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 147

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

USA > California > 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 147

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Joseph C. Stone was born in Attica. Genesee county, N. Y., May 18, 1822, and was brought up in New York state until he was fourteen years of age, when his parents removed to Kal- amazoo county, Mich., where he made himself generally useful in helping clear the farm and making the improvements of the pioneer in a new country where the farms had to be carved from the forest. He attended the log school- house with its slab benches and distinctly re-

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

members mastering the "rule of three and double rule of three" and learning to write with a quill pen. On reaching his majority he located on a farm adjoining his father's place engaging in agricultural pursuit until 1852, when the gold excitement reached such an acute stage that he concluded to cast his lot with the gold seekers and joined a company of thirty-two outfitted with horse-teams and started across the plains entering California by the Humboldt and Carson route, making the trip from St. Joseph to Cal- ifornia in sixty-seven days. For some time he followed mining in Coloma and vicinity, where he purchased teams and wagons and freighted from Sacramento and Stockton to the mines until 1854, when he disposed of his outfit and returned via Panama to his farm in Michigan. Two years later he brought his wife and two children, his father, three sisters and a brother to California, coming via the Nicaragua route and locating in Walnut Creek, Contra Costa county, where he engaged in farming and stock raising for five years. Selling his place he purchased land near Petaluma and aside from his farming operations he set out a deciduous orchard. In 1868 he lo- cated in San Diego county, purchasing a part of the Old Mission grant in Mission valley where he was largely engaged in farming and stock raising. 1885 found him in San Diego conduct- ing a general contracting and teaming business which he continued until 1889, when he located in Poway, returning again to San Diego in 1893. where he now resides an invalid, his health hav- ing been shattered by rheumatism. In Kalama- zoo county, Mich., January 12, 1848, Mr. Stone was married to Amanda Hall who was born in the town of Stafford, Genesee county, N. Y., a daughter of Hiram and Charlotte (Trumbull) Hall, both natives of Vermont. The mother died in New York and the father, who followed farming in Genesee county, N. Y., and later in Michigan, came to California spending his last days in Mendocino county.

Mrs. Stone is a woman of rare attainments and much ability, her time of late years is much taken up with nursing her husband, to whom she is greatly devoted. She is the mother of six children, namely: Frances, who became the wife of Clarence Shepherd and died in San Diego in 1902; Ed, a miner in San Diego county ; Elias, a horticulturist at Fullerton : Lottie, wife of Allen DeFrate of San Diego: Wm. L., pro- prietor of the Jersey Dairy in San Diego; and Nettie, wife of Fred J. Rickey, who is also en- gaged in dairying. Mrs. Stone is a member of the Pioneer Society of San Diego county and is much interested in perpetuating the history of the old timers who have so nobly put their shoulder to the wheel in bringing California to a front rank in the sisterhood of states.

Mr. Stone is a stanch advocate of the prin- ciples embraced in the platform of the Repub- lican party, has always taken a special interest in educational matters and as a man of sterling worth and upright principles has. always been interested in the upbuilding of the community where he resides and is held in the highest es- teem by all who know him. .

J. N. JATTA. Not alone as an early settler, but also as a capable farmer and stockman, Mr. Jatta has won recognition among the citizens of San Luis Obispo county and especially in that portion of the county lying near Arroyo Grande. The title of pioneer belongs to him by right of early settlement, for he has lived on his present ranch since 1871, coming here when the county was in the incipient stages of its development and at once taking up the arduous task of trans- forming a barren acreage into a fertile tract. The farm which he purchased during the year of his arrival now ranks among the best in the locality and contains five hundred and fifty acres, of which one hundred and twenty acres are under cultivation to grain, while the balance is utilized for pasture. Stock cattle are kept to some ex- tent and there are also forty milch cows, the dairy business being one of the owner's most profitable specialties.

The eastern part of Canada is Mr. Jatta's na- tive region, and August 6, 1841, the date of his birth. His parents, Alex and Delayed (Lumne) Jatta, were natives of Canada, and had a family of eleven children, all of those now living being still in the east with the exception of J. N., of California. The father lived to be sixty and the mother survived him, passing away when sev- enty years of age. When J. N. was nine years of age he accompanied the family to Rochester, N. Y., and there attended the public schools, ac- quiring a fair education. At the age of twenty- one years he left New York for the Pacific coast, arriving in 1863 in San Francisco, from which point he proceeded to Marin county and at Point Reyes worked at the dairy business. From Ma- rin county he came to San Luis Obispo county, where he has become known and honored as a resourceful rancher and sagacious dairyman.

The marriage of Mr. Jatta in 1869 united him with Miss Mary Hall, a native of Illinois. They are the parents of the following children: Ar- thur, who married Mary Ryne, and has two chil- dren; Edith, Mrs. Frank Cushion, who has one child; Bertha, Mrs. Frederick Harperster; Le Roy, who married Mary Lathrop; Clara, Mrs. E. C. C. Loomis, who is the mother of five chil- dren ; Ira, Elmer, Ethel and Marion, of whom the last-named is a student in the Polytechnic School at San Luis Obispo. Aside from serv-

Robert Bell

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

ing as clerk of the board of school trustees, Mr. Jatta has held no official positions, nor has he taken any part in politics other than the cast- ing of a Republican vote at elections, yet he is a progressive, public-spirited citizen, solicitous to do his part in every forward movement, and accustomed to give his support to all measures for the benefit of the county. Fraternally he holds membership with the Knights of Pythias at Arroyo Grande.

ROBERT BELL. Occupying a conspic- nous position among the substantial and rep- resentative agriculturists of Ventura county is Robert Bell, whose large and well-appointed ranch is one of the productive estates near Somis. During his residence of thirty-five years in this vicinity, he has witnessed many changes of importance in the face of the coun- try, the extensive tracts of waste land giving place to the broad expanse of cultivated fields and productive orchards; the small hamlets have grown into thriving villages and populous cities ; long trains of steam or electric cars are used in transporting instead of the wagon trains drawn by oxen or mules; and the small cabins of the brave pioneers have long since been replaced by houses of modern construction and finish. In these varied improvements Mr. Bell has taken an active part, performing his full share in advancing the prosperity and wel- fare of the immediate country hereabout, and as an active, loyal and true-hearted citizen is held in high respect and esteem. A son of the late William S. Bell, he was born, May 27, 1842, in Richland county, Ohio, where he re- ceived such educational advantages as were given by the common schools. His father was born and reared in Pennsylvania, but in early life settled as a farmer in Ohio, and was there successfully employed in agricultural pursuits during the larger part of his active career. He was a stanch supporter of the principles of the Republican party, and both he and his wife belonged to the Presbyterian Church. He married Polly Turbett, a native of Pennsyl- vania, who was indeed a worthy helpmate. They became the parents of four children, two of whom, Robert, the subject of this sketch, and a brother, Thomas, reside in Ven- tura county, the latter living near Oxnard. When well advanced in years the parents came to California, and thereafter made their home with their sons, living in Ventura county until their deaths, which occurred within a period of forty-eight hours, in 1901, the father passing away at the age of eighty-six years, and the mother at the age of eighty-one years.

Soon after attaining his majority Robert Bell

left his Ohio home, coming to Yuba county, Cal., in 1864, and there working as a ranchman for a number of seasons, earning good wages and gaining a valuable experience in the Cali- fornia methods of farming. Coming from there to Ventura county in 1871, he purchased three hundred acres of wild land, and with true pio- neer grit and energy began the improvement of a ranch. Laboring with a will, he reduced his land to a tillable condition, and as a general farmer has met with unquestioned success, his large crops of beans, beets and hay, bringing him in a large annual income. His homestead is advantageously located, and his products are all shipped from Somis.

In 1877 Mr. Bell married Lucretia Rice, a native of Ohio, and they are the parents of three children, Polly, Bertha and Walter. Po- litically Mr. Bell, true to the faith in which he was reared, is a steadfast Republican, and fraternally he is a member of Somis Camp No. 11000, M. W. A.

ANDREW JACKSON MYERS. During the progress of the second war with England John Myers, a young Virginian, served in de- fense of his native land and participated in the memorable engagement at New Orleans. Years later, when a son was born of his mar- riage to Ellen Hayes, he gave the child the name of the sturdy and illustrious general un- der whom he had fought the British troops. While the Mississippi valley was still an un- settled wilderness he became a pioneer and frontiersman of Illinois and aided in subdu- ing the Indians at the time of the Blackhawk war. The savages were hostile throughout the early period of his residence in Illinois and on one occasion, while pursuing some of them, he was attacked and almost killed by a fierce panther. In memory of the narrow escape from death which he experienced he was there- after known as "Panther" Myers. His father- in-law, Jonathan Hayes, also endured all the hardships incident to life on the frontier and at one time built a fort at Peru, Ill., in order to protect his family and neighbors from the Indians. Notwithstanding all of his precau- tions, one of his daughters with her husband and son and several neighbors were killed by the savages. Mrs. Ellen Myers was born in Illinois, while John Myers was a native of Virginia of German ancestry. Both died in LaSalle county, Ill., and were buried in the Cedar Point Cemetery, four miles from the town of LaSalle.

At the home place near LaSalle, Il1., An- drew Jackson Myers was born April 10, 1840. His education was carried on in the schools

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of Cedar Point and LaSalle, but at the age of twelve years he left school and accompanied an aunt to California, it being his duty to drive and care for the ox-team. After a journey of four months he arrived at Hangtown in the fall of 1852 and at once secured work in the mines. In 1855 he removed to the vicinity of Fresno, later was in Mariposa county for two years, next worked in the vicinity of Stockton, and later went to Tulare county and entered government land, which he utilized for the stock business. For some time prior to the opening of the Civil war he was engaged in hunting and trapping on the plains with Rob- ert Carson, a brother of Kit Carson.

During the year 1861 Mr. Myers went to Texas, where he enlisted in the Confederate army and served through the entire period of the Civil war under Capt. James H. Tibbets of the Arizona scouts. At the end of the war he settled in Bell county, Tex., and there, August 8, 1865, he was united in marriage with So- phia C. Scott, who was born in Missouri, but removed to Texas at an early age. Nine chil- dren were born of their union and the heaviest misfortune of their otherwise happy married life was the loss of all but two of their once large family. John and Frank M. died re- spectively at eleven and six years. May was only one year old when she was taken from the family circle. Maggie died at the age of one year and nine months, and Andrew passed away at one year. Alfred lived to be a manly boy of seventeen, while the youngest of the family, Mariette, died at the age of fifteen years. The third and fourth in order of birth were James Edward and Joseph E., both now residing in Oceanside, the latter of whom was formerly chief of police and deputy sheriff.

After having made his home in Texas for a long period Mr. Myers came to California in 1877 and embarked in the dairy business. Four years later he came to the present site of Oceanside, of which town he enjoys the dis- tinction of being the founder. May 12-13, 1883, he laid out the village, platting lots on what was then a sheep range. For a year or two little progress was made, but in 1885 people began to buy and build and from that time on- ward the growth of the place was steady. The first water works were established by Mr. My- ers, and it was his boast that no town on the coast had finer water than Oceanside. After a few years he sold the water system to the city. For some time he owned one hundred and fif- ty-five acres and later he bought one hundred and sixty acres, a portion of which remains in his possession, as do also some of the town lots. Among his many philanthropies was the gift of the land on which stands the Christian

Church. His wife was one of the leading mem- bers of that congregation and a trustee of the church, and it was from this building that she was buried, her death occurring November 8, 1906, at the age of sixty-three years. Politi- cally a Democrat, Mr. Myers has been inter- ested in political affairs and often has served as a delegate to party conventions. Through- out San Diego county he is known and hon- ored for his active encouragement of all move- ments for the benefit of the people and the ma- terial development of the county's resources.

GEORGE E. BAHRENBURG, M. D. Prominent among the younger generation of practitioners of Los Angeles county is Dr. Bahrenburg, who has brought to bear in his work the progressive ideas and enterprise which have formed so important a factor in the devel- opment of this section. A native of Illinois, he was born in Staunton, Macoupin county, Octo- ber 30, 1880. His father, John E. Bahrenburg, M. D., was a native of Indiana, where his early life was passed. While he was still quite young the medical profession had been chosen as his future calling, and upon receiving his diploma he opened an office in St. Louis, Mo., remaining there for sixteen years. From St. Louis he came direct to Los Angeles, and during the five years which he has practiced here has won the re- spect and confidence of all who have come in contact with him, either in a professional or so- cial way. Politically he is a Republican, and fraternally he is a member of the Royal Arcanum. It was in St. Louis, Mo., that Dr. Bahrenburg met and married Miss Alice Georgia Dorff, who was a native of that place, and of their marriage two children have been born, George E., the sub- ject of this sketch, and Charles N., who is now studying medicine in the University of Southern California. Mrs. Bahrenburg is a woman of many fine qualities, and is an active worker in the Presbyterian Church of Los Angeles, of which she is a member.

The boyhood years of George E. Bahrenburg were passed in St. Louis, Mo., receiving a com- mon school education in that city. The medical profession from his earliest years had been at- tractive to him, and indeed it may be said with truth that it was an inherited inclination, for as has been said his father is a practicing physi- cian. His initial medical training was received in Chicago, Ill., and in Los Angeles, Cal., he was granted the diploma which entitled him to practice medicine in that state. His first prac- tical experience was received in the Soldiers' Home hospital at Sawtelle, Cal., and two years later he inaugurated his present private practice in this place. Although he is one of the young-

H.R. Cheney

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est practitioners here, his years have been no bar to his advancement, but from the fact that he is familiar with the latest discoveries in the medical world by his recent training and experi- ence he has become a necessary adjunct to many of the first families in Sawtelle and vicinity. Personally he is of a social nature and makes friends with all whom he meets. Fraternally he is identified with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.

WILLARD R. CHENEY. One of the es- teemed residents of Redlands is Willard R. Cheney. He came to the Rocky Mountain country as early as 1866, beginning his career with empty hands but courageous heart, and in the intervening time has acquired a finan- cial position which places him among the prominent and representative men of this sec- tion of Southern California. He was born in Defiance, Ohio, August 14, 1844, a son of James Cheney, a native of Vermont, whence the paternal grandfather, Roswell, emigrated to Ohio and engaged as a merchant in Toledo. James Cheney also became a merchant in that city, and later was located in Adrian, Defiance, then Logansport and Fort Wayne, in Indiana, in the last named place being classed among the financiers as a banker of no small promi- nence. He was instrumental in the upbuilding of the middle west, and built a division of the Wabash and Erie canal. He served his fel- low citizens as a member of the state legisla- ture. His wife, formerly Miss Nancy Evans, was born in Ohio, one of the first white chil- dren born on the Maumee; both herself and husband died in Fort Wayne, Ind. They were the parents of four children, all of whom are living, Willard R. heing a resident of Red- lands and a daughter, Mrs. Kimberly, has a winter home here.

Reared in Fort Wayne and Logansport, Willard R. Cheney received a preliminary ed- ucation in the public schools, after which he entered the Asbury University, now known as the De Pauw University, New Albany, Ind. He then entered the service of the Wabash Railroad Company and worked as conductor in the south during the Civil war. He spent one season in Texas, whence he drove through to Nevada and established the Bar ranch, in Clover valley. Coming on to California he as- sociated himself with Dumphrey & Hildreth of San Francisco, and from 1870 on for many years represented them as collector in that city. In 1885 he returned to the middle west and in St. Louis, Mo., engaged in the laundry business, after which in Jeffersonville, Ind., he followed a similar enterprise. Later he estab-

lished a laundry in Mexico, Mo., and is still interested in that enterprise. In the spring of 1904 he located in Redlands and purchased what was known as the Morey place, and since that time he has remodeled it and improved it, until today he has one of the finest homes in this city. There are nine acres in the prop- erty, of which six are devoted to the cultiva- tion of oranges. In November, 1905, in part- nership with H. J. Pratt, he purchased the Frink ranch of five hundred and forty acres in the San Timoteo canon, where they are now engaged in the management of a dairy and creamery, and the raising of alfalfa. He is also a director in the Home Gas & Electric Com- pany.

In Jeffersonville, Ind., Mr. Cheney was united in marriage with Miss Nancy McMa- hon, a native of that state, and a woman of rare worth and character, a distinct addition to the society of Redlands. Fraternally Mr. Cheney is a member of Jeffersonville Lodge No. 362, B. P. O. E. Politically he is a stanch advocate of the principles of the Democratic party.

IRA WARNER PHELPS. The lineage of the Phelps family in America is traced back to a period antedating the first war with England. Prior to that struggle five sons of Rebecca S. Phelps of Deerfield, Conn., accompanied Gen- eral Schuyler on an expedition against the Six Nations and served throughout that entire cam- paign. When the colonies rebelled against the mother country he took up arms to assist the for- lorn cause and served as a corporal, remaining at the front, participating in innumerable hard- ships, countless privations and many engage- ments, until finally peace was declared and the army was disbanded. Later he removed from Connecticut to New York and · settled upon a raw tract of land near Canandaigua, where he died at ninety-three years of age. A few years after he settled on that farm his son, Baruch B., was born in 1787, and in that then frontier en- vironment the boy grew into a robust manhood, possessing the stalwart constitution and daunt- less courage characteristic of frontiersmen. Dur- ing the war of 1812 he served in the American army. After leaving the army he turned his at- tention to the hotel business and, on the site of Erie canal, erected the Phelps house, the first hotel built in Buffalo after it was destroyed by fire in 1814. Subsequently he became one of the founders of the village of Silver Creek, in Chautauqua county, N. Y., where he built and conducted the Phelps hotel. In that town he opened what was the first temperance hotel in all of western New York. At the start the outlook

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was discouraging and the business unprofitable, but eventually he proved that such a plan could be carried into successful consummation.

In addition to keeping a hotel Baruch Phelps engaged in farming and stock raising. Event- ually he left New York for the growing west and settled in Illinois, first making his home in Elgin and later at St. Charles, but his last days were passed in the home of his eldest son in Dekalb county, that state, and there he passed from earth at the age of eighty-seven years. Through all of his active life he was a believer in Presbyterian doctrines and a sincere member of that denomination. While living in the east he married Betsey Warner, who was born in Ben- nington, Vt., and was a grand-niece of Seth Warner, of Revolutionary fame. Her death oc- curred in Dekalb county, Ill., when she was seventy-two years of age. They were the par- ents of six children, namely : Louisa, who died at Malta, Dekalb county, Ill .; William, who died at Elgin, Ill .; Walter, who was a member of the Fifty-sixth Illinois Infantry and died in De- kalb county, Ill .; Forbes, now a resident of De- kalb county; Ira W. and Albert, who came to the Pacific coast and established homes in Los Angeles county, the latter being a resident of Highland Park.

The village of Silver Creek, in Chautauqua county, N. Y., is the native home of Ira Warner Phelps, and July 26, 1835, the date of his birth. In addition to attending public schools he had the advantage of a course of study in Nunda Academy. During 1849 he came west as far as Chicago, where he clerked for about three years in the employ of an uncle, Ira P. Warner. Later he clerked for a year in Elgin, after which he returned to Chicago and learned the trade of a harness-maker, which he followed for a time. Afterward he worked on his father's farm in Kane county near Elgin and on Judge Baker's farm near Joliet. In search of cheap land in a favorable location he went to Minnesota in 1855 and from there went to Wisconsin, where he bought farm property. For four years he was employed in a lumber business at Eau Galle, Dunn county, and when his employer rented the lumber plant and the sawmill he started for the Rocky mountains, this being the time of the Pike's Peak excitement of 1859. With a party of emigrants he traveled via mule-team to what is now the city of Denver. During the fall and winter he was employed at Tarryall Diggings, and in the spring of 1860 he followed other miners to California Gulch, near the present site of Leadville, where he remained during the sum- mer.

After a year's experience in the mines of Col- orado Mr. Phelps started back east in the spring of 1860, but an attack of mountain fever forced

him to stop at Canon City. That now flourish- ing town had only one house and it was of sod. For a long time he was too ill to travel, but eventually he recovered sufficiently to start for home. With two comrades named James Ramage and Peter Shell during the middle of December he took up the homeward journey with pack- horses. The trip was rendered lonely by reason of the fact that they were the only white men on the plains and the further fact that they were forced to travel at night on account of the hos- tility of the Indians. As they proceeded along the Arkansas route they camped on the islands of the river by day, then took up travel after darkness protected them from observation by the Indians. Their tracks were obliterated by the herds of buffaloes which filled the country for a distance of four hundred miles. Indeed, at no time were they out of sight of large herds until they landed at Council Grove, Kans. Dur- ing the year there had been a great drouth and the Platte, Republican, Smoky and Solomon rivers were dry, so that the buffaloes were obliged to come to the Arkansas for water.

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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 147

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