Cuddeback, the name's familiar

I grew up hearing the name, Cuddeback; that of an old Tehachapi pioneer family. As a child I knew only one person by that name. Recently, the local Museum assembled a historical display of the Cuddeback family. Information was put together by Laura Weltin who is a direct descendant of those early pioneers; more specifically, Grant Price Cuddeback. I now realize that many people I have known all of my life have a place on a branch of the Cuddeback Family Tree. They were there all along and I just did not know.

It is a French name, originally spelled Caudebec. They came to this country in 1626, from France where a member of the family had been knighted by royalty for a brave act. They first settled on Manhattan Island, New York. It didn’t take long for the name to be anglicized to Cuddeback. The family would end up moving to a small settlement by the Hudson River which ended up being called Cuddebackville, New York. It’s still on the map!

Grant Price Cuddeback was born on July 1, 1820; the son of Peter Cuddeback. As a boy, Grant was put to work as a Tow Boy on the Erie Canal. The work was hard and the pay very little so he ran away to join a wagon train destined for California. He was reputed to be one of the earlier Americans who began arriving at El Monte which would become the terminus for future settlements in California.

In 1850 he traveled north to the San Joaquin River area, hoping to mine for gold. In 1848 and 1849 California had put the word out of a large gold strike at Sutters Mill. The San Joaquin Indians were not friendly at that time and he returned to the Southland minus any gold.

In 1852 he married Ohio born, Almira Hale, who was a descendant of Nathan Hale , an American Revolutionist who was hanged as a spy by the British in 1775. Twenty year old Hale’s last words were, “I regret that I have but one life to give for my country.” ( I just had to add that!). Grant and Almira’s first child, Moses Clinton Cuddeback was reputed to be the first white child born in El Monte.

Later in the same decade, Grant and Almira were to arrive in Tehachapi where he began a career in the cattle business running cattle in Oak Creek Pass, the Tehachapi Valley and Tehachapi Creek. The couple took up land next to Tehachapi Creek and built a home for their family. Grant became active in regional politics both in Tehachapi and El Monte and in 1861 was appointed Judge of the Plains by the Board of Supervisors with jurisdiction in Los Angeles as well as the Tehachapi area. At that time Tehachapi was included in Los Angeles County. He was also friendly with the local Indians, the Kawaiisu, also known as Nuwa (the People). They made him their blood brother; an act that would extend to his descendants as well.

In 1874 Almira died and their eight children would end up being cared for by Mr. and Mrs. Moses Hale, Almira’s brother and his wife, who lived near them on their ranch in Tehachapi Creek area. The two older children, Moses Clinton and Clarissa were of adult age by this time. Their father, Grant was to return to El Monte and would remain there until his death in 1905.

Moses Clinton, the eldest of the eight Cuddeback children stayed in Tehachapi and engaged in farming and cattle raising. The other children, Clarissa, Bertha, George, William, Mary, John and David all have stories that would fill many pages. It must be said, though, that throughout the Tehachapi Valley and even out into the desert to the Randsburg area, one would find land owned by a member of the Cuddeback family.

In order to focus on the branch of the tree where Laura Weltin’s family shows up, I am skipping to Jesse Price Cuddeback, son of Moses Clinton Cuddeback and Tehachapi native. Jesse and his wife, Frances Tungate Cuddeback were to have five children, only three of which were to survive. Their father would farm, ranch, work at the Cinnabar mine near Broome Road and even run a saloon in the Mojave area plus a brewery business in Tehachapi. Jesse said he was the first person in Tehachapi to own an automobile; a 1900 Packard. He said he bought it to save horse flesh but most times he had to pull it a ways by horse to get it started. A favorite saying for bystanders of those days to auto owners was, “Get a horse!”

Finally, Jesse, moved his family to the desert town of Randsburg to follow a boom in gold mining. It was in the town of Randsburg, in the barren Mojave Desert, that daughter Ola Dell Cuddeback met and married a young miner named John Ford. She and her husband moved to Tehachapi . They would raise three children, Leatta, born in 1920, Jack, in 1922 and George in 1927.

Ola Dell Cuddeback Ford is the grandmother that Laura Weltin remembers with great love and affection. Working the farm located North East of Tehachapi near the Eastside Cemetery, she was to raise chickens and rabbits to sell to local stores as well as butter and eggs. Galinger’s Food Market was one of the sources for her wares. Still, not enough money to raise a growing family, husband John secured employment at the legendary Yellow Aster mine in Randsburg, coming home on weekends.

As Leatta, always known as “Tootie,” grew up, she met a young man, Lester “Hooks” Anderson, who would come calling. Jesse, a typical father of that day, was not pleased with any young man interested in his daughter. “Hooks” would visit Tootie but if the Dad showed up, he’d leave by the back door to avoid any bad feelings. Tootie and Hooks would marry and buy property on Cherry Lane where their children, Della and Laura would grow up.

Of those days, with Grandma Ola, Laura remembers Ola telling her that rabbits cannot stand much heat and it was important to keep the cages cool. To accomplish this she would wet gunny sacks to cover the hutches. The Tehachapi breeze would provide the coolness needed. One drawback, however, were rattlesnakes also being drawn to the area. For that reason Laura was never allowed near the cages.

Ola and Jesse continued living at the farm selling their home-made food products but the time had come for them to retire. They sold their ranch and moved to Bakersfield. Then, as the years passed Jesse and Ola, came to live next to Tootie and Hooks on Cherry Lane. Laura was able to have close contact with her beloved grandparents. Jesse would die in 1946 at age 72 but Ola would live to age 91.

Laura met and married a young Ohio man, who had come to Tehachapi to be employed at the Correctional Institution. She and her husband Roman Weltin have made their home in Tehachapi. Reaching back through the centuries it’s nice to think about those many generations of pioneering folk who came before them preparing the way.