Orange County
Biographies
JOHN SHIRLEY,
one of Santa Ana's most respected citizens, is a native of Hancock County, Ohio, born in 1835, and his parents were Daniel and Annie (Crow) Shirley, natives of Virginia. His father, a farmer and blacksmith, moved to Jackson County, Iowa, in 1850, and died there in 1872. When a lad the subject of this sketch drove an ox team across the plains to this State, and for the first several years here he followed mining at Placerville and other places till 1864, when he came with the soldiers to Southern California and Arizona. He enlisted in Company K, Seventh Regiment, California Volunteer Infantry, and served two years. He returned to Iowa and went to Clay County, Nebraska, where he erected the first good grain elevator in the county, and speculated in land and grain for a period of seventeen years. Having been very successful, and desiring a more congenial climate, he sold out his interests in Nebraska, in October, 1887, and came to the Golden State, selecting Santa Ana as his home. He bought a lot on Ross and Orchard streets, where he erected a neat and commodious residence. He has held some important offices, among which are those of justice of the peace in Clay County, Nebraska, for twelve years; chairman of the council four terms; associate judge with Judge Keyser, 1861–'62. As an evidence of his popularity, it may be stated that he was nominated for County Judge of Clay County, Nebraska, in 1887, even though he was at the time in California. He has traveled a great deal, crossing this continent eight times. Since locating in Santa Ana he has been engaged as a money broker.
He was married in Nebraska, in October, 1876, to Miss Mary V. Crow, a native of Virginia, and their children are John, Anna, Georgia and Mamie. Mr. Shirley is a member of the G. A. R., in Santa Ana, and also of the I. O. O. F.
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… Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1890. p.- 886-887
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler
A. J. HOWE, M. D.,
of Santa Ana, was born in Vermont in January, 1850. His father, Philip Howe, M. D., is still living in this city. He moved to Illinois when the subject of this sketch was only four years old, locating in Macoupin County, where he remained until 1863. He then made a three months' trip across the plains to this State. Dr. Howe graduated at the State Normal School in San Francisco in 1870, and subsequently taught school in several different counties in this State, and at the same time prosecuted medical studies. In 1873 he graduated at the Medical College of the Pacific (now Cooper) at San Francisco. He served for two years as resident surgeon in the United States Marine Hospital, San Francisco, and then he came to Santa Ana. During the winter of 1880–'81 he took a post-graduate course in Chicago medical colleges and hospitals, and since then has been one of Santa Ana's most successful practitioners. His wife, whose maiden name was Willella Earhart, and to whom he was married in San Francisco in 1874, is a graduate of the Hahnemann Medical College at Chicago, of 1886; and in 1888 -'89 she took a special postgraduate course of instruction under the celebrated Dr. R. Ludlam, of Chicago, a specialist for the diseases of women. Since living in Santa Ana, Mrs. Willella Howe, M. D., has built up a large and lucrative practice. In this family there are two children, Lula F. and Ethel C. The Doctor has recently erected a very fine, commodious residence at the corner of Seventh and Bush streets. He has been a member of the City Board of Health, and for a year and a half was president of the city council.
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… Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1890. p.- 887
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler
R. T. HARRIS,
the first Sheriff of Orange County, was born in Richmond, Virginia. His father, John Harris, a native of Cornwall, England, moved from Virginia to California in 1860, settling first in Mariposa County, and then in Santa Clara County, where the subject of this sketch clerked in a store and received a good education. In 1876 he located in Westminster, in the Santa Ana valley. For six years he engaged in mercantile business there, and also was assistant Postmaster. At the first election of officers ever held in the county of Orange, Mr. Harris was chosen Sheriff by over 1,700 majority. His two deputies are T. C. Hull and James Buckley.
Mr. Harris was married July 3, 1888, at Westminster, to Miss Maria Laster, a native of Canada, and they have one child, whose name is Geraldine. Their residence is on the corner of Third and Lowe streets, Santa Ana.
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… Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1890. p.- 887-888
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler