USA > California > Los Angeles County > Los Angeles > A history of California and an extended history of Los Angeles and environs, Biographical, Volume II > Part 12
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The marriage of Senator Thompson and Miss Elizabeth M. Lloyd was solemnized in Pulaski, N. Y., November 11, 1891. They have four chil- dren, all natives of Los Angeles county, viz .: Lloyd W .; Newton E., a student in high school; Margaret O., also attending high school; and Stanley R., who is just entering the public schools.
Both Senator and Mrs. Thompson are popular with a wide circle of friends and take an active part in social affairs. Senator Thompson is a Knight Templar Mason, a member of the Knights of Pythias, and a member of the Union League Club. Both he and his wife are influential mem- bers of the Presbyterian church.
EDWARD A. CHEEVER. Among the citi- zens who have watched and participated in the growth and development of Los Angeles since 1886, none has been more interested than E. A. Cheever, who arrived here in December of that year. He was born January 30, 1869, in New Haven, Conn., a son of George G. and Lucy M. (Young) Cheever, natives of Lowell and West- minster, Mass., respectively. Edward A. received a common school education at New Haven and began to learn the printer's trade with the Evening Express of Los Angeles. In 1893 he embarked in the job printing business for himself, and for the past twelve years has been engaged in the linotyping business. On October 23, 1913, he was one of the organizers and became a director of the Western Linotyping Company, an incor- poration of Los Angeles, the officers being H. G. Wagner, president; P. H. Kelly, vice- president and manager ; F. L. Johnson, secretary and treasurer. The company has one of the best equipped establishments in Southern California, and the largest trade linotyping plant west of Chicago.
Mr. Cheever has invested wisely in real estate, owning business property on Central avenue, San Julian street, Grand avenue, West Pico and West Ninth streets. He is a Republican in politics and ever has the interests of the people in mind when voting on local issues.
In Los Angeles on March 8, 1894, occurred the marriage of Edward A. Cheever with Emma L. Winter, a daughter of Mrs. Minna Winter, and
a native of Louisville, Ky., and of German parentage. They have three children, Sumner C., Marguerite V. and Lucille W. Mr. Cheever is a member of the Woodmen of the World, Women of Woodcraft, and the Fraternal Brotherhood, and for ten years he served in the National Guard of California.
I. WELLINGTON GARDNER. Born in Grand Rapids, Mich., on May 1, 1853, the son of Thomas Gardner, I. Wellington Gardner has been one of the men actively interested in promoting the welfare of Southern California. Having completed his education at Grand Rapids, Mich., he came to Los Angeles in 1873, representing his brother, J. W. Gardner, who was a manufacturer of pianos and organs in Grand Rapids. Mr. Gard- ner had charge of the Los Angeles branch of the company of Gardner Brothers until 1885, when he sold out and went into the real estate business. He became a stockholder and the head of many large land companies in Southern California. and was one of the members of the Fairview Develop- ment Company that built the railway from Santa Ana to Fairview. Associated with his brother, in 1887 Mr. Gardner subdivided twelve tracts in Santa Ana, a progressive measure which helped in bringing up the population of the place from four thousand inhabitants to ten thousand. The brothers were the first enterprising real estate men to run excursions out of Los Angeles during the old boom for the purpose of advertising and selling real estate in the neighboring localities. I. W. Gardner has seen Los Angeles grow from a small village, and with it has gone through both its prosperous and its hard times. Save for the four years between the dates of 1887 and 1891, when he was president, manager and owner of the I. W. Gardner Piano Company at Portland., Ore., he has continued steadily in the real estate busi- ness in Los Angeles until his recent retirement from active business life. He is a member of the California Club, the City Club. also a member of the Chamber of Commerce and several fraternal societies, and in politics is a Democrat.
In Salem, Ore., July 12, 1882, Mr. Gardner was united in marriage with Miss Mary E. Gilbert, and they have one daughter, Ella M. Gardner.
Antonio Valley
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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
ANTONIO VALLA. For a period of about fifty years Antonio Valla, an Italian by birth, was a resident of the city of Los Angeles, Cal., through vicissitudes and enterprises at first un- promising, never losing his faith in the future of this California city which had become his home and where he in time amassed a fortune.
Born June 13, 1833, in Genoa, Italy, the city which gave Columbus to the world to be the discoverer of the western hemisphere, Mr. Valla also in early manhood turned his attention to the land beyond the sea, and in 1857, after a four months' journey by sailing vessel around Cape Horn and up the coasts of both Americas, he arrived at San Francisco, and two years later came south to Los Angeles, where he resided until the time of his death. The life of Antonio Valla was divided between two of the world's most beautiful countries, Italy and Southern Cali- fornia, which has been called "the Italy of Amer- ica." In upper Italy, a land of flocks and vines, the lives of the peasant children are passed in sunny hours upon the hillsides, watching their sheep, and whole families gather the grapes in the vineyards for days, and prepare them for wine-making; and Southern California also has been and still is a land of sheep herding and grape culture. It was therefore natural that Mr. Valla, having been engaged in the merchandise business in Los Angeles until 1870, at that time established one of the first wineries in the vicin- ity of this city, becoming senior member of the firm of Valla & Tononi. He was a stanch be- liever in the future of this city, investing all his money here, building what is known as the Six Brothers' Block on the northeast corner of First and Los Angeles streets, at a cost of $47,000. Several bankers who have since made millions, but who, at that time, had little faith in the value of investments in Los Angeles, prophesied that Mr. Valla's venture would result in his financial ruin, but he was unwavering in his belief in the growth and prosperity of the then small city and in the consequent great results of his enterprises, in both of which matters his opinion has been proved to be correct, and in 1888 he was able to retire from active business life, having made for himself a fortune in the new country where he had chosen to make his home.
The death of Mr. Villa occurred September 26, 1908, he being then seventy-five years of age, and he is survived by a widow, Mrs. Trinidad M. de
Valla, and six children, namely O. A. Valla, Dr. A. Z. Valla, B. L. Valla, Mrs. P. J. Yorba, and Louis and Norbert Valla.
WILLIAM H. AVERY. Certain character- istics differentiate one family from others. Prob- ably the most distinctive characteristic of past generations of the Avery family has been their love of the frontier and exemplification of the traits of the true pioneer. As long as there re- mained in the United States any area that might correctly be denominated as frontier, so long they sought such spots and gave of their energies to the creating of more modern, highly developed conditions. Thus it came to pass that they were in the vanguard of the wave of development that swept from east to west through the country. Be- fore the period when childish thoughts took on the form of knowledge and memory, the late William H. Avery had his first experience of frontier existence, and throughout all of his active, inter- esting and useful career he remained a pioneer, associated with the development of various sec- tions of the country. Born in Auburn, Susque- hanna county, Pa., April 1, 1836, he was only three years of age when his parents removed to Illinois. The journey was replete with dangers. Railroads had not yet been built between the centers of transportation. Travel was still largely by rivers and lakes. For many days the family was storm-bound on Lake Michigan. Many dan- gers and innumerable hardships marked the entire course of the journey to the then unsettled prairies of Illinois. On passing through Chicago the elder Avery was offered eighty acres of unim- proved land near the center of the then Fort Dear- born in exchange for the lead horse in the spike three-horse team, but he considered the horse worth more than the land and declined the offer. In another generation that land was of a value almost beyond computation, but the life of the horse had ended and the farmer was still strug- gling for a livelihood on a prairie tract seventy- five miles west of Chicago, near what later became the village of Garden Prairie.
The son of this Illinois pioneer began to do a man's work on the home farm long before he had grown to man's estate. Only three months of the year was it possible for him to attend "school. The remaining nine months were given
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to manual labor. Under such circumstances, only a determined will enabled him to secure an educa- tion. By his own efforts he paid his expenses through Oberlin College. Later he taught school in the same log cabin where he had learned the three R's of his elementary training. After a thorough course of study in the law school of Chicago University he began to practice law at Effingham, Ill., his father having given him a horse and $100 in cash when he reached the age of twenty-one. From Illinois he moved to Lamar, Barton county, Mo., where he established a bank that still is in successful operation. Besides run- ning the bank, practicing law and buying and selling land, he conducted an office for correcting and bringing down abstracts of title. During the period of the mining excitement at Pike's Peak he had made a trip to the Rocky mountains. Dur- ing 1870 he made his second trip to the west, and this time went as far as Washington, settling in what is now the capital of the state. To him belongs the distinction of founding the first bank in the Pacific Northwest territory. Besides con- ducting the bank he practiced law and engaged in the real estate business. The failure of his health caused him to return to Missouri in 1874. Hoping to be benefited by outdoor work, he took up farming on an extensive scale and used ox-teams in breaking up virgin prairie soil.
After two trips of inspection to California during 1886 Mr. Avery came to Los Angeles as a permanent resident and bought property at No. 913 Fort street (now Broadway), where he and his family lived for twenty-two years. About 1907 they removed to No. 963 South Hoover street, and there his death occurred January 20, 1912. Surviving him are Mrs. Avery, whom he married in 1868 and who was Miss Nellie Town- send Fox; and four children, namely: Russ, of the firm of Avery & French, attorneys; Kasson ; Mrs. Xora Tompkins, of Berkeley, and Miss Yerva Avery. The business life of the com- munity benefited by the association of Mr. Avery, who was a man of forceful personality, inflexible honesty, unusual keenness of perception and wis- dom of judgment, cautious and conservative, yet fearless and aggressive, combining in harmonious blending the qualities that give value to citizen- ship. When his interest was roused by any move- ment (such as the good government campaign or charitable projects) he threw himself into the work with ardor and never ceased his efforts so
long as they were productive of results. In poli- tics he was a progressive Republican. Possessing a versatile ability, it was possible for him to en- gage with success in enterprises quite diversified in character. For a time he acted as president of the United Wholesale Grocery Company of Los Angeles. Both as a director and as an officer he was associated with the Merchants National Bank. At the time of his death he was president of the First National Bank of Farmington, New Mexico. Among his other large enterprises was the planting of one hundred acres near Highland into an orange grove, which he sold a few years prior to his death. He thoroughly believed in Southern California, in its possibilities and its future. Grasping its opportunities, he was re- warded by the accumulation of a valuable estate and had the gratification of seeing his chosen city rise to a position of dominance in the west. As a pioneer he rejoiced in the upbuilding of Los Angeles and considered it a matter of fortune that he was privileged to witness the advance made by this metropolis through a quarter of a century of its eventful history.
S. K. LINDLEY. For thirty years S. K. Lindley has been a resident of Los Angeles, Cal., where he has been a very successful real estate man, and though now seventy-seven years old is a member of the real estate firm of S. K. Lindley & Son, of Los Angeles, where he is in business with his son, Philo L. Lindley, their office being on the seventh floor of the Herman W. Hellman building. The company handles mainly their own subdivisions and property.
The father of Mr. Lindley was Giles A., a native of Ansonia, Conn., and his grandfather was Curtiss Lindley, also of Ansonia. The father was mayor of LaSalle, Ill., during 1856 and 1857, and an uncle, Philo Lindley, was county clerk of La- Salle county, Ill. A brother-in-law of Mr. Lindley was Gen. James M. Moore, who was in Sherman's famous March to the Sea during the Civil war. The earliest ancestors of the Lindley family in this country were three brothers, who came from England, one of whom settled in Connecticut, one in Georgia and another in the West. S. K. Lind- ley was born in St. Louis, Mo., September 11, 1838, and was one of nine children, his mother
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being Jane (Kingston) Lindley, a native of Pitts- burg, Pa. Mrs. George W. King, who now lives in St. James Park, Los Angeles, is the oldest daughter of the family, S. K. Lindley himself be- ing the oldest son. The family removed to LaSalle, Ill., when Mr. Lindley was only four years old, and he received only a common school education, commencing, while still a boy, to work in his father's store at LaSalle. He was only eighteen years of age when his father died in 1857, during his office as mayor of LaSalle, and the son engaged soon afterward in the grocery business in that city, which he followed success- fully for two years, and then accepted a position as traveling salesman, for the next two years trav- eling through southern Illinois as salesman for the wholesale grocery firm of Shores, Tater & Co., of Chicago. From 1865 to 1875 he was engaged in general merchandise business in Burr Oak, Mich., being engaged successfully the next ten years in general merchandise business in Union City, Branch county, Mich., during which time took place his marriage to Miss Martha Leonard of Union City, Mich. They are the parents of two children, Philo L., who is now mar- ried and living on Menlo avenue, Los Angeles, being a member of the firm of S. K. Lindley & Son, and Mary L., wife of Gustavus Knecht, of the firm of Braun, Knecht & Hineman, whole- sale dealers in mining and chemical supplies, in San Francisco.
The first visit of Mr. Lindley to California was as a Knight Templar, when he attended the Knights Templars' Conclave at San Francisco it 1883. It was his intention at that time to make a visit to the new and rising city of Seattle, with a view to making his home permanently in the West. He was, however, induced to come to Los Angeles by his cousin, Dr. Walter K. Lind- ley, and fell in love with this city and with South- ern California. Returning to the East, he closed up his business there, and in 1885 came back to Los Angeles, where he has since been a perma- nent resident. For the first two years after com- ing to this city he was engaged in managing a fire insurance office, but in 1887 branched out into real estate, in which he has prospered re- markably. His residence at No. 2627 Menlo avenue, Los Angeles, which was built by him twelve years ago, is both beautiful and commo- dious, and presided over graciously by his wife, ) who is as much an enthusiast over Los Angeles as
is Mr. Lindley, having taken an active interest in the welfare of the city during her long residence here, and being the owner of an interesting col- lection of California photographs which have now become historic. Interest also attaches to the large oil painting which adorns the office of S. K. Lindley & Son, it having been presented to Mr. Lindley by his brother-in-law, General Moore, who was a soldier and friend of General Sherman, with whose campaign the story of the painting is connected.
In early life Mr. Lindley was a Republican, but he has now become a Progressive, and is an ad- mirer of Governor Johnson. Fraternally he is a Mason, and is a charter member of the Los An- geles Shriners.
NILES PEASE. The commercial activity of Los Angeles has had in Niles Pease, formerly president of the Niles Pease Furniture Company, one of its strongest and most successful men and one who has added steadily to its prestige for the past twenty years. When he first came to the Pacific coast it was after a period of twenty-four years of successful work as a manufacturer and merchant in his native town, and with the capital and experience thus gained he easily established himself in a secure business position here. The success achieved by Mr. Pease has been the result of earnest, indefatigable labor, sturdy applica- tion and well-directed zeal, and bespeaks pos- session of the strongest characteristics of man- hood.
Mr. Pease is of eastern birth and ancestry, the name being widely known and honored in Con- necticut, where his grandfather, Simeon Pease, enlisted for service in the Revolutionary war. His parents, Wells and Betsey Pease, were also natives of Connecticut, where in the vicinity of Thompsonville, on the 13th of October, 1838, their son was born. He was reared to young man- hood in his native locality, receiving his educa- tion in the public schools until he was eighteen years old, when he became apprenticed to learn the trade of tinsmith. Three years later he en- gaged in this occupation, establishing a manufac- tory and dealing in stoves and tinware. He met with success in his enterprise and gradually en- larged his operations until he was well known throughout the state and largely identified with its business interests. In 1876 he suspended this
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branch of his business, and devoted his efforts entirely to the sale of furniture.
Finally deciding to locate on the Pacific coast, Mr. Pease sold out his interests in 1884 and in the same year came to California, where he identi- fied himself with the Los Angeles Furniture Company as a partner in the concern. They estab- lished a store at No. 122 South Spring street and began business. At the end of the year Mr. Pease purchased the entire interest of the busi- ness, and as his trade increased enlarged his op- erations and added to his stock. In 1887 he re- moved to the Harris block, between Third and Fourth streets, on South Spring, and there he had a well-equipped carpet and furniture sales- room. With the splendid increase in patronage which came with the passing years Mr. Pease found it necessary to seek more commodious quarters, and accordingly, in 1897, moved into the large five-story building at No. 439 South Spring street, thiis being built by L. Harris at that time to accommodate the Niles Pease Furniture Company. On the 25th of September, 1897, this business was incorporated under the latter name, his children being taken into the concern. With the passing of years they built up one of the largest and most extensive trades in Southern California, their patronage extending also to Arizona. December 1, 1905, the business passed into the hands of the Pacific Purchasing Com- pany, the latter representing the combined busi- ness of five similar enterprises in this city.
In February, 1905, Mr. Pease incorporated the Niles Pease Investment Company, a close family corporation. This company has erected a magnifi- cent reinforced concrete building on Hill street, between Sixth and Seventh streets, seventy-five feet front and eight stories, which is occupied by the Pease Brothers Furniture Company and is the finest establishment of its kind west of Chicago. His two sons, Sherman and Herbert, have large interests and manage the business.
Aside from his other interests Mr. Pease has been interested for a number of years in various enterprises. He served for some years as a direc- tor of tlie Columbia Savings Bank; is at present a director in the Security National Bank, for- merly the Central National Bank of Los Angeles ; The Bank of Italy and the Fidelity Savings Loan Association ; is a prominent member and a former director of the Los Angeles Chamber of Com- merce; and for four years, ending January 1,
1906, served as president of the Merchants' and Manufacturers' Association. Ever since deciding to cast in his fortunes with those of the com- mercial interests of this city, Mr. Pease has taken a deep interest in its advancement, and has added the force of a solid and sub- stantial man of affairs to the municipality's growth. In his political convictions he is a Re- publican, and while a resident of Connecticut, in 1876, was chosen by his party to the state legis- lature, where he served with credit to himself and with satisfaction to his constituency. Fra- ternally he is a Knight Templar and a thirty- second degree Mason and stands exceptionally high in the organization. For some years he has been identified with the Unitarian Church, to whose philanthropies he is a liberal contributor, and has also served as trustee of the church.
The marriage of Mr. Pease occurred in Thomp- sonville, Conn., March 25, 1860, and united him with Miss Cornelia Gleason, a native of that place, and born of this union are the following children : Grace G., Jessie F., Sherman, Jewell, Anna, Her- bert and Florence. Mr. Pease is passing on to a peaceful and happy old age, surrounded by the comforts and luxuries which his years of labor and effort have brought him, serene in the conviction of duty cheerfully done wherever met in his note- worthy career; of success achieved; of friend- ships won ; and ranking as one of the representa- tive men of Los Angeles and of Southern Cali- fornia.
In the fall election of 1906 Mr. Pease was urged very earnestly by prominent citizens to be a candidate for councilman of the Fourth ward of the city. He did not desire any public office, but as a matter of duty to a city he loved he con- sented and was elected for a term of three years, ending January 1, 1910. At the time of organiz- ing he was unanimously chosen as their president, a position which occupied much of his time dur- ing these years.
FRANK WIGGINS. To have come to Cali- fornia a number of years ago in search of health, and to be now in charge of the exhibits of that sunny land whose fruits and vegetables grow to mammoth size and attain perfection of coloring from months of uninterrupted sunshine, is an experience which might well be envied by less fortunate dwellers in cold eastern states. For
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Ma Stamcock Rose
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the kindly mountain ranges, which take to them- selves the cold snows that they may not fall upon the orchards and vineyards, give a possibility of rapid growth to the plants and of returning health to the dwellers in the sheltered valleys.
One who has enjoyed this happy experience is Frank Wiggins, who was born in Richmond, Ind., November 8, 1849, the son of Charles O. and Mary (Marshall) Wiggins. He received his edu- cation at the school of the Society of Friends, after which he was engaged in managing his father's saddlery business until 1886, when his lack of health necessitated a change of climate. On his first visit to California Mr. Wiggins re- mained only six months, returning at the expira- tion of that time to his native city. But, like many another who has tried life in the west, he came back to California, this time to stay, having remained away only three months. In 1899 he became superintendent and general manager of the exhibits of the Chamber of Commerce in Los Angeles, of which he later was made secretary and general manager, and has held these posi- tions ever since that time.
It must indeed be a source of satisfaction to acquaint the rest of the world with the wonderful productions of one's adopted land which has done so much for one. Mr. Wiggins has general charge of the exhibits at the fine new Chamber of Com- merce Building at Exposition Park, Los Angeles, where fruits, vegetables and dainty sprays of blossoms are preserved for exhibition in tall glasses of liquid ; where gigantic nuts, many kinds of canned goods and other foods, and numerous manufactures are artistically arranged; where immense polished specimens of California's na- tive woods remind one of the forests upon the mountainsides and the quiet groves in the val- leys ; and where the exhibition is varied by moving pictures illustrative of the occupations of the dif- ferent California counties. But greater than the work of making California products well known in their own state is that of advertising them to the world in general, and in this Mr. Wiggins has rendered efficient service, having super- vised eight exhibits of California articles at as many country-wide and world-wide expositions, besides having established a permanent Southern California Exhibit at Atlantic City, N. J., in 1905. The fairs at which Mr. Wiggins was in charge of the exhibits of this state were the Orange Carnival at Chicago in 1891 ; the World's Fair, Chicago,
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