John Ord is one of Seal Beach’s most familiar names. Over the years he continually claimed that he was not only Seal Beach’s first resident, but that for a long time he was the new town’s ONLY resident — all of which was interesting news to the 200 permanent residents who lived a few blocks away at Anaheim Landing. It is true, however, that he was the first resident — and for awhile the only resident — of The Bayside Land Company’s Bay City tract.
While Phil Stanton was away in Sacramento as a member of the State Assembly, John Ord represented his interests in Bay City. He formed the Ord Land Company but it seems that Stanton was the majority owner of this entity. The records and documents passed down to his descendants.
The Ord legend was mainly fostered by Ord himself through Orange County’s first historian of note, Samuel Armor. In 1919, Armor, a former OC supervisor, set out to write a history of Orange County. He sent a letter to the Board of Trustees of Seal Beach asking for information on the new town. Four members of The Board were relative newcomers to the town, so they deferred to the fifth Board member, to supply information on the town’s history. Ord included the information that he was the town’s first and only resident for awhile, a falsehood that has been repeated numerous times in local histories over the years.
Below is the biographical article on Ord that was published in the History of Orange County, by Samuel Armor, 1921, p572. But just remember, with anything Ord, find another source.
JOHN C. ORD.—Orange County is widely known for its recognition of old-time residents who have had to do with the founding and developing of this favored part of the Golden State, and it is not likely to forget such a worthy pioneer as John C. Ord, the father of Seal Beach, who was born in Orleans County, Vt., on July 28, 1842. As a boy. he worked in the woods getting out lumber, and also in a saw-mill, and at the outbreak of the Civil War enlisted as a volunteer in the cause of the Union, and served for three years. He belonged to Company E, Ninth Vermont Infantry, and was in the Twenty-fourth Army Corps under his cousin, Gen. E. O. C. Ord. He took part in the surrender of General Lee, and recalls that historic occasion as one of the most interesting events of his entire life. He was in the battle of Winchester and Harpers’ Ferry, and was captured at the latter place and sent to Chicago, where he was exchanged. He also took part in the siege of Norfolk and’ the battle at Newport, N. C. In the last year of the war, he was attached to the Sharpshooter Brigade, and participated in the battle of Petersburg. He was also in the grand review at the close of the war in Richmond. As one result of this meritorious and active service, he helped to organize Baxter Post, G. A. R., at Newport, Vt.
In 1866, Mr. Ord crossed the Isthmus to California, and landed in San Francisco with only $300. This he soon spent and was obliged to find work. The experiment was not without difficulties, and he was forced to tramp through the country in search of employment and begged for something to eat. His first engagement was on a ranch in Contra Costa County, owned by Charles Howard. After that he worked on threshing machines in harvest fields, and then he went to the neighborhood of Monterey in the Salinas Valley, where he chopped wood and again harvested.
In 1869 Mr. Ord returned to his old home in Vermont, on one of the first railroad trains to cross the Continent after the driving of the famous golden spike; but like so many who have found it impossible to say goodbye to California, he came back to the Coast and located at Grass Valley, in Nevada County, where he mined, and built two houses which he sold. He then went to Los Alamitos, Orange County, and erected a two-story store building, in which he kept a general store and also served as justice of the peace.
On February 29, 1904, Mr. Ord hauled his store building to what is now ‘Seal Beach and located it on Main Street, where it is still standing and doing good service. It is owned by John P. May, who conducts there a general store and the local postoffice. This was the first building in Seal Beach, and Mr. Ord lived alone in it for three months. Later, he leased out the store and took a six months’ trip to New Zealand.
On his return, Mr. Ord started in to build up Seal Beach. He bought lots in the area of the proposed town, some of which he still owns; was appointed first postmaster of the place, began to sell his own property, advertismg “Bargains in Secondhand Houses and Lots,” and cleaned up a handsome profit through his sales, and he also attracted visitors through a fine collection of skunks, squirrels and coyotes, which served as an attraction to beach visitors. He had thirteen skunks, quite as tame as kittens, and perfectly harmless, although he kept them caged.