Merced County,
California
Biographies
1925
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JOHN RUDDLE
It is enlightening and inspiring to
read the lives and see the faces of the men and women who have built up Merced
County to the position it now holds, and who have been the very foundation of
all development work which has taken place since their early settlement here,
in building up the population of the County and State, and in demonstrating
the fertility of the soil for future productiveness. Among these pioneers, none
more thoroughly deserves mention in the history of the county than the late
John Ruddle, "pioneer of pioneers," who
crossed the plains in 1849, and one year later settled in Merced County, where
his last days were spent.
John Ruddle
was a native of Missouri, born in Madrid County, on October 17, 1830. He
crossed the plains to Los Angeles in 1849, and went to the Mariposa mines in
1850. Though only a young man of twenty, he saw with a keen vision that the
development of California would depend more upon farming than upon mining; and
late in 1850 he came down to the Merced plains and took up land on the Merced
River, near Hopeton, then called Greens, and later,
for a time, justly called Forlorn Hope. This land he traded to his father for
land in Missouri, which he in turn traded for cattle, bringing them across the
plains in 1854 to California. Upon arriving here he bought 160 acres from S.
Hyde, and this quarter section was the first permanent start of the 3800 acres now
comprising the J. G. Ruddle Properties, Inc., and
known as the Ruddle Ranch, founded by John Ruddle almost three-quarters of a century ago and now
turning largely to dairying and fruit culture. It is unique that this large
holding is one of the few ranches of the State that is still in the possession
of members of the family by whom it was founded in the early fifties.
A sad incident of this narrative is
the tragic fate of Allan Ruddle, brother of John, who
had accompanied him across the plains and engaged in ranching with him. Allan
left the river home one morning with an ox-team for Stockton, with several
hundred dollars in gold dust to buy furniture for the ranch home. When the oxen
returned late that afternoon, minus their driver, the worst was feared, and
these fears were confirmed the next morning when the searching party found
Allan Ruddle's body about six miles out on the
Stockton road, toward the Tuolumne River. His rifled pockets, broken whipstock, and a bullet wound in the head told the ghastly
story. As Joaquin Murietta, the bandit, who struck
terror to the scattered communities in that day, was known to be operating in
the neighborhood, the murder was laid to the door of the desperado and his
gang.
In 1854, John Ruddle
went back to Missouri and brought out the drove of cattle already mentioned,
starting with 300 and arriving at.his ranch with
about 240 of the animals. He spent the years from 1854 on for twenty-seven
years conducting his ranch and gradually adding to it. In the late sixties he
became connected with the private banking house of Wigginton,
Blair & Company, of Snelling. When the county
seat was moved to Merced, this company came to the new town and organized the
Merced Bank. Late in the seventies Mr. Ruddle became
president of the bank and continued with it until it closed up its affairs, in
1894. He then moved to the Merced River Flouring Mills, near Snelling, which he had purchased from the Curtiss interests in 1890, and with his family lived on
the hill near the mill, in the house which was a landmark in that vicinity for
many years. He at that time turned over his ranch to his son James, and in
1905, after being farmed to grain for half a century, the river bottom half of
the ranch was turned to dairying, which has proved highly remunerative. There
are now six complete dairying outfits on the ranch, conducted by tenants, who
are milking 1000 cows on shares. The land is well adapted to alfalfa,
The marriage of John Ruddle, occurring August 23, 1860, united him with Ann
Elizabeth Hardwick, daughter of a pioneer Merced River family. She made him a
most worthy helpmate, and five children were born to them. Of these, the only
child who lived beyond infancy is James G. Ruddle. He
married Annette Stockird, born in Merced County, and
is the father of three children: James Garland, Allan B., and Alice.
In 1900, Mr. Ruddle
moved back to Merced from the old mill, and made his home in the city until
1910, when he removed to Santa Cruz; and there he and his good wife remained
until 1918, that year returning to Merced to stay. Here, on February 1, 1925,
after enjoying ninety-four years of life, John Ruddle
passed to his reward, at the family home at 436 Twentieth Street. His was a
life rich in labor, not only for himself and family, but for the common good
and the upbuilding of his community. He held a place in the ranks of pioneers
which never can be filled; for he was one of that comparatively small band of
men who crossed the plains in their youth and here planted the seeds of
industry that were to bear abundant harvests of achievement. The results of his
labors have been and will continue to be so far-reaching that it is impossible
to estimate the true value of this one man's life and endeavor. We can only, as
a State, appreciate the fact that it is through the true vision and unceasing
labor of men like John Ruddle, men who gave their
entire lives to the developing of a barren country into one of the most
productive valleys in the world, who came out to the frontier West, and stayed,
not to speculate, nor to seek adventure, but to devote their God-given brain
and brawn to the upbuilding of new communities and the betterment of humanity
—it is through the efforts and achievements of such men that our glorious State
has come to be known throughout the world. And as long as their spirit lives,
emulated by their descendants, we know that we need never fear for the
perpetuity of our commonwealth.
The Ruddle
Ranch is now conducted by J. G. Ruddle Properties,
Inc., of which J. G. Ruddle, son of John Ruddle, is president, and his sons, Allan and J. Garland,
are vice-president and secretary and treasurer respectively. The corporation
recently voted bonds to the extent of $300,000, and will proceed to develop the
ranch into one of the best orchard and vineyard properties in California.
John Ruddle
was the last remaining of a large family, and is survived by his devoted wife,
his son, James, and three grandchildren. At Hopeton,
in 186S, he joined the Methodist Church, South, which congregation was
organized in 1853, Dr. J. C. Simmons and Rev. Burris being the ministers there
in early days. The ministers always stopped at the Ruddle
home, and he took pride and joy in housing them and was all his life an ardent
supporter of the church.
HON. JOHN M. MONTGOMERY
A man of upright character, a firm
friend and a patriotic citizen, John M. Montgomery held a warm place in the
hearts of all who knew him. He was born in Hardin County, Ky., September 18,
1816, and died in Merced County, May 4, 1891. Between these dates his life and
work were an open book to the communities he so well served. He went to school
in the locality where he was born, and upon reaching young manhood he went to
Missouri, where he remained until the spring of 1847. He then followed the
westward trend of civilization, crossing the plains to California behind the
slow-moving ox teams, and upon arrival he entered into the business life of
Monterey, remaining there until the discovery of gold. Instead of seeking the
precious metal as a miner, he thought he could do better as a freighter and
fitted out his team of oxen that had brought him across the plains and began
hauling supplies to the new diggings and to the miners. In the fall of 1849,
with Samuel Scott as a companion, he located in what was probably the first
settlement in what is now Merced County, being but a little distance from what
is now the town of Snelling. Here he engaged in
farming and stock-raising, in which he met with good results and continued many
years.
In 1852 Mr. Montgomery went back to
his old home in Missouri and there was united in marriage with Elizabeth
Armstrong. Together they made the return trip to California and settled in the
home already established by Mr. Montgomery on Bear Creek, six miles east of
Merced. The following children were born of this union: Mary, wife of I. Jay
Buckley; Jennie, wife of H. K. Huls; Ella, who
married E. L. Smith; John A.; Robert H.; William S.; Katie and Lizzie. In
politics Mr. Montgomery was a Democrat and was often called upon to fill
positions of trust and honor. In 1861 he was elected to the board of
supervisors and in 1875 to the State Senate, and in the sessions that followed
he gave valuable service. One of the broadest acts he ever did had to do with
his election to the Senate: His seat was hotly contested, and rather than allow
the State to meet the expense he paid it himself. He was loved by all who knew
him and his death was a source of regret to a wide circle of friends and
acquaintances.
ELBRIDGE GERRY RECTOR
A Mexican War veteran and a pioneer
of 1849 in California, Elbridge G. Rector first saw the light in Sevier County,
Tenn., on February 19, 1816. His father was Kenner Avery Rector, a Virginian,
who participated in the War of 1812, and gained the reputation of being the
best shot in General Jackson's army. He married Elizabeth Randall, prominently
connected with families of the Old Dominion. The Rector family was
transplanted on American soil from German forebears who first went to Scotland,
thence to Virginia, where, at the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, Charles
Rector, a prosperous planter, accompanied by several of his sons, joined the
ranks of the colonists and fought for their independence. One of his sons was
named Benjamin, born in Virginia and later a planter in Sevier County, Tenn.
Next in line was Kenner Avery Rector.
Elbridge G. Rector went to Texas in
1835, where in 1836 he joined the Texan army and in the battle of San Jacinto
was twice severely wounded, from the effects of which he never recovered. Later
he was in the Indian War as a Texas Ranger under Colonel Jack Hayes and Captain
Bird. In 1847 he took part in the Mexican War and served until peace was
declared. In 1849, this intrepid frontiersman took a train of pack mules and
set out for California, via El Paso, Tucson and Yuma to Los Angeles, and thence
up the coast and across the mountains to San Joaquin County. He landed in
Mariposa County in September, made memorable in the history of the State as the
date of the election of members of the California constitutional convention. He
mined for a time, then turned his attention to ranching in 1853, and later
conducted a hotel at the Green Valley ranch for a time. He settled on the
Merced River and became closely identified with the interests of the citizens
of the locality. His first public effort was to circulate a petition for the
setting off of Merced County from Mariposa County, which was successfully accomplished
in 1855, and he was elected the first county clerk and for seven years he
filled that post; he was next elected to the office of sheriff and served two
years (1864-1866).
In 1868, Mr. Rector moved into
Stanislaus County and farmed opposite the present site of Modesto, but in 1870
he removed to Mariposa County, and followed the same line of endeavor near Coulterville.
His next move took him to Texas, in 1877, and there he engaged in the stock
business in San Saba County. Five years later, in November, he came back to
Merced County and from January, 1889, to January, 1891, he was county
treasurer. For many years he had been a leader in the Democratic party and he had a happy faculty of making and winning
friends. He was very public spirited and what he did was from a sense of public
duty, not for emoluments that he might attain. He was a Mason of the Royal Arch
Degree. He died in Merced County on October 19, 1902.
The marriage of Elbridge G. Rector
in 1860, in Merced County, united him with Amanda McFarlane, who was born in
Jackson County, Ala. Her parents, Robert and Elizabeth (Hobbs) McFarlane, were
natives of Virginia and settled in Tennessee at an early day, thence removing
to Alabama. There were five children in the family of Elbridge and Amanda Rector : William Fielding, Thomas Blackstone, Elbridge N.,
Mary E. and Laura A.
MRS. LOUISA M. WILSON
The oldest of the pioneer residents
of Merced Falls, Mrs. Louisa M. Wilton is a native of the town, being the
fourth and youngest child of the late Charles Murray. He was born in Ireland
and was brought to America when a child and was reared in Missouri. In 1849 he
came West, driving his own cattle and stock across the
plains and arrived in Merced Falls after a long and tiresome journey of seven
months. From the proceeds of the sale of his stock, Mr. Murray built a hotel
and opened a general store, which he conducted under the name of Murray's Hotel
and Store, and was very successful and built up a large trade with the miners.
He also acted as postmaster of Merced Falls. In the early sixties a disastrous
fire destroyed his store and hotel and, having no insurance to cover his loss,
he quit the business and moved three miles below the Falls
and engaged in the stock business, each year adding to his holdings until he
had considerable land in Sections 3 and 4. In the latter part of 1865 he
concluded the purchase of the balance of Section 4 and built a house into which
he moved his family, and this is the home of Mrs. Wilson to this day. She has
in her possession old account books kept by her father, including early postoffice records, which are very interesting from a
historical standpoint. When Charles Murray moved from the ranch into Merced
Falls again he purchased the ferry business from "Hookey"
Wilson, who had built and was conducting it. Mr. Murray made of the bridge a
most elaborate affair, completely housing it in, with a separate passageway for
pedestrians, the toll office being on the Merced Falls side of the river. This
entire structure was swept away by the flood of 1861-1862. In later years he
operated this ferry until his death, at which time James McCoy, the first
husband of Mrs. Wilson, carried on the business until about 1900, at which time
the county supervisors bought the ferry and soon after replaced it with the
present steel bridge.
The Murray children were reared in
Merced Falls. Charles Sheridan Murray was accidentally drowned in the Merced
River at the age of sixteen, by slipping and falling from the top of the ferry.
Sam R. Murray now resides in Madera County, and his son is Judge Murray of the
superior court of Madera County. William E. Murray died at the age of
twenty-two. The mother died at her home in Merced Falls on October 1, 1873,
aged forty-six, and the father passed away at Oakdale on October 22, 1879, aged
sixty-seven.
Louisa Murray was educated in the
local schools. The sessions at Merced Falls were held in two localities prior
to the erection of the present building. The first school was on the Kelsey
ranch one mile below the Falls, but when fire
destroyed the building a new school house was built on the same road, and is
still standing, though vacated about ten years ago. Louisa and her brother
attended these schools. The present school is a modern structure, located above
the sawmill site of the Yosemite Lumber Company. In May, 1877, Miss Murray was
married to James M. McCoy at Merced. He was born in 1851 in Silver City, Iowa,
and came to California early in the seventies and conducted the livery stable
and ferry business at Merced Falls; he died on July 4, 1906, survived by one
son, Grover Cleveland McCoy, who is employed in the plumbing department of the
Yosemite Mills, and married Eva De Camp of Fresno; and they have three
children. He is a member of the Native Sons, belonging to an Oakland parlor.
On the edge of Merced Falls is the
160-acre ranch belonging to Mrs. Wilson. It is used for stock range, and here
she engaged in the stock business with her late husband, James Clinton Wilson,
whom she married on December 11, 1910 at Fresno. He was born in Iowa, on
September 19, 1857, and was reared in Bates County, Mo. He arrived in Los
Angeles, Cal., in October, 1888, and followed prospect mining for sixteen
years in Tuolumne and Mariposa Counties. After locating at Merced Falls, in
November, 1900, he resided here until his death on November 23, 1924.
MRS. ANN ELIZABETH RUDDLE
One of the best-known and beloved
women in Merced is Mrs. Ann Elizabeth Ruddle. She was
born in Jackson County, Ala., on August 25, 1841, the daughter of the late
Thomas Jefferson and Ann (McFarlane) Hardwick, the former born in Georgia and
the latter in Tennessee, where they were married. Soon after their marriage
they moved to Alabama, where Mr. Hardwick was elected judge.
Judge Hardwick and his family, which
consisted of his wife and six children, crossed the plains in 1859, from Jasper
County, Mo., where Mr. Hardwick had been farming for some years. Upon their
arrival in this State they settled on the Merced River, and there he farmed for
many years. He died at the age of sixty-three. Mrs. Hardwick lived to reach the
advanced age of ninety-six, making her home with Mr. and Mrs. John Ruddle for thirty years prior to her death. They were both
honored pioneers. Everybody knew "Grandma Hardwick," as she was
affectionately called by old and young. She was an active member of the
Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and had scores of friends.
The Hardwicks
had six children : William J.; Amanda Malvina, who
became the wife of James Dickinson; Mary Catherine, who married William
Hoskins ; Ann Eliazbeth, Mrs. Ruddle;
Jackson Gilmore, who resides near Turlock and is eighty years old; and Huldah Jane, who became the wife of Mark Howell, at one
time surveyor of Merced County. Of these six children, only Mrs. Ruddle and Jackson Gilmore Hardwick are living.
Mrs. Ruddle
is familiarly known by her many friends as "Aunt Betty Ruddle."
She is an active member of the Bethel Methodist Episcopal Church of Merced,
JAMES CUNNINGHAM
One of the most highly esteemed
citizens of Merced County was the late James Cunningham, who had the
distinction of being one of the organizers of the county. He was born in Dungiven, County Londonderry, Ireland, May 12, 1824, the
son of James and Margaret (Dunlap) Cunningham. The father was born at Castle
Colley, eight miles from Londonderry, served in the South Fifteenth Infantry
for seventeen years, twelve of which he was color sergeant, stationed in the
West Indies. He took part in some of the most famous battles of his time and
was the last man to leave the island of Martinique when the island was given up
to the French, wading to the boat with water up to his neck.
James Cunningham, our subject,
remained at home until he was sixteen, when he ran away and went to sea in
company with a boy friend, being apprenticed for four years as a sailor with
the firm of Booker, Bond & Co., merchants of Liverpool, who shipped goods to
all parts of the world. He was soon made second mate, and a few months later
first mate of the ship Lancaster and it was while on this vessel that he met
with an accident, breaking his collarbone and shoulder, which laid him up for
six months, during which time he was not idle as he attended a school of
navigation, and when again able to assume active duty he was made captain of
the ship Cyclops. He followed the sea for eleven years, rounded Cape Horn three
times and twice was over two-thirds around the globe. In his travels he had
heard of the discovery of gold in California and made several attempts to
reach the Eldorado, even offered to work his passage
as an ordinary seaman, without success. It was his idea that he would work in
the mines and the more rapidly accumulate wealth, which he intended to invest
in ships.
In the fall of 1850 came his golden
opportunity, he being selected as chief officer of the clipper ship Canada.
After the ship had outfitted in 1851 he started for the New World and California,
and at the end of a long and stormy voyage landed in San Francisco in February,
1852. Here the entire crew deserted ship. Mr. Cunningham had eight months pay
coming to him but never received it and he found himself in a strange land and
practically penniless. He soon found a friend in a Mr. Livingston, to whose
cabin he removed his effects, and some time later a party was organized to go
to the mines; Robert Sherwood supplied him with money and the party of five,
among whom was a geologist, a Mr. Stephenson, who had been a passenger on the
Canada, set out for the mines on Yuba River. Here Mr. Cunningham spent two
years mining when he made a trip on horseback to Mariposa County to visit a
cousin, William Laughlin, who is buried in the Cunningham lot in the Masonic
Cemetery, and while there he located a claim on Mariposa Creek. Returning to
the mines in Grass Valley, he there purchased some land, but continued mining.
He made another trip to Mariposa County, only to find that some one had jumped
his claim. In the meantime some parties had secured some 320 acres of land and
put in a crop of barley and this Mr. Cunningham bought for $1000, and this was
the beginning of his prosperity and his large land holdings. He got a good price
for his barley. His nearest neighbors were seven miles distant.
Not meeting with success in mining
ventures, Mr. Cunningham turned his attention to raising stock, in 1864, with
Thomas Fowler, later Senator from Tulare County. He made several trips to the
southern part of the State to buy cattle for his ranch and for beef to supply
the mines. That same year was noted for its dry season and many of his cattle
died. He with Alfred Harrell, Joseph Rodgers and J. G. J. Moray joined together
and started for Humboldt County, Nev., but lost nearly all of their stock and
barely escaped with their own lives owing to the depredations of the Indians.
Mr. Cunningham gave up the idea of becoming a ship owner and turned his
attention to farming and stock raising, having on his ranch an average of fifty
head of fine horses and 1200 cattle. Beginning with his 320 acres he added to
it from time to time until he owned some 16,000 acres which was operated by the
Cunningham Corporation, composed of Mr. and Mrs. Cunningham, his two sons,
James C. and Emmett T., and his daughter, Mrs. E. Massengale,
all of whom lived on the ranch, which was located sixteen miles northeast from
Merced.
On July 30, 1868, occurred the
ceremony that united the lives of James Cunningham and S. Elizabeth (Turner)
Henderson. She was born in Jackson County, Mo., the daughter of Capt. Nicholas
Turner, a Forty-niner in California, who made two subsequent trips overland as
captain of wagon trains, then remained in this State. There were three children
born of this union, viz : James Charles, born July 28, 1869, married for his first
wife Miss Leota Williams, a native of Indiana, born
in Muncie. After her death he married Miss Stella Smith, a native of Mariposa
County, and they have three children, James Byron, Vesta
and Augusta. Emmett T. was the second child and was born on November 23, 1870.
He married Miss Bernice Brandon, born at Ione, Amador
County, the daughter of Amberson Brandon, of
Jefferson County, Wis., a California pioneer. His father, Var
Price Brandon, was a Virginian who married Martha Engart,
of Pennsylvania ; they also came to California as
pioneers. Amberson Brandon married, August 31, 1868,
in California, Julia A., daughter of Henry and Rachael Misenheimer,
of North Carolina, and California pioneers of 1852. Julia A. Brandon was born
in Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. Brandon had the following children
: Susie, Bernice (Mrs. Emmett Cunningham), Howard, Myron (deceased),
Frances, Lloyd, Rodger, Audley, Gladys, Roscoe (Ted),
and Horace. Mr. and Mrs. Emmett Cunningham have four children: Margaret E.,
Mrs. George W. Clark, of Los Angeles; Julia Ione,
Mrs. Arnold Grasmoen, of Merced; and Carlston E. and Nancy Rose, both at home. The third child
born to this worthy pioneer couple was Margaret Evaline,
born February 7, 1873. She became the wife of R. E. Massengale,
of Le Grand and they have had three children: James, Mary (deceased), and
Cecil. Mrs. James Cunningham's first husband was Henry Helm, by whom she had a
daughter, 011ie, now Mrs. Samuel Rothery, of Santa
Cruz. She has three living children, 011ie, Edward and Daisy. Mrs. Cunningham's
second husband was a Mr. Henderson, of Snelling. Mr.
Cunningham died on May 12, 1908, and his widow passed on in April, 1913.
James Cunningham was a Democrat and
took an active part in the councils of that party, serving as a delegate to
county and State conventions, and held the office of supervisor from 1860 to
1864. He served for many years as a school trustee. It was ever his policy to
elevate the standard of education and he contributed liberally of his means to
that end. He was made a Mason in Ireland and demitted to La Grange (now
Yosemite) Lodge No. 99, F. & A. M. of Merced. In his long and eventful life
he had many interesting and thrilling experiences. Of the latter, one incident
will perpetuate his memory for generations. This was in 1862, during the flood
at Snelling that threatened the lives of thirty-five
people who sought refuge in the trees when the hotel was washed away from its
foundation. Accustomed as a sailor to act quickly when danger threatened, he,
with the assistance of others, among them Judge Breen, Hon. W. H. Howard, and a
Mr. Perkins, constructed a raft and by hard work and great danger to their own
lives, safely rescued the people from their perilous position.
In the later years of his life he
was in the enjoyment of all his faculties, could read without glasses when past
eighty, and took an active interest in all topics of the day and in the
improvement of his property.
JOHN SANDERSON SWAN
As a city trustee of Merced and
former sheriff of Merced County, John Sanderson Swan has been intimately
associated with the public life of this locality for many years. He was born in
Waterford, Maine, September 30, 1849, a son of Thomas and Eliza (Sanderson) Swan, of Welsh and Scotch
ancestors, respectively. Both parents are deceased.
John Sanderson Swan was educated in
the public schools of his native state and in the Bridgeton Academy; at
nineteen years of age he began to earn his own way in the world and for fifteen
years was foreman for one company in New England. Ashisparents
were getting old and needed his assistance, he went
back to his home in Maine and remained with them until they both passed away.
In 1881 he came to Merced County; the first year he was occupied with farm
work, then he rented land and followed grain farming for twenty years, having
as many as 6000 acres under cultivation in one season. For many years he
conducted a livery stable business in Merced and was also engaged in buying and
shipping of hogs from Merced and vicinity. He was elected sheriff of Merced County
on the Democratic ticket and served' for eight years with entire satisfaction
to the public.
Mr. Swan has been married twice. The
first time he was united with Miss Sarah Swan, the same name, but no relation;
after her death he was subsequently married to Miss Eldora Fuller, a native of
Rhode Island. In 1920 Mr. Swan was appointed to his present position of head
janitor of the high school building, a responsible position which he capably
fills. Fraternally he is an Odd Fellow and an Elk. As a good citizen he is now
serving his second term as city trustee of Merced. Politically he votes for the
best men and measures.
JAMES J. STEVINSON
Among the outstanding pioneers of
Merced County there were none more widely known than the Stevinsons,
father and son, Archibald W., and James J., who both were called
"Colonel" by their intimate friends—not as a military title,
however, but partly because they were from the South, and partly because of
their participation in the Mexican War.
James J. "Stevinson
was born in Boone County Mo., on November 6, 1828, the son of Archibald and
Charlotte Stevinson. When he was five years old his
mother died, and he and an older sister were placed with an uncle, Samuel Stevinson, and there the lad made his home and grew to
young manhood. In 1846 he joined a trading train of General Kearney's Division
and crossed the plains with Doniphan's Regiment, en route to Mexico, spending
that winter on the Del Norte River and on the road to Santa Fe, N. M. Resuming
the Journey again, he arrived at Chihauhau on March
1, 1847, and was happily surprised to meet his father, whom he had not seen for
eleven years and who was engaged in
merchandising there. He visited with him for two months and then joined the
soldiers and arrived at Saltillo, where the troops
met General Wool's Division. Mr. Stevinson remained
at Saltillo until the close of the war, after which
he returned to Chihuahua, with two companions, making the trip on mule back, a
distance of 600 miles, in seven and one-half days. Here he again met his
father, with whom he remained until December 27, 1848, when he started on his
trip via Durango and Mazatlan, to San Francisco,
where he arrived on March 25, 1849, "flat broke," having spent thirty
days on the water, which he often referred to as thirty-five days—on account of
the hardships endured.
Mr. Stevinson
went to the mines on Mormon Gulch, Tuolumne County, and followed mining during
the months of April and May, 1849, with fair success ;
he then acted as agent for Colonel Jackson, at Jacksonville, for three months.
Then, his father arriving here from Mexico, they formed a partnership and
carried on a general merchandise business in Mariposa County from November,
1849, to August, 1852, when James J. Stevinson arrived
in what is now Merced County. Here he obtained a large tract of land and began
agricultural pursuits, and in time developed one of the most productive
ranches and had one of the most beautiful homes in the entire San Joaquin
Valley. He had 15,000 acres of land and about 1500 head of cattle and some 3000
sheep, besides other stock. The residence is on the left bank of the Merced
River, upon which, in early days, stern-wheel steamers used to run and gather
up the grain stored along the banks. In the course of time Mr. Stevinson accumulated 25,000 acres of land. He farmed on a
large scale, raising stock and grain, and became one of the wealthy men of the
county.
On December 27, 1855, James J. Stevinson was united in marriage with Miss Louisa Jane
Cox, daughter of Isham J. Cox, of Cox's Ferry, on the
Merced River. She was born in Illinois and was brought to California by her
parents. They had three children : Samuel, Mary E.,
and Fannie B. After a long and useful life, filled with good works, not alone for
his own family, but for the people of Merced County in general, James J. Stevinson passed to his reward on November 13, 1907, at the
age of seventy-nine years.
Archibald W. Stevinson, the father of James J., was born in Clark County, Ky., in 1804, and received a good education in his native State. He was a man of high intelligence, and a farmer by occupation. When he was twenty he moved to Boone County, Mo., where he married; and there his children were born. In 1830 he engaged in the Santa Fe trade. Business required him to journey between Independence, Mo., and Chihuahua, Mexico, and he made these trips no less than nine times during the eighteen years he was engaged in this business. He set out for California on April 10, 1849, and reached Los Angeles in July. He was engaged in various mercantile operations in California and arrived in what is now Merced County on September 23, 1852, settling on the Stevinson ranch; and there he died in 1883, aged seventy-nine years.
There were three children born to
Col. A. W. and Charlotte Stevinson, namely: James
J., Elizabeth March, and Charlotte Silman.
IRWIN JAY BUCKLEY
As justice of the peace of Township
No. 1, in Merced County, Irwin Jay Buckley is rendering efficient service to
his constituents. He was born in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, November 17, 1845, and
represents the eleventh generation from Peter Buckley (spelled by him Bulkeley), who came from England in 1635 and was educated
at St. Johns College, Cambridge, England, of which he was a fellow for some
time. He was rector of Woodhill for twenty-one years,
and having, through his non-conformity, come into conflict with Archbishop
Laud, emigrated to Cambridge, Mass. In 1636 he was the
principal founder of Concord, where he was pastor until his death in 1659. In
direct line of descent Sylvanus Buckley, father of I.
J. Buckley, was born in Norwich, Otsego County, N. Y., on a farm owned by his
father. He married Phoebe Merriman, also born in that same county of Scotch and
Irish ancestors, who were soldiers in the Revolutionary War. She was also
closely related to the Winchesters, founders of the Universalist
religious denomination. Sylvanus Buckley was
energetic and ambitious and in 1844 he located at Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, and began
manufacturing plows. While so engaged he heard the glowing accounts of the
discovery of gold on the Pacific Coast, and accordingly closed his business and
started across the plains to California in 1849.
Arriving at his destination Mr.
Buckley mined in Placer County and was among the Forty-niners who pioneered
mining on the Yuba River. So successful was he that he was enabled to make his
family a visit in 1853, removing the family from Iowa to New York. He came back
to the mines and in 1856 made his second trip to see his family and bring them
to the Coast. They came via Nicaragua and arrived in San Francisco on July 20
of that year. From this time he turned his attention to ranching, but he was
unfortunate in investing in what later proved to be a Spanish grant in Alameda
County, near Alvarado. In 1861 he located in Merced County, and in the vicinity
of Snelling embarked in the sheep business, at the
same time that he was interested in some mines in
Nevada. In his stock enterprise he met with fair success and became owner of
about 16,000 acres of land. He gave of his time and means to promote the
welfare of his adopted home and was held in high regard by all who came in
contact with him. He died at the age of seventy-nine years, in 1888. He was
survived by his widow, who died in 1892, at the age of eighty-four. There were
six children: Henry A., who died in 1872; Horace F.; Irwin Jay, of this review;
George W., who died in 1902; S. P,, residing at Merced
Falls; and C. 0. E. Buckley, who died at Hopeton in
1920.
Irwin Jay Buckley attended the
public schools in Iowa and was reared under the parental roof, accompanying the
family to California in 1856, via Nicaragua. He took passage on the S. S. Orizaba, Captain Blethen, on the
Atlantic side and on the S. S. Sierra Nevada, Captain Tinklepaugh,
on the Pacific side. He well recalls the encounter with the government troops
who were in pursuit of Walker; also the Nicaragua rioters. He and his brother
walked across the Isthmus as they found some 1200 people waiting on the Pacific
side for transportation to California. After locating in this state our subject
was closely associated with his father until the death of the parent. In 1887
he bought his ranch of 315 acres located between Snelling
and Merced Falls and improved the place and became a very successful and
progressive rancher. Three years of his time were spent in Merced, since which
time he has lived in the section of the county he now makes his home. He has
now retired from active agricultural pursuits, having leased his property, but
he gives his entire time and attention to the duties of justice of the peace,
to which post he was elected, and in which he is now serving his twenty-first
year—though not in consecutive service, having held forth in the old court
house (Merced's first) at Snelling.
The marriage of Mr. Buckley, in
1878, united him with Mary Montgomery, daughter of the late Hon. J. M.
Montgomery, who is represented on another page of this history. Of this happy
union there is one daughter, Irma, now the wife of Charles G. Connors; she has
a daughter, Jean Jardine, by a former marriage. Judge
Buckley is a Republican and has served his party well in various capacities in
Merced County. He is unassuming, public-spirited and is very fond of good
books, and was at one time the owner of a very large private library, which,
unfortunately, was destroyed by fire some years ago. Both he and his good wife
are liberal supporters of all progressive and upbuilding projects. They dispense
hospitality of the old Californian type, and being among the very oldest of the
living settlers in this section of the county, they have a wide acquaintance
and a large circle of loyal friends.
ADAM KAHL
The late Adam Kahl
will be gratefully remembered by posterity as one of the foremost men of his
day in Merced County, where he located in 1860 and established what has come to
be known as the Kahl Ranch, near Plainsburg,
along Mariposa Creek. From the time of his settling here he was active in every
organization and movement that would be of benefit to the ranchers and help
towards bettering the condition of the people of the county and State. He
owned a ranch of 2000 acres and this he had improved with a spendid
set of farm buildings and a substantial and commodious brick house. His ranch
was stocked with the best breeds of live stock and he did much to raise the
standard of live stock in the county. Such was his success that his
accomplishments were the means of many others settling here and trying to
follow his example. He was always ready and willing to advise others as to best
methods to pursue to attain their own success.
He was born in Franklin County, Pa.,
September 6, 1825, a son of Jacob and Catherine Kahl,
farmers in their day and place. He grew to manhood on the farm, attending the
common schools and in time migrated to Richland County, Ohio, and later to
Carroll County, Ind. It was while he was living in Indiana that he decided to
come to California, for the discovery of gold had been heralded throughout the
nation and he was among the first of his section to leave for New Orleans. He
embarked on a sailing vessel, landing at Chagres, and crossing the Isthmus he
secured passage on the barque Alyoma
for San Francisco, arriving on June 20, 1850.
Upon his arrival he was engaged in
mining in Butte Flat, Jackson and Mokelumne Hill and river districts for four
years. He returned home for a visit in 1855, subsequently went to Iowa, thence
to Pettis County, Mo. There, on July 4, 1858, he married Lydia A. Spangenberg, a native of Pennsylvania. Immediately after
their marriage they set out for California. This time the trip was made across
the plains behind ox-teams and via Salt Lake and the Carson Canyon route. They
arrived at Snelling, Merced County, in October, 1859,
but soon went to the Pajaro Valley, Monterey County,
where he lived until 1860, when he bought a ranch near Plainsburg,
now owned by the family. He paid from $1.25 to $35 per acre for his land. At
the time of his death, January 11, 1889, Merced County lost one of her most
progressive citizens. His estate was divided between his widow and children,
each child receiving 320 acres. There were five children :
Ernest D. ; Alice M., who married John Dickinson ; George A.; Charles WT., who
is a successful physician in Merced; and Arthur S., of Merced County. To such
men as Adam Kahl the county of Merced and the State of California
owe much of their prosperity. Mrs. Kahl, lovingly
called "Grandma Kahl" lived to be
eighty-five years old, dying on September 23, 1924, at her home at Le Grand.
Several years prior to her death Mrs. Kahl took an
airplane trip from Merced to San Francisco with Emmett Tanner, at that time she
was the oldest woman to take such a flight in the history of aviation and her
journey was widely reported.
CHARLES MORTIMER FRENCH
As city marshal and tax collector of
Merced, Merced County, Charles Mortimer French is sustaining the reputation for
ability and judgment, energy and thorough qualification for holding public
office won entirely by his own efforts. In 1908 he was elected to the office of
city marshal, and in addition to this he holds the position of tax collector
for the city. His birth occurred in Augusta, Kennebec County, Me., on July 13,
1864, a son of Hayden Winfield and Felicia Hemans
(Gould) French. Hayden Winfield French went to Montana in 1865, after having
served in the Civil War. In 1868, when Charles Mortimer was a child of four
years, the family joined him in California and the home was established in
Merced County.. The father was in the sheep business
for many years; then for fourteen years he served as deputy sheriff under
Sheriff A. J. Meany. After that he became constable,
an office he held until his death, April 7, 1894. The mother, who was born in
Augusta, Me., April 23, 1837, was married November 25, 1859. She was the first
teacher in the first public school held in Merced. She died February 4, 1897.
Charles Mortimer French received a
grammar school education, for in the days of his schooling there was no high
school in Merced. He was reared to hard work, and his summers were spent in
farm work and during the winter months he worked in a blacksmith shop. In 1888
he established a transfer and hauling business, which he still operates, the
firm name being French and Wood, Mr. Wood having been a member of the firm
since 1912.
The marriage of Mr. French united
him with Miss Mary Corrine Yoakum, born in Oakland,
Cal. Mr. French is a Democrat in politics. Fraternally he is affiliated with
the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, the Knights of Pythias, the Odd
Fellows and the Woodmen of the World; and he belongs to the Chamber of Commerce,
all of Merced. Mr. French is an honorary member of the fire department and a
charter member of the old El Capitan Hose Company No. 1, of early days. He has
lived continuously in Merced since 1872.
MRS. LOUISA JANE STEVINSON
One of the oldest living of the
pioneer women of Merced County is Mrs. Louisa Jane Stevinson,
daughter of that pioneer Isham J. Cox, of Cox's Ferry
fame on the Merced River and one of the stanch upbuilders
of the county from its beginning. Isham J. Cox was
born in Tennessee, went to Shelby County, Ill., and thence to Texas, and with
ox-teams and wagons came overland to California, arriving at Hill's Ferry in
March, 1850. He went to the gold mines on Sher-lock's
Creek, Mariposa County, and met with more than ordinary good luck; and when he
returned to his family, they moved to a place four miles below Snelling, where he settled on the Merced River and built a
ferry, which was operated as Cox's Ferry for many years. His wife was Rebecca Chisenhall in maidenhood and was of Scotch descent. Her
progenitors were early settlers in Virginia and 'Were large planters.
Louisa Jane (Cox) Stevinson was born in Shelby County, Ill., over eighty-five
years ago, and was only two years old when she was taken across the plains by
her parents to Texas, where they lived during 1846-1847. In 1849 they came to
California via the southern route to San Diego, where they spent the winter of
1849-1850. She was ten years old at the time and well remembers the journey
from Texas and the early-day history of this section of country, where she grew
to womanhood. She attended school at Quartzberg,
Mariposa County.
The marriage of Louisa Jane Cox and
James J. Stevinson was solemnized on December 27,
1855. Of this union the following children were born: Samuel, Mary E., and
Fannie B. Samuel married Alice Reed and had three boys: Archibald, in the
cattle business in the Stevinson Colony, is married
and has 'two children; Howard, who married Blanche DeGraff,
by whom two children were born, died in 1917; Floyd I., a rancher, married
Carmella Sorensen, and they have five children. Mary E. became the wife of
Charles P. Harris of San Francisco, who died in 1899, and she is now living
with her mother. Fannie B. married Howard H. Hogan, promoter of the Stevinson Colony, and had two children :
Paul Iribe, art designer with Cecil De Mille at
Culver City; and Judith B., wife of George Hatfield, an attorney in San
Francisco. Mr. Hogan died in 1917.
Mr. and Mrs. Stevinson
worked hand in hand and in time accumulated 25,000 acres of land, upon which
they became independent. Together they planned their home and made extensive
improvements on their property; and at the same time they did their full duty
as citizens of their county. Their home has always been the center of
a delightful California hospitality
to their many friends. The commodious house was completed in 1891. It is
fitted with all conveniences and is surrounded by a spacious lawn, which is
decorated with flowering shrubs and trees. Here, amid the surroundings so dear
to her, Mrs. Stevinson is living in peace and
contentment, the center of a large circle of dear friends, and her children,
grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Mr. Stevinson,
an account of whose life is given on another page, passed away on November 13,
1907, when seventy-nine years of age.
HENRY MILLER
Few among the names of those
pioneers who did the big things in helping to develop and build up California
into the Golden State have come to have half the fascination of romance and glamor of renown that surround the honored name of Henry
Miller, the cattle 'king of California and father of Los Banos,
whose story is the narrative, like that of a fairy tale, of the remarkable
career of a man whose industry, intellect and integrity conquered one of the
most promising, and in truth one of the richest empires on the face of the
earth. A butcher boy in the days of his youth in San Francisco, he won lands
and amassed a fortune above that of many a king, and was lord, not only of all
that he could survey, but of twice the area of the kingdom of Belgium. He
reached his ninetieth year, and it is safe to say that nearly eighty-five of
those years were periods of hard toil, and strenuous activity.
Henry Miller was born in Brackenheim, Wurtemberg, Germany,
on July 21, 1827, and grew up a farmer's boy, familiar with country life from
early childhood. When fourteen years old, he had, among other duties, the job
of watching over a flock of geese; but one day he walked home, leaving the
geese to look after themselves, and informed his astonished and skeptical
sister that he was through with that sort of slow routine and was going out
into the world to do something for himself. Two or three years were spent in
Holland and England, and then, setting sail for New York, the ambitious young
German arrived in that city, even then the New World's metropolis, and was
there engaged as a butcher. The discovery of gold in California in 1848
attracted not only the attention of most of the civilized world, but it seized
hold of Henry Miller with such a grip that in the famous Argonaut year of 1849
he joined the hurrying throngs trying to cross the Isthmus of Panama, and
himself sought the new El Dorado. Upon arriving in Panama, Henry Miller, then
only twenty-two years of age, discovered an exceptionally good opportunity for engaging in business and there
formed a partnership with an American; but the enterprise had been launched
only a few weeks when Miller was stricken with Panama fever—a most serious
malady at that time of inadequate medical skill and attendance. When he had
sufficiently recovered to hobble down to his business house, he discovered that
his partner had swamped the business beyond all possibility of salvation, so
that when all the bills had been paid, Miller had barely sufficient cash to
obtain passage to San Francisco, where he landed in 1850, with just five
dollars in his pocket, and a walking stick in his hand. He was still weak, from
the effects of the fever ; but he resolutely hobbled
forth to seek employment, and made it a point to call at every business house
along Montgomery Street. Usually he met with disappointment; but before the day
was over, he had engaged himself to a butcher.
A young man of Henry Miller's
natural and already developed ability could not be expected to accept
employment from another person long. After the San Francisco fire in 1851, he
leased a lot on Jackson Street, erected a one-story building, and there opened
a retail butcher shop; and this unpretentious business store, with its very
small stock but early openings and late closings, became the cornerstone of
the Miller fortunes. He went down into the valleys below San Francisco,
purchased beef cattle and drove them into the city for butchering; and in these
journeyings about the country he became well
acquainted with the cattle-raisers of the State and their condition. There
were several large competitors in the butcher business in San Francisco at that
time, and among them was one in particular, Charles W. Lux,
who was soon to appreciate Miller's capabilities. In 1857, Henry Miller visited
the cattle-raising regions and quietly secured options on all the available
beef cattle north of the Tehachapi range; and when the astonished buyers of his
competitors appeared, there were no beeves to be had by them. This splendid
stroke of enterprise, marked at that time, enabled Miller to make his own
terms with Lux and others, and partnership with Lux was the immediate outgrowth of the puzzling situation.
The new firm entered the field
vigorously, and gradually began to acquire lands upon which to graze its herds,
for when Miller & Lux began their business as a
firm, a vast domain of unfenced grazing land existed in the great sweep of
valleys and western slopes of the Sierra Nevada range—in fact, millions of
acres were unclaimed from the Government. As the population increased, and the
business of Miller & Lux expanded, it became
necessary to increase the acreage held for grazing purposes, and Spanish grants
were bought at prices that would astonish the ranchmen of today. A square mile
could then be purchased at a figure now quoted
for a single acre, and in those days even cowboy employees took up Government
land under the preemption, homestead and desert-land acts, and after acquiring
a title would dispose of it to their employers for a few cents an acre. In this
way, and by purchasing the rights of discouraged ranchers, the vast and
tremendously valuable Miller & Lux empire was obtained. It required foresight to inspire the
investors, the power of looking ahead and discerning what so many others with
equal opportunities failed to discover ; but it also
required courage, nerve to carry the details through.
One of the most notable purchases
made by this epoch-making firm was the great Santa Anita rancho of 100,000
acres near Los Banos, which was obtained from Hildreth & Hildreth with its
vast herds, soon after Henry Miller's advent in the San Joaquin Valley; and the
Hildreth brand of three bars, crossed through the
center, became the Miller & Lux brand for many
years thereafter. And where-ever the brand of Miller & Lux
was to be found, one might bank upon it that it represented a desirable,
superior quality, for the secret of the rise of Henry Miller to the position of
millionaire cattle baron was his remarkable knowledge of cattle, and an equally
remarkable knowledge of men.
It is stated that Henry Miller at
one time had the ambition to own the whole of California; but whether that be
true or not, it is known that he was never anxious to part with lands after he
had once acquired them, especially if they were suitable for grazing purposes,
and he was ever ready to invest all surplus cash in the purchase of land. It is
said, on the other hand, that Charles Lux at one time
became frightened at his partner's purchasing proclivities, and sought to
retire from the business. "Mr. Miller, we now have $100,000 in the bank in
cash, and I think that this is an opportune time to dissolve partnership. Let
us settle up." "You say that we have $100,000 in cash?" replied
Mr. Miller. "Well, wait until I return from this trip." When Mr.
Miller came back, Mr. Lux found that the firm had
just invested in more land to the tune of $100,000, for Miller could not pass
up a good chance to invest in acreage when the cash lay temptingly at hand.
While Mr. Lux was a good financier and office man,
there is no doubt of the fact that he was made a millionaire in spite of
himself, and that he owed much of his own prosperity to his more aggressive
partner. He could not let go when he wished to, and he remained a member of the
firm until his death in 1887.
Henry Miller reckoned his holdings
by the square mile, not by the acre, and a bit of evidence he gave in court
some years ago—entertaining reading today. "In taking it ranch after
ranch," he said, "in
Santa Clara County it has an extent of twenty-four miles north and south, and
about seven to eight miles east and west. In Merced County we have thirty-six
miles north and south, and then about thirty-two miles east and west. The
Malheur property is an extent Of ninety miles
northwest to southeast, and about sixty miles north to south. Then comes the purchase of what we call the Todhunter
& Devine property. That lies in Harney County, Ore., and comprises over
seven-tenths of 125 miles north and south and about seventy-five miles east and
west, with a good distance in between." There is no doubt whatever,
however, that the amount of the Miller & Lux holdings have been greatly overestimated. A
special writer for one of the noted San Francisco dailies gave an estimate of
14,539,000 acres ; but behind these astounding figures
was a journalistic purpose of exaggerating, for with, ownership and leases
combined, the total would not reach half of that figure. The richest holdings
are in Merced and Madera Counties, and amount to probably 350,000 acres. The Buttonwillow district will swell the total by 200,000 more,
and Fresno County and other districts will probably increase the San Joaquin
holdings to 700,000 acres, and there are nearly 20,000 acres in the region of
Gilroy, and other, smaller tracts scattered over the State. The Miller & Lux acreage in the States of Nevada and Oregon will bring
the grand total up to nearly 3,000,000 acres. It is a common saying among
stockmen that Henry Miller could travel from the Idaho line to the Mexican
border and camp on his own land every night; and no other man in America ever
has, or ever will again, control such an immense
acreage of agricultural lands. It almost staggers belief that this tremendous
empire was owned and occupied by one man's interests, and was nearly all under
his personal supervision. Henry Miller was almost continually on the move in
the years of his health and activity, for he did most of his work in the days
before the automobile, although he was one of the first to import a fine French
car. He came to dislike the machine, however, owing to the rough roads he was
generally compelled to travel, and in rather short order he discarded it again,
and once more took to either his favorite buggy or his buckboard, in making his
round of visits across the vast Miller & Lux
ranches.
In 1860, Henry Miller was married to
Miss Sarah Wilmarth Sheldon, a lady of culture and
refinement. Two daughters and a son were born to them. Henry
Miller, Jr., died in his fortieth year, survived by a widow, an honored
resident of Gilroy. The youngest daughter, Miss Sarah Alice, was killed
by a runaway horse. Another daughter, Mrs. J. Leroy Nickel, resided at 2101
Laguna Street, San Francisco, and it was at her residence that Mr. Miller
expired, on October 14, 1916. George Nickel, a
grandson of the famous pioneer, has resided on the Ortigalito
ranch, eight miles to the southeast of Los Banos.
The immediate life estate was left to Mrs. Nickel and her husband, who had
taken a leading hand in the management of the Miller & Lux
properties, and some $225,000 for surviving relatives of Mr. and Mrs. Miller,
and $30,000 in smaller amounts to employees, were provided for by bequests in
the will.
A notable achievement of Henry
Miller was his organization and control of the San Joaquin & Kings River
Canal and Irrigation Company, and not a few of his enterprises were productive
of much benefit to others as well as to himself and near of kin. William J.
Stockton, the pioneer, who first became acquainted with Mr. Miller in 1872,
soon overcame his prejudices against great landholders and found that Miller
was performing a great service to other folks seeking to establish themselves.
The pioneer could go to his straw-stacks and get straw for the asking, and to
Canal Farm and get a cow ; and such courtesies were
given to rich and poor alike. When the section from Los Banos
to Newman was in dire straits for water, Henry Miller, at a cost of some
$3,000,000, built a canal and delivered water to the people, without an extra
cent of cost to them. He also made a present to the county of a road built at
an expense of $45,000, and running to the San Joaquin River. He was born to
rule, to lead, to point the way to others, and ,to get
there himself; he testified in court that during the hard times in the five
years following Mr. Lux's death, he made $1,700,000 a
year, or $8,000,000 in five years, an amount that seems almost incredible, but
which must be true. Henry Miller was of striking personal appearance, and in
his prime was an exact image of General U. S. Grant. He was simple in his
habits, and would tolerate no homage from anyone. Dr. J. L. McClelland said,
when Mr. Miller died : "He has endowed no
colleges, but he has given millions as he went along without exacting any
pledge of remembrance, or making any condition of, publicity. There are
thousands of humble men and widows who can testify that his giving of valuable
land and goodly sums of coin has been in strict accord with the Scripture
admonition, 'Let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth.' " And Andrew R. Schottky, the
distinguished lawyer, said: "I saw a poor butcher boy coming from Germany
to California; I saw him accumulating vast acreages of land on the Pacific
Coast; I saw thousands of happy and prosperous homes on land developed and sold
by him; I saw no instance of colonists being defrauded and impoverished by
being placed on poor land at high prices. Under-thinking persons will perhaps
censure him for his great wealth; but the fair-minded will think of the fact
that in accumulating his wealth he developed land and took advantage
of opportunity, but did not crush and destroy men. When all is said and done,
his was a life of intense usefulness, and his contribution to the present and
the future of California is large. The words of Mark Anthony at the death of
Brutus are peculiarly appropriate at the death of Henry Miller
: `This was a man I' "
CAPT. HENRY GEORGE JAMES
Few men have had a more interesting,
as well as serviceable career than the late Capt. Henry George James, a native
of Camborne, Cornwall, England, and the son of William and Elizabeth Eva James,
who had three sons, all born at Camborne, the others having been Edward and
William. The elder James, a blacksmith by trade, was a member of an English
exploring company which visited South America, and having accidentally broken
his ankle, he was carried over the Andes Mountains lashed to a chair strapped
to the back of a stalwart native. Returning to England, he immigrated to the
United States, about 1832. His brother, Edward, took part in the Black Hawk
War. He was a correspondent of the St. Louis Democrat and lost his life in war
journalistic service. During the trouble with the Indians in this Black Hawk
outbreak, the men of Iowa County, Wis., formed companies for drill, and so did
their sons; and thus it happened that Henry G. James
was dubbed "Captain," a title he always bore.
He came out to California in 1850,
walking across the Isthmus of Panama in the more primitive days before the
railroad was built there, and upon his arrival at Sonora, Tuolumne County, he
engaged in mining. Later he went into the cattle business and in time became
one of the largest cattle men in Stanislaus County, and for twenty years he
furnished cattle, hogs and sheep to wholesale butchers in San Francisco. During
his experience in furnishing beef for a butcher firm in Sonora, he once made a
journey to the coast to purchase stock; meeting a company of men in charge of a
band of steers, Capt. James bought what he wanted and started to drive them
home. Before he had traveled far he was overtaken by the real owners of the
steers, who informed him that the cattle had been stolen. The Captain and his
companions pursued the thieves to San Francisco, where they obtained the
assistance of Capt. Harry Love, a famous detective of that time, by whom one of
the thieves was arrested. The other made his escape. While on the way back with
their prisoner, Captain James and party stopped to have lunch and ostensibly to
give the prisoner a trial. They assumed an air of carelessness and the thief
thought that it would be a good opportunity to escape; so he crawled
off into the chaparral; but several
shots followed him and he was killed. No one knew whose shot did the business.
In 1873, at Salida,
Stanislaus County, Captain James was married to Miss Nannie
Jamison, the daughter of A. H. Jamison, a native of Arkansas, who served for
two terms as supervisor in Stanislaus County when the county seat was at
Knights Ferry. One daughter married John R. Barnett, sheriff of Madera County.
Captain James was a Democrat and a sympathizer with, and an active supporter of
the Confederacy of the Southern States. He served at one time as a trustee of
Modesto. He belonged to the Masons and assisted with their ritual at the laying
of the cornerstone of the Stanislaus County court house. He died at the home of
his sister, Mrs. Root, at Salida in 1901 or 1902.
JOSHUA CASARETTO
Another of the native sons of the
Golden State who has made his influence felt in agricultural circles is Joshua Casaretto, now living in retirement on his ranch on Bear
Creek about three miles from Merced. He was born at Hornitos, Mariposa County,
on April 19, 1859, a son of the late Giuseppe and Catherine (Daneri) Casaretto, the former
born in Genoa, Italy, and the latter at Chiavari.
Giuseppe Casaretto left his native country in 1852
and came by way of Panama to California to make his fortune in the mines, but
after trying his luck until 1855 he decided the surest way to fortune was in
something more substantial and he engaged in working at the trade of stone
mason. He had married in Italy and when he sent for his wife and son in 1855,
he quit mining for his trade. They settled in an adobe house near Benton's
Mill; then in the late fifties he moved to Hornitos and built a stone store
building, which he later traded to Mr. Olcese, who
had a store at Indian Gulch, for his building and business there, but this did
not prove to be a profitable exchange for the store at Indian Gulch was soon to
become extinct with the dwindling of the mines. In 1857 Mr. Casaretto
moved to Merced Falls and took up his home, working at his trade and raising
stock. He died of blood poisoning while at Snelling,
on June 28, 1885, when fifty-eight years old. Three boys and one girl in the Casaretto family grew up and are still living: John lives
at Merced Falls on the old home place; David is a butcher in Atwater; Joshua is
the subject of this review; and Mrs. Julia Fee lives in Modesto. Her husband
was the son of the late Peter Fee, who came to California in 1849 and conducted
the first hotel in the mining section of Mt. Bullion, known as Norwegian Tent,
because it was only a tent house. The elder Casaretto
was a man of integrity of character and was highly esteemed.
Joshua went to the school in Indian
Valley and was brought up on the mountain ranch owned by his father and spent
much of his time in the saddle, during which time he learned to speak the
French, Spanish, Italian and English languages fluently. In 1870 he was a
joint owner in a sheep and wool growing business; and in 1872-1873, with John
and David, his brothers, conducted a general store at Hopeton,
but continuing his sheep business until 1884, when he was forced to quit during
the Cleveland administration when wool dropped so low in price that no one
could afford to keep sheep. He then turned his attention to cattle and horse raising on a part of the old home place, and at the same
time was made manager of the Casaretto interests. He
sold out his stock interests in 1919 and decided to retire when he moved to his
present place of eighty-six acres. The rich Bear Creek land had such an
attraction for him that he once more began farming, raising Poland China hogs
and fruit; he also owns 1800 acres of foothill land in Mariposa County where
he runs some stock, and with the help of his sons they are making a success of
their ventures.
When Mr. Casaretto
married on September 8, 1902, he chose for his wife Miss Marceline Leota, born on November 15, 1861, on a ranch at Mokelumne
Hill, Calaveras County, the daughter of Leon Leota,
born in Marseilles, France, and a man of considerable intellect and culture. He
was proficient in seven different languages; came to California in 1851 and
settled in the mining section. He was the second man in Calaveras County to
receive a patent from the United States Government for land. Her mother was
Mary Mullin, born in Ireland of Scotch parents, and she died in Oakland in
1915. Mr. and Mrs. Casaretto have two boys, Victor
Emanuel and Emanuel Victor, who are assisting their father to run the ranches
owned by him. Mr. Casaretto is a Republican and the family belong to the Catholic Church.
J. MIGUEL ARBURUA
One of the most prominent citizens
of the West Side of the San Joaquin Valley, now a resident near the city of Los
Banos, is J. Miguel Arburua,
who is living retired after many years of useful activity. He was born in the
Basque Province of Etchlar, in the Pyrenees, Spain,
on November 24, 1844, and received a limited education, so practically what he
received was obtained from contact with the world. He came to the United States
and California, via Cape Horn in 1866, taking six months to complete the
journey. He had no money and his only assets were his indomitable courage and a
willingness to work. His uncle, Miguel Aguirre, had settled in San Francisco in
an early day, and when the nephew arrived in San Francisco he obtained a job for him
in Butchertown at twenty dollars per month and the
young man held down that job for four years, saving his money and paying back
the amount advanced him for his fare to the new world. He had no knowledge of
English and that made it harder for him, but he stuck to his job and in time
mastered enough of the English language to enable him to transact business—and
in time there was no shrewder business man and financier than J. M. Arburua.
The first venture our subject
tackled was in partnership with J. Lugea. They
carried on a sheep business for four years and made it a success, though
suffering severe losses in 1877 on account of the drought,
when he took his sheep to Nevada. In 1886 Mr. Arburua
located on the Carrizalito grant in Merced County,
purchasing the property of 22,000 acres for $42,000 from the man who had previously
bought it for $65,000 and failed to make good and was willing to turn over the
huge indebtedness to Mr. Arburua for $2000 and he to
assume the mortgage. He had no money, but he bought the land, having as his
only assets about 7000 head of sheep. He made money from the start and in time
added by purchase from various settlers in his vicinity 6500 more acres. On
this large tract of land he engaged in the cattle and sheep business until
1915, being assisted by his entire family to attain their independence. In the
year mentioned he divided his large acreage among his children and turned over
the management of its affairs, bought sixty-five acres near Los Banos, known as Rouse ranch, and settled down to farming on
a small scale and is now living retired on this ranch with his wife. He is
known as one of the most honorable men of his day and age, public spirited,
generous and at eighty is hale and hearty and enjoys life to its full. He has
always been a hard worker and expected his sons to do their share, which each
of .them has done and all are worthy representatives of their honored parent.
The marriage of J. Miguel Arburua occurred on November 24, 1882, when he was united
with Josefa Lavayn,
daughter of Baptiste and Michaela Lavayn.
She was born in the same province, in 1860, as her husband and came to America
when fourteen, receiving her education in California. To this wonderful woman
Mr. Arburua gives great credit for his success as she
helped in the management of their affairs. They had the following children : Carmen, single; Helen M., married I. B. Cornett
and lives in Los Banos; Frank J., married Helena
Harms and resides on the home ranch; Louis P., married Marie M. Chotro, has two children, Lucille and Josephine, and is the
proprietor of the City Market in Los Banos, besides
largely interested in ranching; Joseph M. is a veterinary surgeon in San
Francisco and married to Eleanor Kehoe and has a son John Joseph.. He was
a first lieutenant and saw service on
the Mexican border and in France with the Eighth Division. Mr. Arburua was a director of the First National Bank, now the
Bank of Italy, in Los Banos. He has always been
prominent in educational affairs and donated land for two school buildings and
served as a trustee for many years. He believes in doing good
wherever he can and has always been a liberal giver to churches and church
work, regardless of denomination. His great outstanding characteristic has been
his ability to get results from those he has employed and at the same time
cement a friendship that lasts while either party lives. He has worked
unceasingly himself and attributes his good health to that activity. With his
good wife he is enjoying the fruits of their labors and their friends are
legion.
HENRY FREDERICK FERDINAND SALAU
Among the pioneers of Merced County
none had a more eventful career than Henry F. F. Salau,
who made his home five miles southwest of Los Banos.
He was a prominent rancher and stockman in California, and few had touched at
as many ports of the world as had Mr. Salau while he
was sailing the seas. He was born June 3, 1835, at Kiel, Germany, the son of
John and Catherine (Kremhoff) Salau,
also natives of that same place. The mother died in 1854 while the father lived
to reach the age of sixty. He was a weaver by trade and he and his wife were
members of the Lutheran Church and strict in the discipline of their children.
The oldest son in the family, Henry Salau remained at home until he was fourteen; then, feeling
the touch of poverty and lack of opportunity, he became a sailor aboard the
brig "Betsy of London," which was the vessel used by John Paul Jones
fifty years before, sailing to London, then to Quebec, Canada, but before
reaching the latter port experienced his first shipwreck, in which eleven of
the crew were rescued by the Humboldt of Hamburg and taken to New York. Three
months later he shipped on the Humboldt for Hamburg, then on the same ship made
two trips to New York. The last time he came around the Horn to California,
reaching San Francisco in August, 1852. Thereafter he was engaged in the
coasting trade between San Francisco and Puget Sound. In 1861 he shipped on the
Challenger for Liverpool, a voyage of 103 days. His next ship was the Nicholas
Biddle for New York, after which he took a trip to the West Indies on the
Warwick. His next trip was around the Horn on the clipper ship, Magnet, 140
days. He continued as a sailor on various ships and had reached the rank of
second officer. During the years that had passed he had become well informed on
conditions in nearly every part of the world, and when he had spent
about a year in Germany, where he worked in a moulding
factory, he decided he would come to the United States and California. Like the
majority of men who follow the sea, he had not accumulated
any money, so he had to begin at the bottom and work his way to the top. His
arrival in San Francisco was in April, 1867, on the Moses Taylor. Going to
Santa Clara he farmed in that vicinity until 1869,
then went to the West Side in Merced County and entered 160 acres near Volta.
He did not prove up on this land but soon settled near Los Banos
and engaged in the sheep business. In 1871 he located on 160 acres and improved
it and made that his home for many years, adding to his property until he had
700 acres which he devoted to grain and stock.
Mr. Salau
entered into every movement that had for its end the betterment of general
conditions, was a strong Republican and served on the County Central Committee
and as a delegate to county and state conventions. Fraternally he held
membership in the Workmen. He was reared in the Lutheran faith and belonged to
that church in Los Banos. He married at Kiel,
Germany, Miss Marie Dorathea (Weber) Salau, born in Holstein, and they had five children : Augusta C., the wife of M. Becker of Berkeley;
Adolph of Fruit-vale; Mary; Louis, who died in 1918 ; and Doretta
C., of Los Banos. Mr. Salau
died on April 12, 1910, aged seventy-five, and Mrs. Salau
passed away on November 23, 1919.
WILLIAM FIELDING TAYLOR
A real pioneer of California and an
early settler in the San Joaquin Valley, William Fielding Taylor was a lineal
descendant of the Zachary Taylor family, the twelfth President of the United
States. He was the son of William and Martha Taylor, who were of English
descent and early Colonists, who migrated from the New England states to
Tennessee, where they cleared the land for pioneer farming. Born June 20.,
1821, near Nashville, Tenn., William F. Taylor was reared in that locality,
receiving but a limited education, owing to lack of schools on the frontier,
attending a private school for a few months each year. When
seventeen years of age, his father having died, he moved among the early
pioneers to Missouri, and there engaged in clearing land and farming, until
1852.
Still seeking a newer country in
which to make his home, in 1852, Mr. Taylor brought his family to California,
landing at French Bar (now La Grange) on the Tuolumne River, and followed
mining for three years, then conducted an eating-house for seven years. He
later bought land on Dry Creek, near Snelling, and
farmed. Due to the drought of
1864, he moved to the Gwin ranch, now owned by the
Buckley Brothers, in the Merced River bottom. In 1868 he moved to Bear Creek,
near Merced, and took up land in what is now known as the British Colony. The
last years of his life were spent in Merced, his death occurring January 6,
1896. Mrs. Taylor died at the home of Mrs. G. W. Baxter in 1910, aged eighty
years.
The marriage of Mr. Taylor, which
occurred on March 16, 1848, near Springfield, Mo., united him with Elizabeth
Ellen Inman, daughter of Ezekiel Inman. Her parents were of Scotch and Philadelphia
Dutch extraction, and were engaged in the mercantile business. Several
brothers served in the Civil War in the Union Army. Ten children were born to
William and Elizabeth Taylor, as follows : Martha A., widow of W. B. Aiken, of
Fresno; John H., married Miss Lilly Van Blaricum of
Oregon; George, deceased, married Het-tie J. Booker,
of Sonora ; William D., married Molly Quinly, lives
at Zion City, Ill.; Atlanta B., Mrs. G. F. Hannah of San Jose; Milton T.,
deceased; Mary A., now Mrs. Vern Christy of Modesto; Fanny B., now Mrs. George
Baxter of Le Grand; Rebecca F., Mrs. W. A. Quinly of
El Cerrito ; and Miss Sidney J., deceased. The two oldest children, who took
the pioneer trip across the plains with their parents, are living and active
today, Mrs. Martha Aiken of Fresno, aged seventy-six years, and John H., of
Oregon, aged seventy-four.
WILLIAM C. TURNER
The late William C. Turner was one
of those intrepid pioneers who were the forerunners of our present-day
civilization in California. He was born in Caswell County, North Carolina, on
February 14, 1827, and in 1849, with a party of 150 men, all on the hunt for
the gold to be found in the new Eldorado, left Greene
County to take the northern route; but upon hearing that cholera was prevalent
along that route, they turned south and with their ox-teams and wagons began
the long trek that was to occupy six months. Their trip was without incident,
and to relieve the monotony of the days they would organize hunting parties
and go after buffalo, bear, deer, antelope, and elk, which were plentiful on
the plains. Among the men of their party, to Mr. Turner was given the credit
for killing the first buffalo. Upon reaching Los Banos,
N. M., they traded their oxen for pack-mules and employed two guides to pilot
them through the mountains to Salt Lake. En route they ran out of provisions
and most of the party stopped at Utah Lake while the advance guard went on to
get provisions from the Mormons. When they reached Salt Lake, September 15, they
were told by the Mormons that it was too late to cross
the Sierra Nevadas,
on account of the snow; but the party, under the guidance of James Waters,
reached Los Angeles without mishap. They traveled through Cajon Pass up to
Tulare Lake, and crossing the various streams reached Fort Miller. Resting for
a few days, they then continued on to Fine Gold Gulch and did some prospecting,
and then went on to Mariposa County. Large bands of elk were found in the San
Joaquin Valley; and while one of their party was
following one of these bands, he got lost in a heavy fog and wandered about for
eighteen days. He was found in a hollow log on the Merced River, with his feet
so badly frost-bitten that he lost some of his toes. He was taken to a New York
company camped on the river, and later went back to Alabama without trying his
luck at mining.
Mr. Turner reached the Mariposa
mines on December 8, 1849, and began operating on Sherlock's Creek. Having
brought sheet-iron with them, they made what the miners called a cradle and
from the dirt obtained gold very rapidly, some days taking out as high as
fourteen ounces. He remained in Mariposa County until 1852, when he came onto
the Merced 'River and began farming and stock-raising; and that same year he
reaped a good crop. In time he accumulated 2500 acres of land, with water
facilities for shipping, and later the railroad came within eight miles of his
place. His house was located on an eminence that commanded a fine view for
miles around the valley. Here he set out a fine family orchard and a vineyard,
all of which grew on the fine sandy loam without irrigation. His average yield
was twelve bushels of wheat to the acre ; and he kept
about 1000 head of cattle and some 1200 head of hogs, and 100 head of horses
and mules to operate his ranch.
On one occasion, it is related, Mr.
Turner, while teaming into the mountains, secured a large grizzly bear, which
he hauled to Stockton from near Jamestown. He built a strong log cabin or
corral on his wagon, into which he got the bear, and with a ten-horse team
hauled it to Stockton. During the journey the grizzly became very hot and angry
and nearly tore the cabin to pieces; but the bear was landed safely in
Stockton, where for years it was an exhibit in one of the parks.
About 1860, Mr. Turner was married
to Miss Elizabeth Walling, who was born in New Madrid County, Mo. They had ten
children. William E. was a superintendent for Miller & Lux
for twenty years, and was a prominent stockman of Merced County. He married
Ella Rucker and died in 1923. Mary E. married Capt. W. W. Gray, formerly a
supervisor of Merced County. She is deceased. John Archibald is mentioned on
another page of this history; Harriet E. is the widow of John Breckenridge, and
resides in Santa Cruz; Thomas C. is also mentioned in this history; Mrs.
Lucinda Barson lives in San Francisco ;
Mrs. Diana Henderson lives in Berkeley; Virginia died in Santa Cruz ; and Eva
and Evy both died in early childhood. Mr. Turner died
at the age of sixty-four, on February 14, 1892 ; Mrs.
Turner lived until February, .1922.
The life story of Mr. Turner is one
of great interest; for the pioneers are practically all gone, and with them
the stories of their trials and tribulations, as well as their jubilations. He
was always optimistic and public-spirited, and their home always dispensed
that particular kind of hospitality which is only to be found in the homes of
the pioneers who have lived for others as well as for themselves.
C. H. HUFFMAN
At one time known as the "wheat
king" of the San Joaquin Valley because of his close association with
Isaac Friedlander, who was known as the "wheat king" of California
during his active career in the wheat growing, buying and shipping business, C.
H. Huffman left a void in the ranks of the upbuilders
of Merced County when he sold out his interests to take up his residence in San
Francisco, in which city he died on July 7, 1905. His was a busy life, filled
with work for the State he adopted for his home. He participated actively in
the initiation and development, in the county in which he lived, of the
irrigation projects that have had such far-reaching effects on the expansion of
its agricultural and horticultural interests, thereby enriching the people who
sought homes in what is considered by many as the garden spot of the San
Joaquin Valley.
C. H. Huffman was born at a point
near the mouth of the Mississippi River, on July 14, 1829. In early boyhood he
received a fairly good schooling, and evinced a desire to make his own way in
the world when he was but ten years of age, for we find the records state that
he was then working his own way and acquiring a knowledge of business on board
a pilot boat at the entrance of the Mississippi River. Following his experience
on the river, and up to his nineteenth year, he followed the sea on vessels
plying between America and European ports; and in this manner he was widening
his scope of knowledge of the world and its people, and the lessons he learned
and the experiences he met with helped to mould his future life and work. At
the age of nineteen he was a second officer of a full-rigged ship.
When the tide of emigration started
West in 1849, Mr. Huffman decided to get to California and made his way around the
Horn, in company with other California pioneers, who later became prominent in
the making of the State. Mr. Huffman remained in San Francisco
a short time and then made his way to
Sierra County. There he followed mining for a time;
but his health necessitated a change, and so he located in Stockton and began
teaming into the southern mines. Meeting with gratifying success, he gradually
built up an extensive freighting business, and for twenty years was identified
with Stockton as one of her sound business men and financiers of more than ordinary
ability.
In 1868 Mr. Huffman visited Merced
County; and, being favorably impressed with its many advantages, he concluded
to purchase land and in time accumulated many hundred acres of good farming
land. Through his connection with the Crocker-Huffman Land & Water Company,
which had so much to do with the irrigation of the East Side of this fertile
region, he added very materially in bringing the fame of Merced County as an agricultural
section prominently to the fore.
Mr. Huffman became associated with
the late Isaac Friedlander in the buying of grain throughout the San Joaquin. Valley, acting as his agent and continuing thus until the death of
his employer. Thereafter Mr. Huffman devoted his time to raising wheat
and became a large grower of that commodity. He accumulated much property and
was very successful in all that he undertook, working not alone for his own
personal gain, but also to advance the general welfare of Merced County.
From the small beginnings of
irrigation made before the advent of Mr. Huffman in Merced County, he readily
saw that the future prosperity of the entire San Joaquin Valley depended upon
getting water onto the fertile lands that only wanted that necessary adjunct to
make the whole section "blossom as the rose" ;
and through his association with the Crocker-Huffman Land & Water Company,
he did his full share to bring about the present prosperity of Merced County.
The details of the initiation and successful consummation of the irrigation
movement are given in detail in the historical section of this volume and need
no repetition here. Suffice it, here, to say that no one man did more to
promote the various movements directed toward obtaining water for the lands in
the county than did our subject. He was the prime mover in the organization of
the First National Bank of Merced, and was its president from its organization
until it was reorganized into the Commercial and Savings Bank in 1892, when he
retained his position as a director and helped to guide its affairs through the
trying times of its early life in the community. Mr. Huffman was a man of rare
executive ability and maintained a personal contact with his large interests
until he retired. He moved to San Francisco in 1893 and located in the home he
had purchased at Broadway and Buchanan Streets ; and
there he passed to his reward on July 7, 1905.
The marriage of C. H. Huffman, which
occurred on May 26, 1869, united him with Miss Laura A. E. Kirkland, born in
Missouri, the daughter of R. M. and Catharine (Woods) Kirkland, natives of
Missouri and Kentucky, respectively. At the age of nine years, in 1861, the
daughter accompanied her parents across the plains to California behind
slow-going ox-teams. Her father was a dentist. Upon arriving in California,
they settled in Gilroy, where the daughter grew up. After her school days were
over, she was married and then moved with her husband to Modesto. They first
lived at Paradise City, where Mr. Huffman built a house, which later he moved
to Modesto. Of this union there were ten children. William R. died at the age
of twenty-eight years, unmarried; Caroline is now the wife of Dr. A. C.
Griffith and resides at 119 Palm Avenue, San Francisco; Mary E. became the
wife of Espie White, of Portland, Ore.; Fred H. is a
cattleman in Modoc County; E. T. is interested in the automobile business at
Miami Lodge and is also connected with transportation into the Yosemite
Valley; Mercedes is the wife of Maj. G. E. Nelson, who is stationed at Fort
Sill, Okla.; Genevieve married Col. Matt C. Bristol and lives in Honolulu; J.
Walton lives in Merced; Hazel died at the age of fifteen months; and another
infant died unnamed. By a former marriage Mr. Huffman was the father of three
children. Mr. Huffman was recognized as townsite man
for the Southern Pacific Railway and located nearly all the towns along the
railroad through the San Joaquin Valley. The family moved to Merced; and there
Mr. Huffman erected on the banks of Bear Creek, a large residence known as the
Huffman Mansion by nearly everybody in that section of the country. This
property was sold at the time they moved to San Francisco to the home in which
he died; and this, in turn, was sold later by Mrs. Huffman, after a residence
there of twenty-three years. She now makes her home at 119 Palm Avenue, San
Francisco.
WALTER E. LILLEY, M. D.
Merced County has been most
fortunate in the class of business and professional men who have chosen to come
here and establish their homes and business careers. The fertile valley of the
San Joaquin is today the background for many thriving community centers, and
the business and professional offices, as well as the mercantile
establishments, are equal to any like communities in the United States, long
famous for its cities, developed from what were formerly "country
towns," but now ranking with the larger metropolis in point of wealth and
convenience. That this is due to the caliber and work of the men who have lived
and been identified with the towns for the past decade or two, goes without
saying, and is a lasting monument to their individuality. Among these in Merced
we find Dr. Walter E. Lilley, born in Portland, Chautauqua County, N. Y.,
November 5, 1868, the son of Abner Lilley, also a
native of that State. After finishing his preliminary education, Dr. Lilley
attended the Baltimore Medical College, from which institution he' graduated in
1894 with his degree of M. D. He practiced in Findley's Lake, N. Y., and later
in Barnard, Windsor County, Vt. In 1899, he came out West
and located in Merced, and has ever since that date been prominent in the
medical fraternity of the city and county. He is county physician of Merced
County, in charge of the County Hospital, in addition to his private practice,
and has built up a most enviable reputation as a conscientious and able doctor
of humanity. He is past president of the San Joaquin Medical Society, serving
twice in that office, and is also past president of the Merced County Medical
Society; a member of the State Medical Society and the National Medical Association;
and surgeon for the Santa Fe and Yosemite Valley railways.
The marriage of Dr. Lilley,
occurring at Mayville, Chautauqua County, N. Y., united him with Mabel Crosgrove, a native of that city, and two sons have blessed
their union: Harold, a graduate of St. Mary's College, Oakland, now engaged in
fig culture; and Ivan, a graduate of the University of California, and now a
member of the firm of Lilley and Stribling,
nurserymen. Prominent in the financial and civic life of his community, as
well as professionally, Dr. Lilley is a director in the Farmers and Merchants
National Bank of Merced; he is a member of the Merced Rotary Club ; belongs to
the Merced Lodge No. 1240, B. P. 0. E.; and is a Mason of high standing, a
member of Merced Lodge No. 99, F. & A. M., and all branches, including Aahmes Shrine, of Oakland. As dean of the practicing M. D.'s of Merced County, and a man learned in his profession
both through practical experience and scientific knowledge, Dr. Lilley is held
in high esteem by the entire county, and by his friends and business
associates, who have found him to be relied upon at all times when the greater
good of Merced and Merced County were in question, doing all in his power to
advance the civic, economic and educational life of his district. His
opportunities for public welfare work have been many, and have been taken advantage
of unostentatiously and with a true regard for humanity. It is such men as this
who have helped build up our communities, and now stand with their shoulders to
the wheel to help tide over any temporary difficulties and make the way clear
for posterity.
JAMES V. TOSCANO
The rise from very moderate
circumstances to a position of honor and affluence has been the lot of James V.
Toscano, leading citizen of Los Banos,
solely through his energy and business integrity. A native of Italy, he was
born in Basilicata, Potenza, on December 1, 1868, a
son of Joseph Toscano, with whom he came to America
in 1878. The mother and other members of the family followed them four years
later and the home was established in New York City for a short time; later
they came on to San Francisco. The year 1881 marks their advent in Merced
County, the father purchasing forty acres of land in Badger Flat, near Los Banos. Improvements were made by building a house and
fencing the property, our subject, then only a lad, assisting his father with
this work. They raised vegetables and James V. sold them from a wagon,
traveling over the coun-. tryside in a territory twenty miles wide by sixty
miles in length and working from daylight until after dark.
In 1890 James V. Toscano
came into Los Banos and embarked in business on his
own account and erected the first business house in the new town. Seven years
later his was the largest general merchandise business in Los Banos, the store growing in proportion to the increase in
population. For nineteen years he carried on his business; then after a lapse
of two years he engaged in the furniture business, which he continued for
twelve years. In the meantime he became the leading spirit in the town, giving
of his time and means to help every project that he had an idea would help
develop the community. He was the founder of the First National Bank of Los Banos, in 1911, serving as its president for twelve years,
until the bank was taken over by the Bank of Italy, when he retired. During the
twelve years he served as president of the bank it paid an average yearly
dividend of over forty-three per cent to the stockholders. He helped organize
the Merchants' Association and was its president for nine years; for eleven
years he served as a city trustee, part of the time as chairman of the board;
and he was one of the prime movers for the incorporation of Los Banos, being on the board when this became a city; he
worked for the installation of a sewer system, for street improvements, in
fact every movement that would advance the city met with his hearty support. He
was one of the organizers of the local Chamber of Commerce and served as
treasurer for four years. Since 1909 Mr. Toscano has
served as a member of the board of education; he was instrumental in having the
local telephone service extended to give night service. After his retirement
from the bank he engaged in the real estate business and was the means of
having the Miller and Lux land sub-division of
forty-two acres put on the market; also the sub-division southeast on the
highway, and he sold most of the lots.
In June, 1888, James V. Toscano was united in marriage with Miss Mary Sarbo, who was born in the same town as himself, in 1871,
and was brought to California by her parents when a baby. They have had eight
children, viz : Joseph L., engaged in the life
insurance business in Los Banos, is married and the
father of two daughters, Sydney and Inez ; William P., who was a prominent
attorney is now deceased; Rosie, Mrs. Julio Bartolomeoni
of Los Banos; Margaret; Julia, a teacher in the Los Banos schools for the past seven years; Antone,
attending the College of Physicians and Surgeons in San Francisco, Class of 1925
; Violet, attending the San Francisco Teachers College ; and Jeanette, a
student in the Los Banos High School. Mr. Toscano helped organize the Druids Lodge and was a Grand
Trustee of the Grand Lodge for six years, and for one year was Grand Herald; he
was one of the organizers of the Foresters of America and for sixteen years was
District Grand Chief Ranger; he has passed all the chairs in the Mountain Brow
Lodge of Odd Fellows, is a member of Newman Encampment and Modesto Canton; and
he belongs to the Fraternal Order of Eagles and to the Fraternal Brotherhood.
After many years of activity Mr. Toscano is living
practically retired, only looking after his own private interests for he owns
considerable property in Los Banos, as well as ranch
land. He is fond of outdoor life and spends much of his time enjoying the great
out-of-doors.
DANIEL K. THORNTON
A citizen of whom any community
might be proud is Daniel K. Thornton, and the people of Merced County,
appreciating his public spirit and ability, elected him to the office of county
supervisor, in which position he served for three consecutive terms of four
years each. Not only while in office but in the common walk of life does he
command the respect of all the people.
The son of Michael and Ellen (Hanlon)
Thornton, he was born two and a half miles west of Merced on April 15, 1873.
His father came to Napa, Cal., via Cape Horn, in 1866, and to Merced County in
1868, and bought the place on which his son Daniel was born; this he sold in
1883 and moved on to the P. Bennett ranch on the Mariposa and Merced County
line. He moved again, in 1885, to Bear Creek, where he
staid fourteen years; from there he went into the Planada
district for six years. His next move was to the old Hooper place near Yosemite
Lake and two years later he returned to Merced. He died in the fall of 1924 at
the age of eighty-six years. His wife, whom he had arrived in San Francisco,
where she had come as a girl, died about 1905. There were thirteen children in
his family, ten boys and three girls, of whom eleven are still living.
Daniel Thornton was educated in the
public schools of Merced County and helped his father on the ranch in the
farming season. From the age of twenty to thirty he worked for wages and then
was able to engage in farming on his own account, which he did on several
different rented places, first on the old Twitchell
place for two years and next on the old Ivett ranch
of 1300 acres for two years; then on the McClosky
place for a like period. His last place to rent was the Cleek
ranch near Plainsburg, after which he purchased his
present place of forty acres on the Athlone-Buchanan
road. In all his farming operations he has been fairly successful.
Mr. Thornton was married in 1904 to
Miss Jessie Frances Poor, daughter of a pioneer rancher, • and they have three
children; Jesse Marvin, Ronald Daniel and Theresa Belle. Mr. Thornton's
activity as county commissioner was marked by an activity for the good of the
county in general and was highly commendable; the concrete highways and
bridges in the county have all been built during his terms in office.
Fraternally, he belongs to the Odd Fellows, the Rebekahs,
and the Modern Woodmen. He is a member of the Le Grand Band and also plays the
violin.
JOHN A. RODUNER
One of the prosperous and well-known
ranchers and diarymen of Merced County, John A. Roduner has spent most of his life in the San Joaquin
Valley, and has thus become well versed in its possibilities, both as to soil
and climatic conditions, and in the products best calculated for successful
growth in this most fertile region of California, and his success has been
founded on the knowledge thus gained and on its practical application. He is a
native of Minnesota, born March 10, 1853, at St. Anthony Falls, the eldest of
two sons born to his parents. His father, John Roduner,
was born in Switzerland on August 24, 1824, and came to the United States in
1846, with his parents, first locating in New York, then moving to Wisconsin,
and later to Minnesota, following his trade of carpenter. He came to California
in 1863, via Panama, bringing his family with him; they boarded the steamer
Ocean Queen from New York, and from the Isthmus came on the Golden Shore to San
Francisco. Locating in Stockton, Mr. Roduner, Sr.,
there worked at his trade as carpenter until he retired from active business
cares. His wife died in Stockton on September 2, 1902, and that same year he
came to Merced County and made his home with his son, until his death on August
19, 1909, at the age of eighty-four years. The mother is also buried in Merced
County.
John A. Roduner
received his education in the public schools of Stockton, and also took a
course at Heald's Business College, in San Francisco.
He then followed teaming for ten years, in Stanislaus, Mariposa and Merced
Counties, coming to the latter in 1869, as a teamster hauling grain to Murray's
Mill near Snelling. In 1871 he located in the county
and worked for John Montgomery, and in 1879 located on land seven miles
southwest of Merced in Merced County, 140 acres of which was given over to
grain raising, and the balance to alfalfa and stock.
In 1886 or 1887 he developed a fine nine-inch artesian well on his ranch, with
an inch and a half flow at the top, and flowing 24,000 gallons every
twenty-four hours, and this is the only one of five wells that is• now flowing.
Ranching was a little harder in his earlier days of development work, and it
meant hard application and good management to bring land to where it meant
success for the owner, and future prosperity for the whole section of which his
life and work are a part. Of late years Mr. Roduner
has been engaged in raising registered Holstein dairy
cattle, and he owns a herd of 200 fine cattle of this breed, milking sixty-five
cows; he was a breeder of pure bred Poland-China hogs, but since his son has
taken over the ranch, he changed to Red Durocs.
During 1891-96, he conducted a retail milk delivery in Merced, supplying a
large patronage.
At Hornitos, Mariposa County, on
November 7, 1879, occurred the marriage of John A. Roduner
to Miss Hattie Arthur, who was born in Ohio, and brought to California in 1862,
a babe in arms, and the eldest of ten children born to Robert and Belle
(Steele) Arthur, both natives of Ohio, the father a blacksmith by trade and a
pioneer in that business at Coulterville, and Hornitos, this State. Ten children
have blessed the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Roduner : J. Edward; George A.; Belle, the wife of Samuel Hale;
Julia, deceased; J. Elmer; Mary, wife of C. A. Blauert;
C. Roscoe; Cornelius A., deceased; Walter P., who now rents his father's ranch;
Robert S., of Merced. Two sons, C. R. Roduner and
Walter P., served their country in the World War; C. R. as a corporal in the A.
E. F. from May, 1917, to July, 1919, receiving his honorable discharge at the
Presidio, San Francisco. He is a member of the Merced American Legion post.
Walter P. served in the U. S. N. R., attending the Radio School of the 12th
Naval District, and received his honorable discharge September 30, 1921. In
October, 1924, Mr. Roduner retired from the ranch and
now lives at 436, Twenty-second Street, Merced. Fraternally, he belongs to
Merced Lodge No. 1240, B. P. 0. E.; Yosemite Lodge No. 30, K. of P., and the Woodmen
of the World.
SAMUEL LEWIS GIVENS
Of the pioneers living in Merced
County, there are few who can so clearly recount the early stories and
incidents that happened in the lives of the men and women who blazed the trail
for the generations that are to follow, as can Samuel Lewis Givens, the retired
rancher of the Bear Creek district, near Planada. A
representative of a distinguished family who came to California in 1853, he
was born in Union County, Ky., November 8, 1842, the youngest of ten children
born of the marriage of Thomas and Catherine D. F. (Richards) Givens. His
father was born in Virginia on December 1, 1798, and his mother was born in
Kentucky on February 1, 1805. They were married on June 23, 1825, and became the
parents of the following children: Robert R., born April 7, 1826, who now has a
daughter Ada teaching school in Merced; Lewis R.,
born June 21, 1827, and died July 22, 1840; Eleazar,
born October 17, 1828; Matilda L., born May 24, 1830, died August 7, 1853; Jane
R., born March 7, 1832, married D. M. Pool of Mariposa County, who served in
the State legislature; Catherine A., born November 17, 1833, married A. J.
Gregory, who served in the legislature (she died November 25, 1856) ; Thomas
Jr., born October 15, 1838; John H., born October 15, 1838, served one term as
sheriff of Merced County ; Mary R., born October 30, 1840, married E. E. Thrift
of Stockton; and Samuel L., our subject and the only one of the family now
living.
It was on December 24, 1852, that
the Givens family left their home in the Eastern States and started for
California, reaching New Orleans on January 1, 1853, from which port they
embarked on board the Pampero for Greytown,
which they reached twelve days later. They crossed the Isthmus on the backs of
mules and then took passage on the Brother Jonathan for San Francisco, reaching
that city on February 2. The Brother Jonathan disappeared on its next trip and
was never heard from again. The family proceeded to Mariposa County by way of Stockton
on the mail stage and arrived at their destination in due time over some very
bad roads, as it was a wet season. Mr. Givens bought the possessory
rights of the Texas Ranch, comprising 1040 acres, which ranch is now owned by
our subject. Here the father died on September 12, 1860.
Samuel L. Givens was educated in the
pay schools of Mariposa County, attending about four months each year, and
finished with a course at the University of the Pacific at San Jose. His
schooling over, he returned to the home ranch and remained until 1869 and then
engaged in running stock into Inyo County until 1876. In 1878 he bought the
ranch he now owns in Merced County, known as the M. 0. Barber ranch, on Bear
Creek, upon which he has since lived. This ranch comprises some 520 acres,
which has been devoted to grain and stock-raising; in addition he has been a
large leasor of land for stock purposes.
Mr. Givens has been closely allied
with all movements for the upbuilding of this part of the county and has
maintained his interest in the events of the period, keeping abreast of the
times by observation and reading. In politics he is a Democrat. Since his
retirement the ranch has been managed by his son Archibald, who is an only
child, and who has been given the best of educational advantages.
On December 20, 1877, in Mariposa
County, Mr. Givens was united in marriage with Miss Susan Lurana
Wills, a native of Mariposa County, born December 9, 1855, a daughter of
Benjamin Wills, a native of Alabama, who married Miss Amanda Cathey. Mr. Wills made his first trip to the Golden State
in 1849, and afterwards he went back East for his family. Mr. and Mrs. Givens
have one son, Archibald, who married Miss Virginia McReynolds of Santa Rosa;
and they have a daughter, Virginia Lurana.
On Mr. Givens' ranch stands an
orange tree, a seedling grown from a seed of an orange which Mrs. Givens
obtained when she was coming across the Isthmus of Panama in 1853, and which
she planted seventy-five years ago on their Texas Ranch in Mariposa County. In
1900 the tree was moved to .the ranch of our subject, and still bears a
bountiful crop each year.
GILBERT B. NEIGHBOR
The late Gilbert B. Neighbor of Snelling, Merced County, was one of the pioneer merchants
of that village and he was one of the foremost upbuilders
of his adopted State. He was born in German Valley, Morris County, N. J.,
September 14, 1836, a son of Jacob Weise and Mary Ann
(Trimmer) Neighbor, both born in that same state. His paternal
great-grandfather, Leonard Neighbor, and the grandfather, also named Leonard,
served in the War of the Revolution. The latter lived to be ninety-one years
old. In 1855 Jacob Neighbor moved to Princeton, Ill., and there both himself and his wife died.
Our subject received a common school
education and was nineteen when the family located in Illinois. In 1859 he
came on to California, via Panama, and arriving in San Francisco he went at
once to Tuolumne County where he farmed seven years, then for the next seven
years he was a clerk in a general store. In 1873 the came to Snelling with his experience and embarked in the general
merchandise business that he followed until his death. He was interested in
sheep raising and in farming, owning 120 acres,
besides some town property. As one interested in the
upbuilding of the county he served as justice of the peace four years and in
every way possible gave of his time and means to advance the interests of the
people and the county.
Mr. Neighbor married Matilda H.
Smith, born in Augusta, Me., the daughter of P. B. Smith, who came around the
Horn to California in 1850 and lived for many years in Jamestown, Cal. Of this
union eight children were born: Charles G., a rancher in Merced County;
Marjorie A., married William C. Richards; May N., became the wife of Fred G.
Robinson; Ada Grace, married R. H. Allen; Pearl, deceased;
Josie; Melvin, postmaster at Snelling; and Ethel. Mr.
Neighbor died February 20, 1922, aged eighty-six years, and is survived by his
wife, who lives in Snelling. He was faithful to every
trust reposed in him, as was attested by his serving the Wells Fargo Express
Company for almost forty years. He is missed by a wide circle of friends who appreciated
his noble qualities of mind and heart.
History
of Merced County California: John Outcalt
Historic Record Company Los Angeles,
California 1925
Transcribed by Martha A Crosley Graham –
Pages 379-429