Santa Clara County
Biographies
ALEXANDER
MILNE
ALEXANDER
MILNE. Among the live, energetic and persevering farmers of Santa Clara county, Alexander Milne occupies an assured position,
being intelligent and well informed, and possessing excellent judgment and
sound common sense. In his agricultural labor he displays much ability and
skill, his ranch being in an exceptionally fine state of cultivation, while the
many improvements that he has made since assuming its possession, including the
erection of a conveniently arranged dwelling house and substantial farm
buildings, have greatly enhanced the value as well as the beauty of the estate.
A native of Scotland, he was born May 8, 1844, in Elgin, which was
also the birthplace of his father and mother, John and Helen (Murdoch) Milne.
His parents emigrated to Canada with their children,
settling on a farm near London, Middlesex county, where they spent the
remainder of their lives, both passing away at the age of seventy-six years.
Seven children were born of their union, three of whom survive, Alexander, the
subject of this sketch, being the only one residing in California.
Reared
and educated in London, Ontario, Alexander Milne became thoroughly acquainted
with the various branches of agriculture while young. Leaving home
January 14, 1868, he went first to New York City, where he started by
way of Nicaragua for California, and after a journey of thirty days, eight of
which were spent in crossing Nicaragua, he arrived in San Francisco. Coming
directly to Santa Clara county, Mr. Milne worked
for two weeks in Skuse lime kiln, and then took the
contract for cutting one hundred and twenty cords of wood in the canon just
back of the Almaden mines, the work taking him three months to perform. He
subsequently worked in the woods at Lexington for a time, after which he was
employed as a harvest hand by Baker Brothers, on the Almaden road for one
season. Going thence to Uvas, he felled wood in the
summer, and ranched in the winter, for two years. Embarking then in business
for himself, Mr. Milne took large contracts for getting out and hauling
square and round timbers, logs and wood, and was thus engaged for twelve years.
In 1881 Mr. Milne purchased his present farm, which is located on the Burchell road, at the corner of the Bodfish
road, about four miles west of Gilroy, and has since been prosperously engaged
in general agriculture. He has made improvements of an excellent character, and
in addition to raising large quantities of grain, for which his land is well
adapted, he has a fine orchard of eight acres, and a productive vineyard of
twenty-five acres. In his ranch there are three hundred and eighty acres of
land, the most of which is in a good state of cultivation, showing the results
of his labor and management.
In
Ontario, Canada, Mr. Milne married Isabella Forbes, a native of that
place, and they are the parents of eight children, namely:
Mrs. Edna White, of Colusa, Cal.; William; Isabella; Mary; Jessie;
John; Annie; and James. Politically Mr. Milne is a steadfast supporter of
the Democratic party, and has served as school
trustee. Fraternally he belongs to the Ancient Order of United Workmen, and
religiously he is a faithful member of the Catholic Church.
Transcribed
by Marie Hassard 25 October 2015.
ญญญญSource: History
of the State of California & Biographical Record of Coast Counties,
California by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A. M., Page
824. The Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago, 1904.
ฉ 2015 Marie
Hassard.