Santa Clara County
Biographies
GILBERT CAIN
Numbered among the well-to-do and venerable citizens of Evergreen is Gilbert Cain, well known as one of the earlier settlers of Santa Clara county and as an industrious and much respected farmer. Coming here more than half a century ago, he in common with his few neighbors endured all the hardships and privations of pioneer life. A man of perseverance and persistent energy, he was of great assistance in the agricultural labor of transforming the forest and plain into a well cultivated and productive region, rich with its annual harvests of grain, hay and fruits. He was born September 10, 1828, in Albany county, N. Y., where his parents, John and Eva (Truax) Cain, spent their entire lives, the father dying about 1844, aged three score years, and the mother in 1846, at the age of fifty-five years.
The ninth child in a family consisting of five boys and five girls, Gilbert Cain worked on the home farm until after the death of both his parents. Being then thrown upon his own resources, he followed the tide of emigration westward in 1850, locating first in Hennepin, Putnam county, Ill., where he worked as a farm laborer for two years. Joining a party bound for the Pacific coast in 1852, he came across the plains with ox teams, choosing the Platte river route, and arriving in California after a trip of ninety days. Settling in Santa Clara county, Mr. Cain rented land near Mountainview, and for a few years kept bachelor’s hall, working there and in Berryessa. In 1863 he purchased one hundred and twenty-one acres of land in Evergreen, and by sturdy application and good management has now a finely improved farm, fully paid for. In his agricultural work Mr. Cain has been exceedingly fortunate, and in addition to raising good annual crops of barley, wheat and hay, he carries on a small dairy.
In 1877 Mr. Cain married Alice Edwards, a native of California. She died in early womanhood, at the age of twenty-six years. Although he has no children of his own, Mr. Cain has a pleasant and attractive home, presided over by his brother Levi Cain’s daughters, Annie, Alice and Laura Cain. Politically Mr. Cain supports the principles of the Republican party, taking an active part in public matters, although he is not an office holder. He is a consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and is serving as a trustee.
Transcribed by Joyce Rugeroni.
Source: History
of the State of California & Biographical Record of Coast Counties,
California by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A. M., Pages 1198-1201. The Chapman
Publishing Co., Chicago, 1904.
© 2016 Joyce Rugeroni.