Santa Clara County
Biographies
EMORY C. SINGLETARY
EMORY C. SINGLETARY. A representative pioneer settler of
California, and a prominent and highly esteemed resident of San Jose,
Emory C. Singletary occupies an honored position among the venerable
and well-to-do agriculturists of Santa Clara county.
He has spent a busy and useful life, and many of the events of his career are
worthy of record in this biographical volume. The descendant of one of the
early colonial families of New England, he was born May 16, 1824, in
Holden, Worcester county, Mass. On both sides of the house he is closely
connected with families of distinction, among others being the Goulds, the Dwinnells, the
Pierces and the Greeleys. Tradition says that he is
descended from one of two brothers who were born in England, where they were
heirs to the large Dunham estate. Their nurse was hired to make way with them,
but being tender-hearted and sympathetic, she brought them to America, and here
changed their names to Singletary.
Mr. Singletary comes of patriotic stock, one of his
earliest American ancestors, a brave soldier, having been killed by the Pequod Indians, and another ancestor, his Great-great
grandfather Singletary, having served as an officer in the Revolutionary war.
His grandfather, Amos Singletary, was born and reared in Massachusetts,
where he was engaged in agricultural pursuits during his active life. He
married a Miss Johnson, who came from English ancestry, and of the
children born of their union Emory was the father of
Emory C. Singletary, the subject of this sketch.
A native of Massachusetts, Emory Singletary grew to
manhood on the ancestral homestead, obtaining a fair knowledge of the three “R’s”
in the district schools of his home town. For many years he there followed the
independent occupation to which he was reared, and in addition worked at the
cobbler’s bench. Migrating to Wisconsin in 1838, he located in Walworth county, where he acquired large landed possessions, and was
for many years an extensive and prosperous farmer. He died in Elkhorn, near the
homestead which he had there improved at the venerable age of ninety-three
years. He married Lois Pierce, who was born in Massachusetts, a daughter
of Austin Pierce, and an own cousin of President Franklin Pierce. She died
in Massachusetts. Of the three children born of their union, two are living,
Emory C. and Charles, the latter a farmer, residing in Inyo county, Cal.
Reared and educated in Massachusetts, Emory C. Singletary
started for the far west in 1840, being then a youth of sixteen years. Going
from Albany to Buffalo by the Erie canal, he proceeded
by way of the Lakes to Chicago, where the stockades were still standing. From
that place he went to Milwaukee, then but a small town, populated largely by
Indians, Juneau, the friend of the whites, being at the head of the tribe.
After making several trips on the lake Mr. Singletary located in Walworth county, Wis., where he engaged in farming and stock-raising.
Familiar with horses from his boyhood, he became an expert in breaking teams.
Subsequently becoming an extensive dealer in cattle, he travelled through
southern Illinois and Missouri in his search for
cattle, which he bought and drove north, selling them principally in Wisconsin,
and having his headquarters in Elkhorn. He became well acquainted with many of
the prominent men of the states through which he journeyed, and was acquainted
with Abraham Lincoln. In the year 1846 Mr. Singletary went to St. Louis
with the intention of joining General Fremont on his western expedition,
but taking a great dislike to the general he returned to Wisconsin.
In 1853, accompanying a party in which there were
nineteen men, Mr. Singletary crossed the plains to California. Leaving his
Wisconsin home in February, he outfitted in Middletown, Logan county, Ill., and May 16, 1853, left Council
Bluffs, having with him his family, and driving two hundred head of cattle.
Leaving Salt Lake City on the left, the party came down the Humboldt valley,
and had several skirmishes with the Indians on the way, but arrived at Beckwith
Pass, Colusa county, Cal., in October, in good
condition, having nearly every head of his stock. Purchasing land near Colusa,
Mr. Singletary embarked in farming and stock-raising, and for several
years was the largest and best-known cattle dealer in the state. Returning east
in 1858, he came back to the coast by way of the Isthmus, and brought with him
a standard-bred stallion, Signal, three jacks, and two Beckwith Cotswold sheep.
He became a horse breeder of note, and shipped many horses to the eastern
markets. In 1871 Mr. Singletary brought the celebrated stallion Blackbird
to California, one of the finest horses ever on the coast. He also became one
of the largest landholders of the state, at one time holding title to over
thirty-five thousand acres. In 1873, having sold ninety-seven hundred acres of
his land, Mr. Singletary carne to the Santa Clara valley, hoping in this
salubrious climate to recuperate, his health having become impaired, and has
since been a resident of San Jose. For many years he was one of the most active
business men of this section of the state, his landed and financial interests
being very important and extensive. He formerly owned about twenty thousand
acres of land in Kern county, which he sold to Mr. Haggin and owned the Calden ranch
of twenty-two hundred acres. In 1874 he was one of the organizers, and the
first vice-president, of the First National Bank of San Jose, in which he still
retains an interest, and is one of the stockholders of the Bank of Visalia,
Cal. For a number of years he carried on a large business as a money loaner,
being one of the
best-known brokers of this locality. In 1884 he built his fine
residence on Stockton avenue, where he now resides,
surrounded by all the comforts and luxuries of the day and generation.
Mr. Singletary has been twice married. In Walworth, Wis.,
he married Caroline A. Wilson, a native of Ohio, and a daughter of
Alexander Wilson, a pioneer farmer of Wisconsin. She died in Colusa county, Cal. January 11, 1877, in San Jose,
Mr. Singletary married Florence Grigsby, who was born near Potosi,
Grant county, Wis., a daughter of William E. Grigsby. Educated in the
public schools of Wisconsin, and in the State Normal School at Platteville,
Wis., Florence Grigsby taught school in her native state and in Iowa for a
few terms. Coming to the Pacific coast in 1870, she was a teacher in the Bishop
Scott School, in Portland, Ore., for a year. In 1871 she taught in Santa Clara county, and subsequently entered the San Jose Normal School,
from which she was graduated in 1874, and in which she was afterwards a teacher
until her marriage. Mr. and Mrs. Singletary have two children, namely:
Emory Grigsby and George Curtis, twins, both of whom are attending
the Leland Stanford, Jr., University. Mr. Singletary is a member of
Friendship Lodge No. 210, F. & A. M. For a number of
years he was one of the directors of the State Agricultural Society, of which
he is a life member, and was one of the first organizers of the Marysville,
Cal., Fair. Mrs. Singletary is a member of
Isabella Chapter, D. A. R., and is a member of the Episcopal Church.
Transcribed by Marie Hassard 07 May 2015.
Source: History
of the State of California & Biographical Record of Coast Counties,
California by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A. M., Pages
578-581. The Chapman Publishing Co.,
Chicago, 1904.
© 2015 Marie
Hassard.