Page 17 - hssc1929parks

150 Historical Society of Southern California

The farming population that began to settle in the vicinity of
Rancho La Puente in the fifties and sixties patronized the
in the
and
two mills regularly1 they are still remembered
-
name of a modern boulevard the "Norwalk and Puente Mills
Road."
overland
At Workman's and Rowland's many way-weary
travelers on their way to the mines paused and rested, or
secured supplies. Aid of every description was meted out
to them by the taciturn yet generous William Workman.
with
weather-beaten
He was a hard-eyed, mountaineer,
face, almost fierce in expression. Born an
a cold, thin-lipped
Englishman and proud of it, on his office door at La Puente
a little piacque which read :
WILLIAM WORKMAN
Rancho La Puente
Arrived in California on
Guy Fawkes Day
Nov. 5, 1841
to the simultaneous arrival of himself
gave due recognition
and a famous British holiday in Southern California. Con-
references to Workman are not voluble. Possibly
temporary
the traditional reserve of his nativity came across the plains
with him and into his California life. He lived quietly and
on his rancho, little concerned with goings-on
industriously
in hot-headed Los Angeles.
But on September 30, 1845, Don Julian accepted into
his home a son-in-law, Francis P. F. Temple, in whom he
placed an affection and confidence
that belied his hard face
and calculating eye.
Francisco Temple had come around the Horn from Read-
in
ing, Massachusetts, 1841, at the age of 19 years, to join
his half-brother, Jonathan, Who as "Don Juan" had already
achieved much material success in California, during his long
residence here. John was the eldest, "Pliny Fisk" (the Chris-
tian name Francisco was added when he was baptized into
the Catholic Church in California) was the youngest of the
numerous children of the Temple family. Francisco's youth,

1. Visiting Rowland at Rancho La Puente on January 31, I860, Judge Benjamin
Hayes noted in his journal, "Several wagons are camped here, getting wheat ground
at Mr. R's mill." - Pioneer Notes, Diaries of Judge Benjamin Hayes.