USA > California > Los Angeles County > Los Angeles > A history of California and an extended history of Los Angeles and environs, Biographical, Volume III > Part 11
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Mr. Bresee and Mr. Frazier are lifelong friends, having been schoolboys together. They were both beyond the half-century mark when
they started upon this last enterprise and their success is the fruit of maturity and good judg- ment. In addition to their dairy and stock farm, they are utilizing every phase of their ranch, and conduct a splendid poultry ranch in connection therewith. They have upwards of three thousand birds and are meeting with the same success in this line as their dairy enjoys. They have both fancy fowls and utility stock, and see to it that none but pure-bred birds are in their yards, al- though they have some fifteen different breeds. They have hatching and brooding capacity of three thousand per month, and do an extensive business in hatching eggs, baby chicks and breed- ing stock. The products of their chicken ranch are delivered in Los Angeles and Covina, together with their dairy products, by means of auto trucks. They supply in both lines two of the largest hospitals and one of the leading hotels in Los Angeles, besides numerous private cus- tomers.
E. H. Bresee, who is the partner in this splen- did enterprise, is well known in Los Angeles, where he has resided for many years, he being the head of the well-known firm of undertakers known as Bresee Brothers. Both Mr. Bresee and Mr. Frazier are progressive and broad-minded citizens, and in their undertaking they take quite as much pride in the achievement because they have accomplished the so-called impossible and have "made the desert blossom as the rose," as they do in any financial success attained. They have demonstrated in a thoroughly practical manner just what may be done under given con- ditions and so have been real benefactors of man- kind.
CLAUD O. PULLIAM. Associated with all the movements to improve the city of Glendale, and prominent as one of the first men to sign the petition to pave Broadway in that city and to install ornamental electric lights thereon, Claud O. Pulliam, proprietor of the Pulliam Under- taking Company, Nos. 919-921 West Broadway, Glendale, is known as one of the most public- spirited residents of the place.
Born December 18, 1869, at Columbia, Mo., he was for twenty years engaged in the under- taking business in Kansas City, Mo., for two years being deputy coroner of the county, and for five years the manager of the business of
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Eugene Carlat & Sons, Undertakers, which he left to devote the following five years with the Carroll-Davidson Undertaking Company. Mr. Pulliam was actively engaged with the Park De- partment of Kansas City, in the perfecting of that city's famous system of parks, upon which the sum of $15,000,000 was expended. Later he was for some time in the auditor's office of the Nelson Morris Packing Company, after which he returned to the employ of the Carroll-Davidson Company, with whom he remained until his re- moval to California, where he arrived on May 3, 1906, and commenced work the next week with the well-known undertaking firm of Bresee Brothers, Los Angeles, with whom he remained for a year. In April, 1907, removing with his family to Glen- dale, he there opened an undertaking establish- ment at Third and Everett streets, and has con- tinued in that business in Glendale ever since. Pur- chasing lots near the corner of Broadway and Louise streets, Mr. Pulliam erected thereon his well equipped undertaking establishment where, since January, 1908, he has carried on his business, this company, with the exception of the Bank of Glendale, being the oldest business firm in the city. The work is done under his personal super- vision, all details being up-to-date in every re- spect, and Mr. Pulliam was the first man in this part of the county to provide his business with a full line of automobile equipment. His influence has been felt in the city of Glendale during the eight years of his residence there, he having been secretary of the Water Commission to investigate the water situation of the town, and a mem- ber of the board of trustees of the Glendale Union High School, in 1912 having been elected to the presidency of the same. He is a member of the Glendale Merchants' Association and of the Chamber of Commerce permanent water commit- tee. In Masonic circles, also, he is well known, being a member of Unity Lodge No. 368, F. & A. M., Unity Chapter No. 116, R. A. M., Knights Templar Commandery No. 53, Glendale, and of the Los Angeles Consistory of the Scottish Rite and Al Malaikah Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., and with his wife is a member of Glen Eyrie Chapter 237, O. E. S., Glendale. He is also a member of Glendale Lodge No. 1289, B. P. O. E., and of the Pacific Homestead Brotherhood of American Yeomen, which latter organization he joined many years ago in Kansas City. He was for
several years secretary of the Fraternal Brother- hood, and is at present past noble grand of Glen- dale Lodge No. 388, I. O. O. F.
Mr. Pulliam was married to Mrs. Elizabeth Johnson, in Kansas City, prior to coming to Cali- fornia. They have two daughters, Myrtle and Emma, and they reside at the family home which Mr. Pulliam built at No. 148 Kenwood street.
EDWARD LEODORE MAYBERRY. A true Native Son of the Golden West, Edward Leodore Mayberry is also one of the best known architectural engineers in the Southland, and has been in charge of some of the most noteworthy structures that have been built in Southern Cali- fornia during the past half dozen years or more, and is today doing his full share in the upbuild- ing of his community.
Mr. Mayberry was born in Sacramento, Sep- tember 18, 1871, and is the son of Edward L. and Emily Jane (Gray) Mayberry, who are well known in Los Angeles county, where they have resided for many years. Young Mayberry re- moved to Los Angeles county with his parents when he was but six years of age, and has since that time made this city his home. He received his early education in the grade and high schools, and graduated from the Los Angeles high school in 1888. Following that he spent one year in the University of Southern California, and one year in a local business college. In 1890 he entered the employ of Sehoder, Johnston & Co. (now the Union Hardware & Metal Company), resigning after two years to enter the University of Cali- fornia, from which he graduated in 1896 with a degree of B. L. After his graduation he re- entered the service of his former employers, re- maining until 1902, when he went east to enter the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In that institution he pursued his studies diligently, with engineering as the desired goal, and was graduated in 1906 with the degree of Bachelor of Science.
Following his graduation Mr. Mayberry re- turned to Los Angeles and became designing en- gineer for Carl Leonardt and has had charge of the engineering work on many important struc- tures, among these being the U. S. Grant Hotel and the Union building at San Diego. In 1907
Se Oh aworld
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he withdrew from his association with Mr. Leonardt and formed a partnership with L. A. Parker and has since continued in this associa- tion.
In this independent venture Mr. Mayberry has met with distinct success, and his clientele num- bers some of the leading firms in the city, as well as many private individuals whose building en- terprises are extensive, and whose work is neces- sarily of the highest grade.
Mr. Mayberry has always been intimately as- sociated with the affairs of the city, and possesses a host of friends who have known him from his early childhood. He is a member of the leading civic and social clubs of the city, and is promi- nent in more than a few of these. Among the latter may be mentioned the Sierra Club, the San Gabriel Valley Country Club, University Club, the City Club of Long Beach and the Engineers and Architects Association.
The marriage of Mr. Mayberry and Miss Ada Stevens Phillips took place in Pasadena, Cal., January 21, 1901, since which time they have made their home in Long Beach, where they are popular socially.
GEORGE LEONARD ARNOLD. A resi- dence of twenty-seven years in California, from 1887 until the time of his death, proves that to George Leonard Arnold this state has shown itself to be a very acceptable home. The birth- place of Mr. Arnold was Fond du Lac, Wis., the capital of the county of the same name, which signifies "end of the lake" since the southern part of Lake Winnebago, where the city of Fond du Lac is situated, lies in this county. The son of Leonard and Lucy (Dag- gett) Arnold, he was born November 11, 1852, and received his education in the public and high schools of his home state, after which he entered the First National Bank of Fond du Lac, rising from messenger to the position of teller. In April, 1887, he came to California, where for seven years he held the position of cashier in the University Bank, leaving there to accept the presidency of the Los Angeles Olive Growers Association, which office he con- tinued to fill until the year 1903. At that time he opened a brokerage office and was occupied in- dependently in this business until his death, June 28, 1914.
The marriage of Mr. Arnold with Miss Belle White occurred in Fond du Lac, September 8, 1874, his wife being the daughter of Alexander and Amelia (Le Count) White, and by this marriage there is one child, Marguerite, the wife of Donald K. Butterfield, of Los Angeles. In politics Mr. Arnold espoused the Repub- lican cause. He was a member of the State Board of Equalization and served one term on the police commission in Los Angeles, besides being fraternally associated with the Masons, being a member of Pentalpha Lodge, Los An- geles Commandery No. 9 and Shrine, Independent Order of Foresters, Knights of Pythias of Fond du Lac, Royal Arcanum and Maccabees. His re- ligious interests were with the Episcopalian Church, of which he was a member.
GEORGE F. BEALES. One of the best known nurserymen of Van Nuys, Cal., is George F. Beales, born in 1858 in Geneva, N. Y., where his father settled in 1847. From a boy of ten years of age, Mr. Beales took an interest in budding, grafting and greenhouse products, and for many years has been engaged in the business of nurseryman and orchardist. His coming to California is an interesting story. In 1874, in company with fourteen boy companions, he chartered a sailing vessel for a five years' cruise around the world, and sailing from Eastport, Me., they visited nearly all the important harbors of the world, including Mediterranean ports, the Azores Islands, and cities of Japan, China and Australia, arriving at Eureka, Cal., on May 1, 1879, with a cargo of coal from Sydney, N. S. W. From Eureka, Mr. Beales went to Petaluma, en- gaging there in the nursery business ; from thence he went to Fresno, where he carried on the same line of occupation, going later to Visalia, where he also followed the trade of nurseryman, and in 1906 came to Los Angeles county. For a period of three years thereafter Mr. Beales was not actively engaged in business, but in 1911 he set- tled in Van Nuys, soon after the opening of that town, where he devoted his attention to the culti- vation of walnut trees and deciduous fruit trees. In the spring of the year 1915 he began to give his attention to the raising of ornamental plants, including all varieties of roses, though still keep- ing twenty thousand walnut trees on rented land,
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and by the fall of 1915 he expects to erect a green- house and grow plants under glass. He is meeting with great success in his chosen line of business, many of the palms, flowers, etc., which adorn the fine homes of the town of Van Nuys having come from his nursery.
Mr. Beales is a member of the Chamber of Commerce, and has been a Mason since the year 1893, having passed all the chairs, and is past master of the Visalia Lodge and one of the foun- ders of Van Nuys Lodge No. 450. Since 1893 he has been an Odd Fellow, having joined in Visalia, and is past district deputy and grand master of Visalia district, which included seven lodges. By his marriage to Miss Anna Wilson, a native of Petaluma and the daughter of one of the pioneer families of California, he is the father of three children, namely, Fred, Katherine and Maude.
JOHN HENRY RIEDEMAN. The stranger who comes to our shores with a backing of public school education from a country which prides itself on the thoroughness of its educational sys- tem; who comes with a determination to continue that education here in his adopted home ; and who brings with him the application to work which is characteristic of the German nation and an ability to fit himself for a special career in life --- this is the kind of newcomer the United States is glad to welcome and to make one of her own sons.
Such a one is John Henry Riedeman, who was born in Hesse, Cassel, Germany, May 3, 1872, the son of John and Katherine Riedeman. Up to the age of fourteen he received public school education in his native land, after which time he came to the United States and settled in Sharon county, Mich., where he spent a year in working on a farm. Determined, however, to complete his education and fit himself for a special line of business, he came the next year to San Jose, Cal., and attended the College of the Pacific for five years and Cooper Medical College in San Francisco for one year more. Equipped now with a good education and the training neces- sary for the pursuit of his career, he engaged for three years as embalmer with H. F. Suhr & Co., undertakers, thus acquiring practical experience in this line of work which enabled him to start in business independently in Los Angeles at No. he came here to make his home.
1430 South Main street, where he built his present quarters.
Mr. Riedeman has made a success of life in the land of his adoption, having been prosperous in his business and also interesting himself widely in real estate in this section of the country where new cities are continually springing up and new improvements and enlargements adding them- selves to cities already established. Various cor- porations take up his time and attention, and be- sides being a Mason, he is fraternally connected with the Improved Order of Red Men, the Foresters of America, the Sons of Herman and the Turn Verein Germania, in which last he manifests the interest he still holds for his native country, being also a charter member of the German Hospital; while in politics Mr. Riedeman is allied with the Republican party.
His marriage occurred in San Francisco July 15, 1899, uniting him with Miss Katherine Plate, a native of San Francisco and the daughter of Raken Plate, a pioneer of that city, where he was superintendent of the Howard street station for the San Francisco Gas Company. Mr. and Mrs. Riedeman became the parents of two daugh- ters, Ruth Dorothy and Norma Katherine, both born in San Francisco. The latter is a student in the intermediate school, while Ruth D. entered the high school in 1915.
JAMES C. H. IVINS. For many years a prominent figure in the hotel business in Phila- delphia, and a resident of Los Angeles for recent years, James C. H. Ivins is one of the extensive real estate owners of Los Angeles, and possesses some of the most valuable property in the city today. The beautiful apartment hotel at the corner of Tenth and Figueroa streets, which bears his name, The Ivins, is one of the most exclusive and beautiful in the city. It was erected in 1910, and holds first rank among the apartment hotels of the city. Mr. Ivins has been retired from active business for a number of years, giving his time and attention to the conduct of his own enormous interests. He is a man of more than ordinary ability and business acumen and has done much for the development of the city since
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Mr. Ivins is a native of Ohio, born in Lake county, January 7, 1864, the son of Jacob C. and Katherine Ivins. His father was a native of New Jersey, born at Bordentown October 22, 1824, and was educated there. He received ex- cellent educational advantages, and after graduat- ing from college he came to California, locating in Los Angeles, where he engaged in the real estate business. In 1875 he owned a thousand acres of land at Petaluma, Cal., where he had thousands of head of cattle and was engaged in the dairy business, being a pioneer cheesemaker of California, and making San Francisco his market. Selling these interests in 1880, he re- turned to Los Angeles, where he continued to reside until his death in 1910. In 1900 he retired from active business and his remaining years were passed in quiet enjoyment of the fruits of his toil. The son, James C. H. Ivins, passed his boyhood in Derry, N. H., where he attended pub- lic and high school, graduating from the latter when he was nineteen years of age. He then went to New York to learn the hotel business, engaging with the Grand Rapids Hotel, and in 1890 he purchased this hotel, which he conducted for five years. He then disposed of these in- terests and moved to Philadelphia, where he organized the American Novelty Manufacturing Company, of which he was president. The hotel business continued to lure him, however, and in 1895 he purchased the Cross Keys Hotel, which he conducted until 1899, still retaining his inter- ests in the American Novelty Manufacturing Company. Mr. Ivins was closely identified with the best interests of Philadelphia during the years of his residence there, and especially active in municipal affairs. He is a Republican in his political preferences and rendered valuable serv- ice to his party in many ways. For several terms he served on the city council and was otherwise identified with the affairs of his party and of the city generally. In 1899 he sold out his hotel in- terests and in 1902 retired from active business, devoting his time and attention to his private enterprises. He owned extensive property in Los Angeles, as also did his father, and he eventually came to this city and opened offices in the Lankershim building and engaged in selling his own real estate. In 1908 he gave up these offices and retired from the real estate business, although he still manages his own private affairs.
The marriage of Mr. Ivins and Mrs. M. I.
Lamson took place in Los Angeles, June 17, 1909. Both Mr. and Mrs. Ivins are well known in exclusive circles of the social set, where they have many warm friends. Mr. Ivins is a mem- ber of a number of exclusive clubs, including the Los Angeles Athletic Club and the San Gabriel Country Club. He is also associated with a num- ber of the best known fraternal orders of the city, in all of which he is an influential figure. In local municipal affairs he takes a keen interest, being still a stanch Republican as he has always been. He is progressive, and his splendid judgment and foresight are a valuable asset to any cause with which he may see fit to ally himself. He is a firm believer in the future of Los Angeles and is doing his full share for the growth of the city along permanent lines.
PAUL E. KRESSLY. Inglewood was the first city in Southern California to inaugurate the city manager form of government, and one of the youngest and first men to hold this office in this part of the state is Paul E. Kressly, who in 1911, at the age of twenty-nine years, became city engineer of Inglewood and on March 2, 1914, the city manager of the same city, both of which offices he holds at the present time. Mr. Kressly is now the head of the city, all depart- ments being under his control, and has met with great success, having cut expenses and thereby saved much money to the city, the revenues, during his period of office, having been increased considerably by the enforcing of ordinances and by greater vigilance with peddlers, etc. All the arches and bridges in the new city park, "The Japanese City Park," one of the show places of the county, were designed by him.
Allentown, Lehigh county. Pa., was Mr. Kress- ly's birth-place, the date of his birth being De- cember 22, 1882. He attended the public schools until fourteen years of age, at sixteen being graduated from the Keystone State Normal School with first honors, as valedictorian of his class, his per cent. being ninety-nine and two- ninths. In 1902 he was graduated as civil en- gineer from Lehigh University at South Bethle- hem, Pa. He had already had much practice in this line of work, for three summers during his college course had been spent in the office of the well known firm of consulting engineers, Grossart
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& Spengler of Bethlehem. After graduation he practiced his profession in the ordnance depart- ment of the Bethlehem Steel Company two and one-half years, and was with the Lorain Steel Company of Johnstown, Pa., for a short time, subsequently holding the position of assistant chief engineer in the ordnance department of the Driggs-Seabury Company of Sharon, Pa. For a few years following, he practiced alone in South Bethlehem, during which time he was special municipal engineer for the towns of Fountain Hill, Freemansburg and Nazareth, Pa., maintain- ing a branch office at the last-named place. These interests he sold out to come to California, where he arrived in the autumn of 1910.
At the seventeenth annual convention of the League of California Municipalities, held at Hotel Del Monte, Del Monte, Cal., October 12 to 16, 1914, Mr. Kressly gave a long and interesting address on the success and general scope of his work as city manager of Inglewood, where his efficient service ever since his coming to Califor- nia is shown by the percentage of reduction in the expenditures in the various departments for six months compared with the same period during past years, which is as follows: Printing and supplies, saving 31%; city hall maintenance, 24% ; fire department, 21%; street cleaning, 37% ; recorder's department, 30% ; street main- tenance and repairs, 28%.
Fraternally, Mr. Kressly is connected with the Masons and is also a member of the Knights of Pythias. By his marriage with Miss Newbold, also of Pennsylvania, he has one son, Kenneth.
COL. J. W. EDDY. After many years of use- fulness in educational, legal, military and political lines, Col. J. W. Eddy, who has been a member of the legislature and the senate of the state of Illinois, and a personal friend of Abraham Lin- coln, has retired from active business life and resides at his home in Eagle Rock, one of the pretty suburbs of the city of Los Angeles.
A native of the state of New York, Colonel Eddy was born at Java, that state, on May 30, 1832, and received his education in the public schools and at the Genesee Wesleyan Seminary and Genesee College at Lima, N. Y. He taught school for a while in western New York until going to Illinois in 1853, when he took up the
study of the law and was admitted to the bar in Chicago in 1855. From early years Colonel Eddy was active in many lines of practical in- terest, for besides carrying on the practice of law at Batavia, Ill., he became superintendent of the school board at Batavia, was elected a mem- ber of the state legislature in 1866 and to the state senate in 1870 from Kane county, Ill., and was the first district assessor of internal revenue in Illinois in his district appointed by President Grant. Active in Lincoln's campaign for presi- dent, and a personal friend of Lincoln, Colonel Eddy was in Washington at the time war was declared, and enlisted in Cassius M. Clay and Gen. James H. Lane's battalion which was formed for the protection of Washington during the first month of the rebellion, receiving a certificate of thanks for his services rendered, signed by Abra- ham Lincoln, president, and Simon Cameron, secretary of war. Coming west, Colonel Eddy spent three years in railroad construction in Ari- zona, where he built a branch of the Santa Fe road south from the town of Flagstaff. In 1895 he removed to Los Angeles, Cal., where he set- tled and surveyed the first transmission line for water power from Kern river to Los Angeles, which was afterwards obtained and is now used by the Pacific Electric Railroad Company of Los Angeles. He also built the inclined railway in this city known as the Angels' Flight in 1900, operating the same for ten years, when he sold it to its present owners. A member of the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, he was also on the first board of directors of the California Chil- dren's Home Society, which he has served as vice-president, and still holds membership on its executive committee.
The first marriage of Colonel Eddy united him with Isabella A. Worsley, of Batavia, Ill., who accompanied him to Los Angeles in 1895, and died here soon afterwards. They were the parents of two children, namely, Mrs. Carrie Eddy Sheffler, of Coldwater Canyon, Beverly Hills, Cal., and George E. Eddy, a civil engineer by profession, who died at the age of twenty-three years, after finishing the engineering work of the Aurora, Ill., Electric railroad system.
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