San Diego County
Biographies
OSCAR M. REECE,
a merchant of Oceanside, was born in Dubuque, Iowa,
September 7, 1842; his father, James W. Reece, was a native of Philadelphia, and
died February 11, 1863, at the age of forty-eight years. He was of German
descent; his mother, Nancy (Madden) Reece, was born in Ohio in 1823; she was a
daughter of Mr. Peter Madden, a native of Scotland, and was married to Mr. Reece
in Dubuque, Iowa, in 1841. They had three children, two boys and a girl ; the
subject of this sketch was the oldest; he received his education in the public
schools and graduated from the High School in 1859. He then engaged in
railroading, which business he followed until August 11,1861, when he enlisted
in Company E, Fifth Iowa Cavalry, under Major Carl Schaffer von Bernstein's
command. He participated in a number of engagements, among which were Donelson,
Murfreesboro, Shelbyville, Guies Gap, Pleasant Hill, Dutch River, Franklin,
Rousseau's and McCook's raids, Nashville, etc., and chased General Hood and his
army back to the Tennessee river, which pursuit was a continued fight for
eighteen days. They were in the
last battle of the war, at Columbus, Georgia, April 18, 1865, nine days after
the surrender of General Lee, and were advancing on the rebel forces under
General Howell Cobb, at Macon, Georgia, April 21, when General Cobb sent a flag
of truce that General Lee had surrendered several days before (this was the
first
they had heard of the surrender). The rebel army under Cobb laid down their arms and surrendered 7,000 prisoners, and the Union soldiers were filled with joy, but the news of President Lincoln's assassination, which came to them at the same time, terribly overshadowed their joy. During the last two years of Mr. Reece's service in the army he held the position of Regimental Brigade and Division Postmaster; he was mustered out September 12, 1865, and soon after was appointed by President Andrew Johnson, Deputy Surveyor of Customs at Dubuque, in which capacity he acted one year, when he engaged with the Illinois Central Railroad as locomotive engineer, and continued in the business until the fall of 1874, when he came to Visalia, California. Here he engaged in the auction and commission business. In 1875 he went to Santa Barbara, where he continued the business until 1878, when he removed to Los Angeles, but in 1879 he went back to Santa Barbara and become local editor of the Santa Barbara Press. Colonel Otis was its chief editor. In the fall of 1879 he went back East, and engaged with the Union Pacific as division foreman on the Utah & Northern & Oregon Short Line division. He was stationed at Battle Creek two years and two years at Shoshone. In February, 1885, he came to Oceanside and engaged in the general merchandise business with his brother, under the firm name of Reece Brothers. He has been elected Justice of the Peace in Oceanside three years in succession. He is now Notary Public and is carrying on his real-estate and auction business. When he first came to Oceanside, in 1865, it had only three houses. He was married November 4, 1869, to Miss Hatty M. Tower, who was born May 29, 1846, at Osin, New York. She was the daughter of a Methodist minister, and a second cousin of Henry Ward Beecher. Their union has been blessed with four children, two of whom are living: Hatty M. Reece, born in Dubuque, Iowa, April 28, 1873, residing with her father at Oceanside, and Joseph B. Reece, who was born at Santa Barbara, November 4, 1875, and is now attending school in Oceanside. Mrs. Reece died in Los Angeles, January 14, 1878. Mr. Reece is a member of the G. A. R., Heintzelman Post, No. 33, San Diego, and belongs to the Masonic fraternity, and is a member of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers.
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.- 260-261
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler
TILLMAN A. BURNES,
one of San Diego's pioneers and wide-awake business men, is a native of Arkansas; his father, Samuel H. Burnes, was a native of Kentucky and of Scotch parentage; the mother, before marriage, Miss M. A. S. Stevens, of German and English descent, was born in Tennessee. They had three children, namely: the subject of this sketch, born June 6, 1847; Susan, June 6, 1849, and Julia, May 6, 1851. On their journey across the plains Susan fell from a wagon, was run over and killed, when three years old; they buried her at Fort Kearney. The train with which they came consisted of eighty wagons. They arrived in Portland, Oregon, in 1853, and California in 1854, and stopped at San Francisco, where Tillman learned the engraving trade, owning and running a shop of his own when nineteen years of age. His health failed him and his family physician informed him that a change of climate was imperative, so he came to San Diego in March, 1869, his mother accompanying him, and they bought and built a a home in Old Town. He recovered his health, returned to San Francisco and remained but one year, when his health again gave out. Returning to San Diego, he engaged in a variety of businesses,—owned a sale stable, a saloon, and ran a Lower California stage, and speculated in various ways, since 1872.
September 6, 1870, he was married in San Francisco to Miss Mary E. Whitehead, daughter of John and Sarah B. Whitehead, of Boston; the father and Judge Thomas H. Bush were bookbinders together in Boston. Judge Cooney performed the ceremony in San Francisco. It was a runaway match, and although such do not usually turn out well this is an exception to the rule, as it has resulted very happily. They had two children, a son and a daughter: Maud I., born June 24, 1871, and Tillman A., born May 3, 1873. Mr. Burnes is an Odd Fellow in good standing, belongs to Templar's Lodge, No. 17, which he joined in 1871, and he also belongs to the Society of San Diego Pioneers.
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.- 261-262
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler