An illustrated history of Southern California : embracing the counties of San Diego, San Bernardino, Los Angeles and Orange, and the peninsula of Lower California, from the earliest period of occupancy to the present time; together with glimpses of their prospects; also, full-page portraits of some of their eminent men, and biographical mention of many of their pioneers and of prominent citizens of to-day, Part 138

Author: Lewis Publishing Company
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : The Lewis Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 1038

USA > California > Los Angeles County > An illustrated history of Southern California : embracing the counties of San Diego, San Bernardino, Los Angeles and Orange, and the peninsula of Lower California, from the earliest period of occupancy to the present time; together with glimpses of their prospects; also, full-page portraits of some of their eminent men, and biographical mention of many of their pioneers and of prominent citizens of to-day > Part 138
USA > California > San Diego County > An illustrated history of Southern California : embracing the counties of San Diego, San Bernardino, Los Angeles and Orange, and the peninsula of Lower California, from the earliest period of occupancy to the present time; together with glimpses of their prospects; also, full-page portraits of some of their eminent men, and biographical mention of many of their pioneers and of prominent citizens of to-day > Part 138
USA > California > Orange County > An illustrated history of Southern California : embracing the counties of San Diego, San Bernardino, Los Angeles and Orange, and the peninsula of Lower California, from the earliest period of occupancy to the present time; together with glimpses of their prospects; also, full-page portraits of some of their eminent men, and biographical mention of many of their pioneers and of prominent citizens of to-day > Part 138
USA > California > San Bernardino County > An illustrated history of Southern California : embracing the counties of San Diego, San Bernardino, Los Angeles and Orange, and the peninsula of Lower California, from the earliest period of occupancy to the present time; together with glimpses of their prospects; also, full-page portraits of some of their eminent men, and biographical mention of many of their pioneers and of prominent citizens of to-day > Part 138

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).

Prof. Greeley was elected Superintendent of Schools of his native place for three successive years, resigning when he came to California in 1884. Taught one year in San Joaquin County, and the remainder of the time in Los Angeles

County. Was principal of the schools at Pla- centia for four years. When Orange County was formed he was elected as its first Superin- tendent of Public Schools, being elected in July, 1889, receiving the highest number of votes of any candidate.

He was married July 7, 1889, to A. Evelyn Earl, of Los Angeles city.

OEL RATHBURN CONGDON, late of Santa Ana, was born in Norwich, Con- necticut, in 1838, and crossed the plains from Independence, Missouri, in 1854. He, with his two brothers, George and Frank Cong- don, and five others were on the road from May 5 to September 5. They had two wagons and 325 head of cattle. They stopped first in Yuba County, where Joel took charge of his brother's stock for about seven years. From 1861 to 1863 Mr. Congdon mined in San Bernardino County; from 1864 to 1868 he was a farmer near San Bernardino; next he purchased land at San Juan, then in Los Angeles County, but now in the southeastern part of Orange County. Being the first American there, he bought of the Mexicans. Subsequently a grant was float- ing over his title and he had to purchase the same land again. On this place he planted the first walnut orchard in the southern part of the county,-thirty-five acres in all. In Sep- tember, 1887, he sold out to Major George H. Bonebrake and moved to Santa Ana, where he purchased $30,000 worth of city property. A brick block ou South and Spurgeon streets, 25 x 100 feet and two stories high, stands as a monument to his enterprise; and he has also erected a magnificent residence on Pine and Cypress avenues, where, with his family, he is enjoying the pleasures and comforts which he well deserves. He took an active part in the county division. His judgment in all matters relating to Santa Ana and Orange County has proven wise beyond question.

January 2, 1864, is the date of Mr. Congdon's

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HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY.

marriage to Miss Mary Rouse, a native of Iowa, whose parents immigrated from Salt Lake to San Bernardino in 1858. Mr. Rouse was sub- sequently killed by the Indians. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Congdon are as follows: Har- riet, wife of Rodolphus Cook, of San Juan; Sarah, wife of E. E. Cook, telegraphı operator for the Southern Pacific Railroad Company in San Bernardino; Ella, May, Walter, Claude and Grace.

AY BILLINGSLEY, attorney and coun- selor at law, Santa Ana, is a native of Washington County, Iowa, born Novein- ber 10, 1854. At the age of sixteen years he entered the State University of Iowa and gradu- ated there in 1877 with the degree of Ph. B. Two years afterward he graduated in the law department of the same institution, and direct. ly was admitted to practice in the State, Su- preme and Federal courts, and he followed his chosen profession at Vinton, that State, until 1886, when he came to Santa Ana, resumed and still continues his professional practice, ap- pearing for respondent in the first case from the new county of Orange in the Supreme Court of this State, and is at present of the law firm of Billingsley & Cooke, of Santa Ana.

He was married February 22, 1882, to Miss Elcanor A. Patterson, of Charles City, Iowa, a daughter of ex-Senator J. G. Patterson, of that State. Mr. and Mrs. Billingsley have four in- teresting children, whose names are William Patterson, Helen May, Harlow E., Ray and Carey Val.

ALTER B. TEDFORD, Postmaster at Santa Ana, was born in Huntsville, Randolph County, Missouri, July 9, 1854, and came to California in 1864 across the plains with his father, being five or six months on the road. After working upon his father's 58

ranch at Newport for about ten years he was employed two years in the recorder's office in Los Angeles. under C. E. Miles. He then made a prospecting trip to Arizona, was fireman on the railroad some months, in the recorder's office in Los Angeles again, and in mercantile business at Newport until August 16, 1887, when he became a citizen of Santa Ana. Here he served as assistant postmaster under Gran- ville Spurgeon, and September 6, 1888, he was appointed Postmaster by President Cleveland. Since July 1, 1888, this has been a second-class office. There are six daily mails in and out, and the office employs three clerks. Mr. Ted- ford has made his own way in the world, being not afraid to work, and to-day he stands high in the esteem of his fellow citizens.

He was married October 20, 1886, to Miss Nellie F. Purrington, a native of Santa Rosa, California, and they have two children: Lois Eleanor and Clarence. Their residence is at 305 East Third street.

E. FOSTER, the Recorder and Auditor of Orange County, was born in La Salle County, Illinois, in 1861, a son of Will- iam Emory and Julia (Abbott) Foster, the former a native of Columbus, Ohio, and the latter of western New York. At the age of eight years Mr. Foster with his parents came to California, being among the passengers on the first train over the Union Pacific railroad. From Sacramento, which was then the terminus of the road, the family came by boat to Santa Barbara, and in December, 1877, they changed their residence to the vicinity of Orange, in the Santa Ana valley. Here Mr. Foster was em- ployed upon his ranch in the raising of grapes and oranges. He completed a course at the Business College at Los Angeles, and at the age of twenty-two years was appointed snper- intendent of the Santa Ana Valley Irrigation Company's ditch, which position he tilled for four years. After this he was road overseer.

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HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY.

In July, 1889, he was elected to his present position, and while attending to its duties he is a resident of Santa Ana, but he owns a residence and orange orchard near Orange. He is yet a very young man, but has held some office of public trust ever since he attained his majority, and well deserves the honor which the citizens of Orange County have conferred upon him.

His first wife, whose maiden name was Hattie E. Cook, died in 1885, and April 13, 1886, he married Miss Cora L. Cook, a sister of his former wife. Mr. Foster is a member of Santa Ana Lodge, No. 241, of the Masonic fraternity; a member of the order of Eastern Star, and is also First Lieutenant and Ordnance Officer of the Ninth Infantry, First Brigade, National Guard of California.

P. BOYD, M. D., of Santa Ana, was born in Buchanan, Virginia, in 1854, received his literary education at private schools, tanght a few terms, and in 1879 graduated at the University of the City of New York. He practiced lis profession in Bedford County, Virginia, until 1883, when he returned to Bu- chanan and practiced as surgeon of the Rich- mnond & Alleghany railroad, until 1888, and then he came to Santa Ana. He has given his whole attention to his profession, and is there- fore recognized as an honorable and scholarly representative of the medical fraternity. At the present time he is Secretary of the Orange County Medical Association.

OLONEL E. E. EDWARDS, District At- torney for Orange County, is a gentleman whose life history is inore interesting to the citizens of that county than that of alinost any other resident. He was born in Lawrence County, Indiana, in 1835, attended one term at Asbury (now Depanw) University, at Green castle, that State, and the law school at Albany,

New York, and was admitted to practice by the Supreme Court. In 1858 he opened out in his profession at Chariton, Iowa, in partnership with James Baker. In 1860 he went to the mines in Colorado, but soon the war broke out and he enlisted and was commissioned Lieuten- ant of Company B, Sixth Iowa Infantry; after- ward he was appointed assistant provost-marshal of Memphis, Tennessee, where he was on duty from the summer of 1862 to the following spring. Returning to Iowa he was appointed assistant provost-marshal to enforce the draft in Lucas County. He was then commissioned Colonel of a regiment, which, however, was never called into active service.

At the close of the war Colonel Edwards was elected to the State Senate of Iowa. In 1878 he moved to Lincoln, Nebraska, where he was for two years secretary of the board of trade. In 1880 he came to the Golden State and en- gaged in the real-estate business in Santa Ana. In 1884 he was sent to the Legislature from the Seventy-eighth district, and he it was who in- troduced the bill for the organization of Orange County and brought about its adoption by the Assembly. In 1886 he was nominated by the Republican party for the Senate, but was de- feated by a small majority by Hon. L. J. Rose. In 1888 he was re-elected to the Assembly from the Seventy-eighth district and introduced the bill for the organization of Orange County and also the bill for the location of the Insane Asy- lum in the southern part of the State; both bills becaine laws. Altogether Colonel Edwards introduced four bills, and they all became laws. This " beats the record." At the extra session of 1880 Colonel Edwards was Chairman of the Committee on County and Township Govern- ment, and acting Chairman of the Committee on Irrigation, who reported a resolution for an amendment to the State constitution enabling the different counties of the State to make such irrigation laws as they pleased. He has been twice mayor and once city attorney of Chari- ton, Iowa. He was nominated by the three conventions for District Attorney of Orange

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HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY.

County, and elected withont opposition; and to accept this honor he resigned as Assemblyman. Thus it will be seen that no inan has worked more assiduously for Orange County than Col- onel Edwards.

He was married in Iowa, in 1863, to Miss Sallie Leffler, a dangliter of Colonel Isaac Leff- ler, a Congressman from the Wheeling district, West Virginia. The Colonel and his wife have an interesting family of four children, and their residence is on Fourth street, in the beautiful county seat of Orange County.

G. GARRISON, M. D., of Santa Ana, was born in Swedesboro, New Jersey, March 11, 1837, and completed his edu- cation at Union College, New York, where he graduated in 1859. In 1863 he was married, and then took a medical course at the Uni- versity of Pennsylvania, and graduated there in 1865; but previous to this he was in the army and had the practice in the hospital de- partment of the Thirty-fourthi New Jersey Volunteers. After the war he practiced his profession in Philadelphia four years, and then four years at Kansas City, thirteen years at Prairie Grove, Arkansas, and two years ago he came to Santa Ana, where he has a large and lucrative practice. He married Miss Annie R. Howe in Philadelphia.

F. GROUARD, member of the City Council of Santa Ana, was born in the city of Los Angeles in 1858. His father, B. J. Gronard, came to California in 1850, and about 1855 went to San Francisco, where he was a contractor and bnilder for a number of years. He subsequently moved back to Illi- nois, and for some years farmed extensively in Fulton County, and it was in that county that the subject of this sketch received a high- school education. He came to California again

in 1878, with his father, and they together have taken contracts and erected buildings, besides manufacturing brick extensively. They bought fifteen acres of fine land in the western part of the State, where their brick yards are located. Mr. Grouard resides in a neat brick house on Olive and Sixth streets. He is one of Santa Ana's enterprising and honored citizens, his fellow townsmen recognizing his ability by electing him to the office of Councilman, in March, 1889. He is a Republican and a mein- ber of the order of Odd Fellows.

He was married in November, 1887, to Miss Charlotte Garnsey, a native of Santa Clara County, California, and a daughter of one of the early pioneers of that county.

AMES L. WIGHTMAN, a retired capital- ist in Santa Ana, was born in Scotland in 1821. His parents, James and Martha Jane (Brown) Wightman, were both natives of that country, and had seven children. The subject of this sketch was the only one of the family who ever came to the United States. Landing in New York city in 1840, he at once declared his intention to become a citizen of this country. He was a resident of New Jersey ten years, and in 1856 he moved to Shawnee Conn- ty, Kansas, where he engaged in farming for six years, when he took up arms in defense of his country, entering Company G, Sixteenth Kansas Cavalry. He was mustered out as First Lientenant in 1865.

Returning to Kansas, he built an ore mill in the Pottawattamie Reserve, but it was not profitable, as it was in the Indian Territory. After this he went to Topeka and worked at his trade, that of a painter, for a short time, when his health failed, and in 1870 he went to Colorado and followed prospecting. There, in June, 1870, he discovered and raised the first colors of gold, working three years before the Little Annie mine was found. In order to do this he had to mortgage his home in To-

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HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY.

peka for every dollar it was worth, while leaving his family therein. In 1870 Summit district, Conejos County, Colorado, was formed, and those who were engaged with Mr. Wight- man in the district were Major French, William Boren, Ephraim Baker, Sylvester Reese and Jesus, a Mexican. Mr. Wightman was elected Recorder of the mines district, and served three years, when he deputed John P. Peterson. Mr. Wightman was the only one of the original six to hold out to the end. In 1874 Mr. Wight- inan received a medal at the fair in Denver, for the best display of gold ore. He subsequently sold his interest in the Little Annie mines for $60,000.

Next he located the railroad and built a wagon road from Silverton to Durango, a distance of forty-three miles. This was a magnificent piece of work and reflects great credit on the builder. In 1880 he came to California and bonght forty acres of land a mile north of Santa Ana, which he improved, and upon which he resided until two years ago, when he bought a residence on Sixth street, Santa Ana, and is now retired from active business life; living happily with his faithful companion in the evening of his life. They have four children: Lottie S., now Mrs. W. G. Fisher, of Topeka; James M., who died at fifteen years of age; Mary .I., who died at the age of thirteen years, and Margaret A., the wife of George B. Warner, of Santa Ana. Both Mr. and Mrs. Wightman are members of the Baptist Church, and Mr. Wightman is a Free Mason in high standing. As a citizen his record is be- yond reproach; as a business man he has suc- ceeded by his own efforts and perseverance, having endured many hardships and privations.

ENRY NEILL, a business man of Santa Ana, was born in Burlington, Iowa, and first came to California in 1863, engaging in mercantile business in the northi part of the State. After that he went to Oregon and took tlie con- tract to furnish stone for the court-house and

jail at Portland. Subsequently he returned to Iowa and was engaged in merchandising at Red Oak until 1875, when he came again to Califor- nia and established himself in the livery business at Orange. In 18 - he went to Santa Ana, where he has since continned in the same business, on Fourth and Spurgeon streets.

As a business man Mr. Neill has been emi- nently .successful. He has a fine residence on Fourth street, as well as a magnificent brick block on the same, 59 x 80 feet and two stories high. He was the first man in Santa Ana to subscribe for the street railway, and he also took a prominent part in the establishment of the Gas Company.

S AMSON EDWARDS, a retired farmer at Westminster, was born in Cornwall, En- gland, February 26, 1830, the fourth of twelve children of his parents, William and Elizabeth (Pierce) Edwards, who came to America in 1847, and died in Erie, Pennsylva- nia, with cholera. Having to make his own way in the world, young Edwards started out at 62g cents per day in the mines, at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania; was there over two years. At Birmingham he put down wells through the quicksand, and made money enough to get away. Then spent two and one-half years in the lead mines of southwestern Wisconsin. He next bought forty acres of nnimproved land in Jo Daviess County, Illinois, cultivated it about six years, sold it, bought eighty acres east of that in the same county and followed farming or eight years. In 1874 he came to Westmin- ster, being, therefore, one of the early settlers here. His first purchase was 200 acres; he now owns over 400 acres of as fine land as there is " ont of doors " He has raised and has been dealing in large herds of fine horses and cattle with eminent success. He is a man of great energy and enterprise, well calculated to make a mark in the world as a financier and economist. Politically he is a conservative Republican.

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HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY.

In 1851 he married Miss Diana, daughter of John and Jane (Curtis) Rogers, a native of England. She was eight years old when her parents came to America. Mr. and Mrs. Edwards have had the following children: Elizabeth, who died in 1870; John, William J., Isabella, now Mrs. Frank U. Rogers, of Santa Ana; Hester A., wife of Charles Bowlsby, also of Santa Anna; Thomas M., a student at the Orange County College.

EORGE M. HOLADAY, a farmer in Westminster colony, was born October 8, 1818, a son of Samuel and Dollie (Mecham) Holaday: his father a native of Orange County, North Carolina, and mother, of Guilford County, same State; they moved to Indiana in 1812. George M., the third in their family of eight children, started out for himself in the world at the age of twenty-one years. In 1842 he moved to Henry County, Iowa, and from there to Keo- kuk County, same State, where he remained until 1850. March 12, that year, he left St. Joseph, Missouri, for California, with ox teams, and ar- rived at Placerville June 12. After a sojourn at the latter place until March, 1851, lie went to San Francisco and started thence with a company to the new mines in the north; but about four days after they started their vessel was wrecked and they returned to San Francisco. Mr. Hola- day then went to Sacramento, bonght a wagon and a yoke of cattle and went to the Trinity river gold mines; but his success there was not sufficient to justify his remaining, and he re- turned to Sacramento and hired men to cnt and bale wild oats in Napa valley. He had 200 tons cut with an old-fashioned scythe, baled it and shipped it across the Suisun bay and up the river to Sacramento city, where he had a half interest in a feed and sale stable, with James Buckner, on J and Twelfth streets. What hay they could not use they hauled to the mines and sold.

In the fall of 1851 Mr. IIoladay located a

ranch on the south side of the Sacramento river six miles below Colusa,-a timber section which he supposed to be Government land,-and liired men to cut large quantities of wood, for which he found a ready sale to steamers at $8 per cord. In the fall of 1852 he was notified to leave tliat placc, as it was grant land. There were then abont 300 settlers improving it. One of the owners, Dr. Stoddard, landed at Mr. Holaday's place from San Francisco to take possession, which was refnsed by the settlers, over a hundred of whom. immediately gathered at that point and elected Mr. Holaday captain. The first thing they determined to do was to get the Doctor out. Mr. Holaday agreed to accom- plish the task with a picked lot of men. They marched two and two in a column until they reached the house of John Fitch, where Dr. Stoddard was, about midnight. Holaday placed a guard of four men at each door and window with instructions to allow no one to pass in or out, took fonr true men, called up Mr. Fitch, who knew his voice and arose and let them in, not knowing his business. The Captain with his men entered the room of Dr. Stoddard, who at first began to show signs of fighting; but as soon as he saw the situation he quietly gave himself up, and Captain Holaday informned him of his mission, assuring him that not even a hair of his head should be touched. They took him and his effects down to the river bank, " the worst-scared man you ever saw;" and he begged to be kept there until morning. Holaday took a vote from the crowd, which determined that he should be put over the river into Sutter County,-in the midst of a dense thicket inhab- ited only by wild beasts, even grizzly bears- The vanquished Doctor hailed the steamer next morning and returned to San Francisco, where he reported the matter to the United States Deputy Marshal. A man named Douglas was sent up with injunction papers. On meeting Captain Holaday they had an argument, wherein all the blame was laid npon Holaday. He re- ported to the grand jury at San Francisco, who found a bill against Holaday, and Donglas was

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HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY.

sent back with four policemen to arrest the indicted man. Holaday was taken to San Fran- cisco, excitement ran high and the newspapers were sensational with the progress of the case. The trial was postponed, matters cooled down, Holaday went to trial, and he and Douglas be- came good friends by this time, Douglas giving him his own bed in the station house in which to sleep, never offering to imprison him. Hola- day's testimony was taken in court, but not that of any other witnesses, and the court fined him to the extent of the law, the result being a loss to him of over $900. In the meantime, while a prisoner, Mr. Holaday sold his ranch, the 400 cords of wood he had on hand, and all his stock, and returned to the Atlantic States.

In June, 1853, he went back to Iowa and bought 3,000 acres of land in Adair County, Iowa, and followed farming and stock-raising there until 1856; then until 1859 he was at Fort Des Moines, and then until 1860 at Win- terset, Madison County, Iowa, when he went to Pike's Peak, on a inining expedition. In 1852 he came on to Salt Lake, remained there two months, and then came to California; stopped eight months in Sacramento, engaged in the hotel business. October 8, 1863, he went to Arizona Territory, ran a whisky inill and board-

ing house, engaged for three years in the whisky trade at Prescott; in 1867 he went to Sonoma County and kept a bar and hotel there six months; next in 1868 he moved to Orange County, first renting a tract of land; next he took np land in the Los Bolsas tract in 1872, and for nine years followed farming there; and finally he bought a ranch in the tract of the Westminster colony.

Politically he is a Republican. In 1853 he was County Judge of Adair County, Iowa, for two years; at Fort Des Moines he was Justice of the Peace in 1857-'58; he was also, while in Arizona, a member of the House of Representa- tives, aiding in the enactment of Territorial laws; in 1864 he was Speaker of the House pro tem .; and here in Orange County he has been Justice of the Peace several terms, also at San Fernando three years, where he owns valu- able property. He is a member of the Holiness Church and an earnest Christian gentleman. He has been a wanderer for many years, but is now settled in a quiet home, where he expects to spend the evening of life, free from the rush and excitement of a public career, etc.

Mr. Holaday was married in 1868, in San Francisco, to Mrs. Mary E. Finley, a native of Missouri, and a daughter of Erwin Robinson

ADDENDA.

EWIS J. CARSON, the worthy assistant in the postoffice of San Diego, and the superintendentof carriers, was born at Mer- rimac Iron Works, Phelps County, Missouri, June 10, 1864, being the youngest in a family of five children. His father was in the iron business, formerly at Pilot Knob, Missouri. In 1877 they moved to Phillipsburg, Montana, and in 1879 returned to Missonri. Lewis re- ceived his preliminary education in common schools, and in 1883 entered the School of Mines, at Raleigh, Missouri, a branch of Co- lumbia University. After sixteen months of study he went to Butte, Montana, as assistant assayer of the Lexington Mining Company. In 1887 he went to his home in Missouri, and on March 15, of the same year, started for San Diego, and on the 27th of March entered the employ of the Government as letter carrier at San Diego, and October 1, 1888, for efficent serv- ice was promoted to superintendent of carriers, which position he now (December, 1889) holds. Ile is unmarried and lives with his mother and two brothers.

He is a member of the A. O. U. W. lodge No. 216, at Salem, Missouri.

T. HEWITT is San Jacinto's pioneer merchant. He was born in Litchfield, º Connecticut, January 21, 1829. His father, Elijah W. Hewitt, was a native of Con- necticut. His grandfather, Elijah Hewitt, came to America from the north of England. His maternal grandfather, George Prescott, was also from the north of England. His mother, Lucretia (Prescott) Hewitt, was a native of Connecticut. She was married to Mr. Hewitt

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Author: Lewis Publishing Company Publication date: 1890 Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : The Lewis Publishing Company Number of Pages: 1038

Author: Lewis Publishing Company
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : The Lewis Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 1038