USA > California > Los Angeles County > Los Angeles > A history of California and an extended history of Los Angeles and environs, Biographical, Volume II > Part 14
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During all his long residence in Los Angeles Mr. Rees has been vitally interested in the wel-
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fare of the city and has given of his time and ability in liberal measure for the service of the public good. He is progressive in the truest sense of the word and every movement for the general betterment of the city has received his unqualified support. In this he has exercised the same far-sighted wisdom and clear-headed judgment that have been his strongest asset in the business life of the city, and has builded for the future rather than the present, for to him Los Angeles has ever been a great city and he has realized with a wonderfully clear vision what the needs of a day yet to come would be. He has always been absolutely fearless in the support of his honest convictions, and never for one moment hesitated in his vigorous condem- nation of wrong nor in his hearty espousal of the cause of the people. For many years he served in the city council, and was recognized as one of the most powerful factors in the af- fairs of the city. His service was always of a progressive nature, and today there are several magnificent monuments to his ability and in- tegrity in the advancement of the general wel- fare. Prominent among these stands Hol- lenbeck Park, he having been largely instru- mental in securing the establishment and de- velopment of this beautiful playground, first in arranging the details of the gift of land from ex-Mayor Workman and Mrs. Hollenbeck and increasing this gift from the original three and one-half acres to some twenty- five or thirty, and active in overcoming the fears of the council regarding the appro- priation of the necessary fund for develop- ment and maintenance. Here again Mr. Rees took a determined stand, seeing far into the future, and it was principally through his mas- terly handling of the situation that the gift was finally accepted and a sufficient amount appro- priated for its development and maintenance. It is also an acknowledged fact that Council- man Rees never for a moment lost sight of the welfare of this cherished project until it was an established fact. Mr. Rees was also a member of the board of public works, where his ser- vices were of great efficiency. While a member of the city council (1891-92) he was also chair- man of its finance committee, and of the com- mittee on gas and lights, all tasks calling for tact, ingenuity and a spirit of loyal devotion to the city of his adoption.
During the Columbian Exposition at Chi- cago in 1893, Mr. Rees made an extensive trip through the east, and his contributions to the local press were most instructive and were eagerly read throughout the city. He not only covered the matters of general interest and the great features of the Exposition, but he also covered events of special importance, and his masterly handling of these various topics gives evidence that the talents of this clever man might have easily made him a shining light in the world of journalism. Another phase of the literary ability of Mr. Rees is his poetic fancy. He is a clever rhymster and in the days of his association with the city council was prone to score his opponents with a bit of sarcasm from a particularly caustic pen, laying on the lash with a merry wit that stung without seriously offending and generally raised a good-natured laugh, while still carrying the point. This is not the only avenue for the expression of his poetic genius, however, and when fancy pleases, the clever business man, the worthy statesman, may be lost in the poet and man of letters, and the work of his facile pen is of a high order.
From the time of casting his first vote Mr. Rees has maintained allegiance to the Repub- lican party and has upheld its principles as being best adapted, in his opinion, to the con- tinued prosperity of the country. In fraternal relations he was made a Mason many years ago and for some time led in the activities of the local Blue Lodge. He is also a prominent member of the Pioneer Society, where he is recognized as a leading spirit and where his efforts and sterling qualities of mind have given him a place that is unassailable and unas- sailed. While many of the friends of the early days have passed away, there still remains an appreciable number who worked by his side in the pioneer period, who endured with him the stress and strain of financial depression, and with these in the social life in the Pioneer Society he loves to compare conditions of the twentieth century with the days of the early '70s and finds great pleasure in bearing testi- mony to the manifold improvements wrought by progressive citizens.
The wife of Mr. Rees was Lydia Dangerfield, who was born in Staffordshire, England, (her father once owning a large chain and anchor works there) and died in Los Angeles in No-
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vember, 1913. Their family numbered seven children, all of whom are well known in Los Angeles. They are, Lillie S., now the widow of the late E. A. Guest; Rosa F., now Mrs. A. I. Smith ; Harry S .; Samuel C .; Walter N .; Minnie E., now Mrs. F. C. Elliott, and Lydia E., who, together with Mrs. Guest, has since the death of the mother had charge of the home and ministered to the comfort of her father. There are also seven grandchildren to add to the happiness of Mr. Rees, and his devo- tion to this rising generation, and theirs to the white-haired grandsire, make his declining days full of brightness and great joy.
[Since the above was written Mr. Rees has passed away, his death occurring at his home October 24, 1914, and his remains were interred in Evergreen cemetery.]
COL. JAMES B. LANKERSHIM. To pio- neers the name of Lankershim is as familiar as that of Los Angeles itself. To settlers of recent date it has grown familiar through their admira- tion of the beautiful Hotel Lankershim, erected in 1905 and accepted today as one of the very finest hotels in Southern California. Further prominence is given to the name in the twentieth century through the Lankershim-Van Nuys Com- pany, an organization engaged in the subdivision and sale of the great San Fernando rancho. The leading factor in this work of improvement and upbuilding has been Colonel Lankershim, who not- withstanding frequent tours abroad and the close research given to ruins of Greece and Italy as well as the ancient mosques of India, has never lost touch with his own home city nor ceased to regard it as peerless in attractions and cosmopoli- tan in culture. Through a residence here from 1872 and a knowledge of conditions dating back to the previous decade, he is perhaps as thoroughly informed regarding the development of Southern California as any man now living and his in- formation is not limited to one department of progress, but includes every phase of community advancement.
Although the decade of gold mining did not witness the arrival of the Lankershims in the west, the beginning of 1860 found them among the land holders of California, where Isaac and Annis L. (Moore) Lankershim represented the thrifty class
of progressive, far-seeing farmers whose keen intuitions brought them a remarkable degree of success. James Boon Lankershim was born at Charleston, Mo., March 24, 1850, and at the age of ten accompanied his parents to the west, where he completed his education in the Collegiate School of San Francisco. During 1870 he was em- ployed in the grain warehouse in San Francisco. The following year he superintended thirteen thousand acres of stock land in Fresno county, and from there went to San Diego county to manage the forty thousand acres known as El Cajon ranch. On his removal to Los Angeles in 1872 he took charge of the Lankershim holdings covering sixty thousand acres in the San Fer- nando valley. It was not until 1887 that he made the first subdivision of the great ranch, cutting off twelve thousand acres into smaller tracts, and during 1910 he disposed of the remainder, ag- gregating about forty-eight thousand acres, to the Lankershim-Van Nuys Company for sub- division purposes.
Vast as were the landed Lankershim interests and heavy as were the responsibilities connected with their management, it is a matter of general knowledge that Colonel Lankershim entered into many other enterprises of value to civic advance- ment. From 1886 until 1900 he officiated as pres- ident of the Main Street Savings Bank, while from 1907 to 1909 he was president of the Bank of Southern California. During 1890 he erected the Lankershim building on Third and Spring and this great undertaking, consummated during a period of financial depression, not only gave em- ployment to a large army of skilled workmen, but evidenced his faith in the city's future, a faith that fluctuations in financial conditions could not weaken or the pessimism of the few cause to grow faint. One of his noteworthy business achievements was the organization of the Los Angeles Farming and Milling Company, through which agency were marketed the great crops har- vested in the San Fernando valley. In 1908 he erected the San Fernando building and such was the demand for space in the block that three years later he added two stories to the building.
The marriage of Colonel Lankershim took place in Los Angeles in 1881 and united him with Miss Caroline Adelaide Jones. Their family comprises two children, John I. and Doria Constance. Un- der Hon. M. P. Snyder as mayor Colonel Lan- kershim served as park commissioner of Los An-
W.C.B. Richardson.
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geles. In the interests of the San Pedro harbor he went to Washington as a delegate. In 1895 he was chosen captain of Troop D, National Guard of California and under Governor Pardee he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant-colonel, re- maining in the same rank under Governor Gil- lett. His clubs include the Bohemian and Union League of San Francisco, the Gamut, Ellis, Cali- fornia, Jonathan, Union League and Los Angeles Athletic of Los Angeles, and fraternally he has risen in Masonry through the degrees up to and including the thirty-second and has been particu- larly prominent in the Knights Templar Com- mandery and Al Malaikah Temple of the Mystic Shrine.
WILLIAM C. B. RICHARDSON. Another name is added to the list of men who laid the foundation for the future greatness of Southern California, that of W. C. B. Richardson, a pioneer of Tropico and at one time owner of the Santa Eulalia rancho of seven hundred acres upon which the town of Tropico now stands. He comes from a line of distinguished ancestry and is descended in a direct line from Samuel Rich- ardson, the progenitor of the family in America, who was born in England of Puritan stock about 1610 and came to this country about 1630, settling in what is now Boston, Mass. The first records show that he owned property and held public of- fice in 1636, and served on a committee appointed to lay out lots of land for hay in what is now the city of Boston. He was surveyor of highways in 1636, one of the selectmen of Woburn from 1644 to 1651 and in 1645 paid the highest tax of any man in Woburn, where he died in 1658.
The next in line of descent was his son, Stephen, who was born in 1649 and who married Abigail Wyman; he served as freeman in 1690 and died March 22, 1717. William Richardson, his son, was born in Woburn in 1678 and married Rebecca Vinton ; in 1718 he removed to Attlebor- ough, Mass., where he bought land and there died. John Richardson, who comes next in direct line, was born in 1719 in Attleborough ; there he mar- ried in 1742 Elizabeth Wilmarth, and their son Wyman, who was born in 1746 and married Ruth Lane in 1771, moved the family to Swanzey, N. H., in 1780. Both he and his wife died at ad- vanced ages at Acworth, N. H., he at ninety- three and his wife at eighty-two.
Their son, the Hon. Elkanah Richardson, father of W. C. B. Richardson of this review, was born in Swanzey in 1780 and married Sophia Belding, who represented the first settlers of that place, February 2, 1815. In 1819 he took his family to Cuyahoga Falls, Summit county, Ohio, and there acquired prominence as a land surveyor, county commissioner, served two terms of seven years each as associate judge and became a member of the state legislature from Summit county. He built the first frame house where the town now stands and it was there that a son, Elkanah, the first white child born in Cuyahoga Falls, first saw the light of day.
W. C. B. Richardson was born October 28, 1815, at Swanzey, N. H., and when four years of age was taken to Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, where he was reared and secured such educational advantages as the times afforded. He chose the vocation of surveyor and in 1836 went with Lewis Clawson into the forests of Northern Michigan, remaining eighteen months surveying government land un- der United States Surveyor General Haynes. In 1838 he was united in marriage with Sarah Everett, who was born in Pennsylvania in 1819 of German and Scotch-Irish descent. She was a God-fearing woman of sturdy stock and accom- panied her husband to California, where she died at Tropico in 1895. Soon after his marriage Mr. Richardson went to Cleveland, Ohio, and became one of the leading men of the city, served on the board of education and in the city council, and took an active part in advancing the moral and commercial growth of the city. He often related that before settling in Cleveland he took a trip in 1835 into the then unknown middle west, stop- ping at Fort Dearborn, now Chicago, looking for a location in the coming town of what was at that time considered the west, but was disappointed, as he found only a few white people there, the rest being Indians. He returned to Cleveland and cast in his lot with that city, bought property and reared his family. Those who grew to matur- ity are Omar S., for fifty years a coal merchant in Chicago, now living retired in Glendale, Cal .; Elkanah, who died in Tropico in 1910, a pioneer of the early '70s of Southern California, coming here to take charge of the rancho Santa Eulalia that had been purchased by his father in 1868 and is now the site of Tropico and vicinity ; Burt Wy, who was born in Cleveland in 1857 and after
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completing his education went to Chicago, where he engaged in the marine business, sailing on the Great Lakes as captain of vessels, later becoming extensively engaged in handling Chicago real estate until 1907, when he came to California to reside. He had made bi-annual trips here since 1883. He is now practically retired, although en- gaged in financial operations on quite a large scale.
W. C. B. Richardson remained in Cleveland until 1880, when he came to Los Angeles county and from that time until his death, in 1908, was a potent factor in the building up of Tropico and was associated with his son in the management of his ranching interests. He came to California first in 1868, upon the completion of the transcon- tinental railroad, to visit his brothers, Omar and Elkanah. The former had come in 1847, after having served in the Mexican war, and the latter in 1850, during the gold excitement. Another brother, Henry, had come in the early '50s and died soon afterwards in Oregon. Landing in San Francisco and meeting his brother Omar, it was decided that they invest in land, and taking advan- tage of the brother's proficiency in Spanish, his acquaintance with natives of Spanish descent and his familiarity with the country, they started from San Francisco on horseback and rode to San Diego. After looking about they selected the seven hundred acre rancho Santa Eulalia, for which was paid $2000 in gold. It was the opinion of W. C. B. Richardson that he had purchased the best piece of land in California, and his brother and the latter's native friends also con- curred in this opinion.
W. C. B. Richardson then returned to Cleve- land and remained until 1880. After settling permanently in Southern California he aided very materially in establishing a community on his ranch, donated thirteen acres to the Southern Pacific Railway for yards and depot site, gave land for a church, school, and tile factory, and in every way tried to promote business in the growing settlement. He was a Mason, as was his father, and in his religious belief was a Unitarian. He kept a diary all his life and the ones from 1850 are still in possession of his family, as are his surveying instruments, journals and two trunks that were made by his father before the removal of the family from New Hampshire to Ohio. The families of the three sons are all residing in
Tropico and vicinity and are occupying prominent positions in the business and social life of the community.
CHARLES TERRAINE HEALEY. Among the early settlers of Southern California, who have been active in the apportioning of the old estates formerly owned by the Spaniards, and in estab- lishing cities where formerly only sheep and cattle ranches were to be seen, should be mentioned Charles T. Healey, whose death, August 3, 1914, removed from the town of Long Beach its pio- neer resident, through whose endeavors the town was laid out, and whose interests have been wrapped up with those of the town since the time of its creation, in 1882.
Mr. Healey was born in North Hartland, Vt., July 31, 1833, was educated at the Perkinsville Academy, and in young manhood took up the study of surveying. After a short time passed in New York he came to California in 1854, locating at San Jose, where he established himself as a surveyor, and made his home in one of the char- acteristic and picturesque California adobe houses of that period, now the only one of its kind left standing in San Jose. While living in that town, he was city clerk from the year 1856 to 1858, and city engineer from 1862 to 1866, having been county surveyor of Santa Clara county from 1856 to 1858. For many years he was also mining en- gineer of two quicksilver mines, the New Alma- den and the Guadalupe, near San Jose. He was the first licensed surveyor in California, and his work for the Banning, Rindge and Irvine famil- ies in this state included the building of the Conejo dam in Ventura county and the surveying for and building of the old stage road on Santa Catalina Island. Many times Mr. Healey was called upon to testify in litigation suits in court regarding boundary lines, and his testimony was never questioned, his word being law in all such cases. Several glass models of mines made by him are now on exhibition in the Ferry Building at San Francisco, having been exhibited at the World's Fair in Chicago. At the outbreak of the Civil war he organized and was made captain of the home guards at San Jose. In his great sur- veying enterprises it is said that every Spanish grant of land south of San Jose, Cal., was sur- veyed by him.
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It was early in the '70s that Mr. Healey came to Los Angeles, where he at once made for himself a prominent place among the surveyors of this city, being engaged in the surveying of several great ranches for the Bixbys, extensive land own- ers in this county, and was engaged to survey the property covering four thousand acres which the Long Beach Land Company purchased from Jotham Bixby, whereon the present city of Long Beach has sprung up. Mr. Healey has there- fore been acquainted with Long Beach from the first, having staked out the sheep pastures of the old ranch into lots for the new city, and having camped at what is now the corner of Ocean and Pine avenues when there was no house in the place but a shepherd's hut, and served as city engineer of Long Beach and San Pedro several years. Mr. Healey was appointed by the Los Angeles City Water Company as arbitrator to represent their interests in the taking of the inde- pendent companies. In Los Angeles he contin- ued the practice of his profession at an office in the Baker Block, being active in the surveying along the courses of the Los Angeles and San Ga- briel rivers, as well as in the regions given up to the cultivation of fruits.
Mr. Healey was married October 23, 1855, in Santa Clara, to Annie Morgan, and of that union one daughter, Eva L., Mrs. George S. Ingersoll, and two sons, Eugene T. and Lucien T., were born and are survivors. Mrs. Ingersoll has one son, Sigmund Secor Ingersoll, and Lucien T. has one daughter, Zoe, Mrs. Joseph J. Garrison. Mr. Healey's second marriage occurred in November, 1869, in San Francisco, uniting him with Orlena M. Swett, whose father, Capt. Frederick Parker Swett, built the first wharves in San Francisco and was a pioneer of this state, coming in 1849. Of this marriage two daughters were born: Blanche M. was married to Major B. C. Kenyon and died leaving two children, Brewster Standish and Dorothy Blanche; and Maud A. became the wife of George C. Flint.
Mrs. Healey was the first white woman to live in what is now Long Beach, living in a tent for several weeks, until the sand storms got so bad the family had to move to the Bixby ranch. In Long Beach, where she still makes her home, she is active in civic affairs. For four years she was recording secretary of the W. C. T. U. of Long Beach, of which she was one of the founders; is a member of the Ebell Club; of the Bethlehem
Inn Association, of which she was president for two years, and is a charter member of the City Club.
RICHARD DILLON. Coming first to Los Angeles almost forty years ago to engage in bus- iness, and having since that time been continu- ously a resident of the city and closely associated with its business and political life during all the long years intervening between that distant day and the present, is a record of which one may be justly proud. And this is the record of Richard Dillon, veteran dry goods merchant and at pres- ent the holder of valuable realty in Los Angeles city and county. Mr. Dillon is descended from good old Irish stock, and was born in Limerick, Ireland, September 24, 1837. At the early age of seventeen years he started out to face the world alone and to carve a place for himself among men. His chosen line was dry goods and he at once devoted himself to the mastery of the details of the business. In 1862 young Richard jour- neyed out to Australia and started in business at Melbourne. Not being entirely satisfied with con- ditions as he found them on the island continent, he came to San Francisco in 1866 and entered the employ of the dry goods firm of Kirby, Byrne & Co., then the most extensive concern of the kind on the Pacific coast, the establishment being located under the old Lick house of early day fame. Here Mr. Dillon remained for some nine years, becoming thoroughly identified with the life of the Golden Gate city. On March 17, 1875, he came to Los Angeles and immediately opened a dry goods house at the corner of Main and Requena streets, under the firm name of Dillon & Kenealy, his partner in this venture be- ing John Kenealy. The business prospered ex- ceedingly and soon there were branch stores at Pomona and Visalia, Cal., and at Phoenix and Tombstone, Ariz. Mr. Dillon continued in the dry goods business until 1887, when he sold his extensive interests and retired from active mer- chandising, with the exception of his Phoenix store, which he conducted until 1892.
Even while a prosperous merchant, Mr. Dillon was keenly awake to the value of Southern Cali- fornia realty, and purchased a number of large tracts of land which have since become of con- siderable value. In early days he bought three hundred and forty-six acres at Roscoe, Cal. One
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hundred and seventy-five acres of this tract he planted to vines, and erecting there a number of concrete buildings, he engaged in the manufacture of wine. The proximity of this property to Los Angeles soon made it too valuable for acreage, and it was cut up into town lots and sold, Mr. Dillon having previously disposed of it, and the land was now known as Orange Cove, situated near Burbank. Another valuable tract purchased in an early day when the value, as compared with that of the present day, was a mere song, is one hundred and sixty acres on Western avenue and Florence street, which is still undeveloped. Mr. Dillon also owns the northwest corner of Hill and Seventh streets.
Another record of Mr. Dillon's which is both commendable and unusual is that during all the years of his residence in Los Angeles he has never once missed going to the polls to cast his vote for what he believed to be the right. In the decision of this point he has been influenced by the interests involved, rather than by political distinc- tions, and has always thrown his strength on the side of the man whom he believed best fitted to fill the position and to discharge the duties thereof.
Mr. Dillon is a communicant in the Catholic Church and a prominent member of the Knights of Columbus. His wife, now deceased, was Miss Mary Hennesy. She bore her husband seven chil- dren, of whom two sons and two daughters are now living. Of the sons, Richard J. is a well- known attorney, and the younger son, Edward Thomas, a rising physician. The daughters are Mrs. Mary B. Warwick and Mrs. Daniel G. Grant. There are also five grandchildren, who are the solace of Mr. Dillon's declining years.
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