Pen pictures from the garden of the world, or Santa Clara county, California, Part 58

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 58

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His widow, the companion who stood by him through life, and helped him in all the tedious details of his public labors, deserves in this connection much more than a passing mention. Mrs. Angney's maiden name was Lydia Frances Witham. She was born at Denmark, Oxford County, Maine. Her father, Eli Witham, was a native of Maine, and one of the old families of that State, his ancestors having been resi- dents there at the time of the Revolutionary War. They were of English origin, and the seat of the family, on the eastern coast of England, bears the

name of Witham, and is situated on the banks of a river of the same name. Eli Witham was reared in Maine, and married at Durham, New Hampshire, to Miss Hannah Fernald, who was a native of Ports- mouth, New Hampshire, which had been the family home from the time of their settlement in America. Her Grandfather Fernald was a native of England, and he was the founder of the family in this country. He located in Portsmouth, and engaged in commer- cial life. His death, which occurred at Boston, was the result of an accident, he having been killed by the firing of a gun which was intended as a salute to a ship belonging to him, which was coming into the harbor. His son, Gilbert Fernald, the grandfather of Mrs. Angney, was a learned man, and profound writer. Mrs. Angney has a volume of poems, his production, which bespeak the talent and culture of the author. Eli Witham, father of Mrs. Angney, was a farmer, who cleared up a farm amid the heavy timber land of Maine, and there lived until his death, and the farm remained in the family name until the fall of 1887.

Mrs. Angney received the advantages of such edu- cational facilities as the schools of the neighborhood afforded during her early youth, and at the age of fifteen years she was graduated, then engaged in teaching for a time, after which she attended the Coney Female Academy at Augusta, Maine, where she completed her school education. Her health not being able to withstand the rigors of the Maine cli- mate, she came to California in the fall of 1858, with friends from home, and, while residing at San Fran- cisco, was married, in 1864, to Captain Angney. She has been a constant contributor to the press, and be- sides has written a number of excellent poems, some of which have been printed many times, and widely read, but many of the gems of her pen have never yet been offered to the public. When quite young, in Maine, she commenced writing for the press, and her earliest contributions were given to the Scholars' Leaf, a children's publication, and afterward to vari- ous papers in New England. She has been a con- tributor to the papers of New York city and San Francisco, besides the Santa Clara County papers, and still occasionally writes for the papers of her na- tive State. Her charitable work has been somewhat independent of societies, though she always responded to every call on her benevolence for the advancement or amelioration of the conditions of the human race. The following beautiful poem, written by Mrs. Ang- ney, was published in the San Francisco Examiner soon after the death of her husband :-

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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

LINES.

SUGGESTED BV READING THE POEM, THE "PARTING HOUR."

By the beat of my troubled heart, By the anguish that fills my breast,

By the burning tears which start, By the nights that bring no rest, I can read the poet well; His meaning is well-defined:

" The one who goes is happier Than those he leaves behind."

If they go but to come again After a few short years,

'T'is not the ones that are going That shed the bitterest tears; New life, new scenes are before them, New objects to cheer the mind;

But the thoughts of the absent are ever With those that are left behind.

But when the dark doors are opened, The doors of the dismal tomb;

When the last good-by is spoken, And the loved one gone too soon, - "Gone from all care and trouble " Is the only solace we find; But God, I know, will remember The sorrowful ones behind.

AMES TAYLOR, son of James and Margaret (Ellen) Taylor, was born in Providence, Rhode Island, January 19, 1825. His father was a na- tive of Ireland and his mother of Scotland. They lived and died in Rhode Island. The subject of this sketch is one of two children. When about sixteen years old he left home and began life for himself. In 1852 he came to California via Cape Horn, leav- ing New York February 2, and arriving in San Fran- cisco July 3 of that year. He came in the clipper ship Kate Hayes, commanded by Captain Moran. In San Francisco he engaged in different occupations till 1856, when he bought a small farm in the Willows near San Jose. In 1857 he sold out and located in the Santa Cruz Mountains. He owned three different places before he purchased his present one in 1863, and moved upon this latter place in 1864, where he has since resided. He has eighty-four acres, of which twenty-five acres are in orchard and ten in vines. He has about 1,300 French, and 60 silver, prunes, all from seven to eight years old; 500 egg plums, three years old; 500 apple trees, ten years old; 350 Bartlett pears, four years old, except a few which are ten years old, besides a family orchard of different kinds. The vineyard consists of Muscats, Verdal, Tokay, and

Black Ferraar, two-thirds being in Muscats, twelve years old. Mr. Taylor has a number of large trees on his place, one redwood eighteen feet in diameter, and a tan oak ten feet in diameter. Competent wood- men suppose that there are twenty-seven cords of wood in the two trees.

Mr. Taylor was married, in 1854, to Margaret Hig- gins, a native of New Jersey, whose parents died when she was very young. They have one son, Will- iam Dennis Taylor, who resides at home. Mrs. Tay- lor crossed the plains in 1845, the trip with ox teams occupying seven or eight months.

WEN E. GAFFANY was born on the Atlantic Ocean, on the brig Constitution, off Philadelphia, June 12, 1835. His parents, Patrick and Anna (Ward) Gaffany, were natives of the eastern part of Ireland. In May, 1835, they started for America, the subject of this sketch being born, as above stated, before reaching America. His father located on Grand Isle, an island in Lake Champlain, in Grand Isle County, Vermont, where he remained five or six years, when he removed to Beekman, Clinton County, New York. He afterwards returned to Vermont and lo- cated at Winooski, in Chittenden County, where he remained for about eighteen years, when he bought a farm at Underhill, Chittenden County, Vermont, and here he lived till his death, in 1882. He had six children, the subject of this sketch being the eldest. Owen lived with his parents till he was twenty-one years of age. He was married February 12, 1858, to Mary O'Brien, a native of Ireland. He then went to work in, and had charge of, a lime quarry for three years, when he went to work for the Vermont Central Railroad, and was thus employed off and on for three or four years; then he went back to the lime quarry, where he remained till the fall of 1863, when he en- listed in the Second Vermont Battery and remained in it until mustered out at the close of the war. He was with this battery at Savannah, Mobile, Pleasant Hill, Black Gulf, and other skirmishes. After his dis- charge at Burlington, Vermont, in 1865, he went home, and two months afterward again went into the employ of the Vermont Central Railroad, where he remained till the spring of 1868. In that year he left his family in Vermont and came to California, and in 1869 his family followed him. Upon his arrival in California he worked for I. J. Hattabough on his ranch about three miles southwest of San Jose, and after remaining

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PEN PICTURES FROM THE "GARDEN OF THE WORLD."

with him for six months came to Los Gatos, and here he worked till the next April, when he went to work in the Redwoods for the Santa Clara Company. The first year he worked in a saw-mill and the next year for Covell Brothers, contractors for the Santa Clara Mill and Lumber Company. He then went to work for the Santa Clara Valley Mill and Lumber Com- pany and remained with them six or seven years in the Santa Cruz Mountains, Santa Cruz County, his family being with him. In 1877 he bought his pres- ent ranch near Los Gatos, containing about 100 acres. He cleared the land and made the improvements on it. He now has about fifty acres under cultivation, fifteen acres being in fruit, principally in apricots, peaches, and prunes, besides other varieties in his family orchard. The most of his trees are four years old, while a few are ten years old. On the remaining portion of his land he raises hay. He is a member of E. O. C. Ord Post, No. 82, G. A. R., of Los Gatos, and at present its Post Commander. He has five children: Mary, who is one of the Sisters in the Convent of Notre Dame in San Francisco; John E., Anna, F. C., who is engaged in the mercantile busi- ness in Los Gatos; Josephine J., and Nellie L., who live at home. In politics Mr. Gaffany is a Democrat.

0-512 ACKUS L. BARTLETT, son of Martin and Abigail (Smith) Bartlett, was born in Fonda's * 1* Bush, Fulton County, New York, January 4, 1822. At the age of fifteen he became a clerk in a mercantile house in Albany, and at the end of seven years became a partner of his employer, the business being carried on under the firm name of B. L. Bartlett & Co. This was a branch store. At the end of five years (in 1849) he went to New York city, where he remained till 1852, when he came to Cali- fornia, and settled at Shasta, in Shasta County; there he remained till 1861, carrying on a mercantile busi- ness, and then removed to Red Bluff, Tehama County, and engaged in the forwarding business for about three years, when he was appointed Deputy Internal Revenue Collector, at San Francisco, in which service he continued till 1873. Since that time he has been Adjuster to the Board of Trade of San Francisco.

In politics he is a Republican. He owns a ranch of twenty-two and one-half acres at Los Gatos, but on account of his business he is obliged to live in San Francisco. He has 400 apricot, 500 Bartlett pear, and 400 French prune trees six years old, and 350

French prune, 350 peach, and 100 apricot trees one year old, besides 300 grape-vines. In 1887, when his apricot trees were but five years old, they yielded him $175 per acre. It was an off year for prunes, but this fruit yielded $50 per acre. The indications point to a heavy yield of prunes and pears this year.

ALTER L. BLABON was born in Chesterville, 900 Franklin County, Maine, July 12, 1830. His parents, Otis and Mary (Littlefield) Blabon, were both natives of that State. They were born in York County, and moved from there to Franklin County, where the mother died, at Farming- ton Hill, in March, 1884. Mr. Blabon died in Sara- toga, California, April 7, 1887. He came to this State in 1849, becoming one of the pioneers of Santa Clara County. He lived here until 1860, when he returned to the East to settle up his business, and after a few years came back to California, where he resided till his death. His eldest son, G. W. Blabon, is a large manufacturer of oil-cloth at Philadelphia; J. E. Bla- bon resides in Portland, Maine, but has a large cattle ranch in Nebraska, and other interests in St. Paul, Minnesota. Three of his sons reside in California- F. O. and Otis in San Jose, and Moses W. at Brent- wood. Walter L., the subject of this sketch, was reared in Franklin County, Maine, and there educated.

He was married in Boston, Massachusetts, to Anna F. White, October 25, 1860, she being a native of that city. The same year they came to California via Panama, arriving in San Francisco December 8, 1860. He farmed a piece of land on shares for four years, near where he now resides. In 1864 he bought his present place of 130 acres, and soon after moved to it. He has about sixteen acres in vines, five years old, besides a small family orchard. On the remainder of the place he raises grain and hay. He has four chil- dren: William C., Ralph D., Joseph W. D., and Agnes J., all grown.

ILLIAM RICE was born in Murray County, Tennessee, February 17, 1821. His father,

Ebenezer Rice, was a native of Vermont, and his mother, Catharine (Baldridge) Rice, was a native of North Carolina. She was of English and Irish descent. When she was six years old her par- ents moved to Tennessee, where she married Ebenezer

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Rice. When Mr. Rice was a very small boy his father was sent from the East to Tennessee as a missionary to the Indians. In the fall of 1833 he removed with his family to Morgan County, Illinois, where he made it his home until his death, in 1858. Mrs. Rice, his widow, afterward died at the residence of her son William, near Saratoga, California, March 17, 1888, aged nearly ninety-eight years. There were twelve children in her family, of whom three are now living. William Rice made his home with his parents until he was twenty-five years of age. He was married in 1847 to Eliza Jane Campbell, who was born in Mur- ray County, Tennessee. Her father, James Campbell, was a native of Kentucky, his parents having come from Ireland and settled there. Her mother was Margaret Berry, a native of Kentucky, but her parents were natives of Scotland. Before his marriage, Will- iam Rice purchased a farm of eighty acres, and lived on it until 1875. During this period he made several additions to it, until at one time he had about 600 acres. In May, 1875, he sold out and came to Cali- fornia, and shortly after his arrival here bought his present place, in Santa Clara County, near Saratoga, which at that time contained 190 acres. Afterward he bought seventy-five acres adjoining it. He has sold off this land from time to time, until now he has but thirty acres. The place is all in orchard, consisting of twenty acres of prunes from four to eight years old. The rest of the land is mostly in pears, from two to four years old. It is one of the finest pear orchards in this part of the country, and is just beginning to bear. There are three acres of the eight-year-old prunes which have been bearing heavily for he past four years. In 1887 they bore about sixteen tons, which is a big yield for three acres of ground. Mr. Rice has been a member of the Christian Church ever since he was twenty years old, and now belongs to that church in Saratoga.

Mr. and Mrs. Rice have one son : William Allen Rice, born at Concord, Morgan County, Illinois, March 10, 1870. They have lost eight children, several of whom were grown.

AMES MAI.COM was born April 6, 1835, in the city of New York. His father, Robert Mal- com, was born in Glasgow, Scotland, and came to the United States in 1824. He settled in New York, where he was married to Esther Lowry, a native of Belfast, Ireland. In 1842 Mr. Malcom moved to

Chicago, where he followed the business of contractor and builder, living there until his death, in 1871. His widow still resides there. They had twelve children, of whom four are now living. James Malcom lived with his parents until he was twenty-one years old. He early in life attended the public schools of Chicago, and later on went to Hathaway Academy, of the same place, and finally to the Beloit College, Beloit, Wis- consin, where he completed certain courses of study.

He learned the mason's trade of his father, and when he was nineteen years old his father retired from active life, and James, together with his father's fore- man, took the business and continued it under the firm name of Malcom & Grant, which partnership continued until the fall of 1856. He was at this time married to Miss Fannie Floyd, of Chicago, daughter of Thomas Floyd, an iron and hardware dealer. A short time afterward Mr. Floyd died, and James Malcom, together with Mr. Floyd's son, John R., took hold of the business, under the firm name of Floyd & Malcom, in which they continued until 1858. The trying times of 1857 greatly affected business circles in general, and the house of Floyd & Malcom was one that had to succumb to the inevitable. Mr. Malcom then took a position in the Chicago post-office, where he remained until 1863. The War of the Rebellion at this time going on was the source of a great many changes.

Mr. Malcom organized a company and was nomi- nally made Captain. This was Company K, 165th Illinois Volunteer Infantry. He went with the com- pany into quarters at Camp Douglas, and it . was about this time he had a brother killed in battle at Elizabethtown, Kentucky, a member of the Nine- teenth Illinois. Upon hearing of this event his wife insisted upon his resigning his commission, which he did. In 1864 he went to Chattanooga, Tennessee, as chief clerk in the office of Superintendent of Military Railroads at that point, where he remained until the close of the war. Returning to Chicago, he went into the office of Phillips & Brown, large lumber dealers, as book-keeper, where he remained until 1875, at which time he severed his connection with them and took a position in the office of the County Treasurer at Chicago, remaining there until 1879. He then came to California and located in Colusa County, as agent of the Puget Sound Lumber Company. He served in this business until 1883, at which time he was sent by the Utah Powder Company to Ogden, Utah, as agent for the company, and remaincd there until the latter part of 1885. Hc returned to San

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Francisco, and was appointed Secretary of the San Francisco Chronicle, where he remained until the spring of 1887, when he moved to his present place.

His first wife died in August, 1871, leaving one child. He was married at Quincy, Illinois, in Septem- ber, 1886, to Helen R. Blenis, of that city. In March, 1887, Mrs. Malcom bought the ranch where they now reside, which contains fifty-seven and one-half acres. This place has fifteen acres in vines, and the rest in fruit,-apricots, prunes, peaches, pears, cherrie , plums, and a few apples, all of which are six years old. In 1887 the place had about thirty-five tons of grapes and fifty-five tons of fruit. Mr. Malcom has for two years been a member of the Order of Chosen Friends, and at present belongs to the Garden City Council of San Jose.

FRANK W. KNOWLES, M. D., son of Smith S. and Mary C. Knowles, was born in Rock Island County, Illinois, March 2, 1858. Up to the age of fifteen years he resided on a farm and attended the district schools. His father died when he was nine years old, and when fifteen years of age his mother removed to Moline, Illinois, at which place he attended school, graduating in the High School in 1880. He then went to the office of Dr. L. D. Dunn, of Moline, and remained with him till September, 1880, when he entered Rush Medical College, at Chicago, which he attended till February 20, 1883, when he graduated. In July of that year he came to California, and on the nineteenth of the same month located in Los Gatos, where he has been en- gaged in active practice ever since. Soon after com- ing here he became a member of the Santa Clara County Medical Society.

ENRY FARR was born in the township of Gellhausen, town of Spielberg, Germany, June 10, 1829, his parents being Wilhelm and Cath- erin (Werd) Farr, who died in Germany, the former about 1852, and the latter in 1868. They reared a family of eight children, of whom five are now living, and, with the exception of one, are in the United States. Henry was reared and educated in his native town, devoting a part of his time to work on his father's farm near the town of Spielberg.

At the age of eighteen years he sailed from Brem- erhaven for the United States, and landed at Balti- more. The next day he left for Pittsburg, Pennsyl- vania, and there bound himself out for two years to learn the cooper's trade He served the full time of his apprenticeship, and remained to work at his trade for two or three years. He then spent some time in traveling around from one place to another, along the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, going as far south as New Orleans, and as far north as Quincy, Illinois. In 1854 he went by steamer from Evansville, Indi- ana, down the river to New Orleans, where he took a steamer for the Isthmus of Panama. He crossed the Isthmus and embarked for San Francisco, where he landed in January, 1855. He made a trip up the Sacramento River to the mines near Georgetown, ar- riving there in the winter. The weather being cold, and his health poor, Mr. Farr remained but a short time, when he returned to Sacramento. Here he stopped a few days, and then went to Colusa County, where he engaged in chopping wood and getting out rails. After being there about a year and a half, he, together with a friend named Myers, bought a piece of land, and engaged in farming and stock-raising. Here he remained for thirteen years, during which time he returned East to Allegheny City, Pennsylva- nia, and was married, in 1860, to Anna Mary Hoehl, a native of Germany, born in Gedern, near Frank- furt, June 10, 1835. Mrs. Farr came to this country with her parents when she was twelve years old, and lived in Allegheny until she was married.

After their residence in Colusa County, Mr. Farr and his family went to San Francisco, where they lived about four months, and then came down to San Jose. About a month later, in 1868, Mr. Farr pur- chased his present place in the Lincoln School Dis- trict, which he named "Grand View" vineyard, and which at that time contained 240 acres. About a year afterward he bought 153 acres more, and later on sold 50 acres, having at the present time 343 acres, of which all but 83 acres is under cultivation. There are sixty acres in vineyard, all wine grapes, from two to six years old, also a family orchard of about four acres in good bearing condition. The bal- ance of the place is in grain and hay. Mr. and Mrs. Farr have nine children: Henry, Louis, Edwin, Ar- thur, Mary, Rudolph, Oscar, Addie, and Emma, all of whom are residing at home, with the exception of Louis. The first four were born in Colusa County, Mary was born in San Francisco, and the others in this county.

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Ch AMUEL TEMPLETON, son of Archibald and Olivia Templeton, was born in County Antrim, twenty miles from Belfast, Ireland, October 11, 1832. His father was a farmer, and he remained with him till twenty-three years of age, when he came to New York, where he was located for three years. In March, 1858, he started for California, and arrived in Los Gatos in April of that year, in search of work. He soon found employment with the Santa Cruz Gap Turnpike and Tunnel Company, who owned a toll- road running from Los Gatos to Santa Cruz County, which was the first toll-road in this section of the county. After remaining with this company a short time, he went into the lumber and stock business, during which time he purchased 500 acres of land in Santa Cruz County. In 1875 he removed to Los Gatos and built himself a home, and shortly after sold his 500-acre tract.

In 1876 he attended the Centennial at Philadelphia, and the same year visited his old home in Ireland. His parents had both died a few years before this. Upon his return he engaged in no particular business until the Los Gatos Fruit Packing Company was or- ganized, in 1882, in which business he is a large stock- holder and President. Mr. Templeton was married, June 30, 1867, to Mrs. Jane (Duncan) Healy, who is also a native of Ireland.

NOCH J. PARRISH was born in Hopkins County, Kentucky, February 4, 1858. His fa- ther, Jefferson J., was a native of North Carolina, who went to Kentucky when twenty-one years old, in 1842, and died there in July, 1886. He mar- ried Lucretia Madison, also a native of North Carolina. She died in 1864. They reared three sons and one daughter: the latter is deceased. Mr. Parrish married his second wife, Victoria Boyd, who is now residing in Kentucky. By her he had seven children, of whom four sons and two daughters are living. Enoch, the subject of this sketch, was reared on the home place in Kentucky, and lived there till twenty-one years old, obtaining a common-school education. In 1879 he came to California and located in Fresno County, where he remained two years and a half, working on a ranch. From there he went to Redwood City, and for five years was engaged at the carpenter's trade, which he learned there. In the spring of 1887 he came to Santa Clara County, where he has since resided, having bought his place here in 1883. He

owns fifteen acres, which are in vines five years old. He is an enterprising and industrious young man. He still works at his trade, improving his place all the time, until it is now very attractive. He was married April 28, 1887, to Minnie L. Breckinridge, a native of Canada, who came to California in 1864.

10.0 ATHAN HALL was born in Dutchess County,

New York, September 14, 1827, his parents being Elisha and Emily (Bates) Hall, who were both natives of that State, and made it their home un- til their death, the mother dying when Nathan was nine, and the father when he was fifteen, years old. Nathan, being next to the oldest of a family of six children, remained at home to care for them until he was twenty years of age, obtaining a common-school education such as the country at that time afforded. Upon leaving home he roamed over the Western States about a year. At La Salle, Illinois, he purchased a team and started overland for California, crossing the Missouri River at Independence, Missouri. He joined several other teams there, and in less than a week they came across a party of campers bound for Califor- nia, and joined them, making the trip together. In fifty-two days' traveling they reached Salt Lake, where they remained nine days. They arrived at Sacramento in August, 1852, where they separated. Mr. Hall came at once to Santa Clara County, and when he reached here had $80 in his pocket. He found Spanish titles across his way against securing land, and concluded to work by the month for a while, until titles became more settled, and saved his money with a view of purchasing land. It being ascertained that there was some goverment land around Mount- ain View, squatters located on it, procured a survey and ran out the section lines. Mr. Hall bought out one of these squatters for $200, thus securing 172 acres of land. He afterward paid the government double this price for a patent. This land, except nine acres, was at the time covered with chaparral, but is now all under cultivation. He has sixty acres in vine- yard and a small orchard for home use. The re- mainder of the land is devoted to grain, hay, and pasture.

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Pen pictures from the garden of the world, or Santa Clara county, California, Part 58

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