Santa Clara County
Biographies
JOSEPH AWBREY
JOSEPH AWBREY. In
the death of Joseph Awbrey, in 1902, was removed from
the scenes of earth one of California’s early pioneers, and of few can it be
said, as is true of Mr. Awbrey, that the land
upon which he settled in that early day had been his home for half a century.
Coming to Santa Clara county in 1853, Mr. Awbrey
purchased three hundred acres of land at the south end of McLaughlin road, four
and one-half miles south of San Jose, and here, in lieu of better shelter, he
and his wife lived near to nature, indeed, the foliage of a live oak tree
serving as their only shelter until the erection of a small log cabin. As time
went on and they were prospered in their efforts this, too, was replaced by a
more commodious residence, which is still the home of Mrs. Awbrey. Of the original acreage which Mr. Awbrey purchased half a century ago there remains but
seventy acres in the tract, and this is devoted exclusively to the raising of
hay and grain, Mrs. Awbrey managing the affairs
of the ranch in a manner highly commendatory.
In Linn county, Mo., Joseph Awbrey
was born July 25, 1827, a son of Joseph Awbrey, Sr.,
who was also born in Missouri, where he followed farming until lured to the
Pacific coast on account of the thrilling stories that were afloat everywhere
in 1849 as a result of the finding of gold in California. His efforts as a
miner did not produce the results that he had hoped for, evidently, for he
returned to his Missouri home soon afterward, and
there his death occurred. Whatever the opinion of his father may have been in
regard to the advisability of going to California to enlist as a miner,
Joseph Awbrey wished to try the life for
himself, and in 1852 he, too, crossed the plains behind slow plodding ox teams,
the journey consuming seven months. The year 1852 is memorable as the year of
the cholera scourge, but Mr. Awbrey escaped its
ravages, although many about him were its victims. Following out the original
plan which he had in coming to the state, Mr. Awbrey
began to mine in Grass valley, Nevada county, but it was not long before he,
too, gave up the search for gold, and in 1853, as previously stated, came to
Santa Clara county and purchased the property which was his home until his
death in 1902, at which time he had reached the ripe age of seventy-five years.
After coming to the west, and while a resident of Grass
valley, Mr. Awbrey was united in marriage. In
maidenhood Mrs. Awbrey was Susan Flornoy and was born in Kentucky, as was also her father,
Hoy B. Flornoy. From the latter state, Mr. Flornoy removed to Missouri, but after a residence there of
twenty years, in 1852, came to California in the same train as did his future
son-in-law, Mr. Awbrey. Here their paths
divided, however, for Mr. Flornoy removed to
Oregon two months afterward, and near Roseburg he followed farming until his
death, at the age of seventy-eight years. Mrs. Awbrey’s
mother was, before her marriage, Miss Sarah Brinigar,
a native of Kentucky, and her death occurred in Oregon at the remarkable age of
one hundred and one years. Politically Mr. Awbrey
was a Democrat.
Mrs. Awbrey became the mother
of eight children, two of whom died young, and the three children by a former
marriage, Joseph Pruett, James Irvin Pruett and
Sarah Pruett, are also deceased. By her union with Mr. Awbrey there are three children, Thomas, Frank and
Mrs. Lizzie Corf.
Transcribed by Marie Hassard 18 February 2015.
Source: History
of the State of California & Biographical Record of Coast Counties,
California by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A. M., Page
368. The Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago, 1904.
© 2015 Marie
Hassard.