My great grandfathers father was Eberhardt Henry Holthouse who arrived in California around 1852 aftre crossing the plains with an emigrant train pulled by oxen. He bought into a placer county claim and started mining and did so for the next 7 years. He arrived in Santa Clara County around 1860 where he eventually bought and successfully operated a 147 acre farm in Sunnyvale. In 1864 he married Elizabeth Ratliff