USA > California > Los Angeles County > Los Angeles > A history of California and an extended history of Los Angeles and environs, Biographical, Volume III > Part 10
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fornia to ship fresh grapes in carload lots to the east, and the business proved fairly profitable but sustained the discouragements and vicissi- tudes incident to horticultural efforts. Later he enlarged his business by drying fruit and shipping it to the markets. Reverting to the trade of printer and to journalistic activities, Mr. Stamps engaged for two years as proprietor and editor of the Santa Ana Standard. Meanwhile the grow- ing importance of Los Angeles had so impressed him that he decided to cast in his lot with the leading city of the southwest. From 1889 until his death, which occurred July 19, 1913, he was a resident of this place, a part of the time engaging in the real estate business, but later with his only son, Charles Fox Stamps, conducting a gas-ap- pliance business. Surviving him are the son and the widow, Mrs. Kate (McCoy) Stamps, whom he had married in 1878 and who has been a life- long resident of Los Angeles. In the early '60s she was born in the old adobe house that stood on the corner of Third and Hill streets, a prop- erty purchased by her father in 1862 and contin- uously since then in the possession of the family, being now her individual holding. Years since, however, she left the shelter of the little house that was a landmark of the corner and she now owns and occupies a beautiful home at No. 1027 Lake street. Her parents were John and Rose (Johnson) McCoy, the former of Scotch-Irish lineage.
Coming to California in 1859 via the isthmus, Mr. McCoy became a pioneer of Los Angeles in 1860. During the early days of his residence in the city he engaged as foreman for General Banning in the teaming business. In a short time, however, he turned his attention to agricultural pursuits and bought for $800 an unimproved tract of thirty-five acres, lying in the vicinity of what is now Union avenue and Pico streets, in the heart of the residence section of the city. At the time of his arrival and indeed during the earliest recollections of his daughter, Mrs. Stamps, Los Angeles was a sleepy, overgrown village, with perhaps less than four thousand people, a large proportion of whom were of Spanish ancestry. Merchandise was shipped around the Horn and then dispatched from Los Angeles by freight cara- vans into the tributary country. All of the sub- sequent development Mrs. Stamps has witnessed with the loyalty of a native daughter and with a
patriotic spirit that delights in every feature of progress made in the rapid advancement of com- mercial institutions.
DANIEL WEBSTER. Though seventy-nine years of age, Daniel Webster, the mayor of the city of Tropico, Cal., is still an active business man. In 1911, when Tropico was made a city, Mr. Webster was elected a member of the first board of trustees, and at the death of Mayor Rich in 1915 was appointed chairman of the board, or mayor, which office he now holds. Dur- ing his membership on the board of trustees, many important improvements have been made, in the way of streets and lighting system, the build- ing of the city hall and the installation of the new fire department.
Like the man whose name he bears, Mr. Web- ster was born on a New England farm, his birth having occurred December 1, 1836, in Conway, N. H., his boyhood being spent on the farm. At eighteen years of age he learned the trade of blacksmith, at Gilmanton, N. H., in which oc- cupation he was for some months engaged at that town, his marriage taking place at Concord in December, 1857, and uniting him with Hannah Sleeper Smith, a native of New Hampshire. Re- moving to Woburn, Mass., Mr. Webster worked for some time at his trade, in 1860 going to Mon- treal, Canada, where for three years he was en- gaged in a leather manufactory. Returning to Woburn, he remained there until 1868, when he went west as far as Kansas, locating in Osage county, where he lived the life of a true pio- neer in that rough, wild country which was then unsettled and harassed by Indians. There Mr. Webster helped to form a school district, six miles wide and thirty miles in length. A stone schoolhouse was built, the school commencing with thirteen pupils, and Mr. Webster was for six years treasurer of the school board of his district. Having remained for twenty-four years in Kansas, where he was engaged in farming gov- ernment land, in 1891 he removed to California, where he purchased four acres of land in Tropico, which was then a sparsely settled place, mostly given up to barley fields. Here Mr. Webster set out orange trees, shade trees, etc., and at a later date this four acres, which he had greatly im- proved, was sold by him in building lots, at present being in the center of the residence section of
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Tropico and built up with fine homes. Retaining the land at the northeast corner of Central and Park avenues, Mr. Webster built his home there- on, improving the property with lawns, palms, flowers, etc.
The interests of Mr. Webster in California are not confined to the locality about the city of Tropico, for in 1900 he went into Imperial county and pioneered there, taking up a one- quarter section of land under the desert act, situated west of what is now the city of Im- perial, selling the same after two years, as he found the land not very satisfactory for farm- ing purposes. Later he homesteaded another one-quarter section, six miles west of El Centro, in the Imperial Valley, where he lived for five years, proving up on the same. He developed this property extensively, raising alfalfa there, and establishing a fine dairy of seventy cows. This property also Mr. Webster sold, on his two land investments clearing a net profit of $30,000. Recently he has bought twelve acres of land near Corona, Cal., which he is setting to oranges, and has kept the ownership of a house and two lots in El Centro. Mr. Webster is a man who believes in keeping busy, and aside from his pioneer work in both California and Kansas, and his duties as mayor and member of the board of trustees in Tropico, he was for four years a member of the board of trustees of the Verdugo Canyon Water Company.
Mr. Webster has two sons: Fred S., a resident of Burbank, Cal., who was active with his father in the development of the Imperial county ranch, and a member of and chairman of the first board of trustees of Imperial county, as well as the owner of a ranch in that county ; and Joseph H., of Tropico. There are also five grandchildren and six great-grandchildren, one of the grand- sons of Mr. Webster being cashier of the First National Bank of Holtville, Cal.
GIRLS' COLLEGIATE SCHOOL-Miss Alice K. Parsons, Miss Jeanne W. Dennen, prin- cipals. The Girls' Collegiate School, universally recognized as a leading educational institution in Southern California, and one at which many of the daughters of the best known families have been educated, was established here in 1892 by Miss Alice K. Parsons and Miss Jeanne W. Den-
nen, who are still principals and proprietors. Both Miss Parsons and Miss Dennen are women of rare ability, progressive, and sincere of purpose, and the school has rightly been called "an ideal school amid ideal surroundings."
Miss Parsons is a native of New York, born in Brooklyn, and the daughter of Samuel M. and Virginia (Whitwell) Parsons. Her father was a prominent attorney and for fifty years was located in Wall street. He was descended from a distinguished New England family, while the mother was a member of an old Virginian family. Miss Parsons was educated in New York, grad- uating from Wells College with the degree of B. A. Her inclination turned to teaching, and she accepted a position in Colonel Stevens' School at Bowling Green, Ky., where she remained for two years. She then went abroad for several years, studying in Switzerland, France and Ger- many. Later she returned to New York, and in 1885, with Miss Jeanne W. Dennen, estab- lished there a private school for girls. They met with instant and decided success, and after sev- eral years disposed of their interests and came to Los Angeles, establishing their present insti- tution in the fall of 1892. Their first location was on Tenth street between Olive street and Grand avenue, moving in 1895 to Grand avenue, near Washington street. Here they remained for five years, and in 1900 purchased their present handsome property on West Adams and Hoover streets.
The school now consists of several buildings, the main one of which, the "Casa de Rosas," is justly famed for its beauty. A new building for resident pupils, constructed on the same lines, with patios and arcades, adjoins it, and a beau- tiful gymnasium is in accord with the general plan of Spanish Renaissance architecture. Two other houses adjoin on Hoover street.
Enrollment averages one hundred and fifty young ladies, this number being the limit, while there is always an appreciable waiting list. Of these some thirty or forty are resident students, while the remainder are day pupils.
The school has a reputation for high scholar- ship, recognized throughout the country, its cer- tificates being accepted by colleges and universi- ties, east and west.
The courses planned are generous and com- prehensive, beginning with the sub-freshman class, extending to one or two years beyond re-
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quirements for graduation. This post-graduate work, besides the usual advanced literary courses, now embraces practical courses in business meth- ods and applied arts, meeting the increasing need of such study for young women. Domestic sci- ence and domestic arts have long been a part of the curriculum. Special attention is also given to music, expression and physical culture.
Miss Dennen and Miss Parsons were among the organizers of the Ebell Club and Miss Parsons was its first vice-president, serving in that capac- ity for five consecutive years.
Miss Jeanne W. Dennen is a native of Massa- chusetts, and was born in Boston, the daughter of Rev. Stephen and Clara (Ludwig) Dennen. Both of the parents were descended from well- known old New England ancestry, the mother being of the famous Whitney family. The daugh- ter received her early education in Bradford Acad- emy, and later attended Mrs. Cady's school in New Haven, where she continued her studies along advanced lines, specializing in Latin. Later she taught at the noted Packer Institute, Brook- lyn, remaining there until in 1885, when, together with Miss Parsons, she founded the New York school. Since this time they have been continu- ously associated in their educational work.
BENJAMIN E. PAGE. Descended from old New England stock, his ancestors on each side of the family having been residents of that part of the country for generations, Benjamin Edwin Page was born at North Haven, Conn., October 16, 1877, the son of Dr. Benjamin Maltby and Cornelia (Blakeslee) Page. His grandfather was a graduate of Yale Theological School and a well-known clergyman, and his great-grandfather was a prominent merchant and later a manufac- turer in New England. The father of Mr. Page, a physician in Cleveland, Ohio, removed to Çali- fornia in 1873 on account of his health, and here Mr. Page has spent the larger part of his life, re- ceiving his early education in the grammar and high schools of Pasadena, Cal., graduating from the latter in 1895. In 1899 he graduated from the Leland Stanford University with the degree of B. A., and in 1902 from the Columbia Law School, with the degree of LL. B. In the year of his graduation from the law school, Mr. Page was admitted to the bar in New York, and in tle fol-
lowing year in California, later being admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court. His first business association was with the firm of Bicknell, Gibson & Trask in Los Angeles, in whose office he began the practice of law, and during the years 1904 and 1905 was in partnership with Clarence A. Miller, whose death early in 1906, terminated the partnership, Mr. Page form- ing a partnership at the close of that year with Joseph R. Patton, who came to Los Angeles from San Jose, Cal., the partnership continuing until the death of Mr. Patton in 1910, since which time Mr. Page has practiced law independently, his specialties being banking, corporation, insurance and mining law. He has also acted as legal ad- viser for numerous well-known financial insti- tutions in the West, including the Occidental Life Insurance Company, the interests of the North- western Mutual Life Insurance Company in Cali- fornia, and several banks, he also being counsel for the Civic Center Association, the Los Angeles Realty Board and numerous real estate firms, and by his successful association with the companies above mentioned Mr. Page has won for himself a high standing in the legal profession in the West. In the leading branches of mining law. he is also regarded as an authority, his mining practice having been extensive and successfully carried on.
From his long residence in California, Mr. Page takes an interest in the progress of this state which is second to none, and in the city of Pasadena, where he makes his home, he is well known as a loyal and active citizen in all that tends to the betterment of the city, especially along educational lines, and the fact that he has for several years been a member of the Board of Education of Pasadena, and on four successive occasions its chairman, proves the influence and high esteem which he enjoys in that city in1 educational interests. In Los Angeles, likewise, he has made his presence felt in practical ways for the development of the city, he having been in -- strumental in the investing of funds of financial institutions with which he has been connected. In several companies of importance in Los An- geles and neighboring cities he holds important offices, being director in the Hellman Trust and Commercial Savings Bank, the First National Bank of Alhambra, the State Bank of San Pedro and the Occidental Life Insurance Company. He is a member of the Los Angeles County Bar Asso-
Fiuleris Fuera
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ciation, and the social clubs in which he holds membership are the Midwick Country, the Cali- fornia, the Valley Hunt, the Cerritos Gun and the Twilight Clubs. On March 1, 1906, Mr. Page was united in marriage with Miss Marie Mark- ham, the eldest daughter of Gov. Henry Harrison Markham, and they are the parents of three chil- dren, Eleanor, Benjamin Markham and Henry Harrison Page.
JAMES GARFIELD WARREN. Among the business concerns of Los Angeles a prominent place is held by the Warren & Bailey Manufac- turing Company, of which James Garfield Warren is the president. A native of Warren, Ohio, he received his early education in the public schools and graduated from the high school in Cleveland, Ohio, after which he entered Hiram College at Hiram, Ohio, from which he was graduated in 1883. Thus equipped for an independent career he was engaged for a year in the United States Internal Revenue Department at Cleve- land and then entered the employ of the National Bank of Commerce of that city, remaining in various responsible capacities until 1897, when he resigned to come west on account of his wife's health.
Upon arriving in Los Angeles Mr. Warren had made arrangements to engage in a banking career, but the possibilities in other lines made a stronger appeal to him and accordingly he pur- chased a one-half interest in a business conducted by A. A. Bailey, the firm becoming known as Warren & Bailey. In 1898 Mr. Bailey retired from the business and Mr. Warren continued the same, building on a sound basis and increasing the same until 1902, when he incorporated under the name of Warren & Bailey Manufacturing Company, himself becoming president, and he has continued as such ever since.
Upon assuming the leadership of this concern it had been Mr. Warren's aim to build substan- tially and well, and so successful has he been in his endeavors that his company hold the highest rank, in their line, of any in the west. They are manufacturers of fibrous and metallic steam pack- ings, boiler compound, babbit metals, and are com- pounders of lubricating oils from Pennsylvania stock. With the steady growth of the country through which their goods find a ready market,
their manufacturing department has become sec- ondary to their other lines and they are best known as jobbers and distributing agents of en- gineers' and mill supplies throughout the south- west. They handle only the leading goods in their lines, among which mention may be made of the Peerless Rubber Manufacturing Company's belt- ings, hose and packings ; Edward R. Ladew Com- pany's Hoyt Flintstone brand leather belting; Philip Carey Company's steam pipe and boiler coverings, roofing and artists' materials; Union Fibre Company's linofelt ; Greene, Tweed & Com- pany's Rochester force feed lubricators, Palmetto and Manhattan packings; Strong, Carlisle & Hammond Company's steam traps and regulating valves ; Crosby Steam Gauge & Valve Company's spring seat valves; American Injector Company ; Pemberthy regrinding valves ; Crescent Belt Fas- tener Company's belt plates and rivets ; The Mag- nolia Metal Company, Gandy Belting Company, and others. In fact, so securely has this business been built up that as jobbers and dealers they carry a larger stock in their particular line than any concern in the country, and are known by all the houses with whom they have dealings, and their customers, to carry the most complete stock of "quality goods" in the west.
Since 1900, Mr. Warren, having in the mean- time established the business on a firm basis, has made frequent trips to the east to get in close personal touch with the heads of the houses with whom the firm deals and has thus established a reputation for fairness and sound business meth- ods that has been the keynote of his success. This method has brought the company into that close association that is maintained between the main office and its branches, and business security is enjoyed by both parties. This same attitude ap- plies to the patrons of the Warren & Bailey Man- ufacturing Company. Mr. Warren's first thought is loyalty to his adopted home and, in so far as is possible, he believes in patronizing home indus- try, and better co-operation of the business men to build securely and make Los Angeles the foremost city of the west from a commercial standpoint, as well as a city of homes.
It must not be inferred that Mr. Warren, with all his business cares, has neglected other duties, for he has invested wisely in real estate and been a potent factor in the advancement of the city in many ways. He is the treasurer of the Lyon
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Fireproof Storage Company, a director of the Commercial National Bank, president and a di- rector of the Auditorium Company, a member of the First Christian Church and chairman of the official board, second vice-president of the Young Men's Christian Association, to which he devotes considerable time and attention, and for many years has been interested in the educational fea- tures of this organization, serving as chairman of the Educational Committee since 1908. In fact to this branch of the Y. M. C. A. work in the United States is traced the night schools and the vacation schools now maintained throughout the country by the boards of education. Of the latter it is well to note that in 1909 the first vaca- tion school in Los Angeles was started with two hundred and seventy boys, with some of the best teachers from the regular schools as instructors, and such an interest was aroused that in 1910 four such schools for boys and girls were started by the city. The attendance at the Association's schools ran as high as two thousand in a single year, with fifty different instructors. The work was later taken up so thoroughly by the city that the Association abandoned certain departments of its school in 1915 and is devising other ways and means to reach out for the young men of the city to make them useful citizens. Great credit is due the unselfish work done by Mr. Warren in this one particular department of Y. M. C. A. work, although in every way he has aided the work of the Association by his financial support and wise counsel. He is likewise a supporter of va- rious charities and philanthropies. In politics he supports Republican principles. The marriage of Mr. Warren with Maude M. Remick took place in Los Angeles June 5, 1895, and they have one daughter, Elinor Warren.
THE B & F RANCH, BALDWIN PARK. Owned and operated by Bresee & Frazier, both well known in Los Angeles, and under the direct personal management of F. O. Frazier, who has been the guiding spirit from the beginning of the reclamation of the land from its dog- hole-cactus-rattlesnake stage up to its present high state of cultivation, the B & F Ranch, of Baldwin Park, is a notable example of what may be accomplished with apparently useless land in the San Gabriel valley. Neither Mr. Bresee
nor Mr. Frazier had had experience in agricultural pursuits or stock and dairy business of any sort until the spring of 1909, when they traded for a twenty-acre tract of land, partly improved, two and a half miles from their present handsome property and in the heart of the walnut dis- trict. Mr. Frazier occupied the twenty acres and soon began to acquire ranch experience and to have visions of larger enterprises along the same line. Before the end of the year he had applied to the administrators of the E. J. Baldwin estate for a lease on the land, a part of which is now known as the B & F Ranch. He was advised that they were neither ready to sell or lease the land, but they did, however, give a bond for the sale and purchase of a considerable portion of the then unused tract lying between the east line of the old Workman Ranch and what is now Baldwin Park, and the Southern Pacific Railroad on the south and the Pacific Electric Railroad on the north, a tract up to that time con- sidered worthless for agricultural purposes. However, Bresee and Frazier disposed of a part of the land they had under bond and purchased the remainder themselves, acquiring by the tran- saction altogether one hundred and thirty acres. Their neighbors and friends prophesied failure for the enterprise as a producing proposition, but today, in less than five years from the beginning of their operations on the so-called "worthless" land, the B & F Ranch stands a monument to its owners, who had the courage of their convictions. They have at present one of the best equipped and most up-to-date dairy ranches in California, and the only large Jersey breeding farm in South- ern California. Their property is a combination dairy and breeding farm. There are one hundred acres of alfalfa, producing in two years as much per acre, at as low a cost, as any similar ranch where the water has to be pumped. They are the principal owners of a pumping plant, using a forty-two horse power gas engine, operated at a cost of less than sixty cents per hour, and giving an average flow of more than two hundred miner's inches of water, this being a very neces- sary adjunct, if not a necessary foundation, for success in raising alfalfa. They have a splendid herd of one hundred and twenty-five Jerseys, from which the land receives the benefit of the fertilization, another vital element of success. They also own the pure-bred Jersey bull, "Merry Maiden's Conquest," a direct descendant of the
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famous "Merry Maiden" who was the grand champion at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, where the longest and most exacting dairy test and show that has ever been held in America took place. The dairy of the B & F Ranch is modern and sanitary in every detail, and is conducted in the most approved scientific manner. The milk is a high-class product and in every phase of its handling every precaution and care are taken to keep it scientifically pure. The dairy has an en- viable reputation with the health authorities and the users of the product, and it is claimed that they furnish the best and cleanest milk that is sent into Los Angeles. Fifteen men, all white, are employed and they are all deeply interested in the welfare of the ranch, taking an interest far beyond any mere question of wages. The milk sold to all classes of customers tests five per cent. butter fat. It is delivered in Los Angeles in double-capped bottles within five hours after being drawn. There are two silos of one hundred and sixty tons capacity each on the ranch that are filled each year with green corn silage, and in other ways modern im- provements have been installed and others are being constantly added. These men think that to make good wholesome milk it is necessary to give the animals producing it clean wholesome feed, and their cows get no "prepared" feed of any sort, the owners being especially averse to the use of beet pulp, either "green" or dried. In their early experience they tried different kinds of "made" feeds and became fully convinced that, for the best health of the cows and for the production of milk of real quality, nothing but clean alfalfa hay and grains in as nearly the natural state as possible should be used; and in spite of many opinions to the contrary they do not think "pasteurized" milk as good for the health of users as clean milk untampered with and delivered while it is fresh. The owners have used their own methods of development, often going against the advice of experienced men, making a careful study of conditions and working out de- tails along logical lines of their own. Their suc- cess has been almost phenomenal, and today they have an investment worth some $125,000 as the property stands, which is one of the most valuable additions to the community that can be found.
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