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 64

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

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HISTORY OF SANTA CLARA COUNTY

though he was one of the first to import a fine French car. He came to dislike the machine, however, owing to the rough roads he was generally compelled to travel, and in rather short order he discarded it again, and once more took to either his favorite buggy or buckboard, in making his round of visits across the vast Miller & Lux ranches.

In 1860, Henry Miller was married to Miss Sarah Wilmarth Sheldon, a lady of culture and refinement, and two daughters and a son were born to them. Henry Miller, Jr., died in his fortieth year, survived by a widow, an honored resident of Gilroy. The youngest daughter, Miss Sarah Alice, was killed by a runaway horse. Another daughter, Mrs. J. Leroy Nickel, has resided at 2101 Laguna Street, San Fran- cisco, and it was at her residence that Mr. Miller expired, on October 14, 1916. George Nickel, a grandson of the famous pioneer, has resided on the Ortigalito ranch, eight miles to the southeast of Los Banos. The immediate life estate was left to Mrs. Nickel and her husband, who had taken a leading hand in the management of the Miller & Lux properties, and some $225,000 for surviving relatives of Mr. and Mrs. Miller, and $30,000 in smaller amounts to em- ployees, were provided for by bequests in the will.

A notable achievement of Henry Miller was his organization and control of the San Joaquin & Kings River Canal and Irrigation Company, and not a few of his enterprises were productive of much benefit to others, as well as to himself and near of kin. William J. Stockton, the pioneer, who first became acquainted with Mr. Miller in 1872, soon overcame his preju- dices to great landholders and found that Miller was performing a great service to other folks seeking to establish themselves; the pioneer could go to his straw-stacks and get straw for the asking, and to Canal Farm and get a cow; and such courtesies were given to rich and poor alike. When the section from Los Banos to Newman was in dire straits for water, Henry Miller, at a cost of some $3.000,000 built a canal and delivered water to the people, without an extra cent of cost to them. He also made a present to the county of a road built at an expense of $45,000, and running to the San Joaquin River. He was born to rule, to lead, to point the way to others, and to get there himself; he testified in court that during the hard times in the five years following Mr. Lux's death, he made $1,700,000 a year, or $8,000,000 in five years, an amount that seems almost incredible, but which must be true. Henry Miller was of striking personal appearance, and in his prime was an exact image of General U. S. Grant. He was simple in his habits, and would tolerate no homage from anyone. Dr. J. L. McClelland said, when Mr. Miller died: "He has endowed no colleges, but he has given mil- lions as he went along without exacting any pledge of remembrance, or making any condition of pub- licity. There are thousands of humble men and widows who can testify that his giving of valuable land and goodly sums of coin has been in strict accord with the Scripture admonition, "Let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth." And Andrew R. Schottky, the distinguished lawyer, said: "I saw a poor butcher boy coming from Germany to California; I saw him accumulating vast acreages of land on the Pacific Coast; I saw thousands of happy and pros- perous homes on land developed and sold by him; I saw no instance of colonists being defrauded and im- poverished by being placed on poor land at high

prices. Underthinking persons will perhaps censure him for his great wealth, but the fair minded will think of the fact that in accumulating his wealth, he devel- oped land and took advantage of opportunity, but did not crush and destroy men. When all is said and done, his was a life of intense usefulness, and his contribution to the present and the future of Cal- ifornia is large. The words of Mark Anthony at the death of Brutus are peculiarly appropriate at the death of Henry Miller: 'This was a man!' "

ANDREW P. HILL .- The position that Andrew P. Hill occupies in the professional, commercial and social life of San Jose is an evidence of the rare abil- ity distinguishing his citizenship in this community. The state of California has long been recognized by artists as furnishing a diversity of scenes unsurpassed by any other state in the union, and Mr. Hill is easily recognized as a leader in the portrayal of nature; but Andrew P. Hill's name and strenuous efforts will for- ever be associated with the preservation to the state and to humanity of the beautiful California Redwood Park. Thousands of tourists visit this beautiful spot annually, and reverence the man who so bravely fought for the preservation of these wonderful trees, and the people of California owe him a debt of grati- tude for his perseverance and unselfish efforts in the saving of this forest from the ravages of fire and van- dals. Mr. Hill has long enjoyed the distinction of being one of California's foremost artists. He has ex- hibited pictures and taken gold medals in panoramic photography at Buffalo, Omaha, St. Louis, New Orleans, Portland, and the Mid-Winter Fair at San Francisco.

Many of his canvasses adorn the walls of perma- nent art exhibits and homes in California and other states, and his wide experience and generally ap- proved method of representation justify the influence which he exerts in all matters pertaining to the estab- lishment of high artistic ideals in the west. Mr. Hill brings to his work the energy, excellence and distinc- tion which is characteristic of the undertakings of the artists, authors and statesmen of the state of In- diana, where he was born near Valparaiso, Porter County, August 9, 1853, and where he lived until he was fourteen. A pride of ancestry centers around his forbears; his paternal great-grandfather, John Hill, served in the Revolutionary War under General Put- nam, and he married Rebecca Harvey, niece of the gallant general and hero of Bunker Hill; and Hya- cinth Hill, daughter of John Hill, married Abraham Garfield, father of James A. Garfield. Elijah B. Hill, son of the Revolutionary soldier, carried a musket in the war of 1812, and in time became one of the earliest pioneers of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, where he carried mail to Cleveland, when that now flourishing com- munity consisted of three houses. Elijah Putnam Hill, father of Andrew Putnam, was born in Hillsboro, Ohio, and was a buyer of furs for northern Indiana for the Hudson Bay Company. In 1853, he crossed the plains in an ox train which counted Samuel Man- ning among its fortune hunters. While crossing the plains he became separated from his party and, in company with Mr. Manning, was hunting some stolen stock which had been run off by the Indians. They succeeded in keeping the Indians at bay and were able to reach camp, but Mr. Hill died from the strain and exposure on the sixth day after his arrival at Amador City, Cal., and he was the first white man buried there. On the maternal side, Mr. Hill is descended

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from colonial stock, for his mother Jennie (Rose) Hill, was the daughter of Henry Montgomery and Sallie ( Frishy) Rose, the former of whom served in the War of 1812, and was in turn the son of a Revo- lutionary soldier. Grandfather Frisby also espoused the colonial cause during the War of Independence as drum major to Washington's staff.

Andrew P. Hill came with an uncle via Panama in 1867, to California, stopping for a year in Amador County. Very early in life he developed an aptitude for drawing, which grew as he had opportunity for study. During the year of 1868, he enrolled as a stu- dent in Santa Clara College, but before finishing his course, he was offered a position by his uncle, Warner Rose, a prominent stock raiser of San Luis Obispo County, with whom he remained for about three years, receiving a practical education along various lines, but the knowledge gained could not be com- puted in dollars and cents. Through the advice of Charles F. Reed, Mr. Hill began to take lessons in painting under Virgil Williams in San Francisco, and a few years later he was associated with L. O. Lussier in portrait painting in San Francisco and San Jose. In the meantime he studied the human figure under Virgil Tojetti of San Francisco. His progress along his chosen line of work was gratifying, both to himself and friends, and he became an active member of the San Francisco Art Association.

Mr. Hill is the recipient of many medals for paint- ings exhibited at the state capital. In the year of 1876, he established the first studio, in partnership with Mr. Lussier, in San Jose, where he also had a large class. After the death of his partner, he con- tinued his varied art career, and from portraiture branched out into the painting of horses in motion, a departure gratifying in its results, for practically all of the famous horses in the state were painted by him, either singly or in groups. The first and most not- able historical work painted by Mr. Hill was known as the "Murphy Party," the first emigrant party as- cending to the summit from Donner Lake, and which, because of its faithfulness to incidents of the pioneer life of the state, was purchased and placed in the his- torical room of the California Pioneers' Association of San Francisco, but destroyed by fire in 1906. He took a gold medal on this in 1878 at Sacramento. His "Camp of Israel," painted for J. W. Kelchner, has received encomiums of praise from the art world in general, and was given two pages in the New York Sunday Times.

Mr. Hill became interested in photography about fifty years ago, and maintained a fine studio in San Jose from 1885 to 1906. Governor Stanford desired his horses taken in motion, and Mr. Hill was thus em- ployed for nearly eight years. He also photographed the laying of the corner stone of Stanford Univer- sity, and the breaking of the ground. Until the death of the famous financier and philanthropist, the ser- vices of Mr. Hill were in constant demand. Mr. Hill has contributed many illustrations to the magazines and periodicals throughout the world, his scope in- cluding portraits, animals and landscapes. His sketch portraying a fire in the Santa Cruz Mountains, that had been put out with new wine, appeared in the Lon- don Wide World during the year of 1900. While en- deavoring to secure material for these pictures, he became interested in the old redwood trees, which have been preserved through his strenuous efforts in their behalf. During the disastrous earthquake and

fire of 1906, most of his paintings were destroyed, but he soon opened up another studio at his home, and his exhibits attract people from every part of the United States. To Mr. Hill belongs the distinction of being the first artist to discover the means of match- ing photographs, so as to form a continuous, pano- ramic picture, and he has taken many prizes and medals for his exhibits. His photographs of the giant redwoods of California are famous the world over. He lives close to nature, and every mood in which she indulges is reflected upon his temperamental, fine and aspiring mind. The singing brook, the giant tree, the turbulent winds, talk to him as to one who understands, and who, understanding, portrays with genius and sincerity.

Mr. Hill is an honored member of the Sons and Daughters of Pioneers. Mrs. Hill has been his con- stant companion and helpmate in his various lines of art, and has assisted him in his studies. She is a graduate of the San Jose State Normal School, class of 1876, and for eight years was an instructor in the schools of San Jose. She is the daughter of Benja- min F. Watkins, a native of Genesee County, N. Y., who, in 1846 crossed the plains to Oregon, being a member, when he started, of the ill-fated Donner party, but from which he separated at Fort Hall. Mr. Watkins engaged in mining in Oregon for a time, and then crossed the mountains to California. He owned 160 acres of land in San Francisco which is now the site of the depot at corner of Third and Townsend streets. In 1850, he returned east by way of the Isthmus of Panama, and married Laura Broughton, of Malone, N. Y., who accompanied him to the west during the year of 1851. Mr. Watkins then pur- chased and located upon a ranch near Santa Clara and owned the first strawberry farm in California. Here he engaged in general farming and fruit raising until he passed away at the age of fifty-eight. Mrs. Hill's maternal grandfather, Shebuel Broughton, married Sarah Summer, a cousin of Charles Summer, a lineal descendant of General Israel Putnam, of Revolution- ary fame.

Mr. and Mrs. Hill are the parents of two children; Andrew P., Jr., a graduate of Stanford University, and now -- 1922-head of the department of manual training in the Palo Alto grammar school. He is married and has one child; Frank E. is also a gradu- ate of Stanford, which he supplemented with a course at the Illinois University; later receiving a degree from Columbia University, and for two years prior to the outbreak of the war, was assistant professor in the English department of Columbia. He married the daughter of Prof. George Hempl, and they are the parents of two children. He enlisted in the aviation corps at the opening of the war, received his training and commission as lieutenant at Kelly Field, and was on his way to serve overseas, when he was honorably discharged at New York. He was then employed by the Curtis Aeroplane Company as publicity man, and remained there two years; he then became first as- sistant to the chief editor of the New York Globe.

Had Mr. Hill not penetrated the home of the giant redwoods in search of illustrating material, and had he not been denied the right to perpetuate, through his camera, their dignified and giant proportions, the history of this now famous region of the Big Basin might have terminated with much less credit to the state of California. The achievement of Mr. Hill in saving these giants of the forest, is appreciated by

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the lovers of nature throughout the world. Already the shadow of the sawmill hung over the sentinels of the forest, and their doom was read in the books of a lumbering company, which measured their lengths with commercial tape, nor cared that their passing meant the destruction of a portion of the glory of the universe. The Big Basin Lumber Company had pur- chased its rights, and H. L. Middleton, the heaviest stockholder, was probably, before his awakening, to- tally unconscious of the part he was to play in avert- ing a tragedy of nature. Had Mr. Hill not worked untiringly toward his goal, this magnificent park of 10,200 acres would not now belong to the state. Through his energy, he succeeded in organizing the first meeting of interested people hield at Stanford University to formulate plans to save the giant red- woods of the Big Basin for a public park, and perse- veringly kept the wheels of action in motion, enlist- ing such men as David Starr Jordan; Prof. W. R. Dudley; Father Kenna of Santa Clara University; Dr. McClish of the Pacific University, and others taking up the matter, and Carrie Stevens Walter, Mrs. Phoe- be A. Hearst, Mrs. Lowell White, and many other prominent women of the state, coming to the rescue of the great trees of the Big Basin. The press throughout the state spoke favorably of securing at least a portion of the basin for a park. Mr. Hill had a public duty to perform, and he went at it with a singleness of purpose which has made men con- querors of fate since the beginning of time. He traveled throughout the state, rousing press and peo- ple to enthusiasm, and bringing them to see the ad- vantage of preserving these giants of the forest. After ceaseless waiting and anxiety, the legislature of Cali- fornia passed a bill appropriating $250,000 for the pur- chase of the park from the lumber company, and the governor affixed his signature to the bill, and the towering giants were saved. The traveler in no other clime sees trees a hundred feet in circumference and upwards of three hundred and more feet high. The Big Basin is shut in by a mountainous rim from 1800 to 2600 feet in height. On the southwest the Basin slopes to the sea, which is reached through two deep gorges piercing its rim. It is in Santa Cruz County, and touches a portion of San Mateo County, in the Santa Cruz Mountains of the Coast Range, barely thirty-three miles from San Jose by road and sixteen miles in an air line. Mr. Hill was the organizer of the Sempervirens Club of California and for ten years has served as president. Their rallying cry was "Save the Redwoods."

Probably the painting entitled "Crossing the Plains" is the most notable of Mr. Hill's recent productions. It was purchased by subscription and it was a mem- orable event on April 23, 1921, when this fine painting was presented to the people of California. Many notables were in attendance at the presentation, among them being Governor Stephens, Mrs. James Patterson, who drove the last iron spike that united the east and west; Mr. Brown, who made the first plow in California on J Street, Sacramento; John McNaught, the well known author and publisher; Al- fred Bettens and R. M. Bettens, the leading hotel managers; Mr. and Mrs. Alden Anderson and many others. Alex. P. Murgotten, secretary of the Andrew P. Hill Art Committee, made the presentation speech, in which he spoke of the inspiration of the artist to paint a picture that would live in the memory of the

pioneers of California. Governor Stephens accepted it for the people of California.

Mr. Hill is an honored member of the Pioneer Society of Santa Clara County, and served on the board of directors of the Forest Play Association of California, and the Sempervirens Club. The "Save the Redwoods" league appropriated their name from the "Save the Redwoods" rallying cry of the Semper- virens Club. Mr. Hill's name and his life work is entitled to a conspicuous place in the historical literature of California, for there are few men liv- ing here today whose labors have such a lasting influence upon the happiness, prosperity, and wel- fare of the commonwealth. Mr. Hill holds a con- cession at California Redwood Park to sell park pictures, and his summers are spent there. He gives lectures every Sunday on the trees of Cali- fornia to appreciative audiences, and during the win- ter months he paints pictures to fill orders taken during the summer.

RICHARD P. KEEBLE .- A typical representa- tive of the self-made men of our times, occupying a well-deserved place of prominence and affluence in the Santa Clara Valley, is Richard P. Keeble, known to his wide circle of friends as Dick Keeble, who has contributed much to the upbuilding of the county during his long residence here, and particu- larly has he done much to advance the interests of the fruit industry. He was born near Maryville, Blount County, Tenn., August 6, 1868, a son of Marion and Martha Jane (Clark) Keeble, both na- tives of that state. The Clark family were of Eng- lish ancestry, while Mrs. Keeble's maternal ancestors, the Thompsons, were of Scotch descent and among the early settlers of Tennessee. The Keeble family came from England, settling in Virginia just prior to the Revolutionary War, and Great-grandfather Richard Keeble served in that struggle for independ- ence. Grandfather Keeble, also named Richard, was a pioneer of Tennessee, and his son, Marion Keeble, the father of our subject, was an officer in the Con- federate army in the Civil War, serving under Gen. Fitzhugh Lee. For many years he was a prominent farmer in Eastern Tennessee, where he passed away, the father of ten children, seven of whom are living, five of them being residents of California.

The second eldest of the family, Dick Keeble, at- tended the public schools of Blount County for a short time during the winter months, his summers being spent in working on the farm. In 1889 he came out to California, remaining for a month at Los Angeles and then going on to Ventura County, where he was employed on a bean thresher for a season. At the time of his father's death, in 1890, he returned to his old home in Tennessee where he remained for a year and a half, and then he made up his mind to return to the Coast and locate here permanently. For a time he resided in Washington, where he was engaged in the lumber business, com- ing back to California in 1892 and settling in the Santa Clara Valley, where he found employment dur- ing the fruit season. He began at the bottom of the ladder on arriving here, working for A. D. Rice, a rancher, at twenty-five dollars a month, but as he was willing and observant, he soon mastered ranch- ing methods as practiced in California. By thrift and economy he saved a considerable portion of his wages, so that in 1905, with his brother, he pur-

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chased a ranch near Edenvale. Later he acquired a five-year lease on the Ogier ranch, on the Brokaw road, and after five successful seasons, he purchased the 115 acres that comprised the Ogier home place. Energetic and enterprising, he began at once to add to its improvements and set out and reset much of the place to all varieties of pears, until he de- veloped it into one of the finest and best-equipped pear orchards in the state. The phenomenal suc- cess which attended his efforts is a conclusive proof of the statement that the Santa Clara Valley is the center of the pear-raising industry.

Mr. Keeble has also engaged extensively in the fruit business and besides shipping his own fruit he bought pears, apples and olives, packed them and shipped them East, his business growing to very large proportions, so that in 1920 he had become the largest individual green fruit shipper in the United States, building up this business through his energy and capability from a small beginning and increas- ing its volume each year. He has constructed his own packing sheds, modernly equipped with a full complement of machinery, ten men being employed the year around, while the services of sixty men are required during the busy season. Mr. Keeble has also developed a forty-acre pear orchard just north of San Jose, so that it can readily be seen that he has unbounded faith in the prosperity of the fruit industry in the Santa Clara Valley. The prod- ucts of his orchard have been shipped to all the large markets of the United States as well as supplying the export trade. In the fall of 1921 he disposed of his large orchard, a record sale, as it was the con- sensus of opinion that it was the highest price ever paid for a like acreage in this valley.

During the past twenty-five years Mr. Keeble's life has been a varied one, and he has crossed the con- tinent twenty-seven times in disposing of his fruit and looking after his interests. His rise to promi- nence and affluence in a few short years is all the more interesting. since he says that it was in Cali- fornia that he made his first dollar. Besides his fruit interests, he has invested in two other ranches, one of fifty-two and one of forty-two acres; the latter is in alfalfa and is leased as a dairy. Politically Mr. Keeble is a stanch Republican, supporting the principles of the party of his choice, and has served on the county election board several times. De- servedly popular among a large circle of friends, he participates in the activities of the San Jose Country Club and the Chamber of Commerce and is a char- ter member of the San Jose Commercial Club. It is to such men that the rising generation may look for moral and material guidance, for unselfishness has been one of his chief characteristics and industry and courage his unfailing guides.

JAMES LOUIS LIGHTSTON .- A native son of California who has for the past eleven years been connected with the city government is James Louis Lightston, who is now deputy city treasurer and license collector. Mr. Lightston was elected for three terms as city treasurer; when the new com- mission form of government was established this position became appointive and Mr. Lightston was again selected to hold this office, which he does to the entire satisfaction of his constituents. He was born in San Jose on February 14, 1872, the son of Frank and Juanita (Soto) Lightston, the father a

'49er, having come to this country during the time of the gold rush and first tried his luck as a miner. He was the first city treasurer of the city of San Jose, and was also the deputy sheriff; James Light- ston is still using the books that were opened by his father. The mother was a member of an old Spanish family, and passed away in the year 1900, her hus- band having preceded her, in 1890.

James was educated in St. Joseph's school, and when he first began to make his livelihood he began as a clerk in a grocery store and was engaged in that line for a period of five years; he then went to work for an undertaker's establishment and was em- ployed here for three years; then he spent ten years in railroad work and later he was elected to the position of city treasurer and license collector for three terms, and later, under the new form of gov- ernment, he received this appointment, and in all he has served in that office for eleven years.

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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 64

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