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 114

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

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work of the party. For six years he held the position of school trustee at Burbank, but with that exception he has held no offices, nor has he at any time been an office-seeker. In fraternal relations he is connected with the For- esters. Personally he is a citizen of whom any community might be proud, and the people of Burbank, fully appreciating this fact, accord hint a place among their leading residents as he has also gained for himself a name as a capable rancher.

L. B. PEMBERTON. Possessing a more than ordinary mental equipment, and the rare faculty of practically utilizing talents, which in their versatility range from electricity and me- chanics to music and poetry, Mr. Pemberton represents the most favored of the adopted sons of Santa Barbara. A scholar, savant and appro- priator to himself of the history and knowledge of the world, he is also a keen student of current events, and a sincere appreciator of nature's matchless wonders.

The descendant of a Quaker family, he was born near Bethel, Clermont county, Ohio, No- vember 25, 1866. His grandfather, Richard Pemberton, was born in Kentucky, where he engaged in the stock business, and later im- migrated to Southern Ohio. The parents, George M. and Belinda (Black) Pemberton, were natives respectively of Bethel and Georgetown, Ohio, and the former is now an attorney in his native town. During the Civil war, he enlisted in the Union service, and was sent to the Shen- andoah valley with his regiment, the One Hun- dred and Fifty-first Ohio Volunteers.

The youngest of three sons, L. B. Pemberton was given good advantages and attended Cler- mont Academy near Cincinnati, from which he was graduated in June, 1884. He then engaged in teaching school near his home; but in 1886 removed to Topeka, Kans., and taught the Highland Park school for a year. For the next year and a half he was engaged as book- keeper for the Topeka Coal Company. In 1888 he became assistant superintendent of the Topeka Municipal Electric Light Works, whichı plant was the first concern of the kind west of the Mississippi river. In 1887 he became acting superintendent of the works and continued in the position until 1889.

About this time one of the Los Angeles street car lines was bought by a Topeka syndicate, and Mr. Pemberton became their representative to put in the electrical equipment of the road. In this capacity he started the first car out under the new and more approved method of trans- portation, and continued in charge of the elec- trical department, after the Topeka Company had been absorbed by the Los Angeles Con- solidated Electric Company, when the electric system rapidly displaced all the other methods of transportation in the city. In 1893 his scene

of activity was shifted for a few months to Phoenix, Ariz., where he installed the first electric car line in that territory. After the Phoenix road was put in running order, and the natives had become somewhat accustomed to the mysterious "broom-stick train," he returned to Los Angeles, and continued with the Los Angeles Company until the latter part of 1895, when he resigned and became sales-agent and engineer for the General Electric Company of Schenectady, N. Y., the largest manufacturers of electrical machinery in the United States. This company he represented in Southern Cali- fornia, having his office, repair-shop and store- room on West Third street, Los Angeles. In 1896 he sold an electric railway plant to C. W. D. Miller, and started in operation the first electric cars in Santa Barbara. A similar ad- vance was made in San Diego, where he started operations for the Citizens' Traction Company later in the year.

Having decided to enter the literary field, Mr. Pemberton resigned from the General Electric Company in September, 1897, and purchased Town Talk, a society and literary weekly; but finding the venture not so remunerative as it was represented, sold out after a few months and accepted the position of master mechanic and electrician for the Los Angeles-Pacific Rail- road, a suburban line between Los Angeles and Santa Monica. In 1901 he resigned to ac- cept the position of superintendent of the Santa Barbara Consolidated Railway Company, where his previous varied experience came into good play. A thorough overhauling of the system was necessary in every department. New tracks were laid, the cars rebuilt, a new, modern power house installed, and a complete transformation was soon effected.

Having entered the electric field in its early stage, and being far from the base of supplies, Mr. Pemberton's ingenuity was often called upon, and a number of practical inventions was the result; among which might be mentioned the first detachable incandescent headlight for street cars, an automatic arc headlight, a section insulator for trolley wire, electric heater, track bond and center-bearing street car track with steel-yard motor suspension. Attributable to him also is the designing and building of the ,"Mermaid." the most complete and sumptuous private street car in the world.

- Turning to the literary productions of Mr. Pemberton, we find the same wide range and versatility. The libretto of the opera "Mardi Gras" is characteristic of his lighter style of composition, and when produced for a week in Detroit in 1895, the opera was favorably re- ceived by the public. Another of his produc- tions is the "Midshipman," of which Prof. Dion Romandy was the musical composer; but owing to the death of the latter, the opera was never presented to the public. Further inroads into

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the world of music was made in collaboration with Louis Gottschalk, musical director for the Frank Daniels Opera Company of New York, the opera being the "Nawab," an Oriental pro- duction based on the art of hypnotism.

Aided by the possession of a fine natural ear for rhyme and accuracy of meter, Mr. Pember- ton has launched upon a successful career some very creditable poetic productions, one volume in particular, called "Sappho and Other Songs," issued in 1895 from the Times-Mirror press of Los Angeles, having received wide and favor- able mention. The New York World, in a highly complimentary review, stated that "if the work were only two hundred years old it would be raved over." Another meritorious under- taking is "Prometheus Unbound," a lyrical drama founded on the old Greek legend, and published in 1896 by the Editor Publishing Company of Franklin, Ohio. Of this produc- tion, the Boston Ideas says: "It is a work of genuine strength and beauty. It is fervently real and nobly suggestive. Mr. Pemberton is one of the truest poets of modern days. His verse breathes an inspirational air that flows forth into fitting rhythmic cadences with a surety and expressiveness that reveal the beauty of his meaning through the quiet obedience of his words." A five-act tragedy, entitled the "Life and Death of Joan of Arc" was finished in 1891, and received, from the foremost dramatic critic in this country, the following encomium: "It is deserving of the highest praise. of that praise so seldom yielded to modern dramatic compositions." During the following year, a number of short prose sketches were published under the title of "Sketches in Color, A Collection of Half-Tints and Undertones, by the late Vandyke Brown."

During his academic days, Mr. Pemberton proved a most capable Latin and Greek scholar, and achieved the highest record in those branches that had been made in the institution in the forty-five years of its existence. Although taking great pains and pleasure in his literary productions, he has never pushed his work for publication, and has contributed very rarely to current periodicals. At the Poets' Contest given by the Unity Club of Los Angeles in 1893. he produced one of his best shorter poems, en- titled "Song to the Sequoia Gigantea" (or Big Redwood Trees of California). This poem was awarded the first prize over nearly one hun- dred competitors.

The marriage of Mr. Pemberton and Janet Drummond was solemnized in Los Angeles in 1897. Mrs. Pemberton is a daughter of Rev. A. D. Drummond, a minister of the Episcopal Church, whose death occurred in Pasadena. To Mr. and Mrs. Pemberton has been born one child, Lucile. Mr. Pemberton is a Republican in national politics.

EDWARD H. HOLLENBECK. Horti- cultural pursuits have formed the chief occupa- tion of Mr. Hollenbeck, and the energetic man- ner in which he has taken advantage of every method tending toward the enhanced value of his property is having much to do with his suc- cess in life. In his home place at Verdugo, Los Angeles county, he has six acres, and besides this he owns a tract of thirty-two acres, seven of which are in apricots and five in olives, while the home place is planted in apricots and prunes. Included in his possessions is some property in Los Angeles.

The Hollenbeck family came originally from Holland. John Hollenbeck, a farmer in the east, lived to be eighty-nine years of age. His son, Silas C., was born in Akron, Ohio, March 4, 1823, and in early manhood accompanied his parents to Illinois, where he engaged in farming for a long period. From there he came to Cali- fornia in 1882 and bought sixty-six acres, a portion of which is now owned by his son, Ed- ward H. The improvement of the property and its planting in fruits occupied his remaining years, and he died here June 5, 1901, aged seventy-eight years. Until a few years before his death he was as active as a man of half his years, and the hardships of his busy life seemed to make few inroads upon his powerful consti- tution. During. early life he served as a super- visor, but after coming to California he took no part in local affairs, aside from voting the Re- publican ticket at general elections. Religious and charitable enterprises received his support, and no worthy project ever was refused assist- ance at his hands, nor was any one in need turned cold and hungry from his door. By his marriage to Mary Ann Reed, who was born in New York and died in Illinois, he had three children, namely: Francis A., who is engaged in the real estate business in Los Angeles; Julia B., who married Henry W. Benson, and resides at Florence, Cal .; and Edward H., of Verdugo. The last-named, who was the youngest of the three, was born at Pecatonica, Winnebago county, Ill., July 21, 1865, and received a com- mon-school education in the home neighbor- hood. After coming to California at seventeen years of age he was for one year a student in Woodbury's Business College.

In 1889 Mr. Hollenbeck married Belle Peck- ham, who was born in Litchfield, Ill. Two chi !- dren were born of their union, but both were taken by death while still quite young. With his wife Mr. Hollenbeck holds membership in the Presbyterian Church and is an attendant upon its services. In politics he is a firm Re- publican. The principles of Masonry have in him a stanch champion, and he is actively con- nected with Hollenbeck Lodge No. 319, at Boyle Heights, which was named in honor of his uncle, John F. Hollenbeck. Since his inar-

Riu B Shelton

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

riage he has continued to live at the same loca- tion, having first bought six acres of his father's place and subsequently adding to his posses- sions by such purchases as seemed advisable. By a course of industry he is becoming success- ful financially, while at the same time the fact that he is well spoken of by all is sufficient in- dication of his character.

RICE B. SHELTON. The Shelton family is of English descent, and it is possible that Roderick Shelton may have been the founder of the family in America, although indications point to the fact that he was a native of Vir- ginia. Accompanied by his family, he moved to North Carolina, and there spent his remain- ing years. His son, Louis, who was of Vir- ginian birth, grew to manhood in North Carolina and there married Nancy Gladden, a Virginian girl. In company with a colony of southern families they removed to Missouri and took up government land, but subsequently set- tled in Clinton county, same state, where he improved a farm and died at fifty-six years. Later his wife went to Oregon and there died when sixty-five years old. Both were earnest members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In their family were fourteen children, and all but one of these attained mature years, Rice B. being the seventh in order of birth. The first- born, David, crossed the plains to Oregon in 1847 and followed the carpenter's trade at Port- land, later going to Washington, where he died at eighty-five years. Levi and Tilman were twins, the former of whom died at sixty years, and the latter is living, retired, in Washington. Eliza makes her home in Missouri; Martin died when seventy-five years of age; William, who is now four score years old, is a resident of Cali- fornia; Elijah lives in Washington; Polly Ann was forty-five at the time of her death; Cynthia is living in Oregon; James, who has always been an invalid, makes his home with his older brother, Rice B., who has cared for him since childhood; John died in Texas when he was forty years of age.

In Clay county, Mo., Rice B. Shelton was born October 20, 1831. While still quite young he began to care for his mother and younger brothers and sisters, hence his boyhood was filled with responsibilities. He was sixteen when his father died, and afterward, with an older brother, he managed the farm from 1847 until 1852. During the latter year he crossed the plains, with an ox-team, to Oregon, thence to Washington, returning to Oregon in the spring of 1853 and leaving his mother and younger brothers in Polk county, that state. With the hope that mining might prove a profitable venture he went to Siskiyou county, Cal., and worked in the placer mines on the Scott river, where for five years he met with fair success. On selling out his interests he returned to

Oregon, and for a year engaged in driving cat- tle between there and Washington. With a drove of his own cattle, in 1861 he went to eastern Washington, hoping to sell beef in the mines, but the severe weather caused a heavy loss in the cattle, making the venture unprofita- ble. His next employment was in packing goods to the mines at Florence, Idaho. Later for twelve months he mined at Boise Basin, Idaho, but did not find the field a fortunate selection. In 1863 he went to Alder Gulch, Vir- ginia City, Mont., where he was employed ill mining for $12 a day, and he continued there as superintendent of a crew until the spring of 1865. Prospecting and mining at Helena, Mont., and other points occupied his time until 1881, during much of which time he played in hard luck. About 1878 he crossed the line into Idaho prospecting and with Jack Hicks discovered, at the head of the Limhi valley, on Spring mount- ain, a rich silver mine, which they developed, being "grub staked" by Levant Pease of Chi- cago and Tate Taylor. After a short time Hicks became discouraged and sold his quarter inter- est for a very small sum, but Mr. Shelton would not allow himself to be daunted by obstacles, and the result proved his good judgment, for within twelve months he sold his quarter interest to Pease for $25,000. This was his first stroke of fortune, and well repaid him for the anxieties and cares of past years.

After a winter in Olympia, Wash., Mr. Shel- ton began prospecting in Montana, but in a few weeks his health failed. In order to recuperate, he spent six months at Hot Springs, Ark., where he soon regained his strength. While there he married Miss Jennie L. Alberton, of that city, who remained his faithful helpmate until her death February 1, 1898, at Burbank, Cal. One of their children died in infancy; the others, Roy B. and Jennie L., are with their father. In the spring of 1883 Mr. Shelton came to Cali- fornia and settled in Los Angeles, but in the fall of the same year removed to the country, buying one hundred and sixty acres of land west of the present site of Burbank. At once he began the arduous task of improving the property. Sixteen acres were planted in a vine- yard, and twenty-five acres were improved with deciduous fruit, while the balance of the land was given over to general farming. On selling® this place in 1892, Mr. Shelton bought a ranchi of twenty acres at Burbank, where he has since lived practically retired, although giving somne attention to the raising of alfalfa and also rais - ing fruit for family use.

During the days of his mining experiences in Montana Mr. Shelton was brought face to face with the problem of maintaining order in a com- munity populated principally by a lawless ele- ment, and he well remembers having seen thirty-six desperadoes hung in one winter, at the instigation of the citizens who were trying to

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bring order and law out of chaos. Through his work on the vigilance committee he did much toward aiding to place the government upon a stable basis, and his efficient work as deputy sheriff of Beaverhead county, which office he filled for two years, was also helpful in main- taining the law. Reared a Democrat, he early espoused that platform and continued to vote for its principles until 1900, when, feeling in sympathy with the first administration of Presi- dent McKinley, he cast his ballot for the re- election of that popular president to the office of chief executive. While he is not a member of any denomination, he is in thorough sympathy with the work of Christianity and has frequently been a contributor to its support, as well as to movements of a philanthropic and helpful gen- eral character.

CHARLES M. JAQUES. After a business career of great activity, resulting in a financial success desired by all but achieved by few, Mr. Jaques was led by considerations of health to come to the Pacific coast, and in a short time had become so attached to the country that he decided to establish his permanent home in Pasadena. Here he purchased No. 525 East Colorado street, a palatial residence of brick and stone whose beauty accords with the charming environment of this far-famed city.

Descended from Puritan ancestors who were among the pioneers of Plymouth, Charles M. Jaques is a son of John P. and a grandson of John Jaques, both lifelong residents of Massa- chusetts, where the former was a builder and contractor, and the latter a farmer. His mother, Pamelia Kittredge (Chandler) Jaques, was a daughter of John Chandler, an agriculturist of the Bay state. In the parental family of seven children all but one attained mature years, Charles M. being the second. He was born near Boston, July 1, 1842, and at the age of sixteen graduated from the Boston public schools. His initial experiences as a business man were gained while conducting a wholesale and retail fruit and vegetable trade in Boston. During 1869 he removed to Minneapolis, Minn., but not finding a desirable opening, six montlis later he went to Chicago, where he began the buying and shipping of grain. In the subse- quent years he met with a success that was far in excess of his earliest rose-tinted ambitions. As the president of the Jaques Grain Company, he superintended the building of sixty elevators in Illinois and Nebraska, meantime making Lincoln, Neb., his headquarters. Since coming to California his attention has been largely given to mining, and he is president of the Hercules Copper Company, the Copper King Mining Company and the Verde Mining Com- pany, all operating in Wyoming. He is also erecting three houses in Pasadena for renting

purposes. It will thus be seen that he has by no means retired from business activities, but is engaged in enterprises as varied and important as those that engrossed his time and thought when in the east.

The marriage of Mr. Jaques was solemnized in the historic town of Concord, Mass., and united him with Miss Mary Gray Shaw, by whom he has a daughter, Kathrina, now ten years of age. The father of Mrs. Jaques was Kingman A. Shaw, who for some years was a cattle broker at Brighton, Mass., but in 1869 removed to Minneapolis, Minn., and there con- ducted an extensive real-estate business. On retiring from active labors he settled in Chicago, where he remained until his death. Mr. Jaques is identified with the Methodist Episcopal Church, while in fraternal relations he is a men- ber of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. At no time in his busy life has he sought political honors or the responsibilities of public office, his tastes being rather in the direction of business affairs. However, he is a firm be- liever in Republican principles and is always relied upon by his party to support its tenets. His warm sympathy is given to all movements that are for the uplifting of the community, whether they tend toward a broadening educa- tional or religious impulse, or toward ideals more nearly allied with the arts and sciences.

D. E. JUVINALL. No science presents greater opportunities to young men than that of electricity, with its constant developments and fascinating intricacies. The fact that Mr. Juvinall is endowed by nature with abilities that adapt him to the business of an electrician con- tributes largely to his success in this line of work, but coupled with the native ability are determination, perseverance and sound judg- ment, qualities of the highest importance in every occupation. Since he came to California in 1899 he has made his home in Monrovia, where he built and became a stockholder in the Independent Telephone System, the prosperous management of the same having proved grati- fying to him from the standpoint of an elec- trician as well as profitable from the standpoint of a stockholder. As the owner of this system, he has labored constantly to maintain a high grade of service and to secure the patronage of the people in the vicinity, and now has one hun- dred and twenty-five subscribers.

The records of the Juvinall family show that Andrew Juvinall, a native of Ohio, became a pioneer of Illinois, where he afterward owned and cultivated a farm of three hundred and twenty acres. His son, James, who served dur- ing the Civil war as a member of an Illinois regiment of boys in blue, afterward tilled the soil of a farm of one hundred and ten acres near Danville, Ill., where his son, D. E., was born

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

June 20, 1871. From there in 1894 he removed to Jamesburg, same state, where he lived in re- tirement from active labors. In Illinois he met and married Miss Eliza Abbott, a native of Ohio, who in girlhood removed to Illinois with her father, James Abbott, and settled on a farm.

In a family of ten children D. E. Juvinall was one of the youngest. When a boy he attended the district schools near his home. At an early age it became apparent that he possessed a voice of unusual power and clearness, and he was given good advantages for its cultivation, being a pupil of Professor Peckham, of Chicago. Afterward he taught vocal and instrumental music for three years. To some extent, also, agricultural pursuits engaged his attention. In 1899 he removed to California and settled in Monrovia, where he built a residence on the corner of J. I. C. and White Oak avenues. Be- sides his property here, he owns seven hundred and sixty acres in Vermilion county, Ill., near the city of Danville. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and a worker in behalf of movements that are uplifting and pro- gressive. In habits he is irreproachable, and both in precept and practice advocates prohibi- tion doctrines. His marriage, which was solemnized in Potomac, Ill., united him with Miss Mattie Goodwine, who was born in Illi- nois. Her father, John Goodwine, a native of Indiana, settled near Danville, Ill., but now makes Potomac his home, and has during all of his active life followed the business of a stock- raiser, his specialty being thoroughbred hogs and cattle.

THOMAS POLLARD, a government stone and mason contractor of Naples, was born in Lancaster, England, in 1855, and learned the trade of mason and stone cutter while still in his native land. After immigrating to America in 1880 he lived for eleven years in New Jersey, and later in New York and Pennsylvania, in all of which places he successfully carried on his trade, and became prominent as a contractor. Following an inclination to investigate the con- ditions along his line in the west, he removed to Los Angeles in 1897, and after a short sojourn came to Santa Barbara, where he was for some time identified with the McCormick Machine Company. On the 17th of July, 1900, he re- ceived the contract to build the lighthouse at Point Arcala, the estimated cost of which will be $26,000, and the responsibility of which is certainly a guarantee of the confidence which his work has inspired in the government. He also received the contract to build six culverts and one bridge on the Southern Pacific Rail- road, and so satisfactory has been his fulfilling of the same that the government inspector, Cap- tain Brown, as well as others high in official life, have highly recommended his work and

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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 114

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