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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Santa Clara Biography

Golden Nugget Library