History of Santa Clara County California with biographical sketches, Part 69

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

ARCHIE McDONALD-Those forces which have contributed most to the development, improvement and benefit of San Jose received impetus from the labors of Archie McDonald, whose life record is a credit and honor to his city and state. He is dis- tinctively a man of affairs and one who wielded a wide influence and his name is indelibly engraven upon the pages of San Jose's history. He was born in Ireland on December 15, 1830, and when he was but a few months old his parents came to the United States, settling in Saxonville, Mass. On March 3, 1852, when a young man of twenty-two years, he sailed from Boston Harbor on a small brig and made the trip around the Horn to Cali- fornia. He was one of a party of about seventy persons and they were eight months in completing the voyage, landing at the wharf in San Francisco on the 21st of October, 1852. Of the original com- pany he and Mrs. William Erkson, of San Jose, are the only survivors. Soon after reaching San Francisco Mr. McDonald went to Auburn, Cal., where for a short time he engaged in mining, but not meet- ing with success he came to the Santa Clara Valley and for several years devoted his attention to the raising of grain, his farm being situated near Moun- tain View. Subsequently he became interested in the lumber business in the mountains back of Santa Cruz and it was during this period that he had his first glimpse of San Jose, which at that time consist- ed of a small group of adobe houses with strings of chili peppers hanging over the doors. The vil- lage was situated in the center of a vast sea of wav- ing grain fields, with rough wagon roads and horse trails as its only means of communication with the outside world. There were no orchards in the val- ley, merely a few fruit trees scattered here and there. While engaged in logging, cutting and haul- ing timber to the mills in Blackburn Gulch, Mr. Mc- Donald became acquainted with the late Duncan Mc- Pherson, later editor of the Santa Cruz Sentinel. whose father at that time owned and operated one of the large logging mills.

In 1856, with ox team and wagon, Mr. McDonald started for the gold fields along the Kern River. going by way of the Pacheco Pass, which his team was the first to cross, this being a very rough and hazardous route. From San Luis Hacienda, near the beginning of the pass, to Visalia, there was not a single house in sight, Visalia itself, now a thriv- ing and prosperous city, consisted of but seven houses made out of shakes. He did not remain long in those unprofitable fields, however, and in the following year returned to Massachusetts to visit his parents, who were still residing in Saxon- ville. The trip was made both going and coming by way of the Isthmus of Panama, but when he re- visited the East ten years later, he traveled by rail.

After completing his lumbering operations at Santa Cruz, Mr. McDonald went to San Francisco, where he entered the employ of the Pioneer Wool- en Mills, there remaining until 1872, when he came to San Jose as general manager of the old San Jose Woolen Mills, which were located at the corner of Hobson and San Pedro Streets. He remained at the head of this business for about twenty years and soon after his resignation the inills were discon- tinued. In August, 1887, in association with other public-spirited citizens of San Jose, Mr. McDonald became a member of a stock company, and for years

president, which purchased the old homestead prop- erty of Josiah Belden, which at that time was owned by C. H. Maddox. This consisted of eleven acres, for which they paid the sum of $60,000, erecting thereon the Hotel Vendome at a cost of about $400,- 000. This became one of the most famous hostelries in the state, for a number of years ranking next to the Del Monte in popularity. Mr. McDonald next became interested in the Garden City Bank & Trust Company, of which he remained a director for over a quarter of a century, resigning his posi- tion owing to impaired hearing, caused by a paralytic stroke. His progressive spirit led him into im- portant relations and his cooperation ever proved an impetus for renewed and intelligently directed ef- fort and no business concern with which he was connected failed to advance to success. He was a member of the State Hospital Board for Stockton and Agnew, appointed three times by Republican governors and once by a Democratic.

In 1862 Mr. McDonald was united in marriage to Miss Jeanette Jamieson, of San Mateo, Cal., but a native of New Zealand of Scotch parentage, who came to California in March, 1852, and their two sons, George K. and John A. McDonald, are both residents of San Jose, the former a director in the Garden City Bank and the latter a contractor and builder. The character of the work which Mr. McDonald did and the importance of the place to which he attained are evidenced in the deep and widespread esteem in which he is held. He is a man of high ideals and exalted standards of citizen- ship whose irreproachable character and incorrupt- ible integrity fully entitle him to the esteem he is ac- corded by all who knew him, and his name is writ- ten high on the roll of those who are among the builders and promoters of California.

Mr. McDonald remembers San Jose when it was a straggling village; where stands the First National Bank was a saloon, north of where now stands the Bank of San Jose building was the stage office of Hedges, Dillon & Hall, who ran a line of stages to and from San Francisco, stages leaving each place at 9 A. M. and arriving at their destination at 4 P. M., too late for the business man to transact his busi- ness that day, and he was required to spend an entire day at an expense of $25 or $30. Now that same journey can be made, business transacted and dinner eaten at home and the expense only a quarter of the amount stated above. The present site of the Bank of Italy was a lot overgrown with wild mustard.

PERRY W. ROBINSON .- A worthy pioneer who in his day and generation so well contributed to the bettering of the world and the forwarding of all that pertained to progress that he is pleasantly re- called by all who knew him, and the honor once accorded him has been bestowed upon those near of kindred still surviving, was Perry W. Robinson, a native of Blackstone, Mass., where he was born on April 21, 1844, although he was reared and schooled in Rhode Island. When fourteen years of age, he entered the cotton mills in his locality, and when twenty-two he married Miss Anna Sheldon, who was born at Chepachet, R. I., on August 21, 1841, the daughter of Joseph W. and Nancy Smith (Youngs) Sheldon. She was reared at home, and attended the excellent Rhode Island schools; a sister, the wife of Henry Miller, the famous land and cattle king of

a. M. Donald

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California, had already been living several years in California, and through them Mr. and Mrs. Robin- son became interested in the Golden State, and eventually turned their faces far-westward. In 1878 they came to the coast, and they at first settled at the Miller home at Bloomfield Ranch, just south of Gil- roy. Mr. Robinson began to take an active partici- pation in the work of the ranch, becoming the book- keeper, and for ten years he was secretary to the cattle king. Later, he was made manager of the harness shop at Bloomfield, and had full charge of purchases, sales and repairs,-a post of considerable responsibility and no little arduous work, considering the number of Miller ranches supplied from that shop, and the scale upon which Mr. Miller operated.

The Robinsons resided at Bloomfield Ranch until 1911, when they removed to Gilroy, where they had already acquired a fine residence at the corner of Eighth and Eigleberry streets, and there they con- tinned to live happily together until November 4, 1916, when Mr. Robinson passed away, mourned by a wide circle who had found in him an ideal man. One son, Albert, had blessed their unon, and he died at the age of eight years. Mrs. Robinson, an oc- togenarian, and a fine type of trne Christian woman- hood, is hale and hearty, the center of a group of admiring and devoted friends.

JAMES H. LYNDON .- A faithful, efficient public official, whose record for unchallenged public-spirit- edness and personal bravery, and also for exception- ally high integrity, was such that his name will al- ways be held in esteem, was the late James H. Lyndon, for more than forty years a resident of Los Gatos, and from 1894 to 1898 sheriff of Santa Clara County-than whom, perhaps, there never was a doughtier, or one more deserving of the wide popu- larity which he enjoyed. He was born in Grand Isle County, Vt., on May 6, 1847, the son of Samnel and Polly Caroline Lyndon, with whom he lived until he was sixteen years of age, attending the district school and enjoying the comforts of an old- fashioned Yankee home. Then, in 1863, he made his way to Burlington and enlisted in the Fifth Ver- mont Infantry, where he was promptly rejected by the inspecting officer on account of his age. The next year he succeeded both in getting to Massachu- setts and in getting accepted as a member of Com- pany I, Twenty-first Massachusetts Infantry, after which, with some 300 other recruits, he was sent to Gallonpe's Island, in Boston Harbor, and from there, after six weeks of drill, despatched to Annapolis, to join his regiment, which was attached to the Ninth Army Corps, commanded by Gen. Ambrose E. Burn- side. Young Lyndon remained in Annapolis until the middle of April, when he was ordered to join his regiment at the front; and, marching by way of Washington, D. C., he and his comrades overtook the Second Division of the Ninth Corps, near the Rapidan, just before the battles of the Wilderness. He participated in these battles and in those of Spottsylvania and Cold Harbor, in which latter en gagement his regiment suffered heavy losses; and after the battle of Cold Harbor, the Ninth Corps was ordered to City Point, where for several months the Army of the Potomac invested Petersburg. After the capture of several of the outposts, with heavy losses, the city of Petersburg fell, after a siege of

several months. From Petersburg the Army of the Potomac followed Lee's army for several days, the Ninth Corps going as far as Farmville, which they reached on April 8, 1865, and the next day General Lee surrendered his army to General Grant, which practically closed the war. The Ninth Corps lay at Farmville for about a week, when it was ordered to City Point, where, after a week or ten days, trans- ports were furnished them and they were sent to Alexandria, Va. They remained just back of that town, near Fairfax Seminary, until after the grand review of the armies of Grant and Sherman in Wash- ington, in which James Lyndon participated; and after that he went into camp again for two or three weeks, when his regiment was ordered home, and he was mustered out and given his honorable discharge at Reedville, Mass., in August, 1865.

Mr. Lyndon then, with a natural yearning for the scenes of his boyhood, returned to his old home in Vermont; and in 1866 he attended the Academy at Alburg Springs and for two terms supplemented his schooling. California and its lure had seized his im- agination; and in December, 1868, he started via the Panama route, arriving in San Francisco January 23, 1869. His brother, John W. Lyndon, who was James' senior by eleven years and had come out to California in 1859, had preceded him to Los Gatos and had established there a lumber yard, where later the Wilcox House and the railroad depot stood; and James hurried to Los Gatos and accepted a position as clerk in John's employ. In 1872 he bought his brother's business and ran it for a year, when John bought an interest in it, and returned to his former activity; a year later, James sold his interest to John, and embarked in hotel management at the Ten Mile House, later known as the Los Gatos Hotel, which he made more and more famous as a hostelry, until he sold out in 1875. He again clerked for his brother, remaining with him until 1883; but in that year he set up in the lumber business for himself near the depot in Los Gatos, which business he continued to manage for years.

Mr. Lyndon was best known, perhaps, particularly in San Jose, as the broad-minded Republican sheriff of Santa Clara County, an office he filled most cred- itably. Under President Harrison, he was also post- master of Los Gatos, and he had the honor of serv- ing as the mayor of that law-abiding town, and he was a member of the board of town trustees. He was an active member of Los Gatos Lodge No. 282. F. & A. M., and of Ridgley Lodge, I. O. O. F., and he belonged to the Ancient Order United Workmen; he was past post commander of the E. O. C. Ord Post of the G. A. R.

At San Jose, on Angust 12, 1873, James H. Lyndon was married to Miss Anna J. Murdock, a native of Ontario, and she and five of their children who still survive, cheered by their lives and affection the sturdy pioneer when he breathed his last, on March 28, 1912, one of the most widely known and best-beloved citi- zens of the county. These worthy sons and daugh- ters are: James Lloyd Lyndon of San Jose; Wil- liam W. Lyndon of San Francisco; Clarence H .. Mrs. Ray Lyndon Lee, and Mrs. May Nichols of Los Gatos, and Mrs. Hazel Ryland of Oakland. Santa Clara County today owes much of its present prosperity and greatness to men like Mr. Lyndon, for by enduring hardships and indefatigable work and

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true optimism they paved the way that the future generations may enjoy. Mr. Lyndon was very active and energetic and was ever to be found a leader in the vanguard of progress.

BENJAMIN O. CURRY .- Foremost among the enterprising and progressive men of affairs in Santa Clara County, where he is a successful horticulturist, banker and realty operator, is Benjamin O. Curry, who came to California nearly a half century ago. He was engaged in mining for about twenty years, when he purchased land at Campbell, which he im- proved and during these years he also built up a large clientele in the realty business, in all of which he has attained signal and splendid success.

A native of Norway, Mr. Curry was born May 7, 1852, being reared on a farm and in that healthy atmosphere grew up to be a strong athletic young man, at the same time receiving a good education in the public schools of his native heath. Not sat- isfied with the the narrow confines of that country, he resolved to cast in his lot with the land of the Stars and Stripes, of which he had heard, as well as rcad, good reports. Arriving in New York City in 1872, he made his way to Marquette County, Mich., where for a period of about two years he followed mining. In March, 1874, he came to California and proceeded to Eureka County, Nev., where he pros- pected and mined for ten years. During these years he studied the English language, completing a course at the Eureka Business College. In his prospecting he became one of the discoverers of the Black Rock mining district in Nevada, which in time proved a valuable mining field. His operations included both Eureka and White Pine counties. In 1884 he came to Eldorado County, Cal., engaging in mining on the mother lode, acquiring and operating quartz gold mines as well as timber lands in the high Sierras, where he spent the summers.

Mr. Curry was . married in Eldorado County in 1891, being united with Miss Carrie Hakemoller, a native daughter of Eldorado County, where her par- ents were very early pioneers, a union that has proven a very happy one. During his years of min- ing Mr. Curry's vacations were spent in different parts of California looking for a permanent location. One vacation was spent in Santa Clara Valley and his admiration was so great he decided on it for a permanent home. In 1891 he purchased land near Campbell and began improvements by setting out an orchard and building a residence and other necessary buildings. While his orchard was growing he saw the possibilities in the real estate business and started dealing in farm and city property at Campbell, and he is now one of the prominent real estate men in the county. After several years of successful busi- ncss, the town grew with the surrounding country and he saw the need of a business building; he planned and erected the Curry Building, a modern two-story brick and concrete business block. It is centrally located on a corner and artistically de- signed after the mission style so as to present a beautiful appearance to either street. In this build- ing are located some of the most important offices of the city, among them, the post office, a drug store, and his own real estate office, and a number of others on the second floor. A few years ago Mr. Curry bought eighty acres on Union Avenue, known

as the Fountain Farm, there being forty acres in vineyard and forty acres in French prunes. He also had a ten-acre orchard in the foothils near Los Gatos, so for years he operated 100 acres of orchard and vineyard. He has since disposed of all but his home place on Park avenue. He has been the presi- dent of the Improvement Club, which was organized in the interests of the city and he also served as school trustee for nine years. He was the promoter of a new business block in Campbell, now occupied by the Growers' National Bank, a moving picture theater, and three stores. This building cost more than $60,000, a great improvement to the city-it not only made a beautiful office building, but lends an atmosphere of prosperity that makes an impres- sion on travelers looking for locations. In 1920 Mr. Curry was one of the principal organizers of the Growers' National Bank, which has been a success and fills a local long felt want and he has been the president since its organization.

Mr. Curry, with his wife and three children, re- sides on the old home place. Myrtle was educated at the Conservatory of Music of the College of the Pacific, afterwards studying under celebrated violin- ists, and has become an accomplished musician. Olva and Ethel graduated from the San Jose State Normal and for several years were engaged in edu- cational work. The Curry home is attractive, show- ing much culture and refinement and here they make their numerous friends welcome with a true Califor- nia hospitality. Politically Mr. Curry is a Republi- can and cast his first vote for Gen. U. S. Grant. He is a member of the San Jose Chamber of Commerce, as well as a charter member of the San Jose Com- mercial Club. He is also a member of the State Real Estate Association. As stated above, he is an ex- president of the Campbell Improvement Club and has been an Odd Felllow since 1876; he was one of the organizers of Morning Light Lodge No. 42, I. O. O. F., Campbell. The California Automobile Association also numbers him among its members and he has always been a strong advocate of good roads. Mr. Curry has always been a booster for cooperation, believing it is the only way to make a success of the marketing of fruits, thus he has been a member of every cooperative fruit organization in the valley, at present being a member and ardent supporter of the California Prune & Apricot Growers, Inc. With his wife and daughters, Mr. Curry is a member of the Congregational Church at Camp- bell, and he is a liberal contributor to its benevo- lences. A man of pleasing personality, Mr. Curry is liberal and kind-hearted and has ever been ready to assist those less fortunate than himself, and all movements that have for their aim the upbuilding of the town and county receive his hearty support.

WILLIAM B. HOBSON .- For nearly three- quarters of a century the Hobson family have been closely associated with Santa Clara County, of which William B. Hobson is a native and for many years was engaged in the mercantile business in San Jose. He first saw the light on November 11, 1857, in a house that stood on the present site of Luna Park. and was the son of George and Sarah P. (Speinhour) Hobson. The Hobsons are of Southern extraction. George having been born in North Carolina in Feb- ruary. 1823. At an early age he migrated into Mis-

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souri and there met and married Miss Speinhour, like himself a native of North Carolina, born on May 18, 1828, and they were married on January 10, 1847. Early in the spring of that same year they started for the then unknown West, travelling with an emigrant train of sixty wagons by way of Forts Laramie and Hall and arriving at Johnson's ranch, near the present site of the city of Sacramento in October, having taken about six months to complete the journey. They soon came on down into the Santa Clara Valley, but did not tarry long here, going to Monterey, then the capital of California. They only stopped there a few months and during the time their eldest child was born, and then came back to San Jose in January, 1849, and this city and county has ever since been the scene of the activity of the Hobson family.

George Hobson tried his luck in the mines and met with gratifying results. He and his companions struck a rich lead and from one pocket alone each man washed out $1,000 in three days. Two years of mining satisfied Mr. Hobson and he returned to Santa Clara County and turned his attention to ranching, which was conducted in a very primitive fashion in those days, a great deal of the manual labor being done by the Indians. San Jose was then a squalid village, made up of adobe huts and the majority of inhabitants were Spanish and unedu- cated Mexicans. Mr. Hobson followed farming and also engaged in the dairy business, running the first milk wagon ever seen on the streets of the town. In 1861 he moved his family to what is now known as Luna Park, where he owned about 1,200 acres; two years later he moved to a ranch of 160 acres upon which was an adobe house and in later years this section was subdivided and became a part of San Jose, and Hobson Street, near where the ranch house was located, was named in honor of George Hobson. Here he and his wife with their three sons established their home, which soon became the center of hospitality of the English-speaking residents of the town. There were nine children in the family, of whom two sons and four daughters reached mature years. Thaddeus died in 1911; those now living are William B .; Mrs. Mary Henderson; Mrs. Annie Botsford; Mrs. Martha Macauley; and Mrs. Sadie Connel. George Hobson died in 1892 and Mrs. Hobson passed away in 1919, having reached the good old age of ninety-one.

William B. Hobson attended the public school and the old San Jose Institute and after quitting school he worked on a ranch for three years. Finding ranch life not to his liking, he came to San Jose and in 1876 bought out the clothing business of Obanion & Kent, who had established the business in 1875. Mr. Hobson carried on the store alone until 1882, when he took his brother, T. W. Hobson, in as a partner. and they carried on the business under the firm name of T. W. Hobson & Company, which continued active under the inspiriting influence of the two Hobsons until W. B. retired in 1921. The reputation of the firm for square dealing, strict business integrity and reliability enabled them to build up a large and successful trade among all classes of people.

The marriage of W. B. Hobson uniting him with Miss Marguerite O'Shaughnessy, occurred in San Jose on January 13, 1886. He is a member of the Chamber of Commerce and takes an active interest in every movement that has for its aim the building

up of San Jose and Santa Clara County. He is a charter member of San Jose Parlor No. 22, N. S. G. W .; belongs to the Elks, the Country Club and to the National Union. In his younger days he served for some years in the State Militia. Popular as a citizen, genial in disposition, while a man of large interests, he has never allowed himself to become completely absorbed in business, but has found time for the pleasures of out-door life and is fond of hunting, fishing, and trapshooting.

SAMUEL M. OUSLEY .- A representative type of the pioneers of the early days was found in Samuel M. Ousley (some members of the family spell it Owsley), who came to California in 1853, braving the hardships of a trip across the plains and the privations of the early pioneers of the county. He was born in Kentucky, February 18, 1813. On Jan- uary 11, 1837, he was united in marriage with Miss Electa Rockwell, a native of Connecticut but a resident of Ontario County, N. Y., and in 1839 he removed with his family to Andrew County, Mo., where he resided until 1852. By this time the stories of the wonderful opportunities of the Golden State had reached into every village and city east of the Rocky Mountains, and every place added its number to the emigrant trains which were continually leav- ing for California. Mr. Ousley with his wife and seven children joined one of these trains, and after experiencing the hardships of so long a journey, arrived at Salt Lake City. The family stopped at a Government fort ninety miles this side of that city during the winter, and in the following spring con- tinued their journey, arriving at Deer Creek, near Placerville, in July, 1853. The next March they left this place and settled in Gilroy, Santa Clara County. The land titles being doubtful, he simply located his home and turned his cattle upon the open pas- tures, with the understanding that he would buy when the title was made clear. This did not happen during his lifetime, as on October 1, 1855, he was killed by the falling of a bucket while working in a well on Captain Angney's farm, and the mother was left the sole provider for a large family-six daughters and three sons: Sarah J. married Joseph H. Thomas, and died, leaving a family of three chil- dren; Caroline E. married I. Horace Thomas, and has one living child; Emma E. became Mrs. Francis Hoey, and died, the mother of nine children, seven living; John S., deceased; Porter W. and Bryant R., twins, the former living at home; M. Anna, at home; Mary Electa, born on Goose Creek, on the border of California, and Clara M., a native daughter of Santa Clara County. Left as she was in a strange land and with her almost helpless family. the eldest girl being only sixteen years old, her farm unpur- chased, Mrs. Ousley never once despaired. She went on from year to year, carrying her burden alone, watching carefully the moral as well as the physical training of her children; and each doing his or her share to keep the family together and help in its support, every year adding a little to the estate. She paid twice for her farm of 630 acres, erected good buildings, gathered around her the comforts of life, and lived until November 12, 1900, aged eighty-four years and five months, in the midst of her grown-up family in the twilight of life, with the assurance of a life well spent in service for others.

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History of Santa Clara County California with biographical sketches, Part 69

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