USA > California > A history of California and an extended history of its southern coast counties, Volume II > Part 23
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years he was the attorney-general for the vast and varied interests of ex-Senator John P. Jones, and attorney and trustee under the will of the late Andrew J. W. Keating, who left a fortune, which during Judge Hutton's trusteeship has in- creased in bulk from less than a quarter-million to nearly two million dollars.
Judge Hutton has been an extensive traveler, and knows the American continent better than most men, and is at home anywhere from Alaska, where he caught trout, to Washington, D. C., where he has appeared as attorney before the United States Supreme Court. He believes in the great west, its present and future, and has contributed to various well-known western mag- azines and other publications, among which may be mentioned Out West, The West Coast, Pacific Monthly, his favorite themes being "California Missions," "Early Religions," "Education," and "Agriculture." He is a public speaker of note, and his oration at the funeral of Senator Patton at Ocean Park in December of 1906 was a classic in all that the word implies.
Fraternally Judge Hutton is a prominent member of the Masonic Order, the Knights of Pythias, and the Elks. Of a religious and public- spirited nature, he is ever ready to give his ener- getic support to any movement tending to the betterment or improvement of the religious, moral and municipal conditions of the commu- nity.
Judge Hutton possesses ability, dignity, firm- ness and courage, and is clear and direct in his statements, his decisions are well considered and he has by these qualities and his uniform cour- tesy and patience earned the good will and con- fidence of the members of the Los Angeles bar : while on the hench he is quiet and reserved, and conducts his court with dignity. In chambers he is genial, cordial and approachable, and in private life social and friendly. He was thirty- seven years old August 5th of this year (1907).
During his career Judge Hutton has repeat- edly demonstrated a depth of wisdom that is deeper than the law and a kindness of heart that is seen all too seldom. Nowhere were these qualities more clearly shown than in the case of Mrs. Mary Blanchard, who was brought before him on the complaint of insanity, sworn to by her husband. After listening to the halting
testimony of the witness, Judge Hutton ex- pressed the opinion that the woman was not in- sane, but that she was merely hungering for a little kindness. The case had not seemed strange or extraordinary to those gathered in the court room until Judge Hutton spoke. That his point was well taken is best shown in the fact that when her case came up before the insanity com- mission a few days later she was discharged as sane and went home with her husband. In com- menting on the case the Los Angeles Times speaks as follows: "Judge Hutton had seen a deeper question than a woman's sanity in the case of Mrs. Mary Blanchard. He had recog- nized a woman's need, which is universal and eternal. The universal suggestion of the case, in which a woman with a temporarily unbalanced mind sobbed out a bitter truth without reserve, was shown in instant response to that sugges- tion.
"Letters poured in upon the judge, who was impelled to be more human than judicial in that striking moment, congratulating him on a rare judgment which reached deeper into life than written laws can ever go. Women called up Mrs. Hutton on the telephone and told her she should be proud of her husband, and she said she was. And men, who perhaps themselves have been forgetful of the little amenities of life which women crave, but never ask for till their nerves and minds are shattered. told him he had done well.
"Men and women wrote to others about the case, startling in its simplicity and its awful sig- nificance. One woman wrote to her attorney, enclosing a check and directing him to learn if Mrs. Blanchard's material needs were met, and to use the money, if required, to pay for her care in a sanatorium till peace and quiet and 'a little kindness ' should restore her nerves and mind to health."
In 1897 Judge Hutton was united in marriage with Dolores Egleston, a daughter of S. J. Egles- ton, one of the founders of the city of Spencer, Clay county, Iowa. They have one son, George Robert Egleston Hutton, eight years old, the price of his parents and the central attraction of a home that Judge Hutton finds to be the brightest spot on earth and where he spends his leisure hours to the exclusion of society and
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politics. He is a man of stern and strict habits, whose life is dominated by two leading desires -first to enjoy his home and family, and second to succeed in his profession. He is possessed of a most unusual memory and rarely forgets the doctrine of any case he has once studied. Since his elevation to the bench he has impressed the bar and the public with his persistent and un- tiring diligence, with his keen analysis of facts, his clear perception of the truth and his tireless search for every possible legal principle that might aid him in reaching a correct and accu- rate conclusion.
WILLIAM T. CLAPP. The beautiful city of Pasadena, or as it has been aptly called "Crown of the Valley," was entirely unknown as early as 1873, in the latter part of which year land to the extent of four thousand acres was purchased in that vicinity by the Indiana Colony, an organization which had its inception in In- dianapolis, Ind. The leaders of this enterprise, D. M. Berry and others, assumed the great re- sponsibility of the purchase of the San Pasqual rancho, which was one of the old Spanish grants and comprised some of the choicest land in this part of the state. The land was deeded to a Mr. Croft, who in turn deeded all of his right, title and interest therein to the San Gabriel Orange Grove Association, the latter assuming all obligations, according to previous agreement. On January 27, 1874, the colonists assembled on Reservoir Hill and each made selection of his own choice of lots in the tract as platted by the colony's surveyor, equal to his number of shares of stock in the association. The land which Mr. Clapp selected consisted of sixty acres in Division E, and extended from the Arroyo Seco to Fair Oaks avenue on California. A part of this acreage he has since disposed of, although he still owns four hundred feet on Huntington terrace, and two hundred and eighty feet on California street. In 1905 he erected a fine resi- dence on Huntington terrace, in the W. T. Clapp tract, in which he is now spending his declining years.
The earliest ancestor of the Clapp family of whom we have any definite knowledge is the grandfather, Charles Clapp, a native of North-
ampton, Mass., who during his earlier years was a manufacturer of hats; he died in South Deer- field, Mass., when in his ninety-third year. The history of the maternal ancestors can also be traced to that state, the grandfather, Simon Huntington, carrying on a farm in Hinsdale, Mass., where he died at the age of seventy-five years. In Worthington, that state, the father, Levi Clapp, was born in 1796, and in addition to manufacturing hats, an art which he learned from his father, he carried on a men's furnish- ing store in Worcester, Mass., his death occur- ring in that city at the age of sixty years. His marriage united him with Sarah Huntington, who was born in Hinsdale, Mass., and they be- came the parents of three sons, as follows : Lewis H .; A. Huntington, who at the time of his death in New York City in 1900 was filling the office of secretary of the Home Missionary Board of the Congregational denomination; and William T., the latter born in Worthington, Hampshire county, Mass., January 17, 1821. Considering his early surroundings he obtained a good edu- cation, attending at first the common schools, and later the local academies. The same thor- oughness which was a distinguishing character- istic in his school life was later exhibited, when, at an early age, lie prepared himself for business life by learning the tanner's trade. From 1845 until 1868 he owned and operated a tannery in Massachusetts, and for a time owned and op- erated two plants. For a number of years after closing out his business he traveled throughout the United States, visiting California among other states, and in 1873 he located here perma- nently. His first wife, Miss Ophelia E. Billings, a native of South Deerfield, Mass., died in that state leaving three children, Frederick Arthur, Jennie Huntington and William Billings, who accompanied him to the west. The first church and the first schoolhouse erected in Pasadena were built on Mr. Clapp's property, and the school was taught by his daughter, Jennie H. She is now the wife of Rev. F. J. Culver, a Con- gregational minister. In Pasadena Mr. Clapp was united in marriage with Mrs. R. E. Burn- ham, a native of London, England, who came to America with her parents and settled in New York. By her former marriage she has two sons, Fred R. and Howard, the latter a mining
Gros .. . Conlan
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engineer in the gold fields of Johannesburg, Africa; his brother also having a wide reputa- tion as a mining engineer, as well as for his remarkable explorations in the wilds of that interesting country. Mrs. R. E. Clapp passed away in Pasadena in 1905.
During his early voting days Mr. Clapp was a loyal Whig, and upon the absorption of that party by the Republicans he continued to up- hold the principles of the latter. In his religious belief he is a Congregationalist, and in his fra- ternal associations he is a Knight Templar Ma- son, having attained the thirty-second degree. Though his step is less elastic than formerly and the frost of many years has tinged his locks Mr. Clapp still enjoys excellent health and it is the wish of his friends that he may be spared to them for many years to come.
GEORGE I. COCHRAN. Few names have been more prominently identified with the devel- opment of natural resources in Southern Cali- fornia than that of George I. Cochran, profes- sional, financial and industrial factor during the period of his seventeen years' residence in the city of Los Angeles. Credit is due him for the efforts he has put forth in his association with important movements; the success achieved is a part of the man-native ability, perseverance and energy-combined with the conservatism made progressive by decision of character, and by the demonstration of these qualities he holds the position he has thus won.
Mr. Cochran fortunately brought to bear upon his lifework qualities inherited from a family whose name has been made honorable by deeds of various members. His father, the Rev. George Cochran, D. D., of Toronto, Canada, was a prominent minister in the Methodist Epis- copal Church, by which he was sent as a mis- sionary to Japan in 1873. George I. Cochran was then ten years old, his birth having occurred in the vicinity of Toronto July 1, 1863, and there- after he spent six years in the eastern country. Upon the return of the family to Toronto in 1879 the elder man resumed his work in that city and his son entered the Toronto University, and was later called to the bar at Osgoode Hall, Toronto, where he began the practice of his
profession under the favorable circumstances engendered by his native qualities, and education acquired by application and will, and the position of esteem and respect which he had already won among the younger generation of the citizens of that city. In March, 1888, he came to California, and with the decision of character which has ever distinguished his career made his interests at once parallel with those of his adopted state and city. Opportunity is for the man of action and hence when the time came for Mr. Cochran to assume a prominent place in the affairs of Los Angeles he unhesitatingly faced the respon- sibilities and fulfilled the trust which he had won during the preceding five years. This was in 1893, at the time of the financial crisis, when Mr. Cochran was attorney for the Los Angeles Clearing House and directed its legal affairs and counseled its business interests through the panic which prevailed in all business circles. Since that time no citizen of Los Angeles has been more prominently identified with its growth and utpbuilding. In the organization of the Broad- way Bank and Trust Company he was a most important factor and has held continuously the office of vice-president since its inception. This institution has become one of much importance in the monetary affairs of the city, its growing demands calling for an enlargement of the counting room, which occupies the larger part of the Broadway side of the imposing Bradbury building.
Mr. Cochran was formerly a member of the firm of Cochran, Williams, Goudge, Baker & Chandler. He gives much of his time and atten- tion to the concerns of the corporation known as the Pacific Mutual Life Insurance Company of California, the largest life insurance company in the west, with an income of over $4,000,000 per year, and serves as its president, in active charge of its business. Mr. Cochran is also in- terested as a director in the Los Angeles Trust Company, Edison Electric Company, First Na- tional Bank of Los Angeles and the Rosedale Cemetery Association (vice-president of the lat- ter ), which owns one of the most beautiful plots of ground in the city of Los Angeles ; was for many years secretary and director of the United Gas, Electric & Power Company and was largely instrumental in its consolidation with
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the Edison Electric Company ; and was also one of the chief factors in the enterprise known as the Seaside Water Company, which supplies water for Long Beach, San Pedro and Wilmington for irrigation and domestic purposes, while recently he has taken a prominent part in the opening up of the addition to Los Angeles known as the West Adams Heights tract. This achievement has been of such vast importance in the opening up of a beautiful residence district to the people of the city that Mr. Cochran has once more won for himself the unqualified commendation of the populace. He also has some interests in Santa Barbara, "the city by the sea," where he acted as director in the street railway company, while the Artesian Water Company, a local organiza- tion that has prospered exceedingly by the rise in real-estate values in the neighborhood of Los Angeles, is indebted to Mr. Cochran, its presi- dent, for legal and business advice at all board meetings.
Soon after his arrival in California Mr. Coch- ran was united in marriage with Miss Alice Mc- Clung, a native of Canada and a friend of several years' standing. She died June 16, 1905. Mrs. Cochran presided with gracious dignity in the beautiful home which they established on Harvard boulevard, a residence reflecting with- in and without the cultured and refined tastes of the family. Their home life was permeated, not with the spirit of self-seeking, but with a spirituality which had come through long asso- ciation with high ideals. Their membership was enrolled in the Westlake Methodist Episcopal Church, which Mr. Cochran, with a few asso- ciates, was instrumental in founding, and since then he has been one of the most important factors in its progress and upbuilding. He was a member of a commission of fifteen appointed by the Gen- eral Methodist Conference to consider and report a plan, if feasible, to consolidate the big benevol- ences of the church, and the report was almost unanimously adopted by the succeeding General Conference. He also takes a keen and active in- terest in all educational matters, seeking to ad- vance the best interests of the educational in- stitutions in Southern California. He is one of the trustees and also treasurer of the University of Southern California, and one of its most liberal supporters. He has been far too busy
a man to seek political prominence and although a stanch advocate of Republican principles has confined his interests along these lines to the support he could give the men and measures of his party. He has always been, however, a strong advocate of the necessity of the moral obligation of citizenship and has never shirked a responsibility placed before him, a part of his work being done as a member of the executive committee of the county central committee for many years. On April 3, 1907, Mr. Cochran was united in marriage with Miss Isabelle M. Mc- Clung, a sister of his first wife.
In the truest sense of the word Mr. Cochran is a Californian, for his interests are one with those of the beautiful state he has made his home, and in the past years he has spared neither time, expense nor personal attention in his efforts to advance the general welfare. And Los Angeles has few citizens who have done more for the general weal than he. Few progressive or moral movements inaugurated in recent years have lacked his support, nor has any enterprise to which he has given his consideration failed of success. He is truly a representative of the type of men who have made Los Angeles what it is to-day, strong in mentality, forceful in the dom- inant qualities of manhood, and withal so far removed in thought and deed from self seeking and self aggrandizement that he has been en- abled to wield more than a passing influence in contemporary affairs.
MRS. ANNA LANSING BRIGGS. To women, no less than to men, of heroic character and unflinching purpose, is due the unprecedented growth and development of Southern California (luring the past few years, and prominent among these is the head of a successful real estate firm -Mrs. Anna L. Briggs. She is a native of Denver, and in maidenhood was Anna Mckay. Her father, William J. Mckay, was born in Canada, in the province of Ontario, while her grandfather, N. J. Mckay, was born in Eng- land, a descendant of the Mckay clan famed as the most northern clan of Scotland. The elder man came to America in an early day and lo- cated in Ontario, where he engaged as a farmer until his death. In young manhood William J.
Jams Quedens
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Mckay crossed the plains to Denver and in the vicinity of Golden followed agricultural pur- suits. While a resident of this state the Civil war broke out and he enlisted for service as a soldier in a Colorado regiment. In 1891 he de- cided to locate on the Pacific coast and accord- ingly came to Southern California and is now living retired in San Diego. By marriage he allied himself with a descendent of one of the first governors of Massachusetts, his wife being Miss S. J. Sewell, who was born in Chillicothe, Ohio; she is also living and is spending the even- ing of her days in peace and plenty in this south- ern clime.
The younger of two children, Anna L. Mc- Kay received her education in the public schools of Denver and the Denver University, from which institution she was graduated in 1887 with the degree of B. S. The following year she came to California and engaged in teaching in the Pacific Beach College, holding the chair of art and languages. She resigned this position the following year to enter the San Francisco School of Design, thence going to Hoyt's Oak Grove School as a teacher. It was in 1894 that she first came to Los Angeles and here she at once engaged in real estate operations, which she continued for two years, when she became one of the organizers of the Briggs-Spence Fruit Company, wholesale shippers of California fruits. This enterprise was closed out in 1898, since which time she has devoted her time en- tirely to the real estate business. In the mean- time she had married George M. Briggs and the real estate business became known as the Anna L. Briggs Co., with offices at Nos. 409 and 410 Fay building : she carries on a general real estate business, having laid out Vermont Place and several other tracts. Her other interests are varied, one of which was to assist in the organi- zation of the Women's Goldfield Mining Ex- change, she serving as secretary and treasurer, while she is also a member of the Pacific Coast Women's Press Club and the Chamber of Com- merce.
George M. Briggs is a native of Brooklyn, N. Y., born of an old Connecticut family, and made his first trip to California in 1880. He located in the state in 1887 and for many years was engaged in the fruit business, being now
associated with the California Canners Associa- tion. He is prominent in public affairs, and politically is a stanch advocate of the principles of the Republican party. Mr. and Mrs. Briggs are the parents of one son, Russell M.
LOUIS ROEDER. The citizens of Los Angeles whom Destiny has attracted hither during the recent era of remarkable develop- ment cannot form an adequate conception of the environment under which the pioneers were thrown. Spanish supremacy was at an end, but American enterprise had not yet be- come interested in the sleepy little hamlet and to a man whose habits of observation were merely superficial the possibilities of the place seemed meagre and limited. Among the home- seekers arriving here during the '50s, few re- main to the present day, and one of the few is Louis Roeder, who came to Southern Cali- fornia during the latter part of 1856, only a few years after he had left his native land, to carve out a fruitful future in the undeveloped regions of the new world.
On the farm in Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany, where he was born January 28, 1832, Louis Roeder passed the uneventful years of early youth, and aided his father, Nicolaus, in the care of the land. He also learned the trade of wagon maker, at which he served a full apprenticeship, between fourteen and nineteen years of age. At the expiration of his time he decided to settle in the United States and at once left the old home to make a livelihood upon the shores of an unknown world. On the 2nd of July, 1851, he landed in New York City, joining an uncle and soon securing work at his trade. In the spring of 1856 he took passage on the steamer Jonathan to Nicaragua, and, land- ing there, was obliged to wait for three days before it was possible to continue the journey to California. May 10, 1856, he landed in the harbor of the Golden Gate. Work was scarce in San Francisco. Many men were vainly seeking for employment. While he sought work he not only had to pay his own board, but did the same for a friend, a cabinet-maker, destitute and out of employment. After a time he was hired for $28 a month and board, and
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continued in the same position for six months, meanwhile saving his earnings in order to se- cure the amount necessary to defray his ex- penses to the southern part of the state. The steamer from which he debarked at San Pedro on the 28th of December, 1856, brought the news of the election of James Buchanan as president of the United States, and it was thus Mr. Roeder's privilege to witness the celebra- tion of an election in true western style. In Los Angeles he secured employment with the only wagon-maker in the town, the owner of a small shop on Los Angeles street, between Commercial and Laguna streets. While still tilling this position he made his first invest- ment in city property, for he had abundant faith in the future of the place and felt no hesi- tancy in investing his earnings in real estate. Buying a lot with sixty-foot frontage on Main street for $700, he built a shanty of primitive architecture and meagre dimensions, and this he rented, at the same time rooming there.
After having worked as a salaried employe for a considerable period, Mr. Roeder felt jus- tified in embarking in business for himself. Accordingly, in 1863, he rented a site on the corner of Main and First streets, and in 1865 formed a partnership with Louis Lichtenber- ger in the wagon-making business, the part- ners in 1866 purchasing a lot at No. 128 South Main street and erecting a small shop. Three years later a two-story wagon shop was erect- ed at the northwest corner of Second and Main street, and this was also utilized as a black- smith shop. After a partnership of five years, Mr. Roeder sold his interest to his partner for $13,000 cash. Shortly afterward he erected a building opposite the site of the German Bank, on the corner of Main and First streets. His next step was a trip to San Francisco, where he invested $9,000 in tools and stock, and return- ing embarked in business on a large scale. Dur- ing the five years of his connection with the business at that point he became the owner of a lot, 150x100 feet, on the corner of First and Spring streets, where now he owns a two- story building. After a long and arduous busi- ness career in 1885 he sold out his equipment and retired from the wagon-manufacturing business.
Some years after coming to Los Angeles Mr. Roeder established domestic ties. During May of 1863 he was united with Miss Wil- helmina Hoth, who was born in New York and in 1856 came to San Francisco, thence ac- companying her father to Los Angeles in 1861. Six children were born to the union of Mr. and Mrs. Roeder, namely: Henry, who is engaged in business in Los Angeles as a dec- orator and paper hanger; Elizabeth, wife of Charles Dodge of Ocean Park; Carrie, Mrs. Frank Johansen, of Los Angeles ; Minnie, Mrs. John Joughin : Anna C., at home; and Louis Jr., who is manager of a drug store in Los An- geles. The family have a pleasant home at No. 1137 West Lake avenue and are surround- ed by the comforts rendered possible by Mr. Roeder's long and active business life. As early as 1858 he became connected with Lodge No. 35, I. O. O. F., in Los Angeles, and he is also a member of the Turn-Verein. Since be- coming a citizen of the United States he has voted both the Democratic and Republican tickets and maintained a warm interest in the welfare of his adopted country and the pro- mulgation of its principles, but always de- clined office, with the exception of a service of four years in the city council during an early period in the city's history. During his service the franchise was granted to the Los Angeles City Water Company, an important movement in the development of the city, although it was many years before there was anything like an adequate supply of this much-needed commod- ity. Though his life has been one of great ac- tivity and though he has now reached an age and position when retirement and total release from business cares would be expected, such is his temperament we find him still lingering in the commercial and civic activities of his municipality, still keeping in touch with every phase of local progress, and still lending his generous assistance to movements for the pub- lic welfare.
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