History of Santa Clara County California with biographical sketches, Part 165

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

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He was educated in the grammar and high schools of San Jose; then went to work for his father on his ranch. In 1883 he purchased a ranch on Fruit- vale Avenue; then in 1906 he purchased his home on the Los Gatos and San Jose roads, consisting of ninety-six acres, mostly in fruit; he has erected a fine residence, commodious and modern in every re- spect. He has been secretary and manager of the

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Campbell Telephone Company since its organization in 1906. He is a member of the California Prune and Apricot Association.

The marriage of Mr. Keesling united him with Miss Edna Hobson, the daughter of Stephen Hob- son, and they are the parents of five children: Mil- dred C. is the wife of George L. Husted of Camp- bell; Rollo H. and Mervin are at home, Mervin being associated with his father and has an interest in the home place; Audrey A. is the wife of Dr. E. A. Abbott of San Jose and Wana is attending Stanford University. There are seven grandchildren. In local affairs, Mr. Keesling has served his com- munity as school trustee; also has been master of the Orchard City and Pomona Grange. In national politics he is a Republican, and is a stanch supporter of prohibition. He is one of the most substantial citizens in the county and never fails to support all measures for the advancement of the county.

WILL GREEN HARTON .- Among the native sons of California, Will Green Harton is achieving prominence in a business way in San Jose, and well deserves the success that is the reward of strict in- tegrity and a firm determination to progress. He was born in Fresno County, Cal., December 12, 1889, an only son of Charles Harton and Lulu (Green) Harton, the latter a daughter of Gen. Will S Green, an early settler of Colusa County. He landed in Colusa on July 6, 1850, piloting the new steamer Colusa up the Sacramento River, and for five years more than a half century he was a citizen of that town, of which he first saw the site from the pilot house of the pioneer steamer.

Early in his experience in the Sacramento Valley, General Green saw that to reach their highest pro- ductivity there must be a drainage of the rich bot- tom lands, for protection against floods, and irriga- tion of the rich plains for protection against the normal drought of the dry season. He was one of California's first apostles of agriculture, and land was the text of all his epistles. As an engineer, he surveyed the land. As a legislator, he drew the land code of the state. As surveyor general of the United States, he protected the public domain for the settlers who would till it. As treasurer of the state, he conserved and economized the taxes paid by the owners of the land. As the foremost editorial writer of the state, he considered the land as first material object of human interest. He developed the first plans for irrigation and drainage of the Sac- ramento Valley; and though high-salaried engineers have wrought upon the same problem, his plans stand unimpeached. On account of the vastness of the great work which he conceived, he came to he the final authority upon more things of vital concern to the state than any other man in California. This is but a brief resume of the important things for which he gave the best years of his life.

Mrs. Harton passed away when her infant son was only one year old, and he was given into the care of his illustrious grandfather. When he had reached the age of fourteen, he was sent to Bingham Military Academy at Asheville, N. C., a preparatory school for Webb's Training School, located at Bellbuckle, Tenn., from which institution he graduated when twenty years of age. General Green passed away in 1905, and Mr. Harton was thrown upon his own resources. He spent several years in various parts

of the Middle West, working at whatever he could find to do to earn an honest living. At the outbreak of the World War in 1917, he was a resident of Southern California and he enlisted in the navy at San Pedro in the submarine service. He was im- mediately put into an officers' training school, re- ceiving actual experience on submarine chasers, and thus twelve months were spent up and down the coast. At the close of the war he was released from active service, but is subject to call at any time. He removed to San Jose during the year of 1919 and was employed as sales manager of a local automobile firm; later he established his own business, selling used cars. With a small capital he began business and in 1921 Dr. F. B. Pierce was taken into the partnership and the Harton-Pierce Motor Company was formed, Mr. Harton taking full charge of the business management. The company has the exclu- sive sale and service for the Oakland car, specializing on the "Oakland Sensible Six." The company realizes that their patrons' interests are a part and parcel of their success and that their business de- pends upon thoroughly satisfying their customers.

The marriage of Mr. Harton in January, 1920, united him with Miss Muriel Warner, a daughter of John Warner, a pioneer merchant of Santa Clara Valley. Fraternally he is a member of the Masons. Elks and American Legion, as well as of the N. S. G. W. Upright and honorable in every. relation of life, Mr. Harton has won the esteem and respect of business associates and counts his friends and acquaintances by the score.

ALBERT H. CURTNER .- A worthy native son whose memory will long be cherished by a wide circle of friends who were indebted to him for some- thing that made life more attractive and inspiring. was the late Albert H. Curtner, who was born on the Henry Curtner estate, at Warm Springs, in Alameda County, on October 7, 1878, next to the youngest son of Henry and Mary (Myers) Curtner, now also deceased-honored pioneers and citizens of Califor- nia. The mother died when Albert was about five years old; he was of a studious disposition, and the preparatory work of his schooling was completed at Washington College, near Irvington, in his sixteenth ycar. At seventeen he entered Leland Stanford University. In time, he majored in higher mathe- matics and electrical engineer, and he became a student fellow. Then he took up the intensive study of economics and sociology; becoming deeply ab- sorbed in his work.

On October 24, 1900, Mr. Curtner was married to Miss Amy E. Welch, the daughter of the late Lorenzo Welch, the farmer and honored pioneer of Contra Costa County. As a child of twelve years, he came out to California with his parents by way of the Isthmus of Panama, and when twenty-six years of age he was married to Miss Sarah Frances Howard, whose father had crossed the plains in 1850. She was born in California. Her father tried his luck in finding gold, and eventually he settled in the San Joaquin Valley, in Contra Costa County. Miss Amy was next to the youngest of her family, and she was attending the University at Palo Alto, and should have graduated with the class of '03 if she had not married. Five children blessed this happy union. Dorothy and Alherta are students at Mills

John Staufwied

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College; Virginia, Evelyn and Albert H., Jr., are at home carrying on their school work. Mrs. Curt- ner and her family attend the Christian Church.

Mr. Curtner acquired by gift from his father a ranch and orchard near Sunnyvale, which was the family residence up to the time of his premature death; although he was temporarily living in South- ern California when he died on March 17, 1915, fail- ing health having led him to seek the higher altitude at Monrovia. He was always a Republican, but he never aspired to public office. Just before his death he sold the ranch, and now Mrs. Curtner lives at 75 South Thirteenth Street, San Jose, where she dis- penses a generous hospitality.

JOHN J. STANFIELD .- A man of enterprise and much force of character who left an indelible impression on the business and horticultural inter- ests of the Santa Clara Valley, was the late John J. Stanfield, a native of Belfast, Ireland, born August 12, 1834. His parents were born in Scotland and England and he was reared and educated in the schools of the city of Belfast. He started out for himself and going to Liverpool he was employed there until he got the gold fever and came in a sailing vessel around Cape Horn, landing in San Francisco in 1858. However, he did not go to the mines, but remained in San Francisco. He was in the employ of Dr. Woodard in the What Cheer House tor three years, when he came to Santa Clara County and purchased 260 acres of land in the Union dis- trict. He engaged in farming and later set out or- chards and a vineyard, becoming successful in the field of fruit raising. He was one of the organizers of the Bank of Los Gatos in which he was director and vice-president, was an organizer and director in the Farmers' Union in San Jose and interested in other enterprises that his influence helped build up.

In San Francisco, Mr. Stanfield was married to Margaret Cairns, also born in Belfast, who made the six months' journey around Cape Horn in a sailing vessel, to join her fiance in San Francisco, where they were married upon her arrival in 1860. They be- came the parents. of three children, the eldest being twins; James J. is a banker and horticulturist of Los Gatos; Phoebe J. died aged fifty-eight, while Sarah H. died in 1898. Mr. Stanfield and his wife were members of the Episcopalian Church and he was a strong Republican politically. He died in July, 1894, while his widow survived until 1908. John j. Stanfield was one of the very earliest settlers in the Union district of Santa Clara County, having located there while it was a wild country, covered with oak and brush and tanglewood, which he cleared from his land by himself and made it into a produc- tive grain farm. He was truly one of Santa Clara County's first and foremost men.

RALSTON ALISON .- In financial circles of Santa Clara County Ralston Alison is well and favorably known as manager of the Campbell branch of the Garden City Bank and Trust Company, in which capacity he is controlling one of the sound moneyed institutions of this part of the state. He was born in Marshall, Mo., June 11, 1878, and is a son of W. H. and Susan (Brown) Alison, who since 1904 have made their home in San Jose, Santa Clara County, the father now living retired from busi- ness activities.

Reared on a ranch, Ralston Alison pursued his education in the grammar and high schools, while later he completed a course in the Mason City, Iowa, business college. Coming to California in 1901 he spent some time in San Francisco and in 1904 he arrived in Santa Clara County, where he de- voted his attention to orcharding. In 1910 he ac- cepted the position of bookkeeper in the Bank of Campbell, which was later consolidated with the Garden City Bank and Trust Company,-his trust- worthiness and capabilities winning him promotions from one position to another of greater importance and responsibility until he was made manager in February, 1920. He is now the incumbent in this office and the policy he follows is such as carefully safeguards the interests of depositors and at the same time promotes the success of the institution.

Mr. Alison married Miss Etta Conway, also a na- tive of Marshall, Mo., and they now have two daughters, Lucille and Helen. The family are mem- bers of the Methodist Church and in his political views Mr. Alison is a Republican, but has never allowed himself to be bound by the narrow ties of partisanship. Fraternally he is connected with the Masonic order and is a Knight Templar and Shriner. He is also a member of Orchard City Grange and the Campbell Improvement Club, and for recreation he turns to tennis and fishing. He is deeply interested in everything that pertains to the welfare and progress of his community, county and state and is recognized as an able financier whose present success is directly attributable to his enter- prising spirit and keen business sagacity.

MRS. AMELIA D. GEORGE .- Among the prominent and highly respected residents of San Jose is numbered Mrs. Amelia D. George, who is a native daughter of California and has spent her en- tire life in this state. She was born near San Rafael, November 29, 1859. Her father, H. M. Bentley, was born in the state of New York in 1811 and came to California by the Isthmus route, arriving in San Francisco in 1849, when the gold excitement was at its height. He married Miss Pauline Corey, who bore him five children, and in order to provide a livelihood for his family he engaged in farming and merchandising.

The daughter, Amelia D. Bentley, was reared and educated in Dixon, Solano County, Cal., and in 1880 was united in marriage to Edwin A. George, who was born in Michigan, October 25, 1852. In 1855, when he was but three years of age, his parents, William H. and Frances Harriet (Harden) George, crossed the plains to California, locating near Ham- ilton, where the father became interested in the stock business. Following their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Edwin A. George took up their residence in San Benito County, Cal., where he followed the occupation of farming and also engaged in the stock business. Through the capable management of his interests he won a substantial measure of success and the esteem and good-will of all who knew him. He passed away on October 8, 1919, and in his de- mise the community lost a valued citizen, his asso- ciates a faithful friend and his family a devoted husband and father.

Mr. and Mrs. George became the parents of eight children, five sons and three daughters: Frances H. is the wife of F. H. Herrman and they have four

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children; Herbert H. resides at Hollister, in San Benito County, he is married and has two sons; Walter H. is now married and is operating a ranch near Hollister; Hiram C. enlisted in the U. S. Army during the World War; Reuben L. is a veteran of the World War, in which he made a brilliant record serving overseas. He was a corporal in Company A, Fifty-ninth Infantry, Fourth Division, and received the Distinguished Service Cross for extraordinary heroism in action on September 20, 1918. After his platoon had became badly disorganized under heavy fire and all the sergeants had been killed or wounded, Corporal George took charge of the platoon, reor- ganized it with great courage and initiative and led it on in the attack against hostile machine guns. He was wounded shortly afterwards but remained throughout the night where he had fallen, refusing to be moved till all the other wounded had been cared for. This was the fourth engagement he par- ticipated in. Returning home after over two years' service, he now owns 640 acres of good grazing land in San Benito County, upon which he has proved up since his discharge from the service in 1919; Ernest, a well known rancher of Newman, Cal., is married and has two children; Ethel is the wife of George Bennett, of Oakland, Cal., and they have a daughter; Elinor married Charles Mills, who is also an ex-service man, having served in an ammunition train for fourteen months overseas.

Mrs. George has reared her family so that all have become useful members of society, early impressing upon their minds the value of truth and honor, and she may well feel pride in the result of her teaching. She is still the owner of the ranch in San Benito County, but since 1916 has made her residence at 435 South Second Street, in San Jose. Her life has been an unselfish one, devoted to the welfare and happiness of her family, and her many admirable traits of character have won for her the admiration and esteem of all with whom she has come in contact.

ALBERT LESTER HUBBARD .- A highly re- spected representative of important commercial af- fairs, whose wide and varied experience enables him to serve his fellow-citizens with signal ability in public office, is Albert Lester Hubbard, member and manager of the well-known firm of Hubbard and Carmichael Bros., dealers in lumber, and one of the supervisors of Santa Clara County. Fortunate in his birth as a native son, Mr. Hubbard was born at Woodland, Yolo County, on May 20, 1872, the son of Thomas B. Hubbard, a native of Missouri who crossed the plains to California in 1852 with his parents when he was a boy of twelve years. His father resided for some years in the mining region in Placer County, where Thomas Hubbard grew to manhood. Starting out for himself, he went to Woodland, Yolo County, where he farmed until 1874. Coming to Santa Cruz County in that year, he was associated with the Union Lumber Company, this concern having several sawmills in the county. In 1884 he opened a lumber yard in San Jose for this company and he then moved his family here. In 1887 he resigned his position with the Union Lumber Company, after a long term of faithful service, and organized the firm of Hubbard & Car- michael Bros. They engaged in the manufacture of lumber, having their mills in the Santa Cruz

Mountains, and in 1892 they opened a lumber yard in San Jose, later starting a planing mill there. Mr. Hubbard remained in control of the business until his death on November 23, 1917. He was at one time supervisor of Santa Cruz County and while in that office made a reputation for progressive views and acts and unquestioned probity. His marriage had united him with Miss Sierra McKoy, a native daughter of Placer County, whose family were old pioneers there, and she still makes her home in San Jose, the mother of three children, the eldest being Albert Lester Hubbard, of this sketch.

After the family took up their residence in San Jose in 1884, Albert L. entered the public schools there, graduating from the San Jose high school in 1892. He spent his summer vacations at the com- pany mills in the Santa Cruz Mountains, and after his graduation he entered the business in San Jose, and under his father's guidance he learned every de- tail of its operation. It was not long before he was placed in charge of the lumber yard and soon be- came an able assistant to his father, so that many years ago when his father gave up the active man- agement of the business he was well equipped with his thorough training to take charge of it, and since that time he has displayed marked executive ability in the conduct of its affairs. After the death of Thomas B. Hubbard the business was incorporated as Hubbard & Carmichael Bros., with A. L. Hubbard as president and manager, continuing the business at 384 West Santa Clara Street, where they occupy 258 feet frontage on both sides of the street. There they have built up a large manufacturing plant, hav- ing one of the largest planing mills in the valley, a busy, profitable concern giving employment to sev- enty-five men. Thus it will be seen that Mr. Hub- bard has more and more identified himself with the city of San Jose and the surrounding territory. This live interest in the future of San Jose and its wonderfully favored outlying sections led rather naturally to his participation in the government of the county. After having served for two and a

half years, out of the four for which he was elected, as city councilman, he was elected supervisor in 1904, and since then he has been elected four times,- in 1908, 1912, 1916 and 1920, and is now serving his fifth term or eighteen year; he has been a leader in all progressive movements, such as the paving of the county highways and the replacing of wooden bridges with concrete. Mr. Hubbard belongs to the Republican party, but he is too broad in his views to allow partisanship to bias or hinder him from community cooperation.

On January 11, 1898, Mr. Hubbard was married at Sacramento to Miss J. Josephine May, a native of New Jersey who was reared in California; an accomplished woman, she presides gracefully over his home, which has been blessed with the birth of five children: Thomas Lester; Wilbur, Alberta, Wesley, and Grace. Mr. Hubbard is a Knights Tem- plar Mason and a Shriner, being a member of Islam Temple, of San Francisco, and he also belongs to the Modern Woodmen, Odd Fellows, Native Sons of the Golden West, the Elks, the Hundred Per Cent Club, Lions Club, and is a charter member of the San Jose Commercial Club. A strong, capable man of pleasing personality, a tireless and energetic worker, Mr. Hubbard is never satisfied except to do things thoroughly and well, giving much study and

Ja Hlouf

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thought to the business which he has learned from the ground up. With his natural ability and val- uable years of training he has built up the plant until it is second to none in the valley and his many friends are naturally proud of the success of their fellow-townsman.

JAMES A. HUFF .- Among the most influential and best known of the men who devoted many years et their active lives to the agricultural enterprises of the Santa Clara Valley, was the late James A. Huff, who, from 1864, was a successful farmer and fruit grower of Mountain View. He was an Ohioan by birth, born in Butler County, February 21, 1832, the second in a family of nine children born to Amos and Margaret (Case) Huff, both of whom were na- tives of Pennsylvania. The father was a carpenter by trade and left his home section to live in Ohio in 1835, subsequently removing to Cass County, Mich , where he purchased a farm. Devoting his time as- siduously to his trade as carpenter and builder, the farm work was left to his sons, six in number, and they cleared and cultivated the land for him. The later years of his life were spent upon this place and he reached the advanced age of eighty-seven years; his wife also died there.

Owing to the unsettled condition of the country to which his parents had removed and scarcity of schools, Mr. Huff's education was exceedingly limited. He worked upon his father's farm until attaining the age of twelve, then for a neighbor for six and one-half years, afterward spending three years more on the home place. He then bought a farm of his own and shortly afterward, January 28th, 1857, married Emily E. Gard, the second daughter of Jonathan Gard, a wealthy pioneer of Cass County, Mich. On April 6, 1863, with his wife and two children, he started over- land to California, the trip being made by means of horse teams and covering a period of six months. The two children were buried on the way, one in Omaha and the other on the banks of the Platte.

The party of which Mr. and Mrs. Huff were mem- bers settled in Napa Valley, but they continued to the vicinity of Mountain View, where they arrived Sep- tember 6, and began farm pursuits upon a farm where the water works in Palo Alto is now situated, harvesting a crop from about 200 acres in the fall of 1864. Later in the same year, Mr. Huff bought his first farm in California-ninety-seven acres about a mile and a half north of Mountain View. Suc- cessful as a farmer and stockraiser, he branched ont into the seed, fruit and berry business, adding more acreage as his industry demanded, until his holdings consisted of 460 acres.

Seven children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Huff in this third California home, of whom five are living at this time: Henry, an orchardist near Mountain View, is an extensive grower of walnuts, apricots and prunes. Active in church, civic and agricultural progress, he was a clerk in the Indian Service for a number of years, and later a bookkeeper for the Ren- ton Clay Works at Seattle, Wash., before deciding to give his whole time to horticulture. Frank L, the postmaster at Mountain View, is represented else- where in this work. Emily Lozetta, died when seven years old. William E., deceased, conducted a meat market at Palo Alto. He died when twenty-eight years old, after marrying Miss Gertrude Bubb, of the pioneer Bubb family of Mountain View. His

widow now resides in Palo Alto. Their one child, Lucile, a graduate of Stanford, married Dean Bu- chan, vice-president of the First National Bank of Palo Alto, who served as first lieutenant, Q. M. C., in the late war, and is now vice-commander of the American Legion in Palo Alto. J. Arthur is an or- chardist on a part of the old Huff home place near Mountain View. Charles A , for many years employed in the Post Office Department at Washington, D. C .. is now engineer for the Scotia Lumber Company in Humboldt County. Alpheus E., commonly known as Bert, is also an engineer with the Scotia Lumber Company of Humboldt County.

In politics, Mr. Huff was a Republican, but pre- ferred to exercise his right of franchise as an Ameri- can citizen in private life free from the entangle- ments which usually beset the office seeker. His chief activity centered in his farm. Although hay, grain and stock were at first his chief products, he later gave much attention to the fitness of various soils to the growth of seeds, berries and trees. His experiments along these lines were necessarily ex- tensive and carried over long periods of time. Al- though they were sometimes very expensive and, of course, attended with many individual failures, they ultimately had much to do with his individual success, and were of inestimable valne to the community. He was a pioneer in what is now one of the greatest berry and fruit sections in the world. Although ex- ceedingly busy on his farm, he was not uninterested in public affairs He was always active in church and school matters as well as an active director in the Farmers' and Merchants' National Bank of Moun- tain View. During nearly the whole period of his life in the vicinity of Mountain View, he was a clerk of the board of trustees of the little country school near his farm, and a worker in the Christian Church of which he and his family were members.

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History of Santa Clara County California with biographical sketches, Part 165

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