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 193

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 193

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In 1918 Mrs. Burket removed to San Jose, upon the death of her sister, Mrs. Emma E. Patterson, and became the administratrix of her estate. She re- modeled Mrs. Patterson's home at 22 South Eleventh Street, and now makes that her residence. She

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purchased the Patterson drug store, and later took in Nicholas J. Volino as a partner, who is a native son of San Jose, is a graduate pharmacist, and has charge of the prescription business. Mrs. Burket also owns twenty-two acres of almond orchard, one of the finest in that part of the state, at Paso Robles.

Mr. Burket was a prominent member of both the Odd Fellows and Knights of Pythias, and he marched under the banners of the Republican party; and Mrs. Burket, who shares the political preference of her husband, also belongs to the ladies' auxiliaries of those orders. Mfrs. Burket takes a keen interest in public affairs, and is ever ready to do what she can toward the upbuilding as well as the building up of San Jose and Santa Clara County.

URBAN A. KAMMERER-Another worthy rep- resentative of a famous old pioneer family long iden- tified with this favored section of the Golden State is Urban A. Kammerer, of the Coast Electric Serv- ice, the leading experts in the installation of motors, pumping plants, pole lines and house wiring, of 1022 South First Street, San Jose. He was born at the Kammerer home place on King Road, the son of Al- exander and May Katherine ( Holland ) Kammerer, and was reared on the ranch and sent to the Jackson district school. His grandfather was Peter Kammerer, a native of Germany, and a member of one of the old and honored families there, who had married Miss Marian Hoffman, also a representative of a very well- known German family line; and very soon after the admission of California as a state, he crossed the ocean to America and migrated to the Coast. He fol- lowed mining with varying luck, and in 1855 took up 200 acres of land in Santa Clara County, on the King Road, in the Jackson school district, about two and one-half miles east of San Jose. There he lived hap- pily, enjoying the work of cultivating and improving the place. until 1864, when his life-companion died; then he lingered a year, and he, too, passed away. This left Alexander Kammerer, the father of our sub- ject, a four-year-old orphan; but he found the best of guardians in their next-door neighbor, J. D. White, the farmer. whose family received him as one of their own, brought him up. sent him to school, and taught him to follow agriculture. When he was twenty-one, Alexander inherited half of the family estate, the other half going to his sister, Lena, of Oakland; and once in possession of the ranch. he made it somewhat fam- ous as a place for the cultivation of fruit, and the rais- ing of hay, grain and stock. When Mr. Kammerer was married, on October 17. 1883, he led to the altar May Katherine, the daughter of Simeon and Hannah ( Broadbent ) Holland, both of whom had come from England, their native country. to Santa Clara County.

After finishing with elementary and secondary school work, Urban Kammerer attended the State Normal School at San Jose, and when only seven- teen also assumed responsibilities on the home ranch. Then he worked for the Pacific Gas & Electric Com- pany, and became foreman in the department of dis- tribution, and remained with the company, running out of San Jose. He then entered the service of the Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company, and the U. S. Long Distance Telephone Company. spending in their employ, at San Francisco, Oakland and Los Angeles, most of the intervening years up to 1919. He became well known and well liked, and was alto- gether a popular fellow all the more serviceable to

his employers. After this he began electrical contract- ing for himself, and is now one of the partners in Coast Electric Service, engaged in electrical business in San Jose. The offices of the concern are at 1022 South First Street, and from there the electricians go out, to city or country places, and install the most up-to-date apparatus, requiring a thorough knowledge of electrical science.

While in San Francisco, Mr. Kammerer was mar- ried to Miss Marie Freeman, a native of San Mateo County, and the daughter of Charles M. Freeman, a successful rancher there. The happy couple live at 360 King Road, formerly a portion of the Kam- merer rancho. Mr. Kammerer was made a Mason in San Jose Lodge No. 10, F. & A. M., and is also a member of the Knights of Pythias, and is an inde- pendent Republican.

JOHN H. ALLEN .- Capable and resourceful, John H. Allen through his thrift and application may well be considered successful, having started making his own way when only seventeen. He was born in Richmond, Va., March 20, 1883, the son of Charles H. and Catherine Allen, the father being a Virginia planter. John was one of a family of five children, and when he was five years old his parents came to California, first settling at Oakland and later moving to San Francisco. Here he received his education, attending the grammar and high schools of San Fran- cisco. His father was a locomotive engineer for the Southern Pacific Railway Company until the year 1899, when he met with an accidental death, the mother passing away just six months later, in 1900. John Allen at that time was seventeen years old, and starting out to make his own way, he took up railroad work with the Southern Pacific Railway Company, entering the train service as brakeman, later becoming a fireman, continuing in this line for seven years, spending the greater part of his time in California and on the Coast Division.

Coming to San Francisco in 1906, Mr. Allen took up electrical work and became an electric journey- man. working for the firm of Columbia Electric Works. In 1907 he came to San Jose in the interest of this firm, and here he had charge of all the out- side electrical sign work. He then accepted a posi- tion with the San Jose Water Works and here he remained for fourteen years, in the capacity of elec- tric operator for the city water works. In 1918 he purchased the Lenox Hotel on South First Street and conducted it until May, 1921. On November 1, 1921, he became proprietor of the Anderson Apart- ments at the corner of San Antonio and Second streets. The house is strictly a first-class apartment building with nineteen two-room apartments.

Mr. Allen was married on September 14. 1914, to Miss Hazel Thompson, who was born in San Jose, the daughter of Gilbert and Sadie Thompson, Mr. Thompson is a stationary engineer and at the present time has charge of the heating system of the Y. M. C. A. building of San Jose. Mrs. Allen received her education in the Grant grammar school and then at- tended the San Jose high school, finishing her sopho- more year. Mr. and Mrs. Thompson are residents of San Jose, and are still hale and hearty. Mr. Allen is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America and of the Chamber of Commerce of San Jose. In national politics, he and Mrs. Allen are stanch ad- herents of the Republican party.

Ua Kammerer

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CHARLES W. RUST .- Among the most interest- ing of residents in Santa Clara County, particularly on account of his enviable record for valuable serv- ices rendered his country in military defense of the nation, may well be numbered Charles W. Rust, the retired Civil War veteran living at 128 South Twen- tieth Street, San Jose. He was born on September 7. 1842, in Jennings County, Ind., where he resided until 1846, the son of Henry Rust, who had married Miss Mary McFarlan. When four years old, he ac- companied his parents to Platte County, Mo., and there, on a half-section of land, his father cut away the timber, cleared a small field, and literally hewed out a home. Owing to the wilderness, however, he decided to return to Indiana with his family until the country should become more settled; but he soon tired of the peaceful Hoosier state, and returned again to Western Missouri. This was in 1848, and he again landed in the wilds with a family of five and seventy-five cents in his pocket. This time, he went to work on a tobacco press; but the labor was distasteful on account of the nauseating fumes of tobacco, and because he was made a slave-driver; and in 1849 he was glad to regain possession of his old farm in Platte County, to which he moved and where he toiled until 1855.

The year previous, Kansas had become a territory, and Henry Rust determined to try his fortune there; so he became one of the first pioneers of the new El Dorado in Atchison County, crossed the Mis- souri River at Atchison, proceeded southwest some six miles, and found an ideal spot for a home. He laid a pre-emption claim to a quarter-section of land, and erected a log house, into which, in the spring of 1855, he moved his family, using a flat boat to cross the river. There were no signs of civilization there at that time, although one could see for miles over the prairie. His tract included a fine grove of eighty acres of timber land, a good spring of water, and eleven acres of sod land, where he himself had planted corn. Flour was seven dollars per sack of ninety-six pounds, and hard to get.

As a mere boy, Charles assisted his father, and when their springs were frozen over, he helped care for the cattle, cutting holes in the ice on the Missouri River, when the ice was from 18 to 24 inches thick, and at fifteen, he had become a first-class oxen driver. He had never attended school, however, and he scarcely knew one letter from another, for there were then no schools in that territory. After a while he returned to Indiana with a friend of his grand- father, and they stopped at Weston, Mo., en route. where they took the New Lucy, a southern steamer, to St. Louis. He had then never seen a house larger than a story and a half, or a railroad train; and he found St. Louis a wonderful city, and also the old Planters Hotel, where he and his friend Spencer stayed that night, a wonderful affair. He had never seen an orange, and in St. Louis he purchased his first citrus fruit. At St. Louis he and his friend boarded an omnibus and crossed the Mississippi River on a ferryboat.

He also boarded the first railroad train he had seen and traveled to Terre Haute, Ind., and at Terre Haute they stopped to see friends of Mr. Spencer, and the next day resumed their journey to Vernon, at the end of the railway line. Grandfather Rust, a native of Ohio, had come to Indiana in 1838, when the state was only sparsely settled; and as there were 53

seven stalwart sons, he had plenty of help in clearing his land and building a good home. He also had both a saw and a grist mill; and Henry, the eldest, was chosen miller, and worked where, thirteen years later, our subject found the mill still being operated. In the spring of 1858, however, this old mill was destroyed by flood of the Muscatatuck River.

Charles, when fifteen, attended his first school, at his grandfather's, a private undertaking supported by the patrons, and there he selected only a speller. When informed that he must also have a reader, arith- metic and copy-book, he argued that they were not necessary until he had learned to spell. In four months, however, he had advanced to the third reader, and by 1859 he was able to send the first letter written by himself home to his parents. In 1858, he also walked through deep' snow to attend a night school. In the late spring of 1859, he re- turned to his Kansas home after having received all the education considered necessary for a young pioneer of the unsettled West. He traveled from North Vernon on the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad, to St. Louis, then went by rail to Jefferson City, and then by boat up the Missouri to Atchison, where a surprise or two awaited him. His father had replaced the log house with a frame building of a story and a half, and had also put horses and mules in place of the oxen. Neighbors also had surrounded his father's quarter-section.

After the very dry year, 1860, when farmers left Kansas on account of the drought, the winter of 1860-61 left the soil in fine shape for spring planting, and Charles helped to put in the crops and make hay. The disturbed political affairs of the day also absorbed him, and in May, 1861, he assisted in or- ganizing a company of young men under Colonel May, fifty in number, for home-guard duty. In Sep- tember, 1861, when the Governor of Kansas had au- thorized the formation of the Seventh and Eighth regi- ments of Kansas volunteers, he enlisted, and on September 19 he and his comrades assembled at Atchison and marched to Fort Leavenworth, where they were mustered into the U. S. service, being in Company C, Eighth Kansas Infantry, serving under Captain J. M. Graham, and on October I they set out to march to Fort Riley, 125 miles distant.

On February 3, 1863, he proceeded to Nashville, reached Cairo on the 14th, three days later arrived at Fort Donelson, and reached Nashville on the 23rd. There the Eighth Kansas remained until June, 1863, when they were ordered to join the army at Mur- freesboro. On the 8th of July the Eighth was ordered to search the Cumberland Mountains for a bunch of guerillas who were harassing the people, but without success; and on the 17th of August the army marched to Stevenson, Ala., and soon moved over to Caperton's Ferry on the Tennessee River, and after taking part in an engagement on Sand Mountain, reached the top of Lookout Mountain. On Septem- ber 19 he was in the battle of Chickamauga, and seven days later General Grant arrived on the scene. On November 15, General Sherman arrived at Chat- tanooga, and on the 27th Mr. Rust and his com- patriots marched to the relief of Knoxville, a distance of 150 miles, which they reached on December 7. He had been a corporal; but on January 4, 1864, he was appointed, by Col. John A. Martin, sergeant in Company C, the promotion being for gallant serv-

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ice during the Battle of Chickamauga and for galian- try in the Battle of Mission Ridge.

On February 9, 1864, our subject was mustered out of service as a volunteer, and immediately reenlisted and was mustered into service as a veteran volunteer, for another term of three years, or for the duration of the war, after which he enjoyed a furlough of thirty days; he did picket duty, and took part in minor skirmishes up to December 15, when he was in the Battle of Nashville. While on Montgomery Hill he was wounded so badly that his leg had to be amputated. He had been at Nashville four times in 1863 and '64, and on March 28 he left for Indiana, to visit his grandfather's home, when he found that both his grandfather and his father had taken part in the war. He was at North Vernon when Lee surrendered, and he also attended the memorial funeral services there, in honor of Lincoln, on April 19th. On April 21, 1865, he started for Kansas, and on June 14, at Fort Leavenworth, he was discharged. He went to St. Louis to see if he could be provided with an artificial leg; but this proved a failure.

Henry Rust was county clerk before the war, and resigned a short time before war was declared; and in the fall of 1865, Charles Rust, unaware even that he had been nominated, was elected by popular vote to succeed his father. He applied himself assidu- ously to his duties, studied law, and held the office for twenty-one years. He was principal and deputy county clerk, county treasurer, city assessor, and also held a commission as notary public; and he held all these offices until 1887, giving satisfaction to everybody, when he came West to California. He settled in Napa County, and for a short time en- gaged in the sale of real estate and insurance, then he went into San Francisco and there for ten years continued in the same field. In 1904, he went to Oakland, where he lived until 1911, when he retired from business activity and settled at East San Jose.

On December 26, 1867, Charles W. Rust was mar- ried at Atchison, Kan., to Miss Mary J. Biddle, a native of Columbus County, Ohio, and the daughter of Joseph Biddle. Her father had served in the same company and regiment with Henry Rust, who died from fever at Ft. Smith, Ark., in 1863. Charles had three uncles in the service. The Rusts have had a family of seven children. The eldest, Lillian B., is the wife of Everett R. Brent of East San Jose; Mabel C. has become Mrs. Frederick Wood of San Jose: Nellie died at the age of seven; Joseph is living in Napa Valley. He served with Dewey on the Olympia in the Spanish-American War; Alice had become Mrs. Lee Shaw, and she died in California; George R. died in his second year; and Eva, the seventh-born, died, aged two. Of the grandchildren, Mrs. Wood has four: Inez is Mrs. Klemm of Oakland; Marie is Mrs. Ellin- wood; Morris Wood is the famous baseball player; Frederick is in the high school at San Jose. Mrs. Shaw also has a son, Raymond Shaw, who is the head of the Union Indemnity Company, with their branch at Los Angeles. Joseph Rust, too, has four children: Joseph, Jr., and Derrick are in the U. S. Navy; while the third and fourth are Queen and Martha. Mrs. Klemm has two children: John W. and Fay Klemm; and Marie Ellinwood has a son. Thus Mr. and Mrs. Charles Rust have two great- grandsons and one great-granddaughter.

Recalling all the incidents of this career, in which Mr. Rust never failed to do his full duty as he

saw it, and the sacrifice he made on the battlefields, which condemned him to a life of partial incapacity and inconvenience, it will be seen that Sergeant Rust will forever be entitled to all the esteem and good- will which his fellow-citizens can shower upon him, and will also merit the reverence of posterity that comes after and enters into the fruits of his life and unselfish service.

STEPHEN M. SAUNDERS .- Among the pro- gressive men of San Jose who are the promoters of its business interests, is Stephen M. Saunders, who is the manager as well as one of the proprietors of the Consolidated Laundry Company, now one of the largest laundries in the county. It is located on San Fernando and Autumn streets, where it is do- ing an ever-growing business. Mr. Saunders is a native of Indiana, having been born in Shelbyville, and is the son of Isaac and Lydia (Ludlow) Saunders. The father, who is of English extraction, is now engaged there as a florist, Mrs. Saunders having passed away some time ago.

Stephen Saunders attended the grammar school of Shelbyville, Ind., and at the age of fourteen years took a position with Schnell & Company, whole- sale grocers, at Indianapolis, where he was employed for six years. Coming to California in 1906, and settling at San Francisco, he was employed at vari- ous places and in a number of businesses, until he learned the barber trade and then he followed in that line of work for a period of eight years, being in business at Twenty-fourth and Mission streets.

In 1911. Mr. Saunders came to San Jose and here, with a partner, Mr. W. A. Katen, he introduced the Towel Supply in San Jose under the firm name of the Valley Towel Supply Company and this was the first business of the kind in the valley. They con- tinued for five years, when they absorbed the St. James Laundry, and a year later they leased the U. S. Laundry, operating under the new firm name of the Consolidated Laundry Company, and still later they acquired the latter by purchase. In 1917, Eli Bariteau purchased Mr. Katen's interest and since then Mr. Saunders and Mr. Bariteau have been sole owners of this business, and have been very successful. They have in their employ over sixty people, all expert along this line. Delivery is made on twelve routes, covering the whole of Santa Clara County. The laundry is operated by the most modern machinery that is obtainable, having the very latest improvements. They have their own 280-foot well of splendid water and use in connection a water- softening process, where the water passes through a hed of zeolite mineral that removes all hardness, leaving it like rainwater. By actual tests it has been demonstrated that by using this process the life of linens are doubled. They have their own pumping plant, with a sixty horsepower engine and a one hundred horsepower boiler.

On March 25, 1913, occurred the marriage of Mr. Saunders which united him with Miss Ruth Tucker, the ceremony being solemnized in San Francisco. Mrs. Saunders is a native of Ohio, having been born at Conneaut and was the daughter of Amos and Leah Tucker, who came to the state of California during the year 1911. Her father is interested in the amuse- ment business and is now operating a skating rink in San Jose, thus providing for the young folks of this city a good, wholesome recreation. Both Mr.

Marion Eugene Ellis

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HISTORY OF SANTA CLARA COUNTY

Saunders and his partner, Eli Bariteau, are very active in the work of the Chamber of Commerce, always ready to help in movements for the good of their community. Mr. Bariteau also has contributed his share to the defense of his country by serving in the World War. Mr. Saunders is a member of the Independent Order of Red Men in which organiza- tion he is very popular and is a charter member of the Commercial Club. In religious faith, Mr. Saun- ders and liis family are consistent members of the First Methodist Church, and in national politics he is an adherent of the Republican party.

MARION E. ELLIS .- In the death of Marion E. Ellis on May 8, 1904, Santa Clara County mourned the loss of one of her wealthiest and most honorable citizens and California one of her most prosperous dairy farmers and successful agriculturists. He was born on the Ellis home place at San Ysidro (Old Gilroy) on October 20, 1873, the son of James H. and Harriet (Zuck) Ellis, who are mentioned on another page in this history.

Marion was educated in a private school at Gilroy, and then attended Stanford University and later was graduated from Brewer's Military Academy at Palo Alto. After leaving school he engaged in business in Gilroy, and after his father's death assumed full charge of the dairy business near San Ysidro, and he served one term on the town council of Gilroy. Mr. Ellis was a Royal Arch Mason, a member of the Eastern Star, the B. P. O. Elks and the Odd Fellows.

The marriage of Mr. Ellis occurred in April, 1899. and united him with Miss Annabel Swan, born in the Salinas Valley, a daughter of Hugh Swan, an early settler of California, born in Scotland and a veteran of the Mexican war. Her mother was Miss Isabella Jackson, a native of Ireland. They were married in California, lived for a time in San Francisco and eventually located in Monterey County, where they died at Salinas. Mr. and Mrs. Ellis had one daughter. Marion I. The Ellis ranch consists of 400 acres of fine rich land, on which has been conducted a dairy for fifty-six years, and is one of the profitable old- time dairies in the valley, the principal product of the dairy being fine California cheese, which is mar- keted in San Francisco. Mrs. Ellis has proven her- self a capable and efficient manager of her husband's estate. The daughter, Marion, attended Mills College and also the Junior College at San Jose. She is an ardent lover of the great outdoors and with her mother enjoys the sports and games at their beauti- ful summer home at Monterey. At the death of her grandmother Ellis, she inherited some very desir- able real estate in Gilroy, and some of the original capital stock of Salinas City Bank, and is taking an active interest in business affairs.

ADOLPH JOHN BAIOCCHI, M. D .- A success- ful physician and surgeon whose brilliant future is easily forecast by his exceptional scientific training and valuable practical experience and his keen in- tellect and its powers, is Dr. A. J. Baiocchi, a native of San Jose, where he was born on November 19, 1890, the son of Stephen Baiocchi, a native of Lucca, Italy, who came to New York on an old ship loaded with lumber and traveling so slowly that it took forty days to make the trip to New York. He reached San Jose about 1880, and soon engaged in the manufacture of confectionery, organizing the San Jose Paste Company on Market Street, now

known as the San Jose-Ravenna Paste Company, located on San Pedro Street. He owned and oper- ated this company until his death. He had married in San Jose, Miss Marie De Mattei, a native of Genoa, Italy, and when he died in 1891, he left his devoted wife with our subject, then only cleven months old. The beloved woman is still living in San Jose, the mother of four children.

A. J. attended the San Jose grammar and high schools, and then matriculated at the Santa Clara University, from which he was graduated with the Bachelor of Arts degree on June 10, 1914. After that he took an A. B. degree at Stanford University, in 1915, and three years later received his M. D. degree from the medical and surgical department of Stan- ford, after which he served as an interne at the San Francisco County Hospital for one year, then served as house officer of the Stanford Surgical Service at the San Francisco County Hospital until in Febru- ary, 1920, when he opened offices in San Jose for private practice as physician and surgeon, and he has been so successful in an ever-increasing practice that he intends to make San Jose the center of his activities. On September 10, 1921, Dr. Baiocchi was united in marriage at San Jose with Miss Martha B. Frain of Harrisburg, Pa.

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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 193

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