USA > California > Los Angeles County > Los Angeles > A history of California and an extended history of Los Angeles and environs, Biographical, Volume II > Part 26
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59
The organization of the Italian Vineyard Com- pany was perfected on October 4, 1900. Their first incorporation was for $500,000, and they bought, improved and planted to grapes an acre-
age of four thousand acres in San Bernardino county. This is now known as the Guasti vine- yard. It has now a town of three hundred and fifty inhabitants, with some fifty-odd families, all of whom are engaged in the culture of grapes. The company has done much for this little settle- ment. The school was built by them, where be- tween eighty and ninety children are now in regular attendance, and within the coming year the company has promised to erect a new and thoroughly modern building for their accommoda- tion.
From the first Mr. Guasti has been president of this company and its ruling spirit. The in- terests of the enterprise have prospered exceed- ingly under his wise management. They have changed the Cucamonga desert into a beautiful vineyard, extending almost as far as the eye can see across the level stretches of the sand. The sand is seven inches deep, but underneath is a very fertile soil, which Mr. Guasti had analyzed at the State University at Berkeley before under- taking this venture. It was pronounced very fertile and well fitted to the culture of grapes, as has since been practically proved.
The products from the Italian Vineyard Com- pany are guaranteed pure, and the large winery in San Bernardino county is a model of its kind, cleanliness and sanitary conditions being especially well looked after and a high standard maintained. It is whitewashed every two weeks and every part of the plant is kept scrupulously clean at all times. The products of the Italian Vineyard Company have been exhibited at many fairs and expositions and have won many gold and silver medals. Prominent among these exhibits may be mentioned the Trans-Mississippi Exposition and the Exposition Universelle at Paris. Among the brands and varieties of wines manufactured at the plant of the company are Port, Sherry, An- gelica, Muscatel, Zinfandel, Claret, Burgundy, Burga, Reisling, Sauterne and a number of other well-known California wines. The Italian Vine- yard Company is one of the best known of Cali- fornia wine-producing companies and has branch houses at New York, New Orleans and Chicago. It carries on an extensive wholesale business which reaches the centers of the Old World as well as the New.
Both Mr. and Mrs. Guasti have a host of friends in Los Angeles. They are prominent members of the Catholic church and have done
207
HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
much for the promotion of the cause of religion in this section. They now reside in a handsome home on West Adams street in the fashionable district, which they have fitted up in a charming and tasteful manner and where they have estab- lished a real home. Mrs. Guasti has borne her husband four children, of whom but one is living, Secondo Guasti, Jr., a splendid young fellow, who is now his father's right hand man and assistant manager of the Italian Vineyard Company.
Mr. Guasti is also popular among a wide circle of men friends and business associates, with whom he is known as a man of sterling worth and upright business principles. He is a member of the Los Angeles Elks and is associated with several other local fraternal and social organiza- tions.
But recently Mr. Guasti was appointed by the governor as a member of the state board of viti- cultural commissioners, a newly created body which is designed to conduct a campaign of educa- tion throughout the state for the general improve- ment of California's one hundred and fifty million dollar viticultural industry. He is the representa- tive of the southern district, there being six such districts throughout the state, each with one mem- ber on the commission and four commissioners at large. There will be meetings which will be open to the public and at which the questions of interest to vineyardists will be discussed and also much of general interest to the consumer presented. Speakers from the State University are appearing at these meetings and motion pictures have been requisitioned to give added interest and informa- tion. Mr. Guasti is vitally interested in this movement and is taking an active part in all the doings of the commission, especially in all matters which will bring the general public to a realizing sense of the magnitude of this great industry and of its commercial value to the state and its im- portance as a wealth producer in California.
Mr. Guasti is vitally interested in all questions that pertain to the affairs of the state and has watched the changing of the tariff schedules and such other legislation as has from time to time affected California industries. He is, naturally, opposed to state-wide prohibition, and feels that if the people of the state were familiar with the viticultural industry of the state and realized its importance in the general commerce of California they would not be in favor of prohibition. This is one of the reasons why Mr. Guasti is so actively
interested in placing this information within reach of the voters, as he has unwavering faith in the fairmindedness of his fellow citizens if they can only be properly informed. Even with his wide interests and his firm foundation of business developments, Mr. Guasti declares that prohibi- tion in California would ruin him utterly, and also many hundreds of his associates.
GEN. DAVID REMICK. Among the sturdy '49ers who crossed the plains when word of the finding of the magical yellow metal first penetrated the east, came David Remick, then in his early prime, to dig for gold in the California hills. He engaged in placer mining in the middle and northern portions of the state and amassed an extensive fortune from his efforts. Being of an adventuresome and spec- ulative nature, Mr. Remick later went to the Isthmus and assisted in establishing a stage line crossing Nicaragua, establishing his resi- dence at San Juan del Sud in 1855. Before the enterprise was well on its feet the country was invaded by the revolutionary army of General Walker and business interests were paralyzed. With his investment ruined and the greater part of his fortune gone, Mr. Remick returned to Chicago, whence he had started for Cali- fornia in 1849, and entered the service of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, with his residence in Burlington, Iowa. Early in 1861, however, he answered the call of Presi- dent Lincoln for volunteers, and entered mili- tary service, being made commissary of sub- sistence, with rank as captain.
This was not the first time that this daring and courageous young man had served his country on the field of battle. He enlisted as a private in the Mexican war in 1848 and so dis- tinguished himself for bravery and special ser- vice that before the close of the war he was made a lieutenant, and at its end was honor- ably discharged. Now again wearing the be- loved blue of his country, he was rapidly pro- moted from one position of responsibility and trust to another. Upon the division of the army into corps, Captain Remick was assigned to the Fourth Corps, then a part of the Army of the Potomac. He soon rose to the rank of colonel, and at the time of the partial reorgan-
1
208
HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
ization of the army in 1863 he was assigned to the Army of the West, then commanded by Gen. W. T. Sherman. Here he was promoted to the rank of brigadier-general in the commis- sary department. Much of the work of the or- ganization of that department fell upon Gen- eral Remick when their chief responsibility was the provisioning and general supplying of the army of General Sherman on his famous march to the sea, and his industry, ability and un- tiring and faithful service contributed not a little to the success of the mighty maneuver.
At the close of the war General Remick again assumed the duties of private citizenship which had been laid aside so gladly at the first call of his country. He once more entered the service of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, with his residence at Burlington as before. Several years later he became exten- sively interested in the banking and lumber business in Iowa, and after twenty years of resi- dence in Burlington, he removed with his family to Lincoln, Neb. There he became interested in real estate and accumulated much valuable prop- erty in and about Lincoln. For thirteen years the thrifty little Nebraska city was his home, and he was a prominent figure on its streets and an active factor in all public and progressive movements.
Never during all the years, however, had General Remick forgotten California, and always he entertained a growing desire to re- turn to the land of his early achievement and establish a home. In 1881 he made a trip to Los Angeles and purchased valuable holdings in the city and vicinity. He bought a block on Broadway and changed its name to the Remick block. This property he afterwards gave to his daughter, who is now Mrs. James Garfield Warren, a resident of Los Angeles. General Remick was also the owner of a forty- acre tract of valuable land on Vermont avenue, near East Hollywood, purchased in 1890. This was planted to oranges, lemons and olives, and was a source of pleasure and pride to its owner.
It was not until 1894, however, that General Remick was able to secure release from his large interests in the middle west and come to Los Angeles to live. For seven years he enjoyed to the fullest the life of the open among his orchards and flowers, and on Janu- ary 23, 1901, after a brief illness of pneumonia,
he passed away at the home of his daughter. He left a widow, Mrs. Sarah J. Remick, and a daughter, Mrs. Maude R. Warren, and her child, Elinor Remick Warren.
Although a permanent resident of Los An- geles but a short period, General Remick had been a frequent visitor for more than twenty years, and his property interests here had been extensive. He was a native of Quebec, Canada, but while yet a boy removed to Pots- dam, N. Y., and received his education there, securing his citizenship through the naturaliza- tion of his father before his own majority. While a resident of Los Angeles he was a member of Stanton Post, G. A. R., and was prominent and influential in all matters of fraternal interest among the several Grand Army posts in the city.
MARTIN PUPKA. The beautiful little city of Burbank, practically a suburb of Los Angeles, owes much of its present prosperity to Martin Pupka, who since 1893 has made his home there and has taken a very active part in the develop- ment of the community. Soon after his arrival he purchased fourteen acres of raw land lying south of town, and here he established his home place. This has since been improved by planting an orchard of apple and peach trees and raising other small fruits, including water melons. These he sold in the local market at a very different price from that which they command today; water- melons often brought only fifteen cents per dozen and peaches were sold as cheap as ten cents per box. Nevertheless Mr. Pupka made the little place profitable and prospered as a farmer. In addition to his fruit culture he did dry farming, and had a vineyard on the hillside. Disposing of the ranch in 1906, he moved into town and became actively engaged in real estate ventures, buying and selling houses and being generally interested in the advancement of the town. He was inter- ested in a very active manner in the incorporation of the town, and was made one of the first board of trustees in 1911. He was instrumental in secur- ing the right of way for the Pacific Electric Rail- way into Burbank, and also was prominent in securing the establishment of the Union high school there. He was one of the founders of the First National Bank of Burbank and also of the
209
HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
Burbank Savings Bank, and is now a director of the first and vice-president of the latter. A num- ber of buildings, both business blocks and homes, in Burbank have been erected by Mr. Pupka and at this time he owns some very valuable property there. Another equally important phase of his work for the city has been his interest in social and fraternal affairs and his promotion of this side of the city life. He organized Burbank Masonic Lodge No. 406, of which he is past master.
A native of Iowa, born in 1845 in Dubuque, Mr. Pupka was reared on a farm in Clayton county, and early in life learned the valuable lesson of practical application and industry. He made his first trip west to Nevada in 1869, making the long journey with mule teams from Nebraska City. After remaining there for a short time he returned to Nebraska and Kansas, respectively, in which states he lived for many years. At Red Cloud, Neb., where he was in business for some time, he erected a number of stores and business blocks and later he engaged in farming there. From Nebraska he went to Beloit, Kan., where he remained until coming to California in 1881. After mining for a time he took up grain farming, continuing this for four years on land which later became the site of the city of Santa Monica. From there he went to San Jose, where he followed the business of contracting and building, and also engaged in the work of interior finishing in the construction of the Leland Stanford University at Palo Alto in 1892. It was the following year that he returned to Southern California, locating at Burbank, where he has since made his home.
In addition to his various activities in the city of Burbank and its vicinity, Mr. Pupka has also been interested in the construction of water pipe lines and has done much contracting in the work. He helped lay the pipe line from Burbank to Hollywood and also a line in San Diego county from the Sweetwater dam to the city of San Diego, and another in Riverside county from Per- ris to Corona.
Mr. Pupka has been twice married. In 1874 he was united with Miss Maria Arneson, of Wis- consin, and three children were born to them, all residents of California at this time. They are: Henry, residing in San Diego; Mabel, the wife of Albert Swall, of Newhall; and Frank, also of Newhall. The mother of these children died in Pasadena in 1888, and in 1904 Mr. Pupka mar-
ried Miss Kate Ewing, who presides over his Bur- bank home.
In Burbank and vicinity Mr. Pupka is recog- nized as a man of great ability and of very force- ful character. He has won the place that he occupies in the community by the force of his own efforts and character, having forced himself up from the bottom of the ladder by careful and painstaking industry and application. In all his business methods he is conscientious and scrupu- lously honest, paying closest attention to details and rendering service where service is due. He is progressive and appreciative of all that is for the general good of the community, being espe- cially enthusiastic regarding all educational ad- vancement and on the questions of good streets and roads and general municipal improvement and beautification. Altogether he is a citizen of whom his home city may well be proud.
THOMAS BROOKS. The pioneers of the state of California have come from many parts of our own country and also from distant lands, and among the latter should be mentioned Thomas Brooks, now deceased, who settled on his home ranch of seventy-five acres on the Los Feliz road in Los Angeles county, Cal., in 1873, and until his death in 1909 was a well known land owner in this part of the state, and one continually busied with the improvement of the property in his possession.
The early life of Mr. Brooks was spent in England, where he was born in 1825, his youth being passed in Hereford and Gloucester, he being a baker by trade. In 1848 he was married in England to Lucy Payne, and they became the parents of a daughter, Harriet, in 1849, the mother dying shortly after. Thomas Brooks then left England, sailing for America, where he settled in St. Louis, Mo., his baby daughter being left in the care of friends in England, Ashton by name, which family consisted of the parents and three children, William, James and a daughter Anne who took the entire care of little Harriet when her father left England. In 1852 the Ashton family also removed to St. Louis, bringing with them Mr. Brooks' little child, then three years of age, and on December 30th of that year Anne Ashton, then twenty-one years of age, was married to Mr. Brooks in St. Louis. Leaving that city for
210
HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
New Orleans in 1854, Mr. and Mrs. Brooks and the Ashtons lived in the latter city for about a year, a child being born there to Mr. and Mrs. Brooks, and Mr. and Mrs. Ashton dying of the cholera in that city. In 1855 Thomas Brooks and his family crossed the plains in the western part of our country, settling at Grass Valley, Nevada county, Cal., where Mr. Brooks became engineer for the celebrated gold mining company known as the Rocky Bar Mill, continuing at this place until 1869, when with his family he removed to Los Angeles county, purchasing there in 1873 seventy-five acres of the old Corlitas ranch, now known as the Chavez ranch, which he thereafter improved greatly, this being the first place im- proved on the Los Feliz road. During the early years of his residence in Los Angeles county Mr. Brooks engaged in sheep raising, and kept thou- sands of sheep near the town of Wilmington, on rented land near the lagoon. In the drought of 1877, however, the sheep died, and Mr. Brooks lost nearly all his property, but despite these re- verses his family were never in real want, for he could take his shotgun and go down to the lagoon at Wilmington and bring home a bunch of twelve ducks after only a few hours' hunt.
Mr. Brooks became the father of twelve chil- dren by his second wife, six of the number grow- ing to maturity and now residing in Los Angeles, namely : Elizabeth B., now the wife of Samuel S. Alderman, residing at No. 2406 Manitou ave- nue; Sarah, who married William McGuire Hughes, employed in the service department of the Los Angeles Water Works, the family living at No. 2743 West Eighth street, and Mrs. Hughes having collected much historical data regarding the early days of East Los Angeles; Thomas, assistant superintendent of the City Water De- partment of Los Angeles, his residence being at No. 511 North Normandie avenue; William, who manages the home place jointly with his sister Emma and younger brother James R., they having built a beautiful suburban residence on the Los Feliz road, where they enjoy all the comforts and refinements of life, they having bought twenty acres from their father and being now in charge of the remaining fifty-five acres which still be- long to the Thomas Brooks estate; Emma, who is a fine cook and housekeeper and keeps house for her brothers William and James; and James R., born August 2, 1875, on his father's ranch, a maker of high-grade violins, and also engaged in
kodak work and pyrography. Besides this family by his second wife, Thomas Brooks also reared his daughter Harriet, the child of his first wife, and likewise brought up a nephew, William Brooks, who died single, at the age of sixty years. Harriet is now Mrs. Edward Burch, with busi- ness and residence in East Los Angeles. The second wife of Mr. Brooks dying at his home in Los Angeles at the age of fifty-four, he was married again to Marie Peterson Dodd, who now makes her home at No. 439 Belmont avenue, Los Angeles. Thomas Brooks died on October 12, 1909, the burial taking place at Evergreen Ceme- tery, Los Angeles.
ALONZO WHITAKER. One of the many men who came to California with but a small sum of money in their possession and met with financial success in this new country was Alonzo Whitaker, who, when he died here in 1909 had become a prosperous farmer, highly honored by all who knew him, his success in life having come about by his unchanging endeavor to do well whatever he undertook, and to make the most of the prospects in this progressive country.
Born in Greene county, Ind., June 1, 1856, Mr. Whitaker was the son of a farmer, but learned the trade of painter and interior decorator, which he followed for a time, going thence to Colorado Springs, Colo., when he was but sixteen years of age. He continued in the same occupation for several years and was able to command $4 per day. In 1876 he came to Ventura, Cal., poor in purse, having only twenty-five cents in his pocket, but possessed of ability and a determina- tion to succeed which were the means of his steady advancement. He soon found work at his trade, carriage painting, and on a ranch. In 1885 he settled at Santa Monica, Cal., going into the business of contracting and grading, was man- ager of the street railway, and served also as street superintendent. He later bought a twenty- acre ranch midway between the town of Palms and Santa Monica, on National boulevard, pay- ing for it $125 per acre, and was one of the first men to plant lima beans in this part of the state, procuring his seed from Ventura. His first crop, raised on ten acres of his ranch, and threshed out by horse power, comprised one hundred and fifty sacks, which sold at the low price of one and three-quarters cents per pound. In the early
1
Julius Hauser Caroline Hauser.
213
HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
days of the ranch he attempted apple raising, setting out eleven hundred of these fruit trees, but the venture not proving a success, these were taken out. He later added another twenty-acre ranch to his original property, and at the time of his death his land covered sixty-one acres. The year of his death, 1909, produced the banner crop, thirteen hundred and sixty-seven sacks on thirty-five acres of land. Since the death of Mr. Whitaker, his wife has carried on the ranch with marked success, the heaviest crop having been in 1914, when twelve hundred and seventy- two sacks of lima beans were raised on thirty- five acres. At the present time there are also a seven-acre walnut grove and a small vineyard in connection with the ranch.
The widow of Mr. Whitaker is Katherine B. ( Bergk) Whitaker, a native of Humboldt county. Iowa, to whom he was married in 1887. Her father, Charles Bergk, was a native of Germany, and a pioneer of the state of Iowa, who came to California in 1876 and settled in the mountains back of the Soldiers' Home and devoted himself to the raising of bees. His death occurred in 1898. Mr. and Mrs. Whitaker were the parents of one daughter, now Mrs. Alice W. Johnson, who with her husband, Edwin A. Johnson, resides on the home ranch. Mr. Whitaker was a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
JULIUS HAUSER. That America is the land of golden opportunities is a fact that finds a worthy exponent in Julius Hauser, pioneer Californian, and for more than a quarter of a century a resident of Los Angeles, where today he conducts one of the largest single industries in Southern California, the Hauser Packing Company, which not only supplies an extensive domestic trade with a high grade of meat products, but which exports yearly large quan- tities of prepared meats to Mexico, England, Germany, Japan, Australia and other countries. And all this in spite of the fact that when he arrived in New York in 1867 he had in his pocket four lone American dollars as the nucleus of his future wealth.
This honored citizen of Los Angeles was born in Krozingen, Baden, Germany, January 7. 1847, the son of Michael and R. (Federer) Hauser, the father being a respected farmer in
that locality. Young Julius attended the public schools of his native village until he was fourteen years of age, when he went to work for his father on the farm, remaining there for two years. He was then apprenticed to a butcher for another period of one and one-half years, and at eighteen, with a good working knowledge of his trade, he went to France, where he secured employment. At the age of twenty he journeyed to Zurich, Switzerland, where he was employed in a sausage establish- ment for six months. The desire to see America and to seek his fortune in the land of many opportunities fired the enthusiasm of the am- bitious young German, and returning to Baden for a brief farewell to his family and friends, he took his departure for the land beyond the seas.
It was in 1867 that young Hauser reached New York, with only $4 left from his earnings. He was strong and not afraid of work, how- ever, and immediately he secured employment on a Hudson river coal boat unloading coal at $1 a day. This proved temporary, however, for he soon secured work on a farm, where for six months he received $15 per month and board. Later he located in Poughkeepsie, N. Y., where he followed his trade of butcher until 1870, when he came to California.
The west was new and the opportunities were great, and by this time the young German had become familiar with the language and with the ways of the people, and had also saved a neat little sum in cash. He worked at his trade in Washington, Yolo county, just across the river from Sacramento, for eight months, keeping a sharp lookout for a small butcher shop, and finally purchased the shop in which he worked. This he conducted alone for a year, and then took his brother into partnership, the two continuing thus until 1882, when Julius sold his interest to the brother and came to Los Angeles. Subsequently Mr. Hauser re- turned to his family and he located here permanently in 1884. Purchasing a meat mar- ket at the corner of First and Main streets, lie conducted the business for thirteen years, build- ing up a large trade and making a splendid profit from his industry in the meantime. In 1885 he began enlarging the scope of his retail trade and purchased the Mott market, which was then one of the largest in the city.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.