USA > California > A history of California and an extended history of its southern coast counties, Volume II > Part 33
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In the midst of his engrossing business re- sponsibilities Mr. Witmer has still found time to devote some attention to outdoor pursuits, which appeal irresistibly to a man of his temperament. In the vicinity of Lordsburg, at La Verne, is located a beautiful orange and lemon grove, the result of his persistent efforts to produce a superior article and the prices he has received have more than justified his plan of efforts. He has ably developed the property and made of it one of the beautiful spots of Southern California. He has a beautiful home in Los Angeles, presided over by his wife, formerly Miss Alice Petterson, a native of San Francisco, Cal., their union having taken place in 1898. At the time this residence was built there were only a few residences on the hills a mile west of the City Hall. Mr. and Mrs. Witmer have one son, Joseph P. Witmer.
In his personal characteristics Mr. Witmer is a man of strength and power. Inheriting from sturdy Swiss ancestry the qualities noticeable in the government of that people, he has added to these self-restraint and discipline learned through contact with the business world and a broad knowledge of human nature. His life-work is
Poberx Marsh
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based upon underlying principles of greatness- absolute fairness to himself and to all men, an un- swerving integrity in all dealings. He is distinctly public-spirited and takes a lively interest in all matters pertaining to the advancement of the general welfare. Independent in politics and strong in his convictions against the liquor traffic, he seeks to advance the principles he endorses. While a resident of Green county he served as a member of the County Republican Central Com- mittee during the Garfield-Arthur campaign, and during the course of the summer placed a flag bearing the names of these candidates on the top of a peak over Devil's lake so high that no one had the temerity to try to pull it down. It has been thus with all his undertakings in life since arriving at manhood's estate-a desire to excel, to hold high rank among those with whom he worked, and his ability to lead has been ably demonstrated during his long residence in Los Angeles. Physically he is slight of build, but the active outdoor life which he has led as much as possible outside of his business pursuits has given him strength and endurance. Bicycling, mountain climbing, and long tramps over the country have formed the greater part of his recreation in the vacations he has allowed him- self, and it was during one of these tramps over the Sierras, at Lake Tahoe, that he first met the lady who afterward became his wife. It is enough to say that he has been a successful man, acquiring liberal means, financially, constantly enlarging his circle of friends by a winning per- sonality and his adherence to friendship, and building up for himself a place of prominence in the citizenship of Los Angeles.
ROBERT MARSH. When a man's fathers for generations back have taken a prominent part in the history of affairs the sons come naturally into the inheritance of a gift for leadership in whatever line of activity their tastes may lead them to engage. When we say that Robert Marsh stands for all that is progressive and upbuilding, a glance into his ancestry will reveal that these are inborn characteristics. His great-grandfather, John Marsh, was an influential and prominent citi- zen of New Hampshire, and in that state his
grandfather, Joseph Marsh, was born, resid- ing there throughout his life. The father, Jo- seph E. Marsh, was born at Pelham, N. H., in 1836, on a farm and received a college edu- cation at Dartmouth; but becoming restive after his return to the farm from college, he decided to go west, making his first move to Charleston, Ill. Several years later he went to Little Rock, Ark., and engaged in flour milling, at which employment he was en- gaged while in Charleston. In 1886 a visit to California determined him to make this state his home, and upon his return to Little Rock he immediately disposed of his property there and came to Los Angeles, where he has since resided. In 1862 he was married to Martha J. Atwood of Pelham, N. H. Of the five chil- dren born to them but two survive, Florence A., the wife of Col. A. Andrews of New Or- leans, La., and Robert Marsh, the subject of the sketch.
Robert Marsh was born in Charleston, Coles county, Ill., was taken with the rest of the family by his father to Little Rock, Ark., and in 1887 came to California, which state has ever since been his home, with the exception of two years spent in New Orleans, La., where he was engaged in the wholesale coal business. His education was in the public and high schools and when but sixteen years of age he started out on his business career. The first three or four years he clerked in a book and stationery store, but working for others at a salary by no means satisfied the young man's ambitions, and his desire to become independ- ently established led him into a partnership with Mr. Bumiller, the firm of Bumiller & Marsh soon attaining a leading place among the hatters and furnishers retail establish- ments in Los Angeles. It was after dispos- ing of this business that Mr. Marsh went to New Orleans and conducted a wholesale coal business. Two years at this convinced him that neither the location nor business was giving scope to his best talents, and returning to Los Angeles he began the real estate busi- ness in which he has been so very successful.
It was no sudden trick of fortune that en- abled Mr. Marsh to reach the present high place in the business which has the sharpest
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competition of any in the city, for the list of enterprising real estate firms in Los Angeles is a long one. Starting out in a small way, by cautious moves, a close study of situations, and fair and honest treatment of customers, Mr. Marsh has made a minimum of unprofit- able deals, has been enabled to see the best points for initial exploitation, and inspired the public with confidence in those ventures which his firm supports, through a clean rec- ord during the years in which his business has been growing to its present proportions. To- day he is undoubtedly one of the largest real estate dealers and among the leading men of the city. Among the city tracts he has suc- cessfully handled are the Country Club Park, Country Club Terrace, Westchester Place, Western Heights, Arlington Heights, Arling- ton Heights Terrace, Mt. Washington, and Central Industrial Tract, which latter was one of the first industrial tracts put on the market here. It was Mr. Marsh who first saw the possibilities for the improvement of the lands bordering on the Pacific at the mouth of the San Gabriel river, and he was the original promoter in the organizing of the syndicates that improved Alamitos Bay, West Naples, East Naples, as well as being the chief mover in the San Gabriel Improvement Company. He also took initiative steps in the handling of Venice, Venice Canal Subdivision, and the Short Line Beach. All of these sections have had phenomenal sales, and in their exploita- tion and sale are embraced a large part of the remarkable property of the city of Los An- geles, to which they are tributary.
Mr. Marsh does not confine his real estate operations to these outlying districts, how- ever, but has played quite as prominent and important a part in the handling of inside business property, being a large owner of city holdings. Banking and commercial enter- prises receive a share of his attention, and in both it is considered a distinct element of strength to have his name connected with the various undertakings. Being so closely iden- tified with a business which gains so much advantage from the general advertising of the southern part of California, his membership in the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce is
a natural sequence. A popular club man, he holds membership in the California Club, Athletic Club, and the Los Angeles Country Club. Lodges, too, have his interest, and a list of those to which he has sworn allegiance includes the Southern California, F. & A. M., Signet Chapter, R. A. M., Los Angeles Com- mandery, K. T., Los Angeles Consistory, and Al Malaikah Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S. In religious affiliation he is a Presbyterian, being a member of Emanuel Church, to the support of which he is a generous contributor, as well as to the various benevolences and charitable interests which are brought to his attention.
In the home life of Mr. Marsh there is noth- ing lacking. He was married in 1898 at Al- hambra to Miss Ceceil Lothrop, a native of Galveston, Tex., and a graduate of Mills Col- lege, Oakland. They have one child, a daugh- ter, Florence Louise, and their home residence is one of the most comfortable and hospitable in Westchester Place. Their beach home is at Alamitos Bay. Upright in business, affable socially, Mr. Marsh makes many friends and keeps them. Politically he is a stanch Repub- lican.
STEPHEN ARNOLD RENDALL. Among the esteemed and honored pioneers of Los An- geles mention belongs to Stephen Arnold Ren- dall. one of the upbuilders of the city and a prominent factor in its development. He was a native of England, his birth having occurred in Somersetshire March 6, 1837, and was a lad of nine years when he accompanied his parents to the United States. His home was in Joliet. I11., until he attained manhood, and there he received his education. Partaking largely of the spirit which had induced his father's emigration to a western country, in 1861 Mr. Rendall came to the Pacific coast and here became a part of the civilizing element. He remained in Los Angeles, the city which had been his objective point, for a time, and then went to San Francisco and there followed mining for some years. In May, 1866, however, he returned to Los Angeles and engaged in business, the city at that time giving but little promise of becoming the metropolis of the southern coast, but Mr. Rendall with a rare
1
H) Mc Cartney
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faith, when considered in the light of the time and conditions, began at once to invest in real estate, which in later years became very valuable indeed. In 1870 he again went north and estab- lished his home in Santa Rosa, putting up a resi- dence on the corner of B and Fourth streets, and improved it with flowers and shade trees. The place was conspicuous in the early days by a magnificent climbing rose, which covered the entire side of the house. Eventually the com- mercial interests of the city brought Mr. Ren- dall's home within the business district and a brick business block now occupies the site. At the time of his location in the north Mr. Rendall undertook the management of a large ranch near Santa Rosa. In 1867 he introduced into the state the first Angora goat industry, importing from Asia a billy goat which cost him $2500 and two ewes. Within a few years he had a magnificent herd numbering between three and four thousand head and for that time he was the largest breeder in California.
In 1884 Mr. Rendall returned to Los Angeles with the intention of making this city his per- manent home. He at once devoted his entire time and attention to the real estate business and became the owner of valuable property, at one time being the owner of forty-five acres extend- ing from Second street and fronting on Main street, and also owned one hundred and forty- five acres in the Westlake district. A part of this he subdivided and sold, and this is now the most desirable high-grade residence section in Los Angeles. He built a comfortable home at Ninth and Alvarado streets, and there passed the evening of his days. His death occurred Decem- ber 15, 1905, at Phoenix, Ariz., where he had gone in the hope of finding relief from asthma, from which he had been a sufferer for many years. His death removed from Los Angeles a citizen who was justly esteemed for his many admirable traits of character, his integrity of purpose and unswerving honesty in all dealings, the kindly hospitality of his nature and its at- tendant liberality endearing him to a large circle of friends. His name will ever occupy a place in the annals of the city as a pioneer of worth and works.
May 24, 1870, Mr. Rendall was united in mar- riage with Miss Cecelia Murray Barnes of Salem,
Ill. They became the parents of the following children: Mrs. Julia Roberts; Robert Stephen Rendall, and Nellie Rendall (who died in in- fancy) ; Cecelia ; and Daisy Rendall. The family are identified with the Episcopal Church, of which Mr. Rendall was also a member. In con- nection with the interest of the Rendall family in Los Angeles it is not out of place to mention the fact that Stephen A. Rendall made the first and only large picture of Los Angeles; this is now the only picture in existence which shows the city as it looked in 1867. This picture was taken in sections, is complete in every detail, and is undoubtedly a most valuable aid in preserving the early history of Los Angeles.
HON. HERBERT S. G. McCARTNEY. The success which has come to Hon. Herbert S. G. McCartney has been entirely the result of his own efforts, for with nothing but personal attributes he has faced the world and made for himself a place among its most honorable citizens. He has been three times elected to the state legis- lature and as the people's choice for senator has worked faithfully and well for his constituents and has advanced their interests in every possible avenue. The senator is a native of one of the most progressive states of the middle west- Illinois-and was born near Springfield, Octo- ber 26, 1865. His grandfather, Robert McCart- ney, a native of Ireland, immigrated to America when a boy of sixteen years. He first located in Pennsylvania, thence canie to Youngstown, Ohio, in which state he passed the greater portion of his manhood. He rose to a position of respect among his fellow citizens, accumulating property as a canal and railroad contractor, and taking an active interest in the upbuilding and development of that section of the country. He was a Presbyterian in his religious belief and gave liberally to the char- ities of his denomination. His son, Robert J., born in Youngstown, Ohio, removed to Illinois in young manhood and followed farming near Springfield ; he married Margaret Greenwood, of Sangamon county, Ill., and a daughter of Thomas Greenwood, a farmer and early settler of that section. They were descendants of the Green- wood family which came from England in 1782 and located in Virginia. Mr. McCartney finally
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removed to Taylor county, Iowa, and located in the vicinity of Bedford, then returned to Illinois, where his wife passed away ; he then again located in Iowa, and from there went to Nodaway coun- ty, Mo., in 1886, making this last-named place his home until 1906, when he retired from the activities of a farmer and came to Los Angeles, where he is now living. He is hale and hearty and takes a keen interest as he has always done in public affairs. He has always been liberal and patriotic and at the time of the Civil war with a partner he raised a company of men for service, but the quota being full they were re- jected.
The eldest of seven children born to his parents, Herbert S. G. McCartney was reared on the paternal farm in Illinois and Iowa and received a preliminary education through the medium of the public schools. He graduated from the Marysville high school in 1887, and at once be- gan teaching in the public schools of Missouri, where he was then a permanent resident. It was two years later he decided to come to the Pacific coast and accordingly he located in Glenn coun- ty, Cal., and there followed grain farming for about five years. In 1894 he came to Pasadena and in the meantime, having studied and com- pleted the prescribed course in law, he was ad- mitted to the bar in October of the following year and at once began the practice of his pro- fession in Los Angeles. He rose steadily to a high position among the attorneys of this city, and in 1902 was nominated on the Republican ticket to the state assembly and elected by a large majority. During the session he served as chair- man on the committee for the constitutional amendment in 1903, and also helped to elect George C. Perkins to the United States senate. He was otherwise active in legislative affairs, securing the passage of several important bills. Re-elected in 1904 by an increased vote of con- fidence he was instrumental in the passage of twenty-six bills, helped elect Senator Flint to the United States Senate, and served efficiently as chairman of the committee on rules and regula- tions. In November, 1906, he was elected State Senator, and during this session secured the passage of thirty-one bills, among them the State pure food law, which bears his name, and laws of taxation and revenue, and much needed legis-
lation in domestic affairs. He also served as chairman of the committee on revenue and taxa- tion. Since 1905 he has been a member of the state commission on revenue and taxation. Senator McCartney has an excellent reputa- tion as a legislator for the many beneficial laws he has secured in the interest of society. He is at present deputy district attorney of Los An- geles county.
In Pasadena Mr. McCartney was united in marriage with Miss Alice McCaldin, a native of Brooklyn, N. Y., and they are the parents of three children, Florence, William H. and Albert J. In his fraternal relations Mr. McCartney was made a Mason in Monrovia, Cal .; he is also as- sociated with the Odd Fellows and is a member of Los Angeles Lodge No. 99, B. P. O. E. He is an ardent Republican, a member of the Union League Club, and in the line of his profession belongs to the Los Angeles County Bar Associa- tion. For three years he was a member of the Eighth California National Guards, of Glenn county, and later was transferred to Company I, Seventh Regiment, this being from 1892 to 1895.
BYRON L. OLIVER. Though not a native of the state, Mr. Oliver has been a resident of California from his earliest recollection, and lience is a typical Californian in his tastes and ideas. At the time of his birth, January 12, 1872, his parents were residents of Champaign, Ill., but while their son was a mere child, they located in Los Angeles, Cal. Upon reaching the proper age he became a pupil in the public schools of this city, later entered upon a high- schools course, and finally, after his graduation from the high school, went to Ann Arbor, Mich., and entered the law department of the University of Michigan, from which he was graduated in June, 1894. A predilection for the legal pro- fession was recognized at an early age, and in- deed his entire training had been with the idea of taking up a legal course at the end of his preliminary work.
Upon his graduation from Ann Arbor in 1894 Mr. Oliver returned to Los Angeles and opened an office in the Byrne building preparatory to establishing a law practice. From the first his efforts met with a gratifying degree of success,
Granville b. Emery .
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and step by step his business has grown until his clientele now numbers many of the prominent and representative citizens of Los Angeles and vicinity. He has confined his efforts to civil practice exclusively. While he has won renown as a legal practitioner he is equally well known in Republican politics, and in 1898 was men- tioned as a candidate for congress ; he was de- feated in the nomination by a small majority in favor of Hon. James McLachlin, the present member of congress from his district. As a speaker his arguments are clear and forceful, and as a stump speaker he has taken an active part in campaigns throughout the state.
In fraternal circles Mr. Oliver is no less promi- nent than in the political arena, holding member- ship in Pentalpha Lodge No. 202, F. & A. M .. Signet Lodge No. 57. R. A. M., and Los An- geles Lodge No. 99, B. P. O. E., in which latter body he is now serving as past-exalted ruler. He is a member of the Jonathan Club, ex-presi- dent of the Union League Club, a member of the Chamber of Commerce, and of the Los An- geles County and State Bar Associations. As will be seen from the foregoing, Mr. Oliver is interested in a number of matters outside of his profession, none of which, however, have ab- sorbed his attention to the detriment of his clients, but his peculiar and happy make-up. in- cluding versatility and concentration in generous proportions, make it possible for him to pass from one problem to another with perfect ease and harmony. When a boy he determined to become a lawyer and he has that love for the profession without which there can be no success.
GRENVILLE C. EMERY. A. B., LITT. D. Mr. Casson in The Romance of Steel and Iron, in Munsey's, says, quoting from a re- mark of Carnegie: "Thomas and Gilchrist, two young English chemists, were the in- ventors 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 phosphorus ore and
transformed it into steel-a greater miracle." Davies and Bunsen and Bessemer and Edison and hosts of other miracle workers at once spring to the memory, 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 efforts in the early training of such master minds have made the wonderful march in progress of this twen- tieth century possible.
The full sweep and greatness of the work of the true schoolmaster possibly may have never possessed the minds of the parents of Dr. Emerv, but they were enterprising and in- telligent 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. Thereafter, and especially after his father's return, it was determined that he become a teacher in this land of prom- ise. Nearly half a century was to pass be- fore its fulfillment. Meantime the loss of parents necessitated self-support, and he be- came 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 singlehanded, depending upon teach- ing as his only source of income for his ex- penses at the preparatory schools of Corinna Union Academy, and Maine State Seminary and in Bates College itself. He was an as- sistant 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 super- intendent of schools of the same city, and
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later became 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 Bos- ton 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 Gottingen, Ger- many. 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 colla- boration with William F. Bradbury, head mas- ter of the Cambridge Latin school, he edited a series of algebras which are still used, not only in the Boston schools, but in many other important educational centers of the east, as also in the Harvard school of Los Angeles.
The history of this 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 pos- sibilities and beauties of the state for the pleas- ure and enchantment of his family on his re- turn to the east two years later.
The corner stone was laid in 1900. The founder, cherishing and treasuring up this boy- hood knowledge, 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 An- geles, 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 supe- riority.
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