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 30

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 30
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 30
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 30
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 30

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).

EVERETT BIRD is a native of Tarry- town, New York, born April 30, 1861. His father, James Bird, and his grand- father, Edmund Bird, were both natives of Tarrytown. Their ancestors came from England and settled in Massachusetts. His mother, Elizabeth (Olmsted) Bird, was a native of New York city. Her father, Silas Olmsted, was born in Norwalk, Connecticut, in 1773, and wbile quite a young man engaged in the ship build-

ing business in Maine, and afterward removed to New York city, where he became one of the most prominent men of his day and town. Mr. Bird's parents were married in 1859, and their union was blessed with this one son. He was educated at Tarrytown and finished his business education at Eastman's Business College, New York; then spent one year in a lawyer's office and afterward was associated with his father. They were architects, contractors, and dealers in building material and coal. They did an exten- sive business grading streets and mnacadainizing them with blue stone. Mr. Bird removed to New Mexico and became one of the owners of the North Homestake Mine in White Oaks, New Mexico. It is now running successfully, and he still retains his interest; he also owns an interest in the Good Hope Consolidated Gold Mine, Pinacate, California, which is located four miles southwest of Perris, and has the reputa- tion of being one of the richest mines in south California. They bought it in 1889, and paid $50,000 spot cash. Mr. Bird is secretary of both mines, of which he is joint owner with his father-in-law, Mr. James M. Sigafus, and has charge of the operations of the mines. At the Good Hope mine they have commenced opera- tions to more fully develop the mine to an extent that will show its worth, and will put on a valuable stamp-mill and make a thoroughly equipped mine. Mr. Bird is now engaged in constructing, and has nearly completed, a beau- tiful model residence for himself and family on an eminence near the Good Hope mine. They intend to beautify the grounds. The house, outside, is a very picture, and inside is nicely arranged with a view to health and comfort, and is supplied with all modern conveniencies. It is being built at the moderate cost of $6,000. Mr. Bird, the only child of his parents, married the only living child of her parents, Miss E. Marion Sigafus, born in Colorado April 5, 1867. Her father, James M. Sigafus, is one of those who started poor, but was born with both bnsi- ness talent and good luck. When the country was engaged in its great struggle to continue its

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national existence, he enlisted as a private sol- dier on the side of the Union, and at the close of the war ranked as a captain. A part of the time while in the service he acted as quartermas- ter. At the close of the war he returned to the peaceful avocations of a fariner. He crossed the plains to Colorado, where he continued the busi- ness of farming and stock-raising on quite a large scale. When Leadville attracted attention he grub-staked the man who discovered the famous R. E. Lee mine, and owned it until 1879. Shortly after that he removed to Tar- rytown, New York, and built a $150,000 residence, Mr. Bird's father furnishing the ar- chitectural design and being the architect of the structure. It is a great credit to both owner and builder. Mr. Sigafus spend his winters in southern California. Mr. and Mrs. Bird have two children, both girls,-Elsie Mabel, born in Tarrytown, March 29, 1885, and Edna Mnriel, born at Coronado Beach, August 11, 1889. Mr. Bird is a Master Mason. His lodge, which is in New York, is Solomon's Lodge, No. 196, and is the same lodge in which his grandfather and his father were Masons before him. Both Mr. and Mrs. Bird are the kind of modest, unassum- ing people that one can't help but admire.

AVID SHERMAN LACEY is one of the few men in San Diego who can trace his ancestors back in a direct line on both his father's and mother's sides, to the early part of the seventeenth century. His ancestors on his father's side were Normans, having moved from Norland or Northland to England, and his mother's remote ancestors were Saxons, having moved to England from Saxony. Mr. Lacey is able to claim a distant relationship to Queen Victoria, but does not consider his blood any better for that. Roger Sherman, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and a noted statesinan and United States Senator, was also one of Mr. Lacey's relatives. Mr. Rowland B. Lacey, Mr. D. S. Lacey's father,

was born at Easton, Connecticut, April 6, 1818. He is a gentleman of marked ability and worth, and a very leading spirit in his county, holding many places of great importance and public trust. He is a leader in the many important improvements in the city of Bridgeport, where he resides. He was extensively engaged in the manufacture of saddlery and haruess at Bridge- port for many years, with depots at New York, Philadelphia and Charleston, South Carolina. He was the only son of Jesse Lacey and Edna (Munson) Lacey. Jesse Lacey was the son of Zachariah and Betsey (Rowland) Lacey. Zacha- riah was the son of Edmund and Hannah (Sum- mers) Lacey, and Edmund was the son of John Lacey, and John Lacey was the son of Edward and Sarah Lacey, born about the middle of the seventeenth century. Mr. D. S. Lacey's mother was Jane Eleanor Sherman, daughter of Isaac Sherman, Esq., and Maria (Burroughs) Sherman. Isaac was the son of David 3rd and Rebecca (French) Sherman. David 3rd was the son of David 2nd and Mary (Sterling) Sherman. Da- vid 2nd was the son of Lieutenant David and Sarah (Thompson) Sherman, and Lieutenant David Sherman was the son of Matthew and Hannah (Buckley) Sherman. Matthew was the son of Mr. Samuel 1st and Sarah (Mitchell) Sherman. Samuel was the son of Edmund and Judith (Angier) Sherman. Edmund was the son of Henry 2nd and Susan (Hills) Sherman, and was born in Dedham, England, July 12, 1618. He came to America at the age of four- teen. Henry 2nd was the son of Henry 1st and Agnes Sherman. She died in 1580. Henry Sherman, of Dedham, England, city of Essex, removed thither probably from the county of Suffolk, as he bore the Suffolk Sherman coat of arms. He died in 1589. Mr. D. S. Lacey attended school at Bridgeport, New Haven, Poughkeepsie and New York. He also took a a course at Yale Medical College, and graduated at Eastman's Business College. He took a full course at the College of Pharmacy, New York city, and was a licensed pharmacist. In 1885 he went to New Mexico, where he spent one

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year. In 1886 he came to San Diego and en- gaged in the wholesale commission business, in which business he has continued until the present time, under the firm name of Lacey, Coter & Co. Mr. Lacey is a charter member of the Board of Trade, also a charter director and its treasurer. He served five years as hospital steward of the Twenty-second Regi- ment Natioral Guards, State of New York. He was married to Mrs. Sarah E. Parker De- cember 28, 1880, by whom he had one child, Rowland Sherman Lacey, born February 16, 1883. Mrs. Lacey died March 1, 1883. Mr. Lacey was again married October 1, 1889, to Charlotte Noble, daughter of Rev. W. B. Noble, D. D., pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of San Diego. Mr. and Mrs. Lacey are both members of this church. We have thus care- fully traced the history and lineage of one of San Diego's young business men. It has been said that blood will tell, and we may therefore look for most useful and successful.

The genealogy found in this history was taken from a history of Bridgeport and Strat- ford, comprising the period from 1639 to 1886, by Rev. Samuel Orcntt.

OSEPH WINTER, baker at San Diego, was born in Schwarzach, Bühl County, Germany, February 9, 1851. His parents, natives of Germany, were the parents of six children, all of whom are living. After a com- mon-school education, at the age of sixteen, years, the subject of this sketch left for the United States, going to the Pacific coast to in- vestigate that land, world famed as one of the gold nuggets and rich placer mines. In 1867 be took the steamer at Havre for New York, and then a steamer for Aspinwall, on the Isthmus of Panama, and at the latter place took the steamer for San Francisco, where, after a delightful passage, he arrived in September, 1867. He went to Oroville, Butte County, and entered a bakery to learn the making of cakes

and bread. He remained two and a half years, then went to San Francisco, working two and a half years in Oakes' bakery, leaving in April, 1873, for San Diego. He bought out an old bakery on the present site, No. 560 Fourth street, and at once opened a small shop known as the San Diego cracker bakery; but the town was small and the business went slow for some years; yet by careful, prudent management, his business increased with the growth of the town, and in 1886 it was necessary to increase the power and capacity of the machinery, and he then changed from light, small machinery to heavy, large machinery, putting in a plant which cost him $20,000. His entire plant is now val- ued at $30,000. He is an artist in all lines of cookery and fancy frostings and he supplies the inarket with small cakes and crackers.

In June, 1874, Mr. Winter was married to Miss Caroline Hofmann. They have five chil- dren, all of whom are living and at home.

ENRY C. LANGREHR is a native of Goodyear's Bar, California, and was born March 7, 1856. His father, Diedrich Langrehr, a native of Holstein, Germany, was born February 1, 1830, and came to America in 1848. He arrived in Philadelphia and came to San Francisco in the fall of 1848, while the place was little better than a barren desert, where he engaged in the mercantile business for a while. He then became a miner near Sacramento and Feather river, and returned to San Francisco, where he started a restaurant on the southwest corner of Montgomery and Sutter streets, near where the Russ honse now stands, and owned a private residence east of the pres- ent Dashaway hall, on Post street. He became interested in mines of great value, and was lawed out of his complete property. He then became a boarding-house keeper until 1884, when he died and was buried with great honor by the pioneers of San Francisco. Mr. H. C. Langrehr's mother, Matilda M.W. M. (Schmidt)

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HISTORY OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY.

Langrehr, was born in the city of Hamburg, May 9, 1840. Her father was a carriage-maker in that city. They had a family of six children, but two of whom survive-Mr. Henry C. Lan- grehr, who now resides in San Diego, and the subject of this sketch. His young life was spent part of the time in the city of Hamburg, Germany, and in the cities of Edinburg, Lon- don and Paris. He was also in New York, Boston and Chicago, and finished his education in San Francisco.

In 1870 he learned the metallic life-boat building business, which he soon mastered, and became a geometrical iron cutter. He took the money he earned in this way and invested it in night schools. He attended Commercial College and then went to a branch institute of the Chi- cago, Illinois, Civil Engineering and Surveying School, where he improved himself in higher mathematics and in civil engineering generally. He then invented many useful articles and the celebrated Mining, Marine and Irrigating Pump which has received so much consideration in the United States. He also invented a signal horn for marine purposes, and a bicarbureted hydro- gen car motor. He has received several medals as rewards, and holds several certificates of merit for his inventions.

He helped to organize the Native Sons of the Golden West, in 1876, in the city of San Fran- cisco. The main cause for starting the society was to improve the morals and manners of the native sons of California. The society started with eighteen members, of which he was one, and now numbers 20,000. He is an Odd Fel- low and a Mason. He had the honor of being the first Native Son of the Golden West who took the thirty-second degree in Masonry. In 1884 he was nominated on the taxpayer's ticket for County Surveyor of city and county of San Francisco in opposition to bossisın.

In 1884 he removed to San Diego, at which place and Los Angeles he practiced his profes- sion. He becane interested in the Working- men's party of San Diego, and being a mechanic himself, he became a Knight of Labor, and was

judge and assistant master workman of the as- sembly. In 1887 he was nominated by thie Workingmen's party of San Diego as a member of the Board of Education, but was defeated by the small majority of less than forty votes. The same year he was appointed chief engineer by the Coronado Beach corporation, and located and surveyed the immense concrete foundations which has in its foundations every line of geom- etry, which he did in accordance with the plans of the architect of the celebrated the Hotel del Coronado. He was appointed by the same company to go to San Francisco to get infor- matiou in regard to the dry docks and marine railways. The plans he reported were adopted and the railway is constructed in accordance with his recommendations on the north penin- sula of Coronado. He was next engaged in surveying the sewer system of Coronado Beach, under the instruction of Henry Schusler, civil engineer of the celebrated Spring Valley Com- pany, of San Francisco. He then located the wharves and railroad of the Coronado Beach Company. After this he resigned his position with the company and became one of the as- sistant engineers of Colonel Waring, civil engi- neer, of Boston, and ran the lines of fourteen miles for the Waring system of sewers for the city of San Diego. He then laid out the Otay dam water system; assisted in the construction of the Coronado Belt Railroad line; became an assistant of the city corps of engineers, and while in that position he was elected on the Republican ticket for surveyor of the county of San Diego, by an overwhelming majority of 2,000. IIe has recently been appointed by the grand jury as an expert to examine the public buildings, bridges, roads, etc., in process of construction, and report upon their strength and durability.

In June, 1889, he invented a device, as life- saving guards, for cable cars, and was engineer for the great bridge across the San Gabriel river in Los Angeles, and his plans were adopt- ed; cost of the bridge, $5,000. In July, same year, he was appointed engineer for the Carriso

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Land and Water Company, and to explore the great Colorado desert of San Diego County, with reference to the irrigation. September 4, same year, he was appointed by the San Diego County Supervisors to wait upon the Senatorial Commitee of the United States, at the rooms of the San Diego Chamber of Commerce, to assist in giving thein valuable information on desert lands and water supplies. November 29, same year, he was appointed by Governor Waterman as Notary Public for the city of San Diego.

January 31, 1890, he was admitted to the Junior Bar Association, and was elected chair- man of a committee and as legal adviser. April 5, same year, he invented and suggested the system known as the Relief Line Iron Mile- Posts across the desert of Colorado in San Diego County, life saving, to aid travelers, and also established the pioneer patent office of the city of San Diego. In May. 1890, he was ap- pointed as United States Deputy Mineral and Land Surveyor by the United States Surveyor General, W. H. Pratt, of California. Not many young men can present a better record for his age than this brilliant young man.

November 10, 1881, Mr. Langrehr was mar- ried to Miss Frances K. Simon, who had been his schoolmate, and was born in San Francisco, November 10, 1858, the daughter of Benjamin Simon, a pioneer who came to California in 1849, and was in the grocery trade until 1875, when he retired from business. Mr. and Mrs. Langrehr have a daughter, born in San Fran- cisco, October 1, 1882.

HILIP MORSE was born in Fayette, Maine, May 23, 1845. His boyhood days were passed in the village, where he at- tended the district school. Later on he was a pupil in the Lewiston Falls Academy, where he prepared to enter Bowdoin College in the class of 1865. Failing health, however, compelled him to give up all thought of entering college, and he decided to come to California. Arriving

in San Franciseo in September of that year, he secured a position as salesman in the lumber yard of Glidden & Colman, pier 20, Stewart street, where he remained until March, 1869, when he accepted a position with McDonald & Co., to come to San Diego to take charge of their lumber business here. He arrived March 9, and has been identified with the interests of the city ever since. In October, 1875, he suc- ceeded Jose G. Estudillo as assistant cashier of the Commercial Bank, which position he held for three years and a half, when he went to Arizona, where he built a mill and manufact- ured lumber for the mines. Here he remained ed for four years, being associated in business with Mr. Jacob Gruendike. Upon his return to San Diego in 1883, he went into business with his father-in-law, G. W. B. McDonald, under the firm name of McDonald & Morse. The firm continned in existence for one year, and then, in conjunction with several San Fran- cisco capitalists, Mr. Morse organized the San Diego Lamber Company, of which he was elect- ed general manager. The capital stock of the company was fixed at $75,000. He is also a stockholder in, and was one of the organizers, and first superintendent of the West Coast Red- wood Company of San Francisco. He is presi- dent of the West San Diego Manufacturing Company, which is engaged in the manufacture of doors, sash, blinds, etc.

He has served two terms as member of the city Board of Education, and is now a director of the Chamber of Commerce and of the Board of Trade of San Diego city.

· In giving this brief sketch of Philip Morse, really but one side of his character has been cx- posed to view. We have seen how he has risen, through the exercise of exceptionally good busi - ness qualites, from a clerkship to a position of affinence and recognized prominence in the com - munity. We have seen him successful in his business ventures, and honored and trusted by his fellow-citizens. But there is another phase of his character, which is seldom found com- bined with business men of financial ability.

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HISTORY OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY.

In the exercise of a wise economy nature but rarely endows the same mind with more than one of what may be called her cardinal gifts. Occasionally, however, when in a lavish mood, she departs from this general rule. The char- acter of Philip Morse is an instance of this. Added to his ability as a business man, he has a fine literary taste, and a talent for poetry, which has borne fruit in the production of some stanzas which will live in the annals of Ameri- can verse. As a writer of descriptive prose, also, he has been quite successful. His sense of observation is keen and he writes of what he sees in a bright, pleasant style that is both agreeable and instructive to the reader.

Mr. Morse was married May 23, 1870, to Miss Sarah McDonald, daughter of one of San Diego's most prominent citizens, and one of the first supervisors. They have three children, of which only a son is living. Mrs. Morse died in April, 1889.

The residence of Mr. Morse, which is situ- ated at the corner of Twelfth and E streets, is one of the finest in the city. The finish of the interior is especially attractive, being done in the choicest or curly redwood.

H. CONKLIN, an attorney at law in San Diego, is one of the leading mem- " bers of the San Diego bar. Although still a comparatively young man, his life has been a very busy one. In turn a soldier, jour- nalist and lawyer, he has achieved prominence in every profession with which his fortunes liave been identified. He was born in Wyoming County, Pennsylvania, June, 1839. His father, Lawrence C Conklin, born in New York city in 1800, was a carpenter and bridge builder. His mother, Sybil (Redfield) Conklin, was born in New York in 1802, the daughter of Russell Redfield and Betsy (Bixby) Redfield. Their ancestors were Connecticut people. His boy- hood was passed with his parents in the town of Tunkhannock, on the Susquehanna, where he

acquired such an education as was to be had at the public schools. In 1859 he began the study of law in the office of Judge Peckham, judge of the Court of Common Pleas. He was still im- mersed in his studies at the time of the break- ing ont of the war. Those who are not yet arrived at middle age have but little idea of the scenes that followed the firing upon Sumter,- the ebullitions of patriotic fervor, the mustering to arms, the hurried march to the field. Through- out the loyal States the response to President Lin- coln's proclamation for troops was instantane- ous: there was no hesitating then. Young Conk- lin heard the summons, and, throwing aside liis law books, began raising a company of volun- teers. Within less than a week from the time of the issuing of the proclamation his company was full, and he made a tender of it to the Gov- ernor. But the quota of the State was filled and the offer was declined. The Government and many of the people then believed with Senator Seward that the whole " affair " would be over in ninety days. Suffering under his dissappointment, young Conklin went to Cin- cinnati to visit some friends. He could not, however, resist the impulse to give liis services to his country, and within a week after his proffer had been rejected by the Governor of Pennsylvania he enlisted, in Cincinnati, in Com- pany D, Second Kentucky Volunteers. He had been walking along the streets, when the beating of a drumn again aroused the fires of patriotism within his breast; he went up stairs where a war meeting was being beld, and en- listed as a private, not knowing at the time what the regiment was or where it was going; he only knew that the country needed his serv- ices, and right freely he proffered them. He was sent with his regiment to the Kanawha, in Western Virginia, and remained there until the spring of 1862. His regiment was then or- dered to Kentucky, and then into Tennessee. He participated in the terrible battle of Shiloh, and was at the siege of Corinth. He then went back to Kentucky, and was in the State at the time of Bragg's raid. At Louisville he was

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discharged for promotion, having been cominis- sioned Second Lieutenant in the Eighty-third Ohio Regiment. When he reached Cincinnati he found that his regiment had been ordered into the field. This was in November, 1862. He then returned to his home in Pennsylvania, where he remained until the following spring, reading the neglected law books. But he could not be content in such a peaceful avocation, and, having a strong taste for the navy, he applied for and was appointed master's mate. He was immediately ordered to report on board the Kenwood, attached to the Mississippi squadron. He took part in the siege of Vicksburg, and saw much active service while on the Kenwood, which was one of the fastest steamers on the river, and was generally used as a dispatch boat. In the spring of 1865 he was ordered to the Chillicothe, an iron-clad. As soon as he was mustered out of service at the close of the war, he again returned to Pennsylvania and once more renewed his law studies. He had two brothers in the Union ariny, both of whom are now living, one residing in northern California, and the other in Missouri.

As soon as he had been admitted to the bar he started west and located at Warrensburg, Missouri, where he began the practice of his profession. He remained at Warrensburg un- til the fall of 1874. During this time he was engaged in publishing the Johnson Democrat, a weekly newspaper. In October, 1874, he started for San Diego. Upon his arrival here he assumed editorial control of the San Diego World, a daily, in connection with Mr. Julian, at present one of the proprietors of the San Diegan. In 1877 he was elected District At- torney of the county, and held the office two years. Since theu he has been engaged in the practice of law. Mr. Conklin has the largest general law practice of all attorneys in San Diego. He is the legal adviser of most of the large corporations here; is vice-president of the Pacific Wire Cloth Company, and is one of the principal stockholders of the Mission Val. ley Water Company and other large corpo-

rations. He is a Past Post Commander of Heintzelman Post, G. A. R., and is Past Com- mander of San Diego Commandery, Knight Templars. He was instrumental in bringing the railroad here, and has been interested in all public improvements. He has a handsome resi- dence lately completed in Florence Heights on the corner of Fifth and Ivy streets.

Mr. Conklin was married in 1867 to Miss Myra I. Reese, born in Ilanover, Indiana, Oc- tober 20, 1847. At the time of their marriage she was a resident of Warrensburg, Missouri. Their union has been blessed with eight chil- dren, three of whom survive, viz .: Ralph L. Conklin, born in Warrensburg, Missouri, May 31, 1869; Sybil Conklin, born July 10, 1878, and Claud R. Conklin, born December 14, 1883. Both of the latter are natives of San Diego.

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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