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 92

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 92

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Both brothers were educated in the district schools of Willow Glen, and Nathan L. was also graduated from the Garden City Business College, San Jose, and William Walter attended the Washburn school. From their youth they had always assisted their father on the ranch, and were thus able to continue along the same lines that he had so ably established. The brothers' first purchase was a forty-acre piece in the Campbell district on the Johnson and Hamil- ton roads; it is in full-bearing prune trees, and is irrigated from a deep well. They next bought seven- teen acres in the same district, making a total of fifty-seven acres. Later they purchased a ninety-acre orchard on the Penetencia Creek and White roads, devoted to prunes and apricots; this is also well irri- gated. The home place of the Lesters is located on the Santa Clara-Saratoga road and consists of 254 acres set to prunes; on this ranch there are three deep irrigating wells and centrifugal pumps are used. On the west side of the highway is Nathan L.'s palatial country home, while on the cast side of the road is William's modern residence. The ranch in the Berryessa district is irrigated by a deep well equipped with a turbine pump. The brothers also have a two-thirds interest in a 192-acre prune orchard between Los Gatos and Campbell. . They also own several pieces of valuable downtown busi- ness property on Market Street in San Francisco, and also own a controlling interest in the St. Francis Realty Company, which owns four valuable pieces of downtown business property in San Francisco and of which Nathan L. is president. He is also a director in the California Prune and Apricot Growers Association.

Nathan 1. was married in Santa Clara in June, 1907, to Miss Sylvia Hughes, a native of Pittsburgh, Pa .. a daughter of William B. and Katherine Hughes. Her father was an abstractor in Pittsburgh, Pa., until he brought his family to Santa Clara County in 1905, where they still make their home. Mrs. Lester received her education in the grammar and high schools of Pittsburgh. Mr. and Mrs. Les- ter are the parents of two children, Katherine and Nathan L., Jr. In all their holdings and transactions the brothers are equal partners and they both give it their entire attention.

William Walter was married in San Jose in May, 1914, to Miss Ethel V. Gerrans, born in Plymouth, Cal., a daughter of Jeremiah Gerrans, who was a gold miner in the early pioneer days of California. They are the parents of two children, William Wal- ter, Jr., and Elizabeth Viola. Mr. Lester is a mem- ber of Fraternity Lodge No. 399, F. & A. M., San Jose, and with his wife is a member of San Jose Chapter of the Eastern Star; he is also a member of the Sciots. Both brothers have maintained the stand- ard of honesty and industry followed by their father and are valued and prominent citizens of the county.

WALTER J. GARDNER .- A successful orchard- ist and dairyman is found in Walter J. Gardner, whose ranch is on the Homestead Road, and on this same place his father settled in 1860. Walter J. was born November 1, 1878, the son of L. E. and Jo- hanna (McCoy) Gardner, the former a native of Maine, and the latter of Simcoe, Canada. The father was a pioneer of Santa Clara County who came to California in 1852, first going into the mines of the Placerville district; later he went to San Francisco and engaged in the draying business. He then located in the Santa Clara Valley and for two years engaged in hunting, furnishing game for the San Francisco market. In 1860 he bought 160 acres on the Home- stead Road, a portion of which Walter J. Gardner now occupies. The land was covered with brush and Mr. Gardner set to work and cleared it and planted it to grain. The mother also came to Cali- fornia in the early days. They were the parents of four children; Ella, Mrs. Arment of San Jose; Wal- ter J .; Lee resides at Watsonville; Eva is Mrs. J. J. Murphy, whose husband is on the police force of San Jose; and Viola, a trained nurse, at O'Connor's Sanitarium. The father lived to be sixty-three and the mother fifty-eight years old.

Walter J. attended the Collins school and the Santa Clara high school, and later Stanford University: afterwards he went to Elko, Nev., and worked in the quartz mines in the Tuscarora district near Inde- pendence Valley and spent two years in this occupa- tion; he then returned to Santa Clara County and assumed control of his portion of his father's estate.

During 1903, in Santa Clara, Mr. Gardner was married to Miss Josephine Gardner, born in San Jose. the daughter of William H. and Jane ( Holt) Gard- ner. the latter born in Liverpool, England. She is one of a family of four children, as follows: Hen- rietta, wife of H. A. Blanchard, a San Jose attorney; Walter A .; Rose, now Mrs. C. L. Rich; and Mrs. Gardner. Mrs. Gardner's father was a native of West Virginia, who crossed the plains to California in 1851 and bought a piece of land consisting of ninety acres on the Homestead Road. Mrs. Gard- ner was educated at the Hester grammar school, and

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later took a course at the Hester Business College. Mr. Gardner's ranch consists of fifty-six acres, forty-six acres of which came to Mrs. Gardner as hier portion of her father's estate; one-half of the acreage is planted to alfalfa and the balance to fruit; a good well for irrigation purposes has been devel- oped on his place, and in connection with his orchard and alfalfa, he has a dairy. Mr. and Mrs. Gardner are the parents of three children: Walter, Jr .; Car- rol; and Dorothy.

DR. A. E. OSBORNE .- A distinguished citizen of California long and eminently identified with Santa Clara County, who has honored Los Gatos by his choice of that attractive foothill town as the best place he knows for residence, is the Hon. Antrim Edgar Osborne, M. D., Ph. D., the present efficient and popular state senator whose influence in many fields and directions, in the great work of building up the commonwealth, has been so notable and far- reaching. He was born at Chester, Pa., on February 23, 1857, the son of Antrim Osborne, the proprietor of the Waterville Woolen Mills and a descendant of one of the oldest and inost historic families of North- ern Europe. Originally from Denmark, where the progenitor's name was Aasbjorn (meaning "The Bear on the Peninsula"), who was a mighty war- rior, and who lent his soldiers and military aid to William the Conqueror in his conquest of England; the family become established in the British Isles under the renowned name of Osborne, and many of the descendants migrated to America, various branches in time adopting different spellings, such as Osburn, Osbourne, Osborn, and Osbourn. When Antrim was yet a boy of five or six years, his father became owner of the woolen mills at Rose Valley, in the same county, and thither removed with his fam- ily; there the lad grew up, to go to the public school and be further instructed by private tutors. When not quite sixteen he passed the examination for West Point, but declined admission to take up pre-medical studies and for this purpose he was sent to the mili- tary academy known as the Pennsylvania State Col- lege, in Center County, where he took a course of four years in science and natural history, and soon showed such exceptional proficiency that he was appointed assistant to the professor in that depart- ment. He then went to the University of Pennsyl- vania, where he pursued the regular medical course for three years and was graduated on March 12, 1877. with the degree of M. D. For the next year he remained in Philadelphia practicing medicine and at the same time pursuing a special course in the hospitals. and then removed to Media, Pa., and opened an office as a general practitioner. His am- bition, however, would not let him rest at that at- tainment. hence he resumed post-graduate studies at the University of Pennsylvania and in 1879 had conferred upon him by his Alma Mater the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, being the youngest grad- uate, up to that time to receive this marked academic degree in return for original research and demon- strated scholarship.

Dr. Osborne's experience as interne at the Pres- byterian and the Philadelphia hospitals in the City of Brotherly Love was of great value to him, partic- ularly as he began to specialize with nervous and mental diseases in his practice of medicine. It was about that time that he was the first resident physician

at the Odd Fellows' Home, and later he was semi- officially connected with the Pennsylvania Training School for the Feeble-Minded. For the following eight years, in addition to his other professional work, he oc- cupied the chair of natural sciences in the Media Acad- emy, where he organized the department of physical culture and established a gymnasium. By the middle eighties, Dr. Osborne had attracted general attention through the results of his profound study of the proper care and treatment of the feeble-minded, and in Octo- ber, 1886, he was appointed to succeed Dr. B. T. Wood as medical superintendent of the California State Home for Feeble-Minded, and for fifteen years he was secretary of its board of trustees. He assumed charge on December 1, and proved himself the right man for the position by the admirable manner 'in which he brought the institution to a high state of efficiency. Later he was made medical superin- tendent of the Napa State Hospital for the Insane and effected its thorough reorganization. Since 1901, Dr. Osborne-who was long the only physician en- gaged in his line of work on the Pacific Coast, and in charge of the only private institution of the kind west of Nebraska-has been the owner and director of Osborne Hall, at Winchester, Santa Clara County; an institution for the treatment of mental deficiencies. Prior to that he had been professor of nervous and mental diseases in the College of Physicians and Sur- geons in San Francisco, and he also held the same post in the Oakland Medical College. He was also lecturer on nervous and mental nursing in the Nurses' Training School, and psychiatrist at the O'Connor Sanitarium at San Jose.

On September 7, 1880, Dr. Osborne was married to Miss Margaret H. Paxton, the daughter of Col. John C. Paxton, a Civil War veteran of Marietta, Ohio. Mrs. Osborne, a lady of enviable accomplishments, has proven a valuable coworker in the doctor's spe- cial field, sharing with him his social activities and prestige. They have no children of their own, but have adopted a niece, Agnes Blondin, now Mrs. Will- iam Horst, Jr., of Santa Clara. Dr. Osborne has held membership in the Delaware County (Pa.) Medical Society, the Pennsylvania State Medical So- ciety. the American Medical Association, the American Association of Medical Superintendents, and the Media Institute of Science, and he was also the organizer and president of the Media Medi- cal Club. His original researches and independent treatment of medical and scientific subjects have made a name for him in the line of new discoveries, so that he has frequently been cited as an authority in these lines particularly his own. He is now active in the California State Medical Society, being for six years a member of its council, and has twice been pres- ident of the Santa Clara County Medical Society. He was one of the organizers of the Consistory in San Jose and was very active in the building of the Scottish Rite Temple there, which was erected when he was master of the bodies. The Odd Fellows also claim him as a member and he has been district deputy grand chancellor of the Knights of Pythias; his memories of college days lead him back to the delightful secret conclaves of the Delta Tau Delta fraternity.

A progressive Republican and public spirited to a marked degree, Dr. Osborne has served two terms on the board of trustees of Santa Clara, and he was formerly president of the Sonoma Valley Board of

Ar. S.E. Osborne

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Trade and vice-president of the Commercial League of Santa Clara. He has been chairman of the pro- bation committee of the Juvenile Court in Santa Clara County continuously since the court was established, and he served as chairman of Draft Board No. 2 of Santa Clara County, during the World War. On November 2, 1920, Dr. Osborne was elected to the State Senate from the Twenty-seventh senatorial district, Santa Clara County, having received the nomination of the Republican, Democratic and So- cialist parties. He served very efficiently during the session and introduced into the Senate the joint measure on conservation and reforestation, which was duly passed and became a law. Senator Osborne was particularly interested in all measures affecting the home and general welfare, and in measures pertaining to the state institutions, including charities and cor- rections, and civil service. He served on the following committees: Civil service, conservation, county gov- ernment, hospitals and asylums, labor and capital, Nor- mal schools, public charities and corrections, public health and quarantine. This public service is natural to one who modestly but properly appreciates his own family lineage; for with two other editors, resident in New York, he has been editing for years the exten- sive and very interesting Osborne Genealogical His- tory, which is related to the rise and development of so many other representative families in America.

Dr. Osborne is an able physician and public-spirited citizen of peculiarly genial and attractive personality, and leads a life of great usefulness for the world, jus- tifying the conception of him by many of his admir- ing friends and neighbors, that he is one of the first citizens of the Golden State. Recently Dr. Osborne has removed to Los Gatos and has taken up his residence at 121 Glen Ridge Avenue, where he and his good wife continue to dispense a whole-hearted hospitality to their many friends.

ALBERT EDWARD WILLIAMS-AUGUS- TUS CLAIR WILLIAMS .- Among the enterpris- ing orchardists of Santa Clara County mention should be made of Albert E. and Augustus C. Wil- liams, who own and operate fine orchards in the Cupertino district. The father, Samuel R. Williams, settled on this ranch during the year of 1870, when it was wild land with a growth of timber and brush. Samuel R. was a native of Canada West and was born June 25, 1828. The paternal grandparents were James and Anna ( Weise) Williams and they were both natives of Canada. Samuel grew up on his father's farm and was able to attend the public schools. He remained with his parents until he was twenty-four years old, when, in April, 1852, he was married to Jane Hume, also a native of Canada. He bought 100 acres of land in the same township, and began farming for himself and lived there for three sears. During the year 1855 he sold his property and removed to California. He went into the mines in Nevada County and worked there for three years. but he met with only nominal success. He then re- turned to Canada and engaged in the tannery busi- ness in the township of Camden, remaining there until 1866, when he sold his business and again came to California. He then spent two years in the mines at Virginia City, Nev .; then settled in Yolo County, Cal., and followed farming for two years. In 1870 he removed with his family to Santa Clara County and located in the Cupertino district, where he cleared 100 acres of land and set it to grapes. He 29

worked the land for three years and received for his services a deed to fifty acres; later he took two of his sons into partnership with him and together they conducted the ranch, which was mostly set to vines, which yielded them handsome returns each year. Mr. and Mrs. Williams had five children.

Albert Edward was born in Canada, June 27, 1861, and was nine years old when his parents removed to Santa Clara County, where he attended the public schools and the College of the Pacific; later took a business course in Seattle. After finishing school he returned to the ranch and assumed his share of the work. In national politics he is a Socialist; fraternally he belongs to Cupertino lodge, f. O. O. F.

Augustus C. is also a native of Canada and was born December 23, 1863. He received his educa- tion in the public schools of Santa Clara County. He was interested with his father in the home place and in 1886 received his deed to his property from his father, which was set to grapes; later the vines were removed and all planted to orchard, which has been carefully cultivated and is now bringing good profits for his labor. He married Miss Ada Mabel White, born in Canada, and they are the parents of one child, Mabel Hume. In politics he is independ- ent, supporting and voting for the candidate best fitted for the office; fraternally he belongs to the Woodmen of the World. He has served his district as school trustee. Both brothers are "boosters" for Santa Clara County and can be depended upon to support all progressive measures.

ROBERT R. SYER .- Perseverance, energy and ambition are the keynotes to the success of Robert R. Syer, an influential and successful lawyer of San Jose. He was born in Baltimore, Md., November 16, 1870, a son of Robert and Martha V. (Reay) Syer. Before removing to California, the father was a clothing merchant and hatter in Portsmouth, Va. In 1874 he migrated to California with his family, settling in the Santa Clara Valley, purchasing 107 acres in the Milpitas Road. By wise and judicious management, coupled with energy and well-directed efforts, he became very successful as an orchardist. He was among the first agriculturists to raise ber- ries in Santa Clara County, and raised raspberries and strawberries in such quantities that a daily ship- ment to San Francisco was necessary. He passed away in 1914 and his wife died in 1916. Besides their son Robert R., they are survived by two daugh- ters, Mrs. Miriam S. Richmond and Mrs. E. Pauline Howard, both of San Jose.

Robert R. Syer was educated in the public schools of Santa Clara County, attending the Orchard dis- trict school and for a time attended the Normal Training School; later he attended Santa Clara Uni- versity, graduating in 1888 and receiving the B. S. degree; the next year he returned for a post-gradu- ate course receiving the degree of A. M .; within the next year he began the study of law with the firm of Archer and Bowden, San Jose, and here he remained two years. In the year 1892 he entered Hastings Law School at San Francisco, remaining there for two years, graduating with the degree of LL.B., June 14, 1894. He established offices in San Jose and has practiced his profession continuously, be- coming exceptionally influential in this community. For five years he served on the board of trustees of the Public Library; also served for two years on the Civil Service Commission of San Jose under the

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new charter, and was one of the active members of the board of frecholders who drafted the new char- ter for the commission form of city government. Ever since the organization of the Merchants' Asso- cition, in November, 1901, he has capably served as the attorney and secretary for the association. In his political conviction, Mr. Syer is a Republican. He has served as president of San Jose Golf and Country Club for three terms and is extremely fond of golf as a recreation from his strenuous life.

Mr. Syer's marriage December 19, 1905, united him with Miss May L. D'Oyly, a daughter of Cap- tain Nigel D'Oyly, a native of Fontainebleau, France. Early in life, Captain D'Oyly developed a fondness for the sea and his ability very soon won for him responsible positions as commander of ocean ships sailing out of New York harbor, which positions he continued to fill until the outbreak of the Civil War. July 18, 1861, he entered the volunteer navy as act- ing master and was assigned to duty as navigating officer of the U. S. S. Lancaster, Pacific Squadron, where he remained until 1862, when he was ordered to New York and placed in command of the W. G. Anderson, West Gulf Squadron, under Farragut. In 1863, he was ordered by Admiral Farragut to com- mand the United States side-wheel steamer Jackson. He was actively engaged until his retirement from the sea in 1874, and lived in Oakland until 1880, when he removed with his family to San Jose, Cal., where he resided until the time of his death, in 1894, and where he was universally respected as a public- spirited citizen. The widow, Mrs. D'Oyly, resides in Los Angeles. One son, Robert D'Oyly Syer, has been born to Mr. and Mrs. Syer, and is a pupil in the San Jose High School. No greater encomium can be passed upon the life and work of Mr. Syer than to say that he is best appreciated where best known. He is a member of the County and State Bar Associations; also an enthusiastic member of the newly organized Commercial Club of Santa Clara County. He is a supporter of all local charities and churches, as well as all civic improvements.

ELIAS H. FREELYN .- A pioneer of the Cuper- tino district, the late Elias H. Freelyn was one of the county's public-spirited citizens, and his passing removed from the community one of its worthy and honored citizens. Mr. Freelyn was a native of Denmark and 1843 marks the year of his birth. His parents, both natives of that country, passed their entire lives there. America was the goal of Mr. Freelyn's ambitions, and a few years after he had completed his education in the schools of his native land, he crossed the ocean in his carly twenties. For some years he remained in New York, moving westward as far as Michigan, where he was em- ployed for a time, and then terminating his journey- ings when he reached the garden spot of the West. Santa Clara Valley, in 1887.

Purchasing his ranch of fifteen acres on Prospect Road, Mr. Freelyn immediately became actively identified with the life of the community, and devel- oped a fine orchard place, meeting with a financial success that gave abundant reward for his unflag- ging interest. Besides his own place he set out various orchards for others. He erected a beautiful home on Prospect Road, and here he made his home until his passing away on November 20, 1911. He also owned twenty-five acres which he improved and later sold. His marriage united him with Mrs.

Cornelia DeKay, and she made her home on the ranch until her death on December 26, 1921. For the past nine years, however, she had been an in- valid, and a niece, Miss Senia Freelyn, is devoting her time to the management of the ranch, a task she is filling with unusual capability. During his lifetime Mr. Freelyn was active in Grange circles and also in the local affairs of the Democratic party, and an active member of the Saratoga Christian Church, and he left behind him a name justly honored by his fellow-citizens.

ROBERT A. COSTIGAN .- A rancher whose steady success and increasing prosperity will always be a source of gratification to his friends is Robert A. Costigan, a native of San Jose, where he was born on August 17, 1867. His father, John Costigan, hailed from Quincy, Ill., and his mother, who was Mary Jane Mellroy before her marriage, was born in Missouri. Her people came to California in 1852, and she herself passed away when she was a com- paratively young woman, having attained only her forty-second year. John Costigan also came to Cali- fornia in pioneer days.

In the Rhoads district near Gilroy on March 30, 1889, Robert A. Costigan was married to Mrs. Sarah L. Menasco, widow of the late Daniel William Menasco, to whom she was married June 13, 1883, and by whom she had two children, Ralph Orval Menasco and Zoe Eva Menasco, who died. Mrs. Costigan's maiden name was Sarah L. House, and she was a daughter of Ezekiel and Caroline ( Patter- son) House, both natives of Edgar County, Il1. Ezekiel House and his five cousins, namely, Dan, William, Henry, George and Isaac Rhoads, were the first white people to settle permanent in the Canada Canyon. Mr. and Mrs. Ezekiel House were married on June 13, 1858, and on June 24, of that year, they settled in the Gilroy neighborhood, which became known as the Rhoads District and there Mrs. Costigan was brought up and attended that district's public schools. Her maternal grandparents were Jonathan and Christine (Foster) Patterson, who were both natives of Virginia. They were among the very first of white people from east of the Rocky Mountains to seek a home in the far-off California, which then belonged to Mexico. They crossed the plains in immigrant wagons and were members of the ill-fated Donner party as far as the divide in the Sierra Mountains, where Jonathan Pat- terson died and was buried, in 1846. The widow and children came on to California. Mrs. Costigan's father, Ezekiel House, came from Illinois to Cali- fornia in 1850 and settled at Gilroy. Mr. and Mrs. Ezekiel House had twelve children, eight girls and four boys. Emma is Mrs. Gentry of Hercules; Sarah Louisa is now the wife of Robert A. Costigan, the subject of this sketch; Margaret Ellen has be- come Mrs. Bradford of Kingsburg; Robert Francis of Los Banos is the fourth child; Georgia Virginia died in 1919; Martha Melvina is Mrs. House of Gil- roy, and her next younger brother is Edward E. House; Nellie passed away in 1913; Caroline Chris- tine is the wife of Robert Thomas Hesiin of Gilroy; Mr. Heslin was born in New York City and is a nephew of the late Father Patrick Hesiin, the mur- dered priest of Colma; John Thomas, Lucy Honora and James Emanuel are the three remaining children. Mr. and Mrs. Costigan have two children, Robert Edward and Leo John Costigan. Robert Edward married his cousin, Vivian H. Costigan, and they

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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 92

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