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 99

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

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GEORGE I. COCHRAN. Few names have been more prominently identified with the devel- opment of natural resources in Southern Cali- fornia than that of George I. Cochran. profes- sional. financial and industrial factor during the period of his seventeen years' residence in the city of Los Angeles. Credit is due him for the efforts he has put forth in his association with important movements: the success achieved is a part of the man-native ability, perserverance and energy-combined with the conservatism made progressive by decision of character, and

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by the demonstration of these qualities he holds the position he has thus won.

Mr. Cochran fortunately brought to bear upon his lifework qualities inherited from a family whose name has been made honorable by deeds of various members. His father, the Rev. George Cochran, D. D., of Toronto, Canada, was a prominent minister in the Methodist Epis- copal Church, by which he was sent as a mis- sionary to Japan in 1873. George I. Cochran was then ten years old, his birth having occurred in the vicinity of Toronto July 1, 1863, and there- after he spent six years in the eastern country. Upon the return of the family to Toronto in 1879 the elder man resumed his work in that city and his son entered the Toronto University, and was later called to the bar at Osgoode Hall, Toronto, where he began the practice of his profession under the favorable circumstances engendered by his native qualities, and education acquired by application and will, and the position of esteem and respect which he had already won among the younger generation of the citizens of that city. In March, 1888, he came to California. and with the decision of character which has ever distinguished his career made his interests at once parallel with those of his adopted state and city. Opportunity is for the man of action and hence when the time came for Mr. Cochran to assume a prominent place in the affairs of Los Angeles he unhesitatingly faced the respon- sibilities and fulfilled the trust which he had won during the preceding five years. This was in 1893, at the time of the financial crisis, when Mr. Cochran was attorney for the Los Angeles Clearing House and directed its legal affairs and counseled its business interests through the panic which prevailed in all business circles. Since that time no citizen of Los Angeles has been more prominently identified with its growth and upbuilding. In the organization of the Broad- way Bank and Trust Company he was a most important factor and has held continuously the office of vice-president since its inception. This institution has become one of the most important in the monetary affairs of the city, its growing demands calling for an enlargement of the counting room, which occupies the larger part of the Broadway side of the imposing Bradbury building.

In addition to a nominal connection with the practice of law as a member of the firm of Cochran. William, Goudge, Baker & Chandler. Mr. Cochran gives much of his time and atten- tion to the concerns of the corporation known as the Pacific Mutual Life Insurance Company of California, the largest life insurance company in the west, with an income of over $4,000,000 per year, and serves as its president, in active charge of its business. Mr. Cochran is also in-

terested as a director in the Los Angeles Trust Company, First National Bank of Los Angeles and the Rosedale Cemetery Association (vice- president of the latter), which owns one of the most beautiful plots of ground in the city of Los Angeles; was for many years secretary and director of the United Gas, Electric & Power Company and was largely instrumental in its consolidation with the Edison Electric Com- pany; and was also one of the chief factors in the enterprise known as the Seaside Water Com- pany, which supplies water for Long Beach, San Pedro and Wilmington for irrigation and domestic purposes, while recently he has taken a prominent part in the opening up of the addi- tion to Los Angeles, known as the West Adams Heights tract. This achievement has been of such vast importance in the opening up of a beautiful residence district to the people of the city that Mr. Cochran has once more won for himself the unqualified commendation of the populace. He also has some interests in Santa Barbara, "the city by the sea," where he acted as director in the street railway company, while the Artesian Water Company, a local organiza- tion that has been expending money with a lavish hand in developing water for near-by towns, is indebted to Mr. Cochran for legal and business advice at all board meetings.

Soon after his arrival in California Mr. Coch- ran was united in marriage with Miss Alice Mc- Clung, a native of Canada and a friend of several years' standing. She died June 16, 1905. Mrs. Cochran presided with gracious dignity in the beautiful home which they established on Harvard boulevard, a residence reflecting with- in and without the cultured and refined tastes of the family. Their home life was permeated. not with the spirit of self-seeking, but with a spirituality which had come through long asso- ciation with high ideals. Their membership was enrolled in the Westlake Methodist Episcopal Church, which Mr. Cochran was instrumental in founding. and since then he has been one of the most important factors in its progress and upbuilding. He was a member of a commission of fifteen appointed by the General Methodist Conference to consider and report a plan, if feasible, to consolidate the big benevolences of the church. and the report was almost unan- imously adopted by the succeeding General Con- ference. He also takes a keen and active in- terest in all educational matters. seeking to ad- vance the best interests of the educational in- stitutions in Southern California. He is one of the trustees and also treasurer of the University of Southern California, and one of its most liberal supporters. He has been far too busy a man to seek political prominence and although a stanch advocate of Republican principles has

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

confined his interests along these lines to the support he could give the men and measures of his party. He has always been, however, a strong advocate of the necessity of the moral obligation of citizenship and has never shirked a responsibility placed before him, a part of his work being done as a member of the executive committee of the county central committee for many years.

In the truest sense of the word Mr. Cochran is a Californian, for his interests are one with those of the beautiful state he has made his home, and in the past years he has spared neither time, expense nor personal attention in his efforts to advance the general welfare. And Los Angeles has few citizens who have done more for the general weal than he. Few progressive or moral movements inaugurated in recent years have lacked his support, nor has any enterprise to which he has given his consideration failed of success. He is. truly a representative of the type of men who have made Los Angeles what it is to-day, strong in mentality, forceful in the dom- inant qualities of manhood, and withal so far removed in thought and deed from self seeking and self aggrandizement that he has been en- abled to wield more than a passing influence in contemporary affairs.

COL. GEORGE F. ROBINSON. From the time of the breaking out of the Civil war until the year 1896, a period of thirty-five years, Colonel Robinson was in the service of his country almost continuously. During the early part of his career he experienced all of the rigors and hardships of the battlefield, being wounded a number of times. After the close of the war he was retained in the gov- ernment employ, first holding the position of clerk in the war department at Washington, D. C., and later was made paymaster in the army. It was in this latter capacity that he came to the west and saw for the first time the land of eternal sunshine in all of its beau- tv. The climate was in such direct contrast to that with which he had been familiar in the east that he then and there determined to spend the remaining years of his life in a climate less rigorous than that prevailing in his native state of Maine. It was this thought which prompted him to purchase a ranch in Pomona, the same on which he has made his home since retiring to private life in 1896.

As has been intimated Colonel Robinson is a native of Maine, horn in Hartford, Oxford county, August 13, 1832, and is a son of Isaac W. and Deborah (Thomas) Robinson, hoth also natives of that northern state. The mother

died when in her thirtieth year, and thereafter the father again married. He passed away at the age of fifty-five years, having become the father of seven children, only one of whom, our subject, resides in California. While he was still a young child his parents removed from Hartford to Rumford, and it was in the latter . place that lie first attended school. Subsequently he was privileged to attend Phil- lips Academy at Phillips, Me., following this course by a term at Spencerian Business Col- lege in Washington, D. C. It was with this training that he returned to his native county and took up farming and also carried on a lum- ber business, a dual occupation which was not only congenial, but was returning to him a fair income on both his investment and labor. The breaking out of the war made a change in his plans which he had not anticipated and which for the time being put an end to his private interests. Enlisting in the service as a private in Company B. Eighth Maine Vol- unteer Infantry, he served two years. While engaged in the battle of Petersburg he was severely wounded, May 20. 1864, having in the mean time served in all of the principal hattles in and around Richmond. During the time spent in the hospital while recovering from his injuries the war came to a close.

During his convalescence Colonel Robin- son was wounded in defending the life of Sec- retary Seward, who himself was dangerously wounded in April, 1865, when President Lin- coln as assassinated. In 1865 he was given a position in the treasury department at Washington, D. C. After serving in this po- sition for two years Colonel Robinson re- signed and returned to his farm in Maine, but it was not long before he received another appointment from Washington, this time as clerk in the war department, which he filled acceptably for eleven years, from 1868 until 1879. Promotion and greater honor came to him in the latter year, when he was appoint- ed major and paymaster in the United States army, a position which took him into a num- ber of the distant states. especially into Tex- as, New Mexico, Colorado and California. With no other locality was he so favorably impressed as with Los Angeles county, and as advancing years were making his step less elastic he was more than ever in favor of set- tling down here rather than to resume life in the east. In 1892 he purchased a twenty-acre ranch in Pomona which was set out entirely to oranges, and of which his son has had en- tire charge since 1896. In that year Colonel Robinson was retired, settling upon his ranch, where with his wife and youngest son he is spending his latter years in peace and quiet,

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the just reward for faithful and unstinted serv- ice.

In 1865 Colonel Robinson was united in mar- riage with Miss R. Aurora Clark, who was also a native of Maine, born in Springfield, April 26, 1841. Two children blessed this marriage, George Prentiss, who is now em- ployed in the city engineer's office in Los An- geles, and Edmund Clark, who lives on the ranch and assumes its cares and responsibili- ties. As is natural Colonel Robinson is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and also of the military order of the Loyal Legion, membership in the latter consisting only of army officers and their sons. Fra- ternally he is a Mason, belonging to the blue lodge and chapter at Washington, D. C., and the commandery at Pomona. Politically he is a Republican, and during his younger days, while living in his native state, he filled a number of local offices. For over thirty years he has been a member of the Universalist Church, while his wife is a member of the Christian Science Church.

COL. ASA W. WOODFORD. Colonel Woodford's family has been a prominent one since the early colonial days, his father, John H., having been a pioneer and native planter of old Virginia ; he was a near relative of Gen. William Woodford of Revolutionary fame, and also a relative of General Howe. His mother, who was in maidenhood Nancy Minear, was of French descent, and a native of Virginia, her ancestors having also served in the Revolutionary war. May 20, 1833, Colonel Woodford was born in Barbour county, Va., (which was later made West Virginia), and reared upon a plantation. He was educated in the primitive log cabin schools and upon reaching maturity he engaged in the stock business and farming, his herd of finely bred Hereford cattle having been famous all over the country. He also became prominent and influential in the exporting of beef cattle, and during the years 1892, 1893 and 1894 shipped some of the finest consignments that left the ports of New York and Baltimore for European mar- kets. His farm, which was situated near Wes- ton, W. Va., was later found to be underlaid with both coal and oil. He still owns a farm near Weston and another one in Barbour county, in the same state.

In Democratic circles Colonel Woodford was very prominent in West Virginia and filled va- rious important offices in county and state. He served two terms as sheriff of Lewis county and was elected to the state legislature in 1868. As a member of that body he helped in the forming of the official code of that state, and in 1892 was

the Democratic nominee for governor. For a number of years past he has traveled extensively in Europe, South America, the Hawaiian Islands and his own country, his first visit to California. having been made seventeen years ago. Since 1903 he has been a permanent resident of the state, having located in Elsinore that year. Fra- ternally he is affiliated with the Masonic lodge.

A. BONDIETTI. Practical and altogether useful qualities are disclosed in the results achieved by A. Bondietti, a well-known Swiss- American rancher of the vicinity of Guada- loupe, who is the owner of a ranch of one hundred and sixty acres, who rents five hun- dred and forty acres, and who is actively en- gaged in raising beets, beans, potatoes and hay, and in the management of a model dairy. Since purchasing his present home about twelve years ago Mr. Bondietti has exhibited untiring zeal in its improvement, and has studied and applied the most approved agri- cultural methods. His buildings are modern and substantial, the working life of his imple- ments is lengthened by proper housing and care, and his fences and incidentals exhibit appreciation of detail and oversight.

Should misfortune overtake him as a farm- er, Mr. Bondietti can turn his attention to stone cutting or dairying with reasonable as- surance of success. The former occupation be- came his own in Switzerland, where he was born January 21. 1851, and where he lived until coming to the United States in 1879, at the age of twenty-eight. His parents, who were farmers, dicd in their Alpine home many years ago, the former at the age of seventy- two, and the latter at the age of seventy. There were but two sons in the family, and both live in the vicinity of. Guadaloupe. A. Bondietti abandoned stone cutting on this side of the water, substituting for it dairying, which he followed for several years in Guadaloupe, or until purchasing his present ranch. His marriage to Miss Dora La Franchi, a native of Switzerland, occurred in 1882, and three children have come to brighten the hospitable ranch home: Adeline, wife of Virgil Lanotti; Elvezia and Lillie.

Mr. Bondietti has long been prominent in local Republican politics, and for years has promoted the cause of education as a member of the school board. His genial manner and spirit of good will have drawn to him many friends and made him a welcome member of the Guadaloupe Lodge of Odd Fellows. with which he has been connected many years. He is an honorable. upright gentleman, a consid- erate neighbor and public-spirited citizen.

6. Pracy.

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

CLARENCE PAUL MACY. The Macy family were early pioneers of Cedar county, Iowa, where the grandfather, Samuel, was one of the first settlers and lived there until the time of his death. The father, Joseph A. Macy, was born in Ohio and went to Iowa with his father, engaging in farming in Cedar county until 1862, when he enlisted in Com- pany G, Thirty-fifth Iowa Volunteer Infantry. While on duty he contracted a cold which re- sulted fatally and he died at Cairo, Ill., in 1863. In 1854, in Ohio, he had married Miss Lucinda Paxson, who was born in that state, the daughter of Heston and Rachel (Ingledue) Paxson, the latter the daughter of Blakeston Ingledne. Heston Paxson was born in . Pennsylvania, from there removing to Co- lumbiana county, Ohio, later to Stark county, near Alliance, and finally to Cedar county, Iowa, where he died. His wife died in Ohio. The mother of Clarence Paul Macy had three children when her husband died and after rearing her family she married Ryal Strang, who died in Iowa. She is now residing in Elsinore. Of her three children by her first husband Clarence Paul is the only one living. Edwin T. died in Rialto, Cal., and Lillian R., died in Iowa.

The birth of Mr. Macy occurred in 1859, in Springdale, Cedar county, Iowa, and when still a young boy he was taken to Marshall county, where he lived on a farm and attended the public schools until thirteen years old. He then began farming for himself and con- tinued to be so occupied until 1880, when he made a trip through Missouri, Kansas, Ne- braska, and Iowa, upon his return to the lat- ter state buying a farm of one hundred and sixty acres in Hardin county upon which he settled. During a part of the time until 1886 he was engaged in contracting for road grad- ing .work, and in that year came to Elsinore, his brother, E. T., having located here three years previously. During the following four years he engaged in teaming, hauling clay and coal, and in 1892 purchased the general mer- chandise store of C. S. Prince and has con- ducted the business ever since. The store is located on the corner of Main street and Gra- ham avenue, in the Victoria brick front block, the firm owning the corner and block 135x120 feet. Mr. Macy is also engaged in farming and raises grain at Wildomar, has large hay fields, buys and sells hay and grain, which he ships to Colton and Olive Mills, and also de- votes a part of his time to the horse breeding business, and buying and selling horses. He is the owner of a fine imported bay Percheron stallion named Favoria. At various times Mr. Macy has conducted a livery stable and also

engaged in the blacksmith business. He has quite extensive property interests, having built a warehouse at the railroad tracks, and owns a comfortable residence in Elsinore on the corner of Chestnut and King streets.

Mr. Macy's marriage to Miss Sarah J. Moyer, a native of Pennsylvania, and the daughter of Michael Moyer, who settled in Hardin county, Iowa, occurred in that county. Her father served during the Civil war in a Pennsylvania and later in an Illinois regiment, and now resides in Iowa, and is in good health. Mr. and Mrs. Macy became the parents of eight children, namely: Justin Algernon, who formerly ·managed the store in Elsinore and now resides in Los Angeles; Pansy Gertrude, now managing the store: Ozro Floyd, Rulief Roy, Myron Earl, Pearl, Irvin and Alda Vivian. Mr. Macy is a member of the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows, having served two terms as noble grand of the Elsinore Lodge. Politically he affiliates with the Re- publican party.

FRANK W. THOMAS, M. D. A man of large undertakings and with accomplishments in proportion may in a word represent the life of Dr. Thomas. He came from Ohio to Claremont in 1899 and opened an office for the practice of his profession, and his name is now a household word not only in this town, but throughout the country roundabout, where his professional ser- vices take him. Since 1901 he has also main- tained an office in the Union block, Pomona, caring for his patients in the last named city in the afternoons. Even with the arduous duties and constant mental strain of his profession Dr. Thomas has not been indifferent to the well- being of his home town, and indeed one might seach long and unsuccessfully to find a citizen more keenly alive to its best interests as judged by the various projects with which his name is associated. The credit for the present success- ful telephone system in use in Claremont is in large measure due to the efforts of Dr. Thomas, who, with others, organized in 1903 the Pomona Valley Telephone and Telegraph Union, of which he is now the president. The value of the en- terprise to the citizens of Pomona valley may readily be recognized, for in the three years of its operation the list of subscribers has reached over eighteen hundred connections with the cen- tral office at Pomona. Dr. Thomas is also a direc- tor in the following stock companies of Clare- mont : The Citizens Light and Water Company, the Claremont Lumber Company, the Claremont Inn Company, and the Oak Park Cemetery Asso- ciation, he being president of the two last named companies at this writing. He also owns consid-

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erable real estate, having laid out two additions to the town of Claremont. His citizenship in the neighboring city of Pomona is no less active than in Claremont, where he is a stockholder in the Citizens' State Bank, the First National Bank, the Pomona Building and Loan Association, Pomona Valley Hospital and other enterprises.

The Thomas family is of Welsh descent, and the grandfather, Griffith Thomas, is the first of the family of whom we have any definite knowledge, although he was not the first repre- sentative in the new world, for he was born in New York state. He was a public-spirited and influential citizen and in the war of 1812 was colonel of a regiment ; and later was warden of the Ohio state penitentiary. His marriage with Miss Sarah Mickey allied him with a family of Scotch-Irish lineage, whose early members were represented in the Revolutionary war. Among the children of Griffith and Sarah (Mickey) Thomas was Daniel W., the oldest son, who was born in Columbus, Ohio, near which city he passed his entire life as a successful farmer, an influential man, and public-spirited citizen, pass- ing away upon his farm there at the age of seven- ty-eight years. His wife before her marriage, Laura Hutchinson, was born in Franklin county, Ohio, the daughter of Amaziah Hutchinson. Of English descent, Mr. Hutchinson was born in Pennsylvania, and while Ohio was still con- sidered remote territory, he removed thither and grew up with the country, for many years own- ing a farm and a mill on the Scioto river. Seven children were born to Daniel and Mrs. Thomas, but of these only three are now living, two daughters, residing in Ohio, and the subject of this sketch, next to the youngest child.

Frank W. Thomas was born near Dublin, Franklin county, Ohio, September 4, 1853, and was brought up as a farmer's son. Agriculture, however, appealed to him less strongly than did a professional life, and after finishing his com- mon school studies he entered the preparatory department of Ohio Wesleyan University, and in 1874 entered Wooster University, graduating therefrom four years later with the degree of Ph. B. Without loss of time he entered Star- ling Medical College, Columbus, Ohio, as a stu- dent of Dr. Starling Loving, dean of the faculty, and in 1880, graduated from that institution with the degree of M. D. Returning to his home com- munity he practiced his profession in Dublin, Ohio, for two years, and then went to Marion, in the same state ; during the seventeen years of his residence in that place he built up a large and lucrative practice and at the same time was sur- geon for the Erie Railroad Company and several manufacturing establishments. His removal from the east occurred in 1897, in which year he went to Colorado on account of failing health, spend-

ing two years in Denver, Pueblo and other places in that state. In seeking a still milder climate, he came to California in 1899 and located at Claremont, where he established himself as a medical practitioner as soon as his health was re- stored. Since then he has had continued success not only in his profession, but also in his business ventures, as has been previously noted.

Dr. Thomas' marriage united him with Miss Mary Lee, who was born in Franklin county, Ohio, with which commonwealth the Lee family had been associated for many years. The Eng- lish immigrant who established the family in the new world, John Leigh, settled at Ipswich, Mass., in 1634. His spelling of the family patronymic was adhered to for over forty years, but in 1677 was changed to its present form. From this early immigrant the line is traced down to Mrs. Thomas' grandfather, Capt. Timothy Lee, born in Massachusetts, and who during the war of 1812 served first as a private, and later as a captain. He it was who established the family in Ohio, settling at Central College, where as a farmer and miller he spent the remainder of his long and useful life. Besides grain mills he owned woolen mills, and was an extensive man- ufacturer of cloth. He was an important fac- tor in the material welfare of Central College, and to him is given the credit of establishing this educational institution in the town. He mar- ried Rhoda Taylor, the daughter of Orson Tay- lor, a Revolutionary war patriot. Theron Lee was born in Central College, Ohio, of the mar- riage of Timothy and Rhoda (Taylor) Lee, and he too was a farmer and owned grist and woolen mills in that town. During the Civil war he serv- ed valiantly in an Ohio regiment, becoming cap- tain of his company, and as such was honorably discharged on account of physical disability. He passed away in the city of his birth in 1872. Annis Fuller, as Mrs. Lee was known in her maidenhood, was born in Worthington, Ohic, the daughter of Alvin Fuller of Monson, Mass .. who established the family in Ohio. The wife of Alvin Fuller was Elizabeth Wilson before her marriage, and both passed away in Ohio, while their daughter, Mrs. Lee, died in Claremont, Cal., in 1905. Three children originally com- prised the family of Theron and Annis (Fuller) Lee, two of whom are now living; Mary, Mrs. Thomas, who is a graduate of Mount Holyoke. (Mass.) Seminary, and Rev. Charles Lee, who is a graduate of the Ohio Wesleyan University and of Princeton Seminary, and is now a Pres- byterian minister in Carbondale, Pa. The mar- riage of Dr. and Mrs. Thomas has resulted in the birth of one daughter, Charlotte, who is at- tending Pomona College.

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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 99

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