History of Santa Clara County California with biographical sketches, Part 139

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

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HISTORY OF SANTA CLARA COUNTY

which was devoted to the raising of grain, the cul- tivation of fruit, and the management of a first-class dairy. Mr. and Mrs. Bellew were the parents of five children, Mrs. Barber being the fourth of the family. Mr. Barber is a member of the Masons of San Jose and all the other branches, including the Islam Tem- ple of San Francisco. He has served his district as a school trustee of Milpitas.

EARLE C. FANCHER .- A far-seeing, progress- ive and successful rancher whose life story is interest- ing and instructive, is Earle C. Fancher, residing at the corner of North Thirteenth and Gish streets, San Jose. He was born near Anita, Iowa, on July 28, 1886, the son of Charles Willis and Maria C. (Hol- combe) Fancher, farmer-folks dealing extensively in stock and grain of their own raising, and the parents of four boys and two girls. An uncle, George H. Fancher, was a pioneer of California, and was one of the first to enter the Yosemite Valley. Charles W. Fancher also made a trip across the plains in early days, but returned to Iowa, where he followed farming. Earle, the youngest of the family, attended the grammar and high schools at Anita, Iowa, and when he was fourteen years old, removed to San Jose with his parents. In the latter city he continued his schooling, and topped off his studies with a busi- ness college course at San Jose.

When nineteen years old, Mr. Fancher learned the automobile building and repairing trade, and for four years he filled the important post of "trouble finder" for Osen & Hunter in San Jose. Then, pushing out into the larger world, he went to Los Angeles, entered the employ of the Los Angeles Motor Car Company, where he labored on truck work, doing and also demonstrating various kinds of expert shop service. After that he became associ- ated with the Spreckels Ditch, of the Otay Dam near San Diego, and participated in the construction of that difficult piece of engineering. He next joined the crews at work on the Los Angeles Aqueduct. and for eighteen months assisted in the accomplish- ment of that wonderful enterprise, being locate near Mojave; and when through with that arduous under- taking, he spent some time in various parts of Nev- ada, Texas, Mexico and Alaska, always engaged in construction work of one kind or another.

In 1912, Mr. Fancher returned to Santa Clara County, and became floor foreman for the Letcher Garage. His father, as early as 1898, had acquired a ranch of 4,000 acres in Merced County, five and one-half miles east of Merced, devoted to the rais- ing of grain; and in 1912 he joined his father in ranching. The day before Christmas, 1913, he took charge of the home ranch, and ran it until Septem- ber 22, 1919, when it was sold to the California Pack- ing Corporation, and set out to peaches and apricots, becoming the largest orchard of its kind in the world. In 1919, he returned to San Jose, and pur- chased the old Fox nursery property of forty-two and one-half acres devoted to the culture of prunes and pears, well irrigated by a splendid well.

At Fresno, on December 22, 1914, Mr. Fancher was married to Miss Maybelle Neumann, a native daughter, who was born in Le Grand, Cal., the daughter of Paul and Mattie Neumann, worthy pio- neers and among the most progressive and extensive grain farmers of Merced County. Three children have blessed this union, Pauline, Eldon and Jack.

Mr. Fancher is a Republican, keenly interested in the problems of national politics; but he is too broad- minded a citizen and patriot to allow partizanship to narrow either his range of vision or his field of activity, and he is always ready to put his shoulder to the wheel and do his share.

ANTON WAGNER .- A native of Southern Russia who has more than made good since coming to Cali- fornia is Anton Wagner, the enterprising and suc- cessful rancher of Swift Lane, about one and a half miles to the northeast of Evergreen. He was born at Neiburg on March 17, 1859, the son of Jacob and Barbara (Engel) Wagner, -- the former a native of historic and picturesque Wurtemberg, Germany, and the latter a native of musical and artistic Hungary. His father was for a quarter of a century a school teacher, and hence our subject began life with excep- tional educational advantages at his service.

When, therefore, he left home as a young man and crossed the ocean to the United States, he was well equipped for a tussle with the New World; and good judgment directed him to South Dakota, where he took up a quarter-section homestead in Turner County, not far from the ranch of his father, who had also come out to America. The latter, in his sixty-eighth year, was paralyzed, and after that he came to live with his son, who was the third among four children, the eldest being Jacob, the next elder Gottlieb, and the youngest Charlotte. His father lived to be seventy-four, and then died, honored of all who knew him.

On October 12, 1881, Mr. Wagner was married to Miss Theresa Lorenz, the ceremony taking place in Yankton County, S. D. She was a native of Germany and the daughter of Andres and Theresa (Schmidt) Lorenz; her father was for years in the employment of the German government. After their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Wagner went to Gregory County, S. D., and there for many years leased a ranch; and in time they bought 560 acres, and for sixteen years raised cattle on their own land. When he sold out, Mr. Wagner came out to California with his family on account of failing health, and in 1912 he bought his present ranch of twenty-one and a half acres on Swift Lane, nine acres of which he has set out in pears, apricots and prunes. Nine children have been granted Mr. and Mrs. Wagner: Rose, Minnie. Sophie, Carrie, Mary, Clara, Walter, Henry and Emile. Rose is Mrs. Metzger of Evergreen, and has one child-Fred; Minnie is Mrs Berg of South Da- kota and has eight children-Gilbert, Fred, Solomon, Richard, Gertrude, Helen, Alma and Laura. Sophie lias become Mrs. Hombal and the mother of three children -- Mary, Carrie and Ida, and also lives in South Dakota; and Carrie is Mrs. Bradshaw, and she resides near her parents; her children are Doris, William and Joseph.

Two sons of Mr. and Mrs. Wagner entered the service of their government in the last war and did their full duty by their country. Walter enlisted on September 28, 1917, and was sent to the Presidio as a cook, and from there he was despatched to Camp Sheridan, Ala., where he served until he was dis- charged, on March 10, 1919. Henry became an enlisted soldier on May 4, 1918, and was in the Fourteenth Company of the C. A. C., and trained in the Philippines, and then went to Fort Mills, and

A matty

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HISTORY OF SANTA CLARA COUNTY

was discharged at the Presidio on August 26, 1916. These two boys are now in partnership as Wagner Bros., proprietors of a boiler works in San Jose.

Mr. Wagner is a Republican, and above all a loyal American very much interested in civic reforms, and he used to be a member of the Workmen order. Mr. and Mrs. Wagner are members of the German Methodist Church. Mr. Wagner has a high standard in all his dealings with his fellow-men, and these commendable traits have found favor with all who know him, so that he is not only prosperous in busi- ness, but rich in friends.

ANTOINE MATTY .- Arriving in California in 1853, the late Antoine Matty witnessed practically the entire growth and development of the state and was well known as the proprietor of the popular resort known as Wrights Station, which he conducted for over three decades. A native of France, he was born in Ville d'Antrevaux, in the Maritime Alps, April 20, 1840, a son of Francois and Teressa (Colombet) Matty. His mother was a sister of the late Clémente Colombet, a pioneer of the Santa Clara Valley. Mr. Matty's father was a cabinetmaker by trade and passed away when seventy-six years of age.

When a lad of twelve years Antoine Matty accom- panied his uncle, Joseph Colombet, on his emigration to the United States and after landing in this country they started across the plains to California in 1853. When they left St. Joseph, Mo., their party included twenty-five persons and Joseph Colombet was chosen captain of the little band. On approaching the mountains they soon became acquainted with hard- ships and privations and passed the location where the ill-fated Donner party had stopped. Winter fell upon them while they were traversing Carson Valley, and leaving six men in charge of the stock and wag- ons, the rest of the band pushed on toward Cal- ifornia. On the way to California their stock of food gave out and after days of wandering without food they crossed the trail of two hunters, whom they compelled to supply them with food for which they paid liberally, Mr. Colombet carrying $5,000 in his belt. The next night they were again lost but ran across the pony express and through the assistance of the men in charge were able to reach a new trail. They met up with many Indians but without excep- tion they manifested toward the party a spirit of friendliness. In due time the party reached Stockton and came on to Mission San Jose. Antoine Matty took up his residence with another uncle, Peter Colombet, assisting him in his work. Another uncle, Clemente Colombet, built the summer resort "Warm Springs" and Antoine continued with him until 1855, when he went to San Francisco, arriving there during the reign of the Vigilantes. For a short time he was employed as a clerk in the auction rooms of Smiley Brothers & Company, and in 1859 made his way to Virginia City, Nev., where for eight months he worked in the mines, returning to San Francisco at the end of that period. For thirty-five years he was proprie- tor of Wrights Station, the well-known resort in the Santa Cruz Mountains, near the line which divides Santa Clara and Santa Cruz Counties. This is one of the most attractive and popular resorts in this part of the state and the property is valued at more than $80,000. Mr. Matty owned 360 acres but re- tained 134 acres. He made extensive investments in real estate in the Santa Clara Valley and sold to the

Western Pacific Railroad Company the site for their new depot in East San Jose, construction of the line having been started in 1920.

In 1896 Mr. Matty was married in San Jose to Miss Sarah Slomon, born in County Galway, Ireland, but reared and educated in Boston, Mass., coming to California hy the isthmus route. She passed away 1. November, 1903, a few months after the tragic death of their son Louis. Six children were born to their union. Teressa met an accidental death when eighteen. Frank, who resides at Wrights married Katherine Goodman and has two daugh- ters, Antoinette and Aileen. Annie married Emil Meyer of Wrights Station, and they have two chil- dren, Arthur and Alyce Marie. Mr. Meyer is the owner of the Mar Vista Vineyard, situated at the summit of the Santa Cruz Mountains. Louis was burned 10 death in a forest fire at Wright's Station in August, 1903, when he was forty years of age. Thomas C. died at the age of twenty-six. Alice, a very capable young business woman, is now in the employ of the California Hotel Corporation. When fifteen years of age she became station agent at Wright's Station for the Southern Pacific Railroad Company and con- tinued to hold that position for nine years.

Mr. Matty received his citizenship papers at San Jose as soon as he came of age and he thoroughly identified his interests with those of his adopted country. He was the organizer of the Wright School district, and was identified with the Exempt Fireman of San Jose. He was also a valued member of the Santa Clara Pioneer Association, No. 45. It was organized in 1853 with four hundred members of whom but five are now living. Some years ago, when Vendome Parlor, Native Daughters of the Golden West, built a log cabin at Alum Rock Park in memory of the pioneers, Mr. Matty at his own ex- pense had the trees felled on his property at Wrights and prepared the logs for the cabin. He was also a member of the Sempervirens Association, a society organized to preserve the redwoods for future gen- erations. Mr. Matty passed away April 12, 1922, lacking only eight days of living eighty-two years.

WILLIAM GIOTTONINI .- Prominent among the progressive ranchers of Santa Clara County who have been most successful in growing alfalfa and to whom the present high state of dairying is due, may well be mentioned William Giottonini, who lives on the Sabatti ranch, which is also known as the Cali- fornia Dairy, on the Alviso Road, about three miles north of San Jose. A native of Italian Switzerland, Mr. Giottonini was born in Canton Ticino, at a pic- turesque place called Frasco, on July 1, 1896, the son of Benjamin and Polyanna Giottonini, his father a Swiss farmer, being one of the first natives of that canton to come out to California. On the first occasion when he made his way here, in 1860, he was a young man, and he remained in California twelve years; returning to Switzerland, he married and reared there a family of ten children. Joseph is employed at the California Dairy; Lucy has be- come Mrs. Lesnini and lives at Kings City; Al- bert is in Mexico, and the rest are Prudence, Angea, Pauline, Mary, William and Katherine (twins), and Benjamin Giottonini.

When William was eleven years of age, his parents came with their family to California, and this time they settled in San Luis Obispo County. William

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attended the grammer school at San Luis Obispo, and a year after he arrived here, he began to work for himself. He followed dairy ranch labor for six years in Harmony Valley, and when he was yet twelve years old, he milked twenty cows each day. He then went to Kings City, and for a year worked for wages in a dairy; then, for a short time he was at Fresno and also at Coalinga; and next pitched his tent for a while at Red Bluffs. Tehama County, and at Portland, Ore. Returning to California, William worked again at Fresno, then at Los Banos, and after that he came to Santa Clara County.

On July 26, 1921, Mr. Giottonini joined Pasquali Tonini, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this volume, and in partnership they bought an alfalfa ranch of forty acres, also leased a dairy ranch of equal size about three miles north of San Jose on the Alviso road. There they have a very fine herd of some sixty-five milch cows, with which they are scoring great success. In national political affairs Mr. Giottonini is a Republican, but he is also a good "booster" for the locality in which he lives, putting aside narrow partisanship and supporting the best men and the best measures, and he is first, last and all the time an American.

FRED BOWEN .- Another representative of an interesting pioneer family who has added to the high reputation of California mechanicians is Fred Bowen, the senior member of Messrs. Bowen & Ro- necker, the leading plumbers and sheet metal work- ers in Santa Clara. He was born in Monterey County on September 12, 1883, the son of Alfred Bowen, who was a native of Centerville, and the grandson of Joseph Wythe, a sailor who hailed from Scotland, and who steered for California in the gold-mining days. The Bowens have thus been identified with this section since the early days of the Pacific Commonwealth.

Fred was only four years of age when he came te San Jose, but he well recalls the street cars drawn by horses. His uncle, John Bowen, was a machinist who worked in Joe Enright's shop, and he set up the steam engine used to furnish the first substitute for horsepower for the railway. Later, the company turned to electricity as the motor power. The lad rode on the first electrical car on First Street, and the riding was sport, indeed.

When eleven years of age, he began to work out, and for twenty years he ran the steam engine in the brickyard and subsequently ran stationary engines for other institutions at various other places in the county, so that he gained a wide acquaintance. He then took up plumbing and worked for Levin & Son, and as he could not have had a better apprentice- ship, he learned plumbing as thoroughly as he had steam-engineering, and was just the man to form the promising partnership with Charley Ronecker.

The firm of Bowen & Ronecker was established in the spring of 1921, and they have been busy as bees ever since. They operate a general plumbing and sheet metal business and guarantee to do whatever is undertaken so that it need not be done over again the next day. This assurance means so much in the present age of careless inefficiency that the up-to-date folks of Santa Clara have not been slow to appreciate their efforts. They and their five employes have all they can do. They have many residences to their credit and the excellency of their work is the merit which attracts a constantly increasing patronage.

At San Jose in 1907 Mr. Bowen was married to Miss Louise Bimmerly, a native of San Jose, where she was reared. She is a daughter of August Bim- merly, who died in San Jose on March 14, 1921, and of his good wife, nee Louise Boughtenthistle, both pioneers. Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Bowen-Evelyn and Harold. The Bowens re- side in their hospitable home on Willis Avenue.

BEVERLY ALLEN ENGLAND. - A sturdy pionecr of Santa Clara County whose reminiscences of California reach back for almost seventy years is Beverly Allen England, who can narrate many inter- esting happenings of the early days here, where he was long associated with Martin Murphy, Jr. A na- tive of Missouri, he was born at Steelville, Crawford County, Mo., on October 12, 1842, the son of John and Jane (Cornigham) England, both natives of Vir- ginia. They were married in Missouri and there the father died in 1848, followed to the grave a year later by the mother, leaving six orphaned children, two boys and four girls.

The fourth of the family, Beverly A. England, was reared by an uncle, Ruggles England, who started across the plains in 1853 as captain of a train of cight wagons and ox teams. Beverly was then a lad of eleven years, and he rode a horse all the way from St. Joseph, Mo., to Hangtown, Cal. They stopped for a time at the ranch of Martin Murphy Sr., Santa Clara County's earliest pioneer, and then for nine years he worked for his uncle, who had gone to the mines in Butte County, and as a bookkeeper in the hotel and post office near the mines. On his return to Santa Clara County he engaged in farm- ing with his brother at Milliken's Corners, where his brother-in-law, the late J. W. Johnson, had lo- cated. Mr. Johnson had first crossed the plains in 1849, later taking up a Spanish grant at Milliken's Corners, the title to which proved defective, so that he was compelled to pay for it a second time.

At Santa Clara Mr. England was married to Miss Jennie Simpson who had also crossed the plains in 1853, but in another train. Two children were born to them, Gus A England, whose sketch appears on another page of this history, and Harry England, who married Miss Mary Wicker of San Jose, and they are the parents of two children-Winifred and Lorraine. Mrs. Beverly England died in 1913, and since that time Mr. England has made his home with his son Harry in San Jose. For many years Mr. England rented land in the vicinity of Santa Clara and farmed there successfully. He has always taken an active interest in the phenomenal development of Santa Clara County, coming here, as he did, long before there were any railroads, and as an American citizen preferring the political tenets of the Demo- cratic party, he has done what he could to make this favored section come into its own. As a boy, in crossing the plains, he proved to be one of the valued and dependable members of the emigrant train, and he was sent out to reconnoiter for roads and the best places to camp, as well as to look out for hostile Indians, and the lessons of this experience continued to bear good fruit in later life. Now, as one of the oldest living pioneer settlers of this local- ity, he can look back upon a life filled with interest- ing experiences, beholding as he has, a transformation that it has been the privilege of but few to witness.

JamesTurner

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JAMES TURNER .- A persevering, successful hor- ticulturist, who finds real pleasure in hard work and who has become influential in his community through the force of his example as a man whose thrift and proficiency have made him successful, is James Turner, a native of Chicago, Ill., where he was born in 1863, the son of James and Mary (Gantz) Turner. Reared in the metropolis of the West, Mr. Turner attended the public schools of that city. He started his business experiences as a traveling salesman and, continuing this for many years, he traversed every state in the Union except Florida. Then for twelve years he conducted a brokerage business in Boston, Mass., where he met with good success.

Mr. Turner's marriage united him with Miss Jessie Crawford, and in 1912 they moved to California and, locating in Santa Clara County, purchased his pres- ent ranch of forty-three acres, which is located on the Los Gatos and Santa Clara road, about two miles south of Campbell, Cal. He has erected a substantial and attractive residence. His ranch is a very valu- able property and his orchards, which are mostly set to prunes, are now in splendid bearing. Mr. Turner has been active in building up the commun- ity, and was one of the prime movers that organized the Campbell Investment Company, the builders of a row of business buildings on Campbell Avenue, in- cluding the postoffice, a moving picture theater and three stores, and the Growers' National Bank build- ing, constructed of white enameled brick. He was one of the organizers of the Growers National Bank at Campbell, of which he is president and a director. He is a member of the California Prune and Apricot Growers' Association. In national politics Mr. Tur- ner is a Republican, and in 1920 was a prominent candidate as such at the primaries for state senator. He was made a Mason in Home Lodge No. 508, A. F. & A. M., Chicago, and he is also a member of San Jose Lodge No. 522, Elks. Mrs. Turner is a member of the O. E. S. and the Woman's Federated Club. She organized the idea of "prune week" and her energy and enthusiasm put it through. When a member of the Grange, she wrote a paper advo- cating a prune week, urging the Grange to take it up. The article was published and later it became a national matter and now prune week is well es- tablished all over the Union. Mrs. Turner has been very prominent in civic and social affairs and shares with her husband deserved popularity.

LOUIS M. RICHARD .- A successful rancher whose prosperity naturally leads one to both study and admire his progressive methods, is Louis M. Richard, now living on the Alviso-Milpitas road. not far from Alviso. He was born at the Mission Dolores, in San Francisco, on November 17, 1861, the son of August Richard, who came to California in 1857 and, having married Miss Josephine Aggeon, established himself as a market gardener. He and his good wife were blessed with six children: Louisa A., now deceased, became Mrs. Anderson; Annie is Mrs. Carabal; Louis is the third in the order of birth; Emelia and Eugene are both deceased; and Henry of the family circle.

August Richard was a native of the Basses- Pyrenees, in France, and when he came to Cali- fornia as a young man, he brought with him the experience and traditions of a corner of the globe where the natives thoroughly understood how to

coax nature to do her best. He did not find it difficult therefore, to specialize in fancy truck farm- ing for exclusive trade; and on settling in Alviso, in 1869, he was able to purchase a home tract of twenty- one acres of land on the Alviso road. Louis attended the Alviso school and remained at home with his father until the death of the latter in 1883.

Pushing out into the world, Louis Richard worked for wages on farms in the vicinity of Alviso, and then, in 1886, he started to farm for himself on the old Young Ranch of 400 acres located at the north end of the Zanker Lane, off the Alviso-Milpitas road. This was a grain and stock ranch, and he leased it until Mr. Standish purchased it in 1914. In that year, Mr. Richard moved onto the farm of 120 acres on the Alviso-Milpitas road, devoted to grain rais- ing; and he has since resided on the ranch. Since then he has also purchased a small ranch of twenty- seven acres at the north end of the Zanker Lane, just west of the Standish Ranch; and there he has re- cently completed a well, to obtain the water necessary for irrigation purposes, and has succeeded in getting an abundant supply. A broadminded Democrat in favor of every progressive movement, Mr. Richard has been especially active in supporting whatever tended to conserve the resources of the state; and for a number of years he rendered good service to his fellow-citizens in the capacity of game warden for the northern part of Santa Clara County.

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History of Santa Clara County California with biographical sketches, Part 139

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