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J. C. Brewster
J. C. Brewster, a well known and highly esteemed citizen of San
Buenaventura, who has been connected
with the growth of the place and interested in its moral and
business welfare, and now the proprietor
of the art gallery, was born in Wayne County, Ohio, December
31, 1841. His father, Calvin Brewster,
was born in Canterbury, Windham County, Connecticut, in 1787,
a descendant of Sir William Brewster
who came to the New World on the Mayflower in 1620. He (Sir William)
was the father of Love Brewster,
and the generations in succession were Wrestling, Jonathan, who
came to Windham, Connecticut, in 1729, Peleg,
born in 1717, who must have removed to Canterbury when quite
young, for his oldest son, John - who made the
sixth generation - was born in that town in 1739. Peleg was Mr.
Brewster's great-grandfather. Jedediah,
a younger son of his, was Mr. Brewster's grandfather.
The record of Jedediah's birth was lost; but the town records
show that he was married to Prudence Robinson
May 19, 1773. According to the good-fashion in those good old
times, they had a good large family, and about
every two years there was a record of a birth in the family.
The names on the record are as follows: Elizabeth,
Silas, Anson, Florina, Sarah, Calvin and Jedediah, Jr. Elizabeth,
Sarah and Jedediah died in childhood, and
January, 1789, the good wife Prudence died, and the next autumn
Jedediah married for his second wife Miss
Asenath Hapgood, to aid in the care of the family. He removed
a few years later to Berne, Albany County, New
York. In 1808 he sold some of his land to Silas Brewster and
the deed descends to him as living at Berne. The
same year he sold his homestead to Deacon Barnabas Allen, whose
son still owns it. It is about four miles from
the village of Canterbury. A descendant of the Brewsters was
recently there and was shown around by the
proprietor. She drank from the old well that had been in uninterrupted
use for more than a century. The farm is
considered one of the best in that section, although a Western
farmer would consider it very poor land. The old
burying-ground was about a mile from the house. It was given
to that part of the town by one of the Brewsters,
and has been used by four or five generations and about a dozen
families. Here are the names of Prudence
Brewster and the children alluded to. In the lot are some stones
so old that the inscriptions have become
completely defaced, and some have sunk so deeply in the ground
that only their tops are visible. The graveyard,
however, is kept in excellent condition by a Miss Winchester,
whose ancestors have been buried there for
several generations. She is a spinster of eighty-five years -
the last of her family. She has made provisions in her
will to have the graveyard kept in condition after she has gone.
She remember old 'Diah Brewster, as she called
him, and said her mother used to go over there on certain occasions.
Mr. Brewster's mother, whose maiden name was Harriet Cramer,
was a native of Strausburg, Lancaster County,
Pennsylvania, and was born in 1813, of Dutch ancestry. The parents
were married in 1837 and had a family
of six children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the second.
He was eight years old when the family
moved to Iowa. Before he was of age he taught two terms of school,
holding a first grade certificate both in
Iowa and Missouri. He began to learn the art of photography in
1860, in Warsaw, Illinois, and since then has
devoted his entire attention to it. In 1862 he came to California
and for a short time taught a select school in
Sacramento city. Soon afterward he engaged in partnership with
Frank
M. Stamper,
and subsequently he sold to
his partner and took charge of a photograph gallery on J street,
that city, and continued in its charge until
the proprietor sold it. Then he went to Virginia City, Nevada,
and took charge of the gallery of R. H. Vance, of
New York, who was a pioneer photographer of the coast. Next he
had charge of a gallery at Carson City,
for the same party.
In the spring of 1865 he went to Idaho with a Concord wagon and
four bronchos, for Sutterly Brothers, and
opened business at Ruby City. They had good success there, and
his salary was $50 a week, and board without
room $16 a week. In the fall they went to Placerville and also
to Centerville; thence to Salt Lake City. There
Mr. Sutterly built a gallery and Mr. Brewster continued to run
the tent at Douglas, three miles east. In the spring
of 1866 they moved into the new gallery and did a large business,
the receipts sometimes reaching $200 a day.
Soon after this Mr. Brewster went to Helena, Montana, and opened
a gallery for himself. In the fall of 1868 he
sold it and returned to Salt Lake City, and continued in business
there and at several other towns in the vicinity,
with fine success, until the next spring. He then went to Nevada,
and was there until 1871, with his
brother-in-law as partner. They had a large gallery and fine
building. Thence he went to Visalia and to
San Francisco, where his mother then resided. His health had
failed, but soon after returning home he recovered,
and began work for William Shaw, on Kearny street; but at length
he was discharge because he would not work
on Sunday. He then worked for Bradley & Rulofson until he
decided to begin on his own account. He had a nice
trade at San Luis Obispo until 1874, when he came to San Buenaventura
and opened a gallery near the
mission church. A year afterward he moved between Oak and California
streets and built a gallery, with the
privilege of moving it. In the spring of 1877 he bought his present
location on Oak street and moved the gallery
there, building additions to it, and has since then conducted
his business with brilliant success. His gallery is
splendidly equipped, and is filled with samples of his work which
reflect great credit upon his skill. He was
among the very first to adopt the dry-plate method, so superior
to the old method.
He has recently built a nice two-story residence on Santa Clara
street, surrounding it with choice flowers
and young trees and shrubs. In 1875 he married Mrs. Mary O. Sinclair,
widow of J. S. Sinclair; her maiden
name was Mary Oberia Hadley. They have had two children, but
lost the little son. Their daughter, Pansy
Augusta, was born in Ventura, August 15, 1880. Mr. Brewster was
elected one of the School Trustees of the
city; he is a Prohibition Republican, a business man of talent
and a citizen without reproach. He is an Elder in
the Presbyterian Church, of which denomination his family are
also members. He is treasurer of the Young
Men's Christian Association, and has been made an honorary member
of the Women's Christian Temperance
Union. He is also Treasurer and Depositary of the American Bible
Society at Ventura.
BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF THE COUNTIES OF SANTA BARBARA, SAN
LUIS OBISPO, AND VENTURA, CALIF.
by Ida Addis Storke, 1891, p 455 Transcribed by Sandy Neder |