History of Santa Clara County California with biographical sketches, Part 145

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

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On January 10, 1861, Samuel Jackson was mar- ried to Miss Caroline Sherrill, also of Scotch descent and a native of Independence County, Ark. Mr. Jackson added to his purchases from time to time until he had a large ranch of approximately 4,000 acres. He engaged extensively in the stock business and became a well-to-do and influential man. He died on November 4, 1904, at the age of seventy-seven, while Mrs. Jackson had preceded him on April 21, 1902, aged seventy-one. Samuel Jackson was a liberal and kind-hearted man and on his large ranch he dispensed the good, old-time hos- pitality and was much esteemed and honored by everyone. He and his wife were the parents of four children that grew up and are now living: Thomas Jefferson resides in Texas; Samuel Henry lives in Oakland; Alice Virginia is Mrs. Koppel of Oakland, and Jonathan Franklin of this review, known as Frank Jackson to his numerous friends.

He attended school in the Mt. Shasta and Cedar Park districts, making himself generally useful on his father's ranch from the time he was a lad, thus early mastering the cattle business as well as gen- eral husbandry, remaining at home until after his father passed away. On June 28, 1905, at Santa Monica, he was married to Miss Ida H. Dunbar, a native of South Carolina and the daughter of N. A. H. and Mahala Anna (Pittman) Dunbar. The father was a native of County Kildare, Ireland, and came to South Carolina when he was sixteen years old. He was an energetic worker and business man

and became the owner of a large corn and cotton plantation near Union, S. C., now the townsite of one of the largest cotton mills in the South. His wife was of English, Scotch and Irish descent, be- ing a native of South Carolina, and they made their home on their plantation until their death, the wife and mother having survived her husband many years, her demise occurring in 1899. This worthy couple were the parents of seven children, four of whom are living, as follows: Mary Telula, wife of H. E. Bauknight, now of Goree, Texas; Ida H., Mrs. Jack- son; Geo. P. of Morgan Hill, Cal .; Henry A. of Union, S. C. Ida H. Dunbar received her educa- tion in Clifford Seminary, after which she remained at home caring for her invalid mother until her death, soon after which Miss Dunbar came to Cam- eron, Texas, where her brother, George P. Dunbar, resided. In 1902 she came to Santa Barbara, Cal., on a visit and sometime later, while in Ventura, she met Mr. Jackson, the acquaintance resulting in their marriage, which has proved a very happy one.

After his marriage, Mr. Jackson with his bride, located on his ranch of 485 acres in Siskiyou County, which had come to him on the settlement of his father's estate, and on which they erected a beau- tiful residence. The ranch was well wooded and watered, being irrigated by a ditch taken from the Shasta River, and had natural meadows and a fine range for his cattle. They made their home there for six years, selling it in 1911 and removing to the San Martin district in Santa Clara County, where they purchased a ranch of 926 acres devoted to hay and grain, and engaged in raising cattle, mules and hogs. For seven years they resided on this ranch and then sold it and bought their present place of fifty-three acres on the Homestead Road in the Cupertino district. It is a full-bearing orchard, twen- ty acres in apricots, two in cherries and twenty-eight acres in prunes, which Mr. Jackson has brought to a splendid state of cultivation, and it is now one of the finest orchards in the district. He has a splendid well, equipped with an electric pumping plant which throws 700 gallons of water a minute. This is located on the highest point of the ranch, so the entire tract is irrigated by gravity flow.

Mr. Jackson at one time owned a ranch at Ga- zelle, Siskiyou County, and one of 600 acres in Ven- tura County. This latter he exchanged for a citrus ranch in the El Cajon Valley, San Diego County. but on account of the distance he sold it. He also disposed of his 400-acre ranch in Mariposa County. as it was so far away from his home. Mr. and Mrs. Jackson also own a valuable four-story brick busi- ness building at 249-277 Pine Street, San Francisco. Since disposing of their Siskiyou ranch and coming to Santa Clara County with $30.000, they have been very successful, accumulating all their other prop- erty since then, which is valued at about $200,000, showing what can be done by united and well- directed effort. Mrs. Jackson is possessed of rare business ability and Mr. Jackson attributes much of his success to her able counsel and assistance. She is a cultured woman of a very pleasing personality and both have a large circle of friends. Politically they are believers in the principles of the Demo- cratic party, and are progressive and enterprising, aiding in all movements tending to improve and build up the community. Mr. Jackson has been a mem-

J.Funk Jackson

Ida + Jackson

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HISTORY OF SANTA CLARA COUNTY

ber of Mt. Eddy Camp. W. O. W. at Weed for more than twenty years, and Mrs. Jackson belongs to the Episcopal Church. Success has crowned the efforts of these energetic ranchers and in the mean- time they have found time to take an active interest in the affairs of their county and state.

MAX J. CROW .- Deservedly famous among the many show places of Santa Clara County are Crow's Nurseries, conducted by Max J. Crow & Son, at Gil- roy. Mr. Crow was born in Empire City, Nev .. on August 8, 1866, and his father was Alfred M. Crow, a native of Kentucky who had migrated to Missouri in the early '40s. He was one of eight sons all of whom in time came out to California; and he led the way in crossing the great plains in 1850. Alfred M. Crow located at Shaw's Flat, where he became a stockman; and later on he entered the lumber busi- ness at Empire City, Nev., and supplied lumber to miners at Gold Hill. Virginia City and throughout the mines in that section. His first wife having died, he married Miss Martha L. Hicks, a native of Ala- bama who was reared and educated in Missouri: she crossed the great plains in 1865, in a party captained by Isaac P. Crow, an uncle of our subject, and she later married and settled at Empire City, Nev. In 1871 Alfred M. Crow and his family returned to Cal- ifornia, located at Stockton for a short time, later settling at Crow's Landing, Stanislaus County, where Mr. Crow died in 1884. Mrs. Crow, mourned as was her husband, by a large circle of devoted friends, passed away at Morgan Hill, Cal., in 1909. This family belongs to the Crow family that settled in Stanislaus County in the early '50s.

The eldest child of this union, Max J. Crow passed through the public schools of the section in which he grew up, and then attended, for a couple of terms, the University of California. In the end, he con- cluded his studies by completing the excellent busi- ness courses at Heald's College in San Francisco. He had passed his boyhood on the stock-range and farm; and upon the death of his father, when the estate was divided. he removed with his mother to Berkeley, in 1885, and remained there for three years. He then entered the employ of the Leonard Coates Nursery at Napa, with which firm he remained for seven years, and when he decided to take up fruit-sup- plying for himself, he opened his own store and con- ducted it until 1897. That year he went to Missouri and became the advertising manager of Stark Bros. Nurseries and Orchards Company, with which he continued for eleven years. In 1908 he came back to California, located at Morgan Hill where he had acquired an interest in the Leonard Coates Nurseries. In 1909 he sold his interests and in December of that year he founded Crow's Nurseries at Gilroy.

Since then, this business has grown rapidly, and he made his son a partner in the fall of 1920. The headquarters are located on a beautiful tract of land in the southern part of Gilroy, and have become a veritable Mecca to which people from far and near come to select nursery stock, ornamental trees and flowers. The fruit tree nurseries are located in Butte, Yolo and Stanislaus counties, it being the policy to select land and location for the different fruit trees where they can be grown to highest perfection. Crow's Nurseries, from time to time, sends out cata- logs and price-lists, throughout the U. S. and foreign countries, and these are made up with such scientific

care and accuracy, and evidence such good judgment and business enterprise that they are decidedly cred- itable, and speak well for California agricultural in- dustry. In June, 1922, a retail store was opened at 42 Martin Street, Gilroy, for the sale of seeds, plants and cut flowers, with nursery offices in connection. Mr. Crow is a past president of the California Asso- ciation of Nurserymen and is at present a member of the executive committee, and he is secretary-treasurer of the Nurserymen's Bud Selection Association of California, in the interest of whose work and success he has spent much effort and money. During 1915-16, and again during 1919-20, he was a member of the city council of Gilroy.

At Napa, in 1890, Mr. Crow was married to Miss Lena F. Coney, a native of Jackson, Amador County, Cal .; and their union was blessed by a son, Harold Cornwell Crow, who served in the U. S. Avia- tion Corps in the World War, doing his duty by country and humanity, and on his return to Gilroy became a partner with his father in business. Mrs. Crow died on January 19, 1898, and in June, 1900, Mr. Crow married Miss Ida C. Rose, a native of Louisi- ana, Mo. She has the distinction of having had Champ Clark as her high school teacher. The Crow home is on Ninth and Rosanna Streets in Gilroy. A Republican in national political affairs Mr. Crow is also a Mason and an Odd Fellow and his son is master of Keith Lodge No. 187, F. & A. M. of Gilroy.

JAMES RICHARD WRIGHT .- The original an- cestor of the Wright family, John Wright, came to Canaan, Conn., from England as a colonial settler, and one of his descendants, Eleazer Wright, settled in Tallmadge, Ohio, where James R. Wright was born. He was a graduate of Oberlin College, then studied language and theology at Elyria, Ohio, and became a minister in the Congregational Church after which he taught Latin and Greek, and preached. He married Sarah Vincent, a native of Boston, Mass., and also a graduate of Oberlin College. Mr. Wright's health became poor, so he brought his family to Santa Clara County, Cal., and purchased a tract of land on the Summit, which he improved, setting ont orchards and building a comfortable residence, his ranch comprising 250 acres.

Mr. and Mrs. Wright are the parents of ten chil- dren: Charles, a talented educator in San Jose, was candidate for city superintendent of schools when he died; Eli is on the home ranch; Frederick and Albert died in youth; Lucy, the wife of Capt. Albert Whittlesey, resides in Portland, Ore .; Ward is in the real estate business in Bakersfield, Cal ; William H., who died in San Francisco in 1920, was with the River Bay Dredging Company; Sumner, now retired from the Abstract and Title business, resides in Col- ton; Frank V. is a business man in Alameda; Clara presides over the old home place. James R. Wright was a personal friend of A. E. Davis, who was pres- ident of the company huilding the narrow gauge from San Francisco to Santa Cruz, and Mr. Davis named the nearest station Wright's Station in honor of Mr. Wright. Mr. Wright passed away September 3, 1902, eighty-two years of age, his widow surviving him until April, 1908. Mr. Wright's life was un- doubtedly greatly prolonged by his residence in this beautiful and health-giving mountain region. The ranch is still in possession of the family and the

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HISTORY OF SANTA CLARA COUNTY

orchards are well cared for under the supervision of Eli Wright assisted by his sister Clara, and they oc- cupy the old home. Mr. Wright was a cultured gentleman interested in civics, and he stood for moral uplift in the community, and his teachings and life are well worthy of imitation.

ALMON WHEELER .- An experienced arbori- culturist who has also made a practical study of plants and plant life, is Almon Wheeler, the presi- dent of the Ruehl-Wheeler Nursery Company, Inc .. of San Jose. He was born at South Bend, Ind., on October 1, 1867, the son of Alfred and Elizabeth Ruth (Garrison) Wheeler; the former was a cousin of Vice-President Wheeler and the latter closely related to Chief Justice Marshall of Virginia. The Wheelers came to San Jose in 1885, and this city remained their home until they were called by death. Mrs. Wheeler died in February, 1902, and Mr. Wheeler passed away in December of the same year. He had been a prominent newspaperman in his time and always interested in politics, and served as audi- tor of St. Joseph County, Ind., for a number of years and he left a record of peculiar usefulness to society.

Almon Wheeler finished the grammar and high school courses in the public schools of South Bend and came to California with his parents in 1885. Soon after his arrival here he entered the service of John Rock, pioneer nurseryman of San Jose, to learn the details of the business and he remained with Mr. Rock for a number of years. In 1902, he formed a partnership with H. Ruehl, organizing the firm of Ruehl-Wheeler & Company, and opened their place of business where the Studebaker Garage now stands. As time advanced and their business grew, the part- ners bought the site at 163 South Market Street, improved it to suit their needs and have since con- tinued to make that their headquarters. They main- tain their gardens on a tract of land on the Mon- terey highway about nine miles south of San Jose and keep a large force of men to meet the demands of their ever-growing business. The company make a specialty of growing roses under contract, supply- ing some of the leading eastern nurserymen with the finest, hardiest and choicest of rose bushes. They expect to bud over one million roses in 1922. In fact, the demands are so great for their products that they find it difficult to find proper land upon which to propagate their stock and keep their patrons supplied. Besides their extensive eastern business they have a large local trade which insist upon plants from this particular firm. In making the shipments east they use iced refrigerator cars to protect them in transit from heat and cold.

Santa Clara County is rapidly becoming famous as the rose center of the country, for no other part of the state offers the climatic and soil conditions to be found here. It is possible to mature the stock and have it sturdy enough to dig and ship in the fall, and this enterprising firm have been quick to recognize this fact and profit by it and some of the finest roses grown in the Eastern states have come from their California stock. The president of the company is Almon Wheeler; H. Ruehl, an expert rose man, is vice-president and J. J. MeClue is sec- retary and treasurer.

Having full faith in the county where he had met with his success, Mr. Wheeler has backed his judg- ment with his money and he bought and developed

a fifty-acre walnut and prune orchard to a high state of productiveness and sold it, only to again purchase a like number of acres in the vicinity of Gilroy, and this tract he is bringing under control and has a fine acreage in strawberries, and the balance is de- voted to dairy purposes. The Ruehl-Wheeler Nur- sery Company, Inc., lease some seventy acres near the property owned by Mr. Wheeler where they ar preparing to grow deciduous stock. Mr. Wheeler is a poultry fancier and has a number of fine birds of varions strains on his ranch and in which he finds considerable entertainment and recreation.

In 1914 Mr. Wheeler was married to Mrs. Grace L (de la Pliene) Schofield, born in Kansas City, Mo., and there is a daughter, Grace Royana Wheeler. He is a member of the Nurserymen's Bud Selection Association and of the San Jose Chamber of Com- merce; politically he is a Republican. Although very busily engaged in looking after his own and his company's interests he still finds time to interest himself in the movements that make for a better and bigger San Jose and Santa Clara County.

BRUCE INGELS .- A pioneer whose foresight and wide-awake enterprise have been productive of one of the notable industries in Santa Clara County, is Bruce Ingels, the former proprietor of the Marble and Granite Works at Gilroy, to which town he came soon after the dawn of the present century. He was born on September 25, 1846, the son of Samuel Ingels, while his mother, who was Miss Phoebe Rambo before her marriage, was enroute to Iowa, and was near the Missouri-Iowa State line; the parents were both natives of Iowa, and became set- tlers of that territory before it was admitted into the Union as a State; and Samuel Ingels was one of the earliest postmasters of Oskaloosa, where he was also a merchant and farmer.

At the age of eighteen, Bruce Ingels enlisted in Company H, of the Twenty-fifth Iowa Volunteer Infantry, for a three years' service, and he was trans- ferred to the Ninth Iowa Volunteer Veteran Infan- try when they were home on furlough. He served under Grant, Sherman, and Logan until July 19, 1865, when he marched in review at Washington, and he had the honor of marching with Sherman through Georgia. In 1865 he returned to his home in Iowa, and the following year he was married to Miss Par- thenia Larsh, who was born on March 21, 1843, a native of Des Moines and sister to another volunteer soldier who stood by the Republic in the time of war. She was a teacher in Polk County, Iowa, for several years prior to her marriage.

Samuel Ingels had acquired a stone and marble business through default, and Bruce having entered into partnership with him, made good at the trade. In 1871 he came out to California on a prospecting tour, and he liked San Francisco so well that he remained there for two years and worked at his trade. The next year, he returned to Iowa; but in 1882 he removed with his family to Hollister and there took up agricultural pursuits. In 1890 he re- moved to the San Juan Valley to engage in orchard- ing; and twelve years later he sold everything and came to Gilroy. He entered the employ of A. A. Mar- tin & Bro. who had the stone and marble works on North Monterey Street, and after working steadily for that firm for eighteen years, he acquired by pur- chase the desirable business which he conducted

almond Wheeler

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HISTORY OF SANTA CLARA COUNTY

until his retirement in April, 1922. He and his wife own a residence at Seventh and Church streets.

Mr. Ingels is a Republican, and cast his first vote for Abraham Lincoln. For twelve years he served as secretary of the Improved Order of Redmen. Mrs. Ingels is a member of the Gilroy W. C. T. U., and the Civic Center, and a student in Dr. Russell's Bible School, and in such work as this she is handing down the traditions of her parents, William Lewis and Mary B. (Tacitt) Larsh, who were both members of prominent Ohio families, and related to members of the State legislature and the judiciary. She is, besides, past president of the W. R. C. of Hollister, and has proven herself a great organizer. Three children were granted Mr. and Mrs. Bruce Ingels, and from them have sprung ten grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Kitty is the wife of John Waters of Vallejo, and they have four children. Clyde Larsh Ingels is married, also has four children; he served in the Spanish-American War, and resides near Monterey. Edith M. has become the wife of Martin Heath, and they reside at Oakland with their two children. Leroy Waters, one of the grand- sons, served seven years in the U. S. Navy and has sailed the seven seas, while his brother Carl has served one year in the Navy.

JOHN E. WHITE .- Among the most popular of- ficials of Santa Clara County is John E. White, a native of England, born in Dorchestershire on Sep- tember 15, 1860, the son of Charles and Sarah (Par- sons) White, both of whom sprang from the same Dorset soil. He was reared and schooled at Buck- horn Weston; and when only nine years of age, was employed by his uncle, J. Adams, a construction engineer, to work on the new railroad from Bristol to New Passage, for which he received eighteen shil- lings per week. Later he worked at the Forest of Dean, and received twenty-four shillings per week. In the latter part of 1873 he set out for the United States, and in December, after three weeks out from Liverpool, he arrived at Gilroy, having survived the sinking of the City of Chester when he was fortu- nately picked up in midocean by the passing City of Brussels. Seven years before, his older brother, George T. White, had located at Gilroy, and on his reaching here he obtained employment on the Ellis Dairy Ranch, where he put in his first half-year in America. The following two years he was employed by James Rea, and then for many years he was cheesemaker on the Doan ranch. The year 1895 found him happily recovered from a serious illness, and he was then elected on the Republican ticket to the office of constable of Gilroy township; and he has the exceptional honor of holding the same office ever since. He was made a citizen of the United States in 1876 by order of Judge Rhoades, and he has been among the first and the most efficient in maintaining law and order.

At Gilroy, in 1876, Mr. White was married to Mrs. Sarah (Rhoades) Cavanaugh, the daughter of Thomas Rhoades, and a widow with two children: Nettie is the widow of Lyman Wilson, and has one child. Minnie is the wife of George Milias, the prominent hotel proprietor of Gilroy, and they have one son. Mrs. White was born on November 15, 1853, a na- tive of Missouri, and crossed the plains with her parents; and when they reached the River Platte' her father was drowned. The widow, with her

babe, proceeded to California, and at Sacramento joined a brother, already in public life and a mem- ber, from 1854-60, of the State Legislature. Her mother died at Old Gilroy in December, 1910, aged sixty-four years. Four children were born to this union: Carrie is the wife of William Burchell, the owner of the L. A. L. Garage; they have two chil- dren and reside at San Jose. Nellie married J. Summers; they have one son and reside at Oakland. George married Vera Wilson, a rancher at Old Gil- roy. Walter married Miss Laura Gilbert, and with their two children they reside at San Jose. Mr. White owns twenty-three and a half acres of very desirable irrigated alfalfa land at Old Gilroy, on which his son conducts a dairy, while operating some thirty acres of his own. Mr. White is an Odd Fellow, and Mrs. White is a member of the Rebekah Lodge.

STEPHEN WHITE SHELDON .- Not many pioneers have enjoyed a higher esteem in their day, or been more honored and mourned for after their demise, than the late Stephen White Sheldon, for many years the superintendent of the vast and valu- able Miller & Lux ranches in Santa Clara County. A native of Rhode Island, he was born at Chepachet on February 17, 1848, in the same city where his grandfather, Jeremiah, rounded out a long and very useful career, and served both his city and his county in various position of public trust. He was a mem- ber of one of the earliest Yankee families, and owned the historic Scotch Hill, a farm which had been the scene of several bloody tragedies of the Revolution- ary War. He was among the sturdiest musketmen in the Colonial ranks, and yet he was able to be- queath to his son, Joseph, the father of our subject, the material rewards of a life filled with gratifying success. Joseph Sheldon was also a Rhode Islander, who learned the carpenter's trade. Proud of his own family tree, he chose for his wife Miss Nancy Young, a member of another old Rhode Island family, by whom he had seven children, a daughter becoming the wife of Henry Miller, of Miller & Lux, and the youngest being Stephen White Sheldon.

He grew upon on the home farm and then en- gaged in teaming in Chepachet, while he attended both the country and city schools. He ventured out to California in 1878, relying for his capital upon his youth, his health, and his character. He accepted a post as farm hand for Miller & Lux, the land and cattle barons on the West Side of the San Joaquin Valley, and wise he was to do so, for his, enterprise and fidelity soon came to the personal attention of his employers, and he was given rapid advancement as recognition and reward. After a while he became foreman on the Santa Rita Rancho, held by the same company, and in 1884 he was made superin- tendent of Miller & Lux's Peach Tree Ranch in Monterey County. In 1886 he filled a similar posi- tion on the ranch at Soap Lake, in Santa Clara County, when he made his headquarters on the Bloomfield farm. By 1890 Mr. Sheldon's status with the company had so far improved that he was placed over their Bloomfield, Soap Lake, Mount Madonna and Oak Grove, and other ranches in Santa Clara County. Eleven years afterward he resigned his large and trying responsibilities and moved into Gil- roy, and there, at the corner of Forest and Lewis streets, he built a large and beautiful residence for himself and family. He also put up a barn of 200

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History of Santa Clara County California with biographical sketches, Part 145

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