San Diego County Biographies
 
J. B. FERRELL

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


a rancher near Menifee, was born in Norwalk, Huron County, Ohio � (just ten 
miles from where the illustrious President, James A. Garfield, was born), 
January 31, 1829. Mr. Garfield when a boy of sixteen, worked with Mr. Ferrell, 
then about eighteen years of age, and Mr. Ferrell alludes to the fact of his 
acquaintance with Mr. Garfield with pleasure and just pride. Mr. Horatio N. 
Ferrell, the father of the subject of this sketch, was a native of Pennsylvania, 
and was of German descent. His mother, Pamelia (Gordon) Ferrell, was a native of 
New York, and her parents were Scotch. Mr. J. B. Ferrell was the oldest of five 
children. At nineteen years of age Mr. Ferrell removed to New Bedford, Bureau 
County, Illinois, and for twenty years he was a sawyer in the pineries of 
Wisconsin. He helped build the mills and then ran them. Then he removed to 
Lewis, Cass County, Iowa, where his father's death occurred in 1856. Mr. Ferrell 
remained in Iowa in 1873 when he came to California on account of his wife's 
poor health. They stopped at San Bernardino and went into the mountains where he 
engaged for sawing for three years. He then opened a grocery store in San 
Bernardino with his son Edgar as partner. He continued in this business for 
three years and in 1881 became interested in mines worth $350,000, but was beat 
out of the most it by adverse titles. He was there from 1881 to 1887. When he 
left San Bernardino he sold his San Bernardino property to Governor Waterman. In 
1887 he came to Menifee and bought a homestead claim of 215 acres, and now has 
413 acres. In June, 1887, he built his house with his own hands and hauled the 
lumber from San Bernardino by wagon. The house contains six rooms, and the barn 
is thirty-two feet square with a shed on both sides. One of his wells is 
fourteen feet deep and the other twenty-four feet. The farm has a nice home-like 
appearance from the highway. Mr. Ferrell is turning his attention to breeding 
Jersey and Holstein cattle and blooded horses. He is an enthusiastic horseman. 
His Kentucky Clay horse that he is now breeding to is a very fine animal. His 
sire is a half brother to Lady Thorn, and American Girl and Lucy are his full 
cousins. He raised one colt, Valentine, that trotted in 2:20 and sold for 
$4,000. Several of his colts have traveled in 2:30 and he now owns a 
three-year-old colt that is very choice and promising. Mr. Ferrell was marlied 
in Illinois, in 1855, to Miss Sarah E. Herrick, born August 9, 1839, in Ithaca, 
New York. She was the daughter of Mr. Milton Herrick of New York. Both her 
father and brother died of consumption, but since coming to California her 
health is much improved. They have had a family of nine children, six of whom 
are still living: E. J., born July 9, 1856, in Lewis, Cass County, Iowa; he is 
married and is in business in San Bernardino. Sarah L., born in Lewis, Cass 
County, Iowa, Aug. 7, 1858, was married and had three boys; she died in San 
Bernardino in 1886. Byron, born in Lewis. Cass County, Iowa, February 8, 1863, 
is married to Miss Lula Kahley, born in Cincinnati, Ohio, May, 10, 1872; Ella 
M., born in Lewis, Cass County, Iowa, July 31, 1865; Grace, born in Lewis, Iowa, 
April 27. 1871; Roy W., born in San Bernardino, California, December 24, 1875, 
and Jamie E., born in San Bernardino, April 12, 1880. Mr. Ferrell was made a 
Mason in Lewis Lodge, No. 137. He is a very hard-working and reliable man.
 
SOURCE:  An Illustrated History of Southern California:  Embracing the Counties 
of San Diego, San Bernardino, Los Angeles and Orange, and the Peninsula of Lower 
California� Chicago:  The Lewis Publishing Company, 1890.  p.-  221-222