The Valley of Heart's Delight
santaclararesearch.net
The subject
of this narrative, whose portrait appears in this work, was born, in
Ohio county, Kentucky, January 27, 1813. At the age-of twelve years, he
accompanied his parents to Marion county, Missouri; thence they
proceeded to Lewis county, in the same State, and there he received his
education, as well as being reared a farmer; the last sixteen years of
his residence, farming on his own account. In the year 1819, crossed
the plains to the Pacific slopes, in a train of forty-two wagons,
conducted by Ebenezer Ously, and arrived in California, in September,
of the same year. Mr. Thomas, like every one else, first engaged in
mining, his initial venture being on Dry creek. Giving up
the search for gold in two weeks, however, he turned his attention to
teaming until the following Spring, when he opened a grocery, in
partnership with John Bane, and conducted it until December, when he
sold out, and sailed from San Francisco, December 14,1850, on a visit
to the Eastern States, arriving at his home in Missouri, February 15,
1851.
On April 18, 1853, we find Mr. Thomas, once more about to
undertake the weary journey across the plains, bringing with him a
drove of cattle. He came direct to Gilroy township,
Santa Clara county-, arriving November 1, 18.53. He first resided in a
rented house near the old homestead, but, subsequently, having
purchased outright a squatter's claim, he located thereon—the farm
on which he now lives—comprising four hundred and sixty-five
acres in possession, and nine hundred and forty-five acres in an
undivided grant. For the first twelve years of his sojourn in the
county, Mr. Thomas engaged entirely in stock-raising, but latterly, he
has confined himself chiefly to agricultural farming.
In the year 1855, his father, James Thomas, who was born August 27,
1786, made the journey to this State—a rather severe undertaking for a
gentleman of seventy years—and joined his son, remaining with him until
his death, which occurred in October, 1869. Our subject was
married, May 7, 1837, to Phoebe F. Bane, a
page 630
MASSEY THOMAS
49er- Pioneer Rancher of Gilroy
Bio- Sawyers, 1922
NOTE- more BANE Genealogy including the family of Massey Thomas
SURNAMES: Miller, Bane, Reynolds, Webster, Baker
Much goes to make up the history of any nation or communities-group,
but whenever the story of Santa Clara County, lists unrivaled
resources and its phenomenal growth shall be written, the historian
will be sure to include a record of development such as that of the
late Massey Thomas, the well-known '49er, who with much to choose from
turned to agricultural pursuits in this highly-favored region, and
selected historic Gilroy as his abiding place. Along the banks of Green
River, in Ohio County, Ky., on January 27, 1813, he entered the family
of James Thomas and his good wife, who had been Miss Elizabeth Miller,
before her marriage; and he was christened Massey, after his
Grandfather Thomas, who in the stirring days of the American
Revolution, made an illustrious name for himself in many battles waged
for our independence.
Growing up, the grandfather removed from Virginia to Tennessee, nothing
daunted by the fact that he had only rough pack trails instead of even
country roads to travel over; and with the responsibility of caring for
their infant child James, the intrepid pioneer and his wife settled in
Danville, Ky., where they became neighbors albeit at what today would
be consider handsomely distant, to the renowned Daniel Boone, the hero
of the Battle of Blue Licks, who had doubly earned his title after the
clever expedient by which he escaped from four armed Indians through
having thrown tobacco into their eyes and blinded the redskins.
Developed, like Boone and his doughty sons, to hardihood and extreme
self-dependence, Massey Thomas after a while sought better prospects on
a farm in Ohio County; and there he at last found a peaceful conclusion
to his strenuous earthly progress.
The grandson who had the honor of bearing the brave old Massey's
honored name, the subject of this review, continued in Kentucky until
the middle of his teens, when he removed to Marion County, Mo., and for
three years worked hard to get a foothold. Then he selected Lewis
County for a farm investment, and he developed the rough land into
something more indicative of civilization. When the news of the
discovery of gold in California, however, was received in Missouri and
the neighboring region, Massey Thomas, like thousands of others, became
restive and eager to dare in the hope of sharing; and he was not long
in crossing the plains and going to the mines. He was also not long in
discovering that far more certain wealth might be easily acquired by
catering to those who were seeking the gold; hence he turned his
attention to teaming, and often earned as much as thirty dollars a day.
A year and a half under the trying pioneer conditions of California at
this period of over-influx and scanty provision was enough for the
common-sense of this practical, progressive man, and Mr. Thomas, in the
early spring of 1851, returned East, reaching his old home in Missouri
on February 15. In April he again came to the Coast, but this time he
brought with him a herd of 300 cattle, which he knew would be worth
more, in a way, than the much sought for gold in the mountains. By the
middle of October he had located upon the 500 acres which he was to
make his celebrated home-place, and there, with three-fifths of his
acreage in the fertile valley, he embarked in extensive farming to
wheat and barley. He also took up stock -raising and cultivation of
fruit, improving his stock to the highest standard, and introducing
from abroad, and cultivating originally himself, some of the best and
choicest and newest varieties of fruits. In this way, by the most
scientific methods then known, he made his farm one of the most
valuable ranches in this part of the county.
The marriage of Massey Thomas and Phoebe Bane and was of the pleasant
social events of that section and period, the bride having been a
daughter of Baldwin and Nancy (Reynolds) Bane, and one of the belles of
Bracken County, in Kentucky, where she was born December 12, 1821. She
could remember the stories handed down in her family of her
grandfather, who shouldered a musket in the Continental Army, and she
could also recall many interesting anecdotes about famous folks of
by-gone days, for her maternal grandmother was a sister of Daniel
Webster, the famous statesman and orator, and she was a niece of
Thomas Reynolds, who was born in Kentucky in 1796, removed to Missouri
and died in 1844, in the same year in which he concluded his four-year
term as Governor of Missouri, his untimely demise preventing his
reelection as a popular official. At the beginning of her teens,
Mrs. Thomas ws taken to Missouri by an older sister, and they located in
Lewis County in the fall of 1833; and later the family removed to Pike
County, Mo., where Mr. Bane died.
The following are the children of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas; James
Baldwin Thomas, who attended the San Jose schools and then went to
Cambridge, Mass, and lacked but one year of graduating from college when
he was stricken with pneumonia and died, in 1859; Mary Susan, Mrs. W.O.
Barker, now deceased; Thomas Reynolds, was a grain-dealer in Gilroy
several years before his death. John and William, twin-brothers, were
born on October 8, 1843; the latter died in 1880, and John lives in
Hollister. Benjamin F. Thomas, who was born in 1846, rose to
distinction as a legal practitioner at Santa Barbara and he died there
in 1922. Louise E. died in early childhood. Massey, born on December
10, 1851, now lives on part of the home ranch, in the old ranch house;
and Clayton R. was born on January 25, 1854 and remained with his
parents; while Charles E., born three years later, died on the home
place. Mrs. Thomas died May 22, 1892.
Originally a stanch Whig, Mr. Thomas later espoused the cause of the
democratic party seeking state sovereignty, and with his equally
Christian wife, he became an ardent worker in and a real pillar of the
Christian Church, helping both to found and to build up the branch in
Gilroy. All in all, Massey Thomas, representing, with his accomplished
wife, some of the finest blood and traditions of American history, was
himself influential and helpful to an exceptional degree in his day in
hurrying on the great Pacific commonwealth to her destiny, and he
merited and enjoyed the esteem and confidence of his fellowmen to a
high degree. He died at his home south of Gilroy in 1900, aged
eighty-seven years.
Transcribed by Carolyn Feroben, from Eugene T. Sawyers' History of Santa Clara County,California, published by Historic Record Co. , 1922. page 432
SANTA CLARA COUNTY -The Valley of Heart's Delight
July 17, 2005