USA > California > A history of California and an extended history of its southern coast counties, Volume II > Part 51
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died at the age of seventeen years and Frank when in his twenty-first year. In San Diego in 1907 Mr. Kofoed was married to Mrs. Louise (Romeiser) Hunter, who was born in Quincy, Ill., the daughter of John and Elizabeth (Herle- man) Romeiser, the former a merchant of that place. The family are identified by mem- bership with the Congregational Church, and politically Mr. Kofoed gives his allegiance to the Republican party, giving his influence and vote in favor of its candidates as often as the occasion arises. Personally he is popular in the community which his labor and character, have helped to upbuild. He is a friend of edu- cation and progress, and his sojourn in Los Angeles has tended to the widening of its pros- perity and opportunity.
ALEXANDER BENJAMIN McDONALD. It is always interesting to chronicle the life history of the pioneer, the man who has braved the dan- gers and hardships of frontier life and who has be- come accustomed to the plan of building up new territory. Such a man we find Mr. McDonald, who was brought up a boy on the frontier of Iowa. As early as 1865 we find him on the prairies of Minnesota and Dakota, going as far west as the Red River of the North, then an unbroken wilderness occupied by the Red men and herds of buffaloes. After that he was in several Indian campaigns carried on by the set- tlers to punish Indians who had committed murders and even worse atrocities upon the white settlers of the sparsely settled region. Our country owes much to such men of nerve and courage as Mr. McDonald, who joined with other brave men of the frontier in bringing the guilty Indians to justice. He helped break the prairies of Minnesota and Dakota and brought his farms to a high state of cultivation. Later he founded cities, started buildings, stores and post-offices, and by his indomitable will and energy carved out success and a fortune.
Mr. McDonald comes of an old and honored Scotch family originating in the McDonald clan of Inverness. Scotland, who were "Lords of the Isle." He was the son of James and Catherine (McNaughton) McDonald, the former born in Inverness and the latter in Lochta, Scotland. His
paternal grandfather was the King's gamekeeper in Inverness. James McDonald came to Peter- borough, Ontario, and in 1847 removed to Boone county, Iowa, and soon afterward located in Jones county, the same state, where he followed farming until he died in 1863, at the age of fifty-three years. The mother died in Wilming- ton, Cal., at the age of seventy-eight years. Both were devout members of the Presbyterian Church. One of their sons was a captain in the Ninth Minnesota Regiment in the Civil war, being twice wounded, and now resides in San Pedro. Of the thirteen children, our subject is the youngest and was born March 16, 1850. His childhood was spent on the farm in Iowa, until the age of fifteen receiving his education in the public schools and at the Monticello Normal. In 1863 he was a member of the Home Guards and was called out at the time of the Morgan raid. In 1865 he removed with his mother to near Sauk Center, Minn., locating on a quarter-section at New Munich; this he helped his mother to im- prove and started farming. In 1866 he made a trip to Dakota, traveling through the Red River valley. The same year he followed freighting for the Hudson Bay Company between St. Cloud and Ft. Gary. He was first married in Redwood Falls, Minn., in 1871 to Miss Edna Chapman, who died five years later in Melrose, Minn.
Mr. McDonald engaged in the insurance busi- ness in Redwood Falls until 1873, when he re- moved to Minneapolis, Minn., where he was state agent for the Florence Sewing Machine for two years. He then located at Melrose, where he en- gaged in the hardware business. In 1878 he re- moved to near Grand Forks, N. Dak., and in that place used all of his rights improving four hun- dred and eighty acres for a wheat farm. Dur- ing this time he laid out the town site of Thomp- son, built the first building, started in general merchandising and also served as postmaster. In 1885 he purchased six hundred and forty acres and located and laid out the town of Cando, on the main line of the Great Northern ; also built the first buildings, started a general merchandise business, hotel, and was the postmaster.
Cando was laid out in the center of his sec- tion of land and since then he had laid out five more additions and is still largely interested in the city that is now one of the most thriving in
age
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North Dakota, having some of the finest and most substantial business and banking houses in the state. For four years he was the owner and publisher of the Fargo Daily Argus and during his many years residence in Dakota he took an active part in politics and exerted a wide and strong influence in the Republican party, and although his assembly district (Towner county) was strongly Democratic, he was elected a mem- ber of the legislature on the Republican ticket in 1896 and served the session of 1897. The second marriage of Mr. McDonald was cele- brated at Sauk Center, uniting him with Miss May Harris, a native of Bath, N. Y., and to them were born three children: Frank A., a success- ful stock and bond broker in the Bradbury build- ing and who is represented elsewhere in this work ; E. A., who graduated from Northwestern University with the degree D. D. S .; and Hazel, the wife of Walter Day, all of this city. In 1887 and 1888 Mr. McDonald spent his first winter in Southern California and since that time has been closely identified with the growth of Los An- geles. In 1903 he located here permanently to retire from business, but Mr. McDonald had led a life too strenuous not to become intensely in- terested in the rapid growth of the city and be- came active in real estate and business circles. In January, 1907, he purchased the controlling interest in the Occidental Trust and Savings Bank, located at First and Broadway, and was elected its president. This institution has one of the most broad and favorable charters in the state and has a large clientage. He is also one- half owner and president of the A. E. Little & Co., at No. 216 West Third street, art dealers and stationers. He is a Knight Templar and Shriner, having membership in Fargo Lodge No I, A. F. & A. M., Keystone Chapter, Fargo Con- sistory and Al Zagal Temple, N. M. S. He is also a member of the Chamber of Commerce.
In closing this brief biographical sketch it is but proper to record the fact that no citizen has stood higher in the esteem of thoughtful people in the different places where he has resided than he. Throughout his useful career he has given frequent evidence of the possessions of those traits of character upon which rest the wealth and stability of communities. Those who know him best pay him the tribute of saying that he ex-
hibits an unselfish public spirit, a generosity of heart and a high mindedness of motive, in all acts, public or private, which entitle him to rank among the representative men of the west. The record of his upright and highly useful career perpetuated in these annals should prove a source of inspiration to the younger generations and of gratification and pride to his descendants.
ALBERT PRICE GREEN ranks among the men of affairs in Los Angeles who by dint of ability and energy have risen to a high place in the estimation of the business men of the com- munity. He was born in Chillicothe, Mo., April I, 1871, and is the son of Abner H. and Phoebe Ann (Boley) Green, the former born near Co- lumbus, Ohio, and the latter near Chillicothe, Mo. The father was first a farmer in Missouri and later in Washington, where he died and where the mother now resides.
Mr. Green's boyhood days were passed in northwestern Missouri, where he attended the public schools and secured a good education, which gave him a sound foundation for a busi- ness career. After leaving school he followed clerking in Missouri until 1892, when he came west and spent four years in mercantile pursuits in Portland, Ore., Vancouver, Wash., and Med- ford, Ore. In 1896 he came to Los Angeles and shortly thereafter entered the employ of the Mathews paint house, remaining with them, as city salesman until 1890. In that year, with J. L. Marshall, he established the present business, which in the mean time has grown to wonderful proportions. In 1003 they incorporated The Green-Marshall Company (inc.), manufacturers, importers and wholesale dealers in paints, oils, varnishes and painters' supplies, occupying a prominent position among the various manufac- turing industries in the city of Los Angeles. The present officers of the company are: Albert P. Green, president ; Ernest E. Green, vice-presi- dent ; Jacob Hohl, secretary; John L. Marshall, treasurer. The general offices of the company are at No. 223-224 Grosse building, corner of Sixth and Spring streets. They have built up a factory at Fifteenth and Alameda streets, where they employ a large force of men in the manu- facture of their paints and varnishes. In 1905
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they also organized and incorporated the Los Angeles Varnish Company for the manufacture of fine varnishes and japans. They have estab- lished a large and prosperous trade, which in- cludes not only the territory tributary to Los Angeles, but extends throughout the whole state of California and into Oregon, Washington, Ne- vada, Arizona, New Mexico and Old Mexico.
A. P. Green, the president of both companies, was the principal organizer, and in partnership with John L. Marshall, treasurer of the company established both enterprises. Mr. Green brought to the company a thorough and valuable knowl- edge gained through experience in that line, cov- ering practically his whole business life, for he had been connected with the paint trade from the time he was seventeen years of age until he en- gaged in business for himself.
In 1896, in Medford, Ore., Mr. Green married Miss Elda Osborn, daughter of Richie Osborn of Iowa. They have one son, Albert Vernon. Mr. Green was made a Mason in Mizpah Lodge No. 378, F. & A. M., at Los Angeles. He is a mem- ber of the Knights of Pythias, the Union League Club, Chamber of Commerce and the Merchants' & Manufacturers' Association. He takes a very active part in all affairs that tend to promote the business interests of Southern California and gives liberally of his means to all worthy projects which aim to advance the importance and up- building of Los Angeles. He is a man of much worth, integrity and earnestness of purpose. Personally he is a pleasing and affable gentle- man; is well informed and a good conversation- alist, and is considered one of the substantial, progressive business men of Los Angeles.
RICHARD BRINSLEY CARPENTER. The versatile ability possessed by Judge Carpenter enabled him in his younger years, before the encroachment of age had rendered advisable his retirement from life's activities, to practice law with gratifying results, also to fill the position of circuit judge with the same impartiality of judgment and keenness of discrimination char- acteristic of him in all the affairs of life, and further to occupy the presidential chair of the state senate with dignity and efficiency. For many years he has made his home in Los Angeles,
where he has a comfortable home, filled with the comforts that age demands, and surrounded by friends endeared to him by the associations of the past. Although retired from active practice of his profession he devotes a part of his time to looking after his real estate interests and other business affairs.
Mr. Carpenter is the representative of an old New England family, the name having flourished in the state of Vermont for generations. His father. B. R. Carpenter, a native of Massachu- setts, became in manhood a minister of the Uni- tarian Church, to which calling he devoted the best years of his life. By marriage he allied his interests with those of an old Massachusetts family, the Fletchers, who located in that state during the colonial period of our country. The two, Mr. and Mrs. Carpenter, passed many years of an uneventful but useful and contented life in Vermont, where their deaths subsequently oc- curred. Their son, Richard Brinsley Carpenter, was born in Waterville, Vt., January 1, 1830, and in that locality passed the years of his boyhood and received his primary education. A portion of his education was received in Kentucky, where he visited relatives and attended school. Later he became a student in Miami University, in Ohio, and upon the completion of the course there returned to Kentucky and read law with ex- Governor James T. Morehead, of Covington, Ky. His ambition led him to excel and he was but twenty-one years old when he was admitted to the har before the supreme court of Kentucky. In Covington he at once established an office and began the practice of his profession, shortly afterward securing the position of commonwealth attorney over a jurisdiction comprising nine coun- ties in that section of the state. He was uni- formly successful in both his general practice and the discharge of the duties in his official position and rapidly rose to prominence among the legal fraternity of his state. In 1867 he was appointed registrar in bankruptcy for South Carolina by Chief Justice Chase, of Ohio, which position he held until 1869, when he was made circuit judge. The duties of this position he discharged with fairness and discrimination for a term of service extending over nine years. He decided to re- move to California and accordingly in 1887 came to Los Angeles, where he has ever since made his
Top. Campbell
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home. Until 1902 he engaged in the practice of his profession, which duties, however, were in- terrupted from time to time by his frequent calls to responsible positions in the gift of the people. In 1890 he was elected state senator to succeed Hon. Stephen M. White, of Los Angeles, and served from 1891 to 1895. He was president pro tem. of the senate, and was a dignified incumbent of the position. While in the state senate he was active on various important committees. He rep- resented his constituency well and was held in the highest esteem by both his own party and those of the opposition, his integrity and fairness of purpose winning him an honorable place in the halls of legislature.
Many years ago Mr. Carpenter married Miss Elizabeth Ann Perrin, a native of Pennsylvania, and a woman of rare culture and refinement, and one whose intelligence and education made her indeed a helpmeet for her husband. She died in Los Angeles in 1901. They were the parents of two sons and three daughters, one of the sons dying in early childhood. The other son, Julius P., in young manhood engaged in the lumber busi- ness, in which occupation he came to his deatlı in a tunnel of the Hamilton & Dayton Railroad. He was a man of prominence in his community, having always taken a prominent part in public affairs. Fraternally he was a Thirty-second degree Mason and held a high place in the or- ganization. The daughters are Mary H .; Mrs. Elizabeth A. Ball; and Annie R., the latter mak- ing her home with her father. Judge Carpenter is a demitted Mason. Politically he is firmly grounded in the principles endorsed by the plat- form of the Republican party and supports them with his voice and vote. He is, however, above all things a loyal, patriotic and liberal minded citizen, interesting himself in all that pertains to the general welfare.
GEORGE W. CAMPBELL, M. D. A man of unusual mental attainments, strong char- acter and untiring industry, Dr. George W. Campbell stands high in the medical profes- sion of Los Angeles and is one of her most prominent and progressive citizens. Of Scotcli descent, he is the son of George C. and Mary (Murdock) Campbell, an influential old New
England family who removed to Canada on account of being United Empire loyalists; there the great-grandfather resided until his death. His father still survives at the ad- vanced age of eighty-three years, making his home with Dr. Campbell in his commodious home at Boyle Heights. The eldest of seven children, Dr. Campbell was born January 7, 1854, in Ontario, Canada, where he attended the common schools, later going to Albert College of Belleville, Ontario. After leaving college he spent several years teaching school, afterwards entering Trinity Medical College of Toronto, in which institution he remained three years. Having worked his way through college Dr. Campbell cast about for an open- ing by which he might gain means with which to attain the desired end of a career in his chosen profession, and coming to San Fran- cisco in 1879, he entered the employ of the Canadian Pacific Company as pay-master. Re- maining with this company five years he then went back to his old Canadian home for a time. Coming to Los Angeles in 1886, he entered the medical department of the Univer- sity of Southern California, from which in- stitution he graduated with honors the fol- lowing year, receiving the degree of Doctor of Medicine. Since that time he has remained in this city engaged in the practice of his profession, later establishing for himself a high reputation as surgeon. At various times he has been chosen to fill offices of trust and honor, among them that of president of the Alumni Association of the medical department of the University of Southern California, which office he still occupies.
At New Castle, Ontario, Dr. Campbell was united in marriage to Miss Kate McCoy and this union has been blessed by four children, two sons and two daughters: Charles, a grad- uate of the University of Southern Califor- nia, his father's Alma Mater, and an employe of the Southern Pacific Railway Company : Lyla ; Nellie; and Kenneth. Since locating in Los Angeles Dr. Campbell has made his home at Boyle Heights, where he owns a com- fortable and commodious residence, and erect- ed the first brick block that was built in that section. He is associated with several med-
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ical societies of this city, among which are the American Medical, State Medical and Los Angeles City and County Medical Associa- tions, and was for several years the expert medical adviser of the district attorney. At present he is autopsy surgeon for the county coroner.
Aside from services to the city in his med- ical capacity, Dr. Campbell is active in city and county government, having served in the city council in the Ninth ward from 1893 to 1895, and as coroner for the four years be- tween 1895 and 1899. As a prominent and influential Republican he takes an active part in national and local politics, being a member and director of the Los Angeles County Re- publican League, a member of the Republican County Central Committee and a state com- mitteeman. He is affiliated with Hollenbeck Lodge, F. & A. M., Los Angeles Chapter, R. A. M., and the Knights of Pythias, maintain- ing a warm interest in the helpful charities of these fraternal orders, as well as those of the Church Federation. The sterling qualities of his manhood, received both through inher- itance and from sturdy Scotch stock and train- ing, have given him financial and social suc- cess, his .efforts in the professional and po- litical world winning for him the esteem and confidence of the citizens of his adopted city.
HON. FRED EUGENE PIERCE. As a member of the state assembly and a business man, Hon. F. E. Pierce is named among the representative citizens of Los Angeles and given a place high in the esteem of all who have ever known him for the demonstration of sterling traits of character. He has been a resident of this city since 1881, having come to the Pacific coast after completing his education in the pub- lic schools of Walton, Delaware county, N. Y., where he was born August 21, 1866. His father, James Washington Pierce, was also a native of that state, his birth having occurred in Dutchess county ; later he removed to Delaware county and engaged as a farmer until well along in life, when he came to Los Angeles and spent the remainder of his years. He was a member of the same family that gave to the United States
a president and inherited the sterling traits of character prominent in those citizens. At the time of the breaking out of the Civil war he en- listed in the One Hundred and Forty-fourth Regiment New York Infantry and served until the close of hostilities. His wife, formerly Frances Clark, was born in Franklin, Delaware county, N. Y., a daughter of Charles Clark, a farmer of that section, and she now resides in Los Angeles. She was the mother of eleven children, ten sons and one daughter, of whom all but two sons are now surviving, and all are located in Los Angeles.
Fred Eugene Pierce was the eighth child in order of birth and in his home in New York re- ceived his education in the public schools. Be- cause of ill health he came to California in 1881, when Los Angeles had a population of only eleven thousand. His first three years were spent on a ranch in the Sierra Madre mountains, after which he returned to Los Angeles and in part- nership with his brothers, W. H. and Mark Pierce, he established a livery business. While so occupied he became interested in the veter- inary science and took up the study, and later entered the Ontario Veterinary College. He completed the course in the Chicago Veterinary College and graduated with the degree of D. V. S., after which he returned to Los Angeles and began the practice of his profession. After a year he removed to Ventura and for two years acted as the county veterinarian and during this time cleaned out an outbreak of the glanders. He then went to Oakland and practiced his pro- fession and acted as city veterinarian for about ten years, and also rose to a position among the citzens of that place. While there he was appointed the first milk inspector in California. In 1902 he resigned his work in Oakland to return to Los Angeles and with his brothers in- corporated the Pierce Bros. & Co., an under- taking concern, with himself as president, and in order to perfect himself in this line of work spent some time in San Francisco with some of the leading funeral directors of that city and also graduated from the embalming department of the College of Physicians and Surgeons. This business was established with only one assistant and from such a modest beginning has grown the present concern which employs twelve men,
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and which justified the erection of their mag- nificent building-60x165 feet in dimensions, thoroughly equipped with chapel and all modern methods for their business. Their establishment is located on Flower street near Eighth. In December, 1906, W. H. Pierce withdrew from the concern and his brother became the prin- cipal owner.
Besides his engrossing business interests Mr. Pierce has taken an active interest in political affairs, seeking to advance the principles of the Republican party, of which he is a stanch advo- cate. In 1906 he was nominated to the state assembly on the Republican ticket and was elected by a substantial majority to the session of 1907, during which he took an active part in affairs, serving as chairman of the printing committee, and as a member on the committee on state prisons and reformatories, helping to secure the passage of measures looking toward the im- provement of prisons. He was also active in the passage of other bills along various lines and ably advanced the interests of his constituents.
In Los Angeles, January 1, 1890, Mr. Pierce was united in marriage with Miss Alice Parmeter, a native of Lawrence, Mass., and only daughter of I. B. Parmeter, an early settler of Los An- geles and connected for twenty-five years with the Southern Pacific Railroad Company. She was educated in the public and normal schools of Los Angeles and is a woman of rare worth and culture. They have two children, Lena A. and Mark A. In his fraternal relations Mr. Pierce is quite prominent, having been made a Mason in Alcatraz Lodge, F. & A. M., in Oak- land, and is now a member of Sunset Lodge No. 352, of Los Angeles; Signet Chapter No. 55, R. A. M .; Los Angeles Commandery No. 9, K. T., and Al Malaikah Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S. Both himself and wife are associated with Loyal- ty Chapter, Order of the Eastern Star, he be- ing past patron and she past matron. He was made an Odd Fellow in the Ventura lodge, then became a member in Enterprise Lodge No. 298, of Oakland, and in that city joined Golden Rule Encampment No. 34, of which he is past chief patriarch, and is now a member of Orange Grove Encampment No. 31, of Los Angeles. He joined the Canton in Oakland and now belongs to
Canton Orion, of Los Angeles, of which he is past commandant. In this order he was elected grand junior warden of the Grand Encampment of California at their Grand Encampment in San Francisco in 1904, and is now serving as the grand high priest. He is also associated with the Fraternal Brotherhood, being a member of Washington Lodge No. 51 ; the Eagles, belong- ing to Eerie No. 102, of Los Angeles; and the Foresters. He is a member of the Chamber of Commerce, the Union League Club and the Re- publican Club, and in the line of his business enterprises belongs to the Funeral Directors As- sociation of California, and also the National Funeral Directors Association. In religion he is an active member of the Memorial Baptist Church, and a liberal contributor to all of its charities.
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