USA > California > Santa Cruz County > History of Santa Cruz County, California with Biographical Sketches > Part 12
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After the organization of the Republican party Mr. Porter was steadfast in his allegiance to its principles. The state conventions, which he almost invariably attended, felt the impress of his virile personality and his devotion to the party welfare. It was his privilege to be a member of the first con- vention that nominated Leland Stanford for governor of California. In politics as in business his strong individuality commanded attention and won respect. Frank and outspoken in manner, he was yet affable and courteous to all, and the eminence that he attained was merited by the possession of qualities which enabled him to rise from humble manual toil to large financial responsibilities.
Rev. Lathe Hasselt
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REV. P. HASSETT.
Long before the town of Watsonville came into existence a Catholic church had been built in the Pajaro valley, on Amesti lake, where is now located the Pajaro valley orphan asylum, this being the only church of the denomination be- tween San Juan and Santa Cruz. As the population in- creased the need of another church to supply the spiritual requirements of the community became apparent and Father Roussel, who was in charge of the orphan asylum, conceived the idea of establishing a parish in the young and growing town of Watsonville. It was in 1864 that Father Roussel began the erection of St. Patrick's from plans furnished by James Waters. The style of architecture was Roman- esque, and the structure had a frontage of forty-eight feet and a depth of one hundred and ten feet. Built of redwood, it rested on a foundation of brick which was manufactured in the locality, and the window and door frames, as well as the sash and mouldings, came from San Francisco. Only the exterior of the church was finished at that time, and it was not until 1874 that the building was completed. The bells which called the worshippers together formerly did service in the old San Antonio mission, in the lower part of Monterey county, and were brought to Watsonville by permission of Bishop Amat. Accompanied by Joseph Pallisier, John Mc- Auliffe and James Waters, Father Roussel set out in April, 1865, to get the bells, which without doubt had hung in the tower of the mission for three-quarters of a century. An eventful trip of four days brought them to their destination, and after a stay of several days at the mission, in charge of Father Ambrose, the bells were loaded on the wagon and the visitors returned with their precious burden, by way of San Juan, to Watsonville.
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Father Roussel was the first pastor of the new church, dividing his attention between this and the orphan asylum, for a number of years, or until 1869, when Father Mahoney became its first resident priest. A few years later, in 1874, a contract was made with the pastor to take up the work of church completion, and after several months of unremitting labor the edifice was finished in the interior and furnished with pews and other necessary furniture. Personally Father Mahoney was a man of high mental and moral equipment, added to which was rare business judgment, and under his administration the affairs of the parish were arranged on an orderly and substantial basis, the church edifice was com- pleted and the church debt practically liquidated during his pastorate of ten years.
In 1879 Father Mahoney was promoted to a charge in Los Angeles and the same year Father M. Marron became rector of the church. Not unlike his predecessor he was a man of many noble qualities, working long and earnestly for the welfare of the parish, but a stroke of paralysis in 1897 com- pelled him to retire from his labors. It was during this same year, 1897, that Rev. P. Hassett was placed in charge of the affairs of the church, although it was not until April 17, 1905, that he received his regular appointment. Upon as- suming charge of the work of the parish Father Hassett readily perceived the necessity for a larger house of wor- ship, and to him more than to any other person is due the present magnificent church edifice, which is the pride of every resident of the community and which elicits the admiration of the stranger. Work on the present house of worship was begun in 1901 and was completed in 1903, at a cost of about $50,000, including furnishings. During this time the parson- age had also been remodeled. The earthquake of April, 1906, wrought considerable damage, and necessitated repairs to
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the extent of $3,000 on the church and a like amount on the parsonage. The old church edifice which had done duty for over forty years was raised at this time, at an expense of $2,000. At the time of the earthquake the bell in the tower rang loudly, owing to the swinging of the tower, which was all but thrown down. Since Father Hassett assumed charge of the affairs of the parish he has expended for buildings, re- pairs, etc., over $70,000.
As has been stated, work was begun on the new church in 1901, the contract being signed on September 10, and on Jan- uary 1, 1903, it was completed and ready for occupancy. The structure is sixty-eight feet wide and one hundred and thirty feet deep. The English Gothic style of architecture has been adhered to throughout the general design, being modified only where necessary to suit local conditions. Strength and durability were not lost sight of in the con- struction of this beautiful structure, as may be judged by the statement that three hundred and fifty thousand brick were used and the heavy concrete foundations required over four hundred barrels of cement, in addition to the necessary rock, sand and crushed granite. The slates on the roof are fas- tened with copper nails, which makes the roof practically in- destructible, besides which about three tons of sheet lead were used for plashings, gutters, etc., and one ton of copper was used in the spire. From the level of the sidewalk the spire rises one hundred and thirty-two feet and is the crowning feature of this magnificent structure. The front entrance is of buff terra-cotta, with Gothic ornamentation, and oak en- trance doors open into the spacious vestibule. The choir loft has a seating capacity of fifty persons, and the audi- torium, which is made with sloping floor, will accommodate six hundred persons.
A valuable adjunct to St. Patrick's church is the Moreland
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Notre Dame Academy, the gift of Mrs. S. M. Moreland to the Sisters of Notre Dame of San Jose. Its original cost was $30,000, and after the earthquake repairs to the extent of $7,500 were necessary to put it in proper condition.
Rev. P. Hassett is a native of Ireland, born in County Tipperary in 1872, the son of Michael Hassett. Early in life he evinced qualities requisite for the priesthood and his parents wisely directed his training along this channel. Soon after his graduation from All Hallows College, in 1896, he came to the United States, making his way direct to Cali- fornia, where, in Santa Cruz, he was appointed assistant to Father McNamee. He held this position until coming to Watsonville in 1897, in the meantime gaining a knowledge of inestimable value to him in coping with problems and emergencies. Personally Father Hassett is beloved by his parishioners, who find in him a sympathetic leader in whom they place implicit trust.
OWEN TUTTLE.
Agricultural pursuits occupied the attention of Mr. Tuttle for many years both in Iowa and in California and brought him a degree of success commensurate with his intelligent industry and merited by his arduous application to daily duties. Born in Richland county, Ohio, December 30, 1827, during 1838 he accompanied his father, Hiram Tuttle, to Iowa, settling on a tract of unimproved land in Van Buren county on the Des Moines river. During the years of youth he left the home farm in order to learn the trade of a stone- cutter, but later he returned to farming. After the demise of his father he bought the old homestead and there he re- mained until the failure of his health through bronchial
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trouble caused him to removed to California. His first trip to the Pacific coast was made in 1850 during the memorable excitement caused by the discovery of gold. For four years he worked in the mines near Placerville and during that period he became so favorably impressed by the country that, when he left Iowa, in the fall of 1872 he came to the Pajaro valley and spent the winter and in 1873, there was no hesitancy in his decision to settle in the west. After his arrival in Wat- sonville he bought seventy-five acres near town. Twelve acres were in hops and he enlarged this crop to forty-five acres, building kilns and storage houses for the care of the product. For some years he was one of the largest hop grow- ers in the Pajaro valley, but a decline in prices led him to give more attention to the raising of apples. However, it was not until 1901 that a marked decline in the price led his estate to abandon the hop industry.
Purchasing the old Scott boarding house on Main street opposite the plaza in 1891, Mr. Tuttle removed the building to the rear of the lot and remodeled it for a barn and this has been again remodeled into a residence. On the front of the lot he built a comfortable and substantial residence and here he remained until his death, which was caused by heart failure, July 2, 1899. Of his family one child died in infancy, and a daughter, Mrs. Annabel Radcliff, passed away eight months after his death. The other members of the family are as follows: Hiram D., an attorney of San Jose; Morris B., liv- ing near Watsonville; Emory O., of Alameda, this state; Nannie, widow of R. L. Craig, of Los Angeles, president of the R. L. Craig & Co .; Adella, who married Dr. Aaron Schloss, of San Francisco; Iowa H., who lives on the home place near Watsonville; and Victor H., a member of the firm of R. L. Craig & Co., wholesale grocers of Los Angeles.
Surviving Owen Tuttle is his widow, Mrs. Mary E. (Burns)
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Tuttle, who was born and reared in Iowa. Her parents, James and Mary (McDonald) Burns, were natives of Venango county, Pa., the latter having been of Pennsylvania parentage but of Scotch ancestry. The mother of James Burns was a daughter of Hector McNeal, who served in the Revolutionary war. At an early day James Burns removed from Pennsyl- vania to Iowa and settled in Van Buren county on the Des Moines river; on the homestead there established the daughter grew to womanhood and there in 1855 she was married to Owen Tuttle, with whom she came to Watsonville in 1873. Her father died in Iowa, but her mother afterward came to California and made her home with Mrs. Tuttle until 1892. Mrs. Tuttle still owns the property they purchased shortly after their arrival in this state and has an income sufficient to provide for her the comforts of life. While rearing her family she had little time for outside activities. The housework on the farm, the family sewing, the care of a large family and the many duties falling to a farmer's wife, left her no leisure for participation in movements for the public welfare, but after the removal of the family to town in 1891 and after the children had left the parental roof for homes of their own, she devoted her splendid energies and fine mind to enter- prises for the upbuilding of the community and the intellectual advancement of the people. In her support of the suffrage movement she has been ardent and steadfast, believing with Patrick Henry that taxation without representation is tyranny and believing further that much good accomplished by the heroism and self-sacrifice of women has been wrongfully credited to men.
The establishment of a public library in Watsonville was a philanthropy that for years received thoughtful attention on the part of Mrs. Tuttle. During her work with the Women's Christian Temperance Union she became aware of
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the urgent need of a reading room and library for the boys and girls growing up in the town. The suggestion she made was carried out by the Union and the library always has been under the management of the women. The movement was organized under the legislative act of 1880, which authorized cities of a certain class to levy a tax of one mill on the dollar for library purposes. Influential citizens signed the petition circulated by the women and the board of trustees levied one- half of the tax allowed by law, amounting to five cents on the hundred dollars. Two years later this amount was increased to seven cents, which thus brought about $840 per year for the rent, fuel, librarian's salary, subscription to periodicals, and purchase of new books. Personal donations have been of the greatest aid to the library fund. The Ford estate con- tributed $250, which was invested in books, and the lodge of Odd Fellows donated their library.
In addition to aiding in the many duties connected with the establishment of the library, Mrs. Tuttle has not neglected other enterprises for the benefit of the community. Few women are more conversant than she with the industries that give prominence to the valley. Long experience with fruit- growing on the farm gives her a broad fund of information on this subject. The Watsonville Register, of December 19, 1908, published an article from her pen concerning the history of the apple industry in the Pajaro valley. The account showed her familiarity with one of the enterprises that has brought fame to the Pajaro valley, and we quote from it as follows: "Fifty years ago there were few apple trees in Pajaro valley, and it was many years before there was a market for the surplus. Less than thirty-five years ago great quantities of fruit rotted on the ground underneath the trees. The lum- bermen, who were then engaged in stripping our canons of the giant redwoods, thought nothing of filling a few barley
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sacks with apples as they passed an orchard, and would have resented with indignation any suggestion of paying for them. If a few pickets were knocked out of the fence, it was all set down to the credit of the freedom of pioneer days. At this time nearly all of the valley was sown to grain, and the threshing machine made its annual visit. There was scurry- ing of busy feet to the tune of three meals a day for twenty- five or thirty men, and the orchard then was a never-failing source of good things for the hungry men, and also for the anxious cooks. Apples, pears, plums, apricots and peaches, just ready to drop from the trees in luscious ripeness, were to be had for the picking and never seemed to pall on the taste of the busy, hungry people.
"A healthy lot of care-free youngsters roamed the or- chards biting into anything and eating only what suited their tastes. There was usually a picket missing at a convenient place, and a well-worn path which strangely went out of the way and sought only favorite trees. Even neighbors' or- chards were noted for varieties of wonderful excellence and were sampled on the way home from school. About this time there appeared a stout old man by the name of Marco Rabasa, who offered to buy fruit on the trees. In the parlance of the present day, people sat up and took notice. This was the beginning of the apple business in Pajaro valley. For years the old orchards were gradually enlarged, but the old happy-go-lucky selection of fruit was at an end. Belle- fleurs and Newtown Pippins took the lead. The old orchards were cleared up and soon took on a commercial aspect, mis- sing pickets were attended to, and it even became desirable to have the roads sprinkled, to keep the fruit clean. For years the apple business was a growing success. The Aus- tralian market was to be supplied. Rabasa divided his busi- ness with an increasing number of people who affixed an "ich"
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to their names, and a new and peculiar style of architecture was apparent about town. Packing houses sprang up in the most select neighborhoods and Watsonville, by reason of its appearance and odor, deserved the name of Appleville.
"We boasted of our wormless apples; for, although the woolly aphis, like the poor, was always with us, the damage had been slight, and except that Mr. Nugent required Rabasa to disinfect his often-used boxes, before bringing them into his orchard, there was no precaution used against insects. We thought that the fog and cool nights would not foster pests. But one of the famed Pandora boxes came this way and was turned upside down over our great valley orchard. The war began and the result is not yet told. We have sprayed until the orchards during the spring have shocked the artistic soul of many residents by their ghastly appearance, making nervous, sensitive people shiver with dread as they pass them in the night. The orchardist has groaned in spirit, not only in sympathy with the appearance of his orchard, but because of lime, sulphur and salt in his eyes and on his clothes, horses and harness. Paris green has been used as well as other solutions suggested by the many bugmen. And kill the bugs we will, if every orchardist is sacrificed in the war. Verily, when Pandora's box was emptied there were other things besides caterpillars inside.
"The whole valley has become an immense orchard. The packing houses have become segregated near the railroad, the business in taking permanent shape. There are changes in the management of trees. Weeds, which were a horror to old orchardists, are now allowed to grow, and are later turned under the plow to enrich the soil. It would seem that a soil which produces mustard as high as a horse hardly needs any more nitrogenous food, and that possibly the mustard takes more of moisture and other properties from the soil than it
4.
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gives back. The neat little pea vine used in Southern Cal- ifornia between the rows of orange trees, to be plowed under, would be much to be preferred in point of beauty and per- haps in utility. But, after all, the thorough cultivation of former days had many advantages over later methods. Usu- ally our orchards are kept in good shape, but occasionally the trees are permitted to grow scraggy and go unpruned, until one wishes she might act as forester for awhile, to chop out the old trees and substitute young ones. Many women in Pajaro valley own and manage orchards, and when it comes. to packing apples, we could hardly do without them. Hun- dreds of women work in the packing houses during the sea- son, and many make boxes quite as well as men."
A. N. JUDD.
Very early in the colonization of New England, in 1636, the Judd family became established along the bleak Atlantic coast. Authentic annals of the colonial era record that one of the name, who had married a sister of the illustrious Roger Will- iams, suffered banishment and exile from Massachusetts by reason of his religious views. Accompanying Williams through the unsettled country toward the south, he aided in the founding of Providence and Newport. Three hundred years later Williams and Judd were restored to citizenship by the legislature of Massachusetts. Descended in the third generation from this famous pioneer was George B. Judd, who prior to the free-trade act of 1856 operated an iron foundry at Great Barrington, Mass., but closed out the busi- ness when a change in the tariff laws made it no longer profit- able. For some years he was engaged in the lumber in- dustry. One of his cousins, Hon. Norman B. Judd, repre-
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sented Cook county, Ill., in the United States congress for a number of terms and during the period of his public ac- tivity he had the honor of nominating Abraham Lincoln for president when that able statesman was as yet comparatively unknown throughout the country.
The death of George B. Judd occurred at Loudon, N. H., and there both he and his wife, Mary Ann, were buried. They were the parents of five sons and four daughters, but only two of these ever came to the west, namely: A. N .; and Belinda, who married W. S. Morse and settled at Los An- geles. Mrs. Mary Ann Judd was a sister of Hon. William H. Bissell, the tenth governor of Illinois, born in New England in 1811 and deceased in Springfield, Ill., in 1860, during the period of his service as chief executive of the state. Dur- ing the Mexican war he had fought with distinction and bravery and at the battle of Buena Vista he was seriously wounded. Later he became one of the leading statesmen of the north and for years represented his district in the United States congress. At one time he was challenged by Jefferson Davis to fight a duel, an altercation having arisen as to the honor due the Second Illinois Infantry for results in the war. Governor Bissell had the privilege of choosing the weapons and he named muskets loaded with buckshot at a distance of forty yards, with permission to walk up to within ten paces.
Had the duel been fought with Governor Bissell as winner, the history of the Civil war would have been different, for it would not have contained the name and personality of Jef- ferson Davis. However, before the time set for the meeting, the father-in-law of General Davis interfered and brought the matter to an amicable settlement, no apology being asked for from Governor Bissell. The story of the affair has since be- come known and is often told among the members of the Bissell family and their connections. After having risen to
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prominence solely through his own abilities and sagacious judgment, Governor Bissell died in the midst of his public service and was followed to the grave by tributes of admira- tion and respect. Over his last resting place is a stone erected by the State of Illinois, in 1874, bearing the words, "Hero, Statesman and Patriot."
During the residence of the Judd family at North Lee, Berkshire county, Mass., A. N. Judd was born April 26, 1843. At the age of fourteen years he went to Wisconsin and at Rubicon, Dodge county, he served an apprenticeship to the ยท trades of painter and wagon-maker. Later he worked in a sawmill at Whitewater, Wis., and from there he removed to Iowa to work at the painter's trade. August 9, 1861, he en- listed at Anamosa, Iowa, as a private in Company H, Four- teenth Iowa Infantry, and accompanied his regiment to the south, where he took part in the engagements at Springfield and Fort Henry. His third battle was at Fort Donelson, February 15, 1862, and there he was wounded in the neck. While in the "hornet's nest" at Shiloh he was taken by the enemy, together with practically all of Tuttle's brigade, of which he was a member. However, before they had reached Corinth he managed to escape with some other prisoners and made his way to the Federal lines at Crump's Landing on the road to Pittsburg Landing. Soon afterward he was transferred to Company A, Sixth Iowa Cavalry, which re- ceived marching orders under General Sully March 16, 1863, and traveled northward, where he served until the close of the Civil war, principally in the Dakotas and along the Canadian border. Among the principal engagements of that part of his service were the battles of White Stone Hill, September 3, 1863; Big Knife river, July 28, 1864; and the Bad Lands, August 7-8-9, 1864, which routed the Indians so that there- after it was safe for immigrant trains to travel without es-
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cort. His military service ended under General Sully and he was honorably discharged at Davenport, Iowa, November 27, 1865, after a service of four years and three months.
Going to Chicago and taking up work at the painter's trade, Mr. Judd was busily occupied thus for a few years, but when the first railroad was completed across the continent he determined to come to California. During July of 1868 he traveled with the first excursion on the railroad and arriv- ing in the west he settled at Watsonville, where ever since he has made his home. On the present site of the Watson- ville Bank he conducted a painter's shop and in addition he followed other lines of work for some years. During 1873 he became interested in farming and in 1886 he began to plant fruit trees, making a specialty of apples. At this writing he owns a fruit farm of fifty-two acres west of the city and he also owns a comfortable residence at No. 263 East Lake street, Watsonville. Throughout all of his active life he has been interested in public affairs. Strong in his opposition to graft in every form, he believes in electing officials who will give the public clean, pure and faithful service. Concerning the various forms of graft noticeable among many public men throughout the country he does not hesitate to express his views in strong terms. The only office he has held was that of deputy assessor. Had he been chosen for others, he would have given the public the same faithful service that he gave to his country during the four darkest years of its history. Fraternally he is connected with Pajaro Lodge, I. O. O. F., and R. L. McCook Post No. 26, G. A. R., in both of which he is warmly interested.
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