Five husbands, 12 children: the life of Downey pioneer Ellen Patton

This story is about an early Los Nietos Valley pioneer woman. 

Her name was Ellen Patton who was born in Ohio in 1833. She was the daughter of Edward and Nancy (Reardon) Patton. The family moved to Missouri when Ellen was a small child. 

Before 1850, she married an ailing dentist. They headed west over the Oregon Trail in hopes of improving his health but he died enroute of tuberculosis. 

Her second husband was said to have been a Mr. Bowman. They had twin sons who lived to adulthood but lost their lives while sailing around Cape Horn. 

By 1853, Ellen had married William B. Bramlette -- the year their first-born son, Andrew Jackson, was born in Woodbridge, San Joaquin County, California. Before 1868, the Bramlettes, with their nine children, moved to Downey. 

William died in February of 1868 and Ellen entered into marriage for the fourth time with John Parker in September of the same year. He was ten years her junior. 

They produced two daughters and an infant who died young. By 1875 the marriage was in trouble, John disappeared and he was declared legally dead. 

On June 26, 1876, at the age of 43 with 11 living children, Ellen married her boarder, Nicholas Keating, an Irish immigrant and 14 years her senior. He served in the U.S. dragoon cavalry during the Indian Wars in the Southwest: in the Civil War and in the quartermaster corps until 1871, when he was wounded by an Apache arrow. 

Nicholas and Ellen had two children and lived on a 23-acre ranch in Downey. In 1902, Mr. Keating traveled to Sawtelle, where he died on Aug. 20, 1913. Ellen moved to Lordsburg, New Mexico to be with her son, Will. She died there in 1905. 

Both Nicholas and Ellen are buried in Downey Cemetery. 

Remember John Parker, the fourth husband who disappeared? He moved to Arizona, found a copper mine, and was returning to Downey in the late 1870s when he heard that his wife had remarried. He went back to Arizona and died there about 1930. 

What a life Ellen had. 

The 1930s

Times were tough in the 1930’s, even if you were fortunate enough to have full-time employment -- luxuries were few and far between. 

Eating out, going to the movies, and playing miniature golf were some of the activities indulged by the typical family. In 1930, Downey had several establishments which offered an alternative to cooking at home. 

The Mint Cafe, Bob’s Bird Nest (formerly the Meralta Sweet Shop), Lily Cafe, and Ted’s Foundation Lunch were all located on DowneyAvenue. The Acacia Inn was on 3rd Street, and between 2nd and 3rd on Paramount was the Golf Course Tavern. 

The Mint advertised “turkey dinner with all the trimmings” at 75 cents for Thanksgiving, while the Golf Course Tavern had “Spanish dishes special for Saturday Evening.” 

By 1935, there was serious competition in town: Uncle Gabriel’s Log Cabin had opened its doors at 425 S. Paramount Blvd. It was a favorite hangout for test pilots from Vultee Aircraft. All around the restaurant Ameno Bunaguidi and his uncle, Gabriel Ispiki, had fruit trees and raised asparagus, grapes, celery and other vegetables. 

Bunaguidi died in 1950 and the farmland was subdivided for hoes. Ispiki died in 1962 and his family sold the restaurant to Frank and Mary Marr, who continued to operate it for a number of years as Villa D’Marr. 

The 1937 homoe telephone directory listed the following cafes doing business in Downey: Bob’s Place, Broken Drum Cafe, Chicken Shack, Jack-O-Lunch, Joe and Hester’s Cafe, Meralta Coffee Shop, Smith’s Cae and Uncle Gabriel’s Log Cabin. 

The Powwow Cafe was built at the corner of Firestone and Lakewood in 1937. Dinner was served in the Indian Room and there was a drive-in with carhops. The carhops continued in operation until the start of World War II and resumed in 1945 under new operation. 

Ralph’s Cafe opened in 1938 at 219 E. Firestone Blvd. They had “women cooks” and offered a “clean, homely, cheery place...absolutely NO liquor.” Prime rib roast beef with soup, salad, vegetables, coffee, tea, milk or buttermilk, and a choice of assorted pies or vanilla ice cream, cost 50 cents. 

In the 1930s, restaurants came and went, with menus reflecting the tastes of the consumers and the prices commensurate with the nation’s economic health. 

Bobbi Bruce is a docent with the Downey Historical Society.