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 145

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 145

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Illinois. Dr. McCoy is a member of the Pasa- dena Medical Society and the Southern Califor- nia Medical Association. He is a member of the Board of Trade, and is fraternally connected with the Knights of Pythias. In national poli- tics he is a Republican. The doctor is one of the most genial and promising of the practi- tioners of this city, and although practically a new comer to social and professional ranks, has made many friends and won an appreciative practice.

J. A. MADDOCK. Lying in the foothills at Duarte is the attractive homestead of Mr. Mad- dock, who, though he owns allegiance to no flag save the Union Jack, is, nevertheless, an enthusiastic Californian, with the firmest belief in the permanent progress and prosperity of this great state. When he came to this country in 1886 he bought a ranch of thirty acres, later acquiring twenty acres at Azusa and planting the same in oranges. He is now the owner of a ranch of forty-two acres at Duarte, one-half of which is under cultivation to oranges. Two and one-half acres are in nursery stock, with ten thousand trees, embracing all the leading varieties of citrus fruits. On his ranch he has developed a private well, flowing fifteen inches, and providing an abundant supply of water for irrigation purposes.

The Maddock family is one of the oldest in Hampshire, England. Rev. Samuel Maddock was for forty years rector of a church there and continued in the ministry until his death. His son, Edward Knight Maddock, was born in Hampshire and in early manhood became a minister in the Church of England, in which capacity he went to India and for seventeen years officiated as military chaplain at Calcutta. Returning finally to England, his last years were spent in his native country. His wife was an American lady, Miss Lucinda Smith, and by their union three children were born, one of whom was J. A. Maddock, whose birth occurred in the East Indies December 3, 1848. Sent to England to be educated, he was placed in the Blackheath Proprietary School in Kent, where he completed the regular course of study. On starting out for himself he went to the Argen- tine Republic in South America and engaged in cattle raising and general farming on a ranch that covered two square miles, or twelve hun- dred and eighty acres. From there he went to Canada in 1878 and turned his attention to civil engineering, and has since filled the position of dominion land surveyor of Canada. From there he came to California in 1886 and has since prosecuted horticultural pursuits in Los Ange- les county.

While a resident of Canada Mr. Maddock was united in marriage with Miss Agnes Whitaker, whose father, G. Whitaker, was for years the

979

HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

provost of Trinity College in Toronto. The chil- dren born of their union are named as follows: Arundel, Genifer, Arthur Gordon, Edna Helen and Margaret. In religious connections the family are identified with the Episcopal Church.

FERDINAND A. HEIM. To Mr. Heim is due an immense amount of credit for the suc- cess which he has made of his life, and for the courage with which he has faced discourage- ments and drawbacks. He was born in East St. Louis in 1870, his father, Michael, being a native of the Tyrol, Switzerland, where he was reared and educated. In company with his brother, Ferdinand, Michael Heim immigrated to the United States and engaged in ranching and dairying, afterwards going into the manu- facture of rope in Winchester, Ill., and later in East St. Louis. They worked up an excellent trade in the Missouri city and had a large plant, which, however, was destroyed by fire in 1874. Nothing daunted, the brothers soon rebuilt their establishment and proceeded as before with ever increasing success, until the death of Michael Heim in 1883. He was a prominent financier and a director in the East St. Louis Bank. His death proved a heavy loss to his wife and children, who were not only deprived of an affectionate father and husband, but were. as well, the victims of the dishonest settlement of the uncle, Ferdinand. Owing to some laxity in the business arrangements, no partnership papers or will were found, and as the business had not yet been incorporated, they were at the mercy of their relative with no opportunity of redress. Little of what was due them ever came within their reach, the mother, formerly Anna Biel, being the heaviest loser. Mrs. Heim, who afterward married Mr. McArthur, and is again a widow, is now in business with her son, Ferdi- nand, and is a resident of Los Angeles. She is the mother of two sons, of whom George is in Elmwood, engaged in the wholesale liquor business.

Ferdinand A. Heim was but thirteen years of age when his father died, and at the time he was being educated in the public schools of East St. Louis. With his mother and brother he came to Los Angeles in 1887, and entered the business college, but before graduation they were sent by the uncle Ferdinand to a ranch in the desert, where they lived in the Indian coun- try, one hundred and sixty miles from the rail- road, for a whole year. Not being able to en- dure the loneliness and inconvenience any longer, Ferdinand A. returned to civilization, and engaged in the wholesale liquor business in Santa Monica for two or three years. He then started a soda-water manufactory and bot- tling business on a small scale, gradually broadening his business as trade increased, his plant being located on the site of the old

Ramona mineral spring. The medicinal prop- erties of this spring have received the endorse- ment of some of the greatest chemists and most learned physicians in California, and it proved particularly efficacious in rheumatism and dis- eases of the stomach. It is used as a founda- tion for the various bottled goods turned out by the manufactory, including Coca Cola Soda, Belfast Ginger Ale, and Sarsaparilla and Iron Tonique. They also manufacture a full line of fruit syrups and ciders for fountain use, and are able to meet any demand along their line, however varied or extensive.

In January of 1901 Mr. Heim started in the brewing business, and May 7, 1901, incorpor- ated the Ferdinand Heim Brewing Company, of California, with his wife as president, his mother as vice-president, and himself secretary, treasurer, and manager. They built the brewery at No. 346 Avenue Thirty-nine, in East Los Angeles, and are manufacturing Weiss beer. A large concrete building houses the enterprise, and the bottling is done at a separate bottling department. The company has without doubt the largest trade in the city. Mr. Heim is prominent in many different ways in Los An- geles, and is public spirited. Considerable prop- erty has come into his possession from time to time, and besides residence property in Los Angeles, he has real-estate also in Santa Monica. He is a member of the Chamber of Commerce, and is fraternally associated with the Knights of Pythias, the Knights of the Royal Arch, the Fraternal Order of Eagles, No. 102, and the Foresters of America.

In Los Angeles Mr. Heim married Maude M. Cooke, who was born in Chicago, Ill., and is a daughter of B. J. Cooke, who is a piano tuner, and a pioneer of Los Angeles. Two children are the result of this union, Anna and Bartlette.

SANFORD S. SMITH. The name of San- ford S. Smith is not only connected with the most ambitious and extensive building and con- tracting accomplishments in Long Beach, but with the possession of practical moral and intel- lectual attributes, ethusiastically exercised for the general upbuilding of the community. As a prominent member of the Methodist Episco- pal Church, and as an untiring worker in the Sunday school, he has become known through- out the whole of Southern California. where his extensive and well-directed services have won for him the name of "Sunday School" Smith. As a prohibitionist also he is widely known, and his advocacy of total abstinence is as pronounced as it is convincing. The amount of good ac- complished by Mr. Smith in his varied capacity as moral reformer is incalculable, and his influ- ence is such as at all times and under all circum- stances to command the utmost consideration

980

HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

from even those who radically differ from him in belief.

That the desire to do good is in a measure the result of example and inheritance is not questioned by Mr. Smith, who attributes many of his finest and most praiseworthy impulses to the training of a father for fifty years connected with the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He was born at Sanford, Broome county, N. Y., May 21, 1862, and is the young- est in a family of six children, five of whom are living. His father, Rev. Welcome Smith, was born in Binghamton, Broome county, N. Y., in which city his grandfather was a merchant dur- ing his long and active life. The Rev. Smith moved to Nebraska in 1878, and while in that state was associated with the Lincoln confer- ence of which he was presiding elder, at the same time making his residence near St. Joe, Hamilton county. From there he removed to Grand Island, which was his home for six or seven years, after which he came to California, and is now a resident of Redondo Beach, of which town he is county recorder and justice of the peace. He is a Republican in national and local politics, and is fraternally a Mason. Although seventy-six years of age he is still hale and hearty, and promises to continue the pre- cedent of longevity established by his ancestors.

The mother of Sanford S. Smith died when he was but seven months old, and at the time she was thirty-eight years of age. He was reared in New York state and primarily educated in the district schools, supplemented by further training at Onondaga Valley Seminary. In 1878 he accompanied his father to Nebraska and con- tinued his schooling at the College Corner pub- lic school. He soon, however, began to learn the carpenter's trade, and having completed the same, worked thereat in St. Joe, and during 1882-3 was employed in a trade capacity by the Union Pacific Railroad Company in Wyoming. Utah, Idaho and Oregon, and was finally offered the superintendency of a division of the passenger coach repair shop. This, however, was refused, and after returning to Nebraska to be married in October of 1884 he came to California and settled in Elsinor, Riverside county, being one of the pioneers of that town. He here found a good field for the exercise of his trade and at the same time he bought sixty- one acres of land which he improved and upon which he lived for four years and two months. The boom which promised such a brilliant future was destined to end in disaster, and, thor- oughly disenchanted, Mr. Smith removed to Santa Ana and engaged in farming and con- tracting for fifteen months. He then settled in Los Angeles and contracted and built and farmed for a couple of years, and also spent seven years at Gardena. In November of 1899 he located at Long Beach and began to build

and contract, since which time some of the fin- est residences and most substantial public build- ings have gone up under his capable direction. Among his most ambitious efforts may be men- tioned the residences of J. M. Arnold, Alice Howell, Professor Frews, D. M. Brewer, Miss E. F. Burgess, the Evans home and Mrs. N. T. Waldron's rooming house.

In Nebraska Mr. Smith married Jennie E. Edson, a native of La Porte, Ind., and a teacher for several years in Indiana and Nebraska. Two children have been born of this union. Arthur Ernest and Welcome B. Mr. Smith is frater- nally connected with Long Beach Lodge No. 327, F. & A. M., with the Knights of the Mac- cabees, the Modern Woodmen of the World, and the Independent Order of Good Templars.

REV. A. MOSS MERWIN, A. M. Signifi- cant of Mr. Merwin's patriotic ancestry is the fact that he is a member of the California chap- ters of the Society of Colonial Wars (in which he is chaplain), the Sons of Colonial Governors. and the Sons of the Revolution. Among his forefathers was Hon. Robert Treat, a colonial governor of Connecticut, a fearless Indian fighter and a hero in many a battle with the sav- ages. Another ancestor, Col. Timothy Taylor, was a leading officer of the Revolutionary war, leading a Connecticut regiment of volunteers through many a closely contested engagement. Rev. Samuel Merwin (the grandfather), who traced his lineage to one of three brothers who emigrated from England to America and set- tled at Merwin Point near New Haven, was for more than fifty years pastor of the North Con- gregational Church of New Haven. His son, Timothy T. Merwin, was born in that city and after graduating from Yale took up the study of law, but later became a member of the brok- erage firm of Merwin & Gould, of Wall street. New York. When a young man he married Hannah B. White, who was born near Danbury. Conn., and died in that state. Her ancestry. like that of the Merwins, was English, going back to the early settlement of Connecticut. Her father, Col. E. Moss White, a farmer and extensive merchant, gained distinction through his capable service as an officer in the war of 1812. One of the members of the family took an active part in the founding of Yale Col- lege, and it was at his home that a few public- spirited men gathered to organize an educa- tional institution and select the text books to be used in the curriculum of study. In that un- ostentatious way was founded an institution destined to become one of the greatest in the world.

The family of Timothy T. and Hannah B. Merwin consisted of three children, namely: Augustus W., who became a manufacturer and died in Wilton, Conn .; Mary A., of Brooklyn, N.

981

HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

Y .; and Alexander Moss, of Pasadena, Cal. The last-named was born in Norwalk, Conn., Sep- tember 3, 1839, and was reared in New York City and Brooklyn. In 1863 he received the degree of A. B. upon graduating from Williams College and in 1866 was given the degree of A. M. from the same institution, while a few years later Yale College conferred the same degree upon him. On leaving Williams Col- lege he matriculated in Princeton Theological Seminary, where he prosecuted the study of theology, graduating in 1866 with the degree of B. D. The ceremony of ordination was sol- emnized at Cornwall-on-the-Hudson, where he had attended a boarding school near the home of Nathaniel P. Willis, who had been a class- mate of his father. While there he and his friend, E. P. Roe, were converted and decided to study for the ministry.

Immediately after his graduation Mr. Merwin went to Valparaiso, Chile, where for a time he served as supply preacher to a large English congregation. Meantime he studied Spanish, and at the end of a year was able to preach his first sermon in that language in Santiago, where he helped to organize the first Spanish Protest- ant congregation in Chile, and a year later also established the first in Valparaiso. During his ministry of almost nineteen years he started many missions, organized the first orphan asy- lum in Chile, and acted as editor of the first Spanish Protestant religious periodical in the country. With the exception of Rev. Mr. Gil- bert, he was the first missionary in Santiago. At first bigotry and fanaticism opposed the work of the Protestants and culminated in the burning of their church property, but as the natives began to understand them better, the work of the Protestants became successful and they were highly respected. During all of these nineteen years Mr. Merwin returned to the United States only three times. In 1885 he brought his fam- ily back to this country and spent six months in Florida, but in 1886 came to California, where for six months he filled the pulpit of the Santa Barbara Presbyterian Church. The next year he came to Pasadena, where he has since la- bored as a minister among the Spanish people, and has organized Presbyterian churches at Al- hambra, Lamanda Park and South Pasadena, besides which he is now connected with the Spanish churches at Azusa, San Gabriel and Los Angeles, also the Girls' Home and School in Los Angeles.

With the aid of two helpers, who are of Span- ish descent, work is carried on in several other places. Mr. Merwin has published a number of tracts in the Spanish language, and has also secured the translation into Spanish of differ- ent religious English works.

Among the local activities with which Mr. Merwin is identified may be mentioned the Twi-

light Club, which he assisted in organizing and of which he has been president for six years. Ever since the organization of the South Pasa- dena public library he has officiated as its presi- dent. His home is a five-acre orange grove on South Fair Oaks avenue, where hours of leis- ure are happily spent in the society of family and friends, and in the supervision of his citrus interests. His wife was formerly Elizabeth Burnham, of Manchester, Vt., member of a very old family of New England and a graduate of the Montpelier Ladies' Seminary. They are the parents of two children now living, Mary A. and William B., and have lost three: Arthur, Elizabeth and Grace, who died at the ages of three, five and thirteen years respectively. The Chilean climate proved very unhealthful for his family, and it was with the hope that a change might be beneficial to them that Mr. Merwin relinquished the labors into which so much of his life had been put. It has since been a source of no small gratification to him that the seed sown by him in Chile has since been cultivated by faithful workers and is now bearing fruit in the upbuilding of churches and the conversion of many souls.

A. F. MESERVE, manager of the La Pinto- resca Hotel at Pasadena, is one of the few very successful men in his line on the coast, and holds a justly responsible position. In thus directing his efforts into useful and creditable channels he is maintaining a precedent estab- lished by an enviable ancestry, many of whom attained to prominence and even distinction, and who claim as their most remotely authentic forefather Jean Mesesservy, who resided in the parish of St. Martin's, Isle of Jersey. The American branch of the family was first located in New Hampshire, and the Meserve farm of fourteen hundred and sixty acres on the Isle of Jersey testifies to the thrift and English enter- prise of the first settlers.

A native of Jackson, N. H., Mr. Meserve was born January 26, 1863, his father, John P., and his grandfather, Colonel Jonathan, being natives of the same locality. The grandfather was one of the first settlers and largest landowners around Jackson, and won his title through con- nection with the New Hampshire regiment of militia. John Meserve was a farmer during his active life, and in politics a stanch adherent of Democratic principles. He died on the farın which he had done so much to improve, but was survived by his wife. who was formerly Louise Rogers, daughter of John Rogers, one of the pioneer farmers of the vicinity of Jackson, N. H. The Rogers family was also a very old one, and was presumably of English origin. Mrs. Me- serve is still living at the old home near Jack- son, and of her six children three are living. A. F. being the youngest of all.

982

HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

A. F. Meserve was educated in the public schools of Jackson, N. H., and at Eastman's Business College at Poughkeepsie, N. Y. After his graduation from the latter institution he was immediately ushered into the business of which he has made so thorough a study, and came under the training of that veteran and thor- oughly superior hotel man, General Went- worth, For many summers he was cashier of Wentworth Hall, and during the winter seasons was identified with various hotels, among the number being the Pineywoods Hotel at Thom- asville, Ga., and the old Raymond, of Pasadena, of which he was steward four seasons, or until it burned to the ground, April 14, 1895. During one season Mr. Meserve was connected with the Frontenac at the Thousand Islands, St. Law- rence river, and for four months, during 1895-6, he made an extensive tour through Europe. In November, 1897, he came to Pasadena as cashier of the hotel with which he is now con- nected as manager, the latter position having been assumed in 1901. The La Pintoresca is one of the well equipped and palatial hotels of the city, and the genial and tactful manager enjoys the confidence and good will of all with whom he comes in contact.

In Bartlett, N. H., Mr. Meserve married Alice Chandler, and thus became allied with another old and prominent New Hampshire family, who had contributed their share to- wards the upbuilding of pioneer days. To Mr. and Mrs. Meserve have been born two children, Marion and Norman Albert. Mr. Meserve is a Republican in political preference, but aside from the formality of casting his vote, has never entered the arena of office-seeking. While in Jackson, N. H., he was for a time superintend- ent of public schools. Mrs. Meserve is a mem- ber of the Congregational Church.

WILLIAM L. NEWLIN, M. D. In point of years of continuous practice Dr. Newlin is the oldest physician now in Whittier, being the only practitioner left of those who were engaged in professional work on his arrival in 1895. Dur- ing the years of his identification with the pro- fessional activities of the city he has become known through his careful diagnosis of disease and his skillful prescription of remedial agen- cies applicable to the case in question. While he has not accumulated a fortune, he has met with an encouraging degree of success and es- tablished a practice that is steadily increasing.

In Paoli, Orange county, Ind., Dr. Newlin was born October 4. 1843. His father, Thomas. who was of Irish parentage, was a native of North Carolina, and about 1820 removed to Indiana. buying land in Orange county. From there he removed to Kokomo, Howard county, Ind., where his death occurred at ninety years of age. When a boy he was given advantages

exceptionally good for those days and the knowledge thus acquired he utilized in teaching school and in work as a civil engineer, but later in life agriculture formed his prin- cipal occupation. Upon the disintegration of the Whig party he allied himself with the Re- publicans, whose original principles he assisted in rendering popular. In religion he was iden- tified with the Society of Friends, whose peace- ful doctrines he exemplified in his quiet and upright life. By his marriage to Candice Love, who was born in North Carolina, of Scotch extraction, he had twelve children, all of whom attained mature years and five are now living.

Until thirteen years of age William L. Newlin remained on the home farm in Orange county. but at that time moved with the family to the vicinity of Kokomo, Ind., where he was edu- cated in public and normal schools. At the age of twenty he began to teach, which occupa- tion he followed for five years, not, however. with the intention of making it his life work. but with the object of securing needed funds for professional studies. For three years he read medicine with Dr. Pickett of New London, Ind .. after which he took the regular course of lec- tures in the Eclectic Medical College of Cincin- nati, from which he was graduated in the spring of 1872. Returning to New London he there gained his first practical experience in profes- sional work. In 1884 he removed to Eudora. Kans., where the ensuing eleven years were spent in active practice, and in September, 1895. he opened an office in Whittier, his present lo- cation. While in Eudora he was made a Mason. in which order he is still actively interested, and he is also connected with the Ancient Order of United Workmen. As a Republican he has been interested and active in local party affairs. while in religion he is a Congregationalist and serves his church in the office of deacon.

The marriage of Dr. Newlin in 1868 united him with Miss Viola A. Wickersham, of New London, Ind. They have three sons, namely: Lester C., an officer on a sailing vessel: Carl E., who is assistant superintendent of the Scranton School of Correspondence at Oak- land, Cal .; and Ross L., who is employed as salesman for the Armour Packing Company in San Francisco.

PETER LALLICH. Austria is the native land of Mr. Lallich, and his parents, George and Mary (Marich) Lallich, were likewise na- tives of that country, the former holding a posi- tion similar to that of mayor and continuing to be prominent in local affairs until his death in 1898. In the family of six sons and three daugh- ters, the seventh in order of birth was Peter. born January 10, 1860. No pleasures fell to his lot when a boy, but poverty and toil early stamped their deep impress upon his soul.

985

HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

While he was still a mere child he left home and entered upon a seafaring life, being for six years employed on sailing vessels and steam- boats. The course of his voyages led him to South America, where he remained for seven years in the employ of an English syndicate. Leaving there he sailed on a ship to Pensacola, Fla., and from there came to California.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

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 145

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