USA > California > Los Angeles County > Los Angeles > A history of California and an extended history of Los Angeles and environs, Biographical, Volume II > Part 44
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in all its branches, and of the details of orange growing in particular; and these, coupled with wise judgment and skillful management, have re- sulted in prosperity and plenty for Mr. Scott himself, and contributed to the general welfare of the community.
A native of England, born at Lancashire in 1845, Mr. Scott was of Scotch descent, the son of Archibald and Mary (Nelson) Scott, both na- tives of Scotland. His father being a farmer, his boyhood days were passed on the farm, giving him an early knowledge of agricultural pursuits and teaching him the value of attention to de- tail. Reared and educated in his native land, he had also passed his early manhood there before immigrating to Ontario, Canada, in 1877. In 1882 he came from there to California, and after making a careful study of local conditions decided to engage in orange growing, for which purpose he purchased ninety acres of unimproved land near Duarte, the tract extending to the San Ga- briel river. This land he cleared and improved, erecting a comfortable home on a splendid site among the foothills, where a beautiful view of the San Gabriel valley is one of the many delightful features. Practically the entire tract is now an orchard, more than thirty acres being given over to the culture of the Washington Navel orange, ten acres to Valencia lates and three acres to blood oranges. In addition there is an appreciable acre- age given over to the growing of olives, and also some twenty acres devoted to apples, while other fruits raised include apricots, peaches, prunes and figs.
The general welfare of the community has always been of great concern to this progressive citizen, and throughout the years of his residence at Duarte Mr. Scott has been prominently identi- fied with all movements for the upbuilding of the locality and its betterment in all respects. For many years he has served as water commissioner for his district and also as president of the Duarte Mutual Irrigation and Canal Company, his ser- vices in both positions having proven of inestim- able value to the community. For ten years he served as Los Angeles County Horticultural Com- missioner, and throughout the county today he is recognized as an expert horticulturist and an authority on all subjects pertaining thereto. He is a director of the Duarte and Monrovia Fruit Exchange and is also associated with the Los Angeles Central Board Fruit Exchange for this
section of the county. Other interests are repre- sented by the Farmers Mutual Insurance Com- pany of Los Angeles, of which he is a director.
The growth of the citrus industry in the Duarte section has been very great during the years that Mr. Scott has made his home there, the industry being in its early infancy when he first located at his present home place. There were then but five hundred boxes of oranges shipped in a sea- son, while the yearly output now (1914) is an av- erage of six hundred car loads. This section, which is now almost as thickly settled as a city and almost as highly improved, was then largely wild land, and Mr. Scott has hunted rabbits and quail where the city of Monrovia now stands.
The marriage of Mr. Scott occurred in 1876, uniting him with Miss Sarah Fisher, the daughter of Henry and Elizabeth (Sumner) Fisher, and a native of England. Of this union four children were born, namely: Elizabeth Mary, Margaret Crawford, Archibald, and Alice Marion. The family are members of the Episcopal church.
ORSON H. MASON. When Mr. Mason, president of the Up-To-Date Pattern Company, of Los Angeles, started in business for himself he employed but one assistant where he now em- ploys twenty, and from his first location, at No. 1000 North Main street, he moved, after five years, to his present address at No. 864 North Main street. Mr. Mason is a man eminently fitted for success in the general pattern jobbing busi- ness which he carries on, having since the age of twenty-five years been in the pattern making trade, both in the actual work and as superintend- ent of that department, in such well-known com- panies as the Fulton Engine Works and the Llewellyn Iron Works, of Los Angeles.
The son of Harvey D. and Olive (Lewis) Ma- son, Mr. Mason was born at Florence, Erie county, Ohio, June 29, 1853, and attended the grammar and high schools in Portland, Mich., until the age of eighteen years, when he took a course at the University of Michigan, graduating therefrom at the age of twenty-two, with the degree of M. D. Returning to Portland, Mich., he was employed as a druggist with Dr. McCutchin for three years, when he determined to take up the trade of pattern making, and went to Lansing, Mich., where he fitted himself for this line of em-
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ployment and was employed there in this line until 1880, when he came to Los Angeles, Cal., and found employment with the Bower & Baker Iron Works in their machine shop as pattern maker, remaining there for seven years. At the end of that time he was employed in the same capacity by the Bath & Fosmir Iron Foundry, where he remained for a period of five years, after which he filled the office of pattern maker for a year with the Fulton Engine Works, going thence to the Llewellyn Iron Works, where he held the office of superintendent of pattern works for ten years. Desirous of going into business independently, Mr. Mason then set up a pattern making business of his own, under the name of the Up-To-Date Pattern Company.
In his political preference Mr. Mason upholds the principles of the Republican party, while in his religious affiliations he is a member of the Christian Science Church. He also holds mem- bership in the Maccabees and in the Sierra Madre Club. In February, 1888, he was united in mar- riage with Miss Annie Dangerfield, a native of England, but reared and educated in Los An- geles, having been brought here by her parents, Samuel and Margaret E. (Austin) Dangerfield, in 1875. Mr. and Mrs. Mason have one daughter, Mrs. Lillian Beach, of San Francisco.
ORVILLE MYERS. The early life of Mr. Myers was spent on the farm where he was born in Huntington county, Pa., February 15, 1864, and he may be called a self-made man, one who has risen from a life promising small advantages, to his present position of a man of large affairs, the credit for his advancement and success in life being due wholly to his own endeavor. The family removed to Shirleysburg, Pa., and there the boy engaged in wagon and coach making, learning the trade thoroughly in all its departments. In 1883 he went to Iowa, where he spent two years, com- ing in 1885 to California, where he arrived in Los Angeles, a poor boy with only $5 in his pocket. He walked out to Azusa, where he se- cured work on a road then being built to the San Dimas canyon, later being employed on the farm of Giles Bros., but losing his summer wages there on account of the failure of the company. He was, however, bound to rise in the world, and
secured employment elsewhere, working upon a ranch in Hollywood a short time, and then in a Los Angeles livery stable, and also was engaged in teaming for a while. He was soon enabled to buy a lot in Los Angeles, which he sold later at a profit of $200, then going to San Bernardino county, where he became foreman of the Rialto tract and laid out the town of Rialto. Returning to Los Angeles, he was engaged in teaming for a short time, then spending a year in the Rivera valley, in January, 1892, going to Burbank, Cal., where he has remained ever since.
On first going to Burbank Mr. Myers purchased a ten-acre piece of land, whereon he built a small shack, 12x20 feet in dimensions, and was the owner of three cows and two horses. He soon secured employment with the West Los Angeles Water Company, being put in charge of their work as foreman west of the town of Burbank, and remained with this company for sixteen years, installing all their pumping plants, digging tun- nels, and having charge of all their farm work, taking measurements of nearly all the wells in the valley as well as samples of the water, and esti- mating on many acres of alfalfa, his position being one of much responsibility. From the ten acres of land and the little shack which were the first home of Mr. Myers in Burbank, he advanced to the ownership of a large acreage in the valley, though his farm now consists of but fifty-six acres of fine alfalfa land, which crop he cuts seven times yearly, in the year 1913 his alfalfa paying $130 per acre. Besides this, he owns an apple orchard of seven-year-old trees, which when six years old, paid at the rate of $375 per acre. A handsome home and a new set of farm build- ings have been built by Mr. Myers, who also has his own wagon scales. He has raised fine draft horses, one pair having sold for $500, and is joint owner in a fine imported Percheron stallion. He is the owner of a number of lots and houses in Burbank, of valuable oil lands at Santa Clara, and an eighty-acre grain ranch near Cochran. Since living in California he has taken four trips to the eastern states, and has traveled all over the country. In his political interests Mr. Myers is a Republican, and was at one time delegate to county conventions, and was one of the founders and now is a director of the First National Bank of Burbank. His wife is Ella ( Burkholder) Myers of Pennsylvania, an old schoolmate of his, and they are the parents of two children, Cora L.,
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Mrs. F. W. Pomeroy, and Gladys A., Mrs. H. H. Gibbons, and have four grandchildren.
Mr. Myers is owner of the largest farmers' pumping plant in the valley, pumping from five wells, capacity two hundred and forty inches. At one time he pumped water to the Soldiers' Home at Sawtelle through his underground pipes sixteen inches in diameter.
LEVI W. RILEY. A native of Montgomery county, Ohio, Levi W. Riley removed with his parents to Elkhart county, Ind., when five years of age, and in that locality grew up and received his education. Learning the trade of shoemaker, he followed the same in Goshen, Ind., until the year 1874, at which time he came to California. settling in Orange. Foreseeing the great advance in value of property which was inevitable in the California city where he had chosen to make his home, Mr. Riley purchased forty acres of land near the town of Orange, and clearing the land, he planted oranges and lemons and other kinds of fruit thereon and devoted himself to the cultiva- tion of fruit which offered such bright prospects in this land of sunshine. At that time no pack- ing houses had been established in Southern Cali- fornia, and Mr. Riley packed his own fruit, shipping it to the San Francisco markets. Be- sides the raising of fruit, he was also engaged in real estate transactions which proved most profit- able, selling as high as $500 per acre property which he had bought at an earlier date for only $40 per acre. In 1888, having disposed of all his property about the city of Orange, he removed to Tropico, a small suburb of Los Angeles, situated near the foothills, and at that time consisting of but a few houses scattered about in the vicinity of the town of Glendale. Here Mr. Riley pur- chased twelve and one-quarter acres on Brand boulevard and Cypress avenue, paying for the same $150 per acre. His death occurring in 1890, his widow in 1905 sold off the acreage, which has since been subdivided and makes a part of the best residential section of the town of Tropico, the greater part of it being built up with fine homes. Mr. Riley's widow, formerly Miss Be- linda Ullery, of Indiana, owns the corner lot on East Cypress avenue, Tropico, where her cot- tage stands, as well as other valuable lots in the
vicinity. In 1852 she married Mr. Riley in Goshen, Ind., where she was born in 1832. Her daughter, now Mrs. Clara Wolf, resides in Po- mona, Cal., and has one son, Melvin LeRoy Wolf.
Aside from his real estate interests and his other enterprises, Mr. Riley was active as a church worker, having been the founder of the Brethren Church of Tropico and Glendale, he having purchased the lot on which the church was built, and subscribed the first $100 towards its erection. A broad-minded and public-spirited man, Mr. Riley was one of the pioneer settlers of Southern California and a valued resident of the town of Tropico, where he will long be remem- bered as a citizen active at all times for the best interests of the town.
GEORGE CHARLES JOHNSON. Indiana is the home state of George C. Johnson, where he was born in Williamsburg, August 24, 1861, the son of Charles and Emily R. (Mullen) Johnson, and received his education in the public schools of his native town. At about the age of fifteen he left school and worked upon his grandfather's farm. In 1876 he went to Cambridge City, Ind., and found employment in a machine shop, where he remained until 1882, at which time he returned to Williamsburg, working in a planing mill there until 1883. In that year Mr. Johnson came to Los Angeles, and was employed as machinist in the machine shop of Bath & Fosmir for three years, in 1888 forming a partnership with William Mann under the firm name of Mann & Johnson, for the manufacture of machinery. Buying out his partner in 1902, he conducted the business alone under the name of George C. Johnson, on July 13, 1905, incorporating under the name of the John- son Foundry & Machine Works, of which he was elected president and general manager, the com- pany manufacturing a general line of die presses, iron working machines, such as power shears and punching machines, and a great deal of special machinery, and also iron castings. When he started in the business Mr. Johnson employed but one man; today he employs thirty.
In his religious affiliations Mr. Johnson is an Episcopalian, and fraternally he is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. His residence is No. 2659 Pasadena avenue, Los An-
IMFrench
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geles, his business address being No. 1009 North Main street, in the same city. On July 25, 1893, he was united in marriage with Miss Mary H. Van Valkenburg, who died August 16, 1914.
LORING W. FRENCH, D. D. S. To see much of life in the nineteenth century and in different parts of the country was the destiny of Loring W. French, whose experiences from the late '60s until his death April 24, 1907, were associated with California. In his death the Pioneer Society of Los Angeles lost one of its most highly respected members, for he had always shown himself to be a patriotic, upright citizen, preferring the public welfare to his own, and in every possible way he used his means and influence for the improvement of the city which he had early chosen as his place of resi- dence. None stood higher in the dental pro- fession than did he, being one of the oldest and most honored members of the Southern Cali- fornia Dentists' Association.
It is a matter of no surprise to those who knew him that Dr. French was a descendant of sterling old Revolutionary stock, who cheer- fully placed country before every other consid- eration. His paternal great-grandfather, Cap- tain French, with the spirit of a true patriot, commenced talking strongly for independence of the American colonies before the war was declared, and, coming home one day, announced to his wife that he was about to enlist to fight for his principles. Quite naturally, woman-like, her spirit quailed at first, thinking of the hor- rors and possibilities of war, and she urged him not to leave his little family and imperil his life. Striding to the wall where hung his old flint-lock musket, grown rusty with non-use, and with an old charge of powder in it still, he turned to her and said: "I'll try to fire that old load, and if it goes I'll go." An instant later there was a terrific report from the trusty old weapon, and Captain French went forth to battle for the land which was to be the in- heritance of his children and children's chil- dren for generations.
John J. French, father of our subject, was a native of New York, where he followed the trade of a brick mason, and also engaged in agricultural pursuits. Hearing glowing reports 15
of the great west, he started on a prospecting tour, and floated down the Ohio river in a flat- boat until he arrived in Indiana. He became one of the pioneers of that state, his home for years being in Ohio county. He sometimes went to Cincinnati or some other city and worked at his trade in order to procure ready money for some special purpose, and thus it happened that he built the first brick house constructed in the city mentioned. He died, loved and respected by all who knew him, at his old homestead in the Hoosier state, when he was in his eighty-fifth year. The mother of our subject bore the maiden name of Mary Hargrave, and she, too, was a native of the Empire state, and died in Indiana when in her sixty-second year.
The birth of Loring W. French occurred on the parental homestead in Ohio county, Ind., January 31, 1837. He received a district- school education, and when he was sixteen years of age he commenced learning the print- er's trade in Jeffersonville, Ind. After follow- ing this calling for four years he decided to take up dentistry, and, going to Louisville, he began studying for his chosen profession. At the end of a year or more of steady work he went to Greensburg, Ind., where he en- gaged in practice for six years, making an excellent record for one of his years and limited experience. In 1862 he responded to a call from the president for troops, and en- listed in Company B, Seventy-sixth Indiana Infantry. He served for six months, report- ing for duty every day of that period, and in the spring of 1863 was mustered out and dis- charged at Indianapolis. Returning to Greens- burg, he soon made his plans to go to Cali- fornia, and upon his arrival here commenced practicing at LaPorte, Plumas county. After spending five years there he came to Los Angeles, where he felt that a wider field awaited him, and in this his hopes were fully realized, for his was the second dentist's office opened in the growing city.
When he was thirty two years of age Dr. French married Miss Mary Champion, and two children were born to them, Charles E., a practicing physician in San Francisco, and Clara F., the widow of Edward E. Powers. The family stand well in the social circles of the city and attend the Unitarian Church.
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If Dr. French is remembered for one thing more than another it is for the kindly service which he rendered his home city in the intro- duction of the Kentucky blue-grass. Los An- geles undoubtedly bears the palm for hand- some green-velvet lawns, which invariably at- tract the attention of the visitor from other points.
Dr. French was a charter member of the Society of Los Angeles Pioneers, and one of the oldest members of the Grand Army of the Republic. Politically he had always been a Republican, casting his first ballot for Abra- ham Lincoln at his first candidacy. In 1882 he served as a member of the city council of Los Angeles, and then, as he did throughout the remainder of his life, gave unsparingly of his influence in the cause of education, good government and progress along all lines.
JULIUS MICHELSEN. A man who has worked up through all stages of his trade until he now holds the position of superintendent of the entire plant in which he was formerly an ordinary employe proves what is being accomplished by the more efficient and ambitious citizens who come to our country from other shores. Such a one is Julius Michelsen, a native of Denmark, where he was born April 8, 1856, the son of George Michelsen, and educated in the grammar and high schools until he had reached the age of fourteen years. At that time he set himself to learn the trade of coppersmith, which he followed faithfully for a period of five years, after which he removed to Stockholm in search of wider op- portunities, being employed there in his chosen trade for seven years, at the close of which time he decided to come to the United States. Ar- rived in this country in 1881 Mr. Michelsen made his home in Los Angeles, Cal., and was engaged with the Harper Iron Works as sheet iron worker for two years, leaving that firm for employment with the Holbrook Iron Company in the same capacity, remaining with that concern for the space of two years. He next found employment with the Lacy Manufacturing Company, as sheet iron worker, where he gradually worked up to the position of superintendent of the plant in the year 1894, proving what can be accomplished by
a man of ability coupled with the ambition to bet- ter himself in every way possible.
Mr. Michelsen is a Democrat in his political preference, and his religious interests are with the Lutheran church. By his marriage with Miss Marie Nelson in Los Angeles, February 21, 1885, he is the father of five children, namely. Edna, Albert, Margaret, Virginia and Francis Michel- sen.
GEORGE GARTLING. A native of the state of Maryland, where he was born at Chestnut Ridge, May 1, 1854, the son of Ferdinand and Anna Margaret (Thoma) Gartling, George Gart- ling attended the public schools until he was twelve years of age, after which he worked on his father's farm for six years and then took up the trade of blacksmith, the rest of his life up to the present time having been spent, almost with- out interruption, in the blacksmith and machinery business. He began his business career at De- troit, Mich., at the age of eighteen securing em- ployment for a year as helper in the blacksmith shop of the Detroit Novelty Works, after which he spent one year as apprentice with Seavert & Lindeman, wagon manufacturers. He then en- gaged with the Detroit Safe Company, where he finished his trade of blacksmith, after three years with this firm going to Denver, Colo., and engag- ing as blacksmith for Engsminger & Davis for a year, going thence to San Francisco, where he worked in various places at his chosen trade for a year and a half. At the end of that time he re- turned to Maryland, where he followed his trade in Baltimore for a year and a half, but feeling the call of the West once more he came to Los Angeles, Cal., and secured employment as black- smith with Bower & Baker Iron Works, in 1884 leaving that company to spend three months at his trade in National City, Cal., with the Califor- nia Southern, now the Santa Fe Railroad Com- pany. He then came back to Los Angeles and in partnership with J. F. Holbrook and William A. Hunter organized the Union Iron Works. Selling out his interest in the firm after two years, Mr. Gartling prospected for gold in California and Arizona for four months, after which he went to San Diego, Cal., where he engaged with the Stand- ard Iron Works as blacksmith until 1887, when he spent a year in his home state, at Baltimore.
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Returning once more to California after his trip east, Mr. Gartling engaged with the Wilmington Transportation Company at Wilmington, Cal., for a year and a half as blacksmith, going then to Coronado, Cal., where he was employed for six months at his trade with the Coronado Foundry and Machine Company. At Needles, Cal., he spent six months with the Santa Fe Railroad Com- pany, going once more to San Diego, this time to experiment on a lighting device for catching fish, devoting three months to this occupation. Returning to Los Angeles, he was for ten years employed as blacksmith by the Fulton Engine Works, after which he and Louis McGrary started the California Well Tool & Machine Works, with which Mr. Gartling has been con- nected ever since. This company manufactures a general line of well tools, casing shoes, boiler flanges and does all kinds of forging and machine work in chrome nickel, nickel, tool, openhearth and marine steels. After six months Mr. Gartling purchased Mr. McGrary's interest in the com- pany and managed the business independently until June 1, 1905, when his brother, Daniel Gartling, who had been engaged as a blacksmith in Chicago with the city fire department for twenty-five years, came to Los Angeles and pur- chased a one-half interest in the California Well Tool & Machine Works organized by George Gartling, and the two brothers have since that time continued as partners in the business, em- ploying fifteen men and meeting with splendid success.
Aside from his business connections, Mr. Gartling is fraternally associated with the Her- alds of Liberty and religiously with the Temple of Living Thought.
WILLIAM H. HOLABIRD, who for the past twenty-five years has been a resident of Los Angeles, was born in Vermont September 29, 1845. In early youth his father and family removed to Atchison, Kan., then the frontier. In 1859 Mr. Holabird became a merchant, be- ginning that career by selling newspapers on the first railroad reaching the Missouri river. His experiences during those troublous times would fill a good sized book and greatly influenced his future career.
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