Pen pictures from the garden of the world, or Santa Clara county, California, Part 52

Author: Foote, Horace S., ed
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: Chicago : The Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 844

USA > California > Santa Clara County > Pen pictures from the garden of the world, or Santa Clara county, California > Part 52

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PHOTO ENG.TO.N. X

VIEWS OF THE HOME OF OLIVER BOULIEU. IN THE WILLOWS.

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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

Illinois, in the latter part of July, 1865. He then returned to Galena and resumed work as a brewer at the brewery, which he left when he enlisted in the Union army. There he worked until 1868, when he came to California. He first located at San Fran- cisco, where he worked in the National Brewery for five years, when, in 1873, he went to Castroville, Monte- rey County, California. There he purchased a brew- ery, and carried on brewing until 1870, when he closed it and came to Santa Clara, and purchased the Santa Clara Brewery, where he has carried on that business since. Mr. Lauck has proved himself a successful business man, and although he left his parents and native land a mere lad, and without money, to begin life for himself in a strange land, he saved his earn- ings, which have proved a stepping-stone to his busi- ness success and present prosperity.

November 16, 1865, he was married, at Galena, Illi- nois, to Magdellena Eberhard, who died at Santa Clara, California, April 11, 1884. To them were born seven children: Julia C., Emma S., wife of Samuel Oberdeener, of Santa Clara, Mary Magdellena, George A., Frank, Clara, and Louisa. All his children, ex- cepting his married daughter, are still with him.

RANK F. JEWELL, D.D., was born November 9, 1830, at Floyd, Oneida County, New York. He is one of five children, and the only son of Erastus and Phenie (Miner) Jewell. He was reared on the farm and educated in the public schools and select academies until the age of eighteen years, when he began teaching in his native county. For nine years he taught, and during that time pursued farm- ing on his father's farm two years. After becoming of age he was elected to, and held, minor township offices, and in 1855 was elected Justice of the Peace, holding that office by re-election four years, and dur- ing that time studied law. Before completing his law course he was converted and united with the Method- ist Episcopal Church at Orwell, Oswego County, New York, after which he abandoned the study of law and took up theology. In 1859 he was placed in charge of the church at Heuvelton, St. Lawrence County, New York, that being his first pastorate. He then filled consecutively the pulpits at Malone, Franklin County, Adams, Jefferson County, Ilion, Herkimer County, and Oswego city, New York. He was then, in 1872, transferred to the Howard Street Methodist Episcopal Church, San Francisco, California, filling

that pulpit three years. In 1875 he was placed in charge of the Central Methodist Episcopal Church, San Francisco, and in 1878 the Methodist Episcopal Church at San Jose, California. In 1881 he was re- turned to the Howard Street Church at San Fran- cisco, where he remained three years, when, in 1884, he founded the Simpson Memorial Church of San Fran- cisco, which was organized with a membership of only eighteen, and with no house of worship. The mem- bership at the end of his term in 1887 numbered about one hundred, and a church edifice, one of the finest in the city, had been erccted, at a cost of $40,- 000. In September, 1887, he was returned to the pastorate of the First Methodist Episcopal Church at San Jose. Before coming to California, he, from 1868 to 1872, was Secretary of the Central New York Con- ference, and in 1872 was elected a delegate by that Conference to the General Conference at Brooklyn, New York, and in 1884 was sent by the California Conference as a delegate to the General Conference at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 1874 the University of the Pacific conferred upon him the degree of D. D., being the first conferred upon any by that institution.

In 1849 Mr. Jewell was married, at Orwell, New York, to Miss Charlotte M. Brooks, daughter of Charles and Fidelia (Strong) Brooks, of that place. Three children were born to them: Octavia S., wife of C. J. Moyes, died at San Francisco in 1882, aged thirty years; Orla H., late member of the San Fran- cisco Produce Exchange, died in San Francisco in 1884, aged thirty years; and Estella, wife of Thomas G. Walkington, a member of the San Francisco Prod uce Exchange, and a resident of that city.

NDREW FINLEY MCAFEE. The subject of this sketch was born in Garrard County, Kentucky, on March 22, 1836. When one year of age his parents removed to Platte County, Missouri, and took up land, and in this vicinity Mr. McAfee resided until twenty-five years of age, gathering a practical education from a busy life of labor, and gleaning such book learning as is obtainable at the public schools. In 1863 he went to Leavenworth, Kansas, and for eight years was a master builder in the government employ. He then returned to Mis- souri, residing in Harrisonville, Cass County, where he erected a large public-school building and other important edifices. In 1874 Mr. McAfee came to California and at once entered the works of the

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Pacific Manufacturing Company, in Santa Clara, as draughtsman and foreman of the works. He has re- mained with them ever since, his skill and practical experience as an arehiteet and builder standing thein in good stead.

Mr. McAfee is a man of the times, one who has risen by sheer force of brains, and although without technical education has, by his natural aptitude for applied mechanics and the mechanical arts, arrived at a certainty of knowledge excelled by few. His long and satisfactory performance of his duties with the company, the efficient direction of the varied and ex- tended operation of the works, and his steady and persistent advancement of their best interests, manifest his fitness for positions of responsibility, and his abil- ity to manage extensive affairs.

Mr. McAfee was married, in 1863, to Mrs. Paine, a native of Louisiana, whom he met while visiting Missouri. They have four children : Flora, Jesse, Mattie, and George Andrew, all residing with their parents at their handsome residence in the Davis and Chapman tract between San Jose and Santa Clara. Mr. McAfee was a member of the Town Council of Santa Clara for eight years, sending in his resignation on April 1, 1888, on moving outside the town limits. He has also been a member of various county com- mittees, and has frequently been solicited to stand for offices in the election gift of his fellow-citizens, but has invariably refused, feeling that the calls of private duties and the engagements of business pre- cluded public service. He is a member of the Ma- sonic Order, holding an honorable place in Friendship Lodge, No. 210, Howard Chapter, No. 14, R. A. M., and San Jose Commandery, No. 10, Knights Temp- lars, and also a member in good standing of the A. O. U. W. Mr. McAfee's father was named George, a mechanic and practical man. His grand- father and his two brothers came out from Scotland and accompanied General Boone into Kentucky when it was a wilderness, being pioneers of that State. His mother was of English descent. Both his parents died in extreme old age in Missouri.

EORGE WASHINGTON TOWLE was born in the town of Newfield, Maine, November 15. 1810. His father was Major Josiah Towle, a native of New Hampshire, and was one of the early settlers of that portion of the then Province of Maine. He was a successful business man and rep-

resented his town in the Legislature of Massachusetts, at Boston. He was twice married, his second wife being Miss Naney Doe, a daughter of a prosperous farmer of Parsonfield, Maine. George Washington was the first-born son of his mother. He received a common-school education, supplemented by a few terms in academies at Fryeburg and Effingham. At twenty years of age he engaged in business as a mer- chant at Lincoln, Penobscot County, Maine, and gave his personal attention to the business until the fall of 1839.

Owing to the disagreement of the commissioners appointed by the United States and Great Britain to locate the boundary line between Maine and New Brunswick, there was for a long time a heavily tim- bered tract of wild land larger than several of the States, called the disputed territory. This land was drained by rivers flowing into the Province, and the valuable pine timber was each winter taken off by the people of the Province. This state of facts was rep- resented to the general government, and the necessity of the settlement of the boundary urged, but without effect. Maine finally resolved to protect her property, and in January, 1839, the Legislature passed an act instructing the State Land Agent and Sheriff of Penobscot County to raise an armed force of 300 men and take possession of the territory and arrest all persons found trespassing there. He was asked to raise a company, and in February of that year led his company 100 or more miles into the disputed territory.

This act of Maine caused a great excitement in the Province, and the British troops quartered there were ordered to proceed to the disputed ground, and the governor of Maine ordered out the militia. In the meantime the volunteers were re-inforced and moved down the Aroostook River some seventy-five miles and took a position on a hill that commanded the line as elaimed by Maine and the Aroostook River. Upon this hill they built a block-house of heavy timbers and surrounded it with palisades, and named it Fort Fairfield. While this was in progress General Scott was sent by the general government on a mis- sion of peace to the Province, and succeeded in pre- venting bloodshed. On the arrival of the militia the volunteers were dismissed, and he returned to his business. In the fall of 1839 he was asked to take charge of this post in a half civil and half military capacity, as assistant land agent and captain, and with some forty men he took charge of the fort. That winter he arrested the proprietors and confiscated the teams of some half dozen large camps of trespassers,

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which discouraged any further attempts of the kind. He remained there until 1841, when he resigned, and soon afterward the place was occupied by United States troops.

He then went into business at Presque Isle as farmer, lumberman, and merchant. In the spring of 1849 he closed his business there, moved to Bangor, and became connected with a joint-stock company that purchased and loaded a vessel, and sailed for Cal- ifornia November 1, 1849, as President of the com- pany, arriving in April, 1850. He and a few others went to the mines of the Yuba and Feather Rivers. Owing to sickness he left mining and went into busi- ness in Marysville, as furniture manufacturer and hotel-keeper. He left there in 1852, and for a short time engaged in the commission business and keeping a boarding and lodging house in San Francisco. He sold out there and came to Santa Clara and purchased the land where he now lives.

In early life he was a Democrat, and was elected by the Legislature of Maine a member of the Governor's Council from the Seventh District, and served one term.

In 1856 he took an active part in the organization of the Republican party in this county, and remains a Republican.

In 1834 he was married, in Penobscot County, to Miss Hephziba Flint Watson, a native of that county and a descendant of the Flint family, prominent in that State, and a daughter of Rev. Edmond Watson, of Penobscot County. Both are members of the Presbyterian Church. They have two living chil- dren: Charles B., a teacher at Vallejo, California, and George W., Jr., an attorney of San Francisco. They lost four children: Helen Mar, who died April 12, 1855, aged eighteen years; Julia Katie, October 20, 1857, aged twelve years; Edwin Henry, October 30, 1857, aged eighteen years; and Elisha A., November 19, 1861, aged twenty years.

AMUEL OBERDEENER, druggist of Santa Clara, was born at San Francisco, California, Sep- tember 14, 1859. His father, Moses Oberdeener, deceased, was a prominent druggist and prosperous business man at Santa Clara for a number of years. Samuel removed with his father's family from San Francisco to Santa Clara when he was eleven years of age. At the age of fourteen he graduated at the Santa Clara High School with the class of 1874.

He then entered his father's drug-store as a clerk, at Santa Clara, to learn the drug business. In 1879 he entered the Department of Pharmacy in the State University of California, at San Francisco, at which he graduated with honor in 1880, receiving the gold medal awarded for his high standing in his class. Returning to Santa Clara, he clerked in his father's drug-store until September 1, 1882, when he became his father's successor by purchase.

Politically, he is a Republican. In 1888 he re- ceived the unanimous vote for member of the Board of School Directors for the town of Santa Clara. He is an Odd Fellow, and holds a membership in Santa Clara Lodge, No. 52, I. O. O. F., of which he is Past Grand. He is also a member of Santa Clara Encampment, No. 32, I. O. O. F., of which he is Past Chief Patriarch and Treasurer. In 1887 he was ap- pointed, by the Grand Encampment of the State of California, District Deputy Grand Patriarch for the Thirteenth District of the State of California.

April 25, 1887, he was married at Santa Clara to Miss Emma Lauck, daughter of George and Mag- dellena Lauck, of Santa Clara.

NTONIO FATJO is a native of Spain, and was born in 1828, at Barcelona. He is the fourth 9 son of John and Madsona (Ravvento) Fatjo. In his fifteenth year, after being educated in the classic school of Barcelona, he was sent to South America under the care of Dr. Noguera, on a tour for his health. His ancestors were of an old and wealthy family of Spain, and under the primogeniture laws he, being the fourth son, would inherit nothing from his father's estate. Knowing this, young Fatjo, on reaching Santiago, Chili, informally left his traveling companion, when a merchant of that city came on board the vessel, inquiring for educated young Span- iards who would make good clerks. He was em- ployed as a clerk in the wholesale dry-goods house of Infanta Bros., of Santiago. In Chili young men of old Spanish families are sought after to be em- ployed as mercantile clerks, and the father of young Fatjo being prominently known he easily obtained the situation, when he abandoned the voyage pro- posed by his father. He remained with Infanta Bros., at Santiago, for six years, when, in 1849, hearing of the fabulous gold finds in California, and crazed by the reports, he conceived the uncontrollable desire to visit those rich fields, and, asking for a leave of absence, he

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left his place behind the counter, never to resume work again in Santiago. He came to Santa Clara, where he met Joseph Argues, with whom he became associated, and with whom he was connected in busi- ness many years, dealing in cattle and carrying on mercantile business in Santa Clara.

At Santiago, Chili, in 1847, he was married to M. Salcedo, who died at Barcelona, Spain, in 1865, and by whom he had five children : Antonio, Amelia, John, Clorinda, and Luis.

Twice Mr. Fatjo has been obliged, on account of failing health, to visit Spain, the first time spending only a few months, but at another twelve years, his sons who were associated with him still carrying on the mercantile business at Santa Clara. He married his second wife, Mrs. Raventos, in Santiago, Chili, in 1877. He and his family are Catholics and members of the Catholic Church at Santa Clara.

Mr. Fatjo has had an active business life, and suc- cess has crowned his efforts, and now, having his sons, who are still connected with him, to bear the burden of business pursuits, he has in a measure retired, and is peacefully and happily spending the declining years of his life in the enjoyment of his children and grandchildren, blessed with all that makes home pleasant and life happy.

ACOB EBERHARD, proprietor of the Santa Clara Tannery, at Santa Clara, is prominently known, not only in California, but also in many of the large islands of the Pacific and the various States where the products of his extensive tannery find a market.

He was born in the Grand Duchy of Baden, Ger- many, in 1837, and brought to America by his par- ents, Michael and Magdellena (Soth) Eberhard, when he was fifteen years of age, they settling at Galena, Illinois, where young Eberhard learned the trade of harness and saddle making. He afterward traveled through Wisconsin, working at his trade as a journey- man until 1858, when in March of that year he came to California via Panama. Here he was variously employed at his trade, or as a farm hand, or a miner in the gold diggings, until 1862, when he opened a harness shop in Sacramento, carrying on that busi- ness there until 1865, when he came to Santa Clara and purchased the tannery that was founded in 1848, and engaged in tanning all kinds of leather for the markets. Beginning on a small scale, he has in-

creased its capacity to the largest of the kind in the State, requiring seventy men to perform the labors in its various departments.

Mr. Eberhard is a plain, unostentatious man, who from an indigent journeyman harness-maker, has, by his industry, frugality, and good judgment, raised himself to the plane of California's leading manu- facturers. His leathers, from the finest Moroccos to the heaviest sole-leather, are found in the marts of North and South America, the islands of the oceans, and of Europe. In the community in which he lives he is highly esteemed for his integrity and benevo- lence. He is a member of no church, but is a mem- ber of True Fellowship Lodge, No. 238, I. O. O. F., of Santa Clara. In 1864 he was married, at Santa Clara, to Mary Glein, a resident of that village. To them were born ten children, all of whom are still with them.

C. BRIGGS, D. D., is a native of Rome, Oneida County, New York, His parents were both teachers, in their youth, and his father was a soldier in the War of 1812. After the war was over his attention was turned to farming, and he lived to the ripe old age of ninety-two years. A year after the birth of M. C. Briggs his parents removed to Martinsburg, Lewis County, New York, where they remained until he was eight years of age, when they emigrated to Ohio and settled at Concord, in what is now Lake County. There he worked as a farmer's boy, and attended the district school in the winter. At that time he was bashful, awkward, sensitive to a fault, read such books as children rarely read nowa- days (because he had access to no others), studied during odd half-hours, and often at night till one o'clock, until the door of a high school providen- tially was opened to him. Owing to his father's mis- fortunes, he was dependent on his own resources throughout his course of education, both classical and theological.

During a stay of a ycar and a half in Tennessee, license was given him to preach. The kindness rc- ceived everywhere in the South greatly endeared its people to him, although he abhorred the institution of slavery in all its forms. Returning North, he preached for a time in the Erie Conference, then went to the Biblical Institute (now the Biblical School of the Boston University) at Concord, New Hamp- shire. Graduating in June, 1850, he was appointed

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by Bishop Morris, as a missionary to California, and sailed from New York September 9, on the steamer which brought the news of the admission of Cali- fornia as a free State. October 17, 1850, with Rev. S. D. and Mrs. Simonds and others, he landed on Long Wharf, in San Francisco. On October 10, in the following year, the California Christian Advocate issued its first number, M. C. Briggs and S. D. Si- monds editors. Months previous to sustaining this relation, a circular came into his hands from some unknown source, the exposure of which, by the Ad- vocate, brought on a protracted and angry contro- versy. As he was forced into a very active and long- continued participation in this controversy, it may not be amiss to give a brief outline of the history of events.

Previous to the calling of a convention to form a constitution, an opinion prevailed that California was a country in which to get gold to spend elsewhere. Few had learned to regard it as a land of vast re- sources, and eminently desirable as a place of resi- dence. Hence the slavery question was not brought to the front, and some wise men inserted an anti- slavery clause into the fundamental law. Before the admission of the State, which occurred, after a long and excited debate, September 7, 1850, the general view had greatly changed, and the " chivalry" ele- ment in our society was much chagrined at its over- sight, and Southern Members of Congress interposed every obstacle to the admission of the State. In 1851 a meeting of pro-slavery politicians convened at Wilmington, North Carolina, to devise means of re- pairing the fancied loss and restoring the balance be- tween the free and the slave States. Three expedients were agreed upon to be tried in succession. The papers outlining the scheme were so carefully dis- tributed that Mr. Briggs knew but one besides him- self, other than the known friends of the undertaking, who received a copy. This paper Mr. Briggs held quietly for a considerable time, closely observing the movements of the parties, to satisfy himself whether an attempt at carrying the scheme into effect would really be made. Being convinced that it would, he exposed the plan in an editorial, January 21, 1852. Many old Californians will remember the surprise and rage resulting. Forced into a prominence he would have gladly resigned, and impelled by a con- viction of duty which he dared not disregard, he joined with a few brave men, lectured in many parts of the State, had his life threatened many times, and sincerely thanked the Lord when a changed condition

of popular sentiment left him free to retire from an arena for which he had neither taste nor ambition.

Dr. Briggs is an earnest worker in the temperance cause.

OHN ALFRED NACE was born at Hampstead, Carroll County, Maryland, in 1832, where he was raised. His parents were Peter and Susan (Hoover) Nace. His mother dying when he was only four years of age, he was taken by his uncle, Daniel Hoover. He was educated in the grammar school of Hampstead, and lived with his uncle until he was eighteen years of age, when he was appren- ticed to learn the trade of millwright, serving a term of three years. He worked at that trade in Carroll and Harford Counties, Maryland, three years, and during the winter months, when the weather would not permit him to work at his trade, he taught school, teaching seven terms in the counties of Carroll and Harford, Maryland, and York, Pennsylvania.

In 1857 he discontinued work as a millwright, and engaged in hotel-keeping at Abingdon, Maryland, until 1860, when he was employed to travel for the publishing house of Virtue & Yorston, of London, England, and New York city, with headquarters at New York city. In 1864 he was promoted by the same house to general agent, and was located at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, and in 1866 they made him Superintendent of all the American agencies. In 1868 he resigned that position to accept a general agency from the same company on the Pacific, with his headquarters at San Francisco, where he was en- gaged in the general book business until 1870, when, resigning his position on account of ill health, he came to Santa Clara, where he engaged in dealing in books and stationery, and in 1872 added a job printing-office to his business, which he still carries on. In 1878 he accepted the agency of Wells, Fargo & Co.'s express office at Santa Clara, and at the same time was made manager of the Western Union Telegraph of- fice at the same place. During 1882 and 1883 he edited and published the Santa Clara Journal.

Politically Mr. Nace is a Republican. He has served one term of two years as a member of the Board of Town Trustees, a term of two years as a member of the Board of Education, and a term of one year as Town Treasurer of Santa Clara. He is a prominent Odd Fellow, being made such at Abing- don, Maryland, in 1861, and was made a Patriarch at

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Pittsburg in 1865. He holds a membership in Santa Clara Lodge, No. 52, I. O. O. F., Santa Clara En- campment, No. 32, I. O. O. F., and Canton Pacific, No. 10, Patriarchs Militant, I. O. O. F., all of Santa Clara. He has filled all the offices in the Subordinate Lodge and Encampment, and is Past Commander of his Canton, of Patriarchs Militant, and is the present Grand High Priest of the Grand Encampment of the State of California.

February 17, 1857, he was married, in Harford County, Maryland, to Miss Sarah R. Scarff, daughter of Henry and Hannah (Garretson) Scarff. They are the parents of nine living children: Flora M., Katie E., William A., Charles A., Gertrude S., Estella, Mabel, Perly A., and Myrtle. They lost one, Henry, who died in infancy. Their sons, William A. and Charles A., are graduates of the Santa Clara High School.

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Pen pictures from the garden of the world, or Santa Clara county, California, Part 52

Author: Foote, Horace S., ed Publication date: 1888 Publisher: Chicago : The Lewis Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 844

Author: Foote, Horace S., ed
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: Chicago : The Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 844