Pen pictures from the garden of the world, or Santa Clara county, California, Part 75

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 75

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PEN PICTURES FROM THE "GARDEN OF THE WORLD."

and copper, by which a depth of lines in the plate renderd it possible to print a hundred thousand copies of the etching without interruption, a great improvement over former methods.

Several years ago Mr. Neben published a descrip- tion of this etching process for relief and intaglio printing, decoration of China ware, etc., which he had practiced and introduced by the aid of photog- raphy. This description, even in its most condensed form, is too prolix and technical for the general reader, but Mr. Neben will be pleased to furnish the details of the process to all inquirers.

Mr. Neben was united in wedlock with Alice Cor- nelia Dauphin, January 2, 1882. Mrs. Neben is a native of Chicago, Illinois. They came to California and to San Jose in November, 1887, where Mr. Neben is pursuing his art work. His brother, Henry G., also resides in San Jose, and is one of the finest chromatic printers in this country. The mother and the rest of the family reside in New York and Phila- delphia.

ETER BALTZ was born in France on the tenth of May, 1831. At the age of seventeen he com- menced to learn the trade of baker, and after completing it, in 1853, crossed the Atlantic to the United States. Being a stranger in a strange land, and entirely dependent upon his labor for a livelihood, he experienced many trials and hardships. During the three years following his arrival he visited and worked in many of the principal Eastern cities, and in 1856 crossed the continent to California, settling in Los Angeles. The next year, 1857, he started a bakery in that place, and carried on business very suc- cessfully for five years, when he lost $15,000 by fire. Thinking to recover his fortunes in mining, he spent two years in hard, unfruitful labor, and lost over $5,000 in money in the mines. He then came to San Fran- cisco, $700 in debt, and resumed the bakery business. By diligence, energy, and economy he again got a start and made money, accumulating several thousand dollars. He then made a visit to his parents in Eu- rope for a few months, and on his return in 1869 set- tled in San Jose and opened the El Dorado Bakery, on West El Dorado Street, where he has done a prosperous business. Industry and enterprise have brought their reward to Mr. Baltz in the way of a handsome fortune. He owns over $75,000 worth of property in San Jose, has erected a large business and

hotel building on West Santa Clara Street this year, costing many thousand dollars.

Mr. Baltz married Miss Christine Kesser, a lady of his own country, to whom he was engaged before his emigration. Mr. Baltz is a member of the Masonic Order and of the Turnverein.

ceta R. FRANK L. ARGALL was born in Cornwall, England, thirty-six years ago this August (1888); came to the United States in 1869, and to Cali- fornia in 1874, living meantime in New Jersey. Dr. * Argall came immediately to San Jose, and, after at- tending school two years at the University of the Pacific, went into the office of Dr. J. N. Prather, to study dentistry. In 1883 he opened a dental office, and has since been engaged in active practice by him- self. About three years ago Dr. William J. Younger, of San Francisco, made a very important discovery in the science of dentistry by demonstrating the feasi- bility of the transplantation of teeth. It consists of boring out or preparing the cavity from which has been extracted a decayed tooth, or from which a tooth has been lost by any means, and inserting a healthy tooth, on which the pericementum, or membranous covering, has not been destroyed. When the work is properly done, even though the tooth transplanted may have been extracted months or even years before, a healthy union at once begins to take place with the organs of the alveolar cavity, and in a few months the tooth becomes as solid and firmly attached as the natural teeth which have never been disturbod. Some of these transplanted teeth put in, by Dr. Younger have been used over twelve years, and are a perfect success. Within the past year Dr. Argall has given special attention to this valuable new feature in den- tistry, and has performed several operations in trans- planting teeth. A few months since he extracted the superior left lateral incisor tooth, which was too badly decayed to be filled, from the mouth of a young man, and in its place implanted the corresponding tooth extracted from a lady's mouth nearly three months before. Nature began to form the union, and in a short time the implanted tooth was nearly as firm as his others. This wonderful discovery in dental science demonstrates the tenacity of life possessed by the peridental membrane environing the teeth. Dr. Ar- gall also performs all classes of professional dental work according to the most advanced methods of the science, among which is building new crowns on healthy roots.

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Dr. Argall is the fifth of eight living brothers, two of whom are in Australia, and the rest in this country. His mother resides in San Jose. Dr. Argall was married June 27, 1888, to Miss Ella M. Bent, of San Jose.

OHN CHRISTIAN, inventor and manufacturer of "The Diamond Thresher Teeth," has been a citizen of San Jose nearly a third of a century. Having come to California in 1855, he located here the following year and began learning the trade of making cylinder teeth for threshing-machines in the shop of Mckenzie, known as the San Jose Foundry. After finishing the trade, he worked a year as a journeyman, and then opened business on the site of his present manufactory, northeast corner of First and William Streets. Mr. Christian is the inventor, pat- entee and maker of the steel-laid cylinder teeth. The body of the tooth is constructed of the best Norway iron and the wearing edge of fine cast steel, which gives it double the lasting qualities of any other thresher teeth. Mr. Christian has an actual demon- stration of the remarkable endurance of these teeth in a set on exhibition in his shop which has threshed 70,000 sacks of grain of 140 pounds each. His goods are sold extensively all over the Pacific Coast. His factory is equipped with the finest machinery for the purpose, all of which, including the large steam en- gine that furnishes the power, was made by Mr. Chris- tian himself. The factory has a capacity of two thou- sand teeth per day.

Mr. Christian was born in 1840 on the Isle of Man; came to New York just after passing his fifteenth birthday, and has fought the battle of life unaided since. In 1864 he married Miss Sarah L. Pierce. He has been a member of the I. O. O. F. for twenty years and of the A. O. U. W. ten years. He served eleven years in the California State Militia; lay on his arms in the armory the night that President Lincoln was assassinated.

ILLIAM GUSSEFELD is a native of Prussia, Germany, where he was born February 7, 1850. He commenced his apprenticeship, as a tailor, at the age of fourteen, and, after working the requisite number of years as an apprentice, and one year as a "jour.," he started for this country, landing

on American soil March 22, 1869. After a circuit of the principal places of the East and South, he re- turned to New York city, took a six months' course in the art of cutting, and in 1872 embarked in busi- ness for himself at Wappinger's Falls, New York. He sent for his parents in Germany, who still reside at Wappinger's Falls.

On February 21, 1875, Mr. Gussefeld came to San Francisco, where, on October 25, he married Miss Josephine Janzen, of New Orleans. On October 26, 1875, they chose San Jose, California, as their future dwelling-place, where they now reside, at No. 267 Orchard Street, and own their own house, and are thoroughly satisfied with the Golden West. They have twodaughters: Clara, aged twelve, Alice, ten, and a son, Willie, aged seven.

Mr. Gussefeld carries on the business of merchant tailoring, at No. 64 South First Street, San Jose, and informs us that his trade is as satisfactory as he can wish for, being a steady, growing business, requiring the constant service of from eight to twelve experi- enced tailors the year around. Mr. Gussefeld attends to all his own cutting and fitting, and is in direct com- munication with the Eastern importers and fashion framers, and carries a stock of goods in perfect keep- ing with the fashion and season. He studies to meet the wishes of his patrons, and to this end has devoted his entire life, from the age of fourteen to the present, to the careful study of his business, never letting a year elapse without a trip to some leading and fash- ionable city, to study the advancement and evolution of his art.

e H. KOOSER, one of the men who came to Cali- fornia in its pioneer days, dates his birth in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, September 9, 1827. His father, Jacob S. Kooser, was born in Pennsylvania, of German parentage on the paternal side. His mother, Ellen (Park) Kooser, was a daugh- ter of Benjamin Park, one of the heroes of the Revo- lution. She died when the subject of our sketch was but three years old. He was early inured to hard labor on his father's farm, and when fifteen years of age concluded that he could do better for himself by learning a trade. Accordingly he left the old home, and bound himself as an apprentice to a wagon-maker. At twenty-one years of age he had become master of his trade, and left Pennsylvania with the intention of coming to California; but at St. Louis, learning of the

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prevalence of cholera on the Missouri River that sea- son (1849), he decided to defer for the time further travel westward. He went from there to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where he was engaged on the construction of the first permanent loch and dam ever erected on the Cedar River at that point. At the close of the season he returned East, and the following year came to Cali- fornia by way of the Isthmus. The journey was a slow and vexatious one, but was accomplished in a shorter time, and perhaps with less danger, than an overland trip.

Landing at San Francisco, Mr. Kooser took an early opportunity to visit, at Monterey, his brother, Mr. Benjamin P. Kooser, who came to the State as a member of Company F, of Colonel Stevenson's Regi- ment, in 1846, and served throughout the Mexican War, and was still in the service, being stationed at that place. After a visit with him, the subject of our sketch spent a short time at Chinese Camp and Indian Gulch mines, but soon commenced work at his trade in Monterey. In 1851 he again engaged in mining for a short time, after which he entered, as a mechanic, the United States service, accompanying an expedi- tion against hostile Indians at the head of the San Joaquin Valley, where he helped to build a fort. Later in that year (1851), Mr. Kooser entered the employ, as a mechanic, of the New Almaden Quicksilver Mining Company, where he remained fifteen years, receiving large wages, and always retaining the confi- dence of his employers. His earnings for the first few years were, as he supposed, carefully invested, but he lost $4,000 in loans which were never repaid.

During the two or three years in which the quick- silver mines were closed on account of litigation growing out of a contest for the possession of the property, Mr. Kooser invested a portion of his money in stock-raising in San Luis Obispo County. The undertaking proved a disastrous one, for the drought of 1864 brought a total loss of his stock, and the en- terprise which had looked so promising when pro- jected in 1857 came to naught. In 1866 he com- menced the improvement of 200 acres of land on the Almaden road, three miles north of New Almaden, and there made his home for several years. The real estate he yet owns, but for a long time it has been occupied by renters.

His present fine residence on the Almaden road, six miles from San Jose, was taken possession of in 1877. The buildings are of the best class, comfort and convenience being consulted in their construction, with little or no regard for the cost. The home, sur-

rounded by beautiful grounds, is approached by an avenue, 250 yards in length, shaded by evergreens. The estate contains 120 acres of the choicest valley land. Mr. Kooser also owns a fine dairy farm of 150 acres in Monterey County, and, beside some business property in San Jose, about twenty-five houses and lots in that city. His active life, in connection with his splendid business qualifications, has enabled him, in spite of losses sufficiently large to have' broken down any man not possessed of his indomitable will, to acquire large wealth. He has been entirely the architect of his own fortune, and in his case industry and frugality have been well rewarded.

On the eighth of April, 1871, Mr. Kooser wedded Miss Lena McAbee, who was born in Franklin County, New York, September 24, 1850. She is the mother of five children, viz .: Emma, Newton (deceased), Herman B., Lulu May, and Norman B.

Mr. Kooser's father, after spending the best part of his life on the sterile hills of Somerset County, Penn- sylvania, came as far west as Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where his life closed January 25, 1872.

In the early days, our subject was a Whig and a devoted admirer of Henry Clay, and, since the organ- ization of the Republican party, has been an active member of it. He has illustrated by his life-work what can be done in this gracious land, by a man possessed of energy and thrift, combined with good common sense in management.

ERSIE F. LORD was born in Penobscot County, Maine, in 1852. His father, Jacob H. Lord (whose sketch appears in this history), and mother, Caroline (Littlefield) Lord, were both natives of Maine. Hersie F. Lord was reared on a farm in Wisconsin, to which place his father moved in 1854. When he was seventeen years of age he entered into mercantile pursuits at River Falls, Pierce County, Wisconsin, and in 1881, in partnership with his father, he opened a general merchandise store, which they successfully conducted until 1886, in which ycar he located at Minneapolis, Minnesota, remaining there but a year. In 1887 he came to California and located in Santa Clara County, purchasing twenty acres of land from James H. Stonier on the Hostetter road, in the Eagle School District, about three and one-half miles northeast of San Jose. Upon this land Mr. Lord has erected a handsome cottage residence, styled the "Minnesota Twins," and well-ordered out-

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buildings; he has also planted twelve acres in orchard, the trees being peaches, prunes, and apricots, with also a few trees of other varieties. The balance of his land is devoted to hay and grain; his hay in 1888 averaged four and one-half tons per acre, which was grown without irrigation! Mr. Lord brings to his new calling as an orchardist, well-trained business habits and a love for the work, which will undoubt- edly do much toward insuring his success.

In 1873 Mr. Lord married Miss Augusta B. Cross- man, daughter of Clark H. and Amelia C. Cross- man, natives and residents of Niagara County, New York. From this marriage two children have been born, viz .: Adella H. and Cleon H. Mr. Lord is a member of the I. O. O. F. In politics he is a Demo- crat, but still exhibits an intelligent liberality in the exercise of his franchise.

ARRIS SNEDAKER, a citizen of the Hamil- ton District, lives on Fruit Vale Avenue, near the Meridian road. He has been a resident of Santa Clara County since November, 1875, having lived in San Jose from that time until the spring of 1884, when he removed his family to their present home. The home property, owned by his son, Edwin H. Snedaker, contains nine and one-tenth acres, which yields a general variety of fruit, of which prunes form the largest part. In 1887 twelve and one-half tons of apricots were sold from 119 trees, six years old, or, in other words, that was the crop of one and one-tenth acres, and from this large yield was realized the sum of $375. Mary Alice Snedaker, his daughter, owns a tract of twelve acres on Naglee Avenue, in the same district, for which she paid from money earned in school-teaching. This thrifty or- chard is six years old, and produces apricots, prunes, and Bartlett pears. Both places have been converted from stubble-fields into profitable orchards by the family, who may well feel that their efforts have met with deserved success.

Mr. Snedaker is a native of Brown County, Ohio, where he was born October 13, 1825. On the twenty- eighth of October, 1849, he married, in that county, Miss Tamar Purdum, who is also a native of Brown County. Determined to seek their fortunes in the great unknown West, they started on the day follow- ing their marriage with a team and wagon (and but little capital) for Illinois, the Cincinnati, Hamilton & Dayton being the only railroad anywhere in the West

at the time. They lived for a short time in Putnam County, of that State, and in the following year bought eighty acres in Eden Township, La Salle County, Illinois.

In this new, undeveloped country they created, by industry and hard labor, a comfortable home, in which they lived for fifteen years. Their children having reached an age which made it advisable that they should receive better educational advantages than the country afforded, Mr. Snedaker removed with his family to the village of Tonica, which is situated in the same county. There they lived until, in 1874, they came to California, and after one year's residence in Santa Barbara they lived in San Jose until, as stated at the beginning of this sketch, they made Santa Clara County their home.

Mr. and Mrs. Snedaker have three children: Mary Alice makes her home with her parents; Edwin H. is now a resident of Paso Robles, San Luis Obispo County. He held the responsible position of ticket agent and operator, in the employ of the Southern Pacific Railroad at San Jose, for seven years. Leav- ing the railroad employ, he was engaged for two years in the livery business in San Jose. In 1884 he again entered the employ of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company, and is now its agent at Paso Robles. He wedded Miss Lizzie L. Marshall. The remaining daughter, Eunice I., is the wife of Judson Rice, of San Jose, an architect of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company.

Mr. Snedaker is connected with the Republican party, and of Whig antecedents.

M. RIGHTER, whose home, in the Hamilton District, is situated a short distance north of Campbell Avenue, was born near Indianapolis, Indiana, March 4, 1843. He is the son of George G. and Salome (Kilbourne) Righter, his father being a native of Virginia and his mother of Ohio. He was left an orphan while a youth, his father dying in 1860, and his mother following her husband the succeeding year. Mr. Righter attended the public schools near Indianapolis, and afterward the National Normal School, near Cincinnati, Ohio, at which institution he graduated in 1873. Directly after graduation, he came to California, and, after spending a short time in teaching in Los Angeles County, went to Solano County, where for nine years he followed the profes- sion of teaching. In the spring of 1882 he came to

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Santa Clara County, and soon after bought his present home. The property, for which he paid $180 per acre, had then just been set to trees. It contained a frac- tion more than ten acres, nine of which were planted with apricot trees (principally Hemshirks, with a few Moorparks), while one acre was devoted to the pro- duction of peaches and grapes. That the orchard has received good care is shown by the fact that in 1887 the apricot trees, then five years old, yielded fifty tons of fruit, which was sold for a little more than $1,600. Mr. Righter still continued teaching after coming to this county, being engaged first in Franklin District, and later in Mayfield, San Jose, and Saratoga Dis- tricts. His last school, which was in Saratoga District, closed in June, 1887. He at once returned to Ohio, and on the twenty-eighth of that month married Miss Belle Lutes, the daughter of A. J. and Lavinia Lutes, who reside near Cincinnati, where Mrs. Righter was born. Returning to California with his bride, the sub- ject of our sketch immediately took possession of his fine fruit ranch, to the care of which he has since de- voted his time.

In politics Mr. Righter is an independent. He is connected with the Masonic Order, being a member of San Jose Lodge, No. 10, and also of Howard Chap- ter, No. 14, both of San Jose. He believes in the desirability, and, what is more, in the practicability, of the union in one church of all the evangelical churches, and in consequence of this belief is a member of the "Christian Union," an organization which has for its object this result. Mr. Righter's successful career as a teacher for so many years in this State, and the education and qualities which have made him a success in his chosen profession, have won for him the respect of the community in which he makes his home.

HOMAS SHANNON. The subject of this sketch settled among the foot-hills of Union District near his present residence, and on the same quarter-section of land, in 1866, obtaining a title to his land under the homestead laws of the United States Government. He was born in Jeffer- son County, Ohio, January 25, 1825, but was reared in Coshocton County, same State. Rcaching man- hood about the time the Mexican War demanded volunteers, he enlisted in Company B, Third Ohio Volunteers, in June, 1846. The regiment joined the army under General Taylor. The service was for twelve months, and after receiving an honorable dis-

charge at New Orleans, Mr. Shannon went to Knox County, Illinois, with the intention of making it his home, but remained there less than two years. Suf- fering from disease contracted in Mexico, and think- ing that a change of climate might be beneficial, he joined a party of gold-seekers bound for California. The company was organized in Galesburg, Illinois, and called themselves the "Jayhawkers." It contained about forty or fifty men, from different parts of the county. They left Galesburg April 5, 1849, and crossing the Missouri at Council Bluffs, followed the overland trail to Salt Lake City, which they reached about the middle of August. Fearing, on account of the lateness of the season, to cross the Sierra Nevada Mountains, the party hired a Mormon guide to pilot them to Los Angeles. Besides the Galesburg com- pany, there were hundreds of other emigrants camping around Salt Lake City, some of whom united their fortunes with Mr. Shannon's party, so that when the caravan was ready to start, which was about the last of September, it consisted of about 500 men, with 105 wagons. After proceeding some 300 miles south- ward the party divided on account of the scarcity of feed for so much stock, and thirty-four men (among them the subject of our sketch) undertook to make their way westward over the trackless desert, without guides or inaps, expecting to reach the San Joaquin Valley. Of course the mountains interposed impass- able barriers, and much time was spent in trying to find a pass through them. The sufferings of the party were indescribable, the intense heat of the desert being almost unbearable. Often they saw the deceptive mirage,-in appearance from a distance a bright, sparkling lake, and in reality not water, but clay-beds where water had been evaporated by the sun. Four died from exposure and starvation, and one man wandered away from the company, and was found fifteen years later by United States troops, living with the Indians. He afterwards became a business man of San Francisco.

After months of suffering, the party, sick and worn out, found habitations on the Santa Clara River, forty miles north of Los Angeles, near the present site of Newhall. This was in February, the company having been ten months in making a journey now accom- plished in five days by the wonderful "iron horse." The survivors of this overland party of 1849 keep up an organization, which has annual meetings February 4. Several reunions have been held, in which reminis- cences both sad and merry have been brought up- sad in the thought that so many of the brave men of

Marcellis Ross.

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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

'49 have gone, and merry in the recollection of the many makeshifts which they were obliged to concoct to keep life in their bodies. Mr. Shannon and L. D. Stevens, of San Jose, are the only survivors of the party living in Santa Clara County.

The subject of our sketch commenced mining on the Yuba River soon after reaching California, and followed the work for six years with varied success. He then spent several years in Marysville, and when the Civil War broke out he enlisted in the Seventh California, Company B, in October, 1864. After serving eighteen months doing frontier duty in Ari- zona, he was honorably discharged at San Francisco. He then located in this county, and held his claim for seven years, waiting for the authorities to decide whether his land was on Government or railroad land, before commencing the work of active improvement. Having sold about seventy-five acres of his original estate, he now owns eighty-five acres, which are devoted successfully to general farming with about six acres reserved for fruit and vines.

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Pen pictures from the garden of the world, or Santa Clara county, California, Part 75

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