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 60

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

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

where occurred the surrender of General John- ston's army, and was mustered out in that city in 1865. The vicissitudes of war, including ill- ness and wounds, he fortunately escaped. In the fall of 1865 he received a commission from Gen. John F. Phelps as captain of a company of volunteers to serve in the southern part of Missouri, in order to stamp out the guerrilla bands still infesting the country.

After the war Dr. Saunders took a prominent part in the political affairs of Scotland county, Mo. From 1868 to 1872 he served as county assessor, and meantime took up the study of medicine, which he continued in the Missouri Medical College at St. Louis, Mo., and later in the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Keo- kuk, lowa. From the latter institution he was. graduated in 1874, and, returning to Uniontown, engaged in practice until 1882, when he re- moved to Lompoc, Cal. In Scotland county, Mo., in 1866, he married Lydia E. Hall, by whom he has five children, namely: Don Car- los, Lewis H., Robert R., Hettie B., wife of Z. J. Harbinson of Fresno, Cal., and Dora Myrtle, a graduate of the Lompoc high school. Dr. Saunders has three brothers living in Lom- poc, of whom W. A. and N. T. are engaged in the grocery business, and J. N. is serving as town marshal.

One of the finest and best-equipped drug stores in this part of Santa Barbara county is owned and managed by Dr. Saunders and his son, Don Carlos, the firm name being Z. W. Saunders & Son. The store is on Ocean ave- nue, and in the rear is the doctor's office, as well as the office of his assistant, Dr. J. Will Graham. For seventeen years Dr. Saunders has been county physician, and he is now presi- dent of the board of health, also surgeon for the Southern Pacific Railroad Company. Fra- ternally, he is associated with the Knights of Pythias, Odd Fellows and Royal Arch Masons. He enjoys an enviable reputation in the coni- munity of which he is a member, not only be- cause of his professional skill, but also by rea- son of the many fine personal attributes which constitute the most laudable and praiseworthy citizenship.

JOHN PERCY LAWTON, an enterprising Englishman, residing in Santa Barbara, com- bines the traits of substantiality and reliability which are welcomed as distinct additions to the citizenship of any part of the world. He was born in Cheshire May 8, 1864, and is a son of Joseph and Martha (Hodson) Lawton. By his marriage to Miss Hodson Joseph Lawton had ten children, John Percy being the oldest now living and the only member of the family in America. His family is a branch of the Lawtons of Lawton, one of the oldest county families in England.

Mr. Lawton was educated at Felstead, Essex, and then under private tutor. Prior to coming to America he held a commission as captain in the Fourth Battalion Cameronians, "Scottish Rifles." A pleasure trip, undertaken through the United States and to the Pacific coast in 1885, resulted in a constantly growing admira- tion of American conditions, and upon losing his health in 1892 he renewed his association with the land of his travels and settled in Santa Barbara. In his attractive office, opposite the Arlington Hotel, on State street, he conducts a real estate business, and makes a specialty of working up a sale of large properties in the cast. He is a master of property situations, and thoroughly understands all phases of the work for which he is so well fitted. He is a member of the Country Club. Fraternally he is a Mason, being a past master of Prince Alfred Lodge in Cheshire. In politics he is a conservative Re- publican, while in religion he affiliates with the Episcopal Church. By his marriage to Violet Truman, a granddaughter of Lord Rokeby, there are three children: Gwendoline, Rokeby and Iris.

PEVERIL MEIGS. The founder of this family in America, Vincent Meigs, or Meggs, as it was originally spelled, came from Dorset- shire, England, and settled in East Guilford, Conn., about the year 1637. With him came his son John, who died January 4, 1672. In direct line of descent was John, his son, born at Wey- mouth, Mass., February 29, 1640, and deacon of the first church in Guilford, from about 1696 to 1713, the time of his death. He took part in the Indian wars. The next generation in this line was represented by his son, Janna, born De- cember 21, 1672. He married Hannah Willard, a granddaughter of Major Simon Willard, one of the heroes of King Philip's war, and the founder of the town of Concord, Mass. Janna Meigs died June 5, 1739, leaving, among other children, a son, Return, who was born at Mid- dletown, Conn., March 16, 1708, and on Feb- ruary I, 1733, married Elizabeth Hamelin. Their family consisted of thirteen children, the young- est, Josiah, being the one with whom we are concerned. Josiah was born in Middletown, Conn., August 21, 1757, and died in Wash- ington, D. C., September 4, 1822. After grad- uating from Yale College, he became a member of its faculty. Later he practiced law in the Ad- miralty court in Bermuda, served as president of the University of Georgia, acted as surveyor- general of the United States and as commis- sioner of the general land office. January 21, 1782, he married Clara (or Clarissa) Benjamin. a direct descendant of Governor Bradford, of Plymouth. Another of Return's sons, Return Jonathan, was famous in the Revolutionary war, first, as the leader of an expedition against the

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British at Sag Harbor, Long Island, which was entirely successful; later, as a colonel, distin- guished at Stony Point, Quebec, etc., and as one of the founders of the Cincinnati Society. Later he served as governor of Ohio and also as postmaster-general of the United States.

The family of Josiah Meigs consisted of nine children, among them being Henry, who was born in New Haven, Conn., October 28, 1782, and died in New York May 20, 1861. His career was one of exceptional honesty, brilliancy and usefulness. In 1799 he graduated from Yale College, after which he practiced law in New York City, and served as a judge, numbering among his friends such well-known men of the day as Prince, Ward, Astor, Parrish, Lennox, etc. During the war of 1812 he served as ad- jutant of a corps of seven hundred men in the American volunteers, and was in 1813 elected to the New York legislature. He was a mem- ber of the Sixteenth United States congress, re- cording secretary of the Farmers' Institute, and secretary of the Farmers' Club. As president of the board of aldermen of New York City he was the first to propose the plan to bring Croton water to the city, a scheme that was bitterly op- posed, and caused his defeat for re-election as alderman. However, he lived to see the suc- cess of the idea and to have the wisdom of his suggestion vindicated. February 19, 1806, he married Julia, daughter of Stephen Austin, of Philadelphia, whose nephew, Col. Stephen T. Austin, founded the Texas colony.

Henry and Julia Meigs had seven children, viz .: Julia Austin; Charles, who died in in- fancy; Henry; Clara F., who married Richard W. Meade, late commodore in the United States Navy: Theodore Denton, Charles Austin and Eveline. One of the nephews of Henry Meigs was Montgomery Cunningham Meigs, well known as quartermaster general of the Union Army in the Civil war, during which time he superintended the expenditure of about two billion dollars. Of him, W. H. Seward, Lin- coln's secretary of state, wrote in an official let- ter to American ministers abroad, when, in 1867, Mr. Meigs went there for his health: "The pre- vailing opinion of his country sustains a firm conviction, which I entertain, and on all occa- sions cheerfully express, that without the serv- ices of this eminent soldier, the national cause must either have been lost, or deeply imperiled in the late Civil war."

The father of Peveril Meigs was Charles Aus- tin Meigs, youngest son of the New York states- man, Henry Meigs. Displaying ability in busi- ness, rather than in political lines, Charles A. Meigs became cashier of the American Ex- change Bank, of New York, and later organ- ized the banking house of Meigs & Greenleaf. which subsequently was conducted under the title of Charles A. Meigs & Son. On Black Fri-

day he suffered the ill fortune of many noted financiers and lost his all. He was then ap- pointed national bank examiner for New York, which position he held until his death. He mar- ried Julia A. Van Zandt, who was born at Little Neck, Long Island, and died in New Jersey, leaving four children. Her father, Dr. Charles A. Van Zandt, was a member of a Holland fan- ily, and after graduating from the New York Medical College, practiced in Brooklyn.

In New York City Peveril Meigs was born, February 27, 1847, and was reared there and in Brooklyn. On completing his education, which was conducted in some of the best schools of the east, he was first engaged in the firm of Charles A. Meigs & Son. Later, for twelve . years, he was with Stephen Van Rensselaer Cruger, the controller of the Trinity Church cor- poration. Forced to retire from business on ac- count of the failure of his health, he established himself upon the Barrett farm at Punkatassett Hill, Concord, Mass., once the home of Hon. George William Curtis. The change, however, did not prove as beneficial as he had hoped, and a more genial climate was decided upon as im- perative. In 1887 he came to California and bought one hundred acres of land on the coast, adjoining Santa Barbara, where he engaged in farming. As a director of El Montecito Manu- facturing Company, he tried, with others, to es- tablish a large business in the manufacture of olive oil, said to have no superior in quality in the whole country. However, it was impossible to compete in price with foreign products, greatly adulterated with cotton seed oil; hence the venture proved unprofitable. At a meeting held to decide whether to adulterate the product or close the factory, Mr. Meigs firmly opposed the former course, being ready to sacrifice his stock at any price, rather than stand behind such a project. It is unfortunate that some radical step cannot be taken to prevent cotton seed oil being labeled "Pure Olive Oil."

In New York Mr. Meigs married Miss Rosa- mond Weston, a descendant of Richard Weston, of the Plymouth colony. Her father, Richard Warren Weston, was a large tea importer and successor to the firm of Goodhue & Co. Mr. and Mrs. Meigs are the parents of five children now living: Peveril; Martin Schenck; Rosa- mond, wife of Hermann Hall Eddy, of Santa Barbara; Helen and Leonora: a son, Charles Henry, and daughter, Louise, dying in infancy. The older son is a foreign note broker, at No. 40 Exchange Place, New York, while the younger is editor of the Marine Record at San Francisco.

It may be of interest to add that the nanie Peveril is derived from the surname of a family believed to be connected with that of Meigs, dating back to the earliest days of Norman- English history.

Oft Sessions

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

C. H. SESSIONS, president of the Dairy- men's Association of Southern California, was born in Southington, Hartford county, Conn., September 14. 1850, and inherits from an inter- esting ancestry those sterling traits which have made his citizenship honored and successful. Authentic records show that somewhere near the dawn of the eighteenth century four broth- crs emigrated from Britain to New England, presumably settling in Massachusetts. It is said that one of these brothers had a hand in that great event which convulsed the minds of Eng- lishmen and the waters of Boston Bay and which has since been humorously known as the Bos- ton tea party. The paternal great-great-grand- father, Hon. John Sessions, took his way through the rousing events of his time, and im- pressed his force of character and attainments upon colonial government. He was born in 174I, and eventually removed to Vermont, and was a member of the colonial congress which met in New York. For two years he was a member of the first continental congress, also was judge of the county court in New York and a member of the legislature of that state, under the administration of the first, or elder, Governor Clinton. The paternal great-grand- father, John Sessions, Jr., was born in Connecti- cut. In that state the grandfather, Calvin, was born in the year 1799; he settled in Burlington, Conn., where he engaged in the manufacture of cloth.

S. W. Sessions, the father of C. H., was born in Burlington, Conn., and became a manufac- turer in Southington, where he continued to live until 1865. He then established a bolt and nut factory at Mount Carmel, Conn., but in 1869 removed his plant to Cleveland, Ohio, and built up the largest business of the kind in America. At the present time he still continues the presi- dency of this enterprise, known as the Lamson & Sessions Company's plant. He married Nancy Frisbie, a native of Southington, Conn., and a daughter of Samuel Frisbie, who was born in Connecticut, and belonged to one of the very old families of the state. Mrs. Sessions is still living in Cleveland. Of her four children, two are deceased. The daughter, Mrs. F. C. Case, is a resident of Cleveland.

After completing his education in the public schools and Lewis Academy, in Connecticut, C. H. Sessions located in Cleveland in 1869, and went into business with his father, but from the first was handicapped by an unsatisfactory state of health, a misfortune aggravated materially by the inclement winters of the Ohio city. He therefore worked during the summer time and traveled south when the snow began to fly, but even this arrangement did not prove of lasting benefit. As do most who have once visited Los Angeles, he retained delightful impressions of a sojourn here in 1872 and 1873, and of frequent

repetitions of the journey here and at Santa Barbara, and in 1884 he decided to make this his permanent place of abode.

The Lynwood Dairy, the oldest wholesale and retail enterprise of the kind in Los Angeles, re- ceived its first impetus in 1885, when Mr. Ses- sions bought seven hundred and twelve acres of fine alfalfa land at Lynwood station, on the Southern Pacific road. The dairy is undoubt- edly one of the best equipped in Southern Cali- fornia. There is a large refrigerating plant of three tons capacity. From the first a central place has been established in the city, and this is at present located at No. 117 East Twenty- third street. An enormous business has been built up along retail and wholesale lines, and from his fertile acres and splendidly directed business the owner thereof exerts a wide and progressive influence in all matters pertaining to his interesting and remunerative occupation. Ever since 1894 he has been president of the Dairymen's Association of Southern California, an organization founded in that year for the pro- tection of dairymen from oleomargarine. In carrying out the purpose of the association Mr. Sessions has worked unceasingly, and has been instrumental in securing protection by legisla- tion, and in gaining all around recognition for a body of men who strive to make the dairy business one of the greatest resources of South- ern California. In connection with the Farmers' Institute he has been equally active, and his pa- pers read before the association and conventions are listened to with the attention and interest due so earnest a student of economic and agri- cultural science. In the Chamber of Commerce also he is a valued acquisition, and for three years was a director of its affairs. He is a mem- ber of the Union League Club, and is a Repub- lican in national politics.

The marriage of Mr. Sessions and Katherine E. Gould was solemnized in Cleveland, Ohio, Miss Gould being a daughter of William W. Gould, a native of New Hampshire.

LAUREN T. HOLLAND, M. D. Unlike many men of ability in the professional world, Dr. Holland possesses to an unusual degree the capacity for successful financial undertakings, and his acumen and good judgment have ex- tended into many avenues of profit awaiting the opportunity seeker of California. A native of Noble county, Ohio, he was born September 23, 1843, and was reared in Guernsey county, same state. The family of which he is a repre- sentative settled at a very early day in Virginia. The paternal grandfather, Archibald, removed with his family from Virginia to Belmont county, Ohio, where his death occurred. His son, Thomas, the father of Lauren T., was born in Winchester, Va., and was a farmer and horse- man of Noble county, Ohio, later living in

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

Guernsey county. In 1864 he removed to St. Joseph, Mo., where he engaged in business and where he died, in 1897, at the age of eighty- six years. He married Celestia Ellsworth, who was born in Pennsylvania, of a long-lived fam- ily, her father, Isaac, having lived to be a cen- tury old. He served in the war of 1812, and was a cabinet-maker in Pennsylvania and then in Ohio, and came of an old Virginia family of Scotch descent. Mrs. Holland, who died in Feb- ruary of 1894, at the age of eighty years, was the mother of six children, four of whom are living, Lauren T. being the second.

Into the otherwise uneventful youth of Dr. Holland came the declaration of war in 1861, and so intense was his patriotism that on sev- eral occasions he left school and tried to enlist, only to be brought back by his father. Perse- verance finally prevailed, and in June of 1861, at Columbus, he enlisted in Company A, Eighty- fifth Ohio Infantry, and was assigned to de- tached service. In 1862 he was sent with his regiment after Morgan in Kentucky, and then after Kirby Smith, and was finally sent on the heels of General Price in Missouri in 1863. At the expiration of his term of service at Fort Leavenworth, in March of 1864, he re-enlisted in the Sixteenth Kansas Infantry, and con- tinued to harass Price until the spring of 1865, when they joined the Powder river expedition to suppress the Sioux Indians. In September of 1865 he was mustered out of service at Fort Kearny, and forthwith returned to St. Joseph, Mo.

The education of Dr. Holland was begun in the public schools, and previous to the Civil war he studied medicine for a short time with Dr. McPherson of Ohio. For a time after the war he studied under Dr. Jacob Geiger. In 1869 he began to practice in Holt county, Mo., and the following year removed to Troy, Doni- phan county, Kans. Ever on the alert to increase Itis knowledge of his chosen profession, he took a post-graduate course at the Kansas City Medi- cal College in 1875, in 1881-82 attended the Col- lege of Physicians and Surgeons at St. Joseph, Mo., and in 1884-85 took a post-graduate course in New York City. In 1870 he was elected coroner of Doniphan county, Kans. Two years later he removed to Wyandotte, Kans., where he practiced medicine, and served for two terms as coroner of the county. In 1879 he removed to Del Norte, Rio Grande county, Colo., where he was almost immediately appointed county coro- ner for an unexpired term and then elected for another term. In 1880, while on his way to United States Senator Bowen's camp, in the Summit mining district, he was caught in an electric storm, and by reason of the severe ex- posure partially lost his voice. Nevertheless, he continued to practice off and on until 1884, when he went to New York City for voice treat-

ment and also to take a post-graduate course under Prof. Clinton Wagoner. In 1885 he took a trip to Atlanta, Ga., thence traveled north through Tennessee, and everywhere met with discouraging outlooks. He therefore came to California in 1886, locating at Visalia, Tulare county, where he practiced until 1889, when, owing to continued trouble with his throat, he located in Los Angeles. This proved to be a wise decision, for after proper treatment he re- gained his health to a large extent, and was now in a position to contintie the practice of medicine. In 1892 he was appointed district health officer of Los Angeles, and when the office of county health officer was created, in 1895, he received the first appointment to that important post. In 1898 he was elected county coroner on the Republican ticket by a majority of nearly two thousand over the fusion ticket, and assumed charge of the office in January of 1899. Since then he has devoted all of his time to the duties incident to his position.

Dr. Holland has extensive holdings in both oil and mining. He is a director in the Fairview Gold Mining Company, operating in the Rosa- mond district, Kern county, Cal .; also a director in the Pinnte Hills Oil Company, and has in- terests in several other companies. Fraternally lie was made a Mason in Doniphan county, Kans., in June, 1867; later was a member of the Masonic lodges in the various places in which he resided, and is at present a member of South Gate Lodge in Los Angeles, Signet Chapter, R. A. M .; Los Angeles Council, R. & S. M., as well as the South Gate Chapter Eastern Star, and is past W. P., and belongs with the Los Angeles Court of Amaranth. As a member of the Grand Army of the Republic he is affiliated with Bartlett-Logan Post No. 6, and is past commander of No. 6, chief mustering officer of the departments of Tennessee and Georgia, and ex-medical director of the department of Cali- fornia and Nevada. He is a Republican in poli- tics, and is connected with the Methodist Epis- copal Church.

In Wyandotte, Kans., Dr. Holland married Clara C. Rively, who was born in Leavenworth, Kans., and was the first white girl baby born in the town. Of this union there are six children, namely: Frank C., who is in Arizona; Mrs. Beatrice Harris, of Los Angeles; Ethel, Earl R., Harrison H. and Clara Louise.

COL. H. E. HASSE, M. D. In the capacity of chief surgeon of the Pacific Branch, Na- tional Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, Dr. Hasse has been connected with this insti- tution ever since it was established. At the time he accepted the position, in 1889, and came to the Home he found only twenty or twenty-five beneficiaries of the government here,

A.l. A. Wilson

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but so great has been the subsequent growth that the membership is now more than two thou- sand, and he has been given four associate phy- sicians to assist him in his work. In addition to the duties of this office he is president of the board of pension examiners, having acted in this capacity since 1890.

Born in Freiburg, Saxony, Germany, January 12, 1836, Dr. Hasse was the only child of Ed- ward and Rosalie (Thiele) Hasse, natives of Saxony, the former a son of an inspector of mines in Germany, and the latter a merchant's daughter. On the completion of a university education Edward Hasse entered upon the prac- tice of law in Saxony, but after bringing his family to America in 1845 he turned his atten- tion to farming near Milwaukee, Wis., and later settled at DeSoto, Jefferson county, Mo., where he died. His wife died subsequently in Wiscon- sin. Of the journey to America Dr. Hasse re- tains a vivid recollection, for he was a boy of nine at the time, and the unusual event of a four weeks' voyage on the ocean made an indelible impression upon his mind. His education was conducted in the Milwaukee public schools and a private classical academy. When twenty years old he began to study medicine under Dr. Cas- sion, and later spent a year in the St. Louis Medical College under Dean Pope. In order that he might enjoy the advantage of study un- der the best minds of Germany, he went abroad in 1858 and took a two years' course in the University of Leipsic. In 1861 he received the M. D. degree from the University of Wurtz- burg, after which he spent three months in the University of Prague.

Returning to the United States Dr. Hasse practiced for three months in Milwaukee, Wis. Meantime, however, the war had broken out and he was ambitious to serve his country. In the fall of 1861 he was commissioned assistant surgeon of the Ninth Wisconsin Infantry, and the following year was promoted to be surgeon (with the rank of major) of the Twenty-fourth Wisconsin Infantry, remaining as such until the close of the war. With his regiment he took part in all the forced marches and endured all the hardships of camp life. Among the engage- ments in which he was present may be men- tioned the battles of Stone River, Tullahoma, Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, Franklin, Nashville, all the battles and skirmishes of the Georgia campaign to Atlanta, Lovejoy Station, Jonesboro, Spring Hill, and Nashville. At the close of the war, in May, 1865, he was mustered out of service. Resuming the duties of practice in Milwaukee, he remained there until 1867, when he settled at DeSoto, Mo., but in 1871 returned to Milwaukee, where he continued the practice of medicine and surgery until 1885. The next two years were spent at Little Rock, Ark., and in 1887 he settled in Los Angeles,

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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 60

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