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 123

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

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WILLET BARKER HAZARD. One of the most successful and popular of the hotel men of Pasadena is Willet Barker Hazard, the genial proprietor of the Whittier, a modern and hnely equipped house, advantageously located at No. 165 South Marengo avenue. The pres- ent commodious structure was erected in 1899, as the successor of the old Whittier, established by Mr. Hazard in 1895, at No. 99 South Mar- engo. The lot has a frontage of sixty-six feet, and the building is 66x34 feet floor dimensions, and three stories in height.

Previous to entering the ranks of public dis- pensers of hospitality, Mr. Hazard had a varied business experience in different parts of the east, and for fifteen years tilled the soil and gathered the harvests on a typical Canadian farm. In fact his first impressions of life and work were gathered on the paternal farm in Prince Edward county, Canada, where he was born January 3, 1830, and which had been set- tled by his father, Joseph, in the early pioneer days. The elder Hazard was a member of the Society of Friends, and removed from his nat- ive Orange county, N. Y., to the forest region on the bay of Quinte, Prince Edward county, Canada, seven miles from Picton. He owned four hundred acres of land upon which he spent his middle and latter life, and where he reared a family of ten children, of whom Willet Barker is the second youngest. His wife was formerly Martha Barker, a native of Ontario, and daughter of Edward Barker, one of the pioneer settlers near the bay of Quinte. Mr. Barker was well known around the bay, not only as a farmer, but as a ferryman who piloted people in safety across the bay. He also was a Quaker, and a man of simple, unostentatious manner of living.

For those early days in Canada Mr. Hazard received a common school education, supple- mented by attendance at the Bloomfield Academy, a boarding school. In 1853 he started out on his own responsibility, and in King township, York county, Canada, bought and improved a farm upon which he lived for fifteen years. In 1870 he located in Buffalo, N. Y., and engaged in the wholesale and retail lumber business under the firm name of C. P. Hazard & Brother. The firm were very suc- cessful, purchasing their commodities by the cargo, and re-shipping the same to New York City, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The lum- ber business was disposed of entirely in 1894, as was also the building enterprises which the Hazards had maintained in connection there-

with, and the same year Mr. Hazard removed to Pasadena, drawn hither by the climatic and general inducements. The following year he bought the Whittier, as heretofore stated, and has since been one of the prominent hotel man- agers of this town.

In his native county in Canada Mr. Hazard married Susan E. Noxon, a native of Canada, of which union there have been born five chil- dren, viz .: Mary A., who is now Mrs. Eugene Robinson, of New York state; Lydia E., who is the wife of Mr. Leon Deutch, of Buffalo, N. Y .; Eleanor; Carrie M., and Stevenson who died at the age of nine years. As were his ancestors for many years, Mr. Hazard is a member of the Society of Friends, and is one of the official board of the church. In politics he is a Repub- lican, but has never entered the arena of politi- cal agitation.

L. C. TURNER. In the office of street superintendent of Pasadena, to which he was elected in 1901, Mr. Turner has displayed an energy of disposition and sagacity of judgment that are appreciated by all public-spirited citi- zens, desirous of the promotion of the city's welfare. A noticeable improvement has marked the condition of the streets under his supervi- sion. With an eye keen to discern any needed change, he combines an enterprise and energy in the bringing about of the requisite transform- ation. Since 1890 he has made his home in Pasadena, where he resides at No. 404 Cypress street, and in addition to this place owns several other lots. Some years ago he built a storage barn on Champlain street. His principal occu- pation has been that of contracting for street grading, and most of the streets here have been built under contract by liim. Another enterprise due to his energy was the building of the ditch from Rubio Canon to Eaton Canon.

Walworth, N. Y., is Mr. Turner's native place, and August 23, 1846, the date of his birth. His father, Silas, also a New Yorker by birth, became a stonemason and contractor and helped to build the first brick building in Rochester, N. Y. Besides this occupation, he had charge of a farm that he owned. After eighty-three useful years he passed away in Walworth. By his marriage to Margaret Caldwell, a native of New York, he had four children, namely: Lewis, of Grand Rapids, Mich .; Lucy, wife of W. W. Tuttle, of New York; Edison, a pioneer of Pasa- dena and at one time a councilman, but who was killed by accident about 1887; and Lucian C., of this sketch.

On the completion of a course of study in Hiram (Ohio) College, of which James A. Gar- field was then the principal, L. C. Turner turned his attention to farming, and later was engaged in the meat business for ten years. During 1864 he enlisted in Company H, One Hundred and

a. E. Jesper

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

Fiftieth Ohio National Guard, and served for five months in the Union army, after which he was mustered out at Cleveland, and then took up farm work in Ohio. In that state he re- mained until his removal to California in 1890, and while residing there he married Miss Dora Ethridge, who was born in Auburn, Ohio, and died in Pasadena, Cal., in 1899, leaving three sons, Frank E., Ralph H. and Roy N. She was a daughter of Nathan Ethridge, who was born in Rochester, N. Y., and engaged in building and contracting in Ohio, where he died. Though not a partisan, Mr. Turner is a warm and pro- nounced Republican and unswervingly upholds party principles. The Grand Army of the Re- public and the Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows have his name enrolled among their mem- bers, and in matters of religious faith he is affiliated with the Christian Church.

A. E. VESPER. As manager and proprietor of the largest plumbing concern in Pasadena, A. E. Vesper has been connected with the finest work in this line in the city and county, and undoubtedly has as thorough an understanding of sanitary plumbing as any man on the coast. He has also made a study of heating apparatus, and in this connection has patented and is man- ufacturing one of the most reliable and practical gas machines on the market. So great is the demand for his superior workmanship that he employs twenty-five men during five or six months of the year. He has placed the plumb- ing and heating in the Union Savings Bank building, La Pintoresca Hotel, Pasadena Hos- pital, the Stanton residence on Grace Hill, the Cudahy residence, and innumerable other buildings and private residences. At present he is the contracting plumber for possibly the largest job ever handed to any one individual in the state, viz .: the plumbing for the Potter Hotel, on Burton Mound, Santa Barbara. This hotel alone is to have eight hundred and eighty stationary fixtures in it, and is to be the larg- est, most complete and most sumptuous hotel in California.

Mr. Vesper is a native of Beaver Dam, Wis., where he was born January 17, 1860, a son of Artemas and Sarah A. (Caldwell) Vesper, na- tives respectively of Vermont and Pennsvlva- nia, and the latter a daughter of Samuel Cald- well, a farmer of Pennsylvania. The paternal grandfather, George Lincoln Vesper, was born in England and settled in Vermont, later re- moving to Wisconsin, of which state he was a pioneer. Artemas Vesper had a large stock farm near Rolling Prairie station, Wis., and be- came known all over southern Wisconsin, Iowa. Minnesota, and Nebraska. as a successful and enterprising stockman. He also raised and dealt in Percheron, Norman and English coach

horses, besides all manner of high grade cattle. He was prominent in the state of Wisconsin in a general way, and was a member of the board of supervisors of Dodge county, elected there- to by the Republican contingent, to which he ever acknowledged unswerving allegiance. He was active in the Agriculture Association, and was a member of the United Brethren Church. He died at the age of sixty-seven years, while his wife died when fifty-six years of age. They were the parents of four children, of whom A. E. Vesper is second; Minnie G. is now Mrs. A. H. Cady of Burnett Junction, Dodge county, Wis .; Charles R. is connected with the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad; and Harry L. is living on the old homestead in Dodge county.

Mr. Vesper was reared on the paternal farni in Wisconsin, and was educated in the public schools and Marshall (Wis.) Academy. From carliest youth he displayed marked ingenuity for all things mechanical, and his first independent business venture was as a clerk in a hardware store. Of his father he had learned all about stock dealing in boyhood, and after leaving the clerkship he became active in buying and sell- ing cattle and horses from Appleton to Green Bay, Wis. After a time he removed to Mil- waukee and clerked in the Union stock yards for a year, still later engaging as a telegraphı operator for the northern division of the St. Paul Railroad. He was for a time an operator for the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad, in Minnesota and Dakota, and for two years and a half was operator and agent for the South Dakota Division of the Winona & St. Peter Division. In 1886 he located in Pasadena as trimmer and plumber, in the employ of the Stephens Hardware Company, and under them learned the plumber's trade. When this firm sold their mechanical department to Whiteson & Co., he still continued with them for two more years in the same capacity. In 1890 he bought a third interest in the concern, and in 1896 sold his interest and started the plumbing business of A. E. Vesper, now located at No. 37 West Colorado street.

In Pasadena Mr. Vesper married Sadie A. Gockley, born in Chicago, Ill. They have one son, Howard G., born June 13, 1902. Mr. Ves- per is associated with Pasadena Lodge No. 272, F. & A. M., and the Knights of the Maccabees. He is a charter member of the Merchants' Pro- tective Association, and was one of the organ- izers of the Pasadena branch of the Master Plumbers' Association of California, of which he is president. He has been a member of the state executive board of the Master Plumbers' Association of California for the past six years. As one of the earliest members of the State Association of Plumbers he has been active in forming local branches all over the state, and served as president of the state association for

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one year. Politically he is a Prohibitionist, and fearlessly works for the cause of temperance.

JOHN D. GAYLORD. The talents which Mr. Gaylord evinced as an educator brought him prominence in the realm of pedagogy and, until his retirement from the profession. he ranked among the leading teachers in New England. He was born in Ashford, Windham county, Conn., December 24, 1839, being a son of Horace and Mary (Davis) Gaylord, natives respectively of Connecticut and Rhode Island. The paternal grandfather. Luther Gaylord, de- voted his entire active life to the manufactur- ing of harness and trunks in Connecticut; and the other grandfather, Major John Davis, en- gaged in the hotel business during all of his active life, with the exception of the years of his service as an officer in the Revolutionary war, and during the latter part of his life he lived in retirement at Ashford, Conn.

While agriculture formed the principal occu- pation of Horace Gaylord, his attention was by no means confined to the details of farm work, but embraced a comprehensive knowledge of public affairs and national issues. Among the offices he held were those of selectman and probate judge. He lived to be seventy-five years of age. Being a thorough believer in the advantages of a good education, he ell- deavored to prepare his sons for ·responsible and honored positions in life, and the success they attained cheered and rendered happy his old age. Three, William L., Samuel D. and Charles H., became earnest ministers of the gospel; Horace A. and John D .. entered the educational field as did all their brothers with the exception of Charles H. The oldest, James G., died during the Civil war while he was confined in a southern prison; and the young- est. Edward E., followed the profession of a physician.

The sixth among the sons was John D. Gay- lord. who after graduating from the Ashford Academy served as its principal for six years. A later position was that of principal of the Brooklyn (Conn.) high school. after which he was similarly engaged at Union, Conn., and Mansfield. Conn. Returning from the latter town to his former home in Ashford. he con- tinued teaching, butat the same time had charge of the old homestead of one hundred and fifty acres. In 1870 he settled in Clinton, Conn., thence removed to Cambridge, Mass .. and afterward lived for three years at Wellesley, same state. On coming to California in 1802, he established his home in Pasadena and hought an acre of land here. remodeling the residence at No. 146 Terrace Drive, which has since been his home.

Like all of the members of his family Mr. Gaylord is intensely patriotic. The Civil war

broke out when he was a young man, just en- tering upon life's active duties. Inspired by a desire to serve his country, in 1862 he enlisted in Company D, Twenty-first Connecticut In- fantry, and accompanied his regiment to the front, where, in the office of sergeant, he took part in many of the important engagements fought by the army of the Potomac. Among these was the engagement at Fredericksburg. At the expiration of his term of service, in 1864, he was mustered out at Hartford, Conn., and returned to his home. Since the organiza- tion of the Grand Army of the Republic he has been interested in its workings and has been commander of John F. Godfrey Post. All of his life he has believed in Republican principles, and these he has supported by his ballot and influence. In religion he is of the liberal faith.

In Connecticut Mr. Gaylord married Miss Sarah Kendall, who was born in Ashford, Conn., descended from the founders of the Ashford colony. Her father, Mason S. Ken- dall, spent his entire life at Ashford engaged in farming pursuits, and died there in 1890, aged eighty-three years. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Gaylord have received exceptionally fine educational advantages and are already gaining positions of assured influence in the various fields of activity they have entered. The oldest son, Wallace K., is professor of chem- istry in the Throop Polytechnic Institute, while Harry D. is an instructor in wood carving in the art department of the same institution. Horace A. follows the dental profession in Pasadena, and James M. is an electrical en- gineer of this city. The two youngest, John Clarence and Ruth L., are students in the Polytechnic Institute.

WILLIAM T. CLAPP. As early as 1873 Mr. Clapp came to California, where a year later he took an active part in organizing the Indiana colony, later known as the San Gabriel Orange Growers' Association. January 27, 1874, the twenty-seven incorporators of the company met for the selection of their in- dividual homesteads. Four thousand acres of the San Pascual rancho had been purchased for $25,000, and this tract was divided among the home-seekers. Such was the diversity of soil, location and topography that each of the twenty-seven stockholders secured his chosen homestead, without interfering with that of his neighbor. Water was brought to fifteen hun - dred acres and suitably apportioned among the members. Out of the land thus secured has been evolved the now beautiful city of Pasa- dena, which Dr. Elliott so named from an Al- gonquin word meaning "Crown of the Valley." The first schoolhouse and the first church were built on land owned by Mr. Clapp, and the first school was taught by his daughter, Jennie H.,

Theo E. Schmidt

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in their own home. The land which he ac- quired consisted of sixty acres extending from Arroyo Seco to Fair Oaks avenue, being map- ped out as Division E, and he has since re- tained a portion of the same property, having his residence at No. 625 South Orange Grove avenue. One of the noteworthy facts about the colony was that it was founded on temperance principles, and has remained a prohibition city to the present day.

The ancestors of Mr. Clapp lived in Massa- chusetts. His grandfather, Charles Clapp, a native of Northampton, Mass., engaged in the manufacture of hats during his active life and died in his native town at ninety-three years of age. The maternal grandfather, Simon Hunt- ington, was a farmer in Hinsdale, Mass., where he died at seventy-five years of age. The father, Levi Clapp, was born in Worthington, Mass., in 1796, and learned the hat-manufacturing business in the manner then in vogue, and he afterward carried on a gents' furnishing busi- ness at Worcester, Mass., where he died at sixty years of age. He had married Sarah Hunting- ton, a native of Hinsdale, Mass., and they were the parents of three sons, namely: Lewis H .; A. Huntington, who was officiating as secretary of the Home Missionary Board of the Congre- gational denomination at the time of his death, in New York City, in 1900; and William T., who was born in Worthington, Hampshire county, Mass., January 17, 1821. The last-named re- ceived his education in public schools and academies. At an early age he learned the tanning business and from 1845 to 1868 he owned and operated a tannery in Massa- chusetts; for a time, indeed, he had two plants in active operation. Crossing the continent to California he traveled for several years, then re- turned east, and in 1873 again came to the Pacific coast. With him came his three chil- dren, Frederick Arthur, Jennie Huntington and William Billings, of whom the daughter is now the wife of Rev. F. J. Culver, a Congregational minister residing in Pasadena. His first wife, the mother of these children, was Miss Ophelia Billings, a native of South Deerfield, Mass. After coming to Pasadena he married Mrs. R. E. Burnham, who was born in London, Eng- land, and accompanied her parents to America, settling in New York. By her marriage to Mr. Burnham she had two sons, Fred R. and Howard, the latter being a mining engineer in the gold fields of Johannesberg, Africa, while the former has a wide reputation for his work as an explorer into the unknown wilds of Africa as well as his success in the field of mining en- gineering.

During the existence of the Whig party Mr. Clapp favored its principles and since its dis- integration he has voted, with the Republicans. In religion he is a Congregationalist, while

fraternally he is a Knight Templar Mason of the thirty-second degree.

THEODORE E. SCHMIDT. A singularly appropriate analogy between the past and pres- ent is suggested by the fact that Mr. Schmidt is spending his well-earned retirement in Ana- heim, for in the very early days of the city's immaturity he was a prophet of wise foresight, and even suggested the name, which, translated from the German means, "the home of Ana." As his name implies, Mr. Schmidt is of German ancestry. In his native town of Bielefeldt he was educated in the public schools, and at a comparatively early age embarked in the dry- goods business. This business experience was supplemented by extensive travel in different parts of Europe, principally in France and Spain, after which he enlisted in the German army as a private in the Fifteenth Infantry of fusileers, and for meritorious service was ad- vanced to the grade of lieutenant. After an honorable discharge he came to America in 1848. In the latter part of the same year he started out to cross Texas and Mexico, and at Mazatlan boarded a French sailing vessel which eventually anchored at San Francisco, the en- tire journey having consumed about seven months. As a means of livelihood he went to work in a brickyard, and afterwards became the proprietor of a bakery establishment which he conducted for two years. Later he engaged in the dry goods business. Meantime he became one of the chief promoters of the Los Angeles Vineyard Company, of which he was the first president and leading director. The company bought the tract of land upon which Anaheim is built, and as before stated, the name of the embryo town was the suggestion of Mr. Schmidt. Two years after the purchase of the land, in 1857. he located here and en- gaged in horticulture upon forty acres of land, and continued with fair success until 1871. A desire to visit the land of his birth was the natural outgrowth of his success, and he there- fore spent about a year in Westphalia, and upon returning to New York was accompanied by his brother. In New York City he started a wholesale wine business, his chief object being the marketing of the Anaheim wines, but his stock also included other brands. From a com- paratively modest beginning at the foot of Broadway, on Bowling Green, he was obliged with the increase of trade to remove to more commodious quarters on Warren street, where. under the firm name of the James M. Bell & Co., he managed a thoroughly successful ven- ture for many years.

In 1893 Mr. Schmidt disposed of his New York wine interests and removed to Vineland, N. J., where he purchased fifty-two acres of land and engaged in horticulture. This property is

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still in his possession, although in 1899 he re- turned to California, and has since enjoyed a respite from business cares.

WV. P. BARNES. The earliest recollections of Mr. Barnes are associated with the county of Los Angeles, where he now resides; for, al- though not a Californian by birth, he was brought to the state at two years of age and has witnessed its subsequent growth and de- velopment. During 1868 his parents settled at Azusa, being the ninth family in the valley, and here he has since made his home, having at this writing the only real-estate office in the town. Thoroughly familiar with local values, and pos- sessing indomitable perseverance and patience, he is well adapted for the work in which he is engaged and merits a large degree of success.

In Tarrant county, Tex., Mr. Barnes was born October 25, 1857, being a son of Larkin and Elizabeth (Bohannan) Barnes, natives re- spectively of Kentucky and Alabama. His father removed to Missouri and there met and married Miss Bohannan, who accompanied him to Texas in 1847. Securing a tract of fifteen hundred acres, he became extensively engaged in the raising of cattle, but, not being entirely satisfied with the location, he determined to seek a home on the Pacific coast. Accom- panied by his family, in 1859 he came to Cali- fornia and settled at El Monte, where he bought a ranch of forty acres and another somewhat larger in size. From El Monte in 1868 he moved to Azusa, where he bought one hundred and sixty acres and assisted in de- veloping water. In order to secure irrigation facilities he built a ditch from San Gabriel Canon, which supplies all of the water now used in Azusa. He died in 1884.

After having completed the studies of the common schools W. P. Barnes was for some vears connected with his father in the latter's horticultural undertakings, and also farmed in- dependently for a time. The oncoming of the boom caused him to devote himself exclusively to the buying and selling of real-estate, and during those days of high prices and large de- mand for property he negotiated manv im- portant sales, representing thousands of dollars. His advice was constantly sought in matters pertaining to property values. and strangers in this section soon learned that his judgment was to be relied upon. One of his important transactions was the sale of the Haines tract of one hundred and sixty acres, which brought the seller $46,000. With the cessation of the boom there were naturally many dull days for the real-estate agent, but more recently the rise in values indicates that the cra of steady prosperity has commenced and permanent growth and progress is now assured.

In Los Angeles occurred the marriage of

Mr. Barnes to Miss Blanche Hudson, who was born in Texas and died in California, leaving an only child, Irene. Mrs. Barnes was a daughter of T. H. Hudson, a southerner, who came to California in 1881 and for a time re- sided in Orange county, thence removing to Azusa, where he has since acquired various farming interests.

Fraternally Mr. Barnes is connected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. An ad- herent of the Jacksonian Democracy, he is a worker in his party's behalf and at this writing occupies a position on the county central con- mittee. Besides his home interests, he has out- side matters claiming attention, among theni being the ownership of two miles in Death Valley and one at Searchlight, Nev., the latter having gold and silver ore in paying quantities, while the former contains valuable deposits of lead and antimony respectively.

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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 123

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