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THE McADAM FAMILY STORYBy Christine McAdamDear Shelton: The flu hit me harder than I could have imagined and it was only this past Wednesday that I finally got Don on the phone and began to get some dates and a few more facts than I could come up with alone. It's surprising how a subject that has been familiar all one's life seems to lack substance when one tries to write it down in some order. But I had determined to have it done by today and so am
glad to be able to return your envelope to you by return mail.
It is probably a different story than some other member of the
family would tell in some ways but I hope it fits in with what
you are doing. It is a big job and I think it's fascinating
that you've undertaken to put all this together. Hope to see
it sometime.
THE McADAM FAMILYRobert McAdam with his wife Mary lived the greatest part of their lives in Pasadena. He owned an orange grove in Pasadena and usually had interests in agricultural enterprises in other parts of the state as well. Eight of their eleven children had grown to adulthood and it was typical that the entire family become involved in whatever was currently of interest to their father. Robert McAdam's interest in the Antelope Valley dated from before the turn of the century. Stories were told of trips that the men took by buckboard to the west side of the Valley to the Fairmont area, taking several days for the trip and camping along the way. A snap shot in an old photo album shows the buckboard mired in the mud in Antelope Valley in 1905 but doens't identify just where in the Valley they were at the time. By 1908 they became interested in the Pearland area, near Littlerock, and began to acquire parcels of land along the foothills near the old Butterfield Stage Route, most of the property being in Township 5 North, Range 11 West, Section 9 and in the section to the north of 9. Some of the property was purchased and some acquired by homesteading. Robert McAdam's two older sons, Frank and William J. (called Will by his family and Bill by his friends around Palmdale) joined the enterprise early in its development which later also included Alfred E. (Fred) and Robert A. (Bob). The San Andreas Ranch, as it was appropriately called, eventually consisted of more than 1000 acres extending from the intersection of Pearblossom Hwy. and what is now Ave. T on the east to Barrel Springs on the west. One parcel of land purchased by Will had a house and barn on it and this became the family home for Will and Ethel and their children Dorothy, Bill, Donald, Christine and Mary. Other houses were built by Frank and Laura McAdam and their son Lawrence, by the parents Robert and Mary who did not however maintain a permanent home there, by Bob and Ruby and their children Barbara and Bob (a son Jim was born after they moved from the Valley) and by two of the daughters and their husbands, Thigh and Grace Johnstone and children Frank and Alvin, and Edwin and Ann Snoddy and children Bob, John and Jane. Fred also planned to build nearby but these plans were abandoned. He and Laura Mea Lindsay, also an early resident of the Valley and daughter of Spencer (Shorty) and Anna Lindsay, were married in 1921 but Laura Mae died shortly after the birth of their daughter Laura Mae in December, 1922. Fred later married Alta Strong, also a member of an early Valley family and for many years operated an alfalfa ranch east of Lancaster. He also worked during this time for the Southern California Edison Company in the position of Power Consultant for Valley ranchers. As Robert McAdam and his sons added to their property, a good many acres were planted in pears. Wells were drilled which sup- plied ample water for irrigation and the orchards flourished. They experimented with different root stocks in their plantings, fought blight, sprayed for fruit moths that caused wormy pears, and pro- duced excellent fruit. Another hazard that faced them when the trees were young was in the form of the jackrabbit population. It became good sport as well as a survival tactic to have rabbit shoots to help control the problem. They also hunted deer in the hills in the early days when food supplies were not so easy to acquire. During the mid 1920's the Antelope Valley Pear Growers Asso- ciation was organized and Will served as president for a term. During this time he was sent to the east coast to develop new mar- kets for the fruit in New York, Boston and other eastern cities. These were good years for the pear growers and the lure of a good investment in the Antelope Valley brought prospective buyers from the Los Angeles area. This became the beginning of the real estate business for Will, operated from an office on the ranch. He also was the agent for nursery stock and later started an insurance business as well. He established an office in Palmdale in the early 1930's and developed a very successful business during the next fifteen years. The family's source of income shifted with the depression. A poor pear market and the difficulty in keeping the pumping machinery in operation took its toll. By the early 1930's, Will and Ethel and their family were the only McAdams left in the Palmdale area. Frank's son Lawrence was killed in an auto accident in 1925 and Frank and Laura returned to Pasadena shortly after that to care for the parents, Robert and Mary, during their last illnesses. Bob and Ruby moved to Glendale around 1929 where he developed a successful business as a building contractor which he was still operating at his death in 1964. Frank died in Alhambra in 1944 and Fred left the Valley about 1945, first for Chico and later for an avocado ranch in Encinitas where he died in 1962. During their years in Palmdale, Will and Ethel were very much a part of community life both in Palmdale and in the Valley. Ethel served a term on the Board of Trustees for Palmdale Elementary School and Will served six years as a Trustee for Antelope Valley Joint Union High School. Will was active in the Lancaster Masonic Lodge, the Palmdale Kiwanis Club and was an Elder in the Presbyterian Church. During this period Will was often called on to be speaker for various evenst such as high school graduations and other simi- lar occasions. Ethel worked with Will in the real estate and in- surance business particularly in keeping the insurance accounts and took over the business at the time of Will's death in 1947. In 1938, J. Shelton Gordon drew the plans for and built a new home in Palmdale and Will and Ethel moved from the ranch. Where the once flourishing San Andreas Ranch stretched along the foothills the sagebrush has again taken over. The home that Will and Ethel lived in for so many years is gone although the homes built by other members of the fairly still stand. Even after moving from the ranch, Will continued to be keenly interested in discovering the secrets of successful fruit growing in the area. On their two- acre place in Palmdale he had twenty-one varieties of fruit trees and many other kinds of plants which he proved could be grown given sufficient water and taking frost conditions into consideration. Another particular pleasure which Will enjoyed was hunting and fishing with his long-time friends among whom were Bill Moore, Bill Ritter, and, in the early days, "Hard-pan" Jones. They hunted in the mountains south of Palmdale and also the eastern slopes of the Sierra Nevada. Ethel sold the home in Palmdale and the business in 1953 and
moved to Arcadia. She died in 1956. Of their children only Bill
remains in Antelope Valley, having lived with his family in Lan-
caster for many years. But each retains a love for the Valley that
can only be known to those whose families have shared in its life
for many years.
Regards to all the family ![]() |
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