San
Joaquin County
Biographies
MRS. CATHERINE MATTESICH
Among the old settlers of San
Joaquin County who has witnessed a remarkable transformation and who has borne
her share of the privations and responsibilities of a pioneer existence, is Mrs.
Catherine Mattesich, who has resided on her present ranch since 1884. This ranch consists of 160 acres of fine
wheat land, located about six miles southeast of Farmington, San Joaquin
County, where for thirty-eight years abundant crops of wheat and barley have
been raised. Before her marriage, Mrs.
Mattesich was Miss Catherine Connors, a native of County Galway, Ireland, born
March 14, 1852, the youngest daughter of Matthias and Nellie (Kennon) Connors, natives also of the same county in
Ireland. Eight children accompanied the
parents to America in 1864 where they located at Boston, Massachusetts. Matthias Connors had no small task to support
his large family, as he had no trade and had to depend on the wages of a common
laborer; however, all of them received a good education. He passed away in Boston, Massachusetts,
honored and respected by all who knew him, at the ripe old age of
eighty-four. Catherine Connors received a
good education in the public schools of Boston and in 1878 when she had completed
her schooling she started for California on an emigrant train, her fare being
$228. She came direct to Stockton, as
her cousins by the name of McCarthy lived there.
On December 9, 1880, Miss Connors
was married to Dominic Mattesich, a native of Austria. At sixteen years he became a sailor and thus
spent four years, arriving in San Francisco when he was twenty years old, where
he stopped with an uncle, who persuaded him to give up the sailor’s life and
remain in California. He purchased a
tract of land south of Stockton and engaged in farming pursuits for four years,
when he transferred his operations to the present quarter-section of land some
six miles southeast of Farmington, where he raised wheat and barley. This ranch was formerly a sheep range and
when Mr. and Mrs. Mattesich took up their residence here, there was only a
small cabin on the place and the wonderful development and improvement in this
section has been witnessed by Mrs. Mattesich, in which she has borne her part
unfalteringly. Mr. Mattesich passed away
in May, 1901, survived by his wife and three children: George F.; John Edward; Lena is the wife of
Charles A. Seward, and they have one son, Charles, Jr. Mr. Seward conducts the home ranch for Mrs.
Mattesich. John E. Mattesich is a
trustee of the Wheatland district school, where he received most of his
education. Since taking up her residence
near Farmington, Mrs. Mattesich has been an active member of the Methodist
Episcopal Church. She is a woman of many
fine attributes of both mind and heart and is highly esteemed in the
neighborhood where she has passed so many active years.
Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Page
776. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 Gerald Iaquinta.
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