Santa Clara County Biographies


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


 
JAMES H. OGIER,
 
deceased.  The subject of this sketch was born in Baltimore, Maryland, March 28, 
1830.  He was the son of John Ogier, who was born on the Island of Guernsey, in 
the English Channel, but was reared, from nine years of age, in Maryland, where 
his father, a representative of one of the prominent, long-established families 
of the Isle of Guernesey, made his American home.
            James H. Ogier, whose name heads this sketch, was reared and 
educated in Baltimore.  Before the attainment of his majority he was associated 
with his father in the management of an extensive vegetable and small-fruit 
interest, having the city of Baltimore for their market.  When twenty-one years 
of age, the subject of our sketch came, via the Isthmus route, to this State, 
reaching San Francisco on the second of August, 1851, in company with James H. 
Cornthwait, also a native of Baltimore.  The first year both worked for wages, 
but the following season (1852), in partnership with John Ingleson and John 
Hakesly, they bought one hundred and fifty acres of land on the Alviso road, 
three miles north of San Jose, and at once commenced its improvement.  Within a 
few years Mr. Ogier bought out the interests of Messrs. Ingleson and Hakesly, 
and finally, in 1859, that of Mr. Cornthwait also, thus becoming the sole owner. 
 Gradually his real-estate holding increased, until the homestead was enlarged 
to two hundred and eighty acres.
            On the twenty-fourth of May, 1866, Mr. Ogier was united in marriage 
with Miss Margaret Branham, the daughter of Isaac Branham, deceased.  Mr. 
Branham was one of California�s heroic pioneer men, who braved the perils of 
plain, mountain, and desert in coming to this valley at the early date of 1846.  
(Elsewhere in this volume appears a detailed sketch of his life.)  Mrs. Ogier 
was born in Callaway County, Missouri, July 21, 1841, and her fifth birthday was 
spent on the plains on the way to California.  She was educated at the Notre 
Dame Convent at San Jose, she and her sister Elizabeth (now deceased) entering 
as members of its first class.  Mrs. Ogier afterwards became a student of Bascom 
Institute.  All of her married life has been spent at her present home.  She is 
the mother of seven living children, all of whom are yet at her home. Their 
names are:  Elizabeth Hargest, John Branham, Fannie Grayson, James Lee, Ada 
Reid, Walter Tullidge and Margaret.  Her sixth child, Florence Eaton, died at 
the age of fourteen months.
            Mr. Ogier was an active man, who pushed the work of improvement 
rapidly and vigorously.  His farm showed evidences of his energy and business 
management. He erected his fine family residence in 1883, and spared no expense 
in making a noble structure, which contains every needed comfort and 
convenience.  He came to Santa Clara a poor young man, but, by industry and the 
good management which results from experience and thorough knowledge, he made 
his business a profitable one.  He acquired an ample competence, and left his 
family a good home, without incumbrance [sic], although he was obliged to 
purchase the original homestead three times, from as many different claimants 
under Mexican grants, before he could obtain a perfect title.
            He was a strong man, physically and mentally, and, although much 
interested in general public affairs, he always refused political official 
position.  At one time he served as a Director of the Santa Clara Valley 
Agricultural Society, and at his death was one of the stockholders and a 
Director of the San Jose Savings Bank.  While yet in his prime, his useful and 
active life was brought to a close on the seventh of May, at Baltimore, 
Maryland, while visiting his only brother, John Ogier.  His remains were brought 
back to his home and interred in Oak Hill Cemetery at San Jose.  In his death 
his family sustained the loss of a kind husband and father, and the community 
that of a prosperous citizen, who was willing to use his prosperity for the 
advancement of public welfare.
 
Pen Pictures From The Garden of the World or Santa Clara County, California, 
Illustrated. - Edited by H. S. Foote.- Chicago:  The Lewis Publishing Company, 
1888. p. 219
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler