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 199

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 199

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Rev. and Mrs. Bazata have one child, Anna Eliza- beth, attending Palo Alto high school. Mr. Bazata was made a Mason in Alhambra Lodge No. 126, F. &. A. M., and now a member of Burlingame Lodge of Masons. He is a member and president of the board of trustees of the Saratoga grammar school district. He is a member of the Santa Clara Council of the Congregational Church. He belongs to the California Prune & Apricot Association and politically he is a Republican.

CHARLES DUFOUR .- An enterprising and pro- gressive citizen who is much interested in the de- velopment of the Santa Cruz Mountain region and proprietor of "Edgemont" on the Summit is Charles Dufour, a native of Switzerland, born in Geneva, March 12, 1877. His father, John Dufour, was a restaurateur, and as a steward he traveled all over the world, finally settling down at his old home in Geneva. He had married Annie Brun, a native of that place, and they spent the remainder of their lives in Switzerland. Charles, their only child, after completing the local school entered Maria Hilf Col- lege, a Jesuit institution, where he was graduated, after which he was apprenticed and learned the trade of a jeweler and designer, and then entered L'Ecole des Beaux Arts in Geneva, where he was graduated with four first prizes. He then went to Paris, France, as a designer of jewelry until he came to Philadel- phia, Pa., in 1902, entering the employ of Rosenthal, a manufacturer, for six months; he then spent two years with Sheer, a manufacturer in New York City. Coming to San Francisco in 1905 he was a diamond setter for Shreve for a year, when he was taken ill and when convalescent with his wife he made a six months' trip to Switzerland.

On his return to California Mr. Dufour purchased a ranch at Felton, where he engaged as a viticul- turist and also had a summer resort for four and a half years when he disposed of his property and re- moved to Healdsburg, Cal., purchasing a ranch on the Russian River at the foot of Fish Mountain, which he named Chanticleer Ranch, a summer resort, and six months later sold it at a profit and came to Santa Clara County and purchased his present ranch, which he has improved for a year-around resort. "Edgemont" is a ranch of twelve acres, located on the State Highway at the Summit, five acres being

Chas. D. Herold

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devoted to orchards. And here he has built a large hotel and several cottages, and has an abundance of spring water for domestic use. "Edgemont" is set in the midst of beautiful redwood, oak and madrone trees. He secured the location of the post office at his hotel named Patchin, and he has been the post- master for eleven years. In all his successes he has been very ably assisted hy his estimable wife, whom he married in Geneva, Switzerland, May 29, 1901. She was in maidenhood Hortense Serravalla, born in Geneva, a daughter of Antonio and Madeline (Marcenavo) Serravalla, natives of Genoa, Italy. Her father was a dealer in musical instruments and music boxes in Geneva, Switzerland, where Hortense was reared and educated. She is the mother of two children, Ernest and George. Mr. Dufour is a member of the Italian Lodge of Foresters in Oak- land. He was made a citizen of the United States in Santa Clara County and gives his political alle- giance to the Republican party.

CHARLES DAVID HERROLD, E.E., R.E .- Characterized by the same energy, business apti- tude and integrity that distinguished his sturdy an- cestors, Charles David Herrold, the eminent elec- trical engineer and specialist in radio, head of the Herrold Laboratories and Herrold College of Engi- neering and Radio at San Jose, holds as high a posi- tion among the most respected residents of Santa Clara County, where he has lived for more than thirty years, as he does among the most capable leaders in the field of science in which, both in the prosecu- tion of his own interests as a professional man, and in the services rendered by him to the Government during the late war, he has accomplished so much. A man of ceaseless activity and extensive enterprise, he has been intimately associated with the industrial progress of the Santa Clara Valley, and by wise judgment and prudent forethought has steadily built up the famous business which he originated. Mr. Herrold is known far and wide as one of the first radio experts to operate on the Pacific Coast, and this speaks for itself, considering the importance attained by that branch of electrical science.

Charles D. Herrold was born in Fulton, Whiteside County, Ill., a Mississippi River town, on November 16, 1875, the son of Capt. William Morris Herrold, a veteran of the Civil War, who was a merchant and owned a large flour mill and grain elevator, and who had married Miss Mary Elizabeth Lusk, a school teacher and Bible lecturer. Mr. Herrold served in Company F, Ninety-third Illinois Volunteer Infan- try, and there as captain became one of the popular commanding officers. He was of an unusual inven- tive mind, although he had been denied a technical education, and he gave to the world several practi- cal, useful inventions, including the automatic prune dipper, used in every prune section of the country; and the "jumbo" wagon, so constructed as to be able to turn in a very small space, making it especially useful in orchards. He was a member of the first Grange, and for a number of years he was a director of the Farmers' Union of Santa Clara County. He owned a fine ranch of eighty-three and one-half acres, highly improved with peaches and apricots, which he planted at Riverbank, as well as having developed several of the finest ranches in Santa Clara County. He died in 1919. Mrs. Herrold-whose grandmother was among the first settlers in Illinois on the banks of

the Mississippi -- passed away on September 15, 1920, a year after the death of her lamented husband. There are two surviving sons -- Charles David, the subject of this review, and George H., who resides in St. Paul, Minn., filling the position of city planner. Mary Elizabeth Lusk Herrold had written and lec- tured extensively on Bible subjects. There is a genealogy of her family extending back to William the Conqueror and dealing extensively with the d'Omphrey Villes and the Humphreys.

In 1883 Mr. and Mrs. Herrold and family removed to Sioux City, Iowa, and the following year took up their residence at Sloan, in that state. This was situated in a rich grazing district, where the educa- tional facilities were very poor; but this did not deter Charles in his trend as a student, and aside from mechanics, he began to take an interest in natural phenomena. The only books on scientific subjects in the town were two volumes of Zell's Encyclo- paedia, and these books were read from cover to cover until they fell apart from sheer use. Fortu- nately for the lad, a teacher who was above the aver- age, J. M. Jaynes, arrived to take charge of the little school, and he gave him a good grounding in Eng- lish and mathematics, and helped him to gain clear concepts of science, so that in less than a year he had so far progressed as to be able to build unaided a perfectly-working telegraph line, including all the instruments and batteries, and even the insulating of the wires used in the coils.

After the fearful blizzard of 1888-in which a school teacher at Broken Bow, Nebr., just across the Mis- souri River, was frozen to death and her entire flock of little children lost-the Herrold family took a trip to California, to try and restore the little mother's health, shattered by the rigors of a prairie climate; and on their return to Iowa, Charles wrote up the records of the trip and won the rhetorical contest in which representatives from schools in several Iowa towns took part. The same year, the family migrated once more to the Coast and settled permanently in San Jose, and from that time on the facilities for Charles' education, immediately taken advantage of, rapidly improved.

In 1891 he was able to enter the high school at San Jose, and he began to evince intense interest in astronomy; and the files of the San Jose Mercury contain reports of his work in building a telescope and driving clock, as well as the observatory, which still stands at Fifth and Washington streets. During this period, he came in contact with R. S. Gray, the president of the National Microscopical Society, and became an expert microscopist, and he also succeeded in taking celestial photographs with his telescope, especially those of the sun, using a high-speed, focal- plane shutter of his own construction. The immediate result of his work on the sun was the formulation of the theory that there was a direct connection be- tween facular disturbances and terrestrial electro- magnetic phenomena. It was at this particular time, too, that he commenced his work as a teacher; and in his small private laboratory he trained students in chemistry, among others Dr. Will Bailey and Dr. Arthur Smith, now of Oakland. Although deeply engrossed in scientific studies-or perhaps because of them, considering the relation of the work of Helmholtz, for example, to sound and music-he found time for a study of counterpoint and harmony.

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and of the pianoforte in the Conservatory, and wrote several musical compositions illustrating what he had learned.

Shortly after his graduation from the San Jose high school in 1894, the first reports of Marconi's experiments with wireless telegraphy across the Eng- lish Channel excited his interest, and stimulated his delving into the works of Herz, Maxwell and others relating to oscillating currents and electro-magnetic waves; and in the laboratory at Stanford University he saw repeated the Marconi experiments, and in his own laboratory at San Jose sent the first wireless message, transmitted sixty feet, in California. When he entered Stanford University, he selected astron- omy as his major subject, and he was one of two students enrolled in the new department; but when Prof. W. J. Hussey was called to Yerkes, the depart- ment of astronomy was left without a head, and so our subject changed his major to physics.

Continued ill-health compelled Mr. Herrold to take a year's leave of absence from university work, and after having accomplished over three years' study, he associated himself with an electrical undertaking in San Francisco, with which he continued until all operations were cut short by the San Francisco earthquake and fire. During the period he was able to keep active, Mr. Herrold produced over fifty dif- ferent electrical devices in dentistry and surgery, and he perfected an electrical deep-sea diving illuminator used by salvage companies and in the pearl fisheries, and he attained reputation as a pioneer in some re- markable developments in electrical machinery for pipe-organs. After the great disaster to the Bay City, he removed to Stockton, took up the teaching of engineering, and became the head of the technical department of Heald's College, where he remained for three years. Much important work was accom- plished during this time, including the designing and constructing by student labor of a high-speed tur- bine and electric generator, and he also laid the foundation of subsequent developments in under- water wireless, the firing of mines by wireless im- pulses, and radio-telephony.

In 1909 Mr. Herrold returned to San Jose and es- tablished a radio-telephone station, for experimental work, the oldest active radio-telephone station in the United States. He also opened, in 1909, a school of engineering and radio, which has turned out over 1,200 students. Perhaps his most important work was the training of some 200 young men during the late World War, 130 of whom were accepted by the Government and given work at the various stations and shops, so that at one time many of the Govern- ment radio stations on the Pacific Coast were in charge of men who had been instructed by Mr. Her- rold at San Jose. In 1910 he commenced develop- ments on the radio-telephone, and after two years of hard work developed a system of his own which was tested out at Mare Island Naval Radio Station and at Point Arguello, in 1913, and he had the dis- tinction of being the first to maintain a wireless telephone system for almost eight months in contin- uons operation between the top of the Fairmount Hotel and his laboratory in San Jose, a stretch of fifty miles, and this great scientific attainment was accomplished at a time when wireless telephony was unknown outside of a few technical and governmental laboratories. A number of patents were taken out

on these inventions, and at present Mr. Herrold is engaged in developments in the clarifying of speech by means of the radio, and apparatus for the magni- fication of heart sounds.

Mr. Herrold is principal of the Herrold College of Engineering and Wireless at San Jose, and the head engineer of the Herrold Laboratories. The electrical engineer, Robert J. Stull --- a son of the late Judson L. Stull, of the mercantile firm of Stull & Sonnik- sen-was Mr. Herrold's first student, and a young man of decided ability, who is fast becoming well- known in the radio and magnetic-electric world. Their laboratory is located at 467 South First Street. San Jose, where path-breaking work, following ex- perimentation of a high order, is being accomplished day after day. There is table room for twenty stil- dents. Mr. Herrold perfected a successful street and station indicator in 1917, which underwent rigid prac- tieal tests. He is an active member of the Institute of Electrical Engineers, and also of the Institute of Radio Engineers; he holds licenses from the Gov- ernment for land radio stations, for portable stations, and for scientific experiments in the radio line, and without doubt he ranks among the best-known of California's radio experts, and it is safe to predict that, as the Herrold laboratories will continue to make San Jose a leading radio center on the Pacific Coast, he will become more and more famous.

At San Jose, on October 20, 1913, Mr. Herrold was married to Miss Sybil May Paull, the daughter of William and Maud Eva Paull, formerly of Eng- land. Her parents came out to the United States and Montana, and for many years her father was chief of the Butte City fire department, where he was highly respected for his personal worth. Two chil- dren have blessed this union: Robert Roy Herrold and Donald Sanford Herrold. Mr. Herrold is genial, kindly, tactful and generous, and with his gifted wife, whose public spirit is in harmony with his, he takes a keen interest in all that pertains to the de- velopment of the West, and especially of San Jose and Santa Clara County. Mrs. Herrold assisted greatly in war work and turned out several expert students. A large circle of friends and acquaint- ances enjoy the hospitality of their typically Cali- fornia home, all the more interesting because of the scientific devices to be seen there. In national poli- ties Mr. Herrold is a Republican, but he appreciates the value of giving nonpartisan support to the best men and measures proposed for the community in which he lives and thrives.

WILLIAM HENRY MULLEN .- A successful business man of Los Gatos and native son is Wil- liam H. Mullen, who was born near San Bruno, San Mateo County, December 24, 1866. His father, Patrick Mullen, was born in Ireland, came to New York City where he was in the employ of a shipping company, and at that city he was married to Mary E. Gilligan, also a native of Ireland. In 1861 they came via Panama to San Francisco, where Mr. Mul- len was with a wholesale commission merchant, until he located on a ranch in San Mateo County and en- gaged in general farming. In 1875 he came to Los Gatos and engaged in teaming, hauling lumber from the mills in the Santa Cruz Mountains to San Jose and to the new Almaden mines for many years, when he retired to a well earned rest. He passed away in 1907 at the age of seventy-eight years, his widow sur-

Vincent Isasca

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viving him until 1912, being eighty-one years at the time of her death. Of their seven children William H. is the third oldest, being reared in Los Gatos from the age of nine years, receiving his education in the public schools. He assisted his father in his teaming until he was eighteen years of age, and then took over the business, running three freight teams. Three years later, however, the railroad came and the business was cut down to such an ex- tent that he sold his outfit. He then apprenticed as a painter, continuing as journeyman for eight years, when he established the present business which has grown satisfactorily, so that he is now the leading painting contractor in his city. Among the resi- dences and business honses he has done are the fol- lowing: Messrs. Case, Balch. and Farwell, Mrs. Knight and Dr. Tevis, The Los Gatos Bank and Lyndon Hotel. His business necessitates his em- ploying five painters.

On March 31. 1891, at San Jose, Mr. Mullen was married to Miss Annie Bray, who was born in San Luis Obispo, a daughter of Fred Bray, who came to San Luis Obispo and later to Los Gatos. Mr. and Mrs. Mullen have one child, William Nelson, a grad- uate of the Law Department of the University of Santa Clara. During the World War he served for two years in the War Risk Department in Washing- ton, D. C., and is now in the Chief of Claim Depart- ment in the State Compensation Fund in San Fran- cisco, Cal. Mr. Mullen is a Democrat in national pol- itics, a member of the Los Gatos Chamber of Com- merce, and fraternally he is a member of the Inde- pendent Order of Foresters.

VINCENT ISASCA .- A young man who saw active service overseas during the World War, and is now an enterprising orchardist in the Montebello district, Santa Clara County, is Vincent Isasca, a native of Savigliano, Province of Cuneo, Italy, born May 11, 1898. His father, Vincenzo Isasca, a native of the same place, married Maddalena Gautero, and was engaged in flour milling until he emigrated with his family to California, arriving in San Jose in Jan- uary, 1891. Here he was employed on the ranch of V. Picchetti for about six years, when he purchased the ranch of forty-four acres he and his son are now operating. Their two children are Vincent, the sub- ject of this review, and Teresa, who lives in San Francisco. Vincent Isasca was reared in the Monte- bello district, attending the school of that name. From a boy he assisted his father to clear the ranch and getting it in shape to set out a vineyard. However. the vineyard died and the ranch was used for general farming. When Vincent's school days were over he became interested in horticulture and began setting out orchards of prunes, apricots and peaches, now in full bearing and a source of satisfactory profit.

Mr. Isasca served in the U. S. Army during the World War, entering the service September 20, 1917, being assigned to Company G, Three Hundred and Sixty-third Regiment U. S. Inf., Ninety-first Division. He trained at Camp Lewis until he went overseas with his division; left Philadelphia on the transport City of Cairo July 6, 1918 for France. After train- ing there a month they were ordered to the front. He was a reserve at San Mihiel from September 11 to September 13, 1918; in the Meuse-Argonne offen- sive, September 26, 1918, to October 4, 1918, when he

was in the first line trenches and with his comrades went over the top, breaking the German lines. Next they were sent to the Belgium front in the Ypres- Lys offensive October 31, 1918, when they went over the top twice. They left France for home March 31. 1919; stopping at Camp Merritt, N. Y., they came on to the Presidio, San Francisco, where he was muster- ed out April 21, 1919, and he came home immediately and took up his ranching duties which his parents had looked after during his eighteen months' ab- sence. He is greatly interested in orcharding, having made a study of local conditions pertaining to his calling, so he is able to give his fruit trees excellent care and obtain good results. Mr. Isasca is a Repub- lican in national politics and is a member of Post No. 89. American Legion, in San Jose.

WILLIAM RAYMOND WILSON .- An enter- prising citizen of Santa Clara County is found in William Raymond Wilson, who combines ranching with real estate, and is unusually successful with both lines of work. He was born in Victoria, British Co- lumbia, June 15, 1876, the son of William and Emily ( Harris) Wilson, both natives of England, the for- mer born in Yorkshire and the latter in Lancashire. The father came to British Columbia when a young man and engaged in the mercantile business, and was a prosperous business man in Victoria. During the

financial panic of 1893, the father's business was com- pletely ruined and he lost all he possessed. The Harris family were pioneers of Victoria, Grandfather Thomas Mainwaring Harris being the first mayor. Mr. and Mrs. William Wilson were the parents of eight children: William, Gilbert, Harold, Lamburn. Ralph, Clifford, Edith and Winifred, our subject being the only one to locate in California. The father passed away August 1, 1920, past seventy years of age: Mrs. Wilson is still living and is past seventy.

William Raymond received his education in the grammar and high schools of Victoria. He was the representative of the Giant Powder Company of San Francisco for the interior of British Columbia, with offices at Rossland, later being transferred to Den- ver, Colo. In 1897 he made his first trip to Cali- fornia. Wishing to locate here, he resigned his position in 1905 and came to Santa Clara County. arriving on the 4th of May, and located in San Jose. He purchased an interest in the real estate business of the firm of Garrison & Crowe, and within a year Mr. Garrison retired from the business and the part- nership became Crowe & Wilson, with offices on South First Street, San Jose. For three years this partnership was continued, when Mr. Wilson opened offices in the Porter building: since 1913 Mr. Wilson has been the business agent of the Porter building; he also has charge of the Tiburon Investment Com- pany's properties and the Hewlett apartments, and is interested in different country properties throughout the county; he is a member of the San Jose Realty Board and in 1916 served as its president. He is also a member of the Chamber of Commerce, San Jose Country Club, and the Commercial Club.

The marriage of Mr. Wilson occurred in San Jose, July 2, 1902, and united him with Miss Mary Ade- laide Martin, a native of San Jose, the daughter of Charles J. Martin, an carly settler and prominent business man, who served as mayor of San Jose and is now deceased. Mrs. Wilson obtained her educa-

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tion in the grammar and high schools of San Jose. They are the parents of two children: Charles Har- ris, and Elizabeth Delzell. In his political affilia- tions, Mr. Wilson is a Republican, and he is a mem- ber of Trinity Episcopal Church.

SYLVANUS RAYNOR WADE .- One of the most prominent figures in the business life of the city of Campbell was Sylvanus Raynor Wade, now deceased. He was the pioneer merchant of this place, and hav- ing been engaged in business here For over twenty years, had helped much in its growth from a village to an up-to-date, hustling city, its civic improvements and educational facilities keeping pace with the rapid levelopment of the city in population.

Mr. Wade was born in Sag Harbor, Long Island, N. Y., in 1841, the son of Benjamin and Sarah (Ray- hor) Wade, both natives of New York state. At the age of eighteen the lure of travel seized him, and thinking he would like to see more of his country, when the opportunity came to sail with a whaling vessel he lost no time in making ready to embark. They sailed around the Horn, and encountering a storm, they were wrecked off the coast of Mendo- cino County, Cal. Upon finding himself stranded and in a strange town, he immediately began looking for work, and finally found employment tallying in a lumber yard at Casper. He was quick in figuring and became so adept in the business that he soon was advanced to the position of bookkeeper, and rose co superintendent of the mill and store. He was a constant student and became a telegraph operator, and was also an express agent. He was supervisor of Mendocino County and he held that position until he removed to Gualala, a different district; at the latter place he was manager of the store for the Gualala Lumber Company.

In Point Arena, in 1872, Mr. Wade was united in marriage with Martha E. Walton, who was a native of Warsaw, Indiana. born in 1853, the daughter of Louis and Sarah (Blake) Walton, born in West Vir- ginia and Ohio, respectively. Mrs. Wade came with her family by way of the Isthmus in the year of 1860, her father coming here for his health, first lo- cating at Napa, Cal. Louis Walton was a farmer back East and was counted among the most pros- perous, when his health failed him and he had to seck a milder climate. Mrs. Wade was educated in the Napa schools and in a private college. Mr. and Mrs. Wade came to Santa Clara County in the year of 1893, principally on account of the educational ad- vantages, and bought and located on a ranch of five acres a half mile from Campbell. Here they con- tinned to live for the next twenty years, then having built a home in Campbell, they moved there, after selling their tract of land. They became the parents of four children, all of whom are living: Herbert R., of Alameda; Lila V. married John B. Strong of Campbell; Benjamin lives at Campbell; Florence is the wife of Martial Cottle of Edenvale.

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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 199

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