San Diego County
Biographies
FINDLEY BROTHERS
Herbert W. & Frank S.,
San Diego.--There are few business houses in San Diego at
the present time that are better or more favorably known than the grocery house
of Findley Brothers, now located at 1320 D street, in the Methodist Church
Block. The firm is composed of Herbert W. and Frank S. Findley, both natives of
Prince Edward's Island, Canada.
Herbert, the elder, and founder of
the firm, was born in 1863. He received his education in his native town,
graduating at Prince of Wales College, and Charlottetown Business College. In
1883 he first came to the Pacific coast, remaining one year at Victoria, British
Columbia; then returned to his native place, when he was admitted as partner in
the firm of James Paton & Co., the largest dealers in Charlottetown. He
remained with this house three years, at the end of which time he again turned
his footsteps westward and came to San Diego entering into the grocery business
on Sixth street, in March, 1888, where he was joined by his brother Frank. The
business grew to such proportions that it became necessary to find more
commodious quarters, which were found in the Methodist Church block, D street,
where they have the finest store and largest business in the city f San Diego.
Frank S. Findley received his education at the same schools as his brother, and in 1883 went to Victoria, British Columbia, where he remained six years in the wholesale grocery business. He joined Herbert in San Diego in June, 1889, and with him formed the firm of Findley Brothers.
He was married in September, 1889, to Miss Hettie Butler, a daughter of Robert Butler, of Victoria, British Columbia. At the solicitation of Herbert and Frank their parents have joined them, so that the family now are all in San Diego except a married sister and one brother, who still remain on Prince Edward's Island.
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.- 377-378
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler
COLONEL CAVE JOHNSON COUTS,
of Guajome. Of all the prominent men who at one time or another held official positions in San Diego County, none are more deserving of fame than Colonel Cave Johnson Couts. Although trained to arms, being a graduate of West Point, and having made a gallant record in the war with Mexico, yet his greatest achievements were in the paths of peace. Of a tall, commanding figure, a little over six feet in height, weighing about 165 pounds, straight as an arrow, willowy and active, a perfect horseman, the beau ideal of a cavalry officer, with the natural instincts of a gentleman, supplemented by a thorough education, fond of an active, busy life, devoted to his family, the soul of honor,to him a lie was like blasphemy, being unexcusable and unpardonable,of strict integrity and business habits, he was also jovial and a genial companion, fond of jokes, music and dancing; a thorough man of business and a perfect gentleman in society. He was born near Springfield, Tennessee, November 11, 1821, in the same neighborhood where his father and mother were born, where they married, lived and died. His education was taken in hand by his uncle, Cave Johnson, who became Secretary of the Treasury under President Polk, and at the age of seventeen he was sent to West Point, graduating in 1843, when he was commissioned a Brevet Second Lieutenant in the Regiment of Mounted Rifles, served on the frontier at Fort Jesup, Louisiana, until 1845, when he was sent with a detachment of troops to Fort Washita, Indian Territory, in the meantime being commissioned Second Lieutenant of the First Dragoons, on frontier duty at Evansville, Arkansas, and Fort Gibson, Indian Territory, until February, 1847, when he was promoted First Lieutenant of the First Dragoons, and served on the Mexican frontier throughout the war, passing through New Mexico and Arizona, and Lower California to San Diego, serving in Los Angeles, San Diego and San Luis Rey from 1848 to 1851, in the meantime conducting the expedition to the Gila river in 1849.
April 5, 1851, he married Ysidora Bandini, a daughter of Don Juan Bandini, in San Diego; in October of the same year he resigned from the army and was soon thereafter appointed Colonel and Aid-de-Camp on the staff of Governor Bigler. He was very methodical in his habits, and kept a class album containing the autographs of all who were at West Point during the time he was there, and also an exceedingly well-written journal of his trip across the country from Indian Territory to San Diego. The journal is beautifully illustrated with views along the route, as he was an excellent artist; only three of his pictures have been given to the public: Old San Diego, the Mission of San Diego and the Mission of San Luis Rey, all as they appeared in 1850; a few copies were lithographed, and subsequently photographs have been taken from the lithographs. The missions in 1850 were much finer than they are now, and his foresight has preserved for the future valuable mementoes of the past. In his class album appear the signatures of D. H. Hill and R. H. Anderson, of South Carolina; A. J. Williamson, H. S. Grant and R. Hazlitt, of Ohio; T. C. Hammond, Charles Mahon, W. B. Franklin, J. H. Garland and W. S. Hancock, of Pennsylvania; H. Brown, F. Denman, D. B. Sacket, F. Steele, Henry M. Judah, M. K. Van Bokkelin, R. S. Ripley and Charles Allen Hardie, of New York; James R. May, John Newton, R. W. Johnston and J. P. Johnston, of Virginia; C. Benjamin, of Indiana; Earl of Van Dorn and W. H. C. Whiting, of Mississippi; E. E. McLean, of Maryland; A. P. Stewart, W. Pope Hale and John Y. Bicknell, of Tennessee; H. Clement Story, of Louisiana; W. L. Crittenden, J. J. C. Bibb, J. J. Reynolds and S. Bolivar Buckner, of Kentucky; Henry Coppee and James Longstreet, of Georgia; C. Colon Anger, of Michigan ; F. T. Dent, of Missouri; Mansfield Lowell and Alfred Pleasanton, pf the District of Columbia. From among the foregoing names it will not he difficult to pick out a large number who have since became famous for the part they took on either side of the late war. Although Colonel Couts was an extensive raiser of cattle and horses, yet he early foresaw that the climate of San Diego County was adapted to all kinds of agriculture, particularly to horticulture, and he was the first to plant an orchard on a large scale with the improved varieties of fruits, and for years his was the only orange grove in the country. For two years after leaving the army he lived in Old San Diego, where he served a term as County Judge; in 1853 he moved with his family, consisting of his wife and two children, to Guajome, which place has ever since been the family homestead; it was an Indian grant and contains 2,219 acres, made by the Mexican Government to Andres, an Indian, and to his two sisters. It was bought by Don Abel Stearns, of Los Angeles, and by him presented to Mrs. Couts as a wedding present. In the Indian language the term means " frog-pond." When Colonel Couts went out there in 1852 to take possession and inaugurate his improvements, there was not the sign of a tree of any kind, where now are immense orchards, vineyards and willow thickets; he carried a few boards from San Diego, and with them and willow poles, hauled from the river bottom two miles away, he put up a little shed sufficient to cook and sleep in. There was a damp piece of land, a small cienega, but no running water, and in order to water his mules it was necessary to dig a hole in the ground with a spade, and with a small dipper dip up enough water to fill a bucket and thus water his mules. Where that was done in 1852 there is now a large pond, sixty feet in diameter and seven feet deep, full all the time and running over in a large stream, which is used for irrigation. At that time there were a great number of Indians in and around San Luis Rey, and it was an easy matter for Colonel Couts as he was an Indian agent, to command the services of enough laborers to do his work. It was not long before the results of the patient labor of 300 Indians took the form of an immense adobe house, built in a square, containing twenty rooms, a fine court-yard in the center, well filled with orange and lemon trees and every variety of flower; immense barns, stables, sheds and corrals were added, after extensive quarters for the servants were built; then to finish the whole a neat chapel was built and formally dedicated to the worship of God. His military training enabled him to control and manage the Indians, as only he could. Everything in and about the ranch was conducted with such neatness and precision that a stranger would at once inquire if " Don Cuevas," as he was generally called, was not from West Point. By strict attention to business he accumulated thousands of cattle, hundreds of horses and mules, a large band of sheep, and added to his landed interest by the purchase of the San Marcos, Buena Vista and La Joya ranches, besides some 8,000 acres of Government lands adjoining the homestead; in all some 20,000 acres. But the passage of the " no-fence law" almost ruined him financially, as he was compelled to dispose of his cattle at a fearful sacrifice, and he was just recovering from the crash when he died. He was not permitted to enjoy the fruits of years of toil and thousands of dollars well spent.
His death occurred at the Horton House, in San Diego, June 10, 1874, from an aneurism. Colonel Couts was one of twelve children, his wife one of ten, and she bore him ten, viz.: Abel Stearns, who died in 1855, aged nearly four years; Maria Antonia, now the wife of Colonel Chalmers Scott, living in San Diego, with seven children; William Bandini, married to Cristina, daughter of Don Salvador Estudillo, farming near the San Marcos ranch; Cave Johnson, Jr., a surveyor by profession; Ysidora Forster, now the wife of W. D. Gray; Elena, married to Parker Dear, Esq., and living on the Santa Rosa ranch; Robert Lee, John Forster, and Caroline, married to John B. Minston, of Los Angeles.
Doņa Ysidora Bandina de Couts, widow of Colonel Cave J. Couts, deceased, has continued to reside on the old homestead at Guajome, and for fifteen years has managed the estate with great skill and ability. Her task has been a trying one, and, but for her great will-power, she would have broken down long ago; but she comes of a family renowned for physical and mental strength and beauty. Her father, Don Juan Bandini, was a prominent official under the Mexican government, living in San Diego, where Ysidora was born, but, being a progressive man and possessing an education far above those who surrounded him, he was quick to foresee the result of the war with Mexico, and was one of the first to side with the Americans. It was three of his daughters, Ysidora being one, who made the first American flag hoisted in Los Angeles. Her grandfather, Don Juan Bandini, was a native of old Spain, and admiral in the Spanish navy, stationed on the Pacific coast under the old regime, and was in command in Peru when his son John, the father of Ysidora, was born. The family are originally Italian, and Prince Bandini, of Rome, is at the present head of the house. At the time of her marriage, Doņa Ysidora was considered the most beautiful lady in Southern California, if not on the coast; and even now, although time and care have necessarily had their effect, yet few, of her years, would claim to rival her.
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.- 378-380
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler