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 148

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 148

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In San Francisco Mr. Scheerer married L. C. Tossmann, a native of the Golden Gate city, her parents being very early settlers of Cali- fornia. Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Scheerer, Conrad, Jr., and Myrtle J.

HIRAM K. SNOW, Jr. One of the most promising of the ranchers and horticulturists of Ventura county is H. K. Snow, Jr., who not only possesses a wide knowledge of fruit raising in general, but is likewise adapted to intricate business transactions, and has the true western spirit of progressiveness. No better illustration of the enterprise, patience and good judgment exercised by this honored member of the com- munity need be advanced than the ranch and nurseries over which he has supervision, and which are in fine bearing condition and are profitable. Every tree and shrub was planted by the enterprising manager. Success of the business is the result of his wise and judicious planning, as well as the needful improvements. In connection with his father he owns one hun- dred and twenty-five acres of land under wal- nuts, and personally owns twenty acres of lemons, two acres under oranges, eight acres under apples, besides renting one hundred and fifty acres for beans, and eighty-five acres for

beets. An attractive home is one of the fea- tures of the place made beautiful by vines, shrubbery and hedges.

A native son of California, Mr. Snow was born in Vallejo, Solano county, September 5, 1865, a son of H. K. Snow, Sr., who was born in New Hampshire, and Cynthia O. (Downs) Snow, who was born in Wisconsin. The family history appears elsewhere in this volume. In 1888 Mr. Snow married Minnie Norman, daughter of Robert Norman, a native of South Carolina, and who came to California at the age of ten and married while living at Tustin. Of the union of Mr. Snow and Miss Norman there are two boys, Ralph M. and Robert S. H., who are now attending school at Oxnard, and who will receive every possible educational and other advantages. Mr. Snow is a Republican in politics, and cast his first presidential vote for Benjamin Harrison. He has been promi- nent in local and county political affairs, and has served as delegate to numerous state and county conventions. For the past five years he has been affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, having joined the organization at Hueneme, and now a member of the Oxnard lodge, and is a mem- ber of the club having charge of the construc- tion of the new Masonic Temple. He is also a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows in Orange county.

WILLIAM R. STAATS. The numerous and firmly established undertakings upon which rests the splendid business reputation of Wil- liam R. Staats, investment banker and broker of Pasadena, bespeak personal characteristics which find their highest expression and greatest appreciation among the prolific opportunities of the far west. As the name implies, the Staats family is first heard of in Holland, from which conservative country one Major Abram Staats emigrated to America in 1642. He settled in Rensselaerwyck and in 1643 became a member of the council of the colony. He was a surgeon and for a time practiced his profession, but soon engaged in the trading and freighting business on the Hudson river between Albany and New York. He accumulated considerable property and in later years settled on his large plantation near what is now the town of Claverack. Abram Lansing Staats, the paternal grandfather of William R., was a merchant in Troy, N. Y., and later removed to New York City. His son, Henry T., the father of William R., was born in Hudson, N. Y., and was a graduate of the Wesleyan University at Middletown, Conn. Later he entered the ministry of the Congrega- tional denomination, in which he preached for many years in Connecticut, and in 1888 removed to Pasadena, where he has since been pastor of the North Congregational Church. He married Mary J. Macy, a native of Hudson, N. Y., and

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member of an old Massachusetts Quaker family of Nantucket. Mrs. Staats died in Connecticut, leaving four sons and two daughters, of whom William R. is the third son.

The youth of Mr. Staats was spent in New Haven and Bristol, Conn. He was born in Orange, New Haven county, in August, 1867. He attended the public schools in Bristol and afterward studied at the Wesleyan Academy at Wilbraham, Mass. Mr. Staats came to Pasa- dena in 1886 and entered into the real-estate business, which has since assumed such large proportions. The business was incorporated in 1894 under the firm name of the William R. Staats Company, of which Mr. Staats is presi- dent, and is doing a general real-estate, insur- ance and investment business. This enterprise, however, represents but a minor part of the commercial ventures of Mr. Staats, who is one of the organizers of the Title, Insurance & Trust Company, the Los Angeles Trust Com- pany, and the Edison Electric Company of Los Angeles, in all of which he is a director and influential factor. He is a member of the Pasa- dena Board of Trade and the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce.

Since residing in Pasadena Mr. Staats has married Mrs. Helen I. Watson, a native of Toledo, Ohio. Mr. Staats is as well known socially as he is in the business world of Pasa- dena, and takes an active interest in outdoor sports, and the general amusements prevalent in the west. He was one of the organizers, and for years has been a director of the Pasadena Country Club, a director in the Valley Hunt and member of the California Club of Los Angeles. Fraternally he is associated with the Masons. He is one of the most thoroughly suc- cessful men in Southern California, and is as genial and popular as he is liberal and enter- prising.

PERRY WHITING. An industry which goes hand in hand with the building up of a city is the business of wrecking the handiwork al- ready accomplished, and which is often over- looked in enumerating the forces responsible for the splendid structures of the present. And yet renewal must be attended by removal, else we had always the old with us, and the archi- tects and builders of America would be in the sorry straits of their brothers across the water. In this connection the work of the Whiting Wrecking Company is justly entitled to men tion and consideration, for they have removed more of the early architecture than any other firm in the city of Los Angeles, and have paved the way for builders with ideas of safety, sani- tation, and convenience, than which nothing was more remote from the ideas of their prede- cessors in business.

Perry Whiting, the organizer and manager of

the Whiting Wrecking Company, and the Whit- ing Lumber and Supply Company, was born in North Branch, Lapeer county, Mich., April 21, 1868, a son of Ryerson and Melissa (Healey) Whiting, natives respectively of Michigan and Nova Scotia. The paternal grandfather, Sam- uel, was born in New York, and was one of the first settlers of Lapeer county, where he con- ducted a farm for many years, and where he is now living at North Branch, at the age of eighty-two years. He married a Miss Swartout. Ryerson Whiting was a lumberman in Charle- voix county, Mich., and died at the early age of twenty-four years. His wife was a daughter of Charles Healey, of Halifax, Nova Scotia, who settled in Charlevoix county, Mich., where he was a pioneer and accumulated considerable property, and where he was killed in a wind- storm. Mrs. Whiting, who now lives in Grand Rapids, Mich., had but one child, Perry. She still owns the old farm in Charlevoix county, where her son was reared, and near which he was educated in the public schools, a training supplemented by study in the Grand Rapids high school.

In the fall of 1890 Mr. Whiting left the sur- roundings of his youth and went to Denver. Colo., where he followed the carpenter's trade. and where he contracted and built until the fall of 1891. He then removed to Grand Junction, Colo., and engaged in the mercantile business and also managed an hotel, ventures which seem to have proved unsuccessful, for upon arriving in Los Angeles in 1893 he had but $35 in available assets. For a year he worked at his trade, and this opened the way for later build- ing and contracting which he followed until 1898. He then started the wrecking company, and in January of 1902 organized the Whiting Lumber and Supply Company, into which has been merged the wrecking concern. A large and increasing business has rewarded the well laid plans of Mr. Whiting, and the amount of building materials supplied by the company in the course of a year argues well for the confi- dence entertained for the management by the public of Los Angeles. An average of thirty employes is sustained the year round, and eight teams are required to deliver goods and do the general hauling. Mr. Whiting has other in- terests besides those which claim his principal attention, and he is an appreciator of the oil possibilities of the state, in support of which statement he has invested in stock in the Pure Oil Company, of which concern he is a director. In addition to tearing down some of the old landmarks in the city, he has built up many parts of the town, and is the owner of much valuable city real-estate. He has also taken down buildings in· Pasadena, and has done sim- ilar work in other towns of the locality.

In Wichita, Kans., Mr. Whiting married Ada

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Pearl Barrick, who was born in Blue Mound, Macon county, Ill., a daughter of Jonah Bar- rick, a pioneer of Macon county, and now a resident of Los Angeles. To Mr. and Mrs. Whiting have been born two children, Darrell, who died in Denver, and Ila lone. Mr. Whiting is fraternally associated with Los Angeles Ma- sonic Lodge No. 42, Los Angeles Chapter No. 9. R. A. M., Los Angeles Commandery, K. T., and the Fraternal Brotherhood. He is a Re- publican in political affiliation, a member of the Chamber of Commerce, and identified with the Westlake Methodist Episcopal Church, of which he is a steward. Mr. Whiting is one of the admirable citizens and successful business men of Los Angeles, and his response to public de- mands upon his purse and time is the most forcible reminder of his vital influence in all matters of importance in the community.

BENJAMIN F. WHIPP. One of the beat- tiful homes of Pomona is owned and occupied by Mr. Whipp. On selecting a suitable loca- tion for his family he purchased the residence at one time owned by E. E. Cole at No. 933 North Garey avenue. Under his supervision the residence has been remodeled and enlarged and is now an attractive and commodious dwell- ing, surrounded by grounds that always attract the admiring attention of passers-by. Especial attention is given to cultivating rare species of plants, and these are propagated in his green- house and then transplanted to the gardens. Among other interesting features of his collec- tion may be mentioned one hundred varieties of rare cacti, some of which are not to be found elsewhere in Southern California. By the exer- cise of refined taste in the arrangement of flow- ers and shrubs the lawns have been transformed into a bower of beauty, and with the walks and drives show what can be done in this region toward making an ideal home.

In Sweetwater, Menard county, Ill., Mr. Whipp was born in 1840. At the age of four- teen he entered the merchandise establishment of his uncle at Sweetwater, going to school at the same time. He was engaged in merchan- dising in Illinois and Missouri for a short time, where he met with the success that his ability and wise judgment merited, but later turned his attention to farming. Learning much about the · splendid climate of Southern California he came to the state on a prospecting tour and settled in Los Angeles in 1884. He staid there about fourteen months, when, hearing of an excellent opening in Pomona, he came here and bought one hundred and forty choice acres from the Jacoby Land Company. On this tract he has since engaged in the raising of alfalfa, of which he cuts from six to eight crops a year, the same being of fine quality. A portion of the property has never been under irrigation, but, being low

land, retains the moisture from the infrequent rains, and has yielded more to the acre than that portion which is under irrigation. Besides this property he is the owner of fifty acres at Spadra, which his son now controls.

It was Mr. Whipp's intention to retire per- manently from business pursuits on leaving Los Angeles, but he has occasionally taken up such work temporarily. At one time he purchased a stock of merchandise of Morris & Post and closed out the same to good advantage. At another time he purchased the Wakefield shoe store, which he also closed out advantageously. However, with these exceptions, he has held aloof from business enterprises and has devoted his attention to alfalfa-growing and to the so- ciety of family and friends. For many years he has been a member of the Christian Church and a regular contributor to its maintenance, besides which he has rendered helpful service in the capacity of deacon. While living in Missouri he married Miss Lucy J. Callaway of Callaway county. The thirteen children comprising their family are as follows: Ella, wife of J. W. Camp- bell; Flora, at home; John, who married Annie Long; Sallie, wife of Arthur Hazelwood; Ida, who is with her parents; Lizzie, Mrs. Grant Pitzer; Carrie, who married James Hicks; Bertha, Mrs. Loran Hardesty; Ernest, who married Louella Buff; Melissa, Effie, Elsie and Lottie, who are students in the Pomona schools.

JOHN B. WILKINSON, horticulturist and real estate dealer of Pasadena, was born in South Boston, Mass., October 29, 1857, and is a son of George and Harriet (Butterworth) Wil- kinson, natives of England, and the latter born in Coventry. George Wilkinson received the substantial early training of the average English youth of the middle class, and after completing his education at the public schools learned the silversmith's trade. This he applied as a means of livelihood for some time in his native land, and was equally successful with his trade after removing to Boston, Mass. For a time he lived in Providence, R. I., and while there was identified with the Gorham Manufacturing Company until his retirement. He was a mas- ter silversmith, and had a particular fitness for his work, and was a man of high character. He lived to be seventy-four years of age. His wife. who died in Providence, R. I., was the mother of twelve children, eleven of whom attained maturity. and ten are living. John B. being sixth in order of birth, and, with his sister, the only members of the family in California.

In Providence, R. I., John B. Wilkinson at- tended the public schools and the Friends' school, and from earliest boyhood learned con- siderable from his father of the silversmith's business. In 1879 he removed to Chicago, Ill.,

InNood MW.

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and engaged in the manufacture of jewelry store fittings, his place of business being located on Madison street, and conducted with his brother W. S. as a partner. The brothers became well known in Chicago as conservative and reliable business men, and their special line of activity netted them gratifying results. In 1895 Mr. Wilkinson sold out his business and came to Pasadena, and the following year bought his present place south of Lamanda Park, which contains six and a half acres located on Rose avenue and San Pasqual street. He is engaged in horticulture and the poultry business, and the latter especially is conducted on a large and scientific scale. In 1902 he embarked also in the real estate business on West Colorado and De Lacey streets and has already handled con- siderable property in the city.

In Chicago, Ill., Mr. Wilkinson married Anna K. Ford, a native of Troy, N. Y. Of this union there are four children, Alice W., Harriet B., John B., Jr., and Russell F. Mr. Wilkinson is a Republican in politics, and is fraternally con- nected with the Independent Foresters. He is a member of the Episcopal Church.

J. W. WOOD, M. D. At the time of Dr. Wood's arrival in Long Beach, in October, 1887, he found a town of five hundred inhabitants. During the years immediately following, the decadence of the boom rendered any develop- ment of local resources impossible, but with the revival of prosperity throughout Southern Cali- fornia, with the drawing to it of men of wealth and enterprise from all parts of the country, and with the building up of homes and business industries, every town became a participant in the general growth, and Long Beach in its turn took on new life, since which time its prosperity lias been continuous. From the time of the city's incorporation until 1898 Dr. Wood served as health officer, after which he was for two years a member of the city council. Since 1894 he has been a member of the school board, of which he was clerk two terms, and in 1897 he took an active part in the erection of the high school building. He is a stockholder and di- rector in the Bank of Long Beach. At the time of the organization of the First National Bank he became a stockholder and continues his in- terest in the same. He is a stockholder and director of the Long Beach Hotel Company that built the finest hotel in the city. Besides taking part in the organization of the Piru King Min- ing Company, he has acted as its president since its establishment. In addition to his other interests, he is president of the Chuckawalla Mining, Milling and Water Company operating in Riverside county. His connection with va- rious local business concerns and municipal affairs and his membership in the Board of

Trade, does not prevent his devotion to pro- fessional duties nor interfere with his success as a physician. He is a member of the Los Angeles County, Southern California and American Medical Associations, head physician for the local lodge, Independent Order of For- esters; physician for the Modern Woodmen of America and the Knights of Maccabees in Long Beach; also local surgeon for the Southern Pacific Railway Company and the Long Beach division of the Salt Lake Railroad Company. In his private practice he makes a specialty of surgery and gynecology. He has his office in the Coughran block.

From Newcastle, England, John Wood came to America and settled near Geneva, N. Y., where he improved a farm from. the woods. This property was inherited by his son, John M., who was born there and continued to make the old farm his home until his death, in August, 1901, at eighty-three years of age. During his active years he devoted himself to cultivating its four hundred acres and to discharging his duties as a citizen, an elder in the Presbyterian Church, and a kind husband and father. His marriage united him with Rebecca Rupert, who was born two miles from Geneva, N. Y., and died in 1867. Of this marriage there was one son, our subject. By a previous marriage there were four sons and one daughter. The oldest son, John Henry, was a soldier in the One Hundred and Twenty-sixth New York Cavalry during the Civil war and now lives near Cin- cinnati, Ohio; Dr. G. A., a graduate of Long Island Medical College, became a resident of Long Beach in 1886, founded the first drug store here, and died in Los Angeles in 1893; Philip R. lives in Rockford, Ill .; Denton D. oc- cupies the old homestead; J. W., who was born in 1856 near Geneva, began the study of med- icine in his native town, and later studied under Dr. S. L. Kilmer, of South Bend, Ind., after which he was a student in Rush Medical Col- lege, Chicago, for two years. The degree of M. D. was conferred upon him at the time of his graduation from the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Chicago, in 1883. Ten years later he returned to Chicago and took a course of lec- tures in the Post-Graduate College.

The first active experience of Dr. Wood as a physician was gained in Palestine, Tex., and Juniata, Adams county, Neb., from which latter point he came to Long Beach, Cal. During his service as health officer here he secured the pas- sage of many sanitary measures and was in- fluential in improving the general condition of the town. By his party (the Republican) he has been chosen a delegate to state and county con- ventions, and has been an active worker in its behalf. His home at No. 125 Cedar avenue is presided over by his wife, nee May McDonald. whom he married in Nebraska in 1884 and who

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was born in South Bend, Ind., of Scotch de- scent. They have two children, Edith M. and Donald.

JAMES F. WARD. The alternating periods of success and adversity which fall to the lot of all miners have been experienced by Mr. Ward, who not only understands the feeling occasioned by realizing thousands of dollars from a mine in a single day, but also appreciates the less attractive position of being without money in a land of strangers. The fascination of mining still clings to him, and, although he makes his home in Los Angeles, he still enjoys a visit to his mine, which he patented a few years ago and is now developing.

Early in the nineteenth century Christopher Ward crossed the ocean from England, bring- ing with him his wife, who was a native of Ire- land. Having learned the stone-cutter's trade at his English home he experienced no diffi- culty in securing employment at this occupa- tion, which he followed in Albany, N. Y. Through his perseverance and energy he be- came the owner of a large stone yard and filled large contracts, in which he employed as many as one hundred and fifty men. When he died at the age of fifty-one he was accounted one of the prosperous men of Albany. His wife had died when their son James F. was six months old, and the latter, born in Albany, N. Y., March 16, 1835, grew up without the devoted and lov- ing care of a mother. Lacking the counsel of a mother and misunderstood by his father, he became a reckless and wild lad. When he was fourteen his father punished him for some of- fense and he ran away from home. He had learned the carver's trade and secured employ- ment at this in Saratoga, N. Y., but soon learned that his father had detectives looking for him, so gave up his work and went to Fort Edwards and then to Chicago, Ill. Both of these places, however, he left to keep from being taken back home. Hoping to get beyond the reach of his father he went to Missouri and from there crossed the plains with Sheppard, driving a band of horses to Sacramento.

In 1859, when making his fourth trip across the plains with the Sheppards, five of the party of fourteen were killed by Indians, including Mr. Sheppard himself and two of his sons. They were murdered in the neighborhood of the · Mountain Meadow massacre. After killing the men the savages took the horses and also robbed the wagons of the freight. Fortunately they overlooked some money hidden in a wagon and with this Mr. Ward bought three yoke of oxen and thus was enabled to convey the bal- ance of the party to a place of safety. On his return to California he resumed mining and prospecting and developed a number of mines there, also several in Idaho and Nevada. In

November, 1869, he located Mineral Hill mine, which two years later he sold for $500,000. Feel- ing the need of some recreation after his years of western life he made a tour of Europe, vis- iting many points of historic interest. During that trip he married Miss Agnes N. Fleming, a native of Canada. In December, 1872, he brought his wife to Los Angeles, and they now reside at No. 1121 South Grand avenue, having with them their five children.

Among the first purchases made by Mr. Ward in Los Angeles was the block of five acres between Eleventh and Twelfth streets and Hope and Grand avenue, the greater part of which he still owns. In 1873 he built a two- story frame house for his family, selecting as a site for the same a desirable location on Grand avenue, which was at that time the finest resi- dence street in the city. Besides his real estate in Los Angeles he owns large ranches in the vicinity. His time is principally spent on his farms or at his mine. City life does not appeal to him, and especially is this the case since Los Angeles has increased so greatly in population that where years ago he knew everyone, now he can walk for many blocks without seeing a familiar face, thus giving to him, as he says, the feeling of a "tenderfoot." In former days he took great pleasure in his horses, and raised and owned some of the best and fastest in the entire city. At no time has he been active in politics, but he keeps well posted in such matters and votes with the Republican party. He is a mem- ber of the Pioneer Society of Southern Califor- nia and a contributor to the Presbyterian Church, with which his wife and children are identified.

HON. JAMES A. GIBSON, member of the law firm of Bicknell, Gibson & Trask, of Los Angeles, is a descendant of Scotch-Irish ances- tors who were identified with the colonial his- tory of New England. While still a mere boy he gratified his desire for a taste of ocean life and made a cruise on the sea. When he was seventeen he was given employment in a large manufacturing establishment in Massachusetts, and rose, by gradual steps, until he was placed in charge of one of the departments.

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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 148

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