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 182

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

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One year after the establishment of the Ojai Hot Spring Wheeler C. Blumberg started the Wheeler's Sulphur and Mineral Springs, which has now a world-wide reputation as an ideal place in which to recuperate and revel in the

splendors of nature. The location for his idyllic retreat was discovered by accident, while on a deer hunt, and to his experienced eye and trained intelligence the only course to pursue was to gain government title to the whole cañon. Arriving at Nordhoff from Ventura, the pleasure-seeker is driven in the Wheeler Springs turnout through fields of hay and corn and all manner of orchards and live oak groves over the mountains to this aggregation of enticing ar- rangements for the pleasure and gain of trav- clers. Too numerous to mention are the op- portunities afforded in this rugged and weird scenery. What with fishing and boating and camping, driving and riding and swimming, taking advantage of the various springs for the curing of as many ills of the human anatomy, one is fully occupied, and at the same time rest is assured by the constant change and com- munion with nature's wonders. There is a long- distance telephone to call up the world beyond the mountains, an admirable hotel and cuisine, pavilion, bowling alley, tennis court, club rooms, guides, rigs and saddle horses. The grounds are lighted by electricity, and the rates for this multiplicity of favors are within the reach of the most unassuming bank account. Summer and winter the scene of gayety is patronized with unabating fervor, its convenient location, which, by the way, is unexcelled, being a hundred miles from Los Angeles, forty-five miles from Santa Barbara, twenty miles from Santa Paula, nine- teen miles from Ventura, seven and a half miles from Nordhoff, and two and a half miles from the Montilija postoffice, rendering it easily ac- cessible from all points. The genial proprietor of the springs has many friends among those who visit him year after year, his tact and good judgment, knowledge of the workings of hu- man nature in the winter and summer, and his innate desire to please endow his establishment with a popularity complimentary in the extreme.

Mr. Blumberg was married in San Francisco in 1880, and his wife died in February of 1884. leaving one child, Charles William, who is liv- ing at home. He married again in 1885, and of this union there are two children, Etta R., who is fourteen years of age, and Carl B., who is ten years old. Mr. Blumberg is a Republican in politics (as were also his grandfather and father) and cast his first presidential vote for Benjamin Harrison. He is a member of the Odd Fellows at Ventura.

J. F. CORBETT. One of the most energetic and successful contributors to the general pop- ularity of Long Beach is J. F. Corbett, a black- smith by occupation, and for some years a dealer in all manner of agricultural implements. In his disposition of his various responsibili- ties he seems to have introduced some of the proverbial breeziness existing in his native place

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of Nova Scotia, in the vicinity of Halifax, where he was born June 2, 1865. His father, Thomas, was born in Nova Scotia, where the paternal grandfather had settled after emigrating from Scotland. Thomas Corbett was a farmer in Nova Scotia, and in 1868 removed to Rhode Island, and from there to Detroit, Becker county, Minn., in 1872, where his death oc- curred in 1887. He was a member of the Con- gregational Church, and was a man of large heart and good judgment. The mother, for- merly Rachel Fisher, who was born in Nova Scotia, and is of French descent, now lives in Minnesota, and is the parent of eight children, six sons and two daughters, of whom one son is deceased, J. F. being the second youngest son.

After the family removed to Minnesota in 1872, J. F. Corbett attended the public schools, and learned to be a model farmer under his father's instruction. While still very young he became interested in all kinds of machinery and carpenter work, and when opportunity offered learned both trades. During the winter time he worked as a blacksmith in Detroit, Minn., and during the harvest season in the summer time worked as an expert on binders and thresh- ers for about fourteen years, his territory being the Red River valley in Minnesota and Dakota. On account of his wife's health he was obliged to make a change of location, and in 1894 came to California and spent the winter in Colton. In 1895 he located in Long Beach, and July 1I, same year, bought out the Vanderburg Pioneer blacksmith establishment of the town. He con- tinued the business and carried on a general repair trade, and in 1901 enlarged his business hy laying in a stock of agricultural implements and wagons. He represented Baker & Hamil- ton, machines, implements and wagons, and had a well equipped enterprise at No. 130 West First street, with an implement house adjoining the shop and office. He was successful in carry- ing on his business, and the excellence of his work brought him several remunerative con- tracts. For instance, he competed with eastern rivals for the privilege of putting the cages in the jail, and the work was satisfactory in every way. Recently Mr. Corbett sold out his busi- ness in Long Beach and accepted a position with the Norvell-Pickrell Mining Company of Encampment, Wyo., of which company he is a director.

In Detroit, Minn., Mr. Corbett married Edith Stoddard, who was born in Milford, Mass., and who died in Long Beach. Mrs. Corbett was the mother of four children: Harold; Eugene; Malcolm, who died at the age of four years; and Meredith. The second marriage of Mr. Cor- bett was solemnized in Long Beach, and united him with Mrs. J. (Peck) Campbell, a native of Illinois. Mr. Corbett is a member of the Board

of Trade, and is a member of the official board of the Baptist Church, in which he served as Sunday-school superintendent. He is a Repub- lican in national politics.

MRS. MARY DREER. On the brink of the arroya, commanding a beautiful view, stands one of the beautiful homes of Pasadena, it be- ing the residence of Mrs. Dreer, since 1888 an honored and estimable citizen of this place. She was born in Reading, Pa., September 24, 1827, being a daughter of William Curtis and Susan (Deysher) Leavenworth, natives respectively of Woodbury, Conn., and Berks county, Pa. Her father was admitted to the bar in 1821 and during much of his active career followed the profession, although about 1837 he retired tem- porarily from practice in order to turn his at- tention to iron manufacturing. When gold was discovered in California, a love for adventure and desire to see more of the far west led him to sail to California, via the Panama route, and on his arrival he became infatuated with the alluring prospects, so remained much longer than he had anticipated. On his return east he settled at Honeoye Falls, and there his life came to an end in 1882. He was a son of John Peck Leavenworth, a native of Connecticut and for years a farmer in Rush township, Monroe county, N. Y., where he died.

The maternal grandfather of Mrs. Dreer was John Deysher, a native of Pennsylvania, in whose family were fifteen children, nine living to manhood or womanhood. The great-grand- father of Mrs. Dreer, John Lescher, was ap- pointed a member of the constitutional conven- tion in Pennsylvania and served through the entire period of the Revolutionary war. After- ward he resumed iron manufacturing.

Being the only child of well-to-do parents, Miss Mary Leavenworth was given every ad- vantage ample means rendered possible, and was educated principally in private schools and acad- emies. In Philadelphia, Pa., June 22, 1847, she became the wife of Henry A. Dreer, who was born in Philadelphia and received his educa- tion in private schools there and in the parish school of old Zion Church. When seven- teen years of age he began to assist his father in the manufacturing business and two years later established a business of his own. From 1838 until his death he conducted the seed business which still bears his name. His inter- est in matters relative to his chosen occupation led him to accept the office of treasurer in the Philadelphia Horticultural Society. Socially he was identified with the Union League of Philadelphia. All enterprises calculated to ad- vance the general welfare received his substan- tial aid and encouragement, and his death, which occurred December 22, 1873, was recog-

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nized as a distinct loss to the commercial in- terests of the city.

The family of Mr. and Mrs. Dreer comprised the following-named children: Mary L., wife of Edwin Greble, of Pasadena; William F., of Philadelphia; Susan A., wife of Col. William J. Volknar, U. S. A.,; Augusta N., who resides in Pasadena with her mother; Harry, deceased; and Louise, wife of A. C. Tower, of New York City. All worthy measures, but particularly such as are maintained by the Presbyterian Church, receive the sympathy and help of Mrs. Dreer, and she was active in fostering many of such movements personally until injuries re- ceived in a recent runaway accident somewhat lessened her activity, though not decreasing her interest nor impairing the keenness of her men- tal faculties.

ABEL POMEROY HOFFMAN. The gen- ealogy of the Hoffman family is traced to Ger- many, whence Richard Hoffman emigrated to Pennsylvania with his parents and settled in Washington county, later removing to Wayne county, Ohio, from there to Illinois, and in 1856 going via the Nicaragua route to California, where he died the following year. Abel, son of Richard, was born in Washington county, Pa., in 1818, and was four years of age when the family removed to Wayne county, Ohio. When seventeen he went to Clinton, Ohio, and for two years clerked in a store. Next he carried on a dry-goods business at Canal Fulton, that state. Removing to Illinois in 1846, he bought a farm near Princeton, and later removed to land near Troygrove, where he carried on agricultual pur- suits for eighteen years. His next removal was to Mendota, where he engaged in the stock, grain and wool business about thirty years. The year 1892 found him in California, where he superintended his son's ranch for three years and then improved a ranch of his own in the San Fernando valley. The planting of fruit trees and caring for the same engrossed his at- tention until 1898, when he retired, and has since made his home in Long Beach. Twice married. for his first wife he chose Sarah Pom- eroy, who was born in Ohio, her father, James, having removed to that state from Pennsylva- nia. She died at the age of twenty-three, leav- ing two children, of whom one survives, Abel Pomeroy. The other son, James R., served in the One Hundred and Fourth Illinois Infantry during the Civil war, and died in Kansas City, Mo., in 1887, aged forty-four years. His wife and one son, Leon, survive, now living in Chicago. The second wife of Mr. Hoffman was Margaret Ann (Liken) Porter, who spent much of her life in Illinois, but died at Long Beach, Cal., in 1900, aged eighty-two years. Of this second union there were two children. Sarah Samantha and Florence Rebecca.

At Canal Fulton, Ohio, Abel Pomeroy Hoff- man was born April 13, 1845. In early child- hood he lived with his grandparents near his birthplace, but when nine years of age accom- panied his father to LaSalle county, Ill., and during boyhood was a student in Mendota Col- lege. In May, 1864, he enlisted in Company A, One Hundred and Thirty-second Illinois Infan- try, and was mustered in at Chicago, thence sent to Kentucky after Morgan, the guerrilla, and into Missouri after Price. With his regi- ment he was honorably discharged at Chicago in November, 1864. Returning home, he soon resumed his collegiate studies, but left school before graduating in order to enter upon a busi- ness life. His first experience of mercantile pursuits was obtained at Mendota, where for a time he was employed by Scott Brothers, a a branch of the Chicago house of Carson, Pirie, Scott & Co. With this same company he also worked in stores at Ottawa and Bloomington. On his return to Mendota he embarked in busi- ness for himself, dealing in dry goods and cloth- ing. For two years he also engaged in the man- ufacturing business in the same city. From 1879 to 1884 he made Chicago his home and conducted a grocery. Meantime, in 1883, he made his first trip to California, also traveling through Arizona and other portions of the west. So pleased was he with the prospects on the Pa- cific coast that in the fall of 1884 he established himself in Los Angeles, where he carried on a fire insurance business. During the existence of the Southern California Insurance Company he acted as its agent and when it was merged into the London & Liverpool he remained with the latter as agent.

About 1886 Mr. Hoffman began to speculate in Los Angeles property and the following year became interested in Long Beach. Among the land syndicates of which he was a member were the Simi, Porter and Lankershim Land Com- panies, of which latter he was vice-president. At the close of the boom he concentrated his holdings in the Lankershim, where his com- pany had twelve thousand acres and he himself owned six hundred acres. On his personal holdings he planted four hundred acres in or- chards near the town of Toluca, twelve miles northwest of Los Angeles, and was the first to experiment with oranges in that locality, but the forty acres thus planted did not prove a success. However, he also planted some wal- nuts and deciduous fruits, all of which grew and thrived. At this writing he retains three hundred acres, including the old Lankershim homestead, with one of the best deciduous fruit orchards in the whole state, there being two hundred and fifty acres in these fruits and forty acres in walnuts. During 1900 he devel- oped water on the place by means of two wells. from which, by portable galvanized iron pipes.

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water can be conveyed to irrigate one hundred and fifteen acres.

In addition to his Lankershim holdings, Mr. Hoffman owns four hundred and eighty acres in the Sespe oil district and a simillar amount in the Castec oil district; is a large stockholder in an Arizona copper company and a director in the Hercules Oil Refining Company, and pres- ident of the Nevada Tonopah Mining Company. The investments in Long Beach were made by his wife, who is the possessor of independent means. Acting upon his suggestion, some years ago she began to buy property in Long Beach, and the results have proved the wisdom of his judgment. In the spring of 1897 was erected the Julian Hotel, the largest in Long Beach. This was enlarged in 1901 and again, the fol- lowing year, when a third story was added. The location of the hotel is central and conve- nient, its rooms are commodious and equipped with modern improvements, and it is admirably adapted to comfortably house the many visitors whom the delightful climate of this coast resort attracts hither. This hotel is to be duplicated on their Los Angeles city home property in the near future. Mrs. Hoffman was formerly Flor- ence Liken, and was born in Pennsylvania, but as a girl lived in Geneseo, Ill. For some years she and her husband have made their home in their cottage, Idlewild, being in the same block and a few doors from their hotel. From here Mr. Hoffman for years superintended his San Fernando ranch, but it is now leased. Before the Civil war he joined the Presbyterian Church and ever since has been active in its work, at this writing being a member of the board of trustees of the Long Beach congregation. The work of the Y. M. C. A. has also appealed to him, and he was a warm supporter of the plan for building up the organization in Los An- geles. The Chamber of Commerce of Los An- geles and Board of Trade of Long Beach num- ber him among their members. In politics he has always been a stanch believer in Republican principles, having never swerved in his alle- giance to the same since the days when he went to the front as a Union soldier. He is con- nected with the Ohio and Illinois Societies and is also identified. with Long Beach Post No. 181, G. A. R., in the meetings and work of which he maintains, a warm interest.

GEORGE C. POWER. A very old and still prominent family is that to which Mr. Power belongs. Authentic records of the lives and "cleeds of its members extend to the days of the Revolution, and to the association of the first emigrants with Nantucket, their original home in America. Some bearing the name and claim- ing the same ancestry lived in Providence, R. I., but departures from the ranks were made during the last century to Hudson, situated on

the river of that name in New York, where the paternal grandfather, John Power, was born, lived and died. In this same town, opposite Athens, on the historic and beautiful stream, George C. Power was born in 1851, a son of George H. and Adeline E. (Cuffin) Power, na- tives of New York, the former born in Hudson in 1817. The father has for years been a steam- boat and railroad man at Hudson, and owns several boats which ply the river.

To the exercise of his profession of civil engi- neer Mr. Power brings all the knowledge 'ac- quirable through unexcelled educational oppor- tunities and subsequent practical experience. He was graduated from Yale College in 1874. and then spent three years in England, perfect- ing himself as a civil engineer. Upon returning to America he followed his calling at Hudson, his first contract being for ten steel bridges for the Catskill Mountain Railroad Company. His ability received gratifying recognition, and for four years he did a large business, especially in the business of bridge construction. Owing to the failing health of his wife, whom he married in 1875, at New Haven, Conn., and who was formerly Mary, daughter of Marshall Brace, he decided upon a complete change of surround- ings, and came to California in 1884. After three or four years of travel through different parts of the state he settled in Ventura in 1887, and has since followed his profession in the town of his adoption. His responsibilities and honors have been in keeping with his ability to sustain them, and he has been engaged in pri- vate and county work, and served as deputy county surveyor for two terms beginning in 1887. He was then elected county surveyor, a position which he has held at different times for eight years, co-incident with that of city engi- neer for twelve years, from 1887 until 1899.

Among the important public services which the town of Ventura owes to Mr. Power may be mentioned his plans and construction of the city water system, a new departure, in that it was the first attempt to discharge the drainage into the ocean. So successful has this plan proved that it has since been adopted by Los Angeles. He also designed and superintended the con- struction of the bridge over the Santa Clara river, at a cost of $50.000, as well as other work of a similar nature. Another decidedly success- ful undertaking was the making and publishing, in 1897, of a fine wall map of Ventura county. gotten up on the scale of one inch to the mile, and which was the first ever made of the county. Mr. Power is a Republican in politics, as was also his father, and he is a member of the Epis- copal Church, as is also his wife, and daughter Helen. Fraternallv he is connected with the Masons, Knight Templars. Odd Fellows and Ancient Order of United Workmen, all at Ven- tura.

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J. L. SEBASTIAN. The little town of Can- arillo owes much of its present standing among the enterprising settlements of Ventura county to the excellent citizenship of the popular post- master and merchant, J. L. Sebastian. His en- tire life has been spent within the borders of California, for he was born in Tehama county, at Red Bluff, in 1865, and came to Ventura county at the early age of three years. His father, John W., was a native of Kentucky, and came to California as early as 1853, subsequently spending much time in travel through the northern part of the state. He was a blacksmith by trade, and upon removing to Ventura county settled about fifteen miles southeast of here in Pleasant valley, where he took up government land, and built a blacksmith shop which he op- erated for seven years. He then went to Bell county, Tex., and remained for ten months, after which he spent some time in Missouri, and upon returning to California settled at Springville, where he started the first blacksmith shop in the little village and where he eventually died in 1888. He married, in his younger days, Mary Riggs, of Arkansas, who still lives at Spring- ville, three miles from Camarillo. Besides J. L. Sebastian, among the sons were Robert, who is a hotel-keeper at San Luis Obispo; Charles, who is a barber at Oxnard; Eugene, clerk in a store at Oxnard; and Alfred, who is living at the old home and conducting the ranch.

In quest of an independent livelihood, J. L. Sebastian started farming enterprises. In 1894 he opened a general merchandise business at Springville, which he continued until 1899. His plans were somewhat changed at that time owing to the fact that the railroad was built through Camarillo from Oxnard. thus opening up superior chances for the erstwhile obscure little hamlet. This railroad line is known as the Oxnard branch, and runs up the valley from here to Santa Susanna, twenty-five miles dis- tant, and will eventually be the main line of the railroad.

This opening was taken advantage of by Mr. Sebastian, who rented a store building and started the first general merchandise store in the place, which has in connection a barber shop, and is in every way a worthy addition to the town. Having previously been postmaster at Springville for three years, the postmaster's mantle naturally fell to his shoulders in Cama- rillo, and he was therefore the first man here to handle the trusts of Uncle Sam. This is 110 light task, for aside from the residents of the town who apply at the office for letters and pa- pers, about a hundred ranchers and many other people come to town for their mail. The store is a favorite meeting place for all classes, and its conveniences are enhanced by telegraph and telephone service for the accommodation of the public. A general line of goods is carried, and

a general spirit of courtesy and good fellow- ship is apparent to all who come with wants to be supplied.

At San Luis Obispo, in 1887, Mr. Sebastian married Clara, daughter of John and Mary Newman, the former of whom was born in Illi- nois, and came to California at a very early day. He was a rancher and died in his adopted state; his wife, who was also a native of Illinois, still lives in this vicinity. Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Sebastian, Reuben, Carl and Irene, aged respectively eleven, nine and six years. In politics Mr. Sebastian is a Demo- crat, but is not an office-seeker. He has been a Mason for the past year at Hueneme, and is a member and worker in the Methodist Episcopal Church.

THEODORE F. WHITE. Perhaps no serv- ice rendered by Mr. White to the county of San Bernardino has been of greater value than that in connection with the oiling of roads. When he was elected a member of the board of super- visors, in 1898, the board was just taking up the question of oiled roads. Immediately grasp- ing the vast benefit to be derived from such a system, and fortified by a knowledge gained in visiting other points which had adopted such a plan, he threw his influence on the side of the innovation and was not discouraged by the ad- verse criticisms of those who feared the plan might prove a failure. In order to prove its wisdom, he experimented in his own precinct and also enlisted neighboring precincts in the work. Numerous experiments were necessary before the best method was evolved, but, finally, as a result of his study, he established a method giving a very heavy coating the first year, then lighter the next year, and he invented and pat- ented White's Road Oiler, one of the most prac- tical inventions of its kind now in use. The suc- cess of the plan has been published in everv part of the United States and has stimulated many counties to adopt a similar method.

Mr. White was born in Montgomery county. Pa., in 1844, and grew to manhood on a farm occupied by his father, James White. After com- pleting public-school studies he took up mining -engineering and in 1862 was graduated from the Polytechnic College of Pennsylvania. Dur- ing the invasion of the state by the Confederates he enlisted in the state militia. For three years he was employed as superintendent of a mine in Nevada, after which he was with the Mem- phis & El Paso Railroad, and came to California for the purpose of assisting in building the road through to San Diego. On finishing that work he became chief clerk and draftsman in the Sur- veyor-General's office in Arizona, but afterward resumed field work. following it ten years. Meantime he married Miss Annie Maxwell, of San Diego, Cal., by whom he has four children:

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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 182

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