USA > California > A history of California and an extended history of its southern coast counties, Volume II > Part 59
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established. Since that date the firm has been known as Reynolds & Van Nuys, although in 1903 it was incorporated as a stock company. It is capitalized for $25,000, and its officers are Isaac J. Reynolds president and William N. Van Nuys secretary and treasurer. Both bring to their present undertaking the experience of past years, and as both are also practical business men their success has been assured from the first. Their parlors are centrally located at No. 57 North Fair Oaks avenue in a large brick build- ing which runs from the street frontage to the alley, thus affording ample accommodation for all departments of their business. Included among the accommodations for their patrons is a commodious and conveniently arranged chapel, where funeral services may be held if desired.
The senior member of the firm, Isaac J. Rey- nolds, is a native of Kansas, and was born near Lawrence, February 2, 1859. His boyhood and youth were spent in Wayne county, Ind., near Richmond, and there also he acquitted himself creditably in the common schools. When he was ready to commence his business career influences were brought to bear which led him into the undertaking business, a profession for which he has a natural adaptation. It was in 1886 that he came to Pasadena and with his brother, Charles C., the following year established the firm of Reynolds Brothers, undertakers and embalmers. The withdrawal of the brother and the admit- tance of Mr. Van Nuys into the firm in 1891 have been the only material changes made since the business was started.
On March 28, 1887, Mr. Reynolds was united in marriage with Sarah Alice Hubbard, a native of Wayne county, Ind., and four children were born to them, Ralph Hubbard, Edith Esther, Hugh Milton and Paul S. The wife and mother passed away February 1, 1897, when her young- est child was only three and a half days old. In 1899, two and a half years after the death of his first wife, Mr. Reynolds married Miss Martha Read, a native of Indiana, who came to Cali- fornia with her parents in 1875 and located in Pomona. She is a woman of fine intellectual qualities, and after her graduation from Mills College in Alameda county taught school for several years in Pomona. For three years she was assistant principal under James D. Graham,
of Pasadena. She is active in the social life of Pasadena, and is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and at one time was president of the home missionary society connected with that church. She was a member of the Board of Education during the building of the new high school building, was president of the Shakespeare Club for two terms, and in every way gives her best efforts to the general welfare. Mr. Rey- nolds is also a member and active worker in the Methodist Episcopal Church, and for seven years served as superintendent of the Sunday-school. Both himself and wife are liberal contributors to its material welfare, and botli are teachers, having two of the largest classes, he the "Minute Men" and Mrs. Reynolds the "J. O. C." Fra- ternally Mr. Reynolds is a Mason, belonging to Pasadena Lodge No. 272, F. & A. M.
CLAYTON H. GARVEY. Since 1903 Clay- ton H. Garvey has made his winter home in Pasa- dena, where he has become known as a public spirited man in all things that have for their ob- ject the upbuilding of Los Angeles county. He is well known in Ohio, Indiana, and indeed the en- tire middle west. A native of Ohio, he was born in Cincinnati June 8, 1859, and there spent his boyhood and young manhood. He is a son of James P. and Mary (Hamilton) Garvey, the father being a native of Kentucky and member of a prominent family of that region.
Clayton H. Garvey received his preliminary education through the medium of the public schools of his native city( where his father was engaged as a general business man), and there prepared to enter Bethany College, near Wheel- ing, W. Va., from which institution he was graduated in 1879. After graduation he went to Kentucky and entered Kentucky University at Lexington, taking a special course, after which he returned to his native city and entered upon a business career, becoming associated with his father and brothers in the tobacco business in Cincinnati. In 1885 he became identified with the American Wire Nail Company of Covington. Ky. (which had been established about ten years previously ) and in 1887 the plant was removed to Anderson, Ind. The first nails were made by hand; afterwards the company introduced
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automatic machines from Germany and installed the same in their plant in Covington. This con- cern manufactured the first wire nails in the United States. The business prospered with the passing years with the result that the products of the American Wire Nail Company were in demand throughout the United States and also in many foreign markets. Mr. Garvey remained identified with the interests of this concern until 1897, when he retired from active business.
December 10, 1900, Mr. Garvey married Miss Luella Mae Rhodes, a native of Cincinnati, who was educated in Western College of Oxford, Ohio, and then went abroad where she took special studies. Immediately after their mar- riage Mrs. and Mrs. Garvey started on a tour around the world, which covered a period of nearly two years, during which time they visited many of the large cities of the Orient and places of interest and attraction in China, Japan, Corea, Egypt and many other countries, concluding the trip with a visit to California. Here they de- cided to make their home permanently, having found the best climate in all their travels in the southern part of the state. Accordingly Mr. Garvey erected a handsome residence at No. 215 Palmetto Drive, Pasadena, patterned after the Italian villa style of architecture, and modern in all of its appointments. By name it is known as the Qui Si Sano, meaning "without care." It commands a fine view of the surrounding neighborhood, the attractive mountains and peaks, and is one of the beautiful homes of Pasadena.
COL. JAMES E. MONTGOMERY. A re- tired army officer, Col. James E. Montgomery is spending the evening of his days amid the pleasant surroundings of Pasadena, where he is the owner of one of the beautiful places of the world-famous city. He is a native of the state of New York, his birth having occurred in the home owned by his parents on the banks of the Hudson. He is descended from honored an- cestry on both paternal and maternal sides, his father, Jolin C. Montgomery, being a lineal de- scendant from Sir Roger de Montgomerie, who led the right wing of the army of William the Conqueror at the battle of Hastings. The father was a general business man and capitalist of
Philadelphia and later of New York, the grand- father, John Montgomery, being a merchant of the City of Brotherly Love and one of its first trustees. The mother, Elizabeth Philips, was the daughter of Henry Philips, of Bank Hall, Eng- land, and the granddaughter of Benjamin Chew, chief justice of Pennsylvania under George III.
James E. Montgomery received his early edn- cation in the schools of Philadelphia, after which he prepared for college, and entering Princeton was graduated in 1845. He first read law, but later changed his plans and took up civil engineer- ing, and in the performance of his duties in the latter capacity was employed by the Pennsylvania Railroad for several years. At the first tap of the drum Mr. Montgomery enlisted for service in the Union army, and at the expiration of his three months service was appointed by President Lincoln an adjutant-general of the army and as- signed to the Sixth Corps of the Army of the Potomac. He participated in many important en- gagements, was in the Seven Days Battle before Richmond, where he had two horses shot under him, and was twice wounded and taken prisoner, then ordered to Vicksburg under the command of General Slocum. Later he was transferred to Natchez, Miss., by General Canby and then or- dered to New Orleans, where he was made Chief of Staff of the Thirteenth Army Corps under Maj .- Gen. Granger which was ordered to cooper- ate with Admiral Farragut in the attack upon the forts commanding the entrance to Mobile, Ala. He remained in the army until the summer of 1866 and the following year accompanied Admiral Farragut by special request and as his secretary on his famous and exceptional trip to the con- tinent of Europe, visited every country, in all of which he was received with the most distin- guished marks of respect and admiration and was accorded unusual privileges for visiting all points of interest. After returning to this coun- try he remained with the admiral until his death, which occurred in Portsmouth, N. H., in 1870. In 1875 Colonel Montgomery accompanied Ad- miral Werden on his trip to the western coast of South America, returning after the lapse of one year. In 1877 he received the appointment to the position of United States consul to Geneva, Switzerland, thence to Leipsic, Germany, and in 1881 to the same office in Belgium, with head-
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quarters at Brussels. Later he was transferred to Trieste, Austria, from which he resigned on account of ill health caused from his service in the war. Thereafter he located for a time in Switzerland, but finally he returned to New York City.
Colonel Montgomery was married in 1880, to Miss Mary Seymour Walker, of Utica, N. Y. At her death in 1895 she left one son, Hugh Eglinton, now a resident of Pasadena. He mar- ried Miss Alice Howland, a niece of Judge How- land of New York. The colonel's second wife was Florence Miller, of Denver, Colo., and their home is now located at No. 445 Bellefontaine street, Pasadena, a neat and substantial residence, modern in every particular and distinctly a model home. The colonel is one of the prominent social citizens of Pasadena, a member of the Princeton Club of Los Angeles, and the oldest member of the Military Order of Loyal Legion of the United States.
G. ROSCOE THOMAS. The family repre- sented by G. Roscoe Thomas, of Pasadena, orig- inated in Wales, was later established in England, and the immigrating ancestor who founded the name on American soil was Thomas Thomas, the grandfather of our subject. His marriage united him with Miss Georgia Gage, a native of Eng- land. Among the children born to Thomas and Georgia (Gage) Thomas was Joseph G. Thomas, who was born in Massachusetts, in which state he followed farming prior to his removal to the Empire state, and was there married to Martha R. Steele, of Scotch-Irish ancestry.
On the family homestead near Sardinia, Erie county, N. Y., G. Roscoe Thomas was born De- cember 10, 1841, and the schools of western New York, whither his parents removed when he was quite young, furnished him with a com- mon school education. Apt and studious, he made the most of his advantages and supple- mented his earlier studies by a course in the academy at Pike, N. Y., and still later he at- tended the seminary in Springville, N. Y. When eighteen years of age he had mapped out a career for his future life, which was to follow dentistry for a profession, and toward this end he entered the office of A. L. Vaughn and began his
studies, remaining with this preceptor for three years. Subsequently he continued his studies in the Pennsylvania Dental College of Philadelphia, graduating creditably in 1866. The following year he went to Detroit, Mich., and for eighteen years followed his profession in that city, leav- ing behind him a record not only of good work- manship, but also of good citizenship, having taken an active part in public matters. It was in 1885 that he disposed of his practice, and, on account of ill health, came to the west, settling. the same year in Pasadena. Shortly afterward he began to deal in real estate, and is now the owner of much valuable property.
In 1866 Dr. Thomas formed domestic ties by his marriage with Miss Caroline C. Clapp, a native of Mentor, Ohio, and the daughter of Hon. Matthew M. Clapp, a prominent resident of that locality. This marriage has been blessed by the birth of five children, all of whom are a credit to their devoted parents. Named in order of birth they are as follows: Georgia Grace; Carl Clapp, professor of marine engineering at Cornell University : Joseph Paul and Ros Ray, both in Los Angeles; and Jessie P. Ever since locating in Pasadena in 1885 Dr. Thomas has displayed the keenest interest in his home city, entering heart and soul into any project that would advance its interests, and was a member of its first board of trustees. This came into being in 1886, when Pasadena was a city of the sixth class, and later a charter was secured. He is a member of the board of trade of Pasadena. The family home is at No. 530 Bellefontaine street.
GEORGE W. GLOVER. As proprietor of the South Pasadenan, one of the popular organs of this section of Southern California, George W. Glover is giving the force and power of his pen to the best interests of the city where he has made his home since 1884. He was born in Evansville, Ind., January 9. 1853, a son of George W. and Mary J. ( Guthrie) Glover, natives re- spectively of Pennsylvania and Kentucky. In 1846 they removed to Indiana, where they were numbered among the early pioneer settlers, and there the father engaged in the operation of saw- mills which he owned. In 1881 he came to Cal-
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ifornia and located in South Pasadena, where he purchased a tract of about fifty acres and partly planted it to oranges, lemons and other fruits and engaged in its cultivation and develop- ment until his death. His wife is also deceased. They were justly named among the respected citizens of this city and were held in high esteem by all who knew them.
George W. Glover, Jr., received a limited edu- cation in his native state, attending the common schools. In 1884 he came to South Pasadena and purchased a small tract and has here made his home since. It was nine years after his ar- rival here that he established the South Pasa- denan, a paper which is independent on all sub- jects and for its size contains a larger amount of editorials than any other paper in the state. In 1906 be established another paper in Pasadena, known as the Roadrunner, also independent in thought, and many of the editorials appearing in it are quoted in other papers because of their sentiment and solid worth. Mr. Glover is not only an able writer, but a logical one as well, and with a broad interest in public affairs con- tributes articies on all the leading topics of the day. He has a nicely equipped office in the business section of South Pasadena, while his printing office is on his ranch of fifteen acres in the southwestern part of the city, where he has every equipment for carrying on a success- ful enterprise of the kind. He is also interested in mining in California, and as well takes a keen interest in the development and upbuilding of Southern California. Politically he is a stanch advocate of Republican principles, but has never cared for official recognition, although he has served in the interests of the public as justice of the peace.
FRANKLIN AUGUSTUS SEABERT. Various well-founded reasons contribute toward making Mr. Seabert one of the substantial citi- zens of Los Angeles, where he has resided since 1896, he having come to the west three years previously to recuperate his health. Leaving the cast, where he had won renown in railroad circles, he brought to the west the same energy and penetration which had been the keynote of his success hitherto, and that he has made a
wise application of these gifts is shown in the fact that though he has been a resident here only ten years, he is now president of four of the largest enterprises of the west, namely: Bis- bee Quincy Copper Mining Company, Mesa Grande Tourmaline and Gem Company, Ramona Cahuilla Gem Company and the Southwestern Securities Company.
All personal acquisitions merely, either in the way of means or position, are of secondary importance to Mr. Seabert as compared with his pride of birth and ancestry. The Seabert family is of German origin, and it is stated on authority that over eight hundred years ago one of the name lived near Fulda, Hesse Cassel, in the Hartz Mountains. From the time of the Ref- ormation the family espoused the Protestant faith, and even as late as the early sixteenth cent- ury they still had representatives in the Hartz Mountains, where the family owned a magnifi- cent castle. Great-grandfather Seabert was the first of the family to leave the Fatherland, re- moving from there to France, where the family owned an entailed estate, which had been granted to one of the members for patriotic service dur- ing feudal times. Grandfather Major Augustus Charles Seabert served in the French army un- der Napoleon Bonaparte, but with the defeat of his general his own life was in jeopardy, his property confiscated, and finally, in order to save his life, he fled to Canada. From there he later came to the United States, settling in Vermont, where he died at the venerable age of ninety- eight years and eight months. Dismounting after a horseback ride of thirty-four miles he had not been seated long before he breathed his last, death resulting from exhaustion, while he still wore his riding boots and spurs.
Born in the old province of Gascony, in south- western France, Philip Seabert was twelve years old when he accompanied his father to the shores of the New World. The greater part of his life was associated with the state of Vermont, and in Brattleboro he was eminently known in legal circles, being attorney for the Vermont Central Railroad. For four terms he served in the state legislature, and during this time orig- inated and passed the law making ten hours the legal day for laborers. This was the first law passed in the United States regulating the hours
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of labor. Prior to the Civil war he was a it connected with the Erie Railroad, but during Democrat, but a change in his views came with the years he was in the employ of the company as civil engineer the road was completed to Deckers Ferry, seven miles below the Delaware Water Gap, there making connection with the Warren Railroad and the New Jersey Central. the conflict and he was ever afterward an ar- dent Republican. He passed away at the good old age of eighty-nine years, firm in the faith of the Episcopal Church. His marriage with Theresa Keene, of Keene, N. H., united him with a family no less renowned in military af- fairs than his own. Her father, Gen. Walter O. Keene, born in New England, was an of- ficer in the Revolutionary war, rising from cap- tain of Company A, which he organized, to colonel, finally receiving the brevet of brigadier- general. The Keene family is of English origin, and the locality in which the early members set- tled in New Hampshire has ever since borne the family name. The mother died in Vermont at the age of seventy-six years, leaving four children. Henry is a resident of New Orleans. Emily is the wife of Dr. Charles W. Grau, of Berlin, Germany. Theresa became the wife of Dr. William Klinger, and resides in Paris, France.
Franklin A. Seabert was born April 17, 1838, in Brattleboro, Vt., where he received excellent educational advantages. His primary training over, he was prepared for Harvard College un- der the tutorage of Prof. Charles G. Jones, and at the age of seventeen he became a student in that famous institution. Too close application to his studies began to undermine his health, and at the end of six months he was so ill that he was compelled to leave college. Eight months abroad in the sunny climate of France and Ger- many restored him to his usual strength. It was while on this trip in the land of his fore- fathers that he gathered much valuable informa- tion relative to his antecedents. Upon his re- turn home he entered Bellevue Medical College in New York City, with the intention of pre- paring himself for the medical profession, but before he had completed his first year became ill with lung trouble, and upon the advice of his physician he again gave up his studies. After spending several months in recuperating he went to Troy, N. Y., and entered the Polytechnic School, and in 1858, at Scranton, Pa., entered the engineer corps of the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad. The road at that time ran only from Scranton to Great Bend, N. Y., where
The spirit of patriotism which was so prom- inent a characteristic in his father and both of his grandfathers lost nothing in transmission, and when the first gun was fired on Fort Sumter he resigned his position with the railroad and offered his services to his country. Simultaneous with this he received the following message from his father : "You are the only one in the family that can bear arms, and it is your duty to enlist at once." His only brother was then in France on the entailed estate previously mentioned. After the expiration of his three-months serv- ice in the First Pennsylvania Rifles, Mr. Seabert was mustered out and thence went to Harris- burg, where with Gen. Roy Stone (then major) and others he organized the Bucktail Brigade, which was composed of the One Hundred and Thirty-second, One Hundred and Forty-ninth and One Hundred and Fiftieth Pennsylvania Regi- ments of infantry. Mr. Seabert was commis- sioned lieutenant of Company F, One Hundred and Forty-ninth Pennsylvania Infantry, being elected by the men of his company, and later he was made captain. Among the hard-fought bat- tles in which he participated were the second battle of Bull Run, Antietam, Chancellorsville, and all of the engagements of the Army of the Potomac. As a member of the Third Division of the First Army Corps he was detailed on the staff of Abner Doubleday as aid, and in the en- gagement at Antietam was wounded, but on re- covering joined his post at Gettysburg. During the third day's battle he was wounded four times and was finally removed to the improvised hos- pital in the Baptist church. After the battle was over attention was given to the men who had been laid low by its ravages, those for whom there was no hope remaining in the church, while the others were sent to the various army hos- pitals. Owing to the fact that Mr. Seabert was unconscious he was taken for dead and thus was among those left in the church. Governor Cur- tin and W. W. Ketchum, a member of congress, in looking over the latter, discovered that Mr.
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Seabert was unconscious and had him removed to a private house, later to a hospital at Harrisburg (he still being unconscious), and finally to the Armory Square Hospital at Washington. There he was operated upon by Dr. D. W. Bliss, who removed a piece of shell and a piece of the skull bone, inserting in the place of the latter a piece of silver. To the average person this experience would have been a satisfactory reason for re- fraining from further duty, but not so with Mr. Seabert. Upon his recovery he returned to his command and from time to time was promoted until made commissary general of the Third Divi- sion, First Army Corps, with the rank of colonel and brevet brigadier-general, being mustered out as such at the close of the war. At the time of his resignation in December, 1865, he was offered a major's commission in the regular army, but declined the honor and instead returned to the company which he had left four years before. For a time he was roadmaster on the Blooms- burg division of the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad, later accepting the appoint- ment of superintendent of construction of the road's extension between Binghamton and Buf- falo. With headquarters at Buffalo he held this position from 1881 until 1893, when ill-health once more stepped in and changed his plans. Resigning his position he came to the Pacific coast to recuperate and here in the west met one of his old-time friends, J. A. Fillmore, of the Southern Pacific road. At the persuasion of Mr. Fillmore Mr. Seabert was induced to be- come assistant superintendent of the Tucson division of that road, running between Yuma, Ariz., and El Paso, Tex., with headquarters in the former place. Resigning once more on ac- count of ill-health in 1896 he came to Los An- geles and for two years took a thorough rest.
By the time Mr. Scabert had recovered his health he was well pleased with his surroundings in the west and determined to remain here per- manently. Subsequently he organized the South- western Securities Company, of which he is president, and which is capitalized at $55,000. Only such securities are handled that have been thoroughly investigated and pronounced abso - lutely legitimate. Mr. Seabert is also president of the Mesa Grande Tourmaline and Gem Com- pany, which he organized after purchasing the
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