Santa Clara County
Biographies
C. H. COREY
The successful hotel proprietors
are few, and the duties of the position require peculiar and unusual talents in
their possessors. Mr. C. H. Corey, the proprietor of the Lick House, situated
on the corner of First and San Fernando Streets, has proved himself the
successful Boniface, however, as he has raised the house, in the six years he
has owned it, from a comparatively small affair to a leading and popular
position. The Lick House was established in 1872. In 1882 Mr. Corey purchased
it, immediately made extensive additions, and introduced such improvements as at
once placed it in the rank of first-class institutions. It was entirely
refitted and refurnished, and supplied with every modern convenience, until now
there is nothing better outside of the metropolitan cities. The cuisine is
presided over by a skilled chef, who has an able body of assistants, and the
table is acknowledged to be the choicest, no expense being spared to obtain the
freshest and best. The hotel has 100 rooms, single and en suite, and a further
addition is planned that will double the accommodation. Mr. Corey made a trip
to the East in the summer of 1888, where, at Grand Rapids, Michigan, he arranged
with Nelson, Mather & Co., to manufacture the furniture of the most approved
styles for this addition. A fine billiard-room with the best makes of tables,
and all the adjuncts of a perfect hotel, are to be found. The best transient
trade of the country comes to Mr. Corey, as is shown by the fact that the Lick
House is headquarters for commercial men, and the "boys" always go where the
best is found. Mr. J. Dennis, the manager, has been a hotel manager for twenty
years, having at one time been in charge of the Rosin House, Toronto, Canada.
Mr. Corey is a native of Canada, born there in 1844. He was educated in Canada,
and there learned the harness trade, conducting that business in various parts
of the country. He came to California on the first train that crossed the
continent, witnessing the driving of the last golden spike that commemorated the
completion of the great road. Mr. Corey is an active sportsman and admirer of
good "horse-flesh". He is the owner of C. H. C., which trots a mile in 2:20, and
a two-year-old colt that has accomplished a mile in 2:50, and is entered in the
San Jose Colt Stake for 1888.
Mr. Corey is a leading member of the Garden City Gun Club, so that he can invite
any of his guests at the hotel to enjoy the hospitality of the club. They
posses a magnificent reserve twelve miles from San Jose, on the Southern Pacific
Railroad, known as the Twelve Mile House Lagoon, where they have a fifty-year
lease of a ranch of 10,000 acres. They have stocked the lagoon with game and
fish, and to attract birds have sown the whole with wild rice, and already it is
becoming a resort for game of every kind.
Mr. Corey married Miss Ana Rovers, of Ohio, in 1874. He is a member of San Jose
Lodge, No 125, Knights of Pythias, and a leading and esteemed citizen.
Pen Pictures From The
Garden of the World or Santa Clara County, California, Illustrated. - Edited by
H.S. Foote.- Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1888. page 503- transcribed
by Carolyn Feroben
Victor Bassignano
First California Cavalry
Merchant of Gilroy, California
Victor Bassignano, dealer in cigars and tobacco in Gilroy, was born in France,
September, 1840, his parent being August and Elizabeth Bassignano. When nine
years of age his parents came to American and located at Sonoma, Californian, in
1850, and thence to Napa in 1853. Upon the breaking out of the late Civil War
he enlisted in Company E, First California Infantry, and was elected
Quartermaster Sergeant. The regiment went to Oregon and was there engaged in
fighting Indians, after which they were sent to Arizona, and there he entered
the First California Cavalry and was again engaged in fighting Indians until the
close of the war. He acquired the English language while in the army. Upon
being mustered out he returned to California and located at Napa, where he
remained until 1871, when he came to Gilroy and was employed by Henry Miller for
about three years on his ranch. He then located in Gilroy and engaged in the
grocery business, which he subsequently abandoned and began the manufacture of
cigars. He has now given up the manufacturing department, but still carries on
the sale of tobacco and cigars. He was married, in Gilroy, in 1875, and has one
child, Florence. He is a prominent member of the Knights of Pythias and the
present Treasurer of Bloomfield Lodge, No. 10; a member of San Jose Division,
No. 8, Uniform Rank, K. of P.; member of A. O. U. W.; the Financier of Gilroy
Lodge, No. 26, and a member of the Guarantee Fund, A.O. U. W. Was a charter
member to all the lodges to which he belongs.
Pen
Pictures From The Garden of the World or Santa Clara County, California,
Illustrated. - Edited by H.S. Foote.- Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company,
1888. transcribed by Carolyn Feroben , page 635