USA > California > Los Angeles County > Los Angeles > A history of California and an extended history of Los Angeles and environs, Biographical, Volume III > Part 60
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In 1887 Mr. Mesmer was elected a member of the Board of Freeholders to frame a charter for the city of Los Angeles; in 1893 he was
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appointed a park commissioner. He has always been most active in all public matters and has been conspicuously active in the opening, widening and improving of the streets, more than a dozen of our public thoroughfares owing their opening and widening to his efforts. To him also is due the credit of securing the $280,000 in subscrip- tions toward the purchase of the free site for the postoffice and federal building. He also assisted in securing subscriptions to the amount of $32,- 000 toward assisting the Chamber of Commerce in the purchase of a building site. It was mainly through his efforts that the Alcatraz Paving Trust was broken up. This act alone has saved to the property owners in the paving of the streets fully twenty-five per cent, besides allowing the pur- chase of a local product instead of sending money away for Alcatraz bitumen. He was also largely instrumental in securing the locating of the Pub- lic Market at Third and Central avenue.
On January 30, 1906, Mr. Mesmer sold out The Queen Shoe Store after a successful busi- ness career of twenty-seven years. He is now president of the St. Louis Fire Brick and Clay Company; also is vice-president of the West- ern Lock and Hardware Company, both of which manufacturing establishments give promise of future greatness. Although solicited in the past by several of the large banking institutions of this city to become a bank director Mr. Mesmer repeatedly declined until he allowed the use of his name as a director in the Home Savings Bank. He is a member of the California and Jonathan Clubs and belongs to the fraternal order of Elks, Knights of Columbus, the Young Men's Institute and several other charitable and beneficial socie- ties. He has also been many times honored with the presidency of numerous political, social and improvement clubs. Accompanied by his family Mr. Mesmer in 1905-6 made an extended trip of over thirteen months, visiting many of the im- portant cities of the United States, Canada and Europe, and over twelve countries. The entire trip was replete with pleasure.
SPENCER ROANE THORPE. The south has given to the Pacific coast many men of cul- ture and broad mental attainments and among them few have excelled the late Spencer Roane Thorpe, whose versatility of mind and force of
personality impressed every member of his circle of acquaintances and every locality of his resi- dence. The traits which made him a leader among men came to him as an endowment from a long line of gifted ancestors both on the paternal and maternal sides. Through his father, Thomas James Thorpe, he traced his lineage to England and to a long line of barristers and counselors-at- law. Through his mother, who was Sarah Ann Roane, a daughter of Lafayette Roane, he was a descendant in the third generation of Judge Spen- cer Roane, a Revolutionary hero, who later be- came one of the jurists of Virginia. The wife of Judge Roane was Ann Henry, daughter of Patrick Henry of Virginia. The statue of Patrick Henry and the portrait of Judge Spencer Roane in the state house at Richmond show the important place these two patriots held in the early history of the Old Dominion. One of the counties in what is now West Virginia received its name from the Thorpe family.
Born in Louisville, Ky., in 1842, Spencer Roane Thorpe received his education principally in St. Joseph's College at Bardstown, Ky. At the open- ing of the Civil war, fired with an enthusiastic de- votion to the land of his birth and the home of his ancestors, he gave himself to the cause of the south. For one year he served as a member of the Second Regiment of Kentucky Infantry. Upon the disbanding of that regiment he joined Mor- gan's Cavalry, in which he was promoted to be a lieutenant and later commissioned captain. In the battle of Corydon, Ind., he was three times wounded and left on the field for dead. In that way he fell into the hands of the Federal troops and was sent to a hospital, but was soon trans- ferred to Johnson Island, where he suffered the fearful hardships of a cold winter, insufficient nourishment and other privations. When released from the island he was a physical wreck and never afterward did he fully recover from the effects of that time of suffering.
Going to Louisiana and seeking an opening for the earning of a livelihood, Mr. Thorpe taught school until he was physically and financially able to take up the study of law, which he pursued under the preceptorship of Judge E. N. Cullom of Marksville, La. After having been admitted to the bar he took up professional practice and continued in the same until he left the south. Meanwhile he devoted much time to the acquis- ition of a thorough knowledge of the French
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language, with which he became thoroughly con- versant. Indeed, his command of the language was so perfect that the United States government retained his services as attorney in all the French cases that arose on account of the Civil war, and in all of these cases he was successful. As soon as he had accumulated sufficient money he began to invest in lands and city property and became the owner of a fine plantation. For some time he was a member of the board of trustees of the Louisiana State University, and for one term he held the office of district attorney.
During 1877 Mr. and Mrs. Thorpe made their first trip to the Pacific coast and spent six months in California. In 1883 they returned as perma- nent residents, settling in San Francisco, but in 1886 they removed to Ventura county and settled three miles east of Ventura, buying lands in the Santa Clara valley that have since become fa- mous. The walnut grove of one hundred and fifty acres which Mr. Thorpe set out and improved is said to be the finest orchard of the kind in the entire county, and he also owned farms in various parts of the valley on both sides of the river. In 1889 he established his residence in Los An- geles, although afterward he continued to spend considerable time in Ventura county in the super- vision of his extensive landed interests, and he died on his Moorpark ranch September 1, 1905, at the age of sixty-three years. Of genial and companionable personality, he enjoyed intercourse with his fellows and maintained a warm interest in the various organizations of which he was a member, namely: the Masons, the United Con- federate Veterans, the Sons of the Revolution and the Society of Colonial Wars.
The marriage of Mr. Thorpe was solemnized at Marksville, La., January 20, 1868, and united him with Miss Helena Barbin, who was born and reared in that town, and received an excellent edu- cation in private schools supplemented by study in the Convent of Presentation at Marksville. She was one of nine children, five of whom survive, she being the only member of the family in Cali- fornia. Her father, Ludger, the first white child born at Marksville, was the son of an attorney who was sent to Marksville as the judge of the parish. The first member of the Barbin family in America came from Paris to New Orleans and held a commission from the king of France as a custom-house official. The mother of Mrs. Thorpe was a native of the parish of Avoyelles
and bore the maiden name of Virginia Goudeau, her father, Julian, being an extensive planter of that parish and a descendant of French ancestors early established in New Orleans. Mrs. Barbin died some years ago, but the father is still living and now makes New Orleans his home.
Mrs. Thorpe is allied with movements for the upbuilding of the race and is also prominent in social circles and a member of the Daughters of the Confederacy. Since the death of her husband she has made her home in Santa Paula, but spends a considerable portion of each year in Los An- geles. In her family there are five children, namely : Helena, wife of Dr. Edwin J. Riche, of Marksville; Andrew Roane, attorney-at-law, of Eureka, Cal .; Virginia Roane, wife of Harry L. Dunnigan, of Los Angeles; Spencer Guy, teller of the Broadway Bank and Trust Company; and Carlyle, cashier of the Farmers and Merchants Bank of Santa Paula. The eldest son received his education at St. Vincent's College and later entered the dental department of the University of Michigan, from which he received the degree of D. D. S. However, he did not take up dental practice, but instead turned his attention to the study of law and in due time received admission to the bar in San Francisco, since which time he has engaged in professional work at Eureka, this state, where he ranks among the leading members of the profession.
LEWIS J. MERRITT. The Merritts are de- scended from French Huguenot stock on the pa- ternal side, ancestors having fled from France at the time of the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes to Kent, England. The branch of the family from which Mr. Merritt of Pasadena is de- scended came to America and settled in Connecti- cut early in the seventeenth century ; the great- grandfather served seven years in the Revolution- ary war and died at the age of one hundred years. The grandfather, Thomas, was one of the first settlers of Chautauqua county, N. Y., where he married Hephzebeth Jewitt. Lewis J. Merritt was born in Hanover, Chautauqua county, N. Y., No- vember 9, 1848, and the following year his parents removed to Warren county, Pa., thence in 1853 to Ashtabula county, Ohio. The last move was made in order to secure better school privileges for the children of the family, but they did not
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remain in that location long; the father, in 1855, went to the head of Lake Superior and in 1856 the mother and eight sons followed him and set- tled in Oneota, Minn., then the frontier. They were among the first white families of Minnesota in the vicinity of Lake Superior and upon the land which they developed into a farm a part of the city of Duluth now stands, thriving and pros- perous with its harbor teeming with commerce. In those early days the mode of travel was by steamboats on the lake or over the Indian trails, the mail being carried on the backs of Indians over the trails in the winter and by steamboats during the summers.
In 1858 and '59 the government cut a military road from Superior to St. Paul, but it was not until 1870 that the Lake Superior and Mississippi Railroad was built; the latter was later known as the St. Paul & Duluth Railroad and now as the Northern Pacific Short Line. In this isolated country Mr. Merritt reared his family, engaging in the lumbering business. For many years the only doctor and nurse at the head of the lake was Mrs. Merritt, who often went through storms in winter, by dogsleigh or in a small steamboat in summer, to attend the sick, her name being remem- bered today among those who experienced the hardships of that pioneer time. Lewis J. Merritt was educated in the common schools until he was thirteen years old when he began to work in sawmills, contracting for the sawing of laths in the summer and attending school during the winter. When fifteen years old he shipped as a sailor on a sailing vessel and followed this life for four or five years. December 26, 1869, he was married to Eunice Annette Wood, a native of Cleveland, Ohio, they being the first white couple married in St. Louis county, Minn. In 1871 a daughter, Annice, was born in Oneota, and August 17, 1872, a son, Hulett Clinton, was born. In 1873 Mr. Merritt went west to aid in building Custer Barracks at Fort Lincoln, N. Dak., and the following year he moved his family to Atchison county, Mo., where he engaged in farm- ing for about thirteen years and then returned to Duluth and in company with his brothers, Leo- nidas, Alfred and Cassius C., for three years was occupied in prospecting for iron. The success he achieved may be seen in the great Missabe Range, first discovered and opened up by the Merritt
brothers. The first iron discovered was Moun- tain Iron mine in township 58, range 18, the next being Biwabik in township 58, range 16 and then the Missabe mountains, township 58, range 17. These great properties hold the key to the iron situation in the Northwest.
In 1889 Mr. Merritt and his son, H. C., formed a company known as L. J. Merritt & Son and in the years that followed their operations placed them among the most successful and prominent business men of the Northwest. Mr. Merritt was for several years a director in the Lake Superior Consolidated Iron Mines, an $80,000,000 corpora- tion, now merged into the United States Steel cor- poration in which Mr. Merritt is one of the heavy stockholders. The manner in which Mr. Merritt amassed a fortune shows his possession of more than ordinary business ability, as well as inde- fatigable effort, and entitle him to the position he holds among the leading financiers of the North- west. He has also placed his name among the citizens of worth and ability, having given no little effort toward the material upbuilding of Duluth, the Merritt family having built the Du- luth Missabe & Northern Railroad, now the largest dividend payer per mile of any railroad in the United States, netting $22,000 per mile in 1907. In fact, the general development of Du- luth was only made possible by the opening up of the great iron mines, which virtually made the city of the lakes. In the fall of 1896 he removed to Pasadena where he guides his business interests in the east by occasional visits and a mind trained to the understanding of details even at a dis- tance. He completed one of the most beautiful homes in Pasadena, the city of beautiful homes, finishing many of the rooms in solid mahogany, a part of which came from Peru and some from Guatemala, others in weathered oak, and still oth- ers in myrtle wood. The residence, with its grounds, is one of the most complete and attractive homes in the city. Mr. Merritt has four children living: Hulett C., also a large stockholder in the United States Steel Corporation, and who resides in a magnificent home on South Orange Grove avenue in Pasadena; Bertha; Lewis N .; and Evelyn. Both himself and wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Politically he is a stanch adherent of Republican principles.
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ROBERT STEERE. As a merchant of Los Angeles, Robert Steere was connected for many years with the commercial interests of this city and while acquiring a competence won a place of importance among the business men and rep- resentative citizens. A native of New York, he was born in Laurens, Ostego county, December 27, 1833, a son of Rufus and Eliza Ann (Brown) Steere, both of whom were descendants of old Rhode Island families, the former, born in 1799, being the seventh in line of direct descent from Roger Williams. Rufus Steere was reared on his father's farm near Gloucester, R. I., but in young manhood removed to Otsego county, N. Y., when it was a pioneer country, and there en- gaged in the manufacture of leather, operating a tan yard for many years.
Robert Steere was reared in his native county, receiving a primary education in the schools in the vicinity of his home. Upon the completion of his studies he gave his father assistance in the tan yard for several years, and upon the death of the latter in 1850 took charge of the business and successfully conducted the same for two years. He then apprenticed himself to learn the tinner's trade in Laurens, N. Y., and in the win- ter of 1854 he removed to St. Paul, Minn., where he remained three years engaged in this line of work. In search of a better business location he went to Sioux City, Iowa, where he found em- ployment at his trade. Later going to Nebraska he joined a government surveying party and for five months was engaged in chain carrying. He then resumed his trade and followed the same until 1859, in which year he, with two others, built a yawl at Sioux City, running down the Missouri river to Omaha, Neb. There Mr. Steere fitted out an ox-team with a party of seven to cross the plains, leaving that place on May 7. They had intended to locate at Pike's Peak, but en route met many returning emigrants who gave them discouraging accounts regarding the mines there, and accordingly they continued their jour- ney through to California by the Lander's cut-off. The journey was one of hardship and trial, the trip across the forty-mile desert with no water and no stopping place being particularly trying and also disastrous, as the heat proved so intense that they lost all but one ox. This animal they used the best they could, each man, however, being compelled to carry the greater part of his luggage, except that which they were forced to
leave behind them on the plains. With great effort this lone ox was urged across the Hum- boldt desert and lived through the terrible or- deal; they disposed of him for $20 and with the money brought flour at fifty cents per pound, and with the bacon they had on hand served what they called a camper's meal, which was highly relished by the half starved men. After resting a day or two they engaged passage with a freighter for Placerville, Cal., where they arrived Septem- ber 6. Being short of means, and lodging places being scarce, they secured a room in what seemed to them a palace after their long and wearisome trip under the open sky-the loft of an old brew- ery, which they occupied for a time. Each man soon set out for himself in an effort to make a livelihood, Mr. Steere finding as his only employ- ment the blacking of stoves, taking a contract for fifty of them for a hardware firm of Placerville. He followed his trade that winter and in the following spring located at Mud Springs (now Eldorado), Cal., where he engaged as a clerk in a store for three years. At the close of that time he purchased the business and successfully conducted the same until 1868. In the meantime he was appointed postmaster of the place and also agent for Wells Fargo & Co. Express, and June 4, 1864, he was made deputy internal revenue col- lector of the fourteenth division of the Fourth district of California and held the last-named office until 1868. Being taken ill about that time he decided to return east, and accordingly, March 18, took passage on a steamer bound for New York, where, in his old home, he spent the following six months; thence he traveled westward to Bloomington, Ill., where he had a brother living. He remained in that locality for seven years, when he again made the journey to the Pacific coast, this time, however, traveling by rail over the route which had required so much time, pa- tience and self-sacrifice for the early pioneers of the west.
Arriving in Sacramento, Cal., in June, 1875, he accepted a position in a furniture store of that city, where he remained until November, when he came to Los Angeles, and in this city his home has ever since remained. For five years he en- gaged in the furniture business, carrying a line of new and second hand goods, in partnership with John Baldy, under the firm name of Steere & Baldy. This business was located in the old adobe on the west side of Main street, where
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the McDonald building now stands, and was suc- cessfuly conducted until the disposal of the en- terprise. Mr. Steere then retired to private life, and until his death, spent his time in looking after his investments, which were principally in im- proved property in Los Angeles. He accumulated a comfortable competence and lived in the enjoy- ment of the fruits of his labors in young manhood.
June 4, 1864, Mr. Steere was united in mar- riage with Miss Anna Higgins, in Sacramento, Cal., a native of County Tipperary, Ireland, who came to the United States with her parents when about six years of age. Her father, John Hig- gins, was a pioneer of Michigan, his death oc- curring in Marshall, the home of the family. Mr. and Mrs. Steere became the parents of two chil- dren, Ada and Robert, both of whom are now deceased, the eldest dying at the age of six years. Both himself and wife were members of the Ro- man Catholic Church and liberally support many charities. Mr. Steere was a Republican in his po- litical affiliations and although he never cared per- sonally for official recognition yet he sought to advance the interests of his party. In the cause of the municipal government he served for two years as a member of the city council. He was a man of business ability, judgment and energy, and while he acquired a financial suc- cess held the more honored position among the citizens of Los Angeles as a man of integrity and honor and a reliable citizen.
ARTHUR MCKENZIE DODSON. The record of the Dodson family in California is a record of persevering industry and untiring en- ergy. Fathers and sons unitedly have labored to promote their mutual welfare and have counted no labor too difficult when by its successful ac- complishment the general prosperity might be pro- moted .. The history of the family in this country dates back to the colonial times, the first repre- sentative coming over on the Mayflower and estab- lishing the name in New England, where the Fletchers and Mckenzies, into which families the Dodsons married, also became prominent and in- fluential citizens. In this connection it is worthy of note that John Fletcher was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.
Arthur Mckenzie Dodson was born in Phila- delphia, Pa., in 1819, remaining in the east until
the year previous to the finding of gold in Cali- fornia. The year 1848 found him a miner in this state, but from the fact that he gave up this life two years later and was ever after engaged in commercial pursuits, it is safe to presume that his efforts in this direction were not all that he had anticipated. Coming to the old pueblo of Los Angeles in 1850, he opened one of the first butcher and grocery establishments in the place and was the pioneer soap manufacturer here also. A later enterprise was the establishment of a wood and coal yard at what is now the corner of Sixth and Spring streets, in the very heart of the city. This in fact was the nucleus of a little town to which he gave the name of Georgetown, in honor of "round house" George, then a prominent char- acter in that locality. At a later date Mr. Dodson removed to the San Fernando valley and began raising wheat and barley, this being the first at- tempt at farming in the valley. Still later he be- came superintendent of the O'Neill ranches in San Diego county, but meeting with an accident there he was compelled to give up the management. After recovering from the injury he went to Tucson, Ariz., and engaged in the cattle business, and it was while there that his death occurred about 1886.
The marriage of Mr. Dodson united him with Reyes Dominguez, a member of one of the oldest families of the state, she being a native of this county and a daughter of Nazario Dominguez, well known to all early residents in this part of the state. He and his brothers, Pedro and Man- uel, owned the Rancho San Pedro, which ex- tended from Redondo to Compton and on to Long Beach. Mrs. Dodson died in Los Angeles in 1885, having become the mother of twelve children, only three of whom are now living. James H. and John F. are in partnership in business and reside in San Pedro, and Emma, now Mrs. Thompson, resides in Hobart Mills, Nevada county, Cal.
JOHN ALEXANDER WILLS. Remem- bered as an early pioneer of California, a man of erudition and scholarly attainments, and a citi- zen whose efforts were always given toward the advancement of public interests, John Alexander Wills is named among the representative men of the state as well as among the successful lawyers of the nation. A native of Pittsburg, Pa., he was
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born October 21, 1819, a son of John and Eliza (Hood) Wills, both descendants of Scotch-Irish ancestry ; the father was an early merchant of that day, but died in 1822 leaving a widow and three sons. The mother reared her sons to man- hood and inculcated in them the strong principles and integrity which were noticeable in their busi- ness and social lives thereafter. John Alexander Wills received his early education through the medium of the public schools, after which, in 1833, he entered Washington College, located at Wash- ington, Pa., and graduated therefrom with honors in 1837 as the valedictorian of his class. He was then less than eighteen years of age and shortly after his graduation he attended the Constitutional Convention at Harrisburg, Pa., and visited Wash- ington, D. C., that he might gratify his love of forensic eloquence and hear the most famous speakers of the day, among whom were Clay, Webster, Calhoun and Prentiss.
Early resolving to take up the study of law, he entered the law department of Harvard Col- lege in 1838, and was there taught by the dis- tinguished Judge Story and Professor Greenleaf. He numbered among his classmates such men as William C. Deming, William M. Evarts, Ebenezer Rockwood Hoar, Richard H. Dana, James Russell Lowell, William W. Story, Jordan M. Pugh, Elihu B. Washburn and William Ingersoll Bowditch. After leaving Harvard, where he was graduated with the degree of LL.B. in July, 1840, he entered the law office of Walter H. Lowrie, of Pittsburg, afterward chief justice of Pennsylvania. He was admitted to the bar in 1841 and following this practiced in the courts of Pittsburg, the Supreme Court of the United States, and the United States District Court until the fall of 1853. In Novem- ber of the last-named year he left Pittsburg and became a pioneer of California, locating in San Francisco, where he practiced law for three years. His decision to return east in the month of May of 1856 led to his appointment as one of the dele- gates from California to attend the approaching Republican convention to be held in Philadelphia in June of that year, for although he began life a Democrat he early became an aggressive opponent of slavery, joining in 1842 the Liberty party, in 1848 the Free Soil party, and in 1852 the Repub- lican party. Thenceforward he took an active part in all the political campaigns up to 1872, and
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