HENRY CARREL
Bio- Pen Pictures
SURNAMES: MILLER,
of the San Tomas District, is the owner of a highly cultivated fruit ranch of twenty acres on the McCoy Avenue. The orchard was planted in 1882, principally with French prunes, apricots, and peaches, and Mr. Carrel purchased the property in the autumn of 1885. No orchard in the vicinity shows more intelligent, careful, and skillful handling than does this one. The building improvements are excellent, and, all in all, the property gives evidence of the thrift and taste of the owner.
The subject of our sketch was born in Ohio in 1843. When he was nine years of age, his father, Abraham Carrel, moved to Pike County, Illinois. There he lived on a farm until eighteen years or age, when, in obedience to the first call by President Lincoln for volunteers to put down the slave-holders' rebellion, he enlisted in the Eighth Illinois Volunteer Infantry. The State having had seven regiments of volunteers in the Mexican War, the Eighth Regiment was the first Illinois regiment raised for the War for the Union. He was not long afterward transferred to the Tenth Regiment, as the company in which he enlisted had too many men. When the term of his enlistment (three months) had expired, Mr. Carrel was honorably discharged, but at once re-enlisted in the Thirty-third Illinois Infantry for three years, or during the war. In Missouri and Arkansas he served during the first campaign under General Curtiss, and under General Grant in the heroic campaign culminating in the capture of Vicksburg. Later he took part in the campaigns in Texas and the Southwest. At Indianola, Texas, he veteranized and visited his home on a furlough. His last campaign was in the Gulf Department, in which he did a gallant soldier's duty in the operations which led to the capture of Blakely and Spanish Fort, the defenses of Mobile. His faithful services ended at Springfield, Illinois, where he received an honorable discharge in November, 1865. Among the engagements in which he participated we will mention Baker's Creek, Champion Hills, and the Battle of Jackson in the Vicksburg campaign, and the assault upon Spanish Fort. He was never absent from duty, and was in line during every engagement in which his regiment took part. He may well look with pride on his record as a soldier.
After the close of the war, Mr. Carrel mastered the mason's and bricklayer's trade, in Pike County, Illinois, and this trade he followed until he settled in his present home. In 1869 he removed to Denver, Colorado, and after living in that city for about four years, he went to Nevada, but came to this State during the following year. In the spring of 1875 he settled at Victoria, Vancouver's Island, British Columbia. There, in June, 1877, Mr. Carrel married Miss Susannah R. Miller, who was born in England, but reared in Pike County, Illinois. After a residence of several years there, Mr. and Mrs. Carrel left Victoria, and, returning to this State, took possession of their present home. They have two daughters, Florence V. and Ida K.
Mr. Carrel is a member of the honorable order of Odd Fellows. Politically, he is identified with the Republican party.
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. 439-440
SANTA CLARA COUNTY BIOGRAPHY PROJECT