| Notes |
- In 1884 Peter emigrated from Canada with his parents to homestead in the Dakota Territory near what later became Vienna, South Dakota. He farmed with his father and later with his wife Mary Celia (Dixon) McLaren. Peter and Mary Celia married in 1896 and raised five children. In the early 1900's he became a rural mail delivery man. In 1917 the family moved to Hollister, California where Peter became an orchardist. He lost Mary Celia in 1924 and "lost the farm/orchard" in the Depression. He then moved with his two young sons to Wilmington, California, in the harbor of Los Angeles, and became a watchman on the docks. He worked well into his 70's before retiring to live with his oldest son, John.
By 1910 Peter Jr. had abandoned the farming life to become a rural delivery postman. The family legends have him in a sleigh during the Dakota Winters, moving directly from farmhouse to farmhouse, with the roads invisible under the snow. He received a post card from a friend in California in 1909. The card planted a seed.
Here are some Reasons to Move.
There is every indication that Robert Arthur Dixon, Peter Jr.'s father-in-law, was not a well man for decades after the Civil War. His application for pension supports this belief. He was surrounded by his children throughout this period and I have assumed that Peter Jr.'s move to the Dixon lands around 1905 was to help with his care.
Cousin Phyllis Goold has the post card, still part of the family archives, that supposedly opened Peter Jr.'s eyes to the possibility of life beyond the Dakotas. Here it is:
Hollister, California - Postcard (see media)
Postmarked January 14, 1909 and addressed to "P. McLaren Jr. Vienna Clark Co S. Dak.," the handwriting on the back asks: Note the concrete walks and asphalt trim pavement. We are getting a fine rain. Temperature 58 degrees. How does that strike you?
Since Peter Jr. was up to his armpits in snow at the time, it probably struck him hard.
Robert Dixon died in February of 1917 and his daughter, Peter Jr.'s wife Mary Celia, had just given birth to their fifth child. At age forty four, Mary Celia was not in the best of health.
They had just endured another winter, and the weather in California has long been touted as a cure for anything that ails you. It was time to move west.
Peter McLaren, Jr. arrived with his family in Hollister, California in 1917. Peter was 51 years old, his wife, Mary Celia, was 45. Their children were Marion (19 years old), Marjorie (17), Elsie (13), John (5), and Robert (1). They settled west of town in an area of fruit orchards. Peter became an orchardist.
Here is a California Timeline.
Cousin Phyllis Goold, daughter of Marjorie (McLaren) Butterfield, lived in and around Hollister all her life. Her father and her husband were both orchardists. So it is with some authority that she tells us the groves of fruit trees are orchards (not farms) and the folks who tend the orchards are orchardists (they don't like to be called farmers).
That was Peter Jr.'s chosen profession when he settled on San Juan Road, west of town, in 1917.
By 1920 Marion McLaren, the oldest child, had entered nursing school in San Francisco. In 1921 she graduated, married, and bore a son, William F. McLaughlin.
In 1922 Marjorie, the second daughter, married Earle Butterfield and they started their family (a girl and two boys) in Hollister.
In 1924 Peter Jr.'s wife, Mary Celia, died. She was 52 years old and had been in ill health for a number of years. Remember, she had born the last of their five children at age 44, which was rather unusual for the time. Her obituary stated she "has not been a very strong woman at any period of her life, and in recent years she has suffered much."
Peter is now a fifty eight year old widower with a twenty year old daughter and two sons, twelve and eight. At some point in the late 1920's the wheels have come off the dream wagon.
By 1930 Peter has moved to Wilmington, California, in the harbor of Los Angeles. He rents a home and finds a job as a watchman on the docks. His oldest son, John, now seventeen and a recent high school graduate, is working at a service station. This, remember, is the start of a horrific economic depression and they are fortunate to have any kind of work. Elsie, the youngest daughter, is now twenty five, single, boarding with a widowed woman in San Jose and working as a stenographer in a bank.
In January of 1934 Elsie dies. We are reasonably certain her death was by her own hand. You will find a tribute to Elsie in the Vignettes portion of this site.
This isn't good; but the story isn't over.
As the country emerged from the depression in the late 1930s John and Martha had the first of two sons. By 1942 John had secured a job with the Los Angeles Fire Department and would remain there for three decades, the rest of his working life. Their sons graduated from college, became professionals, and raised their own families.
So we can follow the arc of all these lives, from a sailing ship on the Atlantic, to a pine forest in Canada, to the plains of South Dakota, to the orchards of central California, and on . . . They dreamed, they struggled, they endured, and they made our lives possible. I borrowed the title "City of Dreams" from the song by the Talking Heads. Every time I hear it, think about it, I remember the gift they gave. We live in the cities they dreamed of. And every time I'm feeling down, getting a little cynical, I remember their graves, and their faces. I'm sitting with the sun streaming through the window, tapping on my computer, well fed and healthy. Can't you see them smile? We live their dreams!
By 1930 John Dixon McLaren, Peter Jr.'s eldest son, was dating Martha Elizabeth "Tookie" Winchester. They married in 1935 and began the final chapter, as the McLarens enter the City of Dreams.
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1866 - 1945 (79 years)
