USA > California > Santa Cruz County > History of Santa Cruz County, California with Biographical Sketches > Part 10
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Mrs. Mary Emma Jameson, now deceased; Hon. W. A. Traf- ton, who is associated with his father in business and has been honored with the office of mayor of Watsonville; Mrs. Alice Amelia Evans, of Watsonville; Howard V., who holds the office of sheriff of Santa Cruz county; and Mrs. Ida Evelyn Trimble, a resident of Bakersfield. The children were edu- cated in the schools of Watsonville and were carefully trained by wise parents in order that they might be fully qualified to meet the responsibilities of life.
Many of the qualities that individualize Mr. Trafton come to him from a long line of English ancestry. Shortly after the new world began to be colonized members of the Trafton family crossed the ocean to Maine, where several generations struggled bravely in an endeavor to wrest a livelihood from a sterile soil. A young couple of that name crossed the line into lower Canada and established a temporary home with- in the British possessions. While living there a son was born to them October 5, 1834, and this child was given the name of George Arthur. However, his earliest recollections are not of Canada or New England, for during infancy he was taken to Missouri and there passed the years of early youth, his father being a manufacturer and merchant at Rocheport, Boone county, that state.
Possessing a temperament that led him to become interested in speculative affairs, Mr. Trafton was not content to pursue the quiet round of ranch duties, but while yet living in the country he formed large interests in the potato-raising busi- ness. Over-production brought a heavy decline in prices and he suffered large losses. During 1863 he disposed of his farm holdings and came to Watsonville, where he bought and sold farm products, principally grain. During 1868 he es- tablished the first exclusive hardware store in the town and for seventeen years he conducted business along that line,
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meanwhile buying real estate and in 1872 erecting a brick building for store purposes. The building, which adjoins the Lewis house, was at the time of its erection considered one of the finest business structures in the entire county. Fortune favored Mr. Trafton in the quiet round of business enterprises, but his fondness for mining speculations proved his financial undoing, and after an experience of ten years in the development of quicksilver mines in Santa Clara county he found himself bereft of fortune and hampered by an in- debtedness aggregating about $75,000. Eventually his debts were paid and no one but himself lost by his reverses. For four years, beginning in 1881, he conducted a partnership in mercantile pursuits with A. J. Jennings under the firm name of Trafton & Jennings. After disposing of his in- terest in the business, he resumed the buying and selling of grain and with M. A. Hudson as a partner he built up the largest trade of its kind in the Pajaro valley, the partners owning a large storage warehouse at Watsonville.
At this writing Mr. Trafton is interested in gold mines in Mexico, and he has a patent from the government for land fifty miles south of Hollister, where he located the vein of coal that now is being developed as the Trafton mine. Through all of his long and active career he has been warmly interested in movements for the well-being of the community. Particularly in educational matters has he been alert to aid plans for the furtherance of the free-school system. A service of four years as a member of the school board gave him an opportunity to favor measures for the raising of the standard of education in the local schools. For fifteen years he was a member of the board of town trustees and during seven years of that period he held the office of chairman of the board. The inauguration of a movement looking toward the establishment of a volunteer fire department met with his
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hearty approval, and he became identified with the same. After years of faithful service his name was transferred to the honorary list, in which association he continues to the present time. In fraternal relations he holds membership with the Watsonville Masons, being identified not only with the blue lodge, but also with the chapter and commandery. It has been his aim to exemplify in his life the teachings of philanthropy and brotherhood for which the order stands.
Foremost in movements for educational, fraternal, civic and social development, the name of G. A. Trafton is in- dissolubly associated with the upbuilding of Watsonville. Whether we consider him as a business man, willing to sac- rifice his own funds in an effort to develop local enterprises ; or as a citizen, serving gratuitously for years as a town trus- tee and school director; or as a neighbor, stanch, faithful and true, we must accord him a high position in the citizen- ship of the place where for almost one-half century he has ยท made his home. As proprietor of the grist mill, which he established about 1889, he proved a factor in the growth of an important local industry. With commendable enterprise he equipped his mill with the latest approved machinery need- ed in the preparation of graham flour, corn meal and other products. From the first the mill proved of great advantage to the farmers of the valley and its proprietor added to the prestige of his enviable business reputation. It is to such progressive men as he that the valley owes its high standing throughout the state and its established reputation in the west.
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WILLIS R. CONGDON, M. D.
In the character and professional attainments of the physi- cians who have engaged in practice in its towns, Santa Cruz county has been particularly fortunate, and of its practitioners perhaps none is more prominent than the present incumbent of the office of county physician, Dr. Willis R. Congdon, who has met with encouraging success in the practice of materia medica. Prepared for his tasks by a thorough training in one of the most famous institutions in the country, fortified by a thorough classical education, and still further aided by the encouraging counsel of his father, a talented and experienced physician of the old school, he thus had the assistance of those adventitious circumstances that silently but surely determine our destinies. Of this favorable environment he availed him- self to the utmost, thereby acquiring a thorough knowledge of the science which enables him to complete his diagnoses with accuracy and to apply promptly those remedial agencies suited to the particular case.
The son of Dr. J. R. Congdon, who practiced medicine for many years in Indiana, Willis R. Congdon was born at Bristol, that state, April 20, 1868, and from an early age was destined for the medical profession. It was his good fortune to attend Notre Dame University in Indiana for a number of terms and he benefited greatly by the thorough training for which that in- stitution is famous. Later he took a course of lectures in Rush Medical College, Chicago, from which he was graduated in 1889. Upon receiving his diploma he returned to Indiana and began to practice in his native town, whence later he went to Chicago to engage in professional labors. During 1896 he came to California and settled in Santa Cruz, where since he has built up a growing and important practice. To the office of county physician, which he now holds, he was elected in
A. M. Peary
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1906 on the independent ticket, and in addition he has been honored with the presidency of the Santa Cruz County Medi- cal Society.
The marriage of Dr. Congdon was solemnized in September, 1901, and united him with Miss Edith Case, a native of Cal- ifornia. One son, Willis R., Jr., blesses the union. To a gentleman of Dr. Congdon's genial temperament, fraternal affiliations appeal with inviting emphasis, and we find him prominent in various orders. Included among these may be mentioned the Masons of the Knight Templar degree, the Maccabees, Foresters and Druids, and in a number of the lodges he has officiated as physician. In addition to the affilia- tions mentioned he is a member of the naval militia of Cal- ifornia, with the rank of lieutenant, and is acting assistant surgeon of the Staff. In his citizenship he has been progres- sive, alert to promote the prosperity of his adopted city, generous in his praises of local advantages and slow to criti- cise where such criticism would deter the desired growth of civic enterprises.
JOSEPH W. PEERY.
Occupying a picturesque location in a valley in the heart of the Santa Cruz mountains lies the village of Boulder Creek, its site being at the junction of the San Lorenzo river, Bear creek and Boulder creek, from the last-named of which it receives its name. The village has an elevation of four hundred and eighty-four feet above sea level. Between it and the ocean there is a high range of mountains that pro- vides protection from the raw trade winds and the heavy fogs. While the village is small from the standpoint of population, it is not lacking in enterprise and progressive
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spirit, as it evidenced by the fact that there are several churches and public halls, as well as a free library and a school occupying a substantial building well equipped for educa- tional uses. The Southern Pacific Railroad runs through the town and affords facilities for the shipment of the farm products raised in the neighborhood. In every respect the village offers a comfortable home and an opportunity to earn a livelihood amid healthful surroundings.
A portion of the land upon which the village was built originally belonged to Joseph W. Peery, who still is a large property holder as well as an influential citizen. He is a. member of a southern family and was born in Cabell county, W. Va., October 2, 1830, being a son of Hiram and Ruth (Lesley) Peery, natives of Tazewell county, Va. Hiram Peery was a soldier in the war of 1812 and at its close en- gaged in operating a farm in West Virginia, but later re- moved to Kentucky, where he owned and conducted a planta- tion. The family proceeded still further west in 1842 and settled in Missouri, where Joseph W. assisted in transform- ing a raw tract of virgin prairie into a fertile farm. During. 1850 he crossed the plains with a large caravan of emigrants who traveled in "prairie schooners" drawn by oxen. For three years he tried his luck in the western mines, but in 1853 he returned to Missouri and took up farm pursuits in that. state, where he remained for six years. During 1859 he be- came a pioneer of Nebraska, where he unsuccessfully en- deavored to wrest a livelihood from the occupation of farming ..
Discouraged by the failure of his agricultural efforts in Nebraska, Mr. Peery in 1862 started across the plains, ac- companied by his wife, who was in poor health. When they were in the neighborhood of Austin, Nev., Mrs. Peery be- came worse and soon died, leaving him to proceed alone, after her body had been laid to rest near the place of her death.
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Thirty-seven years afterward the remains were brought to Boulder Creek and buried in the cemetery at this place. Aft- er coming to California Mr. Peery settled in the San Joaquin valley and engaged in farming. Three years were spent in Stockton, and he then came to Santa Cruz county. The fol- lowing year (1868) he settled at Boulder Creek and bought a water-power sawmill. Afterward he engaged extensively in the sawing of lumber, giving employment to several men and clearing eighteen hundred acres of land in Santa Cruz county. At this writing he owns a farm of two hundred and sixty acres and he also has been a large property owner in the village. After settling permanently in the west he mar- ried Mrs. Thomkins and they have an adopted daughter, Eva N. By her former marriage Mrs. Peery has the following- named children: Willis E .; Josephine; Thomsen; Jennie, the widow of George Bowen; Walter T., a soldier in the Spanish-American war; Julia, Alice and Elmer. The family are identified with the Methodist Episcopal church and assist generously in its maintenance, as well as in the support of its missionary and social activities. During the existence of the Whig party Mr. Peery supported its principles, but after its disintegration he became an adherent of the Republican party and had the pleasure of voting for Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses S. Grant for the presidency.
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F. D. BALDWIN.
The earliest recollections of Mr. Baldwin are of his boy- hood New England home in Plymouth county, Mass., where he was born April 18, 1847. There it was his privilege to receive good educational advantages for the times, and he made the best use possible of his opportunities, to the end that while still quite young he was thoroughly equipped for the teacher's profession, for which he had a natural adaptation. At the age of nineteen years he went to West Stockbridge, Mass., taking charge of a school there, and in 1867, came to California.
Thus far in his life Mr. Baldwin had had no practical ex- perience outside of the school room, but this proved a valuable asset, for his knowledge and ability were soon recognized and put to good account in Marin county, where he taught for two years. During this time he was also interested in dairying, but at the end of this time he gave up his interests in Marin county and for the following year was located in Monterey county. It was at this time that he was seized with a desire to visit his old home in the east, but a stay of a few months sufficed to satisfy him that the west was the place for a young man of push and determination, and he therefore returned and once more took up the struggle with conditions that ex- isted at that early day. For him, as for many others, mining with its alluring possibilities of sudden wealth, had its at- tractions, and for one year he experienced all the hardships, joys and hopes of the miner, but at the end of that time he gave it up to engage in something with more dependable re- turns. It was therefore with considerable satisfaction that he resumed teaching and for three years he followed it in Placer county, the scene of his mining experiences. Going to Monterey county once more, he secured a position as teacher
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in the public schools, where he taught for two years, and in addition to his professional duties also engaged in the dairy- ing business on his own account. This proved to be a busi- ness well chosen and one for which he was well adapted, for he not only followed it successfully in Monterey county, but also for twenty-three years in Santa Cruz county, five years of this time being passed in Watsonville, and sixteen years in Santa Cruz.
In 1896 Mr. Baldwin retired permanently from dairying and in its place took up apple-raising, an undertaking which has proved eminently successful and one in which he has engaged for fifteen years in the fertile Pajaro valley. Personal affairs, however, have not absorbed all of Mr. Baldwin's time and abilities, as those know who are familiar with his life and ac- complishments. In the year 1890, as a candidate on the Re- publican ticket, he was elected supervisor of Santa Cruz coun- ty, a position which he filled with efficiency for four years, and in 1898 he was again the successful candidate for this position, and during both terms of four years each he gave his time and energy conscientiously to forwarding the best inter- ests of his county. In 1904 he was chosen chairman of the Republican central committee of Santa Cruz county. He was a member of the board of freeholders who framed the pres- ent city charter, as he was also of the former board, which drafted the preceding charter. Wise, conservative judgment has made Mr. Baldwin's opinion in financial matters command the consideration of all with whom he is associated in the banks with which his name is identified. In 1900 he was made a director of the City Bank of Santa Cruz and also of the City Savings Bank, and in 1902 he was elected president of both institutions, the City Bank having since then been changed from a state bank to the First National Bank of Santa Cruz. That Mr. Baldwin is giving satisfaction as the head of these
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institutions is amply attested in the long list of satisfied de- positors and patrons.
In 1873 Mr. Baldwin was united in marriage with Mary A. Baldwin, a resident of Santa Cruz and the daughter of James and Lydia (Race) Baldwin. She is a native of Massachusetts. Four children were born to the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Baldwin, but one is deceased. Those living are Grace, a teacher; Arnold, the present county surveyor ; and Roscoe, an orchardist of the Pajaro valley.
HON. WARREN R. PORTER.
While fortuitous circumstances may bring temporary prominence, yet permanent success presages ability, energy and an honorable ambition, and it is to the possession of these attributes that Ex-Lieutenant-Governor Porter owes his commercial standing, his political pre-eminence and his so- cial popularity. Wise parental influence inspired his early youth. The inestimable blessing of a judicious father and a cultured mother was his, yet it may be asserted con- fidently that, under an environment less congenial, he would have emerged into the limelight of an assured success. From boyhood he has been intensely loyal to the progress of Cal- ifornia. This was not merely the loyalty of the patriot to the state of his nativity, but in addition it was the loyalty of a progressive citizen inspired by the wonderful possibilities of his commonwealth and enthused by its genial climate, fertile soil and open-hearted people. The hopes of his boyhood have not drifted into the sea of oblivion, but have met with a rich fruition in the rise of California to a position among the leading states of the Union.
Born in Santa Cruz, March 30, 1861, Warren R. Porter is
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the only son of the late John T. Porter, a man who unaided by others worked his way upward from humble labor to the ownership of large landed holdings and the presidency of one of the leading financial institutions of his part of the state. This example before him, the pioneer's son had every incentive for study. He availed himself of the excellent ad- vantages offered by St. Augustine College at Benicia, this state, and on his return home secured employment as a book- keeper in the Bank of Watsonville, founded by his father. During 1884 he was chosen bookkeeper for the Loma Prieta Lumber Company at Watsonville and two years later he be- came secretary of the concern. When the headquarters of the company were removed to Loma Prieta he went to that village and continued the management of the business affairs. While he returned to Watsonville in 1899 he did not resign as secretary of the company until June, 1901, and since then he has remained a member of the board of directors.
Upon the incorporation of the Pajaro Valley Bank at Wat- sonville Mr. Porter was chosen a member of the board of di- rectors and upon the death of his father in 1900 he succeeded him as president, since which time the financial policy of the institution has been guided by his progressive spirit and shaped by his sagacious judgment. Throughout the valley the bank has gained a reputation for soundness, conserva- tism, wise investments and courteous consideration of all, and this reputation is in large part due to the intelligent supervision of the Porters, father and son, assisted by a corps of painstaking officials and directors. For some years after the elder Porter died the estate was conducted by War- ren R., as vice-president and manager of an incorporated company, and his wise oversight proved of the greatest as- sistance to the heirs. In addition to many other interests he found leisure to investigate lands and from time to time he
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made purchases, until he acquired holdings in every county comprising the sixth congressional district. The manage- ment of his vast interests does not tax his energies, how- ever. On the contrary, he has found leisure for participa- tion in county and state political affairs and has also been prominent in society and in various fraternities. On the organization of the Watsonville Parlor No 65, Native Sons of the Golden West, he became a charter member and after- ward was honored with the office of president. In addition to being a member of the local blue lodge of Masonry he is as- sociated with Watsonville Commandery No. 22, K. T., and ever has been stanch in his allegiance to the principles of charity and kindness represented by the order.
The marriage of Mr. Porter was solemnized August 23, 1893, and united him with Miss Mary E., daughter of Rev. G. A. Easton, rector of St. Mark's Episcopal church at Berkeley. They became the parents of the following-named children; John Easton; Warren R., Jr., who died at the age of fourteen months; Mary Frances and Thomas B. From boyhood Mr. Porter was an enthusiastic defender of Republican principles. At an early age he had been taught by his father concerning the various parties and their platforms, hence he maintained an intelligent interest from youth. For many years he has been prominent in his party. In 1900 he was a presidential elector and an alternate delegate to the national Republican convention at Philadelphia. His political prominence led to his appointment by Governor Gage as a member of the board of state prison directors and this appointment, tendered in June of 1901, was received by his friends with the heartiest approval. Further political honors awaited him as a result of duties intelligently performed and in 1906 he was honored with the office of lieutenant-governor of California, which position he filled four years. His election was received with
Frank L. Heath
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enthusiasm throughout all of Central California, where he has hosts of warm friends and earnest political supporters.
FRANK L. HEATH.
Although primarily a people of commercial instincts and strong preferences for business avocations, Americans are not blinded to the beautiful in landscape and in art by the lure and the glitter of gold. While the strictly utilitarian ap- peals to their stern sense of duty and feeling of personal responsibility for financial success, they maintain neverthe- less a love of all that appeals to the highest tastes in man- kind. The beautiful in art pleases their eyes and the beauti- ful in music touches the hidden tender chords of the soul. Not in vain, therefore, does the artist depict upon canvas the harmonious hues of sea and sky, the sweet faces of child- hood and the dainty flowers of the forest. Long after the hands of the painter 'shall have been folded in rest, the pic- ture will live to breathe into heart-hungry humanity its mes- sage of hope and happiness.
It has been the good fortune of Frank L. Heath to attain prominence in art while yet in the prime of his strength, with the hope of many years of usefulness in art before him. Throughout the west his fame as a painter in oil has become known and his skill recognized, while in other parts of the country he enjoys a growing reputation as his works are becoming more widely known and their beauty more deeply appreciated. Born near Salem, Ore., July 3, 1857, he is the son of the late Hon. Lucian Heath, a pioneer of 1852 in Oregon and distinguished as its first secretary of state. Dur- ing the fourteen years of his residence in Oregon he formed . a large circle of acquaintances among the pioneers of that
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commonwealth, where his fine powers of mind aided in the decision of early problems of state importance. Coming to California he became a pioneer of Santa Cruz in 1866 and opened one of the first mercantile stores on Pacific avenue, continuing in successful business for many years. In this city he passed away in 1889, mourned by the many warm friends he had won by his kindly disposition, high prin- ciples of honor and recognized ability.
A brief experience as clerk in his father's store convinced Frank L. Heath that he had no inclination toward commer- cial affairs. Indeed, from his earliest recollections he has been fond of drawing and a lover of art. The wise over- sight of his father rendered possible excellent training along the line of his specialty. During 1877 he went to San Fran- cisco and entered as a student the California School of De- sign, which later became known as the Hopkins School of Art. In that institution he had the advantage of training under specialists. For three years he continued his studies in drawing in that school and later he took lessons in sketch- ing in the studio of R. D. Yelland, a well-known artist of San Francisco. Since then he has worked alone, developing his talent with no other aid than his own unerring tastes. Outdoor scenes form the greater part of his collection of paintings. To secure studies he has traveled throughout the United States. Many landscapes of beauty in mountain and valley and sea have been transferred to his canvas, and in every instance his faithful rendition of Nature's handiwork has elicited the warmest praise. His paintings are to be found in every part of the United States. The walls of many of the most elegant residences in the country are adorned with specimens of his work. Many charming scenes, outlined on canvas by his brush with the utmost realism, may be seen in his pleasant studio at No. 19 Third street,
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