USA > California > A history of the new California, its resources and people; Vol II > Part 37
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Mr. Soule was born in Winslow, Maine, in 1851, and is a son of Philander and Abigail (Burnham) Soule, both of whom were natives of Maine. The father was a lineal descendant of Miles Standish, and the fam- ily name can be traced back to England. The mother was also a represen- tative of an old New England family. Her ancestor, Cornet Joseph Par- sons, came to America in 1635, at which time he established his home in the northwestern part of the United States. Philander Soule carried on gen- eral farming and merchandising, continuing in business in the east until 1853, when he came to California. His residence at that time, however, was not continuous, but in 1867 he once more made his way to the Pacific coast and resided in San Francisco up to the time of his death, which oc- curred in 1895. His wife had passed away when her son Charles was but two years of age. In their family were two sons and a daughter, of whom our subject is the youngest, the others being Samuel P. and Abbie L.
Upon the home farm Charles Parsons Soule spent the days of his youth, and was a student in the public schools until having mastered the branches of learning therein taught he entered Coburn Preparatory
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Institute at Waterville, Maine. He was a youth of but sixteen years when in 1867 he came with his father to California, and after pursuing a business course of study he entered the employ of the Bank of California as a mes- senger in 1868. At the instance of this bank he went to Virginia City, Ne- vada, in 1869, and there served as bookkeeper in the office of the Virginia & Truckee Railroad Company. Upon returning to San Francisco he re- entered the Bank of California in 1870, but in 1871 went to Hamilton, White Pine county, Nevada, as bookkeeper of the agency of the Bank of California at that place. In 1873 he located at Austin, Nevada, as cashier of the Paxton & Curtis Bank, and eventually he became manager of the Paxton & Curtis banking business at that place. He also became a mem- ber of the banking firm of Paxton & Curtis Banking Company at Reno, Nevada, and throughout these years he gained a comprehensive and accur- ate knowledge of the banking business in its various departments. Finally in 1889 he returned to California, locating in Eureka, and was one of the incorporators of the Bank of Eureka and of the Savings Bank of Humboldt County, of which institution he served as a director and cashier until March, 1902, when he was elected president of the Bank of Eureka and vice presi- dent of the Savings Bank. Both institutions were opened for business on the Ist of July, 1890, having been incorporated on the 4th of October of the previous year. The Bank of Eureka transacts a general banking busi- ness and has a subscribed capital stock of two hundred thousand dollars; its capital stock paid in coin is one hundred thousand dollars and its surplus and undivided profits amount to one hundred and fourteen thousand two hundred and sixty dollars. The officers are C. P. Soule, president : Robert Porter, vice president ; C. H. Palmtag, cashier, and G. A. Belcher, assistant cashier ; while the board of directors is constituted in the following named gentlemen : William Carson, Allen A. Curtis, Robert Porter, J. K. Dolli- son, Alexander Connick. A. Berding and C. P. Soule. The Savings Bank of Humboldt County has a guaranteed stock of one hundred thousand dol- lars, a capital stock paid in coin of fifty thousand dollars and surplus and undivided profits amounting to twenty-six thousand and twenty-one dollars. The board of directors is the same as the Bank of Eureka, and the officers are : Robert Porter, president : C. P. Soule, vice president ; G. A. Belcher, cashier, and C. H. Palmtag. assistant cashier. Mr. Soule's thorough and practical knowledge of the banking business has been an important element in the successful conduct of these institutions.
In 1872 Mr. Soule was united in marriage to Mrs. Mary Agnes Ken- nedy, a widow of Frank Kennedy, who was an attorney at White Pine, Nevada, and a daughter of Ephraim Herriott, who was a native of Penn- sylvania. They have one daughter, Amy D., who is now the wife of Howell W. Lownsberry. of Berkeley. California, by whom she has one daughter, Eleth A. Lownsberry. Mr. Soule is a prominent and well known Mason, having attained to the Knight Templar degree of the fraternity, while he is also identified with the Mystic Shrine. He belongs to the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and in politics has ever been a staunch Re- publican since casting his first presidential ballot for General Grant in 1872.
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While residing in Austin, Nevada, he was elected a Republican member of the tenth general assembly, filling that position in 1879-80. With the in- terests of Eureka he has been actively associated and is now president of the Humboldt Chamber of Commerce, to which he was elected in December of 1904. He was one of its organizers and served as a director and treasurer since 1892, but retired from the latter office when chosen to the presidency. He is a member of the advisory board of the California Promotion Com- inittee for the north coast counties, and is one of the organizers, was for- merly the president, and is now a director of the Humboldt Club. Mr. Soule belongs to that class of citizens who have been active in developing a new California, infusing new life and energy into activities and bringing about a work of development and progress that has wrought a wonderful transformation here in the recent years.
ABNER WOOD TORREY.
Abner Wood Torrey, who is engaged in the livery business in Eureka, was born at Livermore Falls, Maine, in 1834. At an early period in the settlement of the new world the Torrey family was established in New England, and Daniel Torrey, the father of Abner W. Torrey, was a native of . Massachusetts. After arriving at years of maturity he married Miss Florinda Thompson, a native of Maine and a representative of an old New England family dating back to the days of the Revolution. Daniel Tor- rey was a scythe maker by trade. On leaving the Pine Tree state he removed to Illinois, locating at Quincy, and later established his home at Payson, Adams county, Illinois, where he conducted a wagon and black- smithing shop until 1852. In 1856 he removed to Missouri and afterward became a resident of Fairbury, Nebraska, where his remaining days were passed, his death there occurring in 1894, when he had reached the advanced age of eighty-six years. His wife died when their son Abner W. was but eight years of age. He has two brothers, seven half-brothers and a half- sister.
Abner W. Torrey is indebted to the public school system of Payson, Illinois, for the early educational privileges which he enjoyed, and he fur- ther benefited by instruction received when a student in Payson's Semin- ary. He left school at the age of nineteen years and for a number of years continued in his father's employ. In 1853 he established a blacksmith shop of his own at Pontoosuc, Illinois, and in 1854, severing the business con- nections that bound him to Illinois, he made his way westward to California. The tide of emigration had been steadily flowing in this direction from the time of the discovery of gold, and Mr. Torrey believed that good business opportunities would be afforded in this rapidly growing state. He made the journey with a freight train going from Independence to Salt Lake City, and from that place he walked to Sacramento, California. He located first at Marysville, in Yuba county, and in 1852 went to Butte county, where for two years he worked for the firm of Smith & Sparks in the noted Ban- ner mine, being employed in the capacity of a blacksmith. In 1857 he went
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to Timbuctoo, Yuba county, and in 1858 he returned to Marysville, where he established a smithy of his own, conducting business there until 1874. In that year he was elected sheriff and served for two years. He had prev- iously been a member of the city council at Marysville, from 1868 until 1872, and in all of his public connections he was found to be a loyal citi- zen true to the trusts reposed in him and capable in the discharge of his official duties.
In 1877 Mr. Torrey came to Humboldt county and was engaged in stock-raising on Mad river. Later he established his home in Iaqua, where he remained until 1893, when he located in Eureka. The following year he established a livery business, leasing the Ricks livery barn and conducted this until 1899, when he established his present business known as the Tor- rey livery stables. While he has devoted his energies untiringly to the successful conduct of his business, he has at the same time been mindful of his duties of citizenship, has manifested a most public-spirited interest in community affairs, and his fitness for office has been recognized by his fellow townsmen, who in 1902 elected him mayor of Eureka, in which office he continued to serve acceptably until July, 1903. He was also ex- officio president of the board of harbor commissioners. His election came to him as a candidate of the Republican party. He cast his first presi- dential vote in 1856 for John C. Fremont, and has never wavered in his allegiance to Republican principles since that time.
In February, 1862, Mr. Torrey was joined in wedlock to Miss Helen Augusta Sawtelle, a native of Maine, and a daughter of Obediah Sawtelle, a representative of an old New England family, who came to California in 1849 and was one of the pioneer stage men of Marysville. To Mr. and Mrs. Torrey were born six children, three sons and three daughters. Those still living are Flora L., the wife of Fred A. Tuttle, a prominent cattle- raiser of Humboldt county ; Helen Amee; Walter E .; and Abner E., who is in the employ of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company. Those who have passed away are Belle, the deceased wife of Rudolph Madison; and Frank, who was the eldest and died in infancy. Mr. Torrey has been . a faithful member of the Masonic fraternity since 1868 and of the Indepen- dent Order of Odd Fellows since 1864, and is a worthy representative of these organizations. He has lived in California from pioneer times and his mind forms a connecting link between the primitive past and the pro- gressive present. He has taken great interest in what has been accom- plished here, and while aiding in the pioneer growth and improvement he has at the same time been the promoter of the newer development of Cali- fornia in more recent years.
JOSIAH BELL.
Josiah Bell, long and actively connected with the lumber industry of central California, was born in Stanford, Connecticut, on the 17th of Feb- ruary. 1837, his parents being Harmon and Mary Amelia (Schofield) Bell, also natives of that state. His maternal great-grandfather, Gilbert Scho-
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field, espoused the cause of the colonists at the time the attempt was made to win American independence. He fought in the battle of Bennington and served throughout the period of hostilities until the American arms were crowned with triumph. Mr. Bell is also a descendant of Governor Tryon, one of the chief executives of Connecticut, who was his great-grand- father. Harmon Bell was a boot and shoe manufacturer of Connecticut and continued to make his home in that state throughout his active business career. In the family were seven sons and five daughters, of whom Josiah Bell is the eldest.
The educational privileges which Mr. Bell enjoyed in his youth were somewhat limited. He attended the country schools during the winter months and throughout the remainder of the year spent his time upon the farm largely assisting in the labors of the fields until seventeen years of age, when he started to learn the carpenter's trade. He served a four years' apprenticeship, and in the fall of 1858 came to California, making the trip by way of the Isthmus of Panama. Eventually he arrived at San Fran- cisco, but did not tarry long at the Golden Gate, proceeding into the interior of the state. For a short time he remained at Nevada City and followed the fortunes of mining, but this trip was a disastrous one to Mr. Bell when viewed from a financial standpoint, as he returned to San Francisco with- out money. In the winter of 1859 he went to Port Orford, Oregon. where he built a sawmill for H. B. Tichenor & Company, this being one of the first mills in that district. After following his trade there until 1863, dur- ing which time he had acquired some capital, he bought a small sawmill in Smith river in Del Norte county, California, and began its operation. After a short time, however, he sold this property and returned to San Francisco. The next few years were spent in that city in the capacity of a salesman, and in 1868 he went to Bodega on the Russian river. There he engaged in the operation of the sawmill for A. D. Moore for two years, and in the fall of 1870 went to Trinidad, Humboldt county, where he became a mem- ber of the Trinidad Mill Company, manufacturers of lumber, shingles and other building materials. He was a member of the company until the busi- ness was purchased by the California Redwood Company in 1883. At that date Mr. Bell removed to Eureka, where he has continued to reside up to the present time, looking after his private business interests in this place, and also representing the Redwood Lumber Company. He has made ju- dicious investments and these return to him a good income. In his busi- ness career he has manifested keen discernment and foresight, and above all has shown an unceasing industry which is always the real foundation of success.
Mr. Bell was married in Del Norte county, in 1863, to Miss Angeline Bean, a native of Wisconsin. Her father came to California in 1849. It was the first year of the great emigration to the mines, and after engaging in a search for the precious metal for some time, Mr. Bean settled in Del Norte county in 1858. To Mr. and Mrs. Bell have been born four children, Mary Amelia, who is now the wife of John M. Carson; Ada A., the wife
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of C. J. Craddock, proprietor of the Eureka Business College; Estadillo; and Henry H.
Mr. Bell's fraternal relations are with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and with the Masonic lodge. His study of the political questions and issues of the day that have divided public sentiment into two great parties, has led him to give his support to the Republican party, and, while he has never had aspirations for office, he has, nevertheless, given his aid and influence for the advancement of the principles which he deems will prove of greatest good in governmental affairs. Coming to California from the far east, he nevertheless stands as a high type of western manhood, unfaltering in his industry, strong in his business integrity and with a bright outlook for the development possibilities of this section of the country. He has championed many measures which have had for their object the general welfare and public upbuilding, and Eureka numbers him among its leading and influential citizens.
EDWIN BRYANT HAWKINS.
Edwin Bryant Hawkins is a consulting and advisory engineer of San Francisco and in this connection has done much for the development of the great mineral resources of the state. He stands to-day as a self-made man, for without any pecuniary or family advantages in his youth he started out in life on his own account and has gained a creditable position in the busi- ness world and the success which ever crowns honorable, persistent effort.
Mr. Hawkins is a native of Missouri, his birth having occurred in Edina on the 14th of January, 1871. His parents were Lucian B. and Mary E. (Bryant) Hawkins. The father was a native of Kentucky and a repre- sentative of an old southern family. He became a planter, conducting large agricultural interests in Kentucky and Missouri. His wife was also a repre- sentative of an old southern family, whose people were planters.
Mr. Hawkins had but one brother and one sister. His early education was acquired in the public schools of Hurdland, Missouri, and at the age of fifteen years he went to Colorado Springs, where he spent one year as a high school student. He put aside his text books, however, at the age of seventeen, and was then engaged in prospecting and mining in Colorado and South Dakota, also Montana and the Pacific states. In 1894 he arrived in California, where he began business as a mining investigator, working on different properties throughout this state. In 1897 he went to the Tonopah country in Nevada and after investigating an abandoned mining property leased it and operated it with success for some time. At length he sold the property and in 1898 returned to San Francisco, where he entered upon business relations with the Morse Detective Association as chief mining investigator, this relation being maintained up to the present time. He has been identified with a number of prominent mining interests, including the White Swan of Oregon, the Niagara of Grass Valley, California, the Angeles Quartz Mining Company, of Angeles Camp, California; the Stand- ard Mine at Bodie, California, together with numerous other properties.
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Mr. Hawkins was a student with and associate of Professor William Ireland, Jr., the noted state mineralogist and geologist, who for nine years has served California in that capacity. Although a young man, Mr. Haw- kins has made a splendid reputation for integrity and industry and enjoys the entire business confidence of his associates. He is the inventor of the Hawkins die-lifter, a device for raising the die from the mortars of stamp mills. This invention is intended to revolutionize the old method of lifting them by hand, thereby causing a vast saving both in time and labor, and is being used by some of the largest inines. He is also a practical metallurgist, cyanider, millman, and, in fact, has thorough knowledge of the mining busi- ness in all its departments. He stands to-day as a self-made man, his course proving the possibilities that lay before others who have to start out as he did, empty-handed.
PHILETUS BELL.
Philetus Bell, who is filling the position of county assessor in Hum- boldt county, was born on the Atlantic coast, so that the width of tlie con- tinent separates his present place of residence from his birthplace. His natal year is 1856 and his native city is New Canaan, Connecticut. His parents were Harmon and Mary A. (Schofield) Bell, who were also natives of Connecticut and were representatives of old colonial families that were represented in the patriot army during the war of the Revolution. Mr. Bell is a great-grandson of William Tryon, who was at one time governor of Connecticut. His father was a shoemaker by trade and spent his entire life in the Charter Oak state.
Mr. Philetus Bell is indebted to the public school system of his native town for the educational privileges he enjoyed. He left school at the age of sixteen and entered upon his business career as an apprentice to the mason's trade, which he followed continuously until 1880.
In that year Mr. Bell came to California, locating in Trinidad, Hum- boldt county, where he became engaged in the lumber business, operating a sawmill on an extensive plan. He also carried on the manufacture of shingles until 1902, when he put aside personal business interests in order to enter upon official service, having been elected assessor of his county. He took the office on the Ist of January, 1903, to serve for a term of four years, and has since been most loyal in the discharge of his duties, prompt- ness and business-like dispatch characterizing his entire service as assessor ..
In 1875 Mr. Bell was united in marriage to Miss Esther M. Smith, a native of Essex, Connecticut. Her father, who was a representative of an old American family, died during her early girlhood. Three children, one son and two daughters, have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Bell, namely: Mary A., who is the wife of A. B. Saunders, of Eureka; Herbert P .; and Frances. Mr. Bell affiliates with the Masonic fraternity and his name is also on the membership rolls of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. In his political views he has always been a stanch Republican, taking an active part in both local and state politics, and has been a delegate to the county and state conventions. Reared upon the farm, his educational privileges were
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somewhat limited and his success in life is due entirely to his own applica- tion, unflagging efforts and industry. He has labored along legitimate business lines, his work characterized by marked business integrity, and he well merits the confidence which was reposed in him by the public when he was elected to the office which he is now filling.
DR. OLLINE BURTON DOYLE.
Dr. Olline Burton Doyle, physician and surgeon of Fresno, has been located here and in professional work ever since his graduation in medi- cine, but only for a little more than a year has been engaged in a general practice. He is a young man of talent and fine equipment for his life work, enthusiastic and progressive, and has already made a fine showing among the medical fraternity of the county.
Dr. Doyle was born in Kuttawa, Kentucky, in 1875. a son of John F. and Laura Gray (Rucker) Doyle, his father a native of Tennessee and his mother of Kentucky, and both of old American families. His father also made the practice of medicine his life work, and devoted most of his years to that profession in Kuttawa, but gave up his practice in 1902 and has since been living a retired life in Fresno.
Dr. O. B. Doyle was reared in the old Kentucky town of Kuttawa, receiving his literary training there and in the Princeton (Kentucky) Col- legiate Institute. In 1896 he matriculated in the Kentucky School of Medi- cine, from which he graduated in 1898, and at once came out to California. For the first five years he was the official physician and surgeon for the . Fresno Flume and Irrigation Company at Fresno, and in January, 1903. opened his office in this city, where he has since been extending his services to an ever increasing number of patrons.
Dr. Doyle, being a native Kentuckian, is of course a Democrat in political allegiance. He affiliates with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He was married May, 1904, to Miss Ruby H. Perkins, who was born in Visalia, California, and her father, H. P. Perkins, is a California pioneer and an old-time resident of Visalia.
HANS GRAFF.
Hans Graff is well known in Fresno and all the surrounding country as the self-made, prosperous and progressive merchant who over twenty years ago borrowed enough money to pay his passage across the Atlantic from his native home in Denmark, and who since then, by legitimate enter- prise and worthy endeavor along one line, has made a record of steady progress to a rank among the foremost business men of Fresno and this section of California. He deserves the success that he enjoys, and is held in the highest esteem for the qualities of excellence which enabled him to attain his present position of business and commercial prominence.
Mr. Graff was born in the old home in Denmark in 1863, being a son of Hans and Elsie ( Jorgensen) Graff, who were both of the same country and belonged to families of long and honored lineage in that country.
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His father being a farmer, Mr. Graff had the thrifty rearing of a farmer boy, and he also attended the schools of his community until he was fourteen years old. He was then apprenticed and served four years in the grocery business, where he laid the foundation for his future career. In 1882, when nineteen years old, he managed to come to America, and he arrived in San Francisco in June, joining his brother John, who had pre- ceded him. During the following five years he was employed at various occupations, and in 1887 he came to Fresno, which has been the scene of his activity ever since. For the first two years he held a position in the grocery department of the Louis Einstein and Company, but he was then in a posi- tion to open a small grocery store of his own, locating on the outskirts of Fresno. He gained a good trade, but a year later his store burned down, which misfortune, however, only checked his operations as long as it re- quired to replace his building and stock, and for the following three years he continued doing business at the same old stand. The location away from the business center was a hindrance to great progress, so he moved his store to the business district. His trade increased rapidly, and in 1901 he moved to some of the finest quarters in the city, in the new Patterson block. His store is sixty by one hundred and fifty feet, with basement, and he has two warehouses in the railroad reservation district. He now em- ploys forty persons in various capacities. His stock includes groceries, crockery, glassware, hardware, implements, stoves, etc., etc., and his repre- sentative trade is one of the largest in the city.
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