Santa
Clara County
Biographies
AMOS LESTER
From the standpoint of surroundings and moulding influences, the extremes of eastern conservatism
and western progressiveness have met in the life of Amos Lester, and that he
has adapted himself to both with equally good results is evident from the royal
friendships and practical interests which he has sustained at both ends of the
line. This prominent farmer and orchardist of Gilroy is primarily a tradition
bound Connecticut man, and was born in the town of Ledyard, New London county,
December 3, 1839. As in most appreciative and patriotic centers of Colonial
activity, cities and towns have come to be reminders of some character which
has contributed to the fame of the locality, and thus Ledyard calls to mind two
brothers, John and William, born in 1750 and 1751, respectively, the former of
whom was a world renowned traveler, meeting death in Cairo, Egypt, while on his
way with other discoverers to the central part of Africa. William Ledyard, a
Revolutionary soldier, gallantly defended Fort Griswold against a superior
force, but was defeated by the British Major Bromfield, whom history credits
with the fiendish act of running his fallen foe through the body with the
latter’s own sword, not before, but after the surrender. Records chronicle the
arrival of the Lesters in New London at almost as
early a period as that of the Ledyards, and bearers
of the name reflected credit upon their emigrating English ancestors during the
war for independence. The paternal grandfather, after whom the present Amos was
named, was probably born in Ledyard, and died there in 1842, at the age of
sixty-six years. Many years of his life were spent in the old homestead which
housed three generations of the family, and where his son, Isaac A., and his
son’s son, Amos, were born, the former March 4, 1810. Isaac Lester married into
another old Colonial family of New London county, his wife being Mary Chapman,
a native of Ledyard, born March 12, 1815, a daughter of Ichabod
Chapman, who was a farmer by occupation. Besides Amos, who is the oldest of the
two daughters and nine sons born to Isaac Lester, those living are: Mrs. Mary
Jane Lamb, of Ledyard; Jonathan, of Norwich, Conn.; William, of Campbell, Cal.;
Samuel W., also of California; and Edward, of Ledyard, Conn.
Prior to coming to California in
1861, Amos Lester engaged in school teaching for a few terms, having qualified
in the common schools of Ledyard, and at the New Britain Normal School, which
he attended two terms. His first home in the west was a ranch in Napa county, where he met with varying success until his return
to his old home in Connecticut in 1866. Soon afterward he located in Norwich,
Conn., and May 28, 1868, was united in marriage with Carrie G. Spicer, born in
Ledyard May 28, 1850. Judge Edmund Spicer, the father of eight children, seven
of whom survive him. In 1890 Mr. Lester again sought the west, and after
spending a year near San Jose, moved to his present home four miles southeast
of Gilroy. To a comparatively small original purchase he has added from time to
time, and now owns four hundred and sixty-three acres under a high state of
cultivation. Of this, twenty-five of the home place
are under fruit trees, also eight acres three miles south of San Jose. Mr.
Lester had made a practical study of horticulture, and finds both pleasure and
profit from this interesting side of country life. His improvements are modern
and practical, and his methods those of the student of science, and the master
of latter day theories His financial standing in the community is strengthened
by a directorate in the Napa Bank, and his political attitude reflects credit
upon the Republican party of which he has been a member since the second
administration of Abraham Lincoln. For a long time he has been identified with
the Presbyterian Church, and for years has been an elder in the same. Of the
eight children born to Mr. and Mrs. Lester, Mary Carrie, an infant son and Amos
Everett died in Connecticut, while Henry W. resides in San Jose, and Charles
C., John S., Minnie B., and Milton M. live on the home ranch.
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., Page 745.
The Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago, 1904.
© 2015 Cecelia M. Setty.