Santa
Clara County
Biographies
JAMES SENNETT
A not inconsiderable number of pioneers of
California were recruited from the decks of incoming ships, and a few, while
making the land of flowers and sunshine their headquarters, failed to wean
themselves from their life of change and adventure upon the deep. To this class of early comers belonged Capt.
James Sennett, whose death on his ranch in the outskirts of Santa Clara, March
4, 1896, removed as seasoned and trained a mariner as ever shipped before a
mast. Born in bleak Cornwall, England,
Captain Sennett came from a race of seamen, and at an early age gave rein to
his supreme ambition, eventually becoming commander of a ship in the merchant marine. For
years he sailed from English ports to the busy marts of the old world, and at
an early day was in the employ of the Hudson Bay Company as commodore of their
numerous fleet, till 1876 when he came to San Francisco and engaged in the
stevedore business very successfully until the time of his death.
In 1876 Captain Sennett married, in
Somersetshire, Selina Ennor, born in Cornwall, and daughter of Nicholas Ennor,
a civil engineer of note in England. In
the same year he took his wife on the long voyage around the Horn to San
Francisco. In 1887 he brought his family
to Santa Clara county on account of his wife’s health,
purchased sixty-three acres of land now occupied by her, and continued to make
this his headquarters for the balance of his life. The sea never lost it charms for him, nor did
he ever tire of its changeful moods.
Year in and year out he continued to go up to San Francisco daily to
superintend his profitable business interest of English shipping principally,
in all being connected with the maritime trade of the west for twenty
years. His demise was unexpected, and
followed upon a cold which developed into peritonitis, and lasted but one
week. He was a Republican in political
faith, a member of the Masonic fraternity, and devoted in his attendance at the
Episcopal Church
Since her husband’s death Mrs. Sennett has
continued to manage her ranch, having several acres under prunes and pears, and
the balance under hay. Living with her
is a niece, Mrs. Clara Smith Kuhl, and both women are enthusiastic fruit growers,
deriving great satisfaction from their delightful surroundings and congenial
occupation. .
Transcribed by
Louise E. Shoemaker, August 23, 2015.
Source: History
of the State of California & Biographical Record of Coast Counties,
California by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A. M., Pages 733-734. The Chapman
Publishing Co., Chicago, 1904.
© 2015 Louise E. Shoemaker.