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 94
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Leage W Cole
Olive Me Cole
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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.
Frozen Dragon," "A Strange Company" and Vista. His term of service lasted one year "Pasadena." He is a fellow of the New York Academy of Science and a member of the New York Linnaean Society, etc.
In 1886 Professor Holder became a resident of Pasadena, and here he has since made his home. During these years he has identified himself with the upbuilding and development of California, particularly along the line of his specialties. He was instrumental in founding the Pasadena Acad- emy of Science and has been a trustee of the Pasadena public library, president of the Pasa- dena board of education, trustee of Throop Uni- versity, trustee of Los Angeles State Normal College and is founder and member of many clubs and organizations.
G EORGE W. COLE, a typical representative pioneer of the early days of California, arrived from Texas in 1864 and settled at what is now Downey, where he purchased one hundred and sixteen acres of the old Downey ranch. In 1875 he settled on his present ranch, near Whittier. Although he originally owned two hundred and twenty acres of land, he is at present the owner of but sixty acres, having divided the balance among the various members of his family.
Mr. Cole is a native of Bureau county, Ill., where he was born April 3, 1827. His parents were Sampson and Vina (Tompkins) Cole, na- tives respectively of Kentucky and Tennessee. They were among the early settlers of Bureau county, Ill., aud died in California. When their son George was twelve years old the family moved to Carroll county, Ark., and after a short sojourn there went to the Cherokee nation, near the Grand river. Here the father bored salt wells under contract for the Indians, and among others bored for the famous "Grand Saline" well. Subsequently the family lived for several years in Jasper county, Mo., and next located on the Colo- rado river, thirty-five miles below Austin, Tex. At the expiration of a year in Texas, George W. Cole enlisted in the Jack Hayes regiment of Texas rangers, being first under command of Zachary Taylor, and later under General Scott. Their principal work was in the skirmishing line, although they participated in the battle of Buena
and fifteen days, after which he returned to Burleson county, where the family were still liv- ing. A little later he went to Jasper county, Mo. There he was married November 15, 1848, to Olive Margaret Chilson, who was born in In- diana in 1832. Her parents, Emer and Mary (Osgood) Chilson, were natives of Vermont and Maine respectively, and pioneers of Bureau county, Il1. Mr. Chilson died in California and his wife in Missouri. Returning almost imme- diately to Burleson county, Tex., Mr. Cole en- gaged in general farming and stock-raising for years. In 1853 he came to California on a pros- pecting tour, but remained only a short time.
In 1863 Mr. Cole enlisted in Captain Turner's company, C. S. A., and saw service in Louisiana, and fought in the battle of Donaldsonville, on the Mississippi river. His service was principally as a scout and skirmisher. With the expiration of - his term of enlistment he returned to Texas. In the spring of 1864 he started for California, mak- ing his way over the plains with a wagon and ox- team, the journey taking about eight months. Since permanently locating on his present ranch, near Whittier, he has seen many changes come over the face of the country, and in many of them he has been an active participator.
Mr. Cole is a Democrat in politics, with strong independent tendencies. Fraternally he is asso- ciated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Downey, and is a charter member of the same. He is a member in good standing of the Baptist Church, and contributes generously towards its support.
To Mr. and Mrs. Cole have been born eight children: Aurelia, Mrs. John Tweety; Mary E., Mrs. William Keller; California, wife of Hen- derson Cheney; George W .; Charles E .; Dora, wife of Jacob Ginther; Joseph A. and Byron S.
HOMAS C. HOAG. It has been said that no city in the United States contains within its limits so large a number of the retired business men of other cities as does Pasadena; and certainly, after a lifetime of commercial act- ivity, a man could choose no fairer spot in which to spend the twilight of his existence. Mr. Hoag is one of those men whose retirement from
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business and removal to Pasadena have enabled this city to add to its citizenship a character of sterling worth and long and intimate connection with educational and philanthropic enterprises.
Mr. Hoag was born in Concord, N. H., Sep- tember 7, 1825, a son of Charles and Eliza P. ( Rogers) Hoag, natives respectively of New Hampshire and Massachusetts. His paternal ancestors were Quakers, descending from a fam- ily of English origin. His father, Charles Hoag, was for twenty-five years or more a book pub- lisher in Concord, N. H. In 1840 our subject moved with his parents to Chicago, and soon afterward accompanied them to Will county, Ill., settling on a farm. His education was ac- quired in an academy of Concord, and after com- ing west he devoted himself to agricultural and business pursuits, having no further opportunity to attend school. In 1846 he began in the gro- cery business in Chicago, where for a quarter of a century he was associated with a brother-in- law, O. S. Goss, under the firm name of Goss & Hoag. At the time he went to Chicago, in 1840, it contained less than forty-five hundred inhabit- ants. He witnessed its rapid growth and his fortunes advanced with those of the city. Sub- sequently he engaged in banking in Evanston, a suburb of Chicago, where he was the head of the banking house of T. C. Hoag & Co. for eighteen years, selling out in 1892. His bank was merged into that now known as the State Bank of Evans- ton, of which his son, William G., is now the cashier.
During the long period of his residence in Evanston Mr. Hoag was particularly interested in its educational progress. He was a prominent Methodist, and a generous contributor, not only to the church itself, but also to the institution in Evanston that it fostered, Northwestern Uni- versity. In 1864 he was elected a trustee of this university and has continued as such to the pres- ent time, being now one of the oldest on the board. His wise judgment and long experience make him a valuable member of the board, and liis counsel is sought in its most important ac- tions. From 1866 until 1892 he served as treas- urer of the university, but resigned on retiring from business. For years prior to 1892 lie also served as a member of the executive committee of the board of trustees. The welfare of the in-
stitution has always been very near to his heart. Realizing the value of a good education, he has deemed that he can engage in no work more valuable to present or future generations than the fostering of educational institutions. It is this belief that has caused him, since coming to Pasadena in 1893, to identify himself with the work of the Throop Polytechnic Institute, of which he has been a trustee since 1896, also a member of the executive committee and its auditor. He is also, at this writing, a member of the board of trustees of Pasadena, and the board of trustees of the First Methodist Epis- copal Church. While residing in Evanston he was actively connected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Masonic order.
The marriage of Mr. Hoag united him with Maria L. Bryant, of Canterbury, N. H. They became the parents of five children, viz .: Junius C. Hoag, M. D., president of the Chicago Medi- cal Society and a well-known physician of that city; William G., cashier of the State Bank of Evanston; Ernest B., who occupies the chair of biology in the Michigan State Normal school at Ypsilanti; Rebecca B. and Edgar D., who are deceased. Their daughter, Rebecca, was the first woman admitted as a student to the North- western University, which opened its doors to women in 1869, under the presidency of Rev. E. O. Haven, D. D., former president of the Michigan State University.
AMES B. OWENS, M. D. The life record of Dr. Owens shows that he was a man pos- sessing many noble attributes of character. The thoughtful student of mankind gleans from his biography much that is inspiring and elevat- ing. In his labors as a physician and surgeon he won a high name among his professional co- workers and gained the confidence and esteem of his patients of all classes. While in all business enterprises he was energetic, firm of purpose, battling for principles and the right, it was nev- ertheless as a physician that his best qualities were exemplified; it was in his ministrations to those in great need that his highest usefulness was manifested.
Dr. Owens was born in Trumbull county, near Warren, Ohio, June 13, 1834. His father, John,
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was born in Wales, November 12, 1771, and accompanied his parents to the United States at eight years of age, settling near Lancaster, Pa., where he grew to manhood and adopted farm pursuits. March 4, 1813, he married Elizabeth Beaver, who was born in Sherman Valley, Pa., December 4, 1793, of German descent, and a daughter of Jacob Beaver. In 1825 John Owens and his family settled in Trumbull county, Ohio, and later removed to Guernsey county, being pioneer settlers of northern Ohio. At the time of the Revolutionary war John Owens was only a child, but he never forgot the stirring incidents enacted in Pennsylvania at that time. At the opening of the war of 1812 he was among the first to enlist in the American service. At the time of his death he was ninety-eight years of age. He was a son of John Owens, Sr., of the principality of Wales, England.
James B. Owens was one of thirteen children. Very early in life he developed a desire for knowl- edge, and for some time attended the schools in Guernsey county, after which he taught school to obtain means to complete his education. This enabled him to pay his tuition in a select high school, from which he went to Madison College at Antrim, Guernsey county, and in 1856 he graduated with high honors from this institution. In the same year he took up the study of medi- cine, choosing the allopathic system. In 1859 he graduated from the Cincinnati College of Medi- cine. Immediately afterward he began the study of homeopathy and received his diploma from the Homeopathic Medical College of Pennsylvania, where he graduated in 1866, under the guidance of the sainted fathers in homeopathy-Professors Constantinus Hering, Adolphus Lippe, Henricus U. Guernsey, Carolus Theophilus Rane, and others.
After mastering both systems of medicine Dr. Owens selected the principles originated by Hahnemann, to which he strictly adhered. He practiced his profession for a short time in Cin- cinnati, then went to Monroe, Butler county, Ohio, where he remained some years. In 1865 he removed to Lebanon, Warren county, Ohio, where he lived for many years, and where he built up a large and lucrative practice. He was a sturdy, self-made man, and struggled hard to get the education that made him one of the lead-
ing homeopathic physicians of southern Ohio. As a thorough diagnostician and careful pre- scriber he had an especially high rank. He was always a student, and the habits formed in this respect in early years clung to him through life. He gave much attention to the study of high potencies, and attributed much of his success to his knowledge of them. He was devoted to his profession. Nearly forty years of his life were spent in ministering to the sick and laboring for the rights and principles of his profession and its advancement.
October 4, 1865, Dr. Owens was united in mar- riage with Miss Mary M. Keever, of Mason, Warren county, Ohio, a daughter of Abraham and Ann (Longstreet) Keever. Her father, who was born June 20, 1807, and became a farmer and stock-dealer, was a son of Abraham Keever, Sr., a farmer by occupation and a native of Penn -. sylvania, of German descent. The senior Keever served during the war of 1812. He was a son of Michael and Susan (Shuester) Keever. His mar- riage united him with Margaret Jones, a native of Pennsylvania, of Scotch descent. In 1802 he and his wife arrived in Warren county, Ohio, be- ing among the earliest settlers in the vicinity of Lebanon. Ann (Longstreet) Keever was born December 6, 1816, the daughter of Aaron and Mary (Higgins) Longstreet, both natives of New Jersey. They were among the pioneers of south- ern Ohio, where they settled about 1813.
In 1861 Dr. Owens assisted in the organization of the Montgomery County Homeopathic Medical Society, organized in 1864, and retained his mem- bership and interest in the same until his death; was president of the former organization several times; was a member of the California State Homeopathic Medical Society and the Sonthern California Homeopathic Medical Society, and was a member of the American Institute of Homeopathy.
During 1875-76 Dr. Owens spent nine months in Los Angeles when it was a small village of seven thousand inhabitants, and at that time he became acquainted with its pioneer citizens. He also spent several winters in Florida in search of health. He came to Los Angeles to remain per- manently in 1884. Here he became known as a successful homeopathic practitioner and substan- tial citizen, and was identified with and greatly
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interested in the growth and advancement of the city. From early manhood he was a mem- ber of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and from the year 1885 until his death he was con- nected with the First Church of that denomina- tion in Los Angeles. He died on the 18th of No- vember, 1898, at the age of sixty-four years, after a year of acute suffering. The cause of death was aneurism of the aorta, complicated by pul- monary abcesses. Notwithstanding his long ill- ness, it was only a few months before he passed away that he consented to give up his work en- tirely.
The personal qualities of Dr. Owens as a man of sterling worth, together with his skill as a physician, endeared him to many of the best peo- ple of the city where his last years were spent. He was gifted in a special manner for his chosen profession. He was considerate and tender, and always had that sympathy which did more than medicine to help the patient. A man endowed with superior judgment and possessing rare qual- ities of head and heart, he was indeed a blessing to every home that he entered. So gentle, hon- est and just was he, that his friends were many, and these will remember tenderly and kindly the helpful ministrations and warm friendship of Dr. Owens.
W. SARGENT, president of the Title Guarantee and Trust Company, of Los Angeles, is a representative citizen, who for about a decade and a half has been actively interested in the rise and progress of this beauti- ful southern city. Whether the elements of suc- cess in life are innate attributes of the individual, or whether they were quickened by a process of circumstantial development, it is impossible to clearly determine. Yet the study of a successful life is none the less interesting and profitable by reason of the existence of this uncertainty, and in the majority of cases it is found that exceptional ability, amounting to genius, perhaps, was the real secret of the pre-eminence which many en- vied. Thus it appears to the student of human nature who seeks to trace the history of the rise of E. W. Sargent, a typical American of the best class.
In the first place he is of that stanch old New England stock whence has sprung many of the
grandest characters who have appeared upon the stage of action in our fair land's annals during the past two hundred and eighty years. On the maternal side he is a descendant of one of the passengers of the celebrated Mayflower, and sev- eral generations of both families, the Sargents and the Hutchinsons, were prominently con- nected with the early development of the eastern states. Our subject's father, Croyden Sargent, now hale and hearty, though over three score and ten years of age, was born in New Hamp- shire and there grew to maturity. Possessing more of the spirit of ambitious adventure than his forefathers, he decided to try his fortunes in the west, and in 1843 settled in the dense forests of Wisconsin. There he cleared a farm and be- came well to-do and influential, though his strug- gles as a pioneer were of the severest type. His wife, the mother of E. W., was Miss Lucy W. Hutchinson prior to her marriage.
The nativity of E. W. Sargent occurred in Oregon, Dane county, Wis., in 1848, and his boyhood was spent in nature's solitudes. Neces- sarily his school privileges were limited in his youth, but he more than compensated for this deprivation by the persistency with which he studied and delved in the mines of knowledge. At last he matriculated in the Wisconsin State University at Madison, where he pursued his studies until he attained his majority. He then went to Iowa and commenced carrying out a long-treasured idea-that of becoming a lawyer. While pursuing his studies he supported himself by surveying and in other practical ways, and finally, by long-continued endeavor, arrived at the goal of his hopes, being admitted to the bar in 1874. He at once established an office at Denison, Iowa, where he remained about five years. Then going to Atchison, Kans., he en- gaged in practice there for seven years, in the meantime becoming well and favorably known as a lawyer.
In 1886 Mr. Sargent came to Los Angeles, where he foresaw that the remarkable trans- actions in real estate then taking place, often in a hasty manner, would lead to complications ofa serious nature for investors. Finding that much anxiety and general uneasiness prevailed here and elsewhere upon this very point, he set about the organization of the Los Angeles Abstract
HARMAN HIGGINS.
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Company, and for nine years was a stockholder and an official in that now well-known business concern. In 1895 he disposed of his interest in that company and assisted in establishing the Title Guarantee and Trust Company, which has a capital stock of half a million dollars. This company, like the former one, is prospering and takes rank with the leading organizations of the kind in the west. Mr. Sargent possesses wide experience in the particular branch of the law to which he has devoted his chief attention, and has marked executive ability as a business man and financier.
While living in Iowa Mr. Sargent served as county surveyor and for a period was couuty superintendent of schools. He retains his sincere interest in educational matters and in everything effecting the welfare of the people. Politically he is an ardent Republican, loyally supporting the platform of his party. Fraternally he is a Mason of the Knights Templar degree, belonging to the Los Angeles Commandery and to the Mystic Shrine. His marriage to Miss Ella Barr, of Sterling, Ill., took place in the Centennial year. Their only child, Lillian, lives at home with her parents.
ARMON HIGGINS. In the death of Har- mon Higgins, who was a California pioneer and for more than three decades was closely associated with the upbuilding of Los Angeles county, Compton and vicinity sustained an ir- reparable loss, and though several years have rolled away since he was called to his reward, his memory is green in the hearts of his former neighbors and hosts of friends.
The birth of Harmon Higgins occurred in Illi- nois in 1812, and when he was about a year old his parents removed with their family to Missouri. There the child grew to manhood, and on the 2d of December, 1842, married Melinda Durbin, daughter of Daniel and Thersa (Fugett) Durbin. She is a native of Clay county, Mo., aud though now well along in years is as active and energetic as when she was in the prime of life. She is the mother of eleven children, all but one of whom are living to-day, and all of these are married and are esteemed citizens of the several com- munities in which they abide. Mrs. Higgins has over forty-eight grandchildren and eight
great-grandchildren. She has been a true and loving wife, an exemplary and self-sacrificing mother and a faithful friend and neighbor, and all who know her love and admire her.
In 1844 Mr. and Mrs. Higgins set out from their Missouri home for the far west, making the almost interminable journey across the plains, rivers and mountains, and spending seven months on the trip. At last they reached Oregon, their destination, and remained in that beautiful and promising state for sixteen years, in the mean- time developing a fine farm, which they sold in 1860. Coming to Southern California, of which they had heard much, they settled in El Monte, where they dwelt for two years on a rented farm, and, after making a thorough in- vestigation of the different districts of the county, finally concluded that they could do no better than to locate near what is now Compton. Here they bought eighty acres, paying $5 an acre for the property, which they improved so greatly and which increased so materially in value within a few years that they sold some of it subsequently at the rate of $200 an acre. At first the family resided in a frame building which they had moved from distant El Monte, but a few years ago Mrs. Higgins had her present beautiful resi- dence erected. She is an able business woman and looks after her many financial investments with singular keenness and acumen. She shared all of her husband's business cares and cheered and aided him by her wise counsel and fidelity as long as he lived and now she is fully competent to manage the property which they together ac- cumulated. Mr. Higgins, after an exceptionally busy and useful life, passed to the better land, March 2, 1887, aged seventy-five years, eleven months and thirteen days. He was for a great many years an active and faithful member of the Christian Church, and put into daily practice the noble principles in which he firmly believed. Mrs. Higgins also has been a true and tried member of this church for more than half a cen- tury, during which period she has had the pleas- ure of witnessing the remarkable growth of its membership, and the constantly increasing tend- ency of the earnest people of this republic to re- turn to the simple, essential doctrines of the great Teacher and his little band of humble, sincere disciples.
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Could the history of Mrs. Higgins' parents be given in detail, a very interesting story of early days on the Kentucky frontier would be pre- sented to the reader. That worthy pioneer couple, Daniel and Thersa (Fugett) Durbin, were natives of the Blue Grass state, and were reared in what then was little better than a wilderness. They spent the first three years of their married life in a fort in Howard county, Ky., whence they subsequently removed to the then far west, Missouri. The father departed this life in Naper City, and the mother died in Lake City. They were honest, industrious, God- fearing people, and played a worthy part in the annals of pioneer history, leaving to their chil- dren and to the many who should enter into the fruits of their labor, the memory of lives well and nobly lived.
R ASPAR COHN. The name of this esteemed pioneer is intimately associated with the business development and history of Los Angeles. He is a pioneer of the class that founds and builds up commercial cities and it is to such as he that Los Angeles owes hier proud position in the commercial world. He came to California and directly to Los Angeles in the year 1859, a youth of twenty years. At that time Los Angeles was a town of twenty-five hundred or three thousand inhabitants, among which the Spanish and Mexicans largely predominated. The first stage line into the town had been opened the year previous. There was no tele- graph; the first message was sent from the little city in 1860. John Temple was building the old court house, where the Bullard block now stands. It was not until ten years later that the first railroad was built into Los Angeles. Like many of our most substantial and successful citi- zens, young Cohn reached Los Angeles without money. A practical education received in his native country, a good constitution, an honest purpose and an ambition to succeed, constituted his capital upon starting in life. That he has attained success as a business man is conclusive evidence of the splendid use he has made of this capital.
Mr. Colin was born in the town of Loebau, Prussia, June 14, 1839. His father, Abraham, was a native of the same place and a dealer in
wool. He made two journeys to this country and to Los Angeles, the second being in 1880, after which he continued to live here until his death in 1892, at eighty-four years of age. He married Rachael Newmark, who was born in Loebau and who died at the age of sixty-two. Of their nine children, six still survive.
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