California Biographies

Transcribed by Peggy Hooper

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

Source:
History of the state of California and biographical record of the San Joaquin 
Valley, California. An historical story of the state's marvelous growth from 
its earliest settlement to the present time.
Prof. James Miller Guinn , A. M.
The Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago 1905
Notes: Missing Page: 865-866,983-984,1175-1176


PUTNAM BROTHERS. Enterprising and substantial citizens, the Putnam brothers occupy a 
place high in the esteem and confidence of their fellowmen, and are widely known throughout 
Tulare county for the ability and energy which have marked their career. They are sons of 
Joseph Putnam, a pioneer of '49, who left his father's farm in the Green mountains of Vermont, 
where he was born, going first to the state of Massachusetts, thence to California. He engaged 
in mining in Calaveras and Amador counties, which occupation he continued until he went 
into the mercantile business at Volcano. Later he located on the Mokelumne river, in San 
Joaquin county, and set out an orchard of sixty acres, the balance of his four hundred acre farm 
being devoted to the raising of grain. He remained in that location until his death, which oc- 
curred in 1893, at the age ot sixty-two years. He had taken a lively interest in the growth and up- 
building of his adopted state, with the exception of a short time spent in the east, to which he 
made two subsequent trips, remaining in California the balance of his life. He was a member of 
the California Pioneers of Stockton. His wife, formerly Mary Ann Fletcher, was a native of 
Massachusetts, in which state she was married to Mr. Putnam. In 1859 he came to California 
by the Panama route, and died in the old homestead in 1899. Of the nine children born of this 
union, six are living, namely: Mary Ellen, the wife of Lucian Athern, of Clements. Cal. ; Joseph 
Fletcher; Lucy, the wife of W. E. Whipple, of Clements; William; E. A., at Clements, and Jennie, 
the wife of Abner Jones, of Clements. 

Joseph Fletcher Putnam was born in Cambridge, Mass., in 1854, and with his mother came 
to California when five years old. He received his education in the district school in the vicinity 
of the home farm in San Joaquin county. He followed farming on the home place after attain- 
ing maturity, finally, however, locating on a farm thirty miles east of Visalia, Tulare county, on 
Three Rivers, where he homesteaded and engaged in the stock business. He resided there 
thirteen years, when he sold out, and, returning to the old home engaged in farming there for a 
few years. He then went to Santa Clara county, and engaged in horticulture until 1903, when he 
located on the farm now owned by himself and brother, William. This consists of four hundred 
and twelve acres seven miles west of Visalia, where they are engaged in general farming and 
stock raising. They have a fine place, and very productive land, all under irrigation from the 
Persian Ditch, of which company Mr. Putnam is superintendent. Sixty acres of this property is 
devoted to alfalfa. Mr. Putnam has a family of three children : Ira, at home with his father ; 
Lena, the wife of H. J. Stokes, of Visalia, and Blanche, at home. In his political preference 
Mr. Putnam is a stanch Republican, giving his voice and vote to the support of every move- 
ment calculated to advance the principles he endorses. He is an enterprising and liberal citizen 
and is held in the highest esteem by all who know him. 

William Putnam is a native Californian, his birth having occurred at Clements, Cal., in 1862. 
He grew to manhood amid the scenes of his birth, receiving his education in the district school 
in the vicinity of his home. He first engaged in general farming and fruit growing on the old 
home place at Clements, and later followed the stock business on the Calaveras river in Cala- 
veras county. In 1903 he joined his brother in their present farming venture, in which they are 
meeting with gratifying success. In Calaveras county he married Maud Messenger, a native of 
that county, and the daughter of Captain H. A. Messenger, a pioneer prominent in the early 
history of the state. They are the parents of three children, viz : Ralph, Frances and William, Jr.