Santa
Clara County
Biographies
JAMES A. HUFF
Ceres must linger in loving
exultation over the exhibits in the Agricultural Building at the Louisiana
Purchase Exposition at St. Louis, Mo., for there the art of husbandry is
glorified, and everything that is best in it is displayed in the most
attractive form. Especially is this true in regard to the California display,
and Santa Clara county is responsible for one of the most unique displays in
her exhibit. It is a reproduction of the old Spanish Mission of San Jose,
constructed entirely of dried fruits. The roof is made of apricots, the walls
partly of peaches, and the dark weather stains are cleverly executed in prunes
of various colors. It is large enough for one to enter and lounge a while on a
chair, a house of fruit with the odor of oranges, lemons and grapes in the air.
Here the farmer feels himself on a pinnacle before the wondering gaze of the
world, and the visitor can hardly avoid adding his tribute of admiration to the
wonderful displays presented. As an example of one who is especially interested
in these matters in the fertile Santa Clara valley, we direct attention to
James A. Huff, who for more than forty years has been a successful farmer and
fruit grower of Mountainview, (sic) Cal., where he
located as early as 1863.
An Ohioan by birth, born in Butler county, February 21, 1832, Mr. Huff is the second in a
family of nine born to Amos and Margarite (Case)
Huff, both of whom were natives of Pennsylvania. His father was a carpenter by
trade and left his home section to live in Ohio, in 1835, subsequently removing
to Cass county, Mich., where he purchased a farm in
the woods. Devoting his time assiduously to his trade as carpenter and builder,
the farm work was left to his sons, six in number, and they cleared and
cultivated the land for him. The after part of his life was spent upon this
place and he reached the advanced age of eighty-seven years. His wife also died
there.
Owing to the unsettled condition of
the country to which his parents moved and the scarcity of schools, the
education of Mr. Huff was exceedingly limited, and he worked upon his father’s farm
until he attained the age of twelve. He then engaged in farm work for a
neighbor for whom he worked six and one-half years, afterward spending three
years on the home place. April 6, 1863, he started overland to California, the
trip being made behind horse teams, and covering a period of six months. The
party of which he was a member settled in the Napa valley, and Mr. Huff arrived
in the vicinity of Mountainview (sic) September 6,
and began farm pursuits upon a farm in Palo Alto, where the waterworks are now
located. In the fall of 1864 he harvested the crop of about two hundred acres
and later purchased ninety-seven and a half acres of the place he still owns.
By additional purchase from time to time he acquired two hundred and thirty
acres in this locality, one mile and a half north of Mountainview,
(sic) on the Rigstorff road, and two hundred and
twenty-two acres near Mayfield, with another tract of ten acres near by. Only a
small percent of his land is devoted to fruit culture, twenty-one acres being
in prunes, four in pears, nine in apricots and peaches and eight in
strawberries, the balance being devoted to raising hay and grain. Although
advanced in years, Mr. Huff oversees things on his ranches, deriving wonderful
vitality from this invigorating climate.
The home ties of Mr. Huff date back
to his residence in Michigan, for there he wedded Miss Emily Gard, a native of that state, who died in the spring of
1890. Nine children were born to them, of these five, all sons, are living, two
sons and two daughters being deceased. While crossing the plains en route to
California, two of the children succumbed to the hardships of the journey.
Those living are Henry, who resides near Seattle, Wash.; Frank, a successful
teacher of Mountainview (sic); Arthur, who assists on
the home place; Charles, an employe of the civil
service department of the government at Washington, D. C., in the United States
treasury office; and Bert, who is apprenticed to learn the plumber’s trade at Mountainview. (sic) The religious
views of the family incline toward the doctrines of the Christian Church and
they attend the Palo Alto church of that denomination. Politically a
Republican, Mr. Huff can hardly be termed an active politician, preferring to
exercise his right of franchise as an ordinary American citizen, free from
political entanglements.
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 1036-1037. The
Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago, 1904.
© 2016 Cecelia M. Setty.