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 49

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

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carried on a general practice, besides which he has for four terms served as health officer of San Diego, for many years officiated as county physician, for one term filled the position of police commissioner and for seven years held office as county coroner. After having filled the position of United States pension examiner for years, on the organization of the first board he was made a member of the same and elected its treasurer, filling the office for thirteen years. In connection with the position of coroner, he was ex-officio public administrator.

The practical identification of Dr. Stockton with horticultural interests began in 1876, when he bought an interest in a large grant and began the improvement of an olive orchard. Of the two hundred acres that he owns, fifty have been planted in olives that produce abundantly. Be- sides this property he has other farm lands in the county. At one time he owned the site of the Normal School and donated one-third of his holdings there to the institution. He erected a sanitarium on F street and still owns the building, which is now utilized as a United States army hospital. Scarcely a movement has been projected for the benefit of San Diego that has lacked his hearty co-operation and support. He was interested in bringing the railroad into the city, realizing that permanent prosperity would be impossible without this aid to modern civilization. The County Horticultural Asso- ciation has received the benefit of his experience and advice, as has also the San Diego Natural History Association. He is corresponding mem- ber of the Gynecological Society of Boston. In professional organizations, his interest has been keen and constant, and he has long been asso- ciated with the American, State, Southern Cali- fornia and San Diego Medical Associations. The last-named he assisted in organizing, was chosen its first secretary and later served as its presi- dent. Politically he was for years an upholder of Democratic principles, but when the party in- serted a freesilver plank in its platform in 1896 and further declared against expansion in 1900, he found himself no longer in sympathy with its tenets, and now votes with the Republican party. While living in New Brunswick he was made a Mason in Leinster Lodge, and he has also been identified with the Odd Fellows, being a mem- ber of San Diego Lodge No. 153, Encampment and Rebekalıs.

The marriage of Dr. Stockton took place in San Diego June 5, 1873, and united him with Miss Minnie G. Slade, who was born in Buffalo, N. Y., July 22, 1850. She is a daughter of Samuel Slade, who for many years served as superintendent of schools of Buffalo, and was recognized as one of the most efficient educators of Western New York. To Dr. and Mrs. Stock- ton have been born two children, namely: Samuel S. and Mabel E.

FRANK GRAVES. Many of the citizens of Los Angeles are of New England birth and lincage, and among this class is Mr. Graves, who was born at Marblehead, Mass., on the 4th of July, 1853. His father, Benjamin T., who was likewise a native of Marblehead, fol- lowed the trade of carpenter and builder and at the same time engaged in shipbuilding. Dur- ing the Civil war he served both in the army and the navy, afterward resuming the business of a contractor in his home city. From there in 1872 he moved to Missouri and settled on a farm in Douglas county, where he remained until death. He was the son of a sea captain who sailed all over the world and died while on a trip to the West Indies. The marriage of Benjamin T. Graves united him with Elizabeth Sheene, who was born in Nova Scotia and died in Massachusetts, leaving two sons, Frank and Benjamin, the latter now a farmer in Missouri. Her father was a sea captain and was lost at sea, off the Grand Banks, during the memorable gale of 1847.

Inheriting from his grandfathers a taste for the life of a sailor, Frank Graves shipped as cabin boy on a merchant vessel, Gem of the Ocean, which anchored at Melbourne, Austra- lia, after a voyage of one hundred days or more. On the same ship he proceeded to San Fran- cisco, and on landing there learned of the as- sassination of President Lincoln. Later he made three trips to Australia, returning each time to San Francisco, and then rounded Cape Horn to New York, and finally arrived at Mar- blehead after an absence of three years. He was then only fourteen years of age, and, feel- ing the need of a better education than he had previously received, he entered school, where he carried on his studies for two years. Under his father he gained an early and thorough knowledge of the carpenter's trade, which he followed in St. Louis, Mo., from 1872 to 1875, and in Springfield, Mo., from the latter year until 1886, meantime taking up the work of a contractor. In 1886 he came to Los Angeles, where he built and now occupies a residence at No. 3120 Baldwin street. With the exception of his work in the original development of the Los Angeles oil fields, he has given his atten- tion exclusively to contracting and building, and has met withi success in this occupation. Numerous residences in different parts of the city prove his skill as a builder, among these being the home of F. W. Braun, the Salazar residence on Twenty-eighth and Hoover streets, the home of Mrs. M. A. Wilcox on the corner of Hoover and Adams streets, and what is now the Laughlin residence on West Adams street.

While in Springfield, Mo., Mr. Graves mar- ried Miss Ophelia Thomas, a native of New York state. They have two sons, Sidney

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Thomas and Guy Hubert, the elder of whom as- sists his father in the contracting business.

A charter member of the Builders' Exchange, Mr. Graves has been connected actively with this important society ever since its organiza- tion. No movement or society for the benefit of contractors or that will aid in his success as a builder is overlooked by him or regarded as of little importance. It is his ambition to excel in his chosen occupation, and he spares no pains and neglects no opportunity for broadening his knowledge of contracting. At one time he was interested in oil, being a pioneer in the Los An- geles field, and assisted in putting down sev- eral wells which were producers, but his interest in these he afterward sold. The Republican party receives his stanch support in local as well as general elections. Besides his connection with the Independent Order of Foresters, he is identified with the Odd Fellows, having been initiated into the latter order in Springfield, Mo., where he was past noble grand and repre- sentative of his lodge in the St. Louis conven- tion when the change was made from five to three degrees. At this writing his membership is in the East Los Angeles Lodge and he is also a charter member of the East Side En- campment.

HORACE G. HAMILTON. Orwigdale farm, ideally located on a branch of the Los Angeles river at Ivanhoe, three miles north- west of Los Angeles, has five hundred acres of fine farming alfalfa and pasture land, upon which is conducted one of the most scientific and modern dairies in Southern California. The milk taken into town for delivery is furnished by as fine a herd of Jerseys as can be found grazing upon any meadows in this sunshiny land, and although some of the cattle belong to other breeds, the beautiful Jersey face pre- dominates, and among them are many heads of registered stock. These prolific producers of one of the most necessary commodities have. been carefully reared, and the highest standard maintained, and for the last five years the milk has had the highest test in the Los Angeles health office. Mr. Hamilton established his dairy on the farm in 1894, and in 1901 headquar- ters were secured in the city at Nos. 211-213 North Beaudry, and a cooling plant has been crected at each end of the line; also the milk is iced when being conveyed into town by the three teams and wagons. The California hos- pital has been supplied with milk from this dairy ever since it was started, besides many other institutions of the kind of a local nature.

H. G. Hamilton, the genial owner of Orwig- dale farm, and the promoter of the Hamilton dairy, was born in Wooster, Wayne county, Ohio, July 22, 1868, and is of Scotch paternal

extraction. His father, Thomas S. Hamilton, was born in New Lisbon, Ohio, and his grand- father, Judge David Hamilton, was also a native of the same state. Judge Hamilton was a county probate judge at New Lisbon, and after- wards in Wayne county, and his death occurred at Wooster, Ohio. Thomas S. Hamilton served for three years and three months during the Civil war, and was a member of the One Hun- dred and Sixteenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He engaged in the hotel business at Wooster, and was proprietor of the American House, later removing to Chicago, where he success- fully continued his former occupation during the World's Fair. He came to Los Angeles with his son in 1894, and has since had charge of Orwigdale farm, in the development of which he has taken the greatest interest. He married Laura Ilgenfritz, a native of Ohio, and daugh- ter of Frank Ilgenfritz, the latter being a large shoe manufacturer in Wooster, although he eventually died in Missouri. Two children were born into the family, Horace G. and Mrs. C. F. Mickley, the latter also a resident of Los An- geles.

After graduating from the high school, Mr. Hamilton entered the University of Wooster (Ohio) and was graduated from the special course at that institution. He then removed to Cleveland, Ohio, and became bookkeeper for Frank Hurd & Co., a position maintained for three years. He then filled a similar capacity with the Merchants' Fruit Auction Company. and in 1892 removed with his father to Chicago, expecting large returns from a contemplated hostelry for the entertainment of the traveling public. The Wooster Hotel, advantageously located on Fifty-fifth street, near the entrance to the World's Fair grounds, more than real- ized the expectations of its managers, and be- came a popular headquarters for the Ohio con- tingent visiting the city. With larger returns than rewarded the average who undertook sim- ilar enterprises at that hazardous time, Mr. Hamilton disposed of his interests when Chi- cago again assumed its normal equilibrium, and settled in Cleveland, Ohio, where also he managed an hotel, and where he remained until coming to California in 1894.

The marriage of Mr. Hamilton and Susie G. Orwig was solemnized in Cleveland, Ohio, Miss Orwig, for whom the farm is named, being a daughter of Rev. A. W. Orwig, a clergyman in the Methodist Episcopal Church. During the war Mr. Orwig was in government employ, and is now residing in retirement in Los Angeles. Mr. Hamilton is an active member of the South- ern California Dairymen's Association, and has been secretary of the same for the past two years. He is also a member of the Jersey Breeders' Association and vice-president of the Los Angeles Milk Board of Trade. He is

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also a member of the Ohio Society of Southern California. Fraternally he is associated with the Royal Arcanum and the Ancient Order of United Workmen. With his wife he is a mem- ber of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. Hamilton is well fitted to represent the ideal dairy conditions of Southern California, for his trained intelligence has grasped the surround- ing possibilities and turned them to the best possible account. In other ways also he is public spirited and enterprising, and his success from a commercial and social standpoint is based upon merit and ability of a high order.

J. W. TAGGART. One of the most capable exponents of legal science in Southern Califor- nia is J. W. Taggart, a resident of Santa Bar- bara since 1882, and one of the town's most honored and helpful citizens. He was born in Parkersburg, W. Va., and is second in a family containing four sons and two daughters, of whom three sons and one daughter are now liv- ing. During the years of bitter persecution in Scotland the Clan McTaggart numbered among its members those who rebelled at the religious intolerance in their native land, and sought and found an asylum in County Antrim, Ireland, where they were among the well known Orange- men. In the Irish province the paternal grand- father, James Taggart, was born. He was a seafaring man, and upon engaging in transport- ing cargoes between Glasgow and Montreal, Canada, made his headquarters in the Canadian city, finally giving up the sea and for a time making that his home. His declining years were spent in Wheeling, W. Va., where he en- gaged in farming and stock-raising, and where he died at an advanced age. A Presbyterian in Ireland, he became an Episcopalian in America, and was buried after the rites of his adopted church.

Col. George Washington Taggart, the father of J. W., was born in Montreal, Canada, and went to Wheeling, W. Va., when a child. He was educated in Virginia, and at an early age decided upon the law as a means of a livelihood. As a preliminary, he read law under Mr. Kirk- wood, then of Mansfield, Ohio, later United States secretary of the interior, and was ad- mitted to the Ohio bar. However, possessing a decided talent for mechanical engineering, he became master mechanic for the Baltimore & Ohio (then the North West Virginia) Railroad Company, with headquarters at Parkersburg. W. Va., and remained in this capacity until the Civil war. To further the cause of the Union he raised Company D. Fourteenth West Vir- ginia Volunteer Infantry, of which he was cap- tain, and later served as lieutenant-colonel on Gen. George Crook's staff. Eventually he was made provost-marshal of the department of

West Virginia, and served as such until the close of the war. With the restoration of peace he re- turned to Parkersburg and engaged in the mer- cantile business, but is now living in retirement. He has held many local political offices in the past, and is at present a member of the Loyal Legion. In the Grand Army of the Republic he is an ex-grand commander of the department of West Virginia, having occupied that position during the year 1887. He is a member of the Methodist Church, as is also his wife, Eliza (Hines) Taggart, who was born in county Gal- way, Ireland, her parents having been farmers in the west of Ireland.

The education of J. W. Taggart was acquired in the public schools of Parkersburg, W. Va., and after graduating from the high school he for a year attended the West Virginia College at Flemington. Later he combined educational work with the study of law, his first professional researches being conducted under the capable leadership of C. C. Cole, judge of the district court of the District of Columbia. He was ad- mitted to the bar in 1880, came to California in 1881, and located in Santa Barbara in 1882, where for two years he was manager for the Dimmick, Sheffield & Knight Fruit Company. In 1885 he undertook the practice of law as a partner of Judge E. B. Hall, the first attorney- general of West Virginia, and in 1889 began independent practice. In 1893 he formed a part- nership with John J. Boyce, which was amicably continued until the election of the latter to the state senatorship, after which Mr. Taggart con- tinued to practice alone. He has been promi- nently identified with Republican political mat- ters in the west, is ex-member of the county committee, and was secretary of the same for ten years, and he has also served on the congres- sional committee of which he was chairman, be- sides being a delegate to state conventions for several years. For four years he served as a member and president of the school board, and during that time the advance was made of in- corporating the kindergarten and manual train- ing school into the public school system. This was the first undertaking of the kind in the west. and Santa Barbara has now the finest Sloyd school on the coast, the school building and equipment having been presented by Miss Anna S. C. Blake. Mr. Taggart was a member of the first board of fifteen freeholders, and also of the second board of freeholders, each of which formed a city charter, the charter of the latter being eventually endorsed by the legislature. During 1886 and 1887 lie was assistant district attorney, and at the general election held in 1898 was the Republican candidate for judge of the superior court of Santa Barbara county. He was chosen captain of the camp of the Sons of Veterans, and later served for one term in the naval reserve of Santa Barbara. Fraternally

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he is associated with the Masonic Lodge No. 192, of Santa Barbara, and the Royal Arch Masons, and he is a charter member of the Santa Barbara Benevolent Protective Order of Elks.

The marriage of Mr. Taggart and Kathrine Payne occurred in Los Angeles, Mrs. Taggart being a native of Pennsylvania. Of this union there are three children, James Deacon, Elise and Kathrine. Mrs. Taggart is a member of the Episcopal Church.

A. V. CREGIER. One of the most success- ful of the builders and contractors who are re- sponsible for the beautiful homes and fine pub- lic buildings of Pasadena is A. V. Cregier, of the firm of Hess & Cregier, and one of the old- est in his line in the city. The career of Mr. Cregier has been an exceptionally active one, and to enumerate his undertakings in California alone is to lay claim to more than is accom- plislied in the average life. Upon his arrival in Pasadena December 9, 1886, he purchased a lot andbuilt himself a home, and at onceentered into plans for building and contracting. Through- out the city he has built hundreds of residences, including the Green and Earl homes, and has extended his activities into many of the sur- rounding towns. In La Canada, Lamanda Park and Altadena especially there are numerous evi- dences of his skill and artistic appreciation. It may be said that while he has erected some pub- lic buildings, his specialty seems to lie in the construction of residences, and upon this line of work his reputation is chiefly based.

Much of his success in life Mr. Cregier attrib- utes to the early training received at the hands of an exceptional mother, whose lovable and honest traits of character are recalled with pride by the children who survive her. She was for- merly Hannah Van Vranken, a native of Clifton Park, N. Y., and daughter of Abraham, also born in New York, and of Holland descent. The father of Mr. Cregier, Jacob Cregier, was born in Holland, and settled in Schenectady county, N. Y., with his parents. He was a large farmer during his years of activity, and spent the remainder of his life in his adopted locality in New York. To himself and wife were born seven children, six of whom are living, A. V. being the only son in the family, and the only child on the Pacific coast.

In Schenectady county, N. Y., A. V. Cregier was born July 29, 1851, and while yet a small boy learned the carpenter's trade. He was a natural mechanic, and his mother took justifia- ble interest in his progress, encouraging and helping him to succeed. When eighteen and a half years old he served an apprenticeship of three years in Schenectady. following which he removed to Washington, D. C., and in govern- ment employ helped to build the Smithsonian

Institute and the Fisheries building under Colo- nel McDonald. He then settled in New York City and assumed charge of the carpentering de- partment of the Methodist Book concern on North Broadway, and later had charge of one hundred and eight tenement houses owned by Charles Sager Appleby. He also ran a screen manufactory and job shop on One Hundred and Thirty-third street in Harlem, N. Y., and had all that he could do to supply customers that pat- ronized his little establishment, for a period covering five years, or until his removal to Pasadena in 1886.

Through his marriage to Libbie Baldwin, in Saratoga, N. Y., seven children have been born into the family of Mr. Cregier, three of whom are living, Mabel Edna, Hannah Caroline, and Glenn. Mr. Cregier was formerly a Repub- lican, but has been a Prohibitionist since 1896. Fraternally he is connected with the Woodmen of the World. He has been a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church for thirty years and in the east was superintendent of a Sun- day-school. Aside from his regular occupation, he has numerous interests in Pasadena, all of which have been successful, and have added to his substantial financial standing. He is a stock- holder in the Bisbee Belle mine at Bisbee, Ariz., and he also holds stocks in several oil concerns. He is progressive and enterprising, and occu- pies an honored position in the community of which he has long been a resident.

JULIUS FRANCIS HALL. After years of successful identification with the building inter- ests of Denver and of Colorado, Mr. Hall came to Los Angeles in November, 1892, and has since engaged in contracting and building, being for a period of six years a member of the firm of Hall & Dryden, but since June, 1900, alone in business. Among his contracts may be mentioned the following: Delaware, Gordon and Fitzwilliam blocks, Crane Manufacturing Company's building, Howe building, the re- modeling of the Callahan block and Elks Hall, the addition to California Hospital, the erection of R. J. Northam's block and warehouse, Shat- tuck & Desmond's warehouse, the Perry mill, the Thompson residence at Sixth and Bonnie Brae streets, and the residence of Rev. A. C. Smither, pastor of the First Christian Church. In addition to these and many other buildings, he has erected a number of houses for himself in different parts of the city, but these he has sold, with the exception of his residence at Al- hambra.

Mr. Hall was born in Youngsville, Pa., Oc- tober 6, 1853, a son of J. L. and Cornelia A. (Camp) Hall, natives of New York state. His paternal grandfather was from Massachusetts. but moved to New York, and there the father grew to manhood on a farm. Being next to

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the oldest of a large family, the support of the others fell upon him after his father's death. For about four years he engaged in the plumb- ing and hardware business at Youngsville, Pa., but later was a business man of Jamestown, N. Y., for many years, and until his death. His wife also died in that city. She was a daughter of Milo Camp, a New England pioneer of New York, and in 1854, a pioneer of Minnesota, where he served as probate judge of his county. His brother, Anson Northrup, took the first steamboat up the Mississippi river.

The oldest of a family of two sons and one daughter, Julius Francis Hall was thrown upon his own resources when only eight years of age, and at first was errand boy in a store, later became clerk and then bookkeeper. However, he did not neglect his education, but by the time he was twelve he had worked his way through the higher arithmetic, and later he studied two years in a college at Jamestown. In April, 1870, he left his old home and went to Cheyenne, Wyo., where he clerked in a store. August 9, 1872, found him in Denver, where he found employment. In the fall he accom- panied a surveying corps to Clear Creek county as far as Idaho Springs and Georgetown, and while there he became interested in the saw-mill business. With Henry Wilson, he engaged in manufacturing lumber, and in 1876 he operated a lumber yard at Georgetown. At the time of the "boom" in Leadville, he went there, in Feb- ruary, 1879, and engaged in contracting and building. Misfortune came to him while liv- ing there, as he lost $10,000 through forest fires. When the exposition opened in Denver, in 1882, he went to that city, but soon returned to saw-milling in Clear Creek county. Later he went to Fort Garland and for two years conducted a ranch, after which he resumed con- tracting in Denver and had the contracts for 1111merous fine residences on Capitol Hill.

At Floyd Hill, Colo., Mr. Hall married Miss Martha A. Wilson, who was born in Ontario, Canada, and in 1873 accompanied her parents to Colorado. They became the parents of four children, namely: Arthur Henry, who died in Colorado at the age of eighteen years; Flor- ence R., Grace A. and Martha M., at home. Mrs. Hall is a member of the Methodist Epis- copal Church. In national politics Mr. Hall is a stanch Republican. From the reorganiza- tion of the Builders Exchange he has been one of its active members and is now serving as second vice-president and member of the board of directors. He is a charter member of the Master Builders' Association. While living in Georgetown he was initiated into the Order of Odd Fellows, and is now past officer in East Side Lodge No. 325, which he has represented in the grand lodge. In the East Side Encamp- ment he is past high priest. While in Denver he

was identified with the Canton and at one time he also affiliated with the Order of Rebekahs.

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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 49

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