USA > California > Los Angeles County > Los Angeles > A history of California and an extended history of Los Angeles and environs, Biographical, Volume III > Part 55
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Chicago company has sixteen such branches, and its Los Angeles office, which is known as the Sierra Paper Company, employs from forty to fifty people, handles a general line of fine print- ing paper, wrapping paper, twine and bags, and the whole of Southern California and Arizona is comprised in the territory of this branch of the business. Besides Mr. Olmsted, the president, the other officers of the Los Angeles branch are Fred H. French, vice-president, and John Bireley, secretary and treasurer.
On September 19, 1873, Mr. Olmsted was born in Evanston, Ill., the son of H. F. Olmsted, and attended the grammar and high schools and Northwestern University, after which, at the age of eighteen years, he took up civil engineering, which he followed until 1903, at which time he engaged with the J. W. Butler Paper Company in Chicago, working in their stock room, from which position he constanty advanced until in 1912 he was elected manager of their distributing branches. Mr. Olmsted is a Mason, a member of the Shrine, also of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and of the Chicago Athletic Club, and the Dallas Country Club, of Dallas, Tex. His mar- riage to Miss Merryman took place in Marinette, Wis., in September, 1903, and they are the parents of two children.
WILLIS J. BOYLE, SR. The president of the Pinney & Boyle Manufacturing Co., W. J. Boyle, Sr., has been a resident of California since 1893 ; during the years that have intervened he has been closely connected with the manufacturing business of California, and in Los Angeles has won an enviable reputation for himself and his company.
Mr. Boyle was born at Sparta, Wis., March 16, 1856, and in that state received an education in the country schools until fourteen years of age, at which time he was taken by his parents to Holden, Mo., where he worked at various occupations for a couple of years. At the age of sixteen years he became a brakeman on the M. K. & T. Railroad, and continued in that capacity for about one year, after which he went to Osage Mission, Kan., with a view to learning the tin- smith trade ; after remaining there one year, how- ever, he went to Sparta, Wis., his old home place, and there finished the tinsmith trade. His next move was to Larned, Kan., where he followed
his trade until 1879, going then to Augusta, Kan., where he engaged in the hardware and tin goods line with success, until selling out in 1881. He then removed to Humboldt, Kan., where he was connected in the hardware business for the fol- lowing three years with Frank L. Dayton, under the firm name of Dayton & Boyle. After selling out he became a traveling salesman for the Kan- sas City Hardware Co. (afterwards the Gille Hardware & Iron Co., of Kansas City, Mo.) in which capacity he remained until 1893. when he left the road and came to California.
In the above year Mr. Boyle arrived in Los Angeles and became connected with the Los An- geles Iron and Steel Co. In 1895 this concern failed and Mr. Boyle was made receiver under Judge Lucien Shaw, and remained in this capacity one year. In 1896, with Charles L. Pinney, he began business under the firm name of Charles L. Pinney Co. This company incorporated in 1899 under the name of Pinney & Boyle Company, which continued until 1913, when the title of the firm became Pinney & Boyle Manufacturing Co. In January, 1914, Mr. Boyle bought Mr. Pinney's interest and became president of the corporation, the other officers being Lew M. Boyle, vice-presi- dent ; W. J. Boyle, Jr., treasurer, and Milo C. Boyle, a brother, secretary.
When the company first embarked in business Mr. Boyle and Mr. Pinney did the work them- selves, while today one hundred and thirty-five employes are on their payroll. Their business is located on five and one-half acres at Fifty-first street and Santa Fe avenue, Vernon, in a fine steel structure covering an area of three hundred feet square, erected by them in 1914-15, to which they moved from their old location in March, 1915, though retaining their former place at No. 1325 Palmetto street for their department of tin lithographing. The company manufactures a gen- eral line of sheet metal goods, stoves, ovens, camp stoves, canteens, garbage cans, and a general line of pressure tanks and underground storage equip- ment, conducting one of the most complete and up-to-date metal lithographing plants in the west, and finding a sale for their products throughout California, Arizona, Nevada and Washington.
In politics Mr. Boyle is a Republican. He is a York Rite Mason and a Shriner, and a member of the Jonathan Club. In May, 1884, at Hum- boldt, Kan., occurred the marriage of Mr. Boyle and Minnie E. Edwards. They have two sons,
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Willis J., Jr., a graduate of the School of Mines of Golden, Colo., now treasurer of the Pinney & Boyle Manufacturing Co., and Lew M., educated at Stanford University and now vice-president of the corporation.
COL. EDWIN S. ORMSBY. More than thirty years spent as president of a bank which he had himself founded and the operation of nearly a dozen other banks throughout the state furnish a splendid fund of experience for the man who holds the position of secretary of the Fifty Asso- ciates of California, a large financial corporation of Los Angeles.
Such is the background of the business life of Col. Edwin S. Ormsby, the son of Lysander and Olive Ormsby, born April 17, 1842, in Adrian, Mich., the capital of Lenawee county, a town which since that date has become the seat of a college under the direction of the Methodists, a denomination to which Colonel Ormsby himself belongs. He received his education in the public schools of his native state, and, the Civil war breaking out about the time he had finished his schooling, he enlisted at the age of eighteen in the First Infantry of Michigan Volunteers, during his service being brevetted colonel. At the close of the war he went to Detroit, where he was engaged in the practice of law for three years, going thence to Emmettsburg, Iowa, an agricul- tural city and capital of Palo Alto county, sit- uated on the Des Moines river. Colonel Orms- by's connection with the city of Emmettsburg was of long duration, he establishing there the First National Bank and holding the office of presi- dent of the same for many years. He also owned and operated a chain of ten other banks throughout the states of Iowa, Minnesota and Dakota. In 1906 he came to Los Angeles, and even during the eight years of his residence here he has seen great and important improve- ments take place in the city's growth. New streets have been laid out and hills leveled; elec- tric lighting has been installed on many more of the streets, and huge hotels and apartment build- ings have gone up not only in the downtown dis- trict but also on the newer streets further from the heart of the city. The new postoffice has been built, great store buildings put up, and large handsome banks have superseded the smaller and less commodious structures in use a few years
ago. Colonel Ormsby has identified himself with municipal interests here, at present holding the important position of secretary of the Fifty Asso- ciates of California, himself prospering with the progress of the new city which he has chosen as his home.
The marriage of Colonel Ormsby with Mary A. Bateman occurred July 4, 1863, in Adrian, Mich., the city of his birth, and by her he is the father of three children, Myrtie, now Mrs. George J. Consigny, Jr., Charles and Fannie. Fraternally he is connected with the Masons, having attained the thirty-second degree Scottish Rite, also the York Rite, besides which he belongs to the Shrine, and his religious affiliations are with the Metho- dist church, he being a member and one of the board of directors of the Westlake Methodist church in Los Angeles. For two years he was president of the Federation of State Societies and past president of the Iowa Association of South- ern California and is a director in both.
WILLIAM WARREN ORCUTT is a native of Minnesota, born in Dodge county, February 14, 1869. His father, John Hall Orcutt, a de- scendant of the oldest Puritan and Virginia stock, came with his family to California in 1881, and engaged in horticulture at Santa Paula, Ventura county, until his death in 1913. Through his mother, Adeline Warren, Mr. Orcutt is descended from the famous Warren and Curtis families of New England.
The boyhood of Mr. Orcutt was spent at Santa Paula, where he attended the public schools and the Santa Paula Academy. In 1891 he entered Stanford University, a member of the pioneer class, whence he graduated in 1895 with the de- gree of A. B. While in Stanford, Mr. Orcutt specialized in geology and engineering, which afterward became his life work.
After graduation Mr. Orcutt engaged in busi- ness at Santa Paula as a civil and hydraulic engi- neer and United States deputy surveyor until May, 1899, when he became superintendent of the San Joaquin Valley Division for the Union Oil Company of California. In 1901 he accepted the office of geologist and engineer for the Union Oil Company of California, with headquarters at Los Angeles. A few years later Mr. Orcutt became manager of the geological, land and engineering
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departments of the Union Oil Company of Cali- fornia, which office he still retains.
The Union Oil Company of California was the first oil company on the coast to organize a geo- logical department for research work and the dis- covery of new oil fields. The success of the department under the direction of Mr. Orcutt in the application of scientific principles to the solv- ing of the problems in the oil fields has probably been the greatest factor which has induced Cali- fornia oil men to recognize the value of geological work.
Mr. Orcutt made the first geological maps of the Coalinga, Lompoc and Santa Maria oil fields, and took an active part in the selection and pur- chase of properties for the Union Oil Company of California in these districts. In recognition of the work of Mr. Orcutt in the location and develop- ment of the Lompoc and Santa Maria districts, the town of Orcutt in Santa Barbara county was named for him.
In connection with his geological work, it is interesting to note, that in 1901 Mr. Orcutt made the original discovery of the world famous La Brea fossil beds in the western limits of the city of Los Angeles. Realizing the great scientific value of this discovery, Mr. Orcutt in 1906 brought the matter to the attention of the paleon- tological department of the University of Cali- fornia. From these beds have been taken the most remarkable prehistoric animal remains in the world. Complete skeletons of the giant ground sloth, mastodon, sabre-tooth tiger, wolves and other extinct canivora have been secured for the great museums of the world.
In 1908 Mr. Orcutt was made a director of the Union Oil Company of California and a member of its executive committee, which offices he still retains. Other offices held by him are as follows: President of the Newlove Oil Company, Bed Rock Oil Company, Lake View Oil Company, Brea Townsite Company and La Merced Heights Land and Water Company; vice-president of the Midway Royal Petroleum Company, Standard Plaster Company and Syndicate Oil Company ; director of the Outer Harbor Dock and Wharf Company and of the Santa Maria Oil & Gas Company.
In politics Mr. Orcutt is a Democrat. His re- ligious affiliations are with the Presbyterian Church. He is a member of the Los Angeles Ath- letic Club, the University Club, the Santa Maria
Rod and Gun Club, the Southern California Academy of Sciences and the Seismological So- ciety of America.
The marriage of Mr. Orcutt and Miss Mary Logan took place at Santa Paula, June 9, 1897. They are the parents of two children, Gertrude L. and John Logan Orcutt.
AMOS M. BULEY, a diamond expert, came to Los Angeles a little over ten years ago and for a number of years filled this position with the firm of Brock & Feagans. Shortly after his arrival here he became interested in the oil business, and at the time that the State Oil Company, a going concern, decided to affiliate with other companies he became one of the organizers of the new com- pany, the State Consolidated Oil Company, which took over valuable oil interests in the Midway and McKittrick fields, and he is secretary and treas- urer of this company. The company was organ- ized March 3, 1911, and Mr. Buley is also financial manager and a director. The company is capital- ized for a million and a quarter dollars, and the stock was practically all placed by Mr. Buley among his many friends both here and in Toronto. The holdings of the company are considered among the best in the Midway, McKittrick and Belridge Districts, situated in Kern county, and Kern county, beyond the question of a doubt, is the richest developed oil field in the world. In Ven- tura county they have valuable holdings both in the Simi and Ventura Districts, aggregating sev- eral hundred acres in all. This company holds a record for bringing in eleven producing wells from March, 1914, to the end of August, 1914. They have never drilled a dry hole on any of their properties. Their present monthly production is 50,000 barrels, and their product is sold to the Standard Oil Company, their income being about $20,000 monthly.
Mr. Buley is a native of Toronto, Canada, where he attended school until he was sixteen years of age, and was then apprenticed to the largest jewelry house in Canada, later becoming manager of different departments, and eventually becoming the general manager of the house, which position he held at the time of his resignation in 1904. At that time he came to Los Angeles, where he became associated with the well-known firm of Brock & Feagans, jewelers, being in charge of their diamond department, and remain-
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ing with them for six years. Quite apart from his prominence in the commercial world, Mr. Buley is also well known socially and in exclusive club circles. He is a member of the Los Angeles Athletic Club, and attends the First Congrega- tional Church, of which he is also a member. In his political views Mr. Buley is a Republican, but has never sought political preferment, or taken a specially active part in party affairs save as he gave his support to measures of local importance. He is progressive and wide awake to the needs of the city and county and favors progress along the broad line of permanent growth and develop- ment.
ROBERT H. MACKERRAS, M. D. A lead- ing physician and president of the board of health of Sierra Madre, Robert Hamilton Mackerras was born September 10, 1878, at Peterboro, Ontario, Canada, and when seven years of age was taken by his parents to Kingston, Ontario, where he was educated in the public and high schools, grad- uating from the latter, after which he entered Queens University at Kingston, taking three years work in arts. He graduated from the medical department of that university in 1903 with the degree of M. D. Dr. Mackerras was house surgeon one year (1903-1904) of the County of Carleton General Protestant Hospital at Ottawa, Can., then came to California, locating at Pasadena. After taking the examination before the state board of medical examiners he was ad- mitted to practice his profession in California in 1905. He at once opened an office in Sierra Madre, where he has since become the leading physician, having built up a successful practice, and by his thorough knowledge of therapeutics has won the confidence of his patrons.
In 1911 Dr. Mackerras took a post-graduate course on internal medicine in the medical de- partment of Harvard University. He was a mem- ber of the attending staff of Graves Memorial Dispensary of Los Angeles in 1913-14, and is a member of the County, State and National Med- ical associations, also of the Southern California Medical Association. He is a member and master (1915) of Sierra Madre Lodge No. 408, F. & A. M., and a member of the Valley Hunt Club of Pasadena.
The marriage of Dr. Mackerras in Kingston, September 18, 1907, united him with Miss J. Cybella Craig, a native of Ontario, Canada. They have three children, viz. : Robert H. Jr., J. Craig and Maxwell D.
WILLIAM BOSBYSHELL. A prominent contractor and designer of the city of Los Angeles, with offices located at No. 1021 Wright & Cal- lender building, is William Bosbyshell, who was born in Los Angeles, April 13, 1886, the son of William and Margaret J. Bosbyshell. He is de- scended from Bohemian ancestry and represents the fourth generation of the family in America. Christian Bosbyshell, who was born in Bohemia, December 14, 1772, settled in Philadelphia in 1782 and died at Jenkintown February 16, 1862. He was married to Elizabeth Oliver, by whom he had nine children. One of his sons, William Bosbyshell, was the grandfather of our subject, and his son in turn was also named William Bosbyshell. The latter was well known in Los Angeles, where he settled in 1888, and was prom- inent in Masonic and financial circles. He was a man of more than ordinary note, having been born in Philadelphia and reared there until fourteen years of age. He then went to St. Louis, Mo., where later in life he engaged in the live stock business, in which he accumulated a fortune, and brought some means with him when he came to Los Angeles. He was twice married. His first wife was Emily Jane Taylor, who died in St. Louis, Mo., September 23, 1885, leaving no chil- dren. He was married a second time to Margaret Fultineer, who was born at Buchanan, W. Va., July 11, 1849, and now resides at 953 Gramercy Place, Los Angeles. They became the parents of one child, the subject of this sketch. The father and husband died in Los Angeles January 4, 1906, aged seventy-nine. He was an honored member of Signet Chapter No. 57, R. A. M., of Los Angeles, from whose archives we extract the following :
"Companion William Bosbyshell was born at Philadelphia, January 7, 1827; he lived many years of his life at St. Louis and the last eighteen years in Los Angeles. Thus allied with three typi- cal American cities through seventy-nine years, he witnessed the giant strides of American prog- ress in the East and in the West, and was himself a part of what he saw.
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"He lived the life of a citizen who is not ashamed to take part in public affairs. We are informed that he served the city of St. Louis during two or three terms in the city council and at least once as a member of the state legislature. He leaves surviving him his wife, Margaret J., and his son, William Bosbyshell."
William Bosbyshell, the son and subject of this sketch, was a pupil in the public schools of Los Angeles, his native city, later attended Har- vard Military Academy in Los Angeles, then the University of Southern California, in the same city, until the age of eighteen, when for two years he was engaged in the automobile business. At the close of that period he took up the practice of designing, contracting and building, doing mostly high class residential work, in which he has been very successful. He owns a large and valuable ranch near Compton and is at present engaged in improving it for a model country home.
Mr. Bosbyshell is a Republican in politics, and his religious affiliations are with the Lutheran church. He is a member of the Los Angeles Ath- letic Club. His marriage, which occurred in Los Angeles, April 28, 1907, united him with Miss Eleanor Holland, and they are the parents of one daughter, Janet Louise Bosbyshell.
BISHOP THOMAS JAMES CONATY. The country of Ireland has been the birthplace and early environment of many of the worthy leaders of the Roman Catholic worshipers throughout the United States, sturdy strength of character, un- conquerable will and supreme loyalty to their convictions being the stronghold of their life's work. Noble, actuated by the highest moral principles, worthy of the highest reverence, they bravely sustain the hardships of sacrifice and gen- erously administer to their people the spiritual and moral influence necessary to their well-being. In the career of Bishop Conaty, whose diocese of Monterey and Los Angeles embraces the South- ern half of California from San Diego to Santa Cruz, many traits have been exemplified to em- phasize his peculiar fitness for the duties of his position.
Born in Kilnalek, County Cavan, Ireland, Au- gust 1, 1847, Thomas James Conaty was but three years of age when brought to America by his parents, Patrick and Alice (Lynch) Conaty, who
allowed him splendid educational opportunities. After attending the public school at Taunton, Mass., he studied from 1863 to 1867 at Montreal College, and later was a graduate, in 1869, from the Holy Cross College, at Worcester, Mass., with the degree A.B. In 1872 he graduated from Grand Seminary, Montreal, and that same year was ordained priest. His earnest desire to per- fect himself and acquire a thorough educational training influenced him to continue his studies and in 1889 he received his D.D. degree from Georgetown University; in 1896 he was given J. C. D. from Laval University, Quebec.
Upon his ordination Bishop Conaty became, in 1873, assistant pastor at St. John's Church, Wor- cester, Mass., his service there extending until 1880, when his efficiency becoming recognized by his superiors he was made pastor of the Sacred Heart Church in that city, whose charge he took up with deep faith and love, associating himself with all branches and endearing himself to all who came to him for spiritual aid. During his fulfillment of these duties the Bishop found time to take active part in educational matters of Wor- cester as a member of the school board, a position he held for fourteen years, and in 1896 he was called to the Catholic University of America at Washington, D. C., to officiate as its rector, his term of service there extending to 1903. In 1897 he was honored in the appointment as domestic prelate by Pope Leo XIII and in November, 1901, as titular bishop of Samos. This was the crown- ing of his years of hard work and duty well done. He was consecrated bishop by Cardinal Gibbons at Baltimore, Md. In March, 1903, he was named Bishop of Monterey and Los Angeles. He was installed in his cathedral, Los Angeles, June, 1903.
It is of interest in passing to note the several organizations with which the Bishop has been actively associated. He served as president of the Catholic Summer School of America, Platts- burg, N. Y., from 1892 to 1896; as president of Catholic Total Abstinence Union of America from 1886 to 1888; and as president of the Conference of Catholic Colleges of America from 1900 to 1903. His natural powers of intellect and his splendid literary ability have evidenced them- selves in his authorship of New Testament Stud- ies, published in 1896. and in his editorship of the Catholic School and Home Magazine, published from 1892 to 1896. He has been generous of him- self in every direction where he has been of as-
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sistance and his church and its followers have largest individual mine owner in the country. been benefited to a degree where no limit can be imagined. Fraternal orders of various natures have in him a loyal worker, he holding member- ship actively in the Newman, Sunset, California and University Clubs of Los Angeles, the Munici- pal League and Choral Society, and he is also an associate member of the G. A. R. Post No. 10, Worcester, Mass.
As monuments of his exceptional worth and untiring energy there are edifices dedicated to glorify the great character Bishop Conaty has so closely sought to exemplify in his every day life. Charitable institutions instigated by him have spread their wings in all directions gathering in the poor and needy, and the minds of the chil- dren have been looked after by his labor in the educational field by his writings and by his ora- torical skill which has so far been recognized by the world as to cause him to be sought by all de- nominations for enlightenment and aid in cele- brations and special services.
J. ROSS CLARK. The Los Alamitos Sugar Company is one of the prosperous industries of Southern California and received its name from the location of the plant, which is at Los Alamitos, not far from Los Angeles, where the offices of the company are situated. The company was es- tablished by J. Ross Clark, now vice-president and general manager of the same, shortly after his coming to Los Angeles in 1892.
The genealogy of Mr. Clark is traced back to Scotland through is great-grandfather who was of Scotch descent but a native of Ireland whence his ancestors had emigrated during religious persecu- tions in Scotland. When a young man the great- grandfather removed to the United States and located in Pennsylvania where the family grew up. His descendants in this country were Pres- byterians and prosperous farmers, as his ances- tors had been on the other side of the water. One of a family of eight children, J. Ross Clark was born near Connellsville, Pa., April 10, 1850, the son of John and Mary (Andrews) Clark, the Clark Memorial Home in Los Angeles having been presented to the Young Women's Christian Association in honor of his mother. The eldest son. Hon. William A. Clark, junior member of the United States Senate from Montana, is with- out doubt the best-known of the sons, and the
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