Pen pictures from the garden of the world, or Santa Clara county, California, Part 96

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 96

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Mr. Dent was born in Indiana, in 1821. His par- ents came from Virginia to Indiana a short time pre- vious to his birth. Soon after his birth the family re- turned to Virginia and remained there about three years, thence back to Indiana, and then, in 1832, back again to Illinois, where the father purchased a farm and settled in Marshall County, where the subject of our sketch passed his youth in attending school and working on his father's farm. He was later for many

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years interested in farms and farming until failing health caused him to make a change of occupation. He removed to Ottawa, Illinois, engaging in the real- estate business, although his home was at Wenona, Illinois. He was a member of the firm of Dent & Dent, and later of Dent, Moore & Co.

Mr. Dent was married, in 1844, to Miss Rebecca McCollum, of Pennsylvania, who died in 1864. There are four living children from that marriage: Amelia, now the wife of Lyman H. Tower, of Omaha, Nebraska; Frances, now the wife of Aaron Dennis, of the Willows; Rawley E., now living at Friend, Nebraska; Louis D., a promising attorney of Hastings, Nebraska, died there in 1886. Mr. Dent was again married, in 1867, to Miss Frances Burbank, of Port- land, Maine, niece of Thaddeus Fairbanks, of St. Johnsbury, Vermont, the inventor of Fairbanks' scales. She died in 1882. From this marriage were born three children: Lena B., now attending the Washing- ton College at Irvington, California; W. Evans, and Mabel, both attending school at the Willows. Mr. Dent married, in 1883, Miss Laura Chandler, of Yuba City, California. One child, born of this marriage, Ellwood, died in early infancy. Mr. Dent's parents were Enoch Dent, a native of Morgantown, Virginia, born in 1796 and died at Wenona, Illinois, in 1872; and Judith (Gapen) Dent, born in Uniontown, Penn- sylvania, in 1799, and died in Arkansas City, Kan- sas, in 1876. John Dent, grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was Captain in a Virginia Regiment in the War of 1812. Mr. Dent is a Democrat in poli- tics, but believes in full protection of American in- dustries.

ORYEA BROTHERS. On the second floor of the Paul Block, No. 26 South First Street, one of the finest buildings in San Jose, are situated the photographic parlors of the Loryea Brothers, the leading photographers of this city. The reception- room is handsomely and luxuriously furnished, while the operating and other rooms are fitted and furnished in the most suitable manncr. Messrs. Loryea lead in their line, and are entitled to all the credit due men who, by sheer force of merit, have brought themselves to the front. They are both possessed of a thorough knowledge of the art, familiar with the slightest de- tail, and under the most trying circumstances exer- cise the patience so necessary in their business, and never allow a subject to leave the studio partially sat-

isfied, insisting that every patron shall express him- self freely, and if not satisfied pose again. On the walls the eye is attracted by the portraits of hun- dreds of the best people of the county, and not less so by the beautiful landscape views, of which this firm makes a speciality, including the finest views of the great Lick Observatory. The narrow but well-lighted passage to the operating-room is lined with growing ferns and flowers, seeming the gateway, as it is, of that strange realm whence soon we are granted to see our " other self," a speaking portrait.

The firm consists of Milton and Archie Loryea, both natives of the Pacific Coast, Milton having been born at Sacramento in 1860, and Archie in Oregon in 1865. They learned their art in San Francisco in the cele- brated photographic gallery of Edouart & Colb. Milton was employed there five years and Archie two. In 1881 Milton established the gallery in San Jose, Archie joining him in 1882. The reception parlor is in the front, looking down on the busy throngs on First Street, while the operating-room is at the rear, where they have a most perfect control of the light- ing. There are also finishing and toning rooms, as well as a large printing-room on the roof, with sun all day long. In addition there are also elegant dress- ing and other rooms. They make a speciality of en- largements and also of children's pictures, in which they are peculiarly successful. They have a very large and complete assortment of backgrounds and accessories, so that all classes of photographs may be obtained by their patrons. Personally they are among our most popular young men, standing high in both business and social circles.

AMUEL R. WILLIAMS was born in Canada West, June 25, 1828. His parents, James and Anna (Weise) Williams, were both natives of the same place. Samuel was raised on his father's farm, and during intervals was able to attend the pub- lic schools, where he was taught the common branches of education. He remained with his parents until he was twenty-four years old, when, in April, 1852, he was married to Jane Hume, also a native of Canada. He bought 100 acres of land in the same township, and began farming for himself, where he remained for three years. In 1855 he sold his property and emi- grated to California. He went into the mines in Nevada County and worked there three years, with fair success, but, like nearly all miners, had his ups

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and downs. He then returned to Canada, where his family was during this time, and went into the tan- nery business in the township of Camden, Canada West. Mr. Williams remained there in business until 1866, when he sold his tannery and again came to California. He went into the mines at Virginia City, Nevada, where he stayed two years. He came to Yolo County, California, and went to farming, and during his residence there of two years sent for his wife and family. In 1870 he came to Santa Clara County and located in the Cupertino District, where he cleared 100 acres of wild land and set it out to grapes. After working the land three years, he re- ceived a deed for one-half of it as payment for the labor expended on the place. Mr. Williams has since taken two of his sons into partnership with him in the fifty acres, which are all in vines sixteen years old, that have been bearing heavy crops for several years.

Mr. and Mrs. Williams have five children, two daughters and three sons: Melissa A., wife of William Close; J. D., Albert E., Augustus C., and May Will- iams, all of whom are residing at home or in the county. His son J. D. Williams has a ranch of twenty acres, which is set to grape-vines five years old. Mr. Williams and his sons have a common interest, and all are doing business together. In the summer of 1886 they bought five acres on the Stevens Creek road near by, and erected a winery 153x30 with a capacity of 150,000 gallons, and in the same year made wine to the full capacity of the building.

ALTER A. CLARK, the active young real- estate broker of Mountain View, was born February 6, 1867, in Jo Daviess County, Illinois, a son of Enoch and Charlotte Clark. His fa- ther died when he was seven years old, and he made his home with his mother until he was fifteen, attend- ing the public schools of Warren, Jo Daviess County. He then went to Aberdeen, Dakota, where he entered a mercantile store as a clerk, remaining about two years. From there he went to New Orleans, where he spent the winter, after which he paid a visit to his old home in Illinois. In February, 1886, he came to California, stopped with his aunt, Mrs. Atwell, who has a ranch near Mountain View, and liking the country so well, with its bright prospects for the fut- ure, he decided to make it his home. In September, 1887, he started in the real-estate business, with B. E. Burns, under the firm name of Clark, Burns & Co.,

which partnership continued until April, 1888, when it was dissolved, and Mr. Clark opened an office by himself, where he has since been doing business. He makes a specialty of real estate, town, and country property. He is a wide-awake, stirring young man, and pushes his business right to the front. If he has any new and desirable property on hand, he believes in making it known to the public. All of the country property in his possession is fine fruit ranches, situated in the warm belt and in the best fruit-growing section of the valley. On account of the demand for small places suitable for homes for parties desiring to avail themselves of the excellent advantages offered by the Stanford University, Mr. Clark has a number of such places, which are rapidly being sought after. He is Secretary of the Mountain View Canning Company, organized in the spring of 1888.

LIVER P. ASKAM, M. D. One of the prom- inent young men of Mountain View, and a rising member of the medical profession, is Doctor Askam, the subject of this sketch. He is a na- tive of Ohio, where his parents reside. His father, George Askam, has been a very active man in former years, and was an extensive dealer in stock, but now is living a more retired life. There are six children in the family, four sons and two daughters, of whom two sons are now practicing physicians of this State. O. P. Askam was raised on his father's farm, and re- ceived his literary education at the First Street Nor- mal High School, Louisville, Kentucky. When he was eighteen years of age he entered upon the study of medicine, under the preceptorship of his brother, Doctor H. F. Askam. When he was nineteen years old, he entered the Kentucky School of Medicine at Louisville, and graduated at that institution on the twenty-sixth day of June, 1884, after having passed a rigid examination conducted by members of the Fac- ulty. Soon afterward he commenced the practice of his profession, and in course of time came to Mount- ain View, where he opened an office and has been one of the most successful physicians who has practiced in this locality. The Doctor is a pleasant conversa- tionalist, is congenial with his friends, and a citizen of high standing in the community. Although a young man, he is rapidly coming to the front as a physician. He has acquired a large and extensive practice, and is destined at no distant day to occupy a prominent position in the medical profession.

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Doctor Askam is a member of the Santa Clara Medical Society, is a Knight Templar, belonging to the Chapter and Commandery of San Jose, and to the Blue Lodge of Mountain View. He is also a member of the Eastern Star Lodge, a social order of Masonic nature, at San Jose, and of the A. O. U. W. of Mount- ain View.

HOMAS B. KEESLING, one of our most suc- cessful fruit-growers, has a beautiful home in the Willows, on Willow Street opposite Cherry Ave- nue. The place has an area of about twenty acres, planted mostly in cherries and apricots, with about an acre of grapes near his house, and cost him in 1873 $10,000, or $500 an acre. In 1887 he had about seven tons of grapes, which sold for an average of $15 per ton. The cherries produced about seven and one-half tons to the acre, and apricots also bore a very full crop. Mr. Keesling has two ranches in Santa Clara County, one a mountain ranch of fifty acres planted in grapes and prunes, and forty acres about three miles west from his residence in various kinds of fruit.

Born in Preble County, Ohio, in May, 1824, his grandparents, John Keesling, a native of Wythe County, Virginia, and Melinda (Bulla) Keesling, a " native of North Carolina, having moved into Ohio in its earlier settlement. The family removed to a point near New Castle, Indiana, where the subject of this sketch went to school and worked on his father's farm. Commissioned Postmaster of Mechanicsburg, Indiana, in 1848, by President Taylor, he held that position for eight years, meanwhile conducting a general store and a steam saw-mill, the post-office being in his store. His old sign, painted by himself, still hangs over this store.

His father's farm having been on the wagon road between Cincinnati and Chicago, he had heard as a boy many and wonderful stories of the great West beyond. These did not decrease as to the great de- velopment of that section while he was merchant and Postmaster of Mechanicsburg, so that in 1856 he re- solved to cast his fortune toward the setting sun. Selling out his interests in Indiana, he took his family and settled where Minneapolis now is. At that time there were but a few shanties on the west side of the river, although on the east side was the town of St. Anthony's Falls. He bought twelve acres of land now in the center of Minneapolis, and remained there

for sixteen years, during which time he worked in the saw-mills and at gardening. This land, for which he paid $1,400, appreciated so much in value that he sold off $35,000 worth, and has been offered $50,000 for what he still holds! Having always had a fond- ness for horticulture, which he undertook in Minnesota with unsatisfactory results, owing to the intense cold, he made a trip to California, settling in the Santa Clara Valley in 1872. Here he worked during the first year for James Lick, purchasing at the end of the year the home place in the Willows.

He was married, in 1848, to Miss Elizabeth Hasty, a native of Preble County, Ohio, her parents also re- moving into Indiana during its early settlement. Her parents were Thomas Hasty, a native of Kentucky, and Anna Raper, a native of Virginia. This union has been blessed with a numerous progeny, number- ing eleven: Martha Ann, now the wife of George W. Hanson, a resident of the Willows; Francis M., con- nected with Wells, Fargo & Co.'s Express in San Jose; Leander B., residing near Glenwood, in the Santa Cruz Mountains; Horace G., now a fruit-grower in the Willows; Alva C., a fruit-grower in Santa Clara County; Oliver M., fruit-grower in the Willows; Carrie E., George C., Thomas C., Emma E., and Edwin E., the five latter still attending school and occupying the paternal home.

Mr. Keesling has been always a believer in the principles from which the Republican party sprang, and which carried it on in its successful career. In these he but followed in the footsteps of his father, as he has been followed by his sons. His father was in favor of the abolition of slavery, and helped every slave who escaped from thralldom and came within his reach. Death called the old gentleman before the day of Emancipation, but his spirit battled for liberty and union in the persons of a son and a nephew, who gave up their lives that their country might be saved. The son, Isaac B., died at Vicksburg, and the nephew was killed at Richmond. Other relatives also lost their lives during the war.

HE HONORABLE DANIEL FRINK. The reminiscences of the early pioneers and advent- urers on the Pacific Coast must ever possess a e peculiar interest for the Californian. Green in their memory will ever remain the trials and incidents of early life in this land of golden promise. The pio- neers of civilization constitute no ordinary class of

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adventurers. Resolute, ambitious, and enduring, looking into the great and possible future of this western slope, and possessing the sagacious mind to grasp true conclusions, and the indomitable will to execute just means to attain desired ends, these heroic pioneers, by their subsequent career, have proved that they were equal to the great mission assigned them, that of carrying the arts, institutions, and real essence of American civilization from their Eastern homes and planting them upon the shores of another ocean.

Among the many who have shown their eminent fitness for the important tasks assigned them, none merit this tribute to their characteristics and peculiar worth more fully than the subject of this sketch. He was born in Chenango County, New York, August 7, 1827, son of Nathan and Eunice (Burdick) Frink, the former a native of Connecticut and the latter of New York. He resided at home until he reached the age of nineteen years, when he enlisted in the First Regi- ment, New York Volunteers, raised to take part in the Mexican War. Being assigned to duty on the Pacific Coast, he set sail in the ship Loochoo, and ar- rived in San Francisco March 26, 1847, where he was quartered until discharged, August 15, 1848. Gold had now been discovered, and the whole world would appear to be en route to the mines. To them also went Mr. Frink, his choice falling on those in El Dorado County; but, not finding much encourage- ment to remain, he left the district after one month's mining, and returned to San Francisco. We next find Mr. Frink passing the winter of 1848-49 in Chili, South America; coming back, however, in the spring, he once more toyed with fortune in the mines, but soon left for San Rafael, Marin County, where he es- tablished a mill in the redwoods of that county, which he conducted until the spring of 1850, when he again left for the mines, this time to the Yuba River. But he made only a short stay, and returned to Marin County, where he bought a ranch and embarked in stock-raising. However, in 1859, he disposed of this farm, moved to Santa Clara County, and settled on the land where he now resides, consisting of four hundred acres of the best soil in the country.

Mr. Frink has been a Justice of the Peace in Marin County. During the year 1851-52 he, with John Minge, were elected the Associate Justices to form the Court of Sessions of Marin, Ai Barney being County Judge, while in 1879 he was elected to the State Leg- islature on the Republican ticket.

He married, in Marin County, October 26, 1852, Pauline H. Reynolds, a native of Vermont, and has

six children, of whom five are now living, as follows: William R., born October 26, 1853; Pauline E., born January 26, 1856; Daniel B., born November 8, 1857; Henry R., born December 7, 1859, and died July 17, 1888; Robert A., born April 25, 1865; Stella H., born September 24, 1868.

ENJAMIN F. BRANHAM, real estate dealer, No. 50 South First Street, San Jose, has been a resident of California since 1846, and of San Jose for the same period. Born in Callaway County, Missouri, July 25, 1845, he was brought by his parents, in the following year, to California, cross- ing the plains and learning to walk while on that trip. He attended at first a private school, and later the public schools of San Jose, completing a course later at the San Jose Institute, under the management of Freeman Gates. In 1865, at the age of twenty years, he graduated in the Commercial Department of that institute. Previous to this he had worked at times on his father's ranch, and had been engaged in herd- ing sheep in the mountains and in the Santa Clara Valley for his father. The familiarity with the sur- rounding country gained by this experience was later of much value in his official career. In 1868 he was appointed Deputy County Treasurer under P. O. Minor, and served until the close of the latter's term, in March, 1870. In 1871 he went into El Dorado County to take charge of a mine, which he managed for a mining company for three years. From that place he went to Lassen County, where his father owned mining interests, and engaged in mining until 1874, when these mines were abandoned. He then returned to Santa Clara County, leased his father's ranch, and conducted it for two years. He was then appointed Under-Sheriff, by N. R. Harris, in which capacity he served until March, 1880, when Sheriff Harris went out of office. In June, 1880, he was ap- pointed bookkeeper for the San Jose Savings Bank, which position he filled until November, 1880, when the bank commenced retiring from business. In 1881 he took the position of clerk and assistant bookkeeper in the Mariposa Grocery Store, on Market Street, San Jose; this place he held until after his nomi- nation and election as Sheriff, which position he as- sumed in January, 1883. He was re-elected to this office in 1885, holding it until January, 1887, being succeeded in that year by the present incumbent.

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He then engaged in the real-estate business, in which he is still occupied.

In 1879 he was married to Mrs. Mary A. Walsh, a native of Maryland. To this marriage has been born one child Charles E., born in June, 1881. Mr. Bran- ham has always been an active supporter of the Dem- ocratic party, which has twice honored him with its nomination and suffrages. In being elected to the shrievalty of Santa Clara County on the Democratic ticket, it has always required support from individual Republicans, that party being largely in the majority. This support has been given freely to Mr. Branham, not only in recognition of his own sterling integrity and good qualities of heart and head, but also as an evidence of the high esteem and popularity in which his father and the family have always been held by the people of this county, without regard to political affiliations. Mr. Branham, while Sheriff, was largely instrumental in arresting and bringing to justice sev- eral murderers, against whom the evidence was at first apparently meager, but who later received the gallows as the reward for their crimes. During his adminis- stration of the office of Sheriff the escape of important criminals was practically unknown.

EORGE SWALL was born in La Salle County, Illinois, near Streator, March 1, 1858. His father, Matthias Swall, is a native of Germany, and came to the United States at an early date. He went to New Orleans, where he lived for some time, and was there married to Elizabeth Haines, also a native of Germany, who came to this country when she was a mere child. From New Orleans he moved to Illinois, and in 1865, with his family, moved to California. They sailed from New York via Panama to San Francisco. Mr. Swall located on a ranch near San Jose, where he lived one year; then he took up a quarter-section of government land in the San Joaquin Valley; also bought several sections of rail- road land, and followed agricultural pursuits and stock-raising. He made his home there until 1870, when he moved to Salinas Valley, Monterey County, although he did not dispose of his interests in San Joaquin Valley until 1873. In the Salinas Valley he was engaged in stock-raising and in the butcher bus- iness, which he continued up to 1875, when he sold out and went South, and is now residing up on a farm in Los Angeles County. They raised a family of

eleven children, of whom nine are now living-eight sons and one daughter.

George Swall, the subject of this sketch, was seven years old when his parents moved to this State. He was educated at the public schools and at Heald's Business College, San Francisco. In 1873, or while he was living at home, he learned the butcher business, and in 1875 came to Mountain View, where he hired out to a butcher and worked two years. He then went to Los Gatos, where he worked for L. Johnston one year, when he got the position of foreman and manager of the business. In 1881 he bought Johns- ton out, taking in a partner, under the firm name of Swall & Smith, which partnership continued two years. Mr. Swall then sold to his partner, and shortly after opened a shop by himself, doing business for one year. He then sold out and returned to Mount- ain View, in October, 1884, and bought out the same shop where he used to work nine years before. In February, 1888, Mr. Swall erected the building where he is now located, and in May of the same year built the dwelling-house where he now lives.

He was married, August 6, 1882, to Mary Florence Collins, who was born in Santa Clara County, daugh- ter of Perry Collins, one of the old pioneers of the county. They have two children: Lester L., born December 20, 1883, and Mary Ellen, born June 28, 1885. Mr. Swall is a member of Ridgley Lodge, No. 294, I. O. O. F., of Los Gatos. He is a stock- holder in the Olympic Hall of Mountain View; also a stockholder in the Mountain View Canning Com- pany. Mr. Swall is one of the successful business men of Mountain View, and has built up for himself a large and extensive trade. He is kept busy nearly all the time, running two wagons, supplying meats, etc., to the community on every side for miles around. What he has is from his own earnings, having had to earn his own way in the world when he first started out, and by saving his earnings from time to time, and constant application to business, he has laid the foundation for a successful career.

O. McKEE, professional architect, has a beauti- ful orchard home on the McKee road, a continu- ation of Julian Street, on the east bank of Coyote Creek, just beyond the city limits of San Jose. Mr. McKee is one of California's pioneers. He was born in Cromwell, Connecticut, May 7, 1831, son of Henry and Sarah (Sage) McKee, of Scotch extraction, and

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from a long line of American ancestry. His father was a sea-faring man, and became a master mariner at the age of twenty-two years. Accompanied by his son, whose name heads this sketch, he left New York in command of the ship Isabella, of which he was part owner, in November, 1849, bound for San Francisco. The long voyage around Cape Horn was safely concluded by the arrival of the vessel at the Golden Gate, in May, 1850. Both father and son en- gagcd, for a few years, in the coasting trade, each as Captain of a vessel owned in part by themselves. The family caine on to join them in the spring of 1853, but the all-ruling Power permitted the father never more to meet them. He was carried away be- fore they reached this coast, dying at the age of fifty years. Upon the arrival of his mother and the family, J. O. McKee left his occupation, and, having largely the care of the family, provided a home in San Jose. After two or three years had passed he bought the fifteen acres of property now making his fine orchard home. In 1856 he wedded Miss Rachel Clevenger, who was born in Ray County, Missouri, and is now the mother of four daughters, viz .: Belle, wife of A. Lundy; Nellie; Abbie, wife of R. Coykendall; and Edith.

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Pen pictures from the garden of the world, or Santa Clara county, California, Part 96

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