Bio-Sawyers
SURNAMES: STAYTON, HARDY,
A native son of the great Golden State, Joseph Marion Brimson has won for himself a prominent place in the commercial life of Los Gatos. He was born at Gilroy, Santa Clara County, February 15, 1872, a son of Thomas H. and Louise (Stayton) Brimson, the father a pioneer of California of 1866. Thomas H. Brimson was born in England and came with his parents to New York City when four years of age. After his father's death his mother married a second time, and he ran away from home when twelve years old, paddling his own canoe until the Civil War. When eighteen years old he volunteered and enlisted in an Illinois regiment and served until the close of the war. Immediately afterward he came to California, crossing the plains in an ox-team train to Gilroy. He was married in Gilroy to Miss Louise Stayton, born in Nevada. Her father, Robert E. Stayton, crossed the plains in 1849 to California and was afterwards a miner in Nevada and then later became an early settler of Gilroy. Of the eleven children of Thomas Brimson, six of whom are living, Joseph Marion is next to the eldest. The father passed away in San Jose in 1919 and the mother in 1900.
Joseph Marion
Brimson was educated in the public schools of Gilroy. He helped his
father on the ranch until he was nineteen years of age and then worked
at various occupations. During the year of 1906 he removed to Dallas,
Ore., and was in the butcher and cattle business until 1914, when he
disposed of it and removed to Eureka, Cal., engaging in the butcher and
cattle business at McKinleyville until 1916; then he sold out and
located near Soquel, where he farmed and conducted a hay business in
Soquel. In December, 1917, he located in Los Gatos, where he engaged in
the dairy business, serving the townspeople with an excellent quality
of milk. In November, 1920, he sold out and established his present
real estate business on Main Street, Los Gatos.
Mr. Brimson's
marriage in Salem, Ore., united him with Miss Nellie Hardy, born at
Aromas, Cal., and they are the parents of one child, Edith Jane.
Politically he is a Republican and he belongs to the Odd Fellows, the
Yeomen of America and the Chamber of Commerce. Liberal and
kind-hearted, this generous spirit, combined with his tireless habits
of industry, makes him one of the community's dependable citizens.
From Eugene T. Sawyers' History of Santa Clara County,California, published by Historic Record Co. , 1922. page 1604
SANTA CLARA COUNTY The Valley of Heart's Delight