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 112

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

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of which he was superintending engineer until the disincorporation of the company in 1886. After this line was well established, Mr. Doty for twelve years and three months acted as chief engineer of the Cleveland water works, and still remained as consulting engineer of the Cleveland Transportation Company. During his twelve years and three months' service for the city he put in five water works engines, three of which were ten million and two fifteen million gallon capacity. He raised the standard of the works and left it in fine condition, and resigned only on account of failing health. Twice the company gave him vacations cover- ing three and four months, and he utilized these opportunities by spending the winter of 1886 and 1887 in California. The change of climate was so materially beneficial that he settled per- manently in Pasadena in 1889, and soon after became connected with the Pasadena Electric Light Company, of which he was vice-president and director until the company was sold to the Edison Company. He was one of the organ- izers of the National Marine Engineers' Bene- fit Association, of which he was treasurer for several years, and he had formerly been presi- dent for several years of the Local Marine En- gineers' Benefit Association of Cleveland.

Mr. Doty has many substantial interests in Pasadena and different parts of California. He is interested in mining, his stocks being princi- pally in the Inyo County Mining and Develop- ing Company. In 1891 he purchased ten acres of new land in Redlands, on the Bear Valley Ditch, where he set out oranges of various vari- eties, and put in a pumping plant of twelve inches' capacity, which is a more than adequate supply for all his needs. He is the owner of three acres of land on Mountain street, which is set out in orange and walnut trees. He is a member of the Pasadena Orange Growers' Association, and was formerly a stockholder in the California Co-operative Colony at Clear- water, Los Angeles county.

In Nelson, Portage county, Ohio, January 27, 1859, Mr. Doty married Lois Amy Roper, a native of Braceville, Trumbull county, Ohio, and whose parents were born in New England, but were early settlers in Ohio. Of the chil- dren born to Mr. and Mrs. Doty seven are now living, namely: Charles R., a resident of Cleve- land; Mrs. Fannie Fletcher, of Cory, Pa .; George F., who is bookkeeper for the First National Bank at Pasadena, and is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Henry A., also a bookkeeper for the First Na- tional Bank, and a graduate of the Los Angeles Business College; Amy A., wife of Charles Bren- ner, of Pasadena; Lida and Eilleen. Ezra Roper, the father of Mrs. Doty, was born in Con- necticut, in which state three brothers Roper settled after emigrating from England. He was

an early settler of Braceville, where he engaged in farming and where he died in 1850. He was a soldier in the war of 1812, and an industrious, honorable citizen. Mrs. Roper was also born in Connecticut, and was of English descent, and at the time of her death in Ohio left five chil- dren, all of whom are living, Mrs. Doty being the second. George Roper lives in San Fran- cisco; Francis B., in Topeka, Kans .; Aaron E., in Youngstown, Ohio; and Charles L., in O'Brien, Wash.

ROLLIN DUNSHEE. The history of Santa Barbara county would be incomplete without due and even particular reference to the abilities and attributes of Rollin Dunshee, with whose name is connected all that is best in the early and later development of Monte- cito. A native of the town of Bristol, Addison county, Vt., he was born in July of 1820, a son of John and Alma (Dowd) Dunshee, who were born in Vermont. On the maternal side, the Dowd family were very early settlers of New Haven, Vt., and at the present time are still represented in that community. The Dunshee homestead in Vermont came into the family many years ago, the paternal grandfather hav- ing settled there when Addison county was a wilderness.

The second son in a family of nine children, Rollin Dunshee lived in Addison county until nearly forty years of age. A portion of the homestead fell to his inheritance, and for many years he was a manufacturer of wagons, known the country over as the Dunshee wagons, also an equally high grade of buggies being made by him. The last conveyance manufactured under his supervision in the east, took the premium at the district fair. In 1860 he trans- ferred his field of activity to the coast, coming by way of Panama and thence to San Francisco. At San José he engaged in his former occupa- tion for about five years, and then returned to Vermont, to find that it compared to its dis- advantage with the broader opportunities in the west. Again locating in San José, he continued to manufacture buggies and wagons, shipping most of the hardwood lumber for their con- struction from the east. In 1873 he came to Santa Barbara, where lived a brother, John Dunshee, also engaged in the manufacture of wagons and buggies, and he here retired per- manently from the manufacturing business, and engaged in real-estate investment and specula- tion.

In 1885 Mr. Dunshee settled on his ranch at Montecito, which, however, had been in his pos- session for several years. Here he lives one of those ideal existences of which few have the inclination to avail themselves, or, having which, do not know how to encompass. Alone, yet never alone, he is surrounded with the unchang-

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ing companionship of books, those versatile friends of the cultured mind. In keeping with this broadly comprehensive appreciation of the fine things of life is the gentle humanitarianism which dictates an interest, and suggests a prac- tical help in innumerable instances, and which has gained him a reputation second to none as a sure help in time of need.

In politics a Republican, Mr. Dunshee has been prominently before the public for years, especially in his native state, which nominated and elected him to the legislature with Esking. Since coming to Santa Barbara county he has served as a school trustec. Fraternally he en- joys a wide reputation, and always takes an active interest in Masonic lodges, being known as one of the best degree workers in the state. He is a member of the Santa Barbara Lodge No. 191, and has been master of the lodge for six years in succession; he is also past high priest of the Corinthian Chapter, R. A. M. It is generally conceded that he has most gener- ously contributed to the general enterprises for building up the county.

ELIZABETH PASSMORE EVANS, the genial and successful manager of The Phila- delphia, creditably fills a demand among four- ists and permanent residents of Pasadena, for no better managed hostelry caters to an ex- clusive Southern California trade. The name of the hotel is an appropriate one, for Phila- delphia is the principal city of the state whose fertile acres were tilled by the Evans ancestors. Miss Evans herself, her father, Thomas P .; her grandfather, another Thomas; and her great- grandfather, John, having been born in Chester county. Thomas P. Evans, unlike his father and grandfather, branched off from farming to manufacturing in Westchester, and was also active in Republican affairs, serving two terms as clerk of courts of Chester county. During the Civil war he served in a Pennsylvania regi- ment, and he was always well known in fra- ternal circles, being a member of the Masons, Odd Fellows and Knights of Pythias. He died in July, 1901, at Swarthmore, Pa., and with his wife, who died January 5, 1902, while living with her daughter in Pasadena, is buried in West- chester cemetery. The mother was formerly Phebe Smedley, also a native of Chester county, and daughter of Isaac and Mary (Hawley) Smedley, born in Pennsylvania. The parents were married for more than fifty-two years, and reared three children, of whom Elizabeth Pass - more is the youngest and only one in Cali- fornia. John is a resident of Wilmington, Del., and Ellen H. is the wife of Ferris W. Price, professor of Latin at Swarthmore College, of which institution she is also a graduate, and is secretary of the school board. Mrs. Price is very prominent in club affairs, and is well

known as an advocate of woman suffrage. On the maternal side of the family, the Smedleys were all members of the Society of Friends.

After completing her education in West- chester, Elizabeth Passmore Evans spent a couple of years in Europe in recreation and study, and from 1889 until 1891 lived in Phil- adelphia. In December of 1892 she came to California as an invalid, and after recovering hier health engaged in the hotel business in 1894, undertaking the management of the Raymond Villa for a couple of years. In 1898 she pur- chased the house in which she now lives at No. 521 North Fair Oaks avenue, and named it The Philadelphia. So successful did this venture prove that the accommodations proved inade- quate, and an enlargement became necessary in 1902. Miss Evans is interested in the social life by which she is surrounded, and in which her broad mind and culture appear to special ad- vantage. She is an active member of the Christian Science Church.

WILLIAM T. GLASSELL. Connected witlı the history of Los Angeles as a member of one of its influential pioneer families, Mr. Glassell was born in Santa Cruz, Cal., January 14, 1863, and is a son of Andrew and Lucy (Toland) Glassell, natives respectively of Virginia and South Carolina. His maternal grandfather was the founder of the Toland Medical College of San Francisco and afterward presented the in- stitution to the state of California, since which time it has been an adjunct of the State Uni- versity. Extended mention of his father, An- drew Glassell, is made elsewhere in this volume, where also may be found sketches of his brothers Hugh and Andrew Glassell (the fifth in direct line to bear that name), and his sisters, Mrs. H. M. Mitchell and Mrs. J. DeBarth Shorb.

The earliest associations of William T. Glassell cluster around Los Angeles, to which city his parents removed when he was two years of age. His education was begun in local public schools and continued in a high school at Oak- land, Cal., where he was a student for two years. Returning home, he assisted for a time on his father's ranch, and then acquired a ranch of his own at Florence. The fifty acres were in a vineyard, but after he had managed the prop- erty for three years the vines suffered the fate of so many similar properties in Southern Cali- fornia. Renting the place, he returned to Los Angeles, and for three years studied dentistry under Dr. Crawford, and also engaged in min- ing in Ventura county for six months or more. Since the death of his father he has devoted him- self to the management of a portion of the es- tate. As yet he has not participated actively in politics, nor has he had any desire for official prominence, and he takes no part in public af-

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fairs except the casting of a vote for Demo- cratic candidates.

The first marriage of Mr. Glassell united him with Miss Lillie Solomon, of Los Angeles, who died August 24, 1898, leaving a son, Hobart P. His present wife bore the maiden name of Fan- nie Moore and prior to her marriage resided at Ivanhoe near Los Angeles. One son has been born of this union, William T., Jr.

REV. JOHN H. HARRIS. Thirty years of self-sacrificing labor as a minister of the gospel make the record by which Mr. Harris is held in affectionate remembrance. Much of his work was of the nature of home missionary effort, the planting of congregations on the frontier, the building up of churches in the midst of strange and often discouraging surroundings, the hold- ing aloft of the name of Christ among men and women who were laying the foundation of re- ligion, education, morality and business pros- perity in their various communities.

A native of Akron, Ohio, Mr. Harris was a son of Andrew and Elizabeth (Dreher) Harris, who were respectively of English and German descent. The father, who was born in Essex county, .N. Y., became a farmer near Akron, Ohio, and it was on this homestead that the son passed the years of youth. Though possessing only limited means, the parents were ambitious for their children, and, recognizing their son's ability, they gave him the best educational ad- vantages possible, in which he assisted by pay . ing, to a large extent, his own way while in col- lege. He was graduated from Miami Uni- versity and from the Western Theological Sen- inary of Allegheny City, Pa., and was ordained to the ministry of the Presbyterian Church, after which he ministered to churches on the frontier of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, and for some years was an officer in the American and Foreign Christian Union. Finally, on account of poor health, resulting from overwork in the ministry, he found a change of climate neces- sary, and therefore came to California. Organ- izing the Presbyterian Church at Hueneme, he was its pastor until the second failure of his health again obliged him to retire from minis- terial work. In November, 1886, his death occurred at Glendale, bringing to a close a long and laborious career as an earnest preacher.

At Eaton, Ohio, May 21, 1857, occurred the marriage of J. H. Harris and Harriet Newell Miller, daughter of John D. and Huldalı Ann (Ayers) Miller, natives respectively of Es- sex county, N. J., and Montgomery, Orange county, N. Y. The grandfather, Jonathan Mil- ler, was a sea captain's son and was born in New Jersey in 1776, but in an early day settled near Eaton, Ohio. At the time of this removal John D. Miller was a boy, and his subsequent years were principally passed in

the vicinity of Eaton, where he engaged in farming. For some time he conducted in Eaton a large marble business. His last days were spent in Glendale, Cal., where he died at seventy-eight years of age. His wife, who died in Eaton, Ohio, in 1860, was of Scotch descent and a daughter of E. B. Ayers, who was born near Morristown, N. J., spent some years in Newburgh, N. Y., and vicinity, later settled on a farm in Preble county, Ohio, where he became an influential citizen. In the family of John D. Miller there were four daughters and one son who attained maturity. The daughters are all living, and three of them reside in Glendale, viz .: Mrs. Harris, Mrs. E. T. Byram and Mrs. Elias Ayers.

During her girlhood years Mrs. Harris was given superior advantages, and had the privilege of studying at Oxford Female College under Dr. Scott, one of the well-known educators of his day. In 1856 she was graduated from this institution and the following year became the wife of Mr. Harris, in whose labors as a min- ister she proved a most efficient helpmate and colaborer. Being fond of music and possessing ability in the art, she aided him not a little in raising the standard of church music in his various parishes. A stanch believer in temper- ance principles, one of the principal works of her life has been in connection with the Wo- men's Christian Temperance Union. During the crusade days she aided that movement ef- fectively. For some years after her husband's death she made her home in Los Angeles, but in 1896 returned to Glendale, where she has an attractive and cozy home. With her resides her daughter, Miss Judson, who inherits her mother's musical ability and gives and receives great pleasure through the exercise of this art. Another daughter, Mrs. Lydia Hamlin, is an in- structor in music in Tugaloo University, of which her husband, Rev. Cyrus Hamlin, D. D., is Dean. The only son, Murray M. Harris, is an organ builder in Los Angeles.

ALBERT GREGORY. In the capacity of superintendent of the Mesa Alta rancho Mr. Gregory since 1884 has been associated with one of the most interesting properties in the San Gabriel valley, and its reputation as one of the finest estates in the valley is due in large meas- ure to his keen and capable oversight. While he is well versed in all departments of horti- culture, it is perhaps as a vineyardist that he is most experienced and successful. Having made a, study of the science of raising grapes, he has applied his theoretical knowledge to such good purpose that it is everywhere conceded that no vineyard in all California produces finer grapes for the making of wines than those raised at Mesa Alta. In addition, he devotes considera- ble attention to the breeding of fine horses, and

WILLIAM MORGAN

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

now has on the ranch a number of standard- bred animals of the English Hackney strains.

Mr. Gregory was born at Richland, Keokuk county, Iowa, September 18, 1853, being the second child in the family of Adonijah and Margaret Jane (Nixon) Gregory, natives respec- tively of North Carolina and Indiana. His mother accompanied her parents to Keokuk county, Iowa, in 1840, where not long after- ward her father, a farmer, was burned to death in one of the prairie fires that caused great de- vastation in early days. In 1876 the Gregory family removed from Iowa to California and settled at San José upon a farm. Four years later they came to Sierra Madre and took up horticultural pursuits, the father remaining here until his death, in 1896. Educated in the local public schools and Whittier College, Albert Gregory left school to take up agricultural pur- suits, which he followed in his native county un- til his removal to California, in 1884. In young manhood he married Miss Annie L. Williams, who was born in Wales and died at Sierra Ma- dre, Cal., in 1892. Later he was united with Miss Marcia Stinson, of Kentucky. By his first mar- riage he is the father of three children, namely: Anna Jessie, who died at twenty-five years of age; Brinton Blake, who is with the Title Iu- surance and Trust Company of Los Angeles; and Eva Mabel, wife of L. W. Hill, of Pasadena. In political views Mr. Gregory is a pronounced Republican.

WILLIAM MORGAN. A penetrating, ana- lytical mind, and profound interest in all that appeals to the strength and sympathy of man- kind, have guided the activities of William Mor- gan into channels of vital accomplishment, prin- cipally among the lumbering regions of Michigan and the mining districts of the far west. So many sided has been the career of this Pasadena capitalist, so extensive have been his operations in different parts of the country, and so thoroughly successful has proved his business judgment, that he has practically fur- nished material for many careers, and built up several reputations of equal merit. Nevertheless, it is as a knight of the pick and shovel, a trav- eler through thousands of miles of mountainous country in Northern and Southern California, Colorado, and Dakota, in search of the earth's hidden treasures, that he has attained his most prized distinction. No more practical miner has invaded the mining possibilities of the west; no one is better prepared with tents and appliances to start off at a moment's notice upon any trail of supposed merit; and few have the innate gift of estimating the value and quality of any kind of ore by the simple devices of touch, sight and weighing. The years intervening since he first went into mining in 1852 have prepared him for the credit now accorded him as one of the

most reliable judges of ore, not only in Cali- fornia, but in the whole country.

A native of Surrey, England, Mr. Morgan was born in December, 1831, and from his father, Thomas Morgan, inherits that wide ex- panse of vision which contemplates with prac- tical certainty the opportunities by which he is surrounded. The elder Morgan claimed Welsh ancestors. From the beginning of his career he evinced marked business ability and in time be- came a man of wealth. For the African trade he purchased two vessels from the English gov- ernment. In 1844 he brought his family to America, and bought a large tract of land at what is now Morgan Park, Chicago, upon which he lived for the remainder of his life. His wife. Anna Maria Morgan, died, leaving seven sons and two daughters, five of her sons having died.

William Morgan was thirteen years of age when he accompanied the family to America, and at Morgan Park he was placed under the private instruction of a tutor. When the craze for gold swept over the land in 1849 his most ardent wish was to cross the plains with the caravans then on the way, but parental opposi- tion prevailed, and instead he entered the office of an eminent Chicago lawyer. In those days much copying fell to the lot of the lawyer's clerk, and the close confinement told upon his health. He therefore changed his plans in 1852, and set out for the Traverse country in Michi- gan. Thus began his association with the region around Traverse bay, in the building up of which he was to take so conspicuous a part. He was one of the pioneers on the field, and with his partner, Perry Hannah, of Traverse City, se- lected and surveyed thousands of acres of tim- ber land, much of which they purchased out- right. His dream of a western trip was now within his grasp, and the same year that he went to Michigan he returned to Chicago and made arrangements to cross the plains via Humboldt and the Southern Pass. In September of 1852 he reached Grass Valley and engaged in placer mining, and thus was inaugurated in the same year the two great industries of his life, lumber and mining, in which he has been engaged ever since. Late in the fall of 1852 he returned to Chicago via the Nicaragua route, and settled upon land formerly purchased at Blue Island, where he engaged in farming on and off for fif- teen years. In the mean time he continued to manufacture lumber at Traverse City, Mich., and at the same time had yards in Chicago at Canal and Jackson streets, removing at a later day to the corner of Lumber and Maxwell streets. As in all lumbering districts, there were mercantile and banking opportunities, and Mr. Morgan was with the Hannah-Lay Mercantile Company as silent partner, which conducted a large enterprise along mercantile lines, and also engaged in banking on a corresponding scale.

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These concerns are now among the most sub- stantial in that part of Michigan, and the Han- nah-Lay Company are known from one end of the state to the other. They own the finest busi- ness block in Traverse City, have all kinds of stores, and have established one of the finest summer resorts in America. The Park Place Hotel, owned by the company, has few supe- riors in Michigan or in the country, for that matter. The company also own large flouring mills near Traverse City, and their lumber mills were among the most complete and profitable to be found anywhere.

Mr. Morgan also has interests in the Traverse City State Bank, and in the Chicago Chamber of Commerce building, erected by the Hannah- Lay Company. He owned lands in Madison, Greenwood county, Kans., but has long since disposed of his farm at Blue Island, Chicago. Other property in the great middle west metrop- olis has passed through his hands, and at the present time he has large holdings there. In the time of the boom he came to California and added to his real-estate possessions by numer- ous purchases, among others owning a ranch in South Park, called the Ravens Roost ranch. His services in Pasadena have been of the sub- stantial and lasting kind, and he has contributed greatly to the building interests of the city. He erected the old postoffice, the Morgan block on Raymond avenue and the Morgan livery build- ing, in which is conducted one of the finest liv- ery enterprises in the west. High-bred horses and up-to-date rigs are the only kind associated with this concern, which is the popular head- quarters for the Wilson Peak tourists, and a matter of special pride with its enterprising owner. Mr. Morgan is the friend and admirer of man's noblest and most helpful friend, the horse, and no one better than he understands his kindly and adaptive nature, and his many just claims upon the consideration and patience of his master, man.

January 17, 1856, Mr. Morgan married in Chi- cago, Emma V. Bingle, a native of New York state, and a daughter of a New York architect who early settled in Illinois. Mrs. Morgan died in Pasadena, October 15, 1898. Since coming to Pasadena, Mr. Morgan has been unceasing in his devotion to mining affairs, and has prose- cuted his researches in all the surrounding min- ing regions. He has a fine collection of ores, and is still engaged in mining. He is a stanch Republican in political affiliation, and was an ardent admirer of William McKinley. In reli- gion he is a member of the Episcopal Church. Too much cannot be said of men who have ideal- ized the conditions by which they are sur- rounded, and such has been the case with Mr. Morgan. In the primeval forests and the rough lumber and mining camps he has maintained an innate supremacy of character inspiring to all

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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 112

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