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 73
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The Lorenzen family is of German extraction. Lawrence Lorenzen, Sr., came from Germany to California in 1848 and engaged in mining at Gold Hill, Placer county. For a time he also conducted general farming. besides which he followed the trade of a ship carpenter. Return- ing to Germany he remained there some years, but, having once seen California, no other coun- try seemed so desirable as a place of residence. Accordingly he came back to the Pacific coast and took up ship-carpentering and the building of schooners at San Francisco. A later location was at Davenport, where he built two schoon- ers, the Undaunted and the R. B. Handy. The latter part of his life was passed at Santa Cruz, where he died at sixty-seven years of age. By his marriage to Maria Peterson, who died in 1863. he had the following-named children: Lawrence, of Santa Cruz; Annie, wife of W. H. Bascowell; Coby, of Oakland; Mary, Mrs. James Peters; George, of Oakland; William, who makes his home in San Francisco; and Emma, Mrs. H. Eckelson.
In 1856, when two years of age, Lawrence Lorenzen, Jr., accompanied his mother and sis- ter to California. . His education was obtained in the schools of Gold Hill and San Francisco. At an early age he began to learn the ship- carpenter's trade with his father, whom he as- sisted in the building of the two schooners at Davenport. He then worked as yard master for the railroad company at Santa Cruz, remaining there some seven years. A later experience was in connection with railroad work in Mexico, but after three months he became ill and, fear- ing an attack of the fever so prevalent, he at once returned to the states. For a time he worked in the employ of the Canadian Pacific Railroad in Canada, after which he spent two years with the Northern Pacific Railroad Com- pany. From there he came to Santa Cruz and accepted the position of wharfinger for Henry Cowell & Co., the duties of which position he has since discharged with dispatch and fidelity. The marriage of Mr. Lorenzen united him
with Clara Dabadie, daughter of Jean Baptiste and Margaret (Gonzales) Dabadie, and a na- tive daughter of Santa Cruz. Her father was born and reared in Bordeaux, France, and there learned the trade of a ship-carpenter, also shipped to sea and became master of a vessel. After coming to California he assisted in the building of some of the very first vessels con- structed on the Pacific coast. As captain he had charge of the first vessel that ever sailed into the port of Santa Cruz. In this city he settled and engaged in building vessels. In 1846 he assisted in building the ship known as Santa Cruz. Three years later he helped to construct the ship Creole. His death occurred in 1889, when he was seventy-four years of age. He had married Margaret, daughter of Juan and Grace (Rodriquez) Gonzales, the former having been one of the earliest settlers of this locality and the owner of a large grant of land. Mrs. Dabadie still makes her home in Santa Cruz. where so much of her life has been passed and among whose citizens she is held in high es- teem. In her family are the following children : Kate, Joseph, John, Isabelle, Laura, Clara (Mrs. Lorenzen), Jennie and Gabriel. The chil- dren of Mr. and Mrs. Lorenzen are Hiram A., Jennie Beatrice and Mark M. In fraternal rela- tions Mr. Lorenzen is identified with the blue lodge, chapter, commandery and Eastern Star, of the Masonic order, and is also connected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Ancient Order of United Workmen.
MARION THOMAS ROWE.
The family of Rowe has been represented in Monterey county for many years, or ever since William H. Rowe, the father of Marion Thomas, squatted on one of the old Spanish grants in 1853, and from then on was an important fac- tor in the development of the resources of the county. This old-time settler was born at Plymouth, England, November 17, 1829, and as early as thirteen years of age embarked on a sailing vessel for America, working his passage as a deck hand. After coming to San Francisco in 1848 he worked in the mines up above Sacra- mento for a short time, but having come to the
ZEPHRIN HEBERT
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conclusion that mining was not his forte, set- tled on the claim before mentioned, where he lived until 1855-6. To better his prospects he then removed to the upper part of the Pajaro valley, where he was the very first settler. He bought one hundred and sixty acres of land. upon which he lived, and to which he added from time to time until at the time of his death, February 1, 1893, he owned one thousand acres in the valley, as well as three hundred and forty acres in the hills. At the present time, his prop- erty, if together, would be valued at a million dollars. but at the time of his death it was prob- ably worth half that amount. He was a member of the Christian Church, in which he was quite active, and towards which he contributed gen- erously. In politics he was a Democrat.
The wife of William H. Rowe was formerly Rhoda Ann McFarland, a native of Missouri, and an early settler in California. She also was identified with the Christian Church, and was the mother of eleven children, of whom nine attained maturity. Ellen married J. R. Cassady, of Watsonville; Cynthia Ann became the wife of E. J. Mann, of Santa Cruz; Charles W. and George W. (twins) are ranchers and live in Watsonville; Marion Thomas is a resident of Monterey county; Sophronia (deceased) was the wife of William Palmtag, of Watsonville; James H. is a rancher of Monterey county; Frank L. is a rancher of this township; Minnie F. married R. P. Quinn, engaged in the real-estate business at Watsonville, and is now deceased.
Like his brothers, Marion Thomas Rowe was reared on the home farm, where he was born May 20, 1861. After his marriage he rented fifty acres of land from his father, and after the latter's death he received a deed for the fifty acres, and in addition received twenty-seven acres adjoining his home. The greater part of his land in under apples, principally Bellefleurs and Newtown Pippins, and last year he sold the crop on the trees of six acres for $500. The orchard is now about eight years old, and is in fine bearing condition.
The wife of Mr. Rowe was born in Denmark, and before her marriage was Katie Bonde, a daughter of N. P. Bonde, with whom she came to America when a child. Four children have
been born to Mr. and Mrs. Rowe, viz: Mabel Rhoda, Harris Elliott. Shirley Irving and William Henry. Although a Democrat in na- tional affairs, Mr. Rowe is very liberal as to local politics, and believes in voting for the best man. He served as deputy assessor for one term, and has held several minor offices in the community. Fraternally he is associated with the Red Men. With his family he is a member of the Christian Church.
CHERI Z. HEBERT.
To an unusual extent Cheri Z. Hebert, owner and manager of the Natividad ranch, six miles northeast of Salinas, inherits the natural gifts which made his father. Zephrin Hebert, one of the most famous of the California pioneers of the early '50s. The son was educated in the public schools and Santa Clara College, and his entire life has been spent on the extensive prop- erty redeemed from uselessness by his far- sighted and large-hearted father.
One of the most interesting, buoyant, and commanding personalities upon the horizon of the days of gold was Zephirin Hebert, who came as did others with little save his dauntless courage and resourceful intellect, to conquer and develop the latent possibilities of the coast. To himself and contemporaries the dire neces- sities of pioneership whetted their sensibilities to the keenest edge, leaving them no alternative in the battle for existence but eternal vigilance and desperate exertion. They knew little leisure, and accepted the conditions and triumphed over the obstacles in such manner that within lit- tle more than half a century wonderful happen- ings, unprecedented in the history of the world, have followed in the wake of their prodigious energy. An optimistic and humor-loving nature contributed much to the success of Mr. Hebert. who saw in all situations, however strenuous or dire, something redeeming and often laugh- able. Adventures crowded into his life, and left their strengthening rather than weakening in- fluence, so that adversity proved his best friend.
A native of Breaux Bridge. St. Martin par- ish, La., Mr. Hebert was born January 17, 1826, and was the youngest of seven brothers and
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two sisters born to parents who were also natives of Louisiana. His father was a farmer and planter, and hi's estate was taken away from him during the war of the Rebellion. When fif- Icen years of age Zephrin relinquished his share of the homestead to his brothers and sisters and lived for a time in New Orleans, starting for California via Chagres and Panama in the year 1850. He was the fortunate possessor of $700, a sum which looked large indeed until after walking from Chagres to Panama he found that a ticket for San Francisco would cost him $500. He therefore abandoned all idea of a steamer passage, and embarked for $75 on the brig W. Brown, but was three months at sea, often on very short allowances of food and water.
This voyage was enlivened by many interest- ing happenings, not the least of which being the circumstance of the passengers taking matters into their own hands and placing an obstrep- erous and drunken captain in irons. Arriving in San Francisco, Mr. Hebert carefully ob- served the crude and ofttimes dangerous con- ditions by which he was surrounded, and re- solved to have as little as possible to do with things purely hazardous. Almost immediately he secured work in a butcher shop and grocery store at $2co per month, and later on engaged in an independent business along the same line on the corner of Jackson and Dupont streets. This proved a successful venture, and after making $3,000 he yielded to the solicitations of his gold struck partner and joined him in an expedition to the mines. The mind of Mr. He- bert was far too conservative and well balanced to be long impressed with the questionable methods of mining, and the fact that their pack mule ran away at the start, scattering their pans and other paraphernalia along the trail, did not strengthen his convictions in favor of mining. The mines abandoned to more trustful souls, Mr. Hebert returned to San Francisco and oper- ated a butcher's stall, and subsequently started at wholesale butcher business, at the same time dealing extensively in sheep with a partner by the name of Sedgley.
Having purchased three thousand acres of land at Natividad, Monterey county, Cal., in
1865, Mr. Hebert came to live on his property in 1868, and was thereafter prominently identi- fied with his locality up to the time of his death, June 25, 1896, at the age of seventy-three years. Ile was a Democrat in politics, but aside from the formality of casting his vote was rarely heard of in political circles. He was earnestly inter- ested in all that had to do with the develop- ment of the resources of Monterey county, and had infinite faith in her possibilities of climate and soil. He was a life member and one of the organizers of the Monterey District Agricul- tural Association, and was one of the founders and a stockholder of the Salinas City Bank. He was liberal in his views, but yet determined and not easily changed, and he was remarkable for his strength of character and influence over those with whom he came in contact.
FRANK MATTISON.
The position of county assessor has been held for a long period by this native son and popular citizen of Santa Cruz. Of English parentage and ancestry, he is a son of John S. Mattison, who was born in Yorkshire in 1823 and accompanied1 his parents to the United States at sixteen years of age. The family settled in Penn Yan, N. Y., but he soon left home and started out to seck an independent livelihood. Going to Chicago he learned the trade of shoemaker. From that city he removed to Michigan City, Ind., where he married Delilah Miles, a native of Pennsyl- vania. At the time of the discovery of gold in 1849 he came to California, arriving at Santa Cruz on Christmas day. Like all newcomers he tried his luck at mining. However, the results were not encouraging and thereupon he re- sumed his trade. Coming to Santa Cruz he started to work as a shoemaker, but soon found that saddles were more in demand than shoes. With him to see was to act, and he promptly set out for the woods, where he cut down trees and constructed the wooden part of a saddle. With no assistance except that of a Mexican ex- perienced in pinking the leather, he sewed and completed the saddles, for which he was paid from $75 to $100 cach. His place of business was on Mission street, where he rented a shop.
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The proceeds of his business enterprise were invested in a ranch, comprising ninety-six acres and located near Soquel. To this place he brought his young wife on their marriage, and there he continued to make his home until he died in 1890. His wife survived him six years and was sixty-seven years of age at the time of her death. In their family were two sons, namely: Frank, who was born in Santa Cruz February 5, 1860, and has always resided in this city or vicinity; and Ralph, who lives on the family homestead, owned by himself and brother. During early days the father was an as- sociate judge of Santa Cruz county. A member of the Sons of Temperance, he did much work in the interests of the prevention of the sale of intoxicants. With his wife he assisted in organizing the Congregational Church at So- quel, and was contributor to the erection of its house of worship.
The early days of Frank Mattison's life were passed on the home farm and in work con- nected with the same. On coming to Santa Cruz he formed a partnership with A. W. Bry- ant and organized the firm of Bryant & Mat- tison, grocers. After three years in the gro- cery business he was elected county assessor to succeed T. V. Mathews, and has been re- elected at the expiration of each term until 1902, when he was the successful candidate for mem- ber State Board of Equalization, fourth district. This fact in itself is abundant proof of the high and satisfactory character of his services. The position which he holds is one of great respon- sibility, but he has been equal to its every de- mand and has proved himself to be the right man in the right place. While his elections have been on the Republican ticket, his friends are by no means limited to that party, but in- clude citizens of various political ties and alle- giance.
The two children of Mr. Mattison are Lila E. and Ruth, born of his marriage to Carrie A. Peck, which was solemnized November 6, 1883. The father of Mrs. Mattison was E. G. Peck, a native of Brownville, Jefferson county, N. Y., born in 1828, and a farmer in the east until 1850, when he accompanied a party of friends across the plains to California. Following the
tisual course of the pioneers of 1850, he en- gaged in prospecting and mining. In addition he also became interested in farming. Return- ing east in 1857, he spent seven years at his old home, but the failure of his health induced him to return to the Pacific coast. On regaining his strength he again went back east, but in 1871 for the third time came to California, this time with the intention of spending his remaining years in the enjoyment of the beauti- ful climate of the coast. Settling near Soquel, he remained there until death.
The liberality of thought and opinion which is noticeable of Mr. Mattison in religious mat- ters extends to other departments of life, and leads him to extend the same charity to others which he believes to be an inalienable right of mankind. To one of his genial disposition a connection with fraternal organizations is in- evitable. In Masonry he is connected with blue lodge, commandery and chapter, and ranks as past master of Lodge No. 38. The Foresters have elected him to the office of chief ranger, while the Odd Fellows honored him by election to the position of chief patriarch of the en- campment. Identified with the Native Sons of the Golden West, he was grand president in 1899.
JAMES H. ROWE.
As an orchardist and rancher James H. Rowe ranks among the most enterprising of those who are maintaining the horticultural and agri- cultural prestige of the Pajaro valley. His pro- nounced abilities have reached out in several directions, and he has lightened the burdens of his fellow farmers by patenting a four-row beet cultivator, which is a decided success and which, with one man and two horses, accomplishes as much work as ten men with the old-time hoe. From this patent, taken out in 1898, Mr. Rowe gets a royalty, and this, added to the profits of his large general harvests. makes him one of the very successful men of his township.
The entire life of Mr. Rowe has been spent in Monterey county, and he was born on the old homestead in Pajaro township, February 18, 1866. His father. William HI. Rowe, was born
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IHISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
near London, England. November 17, 1829, and came to America when thirteen years of age, working his way on the vessel. He mined for some time in California, and eventually became the first settler of the Pajaro valley, at the time of liis death, February 1, 1893, owning more than a thousand acres of land. James H. Rowe was reared on this splendid ranch, and when sixteen years of age began supporting himself by work- ing out by the month. He owned a half inter- est in a threshing machine before he was twenty years of age, and managed to save considerable money from its use during the busy season. He was ambitious of getting a good education, and up to this time his chances had been compara- tively limited. He finally succeeded entering Washington College, at Irvington, Cal., from which he graduated in the two years' course in literature and business. To meet his expenses, his father contributed a share of the money, and the rest he made himself by doing janitor work. The fall after his graduation he disposed of his threshing machine, and the following January became bookkeeper in the general merchandise store of A. Lewis, at Watsonville. After re- signing this position he became foreman for his father on his stock farm in San Benito county, and after his marriage spent a season manag- ing a threshing machine. In partnership with his brother, Frank, he then started a meat mar- ket in Watsonville, which venture proved a most disastrous one and swallowed up consid- erable money. For the following six months he engaged in teaming, after which he assumed charge of Iowa Tuttle's hop yard at Watson- ville, which yard contains thirty acres of hop vines. During that time his father died and left him one hundred and thirty-seven acres of land, seventy-two acres of which are in the valley, and the balance table and hill, hay and grain land. He at once took possession of his prop- erty, and has since put on about four thousand dollars' worth of improvements, and there made his home. He is engaged principally in sugar- beet culture and apple-raising, the former of which he entered into very extensively during the first five years. One year he leased three hundred acres and had four hundred acres under beets. He started in to raise apples by setting
out ten acres in Bellefleurs, Winesaps and New- town Pippins, and in 1898 put out thirty acres in Newtowns and Bellefleurs, and last year he sold his entire apple crop on the trees for $650. In connection with apple-raising Mr. Rowe manages a threshing machine each season. With his brother, George, he is now engaged in the fruit-packing and shipping business in Watsonville.
The first wife of Mr. Rowe, who was formerly Jennie Ryason, died leaving one son, William Bryan, who is living at home. Of the union of Mr. Rowe and Ida Reed, of San José, there are no children. Mrs. Rowe is a daughter of Robert and Anna (Gregson) Reed, the latter of whom was the first white female child born in the state of California. On this account Gen. John Sutter offered to give her parents the land upon which Sacramento was afterward built if they would name her after him. Mrs. Reed is living at the present time in San José, and is fifty-seven years of age. For many years she was a resident of San Luis Obispo county.
MRS. NELLIE M. CHOPE.
As an educator Mrs. Chope not only ranks among the first in Monterey county, but she is well known among the teachers of the state. In the profession to which. she has devoted her life she is recognized as an expert. During the past ten years there is perhaps no science that has made greater development and advance than pedagogy, and it has been the aim of all pro- gressive teachers to keep pace with this ad- vance, hence the life of an earnest, ambitous teacher is one of intense application. Realizing this fact, Mrs. Chope, in the capacity of county superintendent of schools of Monterey county, has endeavored to be of constant aid to capa- ble, aspiring teachers, and in this way she has proved most helpful in securing a general ad- vance in the schools. The people of the county are greatly indebted to her devotion to the wel- fare of schools and teachers.
The primary education of Mrs. Chope was obtained in the village of Seville, near Cleve- land, Ohio, where she was born and where the
An. Gagner
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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
first ten years of her life were passed. From there she went to Kansas with her parents, I. J. and H. Rickard, and four years later, in 1883, settled in Alameda county, Cal., where she at- tended high school. In 1887 she was graduated from the California State Normal at San José. of whose Alumni Association she was elected vice-president at the meeting of 1901, held in San José, and was further honored in 1902 by election to the office of president. From an early age she engaged in teaching school, and taught in Alameda and Santa Clara counties about four years. After coming to Monterey county, she was for six years principal of the King City high school, resigning the posi- tion in 1898, when she was elected superintend- ent of the schools of Monterey county. In 1893 she became the wife of J. E. Chope, who was born in Michigan and is now bookkeeper for Cooper, Elroy & Co., of King City.
Besides filling her position, which necessarily requires much of her time and thought, Mrs. Chope is promoting educational work in other ways, principally through the giving of lectures on pedagogy and kindred topics, and also through her participation in institute work. Be- sides being president of the San José Normal Alumni, she is vice-president of the California State Teachers' Association. The family of which she is a member possesses more than or- dinary ability. While she has become prominent educationally, her sister, Mrs. J. B. Sheerer, has been successfully conducting a large mercantile business and has acquired a large fortune through the exercise of wise judgment in the management of her interests. Patriotism is another family characteristic. Mrs. Chope's great-grandfather was a Revolutionary hero and for a time was confined as a prisoner on the British man-of-war Jersey. Her grandfather fought in the war of 1812, and her father was a defender of the Union during the Civil war, and her brother served in the Philippine war. Her patriotic spirit is equally ardent, and has led her to adopt teaching as the profession in which she can most surely advance the prosperity of our nation, for no one doubts that the weal or woe of our country depends upon the future citizenship of those who are today under the in-
struction of our public-school teachers and su- perintendents.
MICHAEL GAGNON.
This pioneer farmer, who has lived in Santa Cruz county since 1852, was born in Canada, August 16, 1822, and comes of ancestors also devoted to tilling the soil. Ilis parents, Francis and Margaret (Belanger) Gagnon, were natives of Canada, in which country they lived on a farm for their entire lives. One of their chil- dren, Peter, is still a resident of Canada, and is the owner and manager of the home farm.
At the age of sixteen Michael Gagnon fol- lowed a long-thought-out determination and 1out to sea on a merchant vessel, thereafter de- voting several years of his life to this method of livelihood. Beginning with 1844 he sailed for the greater part on the Pacific ocean, and April 3, 1849, left Liverpool, landing in San Francisco the following July. The winter of 1849 was spent in Oakland, and during the spring of 1850 he went to Nevada City and en- gaged in mining for a couple of years. His experiences among the gold mines could not have been particularly cheering, for in 1852 he came to Santa Cruz county and bought his present farm, on Lake avenue, near Watsonville. He has thirty-four acres of land, part of which comprises one of the finest orchards in Santa Cruz county. There is also a grove of fifty English walnut trees, which yield large and gratifying returns every season.
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