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 6

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

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& H Burke

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of Puente. He has always taken a keen interest in all educational affairs and is now a member of the board of trustees of the Hudson district. and is serving at the present writing as clerk.

JOSEPH H. BURKE. Intimately asso- ciated with the pioneer days of the state of California, Joseph H. Burke survived the per- ils and privations of that historic time and lives to witness and participate in the develop- ment of resources which has made it one of the first states not only of the west, but of the entire Union. He is now a useful citizen of Rivera, Los Angeles county, in which section of the state he has spent the greater part of his time since coming west in 1853, although at different times being located at other points for brief sojourns. Mr. Burke is a native of Tennessee, his birth having occurred in Roane county, April 14, 1831; his father, Milton Burke, in manhood a minister of the Method- ist Episcopal Church and also a physician, was a native of Virginia, as was also his mother, in maidenhood Phoebe Hartley. His paternal grandfather, John Burke, also of Virginia, married a daughter of Nathaniel Osborn, who was a soldier in the Revolutionary war and in the war of 1812, taking part in the battle of New Orleans at the close of that conflict. He had thirteen wounds and received a pension for each wound. He lived to the unusual age of one hundred and thirteen years and six months, witnessing the days of colonial devel- opment, the statehood growth and progress, and the shadow that preceded the struggle that almost rent our fair land asunder.

When he was nine years old Joseph H. Burke was taken to Pulaski county, Mo., by his parents, and there they spent the ensuing four years, after the death of the mother re- turning to Tennessee, and later to Camden county, Mo., where the father passed the re- mainder of his life, dying at the advanced age of eighty-eight years. At the age of fifteen years Joseph H. Burke set out in life for him- self. becoming dependent upon his own re- sources; he went first to Huntsville, Ala .. where he worked on a cotton plantation, and later in Arkansas learned the trade of wagon- maker and blacksmith. Subsequently for a year and a half he worked at his trade in Lit- tle Rock, Ark., after which he went to Fort Smith, same state, and there purchased an in- terest in a wagon and blacksmith. shop, and with his partner conducted the same success- fully for a year and a half. Stricken with ty- phoid fever about this time, he found on re- covery that his partner had taken advantage of him and he therefore decided to withdraw

his interests from the concern. Attracted to the Pacific coast, in the fall of 1852 he went to New Orleans and there boarded a steamer for Galveston and Matagorda Bay, and from the latter point traveled by stage to San An- tonio, Tex., where, the following year, he joined the George Wentworth party, com- posed of seventy-seven men, and one of the most completely equipped trains that crossed the plains in that year. Every man was well armed, carrying a rifle and six-shooter and a large supply of ammunition ; they had ten big wagons, two hundred and eighty mules, and sixteen hundred Texas steers, and George Wentworth brought with him a span of horses which he later sold in San Francisco for $2,000.

The company disbanded in Los Angeles, where Mr. Burke found employment in David Anderson's shop, receiving $32 a day. After five months he joined a party of six to mine gold at Santa Anita, on what is now a part of "Lucky" Baldwin's ranch, but this proving a failure he entered into partnership with a Mr. Hulett, one of General Walker's comrades, of Sonora raid fame, and with him started by boat from Wilmington to San Francisco. Be- ing detained at Santa Barbara they fell in with a party of travelers, a member of whom was Professor Trask, the state geologist, and Mr. Hulett, being an educated man, joined the company as assistant geologist at a salary of $150 per month. Left without a partner Mr. Burke joined a party of three government wag- ·ons on their way to Fort Tejon, where he be- came their wheelwright, and later conducted a mercantile establishment in that location. Not meeting with the desired success in this line, he returned to Los Angeles and located a wheelwright business on Main street, where the German-American Savings Bank now stands, purchasing a lot with one hundred and fifty feet on Main and thirty feet on First street, for the sum of $95. Later he sold this for $500. About this time (1862) he was of- fered the site of the Nadeau hotel for $420, but did not buy. He carried on his shop success- fully for a few years, in the meantime becom- ing the owner of one hundred and thirty-five feet on the west side of Main street, in the cen- ter of the block, between Third and Fourth streets : in 1864 he traded this to ex-governor John D. Downey for two hundred and fifty acres of land at Downey. He established his home there and for the ensuing twenty-one years engaged in the cultivation and improve- ment of his property, carrying on general farming and also planting a walnut orchard, which has brought him large financial returns with the passing years. His money accumu-

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lated rapidly and he soon loaned it out at as high a rate of interest as two per cent a month. Through his marriage with Miss Mary Hun- ter, in 1855, he had five children, and desiring to give them landed property, he decided to purchase more land, and accordingly bought the old Barton place at Rivera, consisting of one hundred and ninety acres. Five acres of this ranch was devoted to a vineyard, and the first year he owned it each acre of the vine- yard netted him $200. This induced him to set out one hundred and seventy-five acres on his two ranches to vineyard, and the immense operations called for the building of a winery on the property. For some years he engaged extensively in the manufacture of wine, but after his vines were destroyed he planted wal- nuts and oranges. The greater part of his land he has now divided among his children, who are, named in order of birth : Frank, of Down- ey; Henry, who died leaving two children, a daughter, now deceased, and Pascal, who lives with his mother at Garvanza; Osburn, who lives a half mile south of Rivera; Kizzy, wife of Arthur White, of Rivera; and Ulila, wife of John Shade, near Rivera.

Mr. Burke's wife was born in Greene coun- ty, Ill., a daughter of Jesse and Keziah (Brown) Hunter, the former of whom was captain of a volunteer company in the Mex- ican war, and accompanied Generals Steven- son and Cook overland to acquire possession of California, and with the united forces of Commodore Stockton succeeded in taking Los Angeles. Captain Hunter was later appointed Indian agent but resigned, and driving a herd of cattle to northern California, engaged in the stock business. His family, consisting of wife and five children, came west in 1849 and settled in Sacramento, Cal., where their home remained for three years, when, in 1852, they removed to Los Angeles. In this city occurred the death of Captain Hunter in 1877, after hav- ing acquired possession of a large amount of land, owning a part of the Verdugo ranch, and having altogether thirty-seven hundred acres. His wife also died on the home ranch. They were the parents of the following named children : William, deceased; Asa, Mary, Jesse, Samuel, Martha and Elizabeth.

Throughout his entire life Mr. Burke has maintained a strong interest in all public questions, and although Democratic in his po- litical allegiance he is above all else a patriot- ic and loyal citizen, and can always be counted upon to further any plan for the advancement of the general welfare. A man of unusual ability. he has steadily risen to a position of financial independence, acquiring large prop- erties and at the same time building up for

himself an honored place in the citizenship of whatever community he has made his home. Early in his youth he showed signs of mechan- ical and inventive ability. engaging at the age of seventeen years with a partner in the turn- ing and calking of flat boats, and through an invention of a new process for this work Mr. Burke was paid the large sum of $10 per day. His personal characteristics, in youth and in manhood, have been such as to win for him a wide and lasting friendship throughout not only his home section, but the entire state, and give him a place among the representative cit- izens of the pioneer days of California.

CHARLES C. BROWN. As city engineer of Redlands Charles C. Brown has acquired a popularity and prominence which place him among the representative citizens of this sec- tion of Southern California. He was born in New Brunswick, near Woodstock, December 16, 1859, a son of Charles Brown, a native of the same locality and a pilot on the St. John's river until his death, at the age of forty-seven years. He was the descendant of English an- cestry, and married into an old Massachusetts family, his wife being Lizzie Hovey ; she sur- vived her husband and is now living in Nor- walk, Cal., at the age of seventy-four years, re- taining her health and faculties. They had two children, Sanford, residing in Norwalk, and Charles C., of this review.

When five years old Charles C. Brown was taken by his parents to Hodgdon, Me., attended its public schools and later became a student in Holton Academy, at Holton, Me., from which institution he was graduated in 1882. Enter- ing Colby University he took a four years' course and graduated therefrom with the de- gree of A. B. in 1886. He then came to Cali- fornia and in Los Angeles county entered the employ of the Santa Fe Railroad in the sur- vey corps and on the San Jacinto line worked on the coast line to San Diego. In 1887 he was engaged in surveying in Whittier and vicinity, laying out the town of Studebaker and several additions to Whittier. He also worked as a general surveyor and civil engineer on irrigating canals, and spent one year at Rands- burg as assayer and surveyor. During this time he made his home at Norwalk, Los Angeles county. Returning to Whittier he installed the Whittier water works, planning and building their present water system. In 1900 he came to Redlands in the interests of the Yucaipe Land & Water Company, planning and building their system to Crafton and East Redlands, which adds to their water supply an increase of two hundred and fifty inches. In 1902 he located in

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Redlands, having purchased two years previous a ranch where he had set out an orange grove and installed an irrigation system. He is now the owner of a ranch of two hundred acres of land with seventy acres under the pipe line, and forty acres are in oranges and some in al- falfa. He was appointed city engineer of Red- lands in February, 1905.

In Los Angeles Mr. Brown was united in marriage with Miss Amelia E. Shrake, a native of Indianapolis, Ind. They are members of the First Baptist Church of Redlands, and politi- cally Mr. Brown is a stanch advocate of Re- publican principles. Fraternally he was made a Mason in Whittier and is now a member of Redlands Lodge No. 300, F. & A. M., and is also identified with the Foresters. He is a member of the Board of Trade of Redlands and interested in the development and advance- ment of the city's welfare.

ALMER HUNT. The tract of land which has been under the supervision. of Mr. Hunt for some years and which he is operating with a gratifying degree of success comprises two hun- dred and fifteen acres lying near Downey. When he came to California at the age of about twen- ty-eight years he secured employment for some months with a hay press at Hynes and then be- came a laborer on a ranch. After a month in that capacity he was made foreman and now rents the same place, of which he has one hun- dred acres in alfalfa and makes a specialty of the milk industry. On the ranch there are sixty milch cows with twenty-two head of young cat- tle, and the milk from the dairy is handled by the Alpine Farm & Dairy Company. An abundance of water is provided by four wells operated by two pumping plants. In addition to the dairy industry, he is also interested in the breeding of fine horses, owning some of the finest breeds to be found in the state. On Maplewood stock ranch, as his place is known, mav be seen the following: Leland Rex 34546, a handsome bay of eleven hundred and eighty pounds; Ventura, a dapple gray Percheron, of nineteen hundred and seventy-five pounds; Black Louie, a black Belgian stallion of fourteen hundred pounds ; Richwood, a black Silkwood pacer, weight twelve hundred pounds; and Grover, the latter a large Spanish jack, weight nine hundred and seventy- five pounds.

In the southern part of Ingham county, Mich .. Almer Hunt was born October 19. 1875, being a son of J. H. and Mary J. (Barnum) Hunt, natives respectively of Michigan and New York. and both now deceased. Throughout all of his active life the father followed the trade of a millwright. There were in the family a son and

two daughters, the latter both living in Mich- igan. The former, whose name introduces this sketch, was given such advantages as the com- mon schools of Ingham county afforded and at an early age became self-supporting through his work in the lumber woods. Not only did he have charge of a lumber camp in Clare county, Mich., but in addition for three years he owned a camp of his own. On disposing of his inter- ests in Michigan he came to California in 1902 and has since been busily engaged in farm activities in Los Angeles county.

The marriage of Mr. Hunt took place in Mich- igan February 25, 1900, and united him with Emma A. Lent, a native of Pennsylvania, and a daughter of C. A. and Sarah A. (Gore) Lent, natives of Pennsylvania and for many years farmers of Michigan. Eventually Mr. Lent brought his family to California and settled in the southern part of the state. At this writing he is employed as foreman of a borax company in Death valley. In his family there were five children, Mrs. Hunt being the oldest. To the information gleaned from text-books during her school years she has added the culture derived from careful reading of the best literature, and has further broadened and deepened her life by the element of religion, being a faithful member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. To her only child, Albert J., both she and Mr. Hunt are giv- ing all the opportunities within their power in order that he may be trained for a useful man- hood. While Mr. Hunt has never been active in politics he is none the less pronounced in his views and favors the Republican platform in national questions. During his residence in Michigan he was an active member of the Tent of the Maccabees and also holds connection with the Modern Woodmen of America.

AUGUST ALBERT GOETTING. A lib- eral, enterprising citizen, August Albert Goett- ing is prominent among the upbuilders of River- side and San Bernardino counties, having been engaged as an agriculturist in this section since 1891. He was born in Gallipolis, Gallia county, Ohio, March 2, 1862, the third in a family of six sons and three daughters born to his parents, August and Frederika (Hess) Goetting. They were both natives of Germany, where they were married, immigrating to America when Mr. Goetting was but twenty-four years old. Locat- ing in Ohio, he cleared and improved a hundred and sixty-acre farm, on which he and his wife are now living, he being seventy-five and she seventy-three years old. In religion they are members of the Lutheran Church.

August Albert Goetting was the eldest son in the family and was reared on the paternal

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farm in Ohio, receiving his education in the public schools. He remained at home until at- taining his majority, when he went to Frank- lin county and secured employment on a farm, as that was the work in which he had early been trained. In 1889 he came to California and in Los Angeles entered the employ of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company, as a carpenter in the bridge and building department. He was located between Fresno and Reno, Nev., for two years, when he returned to Southern California and in San Timoteo cañon, near El Casco, established an apiary. This enterprise he continued suc- cessfully until 1895, when he rented the old C. W. Gower place and continued the management of an apiary and general farming. In October, 1906, he purchased his present farm, which con- sists of one hundred and sixty acres, well im- proved and highly cultivated, general farming and an apiary of two hundred stands occupying his attention. He has been very successful in his work and is esteemed among the farmers of this section both for his ability as an agricult- urist, as well as personal qualities of character, his liberality and enterprise placing him high in the citizenship of El Casco.

August 14, 1898, Mr. Goetting was married to Miss Annie J. Singleton, a native of this section and a daughter of William Singleton. In his fraternal relations Mr. Goetting is a member of the Odd Fellows lodge of Redlands and polit- ically he is a stanch adherent of Democratic principles. He is a member of the California Bee Keepers' Association, in which he takes an active and helpful interest.

LOUIS SENTOUS. One of the upbuilders of Los Angeles and a man of energy and enter- prise, is Louis Sentous, who is also a member of a" family whose name is prominent in various avenues of business activity. As the name would indicate he is of French parentage, his birth having occurred in Haute-Garonne, France, July 28, 1839. His parents were Francisco and Marie (Rouillon) Sentous, whose entire lives were spent in their native country, where the father engaged as a prosperous farmer and stockman. Louis Sentous was reared on the paternal farm to the age of sixteen years, when he decided to follow the example of his elder brother, John, who in 1852 had emigrated to America and located in California. Accordingly December 29, 1855, he took passage at Havre on the sailer Gutre, which made the passage to San Francisco via Cape Horn. They encountered the most severe storms at the Horn and made only sixty miles in sixty-two days, everyone even to the ship's officers having given up hope of the boat weathering the storm. The added length

of the voyage caused them to run out of provi- sions and they were compelled to sacrifice all the livestock on board, even to the dogs, which were killed and eaten. However, they passed safely through these trying times and on July 16, 1856, they reached San Francisco, after a voyage of seven months and nineteen days.

Mr. Sentous at once made his way to the mines of Calaveras county, where he engaged in placer mining and after making several hundred dollars he came to Los Angeles, which city he reached October 29, 1859. The rains had come early that fall and he found the hills and valleys green and the verdure of the mountains pre- sented a beautiful sight, on the trip from San Pedro to Los Angeles, noting grass eighteen inches high. Some of the party in their rapture declared they would never leave such a beautiful country. The first year in Southern California was spent by Mr. Sentous in working for B. Revierra, who had a dairy in the Pueblo de los Angeles, which then numbered about twenty-five hundred people, the most southerly business place of any kind being an old brewery and a small store at Third and Main streets. About a year after coming to this section Mr. Sentous was thrown from a horse and seriously sprained his leg. He was sent to the French hospital at San Francisco, where the surgeon said he would have to amputate the limb. Mr. Sentous re- fused to undergo the operation and declared he would take his chances of recovering as he was. Two months later he was able to leave the hos- pital and from San Francisco he went to the mines in Calaveras county, from there to Co- lumbia and then to Sonoratown, Tuolumne county, where he purchased a farm, cleared and improved it and engaged in the dairy business. Disposing of this interest in 1866 he returned to Los Angeles and in the vicinity of the city engaged in the stock business, ranging his cattle in the San Fernando valley. In 1868 he drove his herd of cattle to San Francisco and sold them and the following year bought a band of cattle, six hundred and eighty in number. from a man who had just brought them from Texas, and after disposing of them in the San Fran- cisco markets he concluded to make a visit to his home in France. He accordingly made the journey over the railroad which had just been completed, thence taking passage on a steamer from New York City and arriving safely in his old home in France. He remained there for a little more than a year, and while there married Miss. Bernadotte Laserra, and with his bride -re- turned to Los Angeles in 1870.

He again began the cattle business, purchasing a ranch on the Tehachapi, and three years later, in addition to this enterprise, he became in- terested with two of his brothers, P. Marie and

Louis Avenueis~

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Alphonse Sentous, in the establishment and maintenance of a meat market in Los Angeles, but the two brothers sold to their other brothers, Vincente and Exupere. They were first located on Aliso and Los Angeles streets, and remained so engaged until 1896, when they sold out and dissolved partnership, and Louis Sentous having previously established a wholesale butcher busi- ness and meat market at No. 6 North Main street, purchased the site and later put up the Sentous block, which extends from Main to San Fernando streets. Later he incorporated the Sentous Pack- ing Company with Ed C. Conet, his son-in-law, of which enterprise Mr. Sentous was president and manager for some years. Their business was conducted in the Sentous block, where they had three stores 55xII0 feet in dimensions. Dur- ing this time he was also largely interested in the raising of stock on his Puente ranch, which consists of eighteen hundred acres of land well watered and susceptible of irrigation because of this. The purchase before the property was di- vided among the brothers amounted to fifty- three hundred and twenty acres. In 1905 he sold his interest in the Sentous Packing Company and since that period has given his time entirely to the raising of cattle and horses on his well- improved ranch. Besides the interests named Mr. Sentous was identified with other enter- prises in the city of Los Angeles, having erected a business house at the corner of Buena Vista and Bellevue, which he later sold to the Pacific Electric Railway, and built a business house on Castelar street, which he owns in connection with the Sentous block.

Mr. Sentous built a fine residence at No. 1802 Toberman street, which is now the home of the family. To himself and wife have been born three children, namely: Jules, who is a prom- inent Mason; Mary Louise, Mrs. Conet, of Ven- tura ; and Narcisse, Mrs. Garner of Los Angeles. Mr. Sentous is a stanch Republican in his polit- ical affiliations, and although never desirous of official recognition personally gives his best ef- forts to advance the principles he endorses. He is an honored member of the French Benevolent Society of Los Angeles. Liberal and progressive in spirit he has won for himself a place of prom- inence among the representative citizens who hold him in high esteem for his splendid qual- ities of mind and heart.

LOUIS BRENNEIS. Numbered among the pioneer business men of Oxnard is Louis Brenneis, proprietor of the blacksmith, car- riage and implement works that since its es- tablishment in 1899 has been operated under his name. The building which he occupies and which was erected under his supervision

stands on the plaza, covering a floor space of 100XI40 feet, and is equipped with all the modern and scientific improvements, including a gas engine of eight-horse power, an electric dynamo of ten-horse power, three fires with power blowers and a Killifer power hammer. In addition to blacksmithing and machine work for several years he engaged in the hard- ware and agricultural implement business, but eventually sold the stock, and since then has given his attention to practical and scientific horse-shoeing, and the manufacture and re- pair of wagons, carriages and farming imple- ments.

By birth and ancestry Mr. Brenneis is of the German race, and his parents, Louis and Eliz- abeth (Bilz) Brenneis, were natives and life- long residents of Heidelberg, Baden. For many years the father filled the office of aud- itor, but eventually he retired from office and a few years later he passed away, since which time the mother has continued at the old home- stead. All of their eight children are still liv- ing, Louis being the second in order of birth, and he was born at Heidelberg August 31, 1868. As a boy he attended a gymnasium in Heidelberg, but left school at the age of four- teen. In 1883 he came to the United States and secured employment in New York City. After eighteen months in the metropolis he proceeded west as far as Kansas, where he re- mained during one winter at Manhattan. In the spring of 1887 he went to Pleasanton, Ala- meda county, Cal., where he became an ap- prentice to the trade of blacksmith and horse- shoer under his uncle, J. A. Bilz. On the com- pletion of his apprenticeship three years later he began to work in the employ of J. H. Dutcher at Livermore, Alameda county, where he remained for five years.

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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 6

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