Santa
Clara County
Biographies
WILLIAM C. OVERFELT
Although many years have elapsed since Mr. Overfelt passed from the scene of his activities, his
memory is still green in the hearts of his family and friends, and, as a
pioneer of 1849 his name is worthy of perpetuation in the annals of the state. His
was a life of toil, beginning when he was a mere child, but he was more
fortunate than some in that he had established himself upon an independent
basis by the time he arrived at middle age. Had his life been prolonged,
undoubtedly he would have reaped a larger success and a widening influence as a
man and a citizen, for his resourceful mind and keen judgment won the
confidence of associates and were the factors in his growing prosperity.
Descended from German ancestry,
William C. Overfelt was born in Virginia in 1827. At
the age of five years he was orphaned by the death of his mother, whose
affectionate care had protected his days of infancy. His father, Michael, a
native of the Old Dominion and a pioneer of Missouri, followed the wagonmaker’s trade in addition to the occupation of a
farmer. At the age of fourteen the son, being obliged to earn his own
livelihood, was bound out to a farmer, with whom he remained as an apprentice
until attaining the age of twenty-one. With an older brother, John, he then
embarked in the flour-milling business in Callaway county.
However, before their enterprise had been placed upon a substantial foundation,
news came concerning the discovery of gold, and he at once prepared to joint
(sic) a party bound for the coast. The journey across the plains, begun in the
spring of 1849, was made with pack mules and contained the usual dangers and
hardships. The greatest peril was at King’s river, where the waters had
overflowed the bed of the river and formed an angry sea, imperiling the lives
of those who attempted to cross.
Like almost every pioneer of 1849
Mr. Overfelt tried his luck in the mines, being
engaged principally in Mariposa county. About 1852 he
came to the Santa Clara valley and with others bought and settled on government
land, which he utilized for general farming and stock-raising. The marriage of
Mr. Overfelt was solemnized in San Jose December 27,
1854, and united him with Miss Mary Pyle, a sister of John F. Pyle, in whose
sketch will be found mention of that family. Her father, Thomas, was a son of
Edward G. Pyle, a very early pioneer of California, and mentioned in history as
one of the party who returned to Donner lake in March, 1847, hoping to arrive
there in time to relieve the ill-fated Donner party. The sad death of those
unfortunate emigrants is recorded in history. Mrs. Overfelt
was born in Illinois and accompanied her father’s family to California, where
she attended a subscription school an also had the advantage of study, for some
years, with a private tutor engaged by her father. After her marriage she
settled with her husband on a tract of one hundred ad sixty acres, located on
Penitentiary creek, one-half mile from Berryessa, Santa Clara county. After almost four years on that place they sold and
removed to a part of the Pyle homestead, where Mr. Overfelt
conducted a dairy and stock business until his death, May 26, 1876, at the age
of more than forty-nine years. Both he and his wife were from an early age
indentified with the Methodist Episcopal Church South and contributed
generously to charitable and religious movements. After the death of her
husband she continued the management of the farm near San Jose, where she has
an attractive residence. In her family there are two sons, and three daughters,
of whom the former, Charles F. and E. J., are engaged in stock-raising and
general farming at Hollister, this state. The oldest daughter, Mrs. Mary E.
Hatch, resides near San Jose. The youngest daughters, Martha Ellen, a
bookkeeper, and Mildred L., a graduate of the State Normal School, reside with
their mother.
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 1023-1024. The
Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago, 1904.
© 2016 Cecelia M. Setty.