USA > California > Los Angeles County > Los Angeles > A history of California and an extended history of Los Angeles and environs, Biographical, Volume II > Part 28
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
state senate from the eighth district, Dodge county, and made a splendid record. The winter of 1880 he spent in Tampa, Fla., investigating the conditions among the negroes, and later continued his trip throughout the eastern states. While in Nebraska he resided in Ainsworth, Brown county, where, besides engaging in the practice of law, he was also interested in the organization and man- agement of a local bank. On his return to Los Angeles in 1885 he promised his aged mother that he would return to make her a visit on each recur- ring date of her birth, September 7, and this he did until the time of her death. Returning to Los Angeles, Mr. Burns engaged in the real estate business and for two years gave this his exclusive attention. At the time of the municipal election in 1887, when the candidates were Henry T. Hazard and John Bryson, Mr. Burns was put in charge of the Hazard campaign and carried it to a successful close. His reward for this service was his appointment as chief of police, and it was after his resignation from this office that he be- came claim agent for the Santa Fe, later for the Los Angeles Electric, and still later associated with O'Melveny, Stevens & Millikin, which posi- tion he now occupies. In 1856 he served as super- intendent of schools.
Mr. Burns has been closely identified with fraternal affairs in Los Angeles for many years, and his splendid services have been recognized on many occasions by the conferring of missions of trust and responsibility. He is a Mason and a Knight Templar and has served as a delegate to the Grand Lodge in Nebraska and in California, and is past master of Hooper Lodge No. 42. F. & A. M. He is also a member of several exclusive social clubs, and of the most progressive and energetic of the city municipal and improvement clubs.
The first marriage of Mr. Burns united him with Lucretia Burdick, the only child of that union being Thomas Edward Burns, who has been an employe of the postoffice for twenty-seven years.
The marriage of Mr. Burns and Mrs. Josephine (Carpenter) Hill was soleinnized in Los Angeles August 8, 1889, and the only child of their union, Frank Milton, is now deceased. Mrs. Burns is the daughter of Frank J. and Ann ( Bunds) Car- penter, both well known in this city. Mr. Car- penter was a native of Kentucky, born June 4, 1820. His boyhood was spent in Missouri, and
In 1877 Mr. Burns left Los Angeles and re- turned to Nebraska, where he resided until 1885. During that time he was elected to the Nebraska he came to California in 1850. locating at Los
222
HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
Nietos, where he remained for two years, then moving to Los Angeles, where he resided until his death, April 5, 1894. Shortly after coming to Los Angeles he was appointed city jailor and served in that capacity for fourteen years. At the close of that time he was appointed to a posi- tion on the police force of the city, continuing in this capacity until he retired, a short time before his death. In politics he was a Democrat, his support always being given to the cause of progress and right and for the welfare of the city generally. At one time he was one of the large property owners of the city, owning among other property the block where the Times building now stands. Mr. Carpenter was married to Ann Bunds in Missouri, and they became the parents of six children, in the order of their birth as follows : Alexander; Josephine, now Mrs. Burns; Henrietta, now Mrs. Davis; Mary Eliza- beth and Frank, both deceased; and Alice, now Mrs. George P. Taylor.
GEORGE TRACY BROWN. The trials and hardships of an overland journey to California still linger in the memory of George Tracy Brown, of Irwindale Station, near Covina, where he owns an extensive orange grove. He crossed the plains for the first time in 1862 and since that time has resided almost continuously in the west, having lived in various parts of Cali- fornia and Nevada, and having engaged in various pursuits. On several occasions he returned to his eastern home, but the lure of the west was too strong for him to remain for long at a time and he was soon again, westward bound. He has made his home near Covina since 1885 and is recognized as one of the leading factors in the development of that section of the county.
Mr. Brown is a native of New York state, hav- ing been born in Otsego county, September 12, 1839, the son of Benjamin Dow Brown, also a na- tive of New York, and Dollie ( Barstow) Brown. Both families descended from sturdy old New England stock, with ancestry readily traceable to the mother country. Early members were dis- tingnished for their gallantry at arms, and of the American branch of the family, one fought at Valley Forge and another at Lexington, while the great-grandfather of the subject of this article served under the personal command of General
Washington. George T. Brown was reared on a farm until he was ten years of age, when the family moved into a small village in the county, where the father opened a general merchandise store. The son soon became a clerk in the store, and later bought farm produce and shipped it to New York markets. He continued in this occu- pation until 1862, when, having become afflicted with asthma, he determined to make a trip to California in search of relief. Accordingly he started west, traveling alone by train and stage as far as Council Bluffs, where he met a party of Ohio men who were taking a band of horses across the plains to California. With this party he cast his lot and became an assistant. They were sixty-four days making the distance from Omaha, Neb., to San Francisco, during which time they met with many exciting and interesting experiences. The Sioux Indians were active that year, but with the help and protection of United States troops the travelers succeeded in making the journey safely. They crossed the mountains via the Lake Tahoe route, arriving in San Fran- cisco in July, 1862. Mr. Brown was seriously re- duced in finances, having but $10 in his pockets at the time of his arrival, but he soon secured em- ployment on a hay ranch in the San Jose val- ley, and after a short time crossed into Nevada, where he was employed in the saw mills for a time. Later he went into the gold mines at Gold Hill, Virginia City, Nev., remaining for two years.
It was at this time that Mr. Brown made his first trip to his old home, going and returning by way of the Isthmus of Panama, and remaining in New York but a short time. On his return he was employed on a sheep ranch near Hills Ferry, in the San Joaquin valley, for a year, and then had charge of a store and hotel in Hills Ferry for some time. Having become interested in the sheep business, he commenced to buy sheep for himself, and soon had a band of some four thousand head, with forty-five hundred acres of grazing land. In the meantime, in company with Captain Kidd, of Stockton, he had made a trip to Vermont, and brought back a car load of Spanish Merino sheep to his ranch. The drought of the winter of 1875-76 destroyed nearly all of the sheep throughout the state, Mr. Brown's flock amongst the rest, and after selling what few re- mained he went into Stockton and for six years was employed in the lumber yards of Smith & Guam. In 1885 he came to Southern California
1
Enoch Pepper.
225
HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
and purchased the property on which he now resides near Covina. Here he has developed a splendid forty-acre orange grove, which he has made very profitable. In 1910 he retired from active business life, but is still closely associated with the affairs of his city and community. He was one of the founders of the Azusa Irrigating Company, of which he is still a director and a past president. He has always taken an active part in the water development and was one of a committee of nine men who founded the present water system, which is an especially fine one.
The marriage of Mr. Brown took place in New York state, uniting him with Miss Mary W. Clark, of New York, and the descendant of an old Eng- lish line of ancestry. She has borne her husband two children, a son and a daughter. Phoebe re- sides at home, while Carlton B. makes his home near his father at Irwindale. He and his wife, formerly Miss Frances E. Wady, have three chil- dren, Edwin, Edith and Carlton, Jr., Carlton B. Brown is a prominent Mason, being past master of Calexico Lodge, and also past master of El Centro Lodge. Both Mr. and Mrs. Brown, Sr., are well and favorably known in Covina, where they have many friends, and where they are prominent members of the Baptist church.
ENOCH PEPPER. "Some day, and that day not so distant but that I myself expect to live to see it, Los Angeles will extend from the mountains to the sea-the greatest city of the West, and the most beautiful city in the world." Such was the prophecy of Enoch Pep- per, honored pioneer of the West, made many years ago when the Angel City was scarcely out of the village class. Had he not been called by death in the prime of his manhood, Mr. Pepper would have lived to see the wonderful fulfillment of his predictions for the growth of the city, as he did the ample justification of his vision of its beauty.
Enoch Pepper was born in Flemingsburg, Ky., January 10, 1845. He passed away in Los Angeles, January 4, 1909. In his early youth his father, whose name he bore, and who had large holdings throughout the state of Ken- tucky, moved to Covington in order to edu- cate the older children in Cincinnati. In the early '60s the family moved to Missouri and
established a home in Palmyra, which was at that time the educational center of the state. Enoch Pepper was educated in St. Paul's Col- lege at Palmyra, and later attended Hobart College, New York. Following the close of his college life he pursued the study of law and was admitted to the bar in 1869. He located in Kansas City, which was then the most promis- ing city on the frontier and was called the "Gateway to the West." His associates in law were John Scott Harrison, brother of President Harrison, and Owen G. Long, son of the consul to Panama and an intimate friend of President Grant. The success of young Mr. Pepper was almost phenomenal ; he was clever and industrious and his pleasing personality won him many stanch friends. He was keenly interested in politics and alive to all matters of public welfare. Added to this was an un- usual power as a speaker, a genuine native gift of oratory which enabled him to hold an audience with convincing argument and to win many followers to his cause. He served in the state legislature of Missouri and left an en- viable record as a progressive thinker. On many occasions he met the redoubtable Champ Clark in open debate and won decisive vic- tories.
It was in 1886 that Mr. Pepper came to Los Angeles to make his home permanently. He opened offices in the Baker block and estab- lished a partnership with Dr. Lindenfeldt. Fol- lowing the latter's death and the dissolution of that association Judge E. C. Bower became his partner. While an attorney by profession and always active in all legal matters of importance, Mr. Pepper was also largely interested in real estate and was quite as actively concerned with all matters of general public weal. He bought much property in the Westlake district while that portion of the city was still a suburb, and one of the landmarks of that section, Hotel Pepper, stands on land that once belonged to him. Mr. Pepper was also interested in the building of the hotel and it is named for him. During the boom days of 1886-88 he bought and sold much real estate, accumulating a consider- able fortune in the transactions. He helped to lay out and develop Westlake Park into one of the most attractive of the city's playgrounds. He also had valuable holdings in the downtown district.
226
HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
Mr. Pepper was not only a progressive thinker along political lines, but also in all pub- lic questions he was against the monopoliza- tion of power by the few. During his legal career he won many important cases for the interest of the people. Among his history- making cases was the first big fight against the Southern Pacific Railway which was won in Los Angeles, and which he fought almost unaided. He was a member of the Masonic lodge and a Knight Templar, having served as Eminent Commander in Missouri while still a young man.
That Los Angeles was destined to be the "New York of the Pacific Coast" Mr. Pepper never for an instant doubted, and he fully ex- pected to live to see the city stretching in one continuous sweep from the mountains to the sea. That this is now practically an accom- plished fact is not a litle due to the efforts of Enoch Pepper and others of his sterling worth. As a slight tribute to his many great services to the city of his adoption, a mission bell was erected to his memory at the inter- section of Vermont avenue and Sunset boule- vard. This is on the line of the ancient El Camino Real, the King's Highway, which con- nected the missions in the days of the padres, and is a touching memento of the love of a people for a truly loyal and worthy man.
In the early death of Mr. Pepper Los Angeles lost one of her most honored citizens. He is survived by his widow, Mrs. Enoch Pepper, whose loyalty to Los Angeles is not less than that of her distinguished husband. Mrs. Pepper was Miss Alice Neville Luke, a native of Mis- souri ; she is, however, of old Southern lineage, her parents having been born and reared in Vir- ginia near Washington City. She was married to Mr. Pepper in 1872 and bore him three chil- dren, all daughters. They are Sarah T., Mrs. Leon H. Hurtt, Helen N., Mrs. Lawrence C. Spieth, and Miss Elizabeth Neville Pepper, all of whom are well known in social circles of Los An- geles.
MADGE HARTELL CONNELL. That the women of the present period have won a decided place in the business world is evidenced in every line of endeavor, and of those in Los Angeles none
has a firmer grasp on affairs nor stands higher than Mrs. Madge H. Connell, who has been a resident of the city since 1885. She was born at Hicksville, Ohio, October 19, 1868, a daughter of John Emerson and Amelia Jane (Ryan) Hartell. Receiving her education in the public schools of her home town and at Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio, in 1885 she came to California, where her sister, then Mrs. Daeida Wilcox, was living, the home being on Hill street on the present site of the Los Angeles Electric depot. It was in this home that she married Charles H. Connell in 1886. He was born in Jacksonville, Ill., September 12, 1858, and had arrived in Los Angeles from Topeka, Kan., in 1885. He was a member of the Los Angeles Bar Association, and passed away September 12, 1898. There were two children born to Mrs. Connell: Gertrude C., born, reared and educated in Los Angeles, and Ralph Hartell, born in Los Angeles in 1890 and died in 1906, aged sixteen years.
Mrs. Connell's first introduction into business was with the Out West Publishing Company, where she had charge of the advertising and cir- culating departments, likewise was a contributor to the columns of the magazine. From this posi- tion she became connected with the Bankers Alliance, having charge of the premium and assessment department, continuing with this com- pany until November 15, 1898, when she became a member of the undertaking firm of Orrin Hines Co., Inc., the business being located at Seventh and Broadway, and at that time she was the only woman connected with that line of business in the city. In 1905 Mrs. Connell sold out her in- terest in the corporation and founded and incor- porated the Connell Company, locating at No. 1051 South Grand avenue, where the business is still located and where every convenience is afforded for the conduct of the undertaking busi- ness, to which she gives her undivided attention. In the line of business she belongs to the State Funeral Directors Association. She is a member and past officer of South Gate Chapter No. 133, O. E. S., and was one of the organizers and an officer of South Gate Court, Order of Amaranth.
Mrs. Connell is essentially a business woman and in various ways has assisted many in times of distress, with no thought of recompense, and by living up to the tenets of the Golden Rule lias made a success of her endeavors.
227
HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
FRANK EDWARD BROWNE. Very early in the colonization of Connecticut the Browne family became identified with the task of ma- terial upbuilding and from that first American representative to the present century there have been successive generations occupied in different lines of enterprise in that eastern state. The earliest memories of Frank Edward Browne were connected with the old commonwealth, where he was born at Norwalk, January 18, 1849. His parents, Barzillai and Caroline (Smith) Browne, were likewise natives of the Nutmeg state, the former born at Wilton and the latter in West- port. Both were lifelong residents of the east, where many years ago their life work came to an end. Meanwhile they had sent their son, Frank Edward, to the public schools of Bridgeport, Conn., and had prepared him for remunerative self-reliance by apprenticing him to the trade of tinner with an uncle in the home town. With characteristic quickness of comprehension he soon grasped every detail of the trade and then advanced into other kindred lines of the hard- ware business. When he came to the west in 1880 and settled in Los Angeles he was well qualified for profitable association with business interests in the growing center of southwestern commerce.
The establishment of a hardware store in Los Angeles marked the beginning of the long and prosperous association of Mr. Browne with the city. Here he had his first home on Broadway, the house occupying the present site of the Morosco theatre. From time to time he invested in city real estate and the advance in valuations brought him a large degree of prosperity. Through the patenting of the Browne hot-air furnace and other devices he amassed a competency, which enabled him to retire from business early in the twentieth century. Thereafter he traveled ex- tensively, visiting almost every nook and corner in Europe and studying with interest the cus- toms of practically every race in the entire world. Up to the time of his death, which occurred No- vember 4, 1912, he had traveled perhaps as ex- tensively as any man of his age in Los Angeles. Twice married, but with no children by either union, he is survived by his second wife, who owns and occupies the beautifully located resi- dence at No. 3219 Figueroa street and who up to the time of his death had joined him in many of his foreign trips and prolonged tours for pleas-
ure and recreation. Although a stanch Repub- lican in national issues, politics interested him but little and he considered that municipal enter- prises should be kept outside the pale of partisan manipulations. Life brought him happiness and contentment. Not alone did travel interest him, but he found great pleasure in hunting and seldom returned from a hunt without some specimens of his skill with the gun. The scientific game of chess appealed to him and he belonged to the Chess and Checker Club of Los Angeles, par- ticipating in its games when in the city. For years he also held membership in the Westminster Gun Club, while along lines more purely social he participated in the activities of the Union League. A well-rounded, symmetrical character enabled him to find profit and pleasure in every avenue along which destiny led his steps. He is remembered as one of those progressive citizens who contributed to the advancement of Los An- geles, and who in turn reaped a practical benefit from his long connection with commercial affairs in the city.
WILLIAM VON SICHEL CLARK. A man who has watched the town of Compton, Cal., grow from small beginnings, and has himself been instrumental in the progress of the place in which he is now a prosperous property-owner, William Von Sichel Clark, a native of Hancock county. Ill., has advanced with the advancement of the town and is now well known and respected in the California city where he has chosen to make his home. His early life having been spent on a farm in Illinois where he was born July 16, 1834, Mr. Clark naturally turned his attention to farming in California after coming to this state in 1870. The land which he rented and farmed in Comp- ton when first coming to the state, he left after a year, removing to the vicinity of Los Nietos, Cal., where he continued farming for another year, then returning to Compton, where he found em- ployment on a ranch. For thirteen years he held the position of engineer on a threshing machine for W. H. Carpenter, later spending ten years hauling freight to the mines at Cerro Gordo, Lone Pine, Bishop, Providence Mountain and various other places, at first starting from Los Angeles and later from Caliente and Mojave when the railroad was completed to those points. In this occupation he met with great success and with
228
HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
the money thus made Mr. Clark returned to Compton once more, where he invested in real estate, purchasing one hundred and fifty feet of land, seventy-five feet and sixty-five feet re- spectively in separate lots on the main business street of the town. At the time he came to Compton the town was in its infancy, very few houses having been as yet erected, and Mr. Clark, by his long residence there and the active interest he has taken in the place, has proved himself a pioneer with the true spirit. Six houses were built by him, and one store, and for some time he also ran a rooming-house there.
At the present time Mr. Clark is the owner of several valuable house lots in the town. He was also deputy sheriff of the county for a year, to which office he brought his best endeavor, always being successful in returning with his man when sent out on duty. He has always been a Republican, though never an aspirant for any office. His wife, Mary Anna Garey, a native of the state of Maryland, died in 1907, and his one daughter, now Mrs. Susan M. Bentley, is a resident of Los Angeles.
MELVILLE DOZIER. That California is noted the world over for the splendid character of her public schools is due largely to the fact that the conditions in this state have been such as to attract the men and women of a high type to the educational work, and this in itself has led to the further condition of proper remuneration, which has tended to keep persons of superior qualifica- tions and capabilities in this profession. Owing to these facts, possibly, but true nevertheless, is the noteworthy fact that there is no state in the Union today which can show a finer body of edu- cators and teachers than can California, and but very few that can in any way compare with her in this particular. Prominent among the men who have helped to make the state world-famous for its educational system is Melville Dozier, for several years past assistant superintendent of schools for the city of Los Angeles. Mr. Dozier is one of the veteran educators of the coast, hav- ing come to California in 1868, and so for almost fifty years has been identified with the schools of this state.
Mr. Dozier is a native of South Carolina, and was born in Georgetown, May 22, 1846, the son of
Anthony and Catherine (Cuttino) Dozier. He received his education at the State Military School in South Carolina, attending there from 1862 to 1864, and after the war entering the Furman University, from which he graduated in 1867. The Military Academy as a whole en- tered the Confederate army during the last year of the Civil war, serving under General Jenkins in Jenkins Brigade, C. S. A. Soon after gradua- tion Mr. Dozier determined to come west and almost immediately he entered the profession of teaching. He reached California in 1868 and with the exception of two years, 1870 and 1871, spent in teaching in Nevada, he was engaged in teaching in the public schools of Solano county, Cal., until 1874. In that year he was engaged as principal of the Santa Rosa high school, occupy- ing this position from 1874 to 1884.
It was in 1884 that Mr. Dozier came to Los Angeles, and since that time he has made this city his home and has been identified continuously with the educational work of the city and of the state. From 1884 to 1906 he was professor of mathematics at the State Normal school located here, and during the greater part of that time he was also vice-principal of the Normal school. In 1906 he temporarily gave up active teaching work and accepted a position as auditor for the Los Angeles Aqueduct Department, and was also a member of the Board of Education of Los An- geles city, which positions he occupied until 1910, when he again assumed his educational duties, this time in his present capacity of assistant su- perintendent of Los Angeles schools.
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.