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 67

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 67

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Reared on his father's farm in Iowa, C. C. Spald- ing attended the common schools of Bremer County. When nineteen years of age he taught school for a winter, then he clerked in a large store in Waverly, Iowa, until he was twenty-one years of age, when he bought out a general mercantile establishment at Horton, Iowa. Five years later his brother, C. W., bought a half interest in the store, which they con- ducted as Spalding Bros. for some time, when they engaged in the wholesale grocery business at Al- gona, Iowa.

In 1900 Mr. Spalding came to Sunnyvale, arriving here at an early period in its development, and he has since laid out several additions to the town. He also helped to organize the city government, and was elected its first treasurer, serving in that capa- city ever since, and aiding materially in promoting the development and upbuilding of the town, which now has its own fire department and modern domes- tic water system and a fine grammar school, while a union rural high school, patterned after the Chaffee Union high school, is soon to be erected near Sunny- vale for pupils in the Cupertino, Sunnyvale and Mountain View districts. Mr. Spalding, who is a mem- her of the board of trustees, has done everything in his power to raise the standard of the schools in his community and the cause of education finds in him a strong advocate.

He is deeply interested in the agricultural and hor- ticultural development of the Santa Clara Valley and in association with his brother, C. W. Spalding, and F. D. Calkins purchased a 250 acre ranch at Sunnyvale, which they have brought under a high state of cultivation. It is given over to the growing of peaches, apricots, prunes and cherries, all devel- oped from stubhle, and it has one of the largest pumping plants in the county, having a capacity of 2100 gallons per minute. Mr. Spalding was one of five who became the organizers of the California Prune & Apricot Growers, Inc., and he was elected a member of the board of trustees in 1921, receiving the largest number of votes ever cast in favor of a

candidate from this district, which is a very import- ant one, comprising Santa Clara, Contra Costa and Alameda counties.

In financial circles, too, Mr. Spalding occupies a foremost positon. He was the organizer of the Bank of Sunnyvale, of which he was made cashier, while W. E. Crossman became its first president, and two years later he was succeeded in that office by Mr. Spalding. They erected a substantial bank build- ing and in 1919 the institution was sold to P. M. Landsdale, of Palo Alto, who in the following year disposed of his interests to the Bank of Italy, its present owners, who are about to build a new brick and reinforced concrete bank building at a cost of $35,000. The Bank of Italy stands high among the financial institutions in the state and Mr. Spalding has been chosen as manager of its Sunnyvale branch. He is well versed in the details of modern banking and is promoting the success of the institution by progressive, systematic work.

Mr. Spalding's marriage occurred in San Jose in 1911, uniting him with Miss Jessie A. Parkman, a native daughter of San Jose and a graduate of the State Normal. She was an educator, teaching in the San Jose schools for eighteen years and during a portion of this period she was a member of the coun- ty board of education. They are blessed with one son, Charles C., Jr., now nine years of age.

For years a member of the Republican County Central Committee, his fellow-citizens, recognizing his worth and ability, have called Mr. Spalding to other important public offices and in 1906 he was elected a member of the thirty-seventh California Legislature, serving for one term, taking an active part in passing important legislation, one of his measures being a bill to rebuild the State Hospital at Agnew after the earthquake and fire, securing an appropriation of $800,000. In November, 1920, he was elected to represent his district in the forty- fourth General Assembly, by the people of his dis- trict. He is making a splendid political record, characterized by marked devotion to duty and the fearless defense of whatever he believes to be right, looking ever beyond the exigencies of the moment to the opportunities and possibilities of the future. He is chairman of the committee on banks and banking and is also a member of the committees on agri- culture; hospitals and asylums; motor vehicles; nor- mal schools; roads and highways; and state grounds and parks. He was one of the organizers and is a prominent member of the local Chamber of Com- merce, of which he is chairman.

Mr. Spalding was made a Mason in Waverly Lodge, A. F. & A. M., in Iowa, and demitting, be- came a member of Mountain View Lodge, No. 198, F. & A. M .. and is now a charter member and treas- urer of Sunnyvale Lodge, No: 511, F. & A. M. He is also a Scottish Rite Mason of the 32nd degree, a member of Islam Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., of San Francisco, and with Mrs. Spalding is a member of Sunnyvale Chapter, O. E. S., of which he is past patron. He also is prominent in the Odd Fellows, Elks, Knights of Pythias, Modern Woodmen of Amer- ica, and the Mountain View Grange.

Pre-eminently public-spirited, his interest and co- operation can always be aroused in behalf of any project for the welfare of county or state. His ef-

ССОраемму

383

HISTORY OF SANTA CLARA COUNTY

forts are of a most practical character, the sound judgment of an active business man being manifest in all of his opinions concerning the best methods of improving the city along lines of material and in- tellectual progress and municipal growth. His acti- vities have touched the general interests of society to their betterment and Sunnyvale, Santa Clara County and the state have benefited by his co-opera- tion and initiative spirit in many ways.

HENRY RENGSTORFF .- A man of many re- sources and adaptability was the late Henry Reng- storff, who came to California in 1850. His contribu- tion to agriculture and horticulture in the Santa Clara Valley is hard to estimate, for he owned six valuable and well-improved farms throughout the county. When he arrived in California he had little in a financial way, but his mind was well stored with the practical and homely maxims of the German people, and his youth had been spent in an atmosphere of refinement. He was born September 29, 1829, near Bremen, Province of Hanover, Germany, the son of Fritz and Amelia (Hambruch) Rengstorff. His father, Fritz Rengstorff, was an educator, and also the owner of a tavern on a country road a few miles from the seaport town of Bremen. His mother, also born in Germany, preserved the longevity in the family, attaining to the age of ninety-four years. The father lived to be sixty-six years old and had, besides Henry, one son, Fritz, and two daughters.

Henry Rengstorff was reared and educated in his native province, and upon reaching twenty-one de- termined to seek a newer country and there estab- lish a home and fortune. The spring of 1850 found him afloat on a sailer, bound for San Francisco via Cape Horn. From San Francisco he came to Santa Clara County and worked on farms in the neighbor- hood of San Jose until 1853, when he purchased a squatter's right to 290 acres on Silver Creek and en- gaged in general farming and stockraising for three years. His next squatter's right was of 290 acres, and in 1864 he purchased his home place of 164 acres, on which his daughter, Mrs. W. F. Haag, now lives, one and a half miles north of Mountain View. This place was devoted to the raising of grain and hay, as was also the farm of 227 acres near Mil- pitas. A farm of 117 acres on the San Francisco Road, near Los Altos, was planted entirely to fruit, and the farm of 1,200 acres in San Mateo County was devoted to general farming and stockraising. He also owned a ranch upon which was built the Reng- storff Landing, and a half interest in a ranch of 520 acres east of San Jose. For a number of years he rented all of his farms and his son, Henry, assumed the management of the Rengstorff Landing and the warehouse.

The marriage of Mr. Rengstorff occurred in San Jose about 1855, and united him with Miss Chris- tine Hessler, a native of Germany, who lived to share in his well deserved fortune. They were the parents of seven children: Mary, who became the wife of A. C. Martel, died and left two sons, Robert and Alfred; John H. married in Seattle and removed to Nome, Alaska, and there died; Elise is the wife of William F. Haag; Helena, who became the wife of Dr. O. P. Askam, died and left two children, Earl L. and O. Perry, who were overseas during the late war; they are both professional musicians; Christine F. became the wife of Robert McMillan and they 23

have one child, Daniel H., who was in thic naval re- serve during the late war; he later became a student at the Law School of the University of California, and in 1920 met death in an automobile accident in San Francisco; Henry is a rancher of Mountain View; and Charles W. passed away in infancy. Mr. Rengstorff passed away in 1906 at the age of seven- ty-seven, and his wife survived him until 1919 and reached the age of ninety-two. Mr. and Mrs. Reng- storff were active in the affairs of the Presbyterian Church of Mountain View and were liberal contribu- tors. After his arrival in California he strove to es- tablish a school system, and served as school direc- tor for many years and erected the schoolhouse in the Whisman district. With characteristic per- severance and thrift he worked to realize his ambi- tions, and he was highly esteemed throughout the community for his many sterling qualities.

RODNEY ESCHENBURG .- Esteemed and be- loved among the sturdy pioneers who have been closely identified with the development of the won- derful resources of Santa Clara County, the late Rodney Eschenburg, a citizen of eminence of Gilroy, began his interesting association with that town in 1889, after which he was not only an eyewitness to the growth of this section, but did all that he could toward giving it prominence. A native of Delaware, Rodney Eschenburg was born in Wilmington on Washington's Birthday, 1831, one of eight children of John and Eliza (Rodney) Eschenburg, his mother being a grandniece of Caesar A. Rodney, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. Her father was appointed U. S. Minister to the Argentine Republic, and he and his family took up their resi- dence at Buenos Ayres, and in that beautiful South American city she was married, and there, too, four of her children were born. While she was on a visit to her old home in Wilmington, the subject of our story entered the family as the fifth child.

A native of the famous "free city" of Hamburg, John Eschenburg left his homeland while a young man and sought his fortune in far-away Sonth Amer- ica, and became a dealer in Peruvian bark, assem- bling his cargoes and shipping the same to the En- ropean markets. There he met Miss Rodney, whom he later married, and by whom he had eight children: Emily, Ellen, John, Isabel, Rodney, Herman, Mari- quita and Albertine. Mr. Eschenburg lost the fortune he had amassed when the South American Revolu- tion swept away lives and property; and in 1834 he removed to Mexico, where he was very successful as a merchant for many years, also serving as Pris- sian consul at the City of Mexico. About 1859, he came to the United States, and for ten years he fol- lowed agricultural pursuits in Madison County, Ill., about twenty miles from St. Louis.

In 1849, the gold fever drew three of his sons to California, while the remainder of the family re- turned to the old home in Delaware; and the next year, John Eschenburg himself hurried to the Cali- fornia gold-fields by way of the Isthmus. In 1851, he returned to the East with part of the family; and in 1856 the rest followed. For years, after he had taken up his residence ont here, John Eschenburg worked as a bookkeeper for Castle Bros. in San Fran- cisco, and after his son, Rodney, had acquired a farm near Gilroy, he removed hither, in 1857, with his family. In 1863, Mr. Eschenburg became sec-

38-4

HISTORY OF SANTA CLARA COUNTY

retary of the San Marcial Mining Company, and once again he removed to Mexico, where he worked in his secretarial capacity until within three days of his death, which occurred at San Marcial in 1865, when he had attained to the ripe old age of eighty- four years, and until 1874 he was survived by his widow, who died in San Francisco in her eighty- second year.

Rodney Eschenburg in 1849 set out with his broth- ers, Herman and John, to try to cross the great continent to California, and with dependable, if slow, mule-teams they accomplished the journey in 105 days. They put up the first cabin at Auburn, and then plunged into mining. On December 16, 1850. however, Herman passed away, not far from Nevada City, and the other two brothers were left to con- tinue their mining ventures, with which they had only uncertain success, so that in 1858 they left the mines. At Sacramento, Rodney got a job at unloading flour. for which he was paid one dollar an hour, working nearly twelve hours a day and handling 200-pound sacks. He also worked on the first vessel ever sunk in California waters, the Lady Washington, later raised and salvaged. About 1853, he went into the Santa Clara Valley about five miles east of Gilroy. and there bought a farm with some of the profits from his mining investments, thus acquiring some 343 acres, which he so improved that in time he had one of the finest dairy farms in that section. On giving up mining, therefore, in '58, he naturally turned to farming, and for three decades he contin- ued dairying, becoming one of the leading dairy- farmers of Santa Clara Valley, and a rancher whose progressive ideas influenced many in other parts of the county. Retiring at last, he removed to Gilroy: and in June, 1921, he laid aside the cares and re- sponsibilities of a world which had grown decidedly better for his having lived and toiled in it. This 343- acre ranch is still known as the Eschenburg Dairy and is owned by the family.

Mr. Eschenburg was married in Gilroy on Decem- ber 12, 1863, to Miss Maria Louise Thomas, one of the attractive daughters of John B. and Fanny ( Smith) Thomas, who had six children, brought up in Delaware County, N. Y. Three years prior to her wedding, Miss Thomas accompanied her sister. Mrs. John A. Perkins, of Fresno, on the even then somewhat difficult journey to California, coming out merely for a visit; but having met Mr. Eschenburg. who wooed and won her, she decided to stay and to help make the Golden State still more golden. Two children were granted Mr. and Mrs. Eschen- burg: Isabel Madeline became Mrs. Matthew Mc- Currie and was made secretary of the Humanc Society of San Francisco; and they have two chil- dren, Donald Rodney and Gordon. Herman R. Esch- enburg married Miss Georgia Cobb, of Gilroy, and died. in August, 1903, the father of one boy, Herman Rodney Eschenburg, who graduated from the Davis Agricultural School in 1921, and is now making his home in Gilroy. Rodney Eschenburg assisted as a charter member in founding the Presbyterian Church at Gilroy in 1860, his wife also joining, and later he became an elder in the church. He carly joined the Republican party, and throughout his life labored to effect an elevation of all that pertained to politics.

WILLIAM C. OVERFELT .- On the pages of Cal- ifornia's pioneer history appears the name of William C. Overfelt, and although many years have elapsed since Mr. Overfelt passed away, his memory is still green in the hearts of his family and friends, and as a pioneer of 1846 his name still lives in the annals of the state. His was a life of toil, beginning early in life, but he was fortunate in that he had estab- lished himself upon an independent basis by the time he arrived at middle age. Had his life been pro- longed, no doubt he would have reaped a larger suc- cess, for his resourceful mind and keen judgment won the confidence of associates and were the fac- tors in his growing prosperity.

A native of Virginia, he was born in 1827, and was descended from German ancestry. At the early age of five he was deprived of his mother. His father. Michael Overfelt, a native of the Old Dominion, and a pioneer of Missouri, followed the wagonmaker's trade in addition to that of being a farmer. At the age of fourteen, being obliged to earn his living, William was bound out to a farmer, with whom he re- inained until he was twenty-one. With an older brother. John, he then embarked in the flour milling business in Callaway County. However, before their enterprise had been placed upon a substantial found- ation, a desire for adventure came over him and with a party of seventeen young men he made preparation to come to the coast. The journey across the plains, begun in the spring of 1846, was made with pack mules and oxen and contained the usual dangers and hardships. The greatest peril they encountered was at Kings River, where the waters had overflowed the bed of the river and formed an angry sea, imperiling the lives of those who attempted to cross.

Like almost every pioneer, Mr. Overfelt tried his luck in the mines, being engaged principally in Mari- posa County. About 1852 he came to Santa Clara County and with others bought and settled on Gov- ernment land, on which he engaged in farming and stock raising. The marriage of Mr. Overfelt oc- curred December 27, 1854, uniting him with Miss Mary Pyle, a sister of John F. Pyle. Her father, Thomas Pyle, was a son of Edward G. Pyle. a very carly pioneer of California, and mentioned in history as one of the party who returned to Donner Lake in March. 1847, hoping to arrive there in time to re- lieve the ill-fated Donner party. Mrs. Overfelt was born in Illinois and accompanied her father's family to California, where she attended a subscription school and also had the the advantage of study, for some years, with a private tutor engaged by her father. After her marriage she settled with her hus- band on a tract of 160 acres, located on Penetencia Creek, one-half mile from Berryessa. After almost four years on that place they sold and removed to a part of the Pyle homestead, where Mr. Overfelt con- ducted a dairy and stock raising business until his death, May 26, 1876, when only forty-nine years of age. Both he and his wife were from an early age identified with the Methodist Episcopal Church South, and contributed generously to charitable and religious movements. After the death of her husband she continued the management of the farm. Mr. and Mrs. Overfelt were the parents of two sons and three daughters, Charles F. and E. J. being engaged

Mary Overfelt

387

HISTORY OF SANTA CLARA COUNTY

in stock raising and farming. The oldest daughter, Mrs. Mary Elizabeth Hatch, resides in San Jose. Martha Ellen is deceased, and Mildred L. resides with her mother on the home ranch.

MRS. MARY OVERFELT .- A splendid example of what a far-seeing, progressive and industrious wom- an may accomplish, when thrown upon her own re- sources, is furnished in the life and activities of Mrs. Mary Overfelt, the highly estcemed pioneer, who was born in Illinois about thirty miles from Chicago, on October 26, 1839. Her grandfather, Edward G. Pyle, was a native of Virginia, and one of the Revolutionary patriots who also participated in the War of 1812. He moved to Kentucky, where Thomas Pyle, the father of our subject, was born in 1810. Later the family migrated to Indiana, then to Illinois, and afterwards to Missouri, and in all their adventures they were sturdy frontiersmen. In 1846 Edward Pyle brought his wife, three sons and three daughters, with two sons-in-law, to California, and they were members of what was known as the Pyle-Whiteman party, consisting of Mr. and Mrs. Whiteman, Mr. and Mrs. Laird, Mary Pyle, who later became Mrs. Gordon, and Thomas, Edward and John Pylc.

Thomas Pyle had married Miss Elizabeth Goodwin, who was born in 1812, and was a member of a family that came from Ohio, where her Grandfather Good- win was a magistrate in an early day. Thomas Pyle was accompanied by his wife and family, which con- sisted of four children: Edward G, who lived until February 10, 1915; Mary, Mrs. Overfelt; William Henry, who died on February 28, 1912; John Francis, who passed away on July 8, 1921. Mary Pyle was then a girl of seven years, so that the events of that memorable trip are stamped indelibly on her mind. .

On October 26, the Pyle-Whiteman party arrived at Sacramento and located at Sutter's Fort, one and a half miles from the old town, where they remained over the winter, while Thomas Pyle went out to help subdue the Spaniards under General Fremont. He returned to his family at Sutter's Fort early in the spring of '47, and then the Pyle family went to the Mokelumne River, thence to the Stanislaus River, where they wintered in Stanislaus County. Two and a half years were spent on the Tuolumne River and in the spring of 1850 they settled in Santa Clara County. Thomas Pyle had come here in the fall of '49 and bought a ranch of some 500 acres, but when it was surveyed, finally, it lacked ten acres of that area. He devoted this land to raising garden truck, which sold readily in the town, and stock raising. After the death of Grandmother Pyle, Grandfather Pyle made his home with his son Thomas. He had come to this county at an early day and had pur- chased some lots when San Jose was plotted. He had spent a short time at the mines, but preferred the life of a rancher, as a surer way to wealth.

Mary Pyle attended the Berryessa school, where she studied, first under Mr. Harrison and then under Mr. Kimball, and later she attended the Hammond private school in San Jose. She remained on the home ranch until December 27, 1854, when she was married to William C. Overfelt, a native of Vir- ginia, where he was born in April, 1827. His father. Michael Overfelt, was born September 25, 1780, and died on March 12, 1864, and his mother, before her marriage on October 10, 1805, was Miss Polly Ayers. William Overfelt came to California from Missouri in 1849 and settled at first at Placerville, where he mined. He then came to the Penetencia Creek dis-

trict and bought 160 acres, where he raised stock and grain, but sold this ranch, being afraid that he would lose it through a dispute over the old Spanish title. About 1858 he moved to the old Pyle ranch, his wife's part of the estate being about seventy acres, and he also purchased the portion of his brother-in-law, Edward Pyle, thereby coming to own over 100 acres. Later, with Mr. MeCracken, he pur- chased some 300 acres of land on which Los Gatos now stands.

Mr. Overfelt passed away May 26, 1876, the hon- ored father of five children, then living. The chil- dren born to Mr. and Mrs. Overfelt are: William Elijah died at the age of eighteen months; Charles Franklin resides in San Jose with his wife, formerly Rose Lenz, and their two children, Dorothy and Harold; John Thomas died at eight years, and Chris- topher, while in infancy; Elizabeth has become Mrs. WVm. D. Hatch and lives on North Thirteenth Street, San Jose; she is the mother of two daughters-Veva B., Mrs. Frank S. Locke, and Leah, Mrs. Jay Hanna; Edward Jackson lives on the home ranch; Martha E., Mrs. F. S. Easterday, died on August 6, 1915; Mildred L., for a number of years a teacher in the public schools of the state, is at home.

Directly after her husband's death, Mrs. Overfelt. carrying out the plans made by herself and husband prior to his death, built the home in which she now lives at the corner of Jackson and McKee roads, and moved into it in 1877, dispensing there a generous Californian hospitality to hier many friends. William Overfelt, with Joseph McKee and George Wood, were the three men who first secured the first free public school in the county, east of San Jose, and or- ganized the Pala district, Mr. Overfelt being one of the trustees for many years. During his lifetime he sought to do his duty as a citizen under the ban- ners of the Democratic party. Mrs. Overfelt is in- dependent in her views and votes for the best men and measures, regardless of party lines. Her two sons, Charles F. and E. Jackson Overfelt, are well- known and successful ranchers of the valley, where they also have achieved prominence as breeders of Percheron and Belgian draft horses, and at one time they had five prize stallions.

DON WALTER LUTHER .- A native son of California and of an early settler of Santa Clara County, Don Walter Luther is successfully carrying on the horticultural and agricultural operations in- augurated by his father. He was born in Hollister, September 5, 1882, the son of Jacob and Francis (Green) Luther, natives of Germany and Michigan, respectively. His father came to California from Wisconsin in 1858, was a successful stockman in Monterey County, and in 1889 began developing the Luther orchard of 110 acres near San Jose, now one of the finest producers in the valley. He died March 11, 1916, leaving a widow and four children.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

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 67

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