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 88

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

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

quarter of a century, lie was extensively en- gaged in transactions which usually were suc- cessful.

In 1888, feelng that a change of climate and employment would prove beneficial, and recalling some of the pleasant hours he had passed in Cali- fornia, even in San Francisco, which might be termed a chilly outer portico of paradise as com- pared with the cities of Southern California, he set his face westward once more. Soon after taking up his abode in Los Angeles his charac- teristic business push and energy led him to re- enter the commercial field. He has bought and sold land extensively in the city and vicinity, both in large and small quantities, and has estab- lished an enviable reputation for square dealing. Personally he is greatly interested in several orange groves and fruit ranches which he owns at Azusa and San Gabriel, and gives considera- ble time to the development and improvement of these fine places. He has laid out a number of additions to the city of Los Angeles, one being known as the Brearley addition.

Politically he is a Republican, and loyally sup- ports the principles of his party, but he has never aspired to official distinction, preferring to live the quiet life of a private citizen. Though he is passing into the evening time of life, he bids fair to see many a peaceful, contented year in this sunny clime, and his vigor of mind and body is yet unabated.

Mr. Brearley has one son, Samuel R., who was educated at Lake Forest University, and now makes his home in Chicago, where he is engaged in the transfer business.

ON. CHARLES C. McCOMAS. The life of this well-known citizen of Los Angeles be- gan in Jasper county, Ill., August 10, 1846. The death of his father and mother when he was a child caused him to be early thrown upon his own resources for a livelihood, and whatever of success he has gained, whatever of prosperity he has secured may be attributed solely to his indi- vidual efforts. He was still a boy when the Civil war broke out. With the impetuous ardor of youth he determined to enter the army and take part in the preservation of the Union. In 1862 his name was enrolled as a member of Company

F, One Hundred and Fifteenth Illinois Infantry, with which he served until the close of the war. Among the engagements in which he bore a brave part were the following: Tunnel Hill, Rockyface Ridge, Buzzard Roost Gap, Resaca, Nashville, Chickamauga and many minor battles. On Sunday afternoon, the second day at Chicka- mauga, he took part in the hard fighting on Snodgrass Hill, where out of every hundred soldiers forty-nine were killed or wounded. In this engagement they were opposed by General Longstreet's corps, comprising the flower of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, who were sent to assist General Bragg against General Rosecrans. In this battle Mr. McComas was wounded by a minie ball, but his life was saved by a piece of a dictionary which he carried at the time.

At the close of the war Mr. McComas returned to civic pursuits and began the study of law. He was admitted to the bar and engaged in prac- tice in Decatur, Ill. For four years he held office as state's attorney for Macon county and for three years he was district attorney for the second judicial district of New Mexico, whither he had removed from Illinois. With the incoming of a Democratic territorial administration under Gov- ernor Ross he resigned his position. In the fall of 1886 he came to Los Angeles and opened an office for the practice of law. From the first he held a high place at the bar of this city, where lis merit was recognized. In 1889 he was ap- pointed deputy district attorney of Los Angeles county, which position he has held, under all Republican administrations, to the entire satis- faction of the people and with credit to himself. As a prosecutor he is said to be one of the ablest California has ever had. He has been untiring in his efforts to bring to justice violators of the law. Some of the cases brought before him were as complicated and intricate as any ever presented to an official, but he proved himself fully equal to coping with them.

Judge McComas (for by this title he is best known) has always found time to keep in touch with the progress of events in his home city and state, as well as in the nation itself. The Repub- lican party has always received his support and he is true to its principles. In the best sense of that much-abused word he is a politician; he is

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IHISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHIICAL, RECORD.

interested and active in politics. Believing that a public office is a public trust, he has devoted his attention, in the various offices held by him, to the faithful discharge of his duties, and his work has been successful. His record is one of which he and his many friends may well be proud.

November 14, 1871, Judge McComas was united in marriage with Miss Alice Moore, a young woman of remarkable musical and literary ability, and a daughter of Hon. Jesse H. Moore, who for years represented the seventh district of Illinois in the congress of the United States. By this union four children were born, of whom the eldest, Helen H., is deceased. The others are Alice Beach McComas, Mrs. Clare Binford and Carroll. Of these Miss Alice is considered among the finest pianists in Southern California and her talents have made her presence in constant de- mand in the best social circles. Mrs. Binford is a promising young singer. The youngest daughter, Carroll, a successful vaudeville star, is a whistler of such remarkable talent that she has been offered a flattering London engagement for 1901.

OBERT CATHCART. During the long period of his residence in Pomona Mr. Cathcart has seen the growth of the little hamlet into a prosperous town. He has seen the gradual development and cultivation of the fine fruit land in this district, and has himself been a large contributor thereto. His fruit farm is one of the best in the neighborhood. It comprises thirty acres of land, a large part of which is planted to orange trees, while the balance is in deciduous fruits. In addition to the management of this property he has served as vice-president of the Citizens' Water Company of Pomona, and is now a director in the same.

Mr. Cathcart was born in St. Louis, Mo., June 3, 1837, a son of Capt. Robert and Hannalı (Lee) Cathcart. His father, who was a native of Scotland, sought a home in America in early manhood. Becoming connected with a Missis- sippi river line of steamers he became in time captain of a boat whichi ran between St. Louis and New Orleans. In those days almost the en- tire travel of the middle states was by means of

steamboats, and these were fitted up in an elegant manner to suit the most aristocratic tastes. With the introduction of railroads, steamboats were relegated to freight purposes, and now the luxu- rious boats of fifty years ago are but a memory, save a very few exceptions, such as the Fall River line of boats.

It was this occupation of captain, during the palmy days of steamboating on the Mississippi, that our subject's father followed for almost twenty years. He also engaged in the milling business, and erected the first steam flouring-mill in St. Louis. He became so well known and popular that he was elected on the Democratic ticket to the state legislature of Missouri, in which he served with ability.

About the time of the discovery of gold in California he decided to seek a home on the Pa- cific coast; and accordingly, with his family, he came by steamer via New York and the Panama route to the Eldorado of the west. Hislast years were spent in Santa Cruz county, where he en - gaged in horticultural pursuits until his death.

At the time the family left Missouri the subject of this sketch was about fifteen years of age. He grew to manhood on a fruit farm, and therefore acquired by experience a thorough, practical knowledge of horticulture. With the exception of a short time as clerk in a wholesale store in St. Louis his entire active life has been devoted to the fruit business, and he is considered one of the most efficient horticulturists of his district. He is a man of broad information. His education was partly acquired in Edward Wyman's Englislı and classical school in St. Louis, and was broad- ened by subsequent reading and by his habits of close observation. He was married in Santa Cruz county, Cal., to Miss Augusta Durr, of Monterey, Cal., by whom he has four children, viz .: J. Lee, Josephine, Charles H. and Robert, Jr.

During the fall of 1877 Mr. Cathcart brought his family from Santa Cruz county to Pomona and settled on the place where he still resides. He found Pomona a small village, but with his keen foresight he discerned its possibilities. His de- cision to locate here was justified by his subse- quent success. He is one of the pioneers of his district. His course in life has been such as to commend him to the confidence of associates and acquaintances and the regard of his more intimate

Levis Landruth

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

friends. He was reared in the faith of the Den- ocratic party, and has always been a pronounced adherent of its principles.

EWIS LANDRETH. Of all the pioneers who undertook the development of the vast resources in the various garden spots of Southern California, none is more closely linked than Mr. Landreth with the rapid growth of the institutions and enterprises which constituted the upbuilding of their respective communities. While his endeavor has been largely on the com- mercial order, he has nevertheless been identi- fied with all lines of progress, and his judgment and acumen have tided over many shoals in- cident to a growing and enthusiastic community.

Mr. Landreth is a native of Owen county, Ind., where he was born May 21, 1844. He is a son of Zachariah and Mary (Fender) Landreth, natives respectively of Virginia and North Caro- lina, and early settlers of Owen county, Ind. When about six years of age he was taken by the family to Mercer county, Il1., where he was reared on his father's farm, and early instructed . in all the duties of a successful and enterprising agriculturist. He received a fair education in the public schools, and had, during his younger days, considerable opportunity for a more practi- cal experience than falls to the lot of many coun- try-bred youths. In 1887 he began to look around for brighter prospects than seemed to exist in his surroundings, and with this in view decided to try his fortunes in the far west.

After his arrival in Southern California he re- sided in Los Angeles and Pasadena for short periods, and then cast his lot among the few and scattering dwellers of what was later to be the town of Whittier. As one of the earliest settlers in the locality he was naturally interested in the in- stitutions which were the peculiar necessity of the climatic and soil conditions of the locality. He was one of the incorporators of the Pickering Land and Water Company at Whittier, and was a member of the first board of trustees of the town of Whittier after its incorporation. He is a stock- holder in the Home Oil Company at Whittier, also a director in the California Consolidated Oil Stock Company and second vice-president of the same.

He is connected with, and a director of, the Southland Oil Company, which is operating and developing near Fillmore, Cal.

In connection with his varied occupations of a more or less public nature Mr. Landreth owns a thriving dairy farm of ninety acres, which is con- ducted on model lines, and has the most recent innovations for carrying on the dairy business. The most of his time, however, since residing in Whittier, has been devoted to the real-estate business, in which he has engaged extensively.

The first wife of Mr. Landreth was Mary Walters, of Mercer county, Ill., and ofthis union there were two children, Eva and Bertha L. Mr. Landreth's second wife was Viola Mardock, also of Mercer county, and there have been four children born of this union: Ceola M., Chart T., Vera J. and Howard M.

In politics Mr. Landreth is a Democrat, but has never had political aspirations. Fraternally he is associated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He is an active member of the Congregational Church and a trustee of the same.

M ORRILL HOLBROOK, a prominent hor- ticulturist, and manager of the Bantie Water Company of Los Angeles county, settled on his preseut ranch near Whittier in 1890. Born in far-off Somerset county, Me., September 7, 1864, he is a son of Lewis and Eliza (Green) Holbrook, natives of Maine, and of Scotch-Eng- lish extraction. Many of the ancestors of the Holbrook family were Revolutionary heroes, having migrated to America during the last cen- tury, and early becoming identified with the interests of their adopted country.

Morrill Holbrook spent his youth and early manhood on his father's farm in Maine, attend- ing the district schools, and assisting with the various duties incident to the management of a well-regulated farm. He also attended the North Anson Academy at North Anson, Me. In De- cember of 1890 he settled on the ranch which has since been his home. Of the fifty acres compris- ing the place, thirty-five are devoted to the cul- tivation of English walnuts and the balance to fruit culture.

Mr. Holbrook married Ollie E. Isbell, a daugh- ter of J. F. Isbell, of Los Angeles county. They

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HISTORICAL, AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

have two children: Addie L. and Herbert R. In politics Mr. Holbrook is a Republican. His fra- ternal associations are with the Independent Or- der of Odd Fellows at Whittier, and the Wood- men of the World. He is at the present time acting as trustee of the Pico school district.

Though, comparatively speaking, a new comer in California, Mr. Holbrook is yet a pioneer of his district, where he is esteemed for the interest he has shown in everything that pertains to its elevation and progress.

SOL. CHARLES C. THOMAS, deceased, one of the California pioneers of '49, was born in Frederick, Md., in 1827, a son of Dr. John M. and Catharine (Turner) Thomas, the latter a daughter of a relative of Gen. Will- iam Henry Harrison. His father, who was a graduate of the University of Virginia, became a successful physician, and was appointed by Gen- eral Jackson (to whose family he was physician) as a surgeon in the United States army during the Black Hawk war.

During his boyhood days Charles C. Thomas made his home with his uncle, Gov. Frank Thomas, in Annapolis, Md., and meantime at- tended St. John's College in that city. At the close of his uncle's term of office he went to Rich- mond, Va., and secured employment in the famous Tredegar iron works, owned by Gen. Josephı R. Anderson. Returning to Maryland in 1849, he was for a short time employed as clerk in the shipping house of Johnson & Travis. After this he joined a Virginia party of eighty men, under the leadership of Benjamin F. Wash- ington, and traveled overland to California. In this party were twelve Marylanders, and he was a leading spirit among them. At St. Joe, Mo., the party outfitted with a train of one hundred and twenty mules to cross the great American plains and desert. In September of the same year they arrived in Sacramento, after a perilous trip made memorable by the hostility of the Indians and the hardships of frontier travel. While en route to the west several members of the expedition died of cholera.

On arriving in California, the young gold- seeker lost no time in seeking a location for work. At first he tried his luck in the gold fields of

Shasta county. Soon, however, he left there and proceeded to Butte county, where he engaged in mining. During the winter of 1849-50 there were thousands of miners on the Feather river, and it was no unusual occurrence for each man to mine from one to two ounces of gold a day. The Indians were exceedingly troublesome ou that river and at one time he and four other men got among a band of one hundred Indians, but they made good their escape. Later a party of sixteen returned to the same spot and remained all winter, the Indians being peaceful.

In 1850 Mr. Thomas went to the Onion valley, in what is now Plumas county. There he mined and also carried on a mercantile business. One of his most important interests was as stock- holder in the Eureka Mining Company. During 1852 and 1853 he was a member of the state legislature from Butte county. At the expira- tion of his service as a legislator he went to Sierra county, Cal., engaging in mining on what was known as the Blue Gravel range. At the opening of the Civil war, his uncle, Hon. Frank Thomas, who was then a member of congress, secured for him a commission as colonel of a company of Maryland volunteers in the Union army. Immediately after receiving the com- mission he started for the east on the steamer Golden Gate, but a few days after leaving San Francisco, the ship caught fire near the Mexican town, Manzanilla, and was obliged to put for the shore. Before land was reached, however, the vessel sank and all on board were obliged to breast the waves or sink with the ship. Mr. Thomas started to swim. As he did so, a woman with a little child, seeing there was no hope of saving herself, entreated him to save her child. The child's father tied the little one on the back of Colonel Thomas, but the waves dashed it from him and it was drowned. However, Colonel Thomas was able to save the life of the child's father, who was unconscious.

On reaching the shore Colonel Thomas at once started back to San Francisco, and, on ac- count of illness in his family, he gave up the idea of entering the army and resumed mining. In 1861 he was made superintendent of the Northi Potosi Mining Company's mines at Virginia City, Nev. He was superintendent, in succession, of the Uncle Sam and Overman mines and later be-

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

came superintendent of the famous Hale and Norcross mines, and during the two and one- half years he was in charge of them, they paid their largest dividends. At this time Fair and Mackey secured control of the mines, the former becoming superintendent, and from that time dates the success of the "bonanza" firm.

While in Nevada Colonel Thomas occupied a prominent position on the staff of three governors, having the rank of colonel. Two of the gov- ernors were Republicans, and the third a Demo- crat. His political and social standing was very high in Nevada, while as a mining expert he was acknowledged to be without a peer. In 1868 lie came to Los Angeles, but about 1871 went back to Nevada, becoming superintendent of the Sutro tunnel. For fourteen years he was connected with that marvelous enterprise and contributed greatly to the success of the longest mining tun- nel in the world.

In 1867, before coming to Los Angeles, Col- onel Thomas purchased thirty-five acres in what was theu the country. The next year he settled on his land. The property, a part of which he still retains, was planted to orange trees, but lias since been utilized for residence purposes. His liome, which has been remodeled from adobe, is on the southeast corner of Jefferson and Figueroa

streets. Here his family have resided contin- uously. In 1894 he resigned his position with the Comstock Mining Company, after which time he was practically retired, his principal work being the superintending of an orange and lemon ranch at Covina. Politically he was a Democrat, but during his last years he was not identified with public affairs, although he kept posted con- cerning the progress of current events. He died October 16, 1900.

I11 1860 Colonel Thomas married Mary S., daughter of Calvin Nutting, a pioneer of San Francisco. They became the parents of three children, of whom the daughter, Mrs. Anna Ban- croft, is a popular artist of Los Angeles. One son, Francis J. Thomas, a graduate of the law

Spanish-American war. He took part in the first battles around Manila, but was stricken with typhoid fever and honorably discharged. He was honored witli a medal from the Native Sons of California. He is now assistant mining engineer of the United Verde copper mine in Arizona.

H. KNIGHT. When Judge R. H. Knight, just a decade ago, elected to make his home

- thenceforth in beautiful Pasadena, the "crown of the valley," and to cast in his lot with the inhabitants of Los Angeles county, he had already acquired an enviable reputation as a law- yer. By honest endeavor and immense capacity for earnest work which successful lawyers must possess, he has steadily risen in his profession, and, moreover, has acquired the name of being an excellent financier and business man.

The grand old state of Ohio, as everyone knows, has furnished this country with some of its noblest statesmen, soldiers and professional inen, and the judge is proud that his nativity occurred within the borders of the Buckeye state. At an early age, however, he removed to Iowa with his parents, and there he was educated and reared to manhood. After having completed his literary studies he entered the law office of Hon. D. P. Stubbs, of Fairfield, Iowa, and after the proper amount of preparation was admitted to the bar. For a short time thereafter he was en- gaged in practice in Fairfield and then located in Iola, Kans. He became a partner of Hon. Oscar Foust, and together they won wealth and fame of a substantial order. It is a noteworthy fact that the firm was connected with nearly every crimi- nal case of any importance which found its way into the courts of that section, and to employ Knight & Foust as counsel was very nearly equiv- alent to winning the verdict.

Ten years ago Judge Knight came to Southern California, and was so thoroughly impressed with its beauties and promise, that he decided to take up his permanent abode here. Accordingly, school connected with the University of Virginia, · lie erected a handsome residence on Marengo is a member of the firm of Gibbon, Thomas & Halsted, of Los Angeles. The other son, Chester A. Thomas, a graduate of the Leland Stanford University as a mining engineer, joined the First California Regiment and served in the avenue, Pasadena, where he still dwells, and soon afterwards he established a law office in Los A11- geles. He has given special attention to probate and corporation law, in which field he has few superiors in the west. Of late years he has be-

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

come identified with a number of mining concerns of the southwest, and at present is the attorney for and vice-president of a rich mining company whose property adjoins that of the famous Com- monwealth mine at Pierce, Ariz., one of the best paying mines in the country. During the past few years he has crossed the continent about half a dozen times on business, but in all his travels he has seen no place where he would prefer to live. He is enthusiastic in his love for Southern California, and feels that a brilliant future is in store for the entire Pacific coast. In all his rela- tions with his fellow-men he has been animated by high and worthy principles of conduct, and integrity and justice have been his governing motives.

Mr. Knight was married in Fairfield, Iowa, to Miss Harriett R. Hoopse, a native of Belmont county, Ohio. She died January 22, 1893, at Pasadena, Cal., leaving one son, Charles C. Knight, who is head clerk of the Rochester Shoe Store.

C OHN SHAFFER, a pioneer of Los Angeles, came to California via Cape Horn on the sailing brig Montezuma, Captain Roberts of Baltimore commanding. He was born on board a vessel lying in the harbor of New Van Diep, Holland. His father was an an-

chorsmith and followed that business in the days when the forging was all done by hand. He grew up a sailor boy and at fourteen years of age left home, becoming a seaman on vessels engaged in the China and East India trade with Holland ports. He came to New York as able seaman. From there he shipped for Valparaiso, thence to San Francisco, where he arrived in 1849. The gold mining excitement was then at its highest tension and gold was uppermost in the minds of every man, whether sailor or civilian.

Almost immediately after his arrival in San Francisco, Mr. Shaffer struck out for the mining regions of Amadore county. He spent six months in the vicinity of Hangtown, but met with indif- ferent success in his quest for gold. Returning to San Francisco, he proceeded to Monterey, where he worked on vessels, discharging their cargoes, etc. In 1850 he returned to Holland and married the lady who has since been his

devoted companion and his best earthly friend. Immediately after his marriage he returned to California, leaving his bride in New York. In 1854 he returned east and for six months carried on a grocery business in Buffalo, N. Y. Later he visited Milwaukee, Wis., and from there in 1857 joined a party for Pike's Peak. The com- pany had three yoke of oxen and the necessary camping equipages and supplies. They pro- ceeded on their journey as far as Council Grove, Kans., where they were driven back by the Mormons.

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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 88

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