California Biographies, Santa Cruz County. JOHN H. COVELL. Transcribed by Peggy Hooper Source: History of Santa Cruz County, California Pacific Press Publishing Company San Francisco, Cal. 1892 By E. S. Harrison This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm JOHN H. COVELL. A modern enterprise, successfully conducted in Watsonville, is the Watsonville Garage Company, on Fourth and Main streets. The present manager and half owner acquired the old Watsonville garage October 20, 1908, at which time there were only about four cars maintained in the valley, where now there are one hundred and twenty-five. January 1, 1911, Mr. Covell sold a half interest in his business to W. H. Weeks and the firm has since been known as the Watsonville Garage Company, of which he is manager, and ten men are now employed. Keeping pace with the demand, the pro- prietors have increased their stock until they now carry a line of about twenty machines, ample facilities for their care being afforded by the large room, with a frontage of seventy feet and a depth of one hundred and fifty feet. The neces- sary equipment has been provided for the repairing of automobiles and a general machine shop and vulcanizing plant is conducted in connection with the renting of cars. Mr. Covell is an excellent judge of machines, recognizes their superior points at a glance and with equal promptness discerns their defects, if such they possess. In addition he is a skilled chauffeur. Of Californian birth and eastern parentage, John H. Covell was born at Albitos, Santa Cruz county. September 29, 1875 being a son of W. H. and Maggie (Horen) Covell, natives respectively of Pennsylvania and Massachusetts. At a very early day the father came to California by way of Cape Horn and afterward followed the occupation of lumbering, being employed for years as a head-sawyer in lumber camps. The prosecution of this work took him successively into Yuba and Monterey counties, then to the redwood region and finally to San Benito county. After years of activity in his chosen oc- cupation he passed from earth in 1906. His wife survived him, dying in September of 1908. All of their five children still sur- vive. The education of J. H. Covell was acquired in the schools of Santa Cruz and San Benito counties. The family had only enough for their daily needs and each child, as soon as old enough, was obliged to take up the burden of self-support, his early tasks being such as fall to a day laborer. For a considerable period he was employed on a hay ranch and while working in that occupation he gained a thorough knowledge of the industry. Coming to Watsonville in 1900 Mr. Covell embarked in the hay business on a very small scale, his original capital being limited to $25. Within two years he had greatly expanded and enlarged the business and was considered among the leading hay merchants of the county. This result had not come to him accidentally, but was achieved by tireless energy and a careful study of the occupation to which he was devoting his attention. Until he acquired the garage he con- tinued to buy and ship hay, meanwhile having many large and prominent customers. For a considerable period he rep- resented the Wells-Fargo Company and Summers & Co., of San Francisco, shipping to their city addresses all of the hay, straw and feed that they needed in their large plants. In politics Mr. Covell always has been stanch in his allegiance to the Republican party and on that ticket in May of 1906 he was elected an alderman, serving for one term as a member of the board. In religion he is of the Catholic faith and his parents lie buried in the cemetery of that denomination at Watsonville. The church has received his generous support and he has been stanch and loyal to its doctrines. Fraternally he holds membership with the Foresters of Amer- ica, the Eagles, the Improved Order of Red Men and the Native Sons of the Golden West, and on three different occa- sions he has been honored by being chosen a delegate to the state camp of the Foresters. Many of his warmest friends are members of the fraternal orders to which he belongs, but m addition he has a large circle of other friends, for he possesses the genial disposition, energetic temperament, companionable manner and warm heart that always bring their possessor many firm friends in every circle of society. January 1, 1911, Mr. Covell sold a half interest in his business to W. H. Weeks and the firm has since been known as the Watsonville Garage Company, of which he is manager and ten men are now employed.