USA > California > Los Angeles County > Los Angeles > A history of California and an extended history of Los Angeles and environs, Biographical, Volume II > Part 47
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The affairs of the city of his adoption are mat- ters of much interest to Mr. Stearns, and by his position as a member of the Chamber of Com- merce of Los Angeles he is enabled to be of much
service in promoting the welfare and advancement of the city. He is also a member of the Benevo- lent Protective Order of Elks, and in political in- terests is with the Republicans. By his marriage in Los Angeles in July, 1890, he was united with Miss Lutie Morton, and they are the parents of three children, namely, Theodore, a graduate of Occidental College, Los Angeles who is now in business with his father ; Ardell, also a graduate of Occidental College, and engaged in business with his father; and Valner, who attends the high school.
TELFAIR CREIGHTON. Tracing his an- cestry back through many generations of distin- guished Americans to the days of "Merre Eng- land" discloses the fact that Telfair Creighton is descended from one of the most illustrious famil- ies of America, and the many years of his resi- dence in Los Angeles with its accompanying record of splendid success, both in the pursuit of his practice as an attorney and also in general business enterprises, stamps Mr. Creighton him- self as a worthy son of his distinguished sires. His great-great-grandfather and a brother were born in England and educated at the famous Har- row school, and were tutored by the father of Thackeray, the novelist. Later, when Thackeray wrote his famous novel entitled "The Virginians" he selected these two young men, then residents of the Colony of Virginia, as the heroes of his story. They were on the staff of General Washington, and the great-great-grandfather was in personal charge of the execution of Major Andre, of British spy fame. His son was the Bishop Meade of Virginia who wrote a book entitled "The First Families of Virginia." This great-great-grand- father was a colonial governor of North Caro- lina, and took an especially active part in the affairs of the colony, and later of the state. He had the most famous home in the United States at that time and one of the most beautiful, known as Chaumier. Mr. Creighton's own grandfather was equally prominent in the affairs of his gen- eration and occupied a prominent place in po- litical affairs for many years. He was the first secretary of state of Ohio, and was a member of
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Congress for fourteen years. He was also a judge in the United States Court, and a warm friend of Henry Clay.
Mr. Creighton is a native of Ohio, born in Madison county, March 14, 1856, the son of William and Jane (Telfair) Creighton. He spent his youth in his native state, receiving his educa- tion first in the public schools, and later gradu- ating from the Oxford Miami University. Fol- lowing this he practiced law for eight years at Wilmington, Ohio, and during that time was also president of Dun & Company, a large banking firm of that place. It was in 1886 that Mr. Creigh- ton finally came to California, locating in Los An- geles and engaging in the practice of law, which he followed here for twenty-eight years. For much of this time he was associated with the law firm of Graff, Gibbon & Creighton, and always he enjoyed a most lucrative practice and met at all times with the greatest success, having many no- table legal victories to his credit. The present firm name is Pierce & Creighton. Mr. Creighton has been interested in various enterprises during his residence here, and has taken an active part in all the local questions of importance and a keen delight in service for the public welfare. During the existence of the State Bank & Trust Company he was one of the directors, and mining interests also claimed much of his attention.
The marriage of Mr. Creighton occurred in Dayton, Ohio, June 16, 1885, the bride being Miss Charlotte Neal, the daughter of Dr. Thomas and Juana (Achey) Neal. Dr. Neal was a very prominent physician in Ohio, and his wife was a woman of note and also of marked ability. Fol- lowing the death of her husband in 1885 she came to California and located in Los Angeles, where she engaged in the real estate business, being one of the first of her sex to become interested in this line here. Her first purchase was the old Carlton block, on Spring street, and she also built the old Los Angeles Theatre, between Second and Third streets, on Spring, and owned the Long- street, now known as Singleton Court, and up to within very recent years, known as one of the most beautiful homes in Los Angeles.
Mr. and Mrs. Creighton are well known so- cially throughout the city, and Mr. Creighton is a member of the exclusive social clubs. They have two children, Neal, and Juana, now Mrs. Kalten- bach, of New York.
ANDREW BEYRLE. The development of the industrial life of Los Angeles has been very rapid, it having risen within an exceptionally short time from the ranks of an agricultural center and city of homes, into a place of first rank in the man- ufacturing and industrial world. Identified with this great growth of the city have been the names of many men of ability, courage and energy, whose brains and strength have been freely given toward the accomplishment of this desired end, and whose capital and time have been as freely risked. Among such men may be mentioned An- drew Beyrle, proprietor and president of the Cali- fornia Planing Mill & Lumber Company. and also president of the California Fire-Proof Door Company. Since 1887 he has been a resident of Los Angeles and has been an important factor in the stupendous growth of the city during that period. Commencing life here as a carpenter, he rapidly enlarged the scope of his enterprise, and is now at the head of the two industries above mentioned, which are among the best and most substantial in the county. He is a man of splen- did judgment and business acumen, and his grasp on the details of his business enterprises is keen and reliable, down to the smallest detail.
Mr. Beyrle is a native of France, having been born in the province of Alsace-Lorraine, Decem- ber 16, 1864, the son of Andrew and Marie (Houser ) Beyrle. When he was a lad of but five years, in 1869, his parents migrated to the United States, locating in Dallas, Texas, where the son attended school until he was fourteen years of age. Securing employment in a planing mill he continued there for two years, and then, when sixteen, he started out to seek his fortune else- where. During his travels over the panhandle country of Texas he worked at the carpenter's trade until 1887, when he came to California, lo- cating in Los Angeles. Here he continued to work at his trade for three months, and then, recognizing the opportunities offered for the man with courage enough to grasp them, he en- gaged in the business of building contracting, con- tinuing this with success until 1895. He then bought an interest in the California Planing Mill with N. P. Alexander, they being equal partners until 1906, when they incorporated under the firm name of the California Planing Mill and Lumber Company. Mr. Beyrle increased his holdings in the company and was elected president, which posi- tion he has since occupied. In 1911 he bought out
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the interest of his partner and has since that time been sole proprietor of this prosperous industry. This company has supplied the materials for some of the best known buildings in the city and neighboring towns, and its record for reliability has never been questioned. Among the well- known buildings that they have supplied may be mentioned the Severance block, Jacoby Brothers block, Lyon-McKinney-Smith Co. building, the First Methodist church of Pasadena, the First Congregational Church of Ontario, the Westlake Methodist Church of Los Angeles, and the Trus- tee building, also of Los Angeles, and many other business blocks and handsome residences too numerous to mention.
The marriage of Mr. Beyrle and Miss Laura S. Rowe, of Modesto, Cal., was solemnized in Los Angeles, February 24, 1889. Their son, Thomas, born in 1893, is a student at Stanford University, at Palo Alto, Cal. Both Mr. and Mrs. Beyrle are well known socially and have many friends in the city. Mr. Beyrle has always taken an active interest in fraternal affairs and is an influential member of several of the best known of the local fraternal and beneficial orders. He is a thirty- second degree Mason, also a Shriner, a member of the Odd Fellows and the Maccabees, besides which he belongs to the Elks. In politics Mr. Beyrle is a stanch Republican, and has always given his support to the men and measures of that party. He is progressive and especially well informed on all municipal questions, taking an active interest in the well being of his home city.
FRANK BENNETT COLVER. A man who always stood for what he considered the highest and most just in military, political and industrial interests was Capt. Frank Bennett Colver, a pio- neer union printer of Los Angeles, Cal., who was born October 22, 1833, in Hudson, N. Y., the son of Darius Colver, who was born January 14, 1795, in North East, Dutchess county, N. H., and died in Wellington, Ohio, June 12, 1879, and Mary (Bennett) Colver, whose birth occurred Decem- ber 31, 1797, at Hudson, N. Y., and her death in September, 1881, at Sandusky, Ohio. The father was a cabinet-maker, and well known as a poli- tician, and had thirteen children, of whom Frank Bennett Colver was the ninth. The son was
educated in the public schools of New York and Ohio, completing his studies at the Baptist Col- lege, at Norwalk, Ohio. The printer's trade he learned at Cleveland, Ohio, in the office of the True Democrat, which was later merged with the Cleveland Leader. After a period of apprentice- ship he joined the Cleveland Typographical Union, and traveled extensively in connection with his trade, working in several of the prominent cities of the Middle West, and for several years, on account of his health and the long hours required by his printing business, devoting the winter months to school teaching.
At the opening of the Civil war, when Lincoln called for seventy-five thousand men, Captain Colver, then employed on the Register at San- dusky, Ohio, enlisted in the Eighth Ohio Volun- teers, and having served three months, was honor- ably discharged, after which he re-enlisted in Company G, of the One Hundred and Twenty- third Ohio Volunteers, wherein he served for three years, being chosen second lieutenant and later promoted to first lieutenant and brevetted cap- tain. His regiment having been taken prisoner by the Confederates, he was for seventeen months held prisoner at Libby prison and also at Ma- con, Charleston, Savannah and Columbia. After being transferred as a prisoner with other officers to Columbia, S. C., he made his escape, and after a month of traveling afoot through a hostile country, he reached the union lines and safety in eastern Tennessee. His private letters, letters to the Sandusky Register, and descriptions of his prison life are interesting reading, the adven- tures through which he passed having all the in- terest and excitement of a story.
After the war, Captain Colver, in partnership with a Mr. Kinney, started the Sandusky Journal, but sold his interest to the latter after a space of two years and removed to Toledo, Ohio. His inarriage occurred on August 7, 1866, uniting him with Miss Kate Ferrell, at Oakland, Wis., who is a native of Sandusky, Ohio, where he had pre- viously met her, though the marriage took place during a visit of the bride with an uncle in Wis- consin. The parents of Mrs. Colver were Bernard and Mary (Taylor) Ferrell. The father, a native of Dublin, Ireland, removed to Sandusky and become the owner of a large grocery, provisioning the boats for the Upper Lakes, and also ran the old Portland Hotel where his daughter was born, and owned a wagon-making shop. The
Charles & Cole
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mother was born at Sherbourne, Yorkshire, Eng- land. The cholera, which visited Sandusky, Ohio, in 1849, took away the entire Ferrell family ex- cept the mother and the daughter, who later be- came the wife of Captain Colver. Captain and Mrs. Colver became the parents of three chil- dren, namely: Richard J., a reporter on the Times and other Los Angeles newspapers, who married, and died in Seattle at the age of thirty- two years, leaving no children; Frederick E., born at Topeka, Kans., July 17, 1870; and Frank- lin, who died at the age of five months. In 1870, Captain Colver removed to Kansas City, Mo., where he was for six months employed on the Journal, going thence with his family to Topeka, Kans. He spent about five years in Toledo, Ohio, where he went for medical treatment necessitated by his prison life during the war, and while there was elected president of the Typographical Union, in 1880 returning to Topeka, where he was elected president of that union. The health of his eldest son, Richard, necessitated the re- moval of the family to Southern California, where the family came in 1883 and settled in Los Angeles, and Mr. Colver being one of the early settlers of the then small city, became a prominent member of the Southern California Pioneer So- ciety, as well as the Southern California His- torical Society, was associated with several of the prominent newspapers of the state, and actively connected with the printers' union. In 1885 he was elected delegate to the first Trades Council in Los Angeles, and in later years was many times representative at labor councils. A Demo- crat in politics, he voted for every candidate of that party for president after the close of the Civil war, and in 1888 was nominated auditor by the Los Angeles Democratic county convention. The death of Captain Colver occurred in Los Angeles, June 17, 1911. He is survived by a widow and one son, Frederick, who assists his mother in the management of the Colver apart- ments, a modern, elegantly furnished apartment house at No. 127 North Boylston street. Los Angeles, built by Mrs. Colver after the death of her husband. A charter member of the Tem- ple Baptist Church of Los Angeles, Mrs. Colver has been chief of many executive committees doing G. A. R. work, of which association her husband was a prominent member, and is also a member of the Stanton W. R. C. No. 16, having twice refused the presidency of the same. Her
son, Frederick E. Colver, for many years man- aged and operated traveling musical companies and is well known in Los Angeles where he has many friends among the musical fraternity, and where his father will long be remembered as a pioneer settler of the city, a prominent newspaper man and an active worker for his union.
CHARLES E. COLE. One of the most prominent and successful walnut growers of Whittier is Charles E. Cole, who has been a resident of this county since he was a small boy. His interest in fruit culture comes quite natural to him, he having been reared on his father's fruit ranch, and from his earliest boy- hood closely associated with the care and cul- ture of fruit. He is not confining himself to the raising of walnuts by any means, but also has several tracts planted to oranges of different varieties, especially Valencias and Washington Navels, and he has also bought several large tracts, developed paying orange groves thereon, and then sold them at a handsome profit.
Mr. Cole is a native of Texas and was born in Burleson county November 30, 1862. (The family history will be found in the sketch of his father, George W. Cole, Sr., on another page of this work.)
Charles E. remained with his father on the ranch until he was twenty-two years of age. his father then deeding him a tract of forty acres, which he improved and planted to wal- nuts and which has been his home place for many years. Being especially interested in this line of horticulture he has made a careful and scientific study of the culture of the walnut, and has conducted many interesting and profit- able experiments along this line. In all of this he has been very successful and has produced some of the largest nuts ever grown in the val- ley. He now has sixty acres on his home place, the original forty being in walnuts. He also owns an additional eleven-acre grove of Valen- cia oranges, and until recently also owned two additional tracts, one of ten acres and another of forty acres, which he planted to oranges and then sold at a handsome profit.
Mr. Cole has been closely identified with the various activities of his section, and is pro- gressive and energetic in all matters of public
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welfare. He is a charter member of the Whit- tier Lodge of Odd Fellows, a director of the Citrus Grove Heights Water Company, which has two hundred inches of water and a fine pumping plant; a director of the Evergreen Water Company, and also of the Whittier Wal- nut Association, and is generally acknowledged as being a leading factor in the development of the walnut industry in the San Gabriel valley. Educational matters have also been one of the interests of this broad-minded man, and he has rendered splendid service as a member of the board of trustees for the Whittier Union High School.
The marriage of Mr. Cole was solemnized in Whittier, October 23, 1883, his wife being Miss Mollie Pitman, a native of California and the daughter of Elias W. Pitman, a native of Texas. Her father was in the cattle business in Texas for many years, and came to California in an early day, locating in Fresno county. Mr. and Mrs. Cole are the parents of three children, one son and two daughters, all natives of Whit- tier, where they have been reared and educated and where they have many friends. They are Walter R., Pearl M. (now the wife of L. M. Hull) and Leota Justine.
GEORGE W. COLE, SR. One of the old- est residents of Los Angeles county who wit- nessed the development of this part of the state from primitive conditions was the late George W. Cole, Sr., who took an active part in bring- ing about the prosperity now prevailing in this section and in the improvement and cultivation of a fine ranch near what is now Downey. The early home of Mr. Cole was in Illinois, his birth occurring in Bureau county April 3, 1827, in the home of Sampson and Vina (Tompkins) Cole, natives of Kentucky and Tennessee re- spectively. The parents settled in Bureau county as pioneers and their last days were passed in California. In 1839, when their son George was about twelve years old, the family removed from Bureau county, Ill., to Carroll county, Ark., and from there soon afterward removal was made to Cherokee Nation, near Grand river. There, under contract from the Indians, the father bored salt wells, among others boring for the famous Grand Saline well.
Jasper county, Mo., was the next home of the family, but after several years they removed from there to Texas, locating on the Colorado river, thirty-five miles from Austin. In the meantime George W. Cole had attained ma- turity and was taking an interested part in the activities of his community. When he had been in Texas for a year he enlisted in the Jack Hayes regiment of Texas rangers, first under Zachary Taylor and later under General Scott. During his service of one year and fifteen days his principal duty was along the skirmish line, besides which he took part in the Battle of Buena Vista. With the expiration of the term of his enlistment he returned to Burleson county, which was still the home of the family.
Mr. Cole did not remain long in Texas, how- ever, but made a trip to Jasper county, Mo., where on November 15, 1848, he was united in marriage with Olive Margaret Chilson, a na- tive of Indiana, born in 1832. She was the daughter of Emer and Mary (Osgood) Chilson, born in Vermont and Maine respectively, and pioneers of Bureau county, Ill. Mr. Chilson died in California and his wife passed away in Missouri. Very soon after his marriage Mr. Cole returned to Burleson county, Tex., and took up general farming and stock-raising, a line of activity that engaged his attention for a number of years. In the meantime the Civil war had become an issue and Mr. Cole took sides with the Southern cause, in 1863 enlist- ing in Captain Turner's company, C. S. A., see- ing service in Louisiana and participating in the battle of Donaldsonville, on the Missis- sippi river. Upon the expiration of the term of his enlistment he returned to Texas.
On account of the gold activities considerable attention had been attracted to California in the latter part of the '40s, not only by the gold seekers, but by men in different walks of life, and the migrations of that time and the years immediately following form an impressive and tragic chapter in American history. Mr. Cole was among the latter class who came to the west during that period, but his stay at that time proved a brief one, it being sufficiently long, however, for him to judge as to the out- look and possibilities of the state, and he re- turned to Texas with the idea of ultimately making his home in the west. It was in 1864, after his return from the war, that he disposed
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of his interests in Texas and joined a large ox- team train that was bound for California, and after nine months of hardship incident to over- land travel Mr. Cole arrived at his destination. For a short time he remained in San Bernar- dino, but later located at Downey, where in 1865 he purchased one hundred and thirteen acres of land from Governor Downey at $10 per acre, ten years being allowed him in which to pay for it. This he farmed for ten years and in 1875 he removed with his family to what is now Whittier and purchased twenty-seven acres south of town, later adding two hundred acres more to the original purchase. In an early day he engaged in general farming and dairy- ing, but later he became interested in fruit cul- ture and planted eight acres to walnuts, he be- ing the first man to plant soft-shell walnuts in the valley. Later he increased his walnut grove by an additional twenty-five acres, and also became interested in raising grapes.
When he had reached the advanced age of eighty-four years Mr. Cole passed away in 1911, his wife having preceded him in death in 1907. They became the parents of eight children, all of whom are well and favorably known in Los Angeles county. They are: Mrs. Amelia A. Tweedy, Mrs. Mary E. Keller, Mrs. Callie M. Cheney, George W., Jr., Mrs. Dora C. Ginther, Charles E., Joseph A. and Byron S. Mr. Cole was for many years a prominent figure in the affairs of Downey and Whittier, being well re- membered among the older citizens of both places. In politics he was a Democrat of no uncertain type, and fraternally he was asso- ciated with the Odd Fellows, being a charter member of the Downey Lodge. Throughout his life he had adhered to the tenets of the Baptist church, as had his wife also, and they were identified by membership with the church of that denomination at Whittier, toward the support of which they were generous contribu- tors.
No more fitting close to this life sketch could be given than the following lines from the pen of Mr. Cole's long-time friend, J. C. Glidden :
GEORGE W. COLE, HISTORIC AND PROPHETIC In fancy I behold him now,
Clear, soft brown orbs 'neath placid brow;
His measured words are in my ear. His gentle accents still I hear.
His parents born in "Ole Kaintuck," Land of fair women, men of pluck,
When little more than girl and boy Sought fertile plains of Illinois.
Born in the State of Illinois (A lucky thing for girl or boy),
In eighteen hundred twenty-seven. Peace from our Southern bound was driv'n.
In answer to his country's call He left behind friends, parents, all;
And ere attained to man's estate, On battle field had risked his fate.
On Texan plain, in battle strife, War Chief Big Water lost his life ;
He fell by hand of Capt. Smith, A man of courage, skill and pith.
When Smith slew Chief of Waco Band, George Cole was near, at his right hand ; And had the captain's weapon failed, Would surely have the chief assailed.
At close of war and battle shock Left army at Enchanted Rock ;
Had served one year and fifteen days, Beneath Hy Smith and Col. Hayes.
Through camp of Cupid as of Mars He passed with few if any scars ; November fifteenth, forty-eight, Took to himself a loving mate.
In eighteen hundred fifty-three Left home for mines beyond the sea ; First toil'd in mine, June of that year, Such from his lips myself did hear.
In eighteen hundred sixty-four Left Texas for this far-off shore A hardy band from Western plains, Inured to perils, toils and pains.
The savages along the track By day or night ne'er did attack ; But had their vigilance e'er failed,
They probably had been assailed.
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A farmer, miner, hunter bold,
He delved mid rocks and sands for gold,
Ne'er cultivated barren soil,
The fertile well repaid his toil.
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