USA > California > Los Angeles County > Los Angeles > A history of California and an extended history of Los Angeles and environs, Biographical, Volume III > Part 9
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61
The second marriage of Dr. Pottenger oc- curred in Sacramento, Cal., August 13, 1900, uniting him with Miss Adelaide Gertrude Bab- bitt. By this union there are three children, two sons and a daughter, all now students in the pub- lic schools of Monrovia. They are: Francis Mar- ion, Jr., aged fourteen years; Robert Thomas, aged eleven, and Adelaide Marie, aged seven. Dr. Pottenger is a member of several clubs, in- cluding the University Club, California Club and the Gamut Club, of Los Angeles. In August, 1911, he was honored by the appointment as first lieutenant in the Medical Reserve Corps of the United States Army.
W. P. WHITSETT. The town of Van Nuys, Cal., owes its growth to the enterprise of W. P. Whitsett, who purchased a one-half interest in January and opened the town for settlement on February 22, 1911, and since that time has con- tinued to be a large factor in its development. Mr. Whitsett maintains his offices and his home in Van Nuys, where, when he first purchased his property, the land was merely a barley field, eight miles from the street car line. He at once organized a selling campaign with a large force of real estate agents, and personally saw to get- ting the right kind of people to invest and build up the town. One million tags were distributed
4
Historie Racera un
Charles E. Chapman
563
HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
through his agencies, entitling people to a free ride to Van Nuys, these tags being given to every- one coming into Los Angeles on the trains and also attached to their baggage, thus being carried to all parts of the world. Mr. Whitsett was one of the organizers and is now a director of the First National Bank of Van Nuys, and also of the State Bank of Owensmouth. He is a member of the Los Angeles Athletic Club, and of the Los Angeles and Van Nuys Chambers of Com- merce, in his religious affiliations being associated with the Christian Church.
Born in Washington county, Pa., December 27, 1875, Mr. Whitsett was brought up at Whitsett, Pa., a town named for his family, who have been connected with the coal mining industry of that state for many years. His grandfather made the first coke used in Pittsburg, shipping it down the Youghiougheny River on a flatboat, and his father operated coal mines in Pennsylvania. The parents died when the boy was only nine years of age, and he was educated for a business career at Farmington College, at Farmington, Ohio, and became a self-made man who has held many re- sponsible positions in the coal business. At Elm Grove, Pa., he assumed charge of the J. W. Ramey plant, going thence to Pittsburgh, to take charge of the river yards of the Hartley & Hen- derson Coal Company, later being employed by
the C. W. & B. Coal Company, a large corpora- tion in Chicago, and when only twenty years of age was in the coal industry for himself in that city. The next year found him operating the Caledonia Coal Mines, and in connection there- with he founded the town of Caledonia, Ind., where the mines were located, and at once built fifty houses for his employes. He organized three companies there, the Rainbow Coal Mining Com- pany, the R. B. Whitsett Coal Mining Company and the W. P. Whitsett Coal and Coke Company, the first of which he later sold out to the famous Walsh interests, now known as the Southern Indiana Coal Company.
On account of ill health, Mr. Whitsett came to California in 1906, and invested in thirty-nine acres of land on Florence avenue, Los Angeles, which tract he subdivided and named Walnut Lawn, on account of the many walnut trees adorning the streets and grounds. On this prop- erty he built forty-two houses, but after a year his poor health compelled him to travel through California and Arizona ; but he still keeps up his
interest in Walnut Lawn and continues to put up houses there, although residing now at Van Nuys, a town whose rapid growth and wide advertisement are due to the enterprise of Mr. Whitsett.
CHARLES C. CHAPMAN. Genealogical records establish the year 1650 as the date of the founding of the Chapman family in America and the arrival in the New World of three broth- ers from England, who became the progenitors of a numerous race that, taken root in Massachu- setts, spread its branches throughout the grow- ing colonies of the central west and maintained an important identification with pioneer develop- ment. No representative of generations past was more worthy of honor than Sidney Smith Chap- man, who was born in Ashtabula county, Ohio, in 1827, and who followed the westward tide of emigration at an early age, settling in Illinois when he was a youth of eighteen and embarking in the building business. The sterling traits char- acteristic of pioneers found exemplification in his useful, honorable life, and while he never achieved wealth he was singularly fortunate in gaining that which is far more enduring-the sincere regard of friends and the affectionate ad- miration of business associates. Into the build- ing of houses he put the same integrity and the same patient industry that he put into the build- ing of his fine personal character and his deep Christian faith.
After a long period of labor as a builder in Macomb, Ill., Sidney S. Chapman removed to Vermont, same state, in 1868 and later followed his trade in Chicago, where he and his first wife were charter members of the West Side Christian Church. During the World's Fair his health failed and in October of 1893 he passed from earth. His life, as it was ordered, contained not only happiness, but also sorrow and disappoint- ment. Whatever came to him he bore with simple dignity and quiet courage, seldom giving utterance to any words save those of hope. As a work- man he was not content with the mere completion of a task, but strove to finish each contract with greater skill than he had displayed in previous efforts. A firm supporter of prohibition, he was so conscientious in his convictions that in his last illness he refused all medicines containing alcohol, preferring to suffer pain rather than to secure
564
HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
temporary ease at the expense of deep-rooted beliefs. To his descendants he left the heritage of a life that was a model of uprightness and simple devotion to duty.
In 1848 S. S. Chapman married Rebecca Jane Clarke, eldest daughter of David and Eliza (Rus- sell) Clarke, both natives of Kentucky, where the daughter also was born. The family of Mr. Chapman by this marriage numbered ten chil- dren, seven of whom attained years of maturity and five are now living, viz .: Charles C., whose name introduces this narrative; Christopher C., of Los Angeles; Samuel James, who is engaged in the real estate business in Los Angeles ; Dolla, Mrs. W. C. Harris, whose husband is a well- known builder and successful architect of Los Angeles ; and Louella, Mrs. J. Charles Thamer, of Placentia, Cal. The eldest son, Col. Frank M., died in Covina, this state. Emma E., Mrs. L. W. B. Johnson, died in Illinois in 1888, leaving a son and daughter. The wife and mother passed away at the family home in Chicago January 2, 1874, and later her youngest sister became the wife of S. S. Chapman, their union resulting in the birth of three children, Ira, Earl and Nina. After the death of her husband the widow remained in Chi- cago for several years, but subsequently removed to Los Angeles, where she and her children still make their home.
During the residence of the family at Macomb, Ill., Charles C. Chapman was born, July 2, 1853, and in that city his education was secured, but he owes more to self-culture than to text-books, more to determination and will-power than to youthful opportunities. His first employment was that of messenger and he recalls carrying the message that announced the assassination of Presi- dent Lincoln. Later he clerked in a store and in 1869 joined his father at Vermont, Ill., where he learned the trade of bricklayer. On the 19th of December, 1871, he went to Chicago and imme- diately secured employment, first working as a bricklayer and in 1873 superintending the erection of several buildings, after which he engaged in the mercantile business. During 1876-77 he en- gaged in canvassing in the interests of a local his- torical work in his native county and during 1878 he embarked in a similar enterprise for himself at Galesburg, Ill., whence the office in 1880 was moved to Chicago. The business was first con- ducted under his own name and after his brother, Frank M., became a partner the firm name was
changed to Chapman Bros., and later to Chapman Publishing Company.
As the business of the firm increased the plant was enlarged until it had embraced extensive quarters and large equipment. In addition to the management of a printing and publishing business the firm erected numerous buildings, including business structures, apartments, hotels and more than twenty substantial residences. During the World's Fair they conducted the Vendome hotel for the accommodation of leading capitalists of the country. The financial panic of that year caused very heavy losses to the firm.
At Austin, Tex., October 23, 1884, Mr. Chap- man married Miss Lizzie Pearson, who was born near Galesburg, Ill., September 13, 1861, being a daughter of Dr. C. S. and Nancy (Wallace) Pearson. Two children blessed the union, name- ly: Ethel Marguerite, born June 10, 1886, now the wife of Dr. William Harold Wickett; and Charles Stanley, January 7, 1889. During Janu- ary of 1894 Mr. Chapman went to Texas, hoping that the southern climate might benefit his wife, who was ill with pulmonary trouble. Later in the same year he came to California with the same hope, but here, as elsewhere, he was doomed to disappointment. While the family were occupying their beautiful home on the corner of Adams and Figueroa streets, Los Angeles, Mrs. Chapman passed away September 19, 1894. Noble traits of heart and mind made Mrs. Chapman pre- eminent in family and church circles, while her accomplishments fitted her to grace the most aris- tocratic social functions. Her charming personal appearance, combined with a rarely lovable nature and a tactful manner, won the lasting affection of associates. Earth held so much of joy in an ideal home happiness that she could not covet the boon death proffered, yet she accepted it with the forti- tude that characterized her sweet Christian resig- nation to intense suffering through a long illness.
The present wife of Mr. Chapman was Miss Clara Irvin, daughter of S. M. and Lucy A. Irvin, and a native of Iowa, but from childhood a resi- dent of Los Angeles until her marriage, Septem- ber 3, 1898. They have one child, Irvin Clarke. Mr. and Mrs. Chapman have traveled extensively both in this country and abroad. Both are mem- bers of the Christian Church, with which Mr. Chapman united at the age of sixteen and in which he has held all the important local positions, including deacon, elder and Sunday-school super-
565
HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
intendent. For years he was a member of the Cook County Sunday-school board, a member of the general board Y. M. C. A. of Chicago, also an organizer of the board of city missions of the Christian churches of Chicago. His identification with these various activities was severed upon his removal from Chicago, but he has been equally active in the west. He has been for more than a dozen years president of the California Christian Missionary Society and has taken part in the dedication of forty churches, being the speaker and making the appeal for money, and in a special, as well as a general, way assisted many churches. He is a director of the Christian Board of Pub- lication of St. Louis. The largest of his philan- thropic enterprises is the building of a hospital at Nantungchow, China. For years he has served as a member of the state executive committee of the Y. M. C. A., in 1914 was president of the state convention and in April, 1915, was elected chairman of the state executive committee. He has served as president of the State Sunday School Association and in 1911 was elected to represent Southern California on the International Executive Committee and vice- chairman of the committee. In 1914 he was re- elected to both positions. In 1903 he was ap- pointed by Governor Pardee a trustee of the State Normal School at San Diego, was reappointed by him and later by Governor Gillett and still later by Governor Johnson, resigning after a service of ten years. In 1907 he was elected a trustee of Pomona College, serving until 1915.
Since coming to California Mr. Chapman has devoted much attention to building up the Santa Ysabel rancho near Fullerton, which under his close supervision has been developed into one of the most valuable orange properties in the entire state. The Old Mission brand, under which name the fruit is packed, has a reputation second to none in the best markets of the country, and prices commanded have been the record prices for California oranges since 1897. He also has other valuable orange ranches near Fullerton.
In politics Mr. Chapman is a Republican. He has served as a member of the state central com- mittee and in 1912 made an unsuccessful race for nomination for state senator, and in 1914 was favorably mentioned for nomination for gover- nor of California. He was elected one of the first trustees of Fullerton, served as chairman of the board and was re-elected for a second term.
He is a director of the Commercial National Bank of Los Angeles and of the Farmers and Mer- chants Bank of Fullerton, of which institution he served as president for some years. He is president of two mining companies, interested in the oil business, and has large realty holdings in Los Angeles and elsewhere.
Mr. Chapman has been closely identified with the irrigation interests that lie at the foundation of success in fruit culture. He served as director and president of the Anaheim Union Water Com- pany for several years. He has made the fruit industry a success, has encouraged others to greater efforts in the same business and has proved a power for good in the development of horticulture in Southern California. He has borne his share in public affairs, in religious work and in social circles, as well as in his chosen occupation of grower and shipper of fruit. Activities so far-reaching, aspirations so broad and influences so philanthropic have given his name prominence, while he has become endeared to thousands of citizens through his humanitarian views, his progressive tendencies, his gentle cour- tesy and his unceasing interest in important moral, educational, religious and political questions.
GRENVILLE C. EMERY, A.B., LITT. D. Mr. Casson in The Romance of Steel and Iron, in Munsey's, says, quoting from a remark of Carnegie: "Thomas and Gilchrist, two young English chemists, were the inventors of the basic process by means of which steel could be made from ores that were high in phosphorus. Those two young men did more for England's greatness than all her kings and queens put together. Moses struck the rock and brought forth water, but they struck the useless phosphorous ore and trans- formed it into steel-a greater miracle." Davies and Bunsen and Bessemer and Edison and hosts of other miracle workers at once spring to mem- ory, master minds of the ages.
To the true schoolmaster may we rarely point, perhaps, as belonging to this company, but his contribution to the cultivation and growth of such minds can be placed second to no other influence. In the onrush of the centuries he is lost sight of, but his silent, plodding, fostering, painstaking ef- forts in the early training of such master minds have made the wonderful march in progress of this twentieth century possible.
566
HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
The full sweep and greatness of the work of the true schoolmaster possibly may have never possessed the minds of the parents of Dr. Emery, but they were enterprising and intelligent people, and at least were impressed with the usefulness and nobility of the teacher's calling, and early determined upon this profession for their son.
One of the earliest and most vivid incidents in his early life was the witnessing, at the age of six, the climbing up of his father on top of the old- fashioned stage coach en route with other 49ers to the El Dorado of the Pacific-California. There- after, and especially after his father's return, it was determined that he become a teacher in this land of promise. Nearly half a century was to pass before its fulfillment. Meantime the loss of parents necessitated self-support, and he became a teacher in the public schools of Maine at the age of sixteen, and thereafter, until his graduation from Bates College at the age of twenty-five with the degree of A. B., he fought his way single- handed, depending upon teaching as his only source of income for his expenses at the prepara- tory schools of Corinna Union Academy and Maine State Seminary and in Bates College itself. He was an assistant for a time in Corinna Union Academy during his preparatory work, and in Maine State Seminary after his graduation. He also organized and was principal of the Edward Little high school, Auburn, Me., and superin- tendent of schools of the same city, and later be- came principal of the Grand Rapids high school, Michigan.
But his greatest work in the east, a work in which he has great pride and extending through a quarter of a century, was begun as usher in the Lawrence grammar school in Boston in 1872. After a nine years' service in this school among impressionable, bright boys of Irish descent, he was given a year's leave of absence for study abroad, which he spent mainly in the University of Goettingen, Germany. On his return he was elected master in the Boston Latin school, where for the next fifteen years he helped prepare boys for Harvard University and other universities and colleges of the east. His department in the Latin school was mathematics, and in collabora- tion with William F. Bradbury, head master of the Cambridge Latin school, he edited a series of algebras which are still used, not only in Boston schools, but in many other important educational
centers of the east, as also in the Harvard school of Los Angeles.
The history of the school really began in '49, when the father of the founder mounted the stage coach, as already related, and finally reached California around the Cape to mine for gold, and to drink in the wonderful possibilities and beau- ties of the state for the pleasure and enchantment of his family on his return to the east two years later.
The corner stone was laid in 1900. The founder, cherishing and treasuring up this boyhood knowl- edge, had come at last from the oldest and most renowned school in the United States, the famous Boston Latin school, founded in 1635, to build up here in Los Angeles, this magically growing and marvelous city of the west, a school, the Harvard school, which profiting by the past, might have the right to claim not only equality with the old school in general, but in many things superiority.
A more suitable completion of this historic sketch the writer could hardly hope to prepare than the following fitting and discriminating tribute to the school and its founder, appearing in the Graphic of August 25, 1907 :
"'To thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.'
"These are the words carved on the proscenium arch of the handsome assembly hall which is as it were the heart of the Harvard school. Dr. Emery sets before himself, his faculty and his boys the highest ideals. How well those ideals have been reached can only be realized by a personal inspec- tion of Harvard school.
"Most of us know some of the Harvard boys, and we must have been impressed by their manli- ness and by their gentlemanly bearing. The tone of a school is found more surely in the boys themselves than in the buildings, however fine the latter may be. But undoubtedly, surroundings have an incalculable influence upon the upbuild- ing of youthful character, and Dr. Emery's in- spiration in founding and developing Harvard school has been that only the best is good enough -to make good workmen good tools are essential.
"Any Angeleno interested in the subject of education-and who is not ?- will find he will be more than repaid by an inspection of Harvard school. Doubtless he will be surprised to realize the extent to which this institution has grown, quite keeping pace with the phenomenal growth
Y
.L
le. Stamps
Misterie Recerico
569
HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
of Los Angeles during the last six years. There can be, indeed, very few men who have built better, more wisely, and with a higher aim than Dr. Emery. And he has done it without flourish of trumpets or a sign of vainglory. The modesty of the head-master will impress you equally with his quiet force. He will tell you: 'My aim was to found a decent school. I like that word "decent"; it means a great deal and is a favorite adjective of President Roosevelt.' And surely, the noble buildings of Harvard school, and, more, the mental and moral atmosphere of the place, impress the visitor that 'whatever things are comely and of good report' are faithfully observed in the class rooms, in the dormitories and in the campus.
"Harvard school is intended to fit boys for col- lege, for the technical schools, for the government schools and for business careers. The general equipment and the special provisions for special studies are unsurpassed by any school anywhere. The faculty is carefully selected, consisting of fourteen resident masters, drawn from the fore- most universities of the country.
"The completion of Harvard hall about a year ago marked a new era in the history of the school. It was built at an expense of $60,000 and is a model structure in every respect. The upper and lower schools are now divided, the former occupy- ing Harvard hall and the latter has all to itself the old Harvard, now Junior, hall. The lower school also has its own gymnasium, tennis courts and baseball field.
"The central feature of Harvard hall is its magnificent assembly hall, a lofty and imposing room, 60x50 feet, with stage and gallery, and a seating capacity of four hundred and fifty. The assembly hall has a marked dignity both in archi- tecture and decoration. On the first floor also is a large study hall, a finely equipped library, the head-master's office, the editorial room of the Sentinel, and several recitation rooms; on the second floor the commercial department and type- writing rooms are located, the mechanical and free-hand drawing rooms, a lecture room that would be a credit to any university, flanked by the chemistry and physical laboratories. In the basement are most commodious locker rooms, a splendid gymnasium, shower baths, the armory, the bicycle room, lavatories that are a model of convenience and sanitation, and the heating and ventilating systems. The recitation rooms, large
and airy as they are, are supplied constantly with fresh air by the most perfect system ever in- vented.
"The school owns a magnificent campus of ten acres, on which the best advantages are furnished for the pursuit of all wholesome athletics.
"In six years Harvard school has grown beyond its founder's most sanguine expectations, and no man can foretell its future. One thing is certain, that the influence of the school upon this community is for the very best. It is a sure foun- dation, inspired by high ideals and built on a noble plan."
CHARLES FOX STAMPS, JR. Three suc- cessive generations of the Stamps family have been identified with the development of Califor- nia, the first generation having been represented by Charles Fox Stamps, Sr., a Kentuckian by birth and member of an old family of the Blue Grass state, sturdy in ancestral stock and colonial in lineage. The traits that characterize the pio- neer moving in the vanguard of civilization marked him from earliest youth and led to his removal to the Pacific coast during the first era of American occupancy. Good educational ad- vantages had been given him, to which he added a wide fund of information gathered in the course of his travels, and he was able to serve efficiently as a judge and justice in one of the northern counties of California. For a time he made his home in Greene valley, Sonoma county, and there in 1851 occurred the birth of Charles Fox Stamps, Jr., whose mother, Matilda (Cord) Stamps, was a native of Indiana and the daughter of a pioneer minister of the Hoosier state. For a consider- able period the Stamps family lived in Mendo- cino county and in 1870 became residents of San Diego, where Mr. Stamps engaged in mining. Eventually he settled in Orange county and em- barked in the fruit-raising business.
The schools of Ukiah and San Diego furnished Charles Fox Stamps, Jr., with excellent advan- tages along general educational lines. When he had completed the studies of the grammar grade he learned the trade of printer in a San Diego printing office, an occupation which he followed at various intervals of his life. With his brothers, Nestor P. and Cathmor, he bought forty acres in Orange county and embarked in the raising of grapes. The brothers were the first men in Cali-
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.