USA > California > Sonoma County > History of Sonoma County, California, with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the county, who have been identified with its growth and development from the early days to the present time > Part 93
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The family represented by Mr. Winton comes from southern extraction, their history in this country dating back to a very early period of our national existence. His father, Stephen, born in Texas in 1848, for many years has been an honored resident of Santa Rosa and has a large circle of friends among
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the pioneers of the place; the wife and mother, formerly Florence Hammontree, who also descends from old southern ancestry, was born in Nashville, Tenn., and is still living. The marriage of Homer Wesley Winton was solemnized Novem- ber 26, 1899. and united him with Miss Minnie Hansen, who was born in Oak- land. Cal., and is a woman of education and refinement, sharing with him the esteem of acquaintances. Their married life has been passed principally in the village of Occidental, where also reside her parents, William and Henrietta Hansen. The cosy home they have improved and developed is brightened by the presence of three children, namely: William Hansen, born in 1903; Hen- rietta, 1907; and Richard Corliss, 1908. The children were born in Occidental and the eldest attends school in the village. Soon after his marriage Mr. Winton located in Occidental, and has since been with his father-in-law, William Han- sen, the pioneer butcher of Occidental and Camp Meeker, and is devoting all of his time to promote the interests of the business.
It is but natural that Mr. Winton should be deeply interested in all move- ments for the upbuilding of Sonoma county, for here he has spent all of his life, here his friendships have been formed and here his success has been achieved. The county and the commonwealth have in him a patriotic citizen, to whom no progressive movement is a matter of indifference. Partisanship has no part in his political views, yet he stanchly adheres to the Democratic party and believes that its principles, if applied to governmental rule, would work many needed re- forms in our national development. Optimistic in his views concerning the wel- fare of the west, he belongs to that class of citizens whose enthusiastic faith in local resources, whose unbounded zeal in local advancement and whose keen judgment in matters pertaining to the common welfare form the bulwark on which rest civic honor and statehood growth. Fraternally he is a charter member of the Eagles.
JOSEPH WALKER.
In the development of the resources of Sonoma county especial attention has been given during recent years to the fruit industry and this in turn pro- duces a form of intensified farming that decreases the acreage of homesteads but increases the profits derived therefrom. Near the village of Windsor lies the tract of eighty acres owned and operated by Joseph Walker and under his skilled management transformed into a profit-producing fruit farm. Observation and experience convinced him that a portion of the land is best adapted to meadow and pasture, but the larger part possesses all the qualifications necessary for successful horticulture. During the season of 1909 he received $600 from grapes sold out of his vineyard of twenty-five acres. In addition he has three acres of prunes and an orchard containing the best varieties of other fruits adapted to this soil and climate. Poultry-raising is conducted in conjunction with fruit-growing and during last season he sold $400 worth of chickens and eggs. The annual income from his small farm is sufficiently large to represent interest on a very high valuation of the land and this fact alone furnishes abundant evi- dence as to his ability and energy.
HISTORY OF SONOMA COUNTY
Switzerland is the native country of Mr. Walker, who was born in 1864 in the little canton of Uri lying below the picturesque lake of Luzerne and within the shadow of the Alps. The national schools enabled him to secure a fair edu- cation, while at home he was trained to habits of economy, thrift and industry characteristic of the nation. When seventeen years of age, in 1881, he crossed the ocean to the United States and proceeded direct to San Francisco, whence he removed to Sonoma county, and in 1901 he became the owner of his present property. During 1893 he was united in marriage at Santa Ana with Anna Hild, by whom he has three sons and one daughter, Fred, Lawrence, Walter and Josephine. Mrs. Walker is a daughter of August and Christina Hild and has three brothers in Germany, Carl, George and Rudolph, besides two sisters, Louisa and Christina. Louisa married William Kohlmann and has two sons and one daughter, Amiel, William and Lucile. Christina was twice married, her first husband having been Carl Miller, by whom she had one son, Charles Miller. .After the death of Mr. Miller she became the wife of John Lavell.
The sturdy energy and perseverance possessed by Mr. Walker enabled him to secure a modest degree of success in the new world, whither he came without money or friends and lacking even a knowledge of the English language. His devotion to the land of his adoption has been unwavering throughout all the years of his residence here. Although his tastes do not lie in the direction of public affairs he has kept posted concerning the national issues and has given steadfast support to the principles of the Republican party. While living in the old country he became a communicant of the Roman Catholic church and ever since boyhood years he has given unswerving allegiance to that faith, but is liberal in his views, allowing to others the freedom of religious belief he demands for himself and maintaining a warm interest in all churches, particularly in the Presbyterian denomination, with which his wife is identified. Projects for the permanent upbuilding of the county receive his support and to such extent as his means permit he contributes to the financial aid of movements for the educational, moral and spiritual advancement of the community.
CHARLES WELCH.
Sonoma county has one of its best-known ranchers in Charles Welch, who came to California as early as 1875 and has witnessed its subsequent development with the keenest interest. The part that he has played in this advancement has not been inconsiderable, for he is a man of action and energy and throws his whole heart and soul into whatever he undertakes.
The boyhood years of Mr. Welch had been passed in the middle west, his birth having occurred in Boone county, Mo., in 1852, the son of parents who gained a livelihood by tilling the soil. They were McDonald and Amanda (Tucker) Welch, natives of West Virginia and Terre Haute, Ind., respectively, and the greater part of their lives was passed on the Missouri homestead, where they reared their four children, Larentine, Larrah, Lilly and Charles. Not con- tent with the outlook in his native locality, Charles Welch determined to come to the west and establish a ranch along special lines, and as is well known, he is
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one of the largest raisers of Angora goats throughout this section of Sonoma county. Located ten miles from Guerneville, the Welch ranch comprises three hundred and twenty acres, a part of which is used as pasturage for the eighty head of Angora goats which constitute his herd at the present time. and which in- creases each year at the rate of fifty head. Some idea of the profits realized from this industry may be gathered from the statement that during the year 1910 he received $1 per head for the wool from these animals. While the raising of goats is his chief interest, still it does not represent all of the activities in which he is engaged, for he also raises hogs extensively, having sixty-two head besides forty- two head of young pigs, all of which are fattened for market purposes. He also has a well-established vineyard of seven acres, also a fine orchard of three acres. Taken in its entirety Mr. Welch's ranch is one of the best in this section of Sonoma county, and it is safe to say that there is no one more enthusiastic as to the possibilities of the goat industry than is he, and it is his purpose to develop his own business along this line as rapidly as circumstances will permit.
Mr. Welch's marriage united him with Miss Anna E. Donivan, and they have one son, Albert L. The latter is also married, his first marriage uniting him with Anna Travers, after her death marrying Allie Trageer. They reside in San Francisco. Mrs. Welch is a daughter of John and Annie Donivan, to whom were born seven children, five sons and two daughters, as follows: John, Will- iam, Walter, James, Cornelius M., Anna and Ella. William is married and has one son, William, Jr. Walter and his wife, who before her marriage was Lawrie Best, have six children, five sons and one daughter. Cornelius M. chose as his wife Nellie Bloodsell and they have one daughter, Mabel. Ella is the wife of Henry Woolsey. Politically Mr. Welch is a Republican, and while he is not identified by membership with any church organization, he squares his actions by the Golden Rule, than which there can be no better guide.
MARY JANE THOMAS.
For over half a century Mrs. Thomas has been a resident of her present lo- cation in Sonoma county, near Sebastopol, and in the meantime has witnessed a marvelous transformation in her property, as well as in the entire country. When she first located on the ranch as a young bride her husband had purchased a squatter's right to it from a Mr. Griffith, and afterward secured legal right to the land by purchasing it from the government. The barren, uncultivated tract that it then was would not be recognized in the finely improved and productive ranch that it is today, yielding bountiful harvests of Gravenstein apples, prunes and cherries, and considered one of the finest fruit ranches in this section of country.
In maidenhood Mrs. Thomas was Mary Jane Leffingwell, and was born in Lee county, Iowa, in 1841, the daughter of William Leffingwell, and the grand- daughter of Joseph Leffingwell. On the paternal and maternal sides she is of New England ancestry, both her father and mother being natives of Connecticut, and both born in 1805. Both are also deceased, the father passing away in Oc- tober, 1884, and the mother in 1889, at the age of eighty-four, the death of both
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occurring in San Luis Obispo county, Cal. Mrs. Thomas has but a limited knowl- edge of her birthplace in Iowa, for she was a child of eight years old when with her parents, three brothers and four sisters, she set out to cross the plains in 1849. That winter was passed in Utah, and in the following spring they re- sumed their journey and finally reached Sacramento. After staying there long enough to get rested from their long journey they went to Yuba county, where. in the vicinity of the mines, the father established and operated the first mill in the county. In addition to this grist and saw mill he also added to his income by maintaining a boarding house at Pilot Hill, and he also kept a hotel in Placer county for some time, in Hangtown, now known as Placerville. Altogether the family continued in Yuba county for about three years, at the end of which time, in 1852, they came to Sonoma county. Locating in Petaluma, Mr. Leffingwell erected the first hotel in the town, which was carried on by Samuel N. Terrell, Mr. Leffingwell's attention being given more particularly to his ranch in the vicinity. The closing years in the lives of this early pioneer settler and his wife were passed in San Luis Obispo, both reaching good old ages.
In 1858 Mary Jane Leffingwell became the wife of Robert B. Miller, who was born May 27, 1833, in Virginia and who came across the plains to California with ox-teams in 1852. The young people began life on the ranch of one hundred and sixty acres seven miles from Sebastopol which was the home of Mr. Miller until his death, August 10, 1870. The only child born of this marriage was Alva O. Miller, whose marriage with Viola Colwell has resulted in the birth of three children. Several years after the death of her first husband Mrs. Miller became the wife of Zachariah A. Thomas, in 1874, his death, December 18, 1905, leaving Mrs. Thomas a widow for the second time. Through sunshine and shadow she has continued to make her home on the ranch on which she first settled as a bride in 1858, in the care of which she is now assisted by her son Alva O. Miller, who with his family resides on the ranch with her. Here may be seen one of the finest fruit ranches in this part of the county, apples, prunes and cherries being raised in large quantities, and all of the fruits are of a choice quality and therefore readily salable.
JOHN MORGAN STRODE.
In the vicinity of Guerneville, Sonoma county, may be seen the thriving ranch of which Mr. Strode is the proud owner. Its prosperous condition both as regards crops and buildings is due to his own untiring efforts, inspired by an appreciation of the value of looking' carefully after details. Mr. Strode was born near Guerneville October 20, 1864, the son of C. E. and Margaret (Goddard) Strode, the former born in Tennessee, and the latter in Iowa. By means of ox- teams the father crossed the plains in 1849, and after spending some time in Contra Costa county, located in Napa county, where he followed farming. Sub- sequently coming to Sonoma county, he settled on a ranch near Geyserville upon which he continued to live throughout his remaining years. The mother is now a resident of Sca View, Cal. Three children were born to these parents, and of the two who are now living John M. is the youngest. He was reared in Napa
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and Sonoma counties, receiving his education in the common schools, after which he turned his attention to farming. In 1897 he purchased the ranch on which he now resides near Guerneville. It was covered with stumps and timber, and after the latter was cut the stumps had to be grubbed and blown out with Judson powder. Some idea of the amount of work this involved may be gathered from the statement that from eight acres of stumps he made eight hundred cords of four-foot wood; this wood was hauled to the Great Eastern quicksilver mines and sold. His ranch originally comprised thirty-five acres, upon which he raised hops for three years, after which for seven years he engaged in the dairy business. By the purchase of adjoining land he has increased the size of his ranch to one hundred and three acres, one mile from Guerneville. He is giving considerable attention to horticulture, having fifteen acres in fruit, the greater part of which is in French prunes. His success in the dairy and fruit business has more than met his expectations and his ranch is counted one of the most valuable in this im- mediate section. Besides the home ranch he also owns a two-thirds interest in seventy acres of land at Geyserville.
Mr. Strode's marriage occurred at Guerneville and united him with Miss Edith Hauffe, who was born in London and was eleven years of age when she came with her parents to California. Seven children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Strode, as follows: Theresa, the wife of T. R. King, of Healdsburg ; Charles, in the United States navy aboard the South Dakota; Margie, Walter, Clara, Andrew and Florence.
Mr. Strode set the example of carving out a ranch from wild land, showing what could be accomplished, and now others are taking advantage of his experi- ment and doing the same thing for themselves. In the face of obstacles he has ยท persevered and has proven beyond question that a man who has a taste for ranch life can make a success of it in Sonoma county. He is enthusiastic in his praise of this section of the state, and by his fellow-citizens is regarded as one of the most public-spirited and generous residents of Guerneville.
SAMUEL RODD.
Among the responsible and successful contractors who have for many years been active in the upbuilding of Petaluma, mention must be made of Samuel Rodd, who was born in Barnstable, Devonshire, England, January 26, 1848, the son of George and Mary (Clark) Rodd, and of their ten children Samuel was the youngest. After completing the course of instruction offered in the public schools he was apprenticed as carpenter and joiner for four years, and during this time he also became proficient as a stairbuilder and a cabinetmaker.
On June 12, 1868, Samuel Rodd left Liverpool for the United States, arriv- ing in Chicago, July 8, 1868, where he worked at his trade until September, 1869. Just after the opening of the Union Pacific Railroad, which occurred in July, 1869, Mr. Rodd came through to California on one of the first trains, the trip from Chicago to San Francisco taking twelve days. On March 6, 1870, he located in Petaluma, which place has been the scene of his activity ever since. He engaged in contracting and building until 1889, when with John L. Camm
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he bought the planing mill and engaged in manufacturing building material. However, in 1895 he sold his interest to Mr. Camm, since which time he has been in the building business. not only in Petaluma, but also in San Francisco, Santa Rosa and Mendocino county. Among the many residences he has built in Petaluma are the following : Healey's, Canope, Hill, Bowles, Sweed, Brown, Risk and Meyers residences, all showing his ability as a builder.
Mr. Rodd was married in Petaluma to Miss Mary Blackburn, a native daughter, whose father, Charles Blackburn, was a prominent and early settler of this city. They have one child, Dorothy C., an accomplished music teacher in Petaluma. Mr. Rodd is a member of the Foresters and for many years was a member of the Petaluma fire department.
THOMAS BENJAMIN WARD.
There is in the whole world no higher field of usefulness than that of edu- cational activity, and the men and women who give their lives to the training of the young. are of all others the most helpful factors in the development of the race. In laying down the work which he has followed with such zest and suc- cess throughout the greater part of his life, Mr. Ward does so with the assurance that he has performed his duties faithfully and well. Since retiring to private life, in 1909, he has given his attention to the cultivation of his ranch of thirteen and a-half acres near Santa Rosa, where as a horticulturist and vineyardist, as well as a raiser of chickens, he is meeting with a success which exceeds his ex- pectations.
On both sides of the family Mr. Ward is a descendant of southern ancestors, both his father and mother being natives of Scott county, Ky. However, they were reared and educated in Fountain county, Ind., and there their marriage occurred in January, 1844. The mother passed away in 1905, at the age of seventy-seven, and the father in 1901, at the advanced age of ninety-five years, seven months and six days. Much of the early married life of this worthy couple was passed in Missouri, and in DeKalb county, that state, their son Thomas was born December 16, 1849. There he was reared and educated and under the wise and careful training of his cultured parents was fitted as few are privileged to be for the special work which he was to follow in life. In 1874. at the age of twenty- four years, he came to California and during that season worked as a ranch hand in Sonoma county. With the opening of the term he became a pupil at the George W. Jones Academy at Santa Rosa, and as soon as he received his certificate, took up the work of teaching in this vicinity. From July, 1875, until 1882, he fol- lowed his profession uninterruptedly, but failing health in the latter year made a change of employment imperative. Appreciating the value of outdoor life as a restorative to one impoverished from too close confinement, he again undertook ranch life and followed this steadily until 1890, when he was enabled to resume his profession, following it steadily up to the year 1909, when he resigned his position and retired from the profession. Since then he has turned his attention to the care of his ranch, which is largely devoted to the raising of fruits common to this locality, apples, prunes and peaches, besides which he has a very flourish-
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ing vineyard. This however does not represent the limit of his abilities as an agriculturist, for he raises chickens on a large scale, and at the present time his flock numbers seven hundred. Besides the home ranch of thirteen and one-half acres, he also owns a ranch of ten acres, which is also under cultivation and under his immediate supervision.
Mr. Ward's first marriage occurred in 1878 uniting him with Miss Mattie K. Crane, a native of California, and the daughter of Robert and Susan (David- son ) Crane, natives of Kentucky and Missouri respectively. Six children, evenly divided as to sons and daughters, were born to Mr. and Mrs. Ward, but the two youngest are deceased. Harry Robert, born July 12, 1879, is interested in mines in Nevada City ; Charles D., born July 5, 1881, is established in the chicken busi- ness in the Rincon valley ; by his marriage with Miss Nellie Van Keppel, of Bennett valley, he is the father of one child; Ellen Forrest, born December 9, 1882, was married in 1906 to Fred Warner, of Clinton county, Mo., where they make their home with their two children, a son and daughter; Stella May, born May 5. 1884. is following in the footsteps of her father in the choice of a life work ; she is a graduate of the Santa Rosa high school and has also taken a five- year course in the state university at Berkeley; all of her training has been with the idea of teaching in the higher grades, and she is now in her second year as instructor in the Corning high school. The death of Mr. Ward's first wife oc- curred June 24, 1888, and on August 19, 1893, he was united in marriage with Miss Laura E. Benson, who is a graduate of the Petaluma high school and had taught in Sonoma county for twelve years. A son and daughter were born of this marriage. Mary Benson was born December 25, 1894, and is now a student in the Santa Rosa high school. The son, William Benson, born July 22, 1898, died when sixteen months old. Mr. Ward is held in high esteem for the good that he has accomplished in Sonoma county, both in the line of his profession through a long course of years, and also as a citizen.
PATRICK SMITH.
For the past fifty-four years Patrick Smith has been a resident of the United States, during all of which time he has also lived in California, and with the exception of five years, has been actively identified with Sonoma county during this entire time. A native of Ireland, he was born in the year 1836, in county Monaghan, and it was in that locality that he was reared and gained his first in- sight into the larger activities of life and its responsibilities. By the time he had reached his majority he had laid out a plan for his future, which was to come to the United States and establish his home in the Pacific coast country, which was then attracting settlers on account of its agricultural possibilities, min- ing at that time being on the wane. With his young wife, whom he had married the year previously, Mr. Smith landed in the port of San Francisco in 1857. After continuing in the metropolis for one year he went to Mendocino county and was engaged in raising sheep altogether for about five years.
Mr. Smith came to this country with a knowledge of farming as conducted in his native land, and after adjusting this knowledge to conditions as he found
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them in his new surroundings he felt competent to own and undertake the man- agement of a property of his own. It was after his experience of five years in Mendocino county just mentioned that he came to Sonoma county and near Cloverdale purchased a mountain ranch upon which he engaged in raising sheep on a large scale. His was probably the largest undertaking of the kind in this part of the county and during the fifteen years that he carried on this ranch he not only made a success of the undertaking from a financial standpoint, but he advanced agricultural activity throughout the locality and otherwise did his part as an active, interested citizen toward the general upbuilding of the community. After disposing of the ranch just mentioned he purchased the property on which he now resides, which is also near Cloverdale, and which has been his home since 1869. Here he has three hundred acres of fine land well suited to the raising of grapes, and this he does .on an extensive scale, having the entire acreage under cultivation. As a complement to his extensive vineyard he maintains a finely equipped winery, where the entire product of the vineyard is manufactured into an excellent quality of wine, the brand being one which is well known and in constant demand.
As has been stated elsewhere, Mr. Smith had formed domestic ties in his native land and brought his wife with him when he immigrated to the United States in 1857. Prior to her marriage, in August, 1856, Mrs. Smith was Miss Ann McElarney, the daughter of parents who never knew any other home than the Emerald Isle. Nine children have been born of this marriage, the eldest of whom, James F., has attained considerable distinction in executive affairs in the Philippine Islands, where in 1906 he was appointed governor of the islands, serving until 1909, and recently he has been further honored by appointment as judge of the federal court by President Taft. The other children in the family are as follows : Frank W., Owen, Kate A., Henry P. (deceased), William J., Anna, Mary E. (deceased) and Genevieve.
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