J. M. FILLMORE
Since the transfer of the San Luis Obispo and Santa Maria Valley Railroad to the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company, Mr. J. Millard Fillmore has been Manager of the road, now called the Pacific Coast Railway. This gentleman is a native of the State of New York, born in Fayetteville, Onondaga County, in March, 1849. His father is Mr. L. Fillmore, a relative of ex-President Millard Fillmore, whose name he gave his son, and his mother is Susan J. Fillmore, and father and mother were both natives of Onondaga County, New York. They moved to Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, in 1856, where the father engaged in contracting and railroad building, and at which business he has been engaged chiefly to the present time. In Pennsylvania young J. M. passed his youth attending the common schools and learning the business of telegraphing and railroading in all its branches. During the winter of 1868-69 he attended school at Fort Edwards Institute, at Fort Edwards, New York, and then resumed his railroad work. He was employed on the Delaware and Lackawanna and Western Railroad, from 1863 to October, 1869—excepting the time spent at Fort Edwards—as Superintendent’s Clerk, agent and telegraph operator, brakeman and conductor, going through all the grades of the business, and in 1868 was promoted to be Assistant Superintendent of Construction. This position he resigned in October, 1869, to accept the position of Train Dispatcher on the Union Pacific Railroad at Laramie, Wyoming Territory, to which place his parents had removed. In April, 1872, he resigned and entered into the business of contracting and building, and to accept the appointment of Warden of the Wyoming Penitentiary. This he held for several years, and in 1876 moved to California and accepted a position on the North Pacific Coast Railroad, resigning in 1880 to accept the offer of General Superintendent of the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company, and removed to Portland, Oregon. In 1882 that company became the owners of the coast line of steamers and of the San Luis Obispo and Santa Maria Valley and Pacific Coast Railroad, and Mr. Fillmore, in September, was sent to San Luis Obispo as Manager, etc., which duties he most efficiently exercises at the present time. He is essentially a railroad man, belonging to a railroad family, his father being an extensive contractor and builder, and his cousin, J. A. Fillmore, brought up in his father’s family, being the General Superintendent of the Central and Southern Pacific Railroads and branches.
J. M. Fillmore was married in October, 1870, in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, to Miss Ella L. Staples, daughter of Richard S. and Mary A. Staples, one of the wealthiest and most prominent families of that busy and prosperous town. Two very bright and lovely children bless the union, Hattie E., aged eleven years, and William S., aged seven years. The family reside in San Luis Obispo. Mrs. Fillmore is a member of the Episcopal Church, and is highly honored in society.
Source: History of San Luis Obispo County, California, pp321-322. Transcribed for the CAGenWeb Project by Cathy Portz.
PORTER S. FINNEY
Is a native of Delhi, Delaware County, New York, where he was born in 1825, his father, Sheldon Finney, being a carpenter and builder in that pleasant and thriving village. The father was accidentally killed by the fall of some timbers of a building he was engaged in constructing, leaving a family of children thus orphaned to struggle for their future place in the world. While yet a lad of tender years, the present Supervisor went to live with friends in the Genesee Valley, in western New York, where he passed his youth acquiring a good education in the common schools of the country, and acquiring the valuable and lasting capital of a trade in wagonmaking and blacksmithing. Soon after the discovery of gold in California he, in the spirit of adventure that characterized the young men of enterprise of that time, joined the moving caravan and settled in business in the city of Sacramento. There he formed a partnership with Kimball, afterwards of the great wagon manufactory of San Francisco, and engaged in blacksmithing and wagon work. At Sacramento he remained a number of years, and then removed to Corte Madera, in Marin County, where he resided a short time. In 1867 he joined his cousins, the Steele Brothers, in San Luis Obispo County, and established the well-known Finney Dairy, on the early home of Judge Wm. L. Beebee. In that pleasant locality he remained until 1870, when, fancying that wagon-making was a more rapid road to wealth, he removed to San Francisco and entered the establishment of Casebolt & Co., where he remained two years. In 1872 Mr. Finney, with his family, again made his home in San Luis Obispo, establishing himself in his trade, in which business he has since continued. Here he is regarded as one of the substantial and reliable business men of the city and county, serving both in various public offices. In 1882 he was elected on the Republican ticket as one of the Board of Supervisors, resigning his seat as a member of the City Council in January last, to take his place as Supervisor.
Source: History of San Luis Obispo County, California, p182. Transcribed for the CAGenWeb Project by Cathy Portz.
JAMES D. FOWLER
Is distinguished as a brave and efficient Union soldier during the War of the Rebellion, and is descended from patriot soldiers, his father having served through the War of 1812, and his grandfather during the War of the Revolution. He was born in Chariton County, Missouri, April 25, 1837, being the seventh child in a family of nine of James D. and Martha (Davis) Fowler. In a log cabin school house of his native Missouri, he acquired a good practical education, qualifying him for the general business of life. When seventeen years of age he left Missouri for California, crossing the plains by the usual mode of making that long journey before the period of overland stages and railroads. His first location in this State was at San José, making his home in Santa Clara County until 1869. When the War of the Rebellion arose he returned to the East, espoused the cause of the Union, and joined the Ninth Missouri Cavalry. In this he served three years, principally engaged in running down “bushwackers,” and participated in pursuit and conflicts that drove the army of General Price out of the State. The war for the Union being successfully closed, the brave soldier returned in 1866 to his home in Santa Clara and resumed his farming work. In 1869, Mr. Fowler removed into what is now San Benito County, and there remained until 1876, when he came to San Luis Obispo County, settling on a farm on Willow Creek , near Cayucos, where he still lives. He is an active man in business, enjoying society, and takes a great interest in public affairs, being a strong Republican in politics, and a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows; of the American Legion of Honor, and of the Order of Good Templars. He was elected Supervisor of the County in November, 1882. Mr. Fowler was married December 24, 1865, to Miss Sarah F. Pierce, a native of Virginia, and three children have been born to the happy pair.
Source: History of San Luis Obispo County, California, p183. Transcribed for the CAGenWeb Project by Cathy Portz.
Many people, Swiss and Americans, have accumulated respectable competences in dairying, withthe exercise of a few years’ industry and econony. Among those who have distinguished themselves in this branch of industry may be mentioned
EMIL ROYASS FREEMAN
who was born June 2, 1851, in McHenry County, Illinois. He is the eldest of the family of twelve children of Wm. Darius and Mary (Holstead) Freeman, there being nine sons and three daughters, all of whom are living. The parents are natives of Ohio. Mr. Freeman came to California with his parents in 1857, settling in Volcano, Amador County, where they remained until 1860, when they removed to Marin County. There he attended school and received a good business education. He made Marin and Sonoma Counties his home until 1877, when he removed to San Luis Obispo County, locating on Toro Creek, near Cayucos, where he has a ranch of 475 acres devoted to grazing and dairy purposes. His farm supports seventy-five fine milch cows, from which he makes a large amount of butter, and is one of the prosperous men of the county.
Mr. Freeman was married September 17, 1871, to Miss May Alice Murray, a native of New York. Their home is shown in an illustration in this volume. He has recently purchased another fine ranch of 777 acres, paying therefor $22,000.
Source: History of San Luis Obispo County, California, p343. Transcribed for the CAGenWeb Project by Cathy Portz.
G. A. FREEMAN
The opportunities which the dairying region of San Luis Obispo offers, when supplemented by industry, energy, and good management, are shown in the success of the gentleman whose name heads this paragraph. George Adelbert Freeman, brother of Emil R. Freeman, was born in McHenry County, Illinois, July 6, 1852. His parents removed to California when he was but a child, and he therefore retains but little recollection of the “Prairie State,” nor of the hardships of the overland journey by teams, which was the mode of travel at that time. A light wagon, one yoke of oxen, and twenty-five cents in cash was all that remained of the overland outfit when the family located in the mines of Amador County. Mining and prospecting constituted the elder Freeman’s occupation for several years, and not finding the fortune hoped for in the gold region, sought the more reliable field of agriculture, removing to Tomales, in Marin County, in 1860, where he now lives, a prosperous and respected farmer, the owner of 216 acres of excellent land, with a fine house and first-class improvements. There George A. attended school, assisted his father on the farm, until at the age of nineteen years he started out in the world to work his own way to fortune. The dairying interests in San Luis Obispo were attracting attention as second in importance to that of Marin, and to this county he came in 1871, obtaining employment on the dairy farm of Mr. A. C. Buffington. For this gentleman he worked one year and twenty days, and in all the time never missed a milking nor any of the duties assigned him. He then went to Salinas, and worked for Kellogg & Laird there until he had accumulated $350, when he went to Santa Rosa, Sonoma County, to attend school at the Christian and Pacific Methodist Colleges, where he remained eight months, during which time he studied as hard as he had worked, and, as he says “learned more than in all the schools I had ever attended in my life.”
With the education and the experience in business he had obtained in such labor, he felt capable of entering into and managing business for himself, and upon the invitation of his former employer, Buffington, took the dairy on shares. During the first ten months, he had a partner in the business, and in that time each cleared $679; then buying his partner’s interest, in the succeeding year he cleared $1,560. With the capital he had accumulated, he purchased, in 1875, the place he now occupies on Toro Creek , near Cayucos, and there has successfully carried on the business of farming and dairying, and has so improved the place that in 1883 he was offered $12,000 for it, without the stock. This fine home has all been made through the energy and well directed industry of Mr. Freeman. He has planted fruit trees of many varieties, and now has growing oranges, lemons, almonds, Japanese persimmons, peaches, pears, apples, and others suited to the climate. It is a home, founded on the natural advantages of good soil, genial climate, grand scenery, and facilities for transportation, and so improved by industry as to give a comfortable life competence, and a grand independence, for which the struggling professional, the selfish monopolist, or the ambitious politician may sigh in vain.
Mr. Freeman was married August 11, 1874, to Miss Sarah C. Cass, daughter of Capt. James Cass, of Cayucos. This lady is a native of California, born at Michigan Bar, Sacramento County, March 7, 1855. They have five children, Eva Dell, born July 2, 1875; Arthur Patterson, born May 20, 1877; Ida May, born May 26, 1879; Sarah Nathalie, born September 10, 1881; and Harry Cass, born July 26, 1883.
Mr. Freeman is one of the active, public-spirited men of Cayucos and vicinity. He is a member of the Masonic Order and of the Order of Chosen Friends. In politics he is a firm Republican, not for his offices as he has never sought any, but has held the office of School Trustee for some years, and is the present Clerk of the Board.
Source: History of San Luis Obispo County, California, pp343-344. Transcribed for the CAGenWeb Project by Cathy Portz.