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 44

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

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LAZARD KAHN Justice of the Peace for fourteen years, at present a general merchant and one of the chief promoters of the town of Jos Alamos, was born in Phalsbourg, Lorraine. France. in 1850. Until his eighteenth ver he lived in his native land, where he received a com- mon-school and college education, immigrating to the United States in 1868. He at once came to California and settled in Santa Barbara, where for four years he was a clerk. gradually working his way up in the world until he was able to engage in business for himself. In 1880 he came to Los Alamos and started a jobbing house in

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

liquor, and in 1896 established a general mer- chandise business which has been conducted on successful lines. A large trade has rewarded his efforts, and his upright business methods have placed him among the commercial forces of the county.

Aside from his general business interests Mr. Kahn owns large ranch properties. In politics he is a Democrat, but aside from his position of justice of the peace has devoted little time to official office. However, he is a stanch upholder of educational matters, and has done much to promote the interests along that line. At the Arroyo Hondo, in Santa Barbara county, in 1875, Mr. Kahn married Josephine Ortéga, a daughter of Pedro Ortega, a native of Santa Barbara county and a descendant of an old Spanish fam- ily that were among the pioneers of California, and of this union there are four children: Ed- mond, Samuel, Mattie and Anna.

WILLIAM H. KOOPMAN. Since the fall of 1881 Mr. Koopman has made Los Angeles his home and business headquarters. He was born in the city of Hanover, Germany, May 15, 1868, a son of¡Henry and Caroline ( Slifer ) Koopmann natives of Hanover, and lifelong residents ofthe German empire. His paternal grandfatlagoa Hanoverian, was for some years a soldier inntil German army and remained at the front; thuring the Napoleonic campaigns. The parental family comprised four sons and one daughter, of whom all are living except one son. Albert is a brickz mason in St. Louis and John a carpenter in Hoos Angeles. The oldest son, William H., spentithe first eleven years of his life in Hanover, button 1874 came to America, joining an uncle and aunt in St. Louis. He was the first of the family to cross the ocean, his brothers not coming until some years later. For some time he was a pupil in the public schools in St. Louis, after which he attended Concordia College. About 1879 he was apprenticed to the carpenter's trade in St. Louis, and during the two ensuing years he devoted him- self closely to acquiring a thorough knowledge of the occupation. When his boss came to Los Angeles he accompanied him thither, in order to complete his trade, and after starting out inde- pendently he acted as foreman of jobs.

Taking up independent contracts in 1896. Mr. Koopmanhas since had charge of the erection of the Coughran building at Long Beach, the Bacon block on Broadway in Los Angeles, four busi- ness houses on Temple street, and numerous resi- dences in all parts of this city, including his own house at No. 1406 Union street. More than once his services have been called into requisition in adjoining cities, where his work uniformly gives satisfaction by reason of his accuracy, prompt- ness and painstaking care. He was one of the organizers of the Master Builders' Association, to which he has since belonged, and he is also

identified with the Builders' Exchange. In na- tional politics he is a Republican, while in re- ligion he adheres to the faith of his forefathers and holds membership in the Lutheran Church. After coming to Los Angeles he married Miss Louisa Linzenberd, who was born near Jefferson City, Mo. Their family consists of three chil- dren : Edgar, Alfred and Elsa.

M. ELLA WHIPPLE MARSH. B. S., M. D. Since her earliest recollections Dr. Whipple Marsh has been associated with the Pacific coast states, but the family of which she is a member is of eastern colonial stock. Her grand- father was a native of Rhode Island and became a farmer in Chautauqua county, N. Y., where lier father, Hon. Samuel R. Whipple was born and reared. In turn, the latter identified himself with regions further west, settling near Bata- via, Kane county, Ill., where his oldest child, M. Ella, was born. During her infancy the fam- ily started across the plains, with ox-teams, and after traveling from April to October arrived in Oregon. Their choice of a location came by ghance. When he started Mr. Whipple was un- decided as to whether to settle in California or Oregon. Finally he came to the dividing of the roads, with the question still unsettled, so he let the fall of a stake decide the matter, and in that way became a resident of Oregon. Taking up a donation land claim of six hundred and forty acres on the Columbia river, he became interested in farming and cattle-raising. In 1861 he removed to Vancouver, Wash., still, however, taking charge of his cattle and farms, but giving more attention than before to public affairs and serving with ability in the territorial legislature of Washington, to which he was elected on the Republican ticket. In religion he was connected with the Methodist Episcopal Church. His wife, Charlotte, was born in Orange, N. J. When thirteen years of age she began to teach school in New Jersey, later fol- lowing the same occupation in Westfield Acad- emy in Western New York, and finally taking a school in Batavia, Ill., where she met and mar- ried Mr. Whipple, her wedding being solem- nizedin thehome of Lieutenant-Governor Bross of Illinois. A woman of splendid education (al- most wholly attained by self-culture), she was considered one of the most successful teachers of her locality, and won the friendship of the most cultured people in every town where she lived. All through her mature life she was a faithful member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Her death occurred in Vancouver. Wash., when she was almost sixty-two years of age. Three children survive her, namely: M. Ella, of Pasadena; Mrs. C. E. Brown, of Los Angeles; and George A., an extensive farmer in Washington.

After having graduated from Vancouver

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

Seminary in 1870 M. Ella Whipple entered Willamette University, from which she holds the degree of B. S. Afterward she taught school in Oregon and Washington, being for a time prin- cipal of the Lower Astoria schools. From childhood it had been her ambition to study medicine, and when the way was open, she took up the work under Mrs. Dr. Ford Warren, of Portland, Ore. In 1881 she entered the medi- cal department of Willamette University, from which she was graduated in 1884. To further fit herself for professional work, she took a hospital course in the Battle Creek Sanitarium and also a special training course in the Univer- sity of Michigan. Returning to Washington she was for one term superintendent of the schools of Clarke county and at the same time practiced medicine in Vancouver. For one term she held the position of city health officer of Vancouver, and twice she was a member of the Territorial Republican convention. Coming to California in December, 1887, she spent two months in Long Beach, and in February, 1888, opened an office at Pasadena, where she has since conducted a general practice. In this city, April 18, 1892, she became the wife of Rev. J. N. Marsh, a retired minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church and a resident of Pasadena since 1887. Her office and residence is now at No. 314 Arcadia street, Pasadena.

The personal characteristics of Dr. Whipple Marsh are as marked as her professional aspira- tions and acquirements. Possessing a broad mind, wide scope of knowledge and liberal views, she gives her influence to all the for- ward movements of the day. Both in Washing- ton and California she has maintained an inter- est in suffrage work, being a believer in the justice of a ballot that knows no distinction of sex. A constantly broadening knowledge of the evil wrought by intoxicants has made of her a stanch prohibitionist. Ten times she has been elected secretary of the local Women's Christian Temperance Union, which position she now holds, and she also acts as state super- intendent of franchise in California for the Union. Another forward movement to which she has given sympathy and aid is that con- nected with the school savings bank, and, as superintendent of the county work, she has placed the system upon a substantial basis. The Pasadena Medical Society numbers her among its members. In religion she is identified with the Methodist Episcopal Church, and has been prominent both in church and Sunday-school work. Not only in Pasadena, but formerly in Oregon and Washington, she accomplished much in behalf of her denomination, assisted many struggling congregations in getting a foothold, and served as a trustee and in other offices of trust. While in Washington she or- ganized the Clarke County Teachers' Institute,

which still holds annual meetings and is contin- uing its good work in the interests of educa- tors. It will thus be seen that, professionally, educationally and religiously, she has been prominent in the various places of her residence, and has done much to foster the movements that contribute to the well-being of mankind.

JOSEPH SEXTON. The Sexton family traces its ancestry to England, but has been iden- tified with American history for several gen- erations. On the Harrison Pike, not far from Ebenezer Church, and only nine miles from Cincinnati, stood the family homestead, and there for years Joseph Sexton, Sr., was success- fully engaged in agricultural pursuits. In spite of the fact that he had no advantages when a boy, he rose to a position of prominence in his community and was a leader in the Whig party. He was twice married and by his first wife had two children, Richard and Mary. The son suc- ceeded to the possession of the old homestead, which he cultivated for some years. However, his tastes were rather toward business than agri- culture, and he sought an opening more suited to his inclinations than the continued cultiva- tion of somewhat worn-out soil. In the near-by village of Dent, on the Harrison Pike, he opened a store, which he conducted in partnership with W. H. Scudder.

In those days the drift of population was to- ward the west, and especially toward California, which had recently attracted world-wide atten- tion by the discovery of its riches in gold. The two partners began to consider the feasibility of seeking their fortune in the remote regions of the Pacific coast, and they finally decided to risk their all in the new country. Accompanied by their wives, they started for California in the summer of 1852, going via the Nicaragua route, and landing in San Francisco January 4, 1853, after a very tedious voyage on the steamship S. S. Lewis, an old and condemned propeller, which sank on its next trip. In San Francisco, Richard Sexton started a wood and coal yard, continuing in the business about one year. From there he moved to Ione valley, forty miles east of Sacramento, in Amador county, where he had a fruit farm and a small nursery. Dur- ing the dry season of 1864 hie sold out and moved to Petaluma, Sonoma county, near which place he bought a ranch of eighty acres. On that property was established the Petaluma nursery, which was carried on for several years by his oldest son, William. In February. 1868, lie moved from Sonoma county to Santa Bar- bara, where, although ostensibly retired from business, he yet maintained an active interest in real estate investments and the supervision of his various holdings. He bought one hundred acres of the Hill ranch, paying $22 an acre for the same, and soon afterward sold sixty acres of the tract, receiving for the same as much as he

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had paid for the entire property; later he sold the balance. He continued to make his home in Santa Barbara until his death, at the age of sixty-six years. By his marriage to Ann Clay- pool, who was born in New Jersey, and died in California, previous to his demise, there were born five children, namely: Elizabeth, who is the widow of John Edwards; William, deceased; Joseph, George and Lewis.

Joseph Sexton was born in Ohio, March 14, 1842. He was reared on a fruit ranch. In No- vember, 1867, he moved to Santa Barbara, and started the Santa Barbara nursery. It was a wet winter and he was compelled to start in town. He bought property, corner Montecito and Castilleo streets, and planted his nursery on same block where the electric power house was built in 1901. When he started, Santa Barabara was in its infancy; but few Americans were there. He succeeded in securing enough lum- ber to build a small cabin, 12x16 feet; there were but two windows in town for sale, and no shingles or shakes; had to cover with boards. From the first he met with a success that was encouraging. The winter of 1868-69 he trans- ferred his nursery to his home ranch at Goleta, Santa Barbara county.

'1oo much praise cannot be given Mr. Sexton for importing and introducing a great many of the finest specimen plants that decorate the city of Santa Barbara to-day. At the home place at Goleta he now owns sixty-five acres of land devoted to the nursery business and to the raising of pampas plumes. Of the latter in- dustry he is the pioneer in California, having made the first shipment to San Francisco and to Peter Henderson of New York City. Since then the business has grown until it has reached splendid proportions and has become not only profitable to himself but of inestimable benefit to the county of Santa Barbara, for he buys up most of the crops raised by others in his neigh- borhood. One-half million or more of the plumes he ships annually, his principal markets being London, Hamburg and Berlin.

In another industry beside the raising of pampas plumes, Mr. Sexton has been a pioneer and has made a noteworthy contribution to the development of California's resources. To him belongs the distinction of having introduced soft shell walnuts in Southern California. In 1867 he shipped one hundred and twenty pounds of the nuts from San Francisco to Santa Barbara county. These were mixed nuts that had been imported from Chile in South America. He planted thein in his nursery and sold about seven hundred and fifty trees. The balance, about two hundred and fifty trees, he planted in an orchard of his own. Of these, sixty came in as soft or paper shell nuts, and he cultivated them with the greatest care, finally crossing between the hard and soft shell walnuts and securing what

is now known as the soft shell walnut of com- merce. As the raising of these nuts has grown to be one of the most important industries of Southern California, too great praise cannot be given to Mr. Sexton for his pioneer work in the developing of the nut.

The home of Mr. Sexton in Goleta is a com- modious residence containing modern improve- ments and furnished in a manner indicative of the refined taste of the family. In addition to his homestead, he owns a ranch of four thou- sand acres in Ventura county. On that tract he has a large herd of stock and also raises grain and beans. The supervision of his various interests leaves him little time for identification with local affairs, hence he has never been a politician or an active worker in his party (the Republican), but he can be relied upon to sup- port its principles with his vote and influence, and he has always been a contributor to meas- ures for the benefit of the people educationally, morally and commercially.

In 1894 he retired from the nursery and left it in charge of his oldest son, Charles, and he spent the most of his time on his ranch at Ven- tura, trying to develop water enough for his stock. Not succeeding in that, he had to look for water from some other source. The in- habitants of all of that section lying between Ventura and Saticoy, and along the telegraph road, had to haul their water in tanks for domestic use and their stock. Mr. Sexton was the principal promoter in establishing the Sati- coy Water Company, that took the tank off the wagon, and they now water miles of public road and have been a great benefit to that section of the county.

His marriage took place at Goleta, Santa Barbara county, November 18, 1869, and united him with Miss Lucy A. Foster, daughter of I. G. Foster. They became the parents of twelve children, seven boys and five girls. The eldest son, Charles, was killed by a dynamite explosion while putting in boiler flues at Carpinteria when he was twenty-eight years of age. He was a young man of promise and possessed excellent business and social traits of character.

BENJAMIN M. PAGE, M. D. Remotely of English extraction, Dr. Page of Pasadena is a member of one of the colonial families of Con- necticut. His paternal grandfather, Isaac, son of John Page, was born at Northford, Conn., and grew to manhood upon a farm. Through- out active life the occupation of agriculture was lis principal calling, but he also engaged in the building business, and had charge of the erec- tion of many residences and a number of mills while living in Ohio. In 1827 he removed to Ohio and bought land near Cleveland, where he devoted the balance of his life to the develop- ment of a valuable farm. At the time the family

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settled in Ohio, Rev. Benjamin St. John Page was a boy of twelve, his birth having occurred near New Haven, Conn., in 1815. On com- pleting the studies of local schools he entered Western Reserve College, from which he was graduated in due time. Immediately afterward he became a theological student in Yale Col- lege, and on the conclusion of the required course was ordained to the ministry of the Presbyterian Church, which he served in vari- ous pastorates in Ohio. During a portion of his active career he preached in the Congrega- tional denomination, but, returning to his former connection, remained in Presbyterian pastorates in Ohio and Connecticut until his death, which occurred in 1868 in Warren, Ohio.

The marriage of Rev. Benjamin St. John Page united him with Miss Emily Benjamin Maltby, who was born in the West Indies and grew to womanhood in Northford, Conn. Her father, Samuel Maltby, a native of Northford, went from New Haven to the West Indies in the merchant-marine service, and afterward be- came a manufacturer in Northford, remaining there until his retirement from business. His wife was a member of the DeWitt family, of New York. His father, Benjamin Maltby, was born in Connecticut, where he engaged in farming and the milling business. Like the Pages, the Maltby family descends from Eng- lish ancestry. Mrs. Emily Page is still living and makes her home with her only child, Ben- jamin M., in Pasadena.

In the suburbs of Cleveland, Ohio, Benjamin M. Page was born, July 18, 1843. Reared there and in Connecticut, his education was received principally in Russell's Collegiate Institute in New Haven. In the fulfillment of an ambition he had cherished from boyhood, in 1861 he took up the study of medicine, entering the College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City and taking the regular course of lectures in that institution, from which he was graduated in 1864. The two ensuing years were devoted to practical work in Kings County Hospital, after which he opened an of- fice in Cleveland, Ohio, and entered upon private practice. Owing to ill health, however, in the spring of 1873 he was obliged to relin- quish his professional cares, and seek a climate more favorable. With that object in view he came to California and for one year remained at Santiago Canon, where the constant outdoor exercise and healthful climate proved so bene- ficial that he deemed it safe to return to Cleve- land. Unfortunately, a return to practice caused an immediate loss of health, and since then he has been unable to engage in profes- sional work. For some years he made his home at North Haven, Conn., from which point in 1887 he came to Pasadena, his present home. Though he has not practiced medicine since

coming here, his interest in the profession has not ceased, and he is a member of the Pasa- dena Medical Society, as well as an interested student of all advances made in the science. He is a charter member of the Twilight Club, and in religion affiliates with the Congregational Church, in which at one time he was a trustee. His marriage was solemnized in North Haven, Conn., and united him with Cornelia Blakeslee, a native of New Haven. Their only child, Ben- jamin Edwin, is a graduate of Leland Stanford University, class of 1899, also of the law de- partment of Columbia University, New York, class of 1902. Mrs. Page is a daughter of George E. and Elizabeth (Atwater) Blakeslee, natives of North Haven and New Haven, Conn., respectively.

F. U. NOFZIGER. Because of the extent of its operations, the admirable methods em- ployed in its various departments, and the high character of the men directing its affairs, the lumbering enterprise of Nofziger Brothers ranks among the solid commercial agencies of Los Angeles. F. U. Nofziger, the president and manager of the company, and one of the most experienced lumbermen in the west, was born near Keota, Washington county, Iowa, August 2, 1868, a son of J. P. Nofziger, and grandson of Christian Nofziger. The grand- father, Christian, was born in Alsace, Germany, and came to the United States with his father, another Christian, when twelve years of age. In the Fatherland the ancestors had, with few exceptions, been tillers of the soil, and the younger Christian was reared to an appreciation of this means of livelihood, to which he devoted himself in part after locating in Wayne county, Ohio. Nevertheless, he was a religious en- thusiast, and his fervor found vent in the minis- try of the Amish Church, to which he owed al- legiance for many years. In later life he settled near Sturgis, on the Fawn river, where his death occurred.

J. P. Nofziger was born and reared in Wayne county, Ohio. In addition to becoming a farmer, he also studied for the ministry, and in his effort to alleviate the sorrows of humanity, preached from the platform of the German Baptist Church. At the beginning of the Civil war he removed to Iowa and settled in Wash- ington county, and in 1878 homesteaded a claim near Orleans, in Harlan county, Neb. In 1900 he came to California, and his declining years are now being spent in the midst of his horticultural interests at Lakeside. He mar- ried Amelia C. Correll, a native of Wayne county, Ohio, a daughter of Daniel Correll, who was born in Pennsylvania. Mr. Correll comes of a very old family which was represented in the state of William Penn long before the

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Revolutionary war, and he himself was one of the pioneers of Wayne county, where his days were spent in farming. Five children were born to Mr. and Mrs. J. P. Nofziger, and of these, D. I. is the partner of F. U. Nofziger; Minnie is the wife of Mr. Cline, of Philadelphia; B. O. is a resident of Hitchcock county, Neb .; and Galen is living at home.

Until 1879 F. U. Nofziger was reared in Iowa, at which time he accompanied the family to Nebraska and supplemented his previous education in the public schools by further train- ing at Franklin (Neb.) Academy. His higher education was gained solely through his own efforts, for at the age of seventeen he began to teach school and with the profits resulting therefrom was enabled to enter the college at Mount Morris, Ogle county, Ill., after which he took a two years' course at McPherson Col- lege in Kansas. At the latter institution he met his expenses by engaging as a tutor in mathematics, but left the college in the senior year in order to devote all of his time to teach- ing. In July of 1891 he came west and located at Lordsburg, in Southern California, where he taught for a year. In the spring of 1892, in partnership with his brother, D. I., he bought, and successfully managed a lumber yard for eleven months. Upon the disposal of this in- terest in 1893, Mr. Nofziger bought a ranch at Lemon, Los Angeles county, and in addition to ranching, engaged in teaching and also represented the Newport Wharf & Lumber Company. In March of 1894 he removed to Pasadena and started the yard for the Willam- ette Lumber Company, and after perfecting its plans managed the concern until January of 1895. He then became identified as manager with the Newport Wharf & Lumber Company at Redlands, and in 1900 bought out the West- ern Lumber Company on the corner of Ninth and Pedro streets, Los Angeles. At the same time he organized the Nofziger Brothers Lum- ber Company, of which he is president, and his brother, D. I., secretary and treasurer. Eigh- teen months later the brothers increased their responsibility by the purchase of the Newport Company yards at Redlands, Riverside, Corona, Hemet, and Santa Ana, and of these the River- side, Redlands and Corona yards are still con- tinued, with an additional agency at San Bernardino. In 1901 the headquarters of the company were established at the corner of Eighth and Main streets, where is conducted the retail yard, and a wholesale yard has been started at Sixth and Palmetto streets, on the Santa Fe tracks. D. I. Nofziger shares with his brother vast credit for the upbuilding of their business, he having gained his principal experience while manager (from 1897 until 1900) of the North Ontario Lumber Company, at North Ontario, also with the Newport Lum-

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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 44

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