Santa
Clara County
Biographies
WILLIAM TRENOUTH
WILLIAM
TRENOUTH. A fruit raising
and fruit drying enterprise of recognized merit and success is that of William Trenouth, since 1900 the owner of a ninety-five acre ranch
near Irvington. Mr. Trenouth was born in Santa Clara county,
Cal., October 16, 1858, his father, William, having been born in Cornwall,
England, his mother, Elizabeth (Coneybeare) Trenouth, being a native of Devonhire,
England. William Trenouth
was a bricklayer by trade, who in 1848 went to Australia,
and from there to California in 1850.
Ignoring the rush to the mines, he remained in San Francisco and plied
his trade for a year, in 1851 locating on a ranch in Santa Clara county, where the balance of his life was spent. He is survived by his wife, who lives with
her son near Mission San Jose, and who has already attained to fourscore and
six years. Of the three sons and five
daughters in the family, William, the seventh child, was reared on the home
farm at Santa Clara, and was educated in the public schools and at Santa Clara
College.
William
Trenouth has never found ranching
a hard or cheerless occupation, but on the contrary has extracted much of
pleasure as well as profit out of country life.
His first independent business venture was undertaken in partnership
with his brothers, George and Richard, purchasing five hundred and fifty acres
of land near Mission San Jose, which he devoted to general farming and
stock-raising. The passing years brought
success and influence, and in 1900 he bought his present ranch in Irvington,
ninety-five acres in extent, of which sixty acres are under prunes, twelve
acres under walnuts, and the balance under berries. Mr. Trenouth
has a dryer of sufficient size to attend to his own as well as his neighbor’s
fruit, and his improvements are modern and practical, being continually added
to as large capacity is required by his increasing business.
The
Trenouth home is a commodious country residence, and
the family consists of Mr. and Mrs. Trenouth,
and their children, Laura, William and Harry.
Mrs. Trenouth was formerly Annie Hugill, a native of Canada.
Mr. Trenouth is a Republican in politics,
and he is fraternally connected with the Peak Lodge No. 114, I.O.O.F., of
Irvington, in which he has passed all of the chairs, and with the Grand
Lodge. He is a capable and energetic
man, reliable and conscientious, his life and business efforts having won him
the honor and esteem of his fellow men.
Transcribed by Donna Toole.
Source: History
of the State of California & Biographical Record of Coast Counties,
California by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A. M., Pages 752-753. The Chapman
Publishing Co., Chicago, 1904.
© 2015 Donna Toole.