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 154

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

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miarter & Co., shipbuilders. For a time he was associated with Captain Erickson while con- structing his solar engine, and was afterwards with the Pictet Artificial Ice and Engine Com- pany, and later still with the Newburgh Ice Ma- chine and Engine Company. In the latter capacity he served as erecting engineer and traveled all over Canada, the south and middle states, and finally came to the coast in the in- terests of the firm in July of 1900. After putting in an engine for the Southern California Ice Company at San Bernardino and instructing the engineer in its use, he returned to the east, and later superintended the erection of the plant for the Distilled Ice and Cold Storage Company at Los Angeles. This is one of the important con- cerns of the kind in Los Angeles, and as chief engineer Mr. Adams has a large responsibility for which he is admirably fitted. The plant is modern in all of its appointments, and has a capacity of thirty-five tons per day.

Mr. Adams is enterprising and wide-awake to the interests of his adopted town, and is vari- ously associated with its social and material circles. At Newburgh he was connected with the Masonic Lodge No. 309, and is still a mem- ber of that organization, and he was also a member of the Lawson Hose Company of New- burgh, of which he is still an honorary associate. In political affiliation he is a Republican every day in the year, and is a stanch supporter of the issues and principles of his chosen party. He ranks high among expert engineers of the country, and his success has more than justified his early selection and aspirations.

RICHARD ARENZ. When a boy the home of Mr. Arenz was in Dusseldorf, Germany, and his earliest memories are of that beautiful old town, with its attractive villas and gardens lying on the right bank of the Rhine; with its his- toric old castle; its famous Academy of Art, founded in 1777; its museums, observatory and charitable institutions. In this city he was born June 22, 1868, the fifth among eight children and the only son in the family. The records show that the Arenz ancestry has possessed valor in battle and energy in business. At the battle of Waterloo Johann Arenz, a boy of seventeen years, fought with such bravery that he was awarded two medals in recognition of his valor, and one of these is a valued possession of the soldier's grandson, Richard Arenz. Not only did this brave youth serve in the Prussian army from 1812 to 1815, but one of his brothers also shared in the vicissitudes of the Napoleonic campaigns, but after the ill-fated march to Moscow he was never heard of, and it is sup- posed that he perished with so many of those gallant soldiers who left home never to return.

During the war of 1848 Frederick William, son of Johann Arenz, served in the German

army, and afterward became proprietor of a tannery at Dusseldorf. In 1880 he sold the busi- ness and brought his family to America, where he is now living retired. To some extent he has drifted from the religious faith of his fore- fathers, who were of the Reformed Church, his membership now being with the Methodist Episcopal denomination. His wife, Caroline Polhaus, was born in Germany and died there before he came to the United States. Their son, Richard, was educated in German and English, and studied under a tutor in Chicago, also in the night schools of that city. About 1881 he was apprenticed to the trade of painter and finisher, remaining for five years with the Bruske Furni- ture Company, after which he worked for wages. In 1887 he began in business for himself, first taking contracts only for finishing and polish- ing, but afterward becoming a contracting painter as well. During 1889 he followed his trade in Portland, Ore., but returned to Chicago and spent two more years there.

The first year (1892) that Mr. Arenz spent in Los Angeles, he worked for others. Afterward he began to take contracts for painting and is now a member of the firm of Wing & Arenz, which has the leading business in its line in the city, having had among other contracts those for the Laughlin building, Posey residence, Christian Science Church, Van Nuys residence, Raymond hotel, Angelus hotel, Mrs. Hard- ing's residence on Chester Place, etc. Along the line of his chosen occupation, Mr. Arenz is a member of the Builders' Exchange and the Master Painters' Association, while fraternally he is connected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Since coming to this city he has married, his wife having been Miss Emma C. Rattey, a native of Wisconsin. They are the parents of four children: Eunice Ruth, Mildred May, Violet Beatrice and an infant son. Their home is at Nos. 533-535 Wall street. The family are connected with the First German Methodist Episcopal Church, to the mainte- nance of which Mr. Arenz is a regular con- tributor. Loyal to the institutions of his adopted country, he is especially interested in move- ments tending to promote the progress of Cali- fornia and increase the commercial importance of his home city. Both in local and national elections he votes the Republican ticket, being a firm believer in the principles of this party.

J. A. ALTHOUSE. One of the well-im- proved berry ranches of Gardena is owned and occupied by Mr. Althouse and comprises sixteen acres, largely under cultivation to Logan berries and strawberries, with other varieties of fruits, while five acres are under alfalfa. A substantial ranch house provides a comfortable home for the family, while that perplexing desideratum of California ranches, good water, is secured by a

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well two hundred and cighteen feet deep, oper- ated by a windmill. On his place are granary, barns and the other improvements of a first- class estate.

A resident of California since 1887, Mr. Alt- house was born near Brush Valley, Pa., March 14, 1861, and is a son of Rev. Henry and Julia Ann (Myers) Althouse, natives of Pennsylvania. His father devoted all of his active years to the preaching of the Gospel, being a minister of the German Evangelical Association from the age of twenty-five until he was retired by reason of the infirmities of years. During 1867 he re- moved from Pennsylvania to Iowa, where he served the church at Muscatine one year, that at Dubuque one year, and later presided over the congregation at Independence, Iowa, for two years, after which he was stationed in Hardin county, that state, for two years. The year 1878 found him in Nebraska, where he held pastorates in Cass county for three years, and in Stanton county for seven years. During his resi- dence in the latter county he was transferred to the ranks of superannuated ministers. In 1887 he came to Los Angeles and retired wholly from active labors. His death occurred in Los Angeles in 1895, when he was seventy-six years of age. His wife was a daughter of a lifelong resident and farmer of Pennsylvania. By their marriage six sons were born, J. A. being the third of these. His boyhood years were passed in Pennsylvania and Iowa and his education was obtained in common schools. When six- teen years of age he accompanied the family to California, after which he assisted his father in his various horticultural and farming affairs. About 1894 he came to Gardena, where he has since made his home.

The marriage of Mr. Althouse took place in Los Angeles and united him with Miss Bertha Boeck, a native of Germany. They have three children, Benjamin, Henry and Edith, all at home. The family are believers in the faith of the German Evangelical Association, in which doctrines Mr. Althouse was reared under his father's kindly guidance. Though he has at no time been active in politics, he is a decided ad- herent of Republican principles, and always sup- ports them in local and general elections.

THOMAS A. ASBRIDGE. The Asbridge family are of colonial Virginian ancestry and re- mote English extraction. Martin Killian As- bridge, a native of the old Dominion and a soldier in the war of 1812, became a pioneer of Kentucky, where he was postmaster and a mer- chant of Saratoga, Lyon county. At an ad- vanced age he retired from business pursuits and removed to an adjoining county, where he died at little less than one hundred years of age. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Nancy Rich, was also a Virginian and at the

time of her deathi had almost rounded a full century. Their son, Joseph Killian Asbridge, was born in Kentucky, and owned and occupied a farm of six hundred and fifty acres near Eddy- ville, Lyon county. For a wife he chose Martha Harris, who was born in Kentucky, of Virginian parentage. Both died on the Lyon county homestead. Of their eight children, Thomas was the fourth child and oldest son, and is now the sole survivor of the family. He was born on the homestead near Eddyville May II, 1859, and was twelve years of age when his father died. In his early manhood he married Miss Anna Rice, who was born in Syracuse, N. Y. Afterward he continued to operate the home farm for a time.

When the railroad was building between Pa- ducah and Elizabeth, Mr. Asbridge was engaged as a sub-contractor on its construction, although up to this time he had never seen a railroad train. Later he took contracts in other parts of Kentucky, also in Ohio and Missouri. In 1874 he went to Pocahontas, Ark., where he en- gaged in the freighting business, also took rail- road contracts, and at the same time learned the trade of bricklayer and mason, completing the trade in Union county, Ill., and working in the building of the insane asylum at Anna, that state. Between the years 1879 and 1881 he en- gaged in contracting and building in New Mex- ico. During the latter year he removed to New Mexico, where he aided in building the Plaza hotel in Las Vegas and built the academy, the opera house and a number of residences and business houses there.

After having spent the summer of 1883 in Silver City, N. M., which was then in the midst of a boom, Mr. Asbridge came to California in the fall of that year and for three years en- gaged in contracting and building in Los Angeles. He built a home on West Tenth street which he sold for $5,500. In 1886 he went to Ukiah, Mendocino county, this state, where, in addition to having a livery barn, he took con- tracts for running stage lines and carrying mail. From there he returned to Los Angeles in 1893 and has since built the residence at No. 1020 West First street which he now occupies. Among the contracts that he has filled may be mentioned the following: Lankershim block, Lawyer's building, Jones, Foster and Ralph buildings; the masonry work on the first school buildings in Los Angeles and on the Times building, besides contracts for many residences, among them being some of the finest in the city. The masonry work in the residence of D. L. Althouse and that of Judge Banning indicates the substantial character of his contracts. He had the contracts for the Wright & Callender block, the Fox building, the Spurl wagon and carriage factory, the Southern Refining Com- pany's plant, Bacon building, and the warehouse

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

for the paper manufactory. He is a member of the Builders' Exchange and vice-president of the Master Masons' Association. In addition to his large contracting business, he owns oil stock, and is interested in valuable oil lands in Kern county, also in Black mountain. The im- portance of opposing the liquor traffic has caused him to ally himself with the Prohibition- ists, whose principles he upholds, both in prac- tice and in theory. An active worker in the Church of the Nazarene, he is at this writing a member of its official board and has always been a generous contributor to its maintenance.

J. A. ATCHISON. The ranch of which Mr. Atchison is manager and in which he owns a half interest comprises forty acres at Gardena. Of this tract twenty-eight acres are in alfalfa, five acres in berries, and the balance in assorted fruits. An abundance of water is obtained by means of a private pumping plant, with one hundred inches' capacity. In addition to main- taining a close oversight of this place, Mr. Atchison owns an interest in the Bingham Pasteurized Milk Company, which he assisted in starting and which now has an output of al- most eight hundred gallons daily.

In Bruce county, Ontario, Canada, Mr. Atchi- son was born January II, 1872, being a son of Thomas and Ellen (McFarland) Atchison, na- tives respectively of Huron and Bruce counties, Ontario. His paternal grandfather, William Atchison, was a native of county Donegal, Ire- land, and about 1845 emigrated to Canada, where the improvement of a farm occupied his remaining years. The maternal grandfather, Joseph McFarland, was also of Irish birth. In the family of Thomas Atchison there were two sons and two daughters, of whom J. A. was the second in order of birth. His boyhood years were passed in the usual manner of Canadian lads, whose sports were naturally very different from those of the children of Southern Cali- fornia. When the time came for him to assume life's duties and responsibilities, he turned his attention to farming and also learned the black- smith's trade, but, tiring of the quiet round of duties in his Canadian home, he sought a di- version by coming to Montana, where he se- cured employment as a cow puncher. During 1895 he came to California, settling at Cerritos, Los Angeles county. Four years later he re- moved to Los Angeles and bought one-half in- terest in the Bingham Pasteurized Milk Com- pany, the success of which has been enhanced by his efforts. In 1902 he came to Gardena in order to assume the management of a ranch, in which he was a part owner. While in Los Angeles he married Miss Louise Burwash, who was born in Canada, and by whom he has one son, Allen. Though a recent comer to Gardena, lie takes a warm interest in the prosperity of the

town, is active in local Republican matters, and believes in supporting all measures for the bene- fit of town, county and state. Fraternally he is connected with the blue lodge of Masons and the Independent Order of Foresters.

HENRY AUFDEMKAMP. To his occupa- tion of building and contracting Mr. Aufdem- kamp brings an extensive experience and a thorough European training. He was born in the city of Hanover, Germany, February 2, 1865, and is a son of Ernest and Mary (Greafen- kamper) Aufdemkamp, also natives of Hanover. Ernest Aufdemkamp enlisted in the German army in 1848, and served as captain in the Schleswig-Holstein war in 1866-7. He was a builder for many years of his active life, and died in the land which he had faithfully served as soldier and upright business man. His wife, who is still living, is the mother of nine chil- dren, eight of whom are living, Henry being the third.

The youth of Mr. Aufdemkamp was not de- void of hardship and responsibility, for at the age of ten years he began to work with his father at the carpenter's trade, and when four- teen years old was apprenticed to a contractor with whom he remained for three years. He subsequently engaged as a journeyman carpen- ter, and while plying his trade managed to see considerable of the country and became familiar with the different provinces. At the age of twenty he arrived in New York, whence he at once proceeded to Madison, N. J., and at thie end of eighteen months went to Trenton, N. J., in both of which cities he worked at carpenter- ing.

In October, 1887, Mr. Aufdemkamp located in Los Angeles, a stranger in a strange land, and having little to start with save his own de- termination. He was not long in securing something to do in his favored line, and the fol- lowing year began to contract, an occupation in which he has met with success. Among the buildings attributed to his ingenuity may be . mentioned the Times building, the barracks at the Soldiers Home, the addition to the dining room and hospital at the Soldiers Home, fire house No. 12, Los Angeles, built in 1899, be- sides numerous public buildings and private residences. On his own responsibility Mr. Auf- demkamp has erected a number of residences in the city, besides his own comfortable home at No. 520 East Twelfth street, which is presided over by his wife, formerly Mary Willauer, a na- tive of Alsace, and whom he married at Trenton, N. J.

Fraternally Mr. Aufdemkamp is a member of Goodwill Lodge No. 323, I. O. O. F., is past noble grand, past district deputy grand master, and a member of the Encampment and the Canton. He is also associated with the Elks.

of a Golich

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

A stanch Democrat, he has never sought political office, and is sufficiently broad in his inclinations to vote for the best man regardless of political ties. With his wife he is affiliated with the German Methodist Episcopal Church, of which he is a charter member and a member of the board of trustees, as well as ex-secretary of the board and of the Sunday-school. Mr. Aufdemkamp is not in need of praise for the extent of his contributions toward the upbuild- ing of Los Angeles, for his work speaks for itself, and the patronage of which he is the recipient is proof of the confidence of his fel- low-townsmen.

JAMES ARNOLD BARROWS was born in Mansfield, Tolland county, Conn., February 25, 1830, a son of Joshua P. and Polly (Bing- ham) Barrows, descendants of a long line of Connecticut ancestors. He was one of three children, of whom the only daughter was born August 11, 1823, and died May 5, 1890. His father was born April 12, 1794, and died Feb- ruary 21, 1887; while his mother was born May 14, 1790, and died April 17, 1864. The paternal grandparents were Joshua and Anna (Turner) Barrows, and the maternal, Oliver and Lucy (Moulton) Bingham.

The younger years of our subject's life were spent upon a farm. After he became of age he went to Massachusetts and for some years was employed in a shoe factory. While there, in 1855, he married Miss Abby Barrows and they returned in 1858 to his old home at Mansfield, where she died. July 5, 1860, he was a second time married, his wife being Cornelia Storrs Swift, daughter of Earl and Lucy (Bailey) Swift, both lifelong residents of Connecticut. Her father died April 17, 1865, at the age of fifty- seven years, and her mother June 7, 1864, at the age of fifty-two; there were three children in the family, Mrs. Barrows and two brothers who live in Connecticut. Of the children of Mr. Barrows, Abby was born May 20, 1861, and died July 26, 1893; Lucy was born May 15, 1864, and died April 10, 1865; Carrie M., born October 6, 1865, married P. J. Wilson, a mer- chant at University, Los Angeles, and they have two daughters, Hazel and Juanita. Jennie M., born January 4, 1874, became the wife of George A. Shepard, who is now engaged in mining in Alaska.

In 1862 Mr. Barrows enlisted in the Twenty- second Connecticut Infantry and served for ten months, being discharged at the expiration of his time. Returning to the old farm, he re- mained there until 1868, when the place was sold. In April of that year he and his wife, with their two children, left New York on the stcamer Ocean Quecn for California, coming via the. isthmus and stopping at Acapulco and Manzanillo. At Panama they took the steamer

Golden Age for San Francisco, and in just one month from the time of starting arrived in Los Angeles, May 16, 1868. During the first year here Mr. Barrows clerked for his brother, and afterward he and his brother bought the dairy of L. J. Rose, which comprised one hun- dred head of cattle. Of that he had charge for seven years, when the dairy was sold. After his brother retired from the hardware business, he took it up and continued in it for ten years, since which time he has lived retired from busi- ness cares. He is a charter member of the So- ciety of Los Angeles Pioneers and has always been interested in that organization. He and his wife were charter members of the first Con- gregational Church organized in Los Angeles and have always been liberal contributors to the work of that denomination, besides taking an active part in the various activities of their church.

TONY A. GOLISH. While he is by birth a German, having been born near Berlin, Jan- tiary 21, 1870, Mr. Golish has no recollection of his childhood home, as he was only two years of age when the family crossed the ocean and settled in Northfield, Minn. His parents, Jacob and Annie Golish, were natives of Germany, the former following the milling business there and in Minnesota. In 1887 he came to Los Angeles, where his wife died and where he still makes his home. In the family of ten children, all but one are still living. The third among these is T. A., of Pasadena. While still a boy he was employed in a grist mill for three years and after that time learned the machinist's trade with the Ames Milling Company at Northfield. The year 1888 found him in Los Angeles, where he secured a position as engineer with the Con- sumers' Gas Company, and in the two years of his connection with them he also learned the manufacture of gas.

Returning to Northfield, Minn., in 1889, Mr. Golish became machine tender in the mills. Two years later he came once more to Cali- fornia. The Chino beet sugar factory was then in process of erection and he assisted in putting in the machinery, engines, pumps, etc., after which he remained with the company as machin- ist. In 1891 he came to Pasadena as assistant foreman for the Lowe Gas Company, in which position he continued for two years, and then was promoted to be foreman. When the con- cern was merged into the Pasadena Consoli- dated Gas Company he continued with the new organization in the same capacity, and is still holding the responsible position of foreman. Under his supervision the plant has been en- larged, until it is now three times as large as at first, having a capacity of two hundred and twenty-five thousand cubic feet per day. In ad- dition to being an expert machinist and en-

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

gineer, he is also a gas-maker, and while in Los Angeles assisted W. C. Boyer and L. C. Clark in the manufacture of gas from crude oil. Politically he votes with the Republican party. By his marriage, in Los Angeles, to Miss Adelia Cuen, a native of Mexico, he has five children, Lillian, Frank, William, Amanda and Raymond Arthur.

JOHN H. BEAN. A resident of Los Angeles since the fall of 1895, Mr. Bean is of eastern birth and remote English descent. His father, Levi, and grandfather, John Bean, were natives of Chittenden county, Vt., of which the great-grandfather was a pioneer farmer. Dur- ing the war of 1812 the grandfather went to the front with the Green Mountain boys and bore a brave part in securing victory for American arms, taking part in several important engage- ments, among them the battle of Plattsburg. During 1856 Levi Bean moved from Vermont to New York and settled at Burke, Franklin county, where he improved a farm from the forest, turning his attention to agriculture from contracting and building, in which he had previously engaged. After years of successful connection with farming, in 1885 he returned to Vermont, to spend his last days in the midst of the scenes familiar to him in early life. His death occurred in the fall of 1900 when he was eighty-five years of age.

The wife of Levi Bean was Cornelia Hill, who was born in Milton, Vt., and died at Burke, N. Y., when fifty-seven years of age. Her father, Capt. John Hill, also a native of Milton, was owner of a farm and also ran a small sloop. During the war of 1812, in which he served, he took the commodore of the American fleet out on his sloop to reconnoiter the lakes. He also helped to place the cannon on the bridge and to remove the plank that kept the British out of Plattsburg. At the time of his death he was ninety-six, while his wife, Olive, lived to be ninety-eight. In the family of Levi and Cornelia Bean there were nine children, all but three of whom are still living. J. H. being next to the youngest. He was born August 28, 1865, on the home farm in Franklin county, N. Y., of which he is now the owner. While still a boy he learned the carpenter's trade under his father, and when sixteen he took his first contract, this being for the erection of a large barn. From that day to this, with the exception of two years, he has followed contracting and building, being in Burke, N. Y., from 1881 to 1895, and in Los Angeles since 1895.

On first coming to this city, Mr. Bean fol- lowed the carpenter's trade in the employ of others, and was foreman for Jacobi, later for Harriman. In May, 1898, he began to take contracts, since which time he has erected, among other residences, those for E. W. Gil-

more, E. B. Roth, Major R. N. Smith, Dr. Fish, Mr. Phillips and the Concordia Club, corner of Sixteenth and Figueroa streets. He superin- tended the erection of the buildings of the American Oil Asphalt Works in Los Angeles. All his contracts are carefully filled and promptly executed. System and despatch are noticeable in all of his work. Among the build- ers of Los Angeles he holds a recognized posi- tion. Though not active in politics, he keeps posted on all such questions and affiliates with the Democrats. In the Independent Order of Good Templars he served as past officer four terms and was also representative. Other fra- ternal orders with which he has identified him- self are the Independent Order of Foresters and the Masonic Order, his initiation into Masonry having taken place in Chateaugay Lodge No. 517. While living in New York, he married Miss Jennie Wright, who was born in Franklin county and died there, leaving two sons, Clar- ence and Alton. His second marriage was solemnized in Los Angeles and united him with Miss Alice Denton, of this city.

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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 154

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