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 82

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 82

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I.S. Byrne

Annie MG Cland- Bymes

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HISTORY OF SANTA CLARA COUNTY

remainder of his years were spent'in comfortable re- tirement at Glenbrook Farm, where he passed away on January 14, 1917, highly esteemed by all who knew him, his death closing a career of unusual activity and accomplishment.

JAMES A. McDONALD .- Coming to California thirty-three years ago, Jamies A. McDonald is num- bered among the successful orchardists of Santa Clara County, and he can look back on a life filled with varied and interesting experiences, from his boyhood days in the Maritime Provinces, to the time spent in balmy, tropical Honolulu, and then by way of severe contrast, three years spent in the frozen North, in the first gold rush to Alaska. His birth- place was Cape Breton, Canada, and he traces his ancestry back to the McDonalds and Macdonalds of Inverness and Glencoe, Scotland. Augustine and Mary (Giles) McDonald were his parents, the father born on Prince Edward Isle. Grandfather Angus McDonald and Great-grandfather Ronald McDonald came from Morarshire, Scotland, and settled on Prince Edward Island, and this was the family home for many years. There Augustine McDonald fol- lowed his trade as a builder, until his marriage, when he made his home on Cape Breton Island until his death at the age of ninety-two. Mrs. Mary Giles McDonald's grandfather came from Scotland to Prince Edward Island, and here her father, Donald Giles, was born. When a young man he came with his wife and child in an open boat to Cape Breton while it was yet a wilderness, and was one of the first settlers there, taking up land and improving it and becoming well-to-do. He built two vessels, one for each son, and for years they were engaged in trading along the Atlantic Coast. Mrs. McDonald passed away at the age of seventy-seven, the mother of thirteen children, seven of whom are living.

The fifth oldest of the family and the only one in California, James A. McDonald attended the schools of his home neighborhood until he was twelve years old, and shortly after he entered a dry goods store in Sidney as a clerk, continuing in that line of work until 1888, when he came to San Francisco. Wishing to get into the great outdoors, he followed ranching at San Rafael for five years and engaged in the same line at Hopland, Mendocino County. He next served as a deputy under Sheriff McDade at San Francisco, then went to Honolulu, where for three years he imported horses from California, sell- ing them in the Hawaiian Islands. At the time of the first gold rush to Alaska, in 1898. Mr. McDonald made his way to St. Michael and then up the Yukon to Dawson; it took from July, 1898, to June, 1899, to make the trip, as the party was frozen in en route. He was at Fairbanks when there was only one old prospector there, and they had to walk across from Rampart City. At Dawson the Canadian Government was building a telegraph line to White- horse, and he entered their employ, working on the boat handling the wire, and helping install the first telegraph instruments at the station at Dawson. After the line was completed he was mate on the steamer taking people to Whitehorse, and on the way down the river they lost the boat. All on board escaped watery graves, Mr. McDonald coming ashore barcheaded, and they walked 250 miles to Dawson, camping out nights. He continued to prospect, but after putting in three years there he returned to San Francisco in 1901, via Cape Nome.

At old St. Mary's Cathedral, San Francisco, on April 30, 1904, Mr. McDonald was married to Miss Elizabeth Byrne, the daughter of Garrett J. and Annie ( McCloud) Byrne, pioneers of San Francisco, who are represented on another page of this history. Mrs. McDonald was born at San Francisco and edu- cated at the Dominican Convent there; she is a cul- tured woman of much capability and the union has proven a very happy one. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. McDonald took up their residence on Glen- brook Farm, the Byrne homestead since 1879, and since then Mr. McDonald has devoted his time to horticulture, having reset and improved the ranch until sixty acres are now in full bearing orchard of prunes and apricots. It is beautifully located on Stevens Creek and is one of the show places of the country. Mr. McDonald is also roadmaster in the Fifth supervisorial district, having filled this office since 1905, very creditably to himself and the pub- lic, as the roads in that district well testify to his ability in that line. He is a member of the San Jose Council, K. of C., and is greatly interested in the improvement of the Santa Clara Valley, this wonder- fully favored section of the globe.

DR. J. IRVING BEATTIE .- Prominent and suc- cessful from the very beginning of his practice as a physician and surgeon, Dr. J. Irving Beattie has be- come pre-eminent among the leading medical men of Santa Clara County and is today rightly regarded as one of the first citizens of Santa Clara, in which city he has his residence and office at 1075 Benton Street. He was born in the province of Ontario. Canada, on June 1, 1883. and came to California as a young man of seventeen. When properly prepared for special work, he entered the Cooper Medical College at San Francisco, from which he was gradu- ated with honors in 1905; and then he traveled in Europe and for a year worked in the London Hos- pital. On his return to America, he spent a year at the French Hospital at San Francisco.

In 1907 he located at Santa Clara, and on the first of the year opened an office as the third doctor at the corner of Main and Benton Streets, which for decades has been the Mecca for thousands of suffer- ers, succeeding to the office of his uncle, Dr. D. A. Beattie, now located in San Jose, who in turn suc- ceeded Dr. Saxe, an early and noted practitioner at Santa Clara. Dr. Beattie's success may be in part estimated from the constant attendance of patients during the afternoon hours when he is available for office consultation. The mornings are devoted to surgical operations at the hospital, and to visiting those in distress at their own homes.

On January 12, 1907, Dr. Beattie was married to Miss Hilda Mayer, a native of San Francisco and the daughter of Charles Mayer, Jr., of the Bay metrop- olis. She is a graduate of the University of Cali- fornia, having finished her studies with the class of 1906; and she has been of inestimable service to her husband in his constantly increasing practice. Two children have blessed this union, Hermione and Yvonne. As public-spirited as he is genial, Dr. Beattie joined the ranks of the Americans in the World War and in 1918 went to Fort Riley, where he served as lieutenant until three months after the signing of the armistice.

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HISTORY OF SANTA CLARA COUNTY

WILLIAM SIMPSON, M. D .- Highly esteemed as a successful physician and surgeon, with a long and enviable record of faithful, efficient service in the cause of humanity, Dr. William Simpson of San Jose enjoys a unique position in local society as one of the most interesting of old-time residents. He was born in the province of Quebec, Canada, on March 21, 1846, the son of George F. and Har- riet (Towns) Simpson, who crossed the line into the States when our subject was three years of age and settled for a while near Fort Edward, N. Y. There Mr. Simpson died, and later his devoted widow came to California and remained with her son until her death, in her eighty-eighth year.

William went to the district schools in New York, and later topped off his education by pursuing courses at the Fort Edward Collegiate Institute; and then he taught school for a number of years. He was the last principal at the famous Farmers Hall Academy-whose first principal, by the way, was Noah Webster-and during Mr. Simpson's service this academy was incorporated into the New York state public school system and became the academic department of the Goshen schools. Hc then took charge of the Union Free School at Chester, N. Y., for six years, and after that studied medicine at the Long Island College Hospital, Brooklyn's well-known medical school, from which he was graduated in 1878. He was resident physi- cian at the Brooklyn Children's Seaside Home at Coney Island, being the first physician who had ever spent a season there. After that he was for three years at Hoosick Falls, N. Y.

In 1881 he came to California and located at San Jose; and since then he has carried on the long- est term of practice of any physician near here, not one of his colleagues who were here when he came being alive today. Before coming to Cali- fornia, Dr. Simpson took a special course of study in New York City in relation to the eye, ear and throat, in which he specializes. He is now county health officer, and he has the distinction of having been the first health officer of San Jose, being ap- pointed in 1889. He it was who began the making and preservation of the records of vital statistics, which had not been kept before he took charge.

Dr. Simpson was married on April 12, 1892, at San Jose, to Miss Rose E. Denne, and they have had one daughter. Mrs. Helen Simpson Cole. The family are members of Trinity Episcopal Church. Dr. Simpson has been a Mason since February 26, 1872, having been made a Mason in Standard Lodge No. 711, A. F. and A. M., at Chester (now Mon- roe), N. Y., and he served two terms as master and was a delegate to the Grand Lodge at New York, June 2, 1875, at the dedication of the temple there; he now belongs to San Jose Lodge No. 10, F. and A. M., and to San Jose Chapter, R. A. M. He also is a member of San Jose Lodge No. 522, B. P. O. Elks, in which society he was exalted ruler during 1906, and attended the national annual con- vention at Philadelphia the following year. He be- longs to the Santa Clara Medical Society, having served as president, is a member of the California State Medical Society and has been vice-president of same, and is a member of the American Public Health Association; also the California State Health Officers' Association, serving as vice-president in

1922-23. Dr. Simpson was the first surgeon of the Fifth Regiment. N. G. C., and was retired with rank of major, though he served during the railroad strike and after the fire and earthquake in 1906, and was a member of the Volunteer Medical Service during the World War.

JAMES MATTHEW FELLOM. - Prominent among the native Californians who have attained distinction as writers of stirring American fiction may well be mentioned James Matthew Fellom, whose latest work, a story entitled "Celestial Chattel," has just been secured for publication in the Pictorial Review. He was born on February 7, 1880, on a ranch near Old Gilroy, in Santa Clara County, the son of Sinfriano and Anna Maria (Fellom) Fellom, the former of whom was born near Gilroy, while his mother was born in New York City, and the record of his ancestry is itself romance. His grand- father, Matthew Fellom, a sturdy Norseman, hailed from Elsinore, Denmark, and made many daring voyages in a Danish whaling vessel on the seven seas; and as early as 1833, after a hazardous trip around the Horn, left his ship while it lay at anchor at Bodega Bay. The pioneer, John Gilroy, had preceded him to this port two years before, and Grandfather Fellom, it is said, was the second white man, from Northern Continental Europe, to reach the Santa Clara Valley. Subsequently he married a beautiful senorita and himself became a don and later served as alcalde. Sinfriano Fellom was a graduate of the University of Santa Clara and was a mine operator in Lower California for many years, and was a prominent official of the Mexican gov- ernment, being secretary to Governor Luis Torres and was territorial postmaster at Ensenada; later on he located at San Francisco and made a second trip during a big mining boom to Sierra Pintada, from which point he anticipated penetrating the Lower California desert, perishing in the attempt.

Life on the rancho of 2,000 acres, which Matthew Fellom later owned, was a continuation of the wed- ding feast, and many gaieties were enjoyed by all the neighbors in the vicinity of the old town of Gilroy; and it is not surprising that Matthew became the first alcalde at San Juan Bautista under the Amer- ican regime. He had a younger brother named Caius Julius Fellom, who had left Denmark after Matthew; and it was when the latter made a sec- ond trip from New York to California in the early fifties that the two brothers met at Gilroy for the first time, Caius having been born after Matthew left Denmark. A New Yorker had been out to the Santa Clara Valley and while here had learned of, or met, a Fellom at Gilroy; and having reported this fact to Caius Julius Fellom on his return to the East, the meeting was eventually brought about. On the trip from San Francisco down the Peninsula, Caius J. Fellom came on foot, and he could relate much to his friends of the richness of the valley. The giant mustard grew to such height that a man on horseback would never be able to see beyond and around him.

Caius Julius Fellom remained in the Santa Clara Valley and located near Oak Hill, near the site of the Oak Hill cemetery of today; and six months later he sent for his wife and children who came out to California in 1860, via the Panama Isthmus, and then for a time they all lived in a house on

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Devine Street, San Jose. Matthew Fellom, on the other hand, surrounded by every comfort that re- sources and wealth could bring to the early Dons, lived only to middle age.

Mr. and Mrs. Sinfriano Fellom were first cousins, and James Fellom, our subject, is the eldest child in a family of five children: Landon is a miner and publisher at San Francisco; Roy, a magazine pub- lisher and a member of assembly of the State Legis- lature from San Francisco, and there was a brother and a sister who died young. Mrs. Sinfriano Fellom was a graduate of Notre Dame convent and was talented in music and literature. She now makes her home in San Francisco. When James was eight months old his parents removed from Gilroy to San Jose, and while the children were growing up, the father arranged for their education in the best schools. At the age of fourteen, James grad- nated from the Franklin school, and then he spent a term at St. Joseph's College in San Jose, where he studied Latin and Greek and the English classics under Father John Walsh, to whose scholarship, personality and association he has always been in- debted. He also received private training in lit- erary studies and in elocution, and after attending St. Ignatius College in San Francisco for a term, he set out for Mexico at the age of eighteen. His father had already entered into mining, and he went there with him on a mining expedition. They were at Camp Alamo, in Lower California, for a year and a half; but their efforts were crowned with failure, and their return was made with an Indian guide and a pack-mule,-150 miles of "hike" amid memorable and fascinating scenery.

Yuma, Ariz., was the destination, on a route pass- ing the Imperial Valley, then waste and arid in its entire extent; and for a short time they tarried at Gold Rock, the first all-American mine our author had ever seen, a joy to behold. Removing to Tucson, the family arrived from San Jose and joined them; and a new home was established; but James Fellom soon became dissatisfied, for he was not by nature a miner. He, therefore, returned North to San Fran- cisco in 1899, where he sought employment; and he soon identified himself with the Pinkerton Detec- tive Agency. He was sent north to the mines in Coeur D'Alene, Idaho, at the time of the labor up- risings; and after having accomplished some re- markable detective work there, he barely escaped with his own life at the hands of the strikers.

The story of the life of our subject for the next fifteen years is more or less the record of the history of the San Francisco earthquake, and the story of life in the mining camps of Inyo, Tuolumne, Teha- ma, Siskiyou, Stanislaus, Kern and Los Angeles counties. In San Francisco, during 1902, 1903, 1904, and 1905 he made his livelihood by various occupa- tions, and late in April, 1906, while the bay metropo- lic lay smouldering in ashes, he set out to Goldfield and Tonopah, Nev., to win enough fortune to make up the amount which the family had suffered in re- verses. As early as 1903, Charles Rhorhand, who was art critic on the San Francisco Call, praised his first story, a yarn which appeared in the Call May 24. 1903, called "He, of Brent," and two years later he met with success in the publication of "Hoodoo's Mine." He had been a faithful reader of the "Nick Carter" stories by E. T. Sawyer, the historian of this history of Santa Clara County, and the hanker-

ing after writing was in his very sonl. In company with his brothers, Roy and Landon, he removed to Goldfield. Nev., and from there James Fellom started on a rampage of adventure in the mines, which ended some ten years later. His finances dropped down to the lowest ebb, and he was forced to pass many a mealtime without a dinner. Much time was spent in the mining camps of Goldfield, Tonopah, Bullfrog, Rhy-o-lite, Lida, Seven Troughs, Rawhide and Bogart, and for four months he was in charge of the Tonopah and Tidewater commissary at Ludlow, and seven times he crossed Death Val- ley, apparently for no other reason than to gather the material for the stories penned by him in the last three years. Walking, riding the trails and the railroads of the Southwest, Mr. Fellom has played the part of the genuine hobo for the time he was in it, and known from first-hand experience the life of the wanderer. Naturally he had many an ad- venture, often discouraging; but while laying up in Mojave, Cal., he took new courage and wrote the "Ways of Nan Humtottle," resting his back up against an adobe building as he sunned himself. This brought him the means to reach San Francisco, where he continued his literary work.

In 1913 he marketed "Gold and Water," which was published by the Frank Munsey Company, and was his first story to appear in the Eastern maga- zines; and after that eighteen novelettes were sold to the same publisher, and here begins the story of the successful author. However, the slump in the market of fiction in 1914-15, caused him to seek other temporary employment, and he associated him- self with the San Jose Mercury-Herald and the San Francisco Call at Camp Fremont during the war. Early in 1919 lie renewed his efforts at fiction writ- ing. and has scored such success that he has since marketed over forty stories. These have been con- tributed to Munsey's Saucy Stories, the Western Story Magazine, the Popular Magazine, the Picto- rial Review, Argosy All-Story, Peoples, McClures and Short Stories magazines, the People's Home Journal, and many others. The two complete novels, "The Wherewithal" and "The Complex Mrs. Belden" are just being published in octavo form. Mr. Fellom is the founder of the "Plotwrights," a literary club in San Jose.

At San Francisco, in 1899, Mr. Fellom was mar- ried to Miss Lelia Gruby, a native of Oregon, by whom he had one son, Noch Valentine, who was at- tending Santa Clara College when in 1918 he en- listed in the U. S. Marines, and since his honorable discharge he has located in San Francisco, where he is engaged in newspaper work. He has written numerous short stories and has recently completed his first novel, "The Night Riders," which gives every promise of success. Not long ago, James Fellom married a second time, taking for his wife Miss Ruby Esther Byler, the daughter of Tyra A. Byler, who was a native of Alabama and had mar- ried Miss Fannie Maria Collins, of Kentucky. Tyra Byler was a successful and well-known marine en- gineer, and with his devoted wife spent his last years in San Jose. The union of Mr. and Mrs. Jas. Fel- lom has been blessed with one child, James Byler Fellom. Mrs. Felloin was born in Sacramento and obtained her education in the schools of San Jose and Oakland. Displaying a natural talent for music, she studied with the Worcester School of Music

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of San Jose and with Benjamin Moore of San Fran- cisco. She is a cultured woman and intensely in- terested in her husband's literary work and enters heartily into it acting as his critic and reviewer. Mr. Fellom is the treasurer of the Markham Home Landmark Association of which Henry Meade Bland is president.

CHARLES F. W. HERRMANN-A finely- trained, experienced and thoroughly practical civil engineer and surveyor is Charles Herrmann of San Jose, for three terms the surveyor of Santa Clara County. He was born in Germany in April, 1846. the son of A. Herrmann, a German by birth, and his English-born wife, who was Eliza Purgold be- fore her marriage. Charles attended the Polytechnic Schools at Hanover and Carlsruhe, and in 1865 was graduated as a civil engineer. Then he ac- cepted the post of mechanical engineer on the steam- er Saxonia, and made about twenty trips between New York and Germany. In 1867 he took up civil engineering and surveying in his native land.

In the spring of 1869. Mr. Herrmann came out to California by way of the Isthmus of Panama, and having a brother, A. T. Herrmann at San Jose. he came here and spent a couple of years at which time they established the firm of Herrmann Bros .. civil engineers and surveyors. Later he was in the employ of the Southern Pacific at Sacramento for a year as mechanical engineer and on returning to San Jose he devoted his time to the interests of Herrmann Bros. He and his brother made the first complete map of Santa Clara County, which gives each subdivision of land with the owners' names, school districts, roads and other very desirable data; it took two years, and the assessments for 1873-74 were based on this map, and from it all later maps of the county have been made. During his public service as surveyor of Santa Clara County-for three years-Mr. Herrmann and his brother laid out Lick Avenue, popularly known as the Mt. Hamilton Road, to Lick Observatory.

At Sacramento on April 14. 1872, Mr. Herrmann was married to Miss Helen Hoerst, a native of Ger- many, but who was reared in this country from the age of four years and with whom he has trav- eled life's journey in the eventful intervening years. A Republican given to standing by the party in mat- ters of national moment, Mr. Herrmann is still so deeply interested in Santa Clara County and all that may pertain to its promising future, that he never favors partisanship as a local issue. He owns a sum- mer home at Saratoga, but has always lived in San Jose. He remains active in the Germania Club, and belongs to Schiller Lodge No. 105, I. O. O. F. of Sac- ramento, and lives the exemplary life of a patriotic American.

LAWRENCE RUSSELL .- The pioneer cooperat- ive fruit packer of the Santa Clara Valley, Lawrence Russell, of the Saratoga district, has been associated with the fruit industry as an orchardist ever since his advent in this county, whither he removed in 1888. A native of the land of Burns, he was born at Cal- derbank, Scotland, on August 5, 1850, the son of Andrew and Isabella (Arthur) Russell, both born, reared and died in their native land. The father was a baker by trade, following that until his death. Lawrence was educated in the public schools of Cal- derbank and the Airdrie Academy of Airdrie, Scot-

land, and when he was through with his studies he be- came office boy for the Monkland Iron and Steel Com- pany at Calderbank and remained with this firm for sixteen years, advancing from one post to another until he became cashier, and during the time he read law and became a chartered accountant while in their employ.

Having left the employ of the steel company he secured a position with the Arizona Copper Company of Edinburgh, and in 1883. came to Clifton, Arizona, where in 1885 he was joined by his family. He held the post of cashier for the Arizona Copper Company, later was made its president and manager. He was also president and manager of the Arizona and New Mexico Railroad, owned by stockholders of the Cop- per Company, running between Clifton, Arizona and Lordsburg, New Mexico. During 1888 he came to California and to San Jose, but stopped for only a few months in the city, when he went to the Saratoga district, and on the Mountain View road, in 1889, he purchased eighty acres of orchard, which is now set to prunes and apricots. This was about the time that the transformation of the country from grain farming to fruit raising was in progress, with no markets for the fruit, or when marketed, with the prices so unstable as to discourage development of orchards. There was no coordination among any of the growers and each individual did the best he could to advance his own interests. Mr. Russell circulated among the growers of his district and finally or- ganized a cooperative association of three men for the packing and marketing of fruit, with his sons to aid him in his work. They secured the best method of commercial packing of good fruit and from their first year, when only two car loads were sent out. they steadily advanced until now an average of thirty cars are sent to the markets of America annually. During the years intervening from 1889 to the present time, Mr. Russel's forceful personality has been felt in the orchard and packing industry, and though practically retired from active duties he is still acting in an advisory capacity in the plant that he founded thirty years ago. They still retain among their cus- tomers people who bought their fruit at the beginning and the "Russell Brand" of first class packed dried fruit stands for quality in all the markets of the Fast. As a fruit grower, Mr. Russell utilizes every up-to-date method to be found on all first class ranches and his industry and perseverance have been the main factors in his success.

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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 82

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