Santa
Clara County
Biographies
PHELPS BROTHERS
(Robert & William S.)
Prominent among the most respected and esteemed
residents of Santa Clara county are Robert Phelps and William S. Phelps, who,
with their sister, live about three and one-half miles from Gilroy, on the Day
road, where they own a finely improved homestead. Under the systematic and able
management of the two brothers, this farm is in a good state of cultivation,
and with its excellent appointments and appliances bears speaking evidence to
even the most casual observer of the existence of natural skill and cultivated
tastes. The Phelps family are lineal descendants of
one of the early New England colonists, and come from distinguished patriotic
stock. Their father, Timothy Phelps, was born in 1787, in Vermont, which was
also the birthplace of his father, Daniel Phelps. The latter served throughout
the Revolutionary war as a soldier of courage, taking an active part in battle
of Bunker Hill; being at Quebec with Montgomery; and a witness of the surrender
of Cornwallis at Yorktown. He subsequently removed from the Green Mountain
state to Missouri, becoming a pioneer farmer of Washington county.
Inheriting the patriotic ardor of
his ancestors, Timothy Phelps took an active part in the war of 1812, serving
against the Indians in the west. Removing with the family to Washington county,
Mo., he embarked in agricultural pursuits on his own account, and was there
prosperously employed as a tiller of the soil until his death, December 16,
1863. His wife, whose maiden name was Cynthia Stevenson, was born in North
Carolina, removed with her parents to Missouri when a child, in 1807, and
resided there until her death, in 1850. Of the children born of their union,
six grew to years of maturity, namely: Robert, one of the subjects of this
sketch; Mrs. Henry E. G. Breckinridge, of Missouri; William S., in partnership
with his brother Robert; Jane and Mrs. Maria Bryan, living on the home farm
with their brothers; and Henry, a farmer, who crossed the plains in 1852,
settling at San Jose, and subsequently serving for ten years as county assessor
of Santa Clara county.
Both of the Phelps brothers were
born in Washington county, Mo., the birth of Robert, the elder brother,
occurring June 30,1828, and that of William S., his
partner, April 9, 1832. Both were brought up on the home farm, and, in common
with the neighboring children, obtained their early education in the typical
pioneer schoolhouse, which was made of logs, had a puncheon floor, and was
furnished with slab benches. Learning the carpenter’s trade, Robert Phelps
followed it for two years, when, in 1852, he came with an ox team train across
the plains to California. After spending a year in the mines, he located in San
Jose, where he was employed as a carpenter and builder for three years. In
1856, having been joined by his brother W. S., who came by way of the plains to
the Pacific coast in 1853, he was engaged in mining pursuits in Butte and
Nevada counties until 1862. In the meantime, in 1858, W. S. and Henry had come to
San Jose township, settling about three miles east of town, on land which they
had previously purchased, and were there engaged in farming and stock-raising
for five years. In 1865 their sisters, Jane and Maria, left Missouri and came
to California by water. Mrs. Bryant (sic) was then a widow with two children.
Disposing of their ranch in 1867, Messrs. Phelps bought their present farm, on
the Day road, and have here improved one of the most valuable and desirable agricultural
estates of this locality. Their ranch contains two hundred and twenty-five
acres of land, on which they have erected substantial and convenient buildings,
and made improvements of an excellent character, its appointments comparing
favorably in every respect with any in this section of the county. They are
thorough-going skillful farmers, carrying on general ranching, but making a
specialty of raising grain and hay. Robert Phelps is a member of the
Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and in his political affiliations is a stanch
Democrat.
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 1044-1047. The
Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago, 1904.
© 2016 Cecelia M. Setty.