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 131

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

USA > California > 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 131

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Various professional organizations have en- rolled Dr. Werner's name as a member, includ- ing the American Medical Association, Philadel- phia County Medical Society, Philadelphia Ob- stetrical Society, Philadelphia Neurological Soci- ety, Alumni Association of the Woman's Medical College, and the Los Angeles County and Cali- fornia Medical Associations. While in the midst of a successful career in Philadelphia, the de- mands made upon her professional services dur- ing the intense heat of summer seriously af- fected her health, and, after having been over- come by the heat three successive summers, in 1899 she removed to Los Angeles, where she established her office in the Laughlin building. In addition to her private practice, she became chief of the children's clinic in the Medical Col- lege of Southern California. After a time she came to San Diego, whose climate has given her the much needed impetus toward permanent re- covery. Though the period of her residence in California has been comparatively brief, the ca- reer upon which she has entered here will un- doubtedly be worthy of the prestige established in Philadelphia among the gifted professional workers of that city. Her attention being closely given to professional duties, she has little leisure for participation in movements of a local nature or for attendance upon social functions, and, aside from her membership in the Lutheran Church and in the United Moderns and Frater- nal Brotherhood, she has not been intimately identified with activities along a line not strictly professional, but devotes her time and thought and energies to the attainment of that profes- sional skill and success which is the ambition of every aspiring physician.

CHARLES H. FRAZIER. In the list of en- ergetic and resourceful men who have been at- tracted to California, especial mention should be made of Charles H. Frazier, who came to Orange in 1875, bought a twenty-acre ranch and began the improvement of the same. From that time till the present he has resided here and is to-day one of the most prominent citizens of the place. He is well known and highly re- spected by all who know him, and has proved himself to be progressive and public spirited. and ready to assist in any work for the better-

albert morton

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD

ment of mankind and the upbuilding of the city. Being one of the pioneer settlers of this locality, he has watched and aided its growth from a primitive condition to its present high state of perfection. The principal product of his ranch is oranges. He has planted his own trees and developed his place until it has become one of the finest ranches in the county.

ALBERT MORTON. At Summerland, sit- uated six miles from Santa Barbara, on a portion of the old Ortega rancho, between the sea and the Santa Ynez mountains, are collected together a peaceful gathering of citizens of varied occupa- tions and inclinations, constituting one of the pleasantest and most satisfactory communities in this part of the county. Here, in practical re- tirement from the strenuous business activities which have fallen to his lot, resides Albert Mor- ton, who can justly claim recognition for having creditably taken his part upon the stage of life, and earned the right to henceforth pass his days in the fragrant air and under the cloudless skies of his Southern California home.

Few in these United States can claim an an- cestry more intimately interwoven with the early history of America, or more directly connected with the memorable expedition, immortalized in history as the voyage of the Mayflower. An Englishman, George Morton, emigrated from his native land in 1623, having previously been the agent for the Pilgrims in London, and the chief factor in fitting up the Mayflower for its hazard- ous journey in search of liberty in thought and action. The first son of George Morton, Na- thaniel by name, was the famous historian of the Pilgrim colony. The grandmother, Morton, was descended from John Alden, Priscilla Mullens and Alexander Standish, and another Morton, Marcus, a cousin of the father of Albert Morton, was governor of Massachusetts, his son being at the present time a chief justice of that state.

A native of Dixfield, Me., Albert Morton was born September 17, 1832, a son of Cornelius B. and Adeline (Partridge) Morton, the father having been born in Middleboro, Mass. On the maternal side, the Partridge family are well known in Massachusetts, and were early settlers in Amesbury, of that state. The education of Al- bert Morton was acquired at the public schools of Augusta, Me., supplemented by the classical course at Monmouth Academy. At the age of nineteen he came west to Illinois and Wisconsin, and remained for twelve years in Chicago and Milwaukee, as bookkeeper and clerk for the su- perintendent of the La Crosse & Milwaukee Rail- road. During this time he spent one year in Cal- ifornia, and became impressed with the manifold advantages to be found here. In 1864 he located at Webster, Worcester county, Mass., and was financial agent for the Stevens Linen Works. the largest linen manufacturing establishment in

the United States. That position he held until 1869. In 1872 he removed with his family to San Francisco, where he lived for twenty years. During the greater part of his residence in the sea coast town he was interested in promoting the cause of spiritualism, and in furtherance of his object held meetings in the Metropolitan Temple for three and a half years. For a year he also published a magazine devoted to the prop- agation of his belief. For the same length of time he managed the financial affairs of H. L. Wil- liams, the owner of the one thousand and fifty acres comprising the Ortega rancho, who, after the subsidence of the boom of 1886-88, laid out one hundred and sixty acres in town lots, and by judicious advertising collected together a colony of citizens of spiritualistic belief, the place now known as Summerland.

Owing to somewhat impaired health Mr. Mor- ton removed to Summerland in 1890, since which time he has enjoyed a well earned rest. He married in 1854, in Chicago, a Miss Brown, and of this union there are two children. In 1871 Mr. Morton married Mrs. Littlejohn. He be- came a Mason in 1866, at Webster, Mass., and was raised to the Royal Arch Chapter there. Po- litically he is a Republican, and held the appoint- ment offices of justice in Massachusetts, and of notary in Wisconsin.

ASA COBB was a notable addition to the suc- cessful horticulturists whose lives have been brought to a close amid the ideal surroundings of Southern California. He came to West Orange in February of 1893, and died November 7, 1897. The different sections of country in which he was at times located profited by his honesty of purpose. A native of Kentucky, Mr. Cobb was born April 29, 1819, and during his youth removed with frequency to different parts of the middle west. As a small boy he was taken by his parents to Indiana, and later to Keokuk, Iowa, where he grew to manhood and married Mary Samuels. From Keokuk he removed to Taylor county, Iowa, where he resided for sev- eral years, and during 1865 settled in Andrew county, Mo., which continued to be his residence until he came to California. In West Orange he purchased ten and a half acres of land; this was improved to apricots, walnuts, and other fruits, and in time became the fine home property upon which his family now reside.

HON. N. P. CONREY. Though only in the prime of life, N. P. Conrey, prominent in the ranks of the Los Angeles bar, has won distinc- tion. Frequently he has given the public evi- dence of his ability and earnest desire to pro- mote the interests of the community in which he dwells, and this led, in 1898 and 1899, to his election to the state legislature, where he ful- filled the expectations of his numerous friends.

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

In February, 1884, he established an office and commenced the practice of law in Los Angeles, and during the years of 1886 and 1887 he main- tained a branch office at Pasadena. He took part in the organization of that city as a cor- poration, and was honored by election to the office of city attorney. In connection with the movement in the direction of establishing local option in that city he prepared the prohibition ordinance, which was successfully established in the courts, and having stood the test of trial in the supreme court of California, set at rest the question, then in doubt, as to the legality of a city's rights in the matter of local option. Mr. Conrey has always taken an active part in public movenients and has been especially interested in the cause of education. During his service as a member of the Los Angeles school board, in 1897 and 1898, he cast his influence on the side of progress, and contributed toward some needed reforms. Fraternally he is a Knight Templar Mason.

WILLIAM S. BARTLETT. The year 1881 found Mr. Bartlett in Southern California. After less than a year in Los Angeles he went to Santa Ana, Orange county, and there organized the Commercial Bank, of which he was the cashier and manager for a number of years, and in which he is still a director. In 1883 he or- ganized the Bank of Orange, and also the Bank of Tustin, in the latter of which he is'yet a direc- tor. Besides assisting in the organization of these institutions namcd, he was connected with the founding of the Orange County Abstract Company, the Santa Ana Improvement Com- pany, the Santa Ana Gas & Electric Light Com- pany, the Santa Ana Development Company, the Santa Ana Strect Railway Company, the Main Street Investment Company of Los Angeles, etc. He also acts as local representative for the Bank of California (San Francisco), and for many non-resident capitalists and property own- ers, and as acting executor of the Vanderlip es- tate, in Orange county. Under special appoint- ment, during 1893-94, he acted as agent for the stockholders in the final liquidation of the affairs of the Southern California Insurance Company of Los Angeles. He also liquidated the affairs of the Bank of Anaheim, as the representative of the state board of bank commissioners.

On his removal to Los Angeles, in 1898, Mr. Bartlett became identified with the Union Bank of Savings as its president; and with the Secu- rity Loan & Trust Company as its vice-president and general manager; while at the same time he continues to have charge of large landed in- terests in Orange and San Diego counties, this state; in Coconino county, Ariz., and in Nye county, Nev. He has also long been connected with the Olive Milling Company, Orange county, and is local director in Los Angeles of

the Fidelity and Deposit Company of Maryland (Baltimore, Md.).

F. A. WORTHLEY, the superintendent of the electric light department of Riverside, was born in Oxford county, Me., April 10. 1865. and passed his boyhood happily in country pur- suits. Having completed his high school course he decided to give his attention to some kind of mechanics. Going to Lewiston, Me., he mastered the trade of a millwright and machinist. and in February, 1887, came to California, and was employed as an engineer by the San Bernardino Electric Light & Power Company. The plant was situated in the old Kiel mill at first and later was removed to Citrus, now known as Highgrove. Having superintended that change, Mr. Worthley came to Riverside and built a plant here, obtaining power from the Riverside Water Company, and furnished light to this city, Colton and San Bernardino. After acting in the capacity of engineer here for some six years he resigned, and during the following three years was assistant engineer of the electric light plant at Redlands, the first one operated there and run by water-power.

Returning to the scenes and friends of his youth, F. A. Worthley spent several months in the east, but in 1896 crossed the continent for the third time, and became superintendent of the electric light department of Riverside. In 1900 he directed the building of the new and finely equipped modern works of Riverside. This is a steam-power plant of 600 horse-power and steam engines, the capacity of the old and new plants together being 90 arc lights and 10,000 incandescent lights. About 300 horse- power motors (sixty-five all told) are distributed over the city, and the electric street car lines are furnished with power. The steam-plant has engines of Nordburg manufacture, and the boilers are of Stirling make. The Tracy Engi- neering Company of San Francisco contracted for and put in the steam-power plant, and the electrical equipment was under the management of the General Electric Company, of Schenec- tady, N. Y. The location is central, being at the corner of Ninth and Mulberry streets, and the building is 66x142 feet in dimensions.

GEORGE M. PEARSON. None of the county officials of Riverside county is more pop- ular than George M. Pearson. Coming to this locality at the organization of the county, he was soon nominated for the important position he occupies, that of county surveyor and civil engineer; in April of the same year (1893) was elected, and in the fall of the following year was re-elected. Again, in 1898, he was a candidate for tlic office, on the Republican ticket, as before, and was duly elected, his term to extend until January, 1903.

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

George M. Pearson was born in 1867 and is next to the oldest in a family comprising six children. Until he was in his fifteenth year he lived quietly at Springdale, Iowa, his birthplace, and then went to Westtown (Pa.) College, where he pursued a classical course. He then studied civil engineering and when fully equipped for his future work came to California. In 1887 he settled at Wildomar, where he was employed on irrigation canals and government contracts, also doing sonie surveying in the Temescal moun- tains. His labors being completed about the time of Riverside county's formation, he became thoroughly identified with public affairs here, and always has maintained genuine interest in its development. At present he is serving as United States deputy mineral surveyor and is civil engineer of the Florida Water Company and assistant engineer of the San Jacinto & Pleasant Valley irrigation district.

GEORGE R. THAYER. As early as 1876 Mr. Thayer became interested in Riverside property and, in conjunction with E. D. C. Derby. bought twenty acres at $40 an acre, the tract lying on Magnolia avenue. This he set out in oranges and other fruits and, after estab- lishing his home on the place in 1879, he carried forward the work of improvement with great zeal. On the ten acres which he reserved for himself he built a small residence, and in 1887 sold the property for $13,500. Afterward he en- gaged in the manufacture of carriages and the sale of farm implements, having his place of busi- ness on Eighth street. In time he received into partnership William L. Peters, the firm title be- coming Thayer & Peters. In addition to the store at this point, the firm established stores in San Bernardino and Redlands, and in the three towns had the largest implement and carriage house there. The business was bought in its entirety by Mr. Peters in 1891, and Mr. Thayer then resumed ranching, in which he has since engaged, owning twenty acres on Hermosa ave- nue, Cucamonga, San Bernardino county, where he has eight acres in oranges and eight acres in lemons, the whole forming a very valuable and thrifty orchard. The lemons are cured in a large house he built for that purpose, and every facility has been provided for the prosecution of the business.

The Southern California Fruit Exchange numbers Mr. Thayer among its members, also the Cucamonga Fruit Association, of which he is a director. For years he was a director of the Lemon Growers' Association at Ontario, of which he was a charter member and to which he still belongs. After the organization of the Hermosa Water Company he was chosen on the board of directors, of which he is still a member. Since 1899 he has acted as president of the company. At this writing there are nineteen

hundred and twenty shares in the company, which has a fine water system, securing an abundance of water from Deer Cañon by means of eleven miles of pipe line, which irrigates six hundred acres of land.

ELLIOTT HINMAN. As president of the board of trustees of Pomona, Mr. Hinman oc- cupied a position affording especial opportuni- ties for a man of progressive spirit. That he availed himself of these opportunities is known to every citizen of his town. In April, 1896, he was elected a member of the board for four years, and in January, 1899, became president, which position he filled with characteristic abil- ity. Though for some years he has been active in political affairs, he has never sought office for himself, and his election as trustee was a tribute to his recognized ability.

It is thought that the Hinman family origi- nated in England. Mr. Hinman was born in Henry county, Ill., August 31, 1853, a son of R. N. and Elizabeth (Miller) Hinman, natives of Connecticut. The schools of Cambridge af- forded him fair advantages. On reaching his majority he became interested in a retail lumber business at Cambridge. Beginning on a small scale, lie gradually increased the business and enlarged his trade until he was one of the most substantial business men of the town. For twenty years he carried on a lumber business, and during the last four years of the time he also engaged in buying and shipping grain. While in Cambridge he was a member of the board of village trustees for some years, and a stockholder and director in the First National and the Farmers' National Bank, in both of which he is still a stockholder.

The responsibilities connected with the man- agement of a large business and the injurious effects of a changeable climate finally began to impair Mr. Hinman's health. Feeling the im- perative necessity of a radical change, he decided to dispose of his business interests in Illinois and settle in California, and since 1893 he has made his home in Pomona.

J. E. LONGACRE. A leading industry of Moneta is the raising of strawberries, and Mr. Longacre is among the most successful work- ers in this occupation. He was born in Tennes- see July 3, 1840, being a son of Joseph A. and Mary (Edwards) Longacre, also natives of Ten- nessee, where the father, a farmer by calling, died at seventy-four years of age. The paternal grandfather, Arson Longacre, was born in the Shenandoah valley of Virginia, and at twenty- one years of age settled in Tennessee, where eventually he acquired the ownership of four hundred acres. Besides carrying on his planta- tion he engaged in surveying to some extent. The maternal grandfather, Rev. Joshua Ed-

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

wards, was born in the south, and became a preacher in the Baptist Church, but for a liveli- liood depended principally upon the results of his toil as a farmer on his tract of four hundred acres.

In a family of seven daughters and two sons, J. E. Longacre was the fourth in order of birth. When a boy he attended the public schools, but at an early age left school to devote himself to mercantile enterprises, and for three years he carried on a store of his own in Tennessee. During 1877 he came to California, first settling in Fresno, where he carried on a general store for three years. A later location was at Santa Ana, but after a year there he returned to Fresno, where he built a store and carried on general merchandising. The year 1889 was spent in visiting relatives and friends in Tennes- see, and on his return to the Pacific coast he set- tled at Puente, where he remained three years and cultivated ten acres. Going from there to Pomona, he bought a house and lot, but this property he sold on settling in Moneta in 1899. and he has since devoted himself to the straw- berry business on his six-acre tract at this place. While in Fresno he married Miss Hettie Mat- thews, who was born in Missouri, and by whom he has three children, Mary B., Joseph R., and Addison O. The family are associated with the Presbyterian Church, and Mr. Longacre is a contributor to the sanie, as well as to other worthy movements of his locality. He is con- nected with the blue lodge of Masons and in politics adheres to the policy of the Democratic party.

CAPT. W. CHIPPENDALE. The horticul- tural interests that have been acquired by Cap- tain Chippendale, of Duarte, are of an important and diversified nature. They include the own- ership of an orange grove of thirty acres, all of which is under cultivation to navels of a fine quality, this ranch being one-half of his original purchase made on settling in California. An- other interest of considerable importance is his position as a director in the Duarte-Monrovia Fruit Exchange. In movements looking toward the increasing of irrigation facilities he has al- ways been concerned, realizing that this is one of the most annoying problems to confront a western horticulturist. In the organization of the Duarte-Monrovia Irrigation and Canal Com- pany he was quite active, and he has since served for two years as president of the same, also for nine years as its secretary.

The year after the Civil war began Captain Chippendale enlisted as a soldier in the Union army and afterward served as captain of Com- pany E, Twenty-second New Jersey Infantry. taking part with his regiment in numerous en- gagements, chief among which were those of Chancellorsville, Rappahannock and Fredericks-

burg. Loyal to his adopted country and particu- larly enthusiastic in regard to the claims of Cali- fornia in the galaxy of commonwealths, he is not, however, a politician, but is independent in such matters, supporting the best men, irre- spective of party. In religion he is of the Epis- copalian faitlı.

S. J. COLEMAN. One of the most success- ful and enthusiastic horticulturists of Glendale Valley, Los Angeles county, is S. J. Coleman, who has a splendidly cultivated ranch of fourteen and a half acres just north of the postoffice of Glendale. In the estimation of this tried and trusted member of the community, the portion of the county to which he has devoted many years of striving and attainment, bids fair to rank with time among the finest and most prolific fruit regions of the state. Arriving here when there were but a few buildings in the valley, Mr. Coleman has been an interested spectator and worker for its best development, and is rightly esteemed one of the substantial and progressive authorities on fruit culture and all around ranch- ing. He set out at first five acres of pears, but has since branched out in many directions, his orchard now containing oranges, to the extent of five hundred trees, lemons, walnuts, and vari- ous kinds of fruit. He enjoys a natural ad- vantage over many fruit growers, in that his land has never been visited by a devastating frost. The irrigating advantages also are excel- lent, water having been found at a depth of ninety-three feet.

A native of Holmes county, Ohio, Mr. Cole- man was born in 1838, and remained on his father's farm until his nineteenth year. His father, Ezekiel, was born in Pennsylvania, and came to Ohio at a very early day, where he took up government land and built a house of logs, and reared his family of four sons and five daughters. This log house, wherein was under- taken the responsibilities and trials of pioneer life, is still standing, and is known as the Cole- man homestead. Of the children, but two sur- vive, the other son, Cornelius, being now a farmer at Overbrook, Kans. Elizabeth (Peter- man) Coleman, the mother of S. J., was born in Pennsylvania, and comes of a long-lived family, hier parents having lived to be more than a hun- dred years old. Mrs. Coleman herself was ninety-four years old at the time of her death, her husband having lived to be seventy-two years of age. At the age of nineteen, S. J. Cole . man went to Dekalb county, Ill., and, having learned the trade of tanner, worked at the same until about eighteen years ago. He then re- moved to Marshall county, Iowa, and at the end of two years to Carbondale, Kans., where he lived for seven or eight years. In 1881, owing to the health of his wife and son, Ellsworth, he came in the fall to California, and lived for a

HP Ramsau sau

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

year and a half in Los Angeles, after which he purchased his present ranch near Glendale.

The first marriage of Mr. Coleman was sol- emnized in Illinois, and the result of this union was three children. The second marriage took place in California. Of the children, Luela is a dressmaker in Los Angeles, and Ellsworth is a teacher in Oakland at a salary of $1,600 a year. He was educated in the normal school at Glendale, at Harvard and Berkeley, at which latter institution he took the $300 prize, being a natural mathematician. In politics Mr. Cole- man is independent, and believes in voting for the man best qualified to fill the position.

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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 131

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