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 28

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 28

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The marriage of Mr. Peirce took place at Oxford, Kans., June 1, 1876, and united him with Miss Margaret M. Bain, a native of In1- diana, but from four years of age a resident of Iowa and after 1871 making her home in Kan- sas, where her father, Samuel, engaged in ag- ricultural pursuits. Five children were born of the union. Edith A. taught four terms of school in San Diego county and then entered the Leland Stanford University, where she is now a student. Roland E. follows the black- smith's trade in San Francisco. Eldred E. was formerly a student in the Lowell high school and now is taking a course in mining engi- neering at the Lake school in San Francisco. Earl D. is a student in the State Agricultural College at San Luis Obispo. Everett C., the

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youngest member of the family, is a student in Lick University. While in Massachusetts in 1865 Mr. Peirce was initiated into Masonry and ever since has been a believer in the phil- anthropic principles of the fraternity. With his wife he attends the Baptist Church and contributes to its charities. In politics he votes with the Republican party.

ALLEN J. RUSSELL. Although a compara- tive newcomer in Fallbrook, Allen J. Russell is well and favorably known and is numbered among its best men, socially and financially, being es- pecially valued as a large-hearted, public-spir- ited citizen, whose enterprise and liberality have done much towards advancing the welfare of the community and adding to the comfort and hap- piness of its people. As an agriculturist he is meeting witli marked success, his large and well- kept ranclı bearing visible evidence of his energy. thrift and good management. A son of Allen Russell, he was born August 29, 1856, in Buch- anan county, Pa., where he lived until after at- taining his majority.

Born in the mountainous section of Tennessee, Allen Russell migrated when young to Missouri, going there in 1837. He subsequently took up land in Buchanan county, and there began life for himself as a tiller of the soil. During the excitement that followed the discovery of gold in California he came across the plains in an ox- team train, arriving in San Francisco in 1850. Becoming discouraged as a miner, he boarded a vessel and started for home. At Mazatlan, Mex- ico, the boat was shipwrecked, and he made his way from there back to Missouri by mule back. Resuming his former occupation, he was sub- sequently there engaged in agricultural pursuits until his death, in 1883, at the age of sixty-three years. He married Eliza Wolf, who was born in Pennsylvania, and died in Missouri in early womanhood.

Left motherless when a mere child, Allen J. Russell attended the district schools, remaining at home until after the death of his father. Going to Kansas in 1884, he followed farming in that state for about a year, when he returned to Mis- souri, and there continued as a farmer for sev- eral years. Starting overland from Missouri June 9, 1895, he followed the southern route through the panhandle of Texas and New Mex- ico, crossing the Pecos river at Fort Sumner, the Colorado river at Fort Yuma, thence by Banning Pass and Temecula to San Diego county, arriv- ing at Fallbrook with his five wagons, stock and horses on December 8 of that year. Althoughi long, the trip was a pleasant one, and much en- joyed. There were twenty-one days of the time when not a white person was seen by any of the

family. Since settling here, Mr. Russell has been actively engaged in his independent calling, and has now a magnificent ranch of seven hundred acres, the larger part of which he devotes to the raising of grain. He exercises good judgment in financial matters, and in the establishment of beneficial enterprises gives willing aid and en- couragement. In 1903 lie was one of the or- ganizers of the Mercantile Store, of which he has since been a director, and he is likewise one of the directors of the Fallbrook Hardware Com- pany.

December 24, 1882, in Missouri, Mr. Russell married Martha Elizabeth Russell, who was born in that state, and they are the parents of four children, namely : Opal W., Cleveland Lee, Jessie Obern and Thomas Franklin. Politically Mr. Russell is a straightforward Democrat, and re- ligiously he belongs to the Baptist Church.

WILLIAM WILEY. Among the earlier set- tlers of Los Angeles county was the late Will- iam Wiley, who located near Downey when this section of the country was comparatively new, and was one of the most interested witnesses of its development and growth. Turning his at- tention to agriculture, he improved a fine ranch, raising principally walnuts and fruits, in this line of industry meeting with signal success. A native of Pennsylvania in the vicinity of Pitts- burg, he was born September 22, 1836, and died at his home in Downey, November 9, 1896, his death being a loss to the community, as well as to his immediate family and many friends. When a child of only five years he was orphaned by the death of his mother, and later he began his education in the primitive schools of his native state. Until seventeen years of age he lived on a farm in that state, and then went to Minnesota, remaining there for two years. In 1855, when nineteen years of age, he came to California, driving an ox-team for the government. Upon reaching Salt Lake City he remained there for a short time and then resumed the journey to San Bernardino, and from there later came to Los Angeles county. Subsequently for five years he drove teams from Los Angeles to Wilming- ton. His first experience in the west as an agri- culturist was on rented property near El Monte, and later, in 1868, he came to the vicinity of Downey. To his first purchase of twenty-five acres he later added ten acres adjoining, also purchased thirty-one acres in this locality, be- sides which he owned seventy-three acres at Wil- lows, but this latter tract Mrs. Wiley disposed of in 1906. In his political preferences Mr. Wiley was a Democrat. and fraternally affiliated with the Society of Chosen Friends. As a con- stahle he rendered acceptable service to his con-

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stituents, and was a stanch advocate of good schools.

Mr. Wiley married, May 19, 1872, Elizabeth M. Simmons, who was born in Rapides Parish, La., and is the only survivor of the four chil- dren, three sons and one daughter, of James Simmons, of Orange county, Cal. A native of Mississippi, James Simmons moved when a young man to Rapides Parish, La., where he resided a number of years. In 1868 he came across the plains to California, and is now living near San- ta Ana, on the ranch which he has improved. He is a man of sterling worth, highly respected throughout the community, and is a faithful mem- ber of the Baptist Church. In politics he in- variably supports the principles of the Demo- cratic party.

The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Wiley was blessed by the birth of eight children, five sons and three daughters, as follows: Robert J., of Tustin, Cal .; James H., M. Lulu; Walter C., William K., Frederick E., Lena E. and Iva Mae. Since the death of her husband Mrs. Wiley has lived on the home ranch, which is under the su- pervision of two of her sons, Walter C. and Will- iam K. The home place, as well as the thirty- one acre tract in the vicinity, is devoted to the raising of apples and walnuts, both of which yield abundantly and from which a good annual income is realized.

ALEXANDER J. CUNEO. An example of the results of well-directed efforts coupled with pluck and persistence is to be found in the per- son of Alexander J. Cuneo, a resident of San Gabriel and its principal merchant, who set out in the world dependent upon his own resources and with nothing but his native qualities to presage any future success. He has won the esteem of the entire community through his business methods, his fair dealing with the pub- lic, and has built up an extensive custom which has brought him large financial returns. Born in Genoa, Italy, March 7, 1870. Mr. Cuneo is a son of M. and Mary (Garibaldi) Cuneo, both natives of Italy, and immigrating to America many years ago. Their first home was in New York City, but they soon removed to Los An- geles county, Cal., for two years making their home in the city of that name. and thereafter being residents of San Gabriel. The father died in 1884 in San Gabriel and the mother in 1897 in Los Angeles, leaving a family of nine children, of whom four are surviving, those besides Alexander J. being a daughter in Nome, Alaska, one in San Diego, and one in Los Angeles. Mr. Cuneo was a stanch Republican politically; in religion he belonged to the Catholic Church.

Alexander J. Cuneo left his native land at

three years of age, and coming to New York City with his parents remained there nearly two years, when he was brought to California, which ever since that time has remained his home. His education was received in the public school of San Gabriel, and his first employment was as a clerk in a mercantile establishment. In 1896 he engaged independently in this occupation, establishing himself in San Gabriel with a fine stock of goods, to which he has continued to add with the passing years until to-day he is proprie- tor of one of the best equipped grocery, dry goods, hardware, feed and grain enterprises in this section of the county. He has built his trade to lucrative proportions and now employs two delivery wagons to handle his country custom.

On the 27th of August, 1897, Mr. Cuneo was united in marriage with Miss May Slack, a daughter of William Slack, a well-known pioneer resident of San Gabriel, in which place she was born. Both himself and wife are mem- bers of the Catholic Church. He is a Republi- can in politics, a progressive and public spirited citizen, and one whose interest in public affairs results in practical helpfulness at all times.

THOMAS D. MENDENHALL. Fertile val- leys lying between the stern and rugged stretches of foothills and plains afford opportunity for the carrying forward of agricultural pursuits under favorable surroundings, and the numerous val- leys for which San Diego county is noted are the sources of the considerable agricultural wealth of this part of the state. Bear valley is not without its fertile farms and among them may be men- tioned the ranch of four hundred and eighty acres occupied and managed by Mr. Menden- hall, who is a native son of California and a life- long resident of the coast county. The family of which he is a member came from Southern ancestry and early was established in the far west. His father, Enos T., was born and reared in North Carolina. When General Fremont blazed a path for einigrants across the desert and mountains, and reports were brought back by the expedition concerning the fertility of the lands in that unknown and unsettled region lying west of the Rockies, the plans of many were turned toward immigration, and he was one of the number who braved the vicissitudes of the perilous trip in order to gain the possible returns that Destiny might bring. As early as 1847 he followed the overland route to Oregon and conveyed in his wagon the first fruit trees ever taken into that state.

After having engaged in teaching school in Oregon. Enos T. Mendenhall was led to remove to California by reason of reports concerning the discovery of gold, and during 1849 he became

C. E. Colton

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

a pioneer of San Francisco. A short time after- ward he went to Placer county and opened a general store near the mines, also operated a sawmill and a hotel in Colfax (then known as Illinoistown). For a long period he retained important business interests in that region, but during 1870 he removed to Bear valley and took up a tract of land from the government. In addition he bought the claims of many set- tlers who needed money more than they needed land, and in this way he increased his holdings until at the time of his death he owned more than seven thousand acres in Bear valley and on Smith mountain. His death occurred Decem- ber 20, 1904, at the age of eighty-two years. In early life he married Emily Mills, who sur- vives him and now, at the age of seventy-three, makes her home at Oakville, in Napa county.

During the residence of his parents in Sacra- mento, this state, Thomas D. Mendenhall was born November 2, 1860. Few educational oppor- tunities blessed his youth. For a few years he attended the public schools of Placer county, but while still quite young he began to earn his own livelihood, and from that time to the present he has depended upon his own exertions. His first occupation was that of railroading. At the age of sixteen years he was employed as brake- man on the narrow gauge railroad between Col- fax and Nevada City, and at the expiration of three years he was given charge of a freight train, which he ran for seven years. On resigning his position as conductor he spent two years in Napa county and in 1899 came to Bear valley, where since he has occupied and managed a farm in this fertile region, giving his attention closely to the details of the work and laboring with un- wearied energy to maintain a profitable and sys- tematic condition in the agricultural possibilities of the place.

CHARLES EDWIN COLTON. Some men's lives are passed quietly in the enjoy- ments of their home and family, while others are so rudely buffeted in the voyage through life ; are thrown into such strange company ; meet with so many thrilling adventures ; have so many hairbreadth escapes ; and are engaged in so many diversified occupations, that a true account of their work and wanderings sounds like a romance. Prominent among those whose career in this world has been thus character- ized is Charles E. Colton, a prominent and highly esteemed citizen of Glendale. Leaving home when a boy, he has since, by his own efforts risen from a condition of comparative poverty to one of influence and affluence. An early pioneer of the state, he was actively identified with some of the important historical

events of the territory of California, and to some extent assisted in establishing its claim to statehood. A native of Michigan, he was born, October 26, 1834, at Utica, Macomb county, a son of Philander and Polly (Merrill) Colton, both of whom were born and reared in New York state. The first of the name to settle in America was Quartermaster George Colton, of England, in 1640 and from this pro- genitor has descended the entire Colton race.

Between the ages of two and ten years Charles E. Colton lived in Cook county, Ill., and then, with his parents, went to Iowa. Two years later, in 1846, he left home without warning, going on foot to Fort Leavenworth, Kans., and from that time became self-sup- porting. Entering the service of Lieut. George Stoneman, who was afterward commissioned general, and still later was governor of Cali- fornia, he accompanied him as far as Santa Fe, when he was assigned as servant to P. C. Merrill, of the Mormon Battalion, under Col. St. George P. Cook, with whom he went first to Mexico, and from there came to California. After a short stop in San Diego he spent six weeks in San Luis Rey, and on April 12, 1847, arrived in Los Angeles, where he remained until honorably discharged from the service, July 16, 1847. During the time, Mr. Colton, then a beardless vonth, assisted in raising the first flag ever hoisted in the place, going on June 8, 1847, with a detachment of thirty-one soldiers to Mill creek to get poles for a flag staff. Taking one six-mule and one four-mule government team to carry the provisions and the poles, they performed the journey success- fully, securing two poles, which when spliced and bound together with raw hide, gave a staff a hundred feet in length. On the Fourth of July, 1847, a few days after the return of the detachment, the Mormon Battalion under com- mand of Col. John Stevenson, raised the flag on Fort Hill, then called Fort Moore, the people there assembled singing "The Star Spangled Banner" during the raising, and cheering lustily as its folds were unfurled to the breezes.

After his discharge from the service, Mr. Colton with twenty-two companions, guided by . Capt. Jefferson Hunt, went north, first to San Francisco, then to San Jose, from there proceeding to Stockton, where they learned from a party of Mormons that Samuel Bran- con had gone across the mountains to meet Brigham Young and his followers. A few days later the little band went in Fort Sutter, where they fell in with two men who said they had been lost from the Mormon party that left Los Angeles for the interior of Cali- fornia at the same time that Captain Hunt and

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his party started northward. Very soon after, the Hunt company left Sutter Fort, crossed the mountains, and while in camp on the spot where the Donner party was afterwards massa- cred, was joined by Samuel Brandon, who in- formed the leader that Brigham Young was located at Salt Lake City. The party, there -- fore, followed the old Indian trail along the Humboldt river to Goose creek, thence across Snake river to Fort Hall, which at that time belonged to the Vancouver Fur Company, and was under the charge of Captain Grant. Con- tinuing along the trail, the party arrived at Salt Lake City in October, 1847, and there Mr. Colton spent the winter, living during the time on thistle roots and wolf meat, having generously given his allowance of flour, etc., to the old people.

In the spring of 1848, Mr. Colton planted a patch of corn, but the entire crop was eaten up by crickets. Going to Fort Bridger in the fall. he stayed with the American Fur Com- pany, No. 42, until spring, when he returned to Salt Lake, where he again tried farming for a year. In the spring of 1851 he guided a party across the Rockies to Sacramento, Cal., arriving there with an ox-team train in July, with four hundred head of cattle. Leaving Sacramento in the fall, he began mining on the present site of the Folsom Penitentiary, and was thus engaged about a year, working along the Yuba river to Marysville. Locating in Sacramento in 1853, he spent a year in that vicinity, during which time he carried the mail from there to Salt Lake City. The jour- ney was tedious and perilous, on several oc- casions having encounters with the Indians, who at one time stole his flour, for which he had paid $I a pound. In the spring of 1854 he married, and settled as a farmer in Provo, remaining thus employed for about three years, in the meantime taking part in the Indian troubles. In 1857 he with twenty-five others was called upon by Brigham Young to go to the North Platte to bring up supplies, and the little band met in Young's barn to make ar- rangements for the trip. In 1859, through Mr. Young's influence. he obtained a position as guide, and in that capacity brought a company of men and a band of cattle to San Bernardino, Cal.

Remaining in that place, Mr. Colton had charge for a short time of his father-in-law's ranch of two hundred and forty acres, but not liking that part of the state came to Los Angeles in the spring of 1860, and resided there two years, in the meantime filling a hay con- tract under Gen. Winfield Hancock. Going back to San Bernardino in the spring of 1862, he was engaged in the freighting business in

that locality for twenty-two consecutive years, working for the government, and carrying goods to the various mining camps. During the time he made twenty trips across the desert to Salt Lake, (eight times being accompanied by his wife) then up into Montana, while in 1868 he was a contractor on the Union Pacific Railroad, his family making their home the greater part of the time in San Bernardino. While thus employed, Mr. Colton became in- terested in cattle raising, and when the estab- lishment of railways encroached upon his busi- ness he gave up freighting and devoted him- self exclusively to stock raising on a ranch in Colorado, where he purchased a squatter's claim to one hundred and sixty acres. Dis- posing of his interests in that state in 1884, he moved with his family to Ogden, Utah, that his younger children might have better educational advantages.

In the spring of 1885, Mr. Colton, desirous of locating his two older sons in business, went with them first to Oregon, and then to Raft River, Idaho, where he started them in the stock business. In September, 1887, he brought his family to California, settling at Red Bluff at first, but soon after going to Chico, arriving there on October 22. There leaving his family, he proceeded to Sacramento. where he made arrangements to buy mules to ship to the Sandwich Islands. After buying the mules in Utah he shipped them from San Francisco, making considerable money in the transaction. Joining his sons, then, at Raft River, Idaho, he sold his ranch and cattle, and the following summer lived at Chico. Going then to Santa Rosa, he rented a vineyard of one hundred acres, but subsequently sold out his lease, and went to Ogden, Utah, where, in the spring of 1889, he purchased land, and embarked in sheep raising, stocking his ranch with a band of sheep which he owned, and at the time was leasing out. He remained in Ogden the greater part of the time for six years, his family in the meantime coming to Los Angeles, where he joined them in 1895. In 1898 he made a trip to Inyo county, and purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land which was stocked with cattle. In 1901 he traded that ranch for property in Burbank. He has crossed the desert many times, includ- ing among others many trips to Arizona, and upon two of these was accompanied by his wife. He is now living retired from active pursuits in Glendale, enjoying the fruits of his many years of toil and labor. He owns valuable property at the corner of Eighteenth street and Central avenue, and also has a ranch of fifteen acres, all cultivated, yielding abundant crops of fruits and berries.

m.a. Doem

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In April, 1854, Mr. Colton married Mary Ann Kelting, and into their household eleven children were born. Joseph P., of Burbank, married Adelaide Rollins, by whom he had four children, Mrs Minnie Elizabeth Ropes, Ella Minerva, Earl, (deceased), and Harry Leslie; Charles Henry, a freight conductor, married Rosa Wollin, and they have two sons, William Edwin and Jay ; George Frederick, of Los Angeles, the discoverer of the Searchlight mine, married first Matilda Firth, by whom he has two children, Ella Moore of Colton and George ; his second marriage was with Melvina Leatherbery ; Ella R., living in Fresno, is the widow of the late T. B. Dowd and has five children, George, Clarabelle, Charles, James and Mary; Raymond is deceased; William, of Searchlight, Nev., married Electa Weaks, and they have four children, Clara, Hazel, Edna and Letha; Frank of Searchlight, married Minnie Corber and they have one son, Glen- wood; by a former marriage he had one daugh- ter, Pearl Ethel, who was reared by Mrs. Col- ton; James is deceased; Mae, the wife of H. Sellers, of Los Angeles, has one daughter, Mildred Ione; the two children who died in infancy were Edwin and Mina. Politically Ar. Colton is a Democrat.

MARX A. LESEM. In two points at least the lives of Marx A. Lesem and Sebastian Kneipp, the recognized father of the water cure, were parallel, both being of German birth and both becoming afflicted with what was thought to be an incurable disease when they were at the pinnacle of expectancy for success in their re- spective life callings. The Kneipp method of treat- ment as practiced by its founder in Germany became world-renowned during his lifetime and the little parish-town of Woerishofen has grown from a mere hamlet to a prosperous, cosmopolitan health resort. The records show that from 1891 to 1894 over fifty thousand patients sought Father Kneipp's help, and it was no uncommon thing for four hundred afflicted persons to seek relief in a single day. Many eminent physicians, recognizing the merit of his system, came to him for instruction in his methods of curing dis- eases with the result that Kneipp institutions were established in all of the large cities of Eu- rope. Thus, with the wide distribution of liter- ature on the subject, the knowledge of the meri- torious system spread to all parts of the world. Thus it was that Mr. Lesem, after he had tried all other known remedies without any relief, be- came an inmate of the famous institution, leav- ing it eight months later entirely cured. In the meantime he had become deeply interested in the method of treatment and had made a practical

study of the system, the outcome of which was the establishment of M. A. Lesem's Kneipp San- itarium in San Diego, Cal., in 1896.

A native of Rheinpfalz, Bavaria, Germany, born March 4, 1844, Marx A. Lesem is a son of Alexander and Caroline (Deutch) Lesem, both natives of the Fatherland. In his native land the father was an extensive dealer in grain, giv- ing this up in 1859 to take up life in the new world. He survived only a few months to enjoy his new surroundings, for his death occurred at Quincy, Ill., in October, 1859, when in his sixty- fourth year. His wife survived him many years, passing away in New York City at the age of ninety-four years. Of the five sons and two daughters who blessed their marriage three sons and one daughter only are living, Marx A. being next to the youngest of the family. His child- hood years were spent in the place of his birth, and among the pupils of the schools in that vi- cinity none was more deeply devoted to his studies than Marx A. Lesem. In fact, all of his spare time out of school was spent in ac- quiring knowledge. Although through his en- tire life he has continued to be a student, his school days, strictly speaking, came to a close in 1859, for it was in that year that his father brought the family to America. Settling in Quincy, Adams county, Ill., three of his brothers there opened a merchandise business on Fourth street, in which he was interested as clerk until he also became a partner in the business.

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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 28

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