About one mile north of the village of Arroyo Grande is the “Tally-Ho Rancho,” the property of
H. A. VACHELL
The mountains which skirt the coast and shield the interior from the chilly winds of the ocean are here but gentle hills, sufficient, however, to furnish all the protection needed, and are usually clad in forests of live-oak and thrifty bushes. In a pleasant vale on the eastern slope of the hills Mr. Vachell has selected his home, which he has given the name of Tally-Ho.
It is a quiet valley
Set far from human ills,
A sunny, sloping valley,
Begirt with green, green hills.
This gently sloping valley, of a few hundred acres, presents the appearance of a large amphitheater, set with vineyards, orchards, and gardens, with a handsome cottage residence in the foreground. The proprietor, Horace Annesley Vachell, Esq., was born at Sydenham, Kent, England, October 30, 1861. Mr. Vachell is of one of the oldest families of England, his ancestors being of those who accompanied William the Conqueror in the invasion and conquest of that country. In Tyson’s “Magna Britannica” the Vachell family is recorded as being the oldest family in Berkshire, and that in 1309 John Vachell was Knight of the Shire. They lived at Coley, near Reading, till the close of the eighteenth century, when the place was sold and the family moved to Copford Hall, where the father of the present subject was born. The records of the family are found in the “Harleian Manuscripts,” Tyson’s “Magna Britannica,” and in “Antiquities of Reading.” The parents of Mr. Vachell were Richard Taufield Vachell and Georgina Lyttelton Vachell, eldest daughter of Arthur Lyttelton Annesley, late of Arley Castle, Shropshire. His uncle, Col. Lyttelton Annesley, late of the Eleventh Hussars, is at present Adjutant-General of Bombay.
Mr. Vachell was educated at the celebrated school of Harrow, and passed the examination and entered the Royal Military College of Sandhurst, graduating in the class of 1881. Desiring to be consigned to a special regiment for which he would be required to wait a number of years, he resigned his commission in the British Army to take a tour in America, and concluded to try his fortune as a farmer in the Golden State. He came to California in November, 1882, and in January, 1883, purchased the Tally-Ho farm, of 558 acres. On this he has planted a vineyard and a great variety of fruit trees. In the future he intends to breed fine stock horses, cattle, and poultry, and his improvements on the rancho are designed for such purpose. In April, 1883, he returned on a visit to his native home and to make the tour of Europe, ere he settles down to the business of farming and the active life of an American citizen, for which he expresses a desire.
Source: History of San Luis Obispo County, California, pXXX. Transcribed for the CAGenWeb Project by Cathy Portz.
IRA VAN GORDON
A veteran ranchero of San Luis Obispo County, a pioneer of California, and a soldier of the Mexican War, was born in Tioga County, Pennsylvania, February 12, 1820. Amid the hills of the “Keystone State” where the waters flow eastward to the Susquehanna and the Atlantic, and westward to the Ohio and the Gulf of Mexico, Mr. Van Gordon passed his youthful years, attending the schools as do all ambitious American boys, and from his parents learning the duties of a farmer. In 1837, when seventeen years of age, he moved to the new State of Michigan, where he lived two years and then followed the declining sun to the prairies of Illinois. After a three years’ residence in that State, he returned to Michigan, tarrying there two years. During these years of pilgrimage he pursued the occupation of a farmer. At that period he had arrived at the age when his vigorous manhood should manifest itself, and he cast about for his future field of operations. Far away upon the Pacific Coast was the American land of Oregon, to which many were emigrating, and south of it was the Mexican country called California, of which dim stories had been told of its great valleys, rivers, and harbors, its vast herds of cattle, its genial climate, and the hope was whispered that it might soon become an American possession. To the Pacific Coast young Van Gordon decided to go, and, joining a party of emigrants in the spring of 1846, started on the great journey as a driver of a team of oxen. Many of the emigrants of that year met with terrible disaster, but the train in which Mr. Van Gordon came, after traveling six months from the frontier of Missouri, arrived safely in the valley of the Sacramento. The fall and winter of 1846 was spent at the mission of Santa Clara. The war with Mexico had commenced while the emigrants were on the plains, and upon their arrival in California, they were much surprised as well as gratified to find the flag of their country flying over Sutter’s Fort, and on every flag-staff, and that California was part of the United States.
Where they had expected to be foreigners in a strange land, they found themselves in their own country, and welcomed by their own countrymen. Peace prevailed when they came into the country, but shortly thereafter the Californians rose in arms and the war was renewed. Fremont raised a battalion and marched to the south, and volunteers were raised to defend the people and towns in the north. Mr. Van Gordon joined the volunteers, and aided in putting down the insurrection and securing peace. The battle of the San Gabriel and of the Mesa, near Los Angeles, followed by the surrender of the Mexican forces to Fremont at the Cahuenga Pass closed the war in California, and in the spring of 1847 the volunteers were disbanded. Mr. Van Gordon then went to the mission of San Jose and commenced farming, remaining thus engaged during the year. The discovery of gold was made in the winter of 1847-48, but before the excitement became great he went to the redwoods, and there made shakes, shingles, and lumber for San Francisco, continuing this quiet business while the country was running mad after gold. Six months passed while so employed, when he took the gold fever and went to the mines on the American River. After four months’ successful mining, he returned to the mission of San Jose and there resumed farming, where each acre that year, and in 1849, and for several years following, produced a crop worth a thousand dollars. In 1851 Mr. Van Gordon went to Los Angeles County and commenced raising, buying, and shipping grapes to San Francisco, doing a very large business in that line, continuing in it for two years. From Los Angeles he went to San Diego County, purchasing mules for the Government, and afterwards engaging in stock-raising, spending two and a half years in that county. In 1856 he went to Tulare County, and there established a ranch and raised and fatted cattle, remaining there for a period of eleven years. From Tulare County he removed to San Luis Obispo County in 1868, where he has since lived, carrying on an extensive business in stock-raising, farming, and dairying. His ranch contains about 3,000 acres, and he keeps 175 cows. His residence is where he first located in 1868, about midway between Cambria and San Simeon, and is shown by an engraving reproduced in this book.
Mr. Van Gordon was married in 1841 to Miss Rebecca Harlan, a native of Indiana, and two sons are now living to cheer the old age of their parents.
Source: History of San Luis Obispo County, California, p91. Transcribed for the CAGenWeb Project by Cathy Portz.