Brief History of the Faulkner Farm and Family
To understand the history of a place, one must start with the land. The Faulkner Farm lies in the fertile Santa Clara Valley in Ventura County. The Santa Clara River runs through the Valley, and mountains rise to the North and South of the Farm. The city of Santa Paula is just to the East. It is an ideal site for agriculture.
While no evidence has been found of Native American occupation on this particular piece of land, it would have been within the area inhabited by the Chumash Indians. With non-Native occupation of the land in the 18th century (first the Spanish and then the Mexicans), land was seen as a valuable commodity for ranching and agriculture. The Mexican government made many land grants to individuals for this type of use.
Drawing of Rancho Santa Paula y Saticoy in 1852. From Deed Book A, County of Santa Barbara.
In the 1840s, Governor Alvarado conceded tracts of land to an aide, Manual Jimeno Casarin. Amongst them was a portion of land located near Santa Buenaventura and called Rancho Santa Paula y Saticoy. Casarin, who lived in Monterey, also held lands in Northern California. Unlike many land grants holders, Casarin was not required to show any use or development of the land and apparently he did not use the land, either for agriculture or ranching.
After the United States took possession of California in 1848 (and subsequent statehood in 1850), it was necessary for all land grants to be verified by U.S. Courts. Pending ratification, land continued to be sold. In fact, Rancho Santa Paula y Saticoy was sold several times before the verification by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1872. At first the buying and trading of the land was amongst land speculators, but in 1862 George Briggs, a farmer from Ohio, purchased the Rancho in order to plant orchards. His venture was not successful and he had the land surveyed into parcels. While he moved away after the land was sold, his name remains attached to the road which borders the Faulkner Farm on the east side.
The Larson farm as it appeared during Larson's ownership. From Thompson and West, A History of Ventura County, California, 1883.
Elisha Larson, a native of Norway, and his family, purchased at least two parcels of land in Ventura County. One of them was a 150 acre parcel sold to him by George Briggs on the Rancho Santa Paula y Saticoy. He built a house and barn, and raised corn and some barley, as well as raised hogs. He also planted trees, including an almond orchard.
Photograph of George Washington Faulkner
George Washington Faulkner, known as G.W., was born in Ohio in 1846, the son of George and Julia Faulkner. In 1875 he married Rhoda Seymour, the daughter of Silas Seymour, a Methodist minister. She was also a graduate of Baldwin-Wallace College, a Methodist school in Ohio. Looking for a warmer climate, the couple considered moving to California. That same year, G.W. took the train to San Francisco 1875 to investigate the region. Upon arriving there, he wrote his wife,
I went to see some Real Estate agents today. This agency is run in connection with the Grange and I think is pretty reliable. From what I can find out land is pretty high about Los Angeles, and there are better chances in some other counties. Will probably go to San Luis Obispo Co first and may then go to Los Angeles, Ventura and San Diego, ...
He did indeed travel south, first to Santa Barbara and then to Ventura. While in the Ventura area he purchased seventy acres in New Jerusalem (near current Saticoy) and instructed Rhoda to join him. Accompanying her on the train was her sister Maria, who continued to live with the family until her marriage in the 1880s. On this farm G.W. raised barley, corn, and other crops. He also had orange, lemon and apple trees. A newspaper article published in early 1879 commented that the front yard was filled with flowers and ornamental shrubbery.
Later that year Faulkner expanded his holdings by buying Larson's 150 acres near Santa Paula for the sum of $6,000. By 1883 he was raising barley, beans, lima beans, corn, melons, strawberries, peaches, walnuts, wheat, potatoes, as well other fruits and trees. He became one of the largest lima bean growers in the area and a major apricot grower as well as experimenting with other crops.
G.W. and Rhoda had four children - daughters Alpha, Stella and Rhoda, and a son - Seymour. Rhoda died as a small child. Alpha married Farel Ayers and Stella married Elmer Outland. Seymour eventually married Faye Bean who died in childbirth; he later remarried. In 1911 G.W. and Rhoda divided their land into three equal parcels for their surviving children, retaining the house and the land immediately around it for their own use.
Faulkner was a staunch Republican. He and his wife were active in the Methodist church. It appears that much of their social life revolved around church activities.
When G.W. died in 1935, Seymour continued to work his portion of the land and live in the house. It was he who started the tradition of the fall pumpkin patch. He also had a stand of Christmas trees. Upon Seymour's death in 1981, the remaining acreage and the house were offered for sale. A great-grandson of the G.W. and Rhoda, Allan Ayers (the grandson of Alpha Faulkner) purchased the farm. They continued the tradition of the Fall Pumpkin Patch and Christmas trees. When Ayers and his wife decided to sell the property in the 1990s, it was purchased by the UC Hansen Trust "to sustain agriculture in Ventura County through research and education to benefit the community as a whole".
Image Courtesy of N. Smith
We will have to begin at the foot of the ladder and grow up with the country. I know my darling will not expect to find things here as they are in Ohio, because the country is new here yet. But I do think that in a few years we can have a beautiful home if all goes well.
When G.W. wrote the above words to his wife in January of 1876, he probably did not imagine the magnificent house that they eventually built. When G.W. purchased the farm near Santa Paula from Elisha Larson there was a house already standing on the property. In 1886 Faulkner built the large barn familiar to visitors today. When they decided to build a larger house on the property in 1894, they located the new house closer to Telegraph Road. They engaged the services of Hermann Anlauf and Franklin Ward as architects, as well as Anlauf's brother-in-law, George Nowak, as stone mason. Not a lot is known about these architects but several of their buildings survive in Ventura County. Of the surviving examples, the Faulkner House is the largest and most elaborate.
Built in Queen Anne Style, it consists of a basement, two main living floors, and an attic with a finished room in the tower. The house features a variety of woods, lincrusta, stained glass and built-in furniture. The first floor of the house is occasionally open to the public for tours.