Santa
Clara County
Biographies
PAGE
HOLLISTER
Of that old and honored early
settler, Page Hollister, it may be said that he has had to row
up stream against a head wind, but has never lost his oar, and in spite of
diverging undercurrents has kept his barque clear of
destructive shoals. The competence which he now enjoys while living in
retirement in San Jose has been well earned and entitles him to a place among
the most worthy and honored of the early settlers of the state. He has passed
seventy-five mile posts on his life journey, having been born October 29, 1829,
in Pawlet, Rutland county,
Vt. His father, Innis, was a native of the same state
and locality, which, by the way, was associated with the death of the paternal
grandfather, who moved there from his native state of Connecticut, and lost his
life while carrying a musket in the Revolutionary war. Innis
Hollister was a soldier in the war of 1812, and afterward learned the wagon
maker’s trade, which he followed for the greater part of his active life. In
1844 he removed overland to Lake county, Ill., making
the journey by way of the canal to Buffalo, and from there by propellor (sic) to Chicago. Lake county
was then a wilderness, a stranger to the face or improvements of the white man,
and the farm upon which he settled was difficult of cultivation, finally
yielding however to the energy of the pioneer and his hardy sons, one of whom
was fifteen, while Page, the younger, was twelve years old. Mr. Hollister lived
to be sixty-five years old, while his wife, formerly Martha Page, of New
Hampshire, survived him until ninety-seven. Of the two sons and four daughters
in the family, one son and one daughter are deceased.
Page Hollister attended the early
subscription schools in Rutland county, Vt., and after
going to Illinois drove a three ox team while breaking the prairie farm. The
output of the farm for the first few years was scant at best, and while the
youth had an unspeakable longing to join the caravans bound for the coast in
1850, he failed to find the necessary money to equip for the departure. Realizing
the limitations of the home place in Lake county, he
went to Ohio and secured apple and peach grafts, which he grafted in northern
Illinois and southern Wisconsin. He spent the rainy days that interfered with
his work in his father’s wagon shop, in the construction of a stanch vehicle to carry him to the coast. This wagon stands
forth in Mr. Hollister’s memory as one of his most notable achievements, and in
fact its subsequent history would seem to justify his appreciation of it
merits. It nobly stood the test of rough roads and inclement weather, and was
the only one in the train which never had its tires set. Made
of thoroughly seasoned timber, it represented days of arduous labor, and
finally loomed up in its vigorous strength as his best friend and agent in
accomplishing his long-felt desire. With two comrades, each having a
yoke of oxen, the start was made April 5, 1852, over ground upon which the snow
lay two feet deep, and with the thermometer discouragingly low. From Cornersville, on the Missouri river, they traveled up the
Platte to the North Platte, on to Fort Laramie and the Black Hills. In the
latter place Mr. Hollister was sure there was gold, owing to the formation of
the ground and the lay of the rivers. In the Carson valley the friends sold
their outfits and proceeded on foot to California, carrying their clothes and
provisions, and arriving in Placerville so worn and footsore that two weeks of
rest was required ere they could go to work.
After a brief and unsatisfactory
experience in the mines Mr. Hollister went to Centerville, Alameda county, in the spring of 1853, found employment on a farm,
and at the same time assisted in operating a threshing machine. In the fall of
1854 he purchased an interest in a threshing machine in Alameda county, and in 1855 tried mining on the New York flat along
the Feather river. Still unsuccessful, he returned east by way of Nicaragua and
New York to see his family, and signs of eastern prosperity confirmed his
intention of remaining in the more settled community. He engaged in wheat raising in Illinois the first season, but as that happened
to be the year in which wheat was totally destroyed in the state, he was
discouraged with that line of endeavor and engaged in carpentering and building
in Chicago, Ill. In comparison with the winters he had found on the coast, the
chill which swept in from Lake Michigan seemed cold indeed, and he continued to
feel intensely the bitterly long and snow-encumbered winters. In the meantime
he had married in Illinois Anna Bowen, a native Ohio. As he had not met with
success in the east he brought his wife to the coast in the summer of 1861,
being obliged to go in debt for their passage money. For
about four years he engaged in farming in Santa Clara county by the
month, and in 1864 started an independent farming venture, but chanced to meet
with the driest and most destructive year which the state had known up to that
time. Nothing daunted, he located in San Jose in the fall of 1864, bought his
present lot and erected the home which he has occupied ever since. He engaged
in carpentering and building until about twelve years ago, when a protracted
siege of the grip incapacitated him for arduous physical labor, and he turned
his attention to a wood and feed business in east San Jose for six years. As a
builder he enjoyed an enviable reputation for thoroughness and reliability, and
assisted with the erection of many of the notable structures in the town,
including the Rea Building and the New York exchange, and the buildings at the
intersection of First and Santa Clara streets. He has seen practically all of
San Jose rise above the prairie, and is interestingly informed concerning every
stage of the city’s progress. Few men who make their home in this beautiful
town have had a more varied or adventurous life, or have more richly profited
by their experiences. Mr. Hollister is a Republican in national politics, and
is a member and ex-director of the Santa Clara Pioneer Society. His only
daughter, Ella, is the wife of Mr. Maxey of San Jose. Notwithstanding his
reverses, Mr. Hollister has never spent any time in vain regrets, but has
rather accepted his fate with philosophy, and is glad of and satisfied with the
competence which brightens his declining years.
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 304-307. The Chapman
Publishing Co., Chicago, 1904.
© 2014 Cecelia M. Setty.