William Welles Hollister (1818 - 1886)

Born 12 Jan 1818 in Hanover, Licking, Ohio, United States

Ancestors

Husband of Hannah Anne (James) Hollister — married 18 Jun 1862 in San Francisco, California, United States

Descendants

Died 8 Aug 1886 at age 68 in Dos Pueblos Ranch, Santa Barbara, California, United States

Problems/Questions Profile manager: JIm Walker [send private message]

Biography

From Hollister Family of America: "William Welles, son of John Hollister and Philena Hubbard, was born near Hanover, Licking Co., Ohio, Jan. 12, 1818. He was brought up on the farm until 15 years of age, when he went to Kenyon College, where he remained four or five years, his health not permitting him to take a regular course. His father dying in 1839, and his eyes failing, he left college without graduating and went to farming and merchandising until 1852, when he sold his farm and stock of goods and bought two or three hundred head of cattle and started across the plains for California, where he sold his cattle and returned immediately to Ohio. The next year, he with his brother, Joseph, and his sister, Mrs. L. A. Brown, bought eight or nine thousand sheep and about two hundred head of cattle and started across the plains about the first day of May, with eleven wagons and ten or twelve horses. There were fifty men in the train and four ladies with Mrs. Brown. They were fifteen months on the way, turning south at Salt Lake, they went down through New Mexico and Arizona and the southern part of California, and then up the coast to Monterey, where he bought his first ranch, San Justo. In 1869 he sold that and bought 3000 acres of the Dos Pueblos ranch in Santa Barbara County, where he now lives, his postoffice address being Santa Barbara. The town of Hollister in Monterey County was named after him.

Mr. Hollister has never held any offices, having been too busy to care for them. He has long been known as the largest wool-grower in the State and is also largely interested in fruit-raising, having more than twenty thousand fruit trees of every variety adapted to the climate of California. He has also gained considerable celebrity for his letters on cheap labor.

He married Annie, daughter of S. L. James of San Francisco, in June, 1862."

From FindAGrave "Hollister is a direct descendant of Governor Thomas Welles, the Fourth Colonial Governor of Connecticut, and a descendant of Edmund Rice, an early immigrant to Massachusetts Bay Colony. Hollister married Annie Hannah James on June 18, 1862, in San Francisco, California. Hollister raised sheep and during the Civil War he became a millionaire due to the high price of wool. He purchased large amounts of land in Santa Barbara County. He also formed the world's largest almond groves called Glen Annie Ranch. Part of his wealth was to help back the construction of Lobero's Theatre and Stearn's Wharf. He also bought the 'Morning Press' newspaper. Hollister Avenue in Goleta, California is named for him. Inductee in the 'Hall Fame of Great Westerners', of The National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. This museum opened in 1955 and Mr. Hollister was inducted in 1959. The city of Hollister, California is named for him. "

Birth

Birth:

Date: 12 JAN 1818

Place: Hanover Licking Ohio

Source: #S235

Burial

Burial:

Place: Dos Pueblos Ranch Santa Barbara California

User ID

User ID: DC4910FB692D4C0ABD1463FACB20083A7751

Data Changed

Data Changed:

Date: 16 DEC 2009

Prior to import, this record was last changed 16 DEC 2009.

Marriage

Husband: William Welles Hollister

Wife: Hannah Anne James

Marriage:

Date: 1862

Place: San Francisco California, USA

Source: #S235

User ID: 9385C1D37E434723AD29D55892422E2804D9

Child: Harrald Albert Hollister

Child: Jennie B Holister

Child: William Welles Holister

Child: John James Holister

Child: Lionel E Holister

Child: Stanley Holister

Sources

Source S235

Source Locality: http://www.gencircles.com/users/ayscoughe/5/data/441

• http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=8822156
• No. 1778, pg 247 and 473-474 - Hollister Family of America compiled by Lafayette Wallace Case, MD 1886 - https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=5eNUAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&output=reader&hl=en&pg=GBS.PA1
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Welles_Hollister
• pg 299 - History of the Welles family in England and Normandy, with the derivation from their progenitors of some of the descendants in the United States - https://archive.org/stream/historywellesfa00wellgoog#page/n6/mode/2up

• This person was created through the import of Jim Walker gedcom 4 Wikitree may 22 2011.ged on 24 May 2011. The following data was included in the gedcom. You may wish to edit it for readability.