USA > California > Los Angeles County > Los Angeles > A history of California and an extended history of Los Angeles and environs, Biographical, Volume II > Part 50
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winter through the rain, of which forty-two inches fell in that year. The apples did not do well, but the apricots grew remarkably, and to Mr. Galpin belongs the credit of having plowed the first acre of virgin soil in Eagle Rock valley. In 1884 he gave a half acre for a school house and in 1885 the first building was erected. The property bought at that time cost him $80 per acre.
Renting his place in the valley, Mr. Galpin moved into Los Angeles and resided there until 1908 and during this time was employed as proof- reader for ten years on the Los Angeles Herald, besides contributing to the Century magazine and Youth's Companion. Returning to his Eagle Rock home he built a house on the hillside and has since been the leader in promoting the prosper- ity of the town by subdividing and putting on the market the Shallot Terrace tract, the greater part of which has been sold, and of which he is still owner of many valuable lots and houses. From 1900 to 1908 he raised onions and strawberries on his land and when the carline was brought into the valley land increased in value from $200 to $600 per acre and nine-tenths of the property changed hands from the original owners; $300,- 000 was spent in improving streets and roads, and the same in getting the tracts ready for market. In 1910 Eagle Rock was incorporated as a city. At the election in May, 1914, Mr. Galpin was elected mayor and during his term of office many road and street improvements have been made, ornamental street lights installed, electric light, gas and telephone franchises put through.
The first marriage of Mr. Galpin united him with Julia Wood of Buffalo, N. Y. She died in 1888, leaving three children: Alfred, editor of the Standard Oil Bulletin of San Francisco, a sculptor and designer of note, he having designed the bear known as the "Zerolene Bear" and used as an advertisement in magazines and papers all over the world; Lloy, a teacher in the Los An- geles high school; and Mrs. Hazel G. Lowe, of Eagle Rock, and mother of five daughters. The second marriage of Mr. Galpin occurred in 1890 and united him with Kate Tupper, a native of Iowa and at the time of her marriage was pro- fessor of pedagogy at the University of Nevada in Reno. She was a highly educated woman and while in Reno was the only woman in the United States who exercised equal authority with men on the faculty of any university. A great
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Shakespearian scholar, she founded the Galpin Shakespearian Club of Los Angeles and was among the leaders in the equal suffrage move- ments in Southern California and active in all movements for advancement of women. She died in 1906, and her passing was mourned by all who knew her, and her friends are legion. She left one daughter, Ellen Galpin, a graduate of the Southern California Normal School, class of 1915, but is better known as an actress in Shakespearian roles and writer of children's fairy plays.
GRANVILLE MAC GOWAN, M.D. Promi- nent among the physicians who have given of their time and ability freely for many years to bring the city of Los Angeles up to her present high standard of public health may be named Dr. Granville MacGowan, who for a long period served the city as health officer, having been elected first in 1889. His efforts in this capacity were earnest and sincere and much good was accomplished for the city through his intelligent and skillful handling of many difficult situations and conditions.
Dr. MacGowan is a native of Iowa, having been born in Davenport in 1857. His father, Col. Granville MacGowan, was an officer in the United States army. His mother for the most part made her home in Philadelphia, and it was there that her son received his education. He first attended the grammar schools and later entered the University of Pennsylvania, graduat- ing in 1879. After a year as resident physician in the Blockly Hospital he went to Europe and continued his studies for four years, taking special courses at the Universities of Berlin, Paris and Vienna. Returning to New York in 1884 he practiced there for a year before coming to Cali- fornia. This move was made in 1885, Dr. Mac- Gowan at once locating in Los Angeles, where he has since made his home. For a period of nine- teen years he occupied a surgical chair in the University of Southern California and since then the same chair in the medical department of the University of California College of Medicine. Dr. MacGowan also holds a position of high esteem among his fellow practitioners in the city and county. He is a member of the Los Angeles County Medical Association and also the South- crn California Medical Society, the California
Medical Society of the State of California, the American Medical Association, the American Urological Association, the Association Interna- tional d'Urologie, and the American College of Surgeons, and has been presiding officer of a number of these societies.
It was in June. 1890, that Dr. MacGowan was married to Miss Lillie May Briggs, the daughter of Mary A. Briggs. Of their union were born Hilliard Vincent MacGowan and Mary Eleanor MacGowan.
MILTON CARLSON. As a handwriting ex- pert, and examiner and photographer of ques- tioned documents, Milton Carlson has estab- lished a reputation for efficiency and accuracy that is of national repute.
Mr. Carlson is a native of Indiana, having been born in Ripley county, December 8, 1870, the son of John August and Hilma Augusta (Dal- strom) Carlson, both natives of Sweden. John August Carlson, the father of the subject of this sketch, was born at Stockholm and learned the cabinet maker's trade there when a boy. After coming to the United States he engaged in farm- ing for several years; in 1882 arriving in Los Angeles, where he engaged in the contracting business until 1900, when he retired from active business pursuits. He was a student of philos- ophy, sociology and history. His death occurred September 8, 1911.
Milton Carlson's education was received in public and private schools and academies of Texas and California. He became a teacher of penmanship and commercial subjects, ending his teaching career as an instructor in the com- mercial department of the Los Angeles high school. His natural aptitude in distinguishing hand-writing and determining matters pertaining to questioned documents was evident and led him to devote his entire time to this science. He has testified in courts for eighteen years and his opinion has been obtained in many notable con- tests of nation wide importance and of world wide fame, such for instance as the "Oakland Election Frauds" cases, the "Darrow" and the "McNam- ara" cases, the "E. J. (Lucky) Baldwin" will contest. Being by temperament a student and close observer, Mr. Carlson has written many treatises on the science of his profession which
@ Mr Fargo
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have received favorable comment from the bench and bar throughout the United States. He main- tains an office in the International Bank building in Los Angeles, and has residences both in the city and at Venice, Cal.
Quite apart from his professional work is the social and fraternal side of Mr. Carlson's life. He has been prominent as the Swedish vice-con- sul, in which capacity he served for several years, giving much satisfaction both locally and in Sweden. He is prominent in politics and has been sought for high offices. He is a member of the Masons, Odd Fellows, Elks, Pioneer As- sociation, and of several other progressive or- ganizations of importance. From time to time Mr. Carlson has invested in real estate and owns valuable property both in Los Angeles and Venice, Cal.
It was in 1898 that the marriage of Mr. Carl- son and Cornelia Dotter was solemnized in Los Angeles. Mrs. Carlson is the daughter of John Charles Dotter, well known in Los Angeles for many years, who was a prominent citizen of the city and county. Eulalia, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Carlson, now at the age of fifteen years, has obtained prominence in the high school.
DUANE WASHINGTON FARGO. It is not often that a man of sterling strength of char- acter and business ability is remembered rather for the rare serenity and sweetness of his nature than for these other more virile traits, but such is the case with the late Duane Washington Fargo, whose beautiful home place, Vonita Vista Ranch. near San Gabriel, is so well known and so greatly admired. Not only was Mr. Fargo a man of ability, but he was known among his friends for his splendid traits of heart and mind, for his never-failing gentleness and courtesy, which shed a grace that was deeply felt yet scarcely recog- nized, so deeply inbred was it in the nature of this splendid man. He was of a retiring disposition, caring little for the outside interests of the world. but keenly alive to all that related to his own home life, or to the welfare and well-being of his friends or family. His loyalty to his friends amounted almost to a religion, while his upright- ness of character in all business transactions was always beyond question.
Mr. Fargo was a native of New York, having been born at Batavia, December 15, 1836. He was reared and educated in his native city, and for many years made his home there. After completing his education he engaged in the gro- cery business and continued to be thus engaged until 1882, when he disposed of his interests there and came to California. In response to his expressed determination to make the change and his request for assistance in finding a suitable location, the Fargo Brothers of San Francisco, brothers of the late honored resident of San Ga- briel, purchased for him the property which is still the home of his widow, and there he located immediately on reaching California in 1882, con- tinuing to make this place his home until the time of his death, January 28, 1907. The prop- erty originally consisted of sixty-five acres, but additional purchases were made from time to time, until at one time there were ninety-five acres in all. Later twenty acres were sold, leaving, at the time of Mr. Fargo's death, an estate of seventy- five acres. At the time of the purchase there were a few seedling orange trees on the property and a few acres of vineyard. Later the vineyard was taken out and the entire acreage planted to orange trees which had been raised by Mr. Fargo from the seed and grafted on the place. The varieties chosen were Valencias and Washington Navels, and for many years the Vonita Vista Ranch was one of the most attractive, as well as one of the most productive, orange groves in the valley. In the beginning of his residence in Los Angeles county Mr. Fargo knew nothing about citrus culture, but he devoted a great deal of time and attention to the various details of the business, reading, investigating and experimenting, until he was classed as one of the best authorities in his part of the county.
The marriage of Mr. Fargo occurred in Bata- via. N. Y., in 1870, uniting him with Miss Olive Squire, of that city, who was the companion of all the remaining years of his life. Mrs. Fargo still makes her home at Vonita Vista Ranch, which under her careful management is still known as one of the best producing groves in the county. The property has been carefully kept up since the death of Mr. Fargo and is still exceed- ingly attractive. While he was of an exception- ally retiring disposition, Mr. Fargo had many warm friends and admiring acquaintances. He was a Mason, having joined the order in Batavia
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when he was a very young man, and later he be- came identified with the Knights Templar, also in Batavia.
Mrs. Fargo is always interested in all that per- tains to the welfare of her part of the county and is especially well versed in educational mat- ters. She is thoroughly conversant with all the details of her large business and keeps in close touch with her assistant in all matters of manage- ment and the general conduct of her property. She is familiar with the various phases of citrus culture, and while not so much an authority as was her husband, she is nevertheless so well informed that nothing escapes her attention.
FRANKLIN F. STETSON. A native of Massachusetts, Franklin F. Stetson was born in Westboro, February 19, 1860, the son of Daniel J. Stetson of South Scituate, Mass., and Mary W. Stetson of Sanbornton, N. H. He attended the grammar and high schools in Holliston, Mass., until reaching the age of sixteen years, when he was employed in his father's tack factory until the year 1881, at which time he came to California and engaged in fruit growing in Pasadena, where in 1889, in company with N. W. Philbrook, he started a cannery. In 1890 Mr. Philbrook re- tired, and Mr. Stetson moved the business to Los Angeles in 1896, locating at No. 325 North Avenue Twenty, at which address the business is still carried on. When he started in the canning in- dustry, Mr. Stetson employed but one assistant, while today there are in his employ from one hundred and fifty to two hundred men and women, and of the fruit and vegetables put up at his cannery shipments are made all over the United States. In 1903, together with T. J. Spencer, he started in the can manufacturing business at No. 310 North Avenue Nineteen, Los Angeles, incorporating the business in 1904 under the name of the Los Angeles Can Company, of which he has been president since its organiza- tion.
Mr. Stetson was married in Oakland, Cal., to Miss Irene Beaver of Youngstown, Ohio, March 3, 1898. In his political interests lie is a member of the Republican party, and his religious associa- tions are with the Methodist Church. He is a inember of the Chamber of Commerce, the Mer- chants and Manufacturers Association and the Municipal League.
DOLLAND M. GRAHAM. Among the pio- neers of the city of Pasadena, Cal., should be mentioned Dolland M. Graham, an attorney by profession and a native of Illinois, who came to Southern California in 1876. Settling in Pasa- dena in October of the same year, he purchased seven and one-half acres of land on Orange Grove avenue and later fifteen additional acres in the same locality, which property he planted to fruit trees and raised thereon successful crops of oranges. In 1887 he sold this land and built a fine home on thirty acres which he had pur- chased in South Pasadena, on an elevation over- looking the San Gabriel valley. There he lived until his death in 1890, nearly all of this land having later been subdivided and sold. It was through his influence that a postoffice was estab- lished in Pasadena. In the early days, when there was no railroad connecting Pasadena with Los Angeles, he established the first mail route between the two cities by driving a two-seated mail and passenger bus back and forth three times a week. After he had carried this on for a year the government established a regular route. Besides being one of the incorporators and direc- tors of the Farmers and Merchants National Bank of Los Angeles, he was the first president of the Board of Trustees of South Pasadena, and one of the founders of the city of Elsinore, which he platted and named. With William Collier and Frank Heald Mr. Graham purchased the Laguna rancho of thirteen thousand acres, which he him- self supervised and subdivided into small farms. Three thousand acres of this property is still in the possession of his family.
A graduate of Monmouth (Ill.) College, Mr. Graham had practiced law in Bloomington, Ill., having offices in the Title and Trust Company building there, before coming to California, where he became known as an influential citizen and a large land owner. He was united in mar- riage with Miss Margaret Collier, of Iowa, who was likewise a graduate of Monmouth College. She taught in the public schools of Los Angeles for five years after coming to California, being principal of the East Los Angeles school. She died in 1910. In the early days she was a writer of note, contributing to the Argonaut, Atlantic Monthly and Century magazines, besides which she published two books of stories pertaining to California and the Middle West.
When Mr. and Mrs. Graham came to Cali-
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fornia in 1876, there came with them also Miss Jane E. Collier, a sister of Mrs. Graham, who made herself an active and important pioneer in the new city of South Pasadena, where she con- tinues to reside at the family home. Always very active in the affairs of the city, she and her sister started, with the assistance of others, a free read- ing room in the Graham and Mohr block, which was carried on for a period of seven years, when it was donated to the city and merged in the Carnegie Public Library. Miss Collier has been a member of the Library Board for the past seven years, as well as having been one of the organizers and the first president of the Woman's Improve- ment Association of South Pasadena, an organ- ization which has done much for the betterment of the city and has built for itself a fine club house.
RICHARD J. MOHR, M. D. The death of Dr. Richard J. Mohr, which occurred in Pasa- dena, Cal., February 23, 1900, removed from our country a man who had served in the Civil war both as an officer and surgeon, as well as having been a professor of surgery and a prac- ticing physician. Born at Uniontown, Pa., Sep- tember 27, 1840, Dr. Mohr as a young man re- moved to Iowa, where he graduated from the Medical College at Keokuk, that state. In 1861 he helped to organize and enlisted in the Tenth Iowa Infantry and was made lieutenant, being ad- vanced to the offices of assistant surgeon, sur- geon and brigade surgeon. He was mustered out at the age of twenty-five years, having accom- panied General Sherman on his famous march to the sea. For a year thereafter he was pro- fessor of surgery at Keokuk Medical College, also professor of anatomy at Iowa State Uni- versity, carrying on for a time a private medical practice in Fairfield, Iowa, later becoming sur- geon for the Rock Island Railroad. He was also well known as a lecturer on surgery at the Keo- kuk Medical College and during the years of his residence in Iowa was a member of the Pension Examining Board.
The first acquaintance of Dr. Mohr with South- ern California was in the year 1884, when he came to Los Angeles and built for himself a home on Hill street where the Los Angeles Electric depot now stands. His stay here at that time was short,
however, for after remaining awhile he returned to lowa and continued the practice of medicine for four years. In 1889 he came once more to California and settled in Pasadena, building a house on Colorado street opposite the present site of the Maryland Hotel, and carried on his med- ical practice there, having also large real estate interests in Southern California. In company with D. M. Graham, he built a brick block in South Pasadena, which is now one of the old landmarks of the city.
A man well known to the early settlers of Pasadena and vicinity, Dr. Mohr was a member of the local medical associations and of the Twi- light Club, as well as of the Loyal Legion and the Grand Army of the Republic, also being a Knight Templar Mason. He was united in marriage with Martha Collier, a native of Ohio but a resident of Iowa from early childhood. As a tribute to the memory of her husband, Mrs. Mohr has equipped the surgical room of a new hospital erected at Fairfield, Iowa.
JOSEPH W. WOLFSKILL. From the facts that his father was well known as a pioneer fruit raiser and important landowner in Los An- geles and an active worker in the interests of education, and his mother a member of a promi- nent Spanish California family, Joseph W. Wolfskill of Los Angeles may be called a native son of California, as well as for the reason that he himself was born in this city, where he is well known as a successful business man.
The pioneer spirit has always been strong in the Wolfskill family, its men having been public spirited and progressive, active not only in the upbuilding of their own fortunes but also in the promoting of the welfare of the communities where they have lived. The father of Mr. Wolfskill was William Wolfskill, a native of Kentucky and of German and Irish descent. who grew up in an unsettled section of Missouri which was harassed by Indians, in 1822 coming west to New Mexico, where he engaged in trapping for beaver and in buying herds of cattle which he sent to eastern markets. In 1831 William Wolfskill arrived in Los An- geles, where he built the first schooner in Cali- fornia, and later devoted himself to the cultiva- tion of citrus fruits, grapes and nuts and the
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raising of stock, and the son, who is a retired horticulturist, obtained his first lessons from his father, who in 1841 planted the first orange grove in this section and in 1856 set ont a grove of two thousand orange trees near where the Arcade Depot now stands, this being the largest orange orchard at that time in Southern California. From this ranch, which proved a great success, twenty- five thousand boxes of oranges and lemons were shipped in one year. The cultivation of nuts also claimed the attention of William Wolfskill, and he imported from Italy sweet almonds, which, however, did not prove the success in the Cali- fornia climate which other nuts did. Besides the pursuit of horticultural interests, William Wolfskill devoted much of his time and energy to the continuation of the private school estab- lished by himself in his home at the corner of Fourth and Alameda streets, Los Angeles, where his own children, as well as those of many other pioneers, received their education, under the in- struction of H. D. Barrows, who married the eldest daughter of Mr. Wolfskill. The wife of William Wolfskill was one of an old Spanish family, Magdalena Lugo, the daughter of Don Jose Ygnacio Lugo and Doña Rafaela Romero Lugo of Santa Barbara, Cal., and of their six children three are now living, namely, Joseph W., Mrs. Charles J. Shepherd and Mrs. Frank Sabichi. Of their three children who are de- ceased, the eldest daughter, who married H. D. Barrows, died in 1863; Lewis, who married a daughter of Henry Dalton, of Aznsa rancho, died in 1884; and Rafaelita died in childhood, in the year 1855. Both the parents are now deceased, William Wolfskill having died in 1866, his wife four years earlier.
The son, Joseph W. Wolfskill, was born in Los Angeles, September 14, 1844, received his education in the private school established by his father, and owned one hundred and twenty acres of land near the present Arcade Station, fifty acres of which were planted to oranges and vine- yards, this property, as its value increased with the growth of the city, being sold in large tracts, now all comprised in business property and held at fabulous prices. At present Mr. Wolfskill owns a ranch at Riverside, Cal., of about three thousand acres, given up to the industries of cattle raising and the cultivation of walnut orchards. This ranch is operated by himself and his son, Mr. Wolfskill spending much of his time there,
his city home being the beautiful two-story resi- dence at No. 540 Ardmore avenue, Los Angeles, he being the owner also of a handsome home on Pacific avenue, Redondo, Cal., where he resided for many years subsequent to 1887. Mrs. Wolfskill owns various tracts of the Rancho San Jacinto Nueva. Mr. Wolfskill holds a high place in the esteem of the city where he has spent his life, and to whose interests he has ever lent a helping hand, having been a strong advocate of the Los Angeles Aqueduct and the Owens river project, and having rendered valuable services as a member of the Common Council of the city several years ago.
The marriage of Joseph Wolfskill took place in San Francisco, uniting him with Ellen de Pedro- rena, a native of San Diego, Cal., and daughter of Hon. Miguel de Pedrorena, a native of Spain and pioneer of San Diego, where he was well known as a rancher and stockman, as well as a member of the first constitutional convention of California. Mr. and Mrs. Wolfskill became the parents of ten children, of whom two are de- ceased.
HENRY O'MELVENY. In studying the career of Mr. O'Melveny the loyal Angeleno is gratified that activities so far-reach- ing. aspirations so comprehensive and a legal ex- perience so broad should have been identified with the professional advancement and civic progress of this city by the sunset sea. The senior mem- ber of the firm of O'Melveny, Stevens & Millikin, a well-known law partnership established in 1907, has been connected with the professional history of the city for so long a period that in the open- ing years of his practice there were scarcely fif- teen thousand people in the community. As the city grew, his own influence and prestige kept pace with a growing population, and many who now regard themselves as old settlers cannot re- call the time when the name of this lawyer did not carry weight in professional circles and in the courts of the district. This is all the more re- markable when it is recalled that Mr. O'Melveny is still in the prime of mental and physical vigor, with a reasonable expectancy of many years of ripening usefulness and public service. A recog- nition of his deep knowledge of fundamental law as well as length of service qualify him for rank
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