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 94

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 94

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Mr. Eymann is a man of great inventive talent as well as a business man of ability. In 1895 he received from the United States government a patent that was an improvement on a patent that he then possessed, it being a valuable invention utilizing a combination of coal and gas ranges. In introducing it to the public he traveled over one-half of the states of the Union, and from the royalty now given him by its manufacturers, the J. L. Mott Iron Works Company, of New York City, he re- ceives a good annual income. He also has other

Stan a. Ruved.

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incomplete inventions, one contemplated one being the taking of electric currents from the earth and using them in stationary engines. He is an expert in oil and water, and has acted in this capacity in Southern California for a number of years, always with satisfactory re- sults. He is a fine business man, and has ac- quired extensive property interests in Ocean Park, San Joaquin valley and Tulare county.

In Europe, in 1894, Mr. Eymann married Dorothea H. Schellens, a daughter of Richard Schellens, a noted railway man, who is a government director of all the railroads in the Rhine provinces, and an inventor of the Schel- lens railway train blocking devices. Mr. and Mrs. Eymann have one child, Gilbert H. W. Eymann. Fraternally Mr. Eymann is a mem- ber of the Independent Order of Foresters.

WILLIAM A. REEVES. As a well known and highly respected rancher and dairyman, William A. Reeves is located in the vicinity of Hynes and engaged in the management of his business, which has brought him a com- petence and placed him among the successful men of this community. He is a native son, his birth having occurred near El Monte, Los Angeles county, January 7, 1862, his parents, Samuel and Lydia (Cleminson) Reeves, being natives respectively of Kentucky and Missouri. They were the first white people married in San Diego, the father having crossed the plains in 1849; he teamed for a time from the port of Wilmington to Los Angeles, and finally re- moved to El Monte and took up government land, making that place his home for a few years, when he located in. Azusa. He there owned thirty acres upon which he made his home for fifteen years, when he sold out and came to the vicinity of Hynes and purchased ten acres with his son, but made his home in Hynes, where his death occurred at the age of seventy-two years. The mother is still sur- viving and makes her home in Clearwater at the age of seventy years. She became the mother of eight children, of whom the follow- ing are living: William A., of this review; Mrs. Mary Dougherty, a widow ; Lucetta, wife of D. W. McDonald, of Santa Ana; Minnie, wife of H. W. Snodgrass, of Covina; Lillian, who resides with her mother at Clearwater, and Ina, wife of John G. Lewis, residing near Hynes. Mr. Reeves was a stanch Republican in politics and while in Azusa served as justice of the peace.

In El Monte William A Reeves received his education in the public schools, and also at- tended school in Azusa. He worked at home until his marriage, which occurred in 1885,

when he went to San Bernardino and about three miles up Lytle creek engaged in ranch- ing. After four years he removed to Santa Monica and engaged in the stock business, raising beef for the market and making that place his home for ten years. He finally took up a government claim of one hundred and sixty acres, the greater part of which was grazing land, and improved the property with buildings and by setting out a fine orchard. Subsequently he sold out at Santa Monica and coming to the vicinity of Hynes purchased his present property of twenty-five acres, all devoted to the raising of alfalfa, and he also leases forty-five acres devoted to alfalfa, beets, and pasture land. He has a dairy of twenty- four cows and disposes of his product to the Crescent Cream Company through the Hynes Co-operative Creamery Company, of which he is a member.

To Mr. Reeves and his wife were born three children, namely: Claude, Lyda and Pearl. Before marriage Mrs. Reeves was Miss Molly E. Swinney; she was born in Missouri, a daughter of Henry G. and Cordelia (Shores) Swinney, natives respectively of Kentucky and Pike county, Mo. The family came to Cali- fornia in 1870 and here the father engaged in ranching and the sale of real estate until his death, which occurred in 1901, at the age of sixty-seven years. During the Civil war Mr. Swinney enlisted in a Kentucky regiment and was taken prisoner and confined in prison for some time. Mrs. Swinney still survives and makes her home at Ocean Park, Cal. Besides Mrs. Reeves she is the mother of the following children : Laura, wife of William Clark, of Los Angeles ; James, of Alamitos Bay ; Rudolph, of Roseberry : and William, residing with the mother at Ocean Park.

Mr. Reeves is a stanch Republican in his political convictions and takes a keen interest in the advancement of these principles. He served for some years as a school trustee in Santa Monica. Mrs. Reeves is a member of the United Brethren Church.

FRANK BROCKMAN PETTIS. When the early years of the '50s were drawing thousands of strong, self-reliant young men from the east to the unknown shores of the western sea. B. F. Pettis, who was a native of Syracuse, N. Y., and a blacksmith by trade, joined a party of emi- grants bound for the west with wagons and oxen. In common with many of the early set- tlers, he was anxious to tempt Dame Fortune in the gold mines and this plan he carried out, only to find that the goddess was fickle and re- fused to respond to his labors in the mines of the

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mountains. Thereupon he sought a more re- liable if less fascinating occupation, and took up the work of horse-shoeing in Alpine county, working both in the towns of Genoa and Mark- leeville. A brief subsequent experience in placer mining was followed by his removal further south, and in 1871 he arrived at Goleta, Santa Barbara county, accompanied by his family. Soon after his arrival he bought a blacksmith's shop and afterward engaged at blacksmithing until his retirement from business cares, since which time he has remained at Goleta, honored by the entire community as a man of warm heart, fine principles of honor and unquestioned integrity.

After coming to California B. F. Pettis met and married Mary Brockman, who was born in Sonoma county, Cal., and died at Goleta, Santa Barbara county. Her father, Capt. Israel Brock- man, was a pioneer of 1846 in California, having come to the then territory with General Fre- mont's expedition, and serving as an officer in the Mexican war. Upon the close of that strug- gle he settled in Sonoma county, of which he was a pioneer, and in 1850 was elected sheriff, the first incumbent of the office in that county. Not long afterward he removed to Mexico with the intention of settling, but he failed to make satisfactory arrangements for land with the Mexican government, and therefore returned to California, where he secured large tracts on the Sweetwater in San Diego county. After a long and unusually active existence he passed away in San Diego, and was followed to his last rest- ing place by tributes of respect and admiration from old and young. With his departure an- other link was broken binding the past with the present.

In the family of B. F. and Mary Pettis there were seven children, five of whom are now liv- ing. The eldest, Frank Brockman Pettis, was born near Markleeville, Alpine county, Cal., January II, 1871, and in infancy was brought to Santa Barbara county. During boyhood he was a pupil in the Goleta common schools. Upon leaving school he learned the blacksmith's trade under his father, with whom he worked until 1895, and then engaged in business alone, hav -. ing a large trade as a blacksmith and also sell- ing agricultural implements. During 1903 he came to Oxnard and embarked in the hardware and implement business on Sixth and B streets, dealing in heavy and shelf hardware, cutlery, implements, etc., and acting as agent for the Osborne and Planet, Jr., machinery, the Milburn wagons and the Oliver plows. In the spring of 1906 he removed to more commodious quarters at No. 525 Saviers road.

Before leaving Goleta Mr. Pettis married Miss Carrie E. Carr, of that city, a native of Wis-

consin, and they are the foster parents of one daughter, Helen B. In religious connections they are identified with the Methodist Episcopal Church, in which Mr. Pettis officiates as a steward. Politically he always has voted the Re- publican ticket and believes in the platform for which that party stands. Initiated into Masonry during his residence in Santa Barbara county, he is now a member of Oxnard Lodge No. 341, F. & A. M., and his Masonic relations are fur- ther extended through his membership in the Royal Arch Chapter of Oxnard.

RICHARD HOFF. Among the residents of Los Angeles county who are specially worthy of notice in this volume is Richard Hoff, now living on a farm at Hyde Park, retired from active pursuits. A man of un- questioned courage and bravery, persistent of purpose and of upright principles, he has had a varied career, and during the Civil war acquired distinction for his gallant work in the United States navy. A son of Richard Hoff, Sr., he was born in 1841, in New York state, of English ancestry.

A native of Lincolnshire, England, Richard Hoff, Sr., lived there until 1827, when he immigrated to the United States. Settling in New York state, he worked as a farm hand at first, and until his death, in 1861, was actively employed as a tiller of the soil. He married Elizabeth Crane, who was born in New York state, and she survived him many years, dying in 1882. Seven children were born of their union, namely: George, William, Charles, Richard, Edward, Mary and An- toinette, and with the exception of Richard, the subject of thi's sketch, the sons are all deceased.

Starting in life for himself in 1856, then a lad of fifteen years. Richard Hoff labored in- dustriously at any honest employment, work- ing at first as a farm hand. In 1858 he em- barked in seafaring pursuits, and for six years was a common sailor on board a New Bed- ford, Mass .. whaling vessel. In 1864 he en- listed in the United States navy, and on the gunboat Huron, which was commanded by Admiral Thomas O. Selfridge, he participated in the two engagements at Fort Fisher, the first one being on Christmas day, 1864, and the last one on January 15, 1865, when the garrison was forced to surrender. In this attack the sailors fought gallantly, armed with revolvers and cutlasses, and Mr. Hoff had the distinction of being one of the very first of the bluejackets that attempted to mount the fort. The Huron was then sent to the Norfolk navy yard for repairs, and after the mast, which had

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been shot off, was replaced by a new one, Admiral Selfridge was ordered to Key West, Fla., with his men in order to head off Jef- ferson Davis, who, it was thought, had fled in that direction. At the close of the war, Mr. Hoff was honorably discharged at the Brooklyn navy yard, in June, 1865, and is now a retired admiral.

Resuming his agricultural labors, Mr. Hoff worked on a farm for a year, after which he came by way of Panama to California, arriv- ing in San Francisco May 23, 1866. Going from there to Santa Cruz, he secured a posi- tion in the powder works, with which he was connected for thirteen years. In 1881 he be- came fireman on the Central Pacific Railroad, remaining with the company for two years, when he went to Ogden, Utah, and became superintendent of the Utah powder works, a position which he held for seven years. Settling in Hyde Park, Los Angeles county, in 1890, he has since resided here, and is now living retired on the small ranch which he owns. His services in the war have won recognition, and he has been entered in the Soldier's Home, in Los Angeles county. Po- litically he is a true-bluc Republican.

Mr. Hoff married first, in 1878, Flora Bennett, a daughter of Eben Bennett, who came to California with the Crockers in pioneer days. At her death she left three children. namely: George, Clara and Edwin. Mr. Hoff married for his second wife, in 1901, the widow of E. A. Lamphere, of Los Angeles. Mrs. Hoff is a most estimable woman, and a con- sistent member of the Congregational Church. By her first marriage she had five children, none of whom is now living,

REV. CHARLES H. LAWRENCE. The First Methodist Episcopal Church of Escon- dido, of which Rev. Mr. Lawrence has acted as pastor for five years, holds a prominent position among the uplifting spiritual forces of the city and has proved a power for good during the period of its existence. The organization of the congregation dates back to September 16- 21, 1886, when the San Diego district was cre- ated, and on the 7th of October, of the same year, the first quarterly conference was held, resulting in the permanent establishment of the cause at Escondido. Under the original board of trustees, consisting of I. B. Thayer, John Hudson, W. H. Sharp, D. T. Oakes and F. M. Statler, the movement was incorporated for a period of fifty years. The first meeting- house utilized by the congregation was a brick building now used as a warehouse. When a schoolhouse was erected on Lime street per-

mission was given the congregation to hold their Sunday-school and church services in that building. Their first permanent home, which is still their house of worship, was erect- ed of brick, and on the occasion of the dedica- tion, August 21, 1887, the entire cost of the structure, $1600, was raised within one hour. Under the present pastorate a parsonage has been erected at a cost of $2500, containing the modern conveniences, including hot and cold water, and admirably adapted to contribute to the bodily comfort of the occupants.

The present pastor of the Escondido church is a Canadian by birth and education. His parents, Erastus and Elizabeth (Gilman) Lawrence, were natives of Canada, where the former was postmaster and a leading mer- chant of his town. Warmly interested in all movements for the development of local re- sources, he was particularly interested in rail- road building and accomplished much in that important department of progress. Overwork and anxiety in connection with his extensive investments brought on his death in 1881, when he was sixty-one years of age. Afterward his widow came to California and now, at the age of eighty-three years, makes her home with her son in Escondido. In the province of Que- bec Charles H. Lawrence was born March 20, 1859. At an early age he displayed unusual aptitude for intellectual pursuits and conse- quently was given every educational advan- tage within the means of the family. After a course of three years in Stanstead Wesleyan College he matriculated in The Wesleyan Theological College at Montreal, Canada, an institution affiliated with McGill University, and there he completed his theological studies and prepared for the ministry of the Methodist Church. In the spring of 1881 he entered upon his first pastorate at St. Henri de Montreal Methodist Church. where he did effective work for three years. His next two pastorates also covered three years each and then he remained for brief periods at Frelighsburg and Rich- mond.

After eleven years of ministerial work in the province of Quebec, in the fall of 1892 Rev. Mr. Lawrence came to Southern Califor- . nia, bringing with him a younger brother whose ill-health demanded a change to a climate less rigorous than that of their old Canadian home. For five months he re- mained in Los Angeles, but in the spring of 1893 he was given the pastorate of the Meth- odist Episcopal Church at Santa Maria, Santa Barbara county, where he remained for three years. Next he was stationed at Arroyo Grande, San Luis Obispo county, for three years. While there the church received a gift

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of fifteen acres of land admirably adapted for an assembly-ground, and he at once took steps toward securing the establishment of a perma- nent camp-ground at that place. Largely through his ceaseless efforts a fund of $1600 was raised with which to erect a large taber- nacle on the grounds, and since then, summer assemblies have been held for the members of the denomination and other Christian workers. From Arroyo Grande he was transferred to the Union Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church of Los Angeles, and during a pastorate of two years with that congregation he was instrumental in the erection of a commodious edifice on the corner of Court and Union avenues. A pastorate of one year at Santa Paula, Ventura county, was followed in 1901 by his removal to Escondido, where under his efficient labors the church has enjoyed a steady growth. In his ministerial work he has the co-operation of his wife, formerly Mary Jarvis, of Quebec, whom he married August 25, 1886, and by whom he has two children, Arthur D. and Mabel Jarvis, now (1906) seventeen and twelve years of age respectively.

Since the above was written Rev. Mr. Law- rence has been removed from Escondido to the pastorate of the South Main street Meth- odist Episcopal Church of Los Angeles, with residence at No. 127 West Fifty-first street.

HARRY JULIUS HOFFMAYR. There are few grain-buyers in Southern California who possess a more thorough knowledge of the de- tails of the business or are more adequately pre- pared for the successful discharge of affairs connected with the business than Mr. Hoffmayr, a gentleman of broad experience in the line of his special calling. While the period of his resi- dence in Oxnard is of comparatively brief dura- tion, nevertheless he has formed a large circle of acquaintances throughout all of this section of country. The importance of his position as agent for the Southern Pacific Milling Company may be inferred from the statement that he has charge of all the company's warehouses at Ox- nard, Camarillo, Somis, Moorpark and St. Sus- anna, and takes entire charge of the buying of grain, beans and produce from the farmers of the adjacent country.

The genealogy of the Hoffmayr family shows that they come from ancient German ancestry and as far back as the records can be traced some of their name flourished in the land of the Teutons. The first to cross the ocean to Ameri- ca was Col. Julius Charles Hoffmayr, a native of Hochzeit, Prussia, a son of Charles J. Hoff- mayr, a large land owner, and Emma, nee von Treskow, a member of one of the oldest mili-

tary families of Prussia. At the age of twenty- one years he came to the United States and set- tled at Council Bluffs, Iowa, where, although a civil engineer by profession, he followed the miller's trade, building at St. Mary's the first sawmill in the entire western slope of the Mis- souri river, and operating it for Col. Peter A. Sarpy, the noted old Indian trader of the North Western Fur Company. Somewhat later he built a flour mill at the same location. The next work in which he became interested was the . furnishing of oak ties and car lumber for the building of the Union Pacific Railroad Company, he and h:s partner, John W. Cooper (a brother of Mr. Cooper living near Santa Barbara, Cal.), obtaining the lumber for the ties and car lumber in the extensive woods near Honey Creek, Iowa, on the Chicago & North Western Railroad. At Council Bluffs he assisted in piling the first wooden ice bridge across the Missouri river, for the Union Pacific Railroad. Next he erected a flour mill at Council Bluffs, Iowa, and this he operated for thirty-seven years. He was also a director of the Pacific National Bank. Event- ually he left Iowa for the more genial climate of New Mexico and there he engaged in hor- ticultural pursuits until his retirement from business, since which he has made his home with his son in California. The title by which he is known came to him through service as a colonel of Iowa State troops during the Civil war. He was wounded several times in fights with Sioux Indians. Fraternally he is identified with the Masons and the Knights Templar, and while living in Iowa was one of the most emi- nent men in the Masonic fraternity in the state, at one time officiating as eminent commander of Ivanhoe Commandery No. 17, and in other ways impressing the strength of his individuality up- on the order.

The marriage of Colonel Hoffmayr united hin1 with Miss Antoinette Wolfram, who was born at the ancestral home in the province of Posen, Germany, and died at Council Bluffs, Iowa, in 1876. Seven children were born of that union, of whom Harry Julius, the eldest, and his broth- er Arthur are the sole survivors. Born at Coun- cil Bluffs, Iowa, June 29, 1865, Harry Julius was only eleven years of age when death deprived him of a mother's affectionate oversight. After having studied in the grammar and high schools of Council Bluffs until he was sixteen years of age, he then began to earn his own livelihood, and since then has been independent of aid from others. The first position which he held was that of bookkeeper for his father, with whom he continued in business for eight years. At the expiration of that time he came to California in 1800 with the hope that a change of climate might benefit his health, which had been injured

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by the confining work of bookkeeping. For a time he engaged in horticultural pursuits at San . Miguel and found the open-air work conducive to health. For a year afterward he worked with Eppinger & Co., at Paso Robles, but at the ex- piration of that time he found it necessary to seek the mountain air for the benefit of his health. Later he engaged as bookkeeper with Eppinger & Co., for eight months. Since March of 1895 he has been employed by the Southern Pacific Milling Company, first acting as their agent at Guadaloupe, and then as agent at San Buena Ventura for nine and one-half years, af- ter which in 1904 he came to Oxnard, his pres- ent headquarters.

Before leaving Iowa Mr. Hoffmayr was unit- ed in marriage at Crescent City with Miss Mag- gie S. Corbaley, a native of Indiana, and like himself a faithful member of the Christian Church. Five children comprise their family, namely : Antoinette May, Kate Janet, Eva Leona, Olive Marguerite and Charles Arthur. Fra- ternally Mr. Hoffmayr affiliates with the An- cient Order of United Workmen, while in mat- ters political he gives his stanch support to the men and measures advocated by the Republican party. Keen, intelligent, capable and energetic, he forms a valuable acquisition to the business element of Oxnard and holds a distinct position in the regard and esteem of associates.

WILLIAM M. BROWN. Fortified by a previous extended and comprehensive experi- ence in the sash and door business and in woodwork of every kind, Mr. Brown was qual- ified to successfully conduct the plant which he established after coming to Long Beach in 1903. The Long Beach Sash and Door Com- pany was originally started on American av- enue, but now occupies suitable quarters on the corner of Appleton and Bonita streets, where employment is furnished to twenty-sev- en men. The company was incorporated Sep- tember 30, 1904, capitalized at $25,000, and un- der the guidance of the following corps of of- ficers: W. M. Brown, president and manager ; George Howe, vice-president: B. C. Hatch, secretary ; and P. E. Hatch, treasurer.

Of eastern birth and descent, Mr. Brown was born in the village of St. George, Me., Au- gust 2, 1852, being a son of Charles Brown, a native of the same locality. After having com- pleted the studies of the common schools he began to earn his own livelihood and at the age of nineteen was apprenticed as a ship joiner in Belfast, Me., where he remained for some time. During 1883 he removed to Min- neapolis, Minn., and became interested in the

manufacture of sash, doors and moulding. For four years he was in charge of the moulding department of the Minneapolis Sash & Door Company and for three and one-half years he was connected with the Flour City Sash and Door Company. In July, 1892, he accepted a position as woodworker with the street rail- way company and in 1895 was promoted to be master mechanic of the Twin City Rapid Transit Company, in which position he de- signed the type of car adopted for use on the street railways of those cities.

Considerations of health induced Mr. Brown to give up a profitable position in Minneap- olis and seek the west, where he made a brief sojourn in Seattle, Wash. On his return to Minneapolis he took charge of the sash and door department of the Abbott Manufacturing Company of St. Paul, but soon found that it would be necessary to remove permanently from that section of the country in order to retain his health. During the latter part of 1902 he came to California and settled at Wil- mington, where he erected the Southwestern Lumber Company's plant and took charge of the same until it was in accurate and satisfac- tory running order. From there he came to Long Beach, where he has gained a place as a reliable, intelligent and trustworthy business man. Before leaving the east he married Miss Vesta Frost, who was born in Maine. They are the parents of one son and four daughters, namely : Walter M .; Edith ; Albertha, who re- sides in Minneapolis; May, assistant librarian of the Long Beach library; and Vesta, at home. The family attend the Methodist Epis- copal Church in their home city.

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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 94

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