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 53

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 53

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

ON. GUILFORD WILEY WELLS. This influential attorney of Los Angeles was born at Conesus Center, N. Y., February 18, 1840, the youngest of the three children of Isaac Tichenor and Charity (Kenyon) Wells. Through his father he traces his ancestry back to the time of William the Conqueror in England and to the latter part of the seventeenth century in America. His father was born at Fairfax, Vt., August 11, 1807, married Miss Kenyon at Granville, N. Y., February 4, 1830, and died in Conesus Center, November 2, 1868.

The education of Colonel Wells was obtained at the Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, in Lima, N. V. While he was still in college the war be- tween the.States broke out, and at the first call for volunteers he enlisted as a member of the First New York Dragoons. For almost four years he served in the defense of the government. He participated in thirty-seven battles, and rose by successive steps to the rank of brevet lieu- tenant-colonel. In February, 1865, he was se- riously wounded in the left arm, on which account he was honorably discharged from the service.

Soon after his retirement from the army Colonel Wells began the study of law. In 1867 he was a law graduate from the Columbian Col- lege of Washington, D. C. In December, 1869, he opened an office at Holly Springs, Miss. The next year he was appointed United States district attorney for the northern district of Mississippi. However, the position was far less desirable than at the present time, for the effects of the war were being felt in an organized condition of lawless- ness. In northern Mississippi the Ku-Klux Klan filled every neighborhood with terror. Lives were endangered, property was destroyed. The ablest men at the bar were employed to defend these law-breakers. One who opposed them must indeed be a man of courage, and such Colonel Wells was. He drew the first indictment under the reconstruction act and secured the first deci- sion rendered in the south against Ku-Klux, thus establishing a precedent which was adopted in other states, and finally resulting in the com- plete destruction of the organization. Mississippi was thus transformed from one of the most law- less to one of the most orderly and law-abiding states in the Union. Not a small part of the credit for this result should be given to Colonel

Wells. His efforts, while bringing him the hatred of certain classes, gave him the esteem and con- fidence of the best people. At the expiration of his first term, in 1874, President Grant re-ap- pointed him and the appointment was unani- mously confirmed by the senate. In 1876 he was nominated for congress from the second district of Mississippi, and was elected by seven thousand majority, receiving the full vote of his party (the Republican) and a large vote from the best element of the Democracy. During his term in congress he served on several important commit- tees and was recognized as one of the ablest men in the house.

In June, 1877, President Hayes appointed Colonel Wells consul-general to Shanghai, China. He accepted and sailed from San Francisco for China on the 8th of August. His first work was, in obedience to orders, to investigate charges against O. B. Bradford, vice-consul at Shanghai, whom he found guilty of grave offenses, such as embezzlement of government fees, removal of of- ficial papers from the consul-general's office, vio- lation of treaty rights, robbing of the United States mails, etc. On being convinced of Mr. Bradford's guilt, Colonel Wells had him arrested, and reported the same by telegraph and letter to the state department at Washington. The inex- cusable delay in replying, and other matters con- vinced him that Mr. Bradford and his colleague, George H. Seward, were being shielded, and he therefore tendered his resignation, and sailed for home, January 10, 1878. A committee of con- gressmen subsequently investigated the charges, found them correct, and the affair caused the retirement of both Bradford and Seward to private life. Colonel Wells was subsequently twice offered the consulate at Hong Kong, but re- fused.

While on their way home from China, Colonel and Mrs. Wells visited Los Angeles and were so delighted with the climate that they resolved to settle here. Accordingly, in 1879 they returned and Colonel Wells opened a law office, with Judge Brunson as a partner, this relation contin- uing until the latter's election to the superior bench. Afterward the firm of Wells, Van Dyke & Lee carried on a law practice until Mr. Van Dyke was elected superior judge, when he was succeeded in the firm by Mr. Guthrie. In 1886

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that partnership was dissolved and the firm of Wells, Monroe & Lee was organized. In Janu- ary, 1891, J. P. Works succeeded Mr. Monroe and the title became Wells, Works & Lee, con- tinuing as such until the illness of Mr. Wells compelled his retirement. As attorney, he was connected with many of the notable cases in Cal- ifornia, among them a number of murder trials that attracted attention throughout the entire country.

In Avoca, N. Y., December 22, 1864, Colonel Wells married Miss Katy C. Fox, who was born in that town, a daughter of Matthias and Marga- ret Fox. They became the parents of a son, Charles F., who was born in Washington, D. C., November 9, 1869, and died at Holly Springs, Miss., December 24, 1872. The second marriage of Colonel Wells took place in Louisville, Ky., December 31, 1891, and united him with Mrs. Lena (McClelland) Juny, a daughter of Frank and Marion (Watts) McClelland, of Kentucky. Mrs. Wells was born in Paducah, that state, and is related to some distinguished southern families. Her education was received principally in Ken- tucky and was broad and thorough, qualifying her for a position of prominence in social circles.

OHN ALLIN. With many of the important enterprises that are contributing to the prog- ress of Pasadena, the name of John Allin is closely associated. A resident of this city since 1882 he is familiar with its growth and has aided in its development. Like the majority of the cit- izens he has interests in fruit lands in this sec- tion. Shortly after his arrival he purchased ten acres which has since become a part of the city. He also bought sixty acres outside of the city limits, and the most of this has since been sold off into orchards. Not only has he·engaged in raising fruit, but he has also carried on a dairy business and for several years was interested in a livery business. For eight years he had the contract for sprinkling the streets of Pasadena, having a partner during part of that time. He assisted in the organization and incorporation of the First National Bank of Pasadena, of which he was a director for nine years. For three years he held office as president of the Pasadena Lake Vineyard Land and Water Company, and for

fourteen years has been one of its directors. His election as a member of the board of trustees of the city gave him an opportunity to promote the welfare of the people by aiding needed reforms and improvements. However, he has never cared for political offices, much preferring to de- vote his energies wholly to his business interests, which, as may be inferred from the foregoing, are extensive and important.

While Mr. Allin is of English birth, practically all of his life has been passed in America and he is a thorough American, progressive in his views and energetic in disposition. He was born in Devonshire, England, on the 4th of July, 1834, a son of William and Mary (Bambury) Allin, na- tives respectively of the shires of Devon and Cornwall. He was an infant of nine months when the family came to the United States. They settled in Gambier, Knox county, Ohio, where he acquired an early education. When he was sixteen the family removed to northwestern Missouri, where he remained about eighteen months. From there he accompanied his parents to the vicinity of Iowa City, Iowa, settling on a farm five miles from that town in 1852. Owing to his father's ill health, he was obliged to as- sume the management of the farm, a heavy re- sponsibility for a youth of eighteen, but he proved equal to the emergency, and the successful dis- charge of these duties developed in his character the necessary trait of self-reliance. When he was twenty-two he began to break prairie land in the vicinity of Iowa City. Five years later he bought a farm east of the town, and continued to culti- vate and improve that place until his removal to Pasadena in 1882. He was so successful that at the time of coming to California he had con- siderable money for investment in and near Pasadena. The prosperity he has attained is the result of his energetic and persevering efforts through a long period of years. Discourage- ments never daunted him; poor crops failed to depress him more than temporarily. He had started out to succeed and he kept perseveringly on until he had become a well-to do citizen.

The close attention which Mr. Allin has found it necessary to give his business interests prevents him from taking any part in politics. He is a stanchi Republican and maintains an intelligent knowledge of public affairs. Since coming to

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Pasadena he has identified himself with the Ma- sonic order and the Ancient Order of United Workmen. During his residence in Iowa he married Miss Jemima Townsend, of Cedar coun- ty, that state. They have three children, name- ly: Thomas D., a civil engineer; Charles A .; and Rosa L., all residing in Pasadena. The family home is at No. 109 East Walnut street.

AMUEL FRASER OWEN, a pioneer of California, resides at No. 483 Kingsley avenue, Pomona. At an early period in the history of America three brothers emigrated from Wales to New England. From one of these de- scended Nathaniel Owen, who was said to be one of the best mechanics of his day in Maine and whose skill in invention was known throughout all of his part of Maine. Though a man of un- usual ability, he was nevertheless modest in demeanor, utterly devoid of vanity,-a man whom to know was to honor. He married Matilda Fraser, a native of Bangor, Me., and a daughter of a soldier in the second war with England. To their union was born the subject of this sketch, in Skowhegan, Me., November 26, 1835. When a boy he attended school and assisted his father in mechanical work. In April, 1854, he left home and went to New York, where he took a steamer bound for the Isthmus of Panama. Crossing the isthmus, he proceeded from there to San Francisco, where he arrived after a voyage of thirty days from New York. In those days almost every emigrant to California was a gold-seeker. Mr. Owen was no exception to the usual rule. He began to mine for gold in Tuolumne county, where he successfully followed the same occupation for more than twenty years. Afterward for four and one-half years he was constructing engineer for the Homestake Mining Company at Lead City, S. Dak., and later went to South America, where he erected mining ma- chinery for the French Mining Company in Uruguay, French Guiana and the United States of Colombia. In the employ of that company he remained for six years or more, meantime making four trips to South America and crossing the At- lantic seven times. He has visited points of in- terest in France, Spain and Portugal, has seen the principal islands of the West Indies and

almost every point of note in the United States, his extended travels having given him a cosmo- politan knowledge that makes him an interesting conversationalist and instructive companion. During his travels as a mining expert his wife had established her home in Pomona and in 1893 he joined her in this city, where they are the for- tunate possessors of one of the finest suburban homes in Southern California. Mrs. Owen was Miss Rose D. Sawyer, daughter of Isaac and Sarah Sawyer, of New Sharon, Me.

More than twenty-five years have come and gone since Mr. Owen saw for the first time what is now Pomona. He passed through the country from Spadre to San Bernardino and on the way stopped at Pomona, which then was so insignifi- cant that it could scarcely be called a hamlet. When he returned here he was astonished to see the transformation that had been wrought. The great stretches of orange and lemon orchards, the attractive rural abodes, the neat roads and substantial buildings, formed a picture wonderful in its contrast with what he had seen on his first visit. Additional improvements have been made since he came here, and in these he has borne his part. He has never been active in politics, in which, aside from voting the Republican ticket, he takes no part whatever. Both he and his wife are identified with the Pomona Methodist Episco- pal Church.

ILLIAM H. SCHUREMAN. The in- terests of the horticulturists of California have rendered the organization of union packing houses necessary, and these are there- fore to be found in every fruit-growing section in the state. The Indian Hill Citrus Union pack- ing houses at San Dimas and North Pomona are among the best known establishments of their kind in the vicinity of Pomona, and their success and high standing are due largely to the efficiency of the manager, Mr. Schureman, who devotes his time and attention to promoting the best interests of the union. He also fills the office of city clerk of Pomona.

Mr. Schureman was born in Helena, Ark., July 18, 1867, and is a son of Joseph P. and Sarah Schureman, natives respectively of New Jersey and Illinois. When he was about six months old his parents moved to St. Louis, Mo.,

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and there he attended the public schools and also graduated from the Bryant & Stratton Business College. For some four years prior to his re- moval to California he was employed by three different railway companies in St. Louis. In 1890 he settled in Pomona and identified himself with the fruit-growing interests of this valley, purchasing a ranch near North Pomona. His persevering nature and wise judgment are bring- ing him the success he so justly merits. Among the people of this locality his standing is the highest, and he is known as an enterprising and public-spirited young man. In April, 1899, he was elected city clerk of Pomona for a term of two years. This office he is filling to the satis- faction of the citizens and with great credit to himself. The Republican party receives his sup- port in both local and general elections. He is a firm believer in protection to home industries, the maintenance of a sound money standard and the expansion of territorial boundaries. Frater- nally he is connected with the Woodmen of the World, the Modern Woodmen of America and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He has in a large measure the sterling qualities of man- hood which bind intimate friends by the strougest ties, and hence he is popular with all classes. In 1890 he married Miss Anita Baker, of St. Lonis, Mo. They have two children, Francis C. and Leontine.

A. MORLAN. For fully a quarter of a cen- tury Mr. Morlan, of the firm of J. A. Morlan & Co., of Los Angeles, has been engaged in the real-estate business. Thoroughly inter- ested in and confident of the increasing greatness of this far-famed city of sunny southland, he uses his best talents in her development and is an influential factor in her success.

A native of Portage county, Ohio, Mr. Mor- lan spent his boyhood days in Rockville, Ind. He obtained an education in the common schools and in a college conducted by the Society of Friends, at Annapolis, Ind. He was but sixteen years of age when he started out to make his in- dependent way in the world. Later, going to Kansas City, he was there engaged in the live stock business for ten years, meeting with marked success in the majority of his undertak- ings. In 1873, when Denver was creeping into

prominence, he located there and for the ensuing eleven years was occupied in conducting a real- estate business, in which he met with success as in his previous enterprises. About six years ago he came to Los Angeles, where he has since been a dealer in local property, with his office in the Homer Laughlin block. He is noted for looking after the interests of his clients in every possible manner, paying especial attention to the validity of titles to property and insuring his patrons against losses.

During the Civil war, when Quantrell made his raid through eastern Kansas, Mr. Morlan was a resident of Lawrence, and when the guerillas burned the place his home was burned and he was a heavy loser through destroyed property. He has advocated the policy and principles of the Republican party, but has had no aspirations to official distinction. Fraternally he is associated with the Masonic order.

Of all the cities of the west in which Mr. Mor- lan has engaged in business, his choice is Los Angeles, which, in his opinion, is destined to be a city of still greater commercial importance in the future than in the past.

SCAR FREEMAN, secretary of the Pasa- dena Manufacturing Company and super- intendent of its plant, was born in Wal- worth county, Wis., October 18, 1858, being a son of William and Mary (Cole) Freeman, na- tives respectively of Sweden and Troy, N. Y. He received his elementary education in gram- mar schools and afterward studied in the high school at Genoa Junction, Wis., in which way he laid the foundation of the broad knowledge he has since acquired by practical experience and habits of close observation. While still a mere boy be began to assist his father, who for years carried on a lumber business at Genoa Junction. In this way he gained a thorough business edu- cation.

About 1883 Mr. Freeman came to California and settled in Pasadena, where he has since made his home. Upon the organization and in- corporation of the Pasadena Mannfacturing Company, in 1887, he became a stockholder and was elected its first secretary, which position he has since filled with ability and judgment. The

Iran G. Weid

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

mauy duties connected with his office have given him a large scope of business systematization and a quick grasp of minute details, so that his ex- perience, thorough in its comprehensive methods, makes him a valuable man in his company. He is recognized as a potential factor in the develop- ment of the company's interests. His reputation is that of a gentleman of executive ability, busi- ness acumen and honesty of purpose. By in- dustry and perseverance he has brought the man- ufacturing plant to a high degree of perfection. He has introduced modern machinery and im- provements, thus enabling the company to turn out a high grade of products. Now in the prime of life, it may be predicted of hin that the future years will add to the success he has already at- tained.

Fraternally Mr. Freeman is connected with a number of lodges, including Pasadena Lodge No. 272, F. & A. M. As a citizen he is public spirited. In politics he is a Republican. He has not sought positions of official prominence, pre- ferring the part of a private citizen, whose duties he has at all times striven to fill, and the high re- gard and esteem in which he is held by his fellow- townsmen give evidence that he has not been unsuccessful in his endeavors to fill his desired place in life.

VAR A. WEID. There are few men better known in the pioneer circles of Los Angeles than the subject of this article. A native of Denmark and a son of Henning Hviid, he was born on his father's farm near Odense October 23, 1837. The family name in the Danish language is Hviid, but this being unpronounceable in English, our subject spells his name Weid, which has practically the same sound as Hviid.

His early boyhood days were passed on the homestead. Leaving there he entered a dry goods house as an apprentice and served for seven years with the same employer, after which he en- tered the Danish army and was given a commis- sion in the same. The breaking out of the Civil war in the United States attracted his attention and stimulated his desire to participate in actual warfare. Accordingly he resigned his commis- sion and came to America. He had a good gen- eral education and a rudimentary knowledge of the English language. His knowledge of army

rules and military tactics rendered him a welcome recruit to the Union army. He went to Chicago and presented his letters of introduction to the Danish consul. He was promptly enlisted and mustered into the Third Missouri Infantry, with which he soon found himself at the front. For a time his regiment fought Price in Missouri. In view of his former experience and soldierly bear- ing he was recognized as a splendid soldier, and was detailed to return to Chicago, there to aid in recruiting the Eighty-second Illinois Infantry. Upon the organization of this regiment he was elected captain of Company I and went with his regiment to the front, being assigned to the de- partment of Virginia. He remained with his company until after the battle of Fredericksburg, when, owing to a severe attack of rheumatism contracted by exposure, he resigned his com- mission and received an honorable discharge.

At once, after leaving the army, Captain Weid came to California. He arrived in San Francisco via Panama in 1863. There he found the trades and occupations crowded with applications for employment, so he went to Virginia City, Nev. He returned to San Francisco in 1864 and ob- tained work as an accountant for Miller & Cutter, who were engaged extensively in the men's fur- nishing goods and laundry business. After a time he secured a half interest in their business, but this he sold. In 1868 he spent a short time in White Pine, Nev. During the same year he married Miss Marie Magnus in San Francisco. In 1870 they came to Los Angeles, where he owned six hundred acres of government and rail- road laud four miles west of the court house. Immediately he began to improve the land, and gave his attention closely to the cultivation of the property, which he transformed from an open country to an attractive estate, with fine trees, shrubbery and other improvements. A portion of the place he sold during the so-called boom for $1,000 per acre. The proceeds he invested in city property, of which he now owns a consider- able amount. He is a prosperous man, in com- fortable circumstances, and with the ability to conduct his real-estate dealings to a successful issue. For many years he has been identified with the United States internal revenue depart- ment as gauger, and still holds the position.

Mr. and Mrs. Weid have five children. Otto,

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who graduated from Santa Clara (Cal.) College in 1889, and Victor, who was educated in Den- mark, both reside in Denver, Colo. Selma and Ovidia live in Denmark, the former being the wife of Lieut. Gustav Clausen von Kaas, of the Danish army. The youngest child, Axel, resides with his parents. The family spent three years in Europe visiting the friends of Mr. Weid's boy- hood and returning to California in the latter part of 1890.

A genial, affable gentleman, Mr. Weid is one of the finest types of our Danish-American citi- zens, and is counted among the substantial men of his adopted city.

- RANK R. WILLIS. Possessing a thorough and practical knowledge of the law, Frank R. Willis, now serving in the responsible posi- tion of deputy district attorney of Los Angeles county, is eminently fitted, in every particular, to look out for the interests of the people, and with absolute fidelity meets the obligations resting up- on him. From a long line of Puritan forefathers, devoted to their country and to the right, ready to fight and die for their faith, if need be, he has inherited a stanchness of purpose, a high regard for true liberty and a zealous love for honor and justice that sets him apart from the multitude of men who are striving first for personal gains and distinction.

Could the limits of this article permit, it would be of interest to trace fully the remote influences which have been brought to bear upon the char- acter of our subject, but a few brief facts must suffice. His paternal great-grandfather, Major Daniel Willis, held a commission as a major dur- ing the war of the Revolution, and loyally fought and suffered that the American colonies might enjoy that freedom and reign of justice which he firmly believed was to usher in the millennium. His home was at Colerain, Mass., in the south- eastern part of the grand old Bay state. The maternal ancestors of our subject were directly descended from the White family, who, as is well known, were voyagers on the historic May- flower, when she made the celebrated trip in 1620, landing at Plymouth Rock. The infant, Peregrine White, born on the ship, is called the first child of the Anglo-Saxon race born in the

United States. Albert L. Willis, the father of Frank R., has been prominently associated with the development and progress of Linn county, Iowa, since 1857, at which time he removed to the west from North Adams, Mass., his former home. By industry and well directed business ability he has amassed a competence, and has long been one of the most influential citizens of his community. He is a director in several banks and financial enterprises and is serving his second term as mayor of the city of Coggon, Iowa.

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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 53

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