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 5

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

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HENRY E. McNEALY. The purchase of the quarter section of land on which he now engages in farming was consummated by Mr. McNealy in 1892, but it was not until ten years later that he removed to the tract and commenced to improve the land. Since coming to the ranch, which is advantageously situated in the San Marcos valley, he has fenced the land and made other needed improvements. Though no longer under the necessity of constant labor, he is happiest when busy and so continues at the head of his ranch in spite of being the possessor of means that would permit of his retirement. Since thirteen years of age he has earned his livelihood and ever since then he has been an indefatigable worker, yet he bears well the burden of his sev- enty-three years, and a stranger would judge him to be on the sunny side of sixty-five years.

A native of Licking county, Ohio, born Oc- tober 13, 1832, Henry E. McNealy was only eleven months old when death deprived him of a mother's affectionate oversight. His father, Jeremiah, was born in Virginia, but removed to Ohio at an early age and eventually settled in Indiana, where he died. All through his life he was a tiller of the soil, but a series of misfortunes befell him, which obliged his son, Henry E., to take up the burden of self-support at an age when otherwise he would have been in school. For a time he worked as a farm hand and later he

learned the carpenter's trade, which he followed as a journeyman in Indiana, Illinois and Mis- souri. During the spring of 1859 he joined a party of emigrants bound for California and after a journey of six months with ox-teams and wagons he landed in Butte valley, where he en- gaged in mining, but met with no special success. Later he had charge of a pack-train from Oro- ville and Chico, Butte county, to Susanville, Lassen county. Removing to Marysville in 1865 he engaged in the trucking business for two years, and then went into the mountain country, opened a meat market at Susanville, and for four years carried on a butcher's business. The next place to which he removed was Santa Barbara county, where he engaged in the grocery busi- ness at Lompoc for seven years. Afterward he was placed in charge of the wharf at Gaviota, and remained there until 1902, when he removed to his ranch in San Diego county.

The first marriage of Mr. McNealy took place at Oroville, Cal., in September, 1865, and united him with Mirah Emmons, who was born in New York and died at Gaviota, Cal., in 1887, leaving five children, viz. : Edward, Amy, Howard, Ralph and Mark. In 1891 in Santa Barbara county occurred the marriage of Mr. McNealy to Miss Rachel Valenzuela, who was born in that county, being a member of a pioneer Spanish family of that locality. Seven children were born of this union, namely : Owen, Helen, George, Kenneth, Eva, Carl and Ethel. Mrs. McNealy is a sin- cere member of the Catholic Church and is rear- ing her family in that faith. Ever since attain- ing his majority Mr. McNealy has voted the Re- publican ticket, but he has never been active in public affairs, nor has he desired to participate in the responsibilities of official positions, yet in a quiet, unostentatious way he discharges the duties incumbent upon him as a citizen and a public-spirited man.

JAMES CHARLES WALLACE. Very early in the colonial history of America repre- sentatives of the Wallace family immigrated from Scotland and settled along the Atlantic coast, where, in the development of a new country, they displayed the fortitude and con- stancy characteristic of their ancestors amid the trials besetting them in their home land. The genealogical records show that some of the family lived in Pennsylvania and other branches in Maryland, whence removal was made to Ohio in the early settlement of the latter state. James C. Wallace, Sr. who was a native of Ohio, became a pioneer farmer of Perry county in the vicinity of Somerset, and remained there until an attack of typhoid fever terminated his career at fifty-two years of

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age. When a young man he had married Sarah Plummer, who was born in Ohio of a Quaker family, but did not affiliate with the Society of Friends, having identification with the Baptist Church. Surviving her husband for many years, she attained the great age of one hundred and two years.

In the family of James C. Wallace, Sr., there was a son who bore the father's name and who was born in Perry county, Ohio, September 29, 1835. At the age of four years he was orphaned by his father's death while yet too young to realize the nature of his be- reavement and the extent of his loss. It there- fore became necessary for him to begin to earn his own livelihood at an age when most children are in school and free from responsi- bilities. When he was thirteen years of age he left his mother's home and went to Zanes- ville and from there proceeded by steamboat to New Orleans, thence traveling east as far as Florida, where for two years he was em- ployed at Jacksonville in the grafting of orange trees. The failure of his health caused him to return to Ohio and after a short so- journ at Delaware, that state, he returned to Jacksonville with health restored. A few months later he removed to Crab Orchard Springs, Ky., and subsequently learned the jeweler's trade at Lancaster, Garrard county, following the same for three years in Ken- tucky. During the winters he engaged in hunting and fishing through the south. Even- tually settling at Oxford, Miss., he carried on mercantile pursuits for fourteen years and met with a gratifying degree of success until the outbreak of the Civil war caused the loss of his plantation and other properties. Later he was employed for a year as proctor of the Mississippi State University and held other positions in the south, but in 1870 returned to Ohio to visit his mother, whom he had not seen for twenty-one years.

The war having crippled his chances for success in the south, Mr. Wallace came to California, landing from the steamer at San Pedro, whence he proceeded eastward a few miles and became connected with B. D. Wil- son as foreman of a large ranch. After a year there he went to Los Angeles and worked at the jeweler's trade for a year. Meanwhile he purchased five acres of his present home- stead, paying $500 for the same. At that time the only building between Los Angeles and his property was an adobe stage station and he is now the oldest settler of this locality. After putting up a small house he turned his attention to the nursery business and mean- time continued at his trade. The second year he added five acres to his ranch and in 1892

purchased twenty-three acres adjoining, all of which he still owns, and in addition he has leased other lands in order to secure the needed acreage for the management of his ex- tensive citrus fruit nursery. His first naval trees he ordered from Australia and he bud- ded the first orange trees in California. At this writing he has fifteen acres of oranges in bearing. The balance of the property is util- ized for nursery purposes.

After settling in the south Mr. Wallace met Miss Martha Wilson, who was born and reared at Oxford, Miss., and they were united in marriage May 22, 1861. Seven children were born of their union, namely : Glencoe; J. Wiley, who has sixteen acres of coffee and rubber land in Mexico and also owns mining interests in that country ; George A., who as- sists his father in the nursery business and relieves him of its many responsibilities ; Ben- jamin, who practices dentistry in Mexico; Martha, Mrs. Kennedy, whose husband is connected with the Los Angeles Lighting and Power Company; Stella, Mrs. Reynolds, whose husband is a dentist residing in Pasa- dena; and Walter, who resides with his pa- rents, and is a practicing dentist in Los An- geles. In political faith Mr. Wallace is a Democrat.

ARTHUR P. FERL. A prominent citizen in the material upbuilding of San Pedro, Los Angeles county, is Arthur P. Ferl, who has been a resident of this city since December, 1904. He was born in Detroit, Mich., Septem- ber 7, 1865, the fifth in a family of six chil- dren. His father, Peter Henry Ferl, was a native of England, who located in Detroit, Mich., and was engaged in mercantile business until his death. He married Margaret Mc- Donnell, a native of the north of Ireland.

An orphan at seven, Arthur P. Ferl was reared in the home of his older brothers and sister, receiving his education in the public schools until he was thirteen, when he was ap- prenticed to learn the trade of printer. When nineteen years of age he left home and located in Denver, Colo., where he formed a partner- ship with O. L. Smith the same year, the firm being known as Smith & Ferl, printers and publishers, which, in the course of a few years,. became one of the largest institutions in the western country. In 1890 Mr. Ferl sold all his interests in Denver and located in Salt Lake City, where he engaged in the real estate and mining business until 1896, when, having re- ceived an appointment in the government service, he went to Washington, D. C., where he began the study of law at the National Law

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School, after which he took a course in art at the Corcoran Art Gallery. In February, 1902, he was sent to the Philippines on detached service, staying in the islands two years. In November, 1904, he resigned from the govern- ment service and came to Southern California and in December located in San Pedro, en- gaging in the real estate business. Mr. Ferl has three children, Ronald J., Emily M. and Arthur Bayly.

Fraternally Mr. Ferl is a Mason, being a member of Harmony Lodge No. 17. F. & A. M., of Washington, D. C. Politically he is a Republican, and is active in his efforts to ad- vance the principles he endorses. In the pub- lic affairs of the city he has taken a place of prominence, being one of the organizers of the Chamber of Commerce and its president in 1906. He is president of the Pacific Manu- facturing & Supply Association, chairman of the board of directors of the Harbor City Sav- ings Bank and is identified with many other enterprises in the rapidly growing city of San Pedro.

CHARLES MASON. The identification of Charles Mason with the business interests of San Pedro has brought to him a personal success as well as winning for him a place of importance among the representative citizens of his home town. He is now acting as superintendent of the San Pedro Water Company, with which he has been connected since its organization, and is bringing to the discharge of his duties the ability and energy which have distinguished his career thus far, and which bid fair to place him among the successful men of this section. Although not a native son of California Mr. Mason is a west- erner by birth, having been born in Florence, Pinal county, Ariz., January 31, 1881. His fa- ther, A. Mason, was a native of Bethel, Me., and with a brother, Charles, crossed the plains in an early day and from California went later to Ari- zona, and in the vicinity of Florence Charles Mason was one of the discoverers of the Silver King mine, of which A. Mason served as super- intendent for eight years. Later he engaged in prospecting and mining with headquarters in Los Angeles, and remaining so occupied until his death, which occurred August 10, 1892. He was a man of energy and ability and the descend- ant of patriotic ancestry, his grandfather having served valiantly in the Revolutionary war. Fra- ternally he was a Knight Templar Mason. He is survived by his wife, formerly Mercedes Robles, who was born in Sonora, Mexico, and she now makes her home in Los Angeles. She is the mother of four children, namely: Mercedes, wife of M. Borquez, of Los Angeles; Charles,

the personal subject of this review ; Guadaloupe, wife of Bruce Cass, of Ramona, Indian Territory ; and Moses, associated with the firm of Cass & Smurr, of Los Angeles.

Charles Mason was reared to young manhood in Los Angeles, receiving his preliminary edu- cation in the public schools of that place, after which he entered St. Vincent's College. Upon the completion of the course in that institution he was graduated with honors, when he became a student in the Southern California Business College. Upon leaving school he became as- sociated with Hulse, Bradford & Co., as sales- man, and continued with them for some time, when he became connected with the Sunset Telephone and Telegraph Company. Upon the organization of the Home Telephone Com- pany he accepted a position on switch-board work and remained with them until 1903. when he resigned, and coming to San Pedro engaged as bookkeeper for the Seaside Water Company. He remained with them until their disorganization, when he became superinten- dent of the new company, that of the San Pedro Water Company. This company supplies water to both San Pedro and Wilmington, its source of supply being from the pumps at the latter place, while at San Pedro they have a reservoir with a capacity of two million, five hun- dred thousand gallons, located on a knoll one hundred and fifty feet above the city and with a sixty-five pound pressure. They have six miles of water mains, from which they supply thirteen hundred consumers, and are constantly extend- ing the lines to meet the needs of the rapidly growing city.

Mr. Mason was married in Los Angeles to Nellie Marie Sessler, a native of Ohio. In his fraternal relations Mr. Mason is a member of the Elks lodge at San Pedro, in which he is chaplain. He is a member of the Chamber of Commerce and takes an active and helpful in- terest in all that pertains to the growth and progress of the place.

WILLIAM L. RAMEY. One of the flourish- ing industries of San Diego county is the Es- condido Lumber, Hay and Grain Company, proprietors of the Escondido roller and feed mills, wholesale dealers in grain, hay, rolled barley. etc., retail dealers in lumber, brick and cement, and owners of warehouses at Escondido, San Marcos and Buena. The president of the com- pany, William L. Ramey, was also its organizer. Under the orginial form of organization the com- pany engaged exclusively in the lumber busi- ness, but later articles of incorporation were se- cured and the business was enlarged by the in- troduction of milling, hay, grain, etc., since which

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time there has been a steady and gratifying growth. In addition to the management of the office and yards, Mr. Ramey is vice-president of the Escondido Savings Bank and the Bank of Escondido, and is also the owner of a ranch of one hundred and eighty-five acres near town, on which grain is raised, and shipments are made from the lemon and orange groves to eastern markets.

A native of Champaign county, Ohio, Mr. Ramey was born December 10, 1845, being a son of William and Frances (Neff) Ramey, the former born in Virginia of French lineage, the latter born in Pennsylvania. The maternal grandfather, Daniel Neff, was a soldier in the Revolution and the war of 1812, and the great- grandfather, Jacob Neff, served in the first strug- gle with England. Lieutenant-Governor Jacob Neff is a cousin of Mrs. Frances Ramey. About 1829 William and Frances Ramev went to Ohio on their wedding journey and became pioneers of that state. After a number of years they moved to Hancock county, Ill., where Mr. Ramey became the owner of farm lands and stock and acquired what was in those days considered a competency. At his death in 1892 he was eighty- two years of age; his wife passed away in 1887, when seventy-eight years old.

Bv embarking in the grocery business William L. Ramey became a business man at twenty- two years of age, and later he carried on general merchandising in Clayton, Ill., but after three years he removed to Ferris, a village on the Quincy branch of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, in Hancock county, and there he carried on a mercantile store for four years. On account of poor health he came to Califor- nia in 1874 and settled in San Francisco, where he was with the Southern Pacific Railroad Com- pany for six years as their city collector and manager of their city wharf. On fully regaining his health he returned to the east on a vacation, but decided to remain, so forwarded his resig- nation to the railroad officials. For a time he carried on a grain business at Clarinda, Iowa, be- sides which he had charge of the grain elevators at other stations on the Humeston & Shenandoah Railroad. After a year the railroad company offered him special inducements to take charge of various stations, including Andover, Blvthe- dale, Ridgeway, Bethany, New Hampton, Albany and Darlington, and he bought grain at all of these places. Owing to a shortage in the crops, his work was unusually difficult and trving. About 1884 he disposed of his interests in Iowa and removed to Madison, Neb., where he en- gaged in the hardware business and became a stockholder in the First National Bank of Madi- son upon its organization.

Owing to the failure of his wife's health Mr.

Ramey decided to remove to California, and in 1891 he came to this state in company with A. W. Wohlford, now the president of the Bank of Escondido and a stockholder in the Escondido Lumber, Hay & Grain Company, he and Mr. Ramey owning the majority of the stock in both enterprises. Their settlement in Escondido has proved most helpful to the business interests of the town, for they are men of high honor, ex- ceptional character, irreproachable integrity, liv- ing up to their obligations and expecting others to do the same. Not a little of the recent de- velopment of the town may be attributed to their foresight, intelligence and enterprise, and they have been promoters of every measure for the upbuilding of local interests.

The first marriage of Mr. Ramey took place at Cartage, Ill., October 10, 1872, and united him with Miss Helena Freas, who was born in that state and died in California in September, 1892. In the fall of 1894 he married Mrs. Florence Stevenson, by whom he has a daughter, Florence, now a student in the Escondido schools. By her former marriage Mrs. Ramey has two sons, namely: Lloyd Stevenson, cashier of the Bank of Escondido; and Frank Stevenson, manager of the supply department of the Sunset Telephone Company at Los Angeles. While living in Han- cock county, Ill., Mr. Ramey was made a Mason in 1872 in the Carthage lodge, and afterward was raised to the chapter and commandery de- grees ; both in Illinois and at Madison, Neb., he was an officer in the lodge and active in its work. Politically he votes the Republican ticket and is intelligently conversant with public affairs. With his family he holds membership in the Escondido Congregational Church.

WESLEY HASKELL. The family repre -. sented by this enterprising business man came to the United States in an early period and set- tled in New England, where his father, Rev. C. L. Haskell, a man of fine mental attainment and extended influence, long served as pastor in Methodist Episcopal churches in the state of Maine and rose to a position of eminence in his denomination.

The son, Wesley, was born at East Boothbay, Me. He is known to be a self-made man of cul- ture and refinement, having educated himself in the eastern schools and at Boston University, where he acquired a broad and liberal education. He was ordained to the ministry of the Congrega- tional denomination and has held pastorates in Providence, R. I., and in Peoria and Rockford, Ill., in each of which places he ministered to large and influential congregations. Upon leaving the central states in 1902 he came to California where for a brief period he preached in San

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Francisco and Oakland, and afterward acted as pastor of the First Unitarian Church of Los Angeles. On account of failing health, and by the advice of his physician he gave up the min- istry and entered upon business 'affairs. It is a matter of remark among his acquaintances that he is possessed of unusual ability as a bus- iness man and the result of his shrewd man- agement and keen foresight is evidenced in the present growing condition of his enterprises.

The Ocean Park Milling and Manufacturing Company, a consolidation of Groesbeck & Ritchie and the Ocean Park Planing Mill Company, of which Mr. Haskell is the president, is located at Ocean Park. This establishment is one of the largest manufacturing concerns of its kind on the coast. The plant is equipped with ma- chinery of the most modern and approved pat- terns ; its equipment, indeed, being surpassed by perhaps no mill in all of Southern California. This concern makes a specialty of fine furniture of every description and mill work in all its branches.

Mr. Haskell is also interested in insurance. He is the supreme treasurer of the Commoners of America, a fraternal beneficial order with headquarters at Los Angeles, chartered under the laws of the state of California for the mu- tual benefit of its members and their beneficiaries. This order has surpassed in growth since its organization anything known in the history of fraternal insurance in the United States.

No citizen of Southern California possesses a firmer faith in its future than does Mr. Haskell, and he proves his faith by his continued connec- tion with its business interests. No section of the country has interested him to such a degree as this, and on the other hand no business man has had its interests more at heart. In every com- munity citizens of intelligence, broad culture, liberal views, keen sagacity and wise forethought are valued acquisitions, and he has proved to be such in his social and business relations. In na- tional politics he votes with the Republicans, but in local matters he considers national prob- lems to be of less importance than the selection of men of high honor and accepted standing for such positions as are in the gift of the citizens. The Masonic fraternity numbers him among its warm supporters, and in addition he is affiliated with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks.

GEORGE ELLO CROSS. In 1885 George Ello Cross came to California with his parents and since that time has been a resident of this section of the state, now being located in the vicinity of Puente and engaged in general farm- ing and the wholesale hay and grain business. He was born in Cape Vincent, Jefferson county,

N. Y., August 6, 1874 ; his father, George Cross, was born in Chaumont, N. Y., and engaged as a . farmer. His death occurred in 1877. His pater- nal grandfather was born in New England, of Scotch descent. His mother was in maidenhood Harriet Canfield McPherson, also a native of Jefferson county, and the daughter of William McPherson, who was born in New Hampshire of Scotch descent, and became a farmer in New York. She still survives and makes her home in Puente. She has four children, namely : John, of Los Angeles; Jennie D., wife of Thomas R. Greene, deputy postmaster of Puente; William M., the Southern Pacific agent at Lemon, and George Ello.

When eleven years old the family removed to Orange county, Cal., where two brothers of the mother resided, Robert and Steven McPherson, and in that place Mr. Cross attended the public schools and later completed his education in Los Angeles. At fifteen years he took up the study of telegraphy and after completing it accepted a position as operator for the Southern Pacific Railroad, and in 1892 was transferred to Puente in a like capacity, remaining there for four years. For a time thereafter he was located at Tracy, Wesley and Oakville, spending two years at the three places. Later he became agent at Duarte for two years, was then located at Bassett for a like period, when, in 1902, he resigned to en- gage in the hay and grain business in Puente. He has since become interested in the Puente Warehouse Company, and is serving at the pres- ent writing as secretary and manager of the en- terprise. For storage of grain they have the Buck warehouse, a building 200x50 in dimen- sions with a capacity of forty-five thousand sacks, and located on the Southern Pacific Railroad. He has also interested himself successfully in the raising of grain and alfalfa, having sixty acres of alfalfa and about two hundred and thirty- five acres devoted to grain, besides which he also raises some stock. He owns a residence in Puente which is presided over by his wife, form- erly Miss Josephine Rowland, a native of Puente, and the daughter of Albert Rowland, a well- known pioneer of California, who died in 1891. They have two children, Cecelia and Albert.

In 1904 Mr. Cross was appointed postmaster of Puente and at that time he purchased and remodeled the building which is now utilized for the postoffice. He is a Republican politically and takes an active interest in advancing the principles he endorses. He is prominent fra- ternally, having been made a Mason in Lexing- ton Lodge No. 104, of El Monte, and both him- self and wife are members of the Order of East- ern Star, No. 172, also of El Monte. Mr. Cross also belongs to the Modern Woodmen of Amer- ica of Lemon, and the Fraternal Brotherhood

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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 5

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