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 143

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

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In the neighborhood of the tract of one hun- dred acres comprising the resort, Mr. Converse owns one thousand acres of land, a portion of which is under irrigation. Various wells have been drilled, the deepest of which, at a depth of three hundred feet, furnishes an inexhausti- ble supply of water for irrigation and other pur- poses. By means of pipes the fresh and pure mountain water is conducted to the tents. The waters of Ramona valley are famed for medic- inal qualities, being slightly purgative in their effect, and thus possess the healthful benefit of the best tonics. No liquor is allowed to be sold upon the grounds and boisterous conduct is pro- hibited, so that an air of quiet refinement per- vades the campers. For the convenience of those who do not desire to engage in housekeeping a restaurant is conducted, while for those who pre- fer to eat beneath their own "vine and fig-tree" there is a store stocked with staple and fancy groceries and fresh milk, butter and eggs are to be obtained as desired.

The proprietor of the village is of southern birth but of northern lineage. His paternal grandfather, James Converse, Sr., was a native of Northampton, Mass., but spent much of his active life as a merchant in Ohio: eventually re- turning to Massachusetts, where he died. James Converse, Jr., was born in Maumee, Ohio, and like his father. was an Indian fighter of local note. When sixteen years of age he became a chainman on the Erie railroad and for years he was engaged in railroad construction, although

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for a time he abandoned that occupation to en- gage in the steamship business. In the building of the New York Central and Illinois Central railroads he, for a time, was employed as en- gineer. In1 1872 he took the first train into San Antonio, Texas, over the line of the Galveston, Houston & San Antonio Railroad, of which he and T. W. Pierce were the builders. The char- ter, which they had secured, expired three and a half hours after their first train entered the San Antonio station, their work having been delayed by the failure to receive the steel for bridges, which forced them to build bridges of wood across the Guadalupe and Colorado rivers. In addition he built the railroad from New Orleans to Pe- cos, Texas, a short distance east of El Paso, and surveyed for the building of a trestle bridge over the Pecos river, but instead of carrying out the original design two tunnels were constructed and twenty-two miles of heavy rock work built. Since then a trestle bridge has been crected; had it been done in the first place, as suggested by him, more than one million dollars would have been saved. In 1889 he resigned as chief engin- ver of construction and afterwards was consult- ing engineer for the Southern Pacific Railroad, with his residence in San Antonio, where he died in 1900, at the age of seventy-six years. During the Civil war he was a member of the engineer- ing corps.

After going to Texas, James Converse, Jr., married Elizabeth Allen, who was the first white child born in Houston and who died at San An- tonio in 1885. Her father, A. C. Allen, was a pion- eer of Baldwinsville, N. Y., and engaged in the mahogany trade, having several vessels between New York and the ports of Mexico. In an early day he removed to Texas and bought land now occupied by the cities of Houston and Harris- burg, being himself the earliest settler of Hous- ton. At the time of his death, which occurred in Mexico, he was a man of considerable means. Among three children forming the family of James and Elizabeth Converse the only survivor is the gentleman whose name introduces this article. Born in Houston, Texas, July 14, 1876, has was a lad of nine years when the family re- moved to San Antonio and there he attended the grammar and high schools, later being sent to Austin College at Sherman, Texas, and Hiram College in Hiram, Ohio. On his return to Texas he was employed as agent for the railroad at Ganahl. In September, 1901, he came to San Diego, Cal., where he owns and occupies a com- fortable residence at No. 3231 D street. For a time he engaged in speculating in lands and gold mines, but in 1903 he became interested in the project for the building up of the tent village and has since given his attention largely to this work. In addition he is interested, with Dr.

Goff, in the leasing of the Buckham mineral springs, located near Pine valley, midway be- tween Descanso and Campo. Before the earth- quake the natural gas in the spring water was so strong that it would burst the quart bottles and was therefore put in pint copper drums; since then, however, it has been possible to handle the water in quart, pint and half-pint bottles. The water is now on the market and widely known as one of California's natural remedies, for which the state is so noted.

The marriage of Mr. Converse took place July 14, 1896, and united him with Miss Verdi Thayer member of a family of educators and composers, descended from French-Huguenot ancestors, who spelled the name Thair. Her grandfather, Hiram Thayer, was a native of Massachusetts and became a pioneer of Ohio, where he acquired large landed interests. Among the children of Hiram Thayer was a son, I. A. Thayer, D. D., who was a soldier in the Civil war and a promi- nent educator and preacher. Another son, Rev. D. P. Thayer, who was the father of Mrs. Con- verse, was born in Trumbull county, Ohio, be- came a minister in the Christian Church and died in Ohio when forty-six years of age. Fra- ternally he was identified with the Masons. At an early age he had married Dora Collins, who was born in Portage county, Ohio, and who re- sided in Virginia until June 14, 1906, when she came to San Diego to visit her daughter and to regain her health. She died in San Diego July 30, 1906, at the age of fifty-five. Descended from English ancestors, she was a daughter of Orson and Emilia Collins, the former a lumber manufacturer in Portage county ; the latter was a member of the Norton family, originally known as Norville, of French lineage; prominent as teachers and attorneys. In the family of Rev. D. P. Thayer there were two children, of whom the son, C. D., is a graduate of Hiram College and now a planter in Virginia. The daughter, Mrs. Converse, was born in Warren, Trumbull county, Ohio, and received her education in Hiram College. Born of her marriage to Mr. Converse there are two sons, James Pierce and Carleton Thaver.

While business duties necessarily take Mr. Converse from San Diego during a part of each year, he nevertheless, maintains a deep interest in all enterprises for the development of the city, is an active member of the Chamber of Com- merce, and favors all projects for the permanent well-being of his town and county. Among the organizations with which he is identified may be mentioned the Knights of Pythias and the Corinthian Yacht Club, of which he holds the office of commodore at the present writing. Mrs. Converse belongs to the Amphion Musical Club and the Wednesday Club.

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

WILLIAM D. MOFFATT. A goodly number of the prosperous families of Southern California have come hither from more northerly regions and not a few are from Canada, their removal having been made for the purpose of escaping the long winters and severe blizzards characteristic of northerly latitudes. In this list belongs Mr. Moffatt of San Diego county, who came to the Pacific coast in 1891 and the follow- ing year arrived at Ramona, his present home town. The family of which he is a member set- tled in Canada from Europe many generations gone by and afterward they were prominent in local development along agricultural lines. His paternal grandfather, James Moffatt, was a man of unusually progressive spirit, ever reaching out to find needed improvements for farm activities. To such an extent was he a progressive pioneer that he had the distinction of bringing into the district, around Riceville, Ontario, the first thresh- ing machine, the first harvester and the first honey separator brought into all of that region.

The locality near Riceville, so long the home of the family, has profited immeasurably by the cit- izenship of John Moffat, who still resides there. His faithful life companion, before her marriage, Sarah Westwood, died on the old homestead November 29, 1906. Their son, William D., was born there July 29. 1868, and received his edu- cation in the neighboring schools. While still a mere boy he assisted in caring for bees and gained a thorough knowledge of the occupation of an apiarist. Upon starting out to seek his livelihood he secured employment in the lumber regions of Canada and remained in the logging camps for three years, after which, in 1889, he went to the lumber districts of Michigan and worked for one and one-half years in the same occupation. After coming to California in 1891 he settled in San Bernardino county and for one year engaged in the fruit business. From that county he removed to Ramona, San Diego coun- ty, and here he has since remained, with the exception of a brief period in Fresno and a short experience in railroading in Arizona. In 1895 he bought ten acres adjacent to Ramona, where he now has his home, and he leases one hundred and fifty acres of grain land in the same local- ity. Besides raising grain he devotes much at- tention to the bee business and has seventy col- onies in his apiary, besides which he owns a one-half interest in four hundred and twenty- five colonies located at Witch Creek.

The marriage of Mr. Moffatt was solemnized at San Pasqual November 14, 1900, and united him with Miss Catleen Settle, whose parents now reside in the San Pasqual valley, but were liv- ing in Los Angeles at the time of her birth. The only child of her marriage is a daughter, Martha Irene. Mr. Moffatt is identified with Court No.

8520, Ancient Order of Foresters, and his wife with the ladies' auxiliary of the same. For a time he filled the position of deputy county bee in- spector, for which work his long and success- ful experience as an apiarist admirably qualified him. To the people of the valley he is known as a citizen of progressive spirit, an agriculturist of untiring industry, an apiarist of unflagging enthusiasm and a man of generous disposition and kind heart. ever willing to help the distressed and unfortunate.

FREDERICK JOHN ESLER. About the middle of the nineteenth century there came to the United States from Great Britain a sturdy emigrant of Scotch nativity, who had been or- dained to the ministry of the Methodist Epis- copal Church. Early in life he had removed from Scotland to county Donegal, Ireland, where to his union with an English lady there was born a son, Benjamin T. When the latter was a small child the family crossed the ocean to America and settled on the then frontier of Michigan, where they took up the arduous task of trans- forming a raw tract of land into an improved and profitable farm. Upon starting out from the old home to make his own way in the world, the son took up mercantile pursuits in Grand Ledge, Eaton county, Mich., and there he re- mained for many busy and useful years, but eventually he retired from merchandising, re- moved to California and purchased an orange grove of twenty acres at Redlands, where he since has made his home. In spite of his sev- enty years of life he is still hearty and energetic, and bears a share in the activities of his town. During young manhood he married Minerva A. Holmes, who was born in Ohio and in childhood accompanied her parents to Michigan, remaining for a time at Farmington, over the line from Oakland county in the adjoining county of Wayne. Later, however, the family removed to Grand Ledge, Eaton county, where occurred the death of her father, J. S. Holmes, a native of Massachusetts and a member of an old east- ern family. . In religious belief Mrs. Minerva Esler adheres to the doctrines of the Congrega- tional denomination and from girlhood has been warmly interested in missionary and charitable movements.

In the family of Benjamin T. and Minerva Esler there were three sons and two daughters. The eldest of the number, Frederick John, was born at Grand Ledge, Mich .. August 28, 1863. and attended the grammar and high schools of his native town, where later he assisted his father in the general mercantile business. Com- ing to California in 1884 he secured employment with the Brookside Winery Company, in which

John Recopp

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

later he became a stockholder. The original owners of the winery were the Vache Brothers, to whose energy the start of the plant was due. In 1891 Messrs. Ingersoll and Esler opened a wholesale business in San Bernardino on Third street and later removed across the street to their present location, where they occupy a building 50x100 feet in dimensions. Besides managing their own plant they are directors in the Brookside winery with E. Vache & Co., and have become leading representatives of their industry in the state. The business was incor- porated in July, 1905, under the title of the In- gersoll & Esler Company, with Mr. Esler as vice-president. In addition to handling their own product the firm act as representatives of Anheuser-Busch, also of Maier-Zobelin of Los Angeles and the San Diego Brewing Company.

After coming to California Mr. Esler was married in Los Angeles to Mrs. Camile (Mich- eaux) Reitz, a native of Calaveras county. this state, and daughter of Lewis Micheaux, one of the pioneers of the west. The family residence is at No. 456 G street, San Bernardino. Though not a partisan in politics, Mr. Esler has decided opinions upon matters pertaining to the welfare of the nation and always votes the Republican ticket. Through membership on the board of trade he has been helpful in promoting the ma- terial and commercial development of his home city. His identification with Masonry began in San Bernardino Lodge No. 348, F. & A. M., of which he now is an active member. Other or- ders with which he holds membership are the Eagles and Lodge No. 146, I. O. O. F., in which he is past grand, and he is further identified with the Encampment.

JOHN RUOPP. As far back into past cen- turies as the Ruopp genealogical records can be traced, it is found that the ancestors re- sided in the southern provinces of the German Empire and from the time of the Reformation they were followers of Martin Luther. John Ruopp, Sr., was for many years an industri- ous farmer and stock-raiser in Wurtemberg and remained there until his death in 1896, many years after the demise of his wife, Cath- erine (Lamparter) Ruopp, who died when her son, John, Jr., was a boy of fourteen years. The five children in the family are still living, and of these John, who was third in order of birth, was the only one to settle in the United States. Born on the home farm near Mun- singen, Wurtemberg, Germany, November 20, 1858, he attended the National schools of the home locality and later was a student in the Ruetlingen and Hoenheim academies. Up- on leaving school he secured employment as foreman on a large farm.

Following the general custom in his native land Mr. Ruopp served a term of three years in the German army. During November of 1878 he was assigned to the First Troop of Cavalry Regiment and remained at the front until 1881, when he received an honorable dis- charge. Meanwhile he had held the rank of corporal. Before leaving the army he decided to emigrate to America, but on his return home he found his father strongly opposed to stich a move and so he consented to remain in the fatherland. For one year he was a student in a business college. However, the desire was still strong with him to seek a home in the new world, and in 1883 he crossed the ocean to New York, thence traveled to Fort Atkinson, Iowa, and from there to Beatrice, Gage county, Neb., where resided a cousin who was employed as a civil engineer on the Union Pacific Railroad. While he was pleased with Nebraska he had read so much concerning California that he was un- willing to settle elsewhere. During the sum- mer of 1884 he arrived on the Pacific coast and soon found employment near Santa Ana, where he assisted a horticulturist for a year and conducted an orchard for W. T. Brown of Fullerton for three years.

Not long after his arrival in California Mr. Ruopp became a land-owner, having acquired in 1887 eight hundred acres of land forming a part of the Aliso grant in Santiago cañon, and after leaving Mr. Brown's employ he set- tled on his own ranch, where he engaged in stock-raising. During 1892 he sold the ranch to Madame Modjeska, who owned an adjoin- ing estate, and for two years afterward he re- mained on the place as foreman of the prop- erty. During 1894 he was engaged as fore- man in the Chino plant of the . American Beet Sugar Company, but after six months was transferred to a position as agriculturist for the company, and in 1901 came to Oxnard as manager of the Patterson ranch of fifty-eight hundred acres, mainly devoted to lima beans and beet culture. While living in Santa Ana he married Miss Priscilla M. Harding, who was born at Pawpaw. Lee county, Ill., but has resided on the coast since girlhood. Since becoming a citizen of the United States he has voted the Republican ticket and has kept posted concerning the problems confronting our nation, but has not sought political prom- inence or official honors. The only fraternity with which he affiliates is the Knights of Pythias. Splendidly educated in the schools of his native land, with the further advantage of a cosmopolitan knowledge acquired by trav- els through much of the old and the new world, he forms a valuable addition to the

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

citizenship of Ventura county, and is univer- sally honored as a man of refinement, a close student of agriculture (particularly that de- partment bearing upon beet culture) and the possessor of excellent business ability which enables him to fill his present responsible po- sition with skill and success.

HENRY LOWE. During the period of about twenty-four years, representing the dura- tion of Mr. Lowe's occupancy of a ranch two miles southwest of Palms, Los Angeles county, he witnessed the constant development of the county and personally contributed thereto by his painstaking care and intelligent management as a rancher. The tract of seventy-five acres which he purchased soon after his arrival in the county in the fall of 1882 continued to be his home and the scene of his activities until the winter of 1905-06, when, desiring to retire from agricult- ural cares, he disposed of the property for $285 an acre, an amount much greater than the origi- nal purchase price of the land, and erected his modern residence in Palms on Third street and Eucalyptus avenue.

Born in England, May 23, 1836, Mr. Lowe is a member of an old English family and spent the years of his boyhood in his native country, but at the age of sixteen years came to the United States. Taking passage on a sailing ves- sel September 10, 1852, he arrived in New York after a trip of six weeks and three days out from London. For three years he remained near the Atlantic coast, working as a farm hand. Next he removed to Iowa and settled at Lyons, Clinton county, where, for several years, he was interested in the manufacture of brick, and later took up general farming. At the outbreak of the war his sympathy was given at once to the cause of the Union. In 1862 he enlisted as a private in Company K. Twenty-sixth Iowa In- fantry, to serve for three years or until the close of the war. With his regiment he marched to the south, where he took part in the battle of Arkansas Post, the noted siege of Vicksburg, and the engagements at Atlanta. Missionary Ridge and Lookout Mountain, after which he marched with Sherman to the sea.

Though his long and active service took him into the midst of the enemy's country and into sanguinary battles, he was never wounded nor taken prisoner.

Receiving an honorable discharge from the army in 1865 at Washington, D. C., Mr. Lowe returned to Iowa, but soon afterward moved to Minnesota and took up a homestead in McLeod county, where he remained for eight years.

Upon selling that farm he returned to Iowa and settled in Plymouth county, where he car-

ried on general farming, and met with alter- nating hardships and successes. In order to obtain the advantages of a more desirable cli- mate, in the fall of 1882 he came to California and has since made Los Angeles county his home. While living in Iowa he was married at Lyons, March 12, 1860, to Miss Anna Stinton, a native of England, and like himself, a sincere member of the United Brethren denomination. Coming to the coast in 1882, she remained in Los Angeles county until her death, which oc- curred February 26, 1891. Seven children were born of their union, namely: S. J., who is en- gaged in ranching and the dairy business near the old homestead; Sarah, who has charge of the home and has ministered to the comfort of the family since her mother's death; William, a farmer living near Sawtelle; Emma, who married Charles Kiggins, of Ocean Park ; Robert, of Palms; Louise and Arthur, who are with their father. In younger years Mr. Lowe was an active worker in the Prohibition cause and. while now less active, he is no less earnest and pronounced in his opposition to the indiscrimi- nate sale of intoxicating liquors. As a citizen he commands the esteem of associates, to whom he is known as a patriotic pioneer, a man of high character and a generous friend.

ANDREW COMSTOCK. One of the solid ranchers of Los Angeles county and a man who has made friends wherever he is known, Andrew Comstock is rounding out the years of a well- spent life in the management and improvement of a ranch of fifty acres in the vicinity of El Monte. He was born in Lenawee county, Mich., January I, 1847, a son of Eseck and Mary (Allen) Comstock, natives of New York and Vermont respectively. The parents were mar- ried in Ohio, where the father engaged as a farmer, but at an early date in the history of Michigan he removed to that state and bought timber land which he cleared for a farm, and there passed the remainder of his days, dying at the age of sixty-two years, while his wife lived to be seventy. Mr. Comstock belonged to the state militia while a resident of New York, and in politics was always a stanch Re- publican. He took a prominent part in the pub- lic affairs of whatever community he made his home, having served as a school officer for many terms. They were the parents of seven children, only two of whom are living. Alfred still making his home in Michigan.

Educated in his native county. Andrew Com- stock attained years of discretion on his father's farm, and at the age of nineteen started out in life for himself, working on neighboring farms for seven years. He then purchased a timber

BB Reachword

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

farm in Michigan and began its improvement, clearing the land and erecting a residence, barns and outbuildings, having a farm of ninety-five acres. In Michigan, November 7, 1876, he was united in marriage with Miss Nancy Waffle, a native of Ohio, and a daughter of Andrew Waffle, her death occurring December 6, 1892. She left the following children : Elna, wife of Ward E. Corwin, engaged in the grocery busi- ness in Pomona, Cal .; Delphia; and Olin. In February, 1894. Mr. Comstock was united in marriage with Miss Mary E. McComb, a native of Michigan and daughter of William McComb, who died in Michigan in 1906. Soon after his marriage Mr. Comstock came to California and located in Santa Monica, his first employment after reaching the state being with the first electric road to Santa Monica from Los Angeles. He then purchased a ranch and engaged in farm- ing pursuits and also leased land, continuing so occupied for seven years, when, in 1903, he came to the vicinity of El Monte and bought fifty-eight acres, which now forms his present property. He has made his own improvements and brought the land to a high state of cultiva- tion, while he also owns forty per cent of a pump- ing plant. He still owns his property in Santa Monica, which by reason of the rapid rise in real estate is increasing rapidly in value. Mr. Comstock has two children by his second mar- riage, Laurin and Gailen. In his political con- victions he was a Republican in early life, but he is now an advocate of the principles of the Prohibitionists. While a resident of Michigan he served as school trustee and has also held a like position here. Both himself and wife are members of the United Brethren Church.

BERNARD BRADLEY ROCKWOOD. The life which this narrative depicts began in Randolph, Vt., in July, 1831, and closed in San Diego county, Cal., August 26, 1901. Be- tween the two dates and the two localities so remote from each other there were struggles, hardships, joys and successes of which the merest epitome can be recorded in this vol- ume, for the limits of the work preclude ex- tended mention, nor was it the nature of the man himself to dwell upon his past. Its pri- vations and toil were soon forgotten, and its successes with characteristic modesty he re- frained from mentioning to others. During the later years of his life he allowed himself to relax from many of his former activities, yet to the last he maintained a deep interest in the management of his ranch and showed a constant devotion to the prosperity of his ac- quaintances and neighbors in the San Pasqual valley.

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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 143

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