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 33

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 33
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 33
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 33
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 33


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).


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after this the mines were closed, and Mr. Dan- nals became book-keeper and cashier for the firm of Klauber & Levi. He had full charge of the finances of the company, including the bank- ing. He was with them nearly eleven years, and during the boom, was paying teller of the First National Bank of San Diego, and had plenty to do in the then great rush of business. Ile was afterward cashier of the bank of San Diego, which was afterward consolidated with the First National Bank. He is now Expert of San Diego County, employed by the county to examine all the county offices.


He was married in 1872 to Miss Lucy L. Wilcox, daughter of Leroy Wilcox, born in Ohio, April 24, 1858. Her father was one of the discoverers of the Nevada mines, and made a fortune at that time. They are from Kala- mazoo, Michigan. They have one child living: Marion, born in San Diego, May 10, 1874.


Mr. Dannals served four years on the Board of Education in San Diego. Both he and his wife are members of the Presbyterian Church, of which he has been the treasurer and a trus- tee for several years. Mr. Dannals is a veteran Odd Fellow, having served through all its offices. He has been Noble Grand, Represen- tative to the Grand Lodge and District Deputy, and in all the same positions in the Encampment. He also belongs to the Masonic order, and has served in all its offices, the last two years as Master of the lodge. He is a Knight of Pyth- ias, and was its Commander and also District Deputy, and in the Masonic Chapter is High Priest, and is a member of the commandery of Knight Templars, and Junior Warden of the lodge of perfection. His wife and himself are the present worthy matron and patron of the Order of the Eastern Star, of which they were the organizers in San Diego. He is Past Post Commander of Heintzelman Post, No. 33, G. A. R., and has taken an interest in all that per- taius to the growth and welfare of the city and county. He is also a veteran of the National Gnards, having served some seven years in the State of New York and in California, as an


officer since October 1, 1881; and is at present Major and Commissary on the First Brigade Staff.


ENRY CHASE, one of the reliable pioneer farmers of Perris valley, was born in Attica, Wyoming County, New York, August 29, 1851. His parents removed to Dale when he was four years of age. His father, Isaac Chase, was a native of Connectient, and removed to New York when a boy. He was married to Miss Sally Benham, who was born in Attica, Wyoming County, New York, in 1814. They raised a family of eight chil dren, of which the subject of this sketch was the youngest bnt one. His father's death oc- curred in August, 1885, and his mother died in December, 1865. Mr. Chase was educated in the public schools at Dale, New York, and when a boy, worked on the canal, for which he has no reason to be ashamed, as he has had many an illustrions predecessor who did the same thing. Most of his life lias been spent, however, in farming. In 1875 he came to California and settled in Westminster, Los Angeles County (now Orange County), where he bonght twenty acres of land, and in two years sold it, and then farmed for four years on the Centinella Ranch. December 15, 1884, he came to Perris Valley and took np 160 acres of Government land, bnilt his house and barns, and is making himself a comfortable home that some time in the near future will be worth a small fortune.


After several years of dreary " baching " he became desperate, and October 1, 1887, he mar- ried Miss Nina G. Green, and he now wonders why he remained single so long. Mrs. Chase is a native of Massachusetts, born June 10, 1866. They have one nice girl -Ruby F., born in their present home June 10, 1889. Mr. Chase is sowing twenty acres of wheat, and the balance to barley. Both he and his wife are


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HISTORY OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY.


nice people, and are highly spoken of by their neighbors.


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EORGE. P. OAKES was born in Roxburys Massachusetts, February 14, 1846. His father, Nathan Oakes, was a native of Maine; his mother, Sarah (Noyes) Oakes, was born in Salein, Massachusetts. Mr. Oakes was the eldest of a family of seven children. He was educated in the public schools and at North Yarmouth Academy, and at the age of sixteen he entered the Union ranks in Company E, Seventeenth Maine Volunteer Infantry. Mr Oakes' regiment went to the front at the time General McClellan was superseded, and shared the struggles of the great battles of the army of the Potomac until General Lee surrendered. He was twice shot,-once in the fore-arm (at Mine Run) and once in the head (at Chancel- lorsville); and his ankle suffers weakness from contusion. He was taken prisoner at Chancel- lorsville and paroled and sent to Belle Isle; from there in a short time he was exchanged and joined his regiment at the front. The weakness of his ankle caused him to be after- ward transferred to the Veteran Reserve Corps, Company K, Fourteenth Regiment, and he did reserve service at Langley, Virginia, sixteen mile, from Washington. When mustered out of the service Mr. Oakes followed the sea in a sailing vessel. He made several trips to Europe, and ยท Angust 12, 1868, landed at San Francisco from the brig Mary A. Reed, Captain Charles John- son, 187 days from Brooklyn, New York, being twenty-five days going through the straits of Magellan. He spent a brief period in the follow- ing counties: Sonoma, Marin., Ventura, Los An- geles and San Bernardino. During the most of the time in these counties be was in the dairy business. In August, 1886, he came to Perris, San Diego County, and bought of the railroad company 160 acres of land, on which he built a house and barn and planted trees, and will soon have a very desirable place. He was married


in 1878 to Miss Julia L. Moore, born in 1859, in St. Louis, Missouri, daughter of Levi N. Moore, of Orange County, New York. They had seven children, viz .: Levi M .; George P., born May 3, 1881; Charles H. W., born July 5, 1882; Sarah F., born October 31, 1883; Ben- jamin S., born February 2, 1885; Forest N., born September 5, 1887, and Leonard F., born April 1, 1889. The oldest child, Levi M., died when three years of age, of croup. Mr. Oakes has been an Odd Fellow and is a member of the G. A. R., Conman Post, No. 57. He is farm- ing his land principally to grain, and usually sows 140 acres. He is an honest and reliable man and a good citizen.


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G. CLARK, one of the old residents of San Diego County, was born in Green- ville, Mercer County, Pennsylvania, May 13, 1832. He lived upon a farm and attended the district schools until he was eighteen years of age. He then apprenticed himself to learn the trade of iron-molder, working two years in a foundry in Mercer County. He then went to Springfield, Ohio, and worked in Leffell's foun- dry until he completed his apprenticeship. During this time he had also mastered the mys- tery of the steam engine, and was not only able to run one but also understood its construction. This was to serve a good purpose in the future. From Springfield he went to Cincinnati and St. Louis, where he worked at his trade until 1854, and remained through the winter.


In the spring they started again toward the Pacific slope with the first train. After leaving Salt Lake the train was attacked by Indians several times, but they had a strong company and their assailants were repulsed. They ar- rived at Sacramento June 5, 1855. Then Mr. Clark went to Amador County. It was now that the knowledge of the steam engine he had acquired while working at his trade in Ohio came into play. A man was wanted to run the engine in the Oneida Quartz Mill. He applied


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HISTORY OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY.


for the position and obtained it. Afterward he was foreman, during 1855 and 1856, of the Tibbitts foundry at Sutter Creek. Subsequently he engaged in mining on the Mokelumne river, with varied success. He was for a time general superintendent of a large foundry at Silver City, Idaho, receiving, with one exception, the highest salary paid to superintendents in the Territories.


When the Fraser river excitement broke out in 1858, Mr. Clark caught the fever and made the pilgrimage to British Columbia, returning, with thousands of others, poor in pocket but with an addition to his store of experience. For a short time after this he was foreman of Worcester's foundry at Angel's Camp, Calaveras County. Then in 1859 he went East and vis- ited his old home in Pennsylvania, returning to California the following year. J. S. Harbison had previous to this time imported several col- onies of bees from the East, and Mr. Clark and his brother bought some of him and established several apiaries in Ione valley, Amador County. In this venture the brothers were very success- ful. One year afterward he, in connection with his brother James, went to Nevada and bought a farm called " Little Meadows," now known as Clark's station, on the Truckee river. He pros- pered in farming on the Truckee and remained there for seven years, but finally, on account of malaria, he was obliged to sell out and seek a change of climate. He decided to come to San Diego and arrived here in 1868. A few months after this he went back to Sacramento, and in company with his old bee friend, J. S. Ilarbison, engaged in silk culture. Their experiment, however, was not a snecess, owing to a disease breaking out among the silk-worms, and they gave up the business. Then, in conjunction with Mr. Harbison, he started for San Diego, bringing with them 110 hives of honey bees, arriving here November 28, 1869. From that time up to last spring Mr. Clark continued to be largely interested in bee culture, and did much to create the reputation which San Diego honey enjoys in the market of the world.


In 1876 Mr. Clark began the culture of fruit and forest trees and the making of raisins, in the Cajon valley. He owned at first 230 acres, all under cultivation. Eighty acres were in trees and vines, and the balance in grain. He was the first man in San Diego to practically demonstrate the productiveness of the soil of El Cajon for raisin culture. Cured and made the first raisins in this county in 1878. He in- troduced a system of sub-irrigation in his vine- yard, running "a continuous concrete cement pipe, with ontlets at convenient distances, under ten acres. Ilis was the only vineyard in the valley that was irrigated, and although it was not neccessary the experiment was one that proved not unprofitable, as double the crops could be raised by irrigation. Mr. Clark has always shipped the largest portion of his raisins to the Eastern markets. For the last two years the house of Williamn T. Coleman & Co. has handled his crop. His raisins are pronounced by the best judges to be equal to any imported. When he first came to San Diego Mr. Clark was laughed at for bringing bees here, but be- fore long he demonstrated the natural advantage of the county for bee culture. He was met with the same kind of encouragement when he first began growing grapes in the Cajon. Peo- ple claimed that the soil was not suited for the purpose. Mr. Clark sold ont all. his interests in the Cajon in December, 1886, and came to San Diego. On the 13th of April following, in company with his family, he started for an Eastern trip, and traveled all through the East- ern and Middle States, but found no place in which he could be content to live outside of San Diego County. He owns considerable real- estate in the city, and has built a beautiful residence on the corner of A and Thirteenth streets. In the first year of his residence in San Diego County Mr. Clark labored very hard and surmounted obstacles under which men of less determination would have succumbed. When, however, his orchards and his vineyards were well under way, and he began to see some of his most cherished ideas realized, he felt am-


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HISTORY OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY.


ply repaid for all his trials and temporary dis- appointments. Ever since his first crop of raisins they have paid him on an average of $100 per acre net. Mr. Clark alto planted the first Australian blue gum forest in the county. He is constantly in the receipt of letters from all parts of the country asking information in reference to vine and bee culture.


Mr. Clark was married in 1871 to Mrs. Anna L. Corbitt. They have one child living: Edgar Franklin Clark, fourteen years of age; and have had a daughter, Florence Ida, who is now deceased.


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S. HUBBELL has already accomplished in his brief business career far more than many mnen, who deem themselves favored by fortune, have done in the space of a long and laborions life-time. Mr. Hubbell was born in Keokuk, Iowa, May 29, 1859, but removed with his parents to San Diego when he was twelve years of age. On his arrival here he attended the public schools, graduating at the High School. He made preparations to enter college, but his health failing he relinquished that ob- ject and entered the employ of the Bank of San Diego, the first bank established in this city, in the latter part of 1876. He first was book- keeper, then teller, and then was appointed as- sistant cashier. He remained with this institu- tion three years, and at the age of twenty-one was one of the incorporators and a stockholder of the Consolidated Bank of San Diego, and also an incorporator and stockholder in the Consolidated National Bank. He continued with this bank until 1885, when he resigned and became a stockholder and accepted the posi- tion of assistant cashier in the First National Bank. In 1886 he was elected a director and soon afterward cashier, which position he re- signed January 1, 1889.


Mr. Hubbell was a half-owner of Reed & Hubbell's Addition. This was the first addi-


tion of any size cut up from acre property into lots and put on the market with any success. It is situated on the bay between San Diego and National City, and originally consisted of 210 acres, and was first offered in August, 1886. They sold eighty acres in a body and cut the balance up into lots.


Among other land corporations with which Hr. Hubbell is connected are the Escondido Land and Town Company, the San Marcos Land Company, the El Cajon Valley Company, the Morena Land Company, the Junipero Land and Water Company, and the Pacific Beach Company, in each of which he is an in- corporator, stockholder and a director. He is a stockholder of the College Hill Land Associa- tion. He is a stockholder of the Coronado Beach Company. He was one of the incorpora- tors of the San Diego National Bank, and the Bank of Escondido, and a stockholder in the Bank of Elsinore and the Exchange Bank of Elsinore. He was one of the incorporators and is a director in the Coronado Ferry Company, an incorporator of the San Diego Street Railroad Company, and an incorporator and stockholder in the San Diego and Coronado Water Coin- pany, the San Diego & Cuyamaca Railroad Com- pany, the San Diego Old Town & Pacific Beach Railroad Company, and the West Coast Lumber Company. He was one of four in incorporat- ing the San Diego Gas and Electric Light Com- pany. He was also one of the incorporators of the Marine Railway & Dry Dock Company, and an incorporator of the Cnyamaca Cinb, the leading gentlemen's club of San Diego. Last January he was elected a director of the Cali- fornia Sonthern Railroad Company. He was one of the organizers of the San Diego City Guards, a crack militia company, in which he has served for six years.


He is now (December, 1889,) engaged in opening the Helvetia mine, which is situated in the Julian mining district between Julian and Stonewall, a mine very productive in the past. He has just been appointed by Governor Wat- erman as a member of the Board of Bank


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HISTORY OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY.


Commissioners for the State, appointment to take effect Jannary 1, 1889.


He was married in San Diego, in 1881. to Miss Kate L. Groesbeck, a daughter of General John Groesbeck, formerly of New York, who was at the time of his death the oldest member of the order of Odd Fellows in the United States. He has two children, both boys. It is not difficult to analyze the causes of Mr. Hubbell's success. Primarily, he has had the opportunity; secondly, he has improved it. Combining in a wonderful degree keen finan- cial foresight with promptness of decision, failure is to him an unknown quantity. Per- sonally, he is one of the most genial of men; affable in his manners, courteous to all, his popularity is not to be wondered at. If O. S. Hubbell has attained an extraordinary measure of success, the means by which he secured it were such that he has raised up friends rather than enemies along his pathway in life.


HARLES HUBBELL is one of the sub- stantial and public-spirited citizens of San Diego. Although he retired from active business some years ago, he takes a deep interest in everything that pertains to the advancement of the city. Mr. Hubbell is a native of the Empire State, having been born in Ballston in November, 1817.


He is a descendant in the eighth generation of Lieutenant Richard Hubbell, one of the founders of Bridgeport, Connecticut, who settled there in 1645.


He lived until he was seventeen in Ballston and Oswego and then went to Rochester, where he became assistant teller in the Bank of Mon- roe. He remained in Rochester two years and then went to Pontiac, Michigan, to accept a po- sition as cashier of a bank there. He built and put in operation the first saw-mill in Clinton County, Michigan, and aided in cutting out the first road from Pontiac to Ionia, fifty years ago. He was one of the original incorporators of Sag-


inaw City. He assisted in the first development of the salt springs of northern Michigan and was identified with many other projects of import- ance in that State. In 1839 he returned to Rochester to act as teller of the Commercial Bank. In 1846 he removed to Cincinnati, to become teller of the Ohio Life and Trust Com- pany. After one year in this position he went into the banking house of Ellis & Sturges as cashier.


In 1853 he had a severe attack of hemorrhage of the lungs and spent a year and a half travel- ing about for the purpose of recovering his health. Then he settled at Keokuk, Iowa, where he remained fifteen years. There his natural taste for horticultural pursuits, a taste which he had never before had the opportunity to gratify, induced him to engage in fruit rais- ing. He resided on a farm during the summer months and in the winter he lived in the city of Keokuk. During his stay there he filled several city and county offices.


In 1870, as his health was still far from rugged, on the advice of Professor Cleaver, who is now Surgeon-General of the Santa Fe Rail- road Company, he started for California, coming direct to San Diego, and was one of the first Eastern visitors to record his name on the reg- ister of the famous Horton House. Upon his arrival he was so pleased with the climate that he decided to make it his future home. He purchased 100 acres of land on the National Ranch, and planted a vineyard and fruit orchard. In 1874 he accepted the position of cashier of the Bank of San Diego and remained in that in- stitution until it was merged with the present Consolidated National Bank. He was a men- ber of the committee of forty, appointed by the citizens to induce the building of a railroad to San Diego. He was corresponding secretary of the comunittee, and labored zealously to bring about that inuch desired object-railroad com - munication with the outside world.


Mr. Hubbell was one of the original stock- holders in the California Southern. He never sought public office here, but at the earnest so-


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HISTORY OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY.


licitation of his friends he ran for and was elected school trustee in 1872, and afterward in 1886, at the latter time being chosen president of the board, which position he resigned in 1888. He retired from active business in 1880, and bas since been attending to his private affairs. Be- fore coming to San Diego his health was so bad that he was not expected to live, but now, at the age seventy-two, he enjoys perfect health, is active, and looks much younger than he really is. He has been prominently identified with the horticultural interests, and has been secretary of the County Horticultural Society.


" In religion," Mr. Hubbell says, " I am a Baptist, having belonged to a church of that in- dependent and democratic organization nearly fifty years. I accept implicitly the doctrines taught by the Lord Jesus Christ, in their spirit- uality, and particularly as to purity, truth, love, universal benevolence, and the golden rule of sixteen ounces to the pound." The ancestral motto of his family has always been, Esse quam videri-be what you seem to be. Mr. Hubbell was married in 1843, in Rochester, New York, to Miss Anna M. Sage, who died very suddenly in 1881. During the thirty- seven years of her married life she was never known to speak an unkind word to either her husband or children. He has had seven chil- dren, of whom five are living, four sons and one daughter.


UDGE M. A. LUCE, one of the best-known and most prominent men in every inove- ment to advance the best interests of San Diego, comnes of good New England stock, and is of a right possessed of those attributes which are strongly characteristic of the better type of American character-energy, ability and prob- ity. His father is a native of Maine, is a preacher in the Baptist Church, and now, at the age of seventy-eight years, is living in Poway valley, a hale aud hearty old man. His mother was born in New Hampshire.


The subject of this brief sketch first saw the light in Quincy, Illinois, in the year 1842. He lived with his parents in Central Illinois until he was fourteen years of age, when heleft home to prepare for college at Hillsdale, Michigan. Here he spent a part of each year in advancing his own education, and the residue of the time in educating others, that is, in teaching school. Thus passed nearly four years of his boyhood. Then came that eventful April day in 1861 when the call " to arms" resounded through the land. The response that came forth from the loyal North was something unparalleled in the history of mankind. The ink was scarcely dry with which the President's proclamation for volunteers was written when the tramp of bat- talions was beard througout the land. From no section of the North was the patriotic response more immediate and hearty than from the great States of the West. Foremost among them was the commonwealth of Michigan. Young Luce, brimming over with loyalty, dropped his school books, and enlisted in the Fourth Michigan Volunteer Infantry. During the war he took part in the following engagements: Bull Run, New Bridge, Hanover Court House, Mechanics- ville, Gaines' Mill, Savage Station, Turkey Bend, White Oak Swamp, Malvern Hill, Second Bull Run, U. S. Ford, Chancellorsville, Kelly's Ford, Ashby Gap, Brandy Station, Middleburg, Get- tysburg, Williamsport, Wapping Heights, Cul- peper, Bristol Station, Rappahannock Station, Mine Run, Wilderness, Laurel Hill, Spottsyl- vania, North Auna, Tolopotomy Creek, Jericho Mills, Bethesda Church, Cold Harbor and Pe- tersburg. Was wounded slightly at Spottsyl- vania, while with the forlorn hope in the assault of May 12.


After the war Mr. Luce, now a bronzed young veteran, after a paying a brief visit to his parents, returned to Hillsdale and resumed his collegiate studies, which had been so rudely in- terrupted four years before. He graduated in 1866, and, having decided to devote himself to the legal profession, attended the Law Univer- sity at Albany, where he graduated a year later.


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HISTORY OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY.


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With his diploma in his pocket he returned to his native State, and began practice in Bush- nell, of which he was the first City Attorney. He was afterward attorney of the First National Bank of Bushnell and local attorney of the Chi- cago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company, and in 1872 was the candidate of his party for the State Senate. In 1873 the first of Southern California's booms began to be heard of. In these days it would be called a very small booin, a kind of a " Northern Citrus Belt" affair; but then it mnade quite a stir, not only on the Pa- cifie coast but was felt all over the East. That was the time when Colonel Tom Scott was build- ing his Texas Pacific (on paper) across the con- tinent, to have its terminus on the shores of San Diego bay. One result of this agitation was to direct attention to the harbor, which had lain neglected and unthought of since the day the great empire of California became a part of the Republic. Tidings of the promising future of this Pacific coast eity came to Luce in his Illinois home, and, as at that time his health was apparently failing, he decided to emigrate. He arrived in San Diego in May, 1873, and im- mediately opened a law office and engaged in the practice of his profession. In the fall of 1875 he was elected Judge of the County Court, and held the office until the new constitution went into effect and terminated the jurisdiction of that court in 1880. Judge Luce took an act- ive part in the movement to bring the Atehi- son, Topeka & Santa Fe road to San Diego, and was a member of, and acted as counsel for, the citizens' committee. In the fall of 1880 the California Southern Railroad Company was or- ganized and he was elected vice-president. He was also appointed attorney of the road and has continned so up to the present time. He is still a member of the board of directors. Judge Luce's law practice has been very large, he having aeted as attorney for a majority of the heaviest local corporations, while the Pacific Steamship Company and other important organ- izations have intrusted their legal business to lis care, and he is now the senior partner of the




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