A history of California and an extended history of its southern coast counties, also containing biographies of well-known citizens of the past and present, Volume I, Part 102

Author: Guinn, James Miller, 1834-1918
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Los Angeles, Cal., Historic record company
Number of Pages: 1184

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The ensuing years passed without event un- til his marriage, April 23, 1855, when he and his young wife decided to seek a home in the newer regions of the then west. When they arrived in Sabula, Jackson county, Iowa, May I, that same year, he had only $11 with which to make a start in the new country. How- ever, he had an abundance of energy, per- severance and determination, and from that humble beginning he worked his way by means of renting land and raising stock until he was in a position to make his first purchase of property. Giving as the first payment four cows and four calves and giving his note for $700 at ten per cent, he secured eighty acres of farm land. His next step was to purchase lumber (giving his note in payment) and put up a small house. During the first year he lost his crop of wheat and was unable to meet the interest on the mortgage, but the break- ing out of the Civil war raised prices of all farm produce and enabled him to pay for the land in three years.

After about nineteen years on the same farm, Richard Kidson removed to Plymouth county, Iowa, in 1874, and bought a tract of wild prairie land from the railroad company. for which he paid $6.25 an acre. Out of this tract he developed a valuable farm, which he sold, together with his other interests in Iowa, on account of the failure of his health. At the time of selling out his landed possessions aggregated about six hundred acres. Coming to Los Angeles in February, 1880, he soon af- terward bought twenty-four acres near town, but sold the property two years later. His next purchase consisted of ten acres, for which he paid $900. A year later he bought an ad- joining tract of ten acres, for which he paid $600. Recently he sold all of his twenty-acre tract for $40,000, reserving, however, a lot, 181x96 feet, where his residence stands, at No. 4933 South Main street. For a short time he owned and conducted a hotel at Pomona, and also for some years he owned five lots, for which he paid $1,000 and which he sold dur- ing the boom of 1887 at a considerable advance. From time to time he has bought and sold real estate and is considered an excellent judge of values, both of city and country lands.

While living in Pennsylvania Mr. Kidson married Winnifred Rowe, who was born in Ireland, immigrated to the United States in

gas D Dusfee

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HISTORICAL. AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

1849, and died in Iowa. Five children were born of that union, namely : Mary Ann, de- ceased; David; Gilbert, whose sketch will be found on another page of this work; Sarah Jane ; and Winnifred. While living in Iowa Mr. Kidson married Mrs. Isabelle Cook, who died in that state, leaving a son, John R. Kid- son, now a rancher of Los Angeles county. In 1875 Mr. Kidson married Mrs. Sarah Ann Hitchcock, who died May 7, 1905, at the age of eighty-five years, three months and five days. In politics Mr. Kidson has always been a stanch Republican. During the period of his residence in lowa he served as school treasurer and also filled the office of road mas- ter.

JAMES DEVINE DURFEE. One of the oldest pioneers in the vicinity of El Monte, James Devine Durfee is ranked as represen- tative of the best class of citizens who had given to the state of California its forward movements in the last fifty years of its history -the days of its statehood-and as such he occupies a prominent place in local affairs. He was born in Adams county, III., October 8, 1840. a son of James and Cynthia (Soule) Durfee, natives respectively of New York and Rhode Island, the former born May 16, 1793. The grandparents were Perry and Annie (Sulsbury) Durfee, of Tiverton, R. I., and Broadalbin, N. Y., the former a descendant of Thomas Durfec. of Portsmouth. R. I., who was born in England in 1643. James Durfee died in Lima, Ill., July 16, 1844. his wife passing away February 16, 1847. in Council Bluffs, Iowa, where the family was located for a time. They were the parents of nineteen children, of whom eight are now living, James Devine Durfee being the sixteenth in order of birth.

. Left an orphan in early childhood, James Devine Durfee was reared by the older mem- bers of the family and by different relatives. his education being received in the public schools, whose sessions were held in the primi- tive log houses of the day, equipped with slab benches and puncheon floors, and the old quill pen a part of the necessary equipment of the scholar. He was fifteen years old when with his brother George W .. he joined a party of emigrants bound for California, that left Conn- cil Bluffs May 10 of that year (1855), with sixty-five wagons. Mr. Dufree drove four yoke of oxen through, via Salt Lake City and the southern route to San Bernardino (then a Mormon settlement), which place was reached September 16. He was doing the work of a man though he weighed only eighty pounds

and stood guard in his turn, entire confidence being reposed in his abilities. He remained in San Bernardino until 1857. after which he went to Sacramento, thence to EI Dorado county, where be worked on a farm. He then went to Contra Costa county and in the vici- nity of San Pablo followed a similar employ- ment. He was economical in his living and managed to accumulate some money, with which he decided to return to Southern Cali- fornia, visit his people, and then once more locate in the north. He came south but did not return, as he became interested in the prospects held out to the settler here, marry- ing December 19, 1858, Miss Diantha B. Clem- inson, a native of Missouri and sister of James Cleminson. represented elsewhere in this volume, and with whom he established a home in San Bernardino county on Lytle creek. He had some stock but little money. but enter- prise and ability soon supplied the lack. and in his general farming operations he was very successful. In November, 1859. he came to Los Angeles county and rented land in the vicinity of El Monte, and in November of the following year he located on his present pro- perty, leasing the land with the privilege of purchasing same at the end of two years. At the expiration of that time in conjunction with his brother, George, and James Cleminson, he purchased the ranch and engaged in stock- raising and general farming, later purchasing the interest of Mr. Cleminson, and in 1882 the brothers divided their interests. Mr. Durfee is now the owner of the entire property, one hundred and twenty-four acres in all, of which eighty-three acres are devoted to a fine wal- nut grove. which was first started in 1868 and added to until it to-day ranks with the finest in Southern California, one tree alone having produced five hundred pounds in one year. His land is very rich and being moist it is unnecessary to irrigate, on the other hand he has been to the expense of placing a redwood lumber drain seven and a half feet below the surface of the land.

The magnificent success attained by Mr. Dur- fee during his residence in Southern Califor- nia may be traced directly to his foresight and management. for as a rancher he is one of the most progressive and enterprising men of the community. He does not confine his attention to one line of agriculture entirely, but instead is interested in various products. raising walnuts and apples and other fruits in his orchards: corn, potatoes and different vegetables in his fields: while stock-raising has formed one of his most important in- dustries. He has some of the finest hogs in Southern California, from which he cures bacon

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known throughout this state as well as Ari- zona as one of the finest products of its kind in the west. He raises horses with the strain of the Richmond pedigree in them, and also carries on a fine and well-equipped diary of sixty Jersey cows, forming the finest herd in Southern California. He not only raises them for diary purposes, but also sells fine family cows, having disposed of some for $100 and $200 each, the Durfee Jerseys being famous throughout the country. In its equip- ment, improvements and management Mr. Durfee's ranch takes high rank in Southern California, being one of the finest in the sec- tion, and its products are in demand among commission merchants.

The Durfee home is one of the comfortable places in the community, being equipped with every modern device for comfort and conveni- ence, and furnished with quiet elegance. Mr. and Mrs. Durfee have two children, Eva I., who married Albert Slack January 12, 1890, and has three children, Howard Albert, Perry Durfee and Marjorie Diantha. James Roswell Durfee, a farmer near El Monte, married Stella Cain in September, 1894, and they have four children : Diantha Ruth, Miles Roswell, James and Hillard. Mrs. Durfee's father, John Clem- inson, came from England in the year 1812, and in Missouri married Miss Lydia Lightner, who was born in Lancaster county, Pa., July 12, 1800, and died in El Monte August II, 1873, where John Cleminson also died Novem- ber 28, 1879.

Mr. Durfee has not allowed his own private affairs to so absorb his attention that he has neglected his duty as a citizen, no man being more active in the promotion of all enter- prises calculated to advance the general wel- fare of the community. He is a true-blue Republican in a politics and stanch in the prin- ciples he endorses. For many years he served as school trustee for La Puente district and can always be counted upon to further edu- cational matters. He was prominent in the organization of the Los Nietos and Ranchito Walnut Growers' Incorporation, and acted as a director for three years following its or- ganization, when he resigned from his official position. This was the pioneer association in this line and was established to protect the growers, as at that time the buyers were getting all the profits. By virtue of his long residence in the state Mr. Durfee is associated with the Los Angeles County Pioneers, and prominent in their meet- ings. Personally he is a man of many sterling traits of character. Coming to California in boyhood, dependent upon his own resources at an early age, he was thus thrown upon the

world with his character undeveloped, his man- hood unattained, with nothing but his native qualities to lift him above the average man who failed to raise himself from obscurity in the midst of the rush westward during the pioneer days of the state. That Mr. Durfee did more, that he became a citizen of worth and prominence, that he stands to-day as a landmark of the days of California's early statehood, is due alone to his own efforts, built upon the foundation of inherited charac- ter. He has won a large circle of friends throughout the state, who hold him in the highest esteem.

JAMES MILLER GUINN, of Los Angeles City, was born near Houston, Shelby county, Ohio, November 27, 1834. His paternal and inaternal ancestors removed from Scot- land and settled in the north of Ireland in the latter part of the seventeenth century. His father was born near Enniskillen, in County Fermanagh, and his mother, Eliza Miller, was born near Londonderry. His father came to America in 1819, and after ten years spent in the lumber business in the province of New Brunswick he migrated to Ohio, in 1830, and located on a tract of land covered with a dense forest.

James M. Guinn spent his boyhood years in assisting his father to clear a farm. The fa- cilities for obtaining an education in the back- woods of Ohio fifty years ago were very mea- ger. Three months of each winter he attended school in a little log schoolhouse. By studying in the evenings, after a hard day's work, he prepared himself for teaching; and at the age of eighteen began the career of a country ped- agogue. For two years he alternated teaching with farming. Ambitious to obtain a better education, he entered the preparatory depart- ment of Antioch College, of which institution® Horace Mann, the eminent educator, was then president. In 1857 he entered Oberlin Col- lege. He was entirely dependent on his own resources for his college expenses. By teach- ing during vacations, by manual labor and the closest economy, he worked his way through college and graduated with honors.

On the breaking out of the Civil war, in 1861, he was among the very first to respond to President Lincoln's call for volunteers, en- listing April 19, 1861, four days after the fall of Fort Sumter. He was a member of Com- pany C, Seventh Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Later he enlisted in the same regi- ment for three years. This regiment was one of the first sent into West Virginia. He served through the West Virginia campaign under

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

McClellan and afterwards under Rosecrans. The Seventh Regiment joined the army of the Potomac in the fall of 1861, and took part in all the great battles in which that army was engaged up to and including the battle of Get- tysburg. In September. 1863, the regiment, as part of the Twelfth Army Corps, was sent to the west, and was engaged in the battles of Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge and Ringgold. Its three years being ended, it was mustered out the Ist of June, 1864, in front of Atlanta.

In August, 1861, while the Seventh Regi- ment was guarding Carnifax Ferry, on the Gauley river, it was attacked by three thou- sand Confederates under Floyd and Wise. Af- ter a desperate resistance it was forced to re- treat, leaving its dead and wounded on the field. On the retreat the company of which Mr. Guinn was a member fell into an ambush and nearly one-half of those who escaped from the battlefield were captured. Mr. Guinn, af- ter a narrow escape from capture, traveled for five days in the mountains, subsisting on a few berries and leaves of wintergreen. He finally reached the Union forces at Gauley Bridge, al- most starved. At the battle of Cedar Moun- tain his regiment lost sixty-six per cent of those engaged-a percentage of loss nearly twice as great as that of the Light Brigade in its famous charge at Balaklava. Of the twen- ty-three of Mr. Guinn's company who went into the battle only six came out unhurt, he being one of the fortunate six.

Of his military service, a history of the com- pany written by one of his comrades after the war, says: "Promoted to corporal November 1, 1862; took part in the battles of Cross Lanes, Winchester, Port Republic, Cedar Mountain, second Bull Run, Antietam, Dum- fries. * On every * march of the company till his discharge."

After his discharge he was commissioned by Governor Tod, of Ohio, captain in a new regi- ment that was forming, but, his health having been broken by hard service and exposure, he was compelled to decline the position.

In 1864 he came to California (by way of Panama) for the benefit of his health. After teaching school three months in Alameda county he joined the gold rush to Idaho, pack- ing his blankets on his back and footing it from Umatilla, Ore., to Boise Basin, a distance of three hundred miles. For three years he followed gold mining with varying success, sometimes striking it rich and again dead broke. His health failing him again, from the effects of his army service, he returned to Cal- ifornia in 1867; and in 1868 went east and took treatment for a number of months in Dr.

Jackson's famous water cure, at Danville, N. Y. He returned to California in 1869, and in October of that year came to Los Angeles county. He found employment as principal of the schools of Anaheim-a position he filled for twelve consecutive years. He reached the town with $10; by investing his savings from his salary in land, at the end of twelve years he sold his landed possessions for $15,000. During the greater portion of the time he was employed in the Anaheim schools he was a member of the county board of education. He helped to organize the first teachers' institute (October 31, 1870) ever organized in the coun- ty. In 1874 he married Miss D. C. Marquis, an assistant teacher, daughter of the Rev. John Marquis. To them three children have been born : Mabel Elisabeth, Edna Marquis and Howard James. The Marquis family is of Huguenot ancestry. The progenitors of the family in America left France after the revo- cation of the edict of Nantes, and settled in the north of Ireland. From there, in 1720, they emigrated to America, locating in Pennsyl- vania.

In 1881 Mr. Guinn was appointed superin- tendent of the city schools of Los Angeles. He filled the position of school superintendent for two years. He then engaged in merchandis- ing, which he followed for three years. Sell- ing out, he engaged in the real estate and loan business, safely passing through the boom. He filled the position of deputy county assessor several years.

Politically he has always been a stanch Re- publican. He was secretary of a Republican club before he was old enough to vote, and. arriving at the voting age, he cast his first vote for John C. Fremont, in 1856, and has had the privilege of voting for every Republican nominee for president since. In 1873, when the county was overwhelmingly Democratic, he was the Republican nominee for the assembly and came within fifty-two votes of being elect- ed. In 1875 he was the nominee of the anti- monopoly wing of the Republican party for state superintendent of public instruction. For the sake of party harmony he withdrew just before the election in favor of the late Prof. Ezra Carr, who was triumphantly elected. He served a number of years on the Republican county central committee, being secretary from 1884 to 1886.

Mr. Guinn took an active part in the organ- ization of the Historical Society of Southern California, in 1883, and has filled every office in the gift of the society. He has contributed a number of valuable historical papers to mag- azines and newspapers and has edited the His- torical Society's Annual for the past ten years.

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

He is a member of the American Historical Association of Washington, D. C., having the honor of being the only representative of that association in Southern California. While en- gaged in the profession of teaching he was a frequent contributor to educational periodicals and ranked high as a leeturer on educational subjects before teachers' institutes and asso- eiations. He is a charter member of Stanton Post No. 55. G. A. R .; also a past post com- mander. He has filled the position of post ad- jutant continuously for fifteen years. When the Society of Pioneers of Los Angeles Coun- ty was organized in 1897 he was one of the committee of three selected to draft a form of organization and a constitution and by-laws. He has filled the office of secretary and also that of a member of the board of directors since the society's organization ten years ago.

In 1904 Mr. Guinn was nominated for mem- ber of the city board of education by the Non- partisan committee of one hundred. The Non- partisans were elected by a majority of three thousand over their Republican opponents, al- though at the county election in November the Republicans carried the city by a majority of over twelve thousand. He was renominated in 1906, but declined the nomination. After the organization of the new board, Mr. Emmet J. Wilson, having been appointed assistant city attorney, resigned. Mr. Guinn was urged to fill the vacancy and finally consented. Be- sides the historical portion of this volume he has written a history of Southern California and a brief history of California.

GEORGE A. NADEAU. A pioneer of Los Angeles county, a prosperous and successful rancher and real-estate dealer. George A. Na- deau occupies a foremost position among the representative citizens of this section, to whose upbuilding and development he has given a distinctive service. He was born in Canada March 27, 1850, a son of Remi Nadeau, also a native of Canada, where for many years he engaged at his trade of millwright. In 1860 he started to California across the plains. spending the winter en route in Salt Lake City; thence came to California and to Los Angeles in the fall of 1861, making this his headquarters, although he followed teaming in Montana and Northern California. In 1866 he located permanently in Los Angeles coun- ty, where he purchased property and engaged in teaming. principally into the Owens river country, and in 1873 organized the Cerro Gor- do Freighting Company, doing a very exten- sive business, which continued until the rail- roads took the business. He added to his

holdings until he owned thirty-two hundred and fifty acres of land. He became prominent among the upbuilding influences of this coun- ty, his name being perpetuated through his erection of the Nadeau hotel, at the corner of First and Spring streets, in Los Angeles, which was completed in 1884. His death oc- curred in 1886, at the age of sixty-eight years. In his political affiliations he was a stanch Republican. His wife, formerly Martha F. Frye, was a native of New Hampshire, in which state they were married; she survived her husband some years, passing away Janu- ary 18, 1904, at the age of eighty-four years. She was a member of the Congregational Church. They were the parents of · seven children, of whom but three are now surviv- ing: Joseph F., of Long Beach; and Mrs. Mary R. Bell, located on a farm adjoining that of her brother, George A. Nadeau.

George A. Nadeau is a Canadian by birth, but at the age of seven years he was brought by his parents to the United States. In Chi- cago and Faribault, Minn., he passed his boy- hood days, receiving his education in the pub- lic schools and by personal contact with the world. During the father's first years in Cal- ifornia his family continued to make the latter city their home, and there George A. engaged in an effort to gain an independent livelihood. In 1868 they went to New Hampshire, the state of the mother's nativity, and thence to New York City, where they sailed for Cali- fornia via the Isthmus of Panama. Upon landing in San Francisco they took a coast steamer for San Pedro, and from that point to the city of Los Angeles. Here Mr. Nadeau engaged with his father in freighting to the Owens river. Six years later he engaged in the stock business in Modoc county near the Oregon line, disposing of these interests twelve months after, and upon returning to Los Angeles engaged in this county in a like occupation. The ranch upon which he now lives, and where he has passed the greater part of the past thirty years, was purchased by his father in 1875, and contained one hun- dred and sixty acres ; which, since the death of the mother has been divided among the children.

After Mr. Nadeau's marriage in 1881 to Miss Nellie Tyler they located permanently on thirty acres of the old homestead, at the corner of Compton and Nadeau avenues. where Mr. Nadeau is following farming in ad- dition to teaming. He has recently erected an elegant residence, complete in all of its ap- pointments. They are the parents of four children. Joseph G., Delbert G., Grace, and Stella Maie, the last named the wife of Ray

James Eleminson

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

Mathis, a dentist in Los Angeles. Mrs. Na- deau is a native of Iowa, but was only three years old when her parents removed to Cali- fornia, where they have ever since resided.

In addition to his home property Mr. Na- deau also owns sixty-three acres on Central avenue, about three-quarters of a mile from the city limits of Los Angeles, situated on the corner of Florence and Central avenues, and considered a valuable tract of land. One of the most important enterprises which he has undertaken was subdividing a forty acre tract, known as the Nadeau Villa tract, and which has since been entirely disposed of; he also owns property on Central avenue and Twen- tieth street, besides some in Long Beach.

Like his father, Mr. Nadeau takes a promi- nent part in public affairs, as a Republican in politics voting this ticket and seeking to ad- vance the principles he endorses. He is a member of the Pioneers Society of Los An- geles county and takes a deep interest in the preservation of historical data and all associa- tions of the past.

JAMES CLEMINSON. Holding promi- nent place among the citizens of Los Angeles county is James Cleminson, one of the stanch upbuilders of this section of the state. He was born in Independence, Mo., August 7, 1833, a son of John, an honored pioneer. The latter was born in England in 1798, and was brought to America in 1812 by his father, who landed in St. John's, New Brunswick. The family drifted to the United States and the eld- er man became permanently located in Louis- ville, Ky. John Cleminson later removed to Lexington, Lafayette county, Mo., where he engaged as a school teacher and later a cabi- net-maker and carpenter. He was next locat- ed in Galena, Ill., whence in 1852 he came overland to California and engaged as a farmer in El Monte, where his death occurred in 1879, at the advanced age of eighty years. His wife was formerly Lydia Lightner, a native of Lancaster, Pa., who came to Missouri with her parents and was there married to Mr. Cleminson. She was born July 11, 1800, and died in 1873. They had six children. four daughters and two sons, of whom two daugh- ters are deceased. John is a resident of Los Angeles county, located on a ranch in the vicinity of El Monte : Mrs. Lydia A. Reeves, of Clearwater, was the first American woman married in San Diego; Diantha B. is the wife of James Durfee ; and James is the subject of this sketch.

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A history of California and an extended history of its southern coast counties, also containing biographies of well-known citizens of the past and present, Volume I, Part 102

Author: Guinn, James Miller, 1834-1918 Publication date: 1907 Publisher: Los Angeles, Cal., Historic record company Number of Pages: 1184

Author: Guinn, James Miller, 1834-1918
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Los Angeles, Cal., Historic record company
Number of Pages: 1184