San Benito County CA Obituary Project Obituaries.....CANFIELD, R. W. October 30 1900 ********************************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/obits/obitsca/obitsca.htm ********************************************************** File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Susan Cherry-Boyer SueBdoo4me@netscape.net December 19, 2004, 10:25 am The Free Lance Friday November 2, 1900 CANFIELD--At San Juan, Oct. 30, 1900, R.W. Canfield, a native of Louisiana, aged 80 years. [Deceased was one of the earliest settlers in this county, having located near San Juan in 1858. He was born in New Orleans in 1820. His father, R.F. Canfield, who was a merchant by occupation, and lived during President Jackson's administration, was active in political matters, and held the office of Appraiser at the port of New Orleans. Deceased's great grandfather, James Canfield, was a native of Virginia, a patriot of the Revolution, and a graduate of Princeton College. He developed into an itinerant clergyman of Elizabethtown, New Jersey, serving in the Revolutionary Army as a chaplain and soldier. He was killed by a sentinel in June 1780. Mr. Canfield's grandfather was locally prominent as an advocate of the principles upon which American independence was founded. His home was at Morris Plains and there he pursued his occupation of farming. Mr. Canfield's father left his native State when about eighteen years of age, and located in Louisiana. He gained practice and experience in mercantile business while in a firm of that description: became a widely-known merchant and lived and died in New Orleans. Deceased left New Orleans for Illinois, and located on a prairie farm in Sangamon county, nine miles west of Springfield, on Spring Creek, where he lived for several years. He came to California in the fall of 1850, and after a brief stay in San Francisco he located a claim on Mountain View, in Santa Clara county. His claim covered the site of the present town, to which he gave its name. He lived there until the spring of 1858, when, owing to some defect in the title to the land, he abandoned his claim and located on the ranch near San Juan, where he lived up to his death last Tuesday. His place at San Juan, comprising some 200 acres, is one of the finest estates in this county. Deceased was married at the age of 21 years to Miss Frances A. Bowers, of North Hampton, Massachusetts. She died in 1872, leaving a family of six children, all settled in life. Deceased, all his life, was an active business man, fully alive to everything pertaining to the interests of the community in which he made his home. He was a man of genial characteristics, ever ready with a kind word and cheery greeting for anyone he met. His beautiful home was the rallying point for a large circle of devoted friends who will sadly miss his cheerful presence. He was a man of inflexible honor and integrity, and in his death San Benito county loses a true and worthy citizen.] File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ca/sanbenito/obits/gob3831canfield.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/caobfiles/ File size: 3.2 Kb