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 116

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

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and as secretary of the deaf and dumb college and as secretary of the Columbian University. his alma mater. His death occurred at Wash- ington in 1881, closing a career that was active, honorable and patriotic. Both he and his wife were associated with Calvary Baptist Church, and Mrs. Stickney is now a member of the Mon- rovia Baptist Church, also is identified with the Saturday Afternoon Club of Monrovia. On the organization of the Women's Christian Associa- tion in Washington she was elected the first president, and her executive ability and wise leadership accomplished much for the further- ance of reforms greatly needed by the city at that time. It had been her intention to spend her last years in Washington, where she had many ties of warm friendship, as well as the memory of the influential lives of father and husband, but in 1897 considerations of healthlı led her to remove to California.

DAVID SULLIVAN. An evening spent with David Sullivan when in his most reminis- cent mood is like being transported back many years into the last century, into the crude con- ditions that then prevailed in certain portions of the east as well as west. When narrated in the midst of the beauty of Santa Barbara these undertakings seem as the dew and fragrance of unspoiled early morning, soon to be overpow- ered by the heat and aggressiveness of a noon- day sun. Mr. Sullivan was born in Zanesville, Ohio, in June of 1813, and is the only surviving member of a family in which there were nine children. His father, Samuel, was born in Dela- ware, and became a prominent merchant in Zanesville, being also the owner and manager of a large and productive farm in the vicinity of the town, and living to a ripe old age. The mother, formerly Mary Freeman, of Georgia, attained the unusual age of ninety-one years.

David Sullivan was reared on his father's farm, and when old enough became an assistant in the general merchandise store. When his duties admitted of the leisure he attended the early subscription school of the neighborhood, held in a building roughly constructed of logs. The benches were made of slabs, and the chil- dren used the now obsolete quill pens. In the surroundings of farm and store he remained until twenty-one years of age, and directly after the Black Hawk war, in 1834, removed with his brother to Iowa. Traveling in those days was not facilitated by Pullman cars, but was another expression for genuine hard work. The brothers loaded a keel boat with general merchandise and floated it down the Muskingum and Ohio rivers to Louisville, after which they hired a steam- boat to take them to St. Louis and another boat thence conveyed them to the present site of Rock Island, Ill. They purchased the first lot in what is now Rock Island and started with

their merchandise a store which was continued for about a year. They then sold out and located near Davenport, Scott county, where they bought the first land purchased after the Black Hawk war, and which consisted of three hundred and twenty acres. In time Mr. Sullivan purchased other property near by so that he owned several farms and carried on large agri- cultural enterprises. The land for his original farm was decidedly in the rough and was broken with five or six yoke of oxen. On this land he maintains was raised the finest corn that ever grew from seed.

During the gold excitement Mr. Sullivan started for Pike's Peak and journeyed as far as Laramie, when discouraging reports made him change his mind and retrace his steps. A couple of years later, however, he came overland with his family to the Rocky mountains, and was much disturbed by the Indians in the Big Horn mountains. For two years he mined in Mon- tana. He then located in Santa Barbara, the journey here being accomplished overland, and taking six months from Virginia City. He ini- mediately bought the four blocks which he now owns and which are in the city limits, besides additional property, and engaged in farming and horticulture, raising apricots, plums. peaches and grapes. For many years he had several blocks of fruit orchards which never failed in their harvests, but of late years the drought has thinned out the trees to a consider- able extent. Most of this property has since been sold, with the exception of the residence property at the corner of Mission and Bath streets. Mr. Sullivan has done much for the city of his adoption, whose interests have ever been his own.

In Ohio Mr. Sullivan married Ann Crab- tree, who was born in England and reared in Ohio, and whose death occurred twelve years ago. Of their children two attained maturity, viz., Samuel, who has been engaged in mining in Montana, and Angeline, who became Mrs. Sprague, and died in Santa Barbara. An older sister of Mr. Sullivan, Mona, married the son of S. S. Cox, ex-member of congress, known as Sunset Cox. Mr. Sullivan is a Republican all the time, and is a Methodist in religious belief.

ECKFORD D. TYLER. Although by birth a Canadian, Mr. Tyler has been a resident of California since youth and is a typical repre- sentative of the energetic and capable men who are contributing to the growth of our state. His father, S. Tyler, a native of England, followed the occupation of landscape gardening there and in Canada, and from 1877 to 1882 was similarly engaged in Minneapolis, where he also conducted a florist's establishment. During 1882 he settled in Santa Monica, Cal., and five years later came to Pasadena, where he pur-

Charles W. Smith

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

chased a small ranch on Bradford and Arroyo Drive. Since then he has carried on an occupa- tion somewhat different from the usual pur- suits of Californians, but one in which he is meeting with gratifying success. He owns a fine kennel of fox terriers and spaniels, of the best breeds the country produces, and he also has the largest aviary in the county, in both of which specialties he is prominent. By his mar- riage to Margaret McLarin, a native of Scot. land, he had eight children, the second of whom is Eckford D., who was born near Toronto, Canada, August 27, 1872. He was five years of age when the family removed to Minneapolis and the public schools of that city furnished him with the rudiments of his education. I11 1882 he accompanied the family to Santa Mon- ica and five years later came to Pasadena. where he completed his studies in the local schools.

Taking up the carpenter's trade as an ap- prentice under J. J. Allen and serving with him four years, Mr. Tyler gained a thorough knowledge of the business, and after ten years as a journeyman carpenter and apprentice, in 1900 he began to take contracts for building. Since then he has built the residence of Miss Sybil Sweet, the addition to the Moore 'resi- dence, and his own home on Grand avenue and Bradford street. Like his father, he is a lover of fine dogs, and now has a kennel of thorough- bred Scotch collies, in the breeding of which he is engaged, and he also devotes some atten- tion to the breeding of thoroughbred Angora cats. Fraternally he is connected with the F. & A. M. and Woodmen of the World and in politics is a Republican. He was married in Pasadena, his wife being Miss Helen Salter, who was born on the Isle of Wight, England, and is a daughter of J. Salter, represented elsewhere in this work.

CHARLES W. SMITH. As president of the Los Angeles & Pasadena Electric Railway Company, vice-president of the Los Angeles Railway Company, and vice-president of the Pasadena & Mount Lowe Railway Company, Mr. Smith has been intimately associated with the development of the transportation facilities of this part of California, and the success of the inter-urban electrical system is due to his keen and judicious oversight, in connection with the efforts of men of like enterprise and resource- fulness. In addition to the various positions named, he is president of the Portland Cement Company.

During the colonial period a party of home- seekers came from Litchfield, England, and founded Litchfield, Conn., and it was then that the Smith family, represented by Charles W. Smith, became identified with American history.

Several of the ancestors, direct and collateral, were soldiers of the Revolution. William D. Smith was born in Litchfield, Conn., in 1805, and grew to manhood in Berkshire county, Mass., where he followed the trade of carriage- builder. Removing to Austerlitz, N. Y., he en- gaged in the manufacture of carriages. A later place of residence was Homer, Union county, Ohio, and there, in March of 1848, he and two of his children died of the cholera. His wife, Almira, was born in Austerlitz, N. Y., and died in Ohio. She was a daughter of Story Gott, a native of Connecticut, of English and Scoteli descent, and a lieutenant in the Revolutionary war, after which he engaged in farming in Columbia county, N. Y. There were nine chil- dren in the family of William D. and Almira Smith, six of whom attained maturity and three are now living. One of the sons, William Henry Smith, was the first verbatim reporter in the legislature of Ohio, later became an editor and publisher in Cincinnati, and in 1869 originated the Associated Press of the United States, of which he acted as manager until his death, in 1897. Possessing high literary ability, he was the author of a number of works of standard merit and acknowledged authority in their special lines. Included among his productions are the St. Clair papers. At the time of his death he was engaged in the compilation of a History of the Northwest, which was almost completed; and he liad also almost completed a biography of the late Ex-President Rutherford B. Hayes, which work he had taken up in ac- cordance with a request made by President Hayes in his will.

In the town of Austerlitz, Columbia county, N. Y., Charles W. Smith was born September 5, 1831. In July, 1842, he accompanied his par- ents to Union county, Ohio, where he attended a subscription school held in a log building, with greased paper for windows, slabs for seats. and a puncheon floor. The common mode of writing was with quill pens, while the writing desk was a board fastened to and running along the side of the wall. However, while none of the modern equipments could be found, these same schools sent out into the world some of our greatest statesmen and our best citizens. At the age of eighteen he utilized his education in teaching, which occupation he followed during the winter months. Next he learned the trade of a harnessmaker and saddler in Woodstock, Ohio, and just about the time he completed his apprenticeship railroads were built into that section. March I, 1855, he was appointed agent at Woodstock for the Columbus, Piqua & In- diana Railroad. About one year later he be- came their agent in Columbus, Ohio, and after his first year there he was invited to become general freight agent of the road, with head- quarters in Columbus. Under various changes

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and consolidations, he held the office from 1857 until the spring of 1870. Meantime the road had been extended to Cincinnati and Pittsburg on the east and to Chicago on the west. On the opening of the Union and Central Pa- cific roads he accepted the position of general freight agent for the Central Pacific, with head- quarters in Sacramento; but after two years, on account of failing health, he resigned the posi- tion and returned east. A later position was that of general manager of the Indianapolis, Bloom- ington & Western Railroad, with headquarters in Indianapolis. December 1, 1874, he resigned in order to accept a position with the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad as general freight agent, with headquarters in Chicago, and three years later was promoted to be traffic manager of the same road. Beginning May I, 1880, for one year he held the office of traffic manager of the New York, Lake Erie & West- ern Railroad, with headquarters in New York City, following which he was general manager of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad, head- quarters Richmond, Va.

A further honor came to Mr. Smith in his election, January 1, 1886, as vice-president and general manager of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad, after which he had his head- quarters in Topeka, Kans. While officiating in this position there was great activity in railroad building, and the Santa Fe lines were extended through the west. In addition to this office, in 1888 he also acted as general manager of the Atlantic & Pacific Railroad. On the comple- tion of the Santa Fe into Chicago, the head- quarters of the company were moved to that city. The management of the company's vast interests, at a period so critical in the history of the road, proved too great a strain upon his health, and it became necessary for him to seek at least temporary change of environment. Ac- cordingly in 1890 he resigned his position; two years later the road went into the receivers' hands.

It was Mr. Smith's intention to abandon rail- roading permanently when he left the Santa Fe office, but in 1896 the bondholders of the At- lantic & Pacific road became dissatisfied with the receivers and he was asked to fill the posi- tion. His health being much better, he con- sented and took charge in December of that year. Under his systematic oversight order was brought out of chaos and affairs were brought to a satisfactory termination. When the road was sold to the Santa Fe system, in July, 1897. he came to Pasadena, again expecting to re- tire permanently from railroading. but again his decision was changed. Some friends in Chicago, who owned the bonds of the Pasadena & Los Angeles Electric Railway, solicited hin to accept the presidency of the road. In the fall of 1897 he became connected with the road in

this capacity, and also became a stockholder and director. Largely through his efforts the road was placed upon a satisfactory basis. In 1898 the company was merged into the Los Angeles & Pasadena Electric Railway Company, and of this he is still president. February 1, 1900, he was chosen general manager of the Los Angeles Railway Company, with headquarters in Los Angeles, and at once assumed the active man- agement of the same, conducting it successfully. About the same time he installed his son, W. H., as manager of the Los Angeles & Pasadena Electric Railway Company. August 1, 1901, he resigned from the management of the Los Angeles system and was elected second vice- president, in which capacity his broad knowl- edge and experienced judgment are still at the service of the company. June 1, 1901, the con- pany bought the Pasadena & Mount Lowe Rail- way, which became a part of the system, and he is its vice-president. In February, 1902, all of these roads except the Los Angeles Railway were merged into the Pacific Electric Railroad Company, of which his son is now manager.

In Woodstock, Ohio, Mr. Smith married Miss Marceline M. Sprague, who was born in Wood- stock, Vt., of a very old New England family. They became the parents of three chil- dren: Mrs. Kate Kelsev, who died in Rich- mond, Va .; Ella, who died at five years; and William H., manager of the Pacific Electric Railroad Company.

The Pasadena Board of Trade and Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce number Mr. Smith among their members. During his resi- dence in Ohio he was a member of the grand lodge, I. O. O. F. During the days of the Civil war he was a member of the Union League and a firm believer in abolition princi- ples. In politics he is a stanch Republican. While living in Chicago he became connected with St. Paul's Universalist Church, in which his membership remains to the present. The suc- cess which he has attained is notable. When only fifteen years of age he was compelled to begin life's battles for himself, working on a farm for a shilling a day. From that discourag- ing start he rose to à position of such promin- ence in railroad circles that his talents were recognized by the leading railroad men of the country. His close connection with various roads resulted in their upbuilding and develop- ment. While to a certain extent his start in the railroad business was accidental. yet by a happy coincidence he had found the line of work for which he was best adapted and in which his talents might have ample opportunity for ex- pansion. His achievements in the east merit recognition. but were his sole record that which he has made in connection with the street rail- road system of the twin cities of Los Angeles and Pasadena, he would still be entitled to

John & Heilt

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

recognition as one of the most successful rail- road men of the country.

JOHN J. HEWITT. In presenting to the readers of this volume the life-record of Mr. Hewitt, we are perpetuating the history of one of the most influential men of Riverside. While his name is intimately associated with other localities, yet the fact that the last, and perhaps the most fruitful years, of his life were spent in California, renders his biography especially interesting to the people of this state. To a certain extent, his removal to Riverside was the result of chance. Owing to impaired health re- sulting from overwork in many lines of activ- ities, a change of climate was made desirable, and traveling through the west, along the coast, he arrived in Riverside in 1882. At once he was fascinated by this city. Without further delay he purchased property and established his family in the home which they still occupy.

From the first, Mr. Hewitt was identified with the business interests of Riverside and a con- tributor, in many ways, to its material develop- ment. When the First National Bank was organized he became a director and continued in that capacity until he was elected to succeed Mr. Naftzger as president of the institution. As a financier, he proved himself abundantly able to cope with the many questions constantly brought to him for decision. To his efforts, in no small degree, is due the high standing which the bank enjoys to-day as a financial in- stitution. Nor did his connection with this bank represent the limit of his activities. After the organization of the Riverside Savings Bank, he was foremost in the work of placing it upon a firm basis and his connection with it created : confidence among the people in its safety. In addition to his work with these two banks, he acted as president of the Keeley Institute, which manages all of the branches on the coast.

When but a mere lad, the education John J. Hewitt hoped to obtain was rendered impossible owing to his ill health. In the fall of 1848 he went to Chicago, where he was employed as a clerk in the National Hotel. In the summer of 1849 he settled in Ogle county and, with the money saved while in the hotel, he bought a half interest in an ox-team and began to break prairie. Before the close of the first season he had bought the claim of his partner and had also become the owner of another team. The same fall he sold both teams and went to Kentucky, where he bought tobacco, shipping it bv river to Pittsburg, where he sold the entire shipment at a good profit. After six months spent in this business he returned to Franklin county, Pa., but soon began to teach school in Washington county, Md. At the close of one term of school he embarked in the mercantile business, in which he met with fair success. In

the fall of 1854 he joined his father at Foreston, Ill. The next year his brother, Theodore, com- menced the erection of the Central Hotel, but died before it was completed. In 1858 Mr. Hewitt began the erection of a second hotel structure. In February, 1868, he opened the Bank of Foreston, which he conducted until 1872, when he sold his interest. In June, 1880, he established the Farmers and Traders Bank at Foreston, of which he was chosen president.

Owing to impaired health, in the fall of 1881 Mr. Hewitt came to California, hoping to be benefited by the climate. His subsequent history was, in many respects, the history of Riverside. With its progress, his own financial advance- mient was promoted. With its growth, there was a simultaneous development of his personal interests. Meantime, he won the friendship of the people of Riverside. His acquaintances were his friends. When he died, September 12, 1900, his associates in business lamented his loss as if he had been their father or brother. Throughout all of his active life he showed the guiding star of Christianity. He was a member of the Calvary Presbyterian Church in River- side and also an active worker in, and con- tributor to the Y. M. C. A.

January 15. 1857, Mr. Hewitt married Miss Susan M. Emrick, who was born in Franklin county, Pa., April 20, 1830, and died in 1864. They were the parents of four children: Emrick B., who died at about twenty-one years of age; Grace; Theodore D .; and Philo, who died at eight months. His second marriage was solem- nized December 3. 1872, and united him with Miss Martha E. Hutchison, by which union were born two daughters, Beulah W., wife of Dr. W. W. Roblee, of Riverside, and Ethel M .. at home.

LUTHER HARVEY TITUS. To its noble, self-sacrificing pioneers, no less than to its en - terprising business men of later days, Southern California owes its remarkable progress. To their zeal and energy will posterity be indebted, and among the names worthy of perpetuation in the future is that of L. H. Titus, a pioneer of 1849. From 1869 until his death thirty-one years later he made his home in Los Angeles county, where he accumulated valuable proper- ties and gained prominence by reason of his striking individuality and excellent business judgment. At Hamburg, Erie county, N. Y., Mr. Titus was born October 9, 1822. His father, a native of New York, was of English and Holland-Dutch descent, while his mother, whose maiden name was Cary, traced her an- cestry to the Puritans, and her father was a Revolutionary hero.

Starting out in the world to seek his liveli- hood, in 1840 L. H. Titus went to Rockford. Ill., and from there to Galena, where he worked

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in the lead mines for four years. His next ven- ture was the purchase of a farm, for which he paid out of his earnings in the mines. In 1845 he returned to Hamburg. Four years later he started on a memorable journey for the Pacific coast, via New York to Galveston, thence through Houston and Austin to El Paso, and along the southern route to the coast. As he was crossing the Rio Grande at the old copper mines he met David S. Terry, en route to Cali- fornia. Proceeding together and with various others, they arrived at the Gila river, where the hostility of the Indians caused all but three of the party to turn back. These three, consisting of Titus, Tupper and Salisbury, resolved to push on through the country inhabited by the fero- cious Apaches, the most bloodthirsty of all Indian tribes. With a courage that knew 110 such word as "fail" they passed through the very heart of the savages' haunts. Ceaseless watchfulness alone saved them from horrible deaths. Again and again their cunning threw the Indians off their trail, and at last they reached the country of the friendly Pimos, from whoni they purchased supplies for the remainder of the journey. Before reaching the Colorado river they overtook a party of twenty-eight Americans, with Dr. James B. Winston at their head. In company with this party they crossed the Colorado at Fort Yuma, using a government wagon box as a substitute for a ferry boat. A few days later Mr. Titus met with a severe ac- cident through the blowing up of a powder flask, which, indeed, was but one of many catastrophes he met with on the way. Finally, however, August 13, 1849, the party arrived at San Diego.

By the steamer Oregon from San Diego, Mr. Titus arrived in San Francisco September 13. Thence he went to Stockton and Moquelumine Hill, and later to Calaveras, where he and Mr. Salisbury met with considerable success. When their claim had been worked out, Mr. Titus returned to San Francisco and from there to the redwoods north of the city, where he en- gaged in the manufacture of shingles. While there he caught a number of salmon, which he sold for $5 each, also killed ten deer in two days, selling them for $18 each. In February of 1850 he went to the Feather river, where he engaged in an unsuccessful attempt, with others, to turn Deer creek. Thence he went up the Sacra- mento valley and prospected above Shasta, later returned to Marysville, where he was very low with fever for some time. As soon as he had recovered sufficiently to permit of travel he went to San Francisco, where he took a sailing vessel for Panama, and finally arrived at home in 1851. During the ensuing years he continued in the east, where his business ventures were successful.

Returning to California in 1860, Mr. Titus was so pleased with Los Angeles that he decided

to locate here permanently, so went back home, and the next year, with his daughter and her husband, Capt. J. C. Newton, he once again crossed the continent to the coast. Soon after his arrival he bought a ranch near San Gabriel Mission, where he engaged extensively in the raising of oranges. At the same time he was interested in the breeding of fine horses. In 1870 he brought from the east the stallion "Echo," one of the finest horses that up to the time had been secured for the coast. The rais- ing of grapes was another industry in which he engaged. Inventive ability was one of his noticeable characteristics, and was utilized in the devising of a ladder on wheels for picking fruit, also a three-notch board for planting trees, both of which patents are in general use in Southern California. Another ingenious de- vice permitted of the cutting and picking of fruit with the same hand. He constructed a machine for moulding cement canals to econo- mize the use of water, by which means a given quantity of water would irrigate three or four times as much land as when run in ditches in the soil. He was the first in Los Angeles county to use a portable apparatus for spraying fruit trees troubled with pests.

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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 116

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