This section is excerpted from A Memorial and Biographical History of the Coast Counties of Central California by Henry D. Barrows and Luther A. Ingersoll, and published by The Lewis Publishing Company in 1893.
The modern enterprising, thoroughly American city of Hollister, the county seat of San Benito county, was named after Colonel W. W. Hollister,1 now deceased, who, with the Flints and Bixby's brought improved American sheep all the way from Ohio, in the early fifties, to California; and who eventually settled down to the business of sheep-raising in the neighborhood of the old mission of San Juan Bautista and in the upper portion of San Benito valley. These enterprising sheep farmers, pioneers in introducing improved sheep into this State, purchased the "San Justo ranch," a Mexican grant of nearly 35,000 acres, which was finally confirmed to Francisco Perez Pacheco, who occupied the same a number of years as a sheep range.2
Colonel Hollister acquired control of the ranch, and in 1862, built what is known as the Montgomery House, the oldest house in the present town of Hollister. It is said that during the '60s, there were several hundred feet of troughs used for watering sheep in the vicinity of where Third street is now located.
1. Colonel W. W. Hollister was a native of Licking county, Ohio. He was a man of great force and decision of character. He brought a flock of sheep across the great plains as early as the year 1851, which was no trifling undertaking. He sold these sheep in Santa Clara county, and went back and brought out with his brother, Hubbard, and a sister, Mrs. Brown, who accompanied them, another flock of 8,000 sheep, 150 cattle and 100 horses in 1853. This time he started from Missouri April 1, 1853, and arrived in Los Angeles about February 1, 1854, with 6,000 of the sheep, having been on the road ten months. The route traveled was by way of the Platte, Great Salt Lake, Mountain Meadows, Armargosa, and the Cañon Pass. W. H. Perry and C. P. Switzer, since then residents of Los Angeles, came with the Hollister party.
Colonel Hollister took the sheep north, and went into the business of breeding improved sheep on an extensive scale. Eventually, with others, he bought the San Justo ranch in the San Benito valley, then a portion of Monterey county.
2. Other parties with sheep, Thomas Flint and Jotham and Llewellyn Bixby, came at the same time by the same route, and all three parties kept near each other and co-operated together, in overcoming difficulties, and in defense against the Indians, etc.
Colonel Hollister was a man of education. He was engaged in mercantile pursuits before he came to California. He died in Santa Barbara a few years ago, where his widow and sister still live. His brother died eight or ten years since. The firm of Flint, Bixby & Co., consisted at this time of Thomas and Benjamin Flint, and Liewellen Bixby, who entered into a co-partnership in Terre Haute, Indiana, in March, 1853, to purchase stock to drive across the plains to California. They collected 2,400 head of sheep near Quincy, Illinois, and started for California, and crossed the Missouri river at Council Bluffs; their route thence was up the North Platte, via South Pass, Great Salt Lake city, southern Utah to Los Angeles and to San José, ending their trip in June, 1864.
In October, 1855, they bought the San Justo ranch using the part occupied by them for many years, almost exclusively for sheep. They were the first to introduce into California Spanish-Merino sheep, from Vermont, and they, or those of them who survive, have bred them since continuously. They have been identified
with many important business interests of this and other parts of the State, having been partners in the firms of J. Bixby & Co., Irvine, Flint & Co., B. P. Flint & Co., Coast Line Stage Co., California Beet Sugar Co., Cerro Benito Quicksilver Mining Co., etc. Jotham and Llewellyn Bixby have been for some years residents of Los Angeles county, where they are large land owners, and where they have extensive herds of sheep and cattle, etc. James Irvine died in Los Angeles (now Orange) county, several years ago. The magnificent San Joaquin and Lomas de Santiago ranches in Orange county, still belong to his estate
Dr. Thomas Flint still resides in San Benito county.
This section is excerpted from A Memorial and Biographical History of the Coast Counties of Central California by Henry D. Barrows and Luther A. Ingersoll, and published by The Lewis Publishing Company in 1893.
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