Brice Grimes

    Brice Grimes is one of the prominent pioneers of Ventura County, having arrived in what was then Santa Barbara County in 1866, and was intimately connected with the formation of the county of Ventura. He was born in Missouri, December 12, 1829. His father, Thomas H. Grimes, was a native of Kentucky, and his grandfather Grimes was born in Virginia, of Scotch-Irish ancestry, the original American ancestors of the family having settled in the "Old Dominion" as early as 1748. Mr. Grimes' mother, nee Sarah Gibson, was born in St. Charles County, Missouri, daughter of Joseph Gibson, a native of South Carolina, of English ancestry. The subject of this sketch is the oldest of a family of ten children, five of whom are living. His father owned a large farm in Missouri, and there he was reared and received limited school advantages. In 1852 he came to California, and engaged in mining with the usual success and reverses of the miner. While he was mining in Shasta County he lost $1,600 by the failure of the Adams Express Company, besides suffering other heavy losses about the same time. After three years spent in the mines, he went to Napa County to regain his health. Upon his recovery he went to work again with that indomitable will which is always sure to overcome reverses. He engaged in draying for a time, then built a warehouse, was in the forwarding and commission business, and afterward turned his attention to general merchandise.  He remained there until 1860, when he located in San Luis Obispo County. While there was under sheriff for two years, and had some of the roughest characters to arrest and imprison, having as many as fifteen in jail at that time. Murders and robberies were frequent at that time, and the utmost care and shrewdness was required in the detection and arrest of the perpetrators of crimes. Mr. Grimes removed to Los Angeles County and farmer there three years, after which he came to San Buenaventura, and, in partnership with Mr. Edwards, opened the pioneer hardware store of the city, and also did a produce business. Two or three years later he sold out to his partner, who afterward sold to Mr. F. W. Baker. Mr. Grimes came to his present locality and purchased 160 acres of land in the picturesque canon which bears his name. He has here planted several thousand trees, French prunes, apricots, peaches, nectarines, apples, pears, and other varieties, including oranges and lemons. Mr. Grimes is now a dealer in lumber and builders' hardware in Fillmore.

    In 1858 Mr. Grimes wedded Miss Elenora Hogle, a native of Jefferson City, Missouri, whose father, John Francis Hogle, was born in Canada; her mother, Jane (Jacoby) Hogle, was a native of Kentucky. Mr. and Mrs. Grimes have four children, George H., Frank, Lillie and Robert. Those of the children not at home are married and settled near by. Mrs. Grimes is a worthy member of the Christian Church, and her husband's preferences are for that denomination.

    At the time of the formation of Ventura County, Mr. Grimes was an active worker in that movement and one of the committee to help draft the bill for the division of the county, as he also was in the construction of the fine brick school-house in San Buenaventura, which was built at a cost of $10,000, and was considered a grand achievement for the place. He has long been a school trustee, and at that time was clerk of the school board, and much of the management of the building devolved on him. When he removed to the Willow Grove district he helped to build the school-house there; was afterward cut off into the Bardsdale district, and was also instrumental in the erection of a fine school-house there. Mr. Grimes has been a prominent Democrat, has been a delegate to many of the State and county conventions. In 1884 he made many speeches, advocating Grover Cleveland's election for President, and in 1886 he made a strong speech in favor of ex-Congressman Berry for Governor. Was one of the candidates for the election to the State Constitutional Convention, and ran ahead of his ticket more than 2,000 votes; and in 1890 he was much talked of by the papers and his friends as an available candidate for Congress in the Sixth District of California.

    In speaking of his experience as a miner, Mr. Grimes says that a man who was at work for him on the Yreka flats, in 1853, picked up a nugget of solid gold that was sold for $1,028, a little over four pounds in weight of very pure gold. Notwithstanding his long pioneer and business career, Mr. Grimes is still an active business man, and bids fair to spend many years in the enjoyment of his home in Grimes Canon.

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