Historical and biographical record of Los Angeles and vicinity : containing a history of the city from its earliest settlement as a Spanish pueblo to the closing year of the nineteenth century ; also containing biographies of well known citizens of the past and present, Part 103

Author: Guinn, James Miller, 1834-1918
Publication date: 1901
Publisher: Chicago : Chapman Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 996

USA > California > Los Angeles County > Los Angeles > Historical and biographical record of Los Angeles and vicinity : containing a history of the city from its earliest settlement as a Spanish pueblo to the closing year of the nineteenth century ; also containing biographies of well known citizens of the past and present > Part 103

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promotion came in the direct line of his ambition as a recognition and appreciation of his ability and character, but, strange to say, before he had ever read a page of law other than the federal and state constitutions and the thirty five page pamphlet of the California school law, which he had studied for his examination as a teacher.

Confident, however, of his ability to succeed, and with all the courage of ignorance, he threw himself with energy into the arduous work of both reading law and practicing it at the same time, taking office in March, 1874. He dis- charged the duties of his office with ability, and was soon recognized as a vigorous and successful prosecutor of criminals and a safe and careful ad- viser in the line of his official duty. No better evidence of this is needed than the circumstance that he held the office for nine years and volun- tarily declined to be again a candidate when his nomination and election were assured. These were years of the hardest and most unremitting legal study and research, as indeed have been the succeeding ones.

In 1876 he married Caroline Vogel, an edu- cated and talented woman, a native of western New York, but of German parentage, who also had, through her own unaided efforts, first by working out as a hired girl in a California min - ing and lumbering town and later by teaching school, acquired a superior education, and by her he has had three children, a daughter and two sons, all living.

After his marriage he was admitted to general practice as an attorney in the old district court- his previous practice having been confined wholly to cases in which he had participated as district attorney-and in 1879 he was admitted to the state supreme court.

It may be of some interest to know that Mr. Variel's reading and study of law was at all times pursued entirely alone and without the aid of in- structors, and that he first read the Annotated Penal and Political Codes of California, with the California Supreme Court Decisions cited in the notes under the several code sections. This course of legal study was of his own selection, and was dictated in part by the circumstance that his library, as district attorney, consisted of the California Reports, Statutes and Codes, but mainly by his necessities, as being the uninformed

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legal adviser of the other county officers, and the untrained public prosecutor of criminals, who had much of that work to do. It was not long, how- ever, before he had obtained a pretty thorough grasp of this line of legal study and of its appli- cation in practice. He then took up alone the regular course of reading usually prescribed for law students, and went through this course with diligence and thoroughness; and soon after his admission in 1876 he had acquired a standing as an able and successful practitioner at a bar which numbered in its ranks many men of superior ability.

In 1886 Mr. Variel was elected on the Repub- lican ticket to the state assembly from the dis- trict comprising Plumas and Sierra counties, where he became at once one of the acknowledged leaders, and in proof of this he was appointed chairman of its judiciary committee. This posi- tion he filled with credit. He also participated prominently in the work of the committees on mining, corporations, constitutional amendments and elections, and he was, as well, more or less a potent factor either in the framing or in the passing of all the important legislation of the ses- sion, including the Wright irrigation act, but more especially the act endowing the State Uni- versity with a permanent support. During this session a bitter war was carried on between the advocates of the miners and farmers, growing out of the efforts of the latter to make the dumping of tailings in the mountain streams a felony, and of the former to enact a law, introduced by Mr. Variel in the assembly, providing that the miners might mine and discharge their tailings into the streams, on condition of first putting in restrain- ing dams; and Mr. Variel became the acknowl- edged leader of the miners' fight in the assembly. His record in the legislature added very much to his reputation for the possession of superior en- ergy, ability and integrity.

In 1887 he left Plumas and settled in San Francisco, but his health failing there he re- moved to Los Angeles in January, 1888, and en- tered upon the practice of his profession at that place, where he has since resided. With this change came enlarged opportunity, but it found him prepared. Within a few months after con1- ing to Los Angeles a temporary association in the law practice was formed with Hon. Stephen

M. White. This brought him into such imme- diate prominence that he quickly won an ex- cellent standing and practice at the Los Angeles bar.

During his career in Los Angeles Mr. Variel has successfully carried through many large busi- ness transactions, and he has either conducted or been prominently identified with a number of very important litigations. Popular with the bar and among the people, and with some taste for political life, he nevertheless prefers the hard labor and the independence of his profession, but still gives much time to public affairs by reason .of his active public spirit.

With none of the adventitious aids of fortune or wealth, Mr. Variel, through the observance of good habits and by reason of unremitting perse- verance, study, toil and diligence, aided by his capacity to win and retain friends, has achieved a career that may well serve as an example to every ambitious young man who would rise at the bar, but finds himself poor, without educa- tion or training, and without influential friends.

C JEAN SENTOUS, a retired stock-dealer re- siding in Los Angeles, was born in Hautte Garonne, France, January 1, 1836, a son of Francois and Narcissa (Rouillon) Sentous. He passed the days of boyhood at his father's home. February 7, 1854, he set sail for the United States, and arrived in San Francisco on the 14th of August following, after which he spent a couple of years in the mines of California. The year 1856 found him in Los Angeles, where he embarked in the dairy business, but after a year turned his attention to the buying and selling of horses and to mining. Some years later he bought an interest in a dairy near Sonora, Algerine camp, and conducted that business, also engaged in raising stock, until an accident re- sulted in lockjaw that narrowly escaped being fatal. He went to San Francisco for treatment, and, upon recovering, began to mine and con- tinued to carry on a dairy at Algerine camp, at the same time engaged in raising cattle near Sonora, and in 1859 engaged also in the butcher business. February 1, 1866, he came to Los Angeles, and here embarked in the dairy busi- ness, continuing his interest in mining, and later

Г. М. Влекшийн

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engaged in the sheep business also. March 13, 1867, he was united in marriage with Theodora Casanova, who was born in Central America and was brought to California when one year old. To their union were born seven children, all but one of whom are still living, four of them being married. There are also four grand- children.

In 1870 Mr. Sentous engaged in the sheep business, in which he continued uutil 1883. In 1888 he returned with his family to France, where he renewed the associations of his youth. He is living retired, except that he still maintains a general supervision of his interests. He is de- voted to the progress and welfare of his adopted country, and is a patriotic citizen of the United States.

HOMAS H. BUCKMASTER, a prominent walnut grower, builder and contractor, and vice-president of the Home Oil Company, came to Whittier in August, 1894, and has since conducted the various enterprises in which he is interested in a way which reflects credit upon him- self and the community in which his lot is cast.

Of sturdy Scotch ancestry on the paternal side, Mr. Buckmaster was born in Lee county, Iowa, August 25, 1854, and is a son of George W. and Sarah (Chantry) Buckmaster, natives respect- ively of Iowa and Pennsylvania. George Buck- master was for many years an agriculturist in Lee county, Iowa, and fought with courage and dis- tinction in the Civil war. He died while serving in the army. Grandfather Buckmaster came from Scotland in the early part of the century and settled in Iowa. When an infant in arms his grandson, Thomas, was taken by his family to Adair county, Mo., and later, at the age of seven years, moved to Guthrie county, Iowa, where he lived until about fifteen years of age. He was reared to farm work and received his first educa- tional training in the public schools of Iowa and Nebraska, whither the family later took up their residence.

In 1878 occurred the marriage of Mr. Buck- master and Minerva J. Graves, of York county, Neb., and of this union there are three children: Guy W., Clyde E. and Julian K. When twenty- four years of age Mr. Buckmaster began to learn the trade of a carpenter and builder, and for eight

succeeding years engaged as a contractor and builder at Bradshaw, Neb. In the same town he later became identified with the firm of Tidball & Fuller, extensive lumber dealers, and con- tinued to be their manager for eight years. Upon taking up his residence in Whittier, Cal., he was interested for several years in the hard- ware business, and also worked at his trade of contractor and builder.

Among the vast number of resources of Cali- fornia may be mentioned the quite recent dis- covery of oil, which has opened yet another avenue of industry and speculation for the dwell- ers in this state of plenty. Mr. Buckmaster be- came interested in the departure almost at its in- ception and was one of the organizers and incor- porators of the Home Oil Company, and is at this writing vice-president of the same. For the first year he served as manager and has since been a member of the board of directors. On his ranch in East Whittier are grown walnuts and oranges, and as an horticulturist and walnut grower he has been very successful. Fraternally he is associated with the Ancient Order of United Workmen. With his family he is a member of, and active worker in, the Methodist Episcopal Church. He is regarded as one of Whittier's most reliable and progressive citizens, and during his sojourn here has won the confidence and esteem of all who know him.

DAM KLINE McQUILLING, president of the Pasadena Land and Water Company, is a descendant in the third generation of a - Scotch-Highlander who emigrated to America. The son of this emigrant, John McQuilling, a resident of Somerset county, Pa., disliked the excitement of business and betook himself to the quietude of agriculture; he died, when almost a centenarian, a short time prior to the Civil war. His son, Samuel, was born in Somerset county, Pa., in 1801 and was married, November 28, 1836, to Miss Anna Flory. By occupation he was a millwright and a farmer. He died of cholera in Delta, Ohio, September 6, 1850. His wife, Anna Flory, was born in Harrison county, Ohio, October 18, 1821, and is still living.

The paternal grandmother of our subject was born in America, of German parentage, about

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1765, and died in Delta, Ohio, in 1839. His ma- has never fully recovered. After having to a certain extent regained his strength, he was, by order of General Grant, detailed for special duty ternal grandfather, Jonah Flory, was born in Pennsylvania May 20, 1793, and died in Du- buque, Iowa, September 6, 1845. He was of in the Jackson, Tenn., hospital, and when it was German parentage. His wife, Catherine Knaga, was born at the Glades, Pa., in 1791, and died in Mercer county, Ill., September 18, 1843. Her parents were natives of Germany and came to America, crossing the Alleghanies on horseback and settling at the Glades, where she was mar- ried, at twenty years of age, to Mr. Flory.

The subject of this article was born in Mercer county, Ill., November 29, 1840. When eight years of age he accompanied his parents to Delta, Ohio. Two years later two of his sisters and his father died of cholera and another sister was fa- tally poisoned by a rattlesnake bite. After this trying ordeal, the mother and son returned to the Illinois farm. There Adam cultivated crops in the summer and attended school in the winter. In 1857 his mother and step-father removed to Charitan county, Mo., and he accompanied them, remaining there until the threatened outbreak of the Civil war made the surroundings unpleasant for one of northern sympathies. In 1861 he re- turned to Illinois with the intention of taking a commercial course in Lombard University at Galesburg. However, patriotism soou supplanted other things in his mind. He enlisted at Cairo, Ill., September 16, 1861, in Company A, Thir- tieth Illinois Infantry, which was assigned to the army of the west. He was in Grant's command at Belmont, Mo., November 7, 1861, and took part in the capture of Forts Henry and Donelson. In the battle of Fort Donelson Company A en- tered with forty-one men and came out with five killed, seventeen wounded (one mortally) and three captured by the enemy. Scarcely a man escaped uninjured. Captain McQuilling was saved in a providential manner. As the day was cold and stormy he had dressed himself warmly. While he was in the act of shooting, a bullet flashed over his left arm at the elbow and struck him near the heart, penetrating his overcoat, thick jacket, vest, suspenders and shirt, forcing a piece of the shirt into the flesh, but fortunately he escaped with only a flesh wound. He took part in the siege of Corinth and the occupation of Jackson, Tenn. At the latter place he was ill with typhoid fever, from the effects of which he

closed he was given a furlough of twenty days, with instructions to report to the chief of hospitals in Memphis, Tenn., at the expiration of his leave of absence. On reporting he was assigned to duty as hospital commissary at Washington Hos- pital, Memphis, where he performed his labors until ordered to Springfield, Ill., for discharge. During his hospital service he was twice exam- ined for field duty, but both times was rejected. Though fully entitled to a pension by reason of his long service and subsequent ill health, he has never made application for one. He was honor- ably discharged September 21, 1864.

On his return to Illinois Mr. McQuilling en- gaged in farming. Later he was a clerk in a store at Suez, Il1., in which he became a partner in due time. During his mercantile life he be- came acquainted with Margaret Isabel Sedwick, whom he married November 24, 1870. Her father, who was of English descent, bore the name of Washington Sedwick, and was born in Mercer county, Pa., November 25, 1805. During his active life he was a Methodist minister. No- vember 25, 1824, he married Elizabeth Koener, who was born in Mercer county, of German de- scent. He died in Edinburg, Pa., February 3, 1847, and she in Mercer county, July 17, 1874. Mr. and Mrs. McQuilling are the parents of two children, Inez May and William S.

In 1875 our subject came to Pasadena, and, purchasing fifteen acres of land, engaged in rais- ing citrus and deciduous fruits. During the "boom" days he sold off his tract in lots. For a number of years he was manager of the water de- partment of the Orange Grove Association. This was subsequently merged into the Pasadena Land and Water Company, of which he has been a di- rector for years and is now the president. He is a director in the First National Bank of Pasa- dena. During his service of four years as a mem- ber of the Pasadena city council he was active in advancing measures for the benefit of the city. The value of his citizenship was also shown dur- ing his service as a school trustee and a trustee of the public library. In politics he is a Repub- lican. Fraternally he is connected with the

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John Godfrey Post No. 93, G. A. R., at Pasa- dena. He contributes to the support of the First Congregational Church of Pasadena, with which his wife is connected. In a life extending over a long period of years and crowded with military and civic activities, he has found many occasions to be helpful to his fellow-men and to promote the prosperity of the several localities where he has made his home, but particularly of Pasadena, where he has resided for twenty-five years.

WILLIAM WOLFSKILL. No history of Southern California would be complete without mention of this honored pioneer, now long since passed to his eternal rest. His life reads like a page from an old romance. He was born near Richmond, Ky., March 20, 1798, of German and Irish parentage. When he was quite small the family, with others, moved to what is now Howard county, Mo., then the heart of the Indian country. During the war of 1812 the Indians were unusually hostile and it was only by unceasing watchfulness that the little pioneer band was saved from destruction. Though few in numbers they were strong in courage, and from long experience of frontier life had become even more wily and strategic than the red men. At the close of the war, in 1815, William and his two sisters were sent back to Kentucky to attend school. Two years later he returned to Missouri, where he remained with his father until he was twenty four years of age. He then left home and penetrated still further into unsettled territory. After one year in Santa Fe he went down the Rio Grande to Paso del Norte, and trapped for beaver with a native of New Mexico, who gave proof of his villainy by shooting Mr. Wolfskill in an endeavor to secure an insignificant plunder of hides, blankets and ammunition. However, the blankets, which were made of homespun, proved to be a most excellent armor and checked the bullet, which entered the flesh near the heart, and was probably, to some extent, the cause of Mr. Wolfskill's ultimate death from heart disease.

After a visit to Santa Fe Mr. Wolfskill went to Taos, and fitted out an expedition to the Colo- rado river, where he trapped until June. After another year of exciting skirmishes with Indians

and a trip as far south as Chihuahua, he returned home in ill health. His next venture was the buying up of herds of cattle from the western ranges and driving them to the eastern markets. This he continued until the spring of 1828, when he started, with a number of others and with a load of goods, for New Mexico. He disposed of his goods there and pursued his way to Califor- nia, arriving in Los Angeles in February, 1831. At San Pedro he built El Refugio, which was probably the first schooner in California. With it he made one trip to the coast islands in search of otter, and then sold the vessel, which finally went to the Sandwich Islands. He next turned his attention to the cultivation of citrus fruits and grapes and to the raising of stock, in which he met with success. In November, 1838, he pur- chased the place in Los Angeles now occupied by his son, Joseph W. In 1841 he planted the first orange grove in this section and demon- strated the fact that Southern California pos- sessed a climate that would produce the finest fruit in the world. In 1856 he planted two thou- sand more trees a little southwest of what is now the Arcade depot, this being the largest orchard at the time in Southern California. Twenty years later his son, Joseph W., shipped direct from this orchard to St. Louis, Mo., the first carload of oranges ever shipped out of the state; charges $500, slow freight, nearly a month reaching destination; the venture proving a financial suc- cess. As many as twenty-five thousand boxes of oranges and lemons have been shipped from his ranch in a single year; but the rapid growth of the city and the ravages of the white scale have now almost obliterated the trees.

Besides his intimate connection with the es- tablishment of the orange industry, Mr. Wolf- skill was a pioneer in other lines of activity and did much to show eastern people the fertility of our soil. He was fond of experimenting, in order to ascertain just what fruit could be raised here. He imported sweet almonds from Italy and planted them here, but the results were not satis- factory. With the starting of other nuts and fruits, however, he was more successful. He did not limit his attention to the raising of fruits and of stock, or to the buying and selling of land, although in the latter he had some very important deals, selling one tract alone for

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$200,000. He was a man of broad mind and be- lieved thoroughly in education. Desiring that his children might have every advantage he es- tablished a private school and secured the serv- ices of H. D. Barrows as teacher. In this school his own children were educated, as well as Will- iam and Robert Rowland and the sons of other pioneers. In this way he did much for poster- ity. His work in the development of this region, along every line of activity, was such as to win for him the esteem of his associates and the re- gard of every lover of Southern California. He was endowed with a social, genial nature that enabled him to secure an honored place in the affection of his friends. One of his character- istics was a very remarkable memory, and this trait made him an interesting companion and conversationalist. He continued to reside at his Los Angeles homestead until he died, October 3, 1866.

In January, 1841, Mr. Wolfskill married Dona Magdalena Lugo, daughter of Don Jose Ygnacio Lugo and Dona Rafaela Romero Lugo, of Santa Barbara. They became the parents of six chil- dren, three now living, Joseph W., Mrs. Charles J. Shepherd and Mrs. Frank Sabichi. The eld- est daughter, who married H. D. Barrows, died in 1863. Lewis married Louisa Dalton, a daugh- ter of Henry Dalton, of Azusa Rancho; he died in 1884. Rafaelita died in childhood, in 1855. Mrs. Wolfskill died July 6, 1862.

OSEPH W. WOLFSKILL. Of the many thousands of citizens who boast Los An- geles as their home, there are very few who can lay claim to being native-born sons of the city. Mr. Wolfskill is one of the very small number of men of mature years who were born in the city where they now reside. His birth occurred at the family homestead near the pres- ent site of the Arcade depot, and he still lives in the house which was built by his father during the Mexican régime. He was born September 14, 1844, a son of the pioneer, William Wolf- skill. He was educated largely in a private school established by his father and maintained in his home for a number of years. At an early age he acquired a thorough knowledge of work on a fruit farm and in a vineyard. Since the

death of his father he has given his attention to the management of the homestead and of his own real-estate interests. Like his father, his characteristics are straightforward honesty and integrity; like him, too, he is a man of enter- prise. In politics he has been a stanch Repub- lican ever since casting his first vote for Abraham Lincoln. He has been active in the promotion of the city's industrial interests and at one time served as a member of the council. In 1869 he married Miss Elena de Pedrorena, by whom he has ten children now living.

OE A. WELDT, a representative citizen and progressive business man of San Pedro, has passed his entire life in this immediate vicin- ity, and is deeply interested in everything tending to promote the welfare of this section. Within his recollection the desert-like sand hills of the outlying districts have been made "to bloom and blossom like the rose," and within the past few years the battle for the wonderful harbor of San Pedro has been fought and won, and the future of this place forever assured.

The birth of Mr. Weldt occurred in Wilmington, Cal., in 1868, and in that town, which is situated only two miles or so north of San Pedro, his boyhood days were passed. His father, William Weldt, had taken up his residence there some five years previously, and had become well known and respected among the few inhabitants of that region.

For a number of years Joe A. Weldt held a position as a clerk in a local store, there learning the lessons of business integrity and foresight which have been put into practice by him in his subsequent career. Several years ago, as he had amassed a little capital by economy and good management, he embarked in trade upon his own account, and now carries a full line of dry goods, groceries, hardware and general supplies, for which there is a demand. He is considered one of the leading citizens of San Pedro, and his per- sonal prosperity has been closely associated with its development. His store, which has a front- age of twenty-five feet and is sixty feet in depth, is well stocked with seasonable wares, and the two stories and basement are taxed to their limit

James a Sochay

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

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Historical and biographical record of Los Angeles and vicinity : containing a history of the city from its earliest settlement as a Spanish pueblo to the closing year of the nineteenth century ; also containing biographies of well known citizens of the past and present, Part 103

Author: Guinn, James Miller, 1834-1918 Publication date: 1901 Publisher: Chicago : Chapman Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 996

Author: Guinn, James Miller, 1834-1918
Publication date: 1901
Publisher: Chicago : Chapman Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 996