Ventura County
Biographies
C. D. Bonestel
C. D. Bonestel is a pioneer business man of the State, having landed on the golden shore in 1849. He was born May 30, 1826 in New York, a son of John Bonestel, who was a native of the same State. His ancestors on his father's side were German. His mother was a native of Connecticut. In their family were four sons and two daughters. Mr. Bonestel, our subject, and one of his sisters, are all that are now living. He was brought up on a farm and when grown he came to California by way of Panama, and during a part of the succeeding winter he followed gold-mining in El Dorado County, on Hangtown Creek, in partnership with three others. Intending to build a saw-mill, they obtained the material and machinery - the freight charges on which were excessively large - and the rains set in, compelling them to abandon the enterprise for the season. They continued mining until they obtained gold enough to pay these charges and other debts on the mill material, when Mr. Bonestel found he had about $700 left. Then, with a partner, he bought a log hotel in Placerville, at $3,000, with the aid of borrowed money. They ran this hotel for two years, and in 1854 erected a brick building at Placerville, a place then of 4,000 or 5,000 inhabitants. The lower story was rented for stores, and above was a concert hall. Mr. Bonestel speculated in cattle and horses, and during the winters of 1860-'63 he was clerk of the California State Legislature. In 1862 he started on a visit to the East, taking passage on board the Golden Gate, which had about 350 passengers. She was burned on the sea, only 150 passengers making their escape. The boat in which Mr. Bonestel was taking refuge was water-logged as night was approaching. The other two boats came along, one on each side, and took the passengers out, bailed the boat and the load was evenly distributed between the three boats. During the night the boats became separated. In Mr. Bonestel's boat were four sailors, and they supposed when morning came that, as the sea was against them, they would still be found above Mancinillo. They rowed hard and took turns at the oars all day. As night approached and no signs of the town appearing, they decided to land through the surf on a sand beach. They were upset in the surf, but got ashore. One man had $6,000 in a buckskin vest, and lest it should sink him he took it off. The sailors advised him to make it fast to the boat, and it would be wafted ashore; but he endeavored to bring it in his hands and was obliged to let go of it and it was all forever lost. Another man, who had a gold-brick of about $2,000 value, tied up in a handkerchief, fastened it to the boat and it came ashore all right.
After landing the party traveled several miles before finding potable water, arriving at a river. Soon afterward they reached a small Mexican hamlet and learned they were 100 miles below Mancinillo and could not go back on the coast, but would be obliged to make a detour back in the country to find a road on which they could travel. They were but partially clothed, as those who had clothes divided with those who had nearly nothing. They supposed that the country was infested with Mexican robbers, and were trying to engage the Mexicans to take them on horseback to the coast, when one little Frenchman, who had no garments, was particularly afraid of the Mexicans. While they were talking they heard the clatter of horses' feet and the clanking of spurs and swords. The Frenchman started into the brush as fast as he could run, to escape for his life, when the party came up and proved to be men from another village who heard of the disaster and came up to see what assistance they could render. Mr. Bonestel says he always laughs when he remembers the figure that little Frenchman made as he ran, in his red shirt and drawers, as fast as if he had been shot out of a cannon.
They finally reached the town, and twenty days elapsed after the disaster to their boat before they obtained another, on which they proceeded to New York. After remaining in New York three months visiting his family, he took passage on the steamer Ariel for California, which carried 800 men, women and children. Some apprehensions were entertained that the rebel vessel Alabama might fall in with them and capture them; and much sport was indulged in concerning the matter. Several times it was stated that the Alabama was sighted, which however proved each time to be a hoax; but when off the east end of the island of Cuba Mr. Bonestel and others were below, eating their dinner. The butler put down his head and cried out, "The Alabama is after us!" Mr. Bonestel replied, "Oh, that's chestnuts;" but in a very short time they heard the report of a gun, and he and his friends made an effort to get upon deck. They were met by a crowd of people trying to get below. The shot which they heard was indeed the Alabama firing a blank cartridge at them to make them slack their speed and surrender. The Captain of the Ariel did not stop, and soon they saw two puffs of smoke from two of the guns of the Alabama, and they saw, or supposed they saw, two large balls coming directly toward them. They seemed as plain as a base ball. One of them struck the main mast and tore a large piece out of it and caused the splinters of the mast to fly all over her deck. The Ariel was stopped and a boat was sent by the Alabama to take their captain. All the passengers were filled with surprise and terror; some of the ladies fainted, and others went into hysterics. When the officer, Lieutenant Lowe, came on deck, many implored him to spare them and asked him to save them. He replied, "Ladies and gentlemen, not one of you will be harmed or injured;" and then they began to ask him all kinds of questions what he was going to do with them. Their questions were all answered in a polite manner; and such was the gallant bearing of the officer that they actually began to admire him. It was finally decided that the passengers would be landed at Kingston; but when they arrived at that point a vessel came out, which was spoken by Captain Semmes of the Alabama. He then sent word for the Captain of the Ariel to come on board the Alabama, informing him that the yellow fever was raging in Kingston and he did not wish to disembark. He said that if the captain of the Ariel would give bonds for the value of the boat - $300,000 - he would let them go. The arrangement was made and they were permitted to resume their voyage, and they arrived at San Francisco January 2, 1863.
Mr. Bonestel resumed his place in the Senate that winter as clerk, and after its adjournment went to Austin, Nevada, and speculated in mining property and also opened an office or bank, with a partner, and conducted it for two years. He then bought out his partner and the First National Bank was started there. He closed his business and was elected vice-president of the First National Bank of Nevada. At the end of a year he found his health failing, and he came to San Francisco, bought an interest in a book and stationery store, and remained there until 1871. Then, selling out, he made another trip to the East, and returned in the winter of 1872. He then was a resident of San Francisco until January, 1875, speculating in stocks; and finally he came to Ventura County and four years held the position of under sheriff. The next two years he speculated in grain and cattle. In 1882, forming a partnership with Messrs. Chaffee and Gilbert, under the firm name of Chaffee, Gilbert & Bonestel, they afterward added the lumber trade to their business of general merchandising, and since then they have been carrying on these trades until February, 1890. They then sold out their lumber business. In October the farmers organized and incorporated a lumber company under the name of the People's Lumber Company, and elected Mr. Bonestel their president and general manager of the company.
Mr. Bonestel was brought up a Democrat, but during the war became a Republican, and so has since remained.
He was married in 1868, to Miss Nannie Smith, a native of Louisiana, but brought when an infant by her parents to California. Their three children, all born in San Francisco, are: Cora, Alonzo and Edith. Cora is now the wife of F. J. Sifford, of Ventura.
BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE COUNTIES OF SANTA BARBARA, SAN LUIS OBISPO, AND VENTURA, CALIF. by Ida Addis Storke, 1891, p 449 Transcribed by Sandy Neder
J. C. Brewster
J. C. Brewster, a well known and highly esteemed citizen of San Buenaventura, who has been connected with the growth of the place and interested in its moral and business welfare, and now the proprietor of the art gallery, was born in Wayne County, Ohio, December 31, 1841. His father, Calvin Brewster, was born in Canterbury, Windham County, Connecticut, in 1787, a descendant of Sir William Brewster who came to the New World on the Mayflower in 1620. He (Sir William) was the father of Love Brewster, and the generations in succession were Wrestling, Jonathan, who came to Windham, Connecticut, in 1729, Peleg, born in 1717, who must have removed to Canterbury when quite young, for his oldest son, John - who made the sixth generation - was born in that town in 1739. Peleg was Mr. Brewster's great-grandfather. Jedediah, a younger son of his, was Mr. Brewster's grandfather. The record of Jedediah's birth was lost; but the town records show that he was married to Prudence Robinson May 19, 1773. According to the good-fashion in those good old times, they had a good large family, and about every two years there was a record of a birth in the family. The names on the record are as follows: Elizabeth, Silas, Anson, Florina, Sarah, Calvin and Jedediah, Jr. Elizabeth, Sarah and Jedediah died in childhood, and January, 1789, the good wife Prudence died, and the next autumn Jedediah married for his second wife Miss Asenath Hapgood, to aid in the care of the family. He removed a few years later to Berne, Albany County, New York. In 1808 he sold some of his land to Silas Brewster and the deed descends to him as living at Berne. The same year he sold his homestead to Deacon Barnabas Allen, whose son still owns it. It is about four miles from the village of Canterbury. A descendant of the Brewsters was recently there and was shown around by the proprietor. She drank from the old well that had been in uninterrupted use for more than a century. The farm is considered one of the best in that section, although a Western farmer would consider it very poor land. The old burying-ground was about a mile from the house. It was given to that part of the town by one of the Brewsters, and has been used by four or five generations and about a dozen families. Here are the names of Prudence Brewster and the children alluded to. In the lot are some stones so old that the inscriptions have become completely defaced, and some have sunk so deeply in the ground that only their tops are visible. The graveyard, however, is kept in excellent condition by a Miss Winchester, whose ancestors have been buried there for several generations. She is a spinster of eighty-five years - the last of her family. She has made provisions in her will to have the graveyard kept in condition after she has gone. She remember old 'Diah Brewster, as she called him, and said her mother used to go over there on certain occasions.
Mr. Brewster's mother, whose maiden name was Harriet Cramer, was a native of Strausburg, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and was born in 1813, of Dutch ancestry. The parents were married in 1837 and had a family of six children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the second. He was eight years old when the family moved to Iowa. Before he was of age he taught two terms of school, holding a first grade certificate both in Iowa and Missouri. He began to learn the art of photography in 1860, in Warsaw, Illinois, and since then has devoted his entire attention to it. In 1862 he came to California and for a short time taught a select school in Sacramento city. Soon afterward he engaged in partnership with Frank M. Stamper, and subsequently he sold to his partner and took charge of a photograph gallery on J street, that city, and continued in its charge until the proprietor sold it. Then he went to Virginia City, Nevada, and took charge of the gallery of R. H. Vance, of New York, who was a pioneer photographer of the coast. Next he had charge of a gallery at Carson City, for the same party.
In the spring of 1865 he went to Idaho with a Concord wagon and four bronchos, for Sutterly Brothers, and opened business at Ruby City. They had good success there, and his salary was $50 a week, and board without room $16 a week. In the fall they went to Placerville and also to Centerville; thence to Salt Lake City. There Mr. Sutterly built a gallery and Mr. Brewster continued to run the tent at Douglas, three miles east. In the spring of 1866 they moved into the new gallery and did a large business, the receipts sometimes reaching $200 a day. Soon after this Mr. Brewster went to Helena, Montana, and opened a gallery for himself. In the fall of 1868 he sold it and returned to Salt Lake City, and continued in business there and at several other towns in the vicinity, with fine success, until the next spring. He then went to Nevada, and was there until 1871, with his brother-in-law as partner. They had a large gallery and fine building. Thence he went to Visalia and to San Francisco, where his mother then resided. His health had failed, but soon after returning home he recovered, and began work for William Shaw, on Kearny street; but at length he was discharge because he would not work on Sunday. He then worked for Bradley & Rulofson until he decided to begin on his own account. He had a nice trade at San Luis Obispo until 1874, when he came to San Buenaventura and opened a gallery near the mission church. A year afterward he moved between Oak and California streets and built a gallery, with the privilege of moving it. In the spring of 1877 he bought his present location on Oak street and moved the gallery there, building additions to it, and has since then conducted his business with brilliant success. His gallery is splendidly equipped, and is filled with samples of his work which reflect great credit upon his skill. He was among the very first to adopt the dry-plate method, so superior to the old method.
He has recently built a nice two-story residence on Santa Clara street, surrounding it with choice flowers and young trees and shrubs. In 1875 he married Mrs. Mary O. Sinclair, widow of J. S. Sinclair; her maiden name was Mary Oberia Hadley. They have had two children, but lost the little son. Their daughter, Pansy Augusta, was born in Ventura, August 15, 1880. Mr. Brewster was elected one of the School Trustees of the city; he is a Prohibition Republican, a business man of talent and a citizen without reproach. He is an Elder in the Presbyterian Church, of which denomination his family are also members. He is treasurer of the Young Men's Christian Association, and has been made an honorary member of the Women's Christian Temperance Union. He is also Treasurer and Depositary of the American Bible Society at Ventura.
BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE COUNTIES OF SANTA BARBARA, SAN LUIS OBISPO, AND VENTURA, CALIF. by Ida Addis Storke, 1891, p 455 Transcribed by Sandy Neder