Santa
Clara County
Biographies
JOHN
Q. A. BALLOU
The
founder of the Ballou family in America was Maturin Ballou, who was of French and Norman lineage, and after
emigrating from England in 1645 became an associate of Roger Williams in Rhode
Island. Little is known of his family except the fact that he had two sons
named John and James. In the sixth generation from him was Abram Ballou, a native of Rhode Island, and by occupation both a
farmer and a shoemaker, which he followed for some years in New York state and
there died. His son, Otis, was born in Smithfield, R. I., and removed to New
Hampshire, where he married Lydia Chamberlain. Later he settled in Hartland, Windsor
county, Vt., where he combined the trade of a
shoemaker with the occupation of an agriculturist. During his residence there
his son, J. Q. A., was born, a representative of the eighth generation in
descent from the founder of the family in the United States. When he was seven
years of age the family removed to Walpole, N. H., and there the father
continued shoemaking and farming on a small scale. Later he returned to Rode
Island and there died. His wife died in New Hampshire in 1849. She was a
granddaughter of Thomas Chamberlain, one of the earliest settlers of New
Hampshire and a lieutenant under General Stark in the Revolutionary war.
In a family of fourteen children,
eleven of whom attained mature years, J. Q. A. Ballou
was eighth in order of birth, and was born March 26, 1827. During boyhood he
attended common schools and learned the trade of a shoe cutter in a shoe
manufacturing establishment. March 1, 1849, he and his brother, George W.,
sailed from Boston on the ship Sweden around the Horn and after a voyage of one
hundred and fifty-three days landed in San Francisco, on the 3d of August. They
hurried on to the mines, but six weeks after their arrival George W. was taken
ill and died at Coloma, Eldorado (sic) county. In January of 1852 J. Q. A.
returned to the east via Nicaragua and in June of the same year started back by
the same route, paying $1000 for four steerage tickets on the North American,
but that vessel was wrecked and he made the trip on the steamship Lewis. With
him came two brothers, Warren S. and Charles Otis. The former returned east in
a year, but the latter stayed until 1860 and after going back enlisted as
second lieutenant in the Fifth New Hampshire Regiment, was later promoted to
first lieutenant and was killed at the battle of Fredericksburg while acting
captain.
After his second arrival in
California, in 1852, J. Q. A. Ballou went to the
mines and during the next months mined from Amador county
on the south to Sierra county on the north. Leaving the mines in March of 1853
he settled in San Jose on North First street, where
his business ventures were so unfortunate that he soon lost the savings of four
years. In 1855 he turned his attention to the nursery business on First street and in 1857 purchased his present property in the
suburbs, on Milpitas road. At first he had thirty acres, and twenty-four of
these he planted during the first three years he lived there. One of his first
experiments on the land was the boring of a well. None had as yet been dug in
this vicinity. The work was pushed forward and in February, 1857, water was
reached. During the next year possibly one hundred wells were bored, some of
which forced the water five feet above ground. Few of these, however, have
continued to flow to the present time.
With the introduction of bee culture
into California Mr. Ballou was somewhat associated. In
1853 two swarms of bees were brought from New York via Panama to California.
Considerable delay had been incurred en route, which disheartened the owner,
and he sold them to Mr. Sheldon, a botanist, who died suddenly soon afterward.
The bees, however, were brought through by his gardener, B. S. Fox, but they
attracted very little if any attention. In the fall of 1853 William Buck, who
understood the bee business, went to New York, whence he brought back thirty
swarms of bees. Early in 1854 he sold a one-half interest in the swarms to F.
G. Appleton, then county treasurer. Soon he returned and secured another
consignment. The bees attracted a little attention but none were sold. At an
auction of fruit trees on the Stockton ranch, in 1855, the two first swarms were
put on sale and brought $100 each. In securing this large price Mr. Buck aided
materially. In 1857 Mr. Ballou accompanied Mr. Buck
on a tour through the Willamette valley in Oregon and into Washington, where
they sold various swarms and introduced bee culture into that section of
country. On his return Mr. Ballou obtained five
swarms. In two years he had one hundred and nine swarms. Of these he sold sixty
swarms to Charles W. Reed of Sacramento at $85 per swarm.
On his forty-acre place Mr. Ballou has an orchard of cherries and peaches, which were
planted to replace the original orchard of apples, pears. Etc. In addition he
has a stock farm of one hundred and forty acres on the Guadaloupe
on First street, one-quarter of a mile north of the
city limits, and bearing various improvements, including an artesian well. For
thirty-five years he has been interested in city property in San Francisco and
he also has valuable property interest in San Jose. For some twenty years he
has been a director in the Farmers’ Union, the largest mercantile establishment
in the county. In 1863 he returned to New Hampshire and there, the following
year, was untied in marriage, at Claremont, with Miss Catherine J. Kimball, who
was born in New Hampshire, a daughter of Timothy D. Kimball. Mr. and Mrs. Ballou have two children, namely: Allis K., Mrs. Waga Bradford, of Johannesburg; and George Henry, a teller
in the First National Bank of San Jose. In religion Mrs. Ballou
is a Universalist and socially is connected with the Daughters of the
Revolution, in which she holds the office of secretary. From the formation of
the Republican party in 1856 Mr. Ballou
has been a believer in Republican principles. For years he has been connected
with the California State Pioneer Association and is now a member of the Santa
Clara County Pioneer Association. In 1866 he was elected a member of the county
board of supervisors, but resigned three years later. After coming to this city
he was made a Mason in San Jose Lodge No. 10, F. & A. M., with which he is
still identified.
Especially worthy of mention is the
interest taken by Mr. Ballou in the introduction of
the prune. The French prune was introduced in this valley by Pierre Pellier, a Frenchman and a well-known gardener, who with
his brother brought several varieties of prunes from their native land about
1856 and began to cultivate them in this soil. In 1859 Mr. Ballou
saw and tested the prunes in Mr. Pellier’s garden.
When he learned they were used to make the dried French prunes on sale in
America he at once became interested in them. Mr. Pellier
offered him a number of grafts, which were the first he had ever given to
anyone. In 1860 Mr. Ballou grafted them on plum trees
and in 1864 they were bearing. Three years later he dried the first prunes
shown in San Jose as a commercial product and sold in the markets of San
Francisco. In 1868 he began to dry other fruits, using the sun process, and
thus was enabled to save much fruit that the cost of transportation prevented
him from shipping green. Eleven tons of pears and apples were dried during that
year and shipped to New York, where they were sold for eighteen and twenty
cents per pound, netting him a handsome profit. To him the fruit business has
always possessed a fascinating interest, and his love for the industry is one
secret of the unusual success he has experienced in his work as an orchardist.
Transcribed By: Cecelia M. Setty.
Source: History
of the State of California & Biographical Record of Coast Counties,
California by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A. M., Pages 332-333. The Chapman
Publishing Co., Chicago, 1904.
© 2015 Cecelia M. Setty.