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 II, Part 169

Author: Guinn, James Miller, 1834-1918
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Los Angeles, Cal., Historic record company
Number of Pages: 1234

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 II > Part 169

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Mr. Roberts is now engaged in the devel- opment of the Bryn Mawr Water Company, of Redlands Junction, and also on his own ranch. having had seven wells drilled in the past eight years. He has worked for the county in superintending the installation of a pumping plant, and has developed a fifty inch flow. For the past eight years he has served as road overseer of his district, being elected to the office by the Democratic party, of whose prin- ciples he is a stanch adherent. He has served as a member of the Democratic County Cen- tral Committee, and is now serving as a mem-

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ber of the school board of the El Casco dis- trict and officiates as clerk of the board. The family support the charities of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, of which Mrs. Rob- erts is a devoted member.

HENRY H. RANDALL. Born in New- bury, Vt., April 1, 1870, Henry H. Randall passed his boyhood with his parents on the farm near Jeffersonville, in that state, and in California, where his father brought him when about five years of age. He was educated in the public schools of his native town and lat- er in the Peachem Academy, completing his education at the Newbury Seminary. After leaving school Mir. Randall took a position as bookkeeper with A. M. McAllister in his meat market at Wells River, Vt.

In December, 1890, he made his second trip to California, arriving in Los Angeles, where he remained several months. In 1891 he went to Folsom, Sacramento county, to visit an un- cle, whose death occurred during his stay of one year. Returning east to South Ryegate, Vt., he married Agnes G. Hotchkiss on her . birthday, August 17, 1892, and after a wedding trip to Boston, Mr. Randall accompanied by his wife returned to Los Angeles. After a brief stay in that city he then proceeded to Folsom to look after valuable property inter- ests there, consisting of five hundred and twen- ty acres of land under cultivation and the ex- tensive irrigation ditch known as the John Hancock Irrigating & Mining Ditch. He did not remain in California at that time, but made several removals to the old home in the Green Mountain state and back again, until in 1899, when he sold out his interests there and removed to Sherman, Cal., to become a permanent resident. After coming to the lit- tle town in the beautiful Cahuenga valley, Mr. Randall built a comfortable home and pros- pered as a dealer in hay and grain until his death, which occurred June 12, 1903.

George N. Randall, father of Henry, was also a native of Vermont, a substantial farm- er of South Ryegate, where he died January I, 1903, aged sixty-eight years. The mother of Mr. Randall was Martha W. Hancock, born in the old Hancock house, Woodsville, N. H. She was the mother of three children, Mary, Henry H. and Lizzie. Martha Hancock Ran- dall died at Jeffersonville, Vt., February 26, 1887, aged forty-nine years and six months.

Mrs. Randall's father, Henry Ira Hotchkiss, born in Stratford, N. H., in 1847, was a sol- dier in the Civil war. At the age of sixteen years he enlisted in the Thirtieth Maine In- fantry, but toward the close of the war, his

health failing, he was sent to a hospital, and the war ending before he was able to return to duty in his regiment, he was given an lion- orable discharge and pensioned by the gov- ernment in 1869. Mr. Hotchkiss was pos- sessed of considerable inventive genius and sold a number of patents; two of the best and most profitable were an automatic cradle and a mop wringer. He was also engaged in the grocery and hotel business during his life. His death occurred December 5, 1890, at South Ryegate, Vt. The mother, Martha Buchanan Hotchkiss, was a native of South Ryegate, borr in March, 1847. She was the mother of two children, namely, Mrs. Randall, and a 5011, William E. Hotchkiss, who is a sheet metal worker and plumber by trade living in Hollywood. In politics Mr. Hotchkiss was a Republican and both himself and wife were members of the Congregational Church.

Mrs. Agnes Georgiana (Hotchkiss) Randall was born in Berlin Falls, N. H., August 17, 1870. Mr. and Mrs. Randall were the parents of three children: John Hancock, born in Bradford, Vt., December 2, 1893; Reginald H., born in Monroe, N. H., October 6, 1898; Are- tha, born in Sherman, Cal., January 7, 1902. In politics Mr. Randall was a Republican.

CLARK DURANT HUBBARD. A horti- culturist of broad experience, with a natural taste for his chosen occupation, Clark Durant Hubbard, of San Fernando, has done much to promote and advance the interests of the fruit growers of this section of Los Angeles coun- ty, and is accredited with the ownership of one of its best and most productive lemon groves in the state. A native of Iowa, he was born July 10, 1871, in Ottumwa, Wapello coun- ty, where he lived until nine years of age.

Coming with an uncle to Los Angeles, Cal., in 1880, Clark D. Hubbard received his early education in the public schools of that city. He subsequently clerked for a time in a hard- ware store, and then studied for a year at the Occidental College, in Los Angeles. Turning his attention then to horticulture, in which he had always been especially interested, he lo- cated in San Fernando, where he has since been successfully engaged in the growing of fruit of all kinds, including oranges, lemons, olives, apricots, etc. As superintendent and manager for other people, he has had full control of more than one hundred and fifty acres of citrus fruit trees, in the cultivation and care of which he has met with very satis- factory results. He also owns twenty acres of land. which he has highly improved, setting out four acres of oranges and sixteen acres of

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lemons, his grove being one of the best in the neighborhood, if not in the state, and a cred- it to his industry, enterprise and intelligence. The products of his grove are well known in the leading markets of the United States, all of his fruit being packed on his ranch and each box being plainly stamped "San Fernan- do Oranges and Lemons grown and packed by C. D. Hubbard, San Fernando, Cal., Los An- geles county."

On May 12, 1898, in San Fernando, Mr. Hub- bard married Felicie Sylvie Carton de Grig- nart, who was born February 9, 1877, in Ques- noy, Canton du Quesnoy, Arrondissement d' Avesnes, Department du Nord France, came with her parents to the United States in 1880, and has been a resident of California since 1894. Mr. and Mrs. Hubbard have. one child, Lester Francois Hubbard. In May, 1904, Mrs. Hubbard purchased the ranch on which the family now reside. It contains ten acres of rich land, one half of which is set out to fruit trees, principally oranges while the remainder is used for a poultry farm. Mrs. Hubbard has made a study of poultry rais- ing, and is considered an authority on all questions connected with the subject. She makes a specialty of fancy poultry, be- ing one of the largest breeders and raisers of thoroughbreds in the state of California, and her farm, known as the Mission View Poultry Ranch, is justly famed for its pro- ductions in that line. She gives her personal attention to the management of her ranch, and is meeting with unquestioned success.

The Mission View Poultry Ranch is so named on account of the excellent view of the buildings of the Old Mission, lying about a half mile toward the east. All of the build- ings on the ranch are of adobe, even the mam- moth incubator, which is made in the Egyptian style, being the only one so constructed in this country, a part of the bricks used having been taken from the old residence of Gov- ernor Pico. The incubator is a double build- ing, the inner one being circular, eleven feet in diameter and six feet high, the outer build- ing being square, allowing from one to two feet dead air space between the two walls and six inches between the two roofs; both walls are twelve inches in thickness; over the rafters is one-inch rough lumber and four inches of adobe covered with tarred roofing paper, insuring an even temperature in all kinds of weather. This incubator is heated with hot air and its capacity is three thousand eggs ; the eggs are hatched on a shelf which is covered with a layer of adobe one inch in thickness and the same thickness of bran; under this shelf are two shelves for nurseries.

The hot and cold brooders are one continu- ous building of three hundred and sixty feet in length, built of adobe, with the floors throughout cemented; there are twenty-eight sections in the hot brooder and forty in the cold brooder, and two feed and store rooms, the boiler and furnace being in the hot brood- er, feed and store room; the yards for the hot brooder are 3x20 feet long and the cold brood- er yard are 6x81 feet long.

There are forty-two breeding yards, one yard of Cockerels, all of which are White Wy- andottes; besides the yards of all the follow- ing different breeds: Golden Laced Wyan- dottes, Buff Cochin Bantams, Lakenvelders and English Salmon Faverolles (the two lat- er breeds which Mrs. Hubbard introduced in- to her ranch about two years ago were the first brought into this state), One-fourth Wild Mammoth Bronze Turkey and Ring Neck China Pheasants.

In the selling of eggs Mrs. Hubbard has built up a remunerative business, all the eggs produced on her ranch being stamped with the name in full of the ranch, and a neat lit- tle cut of the San Fernando Mission. In 1905 Mrs. Hubbard made her first exhibit of poultry at the Los Angeles Poultry Show and won premiums on each of her exhibits. In 1906 she won thirty-two prizes on her birds, including the National White Wyandotte Club Silver Cup and three ribbons out of four given by the same club ; also four first out of five given by the show, she having the largest exhibit of any one exhibitor.

Mrs. Hubbard is prominent in business cir- cles, and is a member of the Poultry Breed- ers' Society of Southern California, and of the National White Wyandotte Club. Mr. Hubbard is a member of the Semi-Tropic Fruit Exchange, and fraternally belongs to the San Fernando Lodge, I. O. O. F. Politically he is a Socialist.

ELMER ELLSWORTH ELLIOTT. Of the highest importance in the permanent progress of a community is the organization and sagacious management of financial insti- tutions established upon a sound basis and conducted upon conservative lines. Such an institution is the First National Bank of Compton, which since opened for business July 15, 1903, as the Bank of Compton, has gained a liberal patronage from the business men of the city and has established a reputa- tion for a keen discriminating policy of man- agement. At the time of the organization Mr. Elliott became a stockholder in the new con- cern and since has officiated in the office of

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shier, also as a member of the board of di- rectors. Under his careful supervision, act- ing in unison with the president, J. J. Harsh- man, and the vice-president, J. M. Shepard, and allied with the various capable citizens forming the directorate, the bank has built up a patronage representing over $125,000 in de- posits, which with the capital stock of $25,000 has been invested with painstaking discretion in real estate, bonds and loans. Since 1906 a savings department has been maintained.

Like many of the men who are contributing to the development of the California of the twentieth century, Mr. Elliott is a native of Illinois. Warren county was the place of his birth, and September 13, 1871, the date, his parents being John J. and Jennie (Findley) Elliott, natives respectively of Ohio and Illi- nois, and now residents of Lenox, Iowa. As a boy Elmer E. Elliott lived upon an Iowa farm and attended a country school until he had acquired a fair education. After starting out to earn his own livelihood he secured work as a clerk in a general store at Corning, Iowa, but the inducements offered by Cali- fornia soon brought him to the Pacific coast, where for two years he was employed as a clerk in a general store at Hueneme. Later he became a student in the University of Southern California, from which he was grad- uated in 1897 at the completion of the regular classical course.

Immediately after leaving the university Mr. Elliott came to Compton and secured a clerkship in the store of Ambrose Shepard & Co., with whom he remained until forming his connection with the bank, and in whose busi- ness he now owns an interest. In addition to managing the affairs of the bank he acts as secretary and treasurer of the Compton Wa- ter and Lighting Company and has contrib- uted in other ways to the growth of the town along material and financial lines of activity. His pleasant home is presided over by Mrs. Elliott, formerly Margaret Cook, whom he married in Los Angeles May 18, 1898, and who is a daughter of H. C. Cook, of that city. They are the parents of two sons, Elmer Ells- worth, Jr., and Kenneth. Not possessing the tastes that incline him toward public life or political affairs, Mr. Elliott has not taken any part in the same aside from voting the Repub- lican ticket, yet he has proved himself to be public-spirited to an unusual extent, and no movement for the permanent welfare of Compton fails to secure his allegiance and co- operation. With his wife he holds member- ship in the Methodist Episcopal Church of Compton, to whose charities he is a generous contributor, as he also is to progressive and

philanthropic enterprises of an undenomina- tional character. In fraternal relations he has allied himself with Masonry, being active in the work of Anchor Lodge No. 273, F. & A. NI., also a member of Long Beach Chapter No. 83, R. A. M., Los Angeles Council No. 11, S. M., and the Scottish Rite, Lodge of Perfec- tion, of Los Angeles.

BYRON J. LYSTER. On coming to his pres- ent location at the station of Burnett Mr. Lyster purchased an unimproved tract of twenty acres, for which he paid $30 per acre, and since that year (1884) he has resided on the same home- stead, the value of which has increased to $1500 per acre or more. The first house which he erected on the property was the third to be built in the locality and of recent years has been re- placed by an elegant structure of thirteen rooms, with bath, gas and other modern improvements. The town of Long Beach had not been founded when he came to this neighborhood and for a time he operated twelve hundred acres, a portion of which is covered by the present site of the city. Spaniards formed the bulk of the popula- tion in those days. Having to transact business with them constantly he learned to speak, read and write the Spanish language and gained a fluency in its use as valuable as it was uncom- mon.

Both through his paternal and maternal an- cestors Mr. Lyster is of genuine pioneer stock. His father, Henry Lyster, was born in Shelby county, Ky., March 21, 1806, and remained south of the Ohio river until in the prime of manhood. Meanwhile he had devoted himself to the build- ing of flatboats and loading the same with sup- plies, then he would ship down the river and sell both the supplies and the boat in one of the larger cities, after which he would walk the entire dis- tance back to his home. On leaving Kentucky he settled in Indiana, but as early as 1847 be- came a pioneer of Iowa, where he built the sec- ond linseed oil mill in the state and also erected a sawmill. During the Civil war he served as a member of the Iowa Home Guard. Coming to California in 1869, he sojourned first in Sonoma county, then in Santa Cruz, later in San Fran- cisco, and during 1873 settled in Los Angeles county, where January 30, 1889, his useful life came to an end.

The marriage of Mr. Lyster was solemnized at Oskaloosa, Iowa, and united him with Mrs. Vianna M. (Cameron) Prosise, who was born December 30, 1815, and in girlhood became the wife of William Prosise. At the death of Mr. Prosise she was left with six children, two of whom are still living, namely: John and Mrs. Sarah J. Mundell. Two sons, of her second mar-

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riage, William and Byron J., are also living. She lived to be over ninety years of age, passing away April 1, 1906. She retained her physical and mental faculties to an unusual degree and displayed a deep interest in present-day affairs. Her father, Rev. John M. Cameron, who was a devout, sincere and courageous minister of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, was born in Kentucky in 1791, descended from colonial an- cestry, and himself the possessor of the fine phy- sique of the typical frontiersman. With his wife, who bore the maiden name of Mary Orendorff and who was born in 1793, he removed to Illi- nois as early as 1815, prior to the admission of the territory into the Union. For a considerable period he made his home in Sangamon county, where in 1818 he and his wife took up their abode in a log cabin standing on a hill that over- looked the Sangamon river. With James Rut- ledge he founded the town of New Salem, and tradition has it that in 1835 he officiated at the funeral services of Ann Rutledge. It is a fact fully authenticated that for six years Abraham Lincoln dwelt beneath the humble roof of this earnest preacher.

Early in the '3os the Cameron family removed to Fulton county, Ill., and in 1841 settled in Iowa. However, the pioneer instinct impelled them to move still farther westward, and when news came of the discovery of gold in California they started across the plains in the spring of 1849 and made the perilous journey with ox- teams and wagons. With the early history of the Pacific coast they were afterward associated, and their influence was felt in the upbuilding of re- ligion and education. Kindly and affectionate in life, they were not long divided by death, and both passed away in the fullness of years, his death occurring in 1875, at eighty-three years. and her demise occurring in 1878, at eighty- seven years. They were the parents of twelve children, eleven of whom were daughters, and of these five are now living. In 1886 there were living nine children, seventy-five grandchildren and about two hundred great-grandchildren.

During the residence of the family in Mahaska county, Iowa, Byron J. Lyster was born Septem- ber 27, 1852. When the war broke out he was too young for service, but at ten years of age was accepted as a drummer boy and so saw something of the horrors of a national strife. Three of his brothers were also at the front, while his father, as previously stated, served in the Home Guard. After three years as a drum- mer, during the most of which time he was along the Mississippi river, he was honorably dis- charged at the expiration of the war, and there- upon returned to his school work in Iowa. In 1868 he came to California and settled in So- noma county, but two years later went to Wat-

sonville, Santa Cruz county, where he conducted a meat market. After a year in San Francisco, in December of 1873, he removed to Los An- geles county and settled on a farm near San Fer- nando. During the four years he lived there he served as justice of the peace and deputy sheriff. In those days the country was unsettled and un- improved, and the rough element predominating, his work as an officer proved laborious and even perilous. On leaving that locality he moved south of Los Angeles and after eight years there, in 1884 he came to his present homestead. He has an only son, Henry B., who is a young man of twenty-four years (1905). In his beautiful home his aged mother passed her last days, sur- rounded by every comfort which he and other members of the family could bestow. In religion he is of the Methodist Episcopal faith, in politics affiliates with the Republican party, and frater- nally is connected as a charter member with Long Beach Lodge No. 35, I. O. F. Of a genial, hospitable and companionable disposition, generous to those in need, progressive in spirit and public spirited in act, he is of the type of citizen so necessary to the permanent progress of any community.

FRANK G. BUTLER. While the charm of the climate has been the principal inducement leading to the rapid growth of Long Beach, ob- servation and experience show that other in- ducements might be offered of no less impor- tance than the one mentioned. To the man whose active temperament forbids leisure and protract- ed periods of recreation there are occupations of- fering an interesting field for his talents, and among these the manufacturing business, though the least utilized, is not the least attractive. In the list of manufacturing enterprises of Southern California one of the most recent and one of the most flourishing is the F. G. Butler Manufactur- ing Company, manufacturers of the Symonds Perfection Automatic Carbide Feeder Acetylene Generator, and owners of eight patents covering the machine. The original owner of the busi- ness, H. Symonds, is still associated with its management, but since the organization of the new company in 1905 the stock has been held principally by Mr. Butler and the headquarters are in his building at No. 109 Ocean avenue. When affairs have been adjusted so that the plant is running at its full capacity four or five machines can be turned out each day, and these will be shipped to any portion of this country or abroad. According to size the machines range in price from $65 to $400 for suburban resi- dences, and from $1,500 to $10,000 for lighting a town or city.

The manager of the company is a pioneer of

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Long Beach and assisted in surveying the town site, as well as almost the entire acreage of the American Colony's tract. A native of Ohio, he was born at Doylestown, March 19, 1854, and is a son of Almond and Elizabeth (Frank) Butler, natives respectively of Burlington, Vt., and Pennsylvania, but after 1843 residents of Ohio. After having followed the mercantile business for many years the father died in Ohio in 1861 and the mother passed away in that state in 1878. After having completed the studies of the com- mon schools of his native town, Frank G. Butler went to Easton, Ohio, and engaged in the mer- cantile business for seven years, also serving as postmaster during his stay there, after which he disposed of his interests in the east. For a short time he then conducted a store in Charleston, Ariz., and from there came to California in De- cember, 1881, at once buying forty acres in the American Colony tract. Since then he has bought and sold various tracts and now owns fif- teen acres on Willow street, all the improve- ments on the land having been made under his personal supervision. For fifteen years after his location in California he conducted the Signal Hill nursery, but eventually sold out in order to engage in other enterprises. In 1886 he bought real estate on Ocean avenue and erected a three- story building known as the Butler block, to. which recently he made an addition comprising a four-story brick structure with modern con- veniences. The block is leased to business and professional men and in the rear he has estab- lished his manufacturing plant.

Always interested in educational affairs, Mr. Butler accepted the position of school trustee in the early days of the history of Long Beach. While acting in that capacity he was one of the three who voted $8,000 school bonds and erected the Pine avenue school (recently moved from its original site). More than one citizen predict- ed that bonding would prove the financial ruin of the district, but instead it gave an impetus to educational work and was instrumental in secur- ing for the town one of the best schools in the southern part of the state, outside of Los An- geles. During his residence in Ohio Mr. Butler married Miss Rosa J., daughter of David Mc- Clure, of Ohio.

The Symonds generator applies well-known scientific principles in the securing of an illum- inant at once brilliant and inexpensive. When burned at the rate of five cubic feet per hour acetylene produces light equal to two hundred and fifty candles. One thousand cubic feet of acetylene gas will give the equivalent in lighting power of twelve thousand five hundred cubic feet of city gas. As is well known, acetylene can be utilized in business houses, churches, hotels, factories and residences, without any increase in

the insurance rates. At one time the erroneous impression prevailed that acetylene was explos- ive, but the experience of years has disproved that idea, and exhaustive examinations on the part of skilled chemists show that the gas is not only economical, simple and convenient, but also unsurpassed for safety. In the construction of the Symonds generator safety has been the first consideration, quality the second and cost thie third. The principle is that of feeding the carbide automatically into the water as fast as the gas is consumed. There is no overproduction, conse- quently no surplus gas to be stored. The opera- tion is simple, consisting of the drawing off of the residue, refilling the water tank with water, and filling the carbide holder with carbide through the funnel furnished with the apparat- us. The apparatus has been perfected and ev- ery generator is tested before shipment, so that satisfactory results can be guaranteed. Those using the machine are unanimous in testifying as to its safety and economy as well as the strength and durability of its parts.

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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 II, Part 169

Author: Guinn, James Miller, 1834-1918 Publication date: 1907 Publisher: Los Angeles, Cal., Historic record company Number of Pages: 1234

Author: Guinn, James Miller, 1834-1918
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Los Angeles, Cal., Historic record company
Number of Pages: 1234