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 161

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

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election to the state legislature from Ventura county, by a plurality of six hundred and seventy-one votes over the fusion candidate. In 1900 he was elected to the state senate from Santa Barbara and Ventura counties. He is post president of the Hueneme branch of the Native Sons of the Golden West, and is fra- ternally associated with the Benevolent Protec- tive Order of Elks.

The marriage of Mr. Greenwell and Leslie Lilly, of Ventura county, occurred in Santa Barbara.

H. J. FINGER, member of the state board of pharmacy, and for many years one of the most capable and active pharmacists in California, was born in San Francisco, Cal., March 19, 1853. His father, Theodore Finger, was born at Frankfort-on-the-Main, and was a graduate of that historic seat of learning, Heidelberg Uni- versity. When a young man he came to Amer- ica and settled near Belleville, Ill., where he en- gaged in farming. At Alton he enlisted in an Illinois regiment for the Mexican war, serving until its close. He then returned to Illinois and peacefully pursued his former occupation until the rumors of golden treasure swept back over the land from the Pacific, and then the certainty of a farmer's livelihood in Illinois was ex- changed for the possible but hardly probable rapid acquisition of mineral wealth. He came to California via New Orleans, sailing around the Horn, and arriving in San Francisco in 1850. After engaging in mining in different parts of the state with spasmodic success for three years, he settled in Redwood City, San Mateo county, Cal., and there improved and conducted a magnificent farm, upon which he remained un- til his death in 1887. Tragic was his demise, for he was killed by the railroad in front of his residence. His wife, formerly Mina Koch, was born in Germany, and immigrated with her par- ents to Illinois. Her marriage occurred in St. Louis, Mo., and she is now living on the old homestead in San Mateo county. Three chil- dren were born of this union, H. J. being the oldest, and the only one living.

Mr. Finger was reared on his father's farm in San Mateo county, and graduated from the high school at Redwood City. When seventeen years of age he entered the University of California as a member of the first class of pharmacy, and there obtained his education in the drug busi- ness. In 1872 he came to Santa Barbara as pharmacist for Robert Breitzmann, and after three years established a drug store of his own in the Clock building. During the years inter- vening between 1875 and 1890 he catered to a large and increasing trade, and discontinued his chosen occupation only because of a stubborn siege of illness which promised no immediate surcease, and from which he has even yet not

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fully recovered. In 1891 lie was appointed to the state board of pharmacy by Governor Mark- ham and served for six years, his position being filled by a Democrat when Governor Budd oc- cupied the gubernatorial chair. However, in 1901 he was re-appointed by Governor Gage, and is still serving in that capacity. He has varied interests in Santa Barbara, and as proof of his faith in the continued prosperity of his adopted town has invested in considerable real estate. He is a member of the American Phar- maceutical Association, to which he was elected in November of 1878. Politically he is a Repub - lican, and is fraternally an Odd Fellow. For three years he was county coroner and public administrator.

Mrs. Finger was, before her marriage, Ella C. Huntley, and is a native of New Haven, Conn., where she was educated.

WILLIAM P. WEBER. The proprietor of the Santa Paula nursery came to Ventura county in 1887, enjoying the distinction of being a passenger, June 19, on the first train that ever came into Ventura county and Santa Paula. The business which he has successfully followed is one in which he early gained a wide and val- uable experience. He was born in Tipton, Mo., where his father was for years the proprietor of the Tipton nursery, having established the same in 1855. In time the son succeeded his father in the management of the nursery, but after two years, believing the Pacific coast of- fered better opportunities, he disposed of the business and in 1886 came to Los Angeles. After having traveled for the Belleville nursery as a salesman for a year, he came to Santa Paula and in 1888 purchased a tract of raw land, which forms the nucleus of the present nursery. This was the first regularly estab- lished nursery in Santa Paula and practically the first in the entire county that carried all kinds of stock. From ten to twenty-five acres are in citrus, deciduous and ornamental trees, and from this nursery have come a large per cent of the orchards in the county. Since 1892 he has carried lima beans and has produced a large proportion of the seed beans used in the vicinity, besides shipping to Eastern seed houses. Having spent his entire active life in the nursery business, he is familiar with all of its detail and thoroughly understands all of the problems connected with it. Realizing the value of producing the finest grades of English wal- nuts, he makes this one of his specialties. An industry in which he is interested is the buy- ing and drying of fruit. He acts as purchasing agent for the North Ontario Packing Company of Ontario, Cal., and in buying beans represents Mr. Levi, of Hueneme.

During 1901 Mr. Weber bought and handled nineteen cars of walnuts, besides many cars of

other California products. It is his hope to establish a canning factory in Santa Paula, in which to can all kinds of fruits. Among the fine orchards of Ventura county, the one which he owns is entitled to special mention. Its prod- ucts are varied and valuable. About two hun- dred boxes of the finest navel oranges are pro- duced each year. His ranch of one hundred and five acres near Santa Paula is devoted largely to fruit-raising and from five to fifteen men are employed upon the land. The plans are completed for a fine stone residence, to be erected upon the ranch.

Fraternally Mr. Weber is connected with the Foresters. He is a member of the Santa Paula Board of Trade and a stockholder in the River Street Water Company's ditch. In the work of the Democratic party he is interested. In 1892 he acted as a delegate to the state con- vention of his party at Fresno. Successful in his personal affairs, he does not limit his at- tention to business matters, but takes an active part in all plans for the upbuilding of the com- munity. In every branch of the fruit industry he is considered an authority, and much of his time is spent in the development of the business . throughout the state.

W. M. WATERMAN. The mercantile inter- ests of Oxnard are well represented by Mr. Waterman, who is one of the leading business men of the city. A native of Bavaria, Germany, where he was born in 1869, he early developed ambitious tendencies which resulted in his im- migration to the United States in 1885. The following year he settled in Ventura county and has since become an integral part of its mer- cantile expansion. Like most of our country's successful men, he began with little means and has mastered every step of the way by hard work and application to business. As a clerk in the employ of his present partner, Mr. Lelı- mann, he conscientiously fulfilled his duties at Hueneme for about six years. He began in business at that time for himself, as a competi- tor of Mr. Lehmann, and continued in that way until about 1897, when a consolidation took place through the purchase by Mr. Lehmann of the interest of Mr. Waterman's partner.

In the spring of 1898 Mr. Waterman opened the first store in Oxnard, erecting for that pur- pose a building 84x100 feet in dimensions, which was well stocked with such necessities as are required by the people of a growing town. This establishment is now managed by the two partners, under whose supervision business has progressed satisfactorily. The firm own an en- tire block of ground in Oxnard, and if the present rate of increase in population continucs, they will in the near future erect an even more commodious place of business. During the

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time that they have been supplying the manifold needs of the town, at least two thousand people have settled here, and all are hoping that the town will soon be incorporated, in order that its welfare may be best promoted.

It is not to be supposed that Mr. Waterman is devoted exclusively to mercantile pursuits, for he is one of those liberal and progressive men who are naturally to the front in all mat- ters of public moment. His influence on the side of improvement is emphatic. Although a Republican and actively interested in town and county elections, he does not care for office himself. Fraternally he is connected with the Ancient Order of United Workmen at Hue- neme, the Maccabees and the Benevolent Pro- tective Order of Elks. A leading Mason, he is a director in the Masonic Club at Oxnard and one of the prime movers in the erection of the Masonic Temple, a brick and stone building, which was completed in August, 1901, and has proved an important addition to the business portion of Oxnard.

CAPT. EMIL HARRIS. From his native land of Prussia, where he was born December 29, 1839, Captain Harris came to the United States with an aunt at thirteen years of age and for one year remained in New York City. Having relatives on the coast he decided to come to California, and so took passage on the North Star steamer to Panama, and on crossing the isthmus boarded the John L. Stev- ens for San Francisco, where he arrived in March of 1857. With the intention of learning the printer's trade he entered an office, but the work did not prove congenial and he soon left. His next employment was as a waiter in the New York restaurant on Gearney street. Going from San Francisco to Stockton he worked in his uncle's billiard hall, and when the uncle moved to San Francisco he formed a partner- ship with him in the cigar business. Two years later he took charge of a billiard hall of eight tables at Visalia, this being a business venture of his uncle, and when the latter sold out he returned to San Francisco.

The residence of Captain Harris in Los An- geles dates from April 9, 1869. A year later, when the first regular police force was organ- ized, he became a patrolman, continuing as such for some years. Meantime he gained some val- uable experience in detective work and proved the possession of signal abilities in that line. One of the most interesting recollections of his life is in connection with the capture of the noted bandit. Tiburico Vasquez, who, after a series of appalling robberies and murders, was finally captured May 14, 1874, at the house of "Greek" George, nine miles west of Los An- geles, not far from the Cahuenga Pass. The

capture was made by a number of deputy sher- iffs with Under-Sheriff Albert Johnson in charge, and was a skillful and scientific culmi- nation of a carefully-laid plan of Sheriff W. R. Rowland to secure the bandit without loss of life to the attacking party. Captain Harris rode with the others to the house and, firing one shot at the retreating Spaniard, the latter threw up his hands in surrender. He was taken to Tres Pinos and later tried at San Jose for murder, found guilty, and was there hanged March 19, 1875. The bandit's rifle is in Captain Harris' possession, and his knife and saddlebags have been given to the Historical Society.

Another interesting case in which Captain Harris did detective work was in connection with the murder of T. Wallace More at Ventura in 1877 during the squatter's war. The working up of this case took an entire year, but was suc- cessfully consummated. In 1877 and 1878 Cap- tain Harris was chief of police of Los Angeles, and during his term the Temple Bank was robbed. Within three weeks he had captured the robber and secured the money, $10,060. This case he worked up without any aid what- ever, while attending to his regular duties as chief. It seems that the robber was a confi- dential bookkeeper of the assignee in bank- ruptcy, who broke the lock, thus giving the impression that the robbery had been committed by outside parties. However, the manner in which the lock was broken convinced Captain Harris that it had been removed from the safe. and he at once began to look around the bank for the guilty party. On being accused of the crime, the bookkeeper made confession and dug up the money, which he had buried in the outskirts of the city. In 1871, while Captain Harris was still a patrolman, the country was flooded with counterfeit ten and twenty dollar greenbacks. There were only six policemen in the city then, and each of them had to work ceaselessly in an effort to find the guilty par- ties. Finally, after the captain and Officer George E. Gard had been without sleep three days and nights, they captured one of the coun- terfeiters, with $1,500 in tens and twenties on his person, and a month later, after a chase through California and Arizona, secured an- other, thus breaking up the gang. In 1888 a change in politics caused him to resign from the force, and the following year he established a detective office, since which time he has en- gaged in private cases.

In the organization of the fire department in 1870 Captain Harris was actively interested. With ten others he organized the Turner Ger- mania, which has grown to be a very important organization, with five hundred members. He is the only charter member of Golden Rule Lodge, I. O. O. F., who still remains in Los Angeles. Politically he is independent.

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

1. L. FETTERMAN. Since becoming a citi- zen of Long Beach in 1884, Mr. Fetterman has been identified with several of the important interests here represented, all of which have benefited by his business ability and general progressiveness. At first interested in the hotel and livery business, he worked up a large trade and established a reputation for unswerving in- tegrity and enterprise, and upon disposing of this enterprise in 1898 engaged in contracting of heavy work, such as grading, excavating and house moving. This business has assumed large proportions, and is at present by far the most pretentious in this part of the county, many large street contracts having fallen to the lot of Mr. Fetterman.

A native of Pennsylvania, Mr. Fetterman was born in Venango county, April 7, 1849, and is the youngest in a family of eleven children born to Isaac and Nancy (Titus) Fetterman, and the only one of the four now living who is in Cali- fornia. Isaac Fetterman, also a native of Venango county, Pa., was of German descent, and an own cousin of that Captain Fetterman after whom the fort of that name is called, and who was killed in the terrible Fort Kearney massacre. Isaac Fetterman was a farmer in Pennsylvania, and was captain of the Pennsylva- nia militia, and about 1855 removed with his family to Mitchell, Osage county, Iowa. He was a pioneer of this part of the state, and carried on large farming and stock-raising enterprises up to the time of his death at the age of sixty-five years. His wife, who died in Iowa, was a sister of the founder of Titusville, Pa., which was the place of her birth. One of her sons, Daniel, served during the Civil war in a Minnesota regi- ment, and gave up his life for the cause he deemed just.

At the age of four years I. L. Fetterman re- moved with the family from Pennsylvania to Iowa, and he was but eight or nine years old when his father was taken from him by death. He was educated in the public schools, and at a comparatively early age started out to carve his own fortunes. Upon removing to Minne- sota he lived on a farm at Orinoco, near Rochester, and afterwards lived for a couple of vears at Jackson, Mich. He then repaired to the oil region near Titusville, Pa., and soon became one of the pioneer workers at Pit Hole, where he engaged in drilling and developing. He then embarked upon an extended lumber business throughout the south, and in the spring of 1868 located in Butler county, Kans .. and began to raise cattle on homesteaded land. In 1873 he came to California and settled in Kern county on government land, and while in this county was in the employ of Carr & Hagen as foreman in charge of the construction of the old Goose Lake canal, probably the largest in the state, and one hundred and forty feet wide

on the bottom where it leaves the river. Hav- ing completed this task he removed to Los An- geles county and bought a farm near Downey. where he engaged in farming and stock-raising with considerable success. In 1876 he began contract pork-packing with Speedy, Dodsworth & Co., and when he became a member of the concern three years later the name thereof was changed to Dodsworth & Co., Mr. Fetterman representing the company. He continued in charge of the packing department, probably the largest in Los Angeles, until 1884, in which year he came to Long Beach, as heretofore stated.

The marriage of Mr. Fetterman and Minnie Carey was solemnized in Butler county, Kans .. Mrs. Fetterman being a native of Indiana, and daughter of J. A. Carey, one of the old time pioneer Indian traders of Kansas. To Mr. and Mrs. Fetterman have been born seven children: George W., Charles E., Leonard, Samuel, Clar- ence, Maude A. and Minnie. Mr. Fetterman is a Democrat in political affiliation, and has been extremely active in local political affairs. He has served for two terms as a member of the city council, and he was one of the organizers and a member of the first board in the town. Fraternally he is connected with the Long Beach Lodge of Masons No. 327, and he is a member of, and liberal contributor towards, the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. Fetterman is one of the substantial business men of the town, and has the respect and good-will of the entire community.

ELBERT B. TURNER. Since coming from Oregon to California in 1884 Mr. Turner has made Ventura county his home and las ac- quired the ownership of one of the finest ranches on Sespe avenue. Through the close study lic has made of horticulture, he has gained a thor- ough knowledge of the science and is now con- sidered one of the local authorities on the sub- ject. He has found the raising of citrus fruits to be remunerative and hence devotes consid- erable time to the industry, besides which lie is also successfully engaged in raising apricots. Such of his land as is not available for fruit- growing is under alfalfa.

A native of Carroll county. Mo., E. B. Turner was born in 1859, a son of Samuel and Martha (Bailey) Turner, natives respectively of Ten- nessee and Kentucky. The maternal grand- parents, Alexander and Sallie Bailey, were Ken- tuckians, descendants of old American families. Born in 1819, Samuel Turner was six months old when his parents removed to Missouri. and much of his life was passed in Carroll county, where he became a prosperous farmer. During the days of '49 he came to the far west and for three years mined in Eldorado county, but, deciding there was no place like the old home, he returned to Carroll county and re-

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sumed farm pursuits. His death occurred there in 1898, when he was seventy-nine years of age. His wife also died in Carroll county. They were conscientious members of the Baptist Church and he officiated as a deacon. Politically he voted with the Democrats and on that ticket, during the Civil war, was elected county sheriff.

In a family of eleven children E. B. Turner is the only one on the Pacific coast. In the com- mon schools of his native county he received his education and this has been supplemented by practical experience in later life. When a young man he went to Kingman county, Kans., and four years later, going still further west, settled in Yamhill county, Ore., where he en- gaged in farming for two years. In 1884 he ar- rived in Ventura county, his present place of abode. When the railroad was built, he bought sixteen acres of raw land on Sespe avenue. This he first put under cultivation to prunes, but after a few years took out all of these trees and replaced then with navel oranges, which he finds more profitable. There are now ten acres in orange trees that are six years old. In 1894 he erected the finest residence on the avenue, and in 1890 built the Cottage Hotel in Fillmore, which he subsequently sold. His sys- tem of irrigation is said to be among the best in the vicinity, and enables him to secure the largest possible results from his ranch.

While in Kansas Mr. Turner married Miss Lucinda Hammond, a native of Henry county, Ill., and daughter of William T. and Sarah Hammond. They have one son, Elvin Edgar Turner, who is now seven years of age. In politics Mr. Turner holds to the principles of the Democratic party. In his financial under- takings he has been successful and deserves the credit for his present high standing among hor- ticulturists. Being a progressive, public-spirited man, he has not only improved his own home, but has done all in his power to improve the town as well, and any plan for its upbuilding finds in him a hearty supporter.

F. A. SNYDER. For a considerable period Mr. Snyder 1:as acted as manager of ranch prop- erty in Ventura county. He was born in Penn- sylvania in 1854 and his education was received in that state. At sixteen years of age, starting out to make his own way in the world, he went to Kentucky, and a year later settled in Illinois, where he remained four years. During his residence in these states he learned to be a tele- graph operator and worked at civil engineering, which occupations he followed for many of the following years. In 1875 he came to California and settled in Ventura county, where for a time he was interested in sheep-raising with Messrs. Bates, Brown, Gerberding and Taylor. Later for three years he was a resident of Los An- geles. He acted as foreman for the Kester and

Patton ranches in the San Fernando valley, and in 1879 became foreman for J. H. Kester at Vina, Tehama county (now the Stanford vine- yards). The following year he went to Simi, where he farmed for three years. During a subsequent residence in Montana he was with his mother and brother for two years. In 1888 and 1889 he was in the employ of a horse and cattle company at Santa Paula.

During 1890 Mr. Snyder was appointed man- ager of the Los Posas Land and Water Con- pany, and had charge of putting in their water system, covering seventeen thousand acres and irrigating ninety-three ranches. The land is owned by Senator Thomas R. Bard and several colleagues, among the foremost of these being Captain Green and J. R. Erringer of the Penn- sylvania Central Railroad. With the exception of a few orchards belonging to Senator Bard, all of the property is rented to tenants, who raise principally barley, wheat, beans and beets. As superintendent, Mr. Snyder oversees all of the work connected with Los Posas ranch, and makes his home thereon, having a comfortable residence presided over by his wife, who was formerly Miss Mary J. Gray of the Ojai valley. In politics Mr. Snyder is a Republican. Fra- ternally he is associated with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, Santa Barbara Lodge No. 615, and with the Ancient Order of United Workmen at Hueneme.

HON. W. L. TALBOTT. At present a mem- ber of the city council of Lompoc and formerly a member of the state legislature, Mr. Talbott is intimately connected with many of the pub- lic activities of Santa Barbara county. He was born in Rochester, Cedar county, Iowa, in 1848. His father, M. J. Talbott, was a farmer during the early part of his life, and was a native of New York state. In 1852 he came to California with ox-teams, and after a journey of five months arrived in Placerville, where he engaged in mining with considerable success until 1864. His subsequent residence in the west has been prolific of sucess, and now well-to-do, he lives retired from business cares, making his home at Sutter Creek. Despite his eighty-one busy years, he is still hale and active. He married Anna C. Thompson, a native of Germantown, Ohio, who is also enjoying good health, al- though, in common with her husband, advanced in years.

The early years of W. L. Talbott were in- fluenced by the family migrations in search of a permanent abiding place, but in 1855 they settled at Michigan Bar, Cal., where he acquired a common-school education. At the age of sixteen, facing the problem of self-support, he started out to independent farming and con- tinued the same until 1875, when he transferred his activities to the same line in the Lompoc

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

region. In 1890 he turned his attention to the livery business, and now has, on Ocean ave- nue, the finest and best equipped barn in Lom- poc, with a corresponding large patronage from the townspeople.

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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 161

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