USA > California > Los Angeles County > Los Angeles > A history of California and an extended history of Los Angeles and environs, Biographical, Volume III > Part 45
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prisoner. A few weeks later Captain Marshall, in the delirium of fever, wandered into the desert and was never seen or heard of again. Notwith- standing their Quaker faith there was a very strong adventurous strain in the Marshall family. George Marshall a grand-uncle of our subject, lived an adventurous life in the service of Spain, married the daughter of the Captain-General of Cuba, and died a romantic death in his prime. Others of the family had similarly adventurous lives. The old Marshall farm, with the original Marshall homestead, a two-story house of stone, is still in the possession of a member of the family, and among the interesting documents preserved there is the deed to the farm, signed by William Penn. Chester county, Pa., has been the home of many prominent Marshalls and Sharplesses, with whom they were closely intermarried, for over two hundred years. The directors' room of the old Chester County National Bank contains por- traits of Marshalls and Sharplesses, who were presidents of the bank during the more than two hundred years of its existence. Mr. Marshall's father, H. Vincent Marshall, was a chemist, who at one time was associated with the well known chemical manufacturing house of Sharp & Doane of Baltimore.
The subject of this sketch affords a striking ex- ample of the success achieved by taking advan- tage of the opportunities that are presented in almost every career. He was educated in the pub- lic schools of Baltimore and Illinois, and received an appointment to West Point from President Grant. But the Quaker traditions of the family interfered with his ambitions and, in disgust, he ran away from home at the age of sixteen and re- solved to seek his own fortune. He secured a clerkship in the railroad office in St. Louis; was employed on a passenger steamer on the Great Lakes, and after serving as Pullman palace car conductor, running out of St. Louis, became pri- vate secretary to the general manager of the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe road, and subsequently assistant master of transportation of the same road, all before he attained his majority. He then invested his savings in a farm near Lampasas, Tex., and became associated with a partner in raising sheep. During the years he devoted to the raising of live stock he made a scientific study of all the details of the subject, and became recognized as an expert and an authority both on the various breeds of cattle and the best methods
of breeding and raising them. Meanwhile he be- came cashier of the First National Bank of Lam- pasas, and was that institution's president for twelve years. In 1900 the great oil field was dis- covered at Beaumont, Tex. At the invitation of an old business associate he made an examination after the field was well opened up, and was in- duced to invest in oil lands. Together they formed the famous Hogg-Swayne syndicate, con- sisting of Marshall, Campbell, Hogg and two others, each of whom possessed a fifth interest in a tract of fifteen acres. About half of this tract was sold within a few weeks at a net profit of over $300,000.
Subsequently Mr. Marshall interested John W. Gates of New York and others in the Texas Com- pany, which he and his associates had formed, and which is now the second largest oil company in the world, with a capital of $50,000,000, and with pipe lines covering Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas. While he was eminently successful in the handling of these oil properties, Mr. Marshall's preference and inclination were for banking and the develop- ment of agricultural land, and in 1904 he made arrangements to close out his oil interests. In the same year he removed to Los Angeles, Cal., to accept the vice-presidency of the Southwestern National Bank, and two years later he sold out his last block of Texas Company stock to John W. Gates. Shortly after settling in the state of California he acquired title to a large ranch of 42,000 acres in Santa Barbara county, known as the Rancho de Jesus Maria. Here he has estab- lished a magnificent herd of between 4,000 and 5,000 thoroughbred Hereford cattle, and has put 15,000 acres under cultivation. In 1905 he bought the Rancho Santa Ana del Chino, located between Pomona, Riverside and Corona, Cal., consisting of 46,000 acres. Part of this property has been divided up into small farms which have been sold, and what a few years ago was a large waste of unproductive land has been transformed into val- uable farms under irrigation, producing a great diversity of products, such as deciduous fruits, alfalfa, cereals, orange and walnut groves and sugar-beets. The property supports a flourishing town of 2,000 inhabitants, containing a high school, banks and a newspaper.
Mr. Marshall is likewise the principal owner of what is probably the largest ranch in the world, the "Palomas" in Mexico, consisting of some 2,000,000 acres, entirely fenced. The northern
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line of this property stretches entirely across the southern boundary of New Mexico, west of El Paso, Tex., and it contains great possibilities for both cattle raising and irrigation. Mr. Marshall is also president of the Sinaloa Land Company, a company owning 1,500,000 acres in the state of Sinaloa, Mexico, which is waiting to be thrown open to colonization upon the completion of the Panama canal. With 15,000 acres under cultiva- tion in the Santa Barbara ranch, 20,000 acres in the Chino ranch, and 6,000 acres in Mexico, Mr. Marshall is, beyond all question, the largest operator of farm property in the United States. His remarkable success is the result of a com- bination of rare judgment, expert knowledge of the possibilities of ranch properties, and indi- vidual effort. He will be ranked among America's empire builders, with such names as Commodore Vanderbilt, Collis P. Huntington, Henry W. Flagler, Frederick Weyerhaeuser, James J. Hill and others, who, by their great genius and won- derful foresight, have created untold wealth from virgin lands for the countless thousands who are to follow and reap the benefit from their far- reaching activities. If a man who makes two blades of grass grow where but one grew before is a benefactor to his fellow men, what must be the estimate of one who clears the waste places, carries water to land that for centuries has been awaiting development, and who brings hundreds of new settlers to occupy the cleared spaces, form- ing the nucleus of prospering towns, and starts growing an endless era of progress?
Personally, Mr. Marshall is a man of simple tastes and quiet and unassuming demeanor, but whose dignified bearing and strong personality im- press themselves upon all with whom he comes in contact. Even to people outside the innermost circle of intimacy there is something peculiarly attractive in his singular mixture of gentleness and dignity. In financial transactions of magni- tude his judgment is sought and valued by his associates. Mr. Marshall is president of the Chino Land and Water Company, Sinaloa Land and Water Company, Palomas Land and Cattle Company, Grand Canyon Cattle Company, and Jesus Maria Rancho; vice-president of Torrance, Marshall & Co., of Los Angeles, one of the strong- est bond houses in the United States ; director of the Los Angeles Trust Company, First National Bank of Los Angeles, Pacific Mutual Life Insur- ance Company, Home Telephone and Telegraph
Company of Los Angeles, Home Telephone Com- pany of San Francisco, and over thirty other cor- porations. In addition, he is part owner of the Central, Security, Title Insurance and Commer- cial buildings, four of the largest office blocks in Los Angeles. He is a member of the California, Jonathan, Los Angeles Athletic, Los Angeles Country, Pasadena Country, and Bolsa Chica Gun Clubs, of Los Angeles, and the Bohemian Club of San Francisco. He was married June 7, 1892, to Sally, daughter of Marcus McLemore of Galveston, Tex., and has one son, Marcus Mc- Lemore Marshall.
EDWARD DOUBLE. At the head of one of the largest manufacturing companies of the West, the Union Tool Company, of Los Angeles, Cal., stands Edward Double, who, as president and general manager of that great institution, brings with him many years of experience in mechanical lines of interest.
Born at Titusville, Pa., October 15, 1871, the son of Hamilton and Mary (Smith) Double, Mr. Double was educated in the public schools of his home state and at an early age became interested in the oil industry. For a number of years he was employed in the oil fields of Pennsylvania, in various capacities, the oil business being at its height in that state at that time, but as the in- terests of Mr. Double were mostly in the mechan- ical side of the business, he soon applied himself to the production of tools and appliances to be used in that industry, and in this line soon took a high place in Pennsylvania. Desiring to enter into the business independently, he decided upon California as the best field for his endeavor, as the oil industry was at that time just becoming of importance in the western state, and in 1898 Mr. Double removed to Santa Paula, Cal., a town which was then an important center of the oil business. Associating himself there with the lead- ing men in his chosen business and with several enterprises along that line, he established at Santa Paula a plant for the manufacture of oil tools and machinery, which, during the next five years, be- came the leading institution of the kind in that part of the state. In 1901 he moved his plant to Los Angeles, where he has remained in business since that date, recognizing this city to be the headquarters of the oil industry, and here his business prospered until he became known as one
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of the chief manufacturers in his chosen line in this part of the country. After a time Mr. Double associated himself with the Union Tool Company of this city, wherein he soon rose to the offices of president and general manager, being also one of the largest stockholders. This company, which was organized in the summer of 1908 by the merging of the American Engineering and Foun- dry Company with the Union Oil Tool Company, two firms which had been in existence for about fifteen years previous to the time of their con- solidation and had been rated among the most im- portant of their kind on the Pacific coast, has ac- quired its large measure of success through the exertions of Mr. Double, its capable president. Among the largest enterprises of California, it now provides oil well tools and machinery to the entire world, having branches in the towns of Orcutt, Brea, Midway and Coalinga, Cal., as well as an extensive plant in West Chicago, Ill., the specialty of this company being the production of supplies for oil wells, mining machinery, iron castings, and gas, gasoline and distillate engines. Numerous important inventions have been made by Mr. Double along the line of oil well tools, which have helped to raise the company to its present high standing, and its president is ranked with the most important business men of the West. The location of the firm, which was for many years in the heart of the manufacturing district of Los Angeles, has been removed to Tor- rance, Cal., on account of the marvelous growth of the business, and at the new location the plant of the company covers a space of twenty-five acres, and comprises nine buildings built of con- crete and fitted with modern machinery and facil- ities of every kind, an investment of nearly a million dollars being represented in the land, buildings and machinery combined.
Although much of his time is necessarily occu- pied by his business interests, Mr. Double is yet deeply interested in the advancement of the city of Los Angeles, where he has made his home, and has proved himself one of the most active workers for its welfare in many respects. Besides holding membership in the Los Angeles Chamber of Com- merce, the Union League and the Jonathan Club, he is also fraternally associated with the Benevo- ient and Protective Order of Elks. His marriage to Alice Harbard was solemnized at Santa Paula, January 4, 1900, and they are the parents of one daughter, Helen Double.
GEORGE S. RICHARDSON. One of the bright legal minds of Los Angeles is George S. Richardson, who was elected police judge at a recent election in this city. He is a man of great force of character and a lawyer of marked ability. Upon his election he was assigned to Department 4, a position which his innate sense of justice and profound learning in the law enable him to hold with credit and honor.
Mr. Richardson is a native of California, born in Ventura county, April 17, 1877, the son of Fred and Edith Richardson. The father is a native of Michigan, born at Grand Rapids in 1849. In 1853 he came to California and located in Sonoma county, where his parents lived for many years, and where he received his education. When he was eighteen he came to Ventura county and en- gaged in lemon growing, making a pronounced success of this branch of the citrus industry. His boyhood days were passed in Ventura county and his early education was secured at the public and high schools of Santa Paula. He then entered the University of Southern California, in Los Angeles, and for two years studied electrical and mechanical engineering. At the end of that time he became superintendent of the Sterling Manu- facturing Company, and for two years traveled all over the United States installing steam plants. He then accepted a situation with the Los Angeles Railway Company, in the electrical department, remaining with said company until 1910. During this time he studied law at the University of Southern California, and in January, 1910, was admitted to the bar of his native state, and since that time has been practicing in Los Angeles, meeting with more than ordinary success.
Judge Richardson is also popular in fraternal circles in Los Angeles. He is a member of a number of prominent lodges, in several of which he has been signally honored. He is past chief ranger of the Independent Order of Foresters, grand counselor of the S. M. A., and is identified with the Modern Woodmen, the Knights of Pythias and the Native Sons. He is also taking an active part in various movements for the beautification of his home city, and is president of the Normandie Square Improvement Associa- tion, and an influential member of the Federated Improvement Association. He has taken an active part in the affairs of the Republican party since he was old enough to vote and is considered one of the strong men of that organization. He is
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progressive and broad-minded in his views on all public questions, and is pre-eminently fair in his opinions and judgments. In his religious views Mr. Richardson is a member of the Methodist church.
The marriage of Mr. Richardson and Miss Nina Beeson was solemnized in Ventura county June 4, 1899. Of their union have been born three children, two daughters and a son, all at present attending the public schools of Los An- geles. They are: Ardys, aged thirteen years; Myrtle, aged eleven, and Curtis, a sturdy lad of seven summers.
JACOB NIEDERER. A prominent citizen, pioneer business man and large property owner in Los Angeles is Jacob Niederer, founder and president of the J. Niederer Company, located at No. 3409 South Main street. He was born in Lutzenberg, Canton Appenzell, Switzerland, August 26, 1858, the third child born to his parents, Bartholome and Katherine (Zellweger) Niederer, from Au, Canton St. Gallen. The other children were: David, in Switzerland; Emil, in Idaho; Bertha in Utah; Rosa and Johan, both deceased. The father was a native of Lutzenberg and at an early age engaged in the gunsmith busi- ness for himself. He was known as "Scheutze" Niederer, meaning "Niederer, the Marksman," all over Europe from the fact that he had distin- guished himself for his marksmanship and won many trophies at shooting matches throughout Europe. He died in 1867 and his wife passed away in 1876.
Jacob Niederer was reared and educated in his native canton. At the age of sixteen he was apprenticed to the trade of cabinet maker, and after he had completed his apprenticeship went to the city of Zurich, where he worked at his trade and studied architectural drawing. He also served in the Swiss army. In 1881 he decided to come to the United States and locating at New Orleans after his arrival he worked two years at his trade. Becoming familiar with the customs of this country he engaged in business for him- self, continuing with success until 1888, when he came to California and located in Los Angeles. At once establishing himself in business, begin- ning on a small scale, he gradually forged ahead
and the business kept increasing with the growth of the city until in 1903 he incorporated under the name of J. Niederer Company, of which he be- came president and general manager, the other officers being George H. Lockwood vice-president, and Walter J. Niederer secretary and treasurer. The company has gradually built up a successful business which now stands at the forefront of like enterprises in the southwest and is the pioneer in the manufacture of interior fittings of the very highest grade. As practical proof of this claim many of the most prominent business establish- ments and residences in Los Angeles and other cities of the southwest give evidence of their handiwork. After the bursting of the boom of 1887, and when business depression was felt all over Southern California, it was an uphill pull to start into and maintain a business under the existing conditions, but this was accomplished by the perseverance of Mr. Niederer, and as he has succeeded he has wisely invested in real estate, which he is continually improving.
The marriage of Mr. Niederer and Mathilde Apffel, a native of Dubuque, Iowa, but for many years a resident of New Orleans, occurred in the latter city on June 5, 1883. Of this union six children have been born, five of whom are living: Walter J., born in New Orleans September 30, 1884, secretary and treasurer of the J. Niederer Company, a thirty-second degree Mason and a Shriner, was married September 30, 1909, to Norma M. Weifenbach, a native of Los Angeles, and has two children, Dorothy and Marjorie; Emma E., born in New Orleans January 15, 1886, died in Los Angeles aged six and one-half years ; Lucille U., born in New Orleans September 19, 1887, became the wife of John F. Hiltscher Jan- uary 1, 1907, and has two children, Frances and Madeleine; Bertha E., born in Los Angeles October 4, 1888, married Will F. Gieselman November 19, 1908, and has one child living, Jack; Adele J., born in Los Angeles October 5, 1890, became the wife of Fred E. Hagen June 5, 1913; and Jeannette C. was born in Los Angeles October 1, 1892.
Mr. Niederer is a member of the City Club, Chamber of Commerce and the Merchants & Manufacturers Association of Los Angeles. He became a naturalized citizen of this country five years after coming to the United States and in many ways has expressed his confidence in the future of Los Angeles.
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SIDNEY SMITH. After a number of years spent in practical experience in mercantile and manufacturing lines, as well as foreman, superin- tendent and manager of different firms in South- ern California, Sidney Smith is now the proprie- tor of the Adams Pipe Works in Los Angeles. This company was incorporated April 29, 1908, as the Adams Pipe Works, and in February, 1913, Mr. Smith bought an interest in the business, but the associations and conduct of the business being unsatisfactory to him, in October of that year he purchased the interests of the other shareholders and since that time has given his personal atten- tion to building it up and putting it on a firm financial basis, until today it ranks with the lead- ing business concerns of the city. Since taking over the business he has made a specialty of rent- ing pipe to contractors building the state highway, thus facilitating the making of good roads and relieving the builders of a heavy item of expense. In the conduct of the business the company em- ploys from ten to one hundred men and does an extensive business throughout Utah, New Mexico, Arizona and Nevada as well as California, carries on a general wholesale and retail business in new and second-hand pipe, being also engaged in irri- gation contracting and in the manufacture of pipe fittings and the laying of water, oil and gas pipe lines, making a specialty of water pipe.
The present owner of the company, Mr. Smith, was born at Luling, Tex., May 30, 1884, the son of Sidney Smith and was educated in the public schools until the age of fourteen years, when he worked for three years upon his father's farm. When seventeen years of age, Mr. Smith came to California, where he was employed for four months in the marking department of the Wein- stock Lubin Company's dry goods store in Sacra- mento, removing thence to Lincoln, in the same state, where he engaged with the Gladden-Mc- Bean Company, terra cotta manufacturers, work- ing in the pit where they mined the clay. After a year spent in this occupation, Mr. Smith went to Stockton, Cal., and was for seven months em- ployed as a laborer by the water company, his next employment being five months spent with the gas company, after which he removed to Santa Monica, Cal., and for five months was in the employ of the Austin Paving Company as a laborer. In the same city he later was for a year and a half foreman of the Santa Monica Land and Water Company, coming thence to Los Angeles
to engage with the Adams Pipe Works as superin- tendent where he rose to the office of general manager. Resigning this office in 1911, Mr. Smith went into the water piping and irrigating contracting business independently for two years, after which he bought out the Adams Pipe Works of which he had formerly been superintendent and general manager, now becoming proprietor of the same, which holds a high place in its line of busi- ness in Los Angeles. In 1914 he secured a fran- chise, which is now known as the Walnut Grove Water Works, from Los Angeles county to build pipe lines for supplying water for domestic pur- poses to a section lying adjacent to Huntington Park, putting in the lines, tanks and pumps, and securing his permit from the State Railroad Com- mission under the public utility act, covering a period of forty years.
The marriage of Mr. Smith to Miss Elsie K. Vogt was solemnized in Los Angeles, in February, 1911, and they are the parents of one daughter, Fay Louise Smith.
CHURCH OF THE BLESSED SACRA- MENT. Previous to the erection of the Church of the Blessed Sacrament at Hollywood boulevard and Cherokee street, in Hollywood, mass was said in this parish once a month, the service being held in Drouet's Hall, the priests coming from the Cathedral in Los Angeles. Father D. W. J. Murphy, Father John S. Clifford and Father William F. Quinlan alternated in this service. Through the efforts of energetic parishioners, Father Murphy and His Grace Bishop Conaty, ground for a church was bought in February, 1904 ; in May, three months later, the ground was broken for this work, and on this occasion the service of the Feast of Holy Wood of the Cross was celebrated by Father Murphy. On July 4, 1904, the cornerstone of the Church of the Blessed Sacrament was laid by the Rt. Rev. Bishop Conaty. Work progressed rapidly under the direction of Father Murphy and the beautiful church was completed in a few short months. The first mass was said in the new edifice September 12, 1904, there being fourteen adults and twenty- one children present on this occasion, a striking contrast to the big parish of today. Bishop Conaty dedicated the Church of the Blessed Sac- rament on the first Sunday in October, 1904.
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The priests in charge of the parish at present are: Rev. . William J. Denney, S. J., Superior of the Jesuits of Los Angeles; Rev. Dominic Giacobbi, S. J .; Rev. James Taylor, S. J .; and Rev. H. P. Gallagher, S. J. Rev. Father H. P. Gallagher, the head of the priests at Hollywood, is a native of Loretta, Pa., was ordained at St. John Lateran, in Rome, and spent four years of study in Paris and two in Rome. An old Califor- nian, he came to this state for the first time in 1859, and during the years between 1887 and 1907 was located in Santa Clara county, where for three years he was the first prefect at what is now Santa Clara University in Santa Clara, as well as being for a time connected with the Catholic school at San Jose. Removing from Santa Clara county to the state of Washington, he was in charge of a parish in Seattle and presi- dent of Seattle College for three years and for the following four years was connected with St. Joseph's Church at North Yakima, three years of this time having charge of the Indians at the North Yakima reservation.
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