Santa Clara County
Biographies
JOSEPH RUSH WELLER
In California even the smallest of communities is great in content. Literally couched beneath his own vine and fig tree, plucking from friendly boughs delicious fruits, finding in the products of the soil nearly everything needful in domestic economy, and free from most of the ills that flesh is thought to be heir to, what wonder that the Californian envies no man, nor looks wistfully over the mountain's crest toward the crowded cities and precarious farming regions of the east? As an example of one who has spent more than half a century in this glorious climate and has little cause for complaint, we may appropriately mention Joseph Rush Weller, who has passed far beyond the average years allotted to man and is rapidly nearing his eighty-fifth birthday. Having devoted the early part of his life to the glorious cause of education in the far east, Mr. Weller first came to California in 1850, locating soon afterward in the Santa Clara valley, where he found the climate all that could be desired and soon decided to remain there, and having followed the free and independent calling of a farmer, he not only regained his health, but has acquired considerable real estate, and is now spending the sunset of life surrounded by all that heart could wish.
It was in Warren county, N.J., October 10, 1819, that Mr. Weller was born and he is the seventh in a family of fourteen children born to Peter and Elizabeth (Smock) Weller, both of whom were also natives of New Jersey. The father, a tanner by trade, owned and operated a large tannery in Warren county, N.J., for a number of years and in 1823 removed to Geneseo valley, N.Y., and followed farm pursuits there until cut off by death at the advanced age of eighty-three years. The beloved mother had passed away many years previously, her death having taken place at the age of forty-seven or eight. The paternal grandfather, William Weller, a farmer by occupation, was a soldier in the Revolutionary war and died in New Jersey, the place of his nativity. His two older brothers, Philip and Peter, were also soldiers in the Revolutionary war, and Philip was with General Washington at Braddock's defeat near Forty Duquesne. All three brothers fought at the battle of Monmouth.
The recipient of an exceptional education, it was fitting that Mr. Weller should follow educational pursuits in choosing a career for himself, and for a number of years he was closely identified with educational interests in the east. His primary learning, gleaned from the public schools of New York, was supplemented by a course in the Temple Hill Academy, which he entered in 1842, and a few years later he took a complete normal course at Albany, N.Y., graduating in 1846, the proud possessor of a state diploma. Soon after graduation he became associated with Henry Willey, and together they conducted a private school in Geneseo, N.Y., Mr. Weller having charge of the outside or manual training department. He subsequently taught the city schools in the same place for one year, and in 1849 he took charge of the Fresh Kill school on Staten Island, which he taught one year.
It was in the year 1850 that Mr. Weller came to California by way of the Isthmus, and for a time he went to the mines, but did not work in them, returning to San Francisco in a short time. The following year he went to the Santa Clara valley in search of health and rented land in that vicinity for several years. In the fall of 1853 he and his brother invested in real estate, each purchasing two-elevenths of the Tularcitos ranch, which originally consisted of fifteen thousand acres, having made a previous purchase of two hundred acres adjoining. After some litigation over this land, the brothers secured but two-elevenths of five thousand acres as their portion, and upon the death of his brother, Abraham, Mr. Weller purchased his interest. Here upon this fine farm near Milpitas, Mr. Weller has passed the intervening years, engaged in farm pursuits, and he still owns several fine and highly improved ranches, one of three hundred and sixty acres and another of six hundred and forty acres, but resides in a fine residence in Milpitas, leasing his land. Here also his marriage with Mrs. Marion (Hart) Battey took place and they have two daughters. Of these the elder, Marion Elizabeth, is at home, and the younger, May Lucinda, married W. M. Curtner and resides near the home place. The sisters were educated at Berkeley, and Marion Elizabeth is a teacher of piano music, though her principal duty for some years has been untiring devotion to her parents.
Aside from his business interests Mr. Weller, during his long residence in California, has been identified with the progress of his section of this state. He has been largely interested in educational affairs, having organized the district schools in Santa Clara county in 1854 and '55, and served as school trustee for over thirty years. In his religious opinions he is a believer in the Presbyterian faith and is now officiating as elder of the church of that denomination. As a prominent member of the Grange society, he has done well his part toward developing and advancing the agricultural interests in his section, and in the political field he wields his influence over a wide scope of territory. A member of the Republican party since its formation in 1856, he was chosen by the people to serve as justice of the peace, an office he filled in an eminently satisfactory manner for twenty-five or thirty years. In 1857 he was further honored by his election as associate judge of Santa Clara county, and he once served his party as delegate to the constitutional convention.
Transcribed
4-26-16 Marilyn
R. Pankey.
ญญญญSource:
History of the State of California &
Biographical Record of Coast Counties, California by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A.
M., Pages 1147-1148. The Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago, 1904.
ฉ 2016 Marilyn R. Pankey.