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 82

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 82

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Chat M. Jenkins

523

HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY.

the most of the ticket, his party being both, times largely in the minority. As a lawyer, Mr. Judson has occupied an honorable position at the bar, and enjoyed a lucrative practice, and is esteemed one of the best real-estate and title lawyers in Southern California. He has bought and sold largely of real property in this and ad- joining connties, and was very successful. He has the confidence and respect of the community in which he lives. He belongs to no church, has no love for creeds, but believes in Chris- tianity in its broadest and best sense; and while he has contributed liberally toward the build- ing of half a dozen or more churches in Los Angeles, his sympathies are with the church of the Unity and liberal religion. Mr. Judson was married in 1876 to Sarah A. Fairman, of Elmira, New York, by whom he has seven children, five sons and two daughters, four of whom-all sons -- still survive.

HARLES MEYRS JENKINS was born at Circleville, Ohio, June 2, 1839. His ancestors originally came from Wales and Germany, settled in Maryland, and afterward moved to Ohio. Charles came to California via Panama in 1850. In the war of the Rebellion the Government did not call for volunteers from the Pacific States to serve in the East, for two reasons-the expense of transportation was so great, and then it was thonght there might be need for them here, as there was much talk of a " Pacific Rebellion." Nevertheless a Califor- nia (cavalry) battalion of 500 adventurous spir- its voluntarily organized themselves, in October, 1862, and offered their services to the Govern- ment. But in order to be accepted they had to smuggle themselves into the service, and get themselves accepted as a part of the quota of the State of Massachusetts. And they actually paid their own fare from San Francisco to New York, and Governor Andrew paid their fare from there to Boston, where they were mustered in for three years, or the war, as the Second

Massachusetts Cavalry, with Colonel Charles R. Lowell as commander. This battalion was in about fifty battles. Mr. Jenkins fought in twenty battles, and was a prisoner of war fifteen months, suffering a thousand deaths from sick- ness, cold and starvation. He was captured at Coyle's Tavern, Virginia, and was taken to Libby Prison, then to Belle Island, and from there to Andersonville. Eventually he was taken to Savannah, and then to Millen, Georgia, where he was exchanged. Of the 150 men captured, only three lived to get out: Jenkins, Dr. Demp- sey (now living in Ventura County), and Will- iam Manker, who died soon after his release; he over-ate at Parole Camp and never recovered. Mr. Jenkins, who says he resolved to be a man and live if possible, controlled his appetite, and weathered through, barely. But it was nearly twenty years after the close of the war before he recovered from the effects of the starvation and chronic dysentery he suffered from during his long and terrible imprisonment. After being exchanged he joined his regiment, De- cember, 1864, at Winchester. IIe was twenty- six days with Sheridan in his raid, and at the final surrender at Appomattox. Of course at this time he could only do the lightest service, but his comrades relieved him whenever they could, and he stayed with his command until the last. He was mustered out at Fairfax Court-House, July 20, 1865. During his service he acted as private, Corporal and Sergeant. Im- mediately after his discharge Mr. Jenkins came back to Los Angeles, where he has lived ever since. Notwithstanding all Mr. Jenkins has sacrificed, namely, the best part of his life, if his long disability is included; and notwith- standing all he has suffered, equal to a thousand deaths, for his country, he has never received one dollar, aside from his wages, from the Gov- ernment, as pension or otherwise. It may be because he has not asked for it, for the reason that he is too proud or is too independent to ask favors of anybody! But can the American people consent to receive such sacrifices and not hunt up the heroes who rendered them, and re-

524

HISTORY OF .LOS ANGELES COUNTY.

ward them in some measure as they deserve, even without the asking? Mr. Jenkins was married to Miss Phœbe Speague, July 13, 1869. They have no children. If, with her care and nursing and assistance, he is yet alive and has any means on which to live and "keep the wolf from the door," thanks are due to their own heroic exertions, and not to the Government of the United States! A word should be added as to the boyhood and early life in California of Mr. Jenkins, for he came to California when he was a mere boy, with his step-father, George Dalton, Sr. Young Jenkins learned the printer's trade and worked on the first newspaper pub- lished in Los Angeles, the Star, also on the Southern California, the Southern Vineyard, El Clamor Publico, and the News. On April 1, 1889, he was appointed special Aide-de-camp on the staff of the Department Commander, George E. Gard, of the Grand Army of the Re- public, with rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. Mr. Jenkins was "zanjero," or overseer of water or irrigation of the city of Los Angeles, for about seven years.

OHN KENEALY was born in County Cork, Ireland, in October, 1838. At the age of fifteen years he was employed as a clerk in a large dry-goods establishment in the city of Cork. In a few years he was advanced to the position of buyer and commercial trav- eler. In September, 1865, he was arrested by the British Government for connection with the Irish National party known as the Fenian movement. He was convicted and sentenced to ten years penal servitude for the crime of trying to restore to Ireland her national inde- pendence. Ile served two years in the prisons of Pentonville and Portland, England, and two years in the penal colony of Western Australia. Forced by public opinion, the British Govern- ment released the political prisoners before the term of their sentences expired. Mr. Kenealy arrived in San Francisco in January, 1870.

Here he married Miss Hennessy, a sister of one of his fellow compatriots. He became con- nected with a large wholesale house in that city, as general salesman and manager of a depart- ment. In March, 1875, he came to Los An- geles, with Mr. Richard Dillon, his brother-in- law, and engaged in the dry-goods business, under the firm name of Dillon & Kenealy. After a very successful business career, they closed out their dry-goods stock in this city, three years ago They have yet a store at Phoenix, Arizona. They have a fine young vineyard of over 200 acres, from four to six years old, near Roscoe, four miles above Burbank; also have large wineries and make their own wine and brandy. They are also inter- ested jointly and separately in other valuable real estate. Mr. and Mrs. Kenealy have two children, a danghter sixteen and a son fourteen years of age.

AMES M. KING is a native of Indiana, born in Knox County, in 1847, and is the oldest of three sons. His father was William King, who was also born in Indiana. His mother was Nancy (Murphy) King. They moved to Illinois at an early day, and later to Texas, where the father died in 1855, and the mother married J. G. B. Haynes. After three years they started across the plains with ox teams and arrived in Arizona, where they stopped for six months, and from there they pursued their westward course till they arrived in El Monte. The subject of this sketch, in company with Jefferson Beck, purchased the first land sold from the old Peco Ranch. This was in 1866, and vast indeed has been the improvement made here. Where the wild mustard nodded to the wind, and where the wild horse roamed over un- cultivated plains, there the oranges bloom and the carefully tilled soil yields abundant harvests. As a wise husbandman, Mr. King has planted ont abont twenty acres of English walunts, and has a fine orchard of apples, oranges and smaller fruits. The passer-by cannot fail to observe the

525

HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY.

systematic arrangement of everything on this ranch, and its owner is recognized among farmers as one worthy of imitation. October 10, 1865, he was made one with Miss Mary J. Nicholson. Her father was James and her mother Marga- ret Nicholson. They had six children. The father was a pioneer of 1856 and died in 1860, and his widow is still living with her daughter, at a good old age. Mr. and Mrs. King have a family of four sons: James, William, Henry, and Charles; and one daughter, Catherine. Both the parents are active members of the Seventh Day Adventist Church, and he is an enthusi- astic supporter of the principles of government as taught by the Democratic party.

BBOT KINNEY was born on a farm known as Brook Side, in Middlesex County, New Jersey, November 16, 1850. His early life was largely spent in Washington, Dis- trict of Columbia, with his father, Hon. Frank- lin Sherwood Kinney, who filled various public positions at the national capital. Mr. Kinney also spent much of his time with his uncle, the Hon. James Dixon, for sixteen years a represen- tative in the United States Senate from the State of Connecticut. Abbot Kinney's genealogy traces him through a long line of American an- cestry and gives him a blood connection with many familiar American names, such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, General William Henry Harrison, etc. IIe re- ceived his education in Switzerland, Paris and Heidleberg, and supplemented a thorough classi- cal course with the study of law and medicine, at Columbia College, Washington, District of Columbia. In 1869 he went into the whole- sale commission business in Baltimore City and acquired a competency, but ill health obliged him to give up sedentary pursuits. He was delegated as a botanical garden commissioner of the city of Baltimore aud traveled in Europe on that commission. In 1873 he was connected with the United States Geological Survey under

Prof. O. C. Marsh, on the Sioux Indian Reser- vation, now about to be opened for settlement. In this year he first visited California, passing through the State from the Oregon line to San Diego. Mr. Kinney had previously traveled in the old world, but in 1874 he received a com- mission from the Khedive of Egypt to investi- gate the famine-stricken districts of the Upper Nile. Here he gained an insight into the char- acter of this spiritless people. In 1875-'76 he traveled in Turkey, when 12,000 Christians were massacred in Bulgaria and Macedonia. He continued his trip around the world, visiting Ceylon, Java and New Guinea. He went to Australia with the idea of making that country his future home. He had thus far found no climate to his liking, and in 1880 he came to San Francisco on his way to Florida. While on his way to San José he learned of the Sierra Madre Villa as a health resort, and in February of that year he put up at that famous hostelry. His health so improved that he was in love with the balmy clime and grand mountain scenery. In June of that year he purchased his present farm, most of which is now in a high state of cultivation, being planted with citrus and decid- nous fruits. Improvements have been lavishly inade on this country seat until it has attained the luxurious beauty of a fabled oriental para- dise. From the grand towering Sierra Madre that forms the background, cold streams of purest water flow, while live oak, citrus groves, palms and flowers afford perpetual verdure and foliage. An extensive view of the San Gabriel and Los Angeles valleys, the Pacific Ocean and distant islands rounds ont the pano- rama. Mr. Kinney has thoroughly identified himself with the leading interests of California and has been a somewhat conspicuous figure in the agitation and decision of some of its most important questions of State and national issue. He received a commission from the Federal Government to examine into the condition of the Mission Indians of Southern California and report as to what he might deem it necessary to do for the improvement of their condition.

526

HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY.

" He served on this commission with Mrs. Helen Hunt Jackson, the anthoress of "Ramona," and in this he represented the practical side of the Indian question and Mrs. Jackson the senti- mental. Together they visited every Indian ranchero between San Diego and Monterey. They also visited all of the twenty-one Francis- can Missions of California, gleaned facts and materials for a series of illustrated articles which subsequently appeared in the Century magazine, and the popular novel entitled “ Ra- mona," by Mrs. Helen Hunt Jackson, was a result of this tour. In May, 1886, Mr. Kinney was appointed by Governor Stoneman a member of the State Board of Forestry and was elected chairman of that board, which position he filled with marked ability and enthusiasm for nearly three years. Mr. Kinney is the founder of the free public library at Pasadena. He is a Dem- ocrat in politics. Is the anthor of a work on free trade and also author of a book on forestry. He is an occasional contributor to several East- ern journals. In 1885 Mr. Kinney took a firm stand against the anti-riparian movement, a political agitation that like a whirlwind swept the State. Mr. Kinney married, November 18, 1884, Miss Margret J. Thornton, daughter of Judge Thornton, of the Supreme Court of Cali- fornia, and a lineal descendant of Mildred Wash- ington, an annt of the first President of the United States, and they have three children.

M AURICE KREMER was born January 14, 1825, in Loraine, France. Ile came to the United States in 1844, and en- gaged in business in New Orleans and in St. Louis about six years. In 1850 he came via Panama to California. IIe went to Sacramento, remaining there till December, 1851. In March, 1852, he came to Los Angeles, and has lived here ever since. April 9, 1856, he married Matilda Newmark, a native of New York, and daughter of Mr. Joseph Newmark, long a re- spected citizen of Los Angeles. Mr. and Mrs

Kremer have six children living. Mr. Kremer, during his long residence in Los Angeles, be- sides being in mercantile business, has accepted many public positions of trust, namely: He served six years (from 1859 to 1860) as county treasurer; was some nine years (from 1866 to 1875) on the city school board; was four years county tax collector and one year city tax col- lector; was clerk of the city council five years; and two years a supervisor of the county. Since 1880 he has been extensively engaged in the insurance business.

OHN A. KINGSLEY, the subject of this sketch, is a native of the State of Michigan. He was born in the city of Eaton Rapids, April 18, 1852, and is the eldest of two children of Phineas and Adelia (Holmes) Kingsley; he is a wheelwright by trade, and a native of James- town, Chautauqua County, New York, and she of Niagara County, in the same State. They emigrated from New York to Michigan in 1845, and removed to Lansing, the capital of the State, in 1864. Here John A. spent his boyhood, re- ceived a liberal education and acquired the art of printing in the publishing house of W. S. George & Co., State printers. In-doors work and too close application to business injured his health, and in his search for a milder climate and open-air employment, the year 1880 found him in Los Angeles. Being a young man of good address, gentlemanly bearing and earnest endeavors, he readily found employment with the Southern Pacific Railway Company as a locomotive fireman, and was in a brief time ad- vanced to the position of engineer and put in charge of a locomotive engine. Mr. Kingsley followed railroading four years and then resumed the calling of his early choice, opening a job printing establishment at No. 20 North Spring street in company with Thomas F. Barnes, with whom he still continues, under the firm name of Kingsley & Barnes. These gentlemen both being practical printers and proficient in the

527

HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY.

art preservative of arts, have enjoyed marked success. They do book and job printing in all its branches and make a specialty of commercial work. From the organization of the firm these gentlemen have enjoyed a constantly increasing and well-merited patronage, and the rapid in- erease in the volume of their business now demands increased facilities and more roomy quarters, which they are soon to have at No. 57 North Spring street. . Mr. Kingsley was married November 11, 1871, to one of Michigan's most estimable school teachers, and they have two daughters, Grace and Mildred, both bright and ambitious young ladies. Mr. Kingsley and his family are members of the Third Congregational Church of Los Angeles, and all active in church and Sunday-school affairs. Mr. Kingsley is a member of the Pentalpha Lodge, No. 202, F. & A. M., and is Junior Warden of the lodge; also a member of Signet Chapter, No. 57, R. A. M.

AUL KERN, of 1603 South Main street, Los Angeles, is a native of Germany, and was born in Baden, June 25, 1828. He attended school and served an apprenticeship to the trade of nail-maker, and afterward served three years in the army. In 1852 he emigrated to this country, landing at New Orleans; from there he went to Texas and remained in that State until 1854, when he was employed by Cap- tain Holliday to drive a large herd of cattle to California. There were sixty-two men engaged and they brought the stock safely to Warner's Rancho, San Diego County. Mr. Kern came to Los Angeles and worked for Governor R. D. Wilson abont a year. From there he went with a surveying party to survey the Mojava Desert and was gone nearly a year. He conducted the American Bakery one year. At the expiration of that time he went out in the country and purchased twenty-four acres of land and set out a vineyard. This land is now a part of the city and is very valuable. He carried on the vine- yard business, making wine and brandy for fifteen

years. This property he sold to Mr. Kiefer. In 1875 he made the improvements on his prop- erty at the junction of South Main and Spring streets, and lived there until two years ago, when he sold out. Since that time he has not been engaged in active business. Mr. Kern has been a resident of Los Angeles County for thirty-five years. He enjoys the confidence and esteem of the community and is one of its most worthy and respected citizens. In 1859 he married Miss Kate MeElroy, of this city. They have an at- traetive home, situated on the corner of Morris and Main streets. Mr. Kern is affiliated with the I. O. O. F., Lodge No. 35.

P. KIEFER, senior member of the firmn of Kiefer & Company, wholesale dealers in imported and domestic liquors, is a native of Germany, and was born in Bingen on the Rhine, Jannary 11, 1835. His parents emi- grated to America during his early childhood and located in the State of Wisconsin, near Milwaukee. During his boyhood he attended the common schools, and upon reaching man- hood engaged in the grocery business in Mil- waukee. In 1856 he went to St. Paul and en- gaged in business there until 1860, at which time he came to the Pacific Coast and landed in San Francisco on May 1, of that year. He was first employed in a store, and the following year he went to Tulare County and engaged in hotel and mercantile business and stock-raising, snecessfully carrying on a large business there for many years. He still owns a large ranch property in Kern County. He came to Los An- geles January 1, 1882, and afterward associated with his brother John, in the present business of Kiefer & Company; and since his brother retired from the business, Jannary 1, 1887, he has been the head of the house. This firin deals in all kinds of imported and domestic wines and liquors. Until two years ago they handled their own wines. This company is one of the most reliable in Southern California and has a

528

HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY.

large established trade. Mr. Kiefer was mar- ried in 1874 to Miss Edith M. Barr, a native of Placerville, California, and daughter of J. B. Barr, one of the pioneers of '49. Mr. and Mrs. Kiefer have one son living-James Paul; and one son, Oren A., is dead.

OSEPH W. WOLFSKILL. The subject of this sketch was born at the old Wolfskill homestead, in Los Angeles, September 14, 1844. His father was William Wolfskill, the earliest Wolfskill pioneer in California, who set- tled in this then far-off land in the year 1831, of whom a further account is given on page 121 of this work. His mother was Doña Magda- lena Lugo de Wolfskill, of Santa Barbara, dangh- ter of Don José Ygnacio Lugo and Doña Rafaela Romero de Lugo. Don José and Don Antonio M. Lugo were brothers; their descend- ants are very numerous in this and other coun- ties of Southern California. J. W. Wolfskill's " padrinos," or godparents, were Captain and Mrs. Alexander Bell. He was educated wholly in the private school maintained for many years in his father's house. Among his teachers were Rev. J. W. Donglas, founder of the Pacific newspaper; Miss Goodnow, now the wife of Hon, H. J. Wells, of Cambridge, Massa- chusetts; H. D. Barrows, of this city; A. F. Waldemar, and a Spanish teacher. On the death of his father, in 1866, Mr. Wolfskill took charge of the extensive vineyards and orchards planted by his father, and cultivated and improved them with great success. By per- sistently and intelligently procuring the best varieties of citrus and other fruits from various parts of the world, he brought his orchards to a high degree of perfection. The excellence of the oranges and lemons of the " Wolfskill or- chards " became known far and wide. Ile was one of the first to send car-load lots of oranges of his own production east of the Mississippi River. His orchards yielded some seasons nearly 25,000 boxes, or over eighty car-loads.

The appearance in Southern California of the destructive white-scale insect several years ago from Australia, gradually checked production, in spite of mnost vigilant efforts to exterminate the pest. Inasmuch as his neighbors did not co-operate with him in fighting this dangerous citrus parasite, which multiplies with enormons rapidity, it seemed alınost hopeless for him to try to save his fine groves. And so, as their proximity to the city made the land valuable for building lots, he reluctantly divided it up and put it on the market, in 1887. Thus the glory of the " Wolfskill orchards," so laboriously built up by both father and son, has become a thing of the past. The magnificent Continental Passenger Depot of the Southern Pacific Railway Company oc- enpies a portion of the tract, fronting on Alameda steeet, where once the Wolfskill's successfully and for many years raised oranges, lemons, limes, grapes and other fruits. Mr. Wolfskill, in connection with his foreman, Mr. Alexander Craw, and Prof. D. W. Coquillett, of the En- tomological division of the Agricultural Bureau of Washington, have engaged in a long series of experiments for the destruction of the white or fluted scale, with washes, sprays, gases, and latterly withi parasites of the white scale which have been brought from Australia, where they are known to be the deadly enemy of that de- structive bug. Prof. Coquillett has established a regular experimental station at Mr. Wolfskill's place, for the purpose of breeding and experi- menting with this parasite of a parasite. Septem- ber 20, 1869, Mr. Wolfskill married Doña Elena de Pedrorena the youngest daughter of the late Don Miguel de Pedrorena, of San Diego (a native of Madrid, Spain), and Doña Maria Antonia Estudillo. Mr. and Mrs Wolfskill have eleven children. Following the example of his father, he maintains a private school in his own house. Mrs. Wolfskill has large landed interests in the San Jacinto Rancho, amounting to about 12,000 acres, in San Diego County, which she inherited from her father. Mr. Wolfskill has been for one or two terms an active and useful member of the city council. Like his father, he has never

Hr. Wolfskill

MRS. JOSEPH W. WOLFSKILL.

529

HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY.

been a seeker for public position; but his quiet labors in his orchards and vineyards. like those of his father, have been invalnable to this sec- tion in demonstrating the wondrous fertility of its soil and its possibilities for the profitable cultivation of almost every variety of decidnons and semi-tropical fruits. Mr. Wolfskill, Sr., introduced here most of the best varieties of modern French and American pears; besides planting in 1858 the, then, largest orange or- chard in the United States; the son has helped to introduce by budding and grafting some of the best varieties of citrus fruits to be had any- where. Mr. Wolfskill has two sisters living: Mrs. C. J. Shepherd and Mrs. Frank Sabichi. His younger brother, Lewis, died in 1884.

M RS. J. W. WOLFSKILL is the youngest daughter of Don Miguel Pedrorena and Doña Maria Antonia Estudillo de Pe- drorena, and is a native of San Diego, where she was born in December, 1849. IIer father was born in Madrid, of a good family of high social and official standing; and while still a young man he lived in London several years, where he learned to speak the English language as if it were his own vernacular. One of his brothers held a high office in Madrid, in 1887, when Right-Rev. Bishop Mora, of Los Angeles, visited him, and of whom he made eager in- quiries concerning his, Mr. Pedrorena's, relations in distant California, whom he had never seen. Don Miguel, father of Mrs. Wolfskill, came to California in 1837, as a supercargo of the Span- ish-American brig Delmira of which McCall & Co., of Lima, South America, were agents. Bancroft says he owned some building lots in San Francisco in 1845 and 1846; that he had a claim against the Mexican Government of $3,000 and upward; and that he declined an ap- pointment to present charges against Governor Micheltorena, etc. From 1845 his home was in San Diego, where he married Miss Estudillo, by whom he had four children: Victoria (de- 34

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

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