Santa
Clara County
Biographies
WILLIAM J.
FOSGATE
WILLIAM
J. FOSGATE. In the county of
Santa Clara, where he is now extensively engaged in the seed and fruit
business, Mr. Fosgate was born June 24, 1856, being a
son of William N. and Margaret Jane (Rush) Fosgate,
natives respectively of Rochester, N.Y., and Bath, Me. His father, who was a typical pioneer in
temperament, visited Mexico as early as 1848 and the following year landed in
California. During 1850 he settled in
Santa Clara, where he worked as a contractor and builder, and many of the
buildings that he erected still stand at this writing. While for some years he met with encouraging
success, later in life reverses overtook him and from these he never wholly
recovered. After the death of his first
wife he married Kate Donnelly, a native of Ireland and now a resident of Santa
Clara. In his home here he passed away
in 1883, leaving a daughter, wife of Maurice Casey, of San Francisco, and a
son, William J., another son having died in early life.
After completing public school
studies, in 1868 William J. Fosgate was sent to Santa
Clara College, where he continued as a pupil for three years, and was then
obliged to leave on account of the family’s financial reverses. For a time he worked with his father, who
owned what has since been known as the Pacific Manufacturing Company. Later he secured a clerkship with J. B.
O’Brien in a dry-goods establishment, of which, in recognition of his executive
ability, he was soon made manager. For
twenty-five years he engaged in the dry goods business. He has also been
interested in gold mining in Trinity county, Cal.,
where he opened and managed the Morrison gulch mine and other properties. In 1898 he retired from the mining business
and the following year leased five hundred acres
adjoining San Jose, at one time owned by Colonel Stockton and usually known as
the Stockton ranch. His first crop, that of 1900, was so encouraging that he at once took
a place among the successful men of his locality. His specialty has been the growing of seeds,
and in the interests of that business he makes a trip each year to all of the
large cities of our country. For a time
he had only one hundred acres in seeds, but his success was so remarkable that
he has increased that acreage threefold.
In adition [sic] to the three hundred acres in
seeds, he has seventy-five acres in strawberries, blackberries and raspberries,
and also raises string beans, cucumbers and tomatoes for the San Francisco
markets. Since settling upon his present
place he has made a study of the seed business.
Having no previous experience in the occupation, he realized the need of
careful study and observation, and hence made the most diligent use of every
opportunity to gain practical knowledge, the result being that he is now one of
the best-informed seedsmen on the Pacific coast.
The marriage of Mr. Fosgate occurred in Santa Clara and united him with
Margaret Lucretia Cleneay, a native of Missouri. Her father, F. W. Cleneay, who was born in Kentucky and resided in Missouri for
some years, removed to California in 1876 and settled in Santa Clara, where for
years he held the office of justice of the peace. Widely known and universally liked, he left
at his death a large circle of friends in his home town and county. He was married in Kentucky to Caroline Bland,
a daughter of Benjamin and Mary Bland, natives of Kentucky, but who removed to
Missouri, where in Canton they became people of influence and large land
owners. Three children were born of the
union of Mr. and Mrs. Fosgate, but the only son, W.
H., was taken from them by death when only six years of age. The daughters, Carrie C. and Marguerite,
reside with their parents in Santa Clara.
His political views are in accord with the platform of the Republican party and he always supports its ticket both in local and
general elections. As a rule he has
refused offers of political nominations, but consented at one time to fill the
office of city treasurer and served in that capacity for three years, but with
that exception he has confined his attention to private matters, toward which
his tastes incline more strongly than toward public affairs.
Transcribed by
Doralisa Palomares.
Source: History of the State of California &
Biographical Record of Coast Counties, California by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A.
M., Page 1138. The Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago, 1904.
© 2016 Doralisa Palomares.