Pen pictures from the garden of the world, or Santa Clara county, California, Part 63

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 63

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AMES C. ZUCK was born in Caledonia, Marion County, Ohio, January 14, 1844. His parents were David and Maria Louisa (Linton) Zuck. David Zuck was of Pennsylvania ancestry, and a native of Ohio. He came to California in 1849, making the trip overland. For a time he worked in the mines, but in the early part of 1851 gave up mining. He then located a farm on the Honcut, about fourteen miles from Marysville. In the fall of the same year he returned to Ohio, and the next year brought his family to California across the plains, and was four months making the trip. He went upon his farm, near Marysville, and remained there until the fall of 1863, when he removed to Gilroy with his family, and located on the San Ysidro Rancho, where he yet resides. His wife died in 1881. James C. was eight years of age when his father brought him to California, and but nine years old when he came to Santa Clara County. He was educated at the Uni- versity of the Pacific, where he took a classical course and graduated in the class of 1867, and three years later the degree of Master of Arts was conferred on him by the same institution. He at once began the study of law, reading at first in San Jose and after- ward at Gilroy, and was admitted to the bar by Judge S. B. McKee, of the Third District Court, at San Jose. He thereupon began the practice of his profession, and was soon afterward joined by W. L. Hoover, with whom he was associated until the latter's decease. At that time there was quite a large,Bar at Gilroy. A short time before Mr. Hoover's death, Mr. Zuck was elected President of the Gilroy Bank, and there- upon gave up his practice and devoted his time to the

business of the bank exclusively (which he had helped to incorporate) for five years, and retired from that institution January 1, 1879. In September, 1879, he was elected State Senator from Santa Clara County, on the Republican ticket, and served in the regular sessions of 1880 and 1881. The session of 1880 was the first after the adoption of the new Constitution. He was Chairman of the Committee on Contingent Expenses at both sessions, and Chairman of the Com- mittee on Labor and Capital, and a member of the Committees on Claims, County and Township Govern- ments, Elections, City, City and County, Town Gov- ernments, and Apportionment. He introduced the bill for the quieting of the title of the Los Animas Rancho, which had to be introduced as a general measure, and was so put through and passed, and now stands as a component part of the law of parti- tion on the statute books of the State of California. He also took an active part in the " débris Legisla- ture," being opposed to it. Before the expiration of his Senatorial term he resigned to accept an appoint- ment as Consul at Tien Tsin, in China where he re- mained about two and a half years, returning home in November, 1883, and taking charge of his father's ranch, where he still resides. In March, 1886, he formed a real-estate partnership in Gilroy with George T. Dunlap.

He was married to Mary L., daughter of Dr. Headen, of Santa Clara. She died in 1873. His present wife is Jennie P., daughter of J. J. Dorland. Mr. Zuck is a member of the Methodist Church of Gilroy, and President of its Board of Trustees, and is also a mem- ber of the A. O. U. W.

ILTON T. HOLSCLAW was born in Howard County, Missouri, July 12, 1827. He crossed the plains, and after working awhile in the mines, he came to Gilroy, in August, 1851, and a month later started the first blacksmith shop in Gil- roy. In 1852 he and his brother raised the first crop of wheat in the Gilroy District, of which they sold a portion in Alviso at eight cents per pound. He now has a ranch of 140 acres along the Los Llagas Creek, two miles (in an air line) northeast of Gilroy. Of this land he has thirty acres in alfalfa, which was sowed in 1876, and has borne continuously since that time without replanting. This has been cut two or three seasons for hay, but it has been pastured the most of the time.

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On this he has the present year (1888) kept forty head of cattle, twelve horses, and fifty hogs, and has never fed them anything else. The hogs he sold for market. He keeps ten milch cows now, but usually milks from ten to twenty-five. The product of the dairy is principally butter, for which he finds a ready market with regular customers in this vicinity. He makes butter the year round,-from fifty to one hun- dred pounds per week. He raises from fifty to sev- enty-five acres of barley every year, obtaining from thirty to forty bushels to the acre. Mr. Holsclaw rented 230 acres of land in 1888, of which 115 are in wheat and 115 in barley, which will be cut for grain. He never irrigates. In 1875 he set out about 100 trees, consisting of apples, pears, peaches, prunes, cherries, etc., and has been adding to it since, until he now has about twenty-five acres in fruit, of which eighteen acres were set out this year in prunes and peaches. The trees have borne well, the only draw- back being the codlin moth in the apples and pears.

He came to Gilroy in 1851, and has resided within a stone's throw of the town ever since. His present residence he erected in 1875. The first place he set- tled on is now within the city limits of Gilroy, owned by Thomas Rea. He and his brother were the only ones who had grain to sell in Gilroy in 1852-53, and they sold to immigrants and others in the vicinity of Gilroy, mostly on credit, and out of $6,000 worth so sold, they only lost $16.

He was married February 11, 1855, to Mary Ann Zuck, a native of Marion County, Ohio, by whom he has three children now living.

J. MILLER has been selling goods at New Almaden since 1874, and has been in charge of the store on the hill since the latter part of 1887. He is a native of Canada, born at St. Johns, Province of Quebec, June 9, 1838, his parents being William and Mary (Faulkner) Miller. His father was a native of Canada, and his mother of Ireland. J. J. Miller was reared and educated at St. Johns, and commenced clerking at the age of fourteen years. In 1859 he set out for California, by the ocean route, and landed at San Francisco in October. He clerked for twelve years in Santa Clara, and then engaged in merchan- dising at Lexington. Eighteen months later he went into the cattle business on a ranch in Monterey County, and from there came to New Almaden in 1874. He was married in Canada, February 7, 1863,

to Miss Susan Esinhard, a native of St. Johns, Que- bec. They have one child, Lillie J.

Politically, Mr. Miller is a Republican. Was reared in the Episcopal faith. Is a member of the Santa Clara Lodge, No. 52, I. O. O. F.

ceta JAVID WOOD was born in Schenectady, New York, May 4, 1817. His father and mother were both natives of New York and both died in Illinois. The subject of this sketch was reared in New York and emigrated to Illinois in 1842. In 1849 he started for California, with an ox team, and reached Sacramento August 23, 1849. In Octo- ber he went to the mines at Coloma and vicinity, where he remained about two months. In Novem- ber he went to San Francisco, and January 1, 1850, took a steamer for San Diego, which at that time was a mission, five miles from the ocean. At San Diego Mr. Wood and his comrades purchased about fifty animals and brought them up the coast by land, traveling from mission to mission. There were no fences along the route, it being a stock-raising coun- try. His idea at that time was to fit out a pack train and go to packing in the mines, but in this he was not successful, on account of not having the proper ar-

rangements for packing, and, finding the business un- suited to his taste, sold out. He then purchased an ox team and went to freighting, in which he was suc- cessful, his last trip being in July, 1850, when he made the journey from Sacramento to Shasta, clearing $500 in twenty-one days. At this time he was taken with malarial fever, sold his outfit, went to San Francisco, and from there returned, vie Panama and New Or- leans, to his old home in La Salle County, Illinois. He soon became dissatisfied with the country and decided to return to California, and again crossed the plains, in company with five other men, arriving in Sacramento August 21, 1853. On this trip he visited Santa Clara Valley, and was impressed with it as a desirable place of residence. He again re- turned to the East by way of Nicaragua and New Orleans, and, being satisfied that he would reside in California for life, he brought his family with him, coming by way of New York and Panama, and arriv- ing at Sacramento May 5, 1855. He then removed to Gilroy Township, on a ranch five miles from Gil- roy, and having some difficulty on account of land titles, he went to Tulare County, and in 1874 returned to Gilroy, where he has since resided. He was mar-

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ried in New York, September 8, 1842, to Mary Miles, a native of that State. To them were born eight children: Charles A., and Nelson H. (deceased); Mortimer D., a resident of Stanislaus County, Cali- fornia; James T., of Fresno County, California; George R., of Merced County, this State; Martha, Frank R., of Fresno County, and Mary, wife of Henry Hecker.

In politics Mr. Wood is a Republican, and was an anti-slavery Whig. He formerly owned a ranch in the San Joaquin Valley, of 7,200 acres, which he sold in 1874. He has now retired from active life, but has an interest in the banks of Gilroy, Hollister, and Salinas City, and is one of the leading stockholders in the electric light company at San Jose. He has been an eye-witness to most of the substantial growth of California. The first time he crossed the San Joaquin Valley he came upon a herd of 600 elks. When he lived in that valley, the Spaniards had a corral about five miles from the place, and he often saw them lasso wild horses and in half an hour ride them.

EV. J. LEWIS TREFREN, pastor of the Meth- odist Episcopal Church at New Almaden, is a native of New Hampshire, born in old Strafford County, August 2, 1826, his parents being James and Sarah (Lochlen) Trefren. Both were natives of New Hampshire. His father was a licensed clergy- man of the Free-will Baptist denomination. The subject of this sketch was reared to the age of sixteen years in New Hampshire, and there commenced his education. He completed his scholastic training at Hoadly Seminary, Connecticut, and entered into the study of theology at Manchester, New Hampshire. He became a member of New Hampshire Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1856, and was ordained by Bishop Simpson, at Manchester, in 1858. He traveled eleven years in the New Hampshire Con- ference, as pastor of some of its most important churches, and was transferred to the Nevada Confer- ence in 1865, and authorized to take charge of the Methodist Church interests in Central and Eastern Nevada. He served as pastor at Austin, Nevada, for three years, and was then made Presiding Elder of the Austin District, which included Salt Lake City in its jurisdiction, he being the first to visit the Mormon capital in that capacity, and on his recommendation missionary work was subsequently begun there. In 1869 he was transferred to the California Conference,

and began his labors in his new field at Napa. He was the father of the Napa Collegiate Institute, and was one of its first Board of Trustees, and one of the first committee on faculty, and was its first financial agent. Since his Napa pastorate, Mr. Trefren has been in charge of congregations at Petaluma, Sacra- mento, Grass Valley, Marysville,-where he was elected and served as trustee of the city schools,-Santa Cruz, Dixon, Stockton, Vallejo, and Chico. From the lat- ter place he came to New Almaden in 1886. He was the chaplain of the California State Senate in the regular and extra sessions of 1885-86.

Mr. Trefren was married in New Hampshire to Miss Sarah Leavitt Pennyman, a native of that State. They have four children, viz .: Alice, wife of Capt. John Phillips, of Hudson, Massachusetts, who is a nephew of the late Wendell Phillips; they have six children; Frank A, who married Miss Belle Schermer- horn, of Healdsburg, and is head salesman of Austin Bros.' hardware house at Stockton; they have one child; Jennie, wife of Stewart McBride, of Davisville; they have three children; and Caddie, wife of Charles Camper, resides at Chico. Mr. and Mrs. Trefren have lost two children by death: Rosie, who died in New Hampshire, aged sixteen months; and Sadie, who died at Sacramento, aged twenty-five years. Mr. Trefren takes a live interest in California, and has prepared a lecture on her attractions, entitled, "Pen Pictures of California," on the resources and railroad enterprises of the Pacific Coast, and has lectured quite extensively in the Eastern States.

Politically he is a Republican. He is also a mem- ber of Masonic fraternity, and of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, at whose anniversaries he has frequently been called upon to deliver orations and lectures. He takes a deep interest in all educational work, especially the common schools, having frequently been called upon to deliver addresses before the High School graduating classes, and serve on visiting com- mittees to universities and colleges.

GEORGE WHITNEY, the popular liveryman of & San Jose, is a native of Ontario, Canada, born at Kemptville, April 4, 1860, his parents being John and Mary (McMullen) Whitney. The subject of this sketch was reared to the age of seven- teen at his native place, then came to California and located at San Jose. Two years later he went to Napa County, and after a year and a half there went

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to Colusa County. Eight months later he returned to San Jose, and farmed in this vicinity until 1883. He then engaged in the livery business, as a member of the firm of Whitney & Donnelly. The firm does a large business, having fifteen horses and twelve vehi- cles, of best description, constantly in use.

Mr. Whitney was married, in San Jose, October 15, 1885, to Miss Lucia, daughter of Major H. S. Foote. He is a member of Santa Clara Lodge, I. O. O. F., Santa Clara Encampment, and Santa Clara Canton. Politically, he is a Republican.

OUIS CHYNOWETH, one of the public- spirited citizens of San Jose Township, became identified with Santa Clara County in 1887. He is a native of Wisconsin, and was born in Dane County on the nineteenth of August, 1856. His fa- ther, Thomas Chynoweth, was a native of England, but his mother, whose maiden name was Emily Brad- ford, was American born, and a native of New Hamp- shire. The subject of this mention was reared in Madison, the capital of the Badger State, and received his education at the State University, an institution of learning of very high rank. He was among the graduates of the class of 1881. Having completed his scholastic education, he adopted the law as his profession, reading the course in the office of E. A. & J. O. Hayes. He afterward practiced with the firm of Knight & Hayes, at Ashland, Wisconsin, whither he removed in August, 1884.

In April, 1887, he purchased 210 acres of land in Santa Clara County, while on a visit to California, and in September he came out here to make his future home in this valley. He has sold off 110 acres, in- cluding the foot-hill land, and now has 100 acres of level land, which has no superior in this county. Of this splendid tract it is probable Mr. Chynoweth will devote sixty acres to fruit culture. He has al- ready made a start in this direction, having planted in 1888 seven acres in prunes, peaches, apricots, pears, plums, apples, cherries, nectarines, quinces, figs, etc. These have all shown such progress that forty acres will be added to the orchard in the coming winter. Most of the planting will be French prunes, with a small proportion of apricots, peaches, pears, and cherries. The place adjoins the main thoroughfare between San Jose and Monterey, from which a beau- tiful view of it is obtained, with the hills as a back- ground. Mr. Chynoweth, who resided at Hurley,

Wisconsin, during the year immediately preceding his coming here, is interested in the great Germania iron mine at that point. He formerly had holdings in the Ashland mine, but disposed of these.

ILLIAM J. McCAUGHIN came to California November, 1886. He is a native of Illinois having been born in Fulton County, in the town of Farmington, January 16, 1859. His parents were Hugh and Margaret (Jamison) Mc- Caughin. His mother died when he was but three years of age. His father and the family removed to Peoria County, Illinois, and there he was reared. In 1875 he removed to Iowa, and located in Warren- County, where he followed farming, and accumulated property interests, which he still retains. In Novem- ber, 1886, he came to Placer County, California, and one month later removed to Cloverdale, Sonoma County. A short time after this occurred his removal to Santa Clara County. On the twenty-fifth of Octo- ber, 1887, he became superintendent of the Breyfogle and Mayburg property, near Madrone, and many im- provements have been made under his direction. He was married at Indianola, in Warren County, Iowa, December 25, 1879, to Miss Sarah S. Clough, a native of Iowa. They have four children, as follows: Morris, May, Carl, and Frank. Politically, Mr. McCaughin is a Republican.

IGNAZIO MADONNA is the Superintendent of Farrington's rancho in Cañada de los Osos, situ- ated about eight and one-half miles east of Gil- roy, which contains about 1,800 acres, devoted to farming and stock-raising. About 200 acres are put in grain, half wheat and half barley, and at least 100 acres more could be easily farmed. About fifty acres are cut for hay, principally barley. The balance is pasture land covered with clover alfilaria. The ranch sustains about 250 head of stock, chiefly of the Nor- man grade of horses and the Nutwood trotting stock. The new ranch residence was erected in 1887.

Mr. Madonna was born in Switzerland, November 2, 1854, his parents being Señor Simone and Mary Madonna. The subject of this sketch was reared there, attending school until fourteen years old and then working on a farm till 1874, when, at the age of

VIEWS FROM THE VINEYARD AND FARM OF WILLIAM WARREN.

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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

twenty, he emigrated to America and came to Cali- fornia via New York. He located in Calaveras County and engaged in farming and mining for four years, and then went to Douglas County, Nevada, ranching there five years, and thence to Esmeralda County, where he remained two years. In March, 1885, he came to Santa Clara County and entered the employ of William Farrington, and in the spring of 1886 went to the present ranch, of which he is now the Superintendent. He is a member of the I. O. O. F., belonging to Genoa Lodge, No. 15, in Douglas County, Nevada.

ILLIAM WARREN, son of John and Mary Leonard (Wilson) Warren, was born in Ayr- shire, Scotland, November 15, 1830. William was baptized and reared in the Episcopal Church and came to America with his parents when six years old. They settled in New York for a while and then removed to Fall River, Massachusetts, where his par- ents died. William lived at home till fifteen years of age, when he went to sea, shipping as a common sailor in a trading ship bound for the coast of Africa. He followed the sea till 1856. When twenty-one or twenty-two years of age he took command of a ves- sel trading in the South Pacific Seas. In 1856 he set- tled in Japan and went into commercial business, buying and selling teas, silks, and other products of Japan. Owing to the scarcity and monopoly of ves- sels, he bought his own vessels and ran them for sev- eral years. When the first concessions were made with foreigners after the Revolution in Japan in 1859, Mr. Warren built the first European house in Nagas- aki, and was doing business up to the time the first Pacific mail steamer left Japan in April, 1867, when he took passage on this steamer, Colorado, Captain Bradbury commanding, and returned home to Mas- sachusetts and was married, in Warren, Rhode Island, to the youngest daughter of Captain Martin, an old sea captain. In September, 1867, he returned to Japan in the steamer China, the first trip made there by this vessel, and arrived in Yokohama, November 6, 1867, where he remained two months.

When Hiogo opened to the commercial trade of the world, Mr. Warren was one of the first Americans to engage in business there. He opened a branch house, doing a general commercial business. He also acted as agent for the Japanese, who owned large coal mines, in supplying ships, etc. He built the first

European house in Hiogo on the foreign concession. His wife was the first American lady who settled in Hiogo. They had a son, Harry L., born there August 15, 1868, and he was the first child born there of American parents. Mr. Warren closed his business in 1870, and in March of that year took pas- sage for home and arrived in Rhode Island with his wife and child in May. In 1876 he began the manu- facture of wadding, under the firm name of Textile Wadding Company, of which he was the owner and manager. He carried on the business till some time in 1882, when the factory was burned down. Al- though it was partly covered with insurance, Mr. Warren met with a heavy loss. In 1883 he removed to California and bought his present ranch of 120 acres near Saratoga, where he has since resided. They have a family of three children: Harry, before alluded to, Florence A., and William, Jr. Mr. War- ren has thirty-five acres in vines, and fifty-five acres in prunes, peaches, and plums, all choice varieties. He is the first man in this locality who began to grade fruit and classify it to make a commercial commodity of it. His brand of prunes, called the "Warren Brand," is used by leading grocers of San Francisco, and for choice varieties are taking the place of the foreign article. He has been very successful as a packer, and has an evaporating establishment and conveniences for putting up fruit. His agents, Field & Stone, of 126 California Street, ship all his fruit that can be spared to Cleveland and other Eastern cities.

While living in Hiogo, Japan, the first Masonic lodge organized there was in Mr. Warren's dining- room, he being a Mason. This now is a large and powerful lodge, and is named the Hiogo and Osaka Lodge.

ERS. ELIZABETH O'TOOLE has a ranch of 3II acres, on which is situated a large and com- modious residence about two miles northeast from Gilroy. She also has the management of another place, of 800 acres, formerly having had 2,000 acres. On her place is a vineyard of forty acres from four to seventeen years old, all in good bearing, prin- cipally wine grapes, and in 1887 she made about 12,000 gallons of wine.

Mr. Lawrence O'Toole (deceased), who resided in Santa Clara County a great many years, was a native of County Wexford, Ireland, where he was born No-

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vember 2, 1822. His parents were John and Mary (Farrell) O'Toole, who emigrated to Canada in 1833, and located near Quebec, where Lawrence was reared. He came to California with a brother and brother-in- law, by way of Nicaragua, and located in Gilroy. He went to the mines in Calaveras County, and was suc- cessful in his mining operations during the two years he was located there. He then came to Santa Clara County again, and settled on the ranch where his family now reside. He managed the Bryan Murphy estate for a number of years with great business tact. He resided here until his death, April 4, 1887. Mr. O'Toole was one of the first members of the Catholic Church of Gilroy, and was always one of its principal benefactors. He contributed largely to the building of the Convent at Gilroy, and was a very charitable man throughout his entire life, and no deserving per- son ever appealed to him in vain.

He was married, January 31, 1869, to Mrs. Eliza- beth McAllister, a native of County Antrim, Ireland, daughter of John and Sarah (McCauley) McAllister. She was reared there, and when nineteen years old came to America to join her sisters who had pre- ceded her a few years. They had one child, Mamie, who received her education in the Convents of Gilroy and San Jose, and is a cultured artist and musician. Mrs. O'Toole has exhibited wonderful ability in grasp- ing the situation since the management of the affairs of the farm fell upon her after her husband's death.

ILLIAM QUINN, one of the prominent men of San Jose Township, is a native of Tyrone, Ire- land, born January 12, 1828. His father was Owen Quinn. When he was an infant his mother died, and at the age of thirteen he left his native country and emigrated to America, arriving at Pittsburg July 3, 1841. He lived with his sister for a few years, and afterward engaged in draying. In 1853 he came to California by the way of New York and the Isthmus of Panama, arriving at San Fran- cisco March 5, 1853. He obtained employment at the San Mateo Hotel, and in 1856 was married to Miss B. A. Lannon. During the same year he started a dairy. In 1858 he removed to Santa Clara County, locating on tract No. 6, San Jose Pueblo, of 500 acres, where he now resides. No improvement had at that time been made, and it was a wilderness of mustard. He improved the place, and made it valuable, so that

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Pen pictures from the garden of the world, or Santa Clara county, California, Part 63

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