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 118

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

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PETER FLEMING. Of the many men who have contributed to Pomona's progress none is more worthy of mention than the late Peter Fleming. In many respects he was a remarka- ble man. His sagacity and foresight have seldom been surpassed. From the time of his settlement in the eastern part of Los Angeles county in 1875 until his death, which occurred February 2, 1898, at the age of forty-six years, he was closely associated with the development of local water systems and did much to solve the difficult problem of satisfactory irrigation.

During his boyhood Mr. Fleming lived at Troy, Vt. (his birthplace), and in Massachusetts, where he was a close friend of Charles Allen, son of Enoch Allen. Later he was employed as a clerk by Allen & Endicott, of New York City, and while there married Margaret Coleman, who was born in that city and is now living in Pomona. Ill health forced him to relinquish his position in New York and seek a more genial climate, and he decided to come to California. His friends bade him farewell as he started on the long voyage by the isthmus, but they did so, believing it to be a last goodbye, for no one dared hope that he would reach his destination alive. However, he not only stood the trip well, but after he had settled at Spadra, he at once began to recuperate and soon felt himself to be a well man once more. Delighted by these

hopes, he sent for his family and made pur- chases of land with a view to permanent resi- dence here.

In the selection of an occupation Mr. Flem- ing showed his usual sagacity. He was one of the first to establish an apiary in California, and so successful was he in this experiment that at one time he owned twelve hundred stands and annually shipped fifteen car-loads of honey to the east. The excellent price received for the product made the enterprise a remunerative one, and he continued successfully engaged as an apiarist until the country began to be thickly settled. As a result of the scientific study he had made of bee culture, he not only gained financial profits, but became known as one of the best informed apiarists in the state.

While this region still had few settlers, Mr. Fleming conceived the idea that if water could be developed to supply the land, it would com- mand a much higher price and would attract a high class of permanent residents. In 1885 he began to develop a water system, having as an associate in the enterprise C. N. Earl, who was succeeded by J. W. Saller and he in turn by George Rhorer. The last named, with Mr. Fleming, organized the Sycamore Water De- veloping Company, which furnishes the domes- tic supply for Claremont, and also supplies the larger part of Ontario and all of Packard ranch. Selling his interest in this company in 1892, the following year Mr. Fleming was in- terested in organizing the Claremont Water Company, which developed into the Pomona Water Company. On the organization of the Consolidated Water Company of Pomona, Au- gust 1, 1896, it succeeded the Pomona city water works and the Citizens' Water Company, pur- chasing their pipes and utilizing them in the construction of their present extensive system. They now have fifty-six miles of pipe lines in the city of Pomona, and the North Pomona branch of four miles of pipes. The tunnel from which the water is obtained is five miles north- east of the business center of Pomona, above Claremont. It is five thousand feet long and at its upper extremity one hundred and ten feet below the surface of the ground. From the mouth of the tunnel the water is conducted in large cement pipes to within one and one-half miles of Pomona, where it enters a large reser- voir, holding eight hundred thousand gallons. From it the water flows into a sixteen-inch iron pipe which feeds four distributing mains, and these in turn deliver the water into small laterals under an average pressure of fifty pounds. Not only is the supply large at present, but it seems capable of very great increase by extension of the tunnel farther into the water-bearing chan- nel. In addition the company owns the Smith wells and thirty-five acres of water-bearing land on the Sorby place. The water not consumed by

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Pomona and North Pomona is used for irrigat- ing lands about Claremont and the Seth Rich- ards orange orchard. From the organization of the company until his death Mr. Fleming was its largest stockholder and manager, and it was due to his sagacity that the project of tunneling was adopted.

The first ten-acre tract of oranges at Ontario was set out by Fleming, who succeeded by good cultivation in showing the people the possibil- ities of citrus-fruit culture, and thus proved him- self a most helpful citizen. At Lordsburg he was a pioneer in setting out lemons, which he proved it was possible to raise profitably. In- deed, everything that he attempted seemed to prosper. Disappointments of course he had, for they come to all, but failure was a word that did not appear in his dictionary. His shrewd, keen, capable foresight made him one of the most in- fluential men of his locality, and the heritage that he left to his family is one of which they may well be proud. He was the father of six children, namely: Edward J., who is repre- sented in this volume; Mary A., at home; Wil- liam T. and Frederick A., who are cigar manu- facturers in Pomona; Frank X., a drug clerk; and Walter P., who is a student in local schools.

J. C. BREWSTER. Photography as a com- bination of art and science, carried to that high state of perfection possible only to those who have an innate appreciation of chairo-scuro, atti- tude, varied emotions, and the multitudinous de- tails which enter into and make a satisfying pho- tographic reproduction, finds repeated expres- sion in the work of J. C. Brewster, a resident of Ventura, and one of the pioneer and most gifted artists of Southern California. Added to a nat- ural aptitude for his chosen occupation is the gift of application, and the desire to be foremost in all advances along the line of his work, many important discoveries having been made by him- self. He has in addition to an extensive para- phernalia in ordinary use, a large camera with which he takes life-size head pictures, and he has also at his command all possible devices for securing the required finish and effects. An extensive and ever increasing trade is a reward for years of practical research.

Back to the voyageurs of the Mayflower Mr. Brewster traces his descent, and he is eighth in line from Elder William Brewster, who sailed from the shores of England in the most re- nowned craft in American history. Following him in direct succession were Love; Wrestling; Jonathan, who settled in Windham, Conn., in 1729; Peleg, who was born in 1717, and whose oldest son John, born in Canterbury in 1739, made the sixth generation. Next to the great- grandfather, Peleg, came Jedediah, the grand- father, who married Prudence Robinson, May 19, 1773, the following children being born of

the union: Elizabeth, Silas, Anson, Florina, Sarah, Calvin and Jedediah, Jr. Elizabeth, Sarah and Jedediah died in childhood, and the mother, Prudence, died in January, 1789. The following autumn Jedediah, Sr., married Asenath Hapgood, and a few years later removed to Berne, Albany county, N. Y. He was a soldier during the Revolutionary war. Calvin Brewster, the father of J. C., was born in Canterbury, Windham county, Conn., in 1787, and in 1810 became one of the first settlers in Wayne coun- ty, Ohio. He served with distinction in the war of 1812. In 1850 he removed to Keosau- qua, Van Buren county, Iowa, and engaged in the hotel business. In 1862 he came with his son to California, and was for a time in the hotel business in Sacramento, his death occur- ring in Petaluma, Cal., at the age of eighty-four years. He married Harriet Cramer in 1837, Mrs. Brewster being a native of Strausburg, Lancaster county, Pa., and of Dutch descent. She was the mother of seven children, five of whom are living, and all in California. Mrs. Brewster died in Ventura in 1877.

Until nine years of age J. C. Brewster lived in Wayne county, Ohio, where he was born December 31, 1841. In 1852 he accompanied the family to Iowa, where he studied in the pub- lic schools of Keosauqua, and eventually was graduated from the Benton's Port Academy. Before he was of age he taught two terms of school, and with the money thus acquired took his first lessons in photography in 1860, paying $80 for his six weeks' instruction. He then started in business on a small scale at Leroy, and in May of 1862 started for California in an ox train, arriving in Sacramento October 31, 1862. For a time he taught school in Sacramento, and then engaged with Wymer & Jacobs, large brick manufacturers in Virginia City, Nev., keeping their books at night, and doing other work during the day, for which combination he received double pay. He then bought a half interest in a photographic outfit in Vallejo, but after a few months sold out to his partner, and returned to Sacramento. For a time he had charge of a gallery on Jay street, and in 1864 returned to Virginia City, and assumed charge of the Vance gallery, R. H. Vance, of New York, being the pioneer photographer on the coast. He was later transferred to the Vance gallery at Carson City, and had charge of it un- til the spring of 1865, when he drove a Concord wagon and four mustang ponies to Ruby City, Idaho, and there opened a studio for Sutterly Brothers. His salary was $50 a week, and his board, independent of room, $16 a week. In the employ of the same firmn he opened a studio in Salt Lake City in 1865, where Mr. Sutterly built a gallery, and while it was under construc- tion Mr. Brewster ran a tent studio at Camp Douglas, three miles distant. In the spring of

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1866 they started what proved to be a fine busi- ness in the new gallery, their receipts amount- ing at times to $200 a day. Mr. Brewster then branched out for himself and opened a gallery in Helena, Mont., returning to Salt Lake City in the fall of 1868, where he also ran a gallery with great success. In 1869 he went to White Pine, Nev., and in 1870 to Virginia City, and opened a fine studio on C street. In 1871 he removed to San Francisco, where he worked for William Shew on Kearney street, but from this estab- lishment he was discharged because he refused to work on Sunday. He was then with Bradley & Rulofson, as retoucher, and in 1872 went to San Luis Obispo, where he opened a large stu- dio, removing in April, 1874, to Ventura. Here he opened a studio near the old mission, and in 1875 built a gallery between Oak and Califor- nia streets, which building he removed to the present site on Oak street, making thereto ex- tensive additions in 1877. As heretofore stated, his gallery is equipped with every known de- vice for the successful conduct of the best pos- sible work. In his studio are beautiful pictures of all the old missions, and he has a large col- lection of Indian relics, brought from the Island of San Nicholas, which he visited, and which is eighty miles out in the ocean. He has built a fine residence on Santa Clara street, which is beautifully located in the midst of flowers and shrubs. He has filled many positions of honor in the community, has served as a school trustee, . as treasurer of the Young Men's Christian As- sociation, and has been an honorary member of the Women's Christian Temperance Union. He is a strong advocate of temperance, an elder in the Presbyterian Church for many years, Sunday-school superintendent for as many years, and a leader in the choir. He is a mem- ber of the Board of Trade, and a strong Re- publican.

In 1875 Mr. Brewster married Mrs. Mary Sinclair, née Mary Oberia Hadley, and widow of J. S. Sinclair. Of this union there have been two children, Calvin D., who died when two years old, and Pansy Augusta, who was born in Ventura, August 15, 1880.

MARIE ANTOINETTE NEY. Among the California artists who are helping to perpetuate the historical and picturesque old missions, none is more faithful and consistent in delineation than Marie Antoinette Ney. It is doubtful also if any interesting bit of scenery along the coast has escaped the attention of this wielder of brush and pencil, or if the glories of the moun- tains have found a more persistent and con- scientious friend. So long ago as 1889 Miss Ney chose Pasadena as a fitting field for her ac- tivities, her arrival in the state being preceded by a thorough artistic training, and an asso- ciation with people of high aspirations and keen

appreciation of the beautiful and true. She was born in Vernon, Oneida county, N. Y., and is the youngest of the four daughters and two sons born to Charles and Cassan (McConney) Ney, natives respectively of Oneida county, N. Y., and Connecticut. Her father was connected with a large commission house in New York City, and came of a family long identified with that state, in which the paternal grandfather, Jonathan Ney, also was born. The mother was of Scotch descent, and her death occurred in New York. Of the four children still living, Roenna is a teacher of languages in New York City; Mrs. Phillip Dietrich lives in Pasadena; and Mrs. Wesley Tooke is a resident of Ma- lone, N. Y.

The education of Miss Ney was acquired at Cooper Institute, New York, and her first ar- tistic training at the Art Students League, also of New York. She subsequently taught art in New Jersey and Long Island up to the time of her removal to California in 1889. Before per- manently locating in this state she spent four months on a tour of inspection, and six weeks of that time were spent on Mount Wilson. So charmed was she with the prospects here rep- resented that she returned to the east to dis- pose of her interests, and again in California built a cabin on Mount Wilson, where she spent the summer. Her association with Pasadena was originally accidental, and arose from an ad- vertisement inserted by the principal of schools for an assistant drawing teacher. She was en- gaged for a month on trial, but remained with the school for two years, afterward spending a year in Throop Institute in charge of the drawing and painting department. She then opened a studio in Pasadena, and as a result of her work in her present surroundings has ex- hibited in the Academy of New York City, the National Academy of Design in New York, and the American Water Color Society exhibit. In 1898 Miss Ney visited Europe and traveled and studied in different parts of the continent, and upon her return studied during two winters with the world-renowned William Chase, of New York. She is especially interested in mis- sion pictures, of which she has made a distinct success, her canvases being in demand all over the country. California. and its diversified gifts has no more enthusiastic admirer than Miss Ney, who has traveled along the coast as far as British Columbia, and claims to have found no more inspiring scenery in Switzerland than is to be found in the Rocky Mountains. Each summer she starts out on a sketching tour, and returns laden with material for a win- ter's occupation. Miss Ney is possessed of per- sonal characteristics which have won her many friends in California, all of whom are justly proud of her eminent place in the delightful world of art.

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL. RECORD.

MRS. MARY S. FRYE. The Evanston Inn, one of the most luxurious and home-like of the many abodes at the disposal of the transient public of Pasadena, is indebted for the excel- lence of its management and the beauty of its arrangement to the business ability and artistic appreciation of its owner and proprietor, Mrs. Mary S. Frye. Among the multitude of places in the country where one may revel in Southern California delights none is more widely known or patronized, for here all things combine to satisfy the senses, the mind and the heart. From a small place rented by Mrs. Frye in 1899, the Inn has known a constant succession of en- largements and improvements, and is at present in need of far greater facilities for entertainment. The building is now three stories in height and contains forty rooms, the whole having a front- age of one hundred feet. A fine park adds to the comfort and pleasure of guests, and two cottages in the rear of the hotel are utilized for overflow during the busy season. The arrange- ments and plans are all the work of the genial and popular manager, whose reputation for tact and kindliness is exceeded only by her gratify- ing success.

From a stanch New England ancestry Mrs. Frye inherits shrewd common sense, which, augmented and developed by careful early train- ing, has placed her in a position to adorn and dignify her place. Before her marriage a mem- ber of the Sheldon family of Vermont, Mrs. Frye is a daughter of a Vermont merchant, Otis P. Sheldon, and his wife, formerly Mary Shedd. The father was born in Dorset, Vt., while the mother was born at Windsor, same state, the parental home being at the foot of the Ascutney mountains, on the Connecticut river. Both fam- ilies were for many years identified with Ver- mont, and both claimed among their members those who had shouldered muskets in the co- lonial army during the war of the Revolution. There were but two children born into the Sheldon family, of which Otis P. was the head, the other daughter being Mrs. Skinner, of Cam- bridge, Mass.

At Windsor, Vt., Mrs. Frye attended the pub- lic schools, and when eleven years of age re- moved to Newton, Mass., and graduated from the La Salle Seminary. She then took a course at the Philadelphia Art School, and later re- moved to Chicago, in which city her sister was then living. While in Chicago she was united in marriage with L. B. Frye, a native of Dan- bury, Conn., and the business manager for the Chicago branch of Fuller, Warren & Company, of Troy, N. Y. This position he creditably main- tained for over twenty-three years, and in . the mean time made his home in Evanston, a sub- urb of Chicago, where he lived about twelve years. Mr. Frye retired from active business in 1890, and, owing to impaired health, came to

Pasadena in 1896, his death occurring in this city in October of 1899. To Mr. and Mrs. Frye was born one son, Edward Sheldon, who is liv- ing with his mother. Mrs. Frye is prominent in social circles of Pasadena, and is a member of the Shakspere and other social organizations. In religion she is a Presbyterian, and in political affiliations a Republican.

JOHN B. CUMMINGS. From the time of his removal to Pasadena in 1882 until his death, October 29, 1893, John B. Cummings accept- ably filled his place in the city of his adoption as a carpenter and builder, and an enterprising citizen. He was one of the many men who have settled in this town after a youth and early man- hood spent in Ohio, in which state he was born at Mount Vernon, in 1843. He was educated in the public schools, and at a comparatively early age learned the carpenter's trade, which he fol- lowed with much success in his native state. June 22, 1882, he arrived in Pasadena, and grad- ually made his way among the builders of the town, many important contracts falling to his lot. He was honorable and industrious, and skilled in his chosen work, and while in this city made many friends.

While living at Mount Vernon Mr. Cummings married Elizabeth Toms, daughter of George and Sarah (Wallace) Toms, and granddaughter of William Toms. The family is of English ex- traction, and the father and grandfather camne together to this country, settling on a farm in Knox county, Ohio. The grandfather returned to London, where he died, but his son continued to live in Ohio, where he engaged in building and contracting. He served with distinction in the Civil war, in Company C, Thirty-second Ohio Volunteer Infantry, but he never again saw the family to which he was devoted, for his death occurred at Cheat Mountain, Va. Through his marriage to Sarah Wallace he became identified with a family whose heritage mounts up into the millions, but which property is still tied up in England. The grandfather of Mrs. Cum- mings, Sir Richard Wallace, and his brother, Sir Arthur, were the direct heirs to forty million dollars, but through the failure of Sir Richard to return to England after the death of his brother, Arthur, the disposition of the property has been inadvertently delayed. Mrs. Cummings is the eldest in a family of five sons and two daughters, one of whom, Silas, is proprietor of the Enter- prise Nurscries at Pasadena.

Mrs. Cummings · is an excellent business woman. During the real-estate boom she spec- ulated successfully in property, which she bought, sold and exchanged to advantage. She formerly owned several lots in North Pasadena, besides three hundred and twenty acres of land seven miles from Visalia, in Tulare county. She is very liberal and public spirited, and has

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brightened many lives by unostentatious con- tributions. Mr. and Mrs. Cummings had three children, namely: George E. C., who lives in Pasadena; Lula C., at home; and Queenie, who died January 1, 1899, at the age of seventeen years.

. GEORGE L. STEARNS. In response to an expanding ambition a remote Stearns ancestor left the home of his forefathers in Germany and settled in England during the Norman invasion. At yet a later stage in the family history one equally desirous of improving his chances pursued his occupations and reared his family among the sheltering hills of Wales, from which safe but circumscribed retreat one bearing the name in after years crossed the seas to Amer- ica, settling with other searchers for largeness of opportunity in Massachusetts. Thus began a line of Puritan sires and model matrons, the former of whom have since fought and often died while promulgating the liberty we now en- joy.

The honor and prestige of his family have been well maintained by George L. Stearns, who was born in Amsterdam, Montgomery county, N. Y., January 22, 1833. Ezra Stearns, the paternal grandfather, was born in Massa- chusetts, and in time became one of the pioneer settlers of New York state. Imbued with a sincere patriotism he followed the martial fortunes of Washington during the Revolution- ary war as a minute-man, and was wounded at Bunker Hill. His second brother also was a patriot, and served in the Colonial army during the same struggle for the removal of English oppression. The grandfather was a millwright in Amsterdam, N. Y., and died in the Black River country, whither he had gone to con- struct a mill. His son, Asa, the father of George L., was born in Pittsfield, Mass., and like his sire became a millwright, carrying on extensive milling and furniture manufacturing interests in Amsterdam. Having decided to try his fortunes further west, he located on a farm near Eagle, Waukesha county, Wis., where he died in 1857. Through his marriage to Anna Paddock he be- came allied with a family the most distinguished representative of which was LaFayette, the great Frenchman. Mrs. Stearns was born in New York City just after the landing of the . ship which had brought her parents from France, in which country was born the grand- father Paddock, who became one of the pioneer farmers and millers of the Black River country, New York. Mrs. Stearns, who died in Mich- igan, was the mother of four sons and three daughters, of whom two sons are now living. Of these, Lawton B., who served during the Civil war in the Second Wisconsin Heavy Artillery, is a resident of Cove, Ore., where he is extensively engaged in building.

The necessarily limited educational oppor-

tunities afforded George L. Stearns in Amster- dam, Montgomery county, N. Y., were re- deemed from future disastrous results by his ready wit and commendable thirst for knowl- edge, resulting in individual effort and self in- struction, and eventually gaining for the studi- ous youth a teacher's certificate. As early as eight years of age he shouldered responsi- bility by entering his father's furniture factory, where he learned to work in wood, and also became familiar with machinery and iron work. When twenty-one years of age he began to learn mechanical engineering and structural building in New York state, having finished which he settled in Rockford, Ill., in 1856. There he served as inspector for the Maney Reaper Company's works. Not content with the prospects in the Illinois town he repaired to Eagle, Wis., where he engaged in building mills and bridges, the latter being both public and for the railroads. In Wisconsin he tried to enlist for the Civil war, but was rejected. The same effort in Rockford was attended by the desired results, and he enlisted in Company C. Sixty-seventh Illinois Infantry, and was placed on detached service for four and a half months at Camp Douglas. With this apology for an anticipated war service of large proportions lie was obliged to content himself, and after being mustered out he returned to Wisconsin, and in Appleton engaged in the furniture business. He was the first contracting furniture manufac- turer of the place, but his factory went up in smoke and flame, and proved the first of a series of like disasters which temporarily illuminated the business career of Mr. Stearns. The second destructive blaze happened in Hebron, in the same state, and the third factory to succumb to the elements of destruction blazed away in dis- tinguished company, for on the same night in 1871, Mrs. O'Leary's cow tipped over the most expensive candle in the history of the world, and Chicago was in the throes of the most horrible and persistent of fire fiends. Nevertheless, Mr. Stearns in spite of these unwelcome and dis- couraging hindrances again engaged in the furniture business after locating in Cedar Falls, Iowa, and continued the same with moderate success until removing to Grand Haven, Mich .. in 1874.

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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 118

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