JOHN WINSOR
Bio-Pen Pictures
SURNAMES: COUCH, COSTALA, FINNERAN, KELLY
is the owner of thirty-nine acres of land in the Orchard School District, located on the Berryessa and Milpitas road, about six miles north of San Jose. The farm is of fertile soil, and very productive. Ten acres are devoted to fruit culture, pears and apricots being the chief products, although there may be found trees of nearly every kind grown in the county. The remainder of the land is used as hay and grain fields, except such parts as are used for pasturage. When Mr. Winsor took possession of the property, it was in a wild and uncultivated state, and its present fine condition is the best proof of his thorough understanding of horticulture.
The subject of this sketch was born in Devonshire, England, in 1821, and is the son of George and Mary (Couch) Winsor, who were natives of that county. His father emigrated to Simcoe, Louden District, Canada West, where he engaged in agriculture, in which the subject of our sketch was trained. When sixteen years of age he went into an apprenticeship to the tanner and currier's trade, at which he worked until he attained his majority. He then rented a farm in the Branford District, Canada West, and there engaged in farming until 1848, when he came to the United States and located on a farm in Kane County, Illinois. He made his home there for about two years, and then removed to Iowa, engaging there in farming, until, in 1852, he started overland for California. On the way he spent about a year in Utah Territory, engaged in trading. In the fall of 1853 he completed his journey and went into the mines. He soon tired of that, however, and established a livery stable at Rattlesnake Bar, in Placer County. After a few months' experience in that line, he sold out and returned to mining, which he followed until 1856. Going into the San Joaquin Valley, he spent about eighteen months in farm labor, removing thence to the old mission of San Jose, in Alameda County. Two years were spent there, before coming, in 1859, to Santa Clara County. For the three years following, he engaged in farming and dairy business, taking up his residence on his present homestead, in the fall of 1862. During the many years of residence in the county, Mr. Winsor's quiet life and honest dealings have won for him the esteem of associates and neighbors.
On the tenth of October, 1858, Mr. Winsor was united in marriage with Miss Catherine Costala, a resident of Alameda County. Four children were born from this marriage, three of whom are living: Delia, born June 8, 1860; Margaret Catharine, born May 5, 1862; and Edward, born May 14, 1863. The second daughter, Margaret, is the wife of Lawrence Finneran, of San Jose. Mr. Winsor suffered the loss of his wife on the twenty-fourth of December, 1877. His present wife, whom he married January 29, 1878, was formerly Miss Frances Mary Kelly, the daughter of Bernard and Mary Kelly, residents and natives of Dublin, Ireland.
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. 549-550
SANTA CLARA COUNTY BIOGRAPHY PROJECT