IRA J. LOVELL
REDWOOD TOWNSHIP
Bio-Pen Pictures
SURNAMES: CAMPBELL, BEAUCHAMP, COOK,
is a pioneer of Redwood Township, having arrived in this valley October 1, 1852. After spending a year at Santa Clara he located, in the autumn of 1853, upon the homestead established during the latter year, in what is now the Moreland District, where he has ever since resided. He found the land in a state of nature, covered with oak and chaparral. The tract comprised 231 acres, and, although a Mexican grant, Mr. Lovell succeeded in obtaining a good title without the usual delays and expenditures generally experienced by the early settlers. Subsequently he sold off sixty-eight acres, and until recently he devoted the place to general farming. Now he has sixty acres in orchard and vineyard.
Mr. Lovell was born in Logan County, Kentucky, November 6, 1811. His father, Michael Lovell, was born and spent his early boyhood on the Chesapeake Bay, sixty miles below Baltimore. Becoming an orphan, he went to Kentucky, where he was an agriculturist, and his son Ira has ever been a tiller of the soil. With his wife and seven children, hereafter named, the latter, in 1852, crossed the plains and mountains, with ox teams, to the Golden State, being six months on the way, and suffering much sickness, and meeting with much trouble during the latter part of the journey.
The date of Mr. Lovell's marriage to Miss Ann L. Campbell, was 1835, in Kentucky, her native State. Her father, William Campbell, was one of California's earliest American settlers, and his history is given elsewhere in this volume. Mr. Lovell's children, who were born in Kentucky, are: William M., now a resident of Tucson, Arizona; James M., of San Bernardino County, this State; John, a resident of Santa Clara ; Mary E., wife of William Beauchamp, residing near Gilroy; Joseph W. and Hugh W., with their parents; and Sarah M., wife of Lindsley Cook, of San Luis Obispo. The children born in this State are: Ella L., with her parents, and Nora and Cordelia, who died young.
As to politics,
Mr. Lovell was reared under the political inflence of Henry Clay, and therefore
never voted any but the Whig ticket during the life of that party; and since
then his sympathies have been with the Democratic party. As to religion, he and
his wife are members of the Methodist Church South; and as to neighborhood
relations, they have ever been known as consistent people, philanthropic, and
active in public enterprises, often leading in them. Both education and religion
have been materially supported by their bountiful hands.
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. 521
SANTA CLARA COUNTY The Valley of Heart's Delight