USA > California > A history of California and an extended history of its southern coast counties, Volume II > Part 13
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 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67
615
HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
until he had left but three acres surrounding his home, and which was cultivated and im- proved with all the trees, shrubbery and flow- ers native to the state. The death of Mr. Por- ter occurred January 17, 1888.
Mr. Porter was twice married, a son by his first marriage, Omer T. Porter, having died in Los Angeles. He married in 1865 Miss Anna Green, and they became the parents of three children, one a son, William, having died in California at the age of eight years, and Don Carlos is now a prominent lawyer of Pasadena and Los Angeles, connected with the firm of Porter, Sutton & Cruickshank, with offices in both the above named cities. Mr. Porter was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, a consistent Christian, and a citizen of worth and works. He was universally known as the peacemaker because of his pacific disposition and was often called upon to settle disputes ; lie was public-spirited, kind and generous to a fault and unostentatious in all his gifts. He gave his best efforts toward the advancement of public interests of Pasadena, being instru- mental in securing the water supply of Pasa- dena in the early days, and was also interested in the organization of the First National Bank of that city.
PROF. THADDEUS S. C. LOWE. The name of Prof. T. S. C. Lowe is well known among the scientific men of the United States, he being the inventor of the Water Gas System, on which has been built up some of the largest industries of the world, and also the original inventor of the Compression System of artificial ice making and refrigeration, now in general use. He is a native of New Hampshire, his birth having occurred in Jefferson, August 20, 1832. He received a preliminary education which was only the foundation for the informa- tion which he afterward acquired through read- ing. observation and experience. As a very young man he was named among the scientists who would effect changes beneficial in the eco- nomic life of the nation, and as early as 1856 he constructed balloons in order to study atmos- pheric phenomena. During the Civil war he was chief of the Aeronautic Corps, which he himself
organized, and in 1862 devised a system of sig- nalling of much value to the cause. Later he invented valuable instruments for atmospheric investigation. He constructed and operated the largest aerostat ever built, same having an at- mospheric displacement of more than sixteen tons. He invented also the compression ice machine system and with it made the first arti- ficial ice and fitted out the first steamship with his refrigerating machinery for food preserva- tion and transportation, which has marked a revolution in the world's food supply. The patent of the water gas revolutionized the gas industry, and for some time he has been putting into use his discovery of a new system for the production of coke and gas of high quality from petroleum oil products. This led to the organi- zation of the Lowe Anthracite Gas and Power Company. This oil-coke will take the place of charcoal for all purposes, in fact there is no use either domestic or manufacturing where coke or anthracite coal is employed, for which this will not prove far superior. The Lowe system can produce gas as a by-product, free of cost in any portion of the United States, from oil where it is the cheapest, and from bituminous coal while making metallurgical coke and other smokeless fuel as a substitute for anthracite.
Professor Lowe has also given to the world the beauties of the famous Lowe railway, which, climbing a dizzy height of about three thousand feet by means of a double cable and known as the " inclined railway," the line then winds sev- eral thousand feet higher amid the grandeurs of a scene unsurpassed among even the beauties of scenic Italy. This inclined railway was the first ever operated by water power and gas en- gines. It is also the first instance of an all up- grade railway operated by rail, which has now become common on all mountain scenic roads. In honor of his achievement the peak was named Mt. Lowe by government officials. He has also perpetuated his name by the erection of the Lowe Observatory, slightly above the head of the in- clined railway.
Personally Professor Lowe has not allowed his intellectual qualities to supplant those of a warmer nature, and although he has of necessity given the greater part of his time and attention to scientific pursuits, yet he possesses a kindli-
1.0 7. 8-yar
621
HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
ness of character, and simplicity of manner which have won him many friends, especially among those who have visited the observatory and seen him at his work.
WILLIAM FRANCIS EDGAR, M. D. The life history of Dr. Edgar is one of unusual interest. Fuil of incidents, stirring and ad- venturous, it possesses that fascination which attaches to all lives that present the spectacle of small beginnings and large achievements, and of success wrested from adverse circum- stances. Through a career which began in 1823 and ended in 1897 he was a witness of much of the remarkable development of the United States, no part of which was more in- teresting to him than the Golden state, where the happiest years of his life were passed. A surgeon among surgeons, few there are if any who saw more active service than did he during the twenty years passed on the fron- tiers of Oregon and California and in the Civil war.
On both sides of the family Dr. Edgar was descended from military antecedents, one grandfather being a captain of light artillery in the Revolutionary war, and the other a captain of infantry in the war of 1812. The martial spirit of the paternal grandfather was strongly implanted in his son, for at the age of seventeen years William Hamilton Edgar enlisted from his native state, Virginia. After his honorable discharge from the service and when peace once more reigned, he settled for a time in Kentucky, but later went to Mis- souri. A man of unusual strength of char- acter, honest and industrious, he impressed all with whom he came in contact, and none more so than his own children, who honored and revered him to the end of his days. The last years of his life were spent under Cali- fornia skies, and it was while living in San Bernardino in 1866 that he answered the final roll-call. In death he was not long separated from the wife of his youth, for two years later she too passed away. After the death of her husband she made her home with her son William in Drum Barracks, near Wilming- ton. Five children were originally comprised
in the parental family, but all are now deceased. The only daughter died in infancy; one of the sons, who was a soldier, died in Santa Fe in 1846; another, who was a lawyer by pro- fession, died in Los Angeles in 1862; still another died in 1874 at the Edgar rancho at San Gorgonio, Cal .: the eldest child in the family and the last survivor was William F.
William Francis Edgar was born on a farm in Jassamine county, Ky., in March, 1823. Nothing worthy of note occurred in his life until he was eight years old, when he became a pupil in the log schoolhouse about three miles from his father's home. The path was cut through a heavy dark forest, and this the child traveled over twice a day alone in pur- suit of his early schooling. When the family located in Missouri he enjoyed better priv- ileges, completing his non-professional course in Bonne Femme College in Boone county. After the panic which swept over the country in 1837 the family removed to St. Joseph, and there he made his first step toward self-sup- port. The thought paramount in his mind however was to secure the means with which to pursue his studies, for ere this he had made up his mind to become a physician. While working in a drug store as clerk he devoted every spare moment to the study of medicine and chemistry and in this way prepared him- self both financially and mentally to enter the medical department of the University of Louisville, from which in 1848 he graduated with high honors under Prof. Samuel Gross. At the beginning of the second session of his college career he with two fellow students was appointed assistant demonstrator of anatomy. an appointment which he held until he entered the army. Life on the frontier in Missouri gave him an excellent opportunity to get an insight into army life and after making the acquaintance of several army surgeons the trend of his professional training had been decided. After taking his degree he presented himself before the army examining board in New York and out of scores of candidates he was one of four who successfully passed the the rigid test.
The public life of Dr. Edgar began with his appointment as assistant surgeon in the United
622
HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
States army in the spring of 1849. At Jeffer- son Barracks he was assigned for duty first at Fort Leavenworth, but was later trans- ferred to Oregon, traveling by steamer to old Fort Kearny. While en route Asiatic cholera broke out among the passengers, and both on board ship and on the well-trodden path to the gold fields the doctor tended many a sick and discouraged wayfarer, giving his services gratuitously. Subsequently he was ordered to Vancouver, later to The Dalles, and while at the latter place, in the spring of 1851, orders from the government brought about changes which finally placed Dr. Edgar under com- mand of Major Philip Kearny, with head- quarters at Sonoma, Cal. There he was as- sociated with men who years afterward be- came famous for their gallant services in the Civil war, notably Joseph Hooker and George Stoneman. From Sonoma Dr. Edgar was sta- tioned successively for a short time at Fort Miller, the Yosemite valley, and toward the close of 1853 was ordered to Fort Reading, where now stands the town of Redding, Shasta county. The severe physical strain which he had been under during the past years had begun to tell on his constitution and made him an easy prey to the malarial ten- dencies by which he was surrounded in camp. One chill December night while suffering with malarial fever he arose from his sick bed in answer to summons to attend a com- rade who had met with a severe accident, and upon his return to his own quarters at day- break he was seized with vertigo and fell un- conscious, stricken with paralysis. At this time he was a young man of only thirty years. In response to orders from his commandant he was relieved from duty and taken to the home of a friend in Tejon valley, where he received careful nursing and by the last of March following was able to walk. The three months leave of absence which was granted him was spent for the most part in Kentucky and Missouri, and upon its expira- tion he reported for duty at Jefferson Bar- racks, near St. Louis. Assigned to the Sec- ond United States Cavalry corps he there be- came associated with such men as Robert E. Lee, Albert Sidney Johnston, William J. Har-
dee and George H. Thomas, who were later to shine with such brilliancy in the Civil con- flict. After a brief stay in Texas,. whither the command had been ordered, Dr. Edgar was sent to Fort Meyers, in Florida, where there was a scarcity of medical men. In the latter part of 1856 he was ordered to New York, and the year following he was once more at his post at Fort Miller, Cal., under command of Captain Ord.
The breaking out of the Civil war was re- sponsible for the events in the next epoch in the career of Dr. Edgar. In November, 1861, he was ordered to report at Washington, be- ing among the last of the regular troops to leave the Pacific coast. As surgeon with the rank of major he was assigned to General Buell's command in Kentucky, reorganizing and taking charge of the general hospital at Louisville. Once more his health failed un- der the pressure of professional duties, ex- posure and fatiguing travel, and against his wishes he was retired from active service, be- ing assigned to duty in the medical director's office in the department of the east, with head- quarters in New York. It was in the latter city, March 8, 1866, in the Church of the Nativity, that he was united in marriage with Miss Catherine L. Kennifer, a lady of many excellent qualifications. Memories of the de- lightful climate and sunny skies of Califor- nia made Dr. Edgar a willing victim, when, after the close of war, he was once more or- dered to this state, a pleasure which was en- hanced by the fact that his parents had located here to spend their remaining days. With the exception of a few years of private prac- tice in Los Angeles Dr. Edgar spent the re- maining years of his professional career at Drum Barracks. In the meantime he had pur- chased a large ranch at San Gorgonio, San Bernardino county, which until 1874 was man- aged by his brother Francis Marion, but upon the death of the latter in that year he himself assumed charge of the property. Selling a portion of it in 1881, he finally disposed of the remainder, in 1886 selling it to the San Gorgonio Investment Company. Los An- geles never had a more true-hearted, devoted citizen than Dr. Edgar, his love for his adopt-
Joseph Rintz
625
HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
ed city expressing itself in endless ways. Be- sides being a member of the County Medical Society he was a member of the Southern Cal- ifornia Historical Society, the Library Asso- ciation of Los Angeles, the first agricultural society of this city and also its successor the Sixth District Agricultural Association, and the Main Street and Agricultural Park Rail- road Company. Not only was he a member of the foregoing organizations, but in nearly all he served in some official capacity, being a director of the last-named for more than fif- teen years. The death of Dr. Edgar, August 23, 1897, closed a career filled with noble deeds and self-sacrificing devotion to his fellowmen, and was a complete fulfillment of the motto which he had adopted as his guide in early college days :
"Honor and shame from no condition rise ; Act well your part ; there all the honor lies."
JOSEPH KURTZ, M. D. It has been the privilege of Dr. Kurtz to witness the develop- ment of the west during the more than forty years of his identification with its history. With a robust constitution and a good educa- tion in the university of Giessen as his chief assets he left the Fatherland in young man- hood determined to make a name and place for himself in the new world. The history of his life in the years which have intervened attests more plainly than can words that his ambi- tion has been realized, for today he ranks high in the medical circles of Southern California, being known as one of the most able and one of the oldest practitioners in this section of country.
As has been intimated Dr. Kurtz is a native of Germany, born in Oppenheim, Hesse-Darm- stadt, in 1842, the son of parents who were also natives of the Fatherland. His boyhood train- ing was not unlike that of the average Ger- man youth and as is customary in that coun- try he attended the gymnasium. During his school days he recognized a predilection for the medical profession and following his gym- nasium course he attended the medical col- lege at the University of Giessen for two years.
In 1862, when twenty years of age, he came to the United States, and for about a year was employed as a pharmacist in Pottsville, Pa. The year following he served as a stew- ard in the Jarvis army hospital in Baltimore, and in 1864 went to Chicago, where for sev- eral years he was engaged in the drug busi- ness. A desire to see the far west prompted him to make the trip by way of Panama in 1867, landing at San Francisco, but early in the following year he came to Los Angeles, a city which was destined to be his future home and the scene of his brilliant career. Soon after reaching this city he resumed his interest in the drug business, following this until he was once more enabled to take up his medical studies. Going to San Francisco he matriculated in Toland Medical College and upon the completion of the course, in 1872, graduated with the degree of M. D. It was with this preparation that he returned to Los Angeles and opened an office for the practice of medicine and surgery and from the first his practice has continued to grow until he is now ranked as one of the brightest lights in the medical profession in Southern California. Of late years, however, he has made more of a specialty of surgery. In 1889 he went to Europe to take a special course in medicine and surgery, studying in Munich, Berlin and Heidelberg, and again in 1903 he went abroad, this time to attend the clinics of Dr. Lorenz, the celebrated orthopedic surgeon in Vienna, at the same time continuing his researches in Berlin, Munich and Paris. To Dr. Kurtz is due not a little of the credit for the establish- ment of the medical college carried on in con- nection with the University of Southern Cali- fornia, he being one of the most active advo- cates and workers in its organization, and ever since its founding he has held the chair of surgery. In addition to this he is president of the Los Angeles College Clinical Association. For fifteen years he was surgeon for the Southern Pacific Railroad Company, and is now consulting physician for the Santa Fe Railroad Company.
In Chicago in 1866, Dr. Kurtz was united in marriage with Miss Ida Felbert, who like himself was a native of Germany, her birth
626
HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
occurring in Carlsruhe, Baden. Five children, two sons and three daughters, have been born of their marriage and all are worthily filling their respective places in the world. The eld- est son, Carl, who graduated from the Belle- vue Hospital Medical College, New York City, is a practicing physician in Los Angeles, and is professor of gynecology in the medical col- lege connected with the University of Southern California. The other son, William, is in the employ of the Home Telephone Company in San Francisco. Millie is the wife of R. L. Horton, of Los Angeles ; Christine is the wife of J. M. McGary, also of this city ; and Cath- erine, the youngest member of the family, is still at home with her parents. Mrs. Kurtz and her daughters are members of the Epis- copal Church, taking an active part in all the activities connected therewith. As is natural to suppose Dr. Kurtz is actively interested in whatever tends to advance the science of medi- cine, and he holds membership in the Ameri- can Medical Association, State Medical Asso- ciation, Los Angeles County Medical Associa- tion and the Southern California Medical Asso- ciation. The organization of the German hos- pital of this city is due to the earnest efforts of Dr. Kurtz, who has been its manager ever since, and he was also one of the organizers of the Turn-Verein of this city, the meetings which finally brought about the organization being held in his office over thirty-seven years ago. Another social order with which he is connected is the University Club. The sub- ject of education for the young is one which appeals very strongly to him and for about ten years he served on the board of education of either the city or county, and for four years of this time was president of that body. He also served as coroner of Los Angeles county for three terms of two years each, a position for which he was well qualified, and one which he filled creditably to all concerned. Though nominally Dr. Kurtz is a Democrat he is not a partisan, and in the casting of his ballot the fitness of the candidate for the position has more weight than party name. During his long connection with the city of Los Angeles Dr. Kurtz has gained and maintained a high
position in medical annals, and in business and social affairs he is also well known and highly respected.
JOHN NEWELL HUNT. Among the pub- lic officers of Los Angeles county who have distinguished themselves for their faithfulness to the duties imposed upon them by their ac- ceptance of official position, is John Newell Hunt, the present incumbent of the office of county treasurer. He was born in Dewitt county, Ill., near Clinton, February 20, 1863, the youngest in a family of ten children. The paternal family were residents of New Jersey, from which state the grandfather immigrated to Springfield, Ohio, and there engaged as a hotel man until his death, which occurred in 1845. His son, John B., born in Springfield, Ohio, became a physician in young manhood and in the year of his father's death located in Illinois, where he pursued his profession for some years. In 1882 he came to the Pacific coast and as a retired citizen located in Los Angeles, where his death occurred in 1891. He is survived by his wife, formerly Sa- rah Barnett, a native of Springfield, Ohio, and daughter of Samuel Barnett; she still makes her home in Los Angeles.
One of two living children, John Newell Hunt was reared in his Illinois home and educated in its public schools. He accompanied his parents to Southern California, where his first occupa- tion was as a horticulturist in South Pasadena. A part of the property upon which he was em- ployed he sold in 1886 as acreage and a part as a subdivision to the city, and in the follow- ing year he entered the Southern California Sav- ings Bank as teller. He rose to the position of cashier, remaining connected with the insti- tution for seven years. In the meantime he had established himself among the citizens of worth and ability and was taking an active part in the affairs of the Republican party, of whose prin- ciples he was always a stanch adherent. In Janu- ary, 1895, he accepted a position in the office of the county tax collector, the incumbent at that time being A. H. Merwin, acting as cashier until January, 1899, when he received the appoint- ment to the position of chief deputy tax col- lector under John H. Gish. Re-appointed in
627
HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
January, 1903, by Col. W. O. Welch, he served in this positon until January, 1907. In the mean- time, in the fall of 1906, he was nominated on the Republican ticket and endorsed by the other parties, for the office of county treasurer, and being elected took the oath of office in January, 1907. Although but a brief time has elapsed, the preparation that Mr. Hunt had received for the office along the splendid line of business training, and the manner in which he has grasped affairs, speak well for a successful tenure of office.
In Los Angeles Mr. Hunt was united in mar- riage with Miss Hattie Collins, a native of Pon- tiac, Ill., and they are the parents of the fol- lowing children: Harry, Grace and Edward. In his fraternal relations Mr. Hunt is identified with the Masonic organization, having been made a member of the order in South Pasadena Lodge No. 367, F. & A. M., in which he is now acting as secretary, and socially is identified with the Union League Club. He is prominent in politics and active in the advancement of the principles he endorses. In religion both himself and wife are members of the Presbyterian Church, and are liberal in their support of all its char- ities.
BRADNER W. LEE. The records of the Lee family since its location in America dur- ing the colonial period of our history form an interesting account of one of the most prominent names of the western world. The emigrating ancestor was Nathaniel Lee, who was born in the city of Dublin, Ireland, of English ancestry, in the year 1695. He was a commissioned officer in the British army, and at the time of the Rebellion and accession of George the First, he sided with the "Re- volt ;" his property was confiscated, and while yet a single man, in 1725, he emigrated to America and settled on the banks of the Hud- son, near the village of Fishkill, in Dutchess county, N. Y., where he soon married Mar- garet De Long. Of this union were born three sons, Thomas, Joshua and John (who died at the age of twelve years), and four daughters, Margaret, Patience, Polly and Sally. The father attained the advanced age
of ninety-eight years, and both himself and wife were interred in the cemetery at Dover, Dutchess county, N. Y.
Thomas Lee was born at the family resi- dence November 15, 1739, and before attaining his majority-on the 22nd of July, 1760, he married Watey Shearman (or Sherman, as it is variously spelled), born December 9, 1743. Shortly afterward Mr. Lee purchased a farm near Fishkill, at a point called Quaker- town, and there made his home for some years. At the outbreak of the War of the Revolution he was among the first to respond to his coun- try's call. and in the years of that long, and at times well-nigh hopeless struggle, his name appears frequently in the published military records of the part taken by New York. He was commissioned second lieutenant in Capt. Jacob Rosecrans' Dutchess County Company, Col. James Holmes, Fourth Regiment, New York Continental Line, June 30, 1775. This was one of the first four regiments of the Con- tinental Line organized in the Colony of New York upon the Establishment of 1775. by act of the Provincial Congress at its session of June 30, 1775. He was promoted to first lieu- tenant, same company and regiment, August 3. 1775, serving in this command until No- vember, 1776. At the session of the Provin- cial Congress, November 21. 1776, four additional battalions of the Continental Line of the State of New York were authorized. and a list of the officers and their rank arranged. In this list appears, in the Fourth Battalion, Col. Henry B. Livingston, William Jackson's Company, Thomas Lee, first lieutenant, ranking tenth in the battalion. The minutes of this session further show that Col. Lewis Du Bois was being urged for appointment as colonel of one of the four battalions, but was left out of the arrangement, the records saying: "That from the quota of this state being assessed so low as four battalions many good officers will be unprovided for. That sundry applications have been made to your Committee for Com- missions by Young Gentlemen of Fortune and Family whose services your Committee are under the disagreeable necessity of declining to accept."
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.