CHARLES E. WADE
Bio-Pen Pictures
SURNAMES: LYNCH, ORTLEY, ALVISO,
is one of the most prosperous land owners of the county, his magnificent ranch of 395 acres lying in the Midway School District. It is about four miles north of San Jose, on the San Jose and Alviso road, and extending to Guadaloupe Creek. Forty acres are used for the cultivation of strawberries of the Sharpless and Longworth varieties, blackberries, and raspberries. Thirty acres produce onion seed, and the remainder of this large farm is devoted to hay, grain, and stock, the latter including a dairy of twenty-five cows. Mr. Wade is also quite extensively engaged in raising common breeds of work horses. Three artesian wells are to be found on this place, one of which is worthy of special mention. It is 346 feet in depth, and has an eight-inch pipe, and the water will rise twelve feet above the surface, furnishing nearly 300,000 gallons in twenty-four hours. One of the others flows four inches over an eight-inch pipe.
The subject of our sketch was born in Tioga County, Pennsylvania, in 1838. He is the son of Henry and Mary (Lynch) Wade. Henry Wade was born in England, in 1801, and came to the United States in 1835, taking up his residence in Tioga County. There the family made their home for nine years, removing in 1844 to Will County, Illinois. In1849 they left Illinois for California. The party came by the Southern route, and spent over eleven months on the tedious journey. After a short stay in the mines, the father brought his family to Santa Clara County, where he engaged in farm work for about a year. He then took up his residence in Alviso, and engaged in the work of teaming. He spent many years in this vocation, leaving it only to retire from active business in 1865. He was granted many years of rest and quiet after an active, busy life. His death occurred in 1885.
The youth of our subject, after twelve years of age, was spent in Alviso, where he received his education. After reaching an age suitable for the work of earning his living, he engaged in various pursuits, among them teaming and freighting. Since purchasing the farm which he now owns he has devoted his entire attention to its cultivation.
Of his brothers and sisters who came to California, there are Henry G., living in Alviso; Richard A., married and living in San Jose; and Elmira, the wife of J. J. Ortley, now residing in Alviso. Mr. Wade was united in marriage, in 1863, with Miss Eslefana Alviso, the daughter of Domingo Alviso. They have had fourteen children, eleven of whom are now (1888) living. Their names are: Andrew Jackson, Daniel B., Stephen B., Augusta, William W., Mary, Charles L., Lottie, John A., Lizzie, and Walter A. D.
Having lived in
the county from his youth, Mr. Wade is widely known, and much respected by a
large circle of acquaintances. His interests are most thoroughly those of the
section where he lives, and he is greatly interested in all that concerns the
public welfare. In politics he is thoroughly a Republican.
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.
Pg. 536
SANTA CLARA COUNTY BIOGRAPHY PROJECT