San Diego County
Biographies
PHILIP A. BETTENS,
nurseryman of Escondido, was born near Vevay, Switzerland County, Indiana, July 31, 1838, of Swiss parentage; when about thirteen years of age he commenced traveling on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers during the winter months and worked on his grandfather's farm during the warmer portions of the year, until 1859, when he moved to Florence, and continued farming until April 1, 1887, when he came to San Diego County. After a few weeks' residence in Coronado he moved to San Pasqual valley; was there nineteen months, and then moved to Escondido, September 1, 1888, where he was first in charge of the Escondido Land and Town Company's vineyard for several months; he is now in the nursery business for the Sweetwater Nursery Company.
In 1859 he married Miss Clara A. Dufour, of Switzerland County, Indiana, and of Swiss parentage. She died in November, 1880. By that marriage there are four sons and two daughters. The oldest son, Philip A., is a graduate of West Point, and holds the rank of Lieutenant, being stationed at Fort Robinson, Nebraska; the second son, A. G., is in the employ of the Coronado Beach Company, occupying a responsible position in their office. The remaining children are with him at his home in Escondido.
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.- 232-233
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler
SYLVESTER S. ROGERS,
druggist of Escondido, was born in Ulster County, New York, in December,1859, and when twelve years of age he went with his parents to Centralia, Kansas, where he lived eight years. Then he went to Leonardville, Riley County, that State, and engaged in the hardware business four years, and then in March, 1856, he came to California, locating in Escondido valley, and worked at Bernardo for P. A. Graham six months, and then in Escondido for the same man. In March, 1887, he bought the drug store in the town of Escondido, which he has since been conducting.
He married Miss Sarah Boosey, daughter of P. Boosey, of Riley County, Kansas, and they have one son and one daughter. His father, William Rogers, is a native of England, and has lived in California for the past seven years. He is now living in Escondido, hale and hearty. His son, Earl Leroy, was the first child born in Escondido.
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.- 233
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler
WALTER J. BAILEY,
principal of public schools, Escondido, California, was born in the village of Corinth, Penobscot County, Maine, July 24, 1862. At the age of five years he began his struggle for knowledge in the district school. His father was a farmer, but, being very desirous that his son should receive a good common-school education, spared no pains to keep Walter in school instead of allowing him to remain at home when extra assistance was needed on the farm, and during the long vacations between the terms of the district schools, Walter as he grew older was sent to private schools. His mother had been a schoolteacher before her marriage, and in her Walter always found an able and a willing assistant, which, together with a natural quickness of perception, enabled him to stand among the first in all his classes. At the age of fifteen his father placed him under the care of David Fletcher, in the East Corinth Academy, where he remained a student a greater part of the next four years. He also attended the Kenduskeag High School for a short time. During the fall and winter of 1881 he taught his first term of school in the town of Carmel, receiving $20 per month and his board. He met with such a degree of success in this school that he determined to make teaching his profession, and with that end in view entered the Eastern State Normal School at Castine, Maine, in the fall of 1882. His father wished him to be a farmer and refused to furnish the money for a professional course.
Walter was thus thrown largely upon his own resources, but he never thought for a moment of turning from his purpose; and by teaching and hard labor during vacations he managed, with what assistance his mother could furnish, to complete his entire course, graduating June 7, 1884. Having obtained a situation at Bowery Beach, near Portland, Maine, he began teaching at that place, but a severe attack of erysipelas prevented his finishing the term and confined him in bed for several months, thereby exhausting his purse and seriously interfering with his studies. He taught several terms of school in his home district, and by his efforts as teacher, and afterward as "school agent" (trustee) made the school the best in the town. The winter of 1885 was spent in teaching the grammar school at West Brooksville, Maine, with his usual success. From Brooksville he went to Waterville, Maine, where he spent some months pursuing his studies under the instruction of J. H. Hanson, LL. D., in the Coburn Classical Institute. The summer of 1886 found him transformed into a book agent and canvassing in the State of New York, with his headquarters at Fulton, Oswego County. In September he returned as principal of the High School at Kenduskeag, Maine. Having been converted to the Christian religion nearly a year before, he was now baptized and became a member of the First Baptist Church at Kenduskeag and took an active part in organizing a Young Men's Christian Association at that place.
Having been a sufferer from attacks of asthma from childhood he resolved to seek relief in the sunny land of Southern California, and attracted by the boom at San Diego we find him on his way to that city, where he arrived April 17, 1887. Finding no demand for any but manual labor be began work on the Hotel del Coronado and assisted in laying the foundation for that magnificent structure. He then worked as carpenter on the same until the last of July, when he went to Buena, California, to take charge of a general merchandise store. During the next six months the railroad between Oceanside and Escondido was surveyed and built through
Buena, and Mr. Bailey's store, being in the midst of the contractors' camps, was the center of many exciting scenes.
On the 28th of September, 1887, he was married to Miss Annie L. Haselton, daughter of Captain John A. Haselton, who in company with Mr. Bailey's sister had just arrived from their home in Maine. In August, 1888, Mr. Bailey was elected to the principalship of the public schools in the " Sunkissed Vale," which position he still retains, and the present excellent condition of the schools is largely due to his well-directed efforts.
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.- 233-234
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler