USA > California > Los Angeles County > Los Angeles > A history of California and an extended history of Los Angeles and environs, Biographical, Volume II > Part 24
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Mr. Dol was a native of France, having been born in the village of Cuers, in the De- partment of Var, May 5, 1840, of well-to-do parents. His boyhood was passed in his
native village and there he attended school until he was thirteen years of ago. Shortly after this he went to Paris and apprenticed himself to learn cooking, receiving in due course of time a diploma as chef de cuisine. Thus fortified he left France for America to seek his fortune in the new land. For a short time he remained in New York, where he found employment at his profession, and later went to New Orleans, where he was variously associated with cafes and restau- rants until 1876. It was during the fall of that year that Mr. Dol came to Los Angeles, being induced to make this change by the advice of his wife's uncle, Benjamin Flotte, a resident of the Angel City and the owner of the Oriental restaurant on Main street oppo- site the old Pico house. This change is one that he never regretted making, as Los An- geles proved to be the city of his dreams, both from the standpoint of being an ideal home city and also from purely commercial reasons.
During the years that he resided in Los Angeles Mr. Dol took an active part in all questions of public interest and was one of the progressive men of his day. In politics he was a Socialist and in his efforts for the welfare of the masses he was very sincere and earnest, giving freely of his time and money for the cause that he felt to be just and right. He was a member of several commercial and business clubs and organizations that inter- ested themselves in the questions of the period, and he was also a prominent member of the Los Angeles County Pioneer Society.
The marriage of Mr. Dol occurred in New Orleans in 1862, the bride of his choice being Miss Felicie Marvardy, like himself a native of Cuers, France. Of their union were born two daughters: Josephine, now Mrs. Betchel, of Los Angeles, and Victorine, now Mrs. Oberly, of Artesia. Mrs. Dol was a com- panion and helpmeet to her capable husband in the truest sense of the word, and to her aid and co-operation he owed much of his great success. Her death occurred in 1900, and four years later, December 21, 1904, Mr. Dol was again married, this time to Miss Tatiana Sicilinki, who still survives him and for the past few years has made her home in Venice.
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Mr. Dol was a representative of a day that is past, and in his death the city lost a man of ability and worth, and one who contributed his full share toward the upbuilding and de- velopment of the best interests of the com- munity. He was industrious and energetic and his success was a tribute not only to the opportunities offered by the west, but also to the even greater possibilities open every- where for honest application to business.
ALLAN SANDEFUR. The life of the early California pioneer is always full of interest and romance, and it is with regret that we see them passing away one by one. Allan Sandefur was one of these, and the years that have elapsed since his death at his home in Duarte, October 24, 1908, have not dimmed his memory to the many friends and neighbors to whom he was near and dear. Mr. Sandefur was a native of Kentucky, born at Louisville April 21, 1831. When he was but a small child his parents removed to Lafayette county, Wis., where he was reared and educated, and where he learned the trade of blacksmith. In 1850, when he was but nineteen years of age, he crossed the plains with a small party of friends and neighbors and came to California. He was filled with a desire to seek his fortune in the mines and for a time followed the occupation of the miner at Hangtown (now Placerville), and later, not meeting with the desired results there, he went to Oregon and still later to Idaho. Finally he gave up mining and in 1869 he went to Tehama county, Antelope Valley, Cal., where he followed farming and blacksmithing until 1876. It was in that year that he came to Southern California and located at Duarte, where he continued to reside until his death.
Immediately after coming to Duarte Mr. Sande- fur purchased a tract of ten acres, on which were twenty-five seedling orange trees, and these trees are still standing and producing fruit. At once he commenced to set his land to orange trees, soon having a fine grove of Washington Navels and Valencias, besides which he engaged in black- smithing on his home place. For a time Mr. Sandefur found his orange trees badly infested with the then much-dreaded white scale, and im- mediately he imported a colony of the Australian ladybugs for their destruction, he being the first
man in the valley to adopt this method of cleaning his trees.
The marriage of Mr. Sandefur took place in Tehama county, October 11, 1871, uniting him with Miss Jane Eachus, a native of Iowa, born in Henry county March 10, 1851. She crossed the plains with her father, Benjamin D. Eachus, in a prairie schooner in 1859, arriving in Shasta county on September 20 of that year. From there the family removed to Tehama county, where the father engaged in farming three miles south of Red Bluff, he being one of the pioneers of that section. Mrs. Sandefur, then Miss Eachus, be- came a school teacher, teaching her first term in 1868, when she was but seventeen years of age. For three years she followed this occupation in Shasta and Tehama counties. Of the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Sandefur were born three children, two daughters and one son. The eldest daughter, Lettie E., is deceased ; Felix, a resident of Mon- rovia, married Miss Lizzie G. Haydock, and they have three sons, Richard A., Leon H. and Fred E. The other daughter, Nellie, is the wife of Nolas J. Morin, of Duarte. During his residence in Duarte Mr. Sandefur was highly esteemed, being influential in local affairs, and in social and fraternal organizations. Mrs. Sandefur still makes her home in Duarte, where she attends the Christian Science Church.
SIMEON M. METCALF. The son of Simeon M. and Hannah (McCausland) Metcalf, Dr. Metcalf was born in Somerville, near Boston, Mass., February 6, 1858, and attended the public schools of his native city, graduating from the high school in 1877, and from Harvard Medical College in 1881. His business experience in Massachusetts was as assistant superintendent of the Boston Lunatic Hospital for a period of three years, after which he came to Los Angeles, Cal., where he practiced medicine for several years, after which time he retired from active pro- fessional service. Since 1884 lie made his home in this city.
Dr. Metcalf is a member of the Harvard Alumni Association, and in politics he is a Pro- gressive. He was married, June 10, 1885, in Amherst, Canada, to Miss Hester O. Newcomb, and they are the parents of three children, namely : Edward Newcomb, a graduate of the law school
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of the University of Southern California; Alice H., a student at the University of California; and Kenneth M., also a student at that university.
ALBERT A. CLAPP. No name is more honored in the roll of prominent men of the beautiful little city of Alhambra than is that of Albert A. Clapp, who for many years, or until the time of his death, May 7, 1911, was a resi- dent of that city and one of its most progressive and respected citizens. He was actively associated with the incorporation of the town and was elected its first city clerk, serving from 1903 until the time of his death. He was also associated with real estate activities there and in Pasadena, being at one time heavily interested in the latter city, but met with the loss of almost his entire property there during the after-effects of the boom of 1887.
Mr. Clapp was a native of New York state, having been born at Pompey Hill, May 1, 1841. His father, Rev. Mathew S. Clapp, was a minister of the Christian Church, and his first wife was an own sister of Alexander Campbell, the founder of the Christian Church in America. Albert A. was a student in Garfield College, at Hiram, Ohio, when the Civil war broke out, and he gave up his studies to answer the first call for volunteers. He enlisted as a private in Company G, Second Ohio Cavalry, and when discharged had been promoted to second lieutenant. He served in eighteen bat- tles, one of them being Sailors Creek, where by his courage and bravery he captured the enemy's battle flag, for which service he was awarded a medal of honor, which was presented to him by Secretary of War Stanton. As a further reward he was placed upon the staff of General Custer, with whom he continued in service. Among the priceless mementos preserved by his wife and sons are a colonel's saber and the star of the flag which he captured. After the close of the war and his honorable discharge Mr. Clapp returned to Ohio, where in 1867 he was married to Miss Cynthia Bissel, of Painesville, that state. For a year he was engaged in the mercantile business at Peoria, Ill., after which he returned to Paines- ville and there engaged in farming until 1873. In that year he went to Red Oak, Iowa, where for eleven years he engaged in the mercantile business with great success. From there he went to
Kansas City, Mo., where he was in business until 1886, when he came to California to make his permanent home. For a time he was located in Pasadena, where he owned extensive property, but after his losses of 1887 he went to Fresno county, where he was engaged in farming from 1890 to 1896. In January, 1897, he returned to Los Angeles county and settled at Alhambra, buy- ing three acres at the corner of Main and Alman- sor streets, where he established his home, and where his wife still resides. He engaged in busi- ness at Alhambra, and also raised blooded chick- ens, principally Thompson's Pinkler Strain Barred Rocks, on which he took medals and prizes all over the state.
Aside from his business integrity, which gave him a high place in the esteem of all who knew him, Mr. Clapp was well and favorably known in social and fraternal circles. He was a prominent Mason, being a member of the San Gabriel Valley Chapter, and also of Alhambra Lodge, F. & A. M., being secretary of the latter for ten years, and taking an active part in all its activities. He was also a member of the Loyal Legion and of the Grand Army, this latter organization being especially dear to his heart in memory of the gallant service which he was able to render to his country in the days of his youth. Mrs. Clapp, who still resides at the home place, is a member of the Episcopal church, in whose activities she takes a prominent part. She is also a member of the Woman's Relief Corps, of which she was the first president in Pasadena in 1887, and is an interested member of the Eastern Star, of which she was the first matron in Alhambra. She takes an especial interest in the work of both these orders, and has done much for their upbuilding in Alhambra. She is the mother of five sons, all of whom are living, and all well known in Los Angeles county. They are Robert, Archie, Ralph, Albert and Randall.
WILLIAM F. SOMERS. Although now almost ninety years of age, William F. Somers, who has been a resident of California for well on toward three-quarters of a century, and one of the extensive land owners in the Southwest, still takes an active interest in the care and man- agement of the splendid farm of two hundred acres, near Gardena, where he makes his home. This property is rented principally for fruit and
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gardening purposes, and Mr. Somers keeps a small dairy. He is well informed on all the issues of the day and is well known as an influential citizen of Gardena and of the county. In an early day he had mined practically all over the state, and owned extensive tracts of land in the San Fernando valley, in the northern counties, and in Arizona, where he still has land on the Gila river.
Mr. Somers is a native of Vermont, born in Caledonia county, in 1827. When he was thirteen years of age his parents migrated to Indiana, locating in Clay county, where the father was engaged in farming. Here William F. was reared and educated, remaining with his father on the farm until 1850, when he determined to make the westward journey to California. Accordingly he worked his way down the Mississippi river to New Orleans, where he shipped in a small schooner for the Isthmus of Panama, and thence to San Francisco, arriving in September, just nine days after the state had been admitted to the Union. He at once engaged in mining, being for a time at San Pedro, on the Tuolumne river, in Tuolumne county, and also at Jimtown, on Woods creek, near Sonora. Later he was similarly en- gaged at Fort Miller, on the San Joaquin river, and from there went to Antioch, Contra Costa county, where he took up a government claim and engaged in the cattle business. He discovered a coal claim and developed the Mt. Diablo coal mine, being three years on this claim, when he sold his interests and went to eastern Oregon and Idaho, where for two years he was engaged in mining. Returning to Southern California, Mr. Somers then purchased nine hundred acres of land in the San Fernando valley and engaged in wheat raising. Later he sold his holdings there and filed on three hundred and twenty acres near Gardena, renting his land and himself engaging in mining for gold in the hills. After a time he bought a tract of sixteen hundred acres in San Bernardino county, near where the city of Red- lands now stands, a part of his acreage having been sold for city purposes. He then bought pasture and valley land near San Bernardino city and engaged in the dairy business for a number of years. Three successive dry years, however, caused him to sell this property, after which, in 1904, he came to Gardena and located on his present ranch of two hundred acres, and has since made this his home. As early as 1852 he visited
the Yosemite valley and was one of the very first white men to go there. He has always been an advocate of temperance.
PETER T. DURFY. One of the pioneer educators and land owners of Los Angeles county, where he has resided since 1876, is Peter T. Durfy, now a resident of Hollywood, where he has a handsome home on Hollywood boulevard. Foreseeing at an early date the splendid future which awaited Los Angeles, the young school teacher invested his savings in land near what is now Sherman, and which has since made him independently wealthy. He added more acreage from time to time, when the prices were merely nominal, and from the profits on this land, which he farmed, he made other investments which have also grown in value and netted handsome returns.
Mr. Durfy is a native of New York, having been born in Otsego county November 12, 1850. He is the son of Patrick and Katherine Durfy, and is descended from a line of old Irish ancestry. His father was a farmer, and the young Peter received his early education in the public schools of his native county, later attending the Albany, N. Y., Normal school. Completing his course there when he was twenty-three years of age, for one year following he taught at Eagle Mills, N. Y. It was in 1876 that he came to California. He tanght school for a few years at Alameda, and for a short time at San Gabriel. Then he pur- chased a tract of one hundred and sixty acres near the present site of Sherman and engaged in farm- ing, later adding another sixty acres to his acreage, making two hundred and twenty acres in all. In later years he sold the entire tract to Mr. Doheny, and is now devoting his time to the management of his other interests, which are varied and ex- tensive.
During his long residence at Hollywood Mr. Durfy has been closely allied with the progressive affairs of that city and of Sherman, and every movement which tends toward the upbuilding and betterment of his home city may be counted upon for his support. He is vice-president and a director of the Sherman Bank, of which he was also one of the original organizers, and is owner of the Sherman water works. For four years he was a trustee of the Hollywood high school, is
Louis Melzer
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a member of the Pioneer Society and fraternally just nineteen, he arrived in New York, without is identified with the Masonic order.
The marriage of Mr. Durfy occurred in Los Angeles February 5, 1890, uniting him with Miss Sallie L. Levering, the daughter of Noah and Margaret Levering, and a native of Iowa. She has borne her husband four children, a son and three daughters, all of whom are well and favor- ably known in Los Angeles and Hollywood, where they are popular members of the younger social set. They are Leland J., who is at present attend- ing the State University at Berkeley; Margaret, who is attending Occidental college, Los Angeles ; Gertrude, recently deceased; and Barbara, a senior in the Hollywood high school. class of 1915.
LOUIS MELZER. Coming first to Los Angeles in 1870, and immediately engaging in the general merchandise business at El Monte, then the central point for the transportation of supplies overland to Arizona, and one of the important centers of trade in Los Angeles county, Louis Melzer is indeed one of the pio- neer merchants of the Southland. He has since been engaged in the stationery business in Los Angeles and in other kindred lines for many years, and only within recent years retired from active business. Even at this time he is the manager for his extensive property interests and is closely in touch with all of the affairs of the city. During all of his business career in Los Angeles Mr. Melzer never lost an oppor- tunity to make a wise investment in real estate, to the end that he at this time owns some of the most valuable property in the city, which he secured for a nominal price in years past. He has from the first had implicit faith in the fu- ture greatness of the metropolis and has made his investments and business ventures accord- ingly, and the city of his adoption has never yet failed to prove true to the faith that he has ever reposed in her.
Mr. Melzer's career has been an exceedingly interesting one. He is a native of Austria, born at Bohemia, August 15, 1846. When he was sixteen years of age he became a bookkeeper at Prague, Bohemia, for an importing house. There he conceived the idea of coming to Amer- ica and seeking his fortunes where the oppor- tunities were greater, and in 1865, when he was
money, and unable to speak a single word of English. He brought with him more than twenty letters of introduction from London bankers, wholesalers, and others, among them being letters to Guiterman Brothers, the cele- brated importers, and to August Belmont. He secured employment in a wholesale house and attended night school, seeking to acquaint him- self with the language and customs of the country. In 1866 he determined that he was not learning as fast as he should and decided to seek employment where he would be brought into close contact with many people. Accord- ingly he went to Savannah, Ga., where he ac- cepted a position in a general merchandise store in Jeffersonville, a small county seat. Here he associated with the Southern planters, in the meantime watching carefully their speech and manners, and at the end of the year he spoke the new tongue fluently.
Returning to New York, Mr. Melzer took up the study of Spanish, intending to go to South America. Later he sailed for Acapulco, Mexico, and from this point he walked into the City of Mexico, a distance of some four hundred miles. There was at that time only a trail over the mountains, which only burros and footmen could travel. After remaining in Mexico City for a short while he went to Vera Cruz, where he spent a few weeks before going on to Ha- vana, Cuba. After a stay of three months in the latter city he returned to New York.
It was in 1868 that Mr. Melzer decided to come to California. Sailing from New York, he came by way of Colon and the Isthmus to San Francisco, and a short time afterward, in March, 1870, continued the journey on to Los Angeles by water. All steamers at that time landed their passengers and cargoes by way of lighters at Wilmington, there being no wharves or docks at that early date. While in San Francisco Mr. Melzer had secured a position at El Monte, twelve miles from Los Angeles, and thither he went. This point was very active, owing to the trade incident to the shipping of supplies to Arizona by freight teams, and in 1871 the enterprising young Austrian decided that it would be a good place to open up a business for himself. He entered into a part- nership with Joseph Michaclistihke, who later became one of the leading importers of San
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Francisco, and they prospered greatly in their undertaking. In a short time Mr. Michaclistihke grew dissatisfied with life and business in so small a place, and disposing of his interests to his young partner, he returned to San Fran- cisco. Mr. Melzer continued to conduct the business alone until 1882, when he also sold and came to Los Angeles. Here he formed a partnership with a Mr. Kremer and engaged in the insurance business, and a year later he pur- chased an interest in a book and stationery store owned by P. Lazarus & Company. In 1885 he sold his insurance business to Campbell & Son, who at the present time conduct the business in the Herman Hellman building. Mr. Melzer continued in the book and stationery business, conducting a store opposite the Tem- ple block. Later the firm moved to Los Angeles street and carried on a wholesale business only. In 1902 Mr. Melzer sold his interests in the business and retired from active business life.
The transactions in real estate in which Mr. Melzer has been interested have been many and of varying size, but oftenest they have con- cerned property that has steadily increased in value since its purchase. In 1883 he purchased a corner at Figueroa and Ninth streets, includ- ing three lots with one hundred and sixty-five foot frontage on Ninth street, paying for this property $2000. He erected three houses on the property, in one of which he lived for some time. Later, when the business section had encroached and driven out the residences, he erected a brick building with six stores on the ground floor. He still owns this property, which is now very valuable. The total cost of the land and improvements has been some $30,000, and today it is easily worth $250,000.
Another important transaction in which Mr. Melzer was interested was the purchase, to- gether with his associates, of a corner at Sixth and Flower streets, for $570 a front foot, in 1905. Today (1915) this property is valued at $1500 per front foot. Other transactions of equally great importance have taken place, and other properties of value are at present owned by Mr. Melzer.
The marriage of Mr. Melzer occurred in Los Angeles, uniting him with Mrs. Alice P. Rains, a native of Alabama. Mrs. Melzer is the mother of two daughters by her first mar- riage, Margaret Melzer (she having taken her
step-father's name) and Mrs. T. M. Potter. Two children, Otto and Aline, have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Melzer. During his residence in Los Angeles Mr. Melzer has been associated with the various movements for the civic bet- terment and general progress of the city, al- though he has never been actively interested in politics. He is a member of the Chamber of Commerce, and of other civic clubs, and is pro- gressive and public spirited in the broadest sense of the word.
RUFUS FISKE BISHOP. One of the early settlers in Alhambra was Rufus Fiske Bishop, who was born in Shelburne, Franklin county, Mass., September 13, 1841, the son of James and Ruth (Fiske) Bishop, both natives of Massa- chusetts. Their ancestry descended from old English families, and has been traced back as far as 1635, when representative pioneers came to this country to find religious freedom. Down through colonial days they were counted with the best of New England blood.
Mr. Bishop's early days were spent on his father's farm, the little red school house furnish- ing the nucleus of his education. As a young man his summers were spent on the farm and his winters in teaching school. Later he filled the position of teacher in the Massachusetts State Reform School at Westborough for seven years. It was there that he met Miss Hattie A. Brown, also a teacher in the same institution, whom he married in 1869, and who passed away in 1911, after forty-two years of married life. Three children were born to them: Dr. Herbert Fiske Bishop, a practicing physician in Alhambra ; Ethel Woodbridge Bishop and Charles Alden Bishop, also residents of Alhambra at the present time.
As a lad growing up among the hills of western Massachusetts, there came to Rufus F. Bishop a dream of a faraway land that people called Cali- fornia, and the dream grew into a determination that sometime he would find a home there. This dream was realized in 1880, when with his wife and three children he joined an ex- cursion in Boston, bound for the Pacific Coast. With the general prevailing opinion at that time that California was only an outlying suburb of the "wild and woolly west," it is not to be wondered at that his scheme met the
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