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 88

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

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land, buying a ranclı of seven hundred and twenty acres, which he is managing with ex- cellent pecuniary profits. On this ranch he has a large dairy also, milking on an average sixty cows a day and separating the cream, which he ships to San Diego. Here he raises all of the grain needed for food, his land being rich and productive.

In 1881 Mr. Rotanzi married Katie Wilson, who was born in California, a daughter of Fred- erick Wilson, who immigrated to America from Germany, locating in this state. Three children have been born of the union of Mr. and Mrs. Rotanzi, namely: Mary, Birdie and Alwin. Po- litically Mr. Rotanzi is a firm adherent of the Republican party, and in their religious beliefs both he and Mrs. Rotanzi are Catholics.

MIGUEL ANTONIO AGUIRRE. Southern California will always retain the influence upon it of the Spanish race in the characteristics of its inhabitants, and the names of the old families will never be forgotten, for they are planted all over the state, not only in the individual repre- sentatives of the families, but in their adoption as titles for cities, counties, streets, etc., and the descendants of these families also retain ownership in some of the finest properties of the state. Miguel Antonio Aguirre is one of the most prominent Spanish gentlemen to whom the foregoing may be properly applied. He was born at San Diego, August 25, 1849, of Spanish parents, Jose A. and Rosario (Estudillo) Aguirre. His father, who was a silk merchant, came to the United States, carrying on his trade between the ports of California and Japan. In 1833 he was naturalized as a citizen of the United States at New Orleans and about 1843 located at Santa Barbara, and as he still owned vessels carried on business as a dealer in hides and tallow and supplied the old missions with those commodities which it was necessary for them to purchase. He later removed to San Diego, about the year 1846, and engaged in general mer- chandising, owning as well several ranches at different locations, among them being the one at San Jacinto, which the son now owns, and another near Compton, besides carrying on an extensive stock business. He was married in San Diego in 1847 and had four children : Miguel Antonio, the oldest; Dolores, who became the wife of Francisco Pico, mentioned elsewhere in this history; Jose A., who has an official posi- tion at the Folsom prison ; and Martin G., now of Los Angeles, formerly warden at San Quentin under Governor Gage. The father died July 31, 1860.

After completing his education at Santa Clara and St. Vincent's colleges Mr. Aguirre immedi-

ately engaged in ranching, and later became a partner with Mr. Pico in the wholesale butcher- ing business in Los Angeles, their establishment being one of the first started in that city. In 1877 he removed to San Jacinto and engaged in grain and stock-raising, building a house and barns and otherwise improving the premises which he occupied. He owns fifty acres of this ranch, twelve acres near Compton, in Los Angeles county, besides which he rents and culti- vates one thousand acres in the Moreno valley, owning about forty dairy cows.

Mr. Aguirre's marriage to Rudecinda Pico, a sister of Francisco Pico, occurred at Los An- geles, September 9, 1880, and of this union nine children were born, namely: Elena, Jose, Rosa- rio, Martin, Dolores, Francisco, Marie, Anita and Carlos. The mother died September 4, 1895, at the age of sixty-five years. Mr. Aguirre is a member of the Native Sons of the Golden West at San Jacinto, and a devoted communi- cant of the Catholic Church. He is a man who takes a great interest in all matters of public import, is a constituent of the Democratic party, and for six years was deputy treasurer of San Diego county.

WILLIAM H. WITHAM. Many of the rep- resentative business men of Los Angeles county are of New England birth and breeding, and with their quick perceptive faculties, practical judg- ment and energetic activity, become conspicuous in the upbuilding of the cities and towns in which they settle. Conspicuous among this number is W. H. Witham, a comparatively new-comer in Glendale, of which he became a resident in 1902. A son of J. G. Witham, he was born April 20, 1860, in Southington, Hartford county, Conn., of thrifty colonial ancestry.

A native of Connecticut, J. G. Witham was there reared and spent his long and useful life of eighty-three years. He had an excellent train- ing in the use of tools, and during his active ca- reer was employed in carpentering and building. He married Laura Buck, who belonged to an old and prominent New England family. She died when forty-eight years of age, leaving three chil- dren, two of whom reside in California, namely : J. N. Witham, living near Glendale, where he is a large orange and strawberry grower; and W. H., the special subject of this sketch.

Having obtained a good common school educa- tion in the city of his birth, W. H. Witham worked for his father until he had acquired profi- ciency in the carpenter's trade, which he followed first in his native state, both in Southington and in neighboring places. Becoming skillful and successful as a contractor and builder, he sought new fields of operation, and, after the destruction

Josef a. Morrison

EZRA MORRISON

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of Charleston, S. C., by an earthquake, he went there and materially assisted in rebuilding the city. January 1, 1902, he established himself in Glendale, where he has since been busily em- ployed at his chosen occupation, and has won a fine reputation for his workmanship. As a con- tractor and carpenter he has erected many of the buildings of this locality, including his own resi- dence and the one adjoining it, both being built in the mission style.

In Connecticut, in 1890, Mr. Witham married Emma Gilbert, a daughter of William and Emily (Funk) Gilbert. On the paternal side Mrs. Wit- ham is of New England stock, her father having been born in Connecticut, while on the maternal side she is of German origin, her mother having been a native of Baden, Germany. Mr. and Mrs. Witham are held in high esteem throughout the community in which they live, and are valued members of the Theosophical Society. Politic- ally Mr. Witham is independent in his views, voting without regard to party lines, and frater- nally he belongs to East Gate Lodge No. 290, F. & A. M., of Los Angeles.

JOSEPH A. MORRISON. The name of Joseph A. Morrison is connected with all that is substantial in character, excellent in ranch- ing and admirable in social life in the Santa Maria valley. Few among those who may be called early settlers have contributed more to the harmony of their surroundings, the delight of their friends or the encouragement of the rising generation. Mr. Morrison is the owner of a quarter section of land, which, though a former possession of his father, has been purchased by the son with means acquired through personal toil, economy and good management. He was born in Warren coun- ty, Ohio, June 28, 1843, and is a son of Ezra and Martha Jane (Van Horn) Morrison, also natives of the Buckeye state.

Ezra Morrison was reared on a farm in Ohio, and subsequently succeeded to a prop- erty of his own which he operated for many years. The discovery of gold on the Pacific coast during the middle of the last century diffused a new current through his method of life and thought, opening up a quicker road to fortune than farming upon the prairies of the central west. It was typical of the man, though, that the gold fever which possessed him did not partake of that blindly speculative quality that usually characterized it. On the contrary, upon reaching Trinity Center, Trin- ity county, Cal., in the fall of 1855. he spent but a short time in the mines, and then settled down to sawmilling as his chief means of live- lihood, regarding mining from then on as in-

cidental and hardly dependable. So strong was his faith in the future of the state that he made his way back to Ohio in the fall of 1860, and in the spring of 1861 brought his family across the plains with wagons and mule teams, his most able assistant being his son, Joseph A., then eighteen years of age. Leaving the family in Sacramento in July, 1862, Mr. Mor- rison returned to Trinity county, where he continued to engage in sawmilling and mining until 1868, during that year locating upon a farm in Butte county, this state. Sixteen years later, in 1884, he came to the Santa Maria valley, bought the farm now owned by his son, Joseph A., and continued to make this his home until his death, October 6, 1905, at the age of eighty-eight years, eleven months and six days. His wife died in Kansas at the age of sixty years. After the death of his first wife he married Anna E. Osborne and two children were born in Butte county, John H. and George W. Subsequently he was married to Amanda M. Carman. Mr. Morrison pos- sessed force of character and determination, and that he was a shrewd business man was evident from the fact that at the close of his life he owned ten hundred and sixty acres of land. He was a Republican in politics, a Pres- byterian in religion, and for years was a mem- ber of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

Joseph A. Morrison followed the changing fortunes of his father until the latter's removal to Butte county in 1868. He first engaged in teaming in Sacramento in 1861 and '62 and then worked at mining among the crude sur- roundings of Trinity county until the fall of 1870. Up to this time his wealth consisted rather of experience than money, and it was with a wholesome respect for the safe and sure reward of farming that he returned to his native state of Ohio in 1870. Doubtless the Buckeye prairies sent forth to the coast a still more alluring call, for he soon married Alice Apgar. a native daughter of Ohio, with whom lie settled on a rented farm for four years. In the meantime two children were born to lıim- self and wife, of whom Estella is the wife of Stephen Runnels of San Luis Obispo county, and Roland, a rancher of this valley, married Pearl Wylie. In 1877 Mr. Morrison sold his stock and farm equipment and purchased a quarter section of land in Washington county, Kans., where he lived until 1891, and where three of his children were born: Frank, an electrician, of San Francisco, who married Sa- die McCaw; Blanche, the wife of Abraham Ri- mirez, of Los Angeles; and Joseph A., Jr., liv- ing with his father.

Mr. Morrison came to the Santa Maria val- iey in 1891, and lived on rented land until pur-

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chasing one hundred and sixty acres of his father's estate. His ranch is fertile and well improved, and devoted principally to grain and beans. Two years after coming here, in 1893, his wife died at the age of forty years, and in January, 1904, he was united in marriage with Mrs. Jane Shea, a native of Vermont, and a member of the Catholic Church. In 1901 Mr. Morrison added to his many experiences a trip to the Klondike, where he prospected and mined for a few months. He has been an ob- serving traveler, and in settled and frontier communities has drawn valuable deductions and evolved sound philosophies. He has made friends wherever fortune has directed his steps, and his genial and interesting personal- ity, his generosity and kindly intent have smoothed many rough places in a career rich in incident and useful in scope.

JOSEPH W. YOUNG, JR. As a member of the Young-Parmley Investment Company Mr. Young has been interested in the real estate busi- ness in Long Beach since October, 1905, the incorporation of the company following one year later. Both Mr. Young and his partner are capable and energetic business men and in the comparatively short time which they have been in business have gathered around them one of the largest real estate enterprises in the city. While they handle business and residence prop- erty of all kinds, their specialty may be said to lie in subdividing large tracts and selling the lots as homesteads. The following is a partial list of the tracts which they have thus subdivided : Young and Parmley's annexation, Young and Parmley's tract, Windemere, Signal Park, East Long Beach, North Long Beach, Jessie, Hill street and Hillside tracts, besides laying out the town of Hynes.

Joseph W. Young is a native of the east, born in New York City August 4, 1881, a son of Joseph Wesley and Rose (Fisher) Young, the latter of French descent. The paternal grand- father, Joseph Young, was a cotton planter in Tennessee, but in an early day left the south and settled as a pioneer in California, his death oc- curring in San Francisco during the memorable days of '49. On his father's plantation near Memphis, Tenn., Joseph W. Young, Sr., was born, and at the time of his parents' removal to the west he was quite young. At one time he was proprietor of the Jumbo hotel in Salt Lake City, but in the main his interests have been along the line of mining. For many years he had mining claims in California, but at this writ- ing his interests are almost wholly. in Nevada.

Of the three children born to his parents, Joseph W. Young, Jr .. was the eldest and re- ceived his early school training in New York

City. When only eleven years old he started out to make his own way in the world, and that he has been successful in accomplishing his pur- pose has already been demonstrated. When he had secured sufficient means to warrant fur- ther schooling he took a two-year course in Gonzaga College in Spokane, Wash. Few young men of his years have had the world-wide experience which has fallen to Mr. Young's lot, for he has sailed in all of the principal waters of the globe, having shipped as a sailor on a vessel which touched port in China, Japan and Australia among other places. The years front 1898 to 1901 were spent in Alaska, all of which country he has traversed by boat. It was in 1903 that he came to Long Beach and en- gaged as a salesman in the real estate business with Frank Shaw for a short time. Thereafter he carried on a similar business alone until his association with Mr. Parmley, the business being later incorporated as the Young-Parmley In- vestment Company.

In Long Beach Mr. Young was married to Miss Jessie Cook, a native of Footville, Wis., and two sons, John Marshall and Joseph W., have been born to them. Fraternally Mr. Young is a member of the Benevolent Pro- tective Order of Elks. He is also a inember of the Chamber of Commerce and the Cos- mopolitan Club, and in his political inclinations is a Republican.

GEORGE CHARNOCK. Situated on the Charnock road one-half mile South of Palms lies the ranch which, since 1884, has been the home of George Charnock and the center of his varied activities. The one hundred and fifty acres comprising the estate were purchased for $10 an acre by the present owner. By reason of the improvements made and also the general rise in land values, the tract is now valued at about $500 per acre and therefore represents large finan- cial holdings on the part of Mr. Charnock. Gen- eral farming engages his attention and in addi- tion he has been interested in dairying for a num- ber of years. Through sagacious management he secures from the property a fair income as well as interest on the investment represented.

By birth and lineage Mr. Charnock is a rep- resentative of the English race, by the associa- tions of boyhood he is a Canadian, and by choice of citizenship he is identified with the United States. Born in the shire of Lancaster, England. December 18, 1835, he is a son of John and Anna Sophia ( Pearce) Charnock, natives re- spectively of Preston and Liverpool, England. At one time the family had possessed wealth and the maternal grandfather had held lands and slaves in the West Indies. The father was reared

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on a farm, but in early life turned his attention to the mercantile business and later lost large sums of money in the hotel business. For two years he carried on the Clifton Arms hotel at Lythan, an unusually large inn, whose furnish- ings cost him about $75,000, and afterward he conducted a hotel at Preston, England, but both ventures brought him heavy losses.

Hoping to retrieve his losses in America Jolin Charnock brought his family to the new world in May, of 1843. For ten years he engaged in farming in Canada and then settled on a farm near Madison, Wis., but two years later re- moved to Minnesota, where he took up govern- ment land in Dodge county and improved a farm. The possessor of a splendid constitution, he re- mained active and robust until his last sickness at eighty-six years of age. After coming to America he gave his allegiance to the Republican party, and in religion he was always faithful to the doctrines of the Church of England. His wife, who also was an earnest Episcopalian, died four years after they settled in Canada and- was then forty-seven years of age. Ten children were born of their union, but one died before they left England.

When the family settled in Canada George Charnock was a boy of seven years, and he re- mained on a farm there until he was seventeen. On coming to the States he aided his father in developing a farm in Wisconsin and went from there to Minnesota, where at the age of twenty- one years he took up a pre-emption claim in Brown county. As owing to the hostilities of the Indians it was unsafe to remain in that sparsely settled region, he returned to his father's home in Dodge county. Purchasing the home place, he tilled its soil for a long period, but sold out in 1882 and removed to Nevada, where his brother, John J., had preceded him. With him he became interested in raising sheep near Eu- reka, where he had a large range and thousands of sheep in his flocks. Next he went to Arizona with the intention of engaging in the sheep busi- ness, but the Indians were hostile and numerous, and in a year he abandoned his holdings and removed to the Pacific coast.

The marriage of Mr. Charnock took place April 2, 1868, and united him with Miss Esther Irene Marcy, a native of Pennsylvania, and from which state her grandfather went to the front as captain of a company in the Revolutionary war. Two sons were born to the union of Mr. and Mrs. Charnock, namely: Nathan Snow, now liv- ing at Pasadena; and George Bancroft, who is associated with his father in the management of the home ranch. Politically Mr. Charnock votes with the Republican party in national elec- tions, but in local matters he maintains liberal

views, believing the character and intelligence of the candidate to be of greater importance than his ideas concerning national problems. In the community where for about one-quarter of a century he has made his home, he is honored as a man of upright character, tireless energy, va- ried agricultural knowledge and high principles of honor.

GEORGE SAMUEL BENSON. But little more than two years have elapsed since George Samuel Benson located in Long Beach, yet in his work as a merchant and real estate dealer he has ably demonstrated qualities which give him a place among the representative citizens of this section. He is a native of Livingston county, Mo., and was born December 22, 1852. His father, Ira Benson, was born in Baltimore county, Md., in 1826, and when twelve years of age was brought to the middle west by his father, Samuel Benson, who located in Tren- ton, Mo. Ira Benson was there reared to young manhood, when he enlisted in the Mexican war and served until its close as a lieutenant under Captain Slack. Returning home in 1849 he spent one year there, and, in 1850, outfitted with ox- teams and crossed the plains to California. Upon his arrival in the state he followed the example of the great majority and engaged in mining, but later conducted a provision store on the American river. In 1851 he returned to the east by way of Cape Horn, experiencing many hardships, and on account of storms, was forced to put in for re- pairs at Peru. He reached his home in safety, however, and in Chillicothe, Mo., engaged as a farmer and hotel keeper until his death, which occurred in the winter of 1862, at the age of thirty-six years. His wife, formerly Saralı Mon- roe, a native of Cooper county, Mo., died in that state in October, 1904, at the age of seventy- two years.

Ira Benson and his wife became the parents of one son and three daughters, of whom the son, George Samuel, was the oldest child. He re- ceived his education in the common schools of his native state and in young manhood followed his early training and engaged as a farmer. He finally became connected with the grocery busi- ness in Chillicothe, remaining there until 1902, in which year he went to Oklahoma and in Nor- man established a laundry enterprise. After two years in that business and location he came to California, in March. 1904. locating at Long Beach, where he established the George S. Benson & Son grocery business, located at the corner of Sixth and American avenue, an enterprise which proved successful. Subsequently, however, he gave un the business, and in July. 1906, em- barked in the real estate business under the name

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of Benson, Fager & Benson, with offices at 350 Pine avenue, where they do a general real estate and insurance business.

In Missouri Mr. Benson married Anna Mar- low, native of that place. Her father, P. M. Mar- low, was a teamster in the Mexican war and in 1849 he crossed the plains to California and en- gaged in mining on the American river. He eventually returned to Missouri, in which state his death occurred. Mr. and Mrs. Benson are the parents of five children, namely : John Paul, engaged with his father in the real estate busi- ness; S. Ethel, M. Fay, Claude M., in the city clerk's office, and A. Ruth. In his fraternal re- lations Mr. Benson is a member of Long Beach Lodge No. 327, F. & A. M., and Long Beach Lodge No. 888, B. P. O. E. Politically he is a Democrat on national issues, while locally he re- serves the right to vote for the man whom he considers best qualified for public office. On this issue, in April, 1906, he was elected a member of the board of trustees of Long Beach and is serving as chairman of the police and sanitary committee and is a member of the committee on public works. He is a member of the First Bap- tist Church, in which he officiates as trustee. In 1906 he erected a modern and commodious resi- dence at No. 351 East Sixth street.

THE HOLLYWOOD HOTEL. No more commodious and home-like hostelry can be found in this part of Los Angeles county than the Holly- wood hotel, whose reputation for dispensing good cheer as well as the more substantial comforts of life are proverbial. The hotel was established by G. W. Hoover, who also built the original structure in 1902. Two years later it was sold to Mrs. M. J. Anderson and still later was merged into a stock company, who enlarged and refur- nished the hotel throughout, and at this writ- ing (1906) still another addition is being con- structed, which will give it a total of two hun- dred rooms. The company owning this structure and carrying forward the improvements was cap- italized for $100,000 in 1904, but on December I, 1906, the valuation of the hotel was placed at $230,000. Besides owning the plant which fur- nishes light for the building, they also have a cold storage and compressed air plant. In fact, everything connected with the hotel and its man- agement is first-class, one of the finest six-piece bands dispensing music for the pleasure of guests while meals are being served and during the evening hours.

The management of the Hollywood hotel is un+ der the immediate care of Mrs. M. J. Anderson, who is ably assisted by her son, Stanley S. An- derson. Mrs. Anderson was born in Iowa and was brought to the west by her father, Rev.

Robert Boag. Formerly he was a minister, but is now living retired in Los Angeles. By her marriage Mrs. Anderson became the mother of two children, Stanley S. and Ruth C., the latter a student in the Marlborough school, Los An- geles. The son, Stanley S., was born in the- San Gabriel valley and attended the primary schools of that locality, finishing his education by taking a course in the Los Angeles Business College. It was with this preparation that he came to the Hollywood hotel to become an assist- ant to his mother in the care and management of one of the largest hostelries in this part of the country outside of Los Angeles.

ELMER BACON. When the stalwart farm- ers of the east were beginning to seek new lands further removed from the Atlantic seaboard, Samuel Bacon, who was a native of New Jersey (born at Bridgeton, according to family tradi- tions), took his household goods and traveled across the country to Ohio. Arriving in what is now Trumbull county he selected a tract of land lying on the banks of the Mahoning river, where a fertile valley smiled upon the waters of the tranquil stream and gave to the location an at- mosphere of romance. In that neighborhood, in the township of Bazetta, he platted a town, to which the name of Baconsburg was given in his honor, but at a later date the name was changed to Cortland. There he passed the remaining years of his busy life and there he passed away at about the time of the Civil war. After he set- tled in Ohio he married and reared a family, among whom was Moses, who was born in War- ren, Trumbull county, and died in the same lo- cality after a life devoted to dairy farming. In his marriage he was united to Eliza Hovey, who was born in Ohio and remained in the same state until death.

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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 88

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