Santa Clara County
Biographies
THOMAS HENRY O’TOOLE
Among the native sons of Santa Clara county, Cal., prominent mention should be made of Thomas Henry O’Toole, who was born in Milpitas, August 7, 1863, and although he has followed agricultural pursuits principally, he has also been prominently identified with his home section in other ways. He was appointed night watchman at the court house in San Jose in 1898 and served three years, and for four terms he was deputy sheriff of Santa Clara county. A Democrat in his political views he has at all times taken an active part in political issues and has filled the offices of school trustee and constable.
In tracing the ancestry of Mr. O’Toole, we find him to be the eldest of seven children born to John and Margarite (Miller) O’Toole, whose family consisted of four sons and three daughters. The father was born in County Wexford, Ireland, and in 1840 he emigrated to the New World, locating near the city of Quebec, Canada, which was his home until 1852. He then came to California by the Isthmus of Panama and soon afterward arrived on the Pacific slope and engaged in farm pursuits near Gilroy, removing to Milpitas in 1854. He purchased land upon the present site of the almshouse, in partnership with his brother William, and together they owned a nine hundred acre ranch. Here Mr. O’Toole lived until 1879, removing that year to Mayfield and two years later to Gilroy, still occupied in farm pursuits. It was in the year 1882 that he bought the place upon which Thomas Henry lives and in addition he leased a large tract of land and followed general farming until his death in 1897 at the advanced age of seventy-six years. He married Miss Margarite Miller, a native of Canada, and she also died upon the home place.
In his youth Mr. O’Toole was given exceptional advantages in the way of educational training. After completing the common school course, he attended Santa Clara and St. Mary’s colleges and subsequently engaged in farming with his father. After the death of the latter he took charge of the farm and now owns six hundred acres at the Twenty-one Mile House, one mile south of Morgan Hill. Here he has been quite successful as a rancher, devoting his land to the cultivation of hay and grain, and also raising stock. Fraternally, Mr. O’Toole is allied with a number of secret orders, among them the N. S. G. W., of Gilroy and the A. O. F., Y. M. I. and F. O. E., of San Jose. In his religious views, he is a regular communicant of the Catholic Church, and stands high socially.
Transcribed by Joyce Rugeroni.
Source: History
of the State of California & Biographical Record of Coast Counties,
California by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A. M., Pages 1350-1351. The Chapman
Publishing Co., Chicago, 1904.
© 2016 Joyce Rugeroni.