William Welles Hollister (1818–1886) was a native of Ohio who came west in the 1850s and became a wealthy rancher and

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values t ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

Biography

Ancestors and early life

William Welles Hollister, was born on Jan. 12, 1818 near Hanover, Ohio, the son of Philena Hubbard and John Hollister, and a grandson of John Hollister and Mary Welles a direct descendant of Governor

Thomas Welles Thomas Welles (14 January 1660) is the only person in Connecticut's history to hold all four top offices: governor, deputy governor, treasurer, and secretary. In 1639, he was elected as the first treasurer of the Colony of Connecticut, and fro ...

, the Fourth Colonial Governor of

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the ...

, and a descendant of

Edmund Rice Edmund is a masculine given name or surname in the English language. The name is derived from the Old English elements ''ēad'', meaning "prosperity" or "riches", and ''mund'', meaning "protector". Persons named Edmund include: People Kings an ...

, an early immigrant to

Massachusetts Bay Colony The Massachusetts Bay Colony (1630–1691), more formally the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, was an English settlement on the east coast of North America around the Massachusetts Bay, the northernmost of the several colonies later reorganized as th ...

. When he was 15, he attended

Kenyon College Kenyon College is a private liberal arts college in Gambier, Ohio. It was founded in 1824 by Philander Chase. Kenyon College is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. Kenyon has 1,708 undergraduates enrolled. Its 1,000-acre campus is s ...

Gambier, Ohio Gambier is a village in Knox County, Ohio, United States. The population was 2,391 at the 2010 census. Gambier is the home of Kenyon College. A major feature is a gravel path running the length of the village, referred to as "Middle Path". This ...

, although his health prevented him from going full-time. After his father died, William Welles Hollister, with his eyesight failing, left college without graduating, and went to farming and merchandising. In 1852, Hollister sold his farm and stock of goods and purchased two or three hundred head of cattle and started across the plains for California, where he sold his cattle and returned immediately to Ohio and prepared for another trip to California. In 1854 he, along with his brother Joseph Hubbard Hollister, his sister, Lucy A. Brown, with an additional fifty men and four women (including Mrs. Brown), led the first large transcontinental sheep drive, bringing 10,000

merino sheep The Merino is a breed or group of breeds of domestic sheep, characterised by very fine soft wool. It was established in Spain near the end of the Middle Ages, and was for several centuries kept as a strict Spanish monopoly; exports of the breed ...

from

Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

Licking County Licking County is a county located in the central portion of the U.S. state of Ohio. At the 2020 census, the population was 178,519. Its county seat is Newark. The county was formed on January 30, 1808, from portions of Fairfield County. ...

Ohio Ohio () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Of the List of states and territories of the United States, fifty U.S. states, it is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 34th-l ...

. The plan was to supply

miners A miner is a person who extracts ore, coal, chalk, clay, or other minerals from the earth through mining. There are two senses in which the term is used. In its narrowest sense, a miner is someone who works at the rock face; cutting, blasting, ...

during the

California Gold Rush The California Gold Rush (1848–1855) was a gold rush that began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California f ...

with

meat Meat is animal flesh that is eaten as food. Humans have hunted, farmed, and scavenged animals for meat since prehistoric times. The establishment of settlements in the Neolithic Revolution allowed the domestication of animals such as chic ...

. The party took a southern route from

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...

in order to avoid the winter snows of the

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada () is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primar ...

. Traveling through

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe, New Mexico, Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque, New Mexico, Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Albuquerque metropolitan area, Tiguex , Offi ...

and

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

, they pastured their flocks for a year near what is now Santa Barbara. Although only about a thousand sheep survived, Hollister was able to make a considerable fortune when wool prices spiked during the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polici ...

, as well as catering to those who searched for gold.

Career in California

Hollister purchased Rancho San Justo in

San Benito County San Benito County (; ''San Benito'', Spanish for " St. Benedict"), officially the County of San Benito, is a county located in the Coast Range Mountains of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 64,209. The co ...

, California, in an area that is now the city of Hollister. Rancho San Justo was held jointly by the Flint, Bixby & Company and Hollister until 1861, when they disagreed over a business matter and dissolved their partnership. Benjamin and Thomas Flint took all of the land east of the San Benito River. Dr. Thomas Flint's home in San Juan Bautista today is the St. Francis Retreat. Hollister took the land west of the river, including what is now known as the San Juan Valley. Hollister and his wife built a home at the base of a small hill known today as Park Hill. Detroit Photographic Company (0013)

He remained at Rancho San Justo for 14 years before selling the South Valley ranch for $370,000 and moved south with his family to raise sheep in the Santa Barbara region of California, settling on the eastern portion of the former Mexican land grant Rancho Dos Pueblos, purchased from the estate of Nicolas A. Den in 1862 and renamed ''Glen Annie Ranch'' after his wife. Colonel Hollister, in partnership with brothers Thomas and Albert Dibblee, bought several other land grants in Santa Barbara County, including

Rancho Nuestra Señora del Refugio The Rancho Nuestra Señora del Refugio ("Ranch of Our Lady of Refuge") was a Spanish land grant to José Francisco Ortega in 1794 and is the only land grant made under Spanish and confirmed by USA in 1866 to Jose Maria Ortega.under the US Suprem ...

Rancho Lompoc Rancho Lompoc was a Mexican land grant in present-day Santa Barbara County, California given in 1837 by Governor Juan B. Alvarado to Joaquín Carrillo and José Antonio Carrillo. The grant extended from present-day Lompoc west to the Pacific co ...

, Rancho Las Cruces, Rancho Cañada de Salsipuedes, Rancho San Julian, and Rancho Mission Vieja de la Purisma. In the 1870s the Dibblee-Hollister partnership was dissolved and the lands and livestock divided. Rancho Lompoc and Rancho Mission Vieja de la Purisima were sold. Rancho Cañada de Salsipuedes, Rancho Las Cruces, and Rancho Nuestra Señora del Refugio went to Hollister.

Family

Hollister married Annie Hannah James on June 18, 1862, in

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...

. The marriage ceremony was performed by the Rev.

Thomas Starr King Thomas Starr King (December 17, 1824 – March 4, 1864), often known as Starr King, was an American Universalist and Unitarian minister, influential in California politics during the American Civil War, and Freemason. Starr King spoke ...

, who was a Unitarian minister, influential in California politics during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and t ...

. The couple had six children. A grandson, John J. Hollister, Jr., became an agriculturalist, biologist and California state senator.

Death

William Welles Hollister died on August 8, 1886, age 68, at Santa Barbara, California and is buried in the Santa Barbara Cemetery.

Legacy

During the 1870s, William Hollister made many contributions to the Santa Barbara area including helping to finance and develop th
Arlington Hotel
the local newspaper ''

Santa Barbara News-Press The ''Santa Barbara News-Press'' is a broadsheet newspaper based in Santa Barbara, California. History The oldest predecessor (the weekly Santa Barbara ''Post'') of the ''News-Press'' started publishing on May 30, 1868. The Santa Barbara ''Pos ...

'',

Stearns Wharf Stearns Wharf is a pier at the cross section of the end of State Street and Cabrillo, in the harbor in Santa Barbara, California, United States. When completed In 1872, it became the longest deep-water pier between Los Angeles and San Francis ...

, and the

Lobero Theatre The Lobero Theatre is an historic building in Santa Barbara, California. The theater was originally built as an opera house, in a refurbished adobe school building, by Italian immigrant José Lobero in 1873. Located downtown at the corner of Ana ...

. The main street of

Goleta, California Goleta (; ; Spanish for "Schooner") is a city in southern Santa Barbara County, California, United States. It was incorporated as a city in 2002, after a long period as the largest unincorporated populated area in the county. As of the 2000 c ...

, once part of ''Glen Annie Ranch'', is named Hollister Avenue. In 1959, he was inducted into the

Hall of Great Westerners The Hall of Great Westerners was established by the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in 1958. Located in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, U.S., the Hall was created to celebrate the contributions of more than 200 men and women of the American ...

of the

National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum is a museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States, with more than 28,000 Western and American Indian art works and artifacts. The facility also has the world's most extensive collection of Am ...

References

External links

San Benito County Chamber of Commerce History
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hollister, William Welles Businesspeople from California American real estate businesspeople Land owners from California 1818 births 1886 deaths Kenyon College alumni People from Goleta, California People from Hollister, California Ranchers from California People from Licking County, Ohio