USA > California > A history of California and an extended history of its southern coast counties, Volume II > Part 19
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himto abandon his practice and at the same time he sought a change of climate.
Deciding to follow the westward trend of emi- gration, Mr. Slauson came to Nevada in 1864, and in Austin, a city in the central part of the state, he engaged actively in mining pursuits for several years. The last year of his residence there he resumed his law practice in partnership with Hon. C. E. De Long, who in the latter part of 1868 was appointed United States Minister to Japan by President Grant. While a resident of Austin Mr. Slauson was thrice honored by the mayoralty of the town, and left a record that was gratifying to his constituency. The success with which Mr. Slauson met while in Nevada brought him satisfactory financial returns and in the year 1868 he decided to retire from his labors in that locality, and accordingly settled in San Francisco.
Coming to Los Angeles in 1874 Mr. Slauson was content to make this city his home for the balance of his life. His association with public movements of importance began at once and con- tinned unabated np to the time of his death, his first efforts being given to the founding of the old Los Angeles County Bank. He devoted ten years to the upbuilding of this institution, and at the end of that period, in 1885, when he sold to John E. Plater, it was recognized as one of the strongest banking houses in the state. As a di- rector of the railroad and wharf built at Santa Monica nearly thirty years ago by Senator John P. Jones he was prominent in its upbuilding, and was also actively indentified with the first street railroad lines of this city.
One of the most important movements of Mr. Slauson was his purchase prior to 1885 of the Azusa ranch, comprising some fifty-eight hun- dred acres of choice foothill land lying about twenty-three miles east of this city. At about the same time he purchased the San Jose Addition ranch, adjoining the other property, making a total of thirteen thousand six hundred acres of land, the market value of which was little ap- preciated at that time. The first purchase of fifty-eight hundred acres (with the exception of five hundred acres which he reserved for his own private use) was sold to J. D. Bicknell, 1. W. Hellman and others. Organizing the Azusa Land and Water Company for the improvement
of this immense property he became and re- mained its president and its motive power during the life of the corporation. With characteristic energy he threw himself into the task of sub- dividing and settling up the famous old ranch. The town of Azusa was laid out and the follow- ing year the completion of the Santa Fe Railroad gave an added impetus to the work which was being prosecuted under his direction. In the same year the San Jose Addition ranch was also disposed of and Mr. Slauson having relieved him- self of these cares prepared to give his attention to the improvement and cultivation of the five hundred acres. From his efforts has grown up the most extensive and finest citrus estates in California, known as the Azusa Foot-Hill Citrus Company, oranges and lemons being produced in quantity and quality that exceed every other individual effort in the state. This company was composed of Mr. Slauson and his children, their united effort bent to bring about the success in this venture. In addition to this large property Mr. Slanson had extensive landed interests in the city of Los Angeles and adjoining it, while with his children he was active in the improvement and cultivation of a two hundred and fifty acre orange grove situated in the same foothill belt with his Azusa property.
Public enterprises had in Mr. Slauson a stanch supporter and one who made his personal inter- ests parallel with those of his adopted city and fellowmen. He served efficiently as a director in the Southern Pacific Railroad Company and some of Mr. Huntington's electric lines, and as a mem- ber of the Chamber of Commerce he was active in all its movements from the time of its organi- zation, serving successively as president, and dur- ing the ceremonies incidental to the laying of the corner stone of the new building in March, 1904, he made the speech in honor of the event. A few of the institutions that owe their origin and success to him are the Boys' Home at Garvanza, established by the matron, Mrs. Watson, and Mr. Slauson. He assisted materially in establishing the Young Men's Christian Association and was always a liberal contributor to that institution. The orphan asylum owes its origin to Mr. Slau- son, who together with his son-in-law, Mr. H. L. Macneil, gave $1,000 each and together they were instrumental in obtaining $19,000 toward that
Thanks 6. Chapman
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end. The Salvation Army Rescue Home was purchased and turned over to them free of debt. To commemorate those brave soldiers who died for their country in the Spanish-American war he assisted in raising a fund for the erection of the monument in Central Park. It is eminently fitting at this point to speak of Mr. Slauson's re- ligion, not in a separate paragraph nor in a place remote in the history of his life, for it was the mainspring and motive power of his existence. In the early years of his life he became a member of the Presbyterian Church and wherever he made his home was active in the support of this denomination, although giving liberally to all others. When he first came to Los Angeles there were but five weak Protestant churches be- tween San Jose and the Mexican line, and up to the year 1887 there were but five churches in this county that he had not assisted in starting. Into the organization of churches and kindred institutions in Southern California he put $45,- 000 of his own private fortune in the twelve. years between 1875 and 1887. He was a man of broad gauge and earnest and sympathetic by na- ture, and he was thus able to be in touch with many whose lives knew nothing but sin. No help was more generously given to the Salvation Army than that of Mr. Slauson and he came to be known as "Sergeant Nellie Truelove's best private." What he has done will never be known, not only that his lips are still, but be- cause the influence of his living can never be calculated. True-hearted and sympathetic in the midst of his busy cares, he thought no time lost that was spent in a word of cheer, a hand-shake of friendliness, a material evidence of encourage- ment. Up to his last illness he retained the per- sonality which had endeared him to countless hosts of friends and made him universally loved wherever known. In social life he occupied to the very last an unexcelled position, remaining one of the most popular and effective toastmast- ers and responders at banquets in the city. He served efficiently as president of the Sunset Club, and was a motive power in the advancement of its interests and popularity among the exclusive set who are its members.
4
Thus the life that ended December 28, 1905. removed from all avenues of activity a man of unexcelled strength and power, whose influence
shall be felt long after he has become but a memory. He was one of those men the poet meant when he wrote
"Lives of great men all remind tis We can make our lives sublime ; And departing, leave behind us, Footprints on the sands of Time."
This brief history of his life could not more fitly be closed than with a quotation whose imagery calls to mind the fairest in nature, and the most godly in mankind :
"But December is upon us. The midnight of the vear is nigh. The days grow shorter, with an added touch of cold to the air, and now and again a storm adds to the impulse to withdraw ourselves indoor. You draw near the hearth upon which fire is kindled and throw on the oak logs. You watch the flying of the sparks as they hit the coals. You see the flames leap up spite- fully to the attack. You note how long and ac- tively the old oak withstands the onset. It is a titanic fight between Nature's forces; the toughened sinews of the oak, knit and strength- ened by years of struggle against the wind, yield not to the subtler stirrings of the heat without much explosion and rending of fiber. Then it seems to enter into the spirit of the game and the fiber burns with fiercer intensity, more than accomplishing what it was intended for. Grad- ually the flame dies out and there is left our oak intact, transformed into a glowing ember, quickly and gently dispensing the garnered sun- shine of a century to the well-being and comfort of us all.
"So it is with the life of our friend. In him the fires of youth have died out. His soul, like the glowing embers of the rugged oak, looks out through his kindly eyes and he dispenses naught but comfort and good cheer to all who come within his presence."
CHARLES C. CHAPMAN was born in Macomb, Mc Donough county, Ill., July 2, 1853. His father, Sidney S., was a native of Ohio, and his mother, Rebecca J. Chapman, of Ken- tucky. Her parents, David and Eliza Clarke, removed to Illinois when she was a child two years of age. They were pioneers of that sec-
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tion, where they spent the remainder of their lives, both living to a ripe old age.
The parents of our subject were married in Macomb in 1848. To them were born ten chil- dren, seven of whom reached mature years, and of this number all are now living save Emma E., who became the wife of L. W. B. Johnson. The mother of our subject passed away January 2, 1874, in Chicago; his father in that city in October of 1893. after having led an active life, following for years the bus- iness of contractor and builder. Both were members of the Christian Church, having united with it shortly after marriage.
Charles C. passed his boyhood in Macomb, where he received only a common school edu- cation. At eleven years of age he became a messenger boy, and while in this service car- ried the dispatch announcing the assassination of President Lincoln. The following three or four years he was employed as a clerk in his uncle's store, attending school part of the time.
In 1868 the family moved to Vermont, a neighboring village, where Charles worked with his father in the building business, learn- ing the bricklaying trade. Shortly after the Chicago fire he went to that city and joined the great army of workmen in its rebuilding. In 1873 he erected over twenty brick residences in that city. His father, who had the contract, being sick, the entire responsibility fell upon our subject, who was then only twenty. After this he engaged in the mercantile business in Chicago, but in 1876 returned to Macomb to join his uncle in the compilation and publica- tion of a history of McDonough county. This completed, he went to Galesburg and began in the same line for himself. This was the begin- ning of the business of publishing local histor- ical and biographical works, which was subse- quently not only extensively followed by our subject, associated with his brothers, under the firm name of Chapman Brothers, and Chap- man Publishing Company, but by many other companies.
The firm built np a large printing and pub- lishing business in Chicago, Charles filling all departments of the work, from canvassing through the country to general manager. While going about the country, either upon a
borrowed horse or in an old rig which he had purchased for a few dollars, his ambition reached the point that he desired to have his name upon a large business building in Chi- cago. Within ten years this ambition was gratified, Chapman Brothers erecting several large buildings in that city, all of which they occupied at different times.
In 1894, on account of his wife's poor health, Mr. Chapman came to Los Angeles, since which time he has been actively engaged in the culture of the orange. His Santa Ysabel Ranch at Fullerton is one of the most highly improved and valuable orange properties in California. He has made a close study of growing and marketing this fruit, and is rec- ognized as authority upon the subject. His Old Mission Brand oranges have become fa- mous, and for ten years have stood at the head, making the record for prices each year. He has been a favorite speaker at horticultural conventions and farmers' institutes for years. He has written much that is valuable to grow- ers and shippers upon the growing and mar- keting of the orange.
Mr. Chapman is a Republican and has taken some interest in politics. He was elected one of the first trustees of Fullerton, serving as chairman of the board, and re-elected for a second term. He was appointed by Governor Pardee in 1903 as a trustee of the State Nor- mal School of San Diego, was reappointed by him and later by Governor Gillette. In 1907 he was elected a trustee of the Pomona College at Claremont, Cal.
Aside from attending to his ranches, Mr. Chapman has engaged in other lines of bus- iness. He is a director of the Commercial Na- tional Bank, Los Angeles, the Riverside Na- tional Bank of Riverside, and of the Farmers and Merchants Bank of Fullerton. He served as president of the latter institution for some years. He is president of two mining com- panies and interested in other corporations, besides having large real estate interests in Los Angeles and elsewhere.
When a young man of sixteen, Mr. Chapman united with the Christian Church, since which time he has been more or less active in vari- ous departments of church work, and for some
WK.C.
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three years filled the pulpit in the Christian Church at Anaheim. He is at present, and has been for some years, president of the Southern California and Arizona Christian Missionary Society. He has taken part in the dedication of twelve or fifteen churches, being the speak- er and making the appeal for money, and in a special as well as general way assisted many churches. While in Chicago he served for sev- eral years on the General Board of Managers of the Y. M. C. A., and also on the Board of the West Side Department. He is now filling the same position in Orange county. The larg- est of his philanthropie enterprises is the build- ing of a hospital at Nantungchow, China.
In 1884, at Austin, Texas, Mr. Chapman and Miss Lizzie Pearson were united in marriage. To them were born two children, Ethel M., June 10, 1886, and Charles Stanley, January 7. 1889. Mrs. Chapman departed this life at Los Angeles, September 19, 1894. September 3, 1898, in that city. he was united in marriage to Miss Clara Irvin.
Mr. Chapman is what is commonly spoken of as a self-made man. While having but mea- ger opportunities in the school room he may be regarded as fairly well informed along the or- dinary lines of human activity. Having no other legaey than a sound body, a disposition to deal fairly and honestly with his fellowmen, a distaste for liquors, gambling and dissipa- tion, he has made for himself a name respected among his fellows and accumulated a com- petency.
WILLIAM K. COWAN. The pioneer in the automobile business in Southern Califor- nia is W. K. Cowan, who has represented the Rambler on the Pacific coast sinee 1800, first having the agency for the Rambler bieyeles in Southern California and then the Rambler automobiles as soon as their first model ap- peared. The admirable traits of character which have distinguished the career of Mr. Cowan are a direet inheritance from southern lineage, the name having been established in Virginia during the colonial period of our country's history. His paternal grandfather, Alfred Cowan, was a native of that state and
a pioneer settler of Tennessee, where, in Blount county, he established his home. He became a commanding figure in Tennessee polities and served his county in the state legislature. Later in life he removed to Green- field, Mo., and there passed the evening of his days. Mr. Cowan's father, H. G. Cowan, was born in Blount county, Tenn., and became a farmer near Greenfield, Mo., from which state he went to the Mexican war as a member of a Missouri regiment. Throughout the Civil war he served as a non-commissioned officer in a Missouri regiment, and his name is there- fore enrolled among the veterans of two wars. About 1868 he located near Fort Seott, Kans., and homesteaded and improved a claim, mak- ing this his home until his removal to Douglas, Kans., in 1876. He later farmed near Baldwin City, Kans., and was still later a resident of Lawrence, and in 1888 came to Los Angeles, which has ever since remained his home. In comparative retirement from business and other cares he is passing his latter days among delightful surroundings, and though eighty years of age, is in possession of those faculties which have placed him in the front ranks of noble and patriotie citizens. In his youth he married Eliza Garrison, a native of Indiana, and a daughter of Mark Alexander Garrison, who was born in the eastern section of the country and became a pioneer of Missouri and Kansas, his death occurring near Olathe, in the latter state.
The eldest child in a family of six children, all of whom are living, W. K. Cowan was born in Greenfield, Dade county, Mo., March 17. 1863. His preliminary education was re- ceived through an attendance of the public schools in the vicinity of his home; later he became a student in Baker University at Bald- win City and attended this institution for two and a half years. He then entered Park Col- lege in Missouri, and remained for two years and a half, but left during the junior year to learn the jewelry business under William Rowe, in Lawrence, Kans. After mastering the eraft he removed to Los Angeles in 1887 and found employment with Mr. Harris, the jeweler, for a year. He then established a business of his own in this line, being located
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on South Spring street, and continued here for two years, when he went to Chicago in order to take a course in the watch-making school. This finishing touch to his already extensive knowledge of the jewelry business made him a peer of the master mechanics in his line. Upon returning to California he located in Riverside and engaged in business on Main street until 1892. While in that city he be- came interested in the sale of bicycles and was the first man there to carry a stock of bicycle goods, his stock being disposed of in 1892 in order to start a similar enterprise in Los An- geles.
Arriving in Los Angeles once more he opened a bicycle shop on the corner of Spring and Fifth streets and carried the Rambler as a leader. He is the oldest Rambler agent on the coast, and at one time had the agency for entire Southern California and Arizona, but after 1896 had charge only of Southern Cali- fornia. Mr. Cowan was also the first man in Southern California to engage in the automo- bile business, as he was agent for the Rambler bicycles taking the agency for the Rambler automobile as soon as its first model appeared. He went east to their factory and ordered five automobiles from the first model. In 1903 he saw the need of a garage and at once planned and built the present garage at No. 830-834 South Broadway, which was the first large garage in the city. Since then he has established a very large sale of automobiles, as the Rambler is a very popular machine, hav- ing stood the test in every possible way. He has the exclusive agency for Southern Cali- fornia and has appointed agencies for the ma- chine in other important cities of this section. In connection with his garage he has a well- equipped machine shop, and is also engaged in manufacturing what is known as Cowan's storage batteries, which not only have a large sale in Southern California, but are shipped to different points on the Pacific coast. This manufactory is the only one of its kind in Southern California.
In Los Angeles Mr. Cowan was united in marriage with Martha Hare, a native of New York City, but who came at an early age to California, where she was reared and educated.
They became the parents of two children, but the little daughter, June, died at the age of six years. William K., Jr., is three years old. Mr. Cowan is fraternally associated with the Masons, having been made a member of the organization in Southgate Lodge, No. 320, F. & A. M., and is a member of Los Angeles Consistory No. 3. 32° Mason, and is also identified with the United Moderns. He was one of the organizers of the Automobile Dealers' Association of Southern California and acted as its first president, and is also prominent in the Merchants' & Manufacturers' Association and in the Chamber of Commerce. Socially he belongs to the Jonathan Club. On all national issues he is an advocate of Re- publican principles ; in religion he is a mem- ber of the Congregational Church and a lib- eral contributor to its charities. Since his lo- cation here Mr. Cowan has demonstrated per- sonal qualities of character which have justly placed him among the representative citizens of Los Angeles. His stanch integrity in all matters of business, his uniform courtesy and frank friendliness have combined to win for him both the respect of his business associates and their friendship as well.
JOHN SPENCE PITMAN. On the paternal side Mr. Pitman descends from Quaker an- cestors, both his grandfather and grandmother adhering to the teachings of George Fox, who founded the Society of Friends in the middle of the seventeenth century. For many years Nehe- miah and Mary (Rodman) Pitman lived the peaceful, law-abiding life of that sect in their native surroundings in New Jersey. In that state John Pitman was born, September 16, 1815, growing to manhood there, and there also formed domestic ties by his marriage with Elizabeth Spence, she being a native of Elizabethtown, N. J., and a daughter of John Spence. He removed to New York City and later to Philadelphia, and in 1857 carried out a plan which had been form- ing in his mind for some time, and that year found him a settler in Cedar county, Iowa. In Tipton, that county, he engaged in farming throughout the remainder of his life, his death occurring in Boone county in 1880, throughout
gisellefalder
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his long and useful life having followed the teachings of his noble parents.
While John and Elizabeth ( Spence) Pitman were still residents of the Empire state their son John Spence was born in New York City August 8, 1845. He was a lad of about twelve years when his parents settled in Cedar county, Iowa, and it might be said with truth that his life really began from this period, for after attending school for a time he began to provide for his own sup- port by working as a farm hand on the near by farms. The firing on Fort Sumter aroused his patriotic zeal to take a hand in quelling the dis- turbance which that shot created, but it was not until the following year, when he was seventeen years old, that he finally enlisted in the service. As a member of Company B, Twenty-fourth Iowa Infantry, under command of Col. E. C. Byam, he went with his regiment to the front, participating in many of the hard-fought battles of the war. At the battle of Winchester, Sep- tember 19, 1864. he suffered the penalty of his patriotism, receiving a gun-shot wound that disabled him from further service, and from then until his discharge, in January, 1865, he was con- fined in the hospital.
As soon as his health would permit after he had spent some time in recuperating, having in the mean time returned to his Iowa home, he took up his studies once more, taking up a course in Mount Vernon College. Upon leaving col- lege he went to Boone county and accepted a position as deputy recorder under A. J. Barkley, an office which he held for three years and two months, at the expiration of this time going into the mercantile business in partnership with W. C. Budrow, under the firm name of Budrow & Pit- man. Two years later this partnership was dis- solved, Mr. Pitman thereafter carrying on a simi- lar business alone in Ogden, Iowa, for a number of years, and at the same time served as post- master for twelve years.
Disposing of his interests in Iowa in 1889 Mr. Pitman came during the same year to California, locating in Santa Ana, and remained there for three years and a half, during which time he served as deputy county recorder and was elected a member of the board of city trustees, which he resigned to come to Los Angeles. The family home at No. 1330 Wright street was graciously
presided over by his wife until her death, which occurred May 1, 1906. Prior to her marriage in 1868 she was Sarah A. Brown, a native of Pennsylvania and a daughter of Thomas and Esther Brown. Her grandfather Gregg was a major in the Revolutionary war. Various mem- bers of the Gregg family have been prominent in the political life of Pennsylvania from the early days of that commonwealth. The only daughter born of this marriage, Mary E. Dennis, is a well-known physician of this city, while the only son, Homer K., is pastor of the Presbyterian Church at Modesto, Cal. Mr. Pitman built the United Brethren Church at the corner of Hope and Pico streets and for four years served as its pastor. In 1897 he was elected by the annual con- ference of the church as the superintendent of their churches of the state, serving four years. He resigned in the fall of 1900 and removed to Catalina, where for three years he carried on a mercantile business. Selling out he returned to Los Angeles and for two years lived retired. Since 1905 he has been serving as secretary and treasurer of the Eldorado Consolidated mines, in which he is a heavy stockholder, the company having thirty-four claims in Riverside county which are being rapidly developed.
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