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 127

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

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two years. Returning to New York in 1860, he continued his seafaring life. Dur- ing the Civil war he was for two years under Captain Phillips on the steamer Cor- win, United States survey, being paid from the United States treasury, although not an en- listed sailor. In April, 1864, he enlisted in the navy and was assigned to the battleship New Hampshire on its first trip under Commodore Thatcher. Later he was detailed to the Moni- tor Passaic as first-class petty officer, and re- mained in this capacity until May 25, 1865, when he was honorably discharged at Phila- delphia. While on the Corwin he was engaged in gunboat duty on the coast, and on the Pas- saic was principally in the blockade service.

After the close of the war Mr. Gardiner came on the steamship Nevada through the Straits of Magellan to San Francisco and for eighteen months engaged in coasting on the Pacific. Next he secured a position as conductor on the street railway in San Francisco, and from that was promoted to be ticket auditor and then sec- retary of the omnibus railroad, in which he was also a stockholder. When the road was sold he continued with its purchasers for a year as secretary, and then resigned. In 1886 he came to Los Angeles and for some years conducted a dairy business on Grand avenue. A severe illness caused him to come to the hospital of the Soldiers' Home for treatment. On his re- covery he was about to leave, in order to re- sume business pursuits, but just at this junc- ture he was, greatly to his own surprise, tendered an appointment as postmaster, his com- mission dating March 1I, 1892. Under Presi- dent Cleveland he retained the office, and again, under President Mckinley, received another commission. During his incumbency of the position the office has advanced from fourth class, with perquisites amounting to $115 per quarter, to third class, with a salary of $1.500 a year.

While in San Francisco Mr. Gardiner mar- ried Susan McCourt, who was born in Ennis- killen, the chief town of the inland county of Fermanagh, Ulster, Ireland. Of their union there are one son and four daughters, namely: Robert St. John, who lives in San Francisco; Emily Jane, a graduate of the Los Angeles high school and State Normal, and now manager of Mount Tamalpais hotel; Frances Cora, who is in Los Angeles; Elizabeth, a graduate of the Los Angeles State Normal, now employed as a telegraph operator in that city; and Margaret, who resides with her mother at Los Angeles. The family are of the Episcopalian belief. The Republican party has received the stanch sup- port of Mr. Gardiner ever since he has had the privilege of voting, and his support of its prin- ciples has been enthusiastic and firm. On the organization of the Uncle Sam Post, G. A. R.,

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at Soldiers' Home, he became one of its char- ter members, and still continues active in its work. Fraternally he is connected with the Ancient Order of United Workmen and E. Gale Lodge, F. & A. M., in which he was made a Mason.

CAPT. M. J. DANIELS. Captain Daniels is intimately associated with a number of enter- prises that have promoted the progress of Riverside and the development of its principal industry, the raising of citrus fruit. His name is particularly associated with the Orange Growers Bank and its successor, the Riverside National Bank, the former organized in 1890, with himself as president; and the latter ac- quired, by consolidation, in 1895. He has served continuously as president of the institu- tion, and its high standing as a financial con- cern is largely due to his sagacious manage- ment and oversight. The capital stock of the bank is $250,000, with a paid-in capital of $100,000. Throughout the entire period of its history, it has maintained a reputation for a conservative spirit in investments, combined with enterprise and the highest type of com- mercial honor.

Since the organization of the Riverside Fruit Exchange, Captain Daniels has been one of its chief executive officers, and is, as president, honored with the confidence and respect of all members of the association. As one of the largest orange growers of this vicinity, his name is one of weight among horticulturists. Some years ago he purchased fifty acres in the frostless belt, above Highgrove, the same form- ing a part of the Vivianda tract, and this he has developed and still owns. He is also interested in the Chase Nursery Company, which owns one hundred and sixty acres, planted to cranges, in the Victoria Hill tract; this, with- out doubt, will in time become one of the most valuable tracts of fruit land in Southern Cali- fornia. Since 1893 he has acted as a director of the Riverside Water Company, and at this writing officiates as its vice-president.

Both in his old home state of Minnesota and since coming to California, Captain Daniels has been an active participant in public affairs. As successor to his father, he was elected to the state senate of Minnesota in 1882, and his ser- vice proved so satisfactory to his constituents that, at the expiration of his term, in 1886, they re-elected him to the office. During the eight years of his service in the senate, he assisted in securing the election, as United States senators from Minnesota, of William Windham, Cush- man K. Davis and E. B. Washburne. While a member of the senate, he introduced a high license bill, which was passed and is still a part of the state statutes, it being considered one of the most practical temperance regulations ever

enacted in any state, as it rids the large cities of hundreds of grog shops. For six years he was president of the state lunacy board of Minne- sota.

During the period of his residence in River- side, Captain Daniels has supported public measures of undoubted value to the people of his vicinity and state. At the time of the ex- citement over the Dingley tariff bill, in 1897, he was sent to Washington, by the fruit grow- ers here, in order to look after the interests of the horticulturists of California. As chairman of the committee from this state, he was en- trusted with great responsibilities, but proved himself worthy of the high trust reposed in him. To him may be given credit for the im- position of a tariff of one cent a pound on im- ported citrus fruits, which has been the salvation of the industry in the west. When the Jamaica reciprocity treaty was under con- sideration, the tariff committee of the state, realizing that it would work great injury to the fruit industry in our own country, sent him to Washington, where his efforts succeeded in preventing its ratification.

REV. ISHAM FUQUA. Before the rail- road had been built to span the continent from ocean to ocean, Mr. Fuqua and his family came to California, traveling from Texas along the southern route and arriving in Los Angeles in 1853, after a journey of six months. To those of the present generation accustomed to swift trips in palace cars furnished with every lux- ury, it is impossible to comprehend the hard- ships attending those overland journeys. When this family started they were equipped with six yoke of oxen, two cows and a large supply of provisions, but the Indians stole their oxen while they were crossing the desert, and they had but little left when they arrived at the end of their weary journey.

While his life in California was one of self- sacrificing devotion to the welfare of others, Mr. Fuqua was prepared for such work by pre- vious training. His whole life, indeed, was one of self-denial. Born in Virginia, reared prin- cipally in Tennessee, carly inured to the hard task of clearing and improving farm lands, he gave himself further to helpful work by enter- ing the local ministry of the Baptist Church. For ministerial work he was well equipped. His disposition was noble, his character above re- proach, his education better than was custom- ary in those days, and his command of lan- guage and fluency of speech noteworthy. The good that lie accomplished by his missionary work it would be impossible to estimate; only eternity can reveal this. Feeling that he might secure success in the newer country of Texas he removed there and settled on a farm near Paris, it being his intention to give up minis-

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terial work. He then brought his family to California and settled ten miles from Los An- geles, where he resumed preaching. Various towns had the benefit of his faithful service, and through his instrumentality Baptist con- gregations were organized in places where pre- viously no cffort at concentrated religious ef- fort had been made. Although he purchased a farm he had but little time to manage it; con- sequently his wife and children assumed the management of the land. When his health failed under the pressure of his heavy responsibilities, he removed to Pomona in 1889, purchased prop- erty, built a business block and a residence, and was prepared to spend a tranquil old age in this land of sunshine when, in 1890, he was called from earth, at the age of seventy-five years.

In 1851 Mr. Fuqua married Mrs. Johanna (Hathaway) Cross, who was born in Kentucky, reared in Missouri, and educated principally in St. Louis. When eighteen years of age she be- came the wife of William L. Cross, who died Icaving one son, Thomas J. Cross. A few years later she was married to Mr. Fuqua, by whom she had the following children: Dora, Mrs. Thurman, of Pomona; John, a farmer; Mary, Mrs. Vine, of Los Angeles; Susan, de- ceased; Benjamin, who lives in Arizona; Jo- seph, a farmer near Pomona; Serena, Mrs. Hid- den, of Los Angeles; and William Jepthie, of Lemon, Cal. Notwithstanding the care of rear- ing a large family, added to the difficulties of frontier life and the self-sacrificing work of a pioneer minister's wife, Mrs. Fuqua bears her years gracefully, and retains much of the ac- tivity of middle age, a fact which may be partly attributed to her habit of always casting off her burdens and keeping young, and therein lies a lesson for all.

A. FRY. Many of the substantial and satis- factory plastering contracts in the city of Los Angeles testify to the skill and conscientious application of A. Fry, one of the expert workers in his line in Southern California. The family of which Mr. Fry is a member has for many years been associated with Bristol, England, where he was born December 13, 1858, a son of Thomas and Ann (Shortman) Fry, the latter a native of Bristol, and a daughter of John Short- man, one of the city officials of the English city. The paternal grandfather, Abraham Fry, proved a splendid architect of his own fortunes, for, from the lowly position of tow boy on the .Avon river, he rose to be captain of a boat and eventually part owner of a line of boats plying between Bristol and London. His son, Thomas, the father of A. Fry, was a market gardener near Bristol, and had a family of five children, two of whom are living, both in America. Of these, Simon, also a contractor, is living in Westerly, R. I.

It was fortunate that A. Fry was gifted with push and ambition; for his father's circum- stances did not permit of many advantages for his children, and up to the age of twelve years he had received but six months of schooling. At that early age he began to look out for him- self by working at the plasterer's trade, and started in as scaffold boy, working his way up through the five years of his apprenticeship, begun when sixteen years of age. At twenty- one he had qualified for the most expert work, and afterward followed the trade for three years in Bristol.

In 1879 Mr. Fry came to America and worked for a time in Chicago, eventually traveling south, and again north, from the Gulf to Can- ada. He also visited the west and middle west in search of a desirable location, and finally landed in Kansas City, Mo., where he found a position as contractor during the great boom of that city. He then went to Spokane, Wash., and in 1890 to Salt Lake City, finally bringing up in Portland, Ore. Not exactly satisfied with the prospects in any of these places, he repaired to San Francisco and remained a year. In 1893 he came to Los Angeles, which has since been his home. He has had some of the finest and most desirable contract work in the city, in- cluding the Christian Science Church and Shir- ley's residence, on Park View and Seventh street, and has worked up a large and appre- ciative trade. In addition to his other respon- sibilities he lias been doing the contract plas- tering, cement and brick work for the Santa Fe Railroad Company, on their road between Bakersfield and Seligman. Outside of the city also there has been a demand for his substan- tial and reliable work, and at Needles he built the smelter for the Needles Smelting Company. Mr. Fry is public spirited in his attitude toward general affairs in Los Angeles, and his prac- tical assistance may be counted on in an emer- gency touching the good of the community. He is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias in Chicago, and is a charter member of the Los Angeles Master Plasterers' Association, of which he has been financial secretary.

CHARLES S. GILBERT. Though by oc- cupation a telegraph operator, Mr. Gilbert is now giving his attention to the duties of his positions as constable of Pomona and deputy sheriff of San José township, which offices he has filled with satisfaction to all. He is of east- ern birth and lineage, born in Butler county, Ohio, in 1864, and there passed the years of boyhood and youth, completing his education in the high school. At an early age he began to learn telegraphy and as soon as he had mas- tered the science he secured employment as an operator. For eight years he was employed along the line of the Cincinnati, Hamilton &

A While. John

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Dayton Railroad, after which he was for five years in the employ of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad Company. In 1887 he was assigned to the station at Lordsburg, Los An- geles county, where he remained until 1892.

Having during his residence at Lordsburg become delighted with the beautiful valley of Pomona, Mr. Gilbert decided to remain here permanently. Accordingly he resigned his po- sition as operator and at once began to identify himself with local affairs. Soon he was elected deputy sheriff and constable by the Republican party and these positions lie has since heid, by successive re-elections. It is his aim to discharge every duty in an exact and conscientious man- ner, and to uphold and sustain the law in all its workings. It is the testimony of the people that he is a fearless and capable officer. In the various places where he has lived it has been nis custom to identify himself with certain fra- ternal organizations, and we find him active in the Independent Order of Foresters, in which he is now financial secretary and past chief ranger. Besides being past grand of the lodge of Odd Fellows, he is a member of the en- campment and the Rebekahs, in the latter of which his wife is an active worker. In 1891 he was united in marriage with Miss Sadie Kid- son, who was born in Boston, Mass., and they have one son, P. Howard Gilbert.

JOHN A. WHITE. Overlooking the beauti- ful Santa Clara valley and the towns of Oxnard and Hueneme, and affording a charming view of the ocean, stands the homestead of Mr. White, who in the selection of this ideal spot for a loca- tion was guided not alone by the beauty of sur- roundings, but also by the adaptability of the soil for the raising of certain products. His ranch comprises three hundred and eighty-five acres in Aliso Canon, Ventura county, and is under cultivation to beans, barley and several varieties of fruit. A number of fine horses may also be seen on the ranch, for the owner is a lover of live stock and has been successful in raising the same.

A pioneer of 1850 in California, Mr. White was born in Canterbury, Windham county, Conn., February 19, 1827. His father, Rev. George S. White, a native of Bath, England, born April 12, 1784, came to America in 1810 and established his home in Freeport, R. I. Having previously entered the ministry of the Church of England. he now became identified with pastoral work in

the Episcopal denomination, holding pastorates both in Boston and Brooklyn. During the last twenty years of his useful existence he lived, retired from ministerial labors, in Canterbury, Conn., where he died in 1852. aged sixty-eight vears. Before leaving England he married Miss Warmsley, who was born in Kent in 1785 and (lied in Connecticut, March 27, 1867. They were

the parents of nine children, but John A. is the sole survivor. One of their grandsons, James White, is a leading publisher of New York City. A distinguished member of the same family was Dr. Andrew. J. White, for many years a resi- dent of New York City. While visiting in Lon- don, England, in 1898, his death occurred; the body was brought back to New York for inter- ment. A man of charitable disposition, keenly interested in educational and philanthropic ef- forts, he was a generous contributor to many of these movements, and is particularly remembered owing to his contribution of $150.000 to Yale College as an endowment.

The grammar and high schools of his native county furnished John A. White with fair edu- cational advantages, which have since been sup- plemented by habits of close observation and thoughtful reading. When he reached manhood California was the theme of many conversations by firesides of evenings, and many a boy, as he followed his plow all through the long day, dreamed dreams of the fortunes to be made in that far El Dorado. Led by the impulse which drew so many Argonauts westward, he bade farewell to home and friends at the age of twenty-three and started via the Isthmus of Panama for San Francisco, where he landed September 22, 1850. Going at once to the mines at Mokelumne Hill he worked there for two · years, after which he returned to San Francisco and began to handle live stock with James M. Tice, under the firm name of Tice & White. To facilitate the raising of stock they secured a ranch at the mouth of the San Joaquin river near Antioch, the property being known as the New York ranch. There they kept several thousand head of sheep, hogs and cattle, and, in connec- tion with the feeding and selling of stock, they also engaged in the hutchering business. The partnership was dissolved in 1858, after which Mr. White traded in stock for many years, mean- time making San Francisco his headquarters. In 1884 he returned to Connecticut to visit the friends of days gone by, and, on leaving again. settled in Bexar county, Tex., thirty miles from San Antonio, where he carried on a general stock business. In addition, he raised sheep on the Staked Plains. Selling out in 1891, he came to Southern California, since which time he has made his home on his present ranch, in Ventura county, and has given his attention to the de- velopment and improvement of the property.

Only a pioneer can appreciate the many ex- periences which fell to the lot of Mr. White dur- ing the '50s in California. The business in which he engaged, that of stock-raising, was one of great difficulty by reason of the scarcity of water, the high price of feed, the non-depen- dence of the ranges, and the presence in the state of a lawless clement always to be found in a new mining country. His travels with stock

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took him all over the western country, through Utah, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas and Ari- zona. During the Civil war he took contracts to furnish the government with horses and mules for cavalry and transportation service. Ever since he became a voter he has been a believer in Republican doctrines and has been warmly interested in politics, although at no time has he desired the honors of office for himself.

In 1866 Mr. White was united in marriage with a sister of J. R. Willoughby, whose sketch appears elsewhere in this work. Two daugh- ters were born of their union. The older, Mary W., is the wife of Major Ogden Rafferty, U. S. A., now stationed in the Philippines, where his wife has joined him. The younger, Phoebe Lu- cretia, married O. T. Fitzpatrick and has three children, Olivia, John and Mary. The family reside in Ventura county, where Mr. Fitzpat- rick owns important interests. He is a native of Ireland and a son of Rev. Fitzpatrick, of the Episcopal Church, and Lady Olivia Fitzpatrick.

S. TUSTON ELDRIDGE. Los Angeles is indebted for some of her substantial buildings to S. T. Eldridge, who has been identified with the building interests of the city since 1883. He was born in Philadelphia, Pa., February 27, 1860, a son of S. Tuston and Ruth Ann (Pierce) Eldridge, natives respectively of Bucks county, Pa., and Dover, Del. The grandfather, Jacob, was born in England and was an early settler in Bucks county, where he remained on a farm until his death. S. Tuston, Sr., was reared on the home farm and became a hardware mer- chant in Philadelphia, where for thirty years he conducted business near the corner of Pine and Second streets. On selling his hardware business, he turned his attention to insurance, and continued to make his home in the Quaker City until he died. He was a stanch Republi- can, fraternally was an Odd Fellow, and in re- ligion affiliated with the Presbyterian Church. Of his five children, four are living, S. Tuston, Jr., being the youngest and the only one in California. He graduated from the Philadel- phia high school, and at the age of seventeen began to learn the carpenter's trade in Phila- delphia, completing the same at Camden, N. J.

During 1880 Mr. Eldridge settled at Albu- querque, N. M., which was at that time the ter- minus of the Santa Fe Railroad. In November of 1883 he settled in Los Angeles, where he was at first a foreman with W. O. Burr, and from 1898 to 1901 was a general contractor. August 1, 1901, he formed a partnership with John B. Dawson, in the contracting and build- ing business, under the firm name of Dawson & Eldridge. The firm have had, among other contracts, the following: Twentieth street school, Normal school addition, Los Angeles Railroad shops, First Congregational Church on

Hope street, residence of H. Higgins on Wilt- shire Boulevard and Rampart street, and the new car barns for the Pacific Electric Railroad Company, two hundred and sixty-four feet square, and located on the corner of Seventh street and Central avenue. While in the employ of Mr. Burr, Mr. Eldridge was foreman on the Van Nuys Hotel and several large buildings on Main street. While foreman for Mr. Dewar he built Los Angeles Railroad barn No. 1, 550XIIO feet, and remodeled the People's Store.

In Los Angeles Mr. Eldridge married Ada L. Vosburg, who was born in South Lee, Mass. He was made a Mason in Albuquerque, N. M., in 1882, and is now a member of Pentalpha Lodge No. 202, of Los Angeles, Cal .; also the Fraternal Brotherhood. In national politics he votes with the Republicans. The Builders' Ex- change and Modern Building Association num- ber him among their members. He has added to the prosperity of Los Angeles both by his skill as a builder and by his business career of noticeable worth and uprightness.

FRANK GARCELON, M. D. This popular physician of Pomiona descends from an old eastern family long resident in Maine, and in Androscoggin county, that state, he was born in 1848, a son of Harris Garcelon. When a boy he was given the best educational advantages that the state afforded, and, realizing the price- less value of a good education, he availed him- self to the utmost of the opportunities offered him in Lewiston Falls Academy, Edward Little Institute and Bowdoin College. After having graduated in medicine in 1870, he opened an office at Livermore Falls. To a man of his am- bitious temperament it is impossible to cease study with the close of college life, so we find lıim a constant and thoughtful student of medi- cal journals, an interested witness of important surgical operations, and a quick appropriator to himself of such new remedial agencies as come to his knowledge.

With a desire to identify himself with the west, in 1880 Dr. Garcelon settled in Abilene, Kans., where he built up a profitable and ex- tensive practice. However, the constant re- minders concerning the splendid climate of Cal- ifornia and particularly of Pomona, from letters written by Dr. Brown, a former medical sttt- dent under him, and later a practicing physician of Pomona, did much toward calling his atten- tion to the attractions of life near the Pacific ocean. In order to avail himself of the climatic advantages of Pomona, he relinquished a large practice in Kansas and came to this place, where for a year he practiced with Dr. Brown, but has since been alone. Besides the man- agement of his private practice, which has as- sumed gratifying proportions, he has served ac- ceptably for six years as health officer of the

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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 127

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