History of Santa Clara County California with biographical sketches, Part 119

Author: Sawyer, Eugene T
Publication date: 1922
Publisher: Los Angeles : Historic Record Co.
Number of Pages: 1934

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CHARLES ELLET .- A rising young financier of Santa Clara County, whose influence is being felt more and more in laying broad and deep the foun- dations of the great California commonwealth, is Charles Ellet, the efficient and popular cashier of The Stanford Bank at Palo Alto and Mayfield. He was born at the historic Ellet homestead at Bunker Hill, Macoupin County, Ill., and reared at Eldorado, Kans., being a son of Edward Carpenter Ellet, the patriot, banker and politician, who built up and owned one of the first banks in Butler County, Kans., in the county seat town of Eldorado, in the early '70s, and later established several other banks in Kansas, and in 1908 came to California, purchasing the con- trolling interest in the old Mayfield Bank, the prede- cessor of The Stanford Bank, and whose inspiring life story is elsewhere given in this volume, as is also the history of several of the other distinguished forebears and relatives of our subject, who have con- ferred undying glory in the service of their country. Edward C. Ellet married Miss Frances Webster Van Dorn, also a native of Bunker Hill, Ill., and it is pleasant to relate that both she and her honored husband are still living, highly esteemed residents of Mayfield. Her family history is no less interest- ing than that of her husband. The daughter of a California Argonaut, Thomas Jefferson Van Dorn, who crossed the plains in '49, she is a near relative of the famous Confederate cavalry general, Earl Van Dorn, and a direct descendant of the historic Pilgrim father, Governor Bradford, of Massachusetts, like- wise a relative of Washington Irving, the celebrated author, as well as the great orator and statesman, Daniel Webster. Charles Ellet was reared at El- dorado, Kans., and there he remained until he was twenty years of age. He pursued the public school courses and then profited by a course at the Uni- versity of Washington, at Seattle, to which city he removed in 1904. Three years later, in April, he was married to Miss Edna Anna Dodge, only daugh- ter of Mr. and Mrs. Frank R. Dodge, of the Farmers and Merchants National Bank of Eldorado, Kans., and a year thereafter he came south to Mayfield. His father, a banker of over thirty years' experi- ence, had sold out his banking interest in Kansas, and desiring to come West, he accepted an appoint- ment as special agent of the U. S. General Land Office; with headquarters at Seattle, in 1903, a posi- tion which he resigned in 1908, when he came down to Mayfield and bought out the Mayfield Bank and Trust Company, which later became known as The

Mayfield Bank. Edward C. Ellet resigned as its president in 1918, turning the institution over to his son Charles, who at once completely reorganized and enlarged it. Charles Ellet then sent East for his brother, Alfred W. Ellet, deputy bank commissioner of the State of Kansas, who came to Palo Alto in 1918 and became vice-president of The Stanford Bank. Mr. Ellet's first wife died at Mayfield, Oct. 5, 1909, and left two children; Zelda, who is a stu- dent at the College of Sacred Heart at Menlo Park, and Edward Carpenter, who attends the William Warren School for Boys in the same place. On marrying a second time, Mr. Ellet chose for his wife Miss Martha H. Blois, their wedding occuring on April 27, 1916. They have become the parents of five children, four of whom are living; Charles Ellet, Jr., now five years old, was a twin brother of Thomas Van Dorn, who died at birth; Martha Jane was the next to enter the family, followed later by Elizabeth and Frances, twin daughters. Charles El- let is also president of the Stanford Realty Com- pany and is personally a large property owner at Mayfield, where he resides, and at Palo Alto. He was twice elected town treasurer of Mayfield, and is a power politically in the northern end of the county. He is especially interested in good roads and he has had much to do with the rebuilding of the State Highway at Mayfield, declared by State Engineer Freeman to be one of the best built pub- lic highways in the whole United States. Mayfield is at the very gate of Stanford University, and how could it fail of being one of the most promising communities in the Golden State, when, as Mr. El- let says: "Mayfield is by choice as well as by law, a dry town, where no saloons can ever again exist, with her former cesspool nuisance cured by a mod- ern sewer system, costing $35,000; with an inex- haustible supply of artesian water so pure that the Southern Pacific Railroad Company, after a chemical analysis, selected this site on which to erect their 60,000 gallon water-tank for through trains, with Mayfield's dream of an Interurban Electric Railway doubly realized by the Blossom Route to San Jose, and the Waverly Avenue Extension from Palo Alto; with the opening of the Santa Cruz branch from the main line of the Southern Pacific making Mayfield an important junction point; with the very exceptional train service of over sixty steam trains a day during summer months to and from San Francisco, with a municipal water plant valued at $35,000, being run on a paying basis; with miles of cement sidewalks, curbing and paving; with the completion of the great State Highway through the town; with the Leland Stanford Jr. University, one of the richest endowed institutions of higher learning in the United States, next door, and San Francisco only thirty miles away, the Garden City, San Jose, only fifteen miles distant, and with the famous California Redwood Park, the Wonderland of the West, just about twice as far away." Who can doubt the wisdom of Mr. Ellet in pinning his faith to the new old town and the wisdom of The Stanford Bank in encouraging to its legal limit all rational enterprises here promising a reason- able degree of success.

The new home of The Stanford Bank in Palo Alto which has just been completed, is described elsewhere in this volume. It had a brilliant opening on June 2, 1922. Assets have already passed the half million

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mark. True to its name and environment, it carries out the Romanesque style of architecture with its stately pillars and arches in keeping with the dream of Leland Stanford, when he first conceived the idea of building a great university. This banking house has been remodeled after plans of Mr. A. F. Roller, of the firm of M. G. West & Co., the celebrated bank architects and specialists, of San Francisco. Mr. Ellet is a hard and conscientious worker, who realizes that the success of his career as a banker of necessity rests upon the general welfare of the community. He be- longs to that class of financiers who understand that service is the cornerstone of all truly worth-while business. Having an accurate knowledge of business and financial conditions at Mayfield and Palo Alto, he finds his greatest satisfaction in advising and help- ing his patrons on to the sure road of prosperity.

MRS. APHELIA F. COCHRANE .- A highly cultured woman, whose interests in civic affairs, as well as in educational matters, have enabled her to contribute much for the edification and happi- ness of others, is Mrs. Aphelia F. Cochrane, a suc- cessful ranch owner of the Morgan Hill district in Santa Clara County. She was born in Bangor, Maine, November 3, 1845, the eldest daughter of wir. and Mrs. George Farrington. The father, George Farrington, was born in England, the son of an old prominent family, a highly educated and cultured man. who came to America in the early '30s, lo- cated and became a prominent citizen and merchant in Bangor. He married Miss Hannah Elizabeth Philbrook, a native of Newport Maine, whose parents were English and Scotch. They were the prosper- ous owners of a 200 acre farm. Their close relatives were merchants of the sea, having been the owners of many ships going to foreign ports. The maternal grandfather and an uncle, Nathaniel Drew, on her mother's side, served in the Revolutionary War, the latter being commissioned a major during his serv- ice. They became the parents of three girls, Aphelia, the subject of this sketch, Emma and Jeannett, the latter now deceased. ' In 1850 the parents left their children with their grandparents and came to Cali- fornia via Panama and located in San Francisco where the father died a few years later. Mrs. Far- rington married again, becoming the wife of A. J. Van Winkle, a native of New Jersey and a pioneer of this state and a man of splendid character. He owned a number of stock and dairy ranches in Hum- boldt, Sonoma and San Mateo counties, also prop- erty in San Francisco. He was the owner of the West End Distillery, San Francisco, and was the inventor of the method of aging wine by the process of extracting the fusel oil and making wine into brandy and received patents on his invention from England, Germany, France and the United States. He had located in San Mateo County at an early period, long before the railroads had pushed their way down the Pacific Coast. In 1859 Mrs. Van Winkle returned East and brought her girls to California. They left New York on the S. S. Baltic and reaching Aspinwall, crossed the Isthmus of Panama and boarded the S. S. Sonoma and arrived in San Francisco the latter part of November. Miss Emma F. Van Winkle, as she is known to the art world, having taken the stepfather's name, is a graduate of the Hopkins Art Institute in San Fran- cisco and is recognized as an artist of considerable

note. Mr. Van Winkle passed away, but his widow still lives in San Francisco, aged ninety-five years.

Aphelia Farrington was educated at the Denman school on Bush Street, San Francisco and took a two years' course at a finishing seminary in that city. In 1864 she became the wife of John Cochrane, the ceremony taking place in San Francisco. He was born in Amherst, N. H., and came to California in 1848 via Cape Horn in a sailing vessel. He was identified with many mining enterprises, became wealthy and owned large holdings in various parts of California. He owned a ranch of 250 acres ad- joining the Presidio in San Francisco and carried on a large, prosperous dairy business, known as the Pioneer Dairy; he also set out the first cherry orch- ard in California at this place, sending East for the trees; he also had other property interests in the city. At one time he owned the McNulty ranch in Colusa County, made famous as the greatest grain ranch in the world by the late Dr. Glenn, in the Sac- ramento Valley. It contained many thousands of acres and had a frontage of ten miles on the Sacra- mento River; the fencing alone costing $20,000. For a number of years Mr. Cochrane operated this place, after selling it. In 1869 Mr. Cochrane and his fam- ily removed to the Santa Clara Valley where he had purchased the old McElroy ranch of many hundred acres. This ranch is located on the watersheds of the Coyote and Packwood creeks, twenty miles south of San Jose. Here Mr. Cochrane built up one of the finest dairy ranches in the state, employing Swiss butter and cheese makers, selling his products in San Francisco. He built the road, now known as the Cochrane Road, which was completed in 1893. He was one of the leaders in all local movements for the betterment of the community and took an active part in promoting all progressive measures, as a real booster for Santa Clara County. Mr. and Mrs. Cochrane were the parents of five chil- dren: Emma F. died at the age of eleven years; Minnie B. passed away at the age of nine years; and Charles, the youngest, died when sixteen years old; Aphelia May is the wife of A. J. Jackson and the mother of two children, Alfred and Gladys; Elsie B. is the widow of the late Henry C. Doerr and resides with her mother. Mr. Cochrane closed his eyes to the scenes of this life on November 20, 1899, after a long and useful career and is held in lov- ing memory by all who really knew him. The Coch- rane ranch, which consists of many hundred acres, has 125 acres devoted to raising fruit which yields bountiful crops each season. The entire acreage is still in the possession of the family. In 1914, Mrs. Cochrane erected a comfortable modern residence on a sightly elevation on the property. She has been actively identified with the Presbyterian Church of Morgan Hill, having helped to build it up from a small mission church to its present standing and served for four years as one of the trustees. She has been prominent in temperance work and in the circles of the W. C. T. U. since its organization at Morgan Hill and she is beginning her third term as trustee of the Live Oak Union high school. She contributes liberally to the Y. M. C. A. and the Y. W. C. A., as well as to all other worthy causes. She is a charter member of the Morgan Hill Civic Club; also was one of the foremost workers and promoters of the Ye Friendly Inn of Morgan Hill,

J. Leochnave

John Cochrane

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an organization that has hut one motive-the bet- terment of the locality. It was first suggested by the W. C. T. U. and the idea carried out in detail by a few of the most progressive and enterprising citizens of the community. In 1914, Rev. A. M. Porter, then pastor of the Presbyterian Church of Morgan Hill, first took up the subject with the parent hoard of San Jose in behalf of the citizens of Morgan Hill and the first meetings were held in the Presbyterian parsonage. Mrs. Cochrane has contrib- uted many articles to the press during her travels and her popularity has contributed much to the advance- ment of the causes with which she has been identi- fied-a splendid example of the value of character and trained intellect.

JOHN A. FELLOM, SR .- A worthy representa- tive of the type of citizen which has made California a great state is John A. Fellom, Sr., a man well- known and highly honored in the vicinity of Gilroy, and who has always used progressive efforts along- agricultural and stockraising ideas. He is living re- tired on his ranch, part of which he rents to others. The Fellom family was first interested with the af- fairs of the West through Matthew Fellom, whom accident rather than design lead to the coast of Mon- terey in the latter 30's. Born in Denmark, in 1801, he became dissatisfied with his native conditions, while yet a boy, and shipping on a merchant vessel, found relief from monotony in a seafaring life for several years. However, life on the vessel was not all clear sailing, and he finally succeeded in escap- ing and reached the California coast. He cast about for a means of livelihood and found employment with John Gilroy, for whom the town of Gilroy was named, and was set to making soap. In time he be- came an expert soap maker, and he continued at his trade until he had accumulated some money. He invested his earnings in 1750 acres northeast of San Ysidro and for years was a stockraiser in that vicin- ity, having as many as 800 to 900 head of stock on the ranch at one time. In 1853 he changed his loca- tion to a ranch in the vicinity of his son's present home, but returned to San Ysidro in 1861 and erected a comfortable rural residence, where his death occurred on December 16, 1868. He married Miss Manuela Briones, a native of Santa Clara County, who died in 1858 at the age of thirty-five. They were the parents of eleven children, only three attaining maturity: John A, the subject of this re- view; Adele, now Mrs. Martin, of San Juan; and Sinfriano. After the death of his wife, Mr. Fellom married Ricarda Castro, of Santa Cruz County.

John A. Fellom was born on his father's ranch at San Ysidro, October 17, 1840, and received his edu- cation in the schools of Gilroy, where a school had been established about 1853. From the age of fifteen his recollections are of farm life and stockraising, and the purchase and sale of hogs, cattle and horses. He continued in the stock business until 1868 when he began to do general farming. His home place consists of 270 acres five miles northeast of Gilroy. which he improved himself, and he also owns 153 acres near San Ysidro where his son has a dairy.

The marriage of Mr. Fellom occurred in 1874 and united him with Miss Blandina Ortega, a daughter of Joseph Ortega, one of the large landowners and farmers in Santa Clara Valley. Mrs. Fellom was born in San Ysidro, June 3, 1853, and through the

years has truly been a helpmate to her husband through systematic management of the home and un- failing sympathy with all his plans and aspirations. They are the parents of eight living children: Corin- na, the wife of Joseph Fitzgerald, who have one son and reside in San Jose; John A, Jr., married to Miss Florence Nickel and residing in Old Gilroy on a fine twenty-two acre ranch, and for seven years he has been road superintendent for the San Ysidro district: Isabella, the wife of Robert Burns, who have two daughters and reside at Santa Monica; Louis, who married Miss Josephine Boone, having two daughters and reside on a ranch of twenty-two acres near the Fellom place: Peter, who married Miss Roll, who have one child and reside in Gilroy; Mary, who is the wife of Charles Thomas, and have one daughter and reside in San Francisco; William M., who lives on his father's 153 acres; and Lauretta, who is the wife of Robert Jones. The family are members of the Catholic Church and endorse the principles of the Democratic party. Mr. Fellom is hale and hearty at the age of eighty-three and is probably the oldest citizen residing there who was born in Old Gilroy. The ranch, which was obtained from the Spaniards in the early days, is a part of the San Ysidro Grant and has been owned by the Fellom family since 1870.

CLAYTON R. THOMAS .- Prominent among the experienced, most progressive and successful orch- ardists of Santa Clara County may well be mentioned Clayton R. Thomas, who has contributed his share toward making Gilroy famous beyond even the con- fines of California. He was born in the old town, on January 25, 1854, the son of the well-known and now deceased pioneer, Massey and Phoebe (Bane) Thomas, the former an Argonaut among the sturdiest of 49ers, was the proprietor of a fine ranch of about 500 acres within the township of Gilroy. A sketch of his family is published elsewhere in this historical work.

Clayton R. Thomas, the ninth child in a family of ten, and the first born in California, went to school at Gilroy and was reared on the Thomas' ranch, just south of town, and after school and later he worked on the farm for his father. In 1892 he acquired his share of the acreage, some seventy acres, and about forty-two acres he set out to prunes. This land he has made the most of; and since he has always been an ardent advocate of co-operative marketing by farmers. His operations, more and more extensive. have become to be a matter of interest and benefit to others as well as to himself. He is a stockholder in the California Prune & Apricot Association and also in the Gilroy branch of the Garden City Bank & Trust Company.

At Gilroy, on June 11, 1889, Mr. Thomas was mar- ried to Miss Fanny E. Keith, a daughter of Michael H. and Lucinda (Longmire) Keith; the former came first in 1849 across the plains and in 1852 went back to Missouri via Panama. He made his home in Marion County for years, but only came back to California for a visit in 1896. He dicd at Kirksville. Mo., in 1897. Mrs. Keith resides with her children in California, surviving her highly-esteemed husband. became herself the center of a circle of devoted friends. Mrs. Thomas, a graduate of the Kirksville Normal, came to California in 1884 to teach school Three children have blessed this union of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas: Sadie, now deceased: Clayton Russel.

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doing his duty manfully in overseas service for seventeen months in the U. S. Army during the World War, is married and is now a partner with his father in fruit culture; Elizabeth, a graduate of the University of California, at Berkeley, class of '19, is a teacher in the Denair School, Stanislaus County, where she enjoys esteem and popularity. Mr. Tho- mas is a Democrat, and as such has always sought to elevate the standard of civic pride and American political thought and action.

WILLIAM KNOX BEANS .- Interesting as both the descendant and successor of a pioneer who at- tained real eminence and distinction in the California world of finance. William Knox Beans is a financier worthy of study for himself, both on account of his own experience and record, and because of his envi- able position of influence and power as president of the Bank of San Jose. He was born in Nevada City, Cal., on May 7, 1857, the son of Thomas Ellard and Virginia (Knox) Beans, the father a native of Salem, Ohio, who first saw the light there in 1828, and was a descendant of fine old Scotch-Irish stock which had made its way from Europe through Virginia to Ohio. Thomas Ellard Beans was a pioneer of San Jose, who rose to great prominence as a banker and founded the Bank of San Jose, and is elsewhere represented in this volume.

William K. Beans was educated principally in pri- vate schools in San Jose and then the College of the Pacific, after which he entered Mount Union College in Mount Union, Ohio. In 1876, after two years, he returned to the Coast, and having said good-bye to student days, he entered his father's bank in 1878. There he began at the lower rounds of the ladder and gradually worked his way up through various posi- tions of responsibility and experience; and on July 19, 1905, he was elected president of the bank to suc- ceed his father, who had just died after so many years of brilliant and faithful service. To the in- stitution he has given his undivided time and the suc- cess of his management is seen when it shows an in- crease of 330 per cent in assets in seventeen years.

Mr. Beans was married in San Francisco in 1889 to Miss Gertrude Moore, a daughter of Judge John H. and Bettie P. Moore, who came to California in the early '50s, the father being a prominent attorney and judge in San Jose. She is a native of San Jose and they reside at 1260 The Alameda, where Mr. Beans follows the course of political events under the banners of the Republican party, maintains his live interest in the doings of the Native Sons of the Golden West, in which great organization he is proud to claim membership, and cultivates, in his spare hours outdoors, his choice flower garden. He is a member of the St. Claire Club and a charter member of the Commercial Club. Mr. Beans is the oldest banker in San Jose and no man is better or more favorably known. Like his father he is con- servative and the people of the valley have the greatest confidence in the bank and they appre- ciate his genuine worth and integrity.

CASTILLEJA SCHOOL .- Prominent among the well-known educational institutions of California which have conferred distinction not only upon Santa Clara County, but upon the great Pacific common- wealth as well, Castilleja School, now completing its fifteenth year, has contributed to extend the fame of Palo Alto in particular, and to add another charm to

the university center already the admiration of thou- sands from all parts of the world. Its principal is Miss Mary Ishbel Lockey, A. B., of Stanford Univer- sity, and she is ably assisted by a corps of over thirty well-trained teachers. The school was founded in August, 1907; and such has been its steady growth that it now has six buildings occupying a block of about five acres; these are grouped and arranged so that the pupils may practically live out of doors. A court, 250 feet broad, opening toward the south, gives freedom and privacy, and the other half of the block is laid out in tennis, basket hall, and volley ball courts, and general playgrounds.

The residence is an L-shaped structure, with fifty- three rooms and two large screened sleeping porches. A sunny infirmary, which can be completely isolated in case of need, provides for illness; all the living rooms are planned for entertaining and for comfort. The school building has an assembly room and study hall, five rooms for the intermediate and the lower schools, five recitation rooms for the upper school, a book-store and offices, a study porch, and two sun- porches for the younger children. A pergola con- nects the recitation hall with the gymnasium and au- ditorium; the latter has a modern, well-appointed stage and is fitted with lockers and shower baths. The Domestic Science bungalow is a model cottage where girls may learn thoroughly and practically the art of home-making and home-keeping. Recently an additional building, called the Lodge, has been erected as a residence for the teachers. Orchard House, built in the summer of 1921, affords the Music and Art departments a home having attractive and dis- tinctly advantageous features.

The swimming pool, the latest addition to the equip- ment of Castilleja, is one of the greatest sources of pleasure and physical development on the grounds. It is a beautiful open air pool, built of white concrete, with steam-heated dressing rooms Swimming can be indulged in throughout the year as the water is tem- pered to suit the weather, and scientific instruction in swimming, diving and life-saving is part of the phys- ical education work.

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History of Santa Clara County California with biographical sketches, Part 119

Author: Sawyer, Eugene T Publication date: 1922 Publisher: Los Angeles : Historic Record Co. Number of Pages: 1934

Author: Sawyer, Eugene T
Publication date: 1922
Publisher: Los Angeles : Historic Record Co.
Number of Pages: 1934