Santa
Clara County
Biographies
THOMAS BROTHER
While the Santa Clara valley was still sparsely
settled and its present state of development undreamed of by the most sanguine,
Mr. Brother came to old San Jose Mission on December 31, 1850, and on March 13,
1851, came to Santa Clara in search of employment. The preceding year he had
arrived in California, wholly without capital, but with an abundance of energy,
determination and industry. Having been reared in a pioneer home where means
were limited, he appreciated the necessity for economy and has always been of a
careful, economical disposition, anxious to accumulate a sufficiency for his
declining years. Since his arrival in the valley he has considered the city of
Santa Clara his home and upon retiring from business pursuits he established
himself permanently here, since which time he has looked after his residence
and business property in the town, and his property interests in San Jose and
San Francisco.
A native of Mount Sterling,
Montgomery county, Ky., Thomas Brother was a son of
Henry Brother, a German by birth, but during most of his life a resident of
Kentucky, where he died in Larue county. Somewhat later, in 1845, the family
removed to Missouri and secured farm land near Mexico, Audrain county, where the following year occurred the death of the
mother, a Virginia lady, who bore the maiden name of Martha Sallee.
In her family were nine sons and three daughters, and of these Thomas was
fourth in order of birth. As might be expected, in a large family early
orphaned by their father’s death, he was deprived of educational advantages and
was early forced to earn his own livelihood. After his mother’s death he went
to Louisiana, Mo., on the Mississippi river, and secured work in chopping wood
for the steamboats.
Accompanied by a brother in 1850 Mr.
Brother came across the plains with mule teams, in a passenger train comprising
one hundred and sixty persons and usually called the “St. Louis Express.” In
the train there were sixteen passenger wagons, with an abundance of supplies
and all of the necessary equipment for the trip, which consumed six months. At
Salt Lake a stop of thirteen days was made, but with that exception the train
pushed its way steadily westward. On the 15th of August, 1850, they
arrived at Ringold, near Hangtown.
A few days later Mr. Brother worked his way up to Coloma and from there to
Sacramento, where he nursed his brother through an attack of cholera. Next he
came to the Santa Clara valley and secured employment on a farm for $75 a
month, later being paid $80 and the $100 for his services. During the summer of
1856 he ran the engine for a flour mill in Santa Clara but with that exception
he continued steadily at farm work for many years. With a partner, in 1880 he
ran a threshing machine one season, but at the expiration of that time he sold
out his interest and began to work for other parties as engineer of a threshing
machine for which work he was paid $4 a day. In 1885 he retired from active
labors, having reached an age when he felt justified in enjoying the comforts
his persevering industry had rendered possible. Though reared in the Democratic
faith, since the Civil war he has voted the Republican ticket. On the
organization of the town of Santa Clara he was elected treasurer, being the
first incumbent of this office. Fraternally he is connected with Santa Clara
Lodge No. 52, I. O. O. F.
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 1179-1180. The
Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago, 1904.
© 2016 Cecelia M. Setty.