Santa
Clara County
Biographies
WILLIAM K. SLOAT
One of the worthiest and most substantial
families that have had to do with the upbuilding of the west is that of which
William K. Sloat represents the second generation on the coast. Born in
Virginia City, Nev., August 29, 1868, he was reared among the multitudinous
phases of life to be found in that world-famous money-getting center, and,
graduating from its feverish and uncertain atmosphere, has come to be a stable
and peace-loving horticulturist of Mountain View. No greater contrast between
his youth and later life could be conceived of, and his ranch on Dale avenue,
half a mile south of the town, bears evidence of his particular aptitude for an
occupation which brings one close to the heart of nature. His thirty-four acres
are devoted to cherry culture, and he is one of the best authorities in the
state on this important branch of fruit growing. He has given it the study of
many years; and has practically experimented with noticeable results. Leaving
the public schools of Virginia City, he received a thorough training in general
ranching under his father, Charles Oscar Sloat, and in time became manager of
the Delmos property, an extensive general ranch,
which he operated successfully from 1887 until 1893. He then purchased a
ten-acre cherry orchard on Hollenbeck avenue, and sold
it in 1903 to purchase his present ranch near town.
A man of ability, Mr. Sloat has been
particularly active in Republican politics, has attended state and county
conventions, and has served as precinct committeeman. He was president of the
Mountain View Republican Club for one year, and has held other offices of trust
and importance. He has found a congenial field of effort in the fraternal
organizations in which the locality abounds, and has passed all of the chairs
in the Independent Order of Foresters and the Woodman of the World. He is also
a member of the Grange, and has done much to increase the stability and
usefulness of this organization. His beautiful ranch home is presided over by
his wife, who was formerly Ellen Agnes Doyle, a native of Mountain View and
daughter of Francis S. Doyle, the latter a Mountain View pioneer of 1871. Mr.
Doyle brought with him to America the vigor and perseverance of a true son of
County Wexford, Ireland, and upon locating in New York found a test of his
newly acquired patriotism awaiting him. Enlisting in the navy, and later in the
infantry of the country, he served with distinction throughout the Civil war,
and in 1867, when peace had settled over the land, made his way to the coast,
remaining in San Francisco until coming to Mountain View in 1871. For years he
farmed the Murphy ranch, and died there at an advanced age, having made a
success of life in the far west. He was public-spirited and popular, had one of
the best equipped farms in the county, and was road master of his precinct for
many years. Four children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Sloat, three sons and
one daughter, all living at home: Warren, Gertrude, Walter and Charley.
The father of Mr. Sloat is one of
the traveled, educated and thoroughly well posted pioneers of California.
Christened Charles Oscar at his birth in New York state,
he was brought to near Toledo, Ohio, as a child by his parents, his father being
a merchant and farmer during his entire active life. Charles Oscar Sloat, a
relative of Commodore Sloat, was reared on a farm and acquired practical
business experience in his father’s store, and when grown to manhood married Maria
Elizabeth Keating, a native of Tiffin, Ohio. Coming to California in 1852, he
located at what was then Fiddletown, but is now known as Oleta,
Amador county, where he started a general merchandise store, and was agent for
the Wells Fargo Express Company, His business partner was John Kaul, and the two met with deserved success for years,
finally winning out with large profit. In 1866 Mr. Sloat moved to Virginia
City, Nev., where he was again in the center of crude and lawless forces, and
where he gained and lost money until 1881. During this time he formed close
friendships with many of the magnates whose names have become famous in the
annals of the west, among them James Fair and Alvinzo
Haywood, and others whose fortunes run up into the millions. In October, 1881,
he came to California and located on ranching property near Saratoga for eight
years, in 1890 removing to Mountain View, where he engaged in fruit ranching,
and where he is now living retired on his ranch of twenty acres three miles
southeast on Hollenbeck avenue. Notwithstanding his extreme age, he retains
remarkable clearness of mind and facility of expression, being one of the most
entertaining and interesting of narrators of the early days. He has traveled
all over the world, has observed men and events with unusual keenness and, what
is better, remembers the best of all that he has seen. To himself and wife were
born four children, two sons and two daughters, of whom Charles D. Sloat, D. D.
S., of San Francisco, and William K., the rancher of Mountain View, are the
sole survivors.
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 1310-1311. The
Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago, 1904.
© 2016 Cecelia M. Setty.