Santa Cruz County, California

Biographies

Elihu Anthony

No man is more prominently and closely identified with the history of Santa Cruz than is Elihu Anthony. Mr. Anthony came to California in 1847, and to Santa Cruz in 1848, since which time he has taken a leading part in the affairs of this community. He is notable as a member of the first Board of Supervisors of Santa Cruz, also as a builder of the first wharf in Santa Cruz harbor. This wharf stood where Davis & Cowell's wharf now is, and was built upon a similar plan.

Mr. Anthony owned the first iron foundry in the county, the third on the Pacific Coast, the other two being in San Francisco. This foundry made the first cast-iron plows manufactured in California. Patterns were obtained from the East in 1848, and the castings made and attached to the proper woodwork. A few iron plows had previously been imported and sold at high figures. The modern plow was then supplanting the old Mexican plow, described on another page of this work.

Mr. Anthony was in Monterey when gold was discovered in California. Specimens of the ore were sent to Monterey and subjected to chemical tests, which proved them to be the precious metal. Mr. Anthony visited the scene of the discovery at Sutter's Mill race. The miners were using picks made of wood. Elihu was a blacksmith. So he returned to his shop in Santa Cruz and began making light iron picks. The first eight dozen of these were hauled over the mountains to Sutter's Fork by Thomas Fallon, and sold for three ounces of gold apiece—$60 for each pick. These were the first iron picks manufactured in California.

Another enterprise in which Mr. Anthony was a pioneer was the establishment of a water system in Santa Cruz. F. A. Hihn was his partner in this undertaking. By the year 1856 the village of Santa Cruz had grown large enough to require a better water supply then wells could afford. So Hihn and Anthony brought the water from the river in pipes made of redwood logs, bored out and joined together, and stored the water in reservoirs constructed by them on the piece of land where Mr. Anthony now lives. The old reservoirs are now (1891) being filled up.

But the history of a man's life should begin with his birth. Mr. Anthony was born in New York State in the month of November, 1818. His father was a mechanic, and owned a scythe factory. In early youth Elihu was taught the blacksmith's trade, and attended school three months each year from the time he was five years old until he reached the age of thirteen. Before he was twenty-one years old he went to Michigan, where he lived two years, and when his father's family moved from New York to Indiana, Elihu followed them to that Territory. In 1838 he was married to Miss Frances Clarke, and settled down in Indiana, working at the trade he had learned when a boy. His wife died after five years. She had borne him three children, all of whom have since died.

In 1841 Mr. Anthony was converted, and united himself with the Methodist Episcopal Church. He was afterwards ordained by that church as a minister of the gospel, and for five years was a circuit preacher in Indiana and a member of North Indiana Conference.

In 1845 he was the second time married. His second wife was Miss Sarah A. Van Anda. She is of a Maryland family that moved to Ohio in 1831, and from there to Indiana. In 1846 Mr. Anthony gave up the circuit and went to Iowa to join a company that was preparing to start the next spring across the plains to Oregon. The caravan was a large one, comprising more than one hundred ox teams. The journey was attended with the customary hardships, scarcity of water and food for stock. The only serious accident was a stampede of the cattle when the train reached North Platte. A number of the wagons were broken to pieces, and several of the emigrants injured.

After a six months’ journey the emigrants reached Fort Hall, California, just south of the Oregon line. There the train divided, the greater portion going north, while Mr. Anthony and his family, with a few others, joined a party of emigrants who came along just then on their way from Oregon to the central part of California.

Mr. Anthony first went to the Santa Clara Valley, where, on the night after their arrival, his wife's second child was born. This is their son Bascom, a present resident of Santa Cruz. Mr. Anthony remained in Santa Clara but three months, and then removed to Santa Cruz. He found but five American families within the present limits of the county. He at first engaged in his trade of blacksmithing, then went into the foundry business, before mentioned, and in 1849 opened a general merchandise store, in partnership with A. A. Hecox.

Mr. Anthony is a member of the local Methodist Church, and has taken an active part in church work during his residence in Santa Cruz. He has not yet entirely retired from business life, but gives a portion of his time to his extensive property in and about the city. The Anthony Block, at the head of Pacific Avenue, was erected for him in 1848. The first building was torn down in 1875, and the present Anthony Block erected upon its site.

In 1856 Mr. Anthony, with his family, revisited the East, and his father and mother came out to California the next year. There are now a large number of Anthonys in California, relatives of the subject of this sketch, who is the pioneer of the family in this State.

In 1880 Mr. Anthony was elected to the State Legislature, and assisted in the revision of the State codes consequent upon the adoption of the new constitution.

Five children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Anthony, one daughter and four sons, all of whom are now living.

History of Santa Cruz County, California, 1892

Submitted by Cathy Danielson

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Thomas Corcoran

This gentleman is a native of County Carlo, Ireland, and was born December 11, 1827. His father was a farmer, and emigrated to America the next year after Thomas was born. Mr. Corcoran's boyhood was spent with his father. When the Mexican War began he enlisted in the American army, and served a short time as a teamster. After the discovery of gold in California he joined the westward emigration. Mr. Corcoran's company crossed the Missouri River at Omaha in a flat boat, swimming their horses and cattle. Their pilot was Greenwood, an old Rocky Mountain guide. The captain of the train was P. B. Cornwall, since a resident of Santa Cruz. The trip was devoid of accident.

Arriving in California, Mr. Corcoran went to the Yuba River country and engaged at mining, his only implements being a butcher knife, a wooden crowbar, and a tin pan. Even with this crude apparatus he managed to take out from three to four ounces of gold per day. After he had saved about $2,000 worth of dust, he started to visit Mart Murphy, an old acquaintance who was living on the McCozzum River, near Sacramento. On the trip his gold was stolen. His friend loaned him money to buy a new outfit and get back to the mines again, also two pack horses loaded with blankets and shoes to sell at the mines. Mr. Corcoran went this time to Woods Creek, Tuolumne County. He sold the blankets at $75, and the shoes at $16 a pair. In a very short time he had replaced his lost $2,000, and had another $2,000 with it.

From mining Mr. Corcoran went to teaming, and then engaged in general merchandise trade, at San Andreas, California, where he remained until 1865. Good success attended him in all his undertakings, and he accumulated a comfortable fortune.

Mr. Corcoran relates many interesting and amusing stories of early days. Among them may be mentioned his tale of the circumstances attending the discovery of one of the richest gold mines in Tuolumne County. Mr. Corcoran, with a number of his companions, most of them just from the Mexican War, was mining in the bed of a river, when a party of New England men came along and asked for advise as to where was the best place to dig. Now the ex-soldiers had small love for the Yankees, because the latter had opposed the war with Mexico. So they instructed the strangers to dig on top of a neighboring hill, where they told them prospects were excellent, but where they really thought was the very last place on earth that gold might be. The Yankees did as directed, to the great glee of Mr. Corcoran and his comrades. The jokers did not laugh long, however, for in a very short time the verdant strangers from Yankee-land had reached a pocket of pure gold dust, which netted them several thousand dollars apiece.

In 1853 Mr. Corcoran was united in marriage to Miss Bridget McGraw. Three children were born to them: Frank, Mary, and Hannah. His wife died in 1885. His children are now all grown.

From Calaveras County Mr. Corcoran moved to San Joaquin, and afterward to Santa Cruz. In San Joaquin he joined the society of California Pioneers, in which he still retains his membership. His life here has been one chiefly of leisure. Much of his time is devoted to crayon work and painting pictures, to which work he is very much attached, and at which he has won considerable success. Several of his pictures have been awarded premiums at the Santa Cruz County Fair, and also at the San Joaquin District Fair.

History of Santa Cruz County, California, 1892

Submitted by Cathy Danielson

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Henry Jackson

Henry Jackson is a prominent citizen of Watsonville, a pioneer business man, and an earnest worker for the good of the commonwealth in which he lives.

Mr. Jackson was born of English parents, in East Prussia, in the year 1829. His younger days were spent at school in his native country. At the age of eighteen years he left college and entered as an apprentice a large mercantile house, engaged in importing and exporting all sorts of goods. Here he received a thorough training, which has since been of great value to him.

In the year 1851 Mr. Jackson concluded to visit the western continent. He sailed from Germany in a vessel belonging to the firm at that time and thereafter established in San Francisco, around Cape Horn to Valdivia and Valparaiso, Chile. They were eight months on the voyage, and experienced extremely rough weather almost throughout the entire journey. After a few months in Chile he went to San Francisco, and from there to the mines on the Yuba and American Rivers. He was taken very ill while at the mines and it was a long time before he recovered sufficiently to either work or travel. In August, 1852, he determined to leave the place where he had been so sick, and started on foot to Marysville, two hundred and fifty miles away. After arriving at Marysville he took the steamer for San Francisco, where he arrived sick and penniless. He found friends who assisted him and he went to work as soon as he was able. A lucky speculation netted him a few hundred dollars, and he was on his feet once more. The doctor, however, advised him to change climate, and Mr. Jackson accordingly came to Santa Cruz. For a while he was in the employ of F. A. Hihn, and soon after engaged in partnership with Mr. Hihn in the mercantile trade, and opened the first store in Watsonville, which did a flourishing business. Shortly afterward Mr. Jackson bought out his partner's interest and conducted the business alone.

In 1855 Mr. Jackson was married to Marie Adelaide Rodriguez, a daughter of one of the earliest Spanish families in California. Thirteen children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Jackson, and all but one are still living.

Mr. Jackson remained in the general merchandise business constantly until the year 1862, when he sold out and made a trip to Europe and England. He was gone seven months. On returning he engaged in the commission and grain business, which he has since followed, not only with financial success but with the most excellent reputation for fairness, squareness, ability, and sterling integrity.

As before mentioned, Mr. Jackson is a worker for the good of the community. His fellow-townsmen have on several occasions recognized his worth in that capacity. When the town was first incorporated he was chosen a member by the board of trustees, and has since been re-elected several times. Full of vim and progress, and yet too conservative to fall in with hasty schemes for spending the people's money, Mr. Jackson makes a most admirable officer.

History of Santa Cruz County, California, 1892

Submitted by Cathy Danielson

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Calvin Gault

The life of Calvin Gault is that of a typical pioneer; and the vicissitudes of frontier life are aptly illustrated by the ups and downs he has experienced. Coming to California with but $3.50 as the sum total of his wealth, he soon accumulated a fortune. One unlucky investment cut down his capital to a few hundred dollars. Beginning work as a day laborer, he saved his earnings until an opportunity for good investment was presented, the way to a competency being made clear, and his name once more stood opposite five figures on the assessment roll.

Mr. Gault lived until 1836 on his father's farm in Rutland County, Vermont, where he was born in 1814. In 1836 he was married to Miss Elizabeth Resseguire, and immigrated to Wisconsin. He was the first white man in the township where he settled. In 1849 he turned his steps still further west, and came to California. As mentioned above, he arrived here with the sum of $3.50 in his pockets. Wages were high and he soon earned enough to engage in trading. He remained in Sacramento a few months, living in a tent on the site of the present State capitol. From Sacramento Mr. Gault proceeded to Sonora, Tuolumne County, and embarked in the merchandise trade. His capital had now increased to considerable proportions, and his business was a very active one. For five years his trade reached an annual average of $50,000. Mr. Gault quoted to the writer a few of the prices current in those days: Eggs, $1.00 each; chickens, $16 each; potatoes, $2.50 a pound; flour, $ 1.00 a pound; boots, from $12 to $40 a pair; salt, $1.00 a pound; saleratus, $6.00 a pound. These values were customary in winter, when bad roads advanced freight rates to fifty cents a pound, between Stockton and Sonora. In summer, prices were correspondingly lower.

Mr. Gault went East in 1851, traveling via Panama, but immediately returned, at the head of a company of seventy-five men, who elected him their captain and who acted under strict military discipline. On the way he resigned his command to one of his lieutenants, and stayed in Utah two weeks to buy and sell a herd of cattle, clearing $1,200 by the transaction.

In 1866 Mr. Gault left Sonora for Santa Cruz. He had ceased trading in merchandise and invested nearly all his money in live stock. A severe winter ensued, and when spring came his cattle were nearly all dead. About thirty poor, half-starved beasts were still alive, and the proceeds of their sale was all that remained of the money he had accumulated. Arriving at Santa Cruz he began sawing wood for George T. Bromley, the proprietor of the Pacific Ocean House, and continued at that sort of work for twelve years, saving his earnings and investing them in real estate. Santa Cruz grew from a village to a city, the property doubled, trebled, and quadrupled in value, and still kept on rising, and now Mr. Gault is one of the well-to-do, solid citizens of the town. He is still engaged in active business as a broker in real estate.

In 1874 he was the second time married, this time to Mrs. Lucy A. Phelps, of Santa Cruz. His first wife bore him five children, of whom but one survived. This is a daughter, Mrs. Benjamin Brown, a resident of Santa Cruz.

History of Santa Cruz County, California, 1892

Submitted by Cathy Danielson

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Joshua Parrish

This gentleman resides at Soquel, in this county. He came to California in 1849 and is a member of the Santa Cruz Pioneers. He was born in Ohio in 1816. At that time the Buckeye State was on the frontier, and the educational advantages of Mr. Parrish were consequently limited to the poorly-equipped schools of his time. His father was a farmer, and the son's early life was spent under; the parental roof and in assisting on the farm. After Mr. Parrish came to this State, he elected to follow the business with which he was most familiar, that of farming, in which vocation he still continues. He returned to Ohio in 1853, and was married during that year in that State. Mr. and Mrs. Parrish have been blessed with five children, all of whom are living. The following is the family record:

Mary, aged thirty-six; Freelan, thirty-four; Winfield Scott, thirty-two; Benjamin Franklin, thirty; Annie Jane, twenty-seven.

History of Santa Cruz County, California, 1892

Submitted by Cathy Danielson

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Otis Ashley

The subject of this sketch was born July 20, 1820, in Martinsburg, Lewis County, New York. He is the son of a farmer, and obtained a limited education at the district schools. He is a California pioneer of 1846, having arrived at Johnson's Ranch, on Bear River, October 13 of that year. He drove one of the first ox teams across the plains, was six months en route, and was twenty days ahead of the Donner party. After arriving he stopped at the Santa Clara Mission for a while, served three months under General Fremont, and arrived in the Zyante Valley, in Santa Cruz County, March 13, 1847. He helped to build three sawmills on the San Lorenzo River. In 1848 he moved to San Jose, where he remained until June, 1856, when he returned to Zyante Valley, settled on a piece of government land on the west side of the Zyante Rancho, and built a sawmill. To quote his own language: "My occupation at that time was lumbering and defending a long and tedious lawsuit, with the alleged owners of the Zyante Rancho, which lasted twenty years. I succeeded in saving about two thousand acres for the government, but by so doing lost my place, and the proceeds of twenty years hard labor. Other people are now enjoying the benefit of it, and I am a poor man, still working for a living."

Mr. Ashley is a member of the Sons of Temperance. He was married, December 29, 1841, to Sallie M. Mathers. Eight children have been born unto them: Sarah E., born October 4, 1845; Mary E., August 29, 1848; Orin T., April 7, 1851; Eva A. June 28, 1853; Major G., August 31, 1855; Albert O., February 25, 1858; Walter O., May 28, 1860; Joseph W., February 4, 1867.

History of Santa Cruz County, California, 1892

Submitted by Cathy Danielson

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Charles Steinmetz

Charles Steinmetz was born in Hanover, Germany, February 19, 1827. He was educated there, and also served four years' apprenticeship at the cabinet maker's trade. In 1846 he emigrated to America, coming in a Hamburg ship, the Franklin, which landed in New York on the 12th of September. He could not find work, and enlisted for the Mexican War in Company B First United States Artillery. The regiment proceeded immediately to Mexico; and with it Mr. Steinmetz was present and engaged in the battles of Vera Cruz, Cerra Gordo, Contreras, Churubusco, and City of Mexico, besides minor engagements with the Guerrillas. After the capture of the City of Mexico by United States troops, and the consequent close of the war, he received his discharge from the army, on account of sickness, and went to New Orleans. He worked at his trade there for a while, but his health not returning, he concluded to go to Germany instead of California, which had been his intended destination. In 1850 he returned from Germany to California, making the trip direct in the Hamburg sailing vessel Louisa, on a six months' voyage, by way of Cape Horn. For two years he engaged in mining, and after that embarked in the mercantile business in Nevada County. In 1857 he was married to Miss Anna Kessler, who still survives, and has born him nine children, of whom two sons and five daughters survive.

In 1866 Mr. Steinmetz visited his fatherland again, and, returning, brought with him a younger brother, who had been held as a prisoner of war by the Prussian troops after the war between Prussia and Hanover. Learning that it was the intention of the Prussian Government to force his brother into the army against which he had been recently fighting, Mr. Steinmetz determined to assist him in escaping from the country. This difficult task was successfully accomplished a very short time before the army officials came after the younger Steinmetz, to bring his parole leave to an end and impress him with the government troops. This brother is now a prominent furniture manufacturer in San Francisco. In 1868 Mr. Charles Steinmetz retired from active business and established himself in Santa Cruz. Since then he has been elected a number of times to positions of public trust. He has served seven years as trustee in the public schools of Santa Cruz school district, six years as county supervisor, and nine years as county treasurer. He is a prominent member of the Masonic Fraternity, which he joined in 1856, and also belongs to the Society of Mexican War Veterans.

Mr. Steinmetz' home is on Ocean View Avenue, and he has other extensive property in that vicinity.

History of Santa Cruz County, California, 1892

Submitted by Cathy Danielson

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Henry Uhden

The Uhdens are a well-known pioneer Santa Cruz family. Henry Uhden's father, August Uhden, came here in 1856, accompanied by the members of his household. For a number of years he was a farmer near this city, and was among the most prominent men of the county. He died in Santa Cruz in the year 1862, and sleeps in an unknown grave on Escalona Heights. There are three graves together there surrounded by a paling fence. One of these is the tomb of Mr. Uhden, but which of the three it is no one can tell. In July, 1891, his wife died and was buried in the Odd Fellows' Cemetery. An effort was made to determine which of the three lonely graves on the hillside was that of the elder Uhden, so that his body might be disinterred and buried beside his wife's. But tombstones were not easily had in Santa Cruz in early days, and the identity of the dead had been intrusted to perishable wooden headboards. No one could be found who knew the graves apart, and the inquiry was sadly abandoned.

Henry Uhden, the son of the two pioneers mentioned above, was born in 1835, at Springfield, Ohio, where he attended school. After coming to Santa Cruz with his father, he has made his home here continuously. He learned the carpenter's trade and worked at it for a number of years.

When the Civil War began, Mr. Uhden enlisted among the California volunteers. His regiment was not ordered to the seat of war, but he was on duty here until peace was established.

In 1879 he abandoned his trade of carpenter, and entered the employ of the Southern Pacific Coast Railway Company, as yardmaster of the railroad wharf at Santa Cruz, Mr. Uhden was a charter member of the I. O. R. M. in Santa Cruz, and is also a member of the A. O. U. W., and a prominent member of Reynolds Post G. A. R.

Mr. Uhden has four sisters, all of whom were married to well-known Santa Cruz citizens. They are: Mrs. Caroline Leibrandt, Mrs. Charles Kaye, Mrs. E. Lukens, and Mrs. Lizzie Call.

On December 24, 1873, Mr. Uhden was married to Miss Nellie Hall. Miss Hall was a native of Salt Lake City. Mrs. Uhden is a woman of energy and ability, is a pleasant conversationalist, and very popular among a large circle of friends. She is a prominent and earnest worker in the congregation of the Christian Church, and was a prime mover in the Garfield Park project. She was also one of the organizers and the first president of Reynolds Women's Relief Corps, organized in September, 1888.

Mr. and Mrs. Uhden have four children, two sons and two daughters.

History of Santa Cruz County, California, 1892

Submitted by Cathy Danielson

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Alfred Baldwin

Alfred Baldwin is a man quite prominently identified with the history of not only Santa Cruz County, but of the State of California. His birthplace was near Albany, New York, and the date of his birth 1816. While a boy, he read Lewis and Clark's tales of travels and adventures in Oregon, and was seized with a desire to go West. In 1845 he joined the emigration at Independence, Missouri. One of his main reasons for coming West was that he wished to live in a milder climate than that of the East. With this thought still in his mind, he traveled next year from Oregon to California, in company with Richard C. Kirby. They arrived at Yerba Buena in August, 1846. In 1847 Mr. Baldwin came to Santa Cruz, but returned to San Francisco the same year. There he found a party of United States recruiting officers, seeking volunteers to uphold the flag during the troublesome scenes then being enacted here. Mr. Baldwin enlisted for sixty days under Purser Watmaugh, of the sloop-of-war Portsmouth, he acting as captain of the company. On the expiration of his term he re-enlisted under General Fremont, who, with a troop of three hundred and forty men, embarked at San Francisco, and set sail for Los Angeles, but, meeting on the way a vessel with orders to that effect, landed at Monterey and proceeded southward overland. The movements of this little army are now a part of history.

On his second discharge from the army Mr. Baldwin began working at his trade as a shoemaker in Santa Cruz, and after a short time returned to Yerba Buena, or San Francisco. Thence he went to the mines. He was taken ill during his stay at the mines, and while convalescent superintended Peter Larsen's ranch, on the east side of the Sacramento River, now Senator Stanford's Vino ranch, for five weeks at $100 per week, paid him by the foreman, who was impatient to go to the mines himself. Returning to San Francisco, he found that his friend Kirby had gone to Santa Cruz, and so again turned his own steps hither. During most of his residence here he has engaged in mercantile business or worked at his trade. He has several times gained and lost considerable sums of money in mining speculations, but has no great desire for riches, preferring the peace and comfort of a placid life to the feverish excitement of the speculator's existence.

In 1866 he was united in marriage with Miss Fannie Willard, a woman of great breadth of character and intellectual attainments. They have one child, Caroline Willard Baldwin, who is a member of the class of 1892 of the University of California.

History of Santa Cruz County, California, 1892

Submitted by Cathy Danielson

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William W. Waddell

The man whose name appears above was for a long time one of the most prominent men of Santa Cruz County. He was a man of enlarged views, great enterprise, considerable wealth, and unerring integrity.

Mr. Waddell was born January 31, 1818, in Mason County, Kentucky, and was the

son of John T. and Eleanor Waddell. His childhood was spent mainly with his parents, and his education was obtained in his native State. In 1837 he moved to Lexington, Missouri, where he engaged in mercantile pursuits, and amassed a large fortune, but indorsed heavily for friends, and this placed his entire possessions in jeopardy.

In 1850 he sent to California one thousand head of cattle, which he intrusted to others, and which venture realized him nothing. At this time he had to make good his indorsements, and this took all his property, which was conveyed to his creditors.

In 1851 Mr. Waddell came to Santa Cruz County, and engaged in lumbering at Williams' Landing. Afterwards he engaged in manufacturing lumber at Rincon Mills, and subsequently, on the Branciforte. In 1861 he erected a large mill on Waddell Creek, built a railroad from his mill to New Year's Point, and employed a large number of men, disbursing $750,000 on the enterprise.

It was said of him that in all his dealings with men he never made a written contract, and that those who knew him never demanded it, his word being all that was necessary.

In 1838 Mr. Waddell was married to Elizabeth Bailey Hudson, in Kentucky. Two of their children are living, a son and a daughter. The son is a resident of Santa Clara, and the daughter, Jeannie H., is now the wife of Charles B. Younger, Esq., of Santa Cruz.

An interesting event of Mr. Waddell's life is narrated in the following letter, written by himself to his daughter:—

San Pedro, April 29, 1863.

Dear Daughter:

Before you receive this, you will hear by telegraph of a sad calamity, which occurred at this place on Monday afternoon, at half past four o'clock, namely, the explosion of Mr. Banning's small steamer, the Ada Hancock. After leaving the warehouse for the steamer Senator, we had proceeded about three-quarters of a mile, the wind blowing almost a gale. She had on board about forty or forty-five persons in all. I became somewhat uneasy as to our situation and placed myself on the extreme back end of the boat, which position I had occupied but a few minutes when I heard a report like a small cannon, felt a shock against my left leg, and was plunged into the water, with something over me, pressing me down. I succeeded in getting from under it and came to the top of the water about thirty feet from what had been a small steamer a minute before, but was now a mass of splinters and floating boards. I swam to the hull and got on it, as it was partly out of water, the tide not being full. I assisted a man who was hurt to get up safely. I next got a small child about two years old, which I kept wrapped up in my coat until its mother claimed and took it from me. About this time I discovered my leg was broken below the knee, and I could no longer render assistance to others. All this time I was in water up to my knees and remained so until the last boat left the wreck, which was one and a half hours from the explosion.

William W. Waddell.

History of Santa Cruz County, California, 1892

Submitted by Cathy Danielson

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Patrick McAllister

P. McAllister, a pioneer resident of Pajaro Valley and a member of the Santa Cruz County Pioneer Association, was born in County Derry, Ireland, March 17, 1818. He was the son of a farmer and the youngest of a family of five children. His father died when he was sixteen years old, and he managed the estate for the next three years, when he sold out to his brother and came to America, having previously married, when eighteen years of age, Margaret Cargan.

After arriving in New York he proceeded direct to Wisconsin, where he worked in the lead mines, remaining there for ten years. In 1850 he crossed the plains, leaving his wife in Wisconsin, and arrived in California on the 8th of September of that year, the day preceding the admission of the State into the Union. He immediately engaged in mining at Hangtown, on the middle fork of the American River. In the spring of 1851 he left good diggings for a Jack-o'-lantern prospect at Gold Lake. Proceeding to Sacramento with nine companions, they bought and equipped a pack train, and had got on their way as far as Shasta, on the Salmon River, when they met a great many disgusted miners returning from the new diggings. They accordingly determined not to pursue their journey further, and began prospecting in the vicinity of Shasta, in Mad Mule Canon. Mr. McAllister struck it rich and sent for his wife. Such was the emigration from the East for California at that time that she found it impossible to secure passage by water; she came overland, and was met by her husband on the plains.

He remained in Mad Mule Canon until the fall of 1852, when he moved to Monterey County, and purchased a farm of three hundred and eighty-six acres in the Pajaro Valley, about six miles southwest of where Watsonville now is. From that time on he engaged in farming and added to his store until now he is one of the substantial and wealthy men of this section. He owns another place of forty-five acres near Watsonville, where he now resides, besides owning four acres of land in the city of Watsonville. He is one of the organizers, a prominent stockholder, and director of the Pajaro Valley Bank. He is also one of the stockholders of the Bank of Watsonville.

Three children have been born unto them, two of whom died, the eldest, Patrick, in infancy, before they left Ireland, and Joseph, who died in infancy during their residence in Wisconsin. Maggie, the surviving daughter, was born in Wisconsin, and is now the wife of Peter Thompson, one of the prominent stock raisers and farmers of the Pajaro Valley. Although they have had fifty-five years of wedded life, Mr. and Mrs. McAllister are still in the possession of reasonable good health, and are enjoying the competence accumulated by a long life of industry and thrift.

History of Santa Cruz County, California, 1892

Submitted by Cathy Danielson

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John T. Porter

The subject of this sketch is a native of Massachusetts. He was born at Duxbury, in 1830, and when sixteen years old started to learn the drug business. He was, however, dissuaded from this purpose by his father, who took him to Wisconsin, and employed him in assisting in his farming and sawmill operations. The father was desirous that his son should acquire a complete college education, but the young man was determined to go to the California gold mines. As his parents strongly objected, he was obliged to formulate his plans in secret. He shipped on the bark Herculaneum for a cruise from Boston to San Francisco. His parents did not divine his purpose until the vessel was nearly ready to sail, and then relented and bade him farewell with a blessing and a hope for his success.

It was his intention to go to the mines and remain until he had accumulated $10,000. He went to the mines, but the $10,000 was there of such slow growth that he determined to try some other means of earning it. He secured the contract of loading a hay bark at Stockton. That completed he went to San Francisco and was for a time engaged as buyer of supplies for the Webb Street House, and subsequently entered the employ of Thomas H. Selby & Co., whose old store and sign are on California Street near Battery, and still a landmark of the early days.

Becoming dissatisfied with his situation, and desirous to make money more rapidly, Mr. Porter engaged in the draying business. He was very successful, and in two years accumulated sufficient capital to establish a mercantile establishment in Santa Cruz County. He continued at this until 1855, and then engaged in farming. In 1856 he was elected sheriff of Santa Cruz County, to the arduous, responsible, and dangerous duties of which position he was by nature peculiarly adapted. All old residents will remember the operations of the criminal element with which Santa Cruz County was at the time infested, many of the worst characters having there taken refuge during the regime of San Francisco's last and greatest Vigilance Committee—that of 1856. Crimes against life, person, and property were prevalent, and society was at times almost disorganized. Mr. Porter's fellow-citizens recognized his courage and judgment, which he found necessary in the tasks imposed upon him, and they were not disappointed. For two terms of two years each Sheriff Porter discharged his hazardous and onerous duties, and with determination ran criminals and outlaws to earth, brought many to justice, and inspired the rest with such wholesome terror of the law that they fled to other and more promising places.

J. T. Porter next resigned his office to take the more agreeable one of collector of the port of Monterey, to which he was appointed by President Lincoln. He filled this position until 1865, and, having once more accumulated capital, he embarked in different kinds of business in various portions of the State. Very few men, and certainly no business man, has seen more of our great State than has this gentleman, who for a great part of the time was in the saddle, and many times slept in his blankets upon the prairie with the earth for his pillow, the sky for his counterpane, and the domain California for his bedroom.

In 1874 Mr. Porter was a prime mover in the organization of the Bank of Watsonville, and in 1888 was one of the founders of the Pajaro Valley Bank, of which institution he is now president and a large stockholder. About the time of his first becoming interested in banking, he removed with his family to his present residence, near Watsonville, just over the line dividing Santa Cruz and Monterey Counties. In 1859 this gentleman married Miss Fannie Cummings, which lady is a native of the Dominion of Canada, and was formerly a schoolteacher, and who has been in the truest sense of the word a wife and helpmeet. Two children have been born him, a son and daughter, now grown up His daughter is married, and his son, Warren R. Porter, is secretary of the Loma Prieta Mill and Lumber Co., in which his father is largely interested.

Mr. Porter has always been extensively interested in real estate, has from time to time added to his landed possessions here and in other portions of California, and is now possessed of numerous parcels of land in town and country. The ground on which his residence stands, consisting of forty acres, is, of course, his own property, together with two hundred and eighty acres closely adjacent, while six hundred acres further up the beautiful Pajaro Valley, and a small ranch in another portion, all "across the river" in Monterey County, stand in his name, beside numerous other pieces in different parts of the State.

John T. Porter has thus lived in Monterey and Santa Cruz County for some thirty five years, and, as a prominent man of means and influence, is widely known throughout this flourishing section and more distant portions of California. He has acquired a competence by honorable and continuous effort, tireless energy, and the exercise of judgment in the management of his affairs. Physically, as we have said, he is of massive build, standing fully six feet in height, and built in proportion. In manner he is plain, frank, and outspoken, though polite and affable. His strong individuality stands prominently out, and, forming his own ideas on men and affairs, he expresses his opinions openly and forcibly, and in this and other particulars is a typical Californian.

The gentleman is a Republican in politics, and takes an active interest in the political questions of the day. He was a member of the first convention which nominated Leland Stanford for governor of California, and may usually be found at State conventions, exerting his influence for the good of the great party with which he has always affiliated.

Mr. Porter is progressive in his ideas, liberal in his views, and a generous supporter of all enterprises or projects having the advancement of the rich Pajaro Valley as an object. He is universally esteemed as an upright and desirable citizen, as a business man in business matters, and in private life as a gentleman.

History of Santa Cruz County, California, 1892

Submitted by Cathy Danielson

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