Huntley family

Historical Background

Helen (Laura Helen) Gulick and William Martin Huntley were married on February 20, 1909, and had one son, Walter P. Huntley (1910-1960). Four years after their marriage they moved to Tustin, California, where they built a house in 1916, which remained the family home until Helen Gulick Huntley's death. When Tustin was incorporated as a city in 1927, William M. Huntley was one of its five council members, serving from 1927 to 1932. He served as Tustin's second mayor from 1932 to1940. From 1914 to 1937, he operated the Tustin Garage with his brother-in-law, William N. Gulick. Helen Gulick and William Huntley also had a citrus orchard.

Helen Gulick Huntley

Laura Helen Gulick, known throughout her life as Helen, the daughter of Laura Jane Palmer (d. 1939) and James Harvey Gulick (1848-1924), was born on September 16, 1883 and died in November 1965. She had seven siblings: William Nicholas, Fred, Lena Hewitt Barrett, Fannie Wagner, Mark, Quinn, and George. Her family moved to Southern California in 1887 from Altoona, Kansas, eventually settling in Olive. When she was fourteen, her brother William N. Gulick became the third husband of Julia I. Hammerton, whose son from her first marriage, William M. Huntley, was seventeen at the time. Helen and William M. Huntley were married twelve years later. Helen Gulick graduated from the Orange County Business School in 1900 and worked in Los Angeles as a bookkeeper and stenographer until her marriage. After her marriage, she kept the garage's records as well as detailed household accounts.

Helen Gulick's mother, Laura Palmer, had four siblings: J. M. (married Mary Carver), Ada Moore Dawsey, Martha (Mrs. Berry Insley), and Rose (Mrs. George T. Insley). Laura Palmer's mother's name was Polly Palmer. Helen Gulick's father, James Harvey Gulick, who served in the Civil War, was the son of Martin N. Gulick (1815-1900) and his first wife, Eleanor Welch (1820-1848), the daughter of Eleanor Kelly and Patrick Welch.

Martin N. Gulick, grandfather of Helen Gulick, was the son of William Gano Gulick (1786-1832), who served in the War of 1812, and Sarah Adams (b. 1794). William Gano Gulick was the son of Nicholas Gulick (b. 1758) and Elizabeth Gano (1766-1856). Sarah Adams was the daughter of Jane Mathews and Martin Adams. William Gano Gulick and Sarah Adams' other children were named Eliza Jane and Mary. William Gano Gulick's second wife was Martha Ritchey; they had five children.

In addition to James Harvey Gulick (Helen Gulick's father), Martin N. Gulick and Eleanor Welch had two other children: Eleanor Matilda (1848-1933) and Mary Jane (1862-1919). Eleanor Matilda (Nell) Gulick and her husband Colin Davidson moved from Plainview, Illinois to Santa Ana in 1888. They had several children: Sue Willson, Quin, Laura (Lollie) Palmer, Elizabeth Wickersham, Annis, and Harry. Mary Jane Gulick married Louis R. Phelps (1835-1914); her granddaughter is Edna W. Phelps, a friend of the Huntley family who took an active interest in the Huntley family papers and also donated her collection of family materials to the library (MS-R043).

In 1850 Helen Gulick's grandfather, Martin N. Gulick, married Jane Vanarsdall, who died in 1857. Jane Vanarsdall is the aunt of Rev. Harlan Carson, who served as Superintendent of the Presbyterian Home Missions for the Synod of South Dakota. He kept in close touch with Olive Gulick, who went to Scotland, South Dakota in 1887 to teach briefly in the missionary school.

In 1860 Martin N. Gulick married Annis Curtis Phelps (1827-1919), and they had five children: Harriet (Hattie), Olive, Sadie Humiston, Alice Gooch, and Sarah. Annis Curtis and Martin N. Gulick moved from Plainview, Illinois to Tustin in 1892, along with Hattie and Olive. Alice and John Gooch also made the move at the same time. In December 1900, Sadie was the last of the family to move West. Much of the correspondence in this collection comes from communication between three sisters: Hattie, Olive, and Sadie. Alice Gooch was a photographer and is responsible for many of the photographs in this collection. The latter come from both the James Harvey and Laura Palmer Gulick and the Martin N. and Annis Curtis Gulick families.

Annis Curtis Phelps attended Holyoke College from 1845-1846, where she studied vocal and piano music, and moved West in about 1849. After her marriage, she played piano at the Tustin Presbyterian Church. She was the only child to live to adulthood of Joshua Phelps III (1775-1853) and his second wife, Annis Curtis (1787-1827).

Annis Curtis was the daughter of Mark Curtis (1761-1839) and his first wife, Ellen Bulkley (1762-1815). Her siblings from this marriage included Moses, Daniel (1791-1856), Phoebe (1794-1865), Betsy, and Mark. Ellen Bulkley's niece, Sarah Bulkley, became Phelps' third wife. Joshua Phelps III and Sarah Bulkley had four children: Hanna Maria, Louis Ransom, Ellen, and Catherine (Kate) L. Doubt. Maria's first husband was Horatio N. Lindley, with whom she had six children. She had four children with her second husband, James Abner Barr. As noted above, Louis R. Phelps married Mary Jane Gulick, and is the grandfather of Edna W. Phelps.

Mark Curtis and his second wife, Phoebe Stevens, had three children, including Sarah Maria Curtis, who married Charles Nelson Roberts. Sarah Maria Curtis and Charles Nelson Roberts had three children, including Nettie Rogene Roberts.

William Martin Huntley

William M. Huntley, born in 1880, was the son of Julia I. Hammerton (d. 1958) and Martin Adrial Huntley. He was born in Downey, California, and his family moved to Aliso Canyon in 1886 and to Tustin in 1889. He died on July 30, 1971.

Julia I. Hammerton married three times. Martin Adrial Huntley, her first husband, died two years after their marriage. With her second husband, John William Scovil, she had three children: Annie (married John Trickey), Cora (married Ray Martin), and Charles. Her third husband was William Nicholas Gulick, with whom she had a son, Harvey Gulick.

• 1880: Birth of William M. Huntley, the son of Julia I. Hammerton and Martin Adrial Huntley.
• 1883: Birth of Laura Helen Gulick, the daughter of Laura Palmer and James Harvey Gulick.
• 1887: Helen Gulick's family moves to Southern California from Altoona, Kansas.
• 1887: Olive Gulick teaches in the missionary school in Scotland, South Dakota.
• 1889: William M. Huntley's family moves to Tustin, California.
• 1892: Annis Curtis Phelps and Martin Nicholas Gulick, along with Hattie and Olive (two of their daughters), move to Tustin from Plainview, Illinois. Alice Gulick and John Gooch move at the same time.
• 1900: Sadie Gulick and Arthur H. Humiston move West.
• 1909: Helen Gulick and William M. Huntley are married on February 20.
• 1914 - 1937 : William M. Huntley and William N. Gulick (Helen Gulick's brother) operate the Tustin Garage.
• 1916: Helen and William Huntley build a house in Tustin.
• 1927 - 1932 : William M. Huntley serves as one of Tustin's first city council members.
• 1932 - 1940 : William M. Huntley serves as Tustin's second mayor.
• 1965: Death of Helen Gulick.
• 1971: Death of William M. Huntley.

From the guide to the Huntley family papers, circa 1745-1969, bulk circa 1880-1940, (University of California, Irvine. Library. Special Collections and Archives.)