Santa Clara County
Biographies
ROBERT WALKER
Robert Walker was born in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, September 15, 1842. He is a son of John and Ann (McIntosh) Walker, the former from Edinburgh and the latter from the Highlands of Scotland. John Walker located in Montreal, Canada, when he was a young man, where he was married. From there he moved to Ancaster Township, near Hamilton, being one of the pioneers of that locality, where he lived to a good old age, and died in April, 1885. His widow is still living there. They reared a family of eight children, of whom five are now living, four sons and one daughter. Robert Walker, the eldest of the living children, lived with his parents until he was twenty years of age. In 1862 he came to California by water from New York via Panama to San Francisco, and immediately left by the next steamer for Victoria, British Columbia. In 1863 he went into the Caribou gold mines, near the Fraser River, between three and four hundred miles from Victoria, and remained there until the fall of 1865. He then returned to San Francisco, and in the following spring made another trip to British Columbia, where he engaged in mining at Big Bend, in the Columbia River. Not finding the mines profitable, he again returned to California and settled in Monterey County, where he rented a piece of land and farmed for three years. He was married there, in 1869, to Eliza Jane Parr, a native of Santa Clara County, and daughter of Jonathan Parr, deceased. In 1871 he came to this county and moved upon his present place, situated on the Los Gatos and San Jose road, where he has since resided. Mr. and Mrs. Walker have three children: Leslie R., Myrtile M. and Vivian C.
Mr. Walker became a member of the order of Odd Fellows in January, 1888, and has been a member of the A. O. U. W. for several years. He is one of the directors of the Bank of Los Gatos and of the Los Gatos Fruit Packing Company. Mr. Walker’s farm contains 415 acres, and at the present time (1888) has 260 acres sowed to barley, and the remainder, with the exception of twenty acres in vegetables, is used for pasture.
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. 321
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler
Proofread by Betty Vickroy
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN BACHMAN
Benjamin Franklin Bachman traces his ancestors back to 1696, when his grandmother’s father, John Rohrer, of the Bachman family, was born in Alsace, now a part of Germany. John Rohrer came to America when quite young, and in 1732 married Maria Saunders, who was born in Manheim, Germany, February 29, 1716. She died May 11, 1769, and her husband, November 28, 1771. The Rohrer family were Huguenots. His great-grandfather, John Bachman, married Anna Miller, June 15, 1744. He died October 3, 1757. His grandfather, John Bachman, was born March 20, 1746, at Big Spring, now part of Lampeter Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. He was married April 9, 1771, to Maria Rohrer, who was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, January 28, 1749. His father, Jacob Bachman, was born in what is now Conestoga Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, April 25, 1782, and died May 10, 1849. His great-grandfather, on his mother’s side, Jacob Eshleman, was born in Switzerland, July 4, 1710. He sailed from Rotterdam in the ship Mortonhouse, James Coultas captain, and arrived in Philadelphia August, 1729. He married Barbara Barr, who was born February 22, 1714. On May 4, 1748, he bought a large tract of land on Pequea Creek, now a part of Paradise Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. He died December 15, 1758. His grandfather, Jacob Eshleman, was born in Pennsylvania November 7, 1742, and married Barbara Groff January 15, 1767. Barbara Groff was born March 5, 1747. Her father, Jacob Groff, was born April 2, 1699. Her mother’s maiden name was Brackbill. Mr. Bachman’s mother, Barbara Eshleman, was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, January 30, 1789. Her marriage to Jacob Bachman took place March 31, 1814, and her death occurred October 3, 1867.
Benjamin Franklin Bachman was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, February 25, 1829. He was reared on his father’s farm, and in his younger days attended the public schools of his neighborhood, and afterward attended the Strasburg Academy at Strasburg, Pennsylvania, Rev. David Mc Carter Principal. After the discovery of gold in California, he sailed from New York, November 26, 1849, in the brig Emma Prescott, around Cape Horn, and arrived in Monterey, California, May 1, 1850. He then fell in with a party of young men, who hired mules and a guide and started for the mines in Mariposa, where he lived for thirty years. In February, 1851, he joined the Mariposa Battalion of Mounted Volunteers, and served against the Indians until the following July. The world-renowned Yo Semite Valley was discovered in March, 1851, by a portion of this battalion on one of their expeditions, Mr. Bachman being one of the party. He served as postmaster of Mariposa from 1862 to 1865. For three years he worked in the mines, and afterward followed trading and other pursuits. During the last ten years of his residence there he was engaged in the cattle business. In 1880 he moved to Santa Clara County and purchased fifty acres of land in and adjoining the town of Los Gatos, which at that time was a village of a dozen houses. He has thirty-two acres of land planted to the leading varieties of fruits grown in this section of the country. He has 500 French prunes, 500 peaches, 400 apricots, and 700 almonds, together with a small number of cherries, pears, and plums. Mr. Bachman has never married.
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. 321-322
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler
Proofread by Betty Vickroy