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Following the period when
the county was divided up into districts determined by the old
Mexican Land Grants, comes that of a further division of this
territory into the large estates of the wealthy. San Mateo is still
a county of large estates; and presents the appearance of a typical
old English shire, as it preserves the memories of the original
landholders and early settlers in the names of its cities, towns,
roads and land marks. Many of these early arrivals came seeking a
home in the county, even before the discovery of gold in California
in 1848.
There are about a score of such representative men, the
names of many of whom are still borne by descendents.. A large
number still reside in the county, and retain considerable portions
of the land grants owned by their fathers and grandfathers. These
are the Athertons, Adams, Selbys, Doyles, Johnsons, Haywards,
Lathams, Ralstons, Brewers, Macondrays, Bowies, Howards, Parrotts,
Borels, Reddingtons, Poetts, Eastons, Polhemus', Sneaths, Woods,
Donohoes, Mills, Tripps and others.
Other well known names, famous in the history of state
and nation have acquired an added significance by their close
association with the early history and upbuilding of the county,
although not remembered as land holders. San Mateo County early
became a sort of playground for the business and professional men of
San Francisco, attracting also all the famous men of that city's
early days, who spent much of their leisure in the county, either at
the homes of their friends or at the picturesque inns of that
period.
Could the registers of these various establishments be
consulted, with their thousands of names of pleasure-bent pioneers,
there would be found among them the, signatures of such leading men
of San Francisco's early days as judge Lake, Judge Haydenfeldt, W.
D. M. Howard, Dr. A. J. Bowie, William T. Coleman, Judge Stephen
Field, Senator Gwin, C. B. Polhemus, H. F. Teschemacher, three times
mayor of San Francisco, Governor Downey, Judge Ogden Hoffman,
Recorder Hackett, Joshua Haven, Peachy McDougall, the McAllisters,
the McLains, Capt. Irham, Mr. Forbes, Gen. Beale, Gen. Fremont, Gen.
Sherman, Mailey Payton, Beverly Saunders, Myers Truett, Lafayette
Maynard, Don Jose Robinson, Capt. Macondray and many others.
H. F. Teschemacher who later served three terms as mayor of San
Francisco, came to the peninsula region from Boston in 1835. He was
on terms of intimacy with all the old Spanish families including the
Arguellos, Castros, Estudillos, Pachecos, Sanchez, Vallejos,
Noriegas and others. He tells of the time when vessels used to come
here from Chile to load with grain from San Mateo Point, then an
early and friendly rival as a port of commerce with Yerba Buena (San
Francisco). Yerba Buena's population was then little more than 1500.
To William Davis Merry Howard is unanimously accorded
the distinction of being the greatest of pioneers and early settlers
of San Mateo County. The high reputation he bore for integrity and
business ability lives after him, while his many substantial
accomplishments for the good of the county still remain as monuments
to his memory. He was a man whom everybody loved, and of whom no one
spoke anything but good.
Mr. Howard was a man of great enterprise, both in San
Mateo County and San Francisco. He was a prince of hospitality and
did much to interest others in the county which he chose for his
hone. His house was brought around the Horn from Boston in sections
in 1850. When erected it was called El Cerrito (the little hill) and
was located on a part of the old San Mateo Rancho. The area of the
San Mateo Rancho was 6,538.8 acres, which was originally granted by
Pio Pico, the last governor of California under Mexican rule, to his
secretary, Cayetana Arenas. In its sweep from the foothills to the
bay, it included about one-half of the present City of San Mateo and
all of Burlingame and most of Hillsborough, as well as the
picturesque Spring Valley lakes that now furnish San Francisco's
water supply. Mr. W. D. M. Howard purchased the San Mateo Rancho for
the sum of $25,000, and it cost him this amount in addition to fence
his property.
Mr. W. D. M. Howard's interest in this delightful
region which later became his home, commenced in about 1835 when he
passed through this territory on his trip up the peninsula from the
Isthmus.
W. D. M. Howard was a great fancier of live stock, and
in 1857 he imported the first short-horns into California,
consisting of the registered bull Orrin, and three cows. The
descendents of these, together with later acquisitions, made up the
famous Howard Shorthorn Herd, probably the best known in California
today.
William H. Howard, son of W. D. M. Howard was another
prominent figure in the county's early life. Upon what is now
Burlingame, William H. Howard maintained a magnificent . herd of
dairy Shorthorn cattle. The dairy barn in which they were housed was
taken down about ten years ago and removed to Merced County where it
stands today.
As early as 1887 William H. Howard planned a
subdivision of a part of the town of Burlingame, and this original
subdivision was used practically in its entirety when the property
was actually sold in 1905 and the succeeding years.
In 1889 William H. Howard held an auction sale of some
of his San Mateo properties comprising a portion of the eastern and
western additions.
That portion of the land south of Burlingame and east of the State
Highway, on which the present town stands, belonged to William H.
Howard.
William Davis Merry Howard was a native of Boston,
Massachusetts. He married Miss Agnes Poett, daughter of Dr. Joseph
Henry Poett. There was one son by this marriage,-William H. Howard
who married Miss Anna D. Whiting of Boston. The children by this
marriage were W. D. M. Howard, Gertrude Howard (now Mrs. F. S.
Whitwell of Boston) ; Edward W. Howard, who married Miss Olivia
Lansdale of Philadelphia; Frances S. Howard and John Kenneth Howard.
Edward W. Howard was the father of five children: Olivia, William
Henry, Anne, Gertrude and Marian.
Mrs. W, D. M. Howard survived her husband and later
married his brother, George H. Howard. The children by this union
were. Miss Julia Howard (now Mrs. E. 1). Beylard), George Howard,
Miss Agnes Howard and J. H. P. Howard.
The descendents of W. D. M: Howard and also those of
his brother Geo. H. Howard still retain large portions of the
original W. D. M. Howard holdings.
William Davis Merry Howard's father was Eleazar Howard of Boston,
Massachusetts, whose father was William Howard the great grandfather
of William Howard Taft, former president of the United States.
The name of William Davis Merry Howard is recalled by
San Mateans for many things, but perhaps one of his greatest claims
to remembrance is the signal service he did posterity in planting
practically the whole county to eucalypti, thus covering many bare
spots and establishing for all time a series of windbreaks to temper
the velocity of the winds that used to sweep through the county in
the days gone by, without check or hindrance.
The following inscriptions are to be found on the
Howard family tomb, in the Episcopal Church of St. Matthew, of San
Mateo, which stands near the center of the vast tract that was
purchased and owned by W. D. M. Howard. They are fitting memorials
of a prominent and most useful life.
This
Monument Was Erected On This Spot
Within The Original Church Of Saint Matthew
In Memory Of
William Davis Merry Howard
By
Agnes Poett Howard, His Wife
And
William Henry Howard, His Son
Who Together Also Gave The Land On Which
The Original Church Destroyed In The Earthquake Of
April 18, 1906 Was Built And On
Which This Present Church Now Stands
Entombed Beneath This Monument
William Davis Merry Howard
Born May 2nd, 1819
Died January 19th, 1858
William Henry Howard
Born June 3rd, 1850
Died October 19th, 1901
Abraham Howard
Winding Roads Through Hillsborough Estates
The interment in this church of George H. Howard is commemorated by
a bronze tablet in the chapel placed there by his, daughter, Mrs. E.
D. Beylard.
Darius Ogden Mills was one of the county's best known
pioneers, although other sections of the state, such as Sacramento,
also claim him for their own. He was born in North Salem, Winchester
County, New York, on September 23, 1825. On September 5, 1854, he
was married to Jane Templeton Cunningham of New York. He began his
career as a clerk in New York City and later became cashier of the
Merchants' Bank of Erie County in Buffalo. In 1849 he came to
California and became a merchant and dealer in exchange in
Sacramento.
He founded the bank of D. O. Mills & Co. in that city,
which institution is still the leading bank of the Capital city.
From 1864 to 1867 he was president of the Bank of California of San
Francisco. After this institution was wrecked by his successor, he
again took charge of it and headed it until 1878, placing it on a
sound basis.
He was regent and treasurer of the University of
California from 1868 to 1880 and founded the Mills Professorship of
moral and intellectual philosophy. He was also one of the first
trustees of the Lick Estate and of the Liek Observatory on Mount
Hamilton.
Shortly after his successful operations in California
in the commercial world, Mills, in returning to New York, spent much
-of his time in looking after the poor people and became noted
throughout the country as a philanthropist. He built a number of
hotels for the poor.
D. O. Mills died suddenly at his Millbrae home on January 3, 1910 of
heart trouble.
There are now living at Easton, San Mateo County, two
of his descendents, Mrs. Adeline M. Easton, his sister, now at an
advanced age; and Ansel M. Easton, his nephew, at whose home she now
lives.
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