los Gatos, Cal., where they engaged in ranching. The parents now live on San Jose Avenue.

Of their three children, Mr. Stanley is the second oldest. His first schooling was in his home district in Ohio, and after coming to California he attended the Los Gatos grammar and high school, supple- mented with a course at Heald's Business College. He then began the study of architecture in San Francisco, but after two years, found the confinement incident to the work of an architect too wearing on him so he turned to carpentering until 1913, when he began dairying, establishing Stanley's dairy farm supplying Los Gatos families with milk. On January 1, 1922, he sold his dairy business and equipment but retained his twenty-acre ranch on Kennedy Road, where he resides with his family. On May 1, 1922. he purchased the equipment and machinery of the Ford Garage at Los Gatos from Mrs. Hart and was also appointed the Ford agent. The garage is lo- cated on Santa Cruz Avenue, and is well equipped for complete Ford service.

Mr. Stanley was married in Los Gatos to Blanche Angel, who was born in Wisconsin, and their union has been blessed with three children, Helen, Leonard and Rachel. Mr. Stanley is enterprising and pro- gressive and takes an interest in civic movements that have for their aim the upbuilding of the community. He is a member of the Automobile Association and politically indorses Republican principles.

WALTER ALLEN VAN LONE .- A native son who is proud of his association with Santa Clara County is Walter Allen Van Lone, who was born on the old Logan ranch in the Santa Cruz Mountains half way to the summit from Los Gatos, October 12, 1863. His father, William D. Van Lone, was a pioneer of California, crossing the plains in 1854 and after mining a while came to the Santa Cruz Moun- tains, where he had first come as early as 1857, and located permanently in 1859. He was married here to Miss Romelia Allen, who was born near Clay- ton, N. Y., July 25, 1836. Her father, Thomas Al- len, was born in Johnstown, N. Y., in 1807, a descend- ant of Ethan Allen, the hero of Ticonderoga, and her mother was Anstres Cary, born in Utica, N. Y., in 1811. Three of their children grew up; James J., of Los Gatos, Elizabeth died in California, and Romelia. In 1859 with her brother, James J., she crossed the plains in an ox-team train with Zenas Sikes and his wife to California. Romelia remained with Mr. and Mrs. Sikes at Alviso for a year and then she and her brother came to the Burrell ranch at the Summit of the Santa Cruz Mountains, for a ycar, then she was with the Hubbard family, where

there was sickness and death, and she helped them out. In 1862 she married W. D. Van Lone and they farmed in the valley for two years and then purchased a place near Saratoga, then called Mc- Cartysville. In 1869 they moved to a farm near Tracy, where they were ranching until 1875, when they returned to the Santa Cruz Mountains and pur- chased a ranch on Bear Creek Road, which they im- proved to orchard and vineyard. There they resided until November 1, 1920, when the ranch was sold and they located in Los Gatos and there Mr. Van Lone passed away May 24, 1922. Their union re- sulted in the birth of six children: Walter, our sub- ject; William of Los Gatos; George of Lexington; James, deceased; Elizabeth, Mrs. Laddick of Alma; and Charles, deceased. Mrs. Van Lone's brother, James Allen, is now ninety years old; he served as postmaster at Tracy from 1906 until 1911, when he resigned and returned to Santa Clara County and makes his home with his sister in Los Gatos. Mrs. Van Lone was very helpful and capable when there was sickness in the homes of the community, waiting on the neighbors when in sickness, sorrow and need, being so well thought of for her qualities as a nurse that a physician said of her, when he came in re- sponse to a call: "You don't need me when you have Dr. Van Lone."

Walter A. Van Lone was educated in the public schools in Tracy and in the Brown district at the Summit. He followed farming, orcharding, and get- ting out tanbark until 1890, when he built a box mill on the home ranch and manufactured box shook from 1892 till 1896. In 1898 he began work as a tool dresser for a local oil company and in 1899 he was with the Golden Gate Oil Company in Moody Gulch. In July, 1901, he went to Santa Maria in the same capacity, for different oil companies, until 1904, when he returned home for a year. In 1905 he was with the Brookshire Oil Company and in 1907 became driller for them, continuing until 1916, when he re- signed and returned to the ranch and worked for a local oil company, and since November, 1920, he has also had charge of his father's estate. In 1890 Mr. Van Lone joined Ridgely Lodge No. 294 of Odd Fellows in Los Gatos and he is also a member of the Rebekahs. He was made a Mason in Hesperian Lodge No. 264 F. & A. M. at Santa Maria, and in all of these orders he is well received and popular.

SAMUEL MARTIN .- A merchant whose well- organized, dependable service is much appreciated by a discerning public is Samuel Martin, the experi- enced dealer in feed and grain at 180 South Market Street, San Jose, in which city he was born Decem- ber 10, 1869. His father, James B. Martin, who had married Miss Margaret Craven, came with her to California around Cape Horn from New York in a sailing vessel in 1860, landing at San Francisco. He was a stationary engineer. After leaving San Fran- cisco he went to Monterey and where he remained until he came to San Jose in 1863, where he was engineer at Fremont's Planing Mill and when he gave up this line of work and became a merchant. In 1886 he died, highly esteemed by all who had dealt with him. Mrs. Martin, whose qualities as a good neighbor have always been appreciated, is still living and resides at Cupertino. Of their six chil-

H. J. Stanley.

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dren, all of whom are living, Sam, as he is familiarly called by his friends, is the youngest.

After the usual elementary schooling, he went to work as a mere youngster, and until 1890 he fol- lowed the grocery trade with the Mariposa Store. after which he went into the grain business with his brother, H. B. Martin, of the firm of H. B. Martin & Company, and for eighteen years was with him, working from the bottom up to assistant manager. Then, in 1908, he opened a store for himself on South, Second Street, and later he came to his pres- ent location at 180 South Market Street. From the beginning he has been phenomenally successful; and it is natural that he should carly have been selected as a director of the Growers' Bank, of which he was one of the organizers and first vice-president. He is a member of the Merchants' Association, the San Jose Chamber of Commerce, the San Jose Progres- sive Club and a charter member of the Commercial Club of San Jose.

At San Jose, in 1906, Mr. Martin was married to Miss Lila B. O'Hanlon, the daughter of Robert J. O'Hanlon, a well-known pioneer of his time; she was born at San Jose and reared here and is a grad- nate of San Jose high school and San Jose State Normal. The union has proven a happy one, and they are the parents of two children, James Beau- mont and Lucretia Birch Martin. Mr. Martin be- longs to the Woodmen of the World, and he is a charter member of Observatory Parlor No. 177, of the Native Sons of the Golden West.

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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 175

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