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 181

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

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In 1890 Mr. Waite located in Los Angeles and continued his former occupation, and after- ward became manager of the San Pedro Lumber Company, of Compton Yards, and established for them and managed their Clearwater yards. In this important capacity he remained for seven years, or until 1899, when he resigned his position to engage again in building and con- tracting. The wisdom of this decision has been repeatedly demonstrated, for success has crowned his efforts, and while engaged in build- ing of a general character, is especially to be commended for his skill in putting up residences and flats. He is well known in the business and social life of Los Angeles, and is fraternally as- sociated with the Independent Foresters and the Modern Woodmen of America.

In Creighton, Neb., Mr. Waite married Lillie Mills, a native of Winona, Wis., and a daughter of Stephen S. Mills. Mrs. Waite, who is a grad- uate of the Winona high school and a woman of particularly pleasing personality, is the mother of four children, Wendell, Ruth, Evelyn and Walter.

WILLIAM HAYES PERRY was born Oc- tober 17, 1832, near Newark, Ohio, where he spent his boyhood. In 1853, partly on account of his health, he started for California overland with Colonel Hollister, of Santa Barbara, who crossed the plains that year with stock, sheep, cattle and horses. The party, which comprised about fifty men and five ladies, crossed the Mis- souri river at Bennett's ferry, south of Council Bluffs. Much annoyed by Indians on the way the party at length reached California, having made the journey via Salt Lake City, thence south via San Bernardino to Los Angeles, ar- riving in Los Angeles in February, 1854.

Having finished his apprenticeship in cabinet- making and turning before leaving the east, Mr. Perry engaged in this business on his arrival in Los Angeles. In less than one year from the time of his arrival he opened the first furniture store in Los Angeles. With the articles of his own manufacture, and with shipments he made from San Francisco, he kept a full and complete assortment, and held the trade solidly, having no competitor for four years. In 1846 he took

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in, as a partner, Mr. Brady, whom Wallace Woodworth bought out in 1858. With the latter he continued in business for twenty-five years, or until Mr. Woodworth's death in 1883, the name of the firm being Perry & Woodworth. In 1873 they changed from the furniture and cabinet business to dealing in lumber, mould- ings, doors, sash, blinds, builders' hardware and finishing supplies of all kinds. They bought and built on the property now occupied by the busi- ness, extending through from Commercial street to Requena street, and on the south side of Re- quena street, building a branch of the Southern Pacific Railroad through the property, so as to avail themselves of railroad facilities in handling lumber, etc. After Mr. Woodworth's death Mr. Perry incorporated his business, and it is now known as the W. H. Perry Lumber and Mill Company. Mr. Perry and associates organized the Los Angeles and Humbolt Lumber Com- pany at San Pedro, carrying there a stock to supply the Arizona and foreign trade. He or- ganized the Pioneer Lumber and Mill Company at Colton, to supply the territory east of Los Angeles county, and also organized the Los Angeles Storage, Commission and Lumber Company. This company, in addition to lum- ber, carried lime, plaster, cement, fire-brick, etc., to supply the market.

Mr. Perry owns much of the most valuable real estate in this city, and is interested in steam- ers and sail vessels plying on this coast. He is a stockholder in the Nevada Bank and Union Trust Company of San Francisco, and stock- holder and director in the Farmers and Mer- chants' Bank of Los Angeles; president of the W. H. Perry Lumber and Mill Company, presi- dent of the Pioneer Lumber and Mill Company, president of the Los Angeles City Water Com- pany, president of the Crystal Springs Water Company, president of the Southern California Pipe and Clay Company, president of the Bard Oil and Asphalt Company, director in the Olinda Crude Oil Company, director in the Reed Oil Company, stockholder in the Slocan Oil Com- pany, stockholder in the Union Oil Company, stockholder in the Kern Oil Company and many other corporations.

LARKIN SNODGRASS was born in Rock Castle county, Ky., March II, 1824. In his youth he attended the common schools and when he was only twenty-two years of age he crossed the plains to California. Here he spent four years, then returning home, but, though he continued to dwell there some seven years, his purpose was to come back to the west, sooner or later. For the second time he turned his face westward and arriving in Sacramento, turned his attention to the raising of cattle and sheep. He lived there for eleven years, gradually ac- cumulating a fortune, and in 1868 he removed to

Ventura county, where he also engaged in the raising of live stock. He assisted in the organ- izing of the Ventura Bank and served as its president for four years. He stood high in the estimation of the people of that county, and by them was elected to the responsible posi- tion of treasurer of the county, serving two terms.

In 1884 he removed to Los Angeles and about four years later bought a large ranch located several miles southeast of the city, and it was not until 1890 that he disposed of this property. He then purchased his present fine stock farm, which is nearly three miles northeast of Comp- ton and about an hour's ride from Los Angeles, when seated behind one of his splendid road- sters. He makes a point of raising thorough- bred trotting horses, and, indeed, is one of the few who hold the palm in this specialty in South- ern California.

AARON M. OZMUN. Not a few of the men now prominent in commercial and financial cir- cles in Los Angeles are those who had pre- viously won success in various business activi- ties in the east. Such is the record of Aaron M. Ozmun, president of the Columbia Savings Bank of Los Angeles, and one of the repre- sentative nien of the city. Prior to his settle- ment in California he was for years intimately identified with the business interests of Min- nesota, and especially the cities of Rochester and S. Paul, where he won an honorable posi- tion by reason of his business activity.

On the farm where his father's birth had oc- curred A. M. Ozmun was born in 1838. He re- moved with the family to Minnesota in 1856. In 1859 he left the home farm and secured employ- ment in the hardware store of Taggart Brothers, at Ripon, Wis., where he remained for four years. On his return to Minnesota in 1863, with his father he established the hardware firm of A. Ozmun & Son, at Rochester, where he con- tinued in business for twenty years. Finally, impelled by the need of a more central location, he removed to St. Paul, and became a partner in the house of Farwell, Ozmun. & Jackson. In 1887 the business was incorporated under the title of Farwell, Ozmun, Kirk & Co., which name is still retained. A trade was built up by the house that was not limited to Minnesota, but extended through all the west and even to the Pacific coast. Mr. Ozmun was president of the corporation and one of its principal stock- holders.

In 1893 Mr. Ozmun came to California. It was not his intention to engage actively in busi- ness, but he was prevailed upon to accept the presidency of the Columbia Savings Bank on South Broadway, and he has since stood at the head of this well-known banking house.

During his residence in Minnesota Mr.

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Ozmun married M. Cecelia, daughter of John V. Daniels, who was for years a member of the Minnesota state senate, and whose son, Hon. M. J. Daniels, his successor in the senate, is now president of the Orange Growers' Bank of Riverside, Cal. The only son of Mr. and Mrs. Ozmun is R. W., cashier of the Columbia Sav- ings Bank. He is married and has a son who bears his grandfather's name.

HON. JOHN D. POPE. On a farm near Atlanta, Ga., Mr. Pope was born in 1838. About the close of the Civil war he established himself in law practice in Atlanta, and for years after- ward was a partner of Hon. Joseph E. Brown, who was four times elected governor of Georgia and also held the office of chief justice of the supreme court. Association with a man so eminent and so able could not but prove helpful to Mr. Pope. His ability was recognized by lis selection as judge of the superior court of the Atlanta circuit, state of Georgia, in which posi- tion he served for three years, resigning to accept the office of United States attorney, to which he was appointed by Ulysses S. Grant, then president.

On resigning as United States attorney, Mr. Pope resumed the practice of law in his south- ern home. In 1873 he removed to St. Louis, where he practiced law until 1890. He then came to Los Angeles, where, in addition to his general practice, he is counselor for a number of large corporations, including the Santa Monica and Mount Lowe Railway Companies. He is also president of the Title Guarantee and Trust Company.

HON. JOHN D. WORKS. Until he canie to California in 1883 Judge Works made his home in Switzerland county, Ind., where his father, James A. Works, a Kentuckian by birth, was long a leading lawyer. He was born in Indiana in 1847. On changing his residence from Indiana to California Judge Works opened a law office in San Diego. In 1886 the governor of the state, on the petition of the bar, appointed him superior judge of San Diego county, and at the next election he was chosen for the same office without opposition. After one year of service as superior judge he resigned and en- tered into law practice in San Diego with Hon. Olin Welborn. A year later he was appointed a justice of the supreme court of California, to serve until the ensuing election. At the election following he was chosen to serve as a supreme court justice to fill the unexpired term of Judge Mckinstry. When the term expired he de- clined to be a candidate for re-election, and returned to San Diego, taking up the practice of law with Hon. James A. Gibson and Harry L. Titus, under the firm name of Works, Gibson & Titus. He made a specialty of the law relative

to water rights and water companies; few attor- neys in the state are more familiar than he with this most important branch of the profession. He is now and has been for years attorney for the San Diego Water Company, and acts in the same capacity for the San Diego Flume Com- pany and the San Diego Land and Town Com- pany. In 1896 he removed from San Diego to Los Angeles, his present home, but he still retains his office in San Diego, where his son represents the firm of Works & Works. In Los Angeles he is at the head of the firm of Works & Lee, which has in the Henne block one of the finest office suites in the city and also owns a very exhaustive and valuable law library. Be- sides his connection with other matters of law he acts as attorney for the Consolidated Water Company, which was organized under the laws of West Virginia and carries on business in San Diego.

HON. ROBERT NELSON BULLA. In 1883 Mr. Bulla came to Southern California, arriving in Los Angeles December 26. For the next four years he was connected with the of- fices of Bicknell & White, after which he prac- ticed alone. In the campaign of 1892 he was in- duced to accept the nomination, by the Repub- lican party, for the assembly in the seventy-fifth district, comprising the second and third wards of Los Angeles city. Mr. Bulla was elected by a handsome majority. He took an active part in the session of 1893, although his party was in the minority in that branch of the legislature. It was during this session that lie introduced an entirely original idea in legislation, a bill which provided for the purchase, by the state, of all land sold for the non-payment of state and county taxes. No other state lias even grappled with this question in this manner. Owing to its novelty it met with strenuous opposition on the part of some of the state officials, but its ex- cellent features commended themselves strongly to the members of the two houses and it passed and went to the governor for his signature. Representations were made to Governor Mark- ham that its operation would deprive the state of its revenue. He therefore vetoed it, much to the disappointment of its friends.

Two years later Mr. Bulla was re-elected to the assembly. He accepted the position chiefly to re-introduce his now famous bill. At this election his opponent was a fusionist, but he won the election by a majority far greater than at his former election. In the session of 1895 he again introduced the delinquent tax bill. It passed the legislature and was approved by Governor Budd. The law has been in force for several years, and has been found a measure wise and beneficent toward those who are un- fortunate in having their realty sold for taxes, saving them enormous sums in percentages

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upon redemption, delivering them from the un- just exaction of purchasers of tax titles. It has also proved to be the means of increased revenue to the state, because it receives the benefit of all the penalties upon redemption.

Appointment was prohibited by the constitu- tion of the state. In the fall of 1898 he was a candidate for the state senate from the thirty- seventh district and was elected by the largest majority of any Republican on the ticket. Dur- ing the session of 1897 he was chairman of the senate committee on claims and as such passed on all claims against the state which were pre- sented to the legislature. He was also a mem- ber of the judiciary committee and the commit- tee on municipal corporations. During this ses- sion his bill on Torren's land transfer, which had been defeated in 1895, was passed, notwithstand- ing the strenuous efforts of a paid lobby to defeat it. At this session he introduced and had passed a bill changing the laws governing the state normal schools, the object being to re- move them as far as possible from political in- fluence. He also introduced a bill, which became a law, preventing divorced persons from remarrying within a year from the date the decree of separation was passed. This bill has received severe criticism from some, yet it is doing much to free the state of California from the stigma of numerous divorces, which had grown to be an evil of no small dimensions.

A. W. SEPULVEDA. Even the most casual visitor to Southern California becomes familiar with the surname, Sepulveda. Dolores Sepul- veda, the grandfather of A. W. Sepulveda, was one of the old landholders of Los Angeles county, his vast estates extending along the sea coast from San Pedro to Redondo Beach, and for miles back into the foothills. While on his way to Sacramento to obtain a patent to his ranch he was killed. by some Indians, who had stealthily awaited his coming. Much of his property was handed down to his son, Joe Diego Sepulveda, who was born on the old ranch near San Pedro in 1813. The latter, as he grew to maturity, followed in his father's footsteps as a financier and business man, hand- ling his vast possessions with masterly ability. He owned his share of one-fifth of thirty-nine thousand acres of land in one body, and over the hills roamed his great herds of cattle and flocks of sheep. During the war of the United States with Mexico he was loyal to the country which destiny had decreed was to be the victor in the conflict. Besides contributing generously of cattle and horses, money and provisions from his own private stores, he fought in the Ameri- can army and materially aided in extending the dominion of the United States to the waters of the Pacific. He died on his ranch in 1869, aged fifty-seven years. His wife was Maria Desalda,

daughter of a wealthy Spanish officer, who lived in San Diego.

On the ancestral estates A. W. Sepulveda was born September 28, 1854. When a mere boy he moved with the family to San Pedro, and here he has spent most of his life. Since he was fif- teen years of age he has practically been inde- pendent, but his father having taught him les- sons of industry and wisdom, he has heeded his early training and has been judicious in the ex- penditure of the capital which passed into his hands at the death of his father. He still owns large tracts of land in Los Angeles, besides property in the surrounding country.

WILLIAM L. ADAMS. One of the success- ful ranchers and business men of Santa Maria valley is William L. Adams, who was born in Lancastershire, Scotland, August 7, 1836. From earliest youth he was accustomed to the sur- roundings of a farm, his parents having been successful farmers in his native land. At the age of twelve he accompanied the rest of his family to America, where for one year they lived in Salt Lake City, Utah, the following year being spent in San Bernardino. From there they removed to the northern part of the state, and for five years carried on farming in Alameda county. Mr. Adams then started out on his own responsibility, and in 1860 settled in the Pajaro valley, Santa Cruz county, where for eight years he was fairly successful as a farmer and stock-raiser. Following this experience he removed to the Salinas valley, Monterey county, remaining there for two years, or until settling in the Santa Maria valley, Santa Barbara county. in 1869.

In the general upbuilding of this productive valley Mr. Adams has taken a prominent part, and particularly before its advantages were com- monly known or many had settled here with permanent intentions. He opened the first mer- chandise store in the valley, which establishment received a lucrative trade for many miles around and for many years. The store has long since passed into other hands, and Mr. Adams has devoted his entire time to farming and stock- raising. His home is located one and a half miles west of Santa Maria, on the Guadaloupe road, and here are to be found all manner of modern improvements and labor saving devices, also large tracts of beets and beans, and many cattle and horses. Nor does this represent the extent of the land possessions of Mr. Adams. for he owns large tracts in Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties.

In 1861 Mr. Adams married Elizabeth Con- ner, daughter of James Conner, of Santa Clara county, and of this union there are seven sons and four daughters. Mr. Adams is a Repub- lican in politics, and has taken an active part in the politics of his county and state. His ex-

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ceptional executive and financial ability finds ample scope as president of the Santa Maria Bank, and as president of the water works. He is widely known in the community which he has so materially benefited, and by all is regarded as one upon whom his friends and associates may implicitly rely.

GARRETT L. BLOSSER, proprietor of the Champion stables at Santa Maria, was born in Stockton, Cal., in 1865, a son of Lorenzo W. Blosser, a native of Pennsylvania. The elder Blosser came to California in 1850 and with his family removed to Santa Maria about 1869. He was a blacksmith by trade, and had no superior in his line in the county. His son, Garrett L., started out at an early age to earn his own liv- ing, and as an experiment ran a butcher shop for a couple of years. Convinced that this kind of business was hardly to his liking, he entered another field of activity, namely, the livery business, in which he has since been engaged.

In all, Mr. Blosser has been in the livery busi- ness in Santa Maria for eighteen years, and dur- ing that time has gained a reputation for correct business methods and integrity which have brought in an extended patronage not only in the town but throughout the surrounding coun- try. His rigs and horses are above the average to be found in small towns, and the appoint- ments in his barns show a consideration for the comfort of the dumb creatures entrusted to his care.

June 17, 1894, Mr. Blosser married the daugh- ter of a rancher and an early settler of this vi- cinity, and they have two children. In politics Mr. Blosser is a Republican, and has been prom- inently identified with the political undertakings of his adopted town. He is at present serving as constable and deputy sheriff, having been ap- pointed in 1898, and having formerly held the position of deputy constable for seven years. Fraternally he is a Mason and an Odd Fellow at Santa Maria. The residence of Mr. and Mrs. Blosser is located on Church street, and is a comfortable and homelike place, and evidently the scene of happy home surroundings.

J. W. ATKINSON. Years of practical ex- perience have converted Mr. Atkinson into one of the foremost authorities on sugar-making in the United States. It may be said that practi- cally his entire business life. has been devoted to this branch of industry, and that he has entered into the details of every branch of the manufac- ture and has accomplished gratifying results by reason of his experiments. He was born in Placer county, Cal., and is a graduate of the State University of California. In time he be- came identified as superintendent with the Al- varado Sugar Company in Alameda county, and

it was here that he gained his first and most tiseful lessons in the manufacture of sugar, be- ginning at the bottom and working his way up. At this time the factory was the only one in the United States, and he is at the present time the second oldest sugar factory superintendent in the country. For ten years he continued with the Alvarado Company, but in 1898, when the Union Sugar Company was organized, and built their factory, he became associated with them in his former capacity of superintendent.

The small village which constituted the field of operations for the Union Sugar Company is located six miles southwest of Santa Maria, and six miles east of Guadaloupe, on the banks of the Guadaloupe lake. The lake is about seven miles in length, and is reached by the South- ern Pacific and the Pacific Central Railroads. The officers of the company are: John L. How- ard, president; E. C. Burr, vice-president ; James Coffin, secretary; and J. W. Atkinson, superin- tendent. The president, vice-president and sec- retary are at the home office in San Francisco. In the valley there are fifty thousand acres of beet land, and the company owns four thou- sand two hundred acres. It is said that there are plenty of opportunities to rent or buy beet land in the valley, and every one asserts that it is a pleasant and profitable business. Besides the factory, which is built of brick and steel and has the most complete and modern equipment, there are fine offices and ranch houses, besides the residence of the superintendent, the whole making up a little village at the Union Sugar Works. Besides there is a post office called Betteraira, of which Mr. Atkinson is postmaster. The capacity of the factory is five hundred tons daily, granulated sugar being exclusively manu- factured. The credit for building up and main- taining the excellent character of this sugar en- terprise is traceable directly to the efficient and intelligent management of Mr. Atkinson, and it must be a source of immense consolation to him that his services are so thoroughly appreciated by those who in the beginning entrusted to his skill and conscientious application the conduct of a concern of such magnitude. Mr. Atkinson is a Republican in politics. His pleasant and hospitable home is presided over by Mrs. Atkin- son, whom he married in Alvarado.

WHEELER C. BLUMBERG. No name in the Ojai valley is better or more widely known than that of Blumberg, nor does any carry with it more joyous memories of summers in the midst of the most beautiful mountains and nat- ural surroundings in Southern California, an interlude from the heat and strife of cities, to trout fishing, hunting, rambles in shady glades, drinks from life-giving springs, baths that strengthen jaded muscles, and excellent accom- modations when the day's exertions are over,

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augmented by ample provision for the most fastidious needs of the inner man. For of all the delightful resorts which charm the eye and rest the mind of man, in this miniature Yosem- ite is surely one of the most desirable, and one of the most tactfully and intelligently planned.

Inseparable from, but by no means overshad- owing the attainments of his son, Wheeler C. Blumberg, the proprietor of Wheeler's Hot Springs, is the pioneer carcer of Abraham Wheeler Blumberg, the founder of Nordhoff and the manager of the Ojai Hot Springs up to the time of his death in September of 1899. The elder Blumberg was born in Roxbury, Dela- ware county, N. Y., July 19, 1836, a son of Christopher and Jane (Mackey) Blumberg, na- tives of New York. His ancestry was Scotch and German, the paternal grandfather, George Blumberg, having emigrated from Germany and settled in Delaware county, N. Y. He was edu- cated in New York and afterwards studied law in Iowa, being admitted to the bar of that state. In 1871 he brought his family to California, and after a short time in Los Angeles came to the site of Nordhoff, the twenty acres of which had been donated by a Ventura speculator. His wife named the town because of the interest which the book of Charles Nordhoff inspired in her, and which first seriously interested her in the marvels of California. The family lived several years in Nordhoff and three years in Santa Paula, and in 1887 the father established the Ojai Hot Springs, located in the cañon called Montilija, meaning, when interpreted from the Indian, "Mother of all Waters." The efficacy of the sulphur and other springs was never questioned, nor was the grace and in- spiration of its location ever doubted, hemmed in as it was by mountains a thousand feet high on either side, and nine hundred feet above the sea. Mr. Blumberg also became postmaster of the place, and he built the store, bathhouses and all necessary adjuncts to his well patronized re- sort. He was a successful business man, and took the utmost pains in regard to the comfort and convenience of his guests. He accumu- lated a great deal of real-estate during his resi- dence in California, and among his other under- takings built the Nordhoff Hotel, later changed to the Ojai House. He married in 1859 Cather- ine E. Vancuren, a native of New York, and of this union there were five children, four of whom are living: Inez O., Wheeler C., Birdsel W. and Irene M. Mr. Blumberg was a Republican and served as justice of the peace, and was a Master Mason. Mrs. Blumberg died in 1891.

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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 181

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