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 90

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 90
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 90
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 90
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 90

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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HISTORY OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY.

which he still owns, besides being interested in several other pieces of property. June 18, 1889, he was appointed by President Harrison to his present position, and took charge of the postoffice Angust 1, 1889.

Captain Gill has been twice married. His first wife, Miss Whitford, was quite renowned as an educator, having founded and made a great success of the freedmen's school at Holly Springs, which under her administration grew till it had as high as 250 pupils in attendance, requiring a number of assistant instructors. She was the mother of one son by Captain Gill, who now resides in San Bernardino County. The Cap- tain's present wife was Miss Winnie Whitford, born and reared on the border of Chautanqua lake, New York. Two children, a daughter and son, constitute their family. Captain Gill was also born in New York, in 1830. He is a gen- tleman noted for his social qualities, and his inherent force of character adapts him for a leader among his fellows.

COLONEL WILLIAM R. TOLLES, Presi- dent of the San Bernardino Board of Trade and one of the most enterprising and public-spirited citizens of the county, was born in Litchfield County, Connecticut, in 1823. His father was one of the original settlers of the famous " Western Reserve" in northern Ohio, having moved there and settled in Geau- ga County in 1837; there William passed his youth, excepting five or six winters which he spent in the South for the benefit of his health. He was in Arkansas when the Legislature of that State declared its secession from the Union, and he was a passenger on the last river steamer coming northward that was not intercepted. On reaching home he enlisted as a member of the Forty-first Ohio Volunteer Infantry, as Cap- tain of a company. In 1862 he returned, and aided in recruiting a regiment of 1,180 men in three weeks, and was commissioned its Lien-

tenant-Colonel, it being the One Hundred and Fifth Ohio Infantry. Colonel Hall, his superior, died about three months after the regiment was organized, and Colonel Tolles was promoted to the command of the regiment, and filled the po- sition until his broken health compelled him to resign in the early part of 1865. He went to Ohio, remaining until the spring of 1867, when he went to Michigan, and in company with a brother, engaged in the lumber business till 1872. The following spring he came to Cali- fornia almost a complete physical wreck. He came directly to Los Angeles and spent several months prospecting over that and other counties of Southern California, choosing San Bernardino as the most desirable as a permanent home for climatic and other reasons: he located on a sol- dier's homestead of 160 acres, in what is now Redlands. He stuck the first stake and made the first improvements on that now valnable and popular locality, which up to that time had been used as a cattle range. In the fall of 1873 he built a house, and, January 8, 1874, mnoved into it. The location was named Lugonia, in memory of the Lugo brothers, the former own- ers of the grant of which it was a part.

Having read the best Spanish authorities on orange culture in Enrope, he was convinced that they conld be raised at Lugonia, and, notwith- standing the prevailing opinion to the contrary, sent to San Francisco for a barrel of rotten oranges, cleaned and planted the seeds in June, 1874. The seventh year from the seed, these seedling trees bore a partial crop, and the eighth year a full crop. He planted fifty acres of his land, dividing it equally between oranges and lemons, deciduous fruits and raisin grapes. In May, 1874, his residence and all it contained was destroyed by fire, which was a severe loss to him at the time, as he was not financially fore- handed, for, although he owned a farın in Michi- gan, it yielded little or no revenue then. He cultivated the land between the rows of young fruit trees to vegetables, from which he realized $50 per acre. In 1878 his nursery stock of peach and apricot trees was large enough, so

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HISTORY OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY.

he planted ten acres of orchard, and in 1881 he received $100 per acre for the fruit crop on these trees; and the same year he grew and harvested nearly 9,000 pounds of sweet potatoes between the trees on the ten acres, which he sold at from three to five cents per pound. While improving his ranch, he, with others, succeeded in purchasing 1,500 acres of land, subdivided it and sold some of it to settlers for $25 per acre, which, now with its improvements, is worth $1,000 per acre. In 1882, Colonel Tolles sold his ranch for $250 per acre. He and his family spent one summer on the terrace north of Colton, and have since resided in San Bernardino. In the summer of 1887 they inade a tour up the coast to Alaska, which they enjoyed much. Besides several ten- acre tracts which he has in Lugonia, he is a joint owner in seventy acres of very choice land at Old San Bernardino.

Colonel Tolles has been thrice married. His first wife was the only child of Richard and Lucinda Beach. No issue now living. His second wife was Miss Hitchcock, an Ohio lady, whose father was one of the pioneers of the Western Reserve, settling in Burton, Geauga County, Ohio, was a lawyer by profession and for twenty-two years a Supreme Judge of the State. Her brother, Professor L. Hitchcock, was formerly president of Hudson College. Another brother, Reuben Hitchcock, a noted lawyer, was many years attorney for the Pitts- burgh & Fort Wayne Railroad; and still another, Peter, was State Senator and Representative of Geanga County, Ohio, for several years, and a director of the public Institution for Feeble- minded Children, at Columbus, Ohio. She left two children. The Colonel's present wife was Miss Fisk, a native of New York, whom he married in Iowa, but whose home from the age of six had been near Kalamazoo. Michigan. They have one daughter, residing with her par- ents. Colonel Tolles was one of the organizers and principal promoters of the San Bernardino Board of Trade, and is now president of that body, whose landable object is to encourage and

advance by every honorable means the growth and prosperity of San Bernardino County.

LBERT E. PHELAN, M. D., one of the leading physicians of San Bernardino County, and a representative of the pro- gressive school of medicine, was born in Mont- real thirty-two years ago; he was graduated at the University of Bishop's College in that city in 1886, and the following year was graduated at the College of Physicians and Surgeons in Que- bec, having had charge during the years 1886-'87 of the Western Hospital as house surgeon. He came to San Bernardino in September, 1887, and immediately settled in practice, forming a partnership with Dr. C. G. Campbell, a promi- nent old physician of the city, which continued until Dr. Campbell retired from practice, when Dr. Phelan succeeded to the large professional business of the firm. In January, 1887, Dr. G. B. Rowell came on from Montreal, at Dr. Phelan's solicitation, and upon his arrival the present partnership of Phelan & Rowell was formed. This enterprising firmn enjoys an ex- tensive and lucrative private practice among the best families of the city and vicinity. The major portion of the surgical work of the county is done by this firm.

They are examining surgeons for the following life insurance companies: the New York Life, the Union Central of Cincinnati, the Bankers' Alliance of Los Angeles, the Bankers' and Mer- chants' of San Francisco, the Mutual Reserve Fund of New York, and the Pacific Mutual of San Francisco. They are also examining sur- geons for the societies: Ancient Order of United Workmen, Knights of Pythias, Independent Order of Foresters, Royal Arcanum, and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers. Dr. Rowell is the local surgeon for the Santa Fé Railroad Company. They are both members of the San Bernardino County Medical Society, and of the Southern California Medieal Society. Dr. Rowell was graduated at McGill University,

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HISTORY OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY.

Montreal, in 1884; the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Quebec, in 1885; and at the Royal College of Surgeons, London, England, in 1886. He practiced in Montreal until starting for California. Besides his general practice he devotes special attention to the treatment of the eye and ear.

Both in the full vigor of manhood and edu- cationally equipped for their chosen profession, they have a future of great promise before them.

ILLIAM JESSE CURTIS, attorney at law in San Bernardino, is the oldest son of Hon. I. C. Curtis and Mrs. Lucy M. Curtis. His father was for many years a prominent member of the bar of Marion County, Iowa, and represented that county for several terms in the State Legislature. His mother is the daughter of Jesse L. Holman, one of the judges of the Supreme Court of the State of Indiana, and a sister of Hon. William S. Holman, now a distinguished member of Congress from that State. Mr. Curtis was born at Aurora, Indiana, on the 2d day of August, 1838. In 1844, lie moved with his parents, to the then Territory of Iowa, and settled in Marion County, near the present city of Pella. The Central University of Iowa was afterward located at Pella, and Mr. Curtis at- tended that institution for several terms. He read law in his father's office and was admitted to the bar in 1863, and immediately became a partner with his father in the practice of his profession.

In 1861 he married Miss Frances S. Cowles, a daughter of Leonard H. Cowles, of Delaware, Ohio. In 1864 he crossed the plains with ox and mule teams, came to California and settled in San Bernardino, where he has resided ever since. The first few years after his arrival in California, he devoted to teaching school. After this he engaged in farming for several years, but as a practical farmer he was a signal failure, though he still insists that he knows

how a farm should be conducted. During all these years Mr. Curtis cherished the idea of at some time returning to his chosen profession- the practice of law-but, owing to his financial condition and to the small amount of legal business in this county at that time, and to the further fact that there were more than a suffi- cient number of old and experienced lawyers then in practice in the county to attend to all the business therein, lie hesitated to enter the race with these gentlemen who had already es- tablished reputations as safe and reliable law- yers. He decided, however, during the latter part of the year 1871, to again practice law, and on the 1st day of Jannary, 1872, in con- nection with Judge A. D. Boren, he opened a law office in the city of San Bernardino. Clients came slowly, but his business grad- nally grew. In 1873 he was elected District Attorney of San Bernardino County, and was re-elected in 1875. After the expiration of his second term as District Attorney, he formed a partnership with Hon. H. C. Rolfe, which con- tinned until September, 1879, when Mr. Rolfe was elected Superior Judge. On the 1st day of October, 1879, Mr. Curtis formed a partner- ship with Hon. John W. Satterwhite, which continued until October, 1884, when Mr. Sat- terwhite retired from practice on account of ill health, and shortly after died. Mr. Curtis continued the business alone until February, 1885, when, finding that he had a larger prac- tice than he could well attend to, he entered into partnership with George E. Otis, Esq., and this firm is one of the most prominent and re- liable in Southern California. Mr. Curtis has been connected with most of the important liti- gation that has arisen in San Bernardino County during the last ten years. He is a director of the First National Bank of San Bernardino, and vice president of the San Ber- nardino and Redlands Railroad Company. He has always taken an interest in educational mat- ters, and has served as a member of the City Board of Examination and chairman of the City Board of Education.

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HISTORY OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY.

He has a modest but pleasant home in the city of San Bernardino, and enjoys the respect and confidence of those who know him best.

ENJAMIN B. HARRIS, attorney at law, City Clerk of San Bernardino, and treas- urer of the Society of California Pioneers of San Bernardino County, was born in Hanover County, Virginia, in 1824. When seventeen years of age he went to Nashville, Tennessee, and was there educated, graduating at Nash- ville University in 1845; studied law in a pri- vate office in that State, and was admitted to the bar of Tennessee. In 1847 he went to Panola County, Texas, expecting to remain there per- manently, but the climate being malarious he suffered with liver troubles, which necessi- tated a change in his purposes. After the discovery of gold in California, he resolved to einigrate to the new El Dorado, and in March, 1849, started with a pack mule train of fifty- two men, to cross the plains, coming by the way of old El Paso, Chihuahua, Santa Cruz, Mexico, through Tucson and Yuma, Arizona. They had some trouble with the Apache Indians, who dogged their trail for days, and with whom they had a bloodless skirmish or two; the Indians knowing the superiority of the emigrants' fire- arms, kept out of range of their guns. On crossing the Colorado river, where Yuma is now situated, they found it swollen by the melting mountain snows, to the width of 1 500 feet, and it was found necessary to improvise a ferry- boat in which to bring over their party, together with the baggage and supplies. This was done by appropriating the body of an abandoned wagon, making it water tight by caulking the cracks with strips secured by tearing their shirts, and then pouring in melted beef tallow, which hardened by the cool water, making the joints impervious to water. This was probably the first ferry established on the Colorado river. Mr. Harris arrived in Mariposa, September 29, 1849, and on the 13th of December of that

year, he voted for the adoption of the first State constitution of California. He remained in the mining camps about three years, mining, and, incidentally, practicing law. His efforts in hunt- ing gold were only moderately successful, but he fully recovered his health.

In September, 1852, he opened a law office in Mariposa, and thereafter devoted his entire time and attention to the practice. While there he was professionally associated with the noted case of Biddle Boggs, lessee of General John C. Fremont, versus the Mercer Mining Company, in which 48,000 acres of mining land were in- volved. Fremont claimed the lands as a grant from the Government, and brought suit to dis- possess the miners. The litigation begun in 1854, and went through the State courts with varying success and adverse results, and was finally disposed of by a decision in the United States Supreme Court, in Fremont's favor, dur- ing the war. In 1861 Mr. Harris returned East. All his friends there had joined their fortunes with the seceding States at the opening of the civil war, and, having an interest in his father's estate, which consisted in slaves, he too espoused the cause and spent four years in the Confederate army, rising to the rank of First Lieutenant. After the close of the hostilities, he leased the property of the Union University, a Baptist. institution, at Murfreesboro, Tennes- see, which had suspended during the war, and selecting a corps of professors from different re- ligious sects, revived the school as a non sec- tarian institution. It grew rapidly in popularity and patronage for three years, when, at the so- licitation of the Baptist people, he surrendered the lease, and, in the spring of 1870 returned to California.

Before leaving " the States " he was married, in the early part of 1870, in Independence, Missouri, to Miss Bettie E. Clark. They came direct to San Bernardino, where they have re- mained ever since, Mr. Harris being engaged in active practice of the law, excepting two years which he spent in ranching. Sixteen years of that time he has been in the service of the city

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HISTORY OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY.

in an official capacity, thirteen years as a mem- ber of the Board of Trustees and City Attor- ney, and three years as City Clerk, to which position he was both elected and appointed in 1886, and is still filling the office.

Besides their homestead, embracing two acres on the corner of Second and G streets, which he bought in 1872, Major H. owns a fruit ranch with 4,000 raisin grape-vines, English walnuts, and deciduous fruit trees on it. He has also fallen heir to somne thousands of dollars from the estate of his brother, T. O. Harris, of Nash- ville, Tennessee, who died April 1, 1889. He was a prominent character in that State, dis- tinguished as a financier, and noted for his benevolence and public-spirited enterprise. He amassed and distributed several fortunes. Major and Mrs. Harris have had seven children, six of whom survive-three girls and three boys. Mr. Harris is treasurer of the Society of Califor- nia Pioneers of San Bernardino County, and president of the Old Boys' Hunting Club; he is also a member of the Society of the Blue and the Gray. He is a cultivated and compan- ionable gentleman, prolific in entertaining anec- dote and reminiscence of "Forty-nine."

ARRISON H. GUTHRIE, M. D., has been in the active practice of his profes- sion in San Bernardino since November, 1881. He came to California from St. Charles, Minnesota, where eighteen years of arduons labor and exposure in that rigorous climate had serionsly impaired his naturally delicate consti- tution He was born in Preston County, West Virginia, in April, 1832, and is the son of a house carpenter, who was also a Virginian. The Doctor was left motherless when nine days old, and was taken and reared by his maternal grandparents in Maryland. Being of an active mental temperament, he advanced rapidly in his studies, and began teaching in the State of Pennsylvania, in his fifteenth year. At the age of twenty-one, after teaching a number of terms

there and in Maryland, he came west to Illinois, and spent ten years in and about Rockford, where he taught ten terms, thus earning the means with which to obtain his medical educa- tion. He prosecuted his studies while teaching and during vacations, and had more than com- pleted the required course of reading, but had not gradnated when the war of the Rebellion broke out. In June, 1862. he enlisted as a private in the Sixty-seventh Volunteer Infantry, and did mostly post duty until honorably dis- charged, September 27, 1862. Going from camp to Rush College, Chicago, he graduated M. D. in the spring of 1863, and immediately entered the Chicago Hospital, then used as a military hospital, was made hospital steward and officiated as assistant surgeon, having charge of three wards. He entered the hospi- tal under contract, at the solicitation of Dr. McVickar, surgeon in charge, who had formed a warm friendship for the young doctor, and received only the pay of a private soldier.

At the end of six months he resigned and established himself in practice at St. Charles, Minnesota. While located there he was active in varions local matters pertaining to the best interest and progress of the city; served seven years as a member of the Board of Education; was one of the organizers of the local post of the Grand Army of the Republic, being com- mander for two years, and surgeon one year, of the post. When about to move away, the citizens gave him a reception and presented him with a beautiful silver water pitcher, the mayor of the city making the presentation speech, in which he enlogized Dr. Guthrie highily for his integrity of character and zealous labors in behalf of the welfare of the city.

On reaching California he settled in San Bernardino, where has enjoyed a prosperous practice, and fully recovered his health. The years of pedagogical work in earlier life devel- oped a taste for books, scientific study and re- search, especially in the line of geology and mineralogy, on which science he has, at the so- licitation of prominent educators, given lectures

A JOBwogood

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HISTORY OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY.

on several occasions before assemblages of teachers; and has also executed a large hand- painted geological map, illustrating the strata of the earth's surface; a work of much labor and merit. He has a fine library of standard scientific, historical and religious works. The Doctor is a member of the San Bernardino County Medical Society and the Southern Cali- fornia Medical Society.

He has been twice married. His first wife was Miss Mary E. Hovey, whom he married in Illinois. At her death she left one child, a daughter, who graduated in 1889 from the Illi- nois State Normal School with the honors of her class of twenty-nine. Dr. Guthrie's pres- ent wife was Miss Mattie L. Smith, a native of Michigan. They have had two sons: one is dead. Art S. Guthrie, a bright young man of twenty, is an abstracter in the office of the Wozencraft Abstract Co. He is the Left Gen- eral Guide of the Ninth Infantry Regiment, National Guard of California.

DONIRAM JUDSON TWOGOOD is one of the original founders and members of the Southern California Colony Associa. tion, and among the pioneer settlers in Riverside. Mr. Twogood is a native of Onondaga County, New York, dating his birth in 1831. He was reared to farm labor and educated in the public schools. In 1855 he emigrated to the great West and located in Benton County, Iowa. He was among the pioneers of that county, and was prominent in developing its agricultural and other resources. He engaged in farming until the war of the Rebellion roused his patriotism and he abandoned his quiet life and entered the military service of the United States. He en- listed as a Sergeant in Company I, Sixth Iowa Cav- alry, in 1862. At that time the Indian outbreaks in the northwest required the strong arın of the military in suppressing them and protecting the settlers. His regiment was among the troops sent on that duty, and he participated in the 87

hard campaigns that followed. He served his full term of enlistment, and was honorably dis- charged in 1865. After his discharge he re- turned to his Iowa home and late in the year established his residence in Belle Plain. There he, in partnership with his brothers, established a business under the firmn name of Twogood Bros., dealers in agricultural implements, grain dealers, and general commission merchants. In 1866 he was nnited in marriage with Miss Alice Coddington, a native of Michigan. He was successful in his business pursuits, and in 1870 became interested in the scheme of founding a model colony in Southern California. He joined the association and visited the lands selected in Riverside. Being much pleased with the loca- tion, and having a strong faith in the future of the Riverside colony, he decided to establish his home among them. In June, 1871, lie moved his family to Riverside and purchased, in connection with his brother, D. C. Twogood, a twenty-acre tract on Prospect avenue. He im- mediately commenced the clearing and preparing of his lands, and in 1872 entered heartily into horticultural pursuits, planting largely with walnuts and alınonds. At that early day experi- ence alone could decide what would prove the most profitable of horticultural enterprises, and many mistakes were made and time and labor lost in settling the question. Nothing daunted, he corrected his errors by rooting out his decidu- ous trees and planting oranges. He was a thorough and successful horticulturist, and soon had one of the model orange-groves of Southern California. As illustrative of his success in orange-growing, and showing what a mine of wealth lies hidden in the soil of Riverside, it is worthy of note that his original orange-grove of fourteen acres in 1888 produced a crop that was sold on the trees for $10,000. Six acres of this was in seedling trees fifteen years old from the planting; six acres in budded trees ten years old, and the remainder in trees three or four years old. The twelve acres of older trees in 1886 produced a crop that sold for $9,000. Mr. Twogood's residence is on Fourteenth street,

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HISTORY OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY.

at which point he has a five-acre tract. Upon this he has erected a model home, -a two-story residence of architectural beanty and finish, in which he has combined the comforts and lux- uries that characterize a modern home. The well ordered grounds abounding in beautiful lawns, ornamental trees and rare floral plants, attest the culture and refinement of the occu- pants. His acres contain a fine orange grove and a large variety of deciduous fruits. He is suc- cessful in his enterprises and ranks among Riverside's wealthy citizens. He has not con- fined himself exclusively to horticultural pur- suits. His well-trained business qualities have been exercised in the successful prosecution of various enterprises that have built np Riverside and vicinity. He was one of the founders of East Riverside, and an original incorporator of the East Riverside Land Company, and the East Riverside Water Company. He is a director in both these, and treasurer of the land company. He is also a member of the firm of Twogood & Herrick, general managers of the latter company.

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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