Santa Clara County
Biographies
GEORGE W. GARDNER
is the owner of a very
desirable property on the San Jose and Los Gatos road, at Orchard Homes, in the
Hamilton District. His orchard covers forty-five of the
forty-eight acres which compose his ranch. He purchased the land in 1880, it
then being part of a barley field, and in bad condition, having been cut up by
overflows of the Los Gatos Creek. Mr. Gardner found it necessary to spend
several months in leveling the ground before tree-planting could be commenced.
Now all is in condition for irrigation from Los Gatos Creek. During the winter
of 1880 he set ten acres with a variety of cherries, apricots, and prunes, while
the rest of the forty-five acres was planted during the following winter. At
present about twelve acres are in prunes, twenty-eight acres in apricots and
peaches, and five acres in cherries.
Mr. Gardner's skill in horticulture is shown by his returns from the apricot crop of 1887, which consisted of 100 tons, and sold for about $3,000.
He has made his ranch his place of residence ever since his purchase of it, at first keeping bachelor's hall. He was united in marriage, in January, 1884, with Miss Lottie M. Bennett.
His fine residence was erected in the autumn preceding his marriage, and his drying establishment was built in the spring of 1886. In order to meet the increase in this branch of his business, Mr. Gardner enlarged the building in 1887, in which year he cured about 300 tons of fruit. A successful horticulturist, and the possessor of a thrifty fruit-ranch with its pleasant home, and all its appropriate surroundings, Mr. Gardner may well be considered fortunate.
The subject of our sketch dates his birth in Nashua, New Hampshire, May 16, 1859. When about one year of age his parents removed to Southern Indiana, and later, when he was about four years of age, to Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin; there they lived until they came to this county, in April, 1873. His father, William Gardner, now lives on Delmas Avenue.
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.
Pg. 432
MOSES F. BILLINGS,
a resident of the Hamilton
District, owns a fruit-farm of ten acres, which is situated on Los Gatos Creek,
near the Meridian road. Mr. Billings bought this property on the twenty-third of
January, 1884, it then being part of a stubble-field. All the improvements have
been made by him since that time,—buildings erected and orchard planted. The
latter work he accomplished in the spring following his purchase of the place.
The orchard contains 400 prune, 350 apricot, and 100 peach-trees, besides a
general variety for household use, comprising cherry, plum, apple, pear,
nectarine, fig, and almond trees. In 1887 nine tons of apricots were gathered
and sold for $270, while the whole crop realized a sum of over $500,—a result
which was rather unusual for a three-year-old orchard.
Mr. Billings' birth took place in the
town of Fayette, Kennebec County, Maine, June 19, 1829. He is the son of William
and Eliza (Rice) Billings, both of
whom were natives of that State. His mother, now eighty-seven years of age, is yet living there. When fourteen years of age, the subject of this sketch left the old farm to learn the carpenter's trade. At nineteen years of age he decided to try his fortunes in the West, and removed to Wisconsin, living in Berlin one year, and thence going to Wausau, same State, where he lived many years, engaged in working at his trade. Here he married, on the ninth of November, 1856, Miss Harriet M. Millard. She is a native of Allegany County, New York, where she was born, August 13, 1839. She is the daughter of Arnold and Maria Millard. Her father died in Ohio about 1844, but her mother was, in 1888, living at Rockford, Illinois. In 1865 Mr. and Mrs. Billings removed to Rockford, Illinois, and the following year again removed to Minneapolis, Minnesota. They made this State their home until they became residents of Santa Clara County, in 1884. During sixteen years of their residence in the State of Minnesota, Mr. Billings conducted a farm in connection with his carpenter work. Mr. and Mrs. Billings are the parents of two children, living: Annie M. and Frank B., both of whom make their home with their parents. Mr. Billings is connected with the Republican party, in politics.
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.
Pg. 432-433