An illustrated history of Los Angeles County, California. Containing a history of Los Angeles County from the earliest period of its occupancy to the present time, together with glimpses of its prospective future and biographical mention of many of its pioneers and also of prominent citizens of to-day, Part 75

Author: Lewis Publishing Company. cn
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Chicago, Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1092

USA > California > Los Angeles County > An illustrated history of Los Angeles County, California. Containing a history of Los Angeles County from the earliest period of its occupancy to the present time, together with glimpses of its prospective future and biographical mention of many of its pioneers and also of prominent citizens of to-day > Part 75

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HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY.

Davis, Wright & Green, and in 1860 he began the practice of law there. In the meantime he was elected city clerk and helped to organize the city government. After serving two years as city clerk he was elected city attorney, holding that office till the spring of 1867, at which time he moved to Indianapolis and engaged in the wholesale and retail drug business. In the fall of 1873 he closed out his interests in Indianapo- lis and came to California, first locating in Santa Barbara and later in Los Angeles. He was a member of the "Old Indiana Colony," the first settlers of Pasadena. The original purpose of that colony was a failure, and its members organized what was known as the San Gabriel Orange Association. This association purchased 4,000 acres of land on which is built the western half of Pasadena. The Indian colony adopted the name of Pasadena. At that time there were only about twenty families living in the place. Here Mr. Green devoted much time and labor to setting out young fruit trees, and the flourishing orchards showed in a few years that his efforts were being crowned with success. From a small beginning Mr. Green has, by in- dustry and economy, amassed a fortune. In 1879 the subject of this sketch represented his district in the State Legislature. He was a member of the first session after the adop- tion of the present constitution, this session being of great importance and lasting 115 days. The work of changing the laws to con- form to the constitution was very trying. Mr. Green was chairman of the committee on labor and capital, and was a member of the committee on education. He served one term and declined a second nomination. In 1885 Mr. Green organized the Pasadena Bank, a State organization, and was elected its presi- dent. It continued as a State Bank until 1886, when it was merged into the First National Bank, with a capital of $100,000, Mr. Green still being president. The bank now has a sur- plus of $52,500, or a combined capital of $152,- 500. Mr. Green was married in 1860 to Miss Ilettie Campbell, the daughter of the postmaster

at Shelbyville, Indiana. Much of his success in life he attributes to the assistance of his esti- mable wife, who has been a great helpmate through all the struggles of life. Mr. Green has been identified with the Methodist Episco- pal Church since its organization in Pasadena.

COSTANTINO GARIBALDI was born in Chiavari, Province of Genoa, Italy, in 1852. His father, Joseph Garibaldi, was a prominent merchant, and gave the subject of this sketch the advantages of a good education; but young Garibaldi was of an adventurous dis- position and at the age of fifteen years left school and went to South America. Arriving in Montevideo, he sought employment and en- gaged as a clerk in mercantile establishments. He remained in South America for several years, and eventually opened a dry-goods store in Montevideo, but his scanty capital and the general depression of trade at that time com- pelled an abandonment of the enterprise, and in 1875 he went to Cuba, where, for two years, he was engaged as a clerk in mercantile houses at Havana. Still desirous of change, he came, in 1877, to the United States, and soon after his arrival at New Orleans came by the southern route to Los Angeles County and located at San Gabriel. There he entered the employ of his brother-in-law, A. Ginocchio, a well-known merchant at that place and Los Angeles. Mr. Garibaldi arrived in San Gabriel with no capi- tal, except 10 cents; but his trained business habits and knowledge and a determination to succeed have served him well. He remained with his employer, who soon found his worth, and placed the business under his control for over three years. Ile then established himself in business by opening the Cosmopolitan store (a general merchandise store) at San Gabriel, which he continued to conduct until 1886; then, after a visit of some months to his old home in Italy and the continent, he located at Lamanda Park. There he purchased land and

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HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY.

became interested in building up the town. He purchased two lots on the corner of Rose avenue and Nina street, and upon the western half erected a two-story business house. On the corner of the lot he put up another build- ing and opened in it a wholesale and retail liquor store, which he has since conducted. He is interested in other real estate at Lamanda Park, consisting of unimproved residence lots. He also owns the Cosmopolitan store and two cottages with two and one-third acres of land attached, at San Gabriel. He has achieved a success in his business in the San Gabriel Val- ley, and it has been the result of his sound business knowledge and straightforward manner of dealing in his varions business enterprises. He is a member of the Italian Society of Mu- tual Benefit of Los Angeles. He is not an American citizen by naturalization, and there- fore takes no active part in politics, but in principle and belief he is a strong Republican. IIe has never married.

OLONEL GEORGE BUTLER GRIFFIN was born September 8, 1840, in New York City, where his father, Charles Alexander Griffin, was an attorney at law; his mother was Pastora de Forest, of New Haven. On both sides of the house he is descended from a long line of honorable and eminent ancestors. The Griffin family was originally Welsh, and has a coat of arms. The subject of this sketch is the eighth in line of descent from Jasper Griffin, a Welsh royalist, who emi- grated to America in the year 1643, and first settled in Massachusetts, and afterward in Sonthold, Long Island, where he was a Major of provincial troops. His son, Jasper Griffin, Jr., moved to Haddam, Connecticut. Peter Griffin, the great-great-grandfather of George Butler Griffin, was a prisoner on the famous prison-ship Jersey, where death terminated his sufferings. George Griffin, his grandfather, was a well-known barrister in New York City

for fifty-two years. Ilis great-uncle, the Rev. Edward Dorr Griffin, D. D., was a president of Williams College. His mother was the eighth in the line of descent from Henri de Forest, the leader of the Walloon Colony, from Leyden, Holland, and, in 1636, was the founder of Har- lem, which is now a part of New York City. Henri de Forest became a counsellor under Governor Peter Stuyvesant. An uncle of Mrs. Griffin's mother was General Wooster, a dis- tinguished officer of the Revolution. Admiral Wooster, a kinsman of Mrs. Griffin, gave her away at her marriage. Her father, David Cur- tis de Forest, went to Buenos Ayres before the revolution in that country, and there acquired considerable property. In that struggle he be- came a member of the revolutionary party, was elected to the first Congress of that Republic, and returned to the United States of America as Consul General of the Argentine Republic, being the first representative of that country at Washington. Colonel Griffin has portraits of him and his wife in full dress, as they were presented to President Monroe. The paintings are the work of Samuel F. B. Morse, the in- ventor of the electric telegraph, and, in his younger days, a portrait painter of note. Colo- nel Griffin's father's mother was Lydia But- ler, a daughter of Colonel Zebulon Butler, of Wilkes Barre, who commanded the American forces at the Wyoming massacre, and who was the founder of that colony from Connecticut. After Arnold's treason General Washington placed Colonel Butler in command of West Point. Collaterally Mrs. Griffin is related to the fam- ilies of Griswold, Wolcott, Selden, Hyde, Lord, Dorr, Peck, Sands, and others among the found- ers of Connecticut and New York. Colonel Griffin was educated at Columbia College, and afterward studied engineering. The first posi- tion he held was on the New York State works. When eighteen years old he went with Captain T. A. M. Craven, U. S. N., on a United States exploring expedition for a ship canal across the Isthmus of Darien. After this he was assist- "ant engineer in the service of the Louisiana

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HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY.

Tehuantepec Company, and was engaged in surveying a railroad line across the Isthinns of Tehuantepec. He then returned to New York, shortly after which his father died, and he studied law for the purpose of settling his fatlier's estate, which had been left in a com- plicated condition. He was admitted to the bar of New York in the spring of 1860. As a science, he is very fond of the law, but has never cared much for it as a profession. In 1860 he was married in Albany to Sarah Ed- wards, daughter of Judge James Edwards, and had the misfortune to lose his wife and two children within three years. He went to the United States of Colombia in 1863, as a civil engineer, and for three years was chief of en- gineers in the Colombian service, holding a commission as Lieutenant-Colonel; for six years he was State engincer of the State of Antio- quia, and later chief engineer of the Canca Railway. In 1872 he settled on a plantation in the Cauca Valley, and for four years did very well. Ile took part in the revolution of 1876, unfortunately for him on the losing side, and was forced to leave the country. While there, in 1870, he married Eva Ganda- lupe, daughter of Dr. Mannel María García de la Plaza, a distinguished jurist of Buga, in the State of Cauca. The marriage ceremony was performed by proxy, a custom not infrequent in Catholic countries. Upon leaving the Re- public of Colombia he came with his family to San Francisco, where he arrived in January, 1877. An inventory of his personal effects and belongings amounted to his wife and three children, the cash sum of $1.75 in his pocket, a debt to the parser of the ship for passage, and a supposed knowledge that he did not have a single acquaintance or relative on the Pacific Coast. He met II. II. Bancroft, who was mar- ried to one of his kinswomen, and was em- ployed as a historical writer in the Bancroft library till the summer of 1880, when he re- ceived a telegram from Rome, Italy, summon- ing him to the bedside of his only sister in order to bring her home. While on this trip he

spent some months in France and Italy. Colonel Griffin had previously visited Europe, in 1854, spending some time in England and on the con- tinent. He also made several voyages between the United States and South America, and has visited many of the West Indian islands. He has voyaged westward, also, as far as the Sandwich Islands. After his return to America, in the fall of 1880, he met James B. Eads, of jetty fame, in Philadelphia, and accompanied him, as chief of staff, to Mexico, to get a concession for a ship railway across the Isthmus of Tehuante- pec. On his return to New Orleans Eads sent him to Tampico with a party to. make a thorough survey of the bar of Tampico and the river Pánuco, which work Eads caused to be done for the Mexican Government as an act of courtesy. Colonel Griffin then resigned, came to Los An- geles in the spring of 1881, and went to work on the reportorial staff of the Express, his first detail being to report the trial of Miss Abarta for the killing of Chico Forster. While at work on the Express he received a telegram from the chief engineer of the Atlantic & Pacific Railroad, calling him to San Francisco. He went, and, in consequence, took charge of the division of the road comprising the passes of the Sierra from Fort Tejon to Tehachepi, and the ronte across the desert eastward to the Fish Ponds on the Mojave River, and made the pre- liminary location of the road in the summer of 1881. After a severe ride over the desert sands of 102 miles to San Bernardino he found a letter stating that one of his children was dead and buried, before he even knew it was sick. Ile resolved to no longer pursue a profession that required him to be away from his family, and accordingly abandoned engineering, and located himself and his family permanently in Los Angeles. Ile has been an editorial writer ou the Times, Herald, Commercial, Telegram and Express, and in politics is a Democrat. In 1884 he was admitted to the California bar, taking this step in order that he might be in a better position to examine land titles, and for five and a half years has been a notary public.

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HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY.

During all this time he has been a constant contributor to leading magazines and other periodicals and the daily press. His pen is not altogether confined to prose, and many of his poetic gems shine with more than usual lustre. He is a deep thinker, a profound classic, Eng- lish, Spanish and French scholar, and a thorough biblipole and historian. He has a pleasant home in East Los Angeles. His botanical garden is filled with exotics, and plants rare and curious. He has collected a choice and excel- lently selected library of more than 3,000 vol- umes. His eldest daughter, Eva, now sixteen years of age, is developing a remarkable talent for sculpture, and has modeled some bnsts from life that are an astonishment and a delight. His home is truly one of refinement, learning and contentment.

AMES M. GUINN, of Los Angeles City, was born near Houston, Shelby County, Ohio, in 1836. His boyhood years were spent in assisting his father to clear a farın, Western Ohio at that time being an almost unbroken forest. The facilities for obtaining an education in the backwoods of Ohio forty years ago were very meager. Three months of each year he attended school in a little log school-house. By studying in the evenings after a hard day's work he prepared himself for teaching. For two years he alternated teaching with farming. He then began a preparatory course of study in Antioch College, of which Horace Mann, the eminent educator, was the president. In 1857 he entered Oberlin College. He was entirely dependent upon his own re- sources for his college expenses. By teaching during vacations, manual labor, and the closest economy he worked his way through college and gradnated with honors. On the breaking ont of the war in 1861, he was among the first to answer President Lincoln's call for volun- teers, enlisting April 19, 1861. He was a member of Company C, Seventh Regiment, 31

Ohio Volunteer Infantry. This regiment was one of the first sent into West Virginia. He served through the West Virginia campaign under Mcclellan, and afterward under Rose- crans. The regiment joined the Army of the Potomac in the fall of 1861, and in 1863 was sent to the West under Sherinan. Mr. Guinn was engaged in the battles of Carnifex Ferry, Winchester, Port Republic, Second Bull Run, Cedar Mountain and Antietam. At Cedar Mountain his regiment lost in killed and wounded over sixty per cent. of those engaged- a percentage of loss nearly twice as great as that of the Light Brigade in its famous charge at Balaklava. Of the twenty-three of Mr. Guinn's company who went into the fight only six came ont unhurt, he being one of the fortu- nate six. In 1863, having lost his health through exposure and hard service, he was discharged from the armny. During the summer of that year he was commissioned a Lieutenant in a new regiment, but being ont of health he was obliged to decline. In November, 1863, he came to California by way of the Isthmus of Panama. Locating in Alameda County he engaged in teaching school. Soon after his arrival in Cali- fornia he received a commission as Captain from Governor Todd, of Ohio, but being away from the State and not having fully recovered his health, he was compelled to decline it. In 1864 he joined the rush for the gold mines of Idaho, packing his blankets ou his back and footing it from Umatilla, Oregon, to Boise Basin, a distance of 300 miles. He followed gold mining for three years with varying snc- cess, sometimes striking it rich and again dead broke. Returning to California in 1867, he engaged in various pursuits until 1869. In October of that year he came to Los Angeles. He was employed as principal of schools in Anaheim, filling that position for twelve con- secutive years. During the greater portion of that time he was a member of the county board of education. He helped to organize the first teachers' institute ever held in the county - October 31, 1870. In 1881 he was appointedl

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superintendent of the city schools of Los Angeles and removed to that city. He filled the posi- tion of city superintendent two years. He then engaged in the mercantile business, which he followed for three years. Selling out, he en- gåged in the real estate and loan business. Mr. Guinn was married in 1874 to Miss D. C. Marquis, at Anaheim. To them have been born three children: Mabel, Edna and Howard. Politically Mr. Guinn is, and always has been, Republican. In 1873, when Los Angeles County was overwhelmingly Democratic, he was Republican nominee for the Assembly and came within fifty-two votes of being elected. In 1875 he was the nominee of the anti monopoly wing of the Republican party for State Super- intendent of Public Instruction. Being con- vinced that, with two Republican candidates in the field, the Democratic candidate would be elected he withdrew in favor of Prof. Ezra Carr, now of Pasadena, who was elected. He served a number of years on the Republican Central Committee, filling the position of sec- retary from 1884 to 1886. He took an active part in the organization of the Historical Society of Southern California in 1883, and has filled the position of treasurer ever since the organ- ization of the society. IIe has contributed several valuable papers on historical topics and on the meteorology of Southern California. While engaged in the profession of teaching he was a frequent contributor to educational peri- odicals, and delivered a number of lectures on educational subjects. Ile is a charter member of Stanton Post, G. A. R., and a Past Com- mander of that Post. At present he is filling the position of deputy county assessor.

ODELL T. GRAVES, although a resident of Los Angeles for a period of less than two years, has taken a prominence in its business circles that is worthy of mention. Mr. Graves came to the Golden State in September, 1887, and located in Los Angeles, where he was

prominently connected with the Southern Cali- fornia Investment Company. In January, 1888, he took up his residence in Monrovia, and established the real estate, loan and insurance business, known as "The Syndicate," of which he is the general manager, having an office on Myrtle avenne. He is a man of thorough business capabilities, and came here with the best references from some of the leading bankers and capitalists of the monied circles of the East. He dealt largely in real estate upon his own account thronghout Los Angeles and the adjoin- ing counties besides conducting a large commis- sion business for his patrons. His agency in the insurance business comprises some of the most substantial fire, life and accident insurance companies of the country. Besides his real- estate interests in Monrovia he is largely inter- ested in property in various sections of Los An- geles and San Bernardino counties, and is thoroughly identified with the growth and pros- perity of Southern California. He is a stock- holder and a director of the Sonth Riverside Land and Water Company, and also a stock- holder in the Granite Bank of Monrovia. Mr. Graves was born in Lakin, Illinois, in 1858. His father, the Rev. A. P. Graves, D. D., of New York, is a well-known minister of the Baptist Church, who has for the past twenty- five years been traveling throughout the United States in the interests of that denomination as an evangelist. His mother, Elvira L. (Bonney) Graves, died when he was two and a half years old. Mr. Graves was reared to farın life in Dodge County, Minnesota, receiving a good education, completing his studies in the Upper Iowa University, gradnating in the commercial department of that institution when twenty years of age. IIe then located at Emmetsburg, Iowa, and was for the next three years engaged in banking in that city. In 1882 he took up his residence in IIuron, Dakota, and established the banking-house of Orinsby, Graves & Co. He was conducting the affairs of that bank as cashier for about three years. In 1885 he was one of the original incorporators and directors

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of the well-known American Investment Com- pany, of Emmetsburg, Iowa, and was the general manager of the branch office of that company at Huron, which he conducted until 1887, when he came to Los Angeles County. He is a con- sistent member and trustee of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Monrovia, and also a member and Noble Grand of Monrovia Lodge, No. 330, I. O. O. F. Politically he is a Repub- lican. In 1883 Mr. Graves was united in mar- riage with Miss Libbie Taylor, a native of Iowa. They have one child Roy.

EANDER CLEMENT GOODWIN was born May 16, 1832, in Forsyth, Monroe Connty, Georgia, of New England parent- age. He came to California in 1853 via Nica- ragua, and to Los Angeles soon afterward. He has been in business here ever since, except from 1857 to 1865, when he lived in Helena, Arkansas, and Memphis, Tennessee. And it is a singular fact that he started in business in 1853 on the same spot, on the corner of Main and Commercial streets, where he is now, thirty- six years later, the vice-president and acting manager of the Farmers' and Merchants' Bank. He is also president of Los Angeles Savings Bank. Mr. Goodwin married Miss Elizabeth Keihl, of Sunbury, Pennsylvania, in 1858. He is a Past Master of Pentalpha Lodge of Masons, and Past High Priest of Signet Chapter, Royal Arch Masons. Mr. Goodwin served as a soldier in the Mexican war, in the Georgia cavalry. He is a thorough business man, and has been very successful.

ATRICK GOODWIN, proprietor of Good- win's Shoeing Shop, Mayo and South Los Angeles streets, is a native of Ireland, and emigrated to America when fourteen years of age. He served an apprenticeship to his trade in Baltimore, and lived there until coming to

California. He arrived in San Francisco in May, 1866, and began working at his trade, later going to Kern County, where he worked at his calling two years for Joe Smith. He shod horses from San José to Whisky Flat, for A. (). Thorn, proprietor of the stage line. In 1866 he came to Los Angeles, and after work- ing at his trade several years, engaged in busi- ness for himself, on Spring street, where the Empire Stables are located. He next moved to the corner of Second and Spring streets. and opened a shop where the Hollenbeck Hotel now" stands. From there he went to 128 South Spring street, and later moved to his present location on South Los Angeles street. He has successfully carried on the business in this city over twenty years, is well and favorably known, and has an old established trade. He has a nice home and valuable property at the corner of Sixth and Hope streets. Mr. Goodwin mar- ried Miss Kate Hopkins, a native of Ireland. They have four children living: Bernard, John, Jerome and Mary. Two children are deceased.

JOWARD F. GOODWIN, one of the most public-spirited men of Pasadena, was born in Canaan, Maine, June 8, 1838, and lived upon a farm until he was twenty-one years of age, when he engaged in sorting wool. He first came to California in 1861, where he remained four years. Returning East, he followed farın- ing two years at Canaan, Maine, and railroad- ing two years in Wisconsin, and for the succeeding twelve years he was connected with the Sheboygan Manufacturing Company. In April, 1880, he came to Placer County, this State. The same year he made a short trip to Pasadena and purchased a ranch of Colonel II. H. Markham, on Orange Grove avenne. He returned to Gold Run and engaged in mining until January, next year, when he returned to Pasadena, sold his ranch on Orange Grove ave- nne, and purchased ten acres on Las Robles avenue. Since that time Mr. Goodwin has

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bought and sold a large amount of real estate, making a great deal of money. Five acres, ad- joining the intersection of Marengo avenne and Walnut street, he subdivided as the first tract on that avenne attached to the city plat. IIe has been engaged in several enterprises in Pasa- dena; has contributed in many ways toward making it a beautiful city; was one of the origi- nal stockholders in the Bank of Pasadena; is at present a stockholder in the Pasadena Street Railway, and a director of the Colorado Street Railway, but is not now actively engaged in business. He devotes his time principally to the supervision of the improvements of his lands. He occupies a beautiful villa at the corner of Marengo avenue and Union street, and seems to lack nothing that aids in making "life worth living." In 1874 Mr. Goodwin was allied in matrimony to Miss Abbie A. Whit- tier, of Canaan, Maine. They have one child, a daughter.

J. GILLMORE, of Pasadena, was born in Newton, Massachusetts, in August, 1854, and passed his early years as a clerk in a general store, receiving an ordinary school edu- cation. In 1874 he came to California with his mother, who was in feeble health, and, after spending a winter here, returned East and attended the Centennial. At this, the greatest exhibition the world has ever seen, he learned thousands of lessons which one can not learn from books. The next year he came again to California, settling in that most favored nook in this world, Pasadena. IIere he purchased seven and a half acres on Orange Grove avenue, and planted it in fruit trees. After devoting a year's time to the improvement of this place, he moved into Los Angeles and engaged first in mercantile business and then for four years in the grain commission trade. At the expiration of this time he returned to Pasadena, where he has since resided, on Orange Grove avenne, devoting most of his time to the interests of his

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Author: Lewis Publishing Company. cn Publication date: 1889 Publisher: Chicago, Lewis Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1092

Author: Lewis Publishing Company. cn
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Chicago, Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1092