USA > California > Los Angeles County > Los Angeles > A history of California and an extended history of Los Angeles and environs, Biographical, Volume II > Part 57
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received in the common schools of the state. Later he came west to Missouri, and it was from Kansas City that he started to California with his band of sheep in 1857, being in the service of Talcot & Murray.
The marriage of Mr. Thompson took place in 1882, the bride being Miss Fannie Thompson, of Essex, Vt., and although of the same name as her husband, was a member of a different family. Since her husband's death Mrs. Thomp- son has continued to manage the home place at East Whittier with the greatest success, and has raised on her trees some of the finest lem- ons grown in the valley. She is a woman of wide interests and is closely identified with the various interests and activities of the com- munity. She is especially active in church work, as well as a number of woman's activi- ties, being a prominent member of the East Whittier Woman's Club and an influential worker in the Eastern Star, in which she was the first matron of the local lodge. She is also active in the Woman's Relief Corps. In her views on public questions she is broadminded and progressive and stands firmly for any move- ment that tends toward the general welfare and growth of the city.
THOMAS J. CUNNINGHAM. A native of Massachusetts, and descended from one of the sturdy old New England families, Thomas J. Cunningham has been a resident of the west for many years and is a true and loyal son of the Pacific slope. Since 1888 he has been in the undertaking business in Los Angeles and is today one of the best known men in his special line in the city. He is well known throughout social and fraternal circles, being especially well known in Catholic circles.
Mr. Cunningham was born in Randolph, Mass., September 28, 1859, the son of William and Mary (Lawless) Cunningham, of that city. His father, who was a shoemaker, has been dead many years, but his mother is still living, although at an ad- vanced age. Young Cunningham received his early education in the Randolph public schools, attending until he was about fourteen years of age, at which time he entered his father's shoe shop as an apprentice, learning the trade, and remaining in association with his father until he
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was twenty-one. It was at that time, 1880, that he made his first trip to California, locating in San Francisco, where he engaged in the grocery busi- ness for two years. He then returned to Ran- dolph, where for another two years he was cn- gaged in the shoe-making business. The lure of the west continued to call, however, and at the end of that time he again turned his face toward the Pacific coast. This time, however, he did not reach the coast at once, but went to Tombstone, Ariz., where for two years, from 1884 to 1886, he worked in a hotel. In 1886 he came to Los An- geles, and for two years took anything in the way of employment that offered. In 1888 he engaged in the undertaking business in partnership with James Cussen, under the firm name of Cussen & Cunningham. At the end of a year this was changed to admit another partner, the new name being Hopkins, Cussen & Cunningham. Two years later Mr. Hopkins died and the firm con- tinued as Cussen & Cunningham until 1898, at which time another change occurred, this time in the retirement of Cussen and the admission of O'Connor into partnership, the business continu- ing thereafter under the firm name of Cunning- ham & O'Connor. Throughout the years the busi- ness of the firm has continued to grow and their patronage has extended appreciably. In 1905 they erected a handsome structure for their business on Grand avenue, where they are now located.
Aside from his close and careful attention to his business duties, the principal interests of Mr. Cunningham have always been associated with the Catholic church and its various organizations. He is a charter member of the Knights of Columbus in Los Angeles, and one of the organizers of the local council, and their first treasurer, he having continued to hold this office since that time. He is also a member of the Hibernians, and has at various times held all the different offices of that order. In the Catholic Order of Foresters he is an influential and active member. He is a member of St. Joseph's Catholic church and a regular attendant on all its services. In his political views Mr. Cunningham is a Republican. He is keenly alive to all that concerns the welfare of the munici- pality and is especially well informed on all public questions of the day. He has never sought office for himself, but has loyally supported the candi- dates and principles of his party.
The marriage of Mr. Cunningham was solemn- ized at the historic old Plaza church, Our Lady
of the Angels, April 27, 1893, the bride being Miss Mary Maloney, the daughter of Richard Maloney, a California pioneer and a well known carriage maker of an early day. Of their union have been born nine children, all natives of Los Angeles, where they have received their educa- tion. They are Vincent, William C., Kathleen M., George G., Francis, Ellen, Edward, Agnes and Louis.
WILLIAM FRANCIS MARSHALL. A native of the town of Brick Meeting House, Md., and the son of Samuel and Asenath ( Smith ) Mar- shall, William Francis Marshall was born August 27, 1851. Both his parents were Philadelphia Quakers, the father being a dentist by profession. The son received his education in Wilmington, Del., and was for a time engaged with the Dia- mond State Rolling Mills in Delaware. Removing to California in the year 1876, Mr. Marshall en- tered the hardware business in partnership with J. A. Henderson, under the firm name of Henderson & Marshall, conducting this business until 1882, when he sold out to Schroder & Johnson and went into the lumber business. In this he continued until 1891, at that time buying out the firm of Brown-Foster Hardware Company and changing the name to the California Hardware Company. This business he conducted until about 1913, when he retired from active business.
Mr. Marshall is also connected with the Ameri- can National Bank of Monrovia, Cal., where he holds the office of director, and for several years has been on the board of trustees of the Unitarian Church in Los Angeles. In politics he is a Repub- lican. His marriage to Olive E. Gibson in Los Angeles was solemnized on December 5, 1883, and they became the parents of two children, Hugh G., a graduate engineer of Stanford Uni- versity, now engaged with the California Hard- ware Company, and Ruth K. Marshall.
JAMES T. BLYTHE. The interests of the Blythe family have of recent years centered about the California towns in Los Nietos valley. The family came to Downey, in that district, in the year 1888, and James T. Blythe be- came founder and president of the Los Nie-
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tos Bank of Downey. Clinton Blythe, the father, a native of Kentucky, was also in- terested in the bank at Downey. The last years of Clinton Blythe's life were spent at Long Beach, Cal., where he died in 1911. His wife, now living at Long Beach, was Mary Parks before her mar- riage, and bore her husband seven children, name- ly : James T., born in Bosque county, Texas, in 1879, now a resident of Bellflower, Los Angeles county, Cal .; Paul, in charge of the Watts branch of the Los Nietos Valley Bank; Mrs. Ernest Creith, Mrs. A. B. Evans, Mrs. Ernest Fox and Mrs. R. Smith, all residing at Long Beach, and Miss Mary Blythe, of Bellflower.
The eldest son, James T. Blythe, worked on ranches in different parts of Los Angeles county, and about 1900 invested with his father in fifty acres of land near Hynes, Cal., where he has lived ever since and continued the occupation of farming. At first he raised barley, corn and potatoes, also for some years running a dairy of thirty cows, but since 1910 he has been farming the land to sugar beets, the average yield of which is from sixteen to eighteen tons per acre. Mr. Blythe has always taken an interest in the munic- ipal affairs of the place, being a progressive and public-spirited man. He married Miss Ellen Sproul, a native of California, whose father, Bedford Sproul, a native of the state of Maine, came to California in the early days and was an extensive landowner in Norwalk. Los Angeles county.
JOHN JACOBS JONES. Plans for the beautification of Los Angeles are the especial hobby of John Jacobs Jones, and the establish- ment of a grand scenic boulevard from the ocean to the foothills by the paving and beautification of Vermont avenue along its entire route, from San Pedro to the county highway at Griffith park, is one of his pet projects, and one on which he has expended much time and thought. He is the originator of the San Gabriel Forest Reserve, and another of his unique ideas is the creating therein of a "park of all nations." The scheme here is to set aside a certain area for the various nations of the earth and then invite each nation to repro- duce in this park the most interesting sight in its own country. In the furtherance of his plans for a beautiful city Mr. Jones is allied with various
local societies and organizations whose ef- forts are directed along that line, and is chairman of the Vermont Avenue Boulevard Committee, of the Pioneers of Los Angeles County, of the N. E. W. Commercial and Im- provement Association and the Harbor Boule- vard Federated Improvement Association.
Mr. Jones is a native of Germany, born in Ham- burg, May 25, 1854, the son of Simon and Metta (Struss) Jones His early education was received in his native land, and when a boy of fourteen years he removed with his parents to America, locating at Red Wing, Minn., where the father engaged in farming. After spending about seven years in Minnesota on the farm Mr. Jones came to California, locating in Los Angeles, where dur- ing his first winter he was in the employ of a butcher. Following this for several years he was engaged in farming near Anaheim, Orange county, and later went to Arizona and New Mexi- co and for three years followed mining with vary- ing success. In 1881 he returned to Los Angeles and settled on a fruit ranch, upon which he re- mained for several years, and later became in- terested in Antelope valley, where he and M. L. Wicks developed the water supply for that region on Rich creek. For a few years at a later period he was a resident of San Diego, engaging in the nursery business there. However, during the greater part of the time since the early '80s he has been a resident of Los Angeles, making his home in what is now South Hollywood, where he has been engaged in the nursery business. He has been variously interested in business and develop- mental projects in Los Angeles and the surround- ing country and has contributed his full share to the welfare and growth of the city. He was one of the original stockholders of the Temple Street Railway and also of the Los Angeles & Pacific Railway, and was a strong advocate of several similar undertakings in an earlier day.
Mr. Jones is also well and favorably known through the various fraternal organizations of Los Angeles, in several of which he is a promi- nent figure. He is a Mason in high standing, a Knight Commander and a member of the Court of Honor, which was conferred upon him by the Supreme Council for constant and faithful serv- ice. He is also a Shriner and is past patron of the Eastern Star. For more than thirty-five years Mr. Jones has been a member of the Odd Fellows and has been honored on many occasions by that
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organization. The Los Angeles County Historical Society is another organization which claims his support and co-operation and in whose work he takes a keen interest and delight.
Altogether Mr. Jones is one of the type of citizens of whom Los Angeles is justly proud and to whom she owes much. In his personal business affairs Mr. Jones is thrifty and prosperous, and his standing in commercial circles of the city is very high. He is devoted to the welfare of the city and there is never a time when the call of the municipality is not to him as a command. His service is rendered unselfishly and loyally, and his faith in the stupendous future of the Southland is unqualified.
ISAAC KENNEDY. Though advanced in years, Isaac Kennedy is bright and active, phys- ically as well as mentally, and is a living testi- mony to the value of a strong constitution, a sturdy manhood, a clean life and a useful career. He started in life as a blacksmith and laid the foundation for his fortune while running his blacksmith's shop at the corner of Los Angeles and Aliso streets, in the city of Los Angeles, in the early '80s, and is now rated as a very sub- stantial man in financial circles.
Born near Balesborough, County Cavan, Ire- land, December 14, 1844, Mr. Kennedy was the son of Thomas and Jane (Wilson) Kennedy, the former a blacksmith. At nine years of age the boy removed with his parents to Rochester, N. Y., the family later going to Port Hope. Canada, opposite the city of Rochester, where the father died in the year 1855, aged sixty-three years. The son learned the blacksmith's trade and secured employment in that line in Cleveland, Ohio, where he lived for fifteen or sixteen years. In the meantime he was married in that city to Eliza Ann McBurney, who died in Los Angeles, Cal., June 30, 1907. From Cleveland Mr. Kennedy re- moved to Kansas, remaining there for eleven months, thence about the year 1883 coming to Los Angeles. Here he established his shop at Los Angeles and Aliso streets, a location which proved advantageous, and here he made his real start in life. A thorough-going blacksmith, he saved his money, putting a part of it into Los Angeles realty, and now deals in real estate, in- cluding dwelling houses and good real estate mort-
gages, handles his own property, and has bought a fine residence on Orange street. He maintains a fine suite of offices on the tenth floor of the Title Insurance building, where he carries on his business of real estate, investments and loans.
During his entire career Mr. Kennedy has at- tended strictly to his business, keeping himself at the highest point of efficiency. In politics he is a Republican, and the religious associations of both himself and his wife have been with the Episcopal Church. Since the death of Mrs. Ken- nedy a niece has kept house for him. The two children born to Mr. and Mrs. Kennedy died dur- ing the residence of the family in Cleveland. A well preserved man, of high moral character, in perfect harmony with his environment, it is probable that Mr. Kennedy will spend many years yet in his adopted home in the state of California.
FRANK ASBURY GIBSON. The late Frank Asbury Gibson was born in Pittsburg, Iowa, November 23, 1851, there being also four daughters in the family, three of whom live here and one is deceased. The father, Hugh Gibson, who was of Scotch descent, was born in Harris- burg, Pa., and died in 1873, in Los Angeles. The mother, who was born in the Isle of Man, was a woman of much influence and possessed many sterling qualities. The family came to California in 1866, when Frank was in his fifteenth year. He received his education in the common schools of Iowa, and in the College of the Pacific, near San Jose. He lived in San Joaquin and Colusa coun- ties three years, and came to Los Angeles in 1872, first engaging in surveying, and then secured a position in the postoffice, which he held until 1877. In that year he went into the abstract business, becoming manager of the Abstract and Title In- surance Company. He also became county re- corder, first by appointment of the supervisors to fill a vacancy, and then by election from 1885 to January, 1889. He was a member of the board of education for the years 1883-'84-'85, and dur- ing the latter portion of the time he was president of the board. In 1871-'72 he was clerk and acting agent of the Round Valley Indian Reservation. In 1893 he entered the First National Bank as cashier, and was serving in this capacity at the time of his death, in 1901.
In 1881 Mr. Gibson married Mary K. Simons,
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A. L. Wilson
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and one son was born to them. Mr. Gibson was a man of high character and enjoyed the respect and confidence of the entire community.
ATLAS L. WILSON. When one rides through the beautiful orange groves of South- ern California it is hard to realize that there was ever a time when the culture of the orange was looked upon as a venture, and that the men who dared to make the trial in the then new field are the truest pioneers that the state can claim, for they were pioneers twice over, once for the state and again for a great industry. One of these men was Atlas L. Wilson, who after many years spent in various parts of the west, principally in the mining districts, finally came to Los Angeles when the city was little more than a village and the surrounding coun- try was largely a barren waste. With his wife he drove out to Duarte and some two miles from there purchased a tract of forty acres. Here he built a home and planted a part of his land to orange trees, he being the first man in that section of the county to engage in the industry. The first grove, consisting of ten acres, was set to seedling trees, for which Mr. Wilson paid $2.50 each. Later he planted the remaining thirty acres to Australian and Wash- ington Navels and engaged in the orange in- dustry on a large scale. Theirs was the only house within sight at the time that it was built, and the surrounding country was a desert waste. The city of Monrovia had not even been thought of and their venture in the orange line was very much of a pioneering project.
Mr. Wilson was a native of Pennsylvania and was born on a farm near Little Washington. When he was a young man he went to Phila- delphia, where for a number of years he clerked in a store, learning the dry goods business in all its details. Later he opened a similar business for himself in Philadelphia, and at a still later date disposed of this and engaged in the same line in Davenport, Iowa. The mining excite- ment in the west was claiming the attention of many of the brightest and most ambitious young men of the time, and from Davenport Mr. Wilson went to Boise, Idaho, where he was employed in the mines and also was interested in prospecting and locating claims. From there
he went to Omaha, Neb., and later, when the gold discoveries in California were making this state the center of the world's attention, he crossed the plains with ox teams and reached California in 1857. For several years he was engaged in mining and also spent some time in San Francisco. In 1866 he recrossed the plains to Nebraska, where he was married to Cathe- rine Adair, a native of Wolf Lake, Noble county, Ind., December 24, 1866.
In his trips across the plains Mr. Wilson met with all manner of exciting experiences and adventures with the Indians. The trip from California to Nebraska was made with mule teams in company with three companions, youthful adventurers like himself, and was one of the thrilling experiences of the pioneer days of this true pioneer. It was in 1875 that Mr. Wilson returned to California, arriving in Los Angeles January 1. This was his second trip to California, but his first to Los Angeles, and this time he was accompanied by his wife. In the establishment of their home. which was the previously mentioned pioneer orange grove near the present site of Monrovia, Mr. Wilson had as his constant companion and helpmeet his wife, who up to the time of his death in 1882 was his adviser and close business associate, and who since that time has herself conducted her affairs with rare skill and judgment. For a time Mr. Wilson also had a partner in Dr. Frank But- tolph, the ranch becoming known as the Wil- son & Buttolph ranch. In addition to his orange groves he also planted a family orchard of apple trees, peach trees and apricot trees and many varieties of berries. It is interesting to note that the original seedling grove is still standing, although the trees are almost forty years old.
When Monrovia became a town the widow, Mrs. Wilson, disposed of the ranch and moved into Monrovia, investing her money in town property. She purchased the corner of Mag- nolia avenue and White Oak avenue, one acre in extent, and eight other lots in various parts of the city ; also a corner at Myrtle and White Oak avenues, where she erected a home for herself, and where she still lives. She is one of the few remaining true pioneers of the vicinity and is held in unusually high esteem by her fellow citizens. She has always been active in the affairs of the city, and has for
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many years been classed as one of the most progressive and capable of its women citizens. Her home has been known as one of the most hospitable in the city and many of the pro- gressive movements during the past decade have been materially aided by her capable and practical assistance. She was one of the foun- ders of the public library and one of its first board of trustees. She is also a prominent member of the Episcopal church, and of the Saturday Afternoon Club, her membership in the latter organization dating from its second meeting.
When Mrs. Wilson first came to Los Angeles it was a city of but five thousand inhabitants and the United States Hotel was the leading hostelry. She has watched it grow to the present metropolis and many and interesting are the stories that she can tell of her early life here. Mrs. Wilson is the mother of one son, Samuel Adair Wilson, who is well and favor- ably known in the community where he was reared and educated. A daughter, Fannie, died at the age of one and a half years. Mrs. Wilson is the daughter of Samuel and Jane M. (Mac- Donald) Adair, and is a native of Indiana, born in 1846. Her childhood was spent in her native state, where she received her education in the public schools.
HON. THOMAS ROBERT BARD. One of the most energetic pioneers in California's early days, a bank president, supervisor, commissioner, presidential elector and United States Senator, the late Hon. Thomas R. Bard, whose death oc- curred March 5, 1915, was a man who never sought office but in every instance was sought by it. Both the public and private careers of this honored man may serve as models to the younger generation, the strength of purpose in all his ac- tions having made it possible for him to live a life so filled with both public and personal respon- sibilities, and to leave the impress of his indi- viduality upon the legislation enacted during his connection with the government.
Thomas Robert Bard was born in Chambers- burg, Pa., December 8, 1841, a son of Robert M. and Elizabeth (Little) Bard, the former born at Chambersburg, and the latter at Mercersburg, Pa. He received his early edu- cation in the public schools and at Cham-
bersburg Academy, from which institution he was graduated at the age of seventeen years. In his early years he devoted himself to the study of law with Judge Chambers, a retired supreme justice of Pennsylvania, but soon realiz- ing that he required a more practical and active occupation, he secured employment on a railroad corps, remaining for a time with the Huntington & Round Top Railroad in Pennsylvania. After resuming the study of law for a while, he ac- cepted the position of bookkeeper in the office of David Zeller, who was engaged in the grain busi- ness at Hagerstown, Md. This was about the time of the opening of the Civil war, and Mr. Bard, an enthusiastic reader of abolition articles in the Atlantic Monthly and the New York Tribune, was one of the few people in Hagers- town espousing the cause of the negro before the commencement of the war. During the progress of the war he held the position of assistant to the superintendent of the Cumberland Valley Rail- road, being in charge particularly of the trains bearing military supplies. While thus employed he made the acquaintance of Col. Thomas A. Scott, secretary of war and president of the Penn- sylvania Railroad, and it was through his urgent influence that Mr. Bard accepted the charge of the large land holdings of Colonel Scott in Cali- fornia. Making the trip west, via the Panama route, Mr. Bard reached San Francisco on the fifth of January, 1865, and made his home in Ventura county, where much of the property of Colonel Scott was located, the rest being in Los Angeles, Humboldt and Monterey counties, all together comprising an estate of three hundred and fifty thousand acres.
Here in California, Mr. Bard became the pio- neer in oil development in his section of the state, and while superintendent of the California Petro- leum Company, sunk on the Ojai ranch several of the earliest oil wells in the state, but the results of the work not coming up to the expectations of the company, the work was given up in 1868. Of the Union Oil Company of California, the Torrey Cañon Oil Company and the Sespe Oil Com- pany he was one of the organizers, being presi- dent also of the last mentioned, which, with the Torrey Cañon Oil Company, was finally merged in the Union Oil Company. In 1868 the Ojai ranch was subdivided by Mr. Bard and sold as small estates, and later on the Rancho Canada Larga was disposed of likewise, no controversy
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