USA > California > A history of the new California, its resources and people; Vol I > Part 45
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HISTORY OF THE NEW CALIFORNIA.
Mr. Hart was born in Santa Clara, California, March 22, 1856, a son of James and Sarah (Cavins) Hart, whose worthy careers are given in con- nection with the biography of Judge E. C. Hart, on another page of this work. Mr. Hart attended the public schools of Nicolaus, Sutter county, and of Colusa, Colusa county, but left at the age of thirteen and for a few weeks engaged in herding sheep. He then herded cattle for Foley and Company of San Francisco, driving cattle from the upper end of the state to Wood- land and Suisun for shipment to San Francisco. He then drove and herded cattle for Todhunter, ex-Senator Boggs, John Devine, G. B. Turner and Godfrey Ingram. He was all over Colusa and Tehama counties. He after- ward rode and broke wild horses. In 1872 he went to work in the clothing store of Joseph Bodefield in Colusa, and after three years with him started in business for himself in Colusa, dealing in fruit, produce and notions. At the same time he had an orchard of forty-four acres on Butte slough in Sut- ter county, and in 1877-78 he farmed fourteen hundred acres of land, but in the second year the rust and smut caused the loss of his entire crop after it was growing finely. For a few months he worked in the Williams post- office for the purpose of assisting a man by the name of Williams to retain that office.
In 1880 Mr. Hart formed the determination to study law, and for that purpose entered the Colusa office of his brother, Attorney General A. L. Hart, then located in Sacramento. He took up the study of Blackstone, and to assist his comprehension of that authority he studied Latin with a pro- fessor who gave him a lesson each night. For several years Mr. Hart put in fourteen hours a day in his studies, and was admitted to the bar in Los Angeles in 1888, having in the meantime also given his attention to his other interests. On June 31, 1902, on motion of Mr. Banning, he was admitted to the United States district court. He was engaged in active practice in Fresno from 1888 until 1895, and then came to Sacramento, where he has resided ever since. He resumed his law practice in 1902, and now carries on a good general practice.
Mr. Hart has always been active in Republican party affairs, and at- tended the city and county conventions at Colusa and Fresno. He was can- didate for district attorney of Fresno county, but withdrew his name before it went to the convention. He was also candidate for appointment as su- perior judge of Fresno county. He was responsible for getting a third judge for that county, and all the members of the bar of Sacramento and Fresno counties, the leading legislators, bankers and others urged his appointment, but Governor Markham ignored this tremendous support, and, with an eye to his own election to the United States senatorship, made a different ap- pointment.
Mr. Hart was married in Colusa in November, 1889, to Miss Irba Deter, who was born in Colusa county of an old pioneer family. She died Decem- ber 5. 1903. leaving two sons, Cavins Deter, aged twelve, and Robert Rhea, aged ten. Mr. Hart was a member of the Native Sons of the Golden West until the Colusa parlor was disbanded.
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JOSEPH WILLIAM JAMES, M. D.
Dr. Joseph William James, who is engaged in the practice of medicine in Sacramento, was born in Cornwall, England, on the Ist of January, 1876. His father, Thomas James, also a native of England, was a miner of that country and is now living in Sacramento. He traces his ancestry back through many generations. Several representatives of the family were soldiers in the Crimean war. Thomas James crossed the Atlantic to America in 1880, and for four years was a resident of Michigan, after which he came to California. He is now employed in the state gardens. In political circles in Sacramento he has attained considerable prominence. He wedded Miss Mary E. Carpenter, also a native of England, and a daughter of Captain John Carpenter, who was a mine operator and superintendent at Cornwall, England, where he met his death while perfecting a furnace for refining tin, the immediate cause of his demise being arsenic poisoning. His daughter, Mrs. James, is now living in Sacramento. One son, John James, is a drug- gist of Sacramento connected with the Willis Martin Company, incorporated.
Dr. James was a student in public and private schools of San Francisco and Sacramento in his early boyhood days. After completing the work of the grammar schools he entered a private school and thus mastered the liter- ary branches prior to entering upon preparation for his chosen profession. It was in 1896 that he matriculated in Cooper Medical College, in which he was graduated in 1900 with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. In that year he accepted an interneship in the Sacramento County Hospital, where he remained for eight months. He was then house physician at the Southern Pacific Railroad Hospital at Sacramento for four months, and at the end of that time entered upon the private practice of his profession, opening an office opposite the postoffice on K street. A year later he removed to his present location on Tenth and K streets, where he has remained since August, 1902. He was associated in this office with Dr. T. J. Cox, who is repre- sented on another page of this work. Dr. James has built up a good private practice and is now medical examiner for the New England Mutual Life In- surance Company and for Union Lodge, A. O. U. W. He is a member of the American Medical Association and the Sacramento Society for Medi- cal Improvement, being secretary of the latter as well as a member of the board of medical directors. His political allegiance is given to the Repub- lican party, and he has recently been appointed a member of the city board of health to do sanitation work during the smallpox epidemic. He has taken a very active interest in the subject of sanitation and his views upon this question have contributed in no small degree to the improvement of sani- tary conditions in Sacramento.
DR. CHARLES VAN NORDEN, D. D., LL. D.
Dr. Charles Van Norden, D. D., LL. D., manager of the Central Cali- fornia Electric Company and resident director of the South Yuba Water Company, has passed a life of prominence and worthy activity in various
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states of the Union. His sphere of work and influence has been broad, and he has had correspondingly large attributes of mind and character, so that he has been capable of gaining success in whatever department of work he has engaged. Throughout his career he has been a scholar and student and litterateur of more than ordinary ability. While his health permitted he was a minister of the Congregational church, was afterwards a college president, and for the past decade has been one of the foremost business men and pub- lic-spirited citizens of Sacramento.
Dr. Van Norden was born in New York city, October 10, 1843, and on both sides of the house was a descendant of Knickerbocker ancestry. His father, Thomas L. Van Norden, a native of New York, was a wholesale pro- vision merchant there and died in 1869. His mother, Margaret Hoghland Warner, was a descendant on two lines from Dr. Everardus Bogardus, who came from Holland in 1637, as pastor of the church of New Amsterdam, and, also on two lines, from Lieutenant Governor De la Montaigna, a Huguenot refugee of gentle blood, from France, who was in command at Fort Orange (Albany) when the Duke of York captured what became New York city. Her ancestry at one time owned a large area of land now covered with build- ings of fabulous cost and countless in number.
Dr. Van Norden has one brother, Warner Van Norden, who was presi- dent of the Bank of North America in New York, and is now president of the board of directors and the largest stockholder of the Van Norden Trust Company. He is a very prominent man, and is a director and the executive manager of the American Board of Foreign Missions. Two brothers and two sisters are dead, and the two sisters living are Margaret, widow of the late John Lockwood, a wholesale dry-goods merchant of New York, and Cornelia C., widow of the late Professor P. W. Bedford, of the College of Pharmacy.
Charles Van Norden was educated in private schools in New York city, and graduated from the Mechanic Society school (similar to a high school) in 1856, being valedictorian of his class. In 1859 he entered Hamilton (New York) College, from which he graduated in 1863, also valedictorian of his class, and later received the degree of LL. D. from the same institution. He then studied theology at the Union Theological Seminary, and was gradu- ated in the fall of 1866. His first charge as a Congregational minister was at New Orleans. Later he preached at Beverly, Massachusetts, and for ten years at St. Albans, Vermont. He was pastor of the North Church at Springfield, Massachusetts, when his health failed.
During his ministry he had some unusual and ofttimes trying experi- ences, notably while in charge of a church in New Orleans in 1866. The Ku Klux Klan was flourishing at that time, and feeling against the United States government ran almost to the point of anarchy. On one occasion sick- ness alone saved him from massacre. The carpet-bagger element had plotted to secure possession of the state government by means of a constitutional con- vention and a new constitution. The disaffected classes decided to thwart this movement by massacring the convention, and the police joined with the mob in the undertaking. Knowing nothing of this, Dr. Van Norden, who
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was a newcomer, purposed to be present at the opening session, but was pre- vented by what seemed a light attack of yellow fever. He thus escaped a horrible death. The convention was massacred, and the clergyman who opened the session with prayer, the only other Union minister in the city, re- ceived many mortal wounds. Dr. Van Norden the next evening saw scores of bleeding and dying victims at the Marine Hospital, and among them his friend slowly passing away and in whose position he himself might have been.
Dr. Van Norden, in the winter of 1889, was elected president of Elmira College, where he served until 1893, at which time he came to California. He had been previously honored with the degree of D. D. from the University of the City of New York. After coming to California he became manager of the Central California Electric Company and resident director of the South Yuba Water Company, and has continued in those positions to the present time.
The South Yuba Water Company has owed much of its prosperity to Dr. Van Norden's ability as developer and promoter. It has over thirty reservoirs, four hundred miles of ditches, pipelines and tunnels, irrigates fif- teen thousand acres, and supplies water and power to the Nevada county miners. The electrical works develop five thousand horsepower, all now in use. As soon as the business demands it, the company will make arrange- ments to develop from twenty to thirty thousand horsepower. There are three power houses, finely equipped, and the power is now used in Sacramento city and county and in Nevada and Placer counties. Placer county's prosperity is due in large measure to the work of these companies. A number of cities and villages are supplied with power, light and water. The power is developed from water rights and storage reservoirs, which are six or seven thousand feet above sea level. The four offices of the company are in New York, Nevada City, Auburn and Sacramento.
Dr. Van Norden has done a large amount of writing. He is author of the philosophical work entitled "The Outermost Rim and Beyond," published by A. D. F. Randolph, of New York; "The Psychic Factor," published by Ap- pleton ; also other books, and has contributed brief articles, short stories and romances to magazines. He is a Phi Beta Kappa; is president of the Sacra- mento Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children: one of the di- rectors of the Albert Bonnheim memorial fund to assist in educating young men and women; chairman of one of the committees of the chamber of com- merce, and in the interest of these various concerns has often appeared as an advocate or witness before the board of supervisors and the board of trus- tees. In politics he is an independent Republican, but has not taken an active part in party affairs.
Dr. Van Norden was first married to Miss Anna H. Mygatt, who was a native of Brooklyn, New York, of New England descent. She died in 1896 leaving three sons, as follows: Rudolph W., who is a graduate of Stanford University, a prominent electrical engineer, and superintendent of the Electric Company above mentioned; Otto H., who has begun a promising business
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career in New York; and Max L., who graduates in 1904 from Stanford University. In 1902 Dr. Van Norden married Miss Ruth Spilman, a de- scendant of an old and aristocratic Virginia family. They have one daugh- ter, Linda de la Montaigna.
JOHN DAVIDSON POWELL, D. D. S.
The world instinctively pays deference to the man whose success has been worthily achieved and whose prominence is not less the result of an irreproachable life than of natural talents and acquired ability in the field of his chosen labor. Dr. Powell occupies a position of distinction as a repre- sentative of the dental profession in Sacramento, and the best evidence of his capability in the line of his chosen work is the large patronage which is accorded him. It is a well known fact that a great percentage of those who enter business life meet with failure or only a limited measure of success. This is usually due to one or more of several causes-superficial preparation, lack of close application or an unwise choice in selecting a vocation for which one is not fitted. The reverse of all these has entered into the success and prominence which Dr. Powell has gained. His equipment for the profes- sion was unusually good and he has continually extended the scope of his labors through the added efficiency that comes through keeping in touch with the marked advancement that has been made by the members of the dental fraternity in the last quarter of a century.
One of California's native sons, Dr. Powell was born in Healdsburg, on the 22d of October, 1862. His father, Ransom Powell, was born in Ten- nessee, and was a representative of an old American family. He came to California in 1849, making his way across the plains in a prairie schooner and enduring the hardships and trials incident to the long trip at that day. He first established his home in Sacramento, but afterward removed to So- noma county, where he still resides. In early manhood he wedded Miss Mary Capp, who was born in this state and who died in 1870. In the family were three children, the brother of Dr. Powell being George Powell, who is engaged in raising cattle in the Indian Territory. The sister Nettie is now the wife of Thomas Roscoe, of Sacramento.
Dr. Powell pursued his early education in the public schools of Healds- burg and his literary course in the Santa Clara College. His professional training was received in the Philadelphia Dental College, in which he was graduated in 1890, the degree of Doctor of Dental Surgery being then con- ferred upon him. Returning to California he began practice in San Fran- cisco in connection with Dr. F. Gibson, with whom he remained for a year and a half. On the expiration of that period the relationship was dissolved and Dr. Powell remained alone in practice in San Francisco for two years. He next removed to Calistoga, Napa county, where he followed his profes- sion until going to Colusa county, where he remained for five years. He next went into business in Sacramento in February, 1899, and in this city has built up a business which in extent and importance is hardly equaled by any representative of the calling in the capital city. He is now located on
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Fifth and K streets, and because of his excellent workmanship and reliable business methods he has developed a very extensive business. Dentistry is unique among the professions in that it demands superior qualifications along three lines, scientific knowledge, mechanical skill and a power to suc- cessfully control the financial side of the business. In all of these Dr. Powell is well qualified, and his efficiency has gained him pre-eminence among the representatives of the dental fraternity in Sacramento. At present he has eight persons in his employ and will increase that number owing to the continued growth in his patronage.
In the matter of citizenship Dr. Powell is progressive and public-spirited. As an advocate of Republican principles he takes an active interest in the work of the party and has frequently been a delegate to county and state conventions. His ambition has not been along the line of political preferment as the demands of his profession have been too great to allow him to seek office, and since coming to Sacramento he has had little opportunity to take an active part in political work. He is, however, a forceful and convincing speaker, logical in argument, presenting his case with clearness and effect.
On the 31st of April, 1891, in San Francisco, was celebrated the mar- riage of Dr. Powell and Miss Mamie Condron, a native of Boston and a daugh- ter of James Condron, now deceased, who was a descendant of a prominent and wealthy family of that city. Dr. and Mrs. Powell have one son, Loring, who is now in school. In fraternal and social circles he occupies a very en- viable position. His professional career excites the admiration and has won the respect of his contemporaries, and in a calling in which one has to gain reputation by merit he has advanced steadily until he is acknowledged as the superior of most of the members of the calling in this part of the state, having long since left the ranks of the many to stand among the successful few.
GEORGE B. KATZENSTEIN.
George B. Katzenstein certainly deserves representation among the men who have been the founders of the New California. He has done much to advance the wheels of progress, aiding materially in the development of business activity and energy wherein the prosperity and growth of the state always depend. He has found in each transition stage opportunity for fur- ther effort and broader labor, and his enterprise has not only contributed to his individual success, but has also been of marked value to the community in which he makes his home.
Mr. Katzenstein was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, November 28, 1848, and is a son of Eugene and Marie (Leibschutz) Katzenstein, both of whom were natives of Lorraine, France. They came to America in 1846, settling in New Orleans, where the father engaged in merchandising for a number of years. In 1853 the family came to California and a home was established in Marysville, where Eugene Katzenstein engaged in the hotel business, there conducting one of the first hostelries of that place. It was known as the Ohio House and stood at the foot of D street. In later years he retired from active business and made his home with his son George in
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Sacramento, his death occurring in this city in 1884. In the family were three sons and a daughter, of whom the subject of this review is the eldest. The others are Samuel, who resides at Spokane, Washington, and Edmond, who is living in Newcastle, California, where he is employed by the Earl Fruit Company, and Mrs. F. N. Kidder.
Mr. Katzenstein was educated in public schools and high school of Marysville, California, being graduated with the class of 1865. He applied himself so closely to the mastery of the branches of learning constituting the high school curriculum that his health became impaired, and he spent a few years in travel for rest and recuperation. He then came to Sacramento and joined William H. Mills in the conduct of the Rescue, a fraternal paper. He also assisted Mr. Mills in his duties as grand secretary of the Order of Good Templars, and they were likewise associated in an insurance business. At length Mr. Mills retired in order to take charge of the Record, while Mr. Katzenstein succeeded him in the secretaryship, also as editor of the Rescue, and in the insurance business, continuing his activities in these various lines until 1891. He then took up a plan of colonization and was one of the organ- izers of the Orange Vale Colonization Company, which purchased three thousand acres of land and improved it by establishing a piped water sys- tem. This land was then sold in ten-acre tracts to eastern people, whom they had induced to come to California. The company planted orchards and vineyards, setting out many varieties of oranges, lemons and deciduous fruits. They also planted table grapes, thereby demonstrating the feasabil- ity of producing citrus fruits in the northern as well as the southern section of California, and thus attracting attention to this portion of the state as a fruit-producing center. This colonization scheme has been a very impor- tant and valuable element in the development of the valley. In the summer of 1868 Mr. Katzenstein took charge of the Sacramento and northern Cali- fornia business of the Earl Fruit Company, the most extensive shippers of deciduous fruits in the state. He continued the management of the north- ern business for the company up to the winter of 1901, when the Earl Fruit Company sold out to the present owners, of which Mr. Katzenstein is one and was continued in the same position. The company annually ships three thousand carloads of fruit to the eastern markets from the northern section, and a still larger quantity is shipped from the southern portion of the state. As manager Mr. Katzenstein thus controls an extensive business which has made him well known among the horticulturists of California. He was one of the organizers of the California Fruit Distributors, the plan of this company being to establish a clearing house for all fruit concerns, and it now controls practically ninety per cent of the fruit shipped out of California, which it distributes in eastern markets. Its shipments are largely sold at auction in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Chicago, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Toronto and Montreal. The company are also large exporters of green fruits to the markets of Great Britain and Europe, and likewise make extensive shipments of the more hardy fruits such as apples and pears to the Australian markets.
In 1869 Mr. Katzenstein was united in marriage to Miss Ida M. Rich-
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ards, a native of Lowell, Massachusetts, and the only child of Leonard J. Richards, of that city, who became a pioneer miner of California, arriving in this state at an early period in its development. After a number of years spent on the Pacific coast he returned to Lowell, where he is now living re- tired at the advanced age of eighty years. In the family are four children, three of whom are living: George B., Jr., who is now assistant manager of the Pacific United States Wire & Fence Company at San Francisco; Al- bert W., who is with the auditing department of the Sacramento Gas Elec- tric & Railway Company; and Carleton L., who is still in school.
Mr. Katzenstein is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows, and his prominence in the fraternity is indicated by the fact that he is a past grand. He is also past grand chancellor of the Knights of Pythias fraternity, having filled the highest office within the gift of that order in the state in 1885. He is likewise past grand master workmen of the Ancient Order of United Workmen, and it will thus be seen that his prominence in fraternal circles is equal to that in his business career. In politics he is a Republican, keeping well informed on the questions and issues of the day and taking an active interest in the growth and success of the party in rela- tion to local, state and national affairs, yet he has always declined to accept any political office, preferring that his energies should be devoted to business interests, wherein he has gradually worked his way up to prominence and prosperity.
JOHN MANUEL.
John Manuel, who died at his home in Stockton, November 19, 1898, is remembered as one of the stalwarts of the counties of Calaveras and San Joaquin, who attained to an eminently successful place in business and indus- trial affairs, and left a large estate as a memorial of his industry and broad sagacity. He was also prominent as a citizen, and his worth to his com- munity and state as a whole cannot adequately be sketched in this limited article.
Mr. Manuel was born in England, October II, 1840, a son of William and Mary Ann Manuel, both of the same county, where the father died, but the mother outlived her son John, passing away in Stockton. Reared and educated in his native country, in young manhood Mr. Manuel emigrated to America and soon made his way to California, where his first experiences were as a gold miner in Calaveras county. He later made the beginnings of the lumber business with which his name has been so prominently connected for years. His headquarters in the lumber trade were at Murphys, and in the course of a few years he had built up this enterprise to large and profit- able proportions. At the same time he carried on ranching on extensive scale, owning land in both Calaveras and San Joaquin counties. All these extensive industries are still known as the Manuel Estate and carried on in that title, the main headquarters being at Angels. Included in the agricult- ural interests of this estate is a fine ranch of fifteen hundred acres in the Lower Division of Roberts Island, known far and wide as one of the most productive and valuable ranches in San Joaquin county. In 1895 Mr.
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