My house

I can't believe it's taken me 3 years to post about the family the built my house. But, after reading this post by Sharon, over at Laurelhurst 1912 Craftman, I want to share my house's history as well. She actually found the builder and several articles about her house! (Score!)

I started researching the history of the house the first month after I lived here. There's actually an interesting story about my research that's worth mentioning...

One night I was watching Gossip Girl on t.v. while my laptop was propped up in my lap. I had ancestry.com open and had just found the name of the original family "Richard Scally". All of a sudden, the t.v. lost sound. I'm messing with the remote control when I hear sounds coming from my grand-daughters room. You can see her room below; the toy that is right above the date started going off all by itself!) 

It said "hello, how are you?" over and over again. I immediately started checking to see if it's motion sensored, it's not. I took it as a warm welcome that I live in the Scally house. (I have a ghost, but he's a Dr. and not part of the Scally Clan from what I have found.)

 

Before I moved in, I used to walk by this house several times a month. I lived around the corner for over a year, but have been in love with this house since I was a teenager.

 

My mom and I moved to Lemoore when I was 14 years old. It felt like home for the first time in my life. We had moved around quite a bit when I was a child. Between the age of 3 1/2 and 11, we moved an average of 5 times a year. My mom was married to a Pentecostal preacher that didn't like to stay in one place for very long (he was my sisters dad).

Anyways, back to the story of the Scally's.

Richard Scally and Mary Collins arrived in Nevada, from Ireland in 1874. The were married in 1879, when she was 14 years old and he was 25. (My, how times have changed!)

 

 

They had 4 children. William and Margaret were born in Nevada. Richard Jr. and Mary were born in Lemoore, California. (Where I live)

 

 

I have found every census record from 1880 to 1940 regarding this family, as well as several newspaper articles.

 

From my research, I learned that they owned a LOT of land in my small town. As well as a livery stable, mercantile and hotel. Up until last month, I did not know which hotel they owned, as there are several old motels still standing in Lemoore. What a surprise when I found a photo in an old history book stating that they owned the most prominent one in Lemoore! I used to tell my mom that I wanted to live in this hotel after I graduated (It's apartments now). How amazing to find out that my house and the hotel were built by the same family!

The photo has the ENTIRE family, except for Richard Scally Sr. as he had passed away by the time this photo was taken in 1895.

 

I found this in a newspaper from November 2, 1911

The addition to the Scally building on the corner of Heinlen and D streets is nearing completion and Scally will have one of the finest mercantile establishments in the county.

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This is a rather lengthy article published in 1913. It names the contractor of the Scally Hotel, and he was known for building brick structures. I wonder if he could be the builder of my house.

W. D. TREWHITT

This prominent contractor and builder of Hanford, Kings county, favorably known throughout Central California, was born at Cleveland, Bradley county, Tenn. When he was twelve years old he became a resident of Fort Worth, Tex., and there while still quite young, served an apprenticeship to the carpenter's trade. He worked ten years there, then went to New Orleans, La., whence he came to Hanford in 1886. Here he has been busy as a contractor and builder, the majority of his buildings being handsome brick structures, among which are: the First National Bank, Emporium, Vendome Hotel, the New Opera House, the Sharples, Knowell, Bush and Kutner-Goldstein buildings, the Episcopal and Presbyterian churches, the Axtell block and the Slight & Garwood, Childress & Nunes, Kennedy & Robinson, Chittenden-Flory, Robinson, E. Rollins and Buck buildings, and the Hanford ice plant, all in Hanford; many fine structures in Fresno, Exeter, Porterville, Lemoore, Visalia and San Francisco; a bank building in Patterson, Stanislaus county, a $50,000 apartment house in Fresno, a $20,000 addition to the Burnette Sanitarium in Fresno, a $40,000 addition to the court house in Visalia, a $20,000 grammar school building at Visalia, the Mt. Whitney Power company's building in Visalia, the Hyde block in Visalia, high school buildings at Tulare and Porterville, grammar school buildings in Lindsay, Exeter and Fresno, a $50,000 school building at Coalinga and some business blocks in Lemoore. One of his notable residences is that of D. R. Cameron in Hanford. The Hanford Sanitarium, the Delano high school, the high school at Visalia, Scally hotel at Lemoore and the Convention Hall at Fresno. In 1907 Mr. Trewhitt, in association with L. E. Hayes, founded the S. P. Brick company of Exeter, which makes six million wire-cut brick annually. He is one of the owners of the Talc & Soapstone company at Lindsay, whose stone material is taken from the earth and ground up into a powder which is a base for many products, including paints and paper, soaps and face powders. He has long been interested in ranch property in Kings county and now owns an eighty-acre farm, two miles west of Hanford, which is given over to vineyard, orchard and the raising of horses, cattle and hogs. In 1907 the firm of Trewhitt & Shields was organized, the partners being W. D. Trewhitt and H. W. Shields. Mr. Shields has charge of estimates and drafting. Fraternally, Mr. Trewhitt is a Mason of the Knights Templar degree, a Shriner and a member of the Woodmen of the World. In 1890 he married Miss Mary Lillian Carney, a native of Kentucky, and they have three children: Elizabeth, Dorris and Douglas Trewhitt. History of Tulare and Kings Counties, California with Biographical Sketches - Los Angeles, Calif., Historic Record Company, 1913 pp. 798-799 Transcribed by Kathy Sedler 

*****

And this from a newspaper dated December 5, 1931

W.L. Scally, Mrs. Scally, Mrs. Harp and son Billie had the pleasure of viewing the Hearst Castle at San Simeon on last Sunday when a group was admitted to the grounds.

*****

From what I've found, William Scally, the oldest child of the Scally Clan, was the only one to live past the 1940's.

He died in 1959 at the age of 79.

I found this article dated November 29, 1951. He received over a $100,000 after his nephew died in an automobile accident. (Can you imagine what that amount must have been like in the 1950's??)

 

 

They are all buried in Lemoore Cemetary in this marble mausoleum.

 

 

 

I have not went to the county clerks office to check for land deeds, photos, etc. I would LOVE to see what my house looked like in the early 1900's.

I'm pretty sure my home is a Sears Kit home, as it has a lot of the characteristics.

This plan looks a lot like my layout, except mine is a one story American Foursquare, not two.
Sears kit homes were able to be altered to meet the needs of the purchaser. It's hard to believe that my house was shipped by train, right down to the nails.
(The bricks were made from a local company)