Horatio M. Warden was a (1828-1912) San Luis Obispo businessman.
Warden was born near Granville, Ohio, in 1828. In 1847 he and his brother L. M. Warden began buying and selling cattle, which they drove to Chicago. In 1850 the brothers started for California and became involved in mining and then in stage coach lines. He came to San Luis Obispo in 1867. In San Luis Obispo he purchased three thousand acres in the Los Osos Valley that were a portion of the Wilson tract/Los Osos Rancho, and built a home there in 1875.2 He raised sheep and later cattle, running a dairy, under the name of the Highland Rancho.
With C. H. Phillips in 1872 he established the first bank started in San Luis Obispo County. In 1898 he built the Warden Block in San Luis Obispo.
He married Maria (Mary) De La Mercedes Villigran (1843-1881) around 1856 and they adopted three children, Joseph, Louisa, and Daisy. Maria passed away in 1881.1 Warden married Queenie Parr in 1882 and they had three children, Queenie Moore Warden (married Thomas A. Norton), H. M. Warden, Jr., and Mary Loraine Warden.
He died in at his ranch in the Los Osos valley in 1912.
Citations
1. San Luis Obispo Tribune, 16 April 1881.
2. "Farm Cottage" San Luis Obispo Tribune, 11 September 1875, pg 8.
