Gird Pioneers of 1853

Gird Pioneers of 1853

~ Henry Harrison & Martha Stites (LEWIS) GIRD ~

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Westward Migration - New York  ->  Louisiana ->  Illinois ->  California

 

The Gird Wagon Train - West in 1853

Henry Harrison GIRD was just a baby when the Gird family removed to Louisiana. In 1829,  his father, Henry Hatton Gird III, resigned his commission from the military when  he was appointed the 2nd President, as well as Professor of Mathematics & Natural History, of "The College of Louisiana" , in Jackson, East Feliciana Parish, Louisiana. At that time it was the largest university west of the Mississippi River. He was the first and only President ever appointed to the University who was not an ordained minister in the Methodist Church. He also continued in his Professorship of Mathematics & instructor of various other studies as well. A comfortable home was built for the family on campus. The children grew to adulthood here, in  a life of some affluence & traditional Southern ease, including the household where slaves did the menial work in the Gird household.

An 1840 census of East Feliciana Parish shows three slaves were living in the Gird Household at that time. As the GIRD family had always been abolitionists in America, I found this a curious entry. They had always kept housekeepers, but they had been hired servants, never slaves. There is one story found in the History of the College of Louisiana, that the College Board of Trustees sold ten slaves to raise money needed for the College Building Funds, to buy more property. I wonder if these three slaves were some of those that weren't sold, or if Henry, like his father, might have purchased them and "freed" them afterward to save them. Perhaps they came with the position as College President, part of the household appointed to the College President.  It is curious.

 Henry Hatton Gird III organized a military academy there that was quite successful. He was instrumental in the design and construction of the university's two new wings that greatly increased the size of the facility and added beauty to the campus as well. He contributed a library, a hospital, and several other important buildings to the campus facilities., as well.  In 1833, after a heated dispute with another professor, who was also a West Point graduate and former classmate of President GIRD, one Professor Ingalls,  that resulted in a rousing fist fight in front of the students. Heated words were exchanged, with the result being that Pres. Gird punched Professor Ingalls right in the mouth. The College Board of Trustees was anxious to try to patch up the dispute between these two "West Pointers", fearing it might harm the college by giving it a bad reputation.  President GIRD decided that it was best if he just resigned his Presidency, but the College Board of Trustees persuaded him to stay on a while longer until a suitable replacement could be found. Six months later, he again gave his notice, and again the Board of Trustees pleaded with him to continue acting as College President Pro Tem for just a while longer. They were finding it difficult to get a commitment from any candidates they would select to replace President Gird.  Once again he was persuaded to continue to act as President Pro Tem,  until at long last, in 1835 the candidate was found and a new college president was secured, and H. H. GIRD III was finally able to step down from the presidency. However, he did continued at the University as Professor of Mathematics & Natural History, until 1844, when he resigned, giving him a grand total of 6 years as College President and 15 years as Professor of Mathematics and Natural History at the College of Louisiana.

From "A BURNING TORCH and a FLAMING FIRE
 - the Story of Centenary College"
, formerly the College of Louisiana.
 Read the story of H. H. GIRD III - College President. and learn about more of his many  accomplishments (1829-1844).

The family resided in Louisiana for fifteen years, the children becoming steeped in Southern traditions and lifestyle. Henry Harrison Gird's education "...was conducted in private schools at Jackson, LA., and in the...College of Louisiana..." (History of California - Historical and Geographical Record - 1907, Volume 1, page 568.). From old family letters, it appears that his father, Henry Hatton Gird III took his family back home to New York on a regular basis, probably on Holidays, to visit their extended families. They traveled by ship, generally coming in to port in NYC, stopping in to see "the Aunts" in NYC, and then resuming their journey by Packet boat up the Hudson River. They probably stopped to see Mrs. Annie Kinsley, Sally's mother and the children's maternal grandmother, and perhaps other KINSLEY - DUNCAN relatives at Buttermilk Falls (later renamed Highland Falls). From there they continued on by packet up to Albany, where they road by coach  to Cedar Lake Farm in Herkimer county, Henry Hatton Gird III's boyhood home, to see his mother, Mrs. Mary (Maria) Smith-Crane-Gird and the rest of the Gird & Smith families.  Henry Harrison never finished his college education, however, as he left the College of Louisiana  to go with his father to Illinois in 1844 - the University folded a year later, when the State funds were cut off,  due to political pressure to focus on the more traditional French schools of southern Louisiana, but on the same day, by a merger, became the new Methodists college,  known thereafter as Centenary College.  (SEE: The old college still stands today, and has now been declared a Louisiana State Historical Site and is maintained as such by the State of Louisiana...including the West Wing of the two dormitories and the professor's house which Henry Hatton Gird III contributed to the college campus so long ago in the 1830s.)

According to the Illinois Public Domain Land Records, Henry H. Gird III began buying land in Illinois on March 3rd, 1837. This first purchase was 320 acres of the east half of section 22 @ the sale price of $1.25 per acre "FD" (Federal Sale) in Sugar Creek Twp, Clinton County, IL.
Total amounts purchased from 1837-1838 was 1280 acres of land, some in Sugar Creek twp of Clinton Co., and some in St. Clair Co. These purchases and his decision to retire from the College situation and remove from Louisiana to Illinois, may have been prompted by the untimely death of his wife, my GGG-grandmother, Sarah Anne (Kinsley) Gird, and mother of Henry Harrison GIRD.

It was about this time (1837) that Sarah Anne (KINSLEY) GIRD, "Sally", as she was known in the family,  had died, leaving a large family with young children and a baby for Henry Hatton GIRD III to care for.  It is not known what was the cause of her death, but I have speculated that it could have been one of two things:

1. There was an epidemic of  Yellow Fever, "Yellow Jack", as it was then called, that swept through the state over and over for many years and it could be that Sally GIRD was one of its victims.  At first, East Feliciana parish was far north and out of the swampy region, free from the disease, and they enjoyed a healthier climate, but not for long. Soon it hit the town of Jackson and surrounding communities, wiping out whole communities within a matter of days. Many people fled from the South and the deadly Yellow Fever.  As a result, the college of Louisiana suffered greatly. Perhaps Henry's plan was to move to Illinois and get his family away from the Yellow Fever & its certain death that plagued the warm, moist climate of the South in those days. 

2. The other possibility is that she died after giving birth to her last child, Eliza Gird. Her birth date coincides with the time frame of  "Sally's demise.

Within a year, Henry Hatton Gird III married again to Elizabeth WHEELER of Massachusetts. From this union came three more GIRD children - three sons.  In 1844, tradition has it that Henry Harrison GIRD accompanied his father and his brother, Edward to Illinois "...to engaged in farming and stock-raising...and afterward he aided in developing a tract of virgin soil from its primeval state into a condition of cultivation."

In the Historical Register and Dictionary of the United States Army
G. page 459, (Hist of Lt. Henry Hatton GIRD III):
Gird, Henry H. N Y. N Y. Cadet Military Academy 14 Nov 1818 (18); brevet 2 lieutenant and 2 lieutenant 4 artillery 1 July 1822; transferred to 2 artillery 14 Sept 1827; resigned 30 Nov 1829; [died 1 June 1845.]

From West Point Military Historical Records and the records of the Army it states that "In 1844 he went to Illinois to farm (with his sons). Then in 1845 he was appointed to "a situation in the New Orleans Mint, " and Henry Hatton Gird III returned to Louisiana, and to his untimely death "On June 1st of that same year in New Orleans", a victim of Yellow Fever.  I have not found record of where he was laid to rest.

In Illinois, Henry Harrison GIRD and his brother, Edward Kinsley GIRD continued with the task of developing the land their father had purchased into a productive ranch, focusing on farming & stock-raising. Another brother, Richard Kinsley Gird, who may have also gone to Illinois with their father, is said to have later become a captain on a Mississippi river steamboat. He was killed sometime afterward when the boat ran aground and burned. I do not know what became of the other brother, Louis Kinsley GIRD. Anna Maria Gird, the oldest child  & Eliza Kinsley Gird, the baby, apparently sailed to Boston, Massachusetts with their step-mother,  Elizabeth GIRD, their father's 2nd wife, who took her children and returned to her former home and family there. Anna & Eliza removed thence to Utica, New York, to live with their paternal Grandmother, Mary Gird.  Elizabeth Gird's four children, who apparently were born in Massachusetts, not Louisiana, namely, Joseph Wheeler GIRD, William Otis GIRD, Samuel Woodward GIRD & Elizabeth GIRD,  grew up in Massachusetts around their mother's people, and remained somewhat distant from the rest of the Gird family thereafter. Joseph W. Gird, their oldest son, was later killed in the Civil War. I do not know what became of the other children. Many of the GIRD cousins in New York had gone to California in search of gold and adventure and some to Chicago, Illinois, so that the GIRD family that had once been so close, was now scattered across the land of America.

And so Henry Harrison & Edward began a new life in Illinois, far from their childhood home of Louisiana, and far from their families in New York.

Family Group of Henry Hatton GIRD III - shows children with spouses, etc.

(PHOTOS TO BE RESTORED SOON)
 William LEWIS & Mary STITES

Original photos were in the home of Mrs. Betty (McEuen) Davis in Fallbrook, Calif.; dau. of Mrs. Katherine (LAMB) MCEUEN

It was here that Henry met Martha Stites LEWIS.  Martha LEWIS was the daughter of William & Mary (STITES) LEWIS, who had come to Illinois as early as 1813 and bought a huge amount of land in several townships and counties. William & Mary LEWIS made their home, however,  on the land in Sugar Creek Township of Clinton county, Illinois. They bore and raised a large family and prospered.  In those early days, their home was a well-known stopping place for all the itinerate ministers who passed through on their circuit. At a later date, they saw their frontier home become a town. A large portion of the Lewis farm in the Sugar Creek Township, was later subdivided by her father, William LEWIS and brother, Alva LEWIS, for a town and named it "Trenton" for Trenton, NJ. where William LEWIS is said to have originated.  To document this family Story I found the following: 

SOURCE: In the 1881 HISTORY of Marion and Clinton Counties, published in 1881, pages 78 & 79, and includes some remarks of happenings to the people after the 1825 census was taken, up until the history book was written. 

In the 1825 Census of Clinton County, Illinois I found the following:
Head of Household: LEWIS, William -# 39
Precinct: Sugar Creek
Remarks: laid out the town of Trenton, IL.-

In addition to this, I found maps showing the layout of town of Trenton, Sugar Creek Township, Clinton County, Illinois. It was done in several stages over a period of years, with new additions being laid out and sold, until all the land that had belonged to the Lewis family was out of family hands.

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A Story about
the Courtship of Martha Stites Lewis -
The Cherry Tree

On February 15, 1849, Henry married Martha Stites LEWIS, daughter of William and Mary (STITES) LEWIS of Clinton County, IL. Martha had been born on her parent's farm (now the site of Trenton, Clinton County, Illinois) on September 26, 1826.

Henry's younger brother, Richard Kinsley GIRD, also died sometime after the death of his father. Their little son, Henry Lewis GIRD, born March 9, 1851, died in August 26, 1852, a victim of yet another epidemic...the Malaria Epidemic that was widespread in Illinois at that time. The loss of his father, younger brother, Richard Kinsley GIRD, and their infant son, and their increasing dissatisfaction with diseased conditions in Illinois, encouraged their decision to move to out West to California. They sold their land and made ready to emigrate West. Henry was not lured by the stories of Gold, but was eager to go to the wonderful California he had heard was so fertile. His plan was to go there, obtain land and "Ranch". Although they were facing a hard journey and it would be difficult to say goodbye to their family and friends, they felt it was the right decision.

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This Photo was taken in St. Louis, Missouri, just before they left. Note Martha's face - distant & withdrawn. Sad to leaving behind family & friends and no doubt apprehensive about the trip. Sad to leave behind her infant son who was laid in a grave, not so long ago.  She is perhaps a bit fearful of the unknown, but her hand is resting on Henry's knee, and she leans slightly toward him. She has faith in him, and she will go wherever he bids her go, but, wo, it is a sad lot, just the same.

Henry's face is illuminated with the prospects of not only a new life in California, but maybe even in the adventure of the trip itself. Look into his eyes -they are glowing with anticipation. His lips are pursed, as if to contain his excitement. What a test of skill and manhood! Tomorrow morning they would begin the adventure of a lifetime. They were going out West to California where a man could just about do anything he desired...and they would have to cross the great wilderness to do it!

Henry and Edward GIRD outfitted in St. Louis, Missouri with three wagons and a small herd of their prized Devon Cattle, and in April 1853, Henry, Martha & brother Edward started the long journey across the plains, the deserts, and the mountains with the small wagon train. They followed the Sante Fe Trail, and then turned north, going through the mountains and crossing at the Kit Carson Pass near Pike's Peak.

Note - One tidbit of interest is that Pike's Peak was named for Zebulon Pike who discovered it many years earlier.  Zebulon Pike had also been one of the commanding officers sent to Louisiana with Henry's father years earlier to build the fortifications at Fort Jackson and Fort Pike.  Although History does not credit Henry Hatton GIRD III with either of these fortifications, it is interestingly recorded in West Point annals & I found references to it in the Library of Congress Military records regarding Henry Hatton GIRD III,  that he was sent to be an overseer of the two projects - their designs and constructions...which is how it was that he learned of the position at the new College of Louisiana. And now here is was that Henry's sons were traveling through the Kit Carson Pass, near   Pike's Peak. I wonder if either of them reflected on any of theses things as they crossed the Great Divide through the mountains, heading for California?

One wagon was drawn by the three yoke of cherry red oxen of such size and stamina that they easily kept pace of the horse-drawn wagon in the lead. (Will Gird, son of Henry Harrison, later claimed that the oxen were really Devon Cattle. His sister, Mary Gird maintained that they had been Shorthorns, but both agreed they were fine "red" cattle.

More tales about their journey West

While crossing the Plains - One day, Frank, one of the young men of the wagon train, went out hunting. He walked down to the river near their camp. There, sitting on a rock in the sunshine, was an Indian maid braiding her hair. Frank raised his rifle to his shoulder, aimed and fired. The young woman toppled off the rock and into the water, apparently dead. The youth went back to camp and told what he had done. The people were very angry with him, for they knew it would mean trouble with the Indians.
The next morning a band of Indian braves rode into the camp. They seized young Frank and rode off with him. None of the other pioneers were touched, but they never saw or heard of Frank again. The others did not object, and gave up the young man willingly.  It was their life against his and he had been wrong to shoot the young Indian girl.

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The Gird Family's Bible:

The Kaw River, in Kansas
When the wagon train crossed the Kaw River
* in Kansas (Territory), the stream was flooding.  To lighten the load in the wagon, the men began to throw out non-essentials. They threw out a lot of things. The trunk which contained the Family Bible was among the items they set out. When the family arrived in California, some 2,000 miles away from the Kaw River, they discovered that they had also thrown out the Bible. Edward  K. Gird said it was bad luck to throw away the Bible, and later on he gave Mary Gird, Henry's daughter, money to buy her mother ( Martha Stites Lewis-Gird) another Bible.

* Note: The Kansas River was known in those days by its Indian name "Kaw".


 

A Gird Trunk and paddle lock that crossed the Plains by Ox Team in 1853

 

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The Pawnee Dinner Guests

It was nearly dark one evening, and the woman were preparing the evening meal. The children were down by the stream near the wagon camp-site playing there in the sand. As the men began to gather around the fire for supper, they heard the sound of hoof beats. Of course, they hustled the women and children into the wagons, loaded their rifles and waited. The Indians rode into camp and walked around looking into every wagon and box. They took nothing. Then they came to the fire and helped themselves to the fresh-cooked meat and other food. When all the food was eaten, they quickly got up and rode away. The pioneers knew that had they resisted, a quite different fate would have been theirs. They discovered later that the wagon train ahead of theirs was completely demolished by Indians.
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The wagon train crossed Kit Carson Pass in late September, six months out of St. Louis and well ahead of winter snows. On the west end of the pass they stopped to rest from the trials of the long journey and let the stock recuperate on the feed in the well-watered valley.
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Gird proved to be a capable leader and brought his little wagon train through in good shape. They had lost three of the six oxen and had to substitute cows (Devon Cattle) in their places for the latter part of the trip. Some of the young stock were killed by wolves, but they arrived in California in November, well ahead of the snow, with most of their stock and equipment in good shape, all things considered.

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The Gold Rocker

On a November day they were experiencing their first California rain; a steady downpour on the horses and cattle,  huddled under trees for shelter; on the covered wagons; on the tent where Martha Gird lay with her new-born daughter, Mary. That night the stream overflowed its banks and invaded the tent. When the water was a foot deep, they carried the mother and child on their bed to higher ground.
Finally it stopped raining and the sun came out. An old miner heard of the new baby and brought his gold-rocker to present to the baby for a cradle. Yes, this baby, Mary Gird, always liked to tell how she was born on November 4, 1853 in a tent, and how she slept in a gold Rocker for a cradle.

 


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Gird Ranches


The first Gird Ranch was near Hangtown, later renamed Placerville, a booming mining town in 1853. Henry never felt the lure of the mines, but went to farming, raising stock and selling his produce to the miners. One time when he took a load of wheat to town, Martha Gird sent along 15 pounds of butter and 12 dozen eggs. Butter sold for a dollar a pound and eggs a dollar a dozen. Their son, William was born in Hangtown on January 22, 1856. (a dollar in those days was a day's top wages).

Deciding to go further north, they moved to a ranch near Nicholas, in Sutter County.  A third child, Lucy Ellen *, was born here on February 28, 1859. The fall of '61 found them at Calto Lake, Mendocino County where they spent a hard, cold winter. In the spring, they moved down the coast to San Jose. *( Lucy Ellen Gird is my Great Grandmother).

By the Fall of '62, they reached Los Angeles, where they purchased "La Cienega Rancho". The Girds lived there nearly 20 years. This ranch was nearly 1000 acres in the Crenshaw, Angeles Vista, La Brea section of modern Los Angeles. ( now the heart of downtown LA. The famous La Brea Tar Pits was on part of their Ranch).  It was then an ideal farming and stock raising location and the family prospered. Two more daughters were born here:  Sarah Ann (called "Sally") on February 24, 1863, and Katie Lenora, born on May 17, 1868.  Sally died October 23, 1884. Henry & Martha had another daughter, Carrie Augusta, born July 4, 1866.  She lived only a few months, dying on October 6, 1866.

With the children growing up, they needed a school. Henry Gird became active in organizing a school district, with the result that a district bearing his name was formed. It is still in existence today.  It was bounded on the south by Vernon, on the east by Los Angeles, on the north by Santa Monica, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean.

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The News that Spoiled the Picnic

Annie Frances HINDORFF-DRIGGS, my mother, recalls a story her grandmother, Lucy Ellen Gird told her about a childhood experience while the Girds were living on their La Cienega Rancho in Los Angeles:

"Pa did all the buying for the family, so we didn't get to go to town (L.A.) very often - but I remember one time when the whole family went with him.
"Ma  put our dinner in a basket and put it in the wagon. We spread quilts on the wagon bed for us children to ride on. It had been raining and the usually dry Los Angeles River had a little stream of brownish water in the channel. (The dirt road crossed the river, and for a distance it was covered by the stream where the wagon had to go). Pa let us take off our shoes and stockings and dabble our feet in the water when we went across the river. My, how we enjoyed that.
"We stopped to eat our dinner (and play in the stream before continuing on to Los Angeles), when a rider came racing toward us shouting and waving his arms wildly. Pa went out on the trail to meet him and when the rider got closer we could hear some of the voices. He was shouting that President Lincoln had been shot.
" The heaving horse slid to a stop close to Pa and the man stopped only long enough to give the details before he galloped on toward Los Angeles to spread the news. With tears streaming down his cheeks, Pa related the news to Ma. Then Pa turned the wagon around and we just went back home. He said he didn't feel like going to town".

~Written by Annie Frances HINDORFF-DRIGGS, ©1998

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My Great-Grammie Lamb, Lucy  Ellen Gird lived to be 103 years old. I was ten years old when she passed away. I am very aware of how fortunate I was to have been able to know my Great-grandmother and to have lived so close to her home.  I always loved the days when Momma and I went to visit her at Aunt Edna's home where she lived in her last years. Aunt Edna's home was about 1 mile down Gird road from our home and just across the road from Grammie's old home that she and Great-Grampa had built together as newlyweds and where they raised their big family. Grammie loved to watch T. V., and the age of 100, her favorite shows were Westerns and Wrestling. She had a great interest in the new Space Program and the rocket flights of astronauts. She had seen the world completely change in her life-time and it was no longer her world, but she was none-the-less intrigued with all the innovative "gismos" they were inventing and interested in the new technologies of science. She became more and more confined and to pass the time, found joy in crocheting bright multi-colored placemats and tablecloths for various clubs and ladies auxiliaries in the Fallbrook area. She said it kept her from "being idle". When we called on her, often as not, she would be sitting there crocheting when we arrived and she visited with Momma while she worked.

Aunt Edna's home was filled with many interesting things that conjured up images of the Pioneer days. It was as if I had been transported back to those by-gone days every time I went there and it was somehow frightening to a shy little girl like me to go there, and yet it was intriguing. Grammie told me many wonderful stories about the Pioneer days when she was a little girl.  She loved to tell me about the fact that we were related to two U.S. Presidents. She talked about those times as if they had just happened yesterday. I never got tired of hearing about them, and although she sometimes told me the same stories many times, often there were new remembrances that she'd left out "last time". The story about the day her family got the news about the death of Pres. Lincoln was always my favorite. She told me that although she was just a very small child at the time, (about 5 years old), she could recall the incident vividly. She thought that it was because of the disappointment that she and her siblings had experienced.-the news had spoiled their outing and fun day, so it stuck in her mind all those years. Of course as she grew older, she realized the significance of the incident, and that reinforced her memory of that day. "Pa made us put on our mourning clothes and we had to wear them for a long time. I remember how hot and heavy they were to wear and that we could not wear our play clothes or go without our shoes and stockings during that time. Yes, I remember the day we got the news that President Lincoln had been shot...and it spoiled our picnic." Then she looked at me with shining eyes that twinkled and said no more....going back to her crocheting.

-from "Memories about my Great Grandmother - Lucy Ellen GIRD-LAMB ",
by Teddie Anne DRIGGS. ©1999


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Rancho Monserate

Rancho Monserate "Gird Ranch"

The New House built for H. H. Gird by D.O. Lamb in 1884 Graphics by Teddie©2000

In 1876, Henry Harrison Gird heard of some land in Northern San Diego County that interested him. This land lay along both sides of the San Luis Rey river, a short distance above Bonsall (then known as Fairfield). It was a tract of land of 4590 acres that Don Alvarado of the Monserate Rancho had given to his daughter, Señora Serano, upon her marriage. The land was a North county Mexican land grant, originally planned to have been the dwelling place for the last of the California-Mexican governors, "Pio Pico". To the Alvarado Family, to whom Governor Pico granted the ranch, it became Rancho Monserate, named for a mountain is Spain where a monastery had stood since 800 A.D. - the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared there. A small pox epidemic broke out in 1863, killing 21 persons at Monserate, including Don Alvarado who had been nursing the sick. His son inherited the Rancho and lived there for a time afterward, constructing a new adobe Ranch house. It was later to be the wedding gift to his daughter, Señora Serano. His daughter was killed and Don Alvarado decided to sell it- too many tragedies for one family in that once happy place.

The ranch lands reached east to the Pala area. The San Luis Rey Valley was a lush fertile valley that lay below the sage-covered foothills of the San Jacinto Mountain Range of the Sierra Madres. Henry Gird saw this place as ideal and the deal was closed at Pala (Mt. Palomar) in 1876, where at that time the only notary public was located.

In 1880, Henry disposed of his Los Angeles Ranch and moved his family to the San Diego county holdings. They packed their belongings into wagons, and driving their many fine horses and cattle, started south to their new home. There were no roads in those days. They traveled south down the coastline and then across country through the small villages of Anaheim, Santa Anna, and Capistrano, past the Famous Spanish missions, following the Spanish Mission Road, and across the big Santa Margarita Rancho, camping at the ford across the San Luis Rey River near the mission. The Missions had been built in the 18th century, positioned along the coast about a days ride between each mission. Because of the coastal mountains, they had to go down the coastline, about 20 miles farther south of their destination, and double back north up through the San Luis Rey River Valley past the famous Mission - an added 20 miles or more to the already long trip from Los Angeles. They had planned to reach their new home by the third or fourth day, but darkness found them more than a mile away, so they camped for the night.
The next morning, they headed up the San Luis Rey valley to their new home at Monserate, and moved into the adobe ranch house which had been built by the Seranos (Alvarados). It was a large pleasant house with a long hall that ran from the front to the back of the house. This hall was used as a dining room, the family sitting along one side of the long narrow table made of boards.

[See 1890s Map of Fall Brook]

The family was quite comfortable here until the Year of the Great Flood. On February 3, 1884 there came a great flood that caused all the streams and rivers to swell and overflow their banks. It rained heavily for three weeks. The flood waters ravaged the river land areas, and came with such fury, that it caused wide-spread damage for about 40 miles. The Gird's Adobe Ranch house was situated on low ground near the San Luis Rey River that ran parallel to the Santa Margarita River and when the flood waters came up, it ran through their house, down the long hallway, and out the other door in a  perfect stream.

Henry hired Denver O. LAMB, a carpenter & the son of an old Los Angeles friend, James Orrin Lamb, to build them a new wood-frame house. The new house was to be built on the knoll adjoining the Adobe, on higher ground out of the floodplain. [Denver O. Lamb had married Henry's daughter, Lucy Ellen, January 13, 1883 at the Gird Ranch.] Denver and Ellen lived for a time at her parent's home until the new Gird ranch house was finished, and until he could finish their own home. [See LAMB family page.] The new ranch-house for his "father-in-law" was completed within the same year in 1884.

[See stories & images of the Great flood of 1884 & Great Flood in 1916, that twice washed out the Sante Fe RR tracks from Temecula all the way to San Diego.]
 

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Graphics by Teddie © 2000

Henry Harrison & Martha Stites (Lewis) Gird in their late years

Original Photo taken on the front porch of their Gird Ranch home in San Luis Rey Valley, "Rancho Monserate", near Fallbrook, in San Diego County, California.

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 Will Gird, Henry's only living son, became a rancher as well, breeding Registered Devon cattle. One Bull that he was particularly proud of was ordered and shipped from Illinois. He paid an exuberant amount of money for this Old Bull - The shipping costs alone amounted to $135! A high-dollar price for those times.]

Graphics by Teddie © 2000

Henry Gird's Ranch & Gird Mountain in background...

Henry and Martha Gird, together with the help of their son, Will, were very successful in their new home. Will Gird later bought several thousand additional acres of the original Monserate rancho that was being sold. The Girds raised fine horses, mostly trotting stock, and had many cattle. They kept bees and sold the honey to the market, that was shipped all over the country. A family orchard was started and at one time contained practically every kind of fruit suited to the location. There were fruit trees from Australia, Africa, and the three northern continents. From a video-taped interview of my Great-Aunt Lucy (LAMB) ERIS, made by her children shortly before she passed away, Lucy recalled that the Girds, her grandparents, had always had servants, to help with the cooking, cleaning & laundry. Lucy was the baby-sister of Annie (Lamb) Hindorff, my Grannie.

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A Bevy of Charming Gird Daughters

The Gird Ranch was a popular place. There was a saying at that time that "All roads lead to Girds". Perhaps a bevy of charming daughters had something to do with it. On these roads, not automobiles, but light spring wagons with four-horse teams, or saddle horses were used for pleasure trips. The roads were so bad that going to a dance meant getting there before dark and staying until daylight the next day. The road that led to the Gird Ranch was later named "Gird Road".

There were five daughters born to H. H. & Martha Gird, in addition to their son, Will:

Mary

Ella

Sally

Katie

Carrie

Sally Gird

(Studio photos -taken in Los Angeles before the family moved to Fallbrook)

Lucy Ellen Gird, "Ella", (My Great-Grammie Lamb) - 14 Feb., 1875

Two Irish sisters: one a dark brunette after the Lewis side of the family and the other a strawberry blonde after the Gird side. Sally was the younger sister. They both used to ride horses, and liked to do trick-riding stunts.  Ellen told her daughter, Annie, that they would stand up on the backs of their horses and gallop across the fields, like the circus
performers.  

Mrs. M. N. . Ray writes: " ...Mother (Annie) said those two girls were tomboys.  The other two, Katie and Mary were more into hand sewing and crocheting, and tatting, &etc.  ...Kinda sissy's.  But they had lots of determination too.  Strong willed women.
Mary raised her boys, Frank, Ray, & Ross by herself after she divorced Herbert "Bert" Peters.  Ross was killed in the horse accident, soon after returning from W W I. Afterward, Frank went to live with his father, and Ray stayed with his mother. They raised bees, had some orchard trees, and Ray worked at the Fallbrook Citrus Assn. for many, many years."

Aunt Mary's only daughter, Neal, died at age 5. She was the baby in the family.

Aunt Sally died at the young age of only 21, a few short years after the Girds moved to the Fallbrook area from Los Angeles.

Baby Carrie died in Los Angeles at age 3 months. The rest of the girls lived long lives, married and had children, grandchildren, &etc. Ella lived to be 103 years old.

Poor William Gird, the only living son, had to grow up in a household of 4 strong-willed Irish girls. It was a good thing they called him "Will"...so he would live up to that name and be able to withstand it!

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Other Girds in California

We know that Henry Harrison kept in touch with at least some of his family in New York. Several other Girds went West to California, cousins of Henry Hatton Gird III, and one, Richard " Dick" Gird, became the owner of one of the largest ranches in California - the Chino Ranch in San Bernardino.. Famous from Tombstone Silver Mines and also owner of the Gird Milling Company of Arizona Territory in 1880s, he once told an Historian who was interviewing him that he had gone to California after selling all his Arizona holdings, to become a "Land Baron" like his cousin Henry in San Diego County.
Dick came to visit his cousin Henry at his ranch near Fallbrook in November, 1909. He stopped at the home of D.O. & Ellen (Gird) Lamb and after a visit with them, inquired where he might also find Mary. He said he should also like to see her, but he didn't know how to find her place. Edna, one of the older daughters, said she could direct him there, so they climbed into Dick's car and away they went, chugging down the dirt roads of the canyon to Aunt Mary's ranch, north of Fall Brook, way up the canyon on the Santa Margarita. [see photo below of this occasion]

Richard "Dick" Gird passed away on May 29, 1910 at his Los Angeles home, just 6 months after the family visit with his Fallbrook Gird cousins.

His Story, complete with old photos to be added.

 

 

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Henry's brother Edward GIRD returned to Illinois and married Lucy Dew LEWIS  (Martha Gird's younger sister) in 1858. They moved to Bates County, Missouri, where they lived for many years. In 1882, Edward & Lucy Gird and their family moved out West to California and ranched in the Los Angeles area where they lived out their lives. According to Lucy's obituary in the Los Angeles newspaper, their ranch was a portion of Henry Gird's old ranch. Edward and Lucy had six (6) children, three (3) dying in infancy. Surviving children were: Edward Kinsley Gird, JR., Molly Gird (Mrs. N. L. Levering of Redlands, Calif.) and Miss Mary E. Gird (May).  May & Ed Jr. stayed in the L.A. area.

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Henry & Martha Gird lived a happy and contented life in their ranch home, respected and esteemed by all who knew them. They passed away within a few months of each other: Henry on March 19, 1913 and Martha on May 4, 1913.

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The Pet That Wouldn't Bite

When the Girds moved to the Rancho in Fallbrook, their children were young adults. My grandmother, Ellen, had graduated from Los Angeles High School in 1879, and the following year they were in Fallbrook. They had lived in a rural situation in Los Angeles, but this was even more remote.

    One of the stories my mother [Annie (LAMB) HINDORFF] related to me (about the Gird children...her mother being the former Miss Lucy Gird) was about their "pet". The Gird children had been warned to be cautious of Rattlesnakes. They would kill them if they ran across them, but one day they found a small, cute little Rattlesnake. They knew it was a Rattlesnake. It had a baton on the end of the tail, similar to the tail ends of the larger ones they had killed. They decided that if they would pull its teeth, it couldn't bite them, and they would have a pet. They had the little snake for a pet and fed it in the yard and of course it stayed around. They saw it often for several months and would pick it up to play with it or show to their parents.
    One day a stranger came to the Ranch. He saw the snake in the yard and killed it. Then he told the Girds that he had seen a small Rattle Snake in their yard and killed it. The children were sad to have lost their pet, so decided to skin him for a keepsake. They could dry the skin and have that to remember their fun with it.
When they skinned the snake they found that the snake had grown more teeth. From that day forward they didn't try to be friendly with snakes. They killed all Rattlesnakes whenever they found them.

From Margaret (HINDORFF) RAY
Family Archival Collection
- Copyrighted - All rights are reserved-
To copy or use, give credits.

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More to Come... 

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(All the "stories" are taken from Gird Family histories and journals written by Gird-Lamb Family & Descendants- stories acquired through interviews with living relatives; from the "Historical California", a book written about the Early Pioneer Families of California around the turn of this century, and from "History of Northern San Diego County").

Compiled and edited by Teddie Anne Driggs
June 11th, 1999

 

 

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