History of Santa Clara County California with biographical sketches, Part 71

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

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In 1875 Dr. Wright was married to Miss Kate E. Phillips, born in Indiana, a charming lady, who made many friends, wherever she lived. prior to her la- mented death in 1893. Dr. and Mrs. Wright were the parents of two children, namely. Hannah L., who was married to Dr. W. C. Bailey, a native son of San Jose, and H. Horton Wright, deceased.

Dr. Wright was a Republican, and voted und worked with the Republicans in matters of national moment; but he was too broad-minded to permit par- tisanship to interfere with his whole-hearted partici- pation in movements most likely to benefit the local- ity in which he lived, operated and prospered. He was a member of the board of freeholders that made the charter of San Jose prior to the present one, and he was also a member of the board that made the present city charter. Some years ago, wishing to contribute definitely to the rapid development of this part of the state, he wrote for the Christmas edition of the Mercury a very interesting and sug- gestive description of "The Seasons in the Santa Clara Valley," in which he touched upon the phe- nomena of nature, the lavish crops of field, tree and bush, the gorgeous variety of local color, and the profusion of the landscape beauty, from March to February, pointing out what is peculiar to this sec-

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HISTORY OF SANTA CLARA COUNTY

tion; and this helpful exposition of undeniable facts the San Jose Chamber of Commerce has made good use of by sending it broadcast throughout the coun- try and beyond the seas. He was truly a self-made man, working his own way by teaching, etc., through college. He was a great reader, almost entirely in the line of historical works, and wrote the history of the Horton and Wright families. As president of the Santa Clara County Historical Society, he com- piled the war history of Santa Clara County, a com- prehensive volume of the county's activities published in 1919. Dr. Wright passed away December 7, 1920.

MICHAEL CASEY .- Seldom, if ever, has any public official in California retired from office, been the object of more confidence and esteem than Mi- chael Casey, the ex-mayor of Gilroy. He was born in Ireland, and when a lad of six years crossed the Atlantic to the United States and went to Massa- chusetts, where he grew up on a farm about eighty miles from Boston. On July 14, 1867, he reached San Francisco, handicapped in respect to education; but he had keen powers of observation and reflec- tion, and what little he had learned he put to use, and so, in one way or another, he got on in the world. In 1870 he came to Santa Clara County and found employment on a farm; and he assisted in raising potatoes and grain, the chief crops in those days. Prior to this he tried his skill on a dairy farm near Menlo Park, and before coming to Gilroy he was employed on the Laurel Wood Farm and Race Track, near Alviso. He was a keen admirer of fine horses and knew how to handle them, and he had a reputation for managing the wildest horses.

In June, 1872, Mr. Casey removed to Gilroy, and for ten years he was manager of John Pain's livery stable. In 1886 he acquired by purchase a share in a partnership with Mr. Herold, who owned the brew- ery; and when Herold entered politics he bought out his interest in the business. Owing to the un- settled state of the title to land upon which the very site of the town was placed, Gilroy was held back in its development; and when in the early '80s the sum of $63,000 was paid by the people to Henry Miller, it was evident that some day there would be a city there. Michael Casey was among those who put the most faith in the municipal project; and then he backed that faith with all the property that he could muster-$1,100 which he paid for his land. In the period of the town's interesting development he served as councilman for several terms, and has twice been mayor of the city, each time laboring for the benefit of the people. When Mr. Casey first came to this locality he became a member of the volunteer fire department and was chief engineer. During his time in the service he practically remod- eled the department, making it modern and up to date for that period. He was a member of the city council and on the water committee during the in- stallation of the water system, voting $50,000 bonds and saving actually $4,000 in the work. He has been a Democrat, but he has never allowed narrow partisan- ship to embarrass him in rendering support to the best measures and the best men.

Mr. Casey has been a stockholder and a director of the Bank of Italy, and since it absorbed the old Bank of Gilroy some four years ago, he has served as chairman of the board of the Gilroy branch of the Bank of Italy. He has completed one of Gilroy's

best buildings, and given the Government a lease of it for ten years for post office purposes. This structure represents an expenditure of $20,000, is furnished throughout with oak, and the basement is sealed water-tight, against possible high water in rainy seasons. The burglar-proof vault was com- pleted in October, 1920. At present, Mr. Casey is living retired, enjoying the well-earned fruits of the long years of hard and responsible labor, in which he made so many friends.

At Gilroy, on September 25, 1872, Mr. Casey was married to Miss Margaret McLoughlin, a lady of Irish parentage, who had lived in Gilroy about six years prior to her marriage. She, also, made a host of friends, and she was widely mourned, when she died, in 1886. Seven children were born of this union. Mary M., a trained nurse, resides in Gilroy; Josephine and Evangeline are at home; Georgiana has become Mrs. S. W. Tracy of San Francisco; Emily, her twin sister, is the wife of Dr. J. Clark, and they reside with their three sons at Gilroy; Thomas Francis, a dentist of San Francisco, has the degree of D.D.S., and enjoys a lucrative practice, he is the father of one son; Elizabeth is the wife of Harry Tracy of San Francisco. There are six grandchildren. The fan- ily attend the Roman Catholic Church, and Mr. Casey is a member of the Improved Order of Redmen.

STONEWALL J. MAYOCK .- Numbered among the public-spirited and philanthropic citizens who are well known in Santa Clara County, in fact throughout the entire State of California, is Stone- wall J. Mayock, proprietor of the Central Hotel at Gilroy, where he has lived and labored since 1874. He is a son of the late Michael and Mary J. (Forbes) Mayock, the former a native of County Mayo, Ire- land, and the latter of Georgia, where the Forbes family has been established for several generations. Sidney Forbes, Mrs. Mayock's father, was a man of responsibility and influence, and he was thus able to bequeath the most valuable of heritages. Michael Mayock came to America when he was a lad, and his ambition and perseverance stood by him in his struggle with the land of his adoption. In Georgia he found more than a competence, gaining there a wife, who stimulated him by her devotion as he en- gaged in merchandising and mining. Leaving his family in the East, he joined the tide of emigration to the West in 1849, and for a couple of years en- gaged in mining in Placer County. Then he returned to his Georgia home and bought a plantation, which he operated with success until ruined by the Civil War. He then removed to California and settled in Gilroy in 1874, finding congenial employment with Miller & Lux. While he was engaged with a cutter he lost one of his arms, and he died when eighty- four years of age. He left a widow and six children: Barbara, Mrs. H. D. Martin, of Gilroy; Maggie be- came Mrs. Barrows and resides in the same city; Henry Thompson; Levi, a stockman of San Benito County: Stonewall J., of this review; and Robert L. of San Francisco. Mrs. Mayock lived to be about eighty-six years old.

Stonewall J. Mayock, or "Stoney," as he was more familiarly known by his friends, was born at Daw- sonville, Ga., on November 14, 1862, and from the age of twelve has lived in Gilroy, where he went to school and followed odd jobs such as lads of his day and age were wont to pursue. After he had

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HISTORY OF SANTA CLARA COUNTY

spent several years in various lines of business he finally became a traveling salesman for Sherwood & Sherwood of San Francisco, and also represented C. P. Morman & Co., of Louisville, Ky., for many years. In 1906 he purchased the Central Hotel in Gilroy, and ever since then has been its proprietor; he also owns other desirable property in Bodfish Canyon district.

At Sonora, Tuolumne County, Mr. Mayock was united in marriage with Miss Nellie Starbird and they became parents of two children: Robert S., and Wellburn F. Both boys were graduated from the Gilroy high school, then continued their studies at the University of California, majoring in law. At the breaking out of the World War, just as they had graduated, they both enlisted in the U. S. Navy and served for eighteen months. Upon returning to Gilroy, Wellburn became connected with the Gilroy branch of the Garden City Bank and Trust Com- pany. Subsequently passing the examination at the California Bar successfully, he became connected with the firm of E. D. Crawford & Co., now Crawford & Mayock, who do a general real estate, insurance and brokerage business in connection with the law. Rob- ert Mayock is also connected with this firm and handles the real estate and brokerage departments very successfully. Wellburn married Barbara Schmitt and they have two children, Barbara Ellen and Well- burn Stoney Mayock. Mrs. S. J. Mayock died in 1919, mourned by all who knew her.

Stoney Mayock is one of the most entertaining con- versationalists, his extensive travels giving him a fund of information and anecdote. He is warm-hearted and kindly of disposition and loyal to his friends, giving aid to those who need it and encouragement to the unfortunate. It has been his pleasure to mingle in political affairs, and he has served as post- master of Gilroy under Grover Cleveland's adminis- tration. He is a member of the Elks and always takes an active interest in promoting all measures for the good of Santa Clara County.

GEORGE BUTTERFIELD McKEE .- Santa Clara County and this section of California is largely indebted to the efforts of George B. McKee for early pioneer development. A veteran not only in point of long residence and his pioneer association with the building of the County, but a path-breaker in the industrial and commercial worlds, he belongs to that highly respected class of California pioneers, ever of interest to the student of what was, what is, and what is to be. He was born at Ottawa, Ill., on July 27, 1838, the son of Lyman McKee, who was married in Watertown, N. Y., to Miss Melinda But- terfield Grandfather Zacharia Butterfield was a New Englander who came out to New York State and was one of three that took up the land now the site of Watertown, hence was one of the founders of that thriving city; he was also engaged in stock- raising and dairying, in which he was very success- ful. Soon after their marriage, Lyman McKee and his wife moved to Ottawa, Ill., where he was en- gaged in farming until his demise, when George But- terfield McKee was but a small lad-leaving a widow and four children.

After the death of Lyman McKee his widow, with her four sons, moved back to Watertown, N. Y., and there she continued to reside until she decided to come to California. One son, Frank F., had pre- ceded her, having crossed the plains in 1853, com-

ing in the Ward and Moody horse-train from Mil- waukee to San Jose. Mr. Moody returned East the same fall and was married to a cousin of Mr. Mc- Kee, and with his bride and our subject's mother left for California via Panama in Deceriber, 1853.

Mrs. Melinda McKee, on her arrrival, bought a residence at 234 South Second Street where she re- sided until her death in 1868. She was the mother of four children: Frank F. passed away in Tulare County; Albert and Russell both passed away in San Jose, and George Butterfield, the subject of this re- view. His people were stock and dairymen and from a youth he assisted them during the summers, obtain- ing the experience and learning habits of industry and thrift that have been so valuable to him in later years. He obtained his early education in the pub- lic schools of Watertown, N. Y. At the age of fif- teen, in 1853, he came out to Milwaukee, Wis, and the next spring he joined the Moody-Winchell train destined for the land of gold and sunshine. Leav- ing Milwaukee in April, 1854, they proceeded west- ward across the plans after crossing the Mississippi at Rock Island, Ill., and the Missouri at Council Bluffs, Iowa, making their way up the Platte and its north fork through Wyoming and Utah, coming by the Sublette cut-off into California, arriving in San Jose in October, 1854. They left Milwaukee with ten men, but at Council Bluffs, Iowa, they joined the Streeter and Hendricks train of forty men, mak- ing them fifty men strong and well armed and thus this formidable army came through without being molested by the Indians. Mr. McKee found here only a small Spanish town, and the opportunities for obtaining something to do were limited; a few wag- ons were hanling quicksilver from the New Almaden mines through San Jose to Alviso, and a few ox- teams were hauling lumber from the redwoods in the Santa Cruz Mountains. George B. soon left for Stockton and entered the employ of the Adams Ex- press Company, as messenger boy, but a month later the company was taken over by the Wells Fargo. He remained with them but a short time, then struck out for the Kern River mines, where he mined at Greenhorn Gulch and Keysville, remaining until the fall of 1856, when he made his way to Nevada Coun- ty and there engaged in mining at Moore's Flat on the middle fork of the Yuba River, remaining there for about a year. Success had attended his efforts, thus enabling him to invest in a dairy which yielded a good income. In 1861 he was elected county as- sessor of Nevada County, and he took up his resi- dence in Nevada City. Being re-elected to the of- fice, he served two terms with credit and satisfaction to the citizens. For a short time, with a Mr. Pratt, Mr. McKee operated a store at Zirs Station on the line of the building of the Central Pacific Railroad, but inside of four months, he found conditions un- satisfactory so he sold out and returned to Grass Valley, where he mined for a year, Then he gave up mining and returned to San Jose in 1868 While building his home he went to Henning's store for paint, and finding the proprietor very busy, he found what he wanted in the way of paint from time to time, keeping a record of it on Mr. Henning's books, and when he had finished his house and came to settle his bill, Mr. Henning offered to sell him a half-interest in the business, and the firm became known as Henning and McKee, located on First

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Street. Thus Mr. McKee began his operations in a field in which he has since become so singularly successful and has been so honorably identified. Eighteen months later, he purchased Mr. Henning's interest and was the sole proprietor for about eigh- teen months, when he took as a partner Alfred De Rockebrune under the firm name of George B. Mc- Kee & Company and this partnership continued un- til the death of Mr. De Rockebrune, when Mr. Mc- Kee purchased the interest and since then has been the sole proprietor, the establishment carrying a large and complete stock of paints, oils and wall- paper, as well as building the large plant for the manufacture of mixed paints.

About 1882, he purchased the old court house and jail site on the corner of San Fernando and South Second Streets, and he was the only man in Califor- nia that owned a court house and jail in his own name. Here he built his permanent brick building in 1892 and later built the paint factory on the jail site. This property is 471/2 x 1371/2 fronting on South Second Street with 45 feet at the rear of the building fronting on San Fernando Street with a depth of 1371/2 feet. He also owns 58 feet on Third near San Fernando Street adjoining the above property, this being the old jail site on which he constructed his paint factory. Finding a considerable demand for ready mixed paints, Mr. McKee experimented and began the manufacture of paints and his Balata Paints are now well known all over the Coast. Thus he has built up the largest business of the kind in Santa Clara County. In 1902, Mr. McKee incor- porated his business as the Geo. B. McKee Company, of which he is president and owner. Mr. McKee is a stockholder in the San Jose Water Company and is a director and was its president for many years until he resigned when he went on his trip to the Orient. He is also a stockholder and director of many years in the First National Bank of San Jose, and for thirty years he has been president of the Nucleus Building & Loan Association of San Jose.

Mr. McKee has been twice married; his first wife was Miss Mary Hubbard, a native of Wisconsin, and she passed on in 1884, the mother of two chil- dren; Hubbard was killed in an automobile accident, leaving three children; Mrs. Georgia Gummer of Stockton has two children. Mr. McKee's second wife was Mrs. Lydia Smith Toland, a native of De- catur, Ill., a daughter of E. O. Smith, a pioneer of San Jose. Mrs. McKee is actively identified in all civic and social affairs and is particularly interested in benevolent charitable societies. She is a cultured woman and presides graciously over her large and beautiful home, which was erected in 1892 on the site of the old McKee home, thus Mr. McKee has resided on this same location since 1868.

In 1913, Mr. McKee, accompanied by his wife, his niece, Miss Moore, and a Miss Roberts, made a tour of the Orient, visiting Honolulu; thence to Japan, taking in the important cities in that country and on to China. visiting Shanghai, Hongkong and other important cities; thence to Singapore and on to Co- lombo, Ceylon, thence through India from the ex- treme South to the North and back to Calcutta and on to Rangoon in Burmah; thence back to Singa- pore and on to the Island of Java; thence to Aus- tralia and New Zealand, and from there to the Fiji, Tonga and Samoa Islands, after which they returned

via Honolulu to San Francisco after a most delightful trip of seven months, the party not having experi- enced a day's sickness during the trip.

Mr. McKee has been a very active and prominent Mason, having been made a Mason in Nevada Lodge, F. & A. M., of Nevada City, where he also was made a member of the Royal Arch Chapter and knighted in the Commandery. On coming to San Jose, he be- came a member of Friendship Lodge No. 210, F. & A. M., Howard Chapter, R. A. M., of which he is past high priest and now the only living charter member of San Jose Commandery No. 10, of which he is past eminent commander, as well as being a past grand commander of the Grand Commandery of California, serving in that eminent position in 1901, when he took the Grand Commandery of Cali- fornia to the triennial conclave of Knights Templar, held in Louisville, Ky. He has had the pleasure of also visiting other conclaves, in St. Louis, Pitts- burgh, Chicago, Boston, Denver, Los Angeles, and two in San Francisco. Mr. McKee is also a thirty- second degree Scottish Rite Mason, being a charter member of San Jose Consistory, and for many years he has been the treasurer of all the Masonic bodies in San Jose of which he was a member, having been treasurer of the Blue Lodge for thirty-three years. With his wife, he is a member of the O. E. S., of which he is past patron and Mrs McKee is past matron. He is also a life member of Islam Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., in San Francisco, his membership being No. 922. In 1921 Mr. McKee was made a knight Commander of the Court of Honor.

Mrs. McKee has been president of the Ladies' Be- nevolent Society in San Jose for twenty-two years, a charitable institution for the care of children, and is doing a noble work in caring for the waifs; and is also prominent in civic and club circles. Mr. McKee was the president of the first Board of Trade, and since then has been a supporter of the local Cham- ber of Commerce and Board of Trade, as well as all movements for boosting San Jose, in the growth of which he is very loyal and proud. He has served ac- ceptably as city councilman and mayor of San Jose, and has also been a member of the board of police and fire commissioners. Deeply interested in the cause of education, he has given of his time and served faithfully as a member of the board of school trustees of this growing city. While a Republican in national politics, Mr. McKee supports all local move- ments in a broad, nonpartisan manner. Not only among the oldest residents of San Jose, Mr. McKee has been in business steadily in San Jose longer than any other business man in the city. He has truly been a factor in the development, not only of the city of San Jose and Santa Clara County, but of the commonwealth of California. It is indeed inter- esting to chronicle the life history of such a useful, unselfish and enterprising eitizen, who, in his liberal and kind-hearted way, has always given freely of his time and means towards enterprises that have for their aim the improvement of the city and county and to enhance the comfort and raise the social and moral conditions of its people. It is to men of the type of Mr. McKee that California today owes much of its present greatness and prosperity; men who were not afraid to work, and in their optimism saw the great future awaiting the Golden State in developing its great natural resources.

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HISTORY OF SANTA CLARA COUNTY

HENRY CURTNER .- During the fifties men from all sections of the country were thronging to California as offering advantages and opportunities greater than were possible in the East, and among them was Henry Curtner, a pioneer of Alameda County. On his arrival on the Pacific Coast in 1852 he was without means, except $20, a stranger in a strange land, without friends to assist him in getting a start. He purchased a pair of blankets and a stage ticket to Mission San Jose, where he was to work on the ranch of Beard & Ellsworth, with whom he had contracted to work while in Indiana. He worked faithfully and in six months' time had saved some money and bought ont the balance of the contract, so he was free to begin farming for himself, which he did at Centerville. He was successful and within a few years later he made his first purchase of land at Centerville, and from that time forward his career was prosperous, until he became one of the largest landowners of his county.

Mr. Curtner was born in Fountain County, Indiana, January 17, 1831, and was next to the youngest of five sons and five daughters, all of whom are de- ceased. His father, Jacob Curtner, was born and reared in North Carolina, where he married Nancy Heaton, a native of Tennessee. Afterwards, about 1827, they removed to Indiana and settled among the pioneer farmers of Fountain County, where they passed their active years in the development of a homestead. Mrs. Curtner died in Fulton County, In- diana, while Mr. Curtner passed away in Cass County, near Logansport. He had been a soldier in the Indian struggles and served under General Jackson, taking part in the battle of Horseshoe Bend. During the boy- hood years of Henry Curtner educational facilities were in their infancy. Schools were held in log build- ings with puncheon floors and slab benches, text- books were few and of inferior quality. Having ac- quired such instruction as the schools afforded, Mr. Curtner started out in the world to earn his livelihood. He had been left an orphan and had to "paddle his own canoe," and he found a hard time of it because many people did not hesitate to take advantage of an orphan boy. One year he hired to a farmer for a year, and he was to have, besides a pittance, three months' schooling and a new suit of clothes. They did not let him go to school, but put him in the woods at the end of an ax-handle and, instead of a new suit, offered him a second-hand suit, which Mr. Curtner declined, saying that summer had come, and so left them. For a time he worked on a farm and also engaged in clearing timbered land, after which he became a towboy or boat driver on the Wabash and Erie canal, working for his board. In 1852 he utilized his savings in paying the expenses of the long voyage from New York via Panama to San Francisco. Four years after his arrival on the coast, in the fall of 1856, he returned to Indiana and mar- ried in Cass County, Miss Lydia Kendall, who was born in Indiana. In the fall of 1857 the young couple removed to California, where they purchased fifty acres between Centerville and Alvarado, Alameda County, and for about ten years they made their home upon that property. In the spring of 1868 they removed to the estate near Warm Springs and there he resided until he passed away. His first purchase near Warm Springs comprised little less than 2000 acres, to which he added from time to time until his landed possessions aggregated 8000 acres; how- ever, a portion of this was sold, in small farms, and the balance he divided among his children. After

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History of Santa Clara County California with biographical sketches, Part 71

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