The Oaks of Santa Paula History Project

On the left is Kathryn Bousman and on the right is Kristina Fliflet. Kathryn is holding a copy of my book "The Oaks of Santa Paula," and behind her is a Douglas... Shively landscape. None of this would be so unusual except that I took the photo in Bergen, Norway last week. Kathryn is the daughter of Tom Bousman and sister of Peggy Bousman. She moved to Norway in the '70s. Kristina was an exchange student at Santa Paula High School during the mid-'70s who I met for the first time when she visited Santa Paula a few months ago. She graciously offered to show us around Bergen on our recent trip there, which she did, and we walked to Kathryn's home, a converted ancient fish warehouse hanging on the edge of a fiord. But that isn't the only connection. Kathryn is an old friend of Paul Belgum and Susan Belgum, who visited with her in Bergen just a few weeks earlier. Whew! Talk about a small world! See more

Fremontia/Mariposa Streets gang. Nance Rieder Johnson Rob Mumford Kathy Mumford Brooks Mike and Bryan Rieder, Kevin Colvard and I think Kevin and Keith Kohr??

It hardly seems like nearly a year since I last posted here but for those still interested my research into the history of Santa Paula Canyon and the Oaks neighborhood continues as I have time. This week I dug into Ancestry.com where they've recently added wills and probate records from around the country. Coverage is spotty (nothing for Ventura County unfortunately) but they do have at least some of Santa Clara County. Important to us here, how? Elisha Bradley, one of the c...ofounders of Santa Paula along with Nathan Blanchard, lived in San Jose. Beyond being a money man behind the purchase of the portion of Rancho Santa Paula y Saticoy on which the townsite was recorded, his role in the history of the area is not well documented. Elisha Bradley died in 1880 and his wife Mary in 1885. Her will and probate records are what I found, to the tune of several hundred pages of court records. It will take some time to pour through all of them (mainly written in longhand), but I have already made some interesting discoveries. Attached is a brief inventory of the land the Bradley family still owned in Santa Paula at the time of Mary Bradley's death. It was extensive! I also learned that she had a niece in Saticoy, which I don't recall having heard before (I will be following up on that). Also the appraisers hired by the estate were all Ventura County notables: EP Foster, Thomas Bard, and George Sewell. The final interesting fact I found in these records thus far helps to answer one of the mysteries I came across in researching for my book, and that was the connection of William C. Richmond (for whom Richmond Road was named) to Santa Paula. In her will Mary Bradley recommends to her children as executors of the estate to avail themselves of Richmond's assistance (for which the records show he was paid the sum of $50 from the estate). So apparently he was a Bradley family friend of some standing. More to follow!

And old house coming down. I found this photo in the Santa Paula Chronicle from February 1950. This house would have been located just west of the Masonic Temple. Presumably the Foursquare congregation decided not to remodel it as a church school and demolished it instead. Anybody know when?