MRS. LOUISA
FINE
Early Settler of San Jose
Bio-Pen Pictures
SURNAMES: ALANDGER, BELT, PORTER, RITCH. McDANIELS,
Mrs. Louisa Fine, relict of the late Morgan Fine, came with her husband to California in 1849, and, after a long and tedious trip over the plains, located in the beautiful valley of Santa Clara. She was born in Washington, D. C., January 15, 1809, but when about three years of age she was taken by her parents, Richard and Eleanor (Alandger) Belt, to Garrard County, Kentucky, where she was reared, and where in 1826 she was married to Mauzy Porter, who died in 1828, by whom she had two sons, both deceased. In 1830 she removed with her father’s family to Lafayette County, Missouri, where, in 1834, she was married to Morgan Fine, with whom in April, 1849, she started for California in pursuit of health, traveling three months in a caravansary of canvas-covered wagons drawn by ox teams. They located on a tract of government land containing 160 acres in Santa Clara County, and theirs was the first house built between San Jose and Santa Clara, on or near the Alameda, it being a rude structure built of boards split out with a frow, and in which they lived until they provided a better house years after. Improving this land, they lived together on it until the death of Mr. Fine, July 17, 1879, at the age of seventy-nine years. They have four sons and two daughters: Leagara B., of Santa Ana, California; Alexander C., of Santa Cruz County, California; Andrew, a physician of Oakland, California; Maria, wife of Geo. T. Ritch, of Sacramento, this State; Amanda W., wife of J. J. McDaniels, of Santa Clara; and John, who is still with her at Santa Clara.
In his youth Mr. Fine became a member of the Christian Church, and through life was a consistent Christian. At the building of the University of the Pacific, at San Jose, although under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal Church, he contributed to it of his means and aided it by his influence. His daughter, Mrs. McDaniels, was one of its first graduates.
After the death of
her husband, Mrs. Fine remained on the farm until 1882, when she sold it and
became a resident of Santa Clara, with the intention of spending the closing
days of her life there. In her girlhood she united with the Christian Church in
Kentucky, and she is now a member of the church at Santa Clara, being a member
of the same denomination for sixty years.
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. 289-290
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler
Proofread by Betty Vickroy
SANTA CLARA COUNTY BIOGRAPHY PROJECT