USA > California > Los Angeles County > Los Angeles > A history of California and an extended history of Los Angeles and environs, Biographical, Volume III > Part 3
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61
512
HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
tionary soldier fighting for the cause of inde- pendence. At the time of the Civil war, Uriah R. Bowers, at the age of twenty-three years, enlisted in the army, and was detailed to hospital work, where for three years he rendered valuable ser- vice, being honorably discharged at the close of the war, and the interest which he and his sons have displayed in the advancement of Southern Cali- fornia and the welfare and progress of the city of Los Angeles, where they have chosen to make their home, has rendered them valued and re- spected citizens of this western metropolis.
CHARLES L. BISBEE. As the senior mem- ber of the well-known firm of Bisbee & Fishburn, manufacturers of sash and doors and other in- terior house and store furnishings, C. L. Bisbee is one of the best known lumber men in South- ern California, having been variously associated with this industry in this part of the state since 1887, when he first came to the Pacific coast, locating in San Diego. During the almost thirty years that have intervened since that time he has been associated with the lumber business in one capacity or another, either in Los Angeles, where he has resided for many years, or in San Diego. All his life Mr. Bisbee has been identified with the lumber interests of the country, either here or in his native state of Iowa, and is thoroughly con- versant with all its details. In his own inde- pendent venture he has been particularly success- ful, and today he ranks high among both whole- sale and retail men, as well as with the builders and contractors, with whom he is constantly in contact, being acknowledged to be a man of more than ordinary integrity and business standing.
Mr. Bisbee was born in Keokuk, Iowa, in August, 1863, son of the late C. P. and Frances Bisbee. His father was a native of Massachu- setts, born at Worthington, July, 1837, and receiv- ing his education in his native city. He engaged in the grocery business there until his removal to Iowa, where he continued that business until 1868. He then removed to Lee county, Ill., where he engaged in farming near Mendota until 1870, when he went back to Keokuk, Iowa, and again engaged in the grocery business for a num- ber of years. Eventually he disposed of his in- terests to accept the position of city weigher, which he filled until 1887. At that time he deter-
mined to come west and accepted a position with the San Diego Lumber Company as foreman, re- maining as such until 1895, when he resigned to become yard man for the West Coast Lumber Company, with headquarters at San Diego, later being with the Benson Lumber Company in the same capacity. In 1911 he resigned his position with the Benson Lumber Company and came to Los Angeles to make his home, living here in quiet retirement until his death, February 26, 1915, at the home of his son.
C. L. Bisbee passed his boyhood days in Keo- kuk, attending the public and high schools there until he was sixteen years of age, when he became bookkeeper for the Evans & Sheppard Lumber Company of that place, remaining with them in this capacity for some eight years, or until 1887, when with the family he removed to San Diego, Cal. Here he accepted a position as order clerk with the San Diego Lumber Company, of which his father was foreman, remaining with them until 1890, when he accepted a similar position with the West Coast Lumber Company. also of San Diego, serving there until 1892. He then came to Los Angeles and engaged as bookkeeper with the H. Raphael Company, manufacturers of sash and doors, for a year, when he accepted a position as bookkeeper for the California Door Company, later becoming their assistant manager, which responsible position he held for fourteen years. During this long term of faithful ser- vice Mr. Bisbee did much for the general wel- fare of the company, and also established for himself an enviable reputation for straightfor- ward business methods, making as well many warm personal friends. When he severed his connection with the California Door Company it was to engage in business for himself in the manufacture of sash and doors, as the Bisbee- Fishburn Company, in which undertaking he has been very successful. The business is well known through the channels of the trade in Los An- geles and vicinity, and the personality of Mr. Bisbee and his high standing among his asso- ciates and business acquaintances at once placed the new firm on an established footing with the public generally.
Aside from his business associations Mr. Bis- bee is well known in social circles throughout the city, and is everywhere highly regarded. He is a member of the Jonathan Club and the Los An- geles Athletic Club. In politics he is a Repub-
RC Garrett
1
515
HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
lican and a strong party man. Throughout the years of his residence in Los Angeles Mr. Bisbee has been identified with various movements for the betterment of the city, socially, politically and educationally. Together with his wife, he is a member of the Presbyterian church, and a regu- lar attendant upon its services. The marriage of Mr. Bisbee occurred in San Diego, in December, 1906, uniting him with Miss Margaret Fishburn, a native of Joliet, Ill., but a resident of San Diego. Mrs. Bisbee is also well and favorably known to a wide circle of friends and acquaint- ances.
ROBERT L. GARRETT. Although a na- tive of Arkansas, Robert L. Garrett was one of the early pioneers of Los Angeles county, having crossed the plains from Texas in an early day, when he was still a young man. For many years he resided in Wilmington, and in 1885 he came to Los Angeles and opened an undertaking establishment, which he conducted until his death in 1905, and which still bears his name, being now con- ducted by his wife and two of his sons. Dur- ing his twenty or more years of residence in Los Angeles Mr. Garrett was closely asso- ciated with the affairs of the city, and formed a wide circle of admiring friends, by whom he is still remembered with kindly affection.
Born near Hot Springs, Ark., March 10, 1844, the son of Robert and Hanna M. Garrett, both of whom are now deceased, R. L. Garrett was taken to Texas by his parents when he was a lad of ten years. His primary education was received in the public schools of Arkansas and later he took a course in the schools of Texas. After leaving school he worked for a short time, and then determined to come to California. With his mother and three sisters he joined a party that was about to set out to cross the plains to California, and made the perilous journey in the old "prairie schoon- ers" of that day. The Indians along the route were very hostile and made much trouble for the travelers, and this condition, taken in con- junction with the dangers from the thirsts of the desert, made the trip an exceedingly haz- ardous one.
On arriving in Los Angeles Mr. Garrett went at once to Wilmington, where he se-
cured employment with General Banning, an association that continued for a long period. From then until 1885 he was engaged in the contracting business for himself at Wilming- ton, meeting with much success. At that time (1885) he removed to Los Angeles and en- tered the undertaking business under the firm name of Garrett & Neitzke, the partnership continuing for two years, when Neitzke sold his interest and the firm of Garrett & Samp- son then carried on the business for a period of five years. From that time until his death Mr. Garrett conducted the business indepen- dently under the name of Robert L. Garrett, and since his death, in 1905, the business has been continued as the Robert L. Garrett Com- pany, with Mrs. Garrett as president and two of the sons as officers.
Aside from his business associations Mr. Garrett was widely and favorably known. He was prominent in fraternal circles, being a thirty-second degree Mason, an Odd Fellow, a member of the Foresters, and of the Fraternal Brotherhood, and also a member of the local Pioneer Association. In politics Mr. Garrett was a Democrat, a well-informed man and an independent thinker, but was never closely allied with the affairs of his party, although at all times deeply interested in all questions which involved the civic welfare.
The marriage of Mr. Garrett occurred in Wilmington, June 1, 1871, uniting him with Miss Sarah E. McBride, the daughter of John and Jane McBride, and a native of New York. She is the mother of three children, all sons, and all well and favorably known in Los Angeles, where they have grown to manhood. They are Dr. E. H. Garrett, a prominent sur- geon, who married Josephine Eberle; Banning C. Garrett, married to Evelyn Mckenzie; and Robert B. Garrett, who married Bertha Rich. The two sons last mentioned are members of the firm of Robert L. Garrett Company.
MRS. R. L. CRAIG (Nancy Tuttle Craig). No phase of development in the twentieth cen- tury has been more significant, important, or in- teresting, than the growing ascendancy of women in commercial and educational activities. The west, with its greater freedom from conventional
516
HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
form and ceremony, offers a field of triumph for the growth of women in business and in the pro- fessions.
Perhaps no woman's experience in the west has been more noteworthy than that of Nancy Tuttle Craig. Her husband, R. L. Craig, a prominent citizen of Los Angeles, in 1888 founded the wholesale grocery business which bears his name. His sudden demise made it necessary that Mrs. Craig take her place at the head of the corpora- tion, and though inexperienced in the business world, through patient and conscientious applica- tion, she has not only succeeded in maintaining the business, but has been gratified from year to year to witness its steady growth. She has the honor of being the only woman member of the National Wholesale Grocers' Association, in which she takes an active part and a keen interest.
Descended from English and Scotch ancestry, though perhaps of the fifth generation in Amer- ica, Mrs. Craig is essentially a western woman, having moved with her parents, Owen and Mary E. (Burns) Tuttle, from Van Buren county, Iowa, to Santa Cruz county, Cal., in the year 1873. She was educated in the public schools of Watson- ville, Cal., and in the State Normal School of San Jose, Cal., where she was graduated in the year 1885. She immediately entered the profes- sion of teaching, and modestly claims a modicum of success, and a great love for the educational work. Her marriage terminated her experience as a teacher, but her interest in school work never waned, and notwithstanding her heavy responsi- bilities as president of R. L. Craig & Company, she consented to become a candidate for member- ship on the Board of Education in 1911, and was twice elected to this office by her fellow townsmen with a handsome majority.
The welfare of the children in the public schools has been Mrs. Craig's first concern as a member of the Los Angeles City Board of Education, while her educational qualifications, combined with her business experience, have fitted her to serve intelligently and helpfully on the various committees.
REV. JOSEPH SARSFIELD GLASS. Rep- resented in the life of Rev. Joseph Sarsfield Glass, pastor of St. Vincent's Catholic church, Los Angeles, Cal., are many years of faithful and enthusiastic study along the lines of religious
thought and the traditions of the Catholic church, whereby he has become one of the leaders in his faith, as well as a prominent educator in South- ern California. The birth of Dr. Glass took place in Bushnell, Ill., March 13, 1874, his parents being James and Mary Edith (Kelly) Glass. He re- ceived his early education in the parochial schools of Sedalia, Mo., and in 1887 entered St. Vincent's College, Los Angeles, where he studied four years, after which he continued his education at St. Mary's Apostolic College of Perryville, Mo. From there he entered the Novitiate of the Congrega- tion of the Mission in 1891, later taking a course in philosophy and theology at St. Mary's Semi- nary in Perry county, Mo. On August 15, 1897, he was ordained a priest by the bishop of St. Vincent's church, Los Angeles. Still continuing his studies along his chosen line, Dr. Glass went to Rome, where, in the religious and historic at- mosphere of that ancient city, he pursued his re- searches in philosophy and theology, attending the University of the Propaganda and being grad- uated from the University of the Minerva with the degree of D.D. in 1899.
Upon his return to the United States, Dr. Glass at once commenced teaching, making a specialty of dogmatic theology at St. Mary's Seminary at Perryville during the term of 1899 and 1900, teaching moral theology at the same institution the following year, and holding the office of Director of Seminarians. At the time of his appointment to the presidency of St. Vincent's College, Los Angeles, in June, 1901, he at the same time be- came pastor of St. Vincent's church in the same city, both of which offices he continues to fill at the present time.
Dr. Glass stands high educationally in the West, and is well known as a writer on religious and educational topics. The standard of St. Vin- cent's College, since he became its president, has risen to an unprecedented degree, Dr. Glass hav- ing inaugurated therein a full university course with branches in both civil and mechanical en- gineering, with the result that the attendance has increased wonderfully and the college today holds its own among the most distinguished institutions of the kind in the West. Since June, 1911, when the college was taken over by the Jesuits, Father Glass has continued to exercise his influence for the further development of its interests. He takes a practical interest in the concerns of the various organizations in which he holds membership, they
517
HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
being of religious and educational, as well as social and fraternal character. Among the so- cieties with which he is connected may be men- tioned Bishop Conaty's Diocesan Council, the Alumni Society of St. Vincent's College, of which he is honorary president, the Central Council of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, of which he is chaplain, and the Board of Directors of the Los Angeles Public Library. His social and fraternal societies are the University Club, the Catholic Order of Foresters, the Young Men's Institute, the Ancient Order of Hibernians, and the Knights of Columbus.
In May, 1915, Father Glass was appointed by the Pope in Rome to the high office of Bishop of Salt Lake, to succeed the late Bishop Laurence Scanlan. This elevation comes as a tribute to the splendid work Father Glass has accomplished for the Catholic Church in Los Angeles. The diocese over which he will preside includes all of Utah and a portion of Nevada.
WARREN E. ROLLINS. It seems appro- priate that Southern California should be chosen by many artists for their home when one consid- ers the beauty of the everchanging mountains and cloud effects, the foothills, valleys, deserts, cliffs and ocean, the blossoming trees and roadsides, and the interesting adobe ruins of the vanished Spanish era. There is Monterey, where artists come to sketch the quaint streets and adobe walls and red tile roofs ; and there is Carmel-by-the-Sea, a veritable artists' colony, situated in a little grove above the beach and white sand dunes and blue bay. Mr. Rollins, a painter of the West, of Indian life and the desert, has chosen as his home the little old Spanish town of San Gabriel in the fruitful valley of that name, beside the Sierra Madre mountains; and amid the orange groves with their golden-fruited trees, and in the sleepy little town with its severe old mission building, its crumbling adobe houses, and its dusty roads where lie the lace-like shadows of the soft-foliaged pepper trees, even those who are not artists can appreciate the charm of that place. Mr. Rollins' paintings, which have been exhibited in Boston, New York, Brooklyn, Washington, San Fran- cisco, Seattle, Portland, San Diego and Los An- geles, and of which there is a fine collection on exhibition at the Panama-California Exposition
at San Diego, deal principally with Indian life and the desert in the Southwest, many of his subjects being taken from the Indians of Arizona, with which country he is very familiar, he having traveled all over that state and spent much time among the native Indians there.
As a schoolboy in Nevada, where he was born August 8, 1861, in Carson City, Mr. Rollins showed much interest in drawing, and his father, wishing to encourage his talent, sent him to San Francisco to study art, where he became a stu- dent in the San Francisco School of Design, and during the years of his student life he had the satisfaction of winning several gold medals. Later he was elected assistant director in the same school where he had studied, and for a number of years taught drawing and painting in that institution, going East at a later date to study painting in Boston and New York. For some time he had studios in San Francisco and Oak- land, Cal., and upon coming to Southern Cali- fornia in 1910 established his home and studio in San Gabriel, not far from the old Spanish mission. Mr. Rollins is a man who has met with much success in his chosen line of work, and his pictures are to be seen in many of the finest homes in Los Angeles as well as in San Francisco and Oakland. He is a member of numerous art clubs in different cities, among them being the Southern California Art Club in Los Angeles, the San Francisco Art Association, San Fran- cisco; the Nile Club and the Lyre, Palette and Pen Club of Oakland, as well as various associa- tions in Arizona where he has spent many years.
Mr. Rollins was united in marriage in Visalia. Cal., April 21, 1887, with Miss Berdella R. Bracken, a native of Missouri, and they have two daughters, Ramona (Mrs. Ralph Wylie) and Ruth Girham Rollins, the former recognized as a leading soprano singer and the latter a promising student of Shakespearean drama.
ARTHUR S. BENT. The eldest son of Henry Kirke White Bent, Arthur S. Bent was born in Downieville, Cal., April 25, 1863. He is the senior member of the firm of Bent Brothers, engineering contractors. His business life has been devoted to engineering contracting, chiefly in the line of concrete construction throughout the west and Mexico, with branch offices in Colorado,
518
HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
Arizona and Washington. His specialty has been hydro-electric projects, dams, reservoirs, con- crete pipe lines and large irrigation systems, with a department devoted to concrete and macadam road building.
In 1888 Mr. Bent married Miss Eliza J. Mc- Kee of Dallas, Tex., and they are the parents of two children, Ellen and Crawford H. Among his social and occupative connections may be men- tioned membership in the Jonathan and Gamut Clubs, the Municipal League, of which he is a director ; the Engineers and Architects' Associa- tion, of which he is vice-president ; the American Society of Engineering Contractors, of which he is a director ; the National Cement Users' Asso- ciation, the Southwest Museum Association and the National Geographic Society.
ALONZO B. CASS. Since his advent into the commercial life of Los Angeles something more than twenty-five years ago, Alonzo B. Cass has been a central figure around which large and im- portant enterprises have revolved, and his influ- ence on municipal and business affairs in the city of his adoption cannot be overestimated. He has constantly conducted an independent business of his own, but at the same time he has also been a prominent factor in the establishment of pros- perous undertakings of a varied nature, includ- ing banks, telephone companies (he is now pres- ident of two of the largest telephone companies on the coast), real estate development projects, and similar enterprises. In addition to all this he has taken an active part in municipal affairs, hav- ing served as president of several of the most efficient organizations for good government and the promotion of the commercial interests of the city, and has been prominently associated with the Young Men's Christian Association and other welfare and uplift movements. His undertakings have prospered and have thus wrought much good both to himself and his associates, and today he is classed foremost in the ranks of the men who have done most for the progress and up- building of Los Angeles.
Mr. Cass is a native of New York state, born at Albion, July 4, 1856, and being a true Fourth- of-July son in the strength and devotion of his patriotism. He is the son of P. C. and Amanda M. (Herrick) Cass, who were well known in
their section of New York state. The young Alonzo passed his boyhood days in Albion, re- ceiving his education there, first in the public schools, and later at Albion Academy. His first business venture was in 1879, when he went to Ash Grove, Mo., and opened a general merchan- dise store under the firm name of Green & Cass. At the end of the year he engaged in a similar en- terprise at Muskogee, Okla., remaining here from 1880 to 1887. During the first year of this under- taking two brothers were associated with him (Frank H., and B. H. Cass), but for the re- mainder of the time he operated independently. The enterprise prospered greatly, and branch stores were opened at Atoka, Okla., in 1883, at South Canadian, Okla., in 1884, and at McAlester, Okla., in 1887. Mr. Cass was also interested in the drug business and a member of the drug firm of Gavigan & Cass, at Muskogee.
The lure of the California country had for many years been a magnet which was steadily drawing Mr. Cass toward his final determination to come to the coast, and in 1888 he disposed of his extensive interests in the several Oklahoma cities and together with his brother, B. H. Cass, who had first been associated with him in his enterprises, he came to Los Angeles. Here they engaged in the hardware business under the name of the Cass Bros. Stove Company until 1890. From then until 1893 the firm was known as Crandall & Cass; from 1893 to 1896 it was the Cass & Smurr Stove Company, and from then until the present time as the Cass-Smurr-Damerel Company. This business has been a growing one, and its scope and patronage have steadily in- creased since its organization by Mr. Cass.
While his personal ventures have absorbed much of the time and attention of Mr. Cass there have been a multitude of other interests which have laid their claim to his co-operation and sup- port. He was one of the original founders of the Central Bank, now the Security National Bank, and has from its organization been one of the directors. Probably the undertaking that has given him the greatest prominence among finan- ciers, however, has been his association with the telephone interests of the coast. In 1906 he was elected president of the Home Telephone and Telegraph Company, and in 1910 elected presi- dent of the Bay Cities Home Telephone Com- pany of San Francisco. In both of these organ- izations he is a leading spirit and a heavy stock-
Andrew Abullen
521
HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
holder, and their present financial standing is largely due to his capable management of their affairs. Mr. Cass is vice-president of the Cass- Smurr-Damerel Company also.
Aside from his heavy business responsibilities, Mr. Cass has always found time and strength and energy to devote to the welfare of his home city, and he has given freely of his best efforts to further the municipal and educational, social and moral life of Los Angeles. He was president of the local Chamber of Commerce in 1901, and served as first vice-president of the Municipal League. For four years he was a member of the board of trustees for the state normal school lo- cated here, and is now vice-president of the Young Men's Christian Association, in whose work he is practically and intensely interested. In the social organizations of the city he is both promi- nent and popular, favorite clubs being the Cali- fornia, Jonathan and Sunset Clubs, while he gives much time and effort to the work of the Federa- tion of City Clubs.
The marriage of Mr. Cass and Miss Emily F. Tufts occurred June 21, 1885, at Muskogee, Okla. Of this union eight children were born, Frank T., Philip, Louis, Donald, Quincy, Emily, Harold and Alonzo B., Jr. The first Mrs. Cass died many years ago, and the second marriage of Mr. Cass took place in Los Angeles, August 23, 1909, with Mrs. Martha T. Muir. The second Mrs. Cass was the mother of three children by her first marriage, John, William and Robert. These three sons have been legally adopted by Mr. Cass since his marriage and are being educated as his own children.
The real estate and other business investments of Mr. Cass have been made with such good judgment that they have made more than the customary increase in value, and his holdings are at present of great valuation, and with the growth and future development of the city are certain to continue to increase in value and worth.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.