Willey family influential in Gilroy’s early years
”
Judge Willey was a representative for the California Nursery Co.
of Niles for many years and took special delight in promoting
floriculture in our city. His garden shows his love for flowers,
especially roses. He lived to enjoy the first beautiful spring
buds…
”
Gilroy Advocate, April 26, 1919.
Fifth Street was at the center of Gilroy’s finest residential
era in 1893 when Judge Willey and his daughters Grace and Minnie
moved into their gracious Pioneer style home. The tree-and-rosebush
surrounded house, located at 140 Fifth St., had been built in 1857
by Elder James King Rule, founder of the Christian Church.
Willey family influential in Gilroy’s early years
“Judge Willey was a representative for the California Nursery Co. of Niles for many years and took special delight in promoting floriculture in our city. His garden shows his love for flowers, especially roses. He lived to enjoy the first beautiful spring buds…” Gilroy Advocate, April 26, 1919.
Fifth Street was at the center of Gilroy’s finest residential era in 1893 when Judge Willey and his daughters Grace and Minnie moved into their gracious Pioneer style home. The tree-and-rosebush surrounded house, located at 140 Fifth St., had been built in 1857 by Elder James King Rule, founder of the Christian Church.
Historians believe the Rule-Willey home was built at the same time as the church because extra lumber had been ordered for a rectory when the church was built, and because both buildings are of the same pattern of construction. The old church, originally erected at Church and Third streets, was moved to its current location 1886 when Third Street was extended.
After Elder Rule died in 1882, his daughter Eliza Rule Wentz inherited the residence, which she sold nine years later to Judge Howard Willey. Mrs. Willey had died in Gilroy in 1889 and the couple’s two daughters continued to live in the home to look after their father.
The Willey family in America dates back to Isaac Willey, born before 1640. He died in New London, Conn. The Willey family remained in Connecticut for many decades, living in Stonington, East Hartford and Millington, with branches in New York State. Howard Willey was born on Dec. 7, 1834 in Geneseo, NY, the fifth child of Ogden Moseley Willey of East Hartford, Conn., and his second wife, Grace Maria Stanley of Genesco, NY.
At age 25, Howard married Sarah Rammage in New York state. The law profession apparently ran in the family: Howard at first practiced law in the same New York Superior Court where his father had been licensed to practice in 1820.
In 1860, Howard and Sarah Willey left New York and moved to Bloomfield, Iowa. Their two daughters were born there, Grace on Feb. 5, 1860 and Minnie on July 6, 1862. The Willey family remained in Iowa until 1875, when they left for California, settling in Gilroy in 1876.
Until 1883, Howard worked as a clerk at Briggs and Company, a mercantile business he co-owned with his brother, Stanley. He also operated a plant and tree nursery that provided rose bushes for local gardens and fruit trees for Gilroy’s expanding orchard business. By then, he had been elected Justice of the Peace, a position he held for the next 36 years.
Known as an indefatigable worker, Justice Willey sat on the bench from 1882 until several months before his death on April 23, 1919. As Justice of the Peace, he had to rule on a wide range of cases. Some were seemingly trite, such as a May, 1899 case in which he found two Morgan Hill men guilty of stealing a buggy robe and sentenced them to spend 100 days in jail. In other cases, such as a 1905 wagon hit-and-run at San Ysidro in which a body was left alongside the road, and a brutal 1913 murder case at Bell’s Station, he had to rule on the grisly findings of coroner’s juries. Following local elections, he swore in each new Gilroy mayor and city council. During his tenure, Justice Willey also served as a deputy county clerk and for 12 years was a correspondent for the San Jose Mercury.
According to his obituary, Judge Willey always dealt fairly with each case to come before his court. ” … he always tempered justice with mercy, and more than one prisoner has been shown the error of his ways by the kind-hearted Judge, who understood human nature and often dismissed first offenders with a heart-to-heart talk … his decisions were always just,” the April 26, 1919 Gilroy Advocate noted.
The pleasing part of Judge Willey’s job was performing the many marriages that took place in his chambers. The first was the wedding of his older daughter Grace, on Jan. 21, 1883, to Brooks Key. Sadly, Grace’s husband died before the end of their first year of marriage. She continued to live at the family home, where she taught mandolin and banjo. Grace Willey Keys died Feb. 24, 1946.
Younger sister Minnie was also adept at music and specialized in piano and guitar. She married her first husband, Frederick Stoddard of San Francisco, in 1908, but the marriage did not last and the pair divorced four years later. In 1946, she married again, to Jay Moore. Minnie passed away at age 96 in 1959.
Throughout their lives, Grace and Minnie were socially prominent in town and their home was frequently the scene of musicales, soirees, tea parties and ladies whist and bridge games. They taught music to local students and enjoyed giving recitals for their friends. Following Minnie’s death, her husband remained in the home until 1973 when the residence was purchased by the Theater Angels Art League for use as a community cultural center.
Renamed the Willey Cultural Center after the City of Gilroy was given the home and property by the Theater Angels in 1985, the venerable residence today is the scene of art shows, community gatherings and organization meetings.
Visitors today will find the home’s layout much as it was when the Willey daughters lived there. After moving in, they renovated the home to accommodate their love of music and entertaining. The dining room was turned into a music parlor and bay windows expanded to accommodate a square piano. Although the floor pattern seems out of place for a home of its era, the interior space, coupled with its wide verandah-like wrap-around porch, make a warm and friendly gathering spot for the many Gilroyans who now enjoy visiting the historic landmark home.
Missing at the Willey House today is the well-tended landscape for which the Justice was known. Having been a nurseryman, he was familiar with flowers and plants, especially rose bushes. His obituary observed, “He loved nature, and a beautiful tree or flower always found in him an ardent admirer. His office was the rendezvous for countless birds, daily fed by the Judge. In the rear a giant rose bush was a haven for their nests, and their sweet notes formed a chorus for his everyday life.”It is to be hoped that in its next improvement phase for the property, the City of Gilroy will restore this spacious and historic garden to its former glory and appeal, so Gilroyans today may continue to enjoy its beauty.
