USA > California > History of the State of California and biographical record of Coast Counties, California. An historical story of the state's marvelous growth from its earliest settlement to the present time > Part 60
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After making his home in Natividad for many years, in 1889 Mr. Patton came to Salinas. Here his last days were spent in retirement from business cares, excepting such as werc connected with the ownership of large tracts of land. His landed possessions aggregated three thousand acres, of which seven hundred were devoted to general agricultural purposes, while the balance afforded pasturage for his herds of stock. Included in his stock were a number of fine milch cows, for he added dairying to his other interests. All of his success was achieved by his own exertions. Through no royal road he won his way to fortune. Like all pioneers, he suffered numberless hardships and discom- forts ere he had surrounded his family with the comforts of existence. His neighbors were few in the old days, and few men passed his ranch except those who were traveling in the old stage coach and who stopped at his place for rest and refreshment. With the exception of these glimpses of the outside world, he was isolated from the great centers of commerce and prog- ress, but he kept on his way quietly and perse- veringly, and in the end won the recognition his efforts deserved. By his marriage to Cornelia Stewart he had six children, three of whom, Alice, William and May, reside in Salinas. Em- ma is the wife of John B. Sterling and Annie married Roy Alexander. The fourth child, Jud- son, died at thirteen years of age. Mrs. Patton died in 1899, and her husband survived her two years, passing away March 9, 1901. In the
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affections of their children and acquaintances their memory has a permanent abiding place, and their names will be cherished as long as those remain who came within reach of their kindly and genial hospitality and friendly spirit.
R. W. PUTNAM.
In line of descent from Rufus Putnam of Mas- sachusetts and from other men honorably asso- ciated with the early history of America, Mr. Putnam was born in Troy, N. Y., in 1853. His connection with California dates from 1874. when he first came to the state. From that time to this, with the exception of seven years (1879- 1886) spent in Honolulu engaged in plantation pursuits, he has continued a resident of this state. On his return from the Pacific islands he purchased and settled upon a ranch at Tem- pleton. About the same time (1886) Paso Robles began its existence as a town. In 1887 he embarked in the real estate business with W. J. Sherman, under the firm name of Sherman & Putnam, and the two continued together in Paso Robles until the death of Mr. Sherman in 1891. The firm title was then changed to Put- nam & Hood and continued as such until 1896. During the period from 1887 to 1896 Mr. Put- nam was intimately associated with the platting of lots in the new town and with the improve- ment of the same by the erection of neat cottages or commodious residences. As a real estate agent his advice was daily sought in matters connected with the buying or selling of land, and his opinion was valued by reason of his thorough acquaintance with every phase of the business.
Under the administration of President Cleve- land, Mr. Putnam was appointed postmaster at Paso Robles and filled the office for four years, retiring after the election of President McKin- ley. He then took up the study of law and in April, 1900, was admitted to the bar before the superior court. Since then he has carried on a general practice in all the courts and is meet- ing with the success which his talents and thor- ough mastery of the profession merit. In addi- tion to his private practice he is attorney for the Salinas Valley Merchants' Association. He was
one of the organizers and served as a director of a company that projected the plan of building a railroad from Paso Robles to Cayucos. While a member of the firm of Putnam & Hood, he and his partner built the reservoir for the city water works, graded all the streets of Paso Robles and were the lessees and managers of the street car line for two years.
In 1899 the Paso Robles Improvement Club was organized by Mr. Putnam, in connection with Frank Sparks, A. R. Booth, E. M. Bennett, Albert Pfister, E. Brendlin and E. C. Watkins. At the first election Mr. Putnam was chosen president of the club and he has been re-elected for each succeeding term. The object of the or- ganization is to improve the city and promote its interests. Every citizen of the town appre- ciates the work already accomplished by the club, and without doubt its future will be richly fruitful of results, to the lasting benefit of local interests. On the organization of the Paso Robles Board of Trade, April 10, 1891, Mr. Put- nam was chosen its secretary and continued active in the board during its existence. In 1895 lie was a delegate to the state convention of the Democratic party, and frequently he has served in the same capacity in county conventions. In 1890 he was his party's candidate for county recorder. During the entire existence of the county central committee he has been one of its members and for three years served as its chairman. Fraternally he is connected with the San Luis Lodge of Elks. His marriage occurred in San Francisco in 1872, and united him with Miss Mary L. Davidson, a native of New York state. They are the parents of three children, namely: Charles G., who is an attorney ; George WV. and Ruby F.
ERNEST M. PAYNE.
As one of the foremost hardware merchants in San Luis Obispo, and as supervisor of the third district, Mr. Payne is exerting a progres- sive influence in the town, and has withal an enviable reputation for integrity and sobriety. A native son of the county, he was born near Cambria in 1870, and when a small child moved to San Luis Obispo, which has ever since been
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his home. His father, George M. Payne, is a native of Illinois, and was engaged in the livery business in this town for nearly twenty-five years, during which time he served as postmas- ter under President Cleveland's administration. He subsequently removed to Oregon, and has since been connected with business in that state. He married Martha Mills, a native of Missouri, and who died when her son Ernest was a small child.
When sixteen years of age Ernest M. Payne undertook to become financially independent by learning the plumber's trade, having accom- plished which he worked here at his chosen oc- cupation for about ten years. He then went east and attended a plumbing school in New York, graduating therefrom in the summer of 1879. For the following two years he worked at his trade in New York City. Two years ago he returned to the familiar surroundings of San Luis Obispo and bought out the hardware enter- prise of Hewitt & Sutliff, which he has since built up and added new stock and appointments. He receives a large patronage from those who desire good goods and fair treatment, and his store is one of the busy centers of activity in the town.
A Democrat in national and local politics, Mr. Payne was elected supervisor of the third dis- trict at the last election, and is giving general satisfaction in the discharge of his responsibil- ities in that direction. He is fraternally allied with the Woodmen of the World, and has twice been president of the San Luis Obispo Parlor. Native Sons of the Golden West. Mr. Payne enjoys the respect and liking of all who know him, and he is considered a distinct acquisition to the best interests of San Luis Obispo.
HERMAN J. O. PRINZ.
This retired builder and lumber merchant of Monterey was born in Prussia, Germany, No- vember 6, 1841, and had considerable business experience before coming to America. His father was a carpenter and cabinet-maker by trade, and while still a youth the son became familiar with tools and all kinds of carpenter
work. At the age of nineteen he went to Paris, France, and worked at his trade for a couple of years, and in London was similarly employed for a year and a half. In 1868 he came to the United States, landing in New York harbor in June, and thereafter went to Milwaukee, Wis., where he found employment in a car-building concern. .At the expiration of six or seven years he re- moved to Cheyenne, and after ten months came to California, locating in Monterey July 22, 1874. Here he built cars for the narrow gange railroad running between Monterey and Salinas, and in November of the same year opened a small shop of his own where he turned out general carpen- ter work. Gradually he worked up a large trade and had a number of important contracts. among others being those for the erection of the first buildings of Pacific Grove.
In 1880 Mr. Prinz gave up his large carpenter business in Monterey and bought out a lumber company in the city, in connection with the management of which he built a small planing mill, subsequently replaced by a larger one. These combined interests proved a source of large profit, and after many years of business activity the owner thereof sold out his business July 1, 1901, and has since lived a retired life. As evidence of his abiding faith in the future of his adopted locality he has invested heavily in town and county property, his acquisitions including a half interest in the Metropole Hotel, many valuable town lots, and one hundred and fourteen acres of land between Monterey and Pacific Grove, which will be sold for residence lots and is therefore of great value.
A stanch Republican, Mr. Prinz has been very active in years past, and filled the position of city trustee for two terms. He is fraternally connected with the Monterey Lodge No. 219. F. & A. M., having joined that organization twenty-six years ago. Mr. Prinz married in London, England, in 1867, Lora Martin, a na- tive of London, and who died January 20, 1902. Ile is a fair example of the successful western business man, and has an enviable reputation in the world of business. In 1808 he took a pleas- ure trip of four months, and visited London. Berlin, Paris, Jerusalem and other points of in- terest, both in Europe and the Holy Land.
JE Trafton
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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
JOHN EDMUND TRAFTON.
This extensive land owner and dairyman of the Pajaro valley was born at Stanstead, Can- ada, half a mile from the Vermont line, July 18, 1837, and when three years of age was taken to Missouri with his parents. At the age of fifteen his life was overshadowed by the death of his father on the overland trail near Fort Kearney, and at the age of nineteen he em- barked upon an independent career upon a squatter's right in this valley, which has since been made to appreciate the value of his services as business man, farmer and citizen.
David Trafton, the father of John Edmund, was born and reared in Maine. About 1827 he removed to Canada, where he married Sarah Woodbury, a native of Vermont. In 1840 he settled in Boone county, Mo., where he engaged in the mercantile and hotel business at Roche- port until 1852. During that year the family joined a caravan bound for the western sca coast, but when near Fort Kearney the father was taken ill with cholera, from which he never recovered. His family profited somewhat by his government services during the Mexican war, for which they received a land bounty. He was fifty-seven years of age at the time of his death, was a Democrat in political prefer- ence, and was fairly successful in his business life. He was of German ancestry, and his father was also a native of Maine. After the disaster of her husband's death, Mrs. Trafton courageously took up the burden of life with her children and continued her journey to Sacra- mento. There she engaged in the hotel busi- ness for a short time, but eventually settled on a ranch near the city, upon which she lived until coming to the Pajaro valley, where her death occurred in 1801, at the age of eighty years. She was a remarkable pioneer mother, and was very active up to the final illness which caused her death. A member of the Presbyterian Church, she was very high minded, and reared her six children to ways of usefulness and honor. Phœbe A. is the widow of C. O. Sill- man, of Santa Cruz, Cal .; Charles D. is a rancher in the Pajaro valley; George A. is en- gaged in the feed business at Watsonville; Mary
Emma is the wife of Mr. Willoughby of Santa Cruz; and Walter T., a druggist of Watsonville, died at the age of twenty-seven years.
In 1875 John Edmund Trafton sold his squat- ter's claim in the Pajaro valley, and bought three hundred acres of the land which he now owns, to which he soon after added another three hundred acres. Besides this, which is all in one body, he owns two hundred and thirty acres located in another part of the valley for which he paid $250 an acre seven years ago. This latter purchase he rents out for $20 an acre. At the present time he farms about five hun- dred acres, and keeps a dairy of one hun- dred and twenty-five cows, mostly Holsteins. He has been prominent in the affairs of the valley, but though an active and stanch Demo- crat has never been willing to hold any kind of office. He was one of the organizers and is a director of the Pajaro Valley Bank at Wat- sonville. In addition he was an organizer, is a director and has always been president of the Watsonville Creamery Company, a very suc- cessful enterprise, to which he sells his milk. Mr. Trafton is fraternally associated with the Watsonville Lodge No. 110, F. & A. M .; Chap- ter No. 41, R. A. M .; and Commandery No. 22, K. T., at Watsonville, which he joined in 1883.
ROBERT PORTER.
The splendidly equipped ranch and beautiful liome of Robert Porter is situated in the Blanco district, three and a half miles southwest of Sa- linas. This prominent cattle man and farmer was born in the Quebec Province, Canada, Jan- nary 4, 1854, his father, Thomas Porter, being a native of the same province. The father was a blacksmith by trade, and lived on the line of the New York & Canada Railroad, his untimely and unfortunate death occurring when he was only thirty-five years of age. Ife married Ellen Woodrow, a native of Ireland, who came to Canada when she was six years of age. She contracted a second marriage when her son, Robert, was ten years of age, and died in On- tario at the age of sixty-four years. She was a member of the Presbyterian Church and the
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mother of six children, of whom Robert was third.
Robert Porter was four years of age when his father died, and thereafter he lived with his mother until her second marriage, when he was placed with a farmer in the neighborhood. who gave him clothes and board in return for his small services. At a later period he was allowed to attend the district school in the win- ter time, and worked hard in the fields during the summer season. After living with this farmer for six or seven years he engaged in the lumber business in Canada, and was thus iden- tified with a large lumbering concern for three years. In 1874 he came to the vicinity of where he now lives, first having investigated the con- ditions in Butte county, Cal. For a time he worked by the month in this valley, and then leased two hundred acres of land for three years, afterward purchasing one hundred and thirty- four acres of his present ranch. To this he added from time to time, and now has a hundred and sixty-seven acres in the home ranch. Besides this, he owns a thousand acres of mountain pasture land. He is engaged in extensive dairy- ing and raises principally Durham cattle. He is very prominent in his section, and has one of the best paying properties to be found in the locality.
Mrs. Porter was formerly Margaret L., daugh- ter of James Bardin, and was born in the Salinas valley, May 15, 1861. She has two hundred and seventv-six acres of land left her by her father, some of which is bottom land. To Mr. and Mrs. Porter have been born three children, James Thomas, Eva Blanche and Leslie Robert. The children are living at home.
SHELLEY PICKLES.
That Mr. Pickles is a master engineer and machinist and thoroughly reliable man is evi- donced by the fact that he has been chief engi- neer of the Del Monte Hotel ever since 1892. During the ten years thus employed he has dis- charged his large responsibility with great credit, and is considered one of the best in his line on the coast. To the unitiated the enormity of his task is hardly understood, but to those who have
traversed the extent of the giant hostelry, a faint perception may be had of the number of steam pipes and general mechanical apparatus involved in the conduct of the business of the hotel. Four or five men are employed under the chief en- gineer, yet he is personally responsible for the safety and well being of the hundreds of guests who yearly throng to this ideal coast retreat.
A native of Cincinnati, Ohio, Mr. Pickles was born October 12, 1864, and when five years of age removed with his parents to St. Louis, where the father engaged in the hardware busi- ness. The home was in Kirkwood, a suburb of St. Louis, in the public schools of which town Shelley Pickles received his preliminary educa- tion. When eighteen years of age he entered the machine shop of the Central iron works at St. Louis, and after serving an apprenticeship of four years, continued to follow his trade in the Missouri city until 1886. He then located in San Francisco, Cal., and was employed in the iron works until 1892, in which year he became associated with the Del Monte Hotel at Mon- terey.
Since coming to Monterey Mr. Pickles has married Edith Clark, of which union there is one son, Horace, now four years old. Mr. Pickles is a Democrat in politics, and is fraternally a member of the Woodmen of America.
DAVID W. POTTER.
One of the busiest places in the little village of San Lucas is the blacksmith establishment of David. W. Potter, who, while catering to a substantial trade extending for miles around. has found time also to fill many offices of trust and responsibility in the neighborhood. He is a native son of Monterey county, and was born near Salinas, October 16, 1857.
Andrew P. Potter, the father of David W .. came to California in 1853, the journey overland by team consuming the greater part of six months. He located in Monterey county on the farm now occupied by his son, and which he bought from the government soon after his arrival. At the present time he is hale and hearty, although summers and winters amount- ing to seventy-three have passed over his head.
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He has been industrious and frugal, and has set a good example for those starting out in life without money or influence.
After finishing his education at the Business College at Santa Cruz, David W. Potter applied himself to learning the blacksmith's trade at Salinas, completing his trade at the end of two years. He then engaged in running a threshing machine through the country, and at the same time managed a blacksmith shop at Blanco. He also engaged in farming on a considerable scale, and was fairly successful in these various occupations. He became permanently identified with San Lucas in 1891. during which year he started a little shop and began to manufacture wagons, and to do general repair work and blacksmithing for the surrounding farmers and citizens.
October 16, 1899, Mr. Potter was united in marriage with Ellnora Harris, a native of North Dakota, and of this union there are two children, Willis and Allis. Mr. Potter is independent in politics, and believes in voting for the best man. That he is appreciated by his fellow townsmen is evidenced by the fact that he has been repeat- edly called to office. He served as justice of the peace from 1892 until 1900, and has been a notary public from 1897 until the present time. For many years he has rendered valuable service as a member of the school board, and he was elected trustee in 1901, and re-elected in 1902 for three years. He is one of the progressive men of the town, and enjoys the confidence and esteem of all who know him.
A. G. PINHO.
The proprietor of the largest barber shop in San Luis Obispo is a native of Fayal, one of the group of the Western Islands, and was born November 17, 1854. His father, also A. G. Pinho, was born in Oporto, Portugal, and by occupation was a navigator and sea-faring man, eventually becoming captain of a sailing ves- sel. His last voyage and last command was the Newsboy. which was lost in a storm off the coast of Florida. The sea captain's wife was Catherine, daughter of Antonio Y. Sylva, who also was born in Portugal, and who was a man-
ufacturer of straw matting at Fayal, the enter- prise being the only one of its kind on the isle. Signor Sylva was a successful man and acquired considerable wealth, his age at the time of his death being seventy-eight. Of the children born to the captain and his wife one is deceased, and of the four remaining A. G. is the oldest.
In his island home Mr. Pinho was educated in the public schools, at the Lyceum, and at a private school. His business career was inaugu- rated as a clerk in a general store on the isle of Tercerira, also one of the Western Islands, and at the end of a year and a half he made a systematic tour of the islands, studying the peo- ple and their customs. He came to America in 1870. settling in Boston, Mass., and afterward removing to Rutland, Vt., where he lived for a couple of years. Upon returning to Boston he followed his trade of barber and also traveled extensively through the east, seeking a desirable permanent location. He eventually settled in Fall River, Mass., where he opened a barber shop, but this was soon after disposed of at a profit, after which he located in New Bedford, Mass. In 1883 he came to San Luis Obispo and opened up the finest and largest shop in the town, and from a comparatively insecure be- ginning, and with naught to aid him save the mastery of his trade, has worked up a patronage among the exclusive people of the town.
Since establishing his success in San Luis Obispo Mr. Pinho has been called upon to iden- tify himself in various ways with the representa- tive undertakings of the town, not the least of which has been the fire department, of which he has been treasurer for the past fifteen years. He is a member of the exempt firemen of this city, also a member of the board of trustees, and is fraternally associated with various orders. among others being the Odd Fellows Encamp- ment, the Elks, the Ancient Order of United Workmen, and the Royal Arcanum. The Por- tuguese societies with which he is identified are the U. P. E. S.'s, the I. D. E. S.'s and the B. L.'s. which was a local organization. He is a Repub- lican in politics, and a member of the Catholic Church.
In Boston, Mass .. Mr. Pinho was united in marriage with Frances Coster, and of this union
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there are two children, Mabel and Mamie. Mr. Pinho has many friends in San Luis Obispo, and is regarded as a thoroughly adaptive representa- tive from foreign shores.
W. C. PHILLIPS.
Many of the notable public and private build- ings in different parts of the country are due to the constructive and designing skill of W. C. Phillips, the only authorized architect of San Luis Obispo. A native of Niagara county, N. Y., he was born November 15, 1856, a son of James C. Phillips, a farmer in New York state all his life. The elder Phillips valiantly served his country during the Civil war for four years, and, enlisting as a private, became first lieuten- ant of the Ninety-fourth New York Volunteers. He did not long survive his admirable war rec- ord, his death occurring the year after the res- toration of peace. His wife was formerly Louise A. Foster, a native of Orwell, Vt., and W. C. Phillips was her only child. Mr. Phillips had been married before, and of that union there were two children.
In addition to a common-school education, Mr. Phillips has always been a great reader, and at the present time has a large fund of in- formation gained through the medium of books and observation. At the age of eighteen years he went to a paint shop and learned the trade of painting, and after an apprenticeship of eighteen months spent five years in a machine shop. In 1879 he removed to Omaha, Neb. His health having failed from close confinement in the shop, he spent three months on the Pawnee reservation, later settling there as one of the pioneers of the reservation, which continued to be his home until 1895. He then came to San Luis Obispo and began to follow his trade, and has since been identified with building interests in various parts of the state and county. Nearly all of the important structures throughout the country have been either planned or approved by him, and at the present time he has all the work that he can possibly turn out. He planned the Guadaloupe school building, the Warden block in San Luis Obispo, the Beebce block, the court house at Fullerton, Neb., four brick
buildings in Arroyo Grande, besides many resi- dences in different parts of this and other states.
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