Historical and biographical record of southern California; containing a history of southern California from its earliest settlement to the opening year of the twentieth century, Part 105

Author: Guinn, James Miller, 1834-1918
Publication date: 1902
Publisher: Chicago, Chapman pub. co.
Number of Pages: 1366

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Alaska birds. On one trip he spent four months around the islands of Sitka, but on the second trip he pushed further northward, accompanying twenty men on a gold hunt, and spending the winter beyond the Arctic circle, three hundred miles up the Kowak river. Fordyce Grinnell, Jr., second son of Dr. and Mrs. Grinnell, is now a student in Stanford University. He has chosen entomology as his pursuit and has already won some place among the lovers of this science. Elizabeth, the daughter, is pursuing a college course at Throop, Pasadena.

C. D. BONESTEL. The genial and popular postmaster of Ventura lias crowded into his well rounded life much of interest and even ad- venture, and no one within the borders of the town more fully realizes our idea of the typical sturdy and substantial type of men, whose enter- prise and ambition drew them to the Pacific coast, during the days of glittering gold and possibilities. In the intervening years be- tween 1849 and the present, he has tarried in the wake of the fortunes lost and won, the sur- prises and disappointments, and has made his influence felt in the town which is his by right of adoption and untiring public service. Many of the large enterprises which have so materially aided in the general development of the neigh- borhood owe their partial origin and ultimate success to his profound financial understanding, and clear, common sense business methods, and his name is another expression for all that is admirable in the world of progress and upright- · ness.

The Bonestel family came originally from Germany, and has, at the hands of its different members, undergone various changes as to orthography, some spelling their name Bohn- stein, which is the original, while other spellings adopted are Bonesteel and Bonestell. The grandfather, David, lived in Columbia county, N. Y., and later removed to Greene county, where he spent his days in conducting a farm. His son John, the father of C. D., was born in Columbia county, and was up to the time of his death a farmer in Greene county. He married Deborah Carvin, who was born in Connecticut, and died in New Hartford, Iowa. They became the parents of six children, two of whom are living, C. D. being the youngest and the only one on the coast.

On his father's farm in Greene county, N. Y., C. D. Bonestel was born May 30, 1825, and there he was reared to agricultural pursuits. As may be imagined his educational opportunities were somewhat limited, owing both to the necessity which required his services on the farm, and to the crude methods of imparting knowledge at that time. He has a vivid recol- lection of wrestling with the problems as set

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down in that old landmark among educational books, Dabald's Arithmetic, and of a log school house the conveniences of which were in sad contrast with those of the present. In 1849 he decided to enlarge his prospects by removal to the west, whence came wonderful tales of hidden riches, and accordingly he boarded the Crescent City in New York harbor, bound for Aspinwall, Panama. Arriving at the peninsular town he was detained for nearly three months owing to there being no vessels at Panama. Meantime people were dying in large numbers of cholera. Finally he succeeded in securing passage on the sailing vessel, Crown Princess, and reached San Francisco in September of 1849, having been on the journey from Panama just eighty-five days. For a tinie he worked and prospected in the mines in Eldorado county, Cal., and after eighteen months settled in Placerville, the same county, and bought a little log house. This un- assuming structure in time became prominent as the Placer Hotel, and was conducted with varying success until 1854. The better to ac- commodate the transient public, he then built a brick building, which went up in smoke in 1856, but was rebuilt and managed until 1858, when it passed into other hands. Mr. Bonestel then engaged in ranching and the cattle business until 1861.

Determining to revisit the scenes of his youth in 1862, Mr. Bonestel set sail on the steamer Golden Gate for Panama. Arriving near Man- zanilla the steamer caught fire and was con- sumed in flame, two hundred and ten lives being lost and one hundred and fifty saved. With others equally fortunate Mr. Bonestel made his escape from the wreck in a boat which event- tally capsized, but he succeeded in reaching shore one hundred miles from Manzanilla. Ut- terly exhausted from his combat with the waves and elements, he hardly saw a way of reaching his destination, but succeeded in securing horses and a conveyance with which he traveled for ten days before reaching the town. There he boarded another boat to Panama, and finally reached New York, and his former home, where he remained for three months. The journey back to San Francisco by way of Panama was embellished with an even more picturesque in- cident than its predecessors, for the good ship Areal was singled out by the pirate steamer Alabama, which swept down upon it from over the horizon, and took possession of all on board. It was the piratical intention to land the pas- sengers (over eight hundred) at San Domingo, Hayti, but owing to the captain signing honds payable on the recognition of the Southern Con- federacy to the amount of $300,000, the party were allowed to proceed unmolested to Panama. Crossing the isthmus they again set sail for San Francisco and arrived at their destination in January of 1863.

For a few months after returning to the west Mr. Bonestel engaged in prospecting and min- ing at Austin, Nev., and then with a Mr. White engaged in the banking and brokerage business for eighteen months. He then bought out Mr. White, and when the First National Bank was started with a capital of $200,000, he accepted the position of vice-president and manager, but resigned a year later, on account of his health, and went to San Francisco. He there bought in 1868 an interest in the Henry Payote book and stationery business, now the Payote-Upham company. Mr. Upham bought out Mr. Bonestel in 1871. After a short trip to the east Mr. Bonestel then availed himself of the great boom in mining stocks, and for a few months bought and sold the same in San Francisco, but with- out success, and then determined to go to the southern part of the state and take an inventory of the prospects there to be found. So well was he satisfied with Ventura, that he returned here and took up his residence in 1875. After a short time he was appointed under sheriff under J. B. Stone, and after four years of service he bought an interest in the general merchan- dise firm of Chaffee & Gilbert, the affairs of the concern being then conducted under the firm name of Chaffee, Gilbert & Bonestel. This ar- rangement was amicably carried on until 1893, when the firm added to their interests a lumber business, the management of which was under- taken by Mr. Bonestel. They later bought out Mr. Gilbert, and the firm then ran under the name of Chaffee & Bonestel, although the lum- ber business was soon disposed of and the general merchandise part alone continued.

In 1893 Mr. Bonestel undertook a trip to the east, taking in the World's Fair and other points of interest. While in Troy, N. Y., he received a message announcing that his partner, Mr. Chaffee, was stricken with paralysis. This news necessitated an immediate return to the west, and in 1894 he settled up the business of Chaf- fee & Bonestel, so long conducted under suc- cessful auspices. In February of 1898 he was appointed by President Mckinley postmaster of Ventura, a position which he has since credit- ably held, to the satisfaction of all concerned. In his capacity of a stanch Republican he has held other offices of importance, including that of school trustee for eight years and city trustee for two years, and he has also been a member of the county central committee, and chairman of the same for three terms.

Upon the organization of the People's Lumber Company in 1893, Mr. Bonestel was elected president of the concern, which position he has since held. The lumber company does an enormous business, and the extensive trade extending over the whole county has justified the starting and maintenance of yards at Ox- nard and Santa Paula. The capital stock is

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$80,000, and the affairs of the company are under the superior management of W. A. Bone- stel, son of the president, and one of the best informed men on lumber matters in Southern California. C. D. Bonestel has, among his multiplicity of interests, a ranch of sixteen hun- dred acres, ten miles north of Ventura, on San Antonio creek, which is devoted to general farming and stock-raising, it being mostly graz- ing land. He also owns considerable city property, and much more has at times been in his possession, and in the certain changes passed into other ownership.

The first marriage of Mr. Bonestel occurred in New York with Elizabeth Falk, the issue being one son, Watson A., general manager of the People's Lumber Company. A second marriage was contracted in San Francisco, with Nannie A. Smith, who claims distinguished connections, her maternal uncle, Byron Weston, having been lieutenant-governor of Massachusetts three terms. Mrs. Bonestel was born in Texas, and her parents were from Massachusetts. Of the union of Mr. Bonestel and Miss Smith there are two sons and two daughters, viz .: Cora, who is now Mrs. F. J. Sifford of Ventura; Alonzo Frank, who has charge of the rural delivery, under his father's management; Edith, Mrs. Arneal, of Camarillo, Ventura county, Cal., and Chester Dean, who resides at home. Mr. Bone- stel is a member of various political, mercantile, social, and philanthropic societies, and is one of the most honored members of the California Pioneer Society.

ELISHA K. GREEN. His residence in Los Angeles Mr. Green dates from the spring of 1873. He was born in the township of Gaines, Orleans county, N. Y., August 30, 1839, being a so11 of Eri Allen and Johanna (Kelley) Green, also natives of New York state. His maternal grandfather, John Kelley, a soldier in the war of 1812, was a man of great mechanical and invent- ive genius, and as such became well known among the people of Monroe county, N. Y., where he made his home near Rochester. The paternal grandfather was a farmer of New York and descended from a Massachusetts family who in turn traced their lineage to Scotland. From New York E. A. Green moved to Eaton county, Mich., in 1844, and improved a farm from the woods, spending his remaining years in the cul- tivation of the tract. In religion he was a Bap- tist. He was one of the active organizers of Kalamazoo College and subsequently main- tained an interest in its progress. His death oc- curred in Charlotte, Eaton county, Mich .; his wife died in 1857. They were the parents of eleven children, of whom E. K. was the seventh. He received a public-school and academic edu- cation in Charlotte. Mich., and from eighteen until twenty-six years of age taught school in

Eaton and Ionia counties, Mich. While in Ches- ter township, Eaton county, he was elected school inspector for that township.

After graduating from Bryant & Stratton's Business College in Chicago in 1864, Mr. Green returned to Michigan and remained there over a year. He then removed to Batavia, Ill., and secured employment as bookkeeper in a large manufacturing establishment. Four years later he resigned to enter the grocery and crockery business, and after another four years he sold out his business in order to come west. Novem- ber, 1872, found him in California, and the prospects impressed him so favorably that in the spring of 1873 he brought his family here and embarked in business as a manufacturer of wind- mills and pumps, his factory being on Aliso street. Some of the wind-mills that he made are still standing in Southern California. At a later period he sold hydraulic pumps and gaso- line and steam engines, selling the same in Riv- erside, San Bernardino and San Diego counties, and as far to the north as Santa Barbara and Ventura. By means of a water rod he located many wells, which he understood forty years ago, but did not apply the principle until some years after he came to Los Angeles. To him is due the credit for starting the first artificial water-works in Southern California. On ac- count of having sales in different places, he be- came familiar with every town in Southern Cal- ifornia, and had friends everywhere. The last location of his factory was on Ord and Buena Vista streets, where he remained until retiring from business in 1896.

The real-estate interests of Los Angeles owe much to the wise judgment of Mr. Green. He laid out Green tract, comprising seven acres between Eighth and Ninth, Valencia and Union, and opened up Green avenue through the block, which he has since built up. His purchase on the hill in 1873 was the first made there, and through putting up wind-mills and later building a water system of his own, he was able to irri- gate his place and set it out in trees. During the long period of his residence in the west he has seen many changes, and some of them have been remarkable. At that time freight rates were so high that the carload of wind-mills he brought cost him $750 in freight, and for years afterward he paid rates equally as high. He recalls vividly the selling of his first mill to Prudent Beaudry, the first sale he made in Cali- fornia. At first it was not easy to find cus- tomers, but after a time, as the people began to know him personally and feel confidence in his honor and judgment, his trade increased until he had all he could manage. Through his con- nection with the Society of Los Angeles Pio- neers, of which he is a charter member, he keeps in touch with other old settlers and enjoys with them an occasional meeting to call to mind the

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days of auld lang syne. Through much of his life he was a Republican, but the importance of prohibition principles led him to ally himself with the party pledged to oppose the liquor traffic. Years ago he was for four years a mem- ber of the city council, during which time he de- voted two or three days each week to council duties, but received no wages for his work. The development of water was one of the perplexing problems that the councils of those days were called upon to solve and settle, and there were other questions almost as difficult and annoy- ing brought before them for solution. The se- curing of water for irrigation had reached its limit without further development and a large expenditure of money. The only feasible plan for enlarging the irrigation facilities was to bring the water from a distance of eight miles, and this task was accomplished during his term of office. In religion he has been identified with the Independent Church of Christ.

The marriage of Mr. Green, in Eaton county, Mich., united him with Miss Myra C. Halladay. They have two children: Floyd E., an assayer and chemist; and Ruth L., wife of David Fer- guson, of Los Angeles. The Halladays are of Scotch and Welsh extraction and were early settlers of Connecticut, going thence to the vi- cinity of Brattleboro, Vt. Mrs. Green was a daughter of David and Nancy (Carpenter) Hal- laday, natives of Vermont. After she accom- panied the family to Eaton county, Mich., she engaged in teaching school for a time. Two sisters and a brother now live in Ionia county, Mich., while two brothers, Daniel and Monroe, reside in Santa Ana, Cal. Among the residents of Los Angeles Mr. and Mrs. Green have a host of warm personal friends, who have been at- tracted to them by their many worthy traits of character and their prominence among the pio- neers of the city.

GEORGE W. GOODE. Occupying a posi- tion among the ranchers of Ventura county, and especially prominent in the activities of Saticoy and vicinity, is Mr. Goode, who came from Cin- cinnati, Ohio, to California in 1889, and after one year near Los Angeles and San Diego, in June, 1890, bought his present property near Saticoy. The estate which he bought forms a portion of the Richards property and comprises one hundred acres, all under walnuts. At this writing he has fifty-seven acres of soft-shell wal- nuts, unexcelled as to quality, and the trees are in a healthy and gratifying condition. The im- provenients on the ranch are of a permanent na- ture and give evidence of the owner's progres- sive spirit.

A native of Georgia, Mr. Goode was born thirty miles southwest of Atlanta August 27, 1841. There and in Alabama he grew to man- hood. For several years he engaged in the mer-

cantile business in Columbus, Ga. During the Civil war he was conscripted into the Confeder- ate army and remained for a year, but as soon as possible left the Southern army and went north, in the summer of 1864, not wishing to take part in the struggle against the Union. In the beginning of 1865 he joined the Union army under General Sherman, then in the south- ern part of South Carolina, which took up its line of march through the Carolinas. He was at Columbia when that city was burned by the Union forces and at or near Goldsboro, N. C., in the last fighting between the armies of Gen- eral Sherman and General Johnston, soon after which the southern forces surrendered and Sher- man's army was marched to Washington City, reviewed and disbanded, the regiment to which he belonged being sent to Camp Denison, near Cincinnati, and mustered out there.

Settling in Cincinnati, Mr. Goode engaged in the manufacture of confectionery about twenty years and met with gratifying success. Since he left Cincinnati he has devoted his attention to the raising of walnuts, and is one of the active members of the Walnut Growers' Association. His family consists of his wife (whose maiden name was Ada Lawrence) and one daughter, Mildred, and they are numbered among the rep- resentative families of their locality. Among those who are trying to secure adequate and ex- tensive means of irrigation Mr. Goode stands foremost, for he realizes that in California irri- gation is a problem to be satisfactorily solved before any community can attain its greatest prosperity. In politics he is a Republican and supports the men and measures of his party.

HUGH GLASSELL. The position occupied by Mr. Glassell as executor of the estate of his father, the late Andrew Glassell, gives him the oversight of one of the large and valuable prop- erties whose accumulation the growth and prog- ress of Los Angeles county has rendered possi- ble. Added to the influence given by the man- agement of so valuable an estate is the prestige belonging to one bearing the honored name of Glassell, which is so intimately associated with the pioneer professional history of Los Angeles City and calls to mind the talents of one whose death was a loss to our citizenship.

During the residence in San Francisco of his parents, Andrew and Lucy (Toland) Glassell, occurred the birth of their son, Hugh, who was one of nine children. Born July 11, 1859, he was about six years of age when the close of the Civil war brought the family as permanent residents to Los Angeles. Primarily educated in grammar schools, he afterward attended the high school, where he made civil engineering one of his favorite studies. On leaving school he went into the field as an engineer and for five years was employed on the Northern Pa-

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cific Railroad, mainly as instrument man, al- though he was gradually advanced from that position to the important and responsible office of engineer on construction in charge of a divi- sion, in which capacity he spent some time in Washington, Idaho and Montana. On quitting the road he turned his attention to business pur- suits and for two years conducted a hardware store in Sprague, Wash.

Returning to Los Angeles in 1887, Mr. Glas- sell assisted in looking after his father's exten- sive interests, and on the death of that parent, January 28, 1901, he became executor of the estate. His broad experience in this capacity gives him a thorough knowledge of real-estate values and brings weight to his opinion on sub- jects pertaining to property in this part of the state. Politics has as yet never engaged his at- tention, and aside from voting the Democratic ticket he takes no part whatever in municipal affairs. Of his first marriage one son, Andrew, was born. His second wife, Anita M., is a daughter of J. A. Kelly, a former county re- corder of Los Angeles, where she was reared and educated. Mr. and Mrs. Glassell make their home in Los Angeles, and have an extended ac- quaintance among the residents of this city.

HENRY H. KLAMROTH, B. S., LL. B. The descendant of a long line of worthy Ger- man ancestors, Judge Klamroth was born in New York City, at No. 64 St. Mark's Place, Oc- tober 11, 1869. His father, Albert, was a son of Rev. Henry Klamroth, who was a minister in the Lutheran Church and a lifelong resident of Germany. Albert attended the University of Berlin, from which he was graduated. On ac- count of the prominent part that he bore in the revolution of 1847-48, it became unsafe for him to remain in his native land, and accordingly he escaped to England, coming thence to the United States. Subsequently he became one of the leading citizens of New York City, whose German population owes a debt of gratitude to his high citizenship and constant efforts in its behalf. Indeed, Germans there and elsewhere are under lasting obligations to such men as he and William Steinway, the head of the great piano house, also Oswald Ottendorfer, the pro- prietor of the New York Staats Zeitung, all of whom, while manifesting the deepest loyalty to the country of their adoption, yet made unceas- ing efforts to promote the welfare of the Ger- man residents of America. For years he had control of all the advertisements, in foreign lan- guages, in all papers published in the United States. While his career is principally associ- ated with New York, he is also remembered as one of the founders of the Teachers' Seminary in Milwaukec. As a representative of the Ger- mans of New York, he served on the "committee of seventy," whose efforts were successtul in

bringing defeat to the Tweed ring. While a member of the board of education in New York City, he was instrumental in introducing the study of the German language in the public schools there. It was frequently commented upon that, while a foreigner by birth and train- ing, his English was unsurpassed in its purity, nor was his command of other languages less thorough. After becoming a citizen of this country he always cast his vote with the Repub- lican party. In religion he adhered to the Lu- theran faith, with which his ancestors had been identified since the days of the Reformation. At the time of his death, which occurred in 1891, at sixty years of age, he was serving as professor of German language and literature in the Normal College of New York City.

The wife of Albert Klamroth, Josephine Weis- mann, was born in New York City, and still makes her home there. Her father, Hon. Au- gustus Weismann, was a native of Stuttgart, Germany, who settled in New York and estab- lished the first German pharmacy there, his store being on the corner of Broome and Or- chard streets. He was a member of the first common council of the city. During the régime of the committee of seventy he was a candidate for state senator, and, receiving their support, gained the election, serving for two terms. In politics he was a leading Republican. In the family of Albert and Josephine Klamroth there were five sons and three daughters, of whom all are still living except one son. They reside principally in the east, where one of them, Al- bert, is assistant secretary of the Mutual Life In- surance Company of New York.

First in the College, and then in the Univer- sity of the City of New York, Henry H. Klam- roth received fine educational advantages. In 1888 he was graduated from the university with the degree of B. S. During his course he was a member of the Zeta Psi, vice-president of the senior class, and grand marshal of the graduat- ing exercises. Immediately after completing his university scientific studies he entered the law department of the same institution, under Pro- fessor Jacques and Isaac Russell. Soon after his graduation in 1890 he passed the state ex- amination, although he did not receive his cer- tificate until December, 1891. While in the law school he was managing clerk for Smith & Dougherty, No. 7 Nassau street, with whom he continued after his admission to the bar. How- ever, on account of ill health, he was obliged to relinquish his work in that city, whereupon he came to California. Since then he has engaged in the practice of law at Pasadena. From 1899 until the new charter was secured he filled the office of city recorder. In 1898 he was elected justice of the peace, to serve from January, 1899. until January, 1903. He was the first police judge to serve under the new charter, and is

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Historical and biographical record of southern California; containing a history of southern California from its earliest settlement to the opening year of the twentieth century, Part 105

Author: Guinn, James Miller, 1834-1918 Publication date: 1902 Publisher: Chicago, Chapman pub. co. Number of Pages: 1366

Author: Guinn, James Miller, 1834-1918
Publication date: 1902
Publisher: Chicago, Chapman pub. co.
Number of Pages: 1366