USA > California > A history of the new California, its resources and people; Vol I > Part 56
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Dr. Blemer acquired his education in the public schools of Indiana and Virginia, attended a high school of the latter state and also a private school. He concluded his studies at the age of seventeen years and when a young man of twenty began preparation for his chosen profession, matriculating in the Ontario Veterinary College at Toronto, Canada. There he spent one term and afterward entered the National Veterinary College at Washington, D. C., being graduated in 1894 with the degree of Doctor of Veterinary Surgery. In 1895 he became connected with the United States department of agri- culture as an inspector of the bureau of animal industry and remained in that service in different parts of the country. He was stationed at Kansas City, having charge of the division of southern cattle transportation, his duty being to inspect cattle and live-stock west of the Mississippi river in order to eradicate contagious diseases. He came to California in that capacity in 1898, and in June, 1899, he accepted the position of state veterinarian of California, being appointed by Governor Gage. He has since continued in this office, which is an important one, having direct bearing upon the pros- perity of a large division of the citizenship of the state. Such a work as he introduced was new in California when he entered upon his duties here, he
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being the first state veterinarian. At that time the entire state was under quarantine, established by the federal authorities, which prevented the move- ment of any stock to other states. During the time that he has occupied the office Mr. Blemer through his practical efforts in removing the cause for such a measure has succeeded in relieving all the quarantine area with the exception of a district covering eight or nine counties. It is his aim and purpose to eradicate the infections in the state and undoubtedly he will accom- plish his purpose. California has had more trouble in this respect than all the other states and territories together, but Dr. Blemer, through his knowl- edge concerning the diseases which infect animals and the best methods of treating such, has largely checked the ravages made upon live stock, and his labor has therefore been of vast benefit to the agricultural class.
Dr. Blemer has become identified with many stock-raising associations that have been recently formed in the counties and state of California. He has labored untiringly in his office and has accomplished a great work in addition to having promoted the new Live Stock & Dairy Journal, which is published in this state with headquarters at Fresno. This was begun in June, 1903, and has already met with splendid success. The farmers recog- nizing the necessity of such a journal-a paper which will bring to them many practical ideas-have given to it their support and in return they derive great assistance from the paper.
On the 5th of June, 1899, occurred the marriage of Dr. Blemer and Miss Mabel Whitney, the wedding being celebrated in Sacramento. She was born in California and is a daughter of James Whitney, who owns extensive landed holdings in this state and in New Mexico. The Whitney family is of English lineage, but was planted on American soil at an early period in the growth of civilization on this side the Atlantic and was represented in the Revolutionary army. To the Doctor and his wife has been born one son, John Whitney Blemer. In his fraternal affiliations Dr. Blemer is an Elk, and politically he is a Republican who keeps well informed on the issues and questions of the day, but has never sought or desired the honors or emolu- ments of public office outside the line of his profession. His persistency of purpose, his careful and thorough preparation and the continued advance which he is making have gained him the prestige in his chosen calling that places him in the foremost ranks among the veterinarians of the west.
FREDERICK CONRAD CHINN.
Frederick Conrad Chinn, of Sacramento, is a man who entered upon a special business career with large ideas and ambitions for the future. Now at the age of thirty-four years he has what is probably the largest optical business in the United States, having retail stores in several California cities, and daily extending his trade into new sections. Mr. Chinn unites with pro- fessional zeal the executive and organizing ability of a captain of industry, and has built up in an incredibly short time an enterprise which is well known in business circles throughout the country, and of which he is president and general manager. Like so many others who have won prominence, he started
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with all his capital in brains and energy, not in money, and has progressed by self-achievement.
Not only has Mr. Chinn built up his business to a point of secure finan- cial prosperity, but he has rendered incalculable benefit to the optical profes- sion in general, especially in California, and, indeed, by initiating an excel- lent precedent, setting the pace for other states of the Union to follow up. This achievement for which Mr. Chinn is mainly responsible was the estab- lishment, by legislative enactment, of the state board of optometry, during the session of 1903, and in July of the same year Governor Pardee appointed Mr. Chinn secretary of that board for a term of four years. California is the second state to adopt a similar provision, and practically the same measure has been defeated thirteen times in other states, thrice in New York alone, the same influences being arrayed against the proposal as are brought against any wholesome reform demanding higher qualifications for a certain class. The board of optometry in California regulates the practice of optometry, and by requiring an examination before the board of all applicants desiring to become opticians places opticians on the same plane as physicians and dentists and recognizes them as professional men. This law was the result of the agi- tation of the State Optical Society, which was practically organized by Mr. Chinn and of which he was elected first president in 1899. The society gave Mr. Chinn charge of the matter of pressing the measure before the legislature, and in face of considerable opposition he obtained its passage. This law is a protection to the public, and guarantees that only competent men may ex- amine and treat that most delicate of all human organisms, the eye. No one may practice the profession of optician in California until he has passed an examination before the state board.
Mr. Chinn was born in West Baton Rouge parish, Louisiana, November 2, 1870. His father, Bolling Robertson Chinn, was also a native of Louisi- ana, and of an old American family of Revolutionary stock, and with English and Welsh progenitors. He was a sugar planter in Louisiana and was a Mexican war veteran, and in the Civil war was a colonel of the Fourth Louisiana Infantry of the Confederate army. He died in 1888. His wife was Frances Conrad, a native of Louisiana and of German ancestors who had settled in this country before the Revolutionary war, in which they took part. Two or three of her brothers were soldiers in the Confederate army. She survived her husband until 1892. One son of these parents, Thomas W., is in the fruit business at Red Bluff, California, and the three daughters, Misses E. J., F. A. and E. S., reside in Sacramento.
Mr. Chinn was educated in the public schools of Louisiana and at the Louisiana State University. At the age of sixteen he came to San Francisco and went into the optical business. In 1897 he came to Sacramento and established his enterprise at 526 K street, and a year later established another store at 456 Thirteenth street, in Oakland; two years later one of his stores was opened at 991 Market street, San Francisco, followed a year later by the establishment of one at 407 East Main street, Stockton. He now has the largest retail business in this line in the United States. The business is in-
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corporated under the name of Chinn-Beretta Company, I. A. Beretta being secretary and treasurer.
Mr. Chinn has taken an active part in the affairs of the Republican party, and his fraternal relations are with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He was married in San Francisco, in February, 1892, to Miss Rose McKenna, a native of New York and of Scotch-Irish descent. Her father, John J. McKenna, is a retired merchant of New York city. Mr. and Mrs. Chinn have three sons, Frederick Harold. Bolling Robertson and Francis Conrad.
JESSE WARREN WILSON.
Jesse Warren Wilson, who is at present conducting the Golden Eagle Hotel in Sacramento, known as the leading hostelry of the city, is a Cali- fornia resident of over a half century, and has been one of the most promi- nent in the various phases of activity in that great western commonwealth. He was identified in many ways with the early life of the state, both in private business and in affairs of a public nature, and his long career of seventy years has been marked with success from whatever point of view it is regarded.
Mr. Wilson was born in Ohio, March 21, 1834, and is a descendant of old and prominent Revolutionary families. His father was Benonia Wilson, also a native of Ohio, and who died in 1846. He was a promi- nent farmer in Ohio and also a local preacher in Delaware county, Indiana. His wife was Martha Long, a native of Ohio and of a Scotch-Irish family from the north of Ireland. She died in 1868, and four sons are still living: Jesse Warren; John William, a farmer at Muncie, Indiana; Amos, a banker at Linden, Kansas; and Goldsbury, a farmer at Linden, Kansas.
Mr. Wilson was educated in the common schools of Indiana, and he alternated between school and the hard work of cutting wood, threshing and the other labor of the farm. He bears the impress of a self-made man, and his success is the more commendable because he has gained it by hard, persistent work, interspersed with many hard knocks at the hand of fortune, since he was a boy. At the age of eleven years he began working for him- self, doing all kinds of physical toil. In 1854 he started to California by the isthmus route, and arrived in San Francisco December 1, 1854. From there he went to the mines at Michigan Bluff, Eldorado county, and thence to the Sierra county placer mines, being engaged in mining for six years. He then took employment on a ranch near Marysville, and for about a year peddled produce from that ranch. For the following year he was employed in a stable and hotel in Marysville, and in the fall of 1861 came to Sacra- mento, where for fourteen years he drove a hack. In 1875 he embarked in the livery business on his own account, and continued it for over twenty years, until he sold out to his son. After his retirement from business he traveled about the country and went to Europe, and in March, 1901, took charge of the Golden Eagle Hotel on Seventh and K streets and has man- aged it successfully ever since, making it the most popular resort for trav- elers in the city.
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Mr. Wilson has been a very active Republican for twenty-five years, and has attended city, county and state conventions, and was on the city and county Republican committees for fifteen or twenty years, and the past eight years he was on the state central committee and the state executive com- mittee. He was elected fire commissioner for a period of five years, in 1878. On the expiration of that term he was chosen county supervisor for two three-year terms, and in 1884 was elected sheriff for a two-year term. and was not a candidate for re-election on account of ill health. He has served three four-year terms as a member of the state board of agriculture by successive appointments of Governors Markham, Budd and Pardee. Most of his political career has been in connection with Frank Rhodes. He was on the board of supervisors and a prime mover in stopping hydraulic mining on the rivers. having brought the suits before Judge Temple, and since the decision hydraulic mining has been practically at an end.
Mr. Wilson was married in Sacramento in May, 1863. to Miss Hannah Ryan, who was born in Ireland. They have one son, Arthur J., whose history is given below, and two daughters: Ida, the wife of Edward Fraser, a lumberman on Fifth and L streets, Sacramento; and Lucinda, the wife of John Wiseman, a member of the real estate and insurance firm of Wiseman, Wolff and Company, on J street. Mr. Wilson is a Knight Templar Mason and a member of the Mystic Shrine, and is past grand master of the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows and a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen. At the time of the Civil war he was a member of the Sacramento artillery company, to which many prominent men of the city belonged, and which kept itself in constant readiness for a call to the front. He served the regular period of enlistment of three years.
ARTHUR J. WILSON.
Arthur J. Wilson, the only son of Jesse Warren and Hannah (Ryan) Wilson, is a native son of Sacramento and has had an active and successful business career here since an early age. He inherited the energy of his father, and was not content until he got into the real work of life, in which he has gained an enviable degree of prosperity, and at the same time has won prominence by his participation in public affairs and enterprises.
He was born in Sacramento, April 22, 1864, and was educated in the public schools, in Brothers College, and also one term at Atkinson Business College. He began earning money of his own at the age of nine years, by driving a hack, and he used to get up at four o'clock in the morning in order to meet a train. When his father bought the livery stable in 1875 he began assisting in that enterprise, and when the new stable was opened five years later at 318 K street, Mr. Wilson took charge and has conducted it ever since. About 1890 he went east with some horses and remained a year, and then returned and bought a half interest in the stable, after which it was conducted under the firm name of Wilson and Son. In May, 1899, he bought his father's interest, and has since been the sole owner. He has in fact had the entire running of the business since he was old enough to handle a rein, which is an indication of the energy and executive ability that
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he has manifested all his life. His stable is the largest and best equipped north of San Francisco, and he has devoted his best efforts and most intelli- gent management to the enterprise. He runs a line of carriages, his being the only stable in Sacramento to do so, and also does a general livery busi- ness and conducts a boarding stable.
Mr. Wilson has been active in the affairs of the Republican party since attaining his majority, and has attended both county and state conventions as delegate. He served as deputy sheriff under his father, and was also appointed superintendent of the city cemetery. He affiliates with the Native Sons of the Golden West, the Foresters of America, the Fraternal Brother- hood, the Tribe of Ben Hur and other orders. He has acquired a fine farm in the county, south of Sacramento, and is owner of a fine home in Sacramento. He was the organizer and a stockholder, and at one time the treasurer of the Sacramento laundry, and is interested in several other com- panies and corporations.
Mr. Wilson was married in Sacramento, September 20, 1890, to Miss Josie P. Sellinger, a native of Sacramento and a daughter of Charles Sel- linger, manager of the Union Ice Company. She died in July, 1899, leav- ing three daughters, Irene, Claire and Josephine, and one son, Jesse War- ren. In December, 1899, Mr. Wilson was married in San Francisco to Mrs. Mary F. Forbes, a native of California.
JAY ORLEY HAYES.
Jay Orley Hayes, one of the distinguished and representative men of California, whose activity in public affairs has won him recognition as a leader in business and political circles, was born in Wisconsin on the 2d of October, 1857. The ancestral history of the Hayes family can be traced back to an early period in the development of New England, for in 1683 representatives of the name came from Scotland, their native land, to the new world, settling in Connecticut. The family was well represented in the colonial wars and in the war of the Revolution.
Anson E. Hayes, the father of Jay Orley Hayes, was a native of Con- necticut, and for many years engaged in business as a railroad contractor. He also gave his attention to merchandising for a number of years and at a later date carried on agricultural pursuits. He married Miss Mary Folsom, who was of English lineage, her ancestors coming to America in 1633 and settling in New Hampshire. That family was likewise repre- sented in the Revolutionary war and in events which figured in connection with the early colonial history. The father of Mrs. Hayes was a clergy- man of the Baptist church. Of the two brothers of Jay Orley Hayes, one died in infancy. A half-sister, now Mrs. J. A. Wetmore, is living in San José.
In the public schools of Waterloo, Wisconsin, Jay Orley Hayes pur- sued his early education and supplemented his primary course by study in the University of Wisconsin at Madison, and was graduated in the law department with the class of 1880, at which time the degree of Bachelor
1
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of Laws was conferred upon him. During the two succeeding years he engaged in the practice of his profession in Madison, and in the spring of 1882 moved to Ashland, Wisconsin, where he entered into partnership with Colonel John H. Knight, and in 1883 his brother E. A. Hayes became a member of the firm. This business relation was continued for four years, when Mr. Hayes and his brother retired from the firm and removed to Iron- wood, Michigan, where they had extensive mining interests in the Gogebic iron range. The fall of 1887 witnessed their arrival in San José, and they purchased a splendid ranch near the city for their home. In 1900 they be- came proprietors of the Herald, the leading evening paper of San José, and in 1901 purchased the Mercury, the only morning paper of this city. These papers under their management have become the most valuable factors in journalism in the state outside of the publications of San Francisco and Los Angeles. Their circulation is extensive and they exert a wide influence in molding public opinion and shaping public action. Not alone to his journal- istic ventures, however, has Mr. Hayes confined his attention, for he is now secretary and treasurer of the Hayes Mining Company, which owns the famous Ashland iron mine of Ironwood, Michigan. He is also the president of the Herald Publishing Company and the vice president of the Mercury Publishing Company. A corporation known as the Hayes-Chynoweth Com- pany controls and owns the ranch near San José, and the Hayes Brothers are proprietors of several commercial enterprises. Of these corporations J. O. Hayes is secretary and treasurer. He is a man of splendid business ability, keen discernment and executive force, and his activities have been extended to many lines of enterprise which have had important bearing upon the com- mercial and industrial development of his adopted state.
In his political views Mr. Hayes is a stalwart Republican, and was a candidate for governor before the state convention of California in 1902. He had a strong following and is recognized as one of the leading repre- sentatives of his party in this state. A prominent member of the Union League Club of San Francisco and of the Linda Vista Golf Club, his genial nature renders him popular and has gained him prominence in social circles. His fraternal relations are with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Ancient Order of United Workmen.
On the 16th of June, 1885, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Hayes and Miss Clara I. Lyon, a daughter of Hon. W. P. Lyon, formerly chief justice of the supreme court of Wisconsin, but now living with Mr. and Mrs. Hayes. Mr. and Mrs. Hayes have five children: Mildred Mary, Lyetta A., Elyster Lyon, Miriam F. and Jay Orlo. The Hayes country home at Eden Vale is one of the most beautiful in all California, a state noted for its magnificent residences with their attractive surroundings. The former resi- dence having been destroyed by fire, the magnificent mansion is now being erected in the midst of a splendid park, through which have been constructed paved walks and drives. All of the arts of the landscape gardener have been lavished upon this place, and it is to-day numbered among the country seats of surpassing loveliness in the Golden state.
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ALFRED J. JOHNSTON.
Alfred J. Johnston, of Sacramento, is the head of the firm of A. J. Johnston Company, largest stationery and printing house of that city; and is also actively engaged in the fruit-raising industry of California, in con- nection with which he carries on a successful cannery on his foothill ranch in Eldorado county.
He was born in Nevada county in 1857 and his ancestral history is one of close connection with American interests from colonial times. He is de- scended from Revolutionary stock, and his parents; David and Nancy S. (Glass) Johnston, were both natives of Pennsylvania. They came to Cali- fornia upon their wedding trip in 1852, locating first in Sacramento and after a year removing to Nevada county. The father was a lawyer by profession and made a specialty of realty and mining law, being connected with much important litigation in those branches of jurisprudence. He retired from his profession in 1893 and turned his attention to stock and fruit raising in El- dorado county, making his home at Cool, where he spent his remaining days, his death occurring in May, 1903. His widow now makes her home with her son Alfred, who is the second of the family of three sons and a daughter, namely : Robert G., now deceased; Belle, the wife of W. H. Prouty; and Walter, who has also passed away.
As a student 111 the public schools Alfred J. Johnston pursued his studies until he had mastered a part of the high school course. At the age of sixteen he put aside his text books and learned the printer's trade with H. A. Weaver. In 1882, with the late R. W. Lewis, he engaged in the printing business, and since the death of Mr. Lewis in 1885, he has conducted the business alone, securing a good patronage which makes the enterprise a profitable one. It has been his close application and indefatigable industry which have made him one of the substantial citizens of the community. He was appointed in 1891, by Governor Markham, to the position of superintendent of the state printing office, entering upon his duties in January, 1891. The legislature, during the session of that year, made the office an elective one, and at the regular election of 1894 he was chosen by popular vote to the position, and in 1898 was re-elected, acting in that capacity for twelve consecutive years, his control of the office and the character of the work done therein giving uniform satisfaction throughout the state.
He was selected by the board of supervisors of the county of Sacramento as one of the county commissioners of the St. Louis World's Fair Exposition, and was subsequently elected president of that commission, and has taken an active part in organizing the fourteen counties which represent the great Sacramento valley into one association to be known as the Sacramento Valley Development Association.
In November, 1884, Mr. Johnston was united in marriage to Miss Luella Buckminster, of San Francisco, a daughter of Alva and Zeruah (Huntoon) Buckminster. Her father espoused the cause of the Union in the Civil war and was killed at the battle of Spottsylvania, while fighting under General Grant, thus giving his life as a ransom for his country's release from the
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thralls of slavery. To Mr. and Mrs. Johnston have been born five children : David, Alva, Markham, Luella and Robert.
Mr. Johnston has very pleasant social relations with the Masonic fra- ternity, in which he has attained the Knight Templar degree, also belonging to the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. He is likewise a valued representative of the Native Sons of the Golden West and the Elks lodge of Sacramento. His political support is given the Republican party, and he is recognized as one of the workers in its ranks in behalf of local and state politics. His life has been characterized by fidelity to duty, by persistency of purpose and by reliability and continuity in business affairs, and therefore he enjoys the respect and good will of his fellow men.
FREDERICK WILLIAM KIESEL.
Frederick William Kiesel, general manager of the California Winery and cashier of the California State Bank of Sacramento, is a representative of a type of young men well known in the west-young men of marked energy who in the improvement of business opportunity have gradually ad- vanced to positions of prominence that many an older man might well envy. The enterprising spirit of the west is manifest in their careers, and while winning prosperity this class of citizens has likewise contributed to the gen- eral development and improvement of the state.
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