Not all California pioneers came for gold. A series of letters written by my great-great-grandfather, gives a glimpse into the life of one early California pioneer. In 1853, two-and-a-half years after California became a State, John M. Battée age 25, single and alone, traveled with his few possessions in a carpet bag from Ohio to New York then west via the perils of the Panama Isthmus, finishing his journey on the Pacific Mail Steam Ship Company steamer the John L. Stephens bound for San Francisco. From humble beginnings as a ranch hand, he saved his money, lived frugally (only smoking his pipe on Sundays), eventually buying his own land in San Jose, California. He went on to help establish a bank in San Jose, was elected a member of the board of county supervisors and was instrumental in facilitating the road to the Lick Observatory on the summit of Mount Hamilton, some 25 miles east of San Jose. What were the secrets of his success?
In an age when many people have lost their hope, happiness, and direction in life, John’s story, as found in his letters home, contains some of the secrets of his success: hard work, the love of family, braving loneliness, delayed gratification, and making the world a better place for others. He also revealed what he thought was the greatest source of happiness.
The eldest of nine children, John wrote long letters to his parents and siblings back home on the farm in Ohio. Seventeen of his original letters were saved and numbered by his descendants, transcribed, and donated to the History San Jose Research Library and Archives. The first three letters have been lost to history. I’ve had copies of the other seventeen letters for a number of years, reading them, and enjoying the company of an ancestor I never met. Who wouldn’t love a man who wrote, with a twinkle in his blue eyes, “…but the Girls, Dear Creatures they perhaps know of no one to complain to but there is 1 [sic] who careth for them and will listen to their every cry only envelop them and direct to John M. Battée, San Jose, California” (Battée Letter No. 5 1853). He wrote these letters while seated on a bag of bran in a rough bunkhouse, with “an unplained board” for a desk (Battée Letter No. 6 1853), where he delineates his few possessions, besides what he was wearing, of “3 shirts, 1 pair of pants & carpet bag…my watch with a Jews harp…another pair of pants, 1 shirt & a hat…my boots, socks and the box that serves for keeping together my tobacco, pipe, pens, paper, ink, needles, thread, razor and strop knives, letters, etc.” (Battée Letter No. 6 1853).
While John was not among those who came seeking a dear treasure in the gold mines, his letters make clear what was dear to his heart – farming and family. Scattered throughout his letters are references to the prices of crops and livestock. “…barley is worth 2 ½ cts per pound, beef by wholesale 20 cts, hogs live 16 to 30 cts per pound, cows average $175, 1 yoke oxen $225 average, horses from $100 to $500, sheep $10, turkeys from 3 to $18 apiece, chickens half grown $1” (Battée Letter No. 5 1853).
In his messages to home, John sometimes mentioned crimes in San Jose and the surrounding area. “Murders and roberries [sic] are as prevalent as ever…” (Battée Letter No.7 1854), as well as “There is still about the usual amount of Stealing, Gambling, Cheating and Lying &c &c [sic]” (Battée Letter No. 18 1858). During the mid-to-late 1800s, while Old West gangs and criminals like Billy the Kid, the James Younger Gang, the Dalton Gang, the Joaquin Murrieta Gang, and many others were robbing, terrorizing, maiming, and killing, my great-great-grandfather John M. Battée was toiling long days with a McCormick’s reaper, threshing grain, herding cattle, drilling wells with a partner despite an injured hand, and any other ranching and farming jobs he could do, carefully saving his wages for the day he could buy his own land. Many of the criminals were cut down in the prime of life, proving a life of crime rarely pays, while John built up a life of good works which followed him long after he was gone.
Rather than trying to get rich quickly, John was willing to work hard and wait. In The Marshmallow Test, Why Self-Control Is the Engine of Success, by Walter Mischel, PhD, decades of research and careful study has shown the ability to delay gratification in childhood has been a great predictor of future success and well-being (Mischel 2014). It’s interesting to note this can be a natural gift, but self-control can be taught or learned at any stage of life (Mischel 2014). Only one time, when work was not as plentiful, did John finally try his hand at gold mining, but he didn’t stay long, as he made about the same amount of money in the mines as he did as a ranch hand. Even more important, farming was in John’s blood. He loved the soil of the earth and all the things it could grow. His family line had been farming ever since the first Battée male immigrated from England to Maryland in 1683.
In his letters, John mentioned some of the local amusements, such as “circuses Panoramas &c [sic]…bull and bear fight…” (Battée Letter No. 9 1854) and “Balls, parties…Singing Schools Debating clubs…and all the known jokes and tricks belonging to every class of the human species…” (Battée Letter No. 14 1855). The leisure activities John enjoyed included “…I have read some few histories some novels and have nearly averaged one newspaper a week, but the fourth of July nor Christmas have not averaged me a roast turkey nor frolic nor fun…” (Battée Letter No. 6 1853). According to John’s letters, he worked every day of the year but Sundays and a few holidays.
In the matter of character, twenty-six-year-old John counseled his seventeen year-old brother Phillip with these words in a letter home: “…by all means let your understanding, patience, perseverance, attention, manliness, and kindness at home keep pace with your years…to associate with those who do their duty, know the right and act propperly [sic], for you the choice of friends, the cultivation of your new manners, and the way you spend your time now, depend your future success and consequently your happiness.” (Battée Letter No. 10 1854).
John wrote the climate was so much better in California than back home in Ohio. “…this country has many, very many advantages over any other I have ever lived in, first it is very healthy there is mention of more deaths and sickness in your last letter than has come to me [sic] knowledge in one year and a half…” (Battée Letter No. 11 1854) and he mentions the abundance of good grass for grazing year round in his part of California, as well as better quality and quantity of fruits and vegetables.
Numerous times, John expressed his longing to see his loved ones back home. In nearly every letter he mentions “…then in six months or a year if I have no bad luck I shall want to pay you a visit…” (Battée Letter No. 12 1855). In another letter, John writes a bit of poetry with these lines:
“After three long ‘roving years
how sweet it is to come
To the dwelling place of early youth
In thought to travel home.” (Battée Letter No. 15 1856)
He follows this verse with, “Yes Dear Kindred there is pleasure in thinking of home and friends…” (Battée Letter No. 15 1856). In a letter addressed to “Dear Father,” John writes “I have all ready [sic] been separated from You longer than I ever intended…And when I think or speak or write of home, or of those who are inseperably [sic] connected with it, my heart swells as it does not at any other sound” (Battée Letter No. 17 1857). Obviously, John endured loneliness, and it isn’t clear from his letters whether he ever was able to visit his family at home in Ohio.
John was willing to help others. The first time John mentions the loan of his money, was in April 1857, at age 29, when he wrote “…I have not collected more than one third of what was oweing [sic] to me a year ago But the prospect is very fair for as much more…at any rate I think it is well secured and it is bringing two and a half per cent a month…” (Battée Letter No. 18 1857). Of course, John wanted his hard-earned money back. Three months later, John filed the first lawsuit, of what was to be over half a dozen legal actions through the years, to recover money legally owed to him. This lawsuit was filed in the District Court of the Third Judicial District, County of Santa Clara in California. The defendant was William Aram, who had borrowed $1,900.00 (over $63,000.00 in today’s money) from John and signed a promissory note along with William’s brother on March 1, 1856. Aram had paid part, but not all, of the debt. As the case made its way through the court system, the money still owed to John increased due to accumulated interest, court costs and fees. In 1858, District Judge Craven P. Hester issued a judgment in favor of John M. Battée (Battée vs. Aram 1858).
It’s interesting to note there are no saved letters from the years of 1860-1865, which mostly coincides with the American Civil War period. Whether the letters were lost to history, or whether John didn’t write during those years, it would have been interesting to read his perspective on the war. At some point, he joined the Republican party, and as such, he would have been against slavery. In September of 1864, his twenty-seven-year-old brother, Sgt. Phillip Battée, was killed fighting down in Georgia. Phillip lay surrounded by the deep red hues of the spilled currency of war in a peach orchard, a sad end to a young man who loved family and farming. He was killed by a soldier defending his home, while Phillip died trying to end slavery and to save the nation. After a hasty burial under the tree where Phillip fell, he was later exhumed and moved first to a local cemetery, than exhumed again and moved to the Marietta National Cemetery. Seven and a half years later, John named his baby son Phillip in honor of his dear brother.
John’s saved letters end in 1866 at the age of 38, about six months before he married my great-great grandmother – a young woman who had moved from Ohio to Oregon, finally settling in California. His wedding was held after he had purchased and improved his own farm. John’s life was not without sadness. Two babies died in infancy. His darling Clara died during childbirth leaving him with six children, including the newborn boy who survived his mother’s death. Through frugality and wise investing, John went on to own several large farms in California, not only in Santa Clara County, but also in the Salinas Valley.
One of John’s accomplishments to make things better for others was to help co-found a bank. The Farmers’ Union in San Jose was part bank and part store, serving farmers in the area. It was established in May of 1874 by 46-year-old John and some other San Jose leaders, with “capital stock of $100,000” (Sawyer 1922). The bank “was a one-stop shop for the agricultural families in then-tiny San Jose. It was a bank, as well as a hardware and supply store. ‘You could get everything there, even a tractor,’ said former San Jose Mayor Tom McEnery…” (Pizzaro 2016). I visited the building in 2013 and July 2021. The downstairs portion of the building is a restaurant and bar by the same name of “The Farmers Union.” While John never became wealthy from this enterprise, he left a lasting legacy.
In the 1870s, while in his forties, John was elected to four two-year terms on the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors. He served from 1870 to 1878 (Foote 1888). Sometimes he was a member, and sometimes he was the Chairman (John M. Battée obituary 1921). In his capacity as a member of the Board of Supervisors, John was able to arrange for a road to be built to the top of Mount Hamilton where James Lick wanted to build an observatory. “This brief sketch of the work on this famous road gives but an imperfect idea of the thousand obstacles that were thrust in the path of enterprise. There were a number of people in the community who could see no advantage in the improvement, and were constantly raising objections, and trying to thwart the work…Probably the most earnest and untiring friend of the road was Supervisor J. M. Battée, chairman of the road committee. To his devotion to the cause is due, more than to any other man, the successful termination of the great work that has attracted the attention of the scientific world to the summit of Mount Hamilton” (Foote 1888). The Lick Observatory, constructed between 1876 and 1887, was a major feat at the time, made possible by the road leading to the summit. “The greatest work of man in Santa Clara County and San Jose’s greatest asset is the Lick Observatory on the summit of Mt. Hamilton, which is provided with the best and most complete astronomical appliances in the world” (Sawyer 1922).
After he died at age 93, his obituary had all the highlights, but it also said this: “To the few pioneers remaining who knew Mr. Battée, he is remembered as a man who was modest, plain in appearance and speech, determined, honest in all his dealings and one of the most far-sighted and efficient county officials of the closing quarter of the past century” (John M. Battée obituary 1921). John’s characteristics of hard work, “modest, plain in…speech, determined, honest in all his dealings” could also describe my great-grandfather Phillip, my grandfather, and my mother. John M. Battée passed along these traits by word and deed, with each generation of my family continuing his inheritance which is better than gold.
In a letter to his mother, John wrote these most important words, words which tell much about the man and his character: “And I find the greatest source of happiness is to make those happy with whom we come in contact or with whom we are connected, that it is in giving pleasure we receive it with interest. if [sic] all would go upon that principle how many bitter words, heart burnings and estrangements would never have been known, sorrow would be banished from many a heart that is now burning and marking its progress on the careworn and furrowed countenance of its possessor, happiness is also a great promoter of health, therefor [sic] it is highly necessary to consider its sources and teach them, as well as to practice, especially to the Young should it be taught that for every reasonable sacrifice they make, and every benefit they confer only adds to their own enjoyment…” (Battée Letter No. 17 1857).
I believe in love and forgiveness.
Take care,
Charlyne
***Special thanks to Cate Mills, Curator of Library & Archives at the History San Jose Research Library, as well as her volunteer assistant, Nadine Nelson, who did most of the database searching. It was exciting to see my great-great grandfather’s handwriting in copies of his original letters home. Before this, I had typed copies of his letters passed along in the family.
***Special thanks to Steve Rich, former schoolmate, friend, and attorney who read my research paper, read my great-great grandfather’s legal documents, advised me about John’s court cases, and said, “He was a smart man.”
Works Cited
Battée, John M. Letters Home. 1853 – 1866. Letters 4 – 20 of John M. Battée Letters. History San Jose Research Library, San Jose, California.
Battée, J.M. v. Aram, William, 1160 (District Court of the Third Judicial District 1858).
Foote, H S. Pen Pictures from the Garden of the World or Santa Clara County, California. The Lewis Publishing Company, 1888.
John M. Battée obituary. “Supervisor of ’70 Buried by Garden City Odd Fellows.” San Jose Mercury-Herald, November 3, 1921.
Mischel, Walter, PhD. The Marshmallow Test, Why Self-Control Is the Engine of Success. Little, Brown and Company, Hachette Book Group, 2014.
Pacific Mail Steam Ship Company’s Steamer John L. Stephens, ca. 1855, print, The Huntington Library. Web. 12 September 2021.
Pizarro, Sal. “New Farmers Union restaurant honors building’s legacy.” The Mercury News, 5 July 2013, updated 12 August 2016. Web. 12 September 2018. https://www.mercurynews.com/2013/07/05/pizarro-new-farmers-union-restautrant-honors-buildings-legacy/.>
Sawyer, Eugene T. History of Santa Clara County. Historic Record Company, 1922.
