Santa Barbara County Biographies

JAMES M. SHORT

Submitted by Peggy Hooper

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm

JAMES M. SHORT, of English-Welsh descent, was born at North Swansea, 
Massachusetts, in 1835. His ancestors came to Massachusetts in 1840, and shared 
the hardships of the early Indian wars, the war of the Revolution, and also the war of 
1812. His father, Henry S. Short, was a machinist by trade. James M., after leaving 
the public schools, finished his education at the Warren Institute at Rhode Island and at 
the Maine Wesleyan Seminary at Kent's Hill. He started for California in January, 
1858, on the steamer Star of the West, via the Isthmus, and arrived in San Francisco 
on the steamer John L. Stephens, making the voyage safely in twenty-four days. After 
spending a few days in San Francisco, he went to Eureka, Humboldt County, and after- 
ward to Areata, where he engaged in teaching in the public schools, remaining about 
five years. It is quite interesting to hear him relate his experience in the Indian 
troubles that prevailed there for several years. In the fall of 1864 Mr. Short gave 
up teaching to accept the office of County Clerk, to which he was elected, and was  
reelected in 1866. In November, 1868, he came to Santa Barbara and purchased prop- 
erty at East Santa Barbara. In 1870 he bought an interest in the Las Cruces Ranch, 
and engaged in sheep-raising for about twelve years, and disposed of this interest in 1862. 

From 1879 to 1882 Mr. Short was a member of the Board of Supervisors of Santa Bar- 
bara. For six years he has served as School Trustee, and has been trustee of the city 
library since its organization. He engaged in the culture of pampas in 1882, and has 
since been interested in its production. 

Mr. Short was married at Eureka, California, in 1865, to Miss Margaret Singley. 
They have one son, Henry S., and a daughter, Lillian L. Mr. Short is a veteran Odd Fel- 
low of nearly thirty years' standing, and is a member of Channel City Lodge, No. 232. 

History of Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Ventura Counties, California  - by 
C.M. Gidney, Benjamin Brooks, Edwin M. Sheridan, Vol I, II.  -Lewis Publ. Co., 
Chicago, 1917.