A booster whose services to Santa Clara County are always highly
appreciated is French W. Lake, the orchardist of Bodfish Road, near
Gilroy. He was born in Brodhead, Green County, Wis., on August 5, 1888,
and since his settling in the Golden State has made good to such an
extent that his own success is the best endorsement of things
Californian. His parents were Jacob and Lavina (Burdick) Lake, the
former a native of Wisconsin, who was reared in Lafayette County,
brought up on a farm and there sent to school. He engaged later in
lumbering and in milling, and in 1897 he migrated to California and
settled in Los Angeles. After a while he conducted a general store at
Lamanda Park, and there he also operated a ten-acre ranch. At the end
of three years he returned with his family to Wisconsin, and when, in
1906, they again came West, they located at San Jose. Since then, Mr.
Lake has been farming near Saratoga on a very desirable ranch he
acquired by purchase.
French Lake continued his studies at the Polytechnic College of
Engineers at Oakland, from which he received his degree in 1913; he
entered the employ of the Southern Pacific Railroad and remained in the
Department of Construction, Western Division, until 1916, then enlisted
in the U. S. Army, at Oakland, and joined the infantry; and two years
later he received his commission as second lieutenant. The following
year he was made first lieutenant in the First Engineering Corps, and
then he was detailed to service at Washington, D. C. He remained with
the War Department nine months, but at the first opportunity for
foreign service he volunteered, reaching Antwerp, Belgium, in the fall
of 1919.
While at Washington, Mr. Lake was married to Miss Gertrude Smith, a
daughter of Norwood Smith, a prominent attorney of Natchitoches, La.,
representing the Texas, Louisiana & Pacific Railroad, and at
Natchitoches she was reared and schooled. On arriving abroad he was
assigned to Department B, 1st R. R. Op. Engrs., at Coblenz, and he had
a wonderful experience in a foreign land; and his experience was all
the more agreeable because he was permitted, with the privilege given
concerning wives to other officers, to send for Mrs. Lake. In August,
1920, a baby son was born to them at the romantic spot on the Rhine,
and the little fellow was at once named French W. Lake, Jr. In December
of the same year, Lieut. Lake asked for his release, and resigned his
post; and on returning to America, and California, he came into the
Santa Clara Valley and settled here. Wishing to establish interests for
himself, he purchased the farm known as the J. P. Sargent ranch, not
far from the Lewis place in the foothills near Gilroy, and he at once
set about the development of the property, and such has been his
success that in the past year alone he has made wonderful strides. He
is most optimistic about the future of the Valley and he never loses an
opportunity to inspire others with enthusiasm and courage.
From Eugene T. Sawyers' History of Santa Clara County,California, published by Historic Record Co. , 1922.
page 1585
SANTA CLARA COUNTY BIOGRAPHY PROJECT
SANTA CLARA COUNTY The Valley of Heart's Delight