History of Santa Clara County California with biographical sketches, Part 151

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

USA > California > Santa Clara County > History of Santa Clara County California with biographical sketches > Part 151

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

For twenty years Mr. and Mrs. Hill engaged in dairying and from their herd of about thirty Jersey cows, sold and distributed milk twice a day to their family trade in San Jose. In 1921 they discontinued the dairy and are now planting their acreage to pears. Their union has been blessed with two children: Harry, who is attending the University of Santa Clara, class of '23, and Russell, who is in San Jose high school. Patriotic and public-spirited, Mr. Hill served as a special policeman under Chief DeLacy, and proving to be a fearless and efficient officer he was given the opportunity to join the police force permanently and work in politics. He had little taste, however, for the latter, and so he abandoned for agri- cultural pursuits what would have appealed to many as a promising career.

FRANK W. NIGHTINGILL,-A member of the bar of California since 1905 and a practicing attorney since that time, both in San Francisco and in Santa Clara County, Frank W. Nightingill has specialized particularly in land law. He is a native son, having been born'in San Francisco in February, 1882, and is a graduate of Stanford University. Since 1919 he has maintained his office and resided in Palo Alto with his family, consisting of his wife and daughter, Nancy. Mr. Nightingill has always practiced law upon the theory that most controversies between in- dividuals are subject to fair adjustment without the necessity of litigation, that where parties are repre- sented by counsel, a knowledge of the law, together with a disposition to be fair, is all that is essential to the determination of their rights and obligations.

AA. S Still Lenoraff. Will

963

HISTORY OF SANTA CLARA COUNTY

MARION L. PITMAN .- A prominent horticul- turist whose life touches the history of the world- renowned Stanford University in an interesting man- ner is Marion L. Pitman, a native son, who was born on his father's farm in October, 1854. This farm consisted of fifty acres, and it is now included in the Stanford University grounds. His own land is part- ly in Palo Alto, and by his scientific industry, he has made it of especial attraction, at the same time that he has raised its efficiency in production to the high- est limit. His father was Andrew Jackson Pitman, the well-known pioneer, a native of Missouri who married Miss Armenia A. Lewis, also of the Iron State. He crossed the great plains in the year of the Argonauts, and as a genuine '49er, he located in Santa Clara County, where he continued to reside until his death, in 1897, at the age of about seventy years. He was a farmer, and in the pursuit of agri- culture bought fifty acres, which he sold again in 1863 to a Mr. Gordon who, in turn, let Senator Stan- ford have it for the proposed institution of higher learning. After that he bought another fifty acres, and the present farm of our subject is a part of this second investment. He was a man of exceptional intelligence and highly progressive; he sought to develop his farm interests along scientific, but emi- nently practical lines, and, in his upward, progressive trend, he encouraged other ranchers as well.

Marion Pitman attended the local public schools and then pursued the courses of the State Normal School at San Jose. After that he removed to Wash- ington and at Walla Walla taught for a year. Re- turning to Santa Clara County, he was for five years in the milk trade at San Jose, and in 1888 he started to farm where he is now located and where he has ever since successfully tilled the soil. He carries on general farming at the same time that he raises truck-garden stuff and varied fruit; and he has a valuable and beautiful property. At San Jose, in 1881, Mr. Pitman was married to Miss Elizabeth Denne, a daughter of George Denne, a native of Dover, England. They have one daughter, Georgie, who married Joseph E. Shearer of Palo Alto. Mr. Pitman, like his father, is a Democrat.

ELMER S. O'CONNELL .- An enterprising young man who is making a splendid record in the business world and of whom the citizens of San Jose are justly proud, is Elmer S. O'Connell, president of O'Connell Bros., Inc. He was born at Hollister, San Benito County, December 26, 1888, the son of Thomas O'Connell, a California pioneer, who is represented on another page of this history.

Elmer S. O'Connell is the youngest member of his family, who in 1895 moved to San Jose, and there he grew up, attending the Grant and Mckinley gram- mar schools and the San Jose high school. From a lad he had assisted his father in his business, and on July 9, 1906, when O'Connell Bros. was incorporated, he joined his four brothers in the organization, enter- ing heartily into the business and giving it all of his time. Since 1911 he has been a director and in 1917 he was elected to the office of president of the cor- poration, a position he is filling with much credit and ability. Having worked his way up from the bottom rung of the ladder to the top, he has become very familiar with all the details of this extensive business

during all these years of active participation in the affairs of the company, and so is especially well quali- fied for his important place and appreciates the con- fidence reposed in him, as the guiding hand in its progressive policies.

During the World War, in July, 1918, Mr. O'Con- nell entered the U. S. service, being assigned to Company H, Thirty-second Infantry, and was sta- tioned at Camp Kearny, San Diego, until February 21, 1919, when he was mustered out and honorably discharged with the rank of corporal, after which he immediately returned to San Jose and took up the duties of his position with the company, it having been carried on by his brothers during his absence. Fraternally, Mr. O'Connell is a member of the An- cient Order of Hibernians and the Independent Order of Foresters of San Jose. Reared in San Jose from his youth, he was trained by his parents to habits of in- dustry and self-reliance, which instilled in him the ambition to succeed, and he stands out prominently among the boys of San Jose, who, while yet com- paratively young, have more than made good.

WALTER WALSH .- An able representative of the ranching and horticultural interests of Santa Clara County is Walter Walsh, who was born at San Jose, October 17, 1876, the son of Walter Walsh, Sr., a native of County Kilkenny, Ireland, where he was born on November 1, 1846, not far from the three beautiful lakes that have made Kilkenny fam- ous. His parents were Patrick and Mary (Whalen) Walsh, and they were the parents of seven boys and two girls. Mrs. Walsh passed away in 1853, and Patrick Walsh survived her until 1895, passing away at the age of ninety-seven on the old home farm, where he had spent all his life, and which had been in the Walsh family for many generations, descend- ing from father to son.

In 1860, when but thirteen years old, Walter Walsh, Sr., crossed the ocean and joined an older brother in Boston, Mass., and for several years was engaged in various kinds of employment in that vicinity. In 1869 he came to California, crossing the plains by rail not long after the transcontinental railroad was completed. He located at San Jose and in October, 1870, was married to Mrs. Annie (Coch- ran) Casey who came from her birthplace in Ireland with her parents when she was eight years old. They settled in Massachusetts, remaining there until 1861, when they came to California. In 1878 Mr. and Mrs. Walsh removed to the Catherine Dunne rauch near Tennant Station, and for the next nine years Mr. Walsh managed the property, purchasing his own place of 120 acres in 1888, a tract of land lying five miles east of Gilroy, where he engaged in farming and stockraising. He passed away in December 29, 1907, the father of four living children: Wm., of San Jose; Walter; Mrs. Marguerite Miller, of Beaumont, Cal., and Joseph, on the home ranch.

The third eldest of the family, Walter Walsh, Jr., attended the schools of San Ysidro in the pursuit of an education and his young manhood was spent on the cattle range, where he became thoroughly con- versant with the cattle business. During the Spanish- American War he made two trips to Manila, P. I., and Panama, as an engineer, spending ten months in that occupation. He then entered the employ of the

964

HISTORY OF SANTA CLARA COUNTY

Oakland Meat Company, continuing with them for eight years. On September 6, 1910, he was married to Miss Louise Vaccarezza, born in Alameda, a daughter of Louis Vaccarezza, an orchardist of the Rucker district who was born in Italy and lived in the United States since a child. Four children have blessed the union of Mr. and Mrs. Walsh: Walter Walsh, III; Bernice; James, and Gladys E, the two younger having passed away. Mr. Walsh devotes the greater part of his time to his horticultural inter- ests at present, and is the owner of forty acres of orchard and ten acres of vineyard property, twenty acres of bare land, which he inherited from the Walsh estate after the death of his mother on Janu- ary 14, 1920. He has many friends in the Gilroy district, where much of his life has been spent, pos- sessing those qualities which constitute a good citizen and a successful business man.

JOHN ESREY .- More than half a century has come and gone since John Esrey came across the plains to California and settled thirty miles south of Fresno at a town now known as Lemoore, taking up his abode there in 1864, and made that his home to the day of his death. His daughter, Mrs. Eliza Ann Sutherland, whose sketch also appears in this work, still owns a ranch adjoining the original home place, which is now very valuable. Great have been the changes that have occurred since John Esrey first located there. The wild land has been reclaimed for the purposes of civilization, and has been trans- formed into rich and productive places. Towns and villages have sprung up and all the comforts and con- veniences of an older civilization have been intro- duced. In all matters of citizenship and business life and in every relation with his fellow men, Mr. Esrey displayed the sterling traits of character that in every land and clime command respect and confidence. He was born in Illinois, June 28, 1828, and in Missouri in 1849 he married Miss Sarah Jane Stratton, a na- tive of Kentucky, born September 6, 1829, and in 1864, on account of his wife's delicate health, joined the overland train under Captain Duncan, consisting of thirty families, with horses, mules, oxen and cows. The long journey across the arid plains to the West was fraught with severe hardships, and the con- stant fear of attacks from the Indians, made the ad- venture one long to be remembered. Owing to Mrs. Esrey's state of health, she was an easy prey to mountain fever, so prevalent in those days, and though everything was done for her that loving hands could do, she died and was buried at the little village of Galena, about three miles from Washoe, Nev. Mr. and Mrs. Esrey were the parents of five children: Eliza Ann, the widow of James Sutherland, whose biography appears in this volume; Madelnah, Mrs. William Ingram, deceased; John Wesley Esrey, re- siding at Lemoore; Mrs. Mary L. Martin of Los Angeles, and Thomas S. of San Francisco. At the time of crossing the plains, their daughter, Eliza Ann, was thirteen years old, and the incidents of the jour- ney and the losing of her mother, can never be erased from her memory; to add to their sorrows, the two younger girls, Madelnah and Mary, were taken sick with the same disease that their mother died with, and for many weeks they lingered be- tween life and death, so that when they became con- valescent they were unable to walk.

Weary of heart with his misfortune, but with that true pioneer spirit, so inherent in those early set- tlers of California, John Esrey pressed on until he arrived at his destination in what is now Kings County, where relatives had settled at an earlier date. When he retired he moved to Millville, Shasta Coun- ty, where he died June 2. 1888, after a most noble and useful career. His influence was ever on the side of justice, truth and right and his honorable career exemplified his belief in all that was uplifting and of permanent benefit to mankind.

CHARLES P. COOLEY .- A member of the board of Supervisors of Santa Clara County, who has found the Pacific commonwealth a true Golden State, is Charles P. Cooley, to whom both San Jose and Santa Clara County owe an agreeable debt they can hardly hope to repay. He was born northeast of Palo Alto on January 7, 1869, the son of Lester F. Cooley, a native of Vermont, who was married in San Francisco to Geraldine E. Sutton, a native of New York. Lester Cooley came to California in 1860, and settled as a farmer; and he died at the age of forty-seven on his farm where Charles was born. Mrs. Cooley came to California when about twenty years of age, and she long ago adopted the state as her very own. She is now Mrs. Geraldine E. Frisbie and is the President of the Woman's Relief Corps of California, her sketch appearing elsewhere in this volume. After finishing the courses prescribed in the public schools, Charles commenced to work on the home farm. His father died when he was only eleven years old, and for twenty-five years Mr. Cooley man- aged the home place, which contained some 400 acres. In 1907 he came to Palo Alto, and for sev- eral years thereafter he continued to farm. He also, for years, followed road building and other forms of contract work. In 1895, at Menlo Park, he was married to Miss Grace Boulware of Palo Alto, a daughter of Wm. and Laura (Williams) Boulware, both Kentuckians, and California pioneers, the father being a 49'er, and one son, Stanley, has sprung from the union.

In 1913, Mr. Cooley began to serve his fellow-cit- izens as a member of the city council, and in 1916 he was elected mayor of Palo Alto, and in 1917-18 was reelected. When war was declared, he did much valuable work with the army engineers, helping lo- cate Camp Fremont, and was chairman of the finance committee which raised funds for the primary es- tablishment, buying out leaseholds and settling with the tenants who, of necessity, had to be dispossessed in order to secure possession of the site for the Government's use. He met the first company- of coast artillery-sent here, and provided temporary quarters for them until Camp Fremont was ready. He was chairman of the Palo Alto Red Cross drive in 1918, of the Y. M. C. A. drive, of the War Work Council, and of the Victory Loan drive. He also took part in the War Camp Community service. Mr. Cooley has been president for the past four years of the City Planning Commission, and he is now chair- man of the Committee on Public Works. While mayor he cleared the Circle of jitney stands and all other obstacles, for the establishment of the bus depot. He also caused the interurban line to ter- minate in the rear of the Southern Pacific passenger depot, thereby centering the passenger traffic for the

John Esrey

967

HISTORY OF SANTA CLARA COUNTY

safety and convenience of all. He caused a double track crossing to be placed on the Southern Pacific right of way at the point of its intersection with Uni- versity Avenue and put in effect in the City Hall a new billing and bookkeeping system. There was also installed during his administration in the City's plant, two Diesel engines, each costing fifty to sixty thou- sand dollars, and the gas-plant was bought at a cost of seventy-two thousand dollars. Through Mayor Cooley and other far-seeing and public-spirited citi- zens, the Hostess House, originally erected at Camp Fremont, was secured and moved down to the city of Palo Alto and reconstructed as the present Community Center. When the war broke out he set aside all his own work in order to give his ser- vices undividedly to his country's welfare. He is a Republican, a member of the Presbyterian Church, and belongs, of course, to the Native Sons.

Perhaps nothing could be more indicative of all that is most characteristic, morally and mentally, in the make-up of this highly representative citizen than a contribution made by him some time ago to the memorial number of the Daily Palo Alto Times, when he set forth clearly "Why Palo Alto Flourished," and from which the following excerpts are quoted: "Look- ing back over the greater part of a half-century passed in the immediate vicinity of Palo Alto," he said, "one can feel a spirit of pride in the notable development that has been realized in this community. I was born not far from what is now the prosperous city of Palo Alto, on the San Mateo County side of the San Fran- cisquito Creek, and have spent most of my life at first on the home place and later in Palo Alto.

"In the early days Coolcy's Landing, then my father's ranch, was a point of considerable shipping activity. The volume of commerce was not large, but the bay served well to afford a means of cheap transportation until other methods supervened. The land, aside from the various holdings that had become the country homes of the wealthy, was devoted to agriculture and grazing. Dotted thickly with its growth of magnificent live-oaks, it was a scene of surpassing beauty, where one loved to roam and perchance to hunt, but no man gave a thought to its destiny as a model city. Then as Stanford Univer- sity grew into being under the touch of the fairy wand of its splendid endowment, the demand became in- sistent for a city that should be in keeping with the architecturally perfect pile of buildings which the hu- mane-hearted Stanfords had made reality with the broad vision that embraced the youth of the land for all the years to come. Menlo Park, Mayfield, Col- lege Terrace, and Menlo Heights each in turn as- pired to greatness, but it was otherwise ordained. The broad acres facing the university ground were the destined site for the city-to-be.

"In 1892 Palo Alto began to grow in promise, and the first business enterprises began to center here. The pioneer citizens were a splendid class of people and were gifted in an unusual degree with civic fore- sight and wisdom. In the spring of 1894 the town was incorporated, and under the guidance of these far-seeing pioneers the young municipality had its course shaped in the sure direction of future pros- perity. The era of municipal ownership began as early as 1896 and has continued to broaden in scope, until at the present time Palo Alto is known nation- 43

ally for its marked success in the management of its municipal utilities. The city has been beautifully and substantially built, public improvements have been kept in line with the needs of the time, and as a result a city morally and physically attractive has grown to the pride of the Santa Clara Valley. Aside from the splendid results of municipal ownership. no more important accomplishment is of record than the acquisition for a period of ninety-nine years by the city of the splendid tract of land lying along the city front with the Stanford Arboretum and El Camino Real on the opposing side. This tract gives a parlor entrance to the city, and when fully improved as a community and recreational center it will be the most notable and beautiful spot along the entire Highway from Siskiyou to San Diego.

"Here is clustered the greatest educational develop- ment on the Pacific Slope. Here are the great Stan- ford University, St. Patrick's Theological Seminary, the Academy of the Sacred Heart, Manzanita Hall, Castilleja, and Harker's schools, and an exceptionally excellent and finely-housed and equipped high school, with a public school system of high standing. An outgrowth of the intelligence of the community is the Freeholder's Charter that was adopted in 1909. This document is unique, a grant of rights unlike that of any other city. Under its provisions the welfare of the city is completely safeguarded, and the control of municipal affairs so excellently exercised that con- ditions are as nearly perfect as can be desired. The benefits of such government accrue to all the peo- ple, in good service, cheap rates for municipal utility commodities, low taxes and a morally clean commun- ity. The existence here of Camp Fremont, with its 40,000 national defenders, created unusual conditions; yet the needs of the occasion were met and the camp commanders have highly commended Palo Alto for its freedom from vice under this influx of people, and for so fully meeting all the requirements of the na- tional government in the stress of the war period.

"Could anyone ask more than is here afforded to create an ideal home city? The unexcelled climate, the splendid location, the attractive scenery; the cul- ture that marks an educational center, the excellence of the local government, the nearness to the gr a' metropolis of the Pacific, all these and many other advantages are things that bless life with comfort and contentment. Those who will may come and share in the solid charms that nature has bestowed on this marvelous valley, and those who come will stay, with never a regret nor a desire to disturb their household goods."

WALTER HAMMOND NICHOLS .- Palo Alto has long been so famons as one of the most ad- vanced educational centers of the United States that it is not surprising it should eventually draw to its varied field of activity Walter Hammond Nichols, the well-known teacher who has accomplished so much in various communities, with the science of pedagogy. He was born at Chicago on February 19, 1866, the son of Joshua R. Nichols, purchasing agent for the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, and later assistant superintendent of the Union Pacific Rail- way. He had married Miss Charlotte E. Hammond, the daughter of Col. Charles G. Hammand, of the Chicago & Michigan Central Railway. Walter at- tended the local schools, and eventually, in 1891,

968

HISTORY OF SANTA CLARA COUNTY

graduated from the University of Michigan, when he received the degree of B. S., after specializing in chemistry. Still later, in 1891, he concluded some post graduate work at Columbia University, for which he was given the A. M. degree. His first venture, on taking up the practical affairs of life, was in fruit farming at Ann Arbor, Mich., then he was trustee of an estate, and later in the banking busi- ness at Boulder, Colo., where he was vice-president of the Mercantile Bank & Trust Company. He was instructor in history at the University of Colorado at Boulder from 1897-98, and later professor of history and economics there; and at Columbia University, in the department of the Teachers College, he was secretary and an occasional lecturer. While living at Boulder, he served as school trustee and he was also a director of the Commercial Association. At Michi- gan he did post-graduate work, and also at the Uni- versity of Chicago and the University of Colorado- from 1891 to 1896. From 1913 to 1915, he was a teacher of English at the Pasadena high school; from 1915 to 1919, he was superintendent of schools and principal of the high school, at Palo Alto; and since 1919, he has been the very efficient and popular prin- cipal of the high school. He has enjoyed exceptional advantages of both American and European travel.

At West Bay City, Mich., on September 27, 1892, Mr. Nichols was married to Miss Esther Blanche Connor, the daughter of Michigan pioneers. Four children blessed this union, one of whom gave his life for his country. Helen Blanche, Alan Hammond, John Ralph and Dorothy Esther, a student at Stan- ford University. Two of the sons were in the World War. Alan Hammond Nichols went with the first Stanford Ambulance unit, and later joined the French aviation corps; and he was killed on June 1, 1918, during the big German drive on Compiegne. John or Jack, went with the second Stanford Ambulance unit, and then joined the U. S. A. tanks; and he was in the St. Mihiel and Argonne offensives. The family attend the Congregational Church; and Mr. Nichols votes with the Progressive Republicans. At Boulder, Colo., he belonged to Lodge No. 45, F. & A. M., where he was a warden and a master, then he joined Columbia lodge at Monrovia; then he belonged to San Pasqual lodge No. 252, at Pasadena; and is now a member of Palo Alto lodge No. 346.

The Palo Alto Union high school, of which Mr. Nichols is the experienced and inspiring head, is justly regarded as one of the best institutions of its kind in all California, daily fulfilling its motto, cut into the stone over the doorway of the main audit- orium, "Wisdom is knowing what to do next: Virtue is doing it"-a noble sentiment from Dr. David Starr Jordan, who gave the address at the school's dedi- cation. The magnificent site of thirty acres was prac- tically donated by the Stanford trustees, and those of prophetic vision have seen the possibility of this school growing into a junior college to take care of early years of university instruction. To the school- man who is accustomed to look upon a new high school building as a compact urban structure, limited to a single city block, the Palo Alto high school is a distinct and pleasant surprise; for there is about this group of buildings the charm of the olden-time California mission and the spirit of the small college. The land is the property of Stanford University, and

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Santa Clara County California with biographical sketches, Part 151

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