Pen pictures from the garden of the world, or Santa Clara county, California, Part 54

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 54

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diggings, which were eighty miles distant, and which were better than the " McIvor." However, the stay here also was short. Mr. Davies, not wishing to hire another team to move their belongings, concluded to build a hand-cart, which, when finished, weighed 110 pounds, and on it was placed some 500 pounds of tools and provisions, and the party of five made a start for the famous "Ballarat " diggings, distant 225 miles, which was accomplished in ten days, in just half the time traveled by horses. Here the diggings were rich, and the party did well. The gold, which was coarse, was put in large-mouthed pickle-bottles. Mr. Davies sent his gold to Philadelphia and had it coined, which averaged $21.30 per ounce, after paying for coining. After about one year's tarry in Aus- tralia, the startling news that enormously rich gold diggings had been discovered on the Amazon River was received. He at once, with his party of four, shipped on board the vessel Sac Susa, bound for Callao, South America. On arriving in Callao, he found the report was untrue, and he therefore took up his quarters at Lima for a few weeks. While in Lima he was offered $7.00 and board per day at "some mechanical work;" this not being quite definite enough, he declined the offer. Soon after leaving Lima, he found that the " some mechanical work " was to make counterfeit money, for which the instigator was brought to justice. From Callao, Mr. Davies shipped on board the steamer Santiago, bound for Panama, at which place he got employment, making specie boxes. After three weeks' stay at Panama, he embarked on the steamer John L. Stevens, bound for San Francisco, California, arriving there in May, 1854. Determining to have a trial at mining, he went directly to the mines in Tuolumne County, but it did not take him long to find that California mining was not his forte, and he shortly afterward returned to San Francisco. In the fall of 1854 he ran the first threshing-machine ever made in California. During the year 1855 he put up a starch factory in the foot-hills in the vicinity of San Leandro, after which he worked on the Dow distillery at Mission Dolores, on Mission Creek, where he set up the engine; he was seven months at this work, for which he received $5.00 per day and board. He then went to Sacramento, where he worked three months in the Sacramento Iron Works, being there at the time the steamer Pearl blew up, near Sacra- mento, killing seventy-six persons! While in Sacra- mento the sash and door factory of Mr. Ames, situated on Market Street, San Francisco, was destroyed by fire; in this factory Mr. Davies had worked, and at

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the time of the fire had his keepsakes, specimens, sketch-books, and extra clothes stored, all of which were lost.

Mr. Davies has been somewhat of a traveler, having been over the Isthmus twice, across the continent four times, and having traveled the entire circumference of the earth once. During his travels in foreign lands, he has never been idle. Being somewhat of an artist, he has made sketches of numerous places and things. Conspicuous among these sketches are some of the native trees of Australia, such as the gum, box, iron- bark, stringy bark, light-wood, and others, none of which grow to the height of the gum of California, owing to the inferiority of the Australian soil, com- pared with that of California. In the fall of 1855 he located in Santa Clara, managing a small shop for L. A. Gould, the artesian well-borer, for one year. In 1856 he started the Santa Clara Machine Shop, situated on Main Street, which he conducted for four- teen years, by hand, wind, and steam. In 1867 he closed up this establishment, married a Mrs. Barney (who died fifteen years later), after which he went to Massachusetts and purchased one of the most com- plete outfits for a first-class machine shop that has ever been shipped to the Pacific Coast. In 1868 he built the present "Davies Machine Shop," which is sixty-six by sixty-six feet, three stories high, and situated on the corner of Jackson and Liberty Streets. During the thirty-three years that Mr. Davies has been in Santa Clara, he has carried on business for himself thirty-two years. His business has been ex- clusively making and repairing agricultural imple- ments, and making pumps and windmills. He is the inventor of the galvanized "lift" pump, and also a score of other valuable inventions. The Haines Header seems to be his forte, he having done more work on them than all other shops in the valley com- bined. He has doubtless made more improvements on the Haines Header than has been made on it by all others, since the first one went into the field. Of all the inventions that Mr. Davies has made, not one has proved a failure. They have all paid well on the investments. Mr. Davies is a brother of L. B. Davies, of Columbus, Ohio, who is the inventor of the loco- motive pilot, more commonly called the "cow-catcher." To visit the shop of Mr. Davies, and see the arrange- ment of tools, and those of his own make, will satisfy any person that he is at home while in a machine shop. As a mechanic he is a success. He can earn a livelihood at over thirty distinct trades ! Mr. Davies' motto is, "Waste nothing and save all." This has

been the whole secret of his success. He never has made any big strikes or big losses, however. In 1854, when so many banks failed, he lost his " bottom dol- lar;" $5,000 would, perhaps, cover all other losses. While Mr. Davies has been very close and saving, he has been very liberal and generous, having given away in presents and donations over $9,000. At the present writing, Mr. Davies is sixty-three years of age, and is almost as strong, physically, as at twenty years of age. He has never used a particle of tobacco, or drank a glass of liquor, in his life.

EDFORD HICKS, of the boot and shoe firm of C. Hicks & Co., of Santa Clara, was born at Sackville, Province of New Brunswick, in 1848, where he was reared. His parents were Thomas and Elizabeth (Harper) Hicks. At the age of sixteen he began to learn the trade of shoe-making, at which he worked in his native village until he was twenty- one years of age, when, in 1869, he came over the plains to California, locating at Santa Clara in the fall of that year. In February, 1870, he engaged in manufacturing boots and shoes at Santa Clara, and in August, 1876, he opened a boot and shoe store at the same place. In 1887 his brother, Coleman Hicks, be- came associated with him in the firm of C. Hicks & Co. Starting out in a business life with nothing but being the master of a good trade, Mr. Hicks has proved to be successful in business, and by his energy he has secured a good patronage from the community in which he has his trade.

December 28, 1876, he was married, at Santa Clara, to Julia C., daughter of the late Isaac. and Aveline (Austin) Chandler. They have two children, Harry M. and Bessie A. Mr. Hicks is an Odd Fellow, be- ing made such by Santa Clara Lodge, No. 52, in the fall of 1871, in which he still holds a membership.

RANCIS ALDEN BRIMBLECOM and Ed- ward Brimblecom are the sons of Rev. Samuel Brimblecom and Harriet (nee Buttrick), his wife. Their father was the son of Colonel Samuel Brimble- com, who was for over fifty years a shoe manufacturer in Lynn, Massachusetts. Harriet, his wife, was the daughter of Colonel Jonas Buttrick, of Concord, Massachusetts, and the granddaughter of Major John Buttrick, who commanded the "Minute Men "

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at the North Bridge, April 19, 1775, and gave the command to fire "the shot heard round the world."

Francis A. was born in Norridgewock, Maine, in 1828, and Edward at the same place two years later. They were members of a family of ten,-nine sons and one daughter,-nine living at this date (1888). In 1830 the family moved to Westbrook (now Deer- ing), two miles from Portland, where the father estab- lished Westbrook Seminary. Six years later they went to Massachusetts, where the boys were at school and engaged in various occupations until 1850; then Edward emigrated to Ogle County, Illinois, where he engaged in farming. Francis A. came to California, via Nicaragua, arriving in San Francisco by the S. S. Luis, on July 7, 1852. They were delayed thirty days on the Isthmus, and the steamer, being crowded to its utmost capacity with her own passengers and others from the wrecked North America, the death rate was appalling and burials at sea of daily occur- rence. In San Francisco he registered at the Maine Hotel, where beds were bunks, in tiers of three, twenty or more in a room. He frequently slept there after- ward, with thousands of dollars, in fifty-dollar gold pieces, called slugs, under his pillow, without fear of disturbance, the patrons being miners and working men.

He had the good fortune to fall in with Dr. Otis Blabon, from Santa Clara, with a two-mule wagon-load of potatoes, which he sold for twelve and a half cents per pound, and came to the valley with him, bringing all his business capital, fifty cents. He got employ- ment of Spencer Harvey at $75 per month, the low- est wages being paid at that time. Mr. Brimblecom was then as green a hand as ever went into the har- vest-field, never having seen wheat except in flour. The grain was stacked in the center of a corral and fifty horses driven round and round it, while the grain was pitched under their feet, and thus 500 bushels were threshed in less than a day, so fine that it was run through the fanning-mill, straw and all. While cleaning grain, coyotes came within two rods of the corral and stole chickens, and were away like a streak.

In October, 1852, he entered into partnership with Mr. Harvey for a year, farming and marketing, and thus Frank Brimblecom became the pioneer market- man of the valley. Eggs were worth from $1.00 to $2.50 per dozen at wholesale in San Francisco. It was a common thing to leave from $25 to $100 at a farm-house for a week's eggs alone. Butter was equally profitable. There were many "bachelor's

halls" in those days, but his dealings were largely with the women of the valley, and they were women of integrity. He would loan them from $100 to $500, without scratch of a pen, to assist their husbands in their operations, and do it indiscriminately; and the last dime was invariably paid. These women, doing all their own house-work, would wash for their bachelor neighbors for twenty-five cents per piece, care for the vegetable garden, look after the poultry, milk the cows, make the butter, and poison the ground- squirrels, which were numerous and very destruct- ive to crops, or shoot them with a rifle, which they handled as skillfully as a man. They were equal to the necessities of the times. Wives, mothers, Christian neighbors, worthy pioneers, they deserve to be remem- bered in statuary and song.

In 1852-53 Mr. Brimblecom went to San Francisco by wagon, and often paid $7.00 per night for himself and two horses at Cook & Depoister's "San Mateo." There were few houses and no towns on the road. From Mission Dolores to San Francisco there was a plank road three miles over the sand hills (now solid city), where he paid seventy-five cents toll. With the exception of a visit East, in 1857-58, and some time in the Santa Cruz Mountains, where he located gov- ernment land in the timber belt, Mr. Brimblecom has employed his time in marketing, and of late years he has dealt mostly in potatoes. During the Rebellion he belonged to the brave " Home Guards," Captain (Colonel) Jackson's Company, and was after- ward commissioned Captain, but the company was soon disbanded, as the war was over.

The old settlers will remember a younger brother, Henry, who joined Francis in business in 1853. To- gether they made the first move to form the Republi- can party in this county. Assisted by Dr. A. W. Saxe and editor F. B. Murdock, they prepared a "call," to which they got a large number of signatures. They then had them printed on large posters and circulated through the county, calling the convention held at the City Hall, San Jose, on April 24, 1856. Dr. Spencer, father of the Judge, presided. D. A. Dryden and William Maclay spoke. Jacob Swope, Sr., was nominated for Representative, but afterward declined, although a strong Republican, and Noah Palmer and Mayor Quimby were elected to the Leg- islature, Republican success being due to the division of their opponents between Democrats and Know- nothings. Henry went East in 1857, graduated at Dartmouth College, and settled at Woosung, Illinois, where he now resides with his wife and six children.

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In 1860 Edward sold his farm in Illinois and joined his brother in the market business, running a branch at Watsonville for several years, when he joined the Santa Clara branch. He now has a farm at Santa Maria Valley, San Luis Obispo County. The eldest brother, Captain Samuel A. Brimblecom, brought a vessel from China in 1849. He took charge of the store ship, Panama, for Macondray & Co., in the San Francisco harbor, and went East in 1850 to be married. He founded the town of Woosung, on the Illinois Central Railroad, in company with Cap- tains Roundy and Anderson. He returned to Cali- fornia in 1861 and took charge of the San Francisco branch of the business, and finally located on gov- ernment land at Boulder Creek, Santa Cruz County, California, where he now resides with his family. In 1863 they were joined by their mother and sister, Lucy Adeline, the latter having some claims as a pio- neer, being the first woman to "prove up" on govern- ment land in the San Francisco office-the 160 acres adjoining Boulder Creek railroad station, which she still holds. In 1878, the mother, then in her eightieth year, passed away. Her remains were taken by her daughter to Concord, Massachusetts, where they rest with her fathers, who were pioneers of the East, and first settlers of Concord, Massachusetts, in 1635.

EV. WESLEY PECK, son of Andrew and Polly Peck, was born in Hamilton, Madison County, New York, September 25, 1831. His father was born in Danbury, Connecticut, and his mother in New York. Luther Peck (Wesley's grandfather) felt called to the ministry in 1816, but told the Lord if he would excuse him he might have all his boys; and seventeen of his children and grand- children became ministers! Andrew Peck was born in 1800, and died in Cortland, New York, in 1887. Wesley was educated at the Cazenovia Seminary, in Madison County, New York. He was married, in 1851, to Harriet C. Stiles, of Cazenovia. He entered the ministry in 1853, and served as a pastor and trav- eling minister for eleven years in the State of New York, when, in 1864, he came to California. Here he was pastor twenty years, and presiding elder four years. The district over which he became presiding elder consisted of eleven counties in Northern Cali- fornia, and he traveled over this district in his own conveyance, making 6,000 miles per year. Being in poor health, he came to Los Gatos in 1884, and

served as pastor of the Methodist Church for three years. In the fall of 1887 he closed his ministerial duties, on account of failing health, and engaged in the real-estate business, in which he has been inter- ested ever since. In 1887 the Los Gatos Land Agency was organized, under the firm name of W. Peck & Co. (W. G. Alexander and B. H. Noble).

Mr. and Mrs. Peck have had three children: Ellen H., who died March 27, 1876, in her twenty-third year; Charles Wesley, who died December 24, 1879, in his twenty-second year; and Lillie May, born April 4, 1869, who resides with her parents. In January, 1888, Mr. Peck was appointed a Notary Public, to reside at Los Gatos.

TEPHEN BALDWIN MILLER, deceased, was born in the Province of Ontario, in the Western part of Canada, December 26, 1839. His father, William Baldwin Miller, was born in New York, December 4, 1798, and his mother, Abigail Robinson, was also born in New York, March 29, 1804. Will- iam B. removed, when a young man, to Canada, and there married. He was a farmer by occupation, and bought 100 acres of rough land, cleared it up, and made it his home till his death, September 20, 1853. His wife died June 8, 1842. Out of a family of ten children they reared eight, who grew to maturity, four of whom have since died with consumption.

Stephen was the youngest son, and next to the youngest child. He lived on the home place and was married there April 24, 1861, to Margaret Secord, a native of the county where he was born. Her fa- ther, Solomon Secord, was born January 18, 1803, in Niagara, Canada, and her mother, Mary, at Toronto, October 10, 1807. Mrs. Secord died October 12, 1881, and Solomon is still living in the home he made fifty-one years ago. After his marriage, Stephen re- sided on the home place until 1869, when he came to California, leaving his family at home. He first en- tered the mines, and then went into the lumber camps near Dutch Flat, and was there engaged for two years. He went to San Francisco, where, in connection with his brother William, he engaged in the wood and coal business, together with grinding feed, etc., and continued in this business about four- teen years. Being troubled with lung difficulty, and becoming at times very much emaciated, he made a few visits to the place where his widow and her chil- dren now reside, making one of these trips only two

Patrick Sullivan (DECEASED.)

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weeks before his death, March 31, 1885. After the death of her husband, Mrs. Miller made her home in San Francisco until the next fall, when she purehased her present ranch of twenty-four acres near Los Gatos, on the Los Gatos and Saratoga road, where she has built a fine dwelling-house, and made other improve- ments, which give it the appearance of a beautiful and attractive home. She has twelve acres set to various kinds of fruit-trees, some of which are now in bear- ing. Mrs. Miller has four children, viz .: Kittie G., Nettie E., William J., and Hale R.

ATRICK G. SULLIVAN, deceased. Among the successful pioneer farmers of Santa Clara County was the above-named gentleman, a brief history of whose life is as follows :-

Mr. Sullivan was born in Askeaton, Limerick County, Ireland, in 1813. His parents, John and Ann (Sheehy) Sullivan, were natives of that county. In 1827 his father emigrated with his family to Canada East and located in St. Edwards County, where he was engaged as a farmer and stock-grower, in which occupation the subject of this sketch was reared, re- ceiving at the same time a good education. After ar- riving at manhood he entered into partnership with his father in farming operations and continued the same until 1842, when he took a portion of the old homestead and operated it on his own account. In 1842 he married Miss Bridget Madigan, the daughter of Daniel and Ann (Henley) Madigan, natives of Ire- land, who emigrated to Canada East, and afterward, in 1853, came to California. Mr. Sullivan was engaged on his farm until 1851, in which year he came upon a steamer to California. He arrived in San Francisco January 2, 1852, and came immediately to Santa Clara County, where he rented land and enrolled himself among the pioneer farmers of the county. In 1854 he purchased his first land from General Naglee, comprising fifty-three acres located just east of San Jose, on what is now known as the "Nursery Tract." He took up his residence upon this land and resided there until 1856. In this latter year he rented 266 aeres of land from General Naglee, situated on what is now the Alum Rock road, at the corner of King road, in the Pala School District. This land was stocked with about 300 head of cattle, among which was a dairy of sixty or seventy cows. Mr. Sulli- van early saw that the road to success in agricult- ural pursuits was not to be reached by exclusive

grain production, but that only diversified farming could, in the end, be profitable. He became, with these views, one of the pioneer dairymen of the county, and his sagacity was amply rewarded, and through him many a man learned also the road to success. Mr. Sullivan was eminently successful in his operations upon this place, and from his first occupancy, devoted his means to its purchase. As the land increased in value and he made improvements upon it, claimants sprang up and claimed ownership under Spanish grants, homesteads, squatter rights, etc., and it was not until 1865 that he gained a complete title and ownership to the property. In the meantime his farming, stock, and particularly his dairy business, had proved very remunerative; also his fifty-three-acre traet first purchased had become very valuable, and he ranked as one of the most prosperous and wealthy farmers of his section. From this time until 1879 he conducted his farm operations. In this latter year he retired from the active pursuits of life, and under con- tract sold his farm to his sons, Daniel G., Frank J. and Thomas P. R. Mr. Sullivan also sold during his life-time fourteen acres of his fifty-three-acre traet, and at his death, which occurred April 8, 1886, left the balance of his valuable property to his widow.

Mr. Sullivan was an intelligent, energetic, and enter- prising business man, as well as farmer. His foresight and firm belief in the future prosperity and growth of the county induced him to make the judicious invest- ments which resulted in giving him a handsome fort- une. He always ranked in public spirit, enterprise, and liberality in public improvements, among the lead- ing men of his section. He was one of the projectors of the Alum Rock road, and gave the right of way through his land, and fenced the road at his own cost. In many another public enterprise he was equally liberal, and active in promoting them. He was always interested in public affairs. Though never aspiring to office, his influence was always felt in the elections, and always exercised for what he believed to be for the best interests of the public. He was a life-long conservative Democrat.

From the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Sullivan seven children are living, viz .: Annie A., who married Rich- ard Fitzgerald, living in Nevada; John C., married Miss Maggie Carrol, of San Francisco, residing in Napa County; Michael R., married Miss Bridget Commons, of San Jose, and now a grocer in that city; Daniel G., Frank J., and Thomas P. R., who are the owners and reside upon the old homestead; Mary E., who married Thomas J. Scherrebeck, of San Fran-

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cisco, and now residing near the old homestead; Katie A., the fourth child, died August 2, 1887, aged thirty years; Lizzie, the seventh child, died at the age of two years. Mr. Sullivan gave to his children the best of advantages for education. John C., Thomas P. R., and Daniel G. were educated at the Santa Clara College, the latter graduating in the class of 1872. Frank J. was educated at St. Mary's College, in San Francisco. The daughters were educated in the Convent of Notre Dame in San Jose. The family are consistent members of the Catholic Church.

The fine farm owned by the Sullivan brothers is well worthy of mention. It consists of 266 acres, located on the Alum Rock road two miles east of San Jose. There are 120 head of cattle on this place, 100 of which are used for dairy purposes. Among their stock are some of the finer breeds, such as Hol- stein and Durham. Great care and attention are taken in breeding, with the view of obtaining the most pro- lific milkers, and in this great success has attended their efforts, and they have one of the finest dairies in the county. There are two fine flowing artesian wells on these lands, which furnish all the water needed for stock and domestic use.

OHN WELLINGTON MACDONALD was born near the city of Kingston, Western Canada, Janu- ary 18, 1844. His father, James I., was a native of New York, and his mother, Sarah McGuin, a native of Pennsylvania. James, being a millwright, when a young man made several trips into Canada, where he put up a number of flour and saw mills. He married and located in Portland, Canada, where he lived for thirty-five or forty years, when his oldest son, Duncan S. MacDonald, took charge of the home place, and he removed to Fredericksburg, where he died in 1882, aged seventy-one years. His wife died on the home place in 1856. They reared a family of eight children, four sons and four daughters, of whom three sons and three daughters are now living. John W. lived with his father until he was seventeen years of age, when he made his home with his uncle at Collins Bay, near Kingston. For two years and a half he worked in several different kinds of mills owned by his uncle. Upon leaving his uncle he attended school for a year, then went to Watertown, Jefferson County, New York, and worked on a dairy farm. After this he went to St. Lawrence County, where he remained a year. After going back to his old home in Canada, where

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Pen pictures from the garden of the world, or Santa Clara county, California, Part 54

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