Gypsy Heart
Gold Member
LOS TULARES
QUARTERLY BULLETIN OF THE TULARE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY
NUMBER 172 - JUNE 1991
Another historic landmark disappeared from southern Tulare county this spring with the demolition of the old Carothers house along the Old Stage Road on the north side of Deer Creek.
The house was 132 years old, and the oldest house in Tulare County. With the house went the witness of a colorful past through which it had stood - floods, droughts, earthquakes and Indian Massacre. It had had a variety of transportation pass its doors - horse-drawn buggies, wagons, stagecoaches, progressing to Model T's, then more sleek modern autos, and finally, planes in the sky overhead.
The house was built by Samuel Carothers in 1859. It became the nucleus of a thriving small community, a family of nine children grew up in its rooms, and it became the center of many legends
Samuel Carothers made his fall trip in October 1873, met with his friends, and came home with a tidy sum of about $60,000 from sale of his wool and stock.
No one in the area had any use for banks in those days. Money was either carried on the person or buried, so, the following morning Samuel, who was experiencing a severe attack of indigestion as an aftermath of the rich food and drink at the city banquets, asked one of his workers to help him bury the money.
According to all family accounts, told through the ensuing, years, the man helped Samuel carry the bags of gold coins to a spot in the orchard back of the house, was dismissed, and after he left, Samuel buried the money.
Unfortunately, Samuel's indigestion problem did not improve-it became worse, and within two days, on October 25, 1873, he died.
Jane (Juana Maria) Carothers, his widow, had his funeral Mass in St. Mary's Church in Visalia because there was no Catholic church nearer, and he was buried in the Visalia cemetery where the couple had purchased two lots sometime earlier. (They later bought several lots also in the Vandalia cemetery near Porterville, and most members of the family, as well as Samuel's brother, James his wife and children, are buried there.) However, Samuel and his oldest son, James Patrick Carothers who died in 1876, are the sole occupants to date of the Visalia lots in the old portion of the Visalia cemetery.
Following Samuel's death the three sons who were at the Academy at Rohnerville were brought home, and set to helping their uncle James run the ranching operations. However, problems of the times began to beset the families: the "no fence" law was passed, necessitating huge funds for fencing; the Australian embargo on wool was lifted, and prices fell accordingly, and as an added sorrow, in 1876, Reis, James' wife died. Then, when things began to settle down, 22 February, 1879, James, too, died.
Jane's (Juana Maria's) and Samuel's sons were still quite young and she realized she was not competent to the job of running the ranch. She had been experienced only in managing her household, and even that, always with the help of a housekeeper. So, she hired a ranch foreman who was charming, but not too efficient. Before the year was past, 1880, the forman had persuaded the well-to-do widow to marry him. His courtly manners (according to first hand report by and old rneighbor, Frank Howeth) soon were laid aside as he took control, selling land gambling away ready money, and finally mortgaging all the holdings that were left.
The ranch was taken by unpaid mortgages, and ownership passed from the family. One thing remained - Jane's own cattlebrand!
Birth 16 Nov 1820 Huntington, PA [1]
Gender Male
Died 25 Oct 1873 Tulare, CA [1]
Buried Visalia, CA [1]
QUARTERLY BULLETIN OF THE TULARE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY
NUMBER 172 - JUNE 1991
Another historic landmark disappeared from southern Tulare county this spring with the demolition of the old Carothers house along the Old Stage Road on the north side of Deer Creek.
The house was 132 years old, and the oldest house in Tulare County. With the house went the witness of a colorful past through which it had stood - floods, droughts, earthquakes and Indian Massacre. It had had a variety of transportation pass its doors - horse-drawn buggies, wagons, stagecoaches, progressing to Model T's, then more sleek modern autos, and finally, planes in the sky overhead.
The house was built by Samuel Carothers in 1859. It became the nucleus of a thriving small community, a family of nine children grew up in its rooms, and it became the center of many legends
Samuel Carothers made his fall trip in October 1873, met with his friends, and came home with a tidy sum of about $60,000 from sale of his wool and stock.
No one in the area had any use for banks in those days. Money was either carried on the person or buried, so, the following morning Samuel, who was experiencing a severe attack of indigestion as an aftermath of the rich food and drink at the city banquets, asked one of his workers to help him bury the money.
According to all family accounts, told through the ensuing, years, the man helped Samuel carry the bags of gold coins to a spot in the orchard back of the house, was dismissed, and after he left, Samuel buried the money.
Unfortunately, Samuel's indigestion problem did not improve-it became worse, and within two days, on October 25, 1873, he died.
Jane (Juana Maria) Carothers, his widow, had his funeral Mass in St. Mary's Church in Visalia because there was no Catholic church nearer, and he was buried in the Visalia cemetery where the couple had purchased two lots sometime earlier. (They later bought several lots also in the Vandalia cemetery near Porterville, and most members of the family, as well as Samuel's brother, James his wife and children, are buried there.) However, Samuel and his oldest son, James Patrick Carothers who died in 1876, are the sole occupants to date of the Visalia lots in the old portion of the Visalia cemetery.
Following Samuel's death the three sons who were at the Academy at Rohnerville were brought home, and set to helping their uncle James run the ranching operations. However, problems of the times began to beset the families: the "no fence" law was passed, necessitating huge funds for fencing; the Australian embargo on wool was lifted, and prices fell accordingly, and as an added sorrow, in 1876, Reis, James' wife died. Then, when things began to settle down, 22 February, 1879, James, too, died.
Jane's (Juana Maria's) and Samuel's sons were still quite young and she realized she was not competent to the job of running the ranch. She had been experienced only in managing her household, and even that, always with the help of a housekeeper. So, she hired a ranch foreman who was charming, but not too efficient. Before the year was past, 1880, the forman had persuaded the well-to-do widow to marry him. His courtly manners (according to first hand report by and old rneighbor, Frank Howeth) soon were laid aside as he took control, selling land gambling away ready money, and finally mortgaging all the holdings that were left.
The ranch was taken by unpaid mortgages, and ownership passed from the family. One thing remained - Jane's own cattlebrand!
Birth 16 Nov 1820 Huntington, PA [1]
Gender Male
Died 25 Oct 1873 Tulare, CA [1]
Buried Visalia, CA [1]
