Orange County
Biographies
ALFRED BECKETT
a prominent citizen of Westminster, Orange County, was born in Ontario, Canada, June 7, 1830, a son of Stephen and Anna (Taylor) Beckett, and the sixth child in a family of nine. He received a good common-school education, worked at the mill and lumber business for several years, and also did some farming, and in 1877 came to California and bought forty acres of land in Westminster, which he has put under a high state of cultivation. Politically he is an intelligent supporter of the Republican party. Both himself and wife are highly respected members of social circles.
He was married January 3, 1856, to Miss Mercy Ward, also a native of Ontario. Her parents, Richard and Ruth (Hoag) Ward, were from Dutchess County, New York. Mr. and Mrs. Beckett have three children; Ruth; Hattie, now Mrs. Everett B. Trefethen, of San Pedro, California, and Susie, wife of Edwin Mc Pherson, of Hanford, California.
SOURCE: An Illustrated History of Southern California: Embracing the Counties of San Diego, San Bernardino, Los Angeles and Orange, and the Peninsula of Lower California, from the Earliest Period of Occupancy to the Present Time.... - Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1890. Transcribed by Carolyn Feroben
JOHN BECKETT
a prosperous citizen of Westminster, was born in Ontario, Canada, June 2, 1819. His parents were Stephen and Anna (Taylor) Beckett, natives respectively of New Jersey and Canada, who had nine children. The father was a miller by trade. John worked at the lumber business in Pelham Township for several years, and in 1877 he moved to California, , arriving at Westminster July 1. There he purchased forty acres of land which he has since improved, and being well down on the "shady side of the hill", he expects to spend the remainder of his life in the quiet of his lovely home, under the semi-tropic skies of Southern California. Both himself and wife are adherents of the church of the friends, earnest and consistent Christian people., Mr. Beckett married in 1850, Miss Susan McMaster, who was born in County Sligo, Ireland, a daughter of William and Margaret (Frazier ) Mc Master, of Scotch origin. They have nine children, and came to Canada when Mrs. Beckett was eleven years old.
SOURCE: An Illustrated History of Southern California: Embracing the Counties of San Diego, San Bernardino, Los Angeles and Orange, and the Peninsula of Lower California, from the Earliest Period of Occupancy to the Present Time.... - Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1890. Transcribed by Carolyn Feroben
DAVID BRUSH
a farmer of Orange County, was born in Fulton County, Illinois, October 12, 1848, a son of John and Martha (Faucet) Brush, both natives of Pennsylvania. His father was one of the pioneers of San Bernardino County in 1855, where he lived for over twenty years. He crossed the plains to California in 1854, with an ox team, being on the road six months. He stopped at Salt Lake eight months, to recruit stock and obtain supplies. David, our subject, came to what is now Orange County, fifteen years ago, and bought forty acres of land at Newport, where he followed farming for about seven years; he then bought a fine ranch, where he now lives, eight miles west of Santa Ana, and there he is a successful and prosperous stock-raiser. He has seen same of the rough and practical side of human life, but his good sense has carried him safely thus far, being a citizen whom everybody respects. Politically he is an intelligent supporter of the republican party.
In 1882 he married Susan Beals, who was born in Michigan, the daughter of Zephaniah Warren Beals.
SOURCE: An Illustrated History of Southern California: Embracing
the Counties of San Diego, San Bernardino, Los Angeles and Orange, and the Peninsula
of Lower California, from the Earliest Period of Occupancy to the Present Time....
- Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1890. Transcribed by Carolyn Feroben
DORR B. CHAFFEE
a resident of Garden Grove, was born in Kane County, Illinois, in 1841, a son of Eber and Anna (Davis) Chaffee, natives of Vermont, and of English and Scotch origin. His father was born in 1799, and died in 1877, and his mother, born in 1803, died in 1876. The subject of this sketch, the first in their family of twelve children, born in Illinois, was educated at Elgin Academy.
Afterward he taught school in Kane County, and then engaged in the dairy business a number of years in Elgin. He came to California in 1881; has made a beautiful home in Garden Grove, and owns valuable property in Santa Ana. He is a true Christian man and respected by all who know him.
He was married in 1865 to Miss Lodona Treadwell, who was born in Canada, but reared in Kane County, Illinois, in which county her father, J. Martin Treadwell, was a well-known dairyman. By this marriage there were five children: John M., deceased; George D., Ernest A., Fannie L., and Martin H., deceased. Their mother died in June, 1881, and Mr. Chaffee, in September, 1883, married Miss Helen B. Willits, who was born at Delhi, Michigan. Her parents were Walter W. and Charlotte (Bottsford) Willits. He was a miller by trade, and had twelve children. One of his sons, Edwin Willits, served two terms in Congress, from Michigan, and is now in the agricultural Department at Washington. He also served as president of the Michigan State Agricultural College near Lansing. Mrs. Chaffee was educated at Delhi and Ann Arbor, Michigan. Her brothers and sisters are Edwin, Lizzie, now Mrs. Nichols, of Marysville, Michigan; Addie, of Garden Grove, and Eugene , of Jackson Michigan. By Mr. Chaffee’s last marriage there is one child, Eugene Willits, born June 15, 1885.
SOURCE: An Illustrated History of Southern California: Embracing the Counties of San Diego, San Bernardino, Los Angeles and Orange, and the Peninsula of Lower California, from the Earliest Period of Occupancy to the Present Time.... - Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1890. Transcribed by Carolyn Feroben