USA > California > A history of the new California, its resources and people; Vol I > Part 46
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Manuel moved from Murphys to Stockton, and there made his home until his death.
Mr. Manuel was well known in the orders of Masonry and Odd Fel- lowship, having his membership at Murphys. He was a business man of the highest integrity and reliability, devoted his energies without reserve to his affairs, and was in many ways a model of what the successful man should be.
His first wife was Miss Mary Williams, who was the mother of twelve children, eight of whom are still living, as follows: Frances L., wife of WV. H. Matteson, on Roberts Island, San Joaquin county; Matthew H., of Murphys ; Sarah E., wife of John C. Doherty, of San Francisco; John A., in Murphys; Raymond T., of Murphys; Irma, of Stockton; Mizpah, of Stockton; and Joseph W., in Stockton. On January 16, 1895, Mr. Manuel married for his second wife Mary Malspina, who is a native of Calaveras county, being a daughter of James and Catherine (Discalso) Malspina, her parents early settlers and still residents of Calaveras county. Mrs. Manuel since the death of her lamented husband has lived at her home at 212 West Acacia street in Stockton, in which city she enjoys a large acquaintance and friendship.
VICTOR H. WOODS.
Victor H. Woods, whose skill and ability in the line of his profession were the means of securing his election to the position of surveyor general of California, which position he is now filling with credit to himself and satisfaction to his constituents, was born in Iowa, on the 13th of February, 1868, his parents being James E. and Mary H. (Patton) Woods, both of whom were representatives of old American families established in the new world when this country was still numbered among the colonial possessions of Great Britain. The father was born in Connecticut, the mother in Ohio. At the time of the Civil war James E. Woods gave proof of his loyal devo- tion to the country by enlisting in the Fifth Iowa Infantry, and served under General Rosecrans throughout the period of hostilities. Following his return from the south he was elected county recorder of Keokuk county, Iowa, filling the position from 1866 until 1873, when he came to California, bringing his family numbering six children-Victor H. and his five sisters. The father located first at Mayfield, Santa Clara county, and followed the profession of surveying throughout the western states. He devoted a number of years to that work and then retired from that field of activity, taking up his abode on a ranch in San Mateo county, which he still owns and operates.
The early boyhood days of Victor H. Woods passed without special in- cident. He attended the public schools of Mayfield, California, and after- wards the public schools of San Francisco, being a graduate of the Mission grammar school of the latter city, of the class of 1883. The succeeding year was spent in Wyoming, in connection with a government corps of surveyors. In 1885 he entered upon a course of special study in the University of the Pacific at San Jose, studying surveying and engineering from 1885 until 1887. On leaving that institution he took up the active work of the profes-
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sion, which he followed in California and other coast states, and in January, 1893, he located in San Luis Obispo. In November, 1894, he was elected county surveyor there and filled the position for two terms, or eight consecu- tive years. In 1902, his ability in the line of his profession being widely recognized, as well as his fitness for office, he was nominated and elected surveyor general of the state for a term of four years, so that he is the present incumbent in the office, and in the discharge of his duties has manifested an aptitude and fidelity which indicates a thorough knowledge of the work and a patriotic loyalty to the best interests of the state. His election came as a Re- publican candidate, and of the party he has ever been a stanch advocate.
In December, 1898, Mr. Woods was united in marriage to Miss Ade- laide C. Spafford, a native of Chicago, Illinois, and a daughter of James M. and Elizabeth (Hovey) Spafford. They have two children, Helen Evelyn and Frances Dorothy. Mrs. Woods is a member of the society of Daughters of the American Revolution, and in Sacramento, although her residence here has been comparatively brief, she has already won many friends and there- fore the hospitality of many homes is extended to her. Mr. Woods holds membership relations with the Masons and the Elks, and also belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Ancient Order of United Workmen, and is connected with the Rebekah degree of Odd Fellowship. He is now well known throughout the state by virtue of his office and also by reason of the important character of the work to which he has given his attention throughout his business career. Thoroughness has characterized him in all his undertakings. and added to this trait he manifests in office the public- spirited citizenship which is too often lacking in those who fill positions of high authority and responsibility.
LESTER J. HINSDALE.
Lester J. Hinsdale, an attorney and counselor at law, of Sacramento, was born in Clarksburg, Yolo county, California, on the 18th of October, 1870. His father, Seymour S. Hinsdale, is a native of Vermont and a rep- resentative of an old Connecticut family that was founded in America by ancestors who came from England in the early part of the seventeenth cen- tury. Representatives of the name fought in the Indian wars during the colonial period and also in the war for independence. Through many gen- erations the family was represented in New England, and Seymour S. Hins- dale continued to make his home in that section of the republic until 1861, when he came to California by way of the isthmus route, settling in Yolo county, where he is to-day engaged in farming. He married Miss Eliza- beth Cave, who was born in Iowa and was of Scotch-Irish lineage, her early ancestors settling in Kentucky. Her great-grandfather emigrated to that state shortly after Daniel Boone made his explorations. Mrs. Hinsdale crossed the plains in a prairie schooner with her parents in 1850, and the Cave family home was established in Yolo county. Her father is still living in that county, where he settled in 1852, and is one of the venerable and highly respected residents of his portion of the state. He became one of
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the pioneer hop growers of California, actively associated with an industry which has become a very important one on the Pacific coast. To Mr. and Mrs. Seymour Hinsdale were born two sons and two daughters, namely: Lester J., Walter G., who is a resident farmer of Yolo county; Etta, the wife of Charles A. Powers, of Sacramento; and Ardenia, who is with her parents.
Lester J. Hinsdale pursued his education in the public schools of Clarks- burg, California, and in the high school of Sacramento, being graduated with the class of 1891. He afterward matriculated in the Leland Stanford University and was graduated in the class of 1895 with the degree of Bach- elor of Arts. He afterward spent one year in San Francisco as a law stu- dent in the office of W. J. Herrin and subsequently returned to Stanford University, where he was an assistant in the law department for one term. On the expiration of this period he came to Sacramento in June, 1899, but in the meantime he was admitted to practice in San Francisco in August, 1896. On reaching this city he opened a law office in connection with O. G. Hopkins in the state building on Fifth and K streets and is now engaged in a general law practice. Already he has secured a good clientage and has won a reputation that many an older representative of the profession might well envy.
During his college days Mr. Hinsdale was president of his class and also president of the organization known as Associated Students. During his graduation year he was treasurer of the Associated Students, a position of considerable responsibility. In politics he is a stalwart Republican, tak- ing an active interest in the growth and success of his party and was chair- man of the Republican convention held in Yolo county in 1898. He wields considerable influence in political circles, and has been mentioned in con- nection with the office of assemblyman. While he is probably not without that personal political ambition which is a spur to good citizenship he re- gards the duties of private life as eminently worthy of his best efforts, and never hesitates in the performance of any task that devolves upon him in this connection. Fraternally he is a Mason and is also connected with the Native Sons of the Golden West. The latter organization under the stim- ulus of Mr. Hinsdale started an arbor club movement and he was made president of the club. This organization is doing magnificent work, and Mr. Hinsdale certainly deserves credit for what he has accomplished in this direction.
WILLIAM ELLERY BRIGGS, M. D.
Dr. William Ellery Briggs is engaged in the practice of medicine at Sacramento, limiting his practice to the treatment of diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat. The world instinctively pays deference to the man whose success has been worthily achieved, and because of his capability, close application, devoted attention to his profession and his strict regard for the ethics of the medical science Dr. Briggs receives this deference and respect from his fellow men.
He is a native of Ohio, his birth having occurred in Wadsworth, Me- dina county, on the 31st of March, 1853. His father, Abiel Briggs, was a
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native of New York, and in his childhood days accompanied his parents on their removal to Ohio, where he remained until 1876, when he came to Cali- fornia. Here he engaged in fruit raising, but his death occurred in Yolo county two years after his arrival on the Pacific coast. He belonged to an old American family of English descent, while his wife was a representative of one of the old families of Massachusetts that has been represented in that state through several generations. She bore the maiden name of Harriet C. Dinsmore, was born in Maine and died in Palo Alto in 1903.
Dr. Briggs spent the days of his childhood and youth in Wadsworth, Ohio, and his preliminary education acquired in the public schools was sup- plemented by study at Buchtel College at Akron, Ohio. When he had gained a good literary knowledge to serve as the foundation upon which to rear the superstructure of professional learning, he took up the study of medicine under the direction of his brother, Dr. Wallou A. Briggs, now of Sacramento and a member of the state board of health. William Ellery Briggs pursued his first course of lectures in the medical department in the State University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and later continued his studies at Wooster Medi- cal College at Cleveland, Ohio, in which he was graduated. He also won a degree in the medical department of the Western Reserve Medical College of Cleveland, Ohio, and in 1877 he went to Europe, where he spent some time in study and research in the London Hospital and Moorefield's Eye Hospital. He afterward remained for a time in a general hospital before re- suming study along the line of his specialties. From London he made his way to Paris and thence to Vienna, pursuing a special course on the diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat. He received instruction from some of the most renowned physicians of the old world, and after returning to America established himself for practice in Sacramento in 1879. His success here has been most gratifying to himself, and he has made continuous progress along the line of his profession, keeping in touch with the advanced thought of the day and utilizing every improved method that he believes will be of practical benefit in his chosen field of labor. He was the first on the Pacific coast to report successful cases operated upon by the electro-magnet for re- moval of steel from deeper parts of the eye.
At one time Dr. Briggs was associate editor of the Occidental Medical Times, and he has been a contributor to various medical journals and pre- pared a number of papers which have been read before local, state and na- tional medical societies. He is one of the distinguished specialists on the Pacific coast, and has a power as oculist and aurist that is widely acknowl- edged by the profession and the laity. He was the first appointee and for the last fifteen years has been oculist for the Southern Pacific Railroad Com- pany. He is to-day a very prominent figure in medical circles, being an ex- president of the California Northern District Medical Society, also of the Sacramento Society for Medical Improvement, a member of the State Medi- cal Society and a member of the American Medical Association, and other special societies.
On the 3Ist of December, 1891, Dr. Briggs was married in San Fran-
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cisco to Miss Grace Rideout, a native of Marysville, California, and a daugh- ter of Dr. N. D. Rideout, a banker controlling important financial interests in San Francisco, Marysville and Chico, California. He was a representa- tive of an old Maine family. A daughter and a son have been born to Dr. Briggs and his wife, Phoebe and Wallace, aged respectively eleven and nine years .. The Briggs household is noted for its gracious and generous hospi- tality and the best homes of the city are open to the Doctor and his wife. His fraternal relations are with the Masons and he belongs to Sacramento Lodge, F. & A. M., and to No. 2 Sacramento Commandery, K. T. In his profession he has attained high rank because his equipments were unusually good, be- cause his work has been prompted by a love of scientific investigation and broad humanitarian principles and because he has steadily advanced, keeping in direct touch with the most progressive thought of the medical world. His prominence is indicated by the large patronage which is accorded him and has made him one of the substantial residents of his city.
DR. F. P. CLARK.
Dr. F. P. Clark, who has charge of the Clark's Sanitarium at Stockton, one of the oldest and best known institutions of the state, is one of the progressive and able physicians of Stockton, and has been connected with the sanitarium almost since he entered the ranks of the medical profession.
Clark's Sanitarium was established in 1871, Dr. Asa Clark, the father of Dr. F. P. Clark, being the leading spirit in the enterprise. It was origin- ally intended for the care of patients from Nevada territory, and Dr. Clark made a contract with Dr. Samuel Langdon to this end. The name of the institution was then Pacific Hospital. The contract with Nevada ran for ten years, at the end of which time that state established its own hospital. For seventeen years Arizona also sent its insane to this institution for special treatment, and then that territory likewise founded a hospital. The Clark Sanitarium is under the supervision of the state commission of lunacy, whose members give it periodical inspections. There are forty-two acres in the grounds, and the buildings are of brick. It has had a wide sphere of useful- ness, and has for many years been recognized as one of the state's leading institutions for treatment of special diseases.
Dr. F. P. Clark was born at Stockton, California, August 25, 1865, and after attendance at high school entered Cooper Medical College at San Francisco, where he was graduated in 1887. For the following two years he was engaged in practice in Angels Camp, Calaveras county, and then came to Stockton, where he has remained ever since. He has been in charge of the sanitarium for the past twelve years. He also held the elective office of coroner of San Joaquin county for twelve years.
Dr. Clark was married in 1889 to Miss Edith Cross, a daughter of Dr. L. E. Cross, of Stockton, and they have two children, Asa and Lester. Dr. Clark affiliates with the Masonic order, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Native Sons of the Golden West and the Knights of Pythias, and in politics is a staunch Republican.
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EDWARD POWER COLGAN.
Edward Power Colgan, now serving for the fourth term as state con- troller of California, has been almost continuously in the public service since 1887, and over the record of his public career there falls no shadow of wrong, absolute fidelity and capability characterizing his official acts and making him well worthy of the regard and trust reposed in him.
Mr. Colgan has always resided in California. His birth occurred at Santa Rosa, Sonoma county, California, January 10, 1856, and he is the eldest of the six sons born to Edward Power and Elizabeth (Staib) Colgan, the former a native of New York and the latter of Germany. One daughter was also born to the parents. The father came to the Pacific coast in 1849 and his wife arrived the following year. He settled first at San Francisco, where he was engaged in the restaurant business until 1853, when he removed to Santa Rosa, Sonoma county, where he became proprietor of a hotel, conducting it with success up to the time of his death in 1878.
It was in the public schools of his native city that Edward Power Col- gan gained the knowledge which fitted him for life's practical duties. He continued his studies until seventeen years of age and was then apprenticed to learn the blacksmith's trade. After the completion of his term he began work on his own account, and continued in the business until 1887, when because of his recognized fitness and capability he was called to public office by his fellow townsmen. At the election held in the fall of the previous year he was chosen sheriff of Sonoma county for a term of two years and in 1888 was re-elected. Ere the expiration of his second term bigher honors were conferred upon him, he receiving the nomination of his party for state controller. For four successive terms has he been chosen by popular suffrage for that position, and his term will complete an incum- bency of sixteen years. It would be almost tautological in this connection to enter into any series of statements indicating his popularity and the con- fidencc reposed in him, for these have been shadowed forth between the lines of this review. His fidelity to the trust reposed in him stands as an unques- tioned fact in his career, and there is no man in the public service more loyal to the general interests of the state and to the specific duties of his office than is Mr. Colgan, the present controller of California.
In 1880 Mr. Colgan was united in marriage to Miss Mary E. Smith. a daughter of John K. and Theresa M. Smith, who became residents of the state during the pioneer period of its history. Five children have been born of this union, of whom four are still living, Edward Power, Jr., having departed this life. The others are Edlo May, Evelyn, Ralph Waite and Helen B.
Mr. Colgan holds membership relations with various fraternities, be- longing to the Masons, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and its encampment, the Native Sons of the Golden West, the Knights of Pythias, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Ancient Order of United Workmen. He has a wide acquaintance among the prominent men of the state and enjoys in high measure their regard and good will. He
Ebloggen
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has risen to prominence not because of adventitious circumstances or the influence of those high in authority but through the inherent force of his own character, through the development of his latent powers and because of his faithfulness to every trust. The road to public honor is that of public usefulness, and the humblest in the land are not barred out from the most lofty position except by their own incapacity or lack of laudable ambition. In the discharge of his official duties, Mr. Colgan is most systematic, conduct- ing the affairs of the office with the same regularity and care that he would a private business enterprise, and he has therefore received the commenda- tion of not only the people of his own party, the Republican, but also of the opposition as well.
HARRY WALLACE TAGGART, M. D.
Dr. Harry Wallace Taggart, who is a young and prominent physician of Stockton, has been engaged in practice here for only about seven years, but has risen to high favor among the citizens and enjoys a representative and high-class patronage. He has lived in California nearly all his life, and is thoroughly imbued with the progressive spirit and advanced thought of the western country and the present-day civilization. He is thoroughly equipped for his profession and up-to-date in his methods of practice and research, so that what he may lack in years of experience he makes up in modern science and skill.
Dr. Taggart was born in Goffstown, New Hampshire, April 22, 1867, a son of T. R. and Sarah B. (Watkins) Taggart, who are both living in Stockton. His father, who is now a retired mining man, came to California in 1876, and for some years was engaged in mining at Mokelumne Hill.
Dr. Taggart attended school at the latter place, having been about nine years old when he became acquainted with California as a place of residence. He also took a course in the State Normal School at San Jose, and later entered the Marion Sims Medical College at St. Louis, from which he was graduated in the class of 1896, with the degree of M. D. He remained in St. Louis for about a year and engaged in practice, and then located in Stockton, where he has ever since resided and carried on his professional duties. During this time he has served as superintendent of the county hospital and was also police and fire commissioner, being a man of that pub- lic spirit and self-sacrificing energy who interests himself in matters out- side of his immediate profession.
He is a member of the California Medical Society, the San Joaquin County Medical Society, the San Joaquin Valley Medical Society and the Northern District Medical Society, having held the office of president of the San Joaquin Valley Medical Society in 1901. He has fraternal affilia- tions with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Masons, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Independent Order of Red Men and the Fraternal Order of Eagles. He is allied with the Democratic party, and is interested in its success. Dr. Taggart was married in Marysville, Cali- fornia, to Miss Mary E .. Flannery, a daughter of P. J. Flannery, of Marys- ville, California.
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LOUIS E. NIESTRATH.
Louis E. Niestrath, who became well known in agricultural circles in San Joaquin county, died March 31, 1899. He was at that time manager of the Williams estate, comprising several thousand acres of land, and he possessed excellent business ability and executive force. He was born in St. Louis, Missouri, on the 29th of November, 1859, a son of Henry and Eva (Beck) Niestrath, both of whom were natives of Germany. The father came to America in his youth, landing at New Orleans, and after residing for some time in St. Louis, Missouri, removed to Pulaski county, Illinois, where he has since engaged in farming, and is now more than seventy years of age.
Louis E. Niestrath spent the first eighteen years of his life in his native city and then accompanied his parents on their removal to Illinois. He had been educated in the public schools of St. Louis and was early trained to realize the value of energy and industry in the active affairs of life. When he left Illinois he came to the Pacific coast, settling in California, and after coming to San Joaquin county he located on Union Island, where for a number of years he was superintendent of the Williams estate, comprising several thousand acres of land. This he ably managed, and in its control he made it a profitable property to the owners and one of the most richly developed agricultural tracts in this part of the state.
Mr. Niestrath gave his political allegiance to the Democracy, but was never an office seeker. In matters of public concern, however, he was progressive, and championed many movements which tended to benefit the community. Socially he was connected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, at Stockton.
CLIFFORD E. ALLEN.
Clifford E. Allen, physician and surgeon of Stockton, California, is one of the young and progressive members of his profession, and has made rapid advancement since he first opened his office and offered his skill to the public. To offset the long years of experience which some of his fellow practitioners claim, he has the advantage of having received his training and theoretical equipment during the last quarter of the nineteenth century, which was the period in which the random investigation of centuries came into full flower and medical and surgical science became almost at a bound the most beneficial and at the same time one of the most exact of modern arts. With the privileges which these wonderful discoveries and develop- ment insured, Dr. Allen's period of preparation placed him on a high plane of efficiency, and he was thus ready at the start to practice with the confi- dence and skill which the physicians of an earlier day spent several years of empirical probation to acquire.
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