San Diego County
Biographies
MRS. MARY M. GALLY
For more than four and a half
decades Mrs. Mary M. Gally has lived in the Ojai Valley, witnessing the
progress of civilization in this part of the state, and as one of Ventura County’s
pioneer women she is widely known and highly esteemed. She was born and reared in Jefferson City,
Missouri, a daughter of Dr. William and A. A. Davison, and completed her
education in a seminary of her native city.
Dr. Davison had first moved west to Wheeling and then to Jefferson City
which was his home thereafter.
In 1885 was solemnized the marriage
of B. W. Gally and Mary M. Davison. Mr.
Gally was born in Wheeling, Virginia, July 9, 1852, a son of the Hon. Thomas M.
Gally, who was a native of Virginia. His
mother, Mary (List) Gally, a native of Wheeling, was a daughter of H. List, a
prominent banker of that city. Mr. and
Mrs. Thomas M. Gally were the parents of two children, a son and a daughter,
Benjamin W. and Sidney.
Thomas M. Gally, P. G. W. P.,
distinguished Whig statesman and member of the West Virginia Constitutional
Convention of 1852, was well known and highly respected not only throughout his
own state but throughout the east. Born
in Wheeling, Virginia, in 1822 of Irish descent, he completed his collegiate
training in Alleghany College in Meadville, Pennsylvania. At the age of eighteen he became interested
in the Temperance cause to which he devoted himself, heart and soul. In Pittsburgh he assumed editorial control of
a paper pledged to the cause, but left later to study law in Cincinnati under
Mr. Johnston, afterward Superior Court judge in that city. He was admitted to the bar and began to
practice his profession under very encouraging conditions but was forced to
give it up because of ill-health. After
a period of two years, while in the north, he began a crusading trip for the
Sons of Temperance, of which he had long been a member, preaching in Baltimore,
Boston, Philadelphia, and New York. At
this time he became a member of the Grand Division of the Sons of Temperance of
Virginia, and at its October session was appointed Traveling Deputy, Grand
Worthy Patriarch. In October, 1848, he
was elected unanimously the Grand Worthy Patriarch of Virginia and cordially
invited to continue his valuable labors as a state lecturer. To this he assented, although it was to his
own physical and financial loss.
B. W. Gally attended the public
schools of Wheeling and as a young man entered the field of finance. His health was impaired by the close
confinement of the banking business and in 1883 he came to California. His faith in its climate to restore and
invigorate was justified and, having determined to lead an outdoor life, he
located in the Ojai Valley. Here he
purchased from William McKee seventy-five acres of wild land on which he
conducted a small boarding house, making provisions for an adequate supply of
water by digging several fine artesian wells.
An untiring worker, he cleared and improved the tract, eventually
transforming it into a valuable farm. He
opened a tourist resort here and before the advent of a railroad in this
section ran stages to Santa Barbara and Ventura. His keen discernment enabled him to readily
recognize the wonderful possibilities of this region as a resort for tourists
and he was the first to advertise the Ojai Valley, issuing a booklet describing
its beauty and its advantages as a place of residence. He thus set in motion a current of tourists
in this direction and they have continued to come in constantly increasing
number until this is now one of the most popular recreation spots of Southern
California. He backed his faith by his
works and the Valley owes to Mr. Gally a debt of gratitude it can never
repay. He was a gentleman of the old
school, with the innate courtesy, the grace of manner and dignified bearing
which mark the man of birth and breeding.
He occupied a high place in public esteem and his death, which occurred
in 1893, when he was forty-one years of age and at the height of his usefulness,
was a distinct loss to the community.
Mr. and Mrs. Gally were the parents
of three sons. Howard D., the eldest, an
artist by profession, married Miss Agnes Lord, of Ojai, and resides on a
ten-acre ranch near his mother’s home.
Thomas Kilburne, a graduate of Cornell
University, is secretary of William R. Staats
Company, a bond and investment company of Los Angeles, and saw active service
in France during the World War. He
married Miss Lillian Normand, a graduate of Pomona College, and their children
are Sidney and David, the former twelve and the latter six years of age. Benjamin W., Jr., an alumnus of the
University of California, joined the United States Marine Corps, advanced to
the rank of captain, was sent overseas to take part in the World War, and is
now stationed on the island of Haiti. He
married Miss Ruth Drown, a daughter of A. L. and Gertrude (Logan) Drown, the
former a native of New York and the latter of Pennsylvania. Mr. Drown developed a large fruit ranch near
Ojai and is now mayor of that town. Mr.
and Mrs. Benjamin W. Gally have two children, Benjamin W. (III) and Gertrude,
aged respectively twelve and six years.
Mrs. Mary M. Gally is a descendant
of Edward Jaquelin and Martha Cary, who owned most of
Jamestown, Virginia in 1600. She prizes
very highly a published history of the descendants of this couple, now
scattered all over the United States.
The group held a grand family reunion in 1907.
Mrs. Gally is justly proud of her
four grandchildren, in whose society she renews her youth. Since her husband’s death she has improved
the home place, managing the resort for ten years. She has altered the cottages with modern
conveniences, and rents these for housekeeping purposes. She is a capable businesswoman and figures
prominently in the social and cultural life of Ojai as a member of the Woman’s
Club, the Tuesday Club and the Thursday Club.
In community affairs she has ever manifested a deep and helpful
interest, and her personal characteristics are such as inspire strong and enduring
regard.
Transcribed
by V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: California of the South
Vol. III, by John Steven McGroarty, Pages 411-414, Clarke Publ.,
Chicago, Los Angeles,
Indianapolis. 1933.
© 2012 V.
Gerald Iaquinta.
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NUGGET'S SAN DIEGO BIOGRAPIES