Santa Clara County
Biographies
ANDREW JACKSON FOWLER
ANDREW JACKSON FOWLER.
In reviewing the career of Andrew Jackson Fowler one is impressed above
all with the intensely human element which has seemed to pervade it. Thoughtfulness
for others, sympathy and help for the distressed, and tender care for those who
in any way might claim a kinship interest have been as much a part of his
existence as his fearless and well-directed struggle towards the goal of
western success. To-day this thrifty and honored farmer may be found on his
farm of one hundred and seventy-three acres near Evergreen, where he has a
comfortable and modern home, and is engaged in general farming and
fruit-raising. When he bought the place in 1867 it required a discerning and
very hopeful spirit to detect the fulfilled promise of to-day, yet
Mr. Fowler seems to have had the prophetic gift, for out of a barren and
rough tract he has evolved a farm which has few equals for general
productiveness in its neighborhood. Besides general produce he raises hay and
grain, and of his thirty-five acres under fruit, twenty-nine are set out to
prunes. For forty-two years he owned an interest in a threshing machine,
operating it all that time throughout the county, and probably having a larger
opportunity to observe the rapid development of its grain production than any
other similarly employed.
The ancestry and youth of Mr. Fowler are associated with
stirring and epoch-making times. He was born in Sheridan county,
Mo., February 12, 1832, his family having been associated with that
region since 1818. His father, James D. Fowler, was born in Virginia in
1791, and as a young man enlisted in the war of 1812, and fought against old
Tecumseh, the ally of the British, in Florida. Soon after settling in Sheridan county, Mo., he married Martha Davis, also born in
Virginia, and who had accompanied her parents to Missouri, settling in
Cooper county. The young people went to housekeeping in a modest way, but
rapidly acquired possession of more land, keeping, as had been their forefather’s
custom, numerous slaves. Four daughters and three sons were born to them,
Andrew Jackson being the fourth child. In the meantime harvests were
gathered every year, the work being accomplished by slaves.
Andrew Jackson Fowler was fourteen years old when his
father passed away in 1846, at the age of fifty-five, and already he had come
to disapprove of slavery, with its attendant many-sided evils. He continued to
farm on the home place, however, until 1852, when with three boy friends, John and Henry Vance and Richard Tyer, he equipped with ox teams for the long journey across
the plains to California, but before setting out gave his solemn promise to
return and effect the liberation of the slaves. Locating near Lawrence, this
state, he worked on a farm for several months until the spring of 1853, when he
took his earnings and bought a farm of four hundred and four acres at $1 an
acre, located on the Mount Hamilton road, seven miles east of San Jose. Prosperity
rewarded his efforts, and in 1860 he was in a position to return to his old
home in Sheridan county, Mo., and give freedom to the
dark-skinned toilers on the home ranch. News of the firing on Fort Sumter
reached him while at Springfield, Ill., and soon afterward he had accomplished
the release of the slaves, thus proving the estimate which at least one noble
nature placed upon his given word. The farm was disposed of, and upon the
return to the west by way of Panama, he brought his mother with him, sharing
his prosperity with her until her death near Hollister, this state, at the age
of seventy-seven. As a sequel to his effort in Missouri Mr. Fowler
enlisted in the Burnett Cavalry Guards of Santa Clara county,
as second lieutenant, serving until the cessation of hostilities. Thereafter he
continued to farm as before, and in addition to his
own property, operated a farm
of one hundred and sixty acres on the corner of White and Alum Rock avenues,
having possession of the latter for twelve years. His next home was his present
one, where the most peaceful years of his life have been spent.
Mr. Fowler married Sarah Louise, daughter of John
Wendell, who was born in Chicago, and came to California with her mother in
1852. John Wendell was born in Haverstraw, N. Y., and came to California
in 1850, operating for a time in the mines, and afterward locating in San
Francisco. Change of climate
and exposure in the camps seems to have undermined his health, for he died in
1852 before his wife and children arrived from the east. The mother lived for a
time in San Francisco, but afterward bought a ranch near Berryessa,
remaining there until making her home with her son-in-law, Mr. Fowler,
where her death occurred at an advanced age. Of the four children born to Mr.
and Mrs. Fowler, Martha, the oldest daughter, is the wife of John Hunter,
of San Francisco; Fannie is the wife of William Haydock
of San Jose; George W. is a practicing physician in Santa Clara; and
Dr. Arthur Fowler is a dentist in San Jose. In 1874 Mr. Fowler
purchased stock in the Farmers’ Union, and has ever since been a promoter of
the worthy association. He made a return trip to Philadelphia and other points
in the east in 1876, and it will thus be seen that his life has been a varied
one, as well as full of good will towards all mankind. It is to such men that
the rising generation may look for moral and material guidance, for
unselfishness has been his keynote, and industry and
courage his unfailing guides.
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., Pages
360-361. The Chapman Publishing Co.,
Chicago, 1904.
© 2015 Marie
Hassard.