USA > California > Los Angeles County > Los Angeles > A history of California and an extended history of Los Angeles and environs, Biographical, Volume III > Part 37
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The business popularity of Mr. Fothergill is not the only claim that he has on Los Angeles, or that the Angel City makes upon him. He is well known socially and fraternally, although since coming to this city his pressing business cares have left him little or no time for the lighter pleasures and recreations, and it is only within the past few months that he has found time to enjoy himself. His many business acquaintances have at various times endeavored to draw him into their social whirls, but when a man is build- ing up a great business on the foundation of solid
worth there is apt to be little time for play. He is a member of the Elks, having joined that order in Lansing, Mich., and being now affiliated with Lansing Lodge, No. 196.
The marriage of Mr. Fothergill took place in San Diego, Cal., January 22, 1912, uniting him with Miss Dora S. Sewel, the daughter of Charles Sewel, of that city. Mr. and Mrs. Fothergill at present make their home in Los Angeles at Merrill and Miramonte streets.
FREDERICK HOPE REDPATH. The president of the F. H. Redpath Company was born at Boulogne-sur-mer, France, August 3, 1856, and died April 4, 1913, in his Los Angeles office, having been suddenly stricken with heart failure when in the midst of large and success- ful building operations. His parents, Frederick William and Florence Mary Elizabeth (Lovell) Redpath, were residents of London, England, but established a temporary home in France and thence returned to London in the infancy of their son. The latter was seven years of age when the family crossed the ocean to Canada, where they spent a year at Montreal. Coming then to the States, they made a perma- nent home at Plymouth, Conn., where their son was educated under a private tutor and in the Thomaston Academy. Although he became a skilled workman in the finer branches of the manufacture of watches and clocks, an am- bition to engage in business led him to open a grocery at Waterbury, Conn. November 27, 1878, in Trinity Church, Thomaston, he mar- ried Miss Julia S. Westover, who died in that city April 27, 1889, after a long period of de- clining health. It was in the hope of benefiting her condition that he came to California for the first time, this being in 1886, when he engaged in the mercantile business at Redlands. The object of the trip failed of fruition and the couple returned to Connecticut shortly before the passing of Mrs. Redpath from earth.
Although resuming business enterprises in the east Mr. Redpath found his thoughts turned constantly toward California and finally he de- cided to settle here permanently. Returning March 25, 1892, he first settled on a ranch near Rochester, San Bernardino county, but after a year removed to North Ontario (now Upland),
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where he engaged in citrus fruit culture for four years. Coming to Los Angeles in June, 1898, he entered the newspaper business and engaged with local publications as circulation manager. While thus employed he made his first venture in channels that were destined to lead him to a high position in the realty world of Los Angeles. In a small way he began to buy unimproved property. The lots he im- proved with bungalows to be sold to the multi- plying searchers for such properties, and as he showed taste and skill in the buildings, as well as decided originality in the architecture, he was successful from the first. From that time until his death there was no cessation in his prosperous enterprises. Tireless energy, to- gether with an instinct that was akin to genius for this line of work, laid the foundation of his remarkable success. To an unusual degree he seemed able to sense the wants of buyers of homes. Novel features were introduced into the bungalows. Stock patterns were avoided. The structures bore the stamp of his originality. He advertised under the slogan, "Builder of Beautiful Homes," and that the dwellings were beautiful in completion was the consensus of opinion. Almost wholly his building operations were in the southwestern part of Los Angeles. Unvarying integrity won for him the confidence of banking circles. When in 1911 he found it for the best interests of the business to incor- porate, he had built and sold upwards of three hundred and fifty houses of one and two stories and buildings that included sixty-five modern flats. Such was the achievement of a man who but a brief decade before had been almost with- out resources aside from honesty, courage and energy. In the height of his career death cut short his activities, leaving to survive him an only son, Paul, born in 1893, and his widow, Maria (Ockford) Redpath, who had married him in July, 1890, in Chester, Vt.
While the energies of Mr. Redpath had been devoted largely to personal business affairs, he had been identified with the Los Angeles Realty Board and Chamber of Commerce, as well as other organizations for the benefit of the chosen and beloved city of his adoption. A Mason of the thirty-second degree, he was prominent in Al Malaikah Temple of the Mystic Shrine and Scottish Rite, and his funeral was conducted by Moneta Lodge No. 405, F. & A.
M. While living in Connecticut he had been an active member of Franklin Lodge No. 42, I. O. O. F., at Thomaston, in addition to which he was connected with the Royal Arcanum and Knights of Pythias. In Mr. Redpath's death there passed from the scene of his successful enterprises one who had been true to the lofty principles of Masonry and to every duty of citizenship, who had been an instrument of advancement and progress, and an advocate of all that was best for the permanent upbuilding of Los Angeles. While stanch and true to his chosen city, he recognized the fact that to its progress he owed his own success and that to his choice of Los Angeles as a permanent abiding place he owed the remarkable prosperity of his last years.
ANDRES BRISWALTER. A native of Los Angeles county, and for practically the entire period of his life a resident thereof, Andres Bris- walter is today one of the best known of the walnut and orange growers of the Whittier dis- trict, where he owns a handsome property of great value. He was born July 14, 1863, the son of Andres and Caledonia Briswalter. The father was a native of France, and the mother a native of California, of Spanish descent. During young manhood the father came to the United States and located at Los Angeles. Here he at once became interested in agriculture and was one of the first men to raise vegetables for the city markets. Investing heavily in lands he became one of the large property owners of the city and county, owning several tracts of great value, among them being land at Ninth and Washington streets and on San Pedro street, on which he raised grapes and oranges, and two hundred acres at Washington and San Pedro streets, which he farmed. He died in April, 1885, leaving an only child, Andres, Jr. After her husband's death Mrs. Briswalter married again, her husband being Andri Soeur.
When Mr. Briswalter was fifteen years of age he went into the silver and lead mines at Lone Pine, Inyo county, remaining there for some time, and upon coming south again herded sheep on the hills north of Whittier. Two years later he worked for wages on a ranch at Whittier, but when his father's estate was settled, in 1889, he purchased his present place of thirty-three acres
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near Whittier. The property was then raw land, but Mr. Briswalter has improved it and planted walnut and lemon trees, and now has one of the handsomest groves in the region. There are now twenty-eight acres in bearing walnuts, he having paid $150 per acre for this land, the increased valuation of which would net a handsome profit if it were sold.
The marriage of Mr. Briswalter and Miss Lillie H. Bouchard was celebrated in Los Nietos. Mrs. Briswalter is a native of California, born at Livermore, the daughter of Frank Bouchard, one of the early settlers in California, he having lo- cated at Whittier when it was a pioneer locality and engaged in the raising of grapes and oranges. Mrs. Briswalter received her education in the public schools and high schools of the county, and is well known. She has borne her husband seven children, one son, Andres, now deceased, and six daughters, all of whom are living. They are all natives of Whittier and are popular members of the younger social set. They are: Sarah, Elsie, Victoria, Mildred, Florence and Alice.
Mr. Briswalter is one of the public spirited and progressive men of the county and his sup- port is always forthcoming for any project which typifies progress and development and the general upbuilding of the community. He is especially interested in the questions of interest to horticul- turists and has made a careful and scientific study of the culture of the walnut and is making a splen- did success of his groves.
WILEY V. AMBROSE. It is customary to revert to the opportunities which Los Angeles and Southern California offered to pioneers of reso- lute spirit and optimistic faith in the future of the country ; less often mention is made of the oppor- tunities of the present, which while perhaps much less attractive from the standpoint of possible increases in land valuations, are greater than ever before in industrial lines, in business circles and in manufacturing enterprises. As an example of a young man who has forged his way to the front within the past decade, mention belongs to Mr. Ambrose, whose mental attributes include an unusual combination of qualities, with a tempera- ment of such force and personality that any busi- ness of his connection responds quickly to the thrill of his energy and the impelling vitality of
his masterly mind. Possessing talents in busi- ness, diligent in application to any work under his charge, practical and receptive of new ideas in the lines of industry to which he is devoting him- self, his sagacity and far-sighted discrimination qualify him for a success which undoubtedly will expand and develop with the passing of the years.
While Los Angeles is not the native city of Mr. Ambrose (who was born in Urbana, Ohio, March 2, 1880), he has lived here since the age of six years, his parents Francis and Mary F. (Dye) Ambrose, having come from the east in 1887 and established associations locally that were severed only by their death. Primarily educated in grammar schools and later a student in the Commercial high school, from which he was graduated in 1898, he entered the business world at eighteen years of age, ready to take his place in any unimportant post that promised oppor- tunities for advancement. He was fortunate in finding such a position with the Union Hardware & Metal Company, a concern that had his best energies and undivided attention for fifteen years. Meanwhile he rose to be one of the company's salesmen and when he left their concern in June, 1913, it was to take hold of larger interests else- where.
The marriage of Mr. Ambrose and Miss Annie Louisa Wade, only daughter of the late Robert David Wade, was solemnized in Los Angeles Feb- ruary 21, 1907, and has been blessed with three children, Florence Vance, Wade and Carolyn Rae. Upon the death of Mr. Wade the administration of the estate became the duty of Mr. Ambrose and its vast responsibilities have since occupied considerable attention, in addition to which he has accepted the presidency of the Santa Maria Crude Oil Company, the Keystone Loan Company and the Southern California Fish Company, all of these being concerns of great importance and representing widely diverging interests. The last named, packers of the Blue Sea brand of tuna fish, famous throughout the world for high qual- ity, owes its inception to an organization by Mr. Wade in 1892 for the purpose of canning sar- dines, but has developed far beyond the original thought or highest anticipations of the projector. While the sardine industry has been continued, the great feature of the industry is the canning of tuna, and this is responsible for the remarkable expansion of the company's manufacturing plant. During most seasons of the year the albicore tuna
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fish is plentiful in the waters between the main- land and Catalina Island. The Los Angeles har- bor at San Pedro has a fleet of gasoline launches whose only business is to catch this variety of fish. Every morning this fleet casts off their buoy lines and before day has dawned in the east is chugging down the Inner harbor, out around Dead Man's Island, across the Outer harbor to the end of the great pile of solid rock known as the gov- ernment breakwater, thence scattering north and south in quest of a school of fish.
At times a boat will sail until late in the after- noon before the churning of the water indicates that the albicore tuna are working among the sar- dines ; but other times the lucky fisherman has his catch and is back before noon. When a school of fish has been found the fisherman rides in among them and throws overboard handfuls of sardines previously caught. In a few moments the excited fish will leap from the water within a few feet of the boat in their anxiety to catch the sardines. This gives to the fisherman his hoped- for opportunity and with short, heavy lines he baits the hook with sardines, throws the hook and catches the tuna. This, however, is not the sole method used in catching the fish. Some fishermen troll for them with heavy lines, on which is fastened a bone jig hook; some make outriggers from each side of the boat with heavy canepoles and string the lines to them, the latter being a favorite method with Japanese fishermen. After the boats are filled they sail up the Inner harbor to unload at the wharves of the Southern Cali- fornia Fish Company. The albicore tuna is one of the very few varieties of fish having warm blood, a fact for which science is unable to account. The blood is drained, to ensure white meat ; then the fish are placed on wire trays and stacked on the rolling racks ready for the cookers, large steam-tight chests, holding about one ton. When taken from the cookers to the coolers they are left until entirely cold, after which skin and bones are removed, the meat cut into correct sizes and then passed on to packing tables with endless chains bearing cans with pure salad oil, the latter containing ninety-two per cent. nutriment. Auto- matic sealers with sanitary tops prepare the cans for the retort, steam-tight drums permitting the fish and the oil to properly cook together. When taken out the cans are swollen from the evapora- tion of the moisture; they are then vented with sharp instruments and after the steam has escaped
they are soldered, cleaned and labeled. The task is thus completed and the packing of the cans into the cases alone remains to be done before loading in cars that bear the shipments to the city markets or placing them in great ocean vessels that bring the flags of all nations into the harbor of Los Angeles.
The development and expansion of the South- ern California Fish Company has been a source of deep interest to Mr. Ambrose, who appreciates the value of the plant in the industrial growth of the harbor and in the affording of profitable em- ployment to a corps of intelligent workers. With such an industry under his executive manage- ment as president and with other responsibilities scarcely less vital in importance, identification with public affairs might not be expected of him, but we find him popular and prominent in the Union League and in East Gate Lodge, F. & A. M., willing always to discharge every moral obliga- tion of citizenship, progressive in his views con- cerning national and civic policies, and keenly alert to the importance of every achievement that advances Southern California, truly a type of the class of young men notable in the Los Angeles of today and with the dominant qualities of manhood that prepare for the great city of the tomorrow.
GEORGE C. ENGLAND. Ever since child- hood George C. England of Inglewood, Cal., has been interested in the raising of chickens. He has realized his ambition and is now a poultry expert, an authority on egg production and one of the few men to use successfully the trap nest system. When he started in his present business he sold his eggs from a small basket; now he delivers them in Los Angeles in case lots from his own automobile.
Mr. England's education was received in the grammar schools of Lynn county, Mo., where he was born in February, 1888. At the age of ten he removed with his parents to Pueblo, Colo., where he attended night school and commenced his business life by entering the office of the Pueblo Street Railway, remaining in their employ for five years, during which time he worked his way up to the position of head cashier. Resign- ing this position, he came to California in May, 1907, where he was employed as bookkeeper with firms in Los Angeles until 1911, when he estab-
Mary J. Reich- Hyall
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lished himself on his present ranch of one and one-half acres and began his chicken industry, which was the real interest of his life.
It was while a young man in Pueblo that Mr. England commenced his career in the poultry business with Game Bantams. At sixteen years of age he was a director of The Pueblo, Colorado, Poultry Association, and for four years edited The Bantam Department of the Pacific Poultry Craft of Los Angeles. He has written numerous articles on poultry care and has delivered ad- dresses before poultry breeders and others at various conventions, among them being his talk on Bantams illustrated by specimens of different varieties, delivered at the meeting of the Poultry Breeders' Association of Southern California held December 24, 1914, in the Chamber of Com- merce Building. He was judge on Bantams at the Santa Ana and Petaluma Poultry Shows, and has thirteen silver cups and over one thousand blue ribbons taken on Bantams. For fifteen years he has raised Game Bantams, having paid $7.50 for the first pair and later as high as $75 for a single bird of that breed. In the summer of 1914 he sold his entire flock of Bantams in order to devote his entire attention to the Utility Breed of White Leghorns.
When he bought his present ranch it was Mr. England's intention to develop an up-to-date, sanitary chicken ranch, and in this he has suc- ceeded. His White Leghorn flock has increased gradually from 1911 when he hatched six hundred chickens ; the next year he had thirteen hundred, in 1914 two thousand, and his aim for 1915 is to have three thousand. Mr. England trap nests one hundred hens each year to determine the laying qualities, with the satisfactory result that one of his flock has made the wonderful record of two hundred and forty-two eggs in a year, her pullets also making records in laying. Twelve Jubilee Incubators are used by Mr. England, of five thousand egg capacity ; four modern chicken houses, each 16x200 feet, divided into twenty-foot sections, and keeping one hundred birds to a flock. The brooder house, which is 12x130 feet in dimen- sions, contains six sections, is heated by gas and provided with sanitary feeding pens and auto- matic fountains, everything being modern and complete. He has worked a long time on experi- mental feeds, and uses now a mash feed of his own invention.
Mr. England is a member of the Poultrymen's Co-operative Association of Los Angeles and has been a director in the Poultry Breeders' Associa- tion for five years and state vice-president of the National Bantam Association three years. He married Miss Blanche Phillips, who was born in Ohio but was brought up in California from in- fancy, and they have one child, Dorothy E. Eng- land.
MRS. MARY JANE KEITH HYATT. Descended from a long line of soldier ancestry on both sides of her family, Mrs. Keith Hyatt has inherited all the splendid patriotism of her forebears, with its attendant love for her coun- try and its flag, the breadth of sympathy and love for humanity which has made, and is still making, her a power in the lives of hundreds of the old Boys in Blue, who owe many a thought- ful kindness to her tender ministrations. The family of which she is a worthy daughter originated in Scotland and descends in a direct line from the illustrious Marshall Keith. Those who migrated to America have kept up the fame of the ancient name and have been promi- nent in social and commercial life and in the service of their new country. Mrs. Hyatt is the daughter of William and Christian (Smith) Keith, her mother being a sister of Capt. James Smith, of the Chicago Light Artillery, the Home Guards, of Civil War fame. The head of this particular branch of the Smith family was for many years George Smith, a successful banker and railroad man of Chicago, and an influential member of the Reform Club of Pall Mall, Lon- don. He was a man of splendid ability and gained thereby an unusual degree of suc- cess, being for many years a notable figure in the affairs of Chicago. He erected the third house, started the first lumber yard and the first bank of that city.
The girlhood of Mrs. Hyatt was spent in Chicago, where she received the best educa- tional advantages that the period offered. Her marriage with Capt. C. W. Hyatt occurred February 10, 1865, the bridegroom having ob- tained a leave of absence from his company in order to go to Chicago for the wedding cere- mony. Of their union were born two sons, George Smith and Chauncey Alanson Hyatt, of whom George S. died in infancy. Mrs. Hyatt
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has also reared and educated two children: Claude A. Wilbur, the son of a veteran, is now himself a veteran of the Spanish-American War and a respected resident of Nebraska. The other child whom Mrs. Hyatt raised was Louise Maude, now the wife of Mr. Briggs in Covina, and a business man of Camp Rincon, Cal.
Mrs. Hyatt is noted throughout the state of California for her splendid services in fraternal work and in the various organizations connect- ed with the Grand Army of the Republic, the several auxiliaries and associate organizations. In the work of the Woman's Relief Corps she has been especially prominent for many years. She assisted in the organization of two branches of this order in Fremont, Neb., and also aided in the organization of the Ladies of the G. A. R. in the same town. In both of these organizations she is past-president and department aide, and for two years she served as chairman of the council of administration. Upon coming to Los Angeles Mrs. Hyatt at once associated herself with the same line of work in this city and within a very short time was accredited as one of the leading women in the city in Grand Army circles. She organized two tents of the Daughters of Veterans, and in Los Angeles she officiated as president of the Ladies of the G. A. R. She is a member of Stanton Corps, having joined in 1897, and was chairman of the relief committee for seven years, having served under seven different presidents. She is also a member of the Ladies' Auxiliary of the Sons of Veterans, Rosecrans Camp, which she has served as senior vice- president, and is now chairman of the relief committee.
In addition to her great interest in the work of the Grand Army and its various auxiliaries, Mrs. Hyatt is also prominent in fraternal circles. She is past lady-commander of Hive No. 1, Ladies of the Maccabees of the World, and is identified with the Fraternal Brotherhood and the Independent Order of Foresters; also a member of the Degree of Honor, an auxiliary of the Ancient Order United Workmen of Fremont, Neb. The State Grand Coun- cilor of Chosen Friends conferred upon her a justly deserved honor by appointing her past-councilor in recognition of meritorious services rendered this splendid order. This appointment was made in her own lodge and
also in the various lodges of the state, the tribute thus paid to her successful work being called to the attention of all members of this order in the state. National work of a high order has also come to Mrs. Hyatt through her faithful discharge of the smaller duties that fell to her lot. For two years she was assistant national instituting and installing officer of the Ladies of the Union Veterans' Legion, and also president and treasurer of this order in Los Angeles.
The patriotism of this splendid woman is a constant prayer for the privilege of service and is a benediction to all who come within the radius of her influence. She devotes much time to visiting the sick, especially among the mem- bers of the old soldiers, sending them to the Soldiers' Home, or to the hospital. There is no service which she may render these old "comrades" that she does not accept as a privi- lege and discharge with true inward thankful- ness. All who come in contact with her daily life and her work feel the impulse of patriotism of a high order, and go forth to serve more willingly and loyally.
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