USA > California > Los Angeles County > Los Angeles > A history of California and an extended history of Los Angeles and environs, Biographical, Volume III > Part 35
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
the town, and has invested in various enter- prises of a more or less public nature. He takes an especial pride in the beauty of his home place, keeping the entire tract in fine condition, while "The Evergreens" is acknowledged to be one of the most attractive places in the valley. Dr. Reed is at present a director of the Alham- bra National Bank, and is otherwise giving his time and ability for local public progress.
CHARLES G. WEAVER. When Charles G. Weaver started in the poultry business it was with a few Wyandottes and a setting of White Leghorn eggs, and discontinuing the Wyandottes after a few years, he kept only the White Leg- horns, with that small beginning laying the foun- dation for the now famous Weaver's strain of White Leghorns, a splendid variety which he has created by his system of breeding. His aim from the beginning has been to build up an egg-laying strain on a large scale, and the continually in- creasing demand for his stock and eggs proves that he has been wise in his selection of the White Leghorn as the most valuable bird to be raised upon his ranch.
On first coming to California in 1900, Mr. Weaver was employed in the oil fields of Kern county for ten months, an occupation which he had followed, in Ohio, his native home, he hav- ing been born July 4, 1874, in Finlay, Hancock county. Coming from Kern county, Cal., to Los Angeles, Mr. Weaver became associated with the Los Angeles Gas and Electric Company, for five years being in charge of the pipe fitters of this company. His start in the poultry business was made in 1904, in Garvanza, Cal., where he bought four acres of land and made his first payment on borrowed money. His yards, which are located on San Pasqual avenue, Garvanza, opposite the Cawston Ostrich Farm, are sanitary in every re- spect, and the land is worth $2000 per acre for building purposes. It was not until 1909 that Mr. Weaver began to develop his ranch on a large scale, starting that year with five hundred hens, which number he reduced, during the summer, to three hundred and twenty-five, and his profit that year was $1800 above the cost of feed and of hired help. The next year he began with eight hundred and fifty hens, thinning them out to six hundred before the next pullets started to lay,
777
HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
and cleared $2500 over the cost of feed and help, the total egg yield for that year being eighty-six thousand five hundred and nineteen eggs, and the total receipts for the farm $6,493.31. The flock was bred along utility lines, but he had some show birds and received good prices for them, selling a breeding cockerel as high as $20. He feeds his poultry the Association mash and a mixed grain food of his own invention, and has brought the egg production up to an average of one hundred and seventy-five eggs yearly per hen, a remarkably large average. It is therefore natural that he should receive higher prices than the ordinary poultryman, on account of the lay- ing quality of the high class bird he has de- veloped after years of experiment. The Raymond Hotel at Pasadena is supplied with a part of his output. Taking his plant as a whole, it is one of the best appointed in Southern California, there being four houses 200x12 feet in dimensions, and two houses 100x12 feet and 50x12 feet re- spectively, wherein nothing but surfaced lumber is used ; a brooder house of four separate rooms, each 16x20 feet, with a united capacity of four thousand chicks and heated by a device of his own, consisting of coils of iron pipes for hot water, run along against the wall, providing an even heat and occupying but a small space ; the top cover of the brooding apparatus being one that folds up, thus giving air and a space for cleaning, an automatic drinking fountain also be- ing provided in the brooder house, also separate compartments to keep the chickens from crowd- ing; and a new incubator house, 34x22 feet, with cement floor and fifteen Jubilee incubators with a capacity of seven thousand eggs at a time. The spring hatch in 1915 was about twenty thousand chicks, Mr. Weaver's specialty being day-old chicks. One of his experiments has been with trap nesting, one hen, under this experiment, hav- ing laid fifty-nine eggs in sixty-one days. The grain house is ample and well appointed, Mr. Weaver buying grain in car load lots and selling wholesale and retail to other poultry ranches, dis- posing of one car load each month. He carries on hand at all times three thousand laying hens, and his yards are open to the inspection of visitors every week day, whose coming and going among them hardly disturbs this large flock of well cared for birds. Mr. Weaver also stands high in the successful raising of turkeys, his pen of Mam- moth Bronze turkeys ranking among the best in
the state, a pen of these now being on exhibition at the Panama-California Exposition at San Diego. This variety is the largest and handsomest of the whole turkey family, the hens being good layers and setters and covering from fifteen to eighteen eggs each, the standard weight of the male being thirty-six pounds and the female twenty pounds. Mr. Weaver is raising turkeys that are strong and vigorous and fine breeders, and his have taken more ribbons than all other ex- hibitors put together. Mr. Weaver is a member of the board of directors of the Los Angeles Co- operative Poultry Breeders' Association and also of the Poultry Breeders' Association of Southern California.
JOHN CRAIG. The Pacific Metal Products Company was established in 1912, with Edward Double as president, a prominent Los Angeles business man, who has been in the oil and ma- chinery business all his life ; Charles E. Stratton as vice-president of this company, and John Craig as secretary and treasurer, and together with Mr. Double and Mr. Stratton, the directors consist of the following: W. L. Stewart, president of the Union Oil Company of California ; L. P. St. Clair, president of the Independent Producers Associa- tion ; T. A. O'Donnell, an extensive oil operator of California ; L. W. Andrews, of the law firm of Andrews, Toland & Andrews. W. L. Robey is superintendent of the truck department, and R. H. Donaldson is superintendent of the sheet metal department of this company.
The Pacific Metal Products Company are the manufacturers of the "Moore" motor truck, hav- ing bought out and taken over the F. L. Moore Truck Company in 1913. The company are also the manufacturers of a complete line of steel bar- rels and drums, the "Molesworth" refrigerator, and a complete line of cap screws, etc.
The man who fills the important offices of sec- retary-treasurer and manager of this company, John Craig, is a native of Scotland, where he was born in Dalry, Ayrshire, April 18, 1868, the son of Thomas Craig, a wholesale grocer and pro- vision merchant of that town, and also of Glas- gow, Scotland, receiving his education in the high school and at Gilmore Hill College in Glasgow. At the age of eighteen years he started out to make his own way in the world, entering busi- less life in Govan, Scotland, where he was em-
778
HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
ployed in the ship yards, for which the Clyde is noted, and there he began his early training in engineering.
Coming to the United States, for several years Mr. Craig worked in machine shops in and around Boston, Mass. At this time he was offered the position of engineer yeoman in the United States navy, and on accepting same he spent three years on board ship in the Orient, the most of this time being spent around China, Japan, Korea and Si- beria. Upon his return to the United States after this three years' cruise in foreign waters he was appointed to the United States Coast and Geo- detic Survey as an observer, later being promoted to the position of hydrographer. At the out- break of the Spanish-American war Mr. Craig volunteered to serve his adopted country, and was appointed chief yeoman of the United States flag ship New York, and served during the Span- ish-American war under Rear Admiral Sampson.
After the Spanish-American war Mr. Craig again took up his shore vocation, entering the em- ploy of the Cincinnati Milling Machine Company at Cincinnati, Ohio, where he filled an executive position, and was the first man to introduce the premium system of paying wages to mechanics in that city. He spent four years with this company, and during this time was considered an authority on system as applied to machine shop practice, his advice being asked by leading manufacturers, and his articles on this subject being published by the National Metal Trades Association.
From Cincinnati Mr. Craig moved to Indian- apolis, Ind., where for some two years he was production engineer of the Atlas Engine Works, at that time the largest builders of engines and boilers in the United States. He left Indianap- olis with a six months' contract to systematize and organize the new Pierce automobile factory in Buffalo, after which he went to Toronto, Ca- nada, with a similar contract from the Canada Foundry Company, one of the largest engineering corporations in Canada. Upon completion of this work for the latter company he was appointed works accountant of their large interests, continu- ing for almost two years in this position, when the Maxwell-Briscoe Motor Car Co. of New Castle, Ind., induced him to come and spend six months with them for the purpose of systematizing and organizing their factory.
Upon completion of this work in New Castle Mr. Craig returned to Toronto, Canada, as gen-
cral superintendent, or works manager, of the Canada Foundry Company, continuing in this po- sition until he came to Los Angeles during the fall of 1912. Mr. Craig came to California with his family for the purpose of spending a winter here, but during his stay he was engaged by the Union Tool Company to fill an executive position and continued in that capacity until the summer of 1914, when he was transferred to the Pacific Metal Products Company.
The large company with which Mr. Craig is now connected has a building with a floor space of 450x125 feet, devoted to the manufacture of trucks and to the assembly and machinery de- partments, using five Gridley automatic machines for manufacturing cap screws, set screws and pump crowns. In their auto truck department they use Sheldon worm drive axles, Timken axles and Wisconsin and Continental motors, manufac- turing all necessary parts themselves, their capac- ity being fifty trucks per month, a number that could be increased to one hundred, and they are the manufacturers of five hundred motor trucks that are now in use in California.
The company manufactures its steel barrels and refrigerators in a separate building, which is al- most as large as that for the production of their trucks.
The Molesworth refrigeration plant, manufac- tured by them, provides the most practical method of producing refrigeration in small quantities for use in homes, restaurants, etc., an operation which, by this new invention, is rendered so simple that it can be managed by a child, the only expense, after installation, being that of the gas or other fuel used. The Molesworth plant is one that has no competition, it being the first and the only plant developed which has proved practical for the farmer or miner, or anyone who lives beyond the reach of daily delivery of ice. By a contract for a term of several years the Pacific Metal Products Company of Los Angeles manufactures these Molesworth refrigeration plants at their factory at Torrance, Cal., and every plant sold is sold under guarantee.
Besides being secretary and treasurer of the Pacific Metal Products Company, Mr. Craig is also a stockholder in a Canadian Motor Truck Company, a member of several fraternal asso- ciations, and of the Southern California Rod and Reel Club, in his political preferences being an independent.
n.b. Shekels
Historie Record Ca
781
HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
was solemnized in Brooklyn, N. Y., in January, 1899, his wife being the daughter of a late promi- nent officer in the German army. Mr. and Mrs. Craig became the parents of five sons, namely : Thomas, John Jr., Robert, James Pollock, and Norman David Craig.
NOAH C. SHEKELS. The life story of Noah C. Shekels is closely linked with that of the history of both California and Arizona, both states having claimed the services and loyal de- votion of this splendid man for many years when civilization was battling with the wilderness and the savages to gain a permanent foothold. Mr. Shekels first came to California in 1861, cross- ing the plains from Indiana, where he had been engaged in farming for a number of years, in association with his father. The journey across the plains was made with teams and occupied some six months in all. He located at Oroville, Butte county, where he engaged in farming and the raising of grain and fruit. When the excite- ment attendant upon the outbreak of the Civil war became intense on the coast he enlisted in the Union army, serving with Company I, Fourth California Regiment, and remaining in active ser- vice until 1865. Upon receiving his discharge he returned at once to his farm at Oroville and again took up his former occupation of farming, re- maining there until 1870. He then disposed of his Oroville property and went to Prescott, Ariz., where he engaged in the mercantile business until 1875, being also heavily interested in mining properties in that vicinity, that being a time when the mining industry was in much favor in that locality. In 1875 Mr. Shekels sold out his mer- cantile interests and traveled for three years, re- turning to Prescott in 1878 and engaging in the lumber business for a number of years, or until disposing of these interests in 1886 to give his entire time and attention to mining, having been elected president and general manager of the Crown King Mining Company, in which he was heavily interested. The mining business contin- ued to occupy him until 1899, when he sold out much of his extensive holdings and came to Los Angeles, where he has since lived in quiet re- tirement.
Although it was not until 1899 that Mr. Shekels came to Los Angeles to reside, it was not his first visit here by any means. He had for many years
His marriage with Marie J. von Leuchsenring made frequent trips to the Angel City and at an early date his faith in the city was such that he began making investments from time to time in down-town property. His judgment and fore- sight were such as to enable him to make his purchases so wisely that the increase in valuation was decided and his profits on his various deals was very appreciable. He has continued to in- vest in city property since coming here to make his permanent home, and has been associated with many land deals of importance during that time.
Mr. Shekels is a native of Ohio, having been born in Stark county, June 19, 1842, the son of John W. and Katherine (Yant) Shekels, his father being engaged in farming for the greater part of his lifetime. Young Shekels was reared on the farm, attending school until he was ten years of age, at which time it was necessary for him to leave school and begin working regularly with his father on the farm. They remained on the original property until 1859, when they re- moved to Elkhart, Ind., and again engaged in farming there, remaining in this location until 1861, when young Mr. Shekels determined to seek his fortune in the Golden West. Since that time he has continued to reside in California and Arizona, and has been actively interested in the growth and development of both states, being especially interested in the great mining activities of Arizona for many years.
Mr. Shekels was first married to Margaret Hutchinson, and his daughter by this marriage, Minnie May, is now the wife of Mr. Gray of Oroville, son of Judge Gray. The second mar- riage of Mr. Shekels was to Belle Skinkle, one son being born of this union, Harry C. of Gar- dena. His third marriage occurred in San Francisco, in July, 1894, uniting him with Mrs. Bertha Amundsen, of that city. Both Mr. and Mrs. Shekels are well known in Los Angeles, where they have many friends and acquaintances.
CHARLES RICHARD VESPER. It was in 1904 that Mr. Vesper first came to Los Angeles, having taken a six months' leave of absence from his occupation of station agent in Footville, Wis., where he had been located seven years, and falling in love with California, he returned and settled up his affairs in Wisconsin and took a course at the Carl I. Barnes School of Embalming. After completing the course he settled in California in April, 1905, buying a one-half interest in an un-
782
HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
dertaking establishment in Redlands, Cal., which he carried on successfully for three years under the firm name of Vesper & Dow. Removing to Los Angeles in 1908, he bought out a Mr. Rich- ardson and brought up the business to its present splendid condition, his establishment occupying three street numbers, the second floor apartment being the residence of himself and his family, while the ground floor is fitted up as office, show and storage rooms, chapel, stock rooms, operating rooms, vaults, etc. Mr. Vesper has first-class am- bulance service and a lady embalmer in attend- ance. When the opportune time comes Mr. Ves- per plans to erect a modern undertaking estab- lishment.
The business life of Mr. Vesper has covered a variety of branches, including, besides his pres- ent occupation of undertaker and embalmer, that of stock raising and dealing in livestock, railroad- ing and orange growing, he being now the owner of a splendid thirty-five acre orange grove in the vicinity of Fullerton, Cal., which he personally looks after and keeps in a high state of cultiva- tion. Mr. Vesper was brought up in the Middle West, having been born at Beaver Dam, Wis., March 11, 1862, the son of Artemus Vesper, a land owner, stockman and farmer. He received his education in the public and high schools and at Lawrence University at Appleton, from which he graduated in 1881. For two or three years after graduation he was engaged in the stock business in Wisconsin, and then became a stock buyer, later learning telegraphy and going into the rail- road business in 1885, becoming station agent and operator for the Milwaukee & Northern Railway Company at Coleman, Wis. It was also in the year 1885 that his marriage with Miss Estella Link took place, in Randolph, Wis., the home of the bride. Entering the employ of the Wisconsin Central Railway, Mr. Vesper became station agent at Ketcham, Fond du Lac county, Wis., with which company he remained for seven years, spending a year in New York in 1893. He then went to Onalaska, La Crosse county, and to Footville, Wis., where for seven years he filled the office of station agent, resigning in order to come to California and make his permanent resi- dence here.
Mr. and Mrs. Vesper are active members of the Boyle Heights Methodist Church, Mr. Vesper being president of the board of trustees. Fra- ternally he is a Mason, being a member of the
blue lodge, chapter and commandery, also is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Wood- men of the World, the Yeomen, the Fraternal Aid, and he and his wife belong to the Eastern Star, the Los Angeles Amaranths, and the Re- bekahs. In the line of his profession he is a member of the Southern California Funeral Di- rectors Association, which he served as secretary for three years, and socially he is a member of the City Club. Mr. and Mrs. Vesper have two children, Leda E. (Mrs. Guy Harn), and Orville A., at home.
ROBERT DAVID MATTHEWS was born September 12, 1886, at Bridgend, Wales, the son of Richard and Catharine Matthews, and was edu- cated at the Higher Grade School, Cardiff. In 1902 he commenced his business career with Clarke and Dovey, Chartered Accountants, Car- diff, and in 1908 became the chief assistant in the auditing department of that firm. Severing his connections with Clarke and Dovey in 1911, he joined the staff of Price, Waterhouse and Com- pany, Certified Public Accountants, New York and San Francisco, and was transferred to their Los Angeles office in October, 1911.
Mr. Matthews is now actively associated with the Union Oil Company of California, having complete control of the books and accounting records of that corporation and its subsidiaries. He was appointed comptroller in March, 1914, and is also a member of the board of directors.
He was awarded honors in the final examination of the Society of Incorporated Accountants and Auditors of Great Britain held at London in November, 1910, was admitted an associate of that society on January 27, 1911, and admitted to the degree of Fellowship on May 21, 1914.
On September 12, 1913, he was married to Ethel Burge Walker at St. John's Church, Car- diff, Wales, and has one child, namely, Richard David Matthews, who was born at Hollywood, Cal., on October 11, 1914.
HOLLY POULTRY RANCH. The owner of the Holly Poultry Ranch of Van Nuys, Cal., is B. R. Holloway, a native of Iowa, who came to California in 1886 at the age of six years. For fifteen years he was in the employ of the Wells
783
HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
Fargo Express Company, part of the time as agent in Arizona towns and later as express mes- senger from Los Angeles to Phoenix, Ariz. He had worked up through various offices with this company, but seeing nothing ahead in that occu- pation that met with his aspirations, Mr. Hollo- way began to take an interest in the stories of the money made by the poultry farmers, and though not giving credence to all, decided to investigate the matter.
At that time Mr. Holloway was buying a home, so he converted the grounds into an experimental chicken yard, and thus began in his new line of business in Lankershim, Cal., in January, 1910, with a capital of $500 of borrowed money. Though continuing his work with the Wells Fargo Company until March, 1914, he found his experi- ments in chicken raising a success, and bought his present ranch in Van Nuys, which he hired a boy to care for during his business hours with the express company until he felt that his new ven- ture warranted his giving his entire time to its care. At the end of three years and a half of business he found his eleven hundred hens cleared $1.58 each annually above the cost of feed and labor, and each year he enlarged his plant accord- ing to his profits, the $500 he borrowed at the start having made him assets on January 1, 1915, to the amount of $8000. Today Mr. Holloway has one of the best incubator plants and chicken farms in the state, modern and sanitary in every respect, and is the exclusive agent for the U. S. Poultry Fence, the Jubilee Incubators and Brood- ers, and the Pride of Petaluma Brooder Heaters, which are recognized by poultrymen everywhere as the standard heaters, all of which equipment is in actual use at the Holly Poultry Ranch and can be guaranteed as to results. Eighteen Jubilee Incubators are used by Mr. Holloway, with a capacity of five hundred and forty eggs each, and also two Candee Incubators with a capacity of ten thousand six hundred eggs each, the Candee In- cubator house being 20x90 feet, with a cement floor, and heated by hot water stoves burning coal, which makes an even heat. He has two laying houses 16x120 feet each, with a capacity of twelve hundred hens each, the young chicks being kept in small colony houses until large enough to be put in the main houses. The brooder house is 16x48 feet in dimensions, and has a capacity of three thousand chicks, and is heated by the Pride of Petaluma Brooder stoves, for which Mr. Hol-
loway is agent and of which he has sold sixty since taking the agency. At present he has two thousand laying hens, of the MacFarlane strain of White Leghorns, which are bred for size and large eggs, his specialty being chicken hatching and the selling of day-old chicks, which he does on a large scale, hatching only from two-year and three-year hens which have proved the best lay- ers in their first season so that the purchaser is certain of getting vigorous, healthy chicks. He also sells eggs for hatching, in the year 1914 hav- ing sold as many as twenty thousand for this purpose.
Mr. Holloway came to his present place in Van Nuys in January, 1913, the five acres now occu- pied by him being then virgin soil, and here he erected a fine, two-story, modern home and an up-to-date chicken ranch with a fine set of well- kept buildings, being well known in the selling of eggs and chicks, as well as for the agency for brooders, heaters and poultry fence, of which last he sold nine miles in the year 1914. He holds various offices connected with his industry, being trustee and one of the founders of the Federation of Poultrymen of Southern California, chairman of the Poultry Committee of the Van Nuys Cham- ber of Commerce and member of the Poultry- men's Co-Operative Association, as well as being a director of the Van Nuys, Owensmouth and Marian Fruit Growers' and Canners' Association, and a charter member of Van Nuys Lodge No. 450, F. & A. M ..
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.