California Genealogy and History Archives
Biographies
of
San Bernardino County and Riverside County
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JOHN
MARSHALL PHY was a pioneer of the Pacific Coast, and after nearly
half a century of residence in Oregon as a stock rancher found a
delightful home at Highland, California, where he lived several busy and
contented years, developing his home and orange groves, until called by
death in 1914. At that time he had reached
the age of nearly three quarters of a century. He was born in 1840,
an<l at the age of eighteen left Missouri, going by way of New
Orleans and the Isthmus of Panama to Portland, Oregon. He reached
Portland with fifty cents in money. After writ- ing four letters back
home he was penniless. Before coming West he had borrowed from a maiden
lady eighty-five dollars, and thus his introduction to the coast country
was as a stranger in a strange land and eighty-five dollars in debt. For
a time he worked for board and clothes, also attended school, and for
three months labored in a saw mill, doing extra time so that he was paid
for four months. One summer he raised a crop of corn. There was no
market for the grain, so he fed it to hogs and sold them at a profit.
For several years his routine was working in stores during the winter
months and farming in summer. Gradually he laid by some money and then
opened a stock of goods to supply miners. There was no currency, and he
paid the accepted rates by weight with gold dust. Still later he bought
a stock ranch at The Dalles, Oregon, and there he laid a still firmer
foundation for his material prosperity. After selling out he returned to
Union County, Oregon. There he continued ranching and looking after his
family. After his second marriage, in 1896, he homesteaded land in
Catherine Creek Meadows. It was a rich summer pasture, but in winter
heavy snows fell and all stock had to be removed by November, and there
was no open range until the following April. Mr. Phy was eminently
successful as a stockman. In 1905 he paid a visit to Southern
California, and was so delighted with the country that within three
weeks he had bought a place at Highland and soon afterward left the
environment of half a century and moved permanently to San Bernardino
County. His first purchase was six acres and later he added four acres
more on Boulder Avenue. Mr. Phy lived here nearly ten years. He came to
enjoy the utmost respect of the community, and took part in social and
civic affairs. He was a thirty-second degree Mason, an Odd Fellow, a
member of the Congregational Church, and always a stanch democrat in
politics. During the early frontier days he served as a deputy sheriff,
and showed himself absolutely unafraid in the performance of his
official duties. In 1866 Mr. Phy married
Miss Margaret Ann Shoemaker. She died in 1891, the mother of seven
children. The oldest, J. F. Phy, is a successful business man in Union
County, Oregon, being the controlling factor in the Land and Security
Company of that county. He served two terms each as deputy sheriff and
sheriff and later was county judge. The second child, M. H. Phy, is now
deceased. The third. Dr. W. T. Phy, is reputed to be one of the most
eminent and skillful surgeons in the West, and lives at Hot Lake,
Oregon. During the World war he was on duty at Letterman's Hospital at
the Presidio, San Francisco. The fourth of the family was J. A. Phy, now
deceased. Mary Mar- garet is the wife of P. J. Shropshire, a prominent
lumber dealer and one of the principal owners of the San Bernardino
Lumber & Box Company. Mr. Shropshire is now deceased and his widow
is active manager of his former interests. Mrs. Shropshire has three
children: Edna Phy, Hester D. and P. J. Shropshire, Jr. The sixth of the
family, Margaret Louisa, is a graduate nurse and is the wife of Dr.
Sanders of San Jose, California, and ha^ one son, C. E. Sanders, Jr. The
seventh and young- est is Hester Caroline, wife of O. M. Green, a
prominent banker of Spokane, Washington. They have a son. John Thomas
Green. In 1896 the late Mr. Phy
married Miss Lydia Jackson. Mrs. Phy has had a wide range of experience
in the far West. She was born at Leadhill, Boone County, Arkansas,
daughter of J. D. and Louisa (McNabb) Jackson, the former a native of
Arkansas and the latter of Tennessee. When she was seven years of age
her parents moved over into Indian Territory, where her father located
in the Cherokee Strip. He soon afterward died, and when Mrs. Phy was
nine years of age her mother, then an invalid, returned with her four
children to Harrison, Arkansas. During this journey Mrs. Phy had her
first ride on a railroad train. She remained at Harrison until she was
fifteen, when her mother married and the family then came out to Oregon.
There she remained until her marriage to Mr. Phy in 1896. Mrs. Phy has
one son, Conrad Vernon Phy, born January 25, 1898. He was reared and
educated in California, attending school at Highland, the Harvard
Military Academy at Los Angeles, and in 1915 enlisted in the navy and
served out his term of enlistment. When America entered the war with
Germany, being still under draft age, he volunteered in the army in th
Motor Transport Division, and served until the signing of the armistice.
In November, 1920 this son married Miss Christine Bacus, of San
Bernardino. He is now enlisted as a navy marine engineer, was stationed
at San Pedro and later transferred to Honolulu, where he and his wife
reside. Mrs. Phy since the death of
her husband has shown a great business ability in operating and
maintaining the ranch and orange grove at Highland, and is one of that
community's most respected citizens. She is a member of San Bernardino
Chapter of the Eastern Star and was a member of the Rebekahs in Oregon.
She takes an active interest in betterment work of all kinds and is
chairman of the Home Department of the Farm Bureau of Highland Center,
and a member of the Woman's Club of Highland. Allen Cornelius first knew California in the role of a miner in the golden days of the early fifties. Some thirty years later he returned to the state, settling in the southern part, and from thereafter until his death was one of the useful and honored pioneers and business men of Ontario, where Mrs. Cornelius still resides. |
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Source: Transcribed by Peggy Hooper 2011 |