Bio-Pen Pictures
SURNAMES; CULBRETH, THOMPSON, POTTER
John C. Hutchinson was born in Columbia County, Georgia, July 5, 1821. His father, James, and his mother, Martha (nee Culbreth), were both natives of Georgia. His father went from Georgia to Texas in 1837 and engaged in mercantile pursuits at Houston, where he died. John accompanied his father to Texas, and soon thereafter was placed in a private school in Georgia, where he obtained a fair education for those days. After his father’s death he bought a farm of eighty acres near Houston, and lived there till 1852. He was married in 1846 to Margaret Thompson, a native of England, who came to Texas with her parents when a young girl. She died about two years after, leaving two daughters, one of whom subsequently died. In 1852 he sold his farm and came to California, making the journey overland through New Mexico, starting March 1, and arriving in this valley in September. He was in poor health, and neither himself nor his friends expected he would survive the trip. He took up a piece of land between Saratoga and Mountain View and began to make improvements. He also went into the mountains and made lumber for a year or two, using two ox teams. In 1856 he bought an interest in a lime-kiln about half a mile south of Saratoga. He afterward bought out the company owning the lime-kiln and pre-empted 160 acres of land on which the kiln was situated. He sold his place near Mountain View in 1857. He ran the lime-kiln about two years, supplying the Guadaloupe mines with lime until they found and began to burn their own lime. He ceased making lime in 1859, and turned his attention to clearing and farming his land. Occasionally he sold small pieces of this land, the last sale being made in 1884, when he disposed of it all. The same year he removed to Saratoga and engaged in mercantile business, in which he continued till 1887. He was appointed Postmaster at Saratoga, May 17, 1886, which position he has satisfactorily filled to the present time.
Mr. Hutchinson married again in 1868, Mrs. Matilda Potter, a native of Illinois. She died in 1879. She had two children by her first husband and three by her second. Two of the latter (daughters) are still living. In politics Mr. Hutchinson is an ardent Democrat.
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. 326
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler
Proofread by Betty Vickroy
SANTA CLARA COUNTY BIOGRAPHY PROJECT