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 80

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

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large drives. He sold out in Oregon and leased a ranch of 30,000 acres in San Benito County and ran cattle for fifteen years; then bought near Grid- ley, Butte County, but material for feeding cattle was short, so this place was sold and he bought a big ranch in Calaveras County; later this was sold to the Spring Valley Water Company and he located at San Felipe, Pacheco Pass, in Santa Clara and Merced counties. Here he was taken ill and he was advised to quit, so he sold to Louis Cauhape and came to San Jose and built a residence on San Car- los Street, but he failed in health and in 1911 passed away. For a number of years the family resided near San Felipe, but their preference for San Jose was so marked, that it was always spoken of as their place of residence. He had reserved 9000 acres of the lease for his wife and two sons to continue the cattle business, which they did for five years until the lease expired; then they bought several thou- sand acres, one of the finest ranches in Napa Coun- ty, near Napa Junction and engaged in the cattle business; also raised grain, alfalfa, and many hogs, operating the ranch with tractors. They ran it for about two years and then sold it at a big profit and returned to San Jose, where Mrs. Castle resides in the Castle Apartments on West San Carlos Street. Mrs. Castle again engaged in the cattle business with her sons and bought two ranches adjoining cach other, the Ross & Carl ranch and the Lester ranch, consisting of about 4000 acres of land de- voted to the raising of Hereford cattle. From the start, Mrs. Castle was interested in the business and readily learned to judge cattle, their condition, weight and value. This she learned from her husband, as Mr. Castle was an expert judge of cattle; could tell the weight of any animal in a big herd, rarely missing it more than five pounds. He was considered one of the best stockmen in California, and their eldest son is today a close second to his father and very accurate in his judgment of cattle. Mr. and Mrs. Castle were the parents of two sons; Arthur F. whose life history will be found elsewhere in this volume, and Roy N. a graduate of Heald's Busi- ness College, who. since his graduation has been actively engaged in stockraising, and is well known throughout the central and northern parts of Califor- nia. In 1916 he was married to Miss Lavern Mc- Clelland, a native of Santa Ana, Orange County, Cal.

Mr. Castle was an active Mason and a member of the California Pioneer Society. During the year of 1910, his health very visibly failed, his physician final- ly resorting to the transfusion operation. Deputy Sheriff Howard Noble gave a quart of blood, but all to no avail, and Mr. Castle passed away at the old home place in San Jose January 21, 1911. Mrs. Castle is an active member of the Eastern Star of San Jose; she has always conducted her business with rare ability and she is held in high esteem in her community.

HENRY MEADE BLAND, A.M., Ph.D .- Emi- nent in the California educational world as probably the best acknowledged authority on English, Dr. Henry Meade Bland of San Jose is fortunate in exerting the most enviable influence in the guiding of tendencies in popular education along the entire Pacific Coast, and in the maintaining of high stand- ards even in secondary school work such as would do credit to any great center throughout the world. As Dean of Literature at the State College, he bears his years and his honors as lightly and as becom-

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ingly as a tree bears leaves and fruit. The honors range all the way from recognition for personal at- tainment in realms of prose and poetry, to discourses on varied themes and on the good and great of earth; for on the doctor's list of personal friends are the names of poets, philosophers and scientists, glo- rious in the anthology of human life.

Just what holds the fullest measure of soul-satis- faction for this poet, philosopher and teacher, who has a way of reading only what is best in individuals, it is difficult to determine. But when you know this quiet savant, fond of reading and writing poetry, a nature-loving soul who never misses anything from a drop of dew gleaming on the grass-blade, to a star glowing in the heavenly blue, you learn something altogether delightful. Dr. Bland's interest in his fellowman is also considerable; and he is fonder than anything else of discovering in somebody else a streak of literary talent well worth the developing. He knew Edwin Markham, and believed in him, long before "The Man With the Hoe" became the en- during monument of the poet's fame. A close and personal friend of Jack London, Dr. Bland had the greatest admiration for the fearless author, and said of him: "It is impossible for the world of letters to measure the loss suffered when Jack London died, for his tremendous creative ability evidenced by forty-two books was only the beginning of his lit- erary development." Dr. Bland has also been a close friend of Charles Warren Stoddard, George Sterling, Herbert Bashford, John Muir, William Henry Car- ruth, Joaquin Miller, David Starr Jordan, and all able literary men who have had great infinence in shaping the letters of the West.

A native son of California, Henry Meade Bland was born in Fairfield, Solano County, 1863, the son of Henry James and Annot L. (Steele) Bland. His father was a Methodist minister, while on his mother's side the family leads back to the days of the American Revolution. Grandfather David Steele fonght in the War for Independence, and being wounded in one of the battles by a fracture of the skull, it was found necessary, in order to save his life, to remove a part of the bone and place over the opening a silver plate; and with this clever device of the surgeons of the day, he lived to be an old man, -- truly a remarkable result of science in that period. Great-Great-Uncle Richard Steele was a man of con- siderable literary genius, and conjointly with Ad- dison he edited in England his own periodical, the "Tatler" and the "Spectator." Mrs. Bland's father had a fancy for odd names for his children, as will be noted from her own name, Annot. He named his five daughters each after the heroine of a novel. Dr. Bland's father was also celebrated for his great memory, having memorized the Methodist Hymnal and also the Psalms and the Book of Proverbs, and much of the New Testament.

As a hoy, Henry Meade attended the grammar school of his locality, and then he took a course in the then University of the Pacific, from which he was graduated in the class of '87, with the doctor's degree in Shakespearean research in 1890. He was also a member of the pioneer class that graduated from Stanford University in 1895; he majored in English, received the degree of Master of Arts in English Philology, and was a fellow-student with

Herbert Hoover, also a member of the same class. Later in the nineties he took graduate work for a year in the University of California. His first ex- perience as an educator was in the public schools of Contra Costa County. Then he came to Santa Clara County and established the Los Gatos high school, and later he accepted the principalship of the Grant school in San Jose, where he remained for six years. He then became principal of the Santa Clara high school, which office he continued to fill for two years. He began to come into his own, to find the field for which he is undoubtedly especially equipped, when he became instructor in education at the College of the Pacific.

In 1899, Dr. Bland became a member of the fac- ulty of the State Normal School at San Jose, as- suming at once the direction of the English depart- ment. In 1905, a committee of seventy men were chosen to revise the school laws of the State of California, and Dr. Bland has the honor of being a member of that committee. For twelve years, also, he has actively served on the Santa Clara County Board of Education where he made a record for both ability and unselfish devotion to the public weal. Twice he has been summer session lecturer on the Literature of the Pacific Coast in the University of California.

The marriage of Dr. Bland occurred in Alameda 011 July 25, 1888, and united him with Miss Mabel Haskell, who was born in Bangor, Maine, a daugh- ter of Henry H. and Lorinda ( Miller) Haskell, and this has proven a very happy union. Mrs. Bland is a woman of very pleasing personality, having been reared in an atmosphere of culture and refinement, and as a charming woman, she presides gracefully over their home. Two children have been born to Professor and Mrs. Bland. Henry Morton, married Miss Pearl Andrews, is engaged in transportation at Stockton, and they have a daughter, Mildred Annot, the wife of Aloysius MacCormack, who re- side on their ranch near Cressey, in Merced County, and who are the parents of two sons, Melvin and Loudon MacCormack.

Dr. Bland has also written considerably, among his most noted work being magazine sketches of western literature, treating in particular of many of the greatest literary characters of the West. He also has published a series of entertaining articles entitled "The Literary Women of California," a really valuable acquisition to the literature of the state. In 1907 he brought out a volume of verse, "Song of Autumn," and two of his finest lyrics will be found in the State series of readers. A booklet of verse, "In Yosemite," dedicated to this wonderful valley, is on sale there as a souvenir, and according to Edwin Markham is the most elaborate and musi- cal poem that has ever been written on the beauties and wonders of the great valley. Politically Dr. Bland gives his support to the Republican party, and in all matters tending to advance the public wel- fare, he is generally found lending a helping hand. His activities have always been of great breadth, and his life has ever been actuated by high and noble principles, the ideals which he entertains prompting him to put for the most practical efforts to bring about their adoption.

Benjamin F. Hobson. olson.

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HISTORY OF SANTA CLARA COUNTY

BENJAMIN F. HOBSON .- Another interesting representative of a pioneer family long recognized and honored for its part in building the great com- monwealth of California, is Benjamin F. Hobson, the rancher, who is operating a large prune orchard on the Berryessa Road, about two and one-half miles cast of San Jose. He was born on the old Hobson ranch in the same locality, on September 15, 1885, the son of David Hobson, who left North Carolina, his native state, in the fall of 1849, crossing the plains with oxen and reached California in the spring of 1850. He mined for gold in the Sonora district for two or three years, and in 1853 came into Santa Clara County. He purchased a tract of eighty-five acres on the Berryessa Road, then devoted entirely to grain raising, and from time to time he acquired additional land until he had 175 acres all in one body. It was not yet under irrigation, and from this fact alone may be gathered a cue as to the difficulties confronting the pioneer farmer. He planted one of the first orchards designed for commercial use east of the Coyote Ranch, and did wonderfully well with it, never dreaming of the abundance of water now at the disposal of his son through a fine artesian well sunk on the ranch.

David Hobson married Miss Mary E Langensee. whose folks came from Germany, sailing for New York when she was a little child. From the metrop- olis they moved to Indiana, and then came on to California, where Miss Langensee and Mr. Hobson were married Eleven children were born to this fortunate union: Anna lives on the home ranch, and so do Phillip and David; Ella is Mrs. Van Horn of San Jose; Edna and Alfred are also at home: Benj. F. is the subject of this sketch; and Celesta is a popu- lar teacher at Markleyville; Charles, James and Ruth long ago joined the great silent majority.

Benjamin F. Hobson commenced his schooling in the Berryessa district, and then he continued his studies at the San Jose high school, where he was graduated in June, 1905. From a lad he had made himself useful on the home farm, assisting in planting and caring for the orchard, so after his graduation he continued to help his father, and he has been ac- tive on the home ranch ever since. In 1914 he took the special course in agriculture at the University of California, attending the lectures at the University Farm at Davis, and it is needless to say that all his methods are the most progressive. His father, es- teemed by all who knew him, passed away in 1916, but he left his ranch of 175 acres intact, and this has since been divided among the several heirs. Mrs. Hobson, beloved by so many, breathed her last in 1912. Mr. and Mrs. Hobson were devoted members of the Berryessa Methodist Church, and for many years Mr. Hobson conducted one of the Bible classes best organized and best maintained in the county. Inheriting his public-spiritedness and high sense of civic duty, Benjamin Hobson is active in political affairs as a leading Republican The Hobson ranch is devoted almost entirely to the raising of prunes, and the products rank among the finest of Santa Clara County fruit.

MRS. JOHN S. SELBY .- An estimable pioneer who is doubly interesting as a successful woman of affairs is Mrs. John S. Selby, who was Miss Sarah Elizabeth Brelsford before her marriage. She was born on October 2, 1840, the daughter of Charles and Mary (Ball) Brelsford, and lost her father when she was a little girl, after which her mother married for a second time. Grandfather James Ball, both a farmer and a carpenter, came from Kentucky to Bloomfield, Green County, Ind., and reared there his family; and at the same place our subject first saw the light of day.

fn 1854, Miss Brelsford came to California, ac- companying the family of the late Judge Rhodes of San Jose, and two years later she was married to John S. Selby, a native of Callaway County, Mo., where he was born on November 24, 1834. His parents were William and Julia (Turley) Selby, natives of Kentucky who were attracted to Missouri and became some of the earliest settlers of the Iron State. William Selby was also a carpenter as well as a farmer; and so it happened that John learned the carpenter's trade and also followed agricultural industries.

In the spring of 1853, when John Selby was eighteen years old, he set out from home to cross the continent to California, and having reached Santa Clara County in the fall of the same year, he then went to Marin County and worked in the redwoods district and remained there for a year. Then he came to San Jose and leased land in the Berryessa district and then bought and fenced in form himself some 150 acres of land in this district. In 1860 he sold that farm and moved with his devoted wife to the Mission Road, in the Orchard School district, about five miles north of San Jose, where he had acquired some 100 acres, but he sold part of this and besides his own land, some fourteen acres, he leased twenty- six acres. Eight acres he devoted to orchard culture, and had peach trees, several varieties of pear trees, cherry trees, apricot trees, besides some English black walnuts, persimmon, fig, plum, and apple trees and all kinds of berries, showing the fertility of the soil. He devoted the remaining six acres of the land to pasturage, and in addition to cultivating his fine farın, engaged in carpentering. often taking contract work. fn 1906, at the ripe old age of eighty-two, Mr. Selby passed away, full of honor and rich in friends. He was a member of the Board of Super- visors of Santa Clara County, elected in 1892 for one term of four years, serving there as a broad-minded Democrat, and for a number of years was the presi- dent of the Pioncer Society of Santa Clara County.

Seven children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Selby. Mary became Mrs. William E. Trimble of Los Gatos; Emma J., now deceased, was Mrs. R. B. Roberts of San Jose; William H. Selby, living in Naglee Park; Lizzie Lee married W. E. Coombs and resides at San Jose. The fifth is George Wray, an oil man of Santa Barbara County; a child also died in infancy, and Lulu passed away at the tender age of four. In 1908 Mrs. Selby sold the ranch and bought a place in Nagice Park, where she lived until she received her injury, when she sold out. In 1917 Mrs. Selby had a fall, in which she broke her right arm, and this has since been a serious handicap, although she is still re- markably active for a woman of eighty-one. She is also an earnest, highly-esteemed member of the Pio- neer Society, and of the Methodist Episcopal Church

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South. She resides with her granddaughter, Mrs. Waltz, at 132 Balbach Street, San Jose, the center of a group of very devoted friends.

MRS. MARIA ANTONIA CAREAGA .- The interest which attaches to the biography of California pioneers is an expression of gratitude which their fellow-citizens feel towards those forerunners of civilization who have done so much to make both habitahle and attractive this glorious section of the Far West. Not only as a pioneer of the state, but also as one of the early residents of San Jose and vicinity, Maria Antonia Careaga enjoys the respect and esteem of the citizens of Santa Clara County.

Mrs. Careaga's maiden name was Maria A. Bo- nevantur, a daughter of Monsieur Bernardo Bo- nevantur, who had come from France and married Albina Boronda, a charming member of one of the very early pure Castilian families of Monterey. Her father was a carpenter at San Juan Bautista, and passed away when our subject was only ten years old. Her mother reared the family as best she could. the only one now surviving being the subject of this sketch. Her maternal grandfather Boronda was a native Californian, but great-grandfather Bor- onda came from Spain.

Maria A. Bonevantur received her education in the San Juan convent, and her marriage to Ramon F. Careaga was solemnized amid all the festivities char- acteristic of the social life in a family of such ancient traditions. After their marriage at the old historical mission, she accompanied her husband to his ranch and was his able helpmate and counsellor, encourag- ing him in his ambitions, and success came to them above their greatest expectations.

For many generations the Careaga family has been distinguished in California not only for its participa- tion in the gradual development of the state, but be- cause it is one of the important historical links be- tween Castilian Spain and the flourishing colonies which her prophetic vision and unbounded energy planted in the New World. The earliest Careaga of whom we have record as a direct forebear of this esteemed family, was a Spanish nobleman born in medieval Castile and sent to Mexico as a military man by the King of Spain. A descendant was Colonel Satornino Careaga, also a soldier, who came from Mexico to Monterey, California, when he was but seventeen years old. He was a member of Captain Muñoz's command, and with all the chivalry ever characteristic of the Carcagas, he risked his life and sacrificed his comfort to protect the depend- ent and exposed San Jose Mission. His son, Ramon F. Careaga, the husband of our subject, who died on February 7, 1914, was a handsome, splendidly pre- served gentleman, who could look back to many stir- ring events in which he had participated, or of which his father, in the good old days when the Spanish Dons gathered their children about them, had told him as a part of the cherished family tradi- tion. There were personal anecdotes about Governor Portola, and the expedition to Monterey; there were recollections of Pio Pico, Echeandia, Micheltorena, Castro, Flores, Juan Bandini, Abel Stearns, and finally of Fremont and Stockton, with all of whom and their contemporaries the Careagas had had much to do, first in fighting for Spain and then for Mexico, and ultimately in helping to build up young America on the Coast.

With a brother, Juan B. Careaga, also born in Monterey County, and Daniel Harris, Ramon bought about 18,000 acres of the old ranch belonging to the De la Guerras (early Spaniards who, with their wide territory, figured prominently in the state history); and later, in the division, Harris took some 7,500 acres, while the Careaga brothers held more than 10,000. In the final subdivision, Ramon received 6,970, and this property has become the center of the Santa Maria oil fields. More than that, it was on Ramon Careaga's historic land that oil was first discovered in the Santa Maria Valley. One day, while the Careagas were walking across their finely situated acres, one of the parties discovered, here and there, some outcroppings of asphalt-an intruder on the surface of the rich soil which would have been most unwelcome had not the experience of the intelligent observer recognized in the dark substance the coveted indications of rich oil deposits. It was not long before that which was assumed and hoped for to be true was proven a certainty. On March 14, 1900, the erection of the great rig for the first well was begun and they soon struck oil, but the well had to be abandoned on account of some obstacle. A sim- ilar experience was met in the attempt to sink well number 2; but nothing daunted, the riggers and drillers moved farther up the canyon and soon had, in well number 3, such a flow of oil that at last the precious liquid was obtained in paying quantities. The long waited-for event was duly celebrated by a big barbecue, for which the hospitable Careagas furnished four of their choicest beeves, the meat being partaken of by hundreds of visitors.

After her husband's death, Mrs. Careaga moved to San Jose, where she enjoys a quiet and comfort- able life. They were the parents of eleven children: Luis S. is married and resides at Santa Barbara; Ra- mon A. married Miss Cora Riley and they have two children, Ramon F. and Alberto J. and reside in San Jose; he passed away in 1919; John T. mar- ried Miss Alberta Roe and they have one child. Adelbert; Eleanor M. became the wife of John Carr and the mother of two sons, John F. and Leland and they reside on the Careaga ranch; Bernardo F. married Miss Gussie Hawkins and they have two children, William B. and Eugene F .; he passed away in 1919; Antonio F. resides on the Care- aga ranch and so does James F., who is a farmer and stockman; and Charles M. resides on the northwest oil lease of the Careaga ranch near Bicknell, and looks after the oil and gas inter- ests of the estate. He married Miss J. Hawkins and they have one child, Durward; Rita J. is the wife of Mr. Hawkins and they reside in San Jose. Evan- geline is now Mrs. Dana, also on Careaga ranch, Santa Barbara County. Angela is Mrs. Suffert and makes her home in San Jose.

Mrs. Careaga had the comfort and pleasure of having her mother with her during her last days and enjoyed ministering to her comforts until she passed away at the age of seventy-seven. Mrs. Carcaga has always been interested in educational affairs and during her husband's lifetime gave land for two school sites on their property. Mrs. Careaga resides in a comfortable residence on Sierra Avenue, San Jose, and enjoys dispensing the same old-time California hospitality that her husband and their forebears were so noted for.

Walden Lords

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HISTORY OF SANTA CLARA COUNTY

WALDEN LORDS .- It is interesting to write the story of the pioneer who braved the dangers of frontier life and by enduring privations and hardships helped to conquer the wilderness, making it habit- able and bringing comfort and happiness to the com- ing generations. Such a man was the late Walden Lords, a native of Ohio, born at Mansfield, August 14, 1825. His father. John Lords, was a New Eng- lander, born in Maine, who was an early settler and farmer at Mansfield, Ohio. He married Mrs. Mary (McLaughlin) Osborne, who had one child by her first marriage. Nial Osborne, who, when he grew to manhood, was filled with the desire for adventure, and in 1843 he crossed the plains and mountains by the old Oregon Trail to the Williamette Valley, Ore., where he remained a couple of winters, then coming to California he was one of those sent in an expedi- tion to the relief of the Donner party in 1846. He made a trip east and returned, and a second time when he came out in 1849 he was accompanied by our subject and his brother, Ira. Nial Osborne later returned to Iowa where he spent his last days.

To the union of John Lords and Mrs. Osborne were born six children, of whom Walden was fourth in order of birth. He was reared on the Eastern farm, where from a boy he was kept busy, assisting in the farm work as was the custom of farmer boys in those days. He crossed the plains with his half- brother, Nial Osborne and on arriving in California he followed mining at Placerville and later in the region of Ione, but it did not yield the profits he had expected, so he settled down to farming, purchasing land near Galt, Sacramento County, where in time he came to own 400 acres which he devoted to grain and stock raising. Here he also married, being united with Mrs. Mary (Slattery) Huston, who was born in Ireland and came to New York City when a girl of sixteen years, and there her first marriage oc- curred to William Huston. Soon afterwards the young couple came via Panama to San Francisco and thence to' Sacramento. Mr. Huston followed mining until his death.

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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 80

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