Merced County
Biographies
HON. CURTIS H. CASTLE, A. M., M. D.
During the pioneer history of Illinois Henry Castle brought his family to that State from West Virginia and settled in Knox County in 1833, being among the early inhabitants of that locality, where he made his home until his death. He had a son Reuben, who was born in West Virginia and devoted all of his active life to farming in Knox County, where he died in 1894. Reuben Castle married Miss Mary A. Long, born in Pennsylvania, whence she accompanied her father, George Long, to Zanesville, Ohio, and from there, in 1835, to Knox County, Ill., where she married Mr. Castle. They had four children . Rufus served as a member of Company E, Eighty-third Illinois Infantry during the Civil War, and afterwards settled near Healdsburg, Cal., where he died. George H. was a lieutenant in the Fifty-ninth Illinois Infantry, from the beginning to the close of the war, being severely wounded before Atlanta. In later years he was an attorney in Shenandoah, Iowa. The only daughter, Mrs. Griffith, made her home in Omaha, Nebr., and it was at her home that the mother died in 1904.
Curtis H., the youngest son, was born near Galesburg, Ill., on October 4, 1848. He received an excellent schooling, attending Knox College until the close of his sophomore year, after which he became a student in the Northwestern University, from which he was graduated in 1872, with the degree of A. B.; later the degree of A. M. was conferred upon him by the same institution. After graduation he served as principal of the schools of Washington, Texas, for four years, during which time he spent all of his spare time in the study of medicine, which he supplemented with a course in the College of Physicians and Surgeons, at Keokuk, Iowa. Graduating in 1878, he took up professional work in Fulton County, Ill., but soon removed to Wayland, Henry County, Iowa, and in 1882 came to California. He stopped in Los Angeles, then with a population of some 10,000 souls, at the beginning of the boom in that part of the State. The town was literally overrun with doctors and our subject decided he would seek some other location and accordingly went to Point Arena in Mendocino County. At that time it was a wild and undeveloped region and many times he rode thirty miles to see a patient, over trails on horseback through dense timber. He bought a dairy ranch of 120 acres, but this he sold when he came to Merced County in the winter of 1887.
Upon locating in Merced Dr. Castle built up a good medical practice. Merced was then a town of some 2000 people, had five doctors and the outlook was not promising until the following February, when the irrigation canals from Lake Yosemite were opened up. Dr. Castle was far-sighted and decided he would remain and take his chances, and although he has made several pilgrimages away from this county, he has always maintained it as his home. His first office was located on Front Street, later he moved to larger quarters on Main Street. It was during a temporary absence that he lost all of his equipment and a fine library in the fire of 1894, but he became reestablished in the Puritan Block, and later took as a partner, Dr. W. N. Sherman, and together they built up and maintained one of the leading practices in the county. He had established his residence on Nineteenth Street, then built a home on Twenty-first Street, selling that to take up the family home on Bear Creek, where he lived until moving to Bakersfield in January, 1925. His home was a model of convenience for a country estate.
While living in Illinois Dr. Castle was united in marriage with Miss Alma Tabor, born in Rhode Island and died in Illinois, leaving two children: Grace Imogene Schlief of Calistoga, who has four children; and Curtis H., of Merced, who has a daughter. His second marriage was solemnized in Merced and united him with Miss Virginia Wills, born in Mariposa County, by whom he has three children: Chandos Barrett, a graduate of the University of Oregon, an ensign in U. S. N. radio station at Pensacola, Fla., who has a wife and two children; Mary Mercedes Mahon, who has a son; and Genevieve Wills, class of 1924, San Jose Teachers' College. The Doctor is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South and served on the local school board and as a member of the county board of education.
Until 1892 Dr. Castle was a Republican, but in that year he voted for the Populist candidate, and ever since he has been active in that party. He was a member of the Populist National Committee being chosen a delegate in 1896 and in 1904, but each time pressure of business made it impossible for him to attend. He was nominated for Congress at the convention of the Populist party held in Sacramento in 1896; later there was a fusion with the Democrats and he was the nominee on the joint ticket, and was elected by a majority of 240 votes, took his seat in March, 1897, and served through the extra session and through the regular session, until March 4, 1899. He was a member of the Committee on Pensions and did much to pass the pension bill for private pensions. The old Seventh Congressional district then included Stanislaus, San Benito, Merced, Madera, Fresno, Kings, Kern, Tulare, San Bernardino, Riverside, Orange and San Diego Counties. At the end of his first term he was once more nominated by the Democratic and the regular Populist conventions, but was defeated by Needham by 125 votes. His service in the interest of the people had been one of fidelity. He carefully looked after the interest of his constituents and he retired to private life with an enviable record.
History of Merced County, California – Los Angeles, Historic Record Co., 1925
page 539-543
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler
ELBRIDGE NELSON RECTOR
A man who stands high in the esteem of his associates as a leader in the profession of the law in the San Joaquin Valley, Elbridge Nelson Rector has the distinction of being a native son, born at Snelling, Merced County, January 6, 1865, the son of the late Elbridge Gerry Rector, whose biography appears on another page of this history. Elbridge Nelson Rector attended the local district school and then entered the Pacific Methodist College at Santa Rosa, and was graduated in 1889 with the A. B. degree. He was fitting himself for the law and next entered Hastings College of Law, a branch of the University of California, where he spent one year. He then began teaching school at Atwater, continuing for two years, to enable him to complete his law course, which in due time he did, graduating from Hastings College of Law in 1895 with the degree of LL.B. After his graduation he entered upon the practice of his profession in San Francisco, and the following year returned to his home county and began his professional work in Merced, a work which was to lead to high honors with the passing of the years. In 1900 he was elected, at a special election, to fill the high position of superior judge, which had been vacated by J. K. Law. He had been nominated and elected under the banner of the Democratic party; but in 1902 there was no Republican nominee for the post, and Judge Rector succeeded himself and is still the incumbent in that high office. His high qualities of mind and his clear understanding of the law have made his years in office very satisfactory to the citizens of Merced County.
The marriage of Elbridge Nelson Rector united him with Miss Lillian Mae Nicholls, a native daughter of California, born in Placerville, and they have three children: Elbridge S., a high-school student; and Geraldine and Carolyn, pupils in the Merced Grammar School. Judge Rector is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in which he has been a trustee for many years. He is a member of the State Bar Association, the Chamber of Commerce, Lions' Club, Union League Club, and the Commonwealth Club of California, and a life member of the Luther Burbank Society. Fraternally, he is a member of the Moose and Native Sons. He takes a live interest in all clean sports, having been a sprinter in his college days, and is fond of out-of-door life. He is counted one of the most public spirited men of Merced County. The Judge has written several very creditable descriptive articles on famous California scenery, Lake Tahoe, Yosemite and the High Sierras.
History of Merced County, California – Los Angeles, Historic Record Co., 1925
page 533-534
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler