James De Barth Shorb (1842-1896) was a big name in the SGV. An attorney turned viticulturist, Shorb grew up in Emmitsburg, MD on a plantation called “San Marino”. After he came to California in 1864, guess what town he founded? But it was in Alhambra, also cofounded by Shorb, where he ran the San Gabriel Wine Company, touted as the largest winery in the world. He had some help: his wife Maria De Jesus Wilson Shorb (1845-1917) – “Sue” to her friends – was the daughter of Ramona Yorba (1828-1849) and Benjamin “Don Benito” Wilson (1811-1878), a local figure so towering that Mount Wilson was named for him. San Marino, in fact, was born on 500 acres of land that Wilson gave the Shorbs. (Their ranch is now the site of the Huntington.) After Wilson’s death, Shorb had a hard time going it alone, and his winery foundered after a vine-ravaging blight in 1892. Postscript: A third town, Ramona, was named for one of Shorb’s daughters. It later became Monterey Park, but Ramona Avenue remains. (See its entry for why the “Ramona” name is so ubiquitous in these parts.) Several other avenues are named for Shorb offspring: Benito, Campbell, Edith, Ethel, Marguerita, and Ynez.
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