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 79
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 79
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 79
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 79
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Having already achieved more than a local reputation as a writer for the press, and having received a tempting offer as the chronicler of a three years' cruising expedition in the South Seas, he was undecided whether to make litera- ture or law his life-work, when he was appointed Prosecuting Attorney of San Francisco in the fall of 1856. He accepted, and the decisive step was taken. However he continued contributing articles to the columns of the Evening Bulletin for a number of years. He filled the office of prosecuting attorney until his removal to San Bernardino in 1858 to attend to some litigation growing out of the purchase of some land in the county, in which his mother was interested.
While attending to this business he became en- gaged in farming and fruit-growing. January 1, 1861, Judge Willis married Miss Amelia, daughter of Jerome M. Benson, an old citizen of the county. The same year he was chosen District Attorney of San Bernardino County, which office he resigned after holding for a few months. He rapidly rose to prominence in his profession and was employed in the courts of the county, involving land title or water rights. He won the first water suit in the county, known as the "Cram right," thereby fixing a prece- dent and securing prosperity to the settlers in that part of the county. In 1872 he took his seat on the bench as County Judge and filled that position continuously for eight years with marked ability and satisfaction to his constitu- ents. The new State constitution abolished the office of county judge, and upon retiring from the bench Judge Willis resumed his posi- tion at the head of the San Bernardino County bar, and his large law practice. In the fall of 1886 he was elected Superior Judge, and honor- ably discharged the duties of that office from January, 1887, to January, 1889. Since retir- ing from the bench he has continued in active law practice as the senior partner of the firm of Willis & Cole.
In 1868 he began to improve what is known as the Willis homestead in old San Bernardino, and being confident that artesian water could be obtained in this valley, he imported the first tools and sank the first well in the county. Not being successful on his farm, the tools were brought into San Bernardino, and soon pure liquid streams were flowing from wells bored by them within the city limits. He made another trial on his farm and was rewarded by an abun- dant flow of water at the depth of 410 feet. Over 1,500 fruit trees, citrus and decidnous, and 12,000 grape-vines, mostly planted by his own hand, were set out ou his place, which, under careful cultivation and irrigated by the ever- flowing artesian streams, were prosperous and bearing many years before he disposed of the place in May, 1887. He also sold several pieces
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HISTORY OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY.
of city property that year, but still retains a number, including the elegant dwelling he erected on Seventh street, between E and F streets, which he and his six children occupy, the wife and mother having died in August, 1889. His children are: Matilda, wife of Charles H. Condee; Amy, Carrie, wife of Chas. E. Paine, Birmingham, Alabama; Bessie, Jennie, Lonisa and Henry M. Willis. He has buried four sons.
Judge Willis was one of the few to establish Odd Fellowship in the county, by organizing San Bernardino Lodge, No. 146, and he is also a member of other fraternal orders. He has al- ways taken an active interest in pioneer matters, was a member of the State Pioneer Association when in San Francisco, and is a prominent mem- ber and corresponding secretary of the San Bernardino Society of Pioneers. In ante-bellum times, Judge Willis was politically a Douglas Democrat; during the war he was a stanch Union man, and since the war has resumed his old party affiliations. He is noted for his socia- ble, affable manners and his generous hospital- ity to his friends.
OLONEL JOHN FEUDGE was born in Waterford, Ireland, November 3, 1824. His parents came to the United States immediately after the inauguration of President John Quincy Adams. The subject of this sketch was first engaged assisting his father, who kept a market garden in the suburbs of New York city. When about sixteen years of age he was apprenticed and learned printing and stereotyping. He had worked some time, before becoming an apprentice, at type casting, by the old hand-mold method, and also as composing room devil, fly-boy, and wrapper-writer in the offices of the two great commercial papers of that day, the Courier and Enquirer, and Journal of Commerce, both on Wall street, the presses then being turned by hand-crank. General James Watson Webb was editor of the
former and "old Town " Snowden business manager, two very prominent personages in those days; David Hale and -- Hallack being the editors and proprietors of the Journal. The first printing-office entered by the subject of this sketch was the book and job office of Scatchard & Adams, 38 Gold street, New York. This office was in the days of the old hand presses-before the introduction of the power press-the largest in the city, probably in the country. The firm was broken up by the sudden disappearance of Mr. Adams, whose remains having been cnt.up and packed in a box, were discovered by the carman who hauled the box to the wharf for shipment to a southern port, to which it was consigned or directed. in the trial which ensued, on which our subject was subpoenaed as a witness, the murderer was found to be a professional teacher of peninan- ship and book-keeping, and brother of Colonel Colt, of patent fire-arms celebrity.
At the beginning of the year 1851, Messrs. John and Henry Beach, of the New York Sun, in connection with P. T. Barnum, commenced the publication of the New York Illustrated News, the first illustrated paper published in the United States. Like its London prototype the chief engravings were full-page folios, and, in printing from the originals, the green box-wood warping, they cracked and split when submitted to the pressure of the press, thereby greatly disfiguring the publication. As yet electrotyp- ing had not been introduced, nor had paper as a substitute for plaster in stereotyping, and to successfully cast a quarto page plaster mold was a very difficult matter, and a folio entirely out of the question The publishers of the Illustrated News having been informed by the subject of this sketch that he was the inventor of a new method by which the largest page could be successfully and quickly cast, they at once awarded him the contract, at four dollars a page. Thereafter (from the third number), during its existence, the publication was entirely unmarred by any defect of the character here deseribed. The new method was a complete
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HISTORY OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY.
success Going West shortly after the suspen- sion of the Illustrated News, he visited the tract of 4,300 acres of land purchased by a New York colony, of which he was a member. This land lay in Mitchell and Howard counties, Iowà. After disposing of his interest in these lands to parties in Dubuque, he returned East and immediately went to Texas, where, at the outbreak of the Southern rebellion, he was en- gaged in merchandising, in the town of San Antonio. In the summer of 1861 he was a Union refugee from Texas. Because of his unswerving loyalty to the American flag and uncompromising fidelity to the Union, he was obliged to flee, after the deposition of the Union governor, General Sam Houston. Being harassed and threatened by the secessionists and the ordinances of the secession convention, he was forced to abandon and sacrifice his business and property.
By the friendly assistance, as well as the official interposition in his behalf of the French con- sul, F. Gilbean, of San Antonio, he was enabled to make his escape in a small coaster, by run- ning the blockade in the night, out of Sabine pass, a United States frigate standing off and on in the roadstead, in the Mexican gulf, block- ading the harbor. On his arrival North, after many delays and dangers (twice being stopped and searched by secessionists in Berwick's Bay, Louisiana, and again at Clarksville, Tennessee), he joined the Union army, as a citizen, at Louisville, Kentucky, in the Army of the Ohio, commanded by General Buell, and was assigned the duty of forage master, under the Chief Quartermaster, Captain Alvan Gillem. After the campaign of Corinth, and by the invitation of Colonel Gillem, he recruited for the First Regiment, Middle Tennessee Infantry (after- ward known as the Tenth), and served respect- ively as Captain and Lieutenant Colonel; com - missions dated 1862 and 1863; was attached to the Fourteenth Army Corps; participated in nearly all the military operations in Tennessee till the close of the war; was honorably innstered ont and discharged from the service, at Knox-
ville, East Tennessee, June 5, 1865. Commis- sioned Indian agent by President Johnson, for the Colorado river Indians, Arizona, 1865. At the close of Johnson's administration he settled in San Bernardino, California. He owns and occupies a ranch of about 100 acres in the Warm Springs and Central districts, two miles east of town.
He was married in Nashville, Tennessee, at the close of the war, to Miss Susan Kenifeck of Cincinnati, Ohio. They have four children, viz: Ilenry E., who is United States Railroad Mail Agent to Oceanside; Teresa, John B. and Mary Ellen. He is a member of Cornman Post, No. 27, G. A. R., of San Bernardino, and also of the order of Good Templars
R. J. A. MACK, of Redlands, is a native of Syracuse, New York, born June 24, 1842. He received his education in the schools of Syracuse and Fulton, New York, and commenced the study of medicine with Dr. Townsend, of Syracuse; he also attended and graduated at the college at Geneva. He began practice at Syracuse, afterward continuing at Rochester, and later at Lyons, New York . Thence he removed to Chicago, where he at- tended Bennett Medical College (Eclectic), grad- nating in 1876. He practiced in Chicago until 1886, when he removed to California, and on the 9th of November of that year settled in Redlands; being one of the Chicago colony who located here. He conducted the Prospect Honse a year and a half, practicing also at the time. He then built his present handsome residence, on a tract of one and a half acres which he purchased. He has 40,000 orange seed bed stock, 2,000 of last year's buds and 6,000 of this year's buds, on his home place. He also has ten acres of land in the Crafton district, part of which is already planted to oranges, and the remainder will be in 1890.
Dr. Mack was married November 26, 1876, to Annetta Bishop, a native of New York city.
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HISTORY OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY.
They have three children living, viz .: John A., Jr .; Roy A. and Raymond. One is deceased, Grace, aged seven years. .
Dr. Mack is a member of the A. O. U. W., of Lyons, and K. G. R., of Illinois. He is an active worker for the improvement of Red- lands, and his own property interests in that vicinity. The Doctor is now out of practice, for the present, and is devoting his attention to business affairs connected mainly with orange culture.
R. IIYLAND W. RICE, deceased, was born in Wilmington, Delaware, in 1850. His literary education received at Claveric University, and his medical education at Hahn- emann, Philadelphia. At the latter place the first honors of his class were bestowed upon him, by which he was appointed to practice two years in the college hospital. After this he went to Aurora, Illinois, and then, his health failing, he came to San Bernardino. Here he began to practice as the pioneer homeopathist in the city. He was a man who possessed much personal magnetism and was a general favorite with all. He was elected to the office of Public Administrator of the county with 600 votes ahead of his ticket. He belonged to the Republican party, and was a member of the Masonic fraternity. He also belonged to the Knights of Pythias, and was the author of the burial service of this order. While in Illinois he was Grand Chancellor for two terms, of the two years each, and then Past Grand Chancel- lor. He established the order in San Bernard- ino in 1878.
Dr. Rice was married in 1875, in Wilming- ton, Illinois, to Miss Mary P. Waterman, daughter of His Excellency, Robert W. Water- man, now Governor of California.
Dr. Rice died July 23, 1884, while in the prime of life. He was a profound student, and by his ability, honesty and integrity, had made a large circle of friends, and his funeral was
attended by almost the entire county of San Bernardino.
S. TAYLOR .- Among those who have contributed largely to the success and advancement of Redlands, none should receive more credit for untiring energy in the past than the gentleman whose name heads this sketch. He was a native of Canada, born at London, Ontario, October 8, 1854, his parents being John and Jane (Barter) Taylor, both of whom were born in England, the father being a contractor and builder. Our subject was reared and educated at his native place, and on arriv- ing at a suitable age, commenced, as his first employment, clerking in a dry-goods store. After that he was connected with the bakery business for two years. In 1880 he left Can- ada, locating at Los Angeles. After two years there, lic came to Redlands, and engaged in the business of manufacturing cement piping. He has supplied nearly all of the large sizes o pipe used by Judson & Brown in their enter- prise hereabouts, nearly forty miles in all. The pipe of his manufacture is the best to be found in the market, and is so ratcd. He also supplies pipe for San Bernardino, Riverside, Colton, etc. He built the large two-story brick business structure known as the Taylor block, completing it in July, 1888, and in the same year erected three brick residences, building on a two-and-a- half-acre tract in Redlands. When he came here he bought ten acres in Redlands, which he afterward sold, and which is now subdivided into lots. He has a fine piece of property in Lngonia Park, embracing two and a half acres planted to oranges and grapes, and otherwise improved with a two story house. He also has seven and three-quarters acres of land on the hill in Redlands, all of which is planted in oranges. Among his other property is seven acres of slightly improved land, on the Barton tract, and eight lots in Allen's addition to San Bernardino, which has an artesian well. Be-
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HISTORY OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY.
sides the real estate interests noted, Mr. Taylor owns the well-known Hidden Treasure gold mine, on Old Baldy, which he operates in con- nection with the Criterion.
Mr. Taylor was married in Redlands, in Jannary, 1886, to Mrs. Mary Jane Scammel, of Brantford, Ontario. They have three children, viz .: Minnie, Ethel and Sidney James.
Mr. Taylor is a man of great push and energy, and one of those public-spirited citizens so neces- sary to the progress of any community.
ON. JOHN M. MORRIS was born near Cincinnati in 1825. His father, Isaac Morris, was born in New Jersey. He was a farmer by occupation, and had a family of eight children, of which the subject of this sketch was the youngest. When he was a boy, instead of going to college, he helped to clear away the forests and make a farm in Ohio. In March, 1855, he went to Kansas and settled on a farm in Riley County. He lived there for twenty years. While in the "Sunflower" State he had the honor of representing Riley County in the Legislature 1871-'72. He was also County Assessor one term and County Treasurer twice.
In 1848, while in Cincinnati, he married Miss Helen Milson, a native of Baltimore, whose mother came to Cincinnati at an early day.
In 1874 he sold out his interests in Kansas and came to San Bernardino County, where he purchased forty acres of land two and one-half miles from the city, on the Base Line. This property he has highly improved, and, with his son, has been iu the nursery business for several years. They have a choice variety of fruit and ornamental trees. His fruit-stand at the horticultural exhibition in Los Angeles was much admired and took first premium. His fruit ranch is one of the finest in the connty, comprising citrus and deciduous fruits; also a fine vineyard of raisin grapes. His
home is surrounded with a great variety of ornamental shrubs and flowers. Over 100 va- rieties of roses and trailing vines on verandas and buildings make it a lovely home in this lovely land.
Judge Morris has nine children living; four married. Both he and his wife are members of the Congregational Church.
TEPHEN R. MAGEE, M. D. Among the representative orange groves and vine- yards of Arlington in Riverside, mention should be made of that owned by D. Magee. The improvements on this place were com- menced by Mrs. Magee in August, 1875. It was then a wild and barren plain. Mrs. Magee in that year preceded the Doctor to California and located on a forty-acre tract, on what is now the corner of Center and Palm avennes. She cansed a small cottage to be erected, in which herself and children were domiciled, and then at once commenced the planting of ornamental trees and shrubbery and flowers, and as soon as the ground could be cleared, entered into horti- cultural pursuits by planting citrus and decidu- ous trees and vines. The Doctor arrived in 1876 and found that his energetic wife had made rapid progress. He entered heartily into the improve- ments, and soon laid the foundation to one of the finest properties in the colony. He found his acreage more than he could devote the pro- per care and cultivation desired and later sold off all but twenty acres. He has now sixteen acres in oranges, about equally divided in seed- lings and budded fruit, and four acres in vine- yard, devoted to Muscat raisin grapes. Both the Doctor and his wife are thorough horticul- turists, and as illustrative of their success in orange-growing it is noted that in 1886, 200 Mediterranean sweet orange trees yielded four and one-half boxes per tree. The character of this fruit was of the highest standard and sold for $10 per tree, giving a return of over $750 per acre. The remaining trees in his grove
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HISTORY OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY.
produced equally well, considering the age of the trees. His vineyard in 1888 yielded him $125 per acre. The improvements upon his place are of the highest order. His residence is a large two-story building of modern design and finislı, well ordered and complete in all the appointments that constitute a modern home of comfort and Inxury; well-kept grounds, orna- mental trees and floral plants, and to the beauty and comfort of his home.
The subject of this sketch was born in Mifflin County, Pennsylvania, September 1, 1820. His father, Thomas Magee, was a native of that State. His mother, nee Charity Mathews, was a native of the Isle of Guernsey. In 1832 his father moved to Ohio and located in Cambridge, Guernsey County. He was a farmer by occupa- tion and Dr. Magee was reared to that calling until eighteen years of age, receiving the advan- tages of a common-school education. At that time he entered upon his medical studies under the tutorship of Dr. McCullonghi, a prominent physician of Reynoldsburg, Franklin County. After some three years of study he proceeded to Philadelphia and entered the Rush Medical Colllege, where he completed his medical edu- cation and graduated in 1843. He then re- turned to Ohio and entered upon the practice of his profession in Harrison County.
In October, 1844, Dr. Magee was united in marriage with Miss Jean K. Thompson, a native of Steubenville, Ohio. Her father, Robert Thomp- son, was a native of Ireland, who located in Ohio in early youth and there married Miss Elizabeth Kelley. The Doctor continued his professional life until 1861. In that year he was elected upon the Republican ticket as the Sheriff of the connty and held the office for the next four years. He was prominent in politics, and a strong Union man, and did not allow his official position to debar him from rendering military service to his country. He was the Quarter- master Sergeant of the One Hundred and Seventieth Regiment National Guard of Ohio, and in 1864, upon a special call for troops from the general Government, was mustered into the
United States service and served his term of enlistment in the Department of Washington and in the Shenandoah valley, and participated in the defense of Washington against Early's troops, and the pursuit of his army through the valley. Upon his discharge from the service the Doctor returned to his Ohio home and resumed his official duties. In 1866 he located in Steubenville, Ohio, and engaged in coal-mining. He was also the agent of the Cleveland & Pittsburg Railroad Company at that place, until 1876, when he came to Riverside.
Dr. Magee has been a strong supporter of schools and churches, and has contributed liber- ally toward their establishment in Riverside. He is a trustee and the clerk of the Arlington school district. and a consistent member of the Episcopal Church. In political matters he has been a Republican from the organization of that party in 1856. He is a member of Riverside Chapter, No. 67, Royal Arch Masons, and also of Riverside Post, No. 118, G. A. R. He has six children living, viz .: Mary R., now Mrs. James A. Crawford, of San Bernardino; Thomas A .; Anna B., now Mrs. R. F. Cunningham, of San Bernardino; Jessie; Robert T., who married Mrs. Cora Cotton, of Riverside, and Lucy A. Thomas A. Magee, the Doctor's eldest son, is associated with him in his horticultural pursuits on the home place.
OHN HOSKING, the son of James and Jane Hosking, is a native of Cornwall, England, born February 22, 1839, and there reared a miner. He emigrated to California in August, 1867, coming by the way of the Isth- mus of l'anama. He first worked in the mines in Tuolumne County, then in Amador County mines. In 1870 he was appointed foreman of the original Amador mines. In 1873 the Sierra Buttes Gold Mining Company appointed him foreman of the Plnmas Eureka Mines In 1883 he was appointed superintendent of the said mines, which position he now holds.
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HISTORY OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY.
He was married to Catherine H., the daughter of Richard and Mary Floyd, August 22, 1863. Six children have been born to them: Richard Floyd, born in England, February 4, 1866; Ada, born in England, February 10, 1868; Mary Jane, born February 27, 1872, at Amador City, died in July, 1872; John Ward, born at Enreka Mills, September 5, 1874, died December 16, 1877; James Earnest, born November 19, 1876, at Eureka Mills; Nettie Johns, born August 8, 1878. Mr. Hosking is a Past Grand of Mo- hawk Lodge, I. O. O. F., No. 292, situate at Johnsville; he is also a member of the Royal St. George, located at Johnsville.
In 1882 he bought twenty acres of land at Redlands, from Judson & Brown, and had it planted the following year as follows: five acres to orange trees and fifteen to raisin grapes. In 1887 he built a fine residence on his property and made other improvements. The family moved to Redlands, March 31, 1888. Mr. Hosking has achieved a high degree of success in his chosen calling, in which he is considered a thorough expert. He planned mnuch of the new machinery now used at Eureka, such as pumping machinery, tramways, etc.
ENRY J. RUDISILL .- Among the men who for years were prominently associated with the leading enterprises and industries that gave to Riverside that prominence in the history of Southern California that is un- equaled, and spread before the people in the inarts of the world, her unrivaled productions that induced immigration and brought an un- ceasing flow of wealth to the beautiful valley, none is more worthy of mention than the sub- ject of this sketch. Mr. Rudisill came to River- side in February, 1875. In the same year the Riverside Land and Irrigating Company was organized and at once assumed control of the affairs at Riverside, securing by purchase the land and water rights of the Southern Califor- nia Colony Association and other incorporations
or associations connected with the valley. Mr. Rndisill was one of the original incorporators and a resident director and secretary of the com - pany, and in the years that followed was one of the most prominent officers of the company in carrying ont the improvements inaugurated. In 1876 he purchased sixty-five acres of land at the head of Magnolia avenue, just south of Indiana avenue, and entered largely into horti- enltural pursuits, which he conducted until the sale of his lands in 1889. During that time he was one of the strongest supporters and pro- moters of citrus fruit cultivation in Riverside. He placed his time and means at the disposal of any project that would show to the world the varied and wonderful productions of the colony. Together with a few associates, of whom he was the leading spirit, he organized the first citrus fair ever held in the world. The exhibit was made at the residence of G. W. Garcelon, in Riverside, in the spring of 1878. This proved the value of such exhibits, and he entered heartily into the work for the erection of a suit- able building in which to hold future fairs, and as a result the Citrus Fair Association was or- ganized, the pavilion erected, and citrus fairs became the leading exhibitions of the fruit in- dustries of Southern California and the State. During all the succeeding years there was no one more ready with time and money in aiding and establishing the means for a successful dis- play of Riverside products than Mr. Rndisill.
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