Pen pictures from the garden of the world, or Santa Clara county, California, Part 74

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 74

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LBERT B. McNEIL, proprietor of McNeil Brothers' Printing and Publishing House, estab- lished the business, in connection with a younger brother, in 1878. In 1881 he purchased his brother's interest, the firm name remaining unchanged. The establishment is the largest in the Santa Clara Valley, and is finely equipped with first-class material and printing and binding machinery for executing work in the highest style of the art. All kinds of printing and binding are done, but Mr. McNeil makes a specialty of druggists' labels, fruit labels, and every- thing in fine-color label work. Fifteen thousand dol- lars' worth of the latest improved machinery was added to the plant last spring, making it one of the most complete establishments of its class in the State. A feature of the business is book-binding and blank- book manufacturing of superior class. The quality of work done is attested by the numerous first prizes awarded to it at fairs and expositions where it has been exhibited on this coast.

Albert B. McNeil was born in Sandusky, Ohio, Au- gust II, 1850. When he was nine years of age his mother died, leaving him and three younger brothers, who lived for some time with relatives at Unionville,

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Lake County, Ohio. His father married again and resided in Mattoon, Illinois, until 1866, when young McNeil went to Chicago to finish the printer's trade. While thus engaged he corresponded for several news- papers, and was afterwards employed on the Chicago Times as a local writer and special correspondent. After traveling quite extensively through the Eastern and Southern States, he came by the way of New Orleans to California in 1876, and at once secured a position as Assistant Editor of the San Jose Mercury, which place he filled two years, and until engaging in business for himself. Then forming a partnership with his brother, they began the printing business, and for a time published the San Jose Republic, an eight-page weekly paper. Not proving a successful venture, it was suspended, and the concern run as a job office only. The business employs from twenty- five to thirty skilled hands the year round.

Mr. McNeil was united in marriage, November 30, 1882, with Miss Sarah E. Holland, a former teacher in the public schools of San Jose, whose parents reside near Evergreen, in this county. She was born in Newark, New Jersey, November 19, 1859, and has resided continuously in this county since 1860.

D. HATMAN, the senior member of the firm of Hatman & Normandin, is a German by na- tivity, and learned the trade of carriage-maker in his native land. After completing his apprentice- ship he came to America, in 1867, arriving before his eighteenth birthday. He worked three years and a half at his trade in Ohio and Indiana as a journey- man before coming to California. On reaching San Jose in 1871, he again resumed his trade as a "jour.," until 1873, when, entering into partnership with A. Normandin, they started the carriage manufactory of Hatman & Normandin, on West Santa Clara Street, between San Pedro and Orchard Streets. Their bus- iness, for the first eight years, was confined to the manufacture of fine carriages, buggies, and wagons, and grew to important dimensions. In 1881 the firm began dealing in carriages and buggies of the best Eastern factories, of which they now carry a large stock and have an extensive trade. They employ a force of skilled artisans, who are divided between new work and repairing in the several departments of the business. The proprietors are both thorough- going business men, and by their combined efforts increase the volume of their trade each year.

After arriving on the Pacific slope, Mr. Hatman traveled over the principal parts of California on horseback, seeking the most desirable point to locate. He selected San Jose, and has never regretted his choice. In 1873 Mr. Hatman was united in marriage with Miss Dora Messing, a lady of German parent- age, but born here, whose parents reside in San Jose. Mr. Hatman is a member of the Masonic Order.

actor R. NORMAN KLEIN is one of the pioneers in the dental profession in Santa Clara County, having practiced dentistry here nearly thirty years. He is the son of New York parents, but was born near Woodstock, Canada, in 1833. Soon after his birth his father purchased a large quantity of land from the Indians through their agents (Keating & Jones) on the Walpole Islands, and moved there. But through the treachery and dishonesty of the agents, he and others who had bought land of them, were driven off and lost their entire investment. In 1841 he removed across the St. Clair River and settled in St. Clair County, Michigan, where he still lives, at the ripe age of 92 years. Dr. Klein was educated in Union College, Schenectady, New York, where he was at school nearly six years, but just before gradu- ating left school, to come to the Pacific Coast. Con- fiding his intentions to a class-mate, E. H. Heacock- since Judge in this State-the latter at once declared his intention to join young Klein; and they, in com- pany with William Erkson, now of San Jose, started, on the twenty-second of April, 1852, to cross the plains to the far West. Two other young men of Schenectady joined them, and the five came through together. Their destination was Oregon, but some people from Louisville, Kentucky, who crossed the plains with them, were bound for California, and when they reached a point where the roads parted a vote was taken which resulted in favor of California, and the whole party came to the Golden State.

In the spring of 1853 Mr. Klein began to study law in the office of Smith & Hardy, in Sacramento, and continued till July, 1855. He then went to the town of Volcano and opened a law office, next door to a dentist named Kelley. They became intimate friends, and Attorney Klein being somewhat mechanical in his tastes, frequently observed and studied his neigh- bor's work, and after a time assisted him occasionally on plate work. Thus he incidentally cultivated a lik- ing for dentistry, began studying with a purpose, and

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finally abandoned the law practice and decided to open a dental office, which he did in the spring of 1859, in Santa Clara. In 1862 he removed to San Jose, where he has been in active practice ever since, and has a large and lucrative business.

In 1860 Dr. Klein and Miss Belle Taylor were mar- ried, in Santa Clara. Mrs. Klein is a native of Connecticut.

MABLE NORMANDIN, of the carriage man- ufacturing firm of Hatman & Normandin, of French parentage, was born in Canada in 1852. He attended school and learned the trade of blacksmith in his native country. At eighteen years of age he came to California, and worked three years at his trade in San Francisco, learning to speak the English language after his arrival. In 1873 Mr. Normandin located at San Jose, and, after working a year as a journeyman, entered into partnership with F. D. Hatman, and engaged in the manufacture of carriages, buggies, and wagons. Their career has been a very successful one, and the firm's business now ranks among the first in the Santa Clara Valley in its line, both in the amount and quality of stock carried and in the magnitude of trade handled.

Mr. Normandin and Miss Salina Pinard were mar- ried in 1878. Mrs. Normandin is also a native of Canada, but came to California in early childhood. They have one child, Louis, six years of age. Mr. Normandin is a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen.

W. GILLESPIE, Secretary and Manager of the San Jose Brush Electric Light Company, is a native of California, born in January, 1859, in the city of San Francisco, both of his par- ents being Scotch. His father, Archibald Gillespie, came to California in 1849, during the early mining excitement, pursuing his trade as a blacksmith in the mines, also in San Francisco, but is now retired in San Jose.

W. W. Gillespie served an apprenticeship at the machinist's trade, and worked at it a number of years; but when the science of electricity began to develop, his attention was turned in that direction, and he be- gan the study of that branch of the science which deals with the practical uses of electricity. He be-

came associated with the Electric Light Company at San Jose upon its organization, which was among the first companies in California to take up the business. He assumed charge of the engines and electrical ap- paratus for about two years. In 1884 he severed his connection with the company, but in 1885 he again became associated with them, assuming the position of Secretary and Manager, the position which he now holds. Anyone visiting the office and machinery buildings at No. 52 North Fourth Street, and inspect- ing the splendid equipment and the perfection of its workings, are forced to the conclusion that Mr. Gil- lespie is a thoroughly practical man, and master of the situation. This company has one of the largest and most complete plants on the Pacific Coast.

ORHAM P. BEAL came from Erie County, New York, to California in 1854, arriving in Oc- tober of that year. For eight years he devoted his attention to mining, and in this occupation he was moderately successful. After five years of bachelorhood in the Golden State, he returned to his native county and married Miss H. L. Hawks, also a native of New York State. After their marriage Mr. Beal and his bride started for their wild Western home in the mining district of Placer County. Mrs. Beal declares that those three years spent in rough- ing it in the rude mining town, going to church at the call of an old-fashioned dinner-horn, with no other means of conveyance than the back of a pony, were among the happiest of her life. After closing up his mining interests, Mr. and Mrs. Beal spent a year or two traveling through the East; returned to California in 1864, and settled on the site of their present beautiful homestead on South Suñol Street, in San Jose.

The last twenty years of his life Mr. Beal divided his time beween horticulture, dealing in real estate, looking after his investments, and traveling. He and Mrs. Beal made four trips across the continent, and three times made the voyage between San Francisco and New York by water. Mr. Beal died April 26, 1887, leaving his wife and four children-two sons and two daughters: Flora, Edward, Etta, and Irving, all of whom make their home with the widow on their family homestead before mentioned. The home place consists of eight acres of fine bearing orchard, chiefly pears; and the estate embraces nine acres of splendid bearing orchard three miles from the city, in

I. Residence and Stable.

2. General View of Glen Wildwood.

GLEN WILDWOOD RESORT,-FOUR MILES EAST OF MADRONE. OWNED AND OCCUPIED BY MR. AND MRS. J. H. JOSSELYN.

3. Refreshment Cottage.

4. Cottages.

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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

the Willows, consisting of cherries, apricots, and prunes.

Mr. Beal was a member of the Masonic Order, and of the Baptist Church.

R. J. H. JOSSELYN, of Burnett Township, is a native of Massachusetts, born in the city of Boston, and is a son of Marquis F. and Eunice (Sawtelle) Josselyn. Both parents sprang from old New England families. The founder of the Josselyn family in this country settled at Hanover, Massachusetts, and to him was afterward granted by the king of England the territory now embraced in the State of Maine. The grandfather of the subject of this sketch was an iron founder, while his father was a large contractor. Dr. Josselyn was reared and educated in Boston, and there read medicine under the preceptorship of Dr. John Stevens. He attended the University of Pennsylvania, and graduated in the medical department of that institution in 1844. From that time until 1853 he practiced his profession in Boston, and in the latter year came to California, by the Nicaragua route. Locating at San Francisco, he at once resumed his practice, and remained there until he came to this county, with the exception of a time spent in South America, where, however, he kept up his professional labors, though the trip was under- taken on account of his health. In August, 1887, he removed to his present mountain home in Santa Clara County.

In April, 1874, the Doctor married Mamie E. Lock- wood, a native of Cazenovia. Dr. and Mrs. Josselyn are the parents of four children, namely: Lockwood H., Maude O., Marquis De Lafayette, and Edna.

The Doctor is a member of the Sotoyome Tribe of Red Men, San Francisco, which he has represented for years in the Grand Council, of which he has also been an officer. He yet retains his membership and good standing in the Virtue and Union Lodge, A. F. & A. M., at Lima, Peru, with which he became asso- ciated while in South America. He is a Grand Ancient Odd Fellow, and a Knight of Pythias, and a member of the Order of Chosen Friends of the Pacific. He was one of the most active members and officers of the Janissaries of Light. In the days of the old Whig party he was one of its ardent sup -. porters, and has been a Republican since the organ- ization of the party. The Doctor is a progressive man, and has kept pace with the great progress made by his profession, and, after a large practice in San

Francisco, attended and graduated at the College of the California Medical Association.

The mountain home of the family in the cañon of the Coyote is a place of great natural beauty, and is widely known as " Glen Wildwood." It is triangular in shape. Three streams, the Packwood, Coyote, and Las Animas, water the place, which, except for the cañon, is entirely shut in by hills. There is an arroyo through the place, and along this is situated the buildings. There are three cottages, of three, four, and eight rooms respectively, and a large building, which is as yet utilized for the family residence, but which will eventually form one of the wings of the hotel which is in contemplation, to be in the form of a Greek cross. A public house was built in 1888 by the roadside. The water of the Packwood, clear as crystal, and always cold, has been introduced into the place by means of a tunnel through the hills, 500 feet in length, and a system of water works has been constructed, the entire outlay for the improvement having been some $5,000. The mineral springs are a great attraction, and very valuable; they are both sulphur and soda, and have been analyzed with the result that the waters have been demonstrated to be of great medical value. About 1,500 grape-vines have been set out, mostly Reislings, with a few Isabels, and Muscats. Three hundred walnut trees will be planted in 1889, besides Mammoth chestnuts from Japan, and fruit-trees in varieties. About 1,300 olive- trees have already been planted, and many figs· Trout and other valuable fish, are here to be found in abundance, while a bathing-pool, fine in all re- spects, is no inconsiderable attraction. All in all, the place is one of the naturally favored spots of the county, and the combination of money and taste now at work will make of it one of the best known resorts in this portion of California. Four beautiful views of the place are shown in the illustration of " Glen Wild- wood," which appears in this connection.

HEODORE W. PETERSEN has been a resident of the Pacific Coast twenty-eight years, and of San Jose twenty-three years. Born in Denmark, in 1837, he went to sea at fourteen years of age, and passed twelve years of his life on shipboard, and rose from cabin boy to the rank of Captain. He came around Cape Horn in 1860 as Second Mate on the ship Ocean Pearl. After being employed a number of years in other lines of business in this State, among

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PEN PICTURES FROM THE "GARDEN OF THE WORLD."

which was the conducting of the Atlantic House, in San Jose, Mr. Petersen, in 1872, engaged in the manufacture of brick on the site of his present yard, in the south part of the city between Third and Fourth Streets. He rapidly built up a large business, and subsequently established a branch yard in Mountain View. In 1883 he began to manufacture pressed brick, with superiority of quality as his motto. From the first, Petersen's pressed brick took the first rank on this coast, and at the World's Exposition in New Orleans, 1885-86, he was awarded the first prize over all competitors for the best display of pressed brick. He also has a certificate signed by the individual members of the Builders' Association of California, in which they say his pressed brick are the best made on the Pacific Coast, and commend them in very flatter- ing terms. The greatest care is exercised in the manu- facture of these goods, and no imperfect brick is allowed to leave the yard. The aluminum from which these bricks are made lies immediately below the clay used for the common brick. The superiority of Petersen's pressed brick over those of Philadelphia and other factories, which enables Mr. Petersen to sell them at a much higher price, consists in their smoothness and uniformity of color. They were used in the construc- tion of the Pioneer Building, the Odd Fellows' Hall, the Union Club House,-the finest building in the State, --- the Catholic Cathedral, and other prominent structures in San Francisco, and are used for the fronts of the new City Hall in San Jose. The out- put of pressed brick is 600,000 a year, and the total annual product of Mr. Petersen's yard is about 7,000,- 000 bricks, which consumes 3,000 cords of wood in the burning, and gives employment to an average of seventy men.

In 1866 Mr. Petersen married Mary Doherty, in San Jose, whose birthplace was New York. Mr. Petersen is a member of the A. O. U. W., and of the San Jose Board of Trade.

HARLES T. HAINES was born in the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, January 28, 1838, of Quaker parents, and educated at Westchester Institute with the design of having him enter the medical profession. He left the Quaker City and went to Baltimore to study medicine with his brother, Dr. E. R. Haines, afterward Surgeon-General of the Third Army Corps, and now living, retired, in Cincin- nati, Ohio. Not fancying medical studies, Mr. Haines

returned to Philadelphia and learned the machinists' trade. Upon completing his apprenticeship he im- mediately came West to set up the machinery for crushing quartz ore for the St. Louis Mill and Milling Company at Georgetown, Colorado, being then in his twenty-first year.

After putting the mill in operation and running it about eighteen months, he returned to his native State with a view of entering the army, and enlisted as a private in Company H, of the Sixth Pennsylva- nia Cavalry, in January, 1862. March 10 they left Washington as body guard for Gen. George B. Mc- Clellan. In January, 1863, a cavalry corps was or- ganized, and the Sixth Regiment became a part of the First Brigade of the First Division of United States Cavalry, being the only volunteer regiment in the brigade, Gen. Wesley Merritt commanding the brigade, and Gen. P. H. Sheridan Corps Commander. At Frederick, Maryland, Mr. Haines was promoted to the First Lieutenancy in September, 1863, and at the battle of Brandy Station, in December of the same year, was commissioned Captain. May 26, 1864, he was promoted Major of the regiment, and four days later, at the battle of Old Church, was wounded by a gunshot, the ball striking him on the right side near the sternum, fracturing the seventh, eighth, and ninth ribs, passing through his body and coming out near the spinal column on the left side. He lay nine hours on the battle-field before receiving any attention; was then taken to the hospital, where he remained five months. On being able to leave the hospital Major Haines resigned from the army, and it was two years and eight months before he recovered sufficiently to engage in business. But, notwithstanding his terrible wound and protracted suffering, he is now apparently a healthy man. Major Haines had also some experi- ence in a Confederate prison. While on Stoneman's raid, he and eleven men in his command were captured by Gen. Fitz Hugh Lee, and were four months in Libby Prison before they were paroled. They were subsequently exchanged and joined their command. When able, Mr. Haines returned to the mills, spent a few weeks in Colorado, then accompanied a party to Montana, put up the first milling machinery in that Territory at Unionville, near Helena, and operated it nearly seven years. Leaving there he went, in 1875, as one of a company to the Black Hills, and set up and operated the first quartz mill in that country. After some experience in placer-mining, and fifteen months in working the Minnesota mine, in partner- ship with others, he traveled extensively, prospecting

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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

for mines in Arizona, where he located several valuable mines, and is joint owner in the Home Stake mine, at Nogales, and the Hercules mine, at Crittenden, the latter place being his home when in Arizona. Mr. Haines was constructing engineer of the Crittenden Water Works, and owns a fourth interest in them. Few men in the country have had so extensive obser- vation and experience in mining as Mr. Haines, and he has few equals as a mining expert. He is spending the season in San Jose in connection with McNeil Brothers' Printing House.

ecto R. L. FINIGAN, office 26 South First Street, San Jose, has been in active practice in the dental profession over 15 years. He was born in Cin- cinnati, Ohio, in 1847, attended school and pre- pared himself for his profession in his native city. Early in 1862, when but fifteen years of age, he enlisted in the United States Army as a member of Company D, Fiftieth Ohio Infantry, and served three years, being mustered out in July, 1865. At the battle of Franklin, Tennessee, he received a gun- shot wound in the right side of his head, from which wound he suffered in the hospital three months with gangrene, and was disabled for duty. Quite a scar marks the place of the wound, which came so near taking his life. Dr. Finigan came to California in 1870 and engaged in his profession, and has a fine business in San Jose. He is a charter member of Enterprise Lodge, A. O. U. W., and has been twice chosen Master of the Lodge, He is also a member of Phil. Sheridan Post, No. 7, G. A. R., organized in 1878, and has served eight years as its Quartermaster, which office he now holds. The Post numbers IIO members in good standing.

HARLES A. JUDD, furniture and carpet mer- chant, is successor to Platt Gregory, whose busi- ness he purchased four years ago. In 1886 his store burned, involving a considerable loss, and neces- sitating the temporary occupancy of a store room on the corner of First and San Antonio Streets. From there he removed to his present ample quarters at 133 South First Street. His stock is large and embraces a full line of household goods, parlor, dining-room, chamber, and kitchen furniture. He manufactures parlor suits, bed lounges, spring mattresses, and all

kinds of upholstered goods, also woven-wire springs, which he sells on the installment plan, and has a large trade. He has an interest in a store at Santa Clara. Before coming to the Pacific Coast, four years ago, he carried on a retail furniture business in St. Paul, Min- nesota.

Mr. Judd is a native of Massachusetts, and is thirty-five years of age. His parents moved to St Paul, Minnesota, when he was six years old, and he was educated in the city schools. On arriving at man's estate he essayed to become a farmer, and took up land claims in Southwestern Minnesota, aggregat- ing 320 acres, which he set out to improve. But after putting in five years at hard work, undergoing much hardship, and having his crops devoured by the grasshoppers, he abandoned the place, with the forty acres of timber he had planted, and all the other im- provements, and returned to St. Paul almost penni- less. His first start in the furniture business was made with $150 capital. Mr. Judd now owns also a joint interest in a fruit farm of thirty-three acres, in young bearing trees and vines, six miles from San Jose, on the Los Gatos road, valued at $400 per acre.

The subject of this sketch married, while farming in Minnesota, in 1877-the ceremony being performed on the open prairie for want of a better place-Miss Mary Surratt, a native of Illinois. They have two children: Mabel, aged ten, and Myrtle, six years old.

RMIL T. NEBEN, born in New York city, Sep- Cel tember 13, 1856, is the eldest of a family of four brothers and three sisters, children of Ernst and Helena P. (Benedike) Neben, both of German birth. His father was educated in England and at- tended art school there, also in Germany, France, and in Italy, and devoted his life to art work in oil. The subject of this sketch and his next younger brother, Ernst A., were instructed in art by their father from early boyhood, and have always followed that pursuit. Ernst A. is at the head of the art department of the National Bureau of Engraving and Printing in Phila- delpha. Emil started as a sketcher of scenery for tourist and historical publications, and fine litho- graphic work. He worked in New York, Buffalo, Chicago, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Boston, and Cleveland, and has traveled extensively throughout the country. In 1883 he began a series of experiments which resulted in the discovery of a new process of etching on zinc

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Pen pictures from the garden of the world, or Santa Clara county, California, Part 74

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