Santa Clara County
Biographies
ANDREW P. HILL
Human opportunity may be said to consist of two great divisions, in one of which the forces of nature are adjusted to suit the needs and conveniences of man, and the other in which man finds his greatest wealth and greatest inspiration from nature as presented to the primitive dwellers of the earth. The former condition has evolved the miner and lumberman; the latter has developed the artist. Motives of greater diversity do not animate the human heart, nor does any state in the Union offer so vast and splendid camping ground for both classes as California, enthroned in opulence and riotous color beside the western sea. It is safe to say that the temperamental, reverent, and artistic nature is not more happily housed in any human frame, or more fully appreciative of its responsibilities and opportunities, than in Andrew P. Hill, one of California's most successful delineators(sic) of the beautiful, and whose name and strenuous efforts will forever be associated with the preservation to the state and to humanity of the redwood trees of the Big Basin, now known as the California State Redwood Park.
Mr. Hill has long been one of California's foremost painters, and his name is by no means confined to the borders of his adopted state. His pictures of the redwood trees of Mount Hamilton, and other interesting features of the coast country, have been conspicuous among the exhibits at the World's Fair, the Pan American Exposition, the Buffalo Exhibition, and the fairs at Omaha and St. Louis, and many of his canvasses adorn the walls of permanent art exhibits and palatial homes both in this and other countries, and his vast experience and generally approved method of representation justify the influence which he exerts in all matters pertaining to the establishment of high artistic ideals in the west. Mr. Hill brings to his work the energy, excellence and distinction which is characteristic of the undertakings of the artists, authors and statesmen of the state of Indiana, where he was born near Valparaiso, Porter county, in 1853, and where he lived until his fourteenth year. A pride of ancestry centers chiefly around his paternal great-grandfather, John, who served in the Revolutionary war under General Putnam, and at the close of hostilities married Rebecca Harvey, niece of the gallant general and hero of Bunker Hill. Hyacinth Hill, daughter of this martial sire, married Abraham Garfield, father of James A. Garfield, one of the martyr presidents of the United States. Elijah B. Hill, son of the Revolutionary soldier, carried a musket in the war of 1812, and in time became one of the earliest pioneers of Cuyahoga county, Ohio, where he carried mail to Cleveland, when that now flourishing community consisted of three houses. The second Elijah Putnam, the father of Andrew Putnam, was born in Hillsboro, Ohio, and in time embarked in the general merchandise business, which, however, failed to satisfy his ambitious cravings. In 1853 he adjusted his affairs temporarily and crossed the plains in an ox train which counted Samuel Manning among its fortune hunters. He was the first white man buried in Amador city cemetery. His roving spirit cost him his life in the end. While crossing the plains he became separated from his party and, in company with Sam Manning, was hunting some stolen stock, which had been run off by the Indians. He succeeded in keeping the Indians at bay for twenty-four hours, but died from the strain and exposure on the sixth day after his arrival at Amador City, Cal. On the maternal side Mr. Hill is descended from equally meritorious stock, for his mother, Jennie (Rose) Hill, was the daughter of Henry Montgomery and Sallie (Frisby) Rose, the former of whom served in the War of 1812, and was in turn the son of a Revolutionary soldier. Grandfather Frisby also espoused the Colonial cause during the War of Independence.
Mr. Hill was fourteen years old when he came to California with his uncle, Warner Rose, in 1867, locating in Amador county, where his relative was A. H. Rose, the owner of the Keystone mine. The youth entered Santa Clara College in 1868, and after leaving in 1871, spent a season on a ranch in San Luis Obispo county. In the meantime he had carefully developed a talent for painting, which had been one of his childish enthusiasms, and after leaving the ranch he learned map making with a corps of engineers with whom he was associated for a time. Through the advice of Charles F. Reed, of Yolo, a graduate of West Point and engineer of the Fremont party of '46, and the partner of his uncle, Mr. Rose, he began to take lessons in art in San Francisco, and later formed a partnership with L O. Lussier in a portrait painting business in San Francisco, San Jose and Oakland. In 1876 he felt so sure of his ground that he established the first studio in San Jose, in partnership with Mr. Lussier, a pretty studio in what is now the Theater Building, and here were all of the ex-governors of Nevada, a collection later purchased by the state of Nevada. Returning to San Francisco, Mr. Hill, with Mr. Lussier, opened a studio in that city, and while teaching and painting, was a member of the San Francisco Art Association. Eventually he drifted back to San Jose, where he had a large class and still maintained his studio. Settling permanently in San Jose, after the death of Louis O. Lussier he continued to pursue one of the most successful and varied art careers familiar to the history of the west, and from portraiture branched out into the painting of horses in motion, a departure gratifying in its results, for practically all of the famous horses in the state were painted by him, either singly or in groups. The first and most notable historical work painted by Mr. Hill is known as the first emigrant party ascending the Sunset Pass from Donner Lake, and which, because of its faithfulness to incidents of the pioneer life of the state, has been purchased and placed in the historical room of the California Pioneers' Association of San Francisco. His Camp of Israel, painted for J. W. Ketchner, has received encomiums of praise from the art world in general, and has been engraved and given whole page room in various periodicals.
Mr. Hill became interested in photography about sixteen years ago, and now has a studio in San Jose. Governor Stanford desired his horses taken in motion, and Mr. Hill was thus employed for nearly eight years. He also took the laying of the corner-stone of the university, and the breaking of the ground. Until the death of the famous financier and philanthropist, the services of the artist were in constant demand by him, and Mr. Stanford remained one of his sincerest supporters. Mr. Hill has contributed many illustrations to the magazines and periodicals in general in the west, his scope including portraits, animals and landscape, and it was while endeavoring to secure material for a forest fire picture that he became interested in the redwood trees, which have since been preserved through his strenuous efforts in their behalf. Mr. Hill's services in behalf of art have been of too exhaustive and varied a nature to permit of more than passing mention. He lives close to the heart of nature, and every mood in which she indulges is reflected upon his temperamental, fine and aspiring mind. The singing brook, the giant tree, the turbulent winds, talk to him as to one who understands, and who, understanding, portrays with genius and sincerity.
The social and genial nature of Mr. Hill finds an outlet in many avenues of diversion, and he is a member and treasurer of the Sons and Daughters of Pioneers. The good fortune of immediate and lasting appreciation has entered his life in his wife and helpmate, Mrs. Hill, who for years has been his associate in the studio, and who herself is well versed in the canons of art. Mrs. Hill is a graduate of the San Jose State Normal, class of 1876, and previous to her marriage was an educator for eight years. She is a daughter of Benjamin F. Watkins, a native of Genesee county, N.Y., and who, in 1846, crossed the plains to Oregon, being a member of the ill-fated Donner party, from which he separated at Fort Hall, thus avoiding the catastrophe which befell that brave and persistent band of pioneers. Mr. Watkins mined for a time in Oregon and then crossed the mountains to California. He owned one hundred and sixty acres of land on which is now the site of the depot at the corner of Third and Townsend streets. In 1850 he returned east by way of Panama, the same year marrying Laura Broughton, of Malone, N.Y., who accompanied him to the west in 1851. Mr. Watkins bought and located upon a farm near Santa Clara and cultivated the first strawberry farm in California. Here he engaged in general farming and fruit raising, and his death occurred at the age of sixty-five. Mrs. Hill's maternal grandfather, Shebuel Broughton, married Miss Sumner, a cousin of Charles Sumner, a lineal descendant of General Israel Putnam, of Revolutionary fame. Mrs. Watkins is still living, as are also six of her seven children. Mr. and Mrs. Hill have two children, Andrew P., Jr., and Frank E.
Had Mr. Hill not penetrated the home of the great redwoods in search of illustrating material, and had he not been denied the right to perpetuate, through his camera, their dignified and giant proportions, the history of this now famous region of the Big Basin might have terminated with much less credit to the state of California. The achievement of their saving is the transposed cry of pain, wrung from a soul in perfect harmony with the true and great and inspiring. Already the shadow of the sawmill hung over these sentinel of the forest, and their doom was read in the books of a lumbering company, which measured their lengths with commercial tape, nor cared that their passing meant the destruction of a portion of the glory of the universe. The Big Basin Lumbering Company had purchased its rights, and H. L. Middleton, the heaviest stockholder, was probably, before his awakening, totally unconscious of the part he was to play in averting a tragedy of nature. It is not the province of this article to enter into minute detail concerning the work of Mr. Hill in this connection, but it is safe to say that had he not felt the weight of a great necessity, and perseveringly and untiringly worked toward his goal, the magnificent part of thirty-eight hundred acres would not now belong to the state. It was his energy which enlisted the first interest, and his voluminous correspondence which started in motion an overwhelming and righteous force. He converted Mr. Middleton into one of his stanchest supporters, and enlisted his sympathy and help in an undertaking which was diametrically opposed to a long projected and earnestly striven for opportunity of making money. Mr. Hill organized the first meeting of interested people held at the Stanford University to formulate plans to save the giant redwoods of the Big Basin for a public park, and continuously and unabatingly(sic) kept the wheels of action in motion, such men as David Starr Jordan, Prof. W. R. Dudley, Father Kenna, of Santa Clara College; Dr. McClish of the Pacific University; Professor Senger, N.P. Chipman and others taking up the matter, and Carrie Stevens Walter, Mrs. S. A. Jones, Mrs. Phoebe A. Hearst, Mrs. Lovell White, and other equally prominent women of the state, coming to the rescue of the great trees of the Big Basin. The press throughout the state spoke favorably of securing at least a portion of the basin for a park, a few of the dailies of San Francisco alone disparaging the work of the enthusiasts. All this time Mr. Hill's studio was deserted and the paint dried upon his palette. He had a public duty to perform, and he went at it with the singleness of purpose and wealth of resource which has made men conquerors of fate since the beginning of time. He came and went in all parts of the state, rousing press and people to enthusiasm, and wearing his heart and mind in an effort to accomplish the supreme task of his life. After ceaseless waiting and anxiety, countless interviews, speeches and journeys, the legislature of California passed a bill appropriating $250,000 for the purchase of the park from the lumber company, and the governor finally realized the desirability of signing the bill. The traveler in no other clime sees trees a hundred feet in circumference and three hundred and sixty feet high. The Big Basin is shut in by a mountainous rim from eighteen hundred to twenty-six hundred feet in height. On the southwest the basin sloped to the sea, which is reached through two deep gorges piercing its rim, the Pacific sweeping by five or six miles distant. It is partly in Santa Clara county, and touches a portion of San Mateo county, in the Santa Cruz mountains of the Coast range. Barely forty miles in an air line from San Francisco, it is nineteen miles from San Jose, still nearer to the city of Santa Clara, and fifteen miles from Menlo Park and Stanford University. In honor of the man whose heart and brain have been enlisted in this great work, the Sempervirens people have named a monster sentinel the A. P. Hill, and it measured one hundred and seven feet in circumference around the roots. Asa Gray said of it: “If I could but see the heart of that tree yonder, I could show you the ring that was made the year of Saviour was born.”
Transcribed
4-5-16 Marilyn
R. Pankey.
Source:
History of the State of California &
Biographical Record of Coast Counties, California by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A.
M., Pages 1119-1123. The Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago, 1904.
© 2016 Marilyn R.
Pankey.