LEWIS H. BRITTON
Educator
Bio- Sawyers
SURNAMES: MONTGOMERY, LOPEMAN
An educator of high standing in Santa Clara County
who has had a long experience of unusual interest in the military
service of his country is Lewis H. Britton, now principal of the
Live Oak Union high school at Morgan Hill. Mr. Britton is a
native of Santa Clara County and was born at San Jose January 14,
1881. His parents were Ephriam and Mary Jane (Montgomery)
Britton, the father a native of Ireland who came from County Donegal,
in Ulster, to America when a boy of twelve years. He located on a stock
farm near Philadelphia, Pa., where he grew up, and after
his marriage came to California, arriving here in the early '60s,
locating at Murphy station, now Sunnyvale, where he acquired a large
farm and continued to prosper until his death in November, 1914, Mrs.
Britton having passed away in 1904.
Lewis H. Britton attended the Braly district school and later the
Santa Clara high school. While a student there, at the age of
seventeen he enlisted in the U S Army during the Spanish -American War,
serving for twelve months and receiving his honorable discharge in
February, 1899, at San Francisco. On receiving his diploma from the San
Jose high school he entered the Washburn Preparatory School and upon
completing the courses there matriculated at Stanford university in
1901, receiving his A. B. degree in 1905. He then entered the U.
S> Army, was commissioned a second lieutenant and immediately
dispatched to Manila, and remained in the Philippine Islands from 1905
to 1908.
On his return to civilian life, Mr. Britton was instrumental in
organizing the high school of Gonzales, one of the first Union high
schools in Monterey COunty, and he remained there for two years.
form 1910 to 1913 he was head of the history department of the Stockton
high school, and in the latter year came to Santa Clara County
where he became the head of the Morgan Hill schools . In 1916 he
was given a leave of absence and again entered the military service of
his county as first lieutenant in the Fifth California Infantry
Accompanying the expeditionary forces to Mexico; he was in that country
for eight months, returning in March, 1917. He became a member of
General Funston's staff, and while on duty guarding the bridges and
tunnels of the Northern division of the Southern Pacific Railroad, he
received orders to report at camp Kearny, where he reorganized and
named the One Hundred Fifty-ninth Infantry. He was promoted
to a captaincy and went overseas, being attached to the Second Army in
France, and he spent twenty-six months in the service there, a period
filled with interesting experiences, during which time he was able to
travel over a goodly portion of France. On his return to the
United States he received his honorable discharge in April, 1919.
On December 17, 1910, Mr. Britton was married to Miss Mabel L. Lopeman
of San Jose, the daughter of Rev. A. S. and Amanda Lopeman, now
residents of Imperial Valley. One daughter , Nellie Jane, has
been born to them. Mr. Britton stands high in fraternal circles, being
a Scottish Rite Mason and a Shriner, a member of the Elks at San Joe,
and of the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars.
Politically he is a Republican. In addition to his professional work,
Mr. Britton has important horticultural interest being a half owner of
the holdings of Britton Brothers, fancy pear and prune growers, of
Sunnyvale, Cal, an enterprise that has proven very successful.
Lewis H. Britton School- Morgan Hill
Transcribed by Carolyn Feroben, from Eugene T. Sawyers' History of Santa Clara County,California, published by Historic Record Co. , 1922, page 1317-1318