Santa
Clara County
Biographies
HON. JAMES W. REA
The name of the subject of this
sketch has been one of the notable names in the county of Santa Clara from its
earliest history, James Rea, or “Old Uncle Jimmy,” as he was more familiarly
known, the grandfather of James W. Rea, came to the Santa Clara valley from
Illinois in 1854. He was of that stock of sturdy frontiersmen who had so much
to do with the upbuilding (sic) of the great middle
west; men of the stamp of Lincoln, Douglas, Cass, Baker and Benton. James Rea,
the elder, was the friend and associate of these men in the early western life,
and when the tide of migration moved still further toward the setting sun, the
Rea family moved with it and located in the heart of the fertile and beautiful
Santa Clara valley. There “Uncle Jimmy” passed his declining years; there his
son, Thomas Rea, the well-known pioneer and capitalist, set up his own roof
tree; and there in the year 1854 his eldest grandson, James W. Rea displayed
the strong and virile qualities of his ancestry. His boyhood years were spent
in Gilroy, where he received a common school education, entering at the age of
fifteen the University of the Pacific, where he remained about a year. He then
married and began a business career in Gilroy as a stockman and rancher,
continuing for the following eight years, devoting to his business his intense
personal force and energy, and thereby compelling returns which numbered him among
the successful citizens of the county. In 1879 he located in San Jose for the
dual purpose of educating his children, and himself resuming his studies in the
University of the Pacific for a period of four years, and there established the
real estate and insurance business which still bears his name and which has
proven the foundation for his later success.
Bringing to bear in the prosecution of his work an application and
energy, without which even ability cannot win success, Mr. Rea has risen
steadily to a commanding position in the business life of San Jose, becoming a
leader among the progressive minds of the city and a prominent factor in its
up-building. For the past twenty-five years he has been closely identified with
various enterprises calculated to promote the commercial and agricultural
resources of Santa Clara county to accelerate the
growth and progress of San Jose. Among the corporations in which he has been an
organizer were the hotel Vendome and the Commercial & Savings Bank, where
he still acts as a director. He was also prominent in the organization of the
company that acquired and controls the driving park on The Alameda. In 1886 he
was elected one of the railroad commissioners of California and at the election
in1890 was distinguished as no other incumbent of the office had ever been by a
second re-election.
To
Mr. Rea is due the credit for the successful organization and conduct of one of
the greatest enterprises recently undertaken in the Santa Clara valley—that of
building the Interurban Street Railway System, which intersects the country and
connects the smaller cities and towns with San Jose. In the face of obstacles
which necessarily confront an enterprise in which only the far-sighted business
man can see results adequate to the efforts made, Mr. Rea carried his plans to
a successful issue, organizing a company of which he was the controlling factor
and president, securing the right of way, and interesting sufficient capital to
insure the ultimate completion and success of the enterprise, when he disposed
of the road to A. O. Hale of the firm of Hale Bros. The interurban railway has
done more to develop the resources of the county than any other recent
enterprise. It traverses an exceptionally rich country and puts hundreds of orchardists
within easy reach of San Jose, benefiting this city immeasurably as well as
enhancing the value of real estate and lands throughout the famous Santa Clara
valley.
In
addition to his business interests Mr. Rea has been extensively engaged in
ranching and stock raising during his entire residence
in San Jose. He owns a farm on the Alviso road, four
miles north of this city, which he has improved and developed until it is one
of the finest in this section of the county. This property, with others, has
recently been incorporated as the Uvas Stock Company,
of which Mr. Rea is president. It embraces several thousand acres of land and
as the name indicates is given over to stock raising and dairying purposes.
Under the name of the Vendome Dairy the company expects to have in operation in
the near future the largest model dairy in California. Mr. Rea has given a
large share of his attention to the raising of fine cattle and horses, and in
1903 he won the sweepstakes at the state fair for the finest dairy herd on
exhibit. He has on his ranch fine standard-bred horses, owning the stallion
Iron Alto, 2:12½, by Palo Alto, 2:08¼, out of Elaine, 2:20, both world’s
records in their day.
The
marriage of Mr. Rea occurred in 1871 and united him with Laura Pyle of Santa
Clara, by whom he had three children, namely: Mrs. Edith Rea Harter of San
Jose; Edwin M., a rising attorney of San Jose; and Thomas, secretary of the
Interurban Railway. Mrs. Rea died in June, 1885. In his fraternal relations Mr.
Rea was made a Mason in Keith Lodge of Gilroy; a Royal Arch Mason in Temple
Chapter No. 41, of Watsonville, where he still holds membership, while he is
also identified with San Jose Commandery No. 10, K.
T., and Islam Temple, N. M. S., of San Francisco. He is a Native Son and the
first president of the Palo Alto Parlor, and is also a member of the Benevolent
Protective Order of Elks. In his political convictions Mr. Rea is a stanch
Republican and a firm adherent of the principles advocated in the platform of
that party. Though personally he has no desire for official recognition he has
given his greatest efforts to advance the best interests of his party and has
for years been a leader in its counsels, wielding a controlling influence
throughout this section of the state. He is a member of the Chamber of
Commerce, and of the St. Claire and Union League Clubs.
Personally
Mr. Rea presents a strong character and is conceded to be a man of marked
business ability and resources, possessing a great capacity for work,
prosecuting with untiring energy and industry whatever he may undertake and
uniformly bringing it to a successful termination. He is a man of great
determination and much sterling work, being endowed by nature with a fine
physique and pleasing personality and an unusual amount of latent energy and
magnetism, giving him great influence in the community and securing the
admiration and devoted affection of his friends, of whom he has a great many
who appreciate his unselfish efforts and many good qualities. Public-spirited,
enterprising and generous to a fault, no name is better known or more honored
than his, for he has been an active participant in nearly every movement in San
Jose which has tended toward the improvement and upbuilding
(sic) of his community.
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 289-290. The Chapman
Publishing Co., Chicago, 1904.
© 2014 Cecelia M. Setty.