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 74

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

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dence was erected by the owner in 1899. For several years after coming here Mr. Shaw was engaged in a general nursery business, making a specialty of oranges, lemons and grape fruit, furnishing the new groves with promising young trees. After the years of arduous work he has the satisfaction of knowing that his ranch is valued at $30,000, which nearly ap- proaches his expectations upon first coming here.

Mr. Shaw began in Riverside from a practi- cally small beginning, and he has been interested in all of the enterprises for progress in the town. He has considerable money in the oil district on the Kern river, and is a large stockholder in the Grand Central Oil and Development Company, which owns forty acres in the famous section 4. He is also interested in the development of the oil in section 28, Kern river district.

EDGAR A. HOLLISTER. To be a bearer of the name of Hollister is to claim kinship with much that is important and noteworthy in the history of Santa Barbara county. For, heading the written page of the struggles borne by the pioneers, is the name of Col. William Wells Hollister, whose career is so interwoven with the growth of this region as to seem as much an integral part of it as are the trees and the enterprises which sprang into being at his de- mand. To his nephew, Edgar A. Hollister, the Colonel bequeathed many of his excellent traits of character, and he is one of the successful and esteemed residents of this locality. A native of Holt county, Mo., he was born October 18, 1851, a son of Albert G. Hollister, who was born in Licking county, Ohio, in 1812, his brother, Colonel Hollister, having been born in 1818. Albert G. was also a noteworthy man, and was the founder of the Hollister Mills on the Noda- way river, Mo., from which state he came to California in 1871 and founded the home where his son Edgar now lives, eight miles west of Santa Barbara, at the foot of the Santa Bar- bara mountains. Here he lived and prospered until his death in 1891. He married Elizabeth Wickham, who is living with her son, Edgar, and who is the mother of two other children: Fran- ces, now deceased, who was the wife of J. W. Cooper, and Louise, who resides with her mother and brother on the old homestead.

The Hollister ranch consists of four hundred acres, sixty of which are set out in walnuts. The place is well improved, and besides walnuts a general fruit industry is carried on, general farming engaged in, beans, barley, hay and stock being raised on a large scale. Mr. Hollister is a practical agriculturist, and understands how to make his land pay, and how to improve it to the utmost. He is prominent in a general way in the community, and possesses those traits which insure respect and lasting regard. In

Alex Haldie.

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politics a Republican, he is nevertheless very liberal minded, and believes in voting for prin- ciple rather than party.

The first marriage of Mr. Hollister occurred in Goleta in October, 1881, and was with Anna Owen, who died in 1893, leaving four children, Albert G., Owen Edgar, Ethel May and Chester Allen. The second marriage, in 1896, united him with Sallie Baker, of Missouri, and of this union there were two children, William and Robert. Mrs. Sallie Hollister died July 10, 1901.

ALEXANDER WALDIE. Conspicuous among the leading business men of Santa Paula is Mr. Waldie, who, as manager of the Santa Paula Hardware Company, has for some years been intimately associated with one of the town's best known business houses. Born in Scotland, he possesses the characteristics for which Scotch- men are famous the world over, and which make them desirable citizens of any community. When he crossed the ocean in 1866, he settled in Batavia, N. Y., where he remained five years, meantime following the occupation of florist and landscape gardener. Going from there to Titus- ville, Pa., he followed the same line of work and raised flowers for the markets from 1871 to 1883. During the latter year he came to California and settled in Newhall, Los Angeles county. During the three years he lived in that village he was employed as general secretary of the Hardison & Stewart Oil Company, continuing in' that capacity until the company disbanded.

The year 1886 found Mr. Waldie in Santa Paula, with whose oil industry he has been asso- ciated since the first year he spent in California. As a stockholder and director, he was closely connected with the workings of the Union Oil Company of California and the United Petro- leum Company, and, indeed, he is still active in the same. He held the office of secretary of the Sespe Oil Company at Santa Paula during the whole of its existence, until it was merged into the Union Oil Company. He was chosen treas- tirer of the new organization, in which he held stock as he had done in the former. In 1895 he was chosen manager of the Santa Paula Hard- ware Company, which had been incorporated five years before, and he has since given his time largely to the building up of a large trade for the company.

During his residence in Batavia, N. Y., Mr. Waldie married Miss Anna C. Myers, a native of Scotland. The two children born of their union, Archibald and Alice, both died in in- fancy. They have an adopted daughter, Lillie, who is now the wife of E. D. Bates, of Santa Barbara.

In the Santa Paula Board of Trade Mr. Wal- (lie is a member of the executive committee. Fraternally he is connected with the local lodge

of Independent Order of Foresters. The Pres- byterian denomination holds his membership and receives his hearty support. For some time he officiated as Sunday-school superintendent and at this writing is honored with the office of president of the Ventura County Sunday-School Association, which office he has held for four years in succession. For some years he has served the congregation as an elder. To all movements for the promotion of temperance he lends his aid, being a member of the Anti-Saloon League and president of the local league con- nected with the Presbyterian Church. He casts his vote for the nominees of the Prohibition party, and by example and precept casts his in- fluence on the side of temperance. Since com- ing to Santa Paula he has met with a success that is as gratifying as it is deserved. Through his industry and high principles of honor he has become known as one of the substantial men of the town, and is always ready to assist in move- ments for its moral, spiritual and educational up- building.

HON. M. A. LUCE. As postmaster of San Diego, to which office he was appointed by his former classmate, President Mckinley, Judge Luce has maintained the high reputation estab- lished by previous service in other official posi- tions. A resident of this city since 1873, there is probably no citizen who has a larger circle of acquaintances than he, these including not only the pioneers of San Diego, but the young busi- ness men of the present day. Two years after he settled in this city he was elected judge of the county court, and held the office until Janu- ary, 1880, when under the new constitution the present courts were established. In the fall of 1880 he was chosen attorney for the Southern California Railroad, of which he was later elected vice president, continuing in both capaci- ties until the road was built from San Diego to Barstow and into Los Angeles. After resigning in 1887, he spent some time in recuperation, and in 1889 became a member of the law firm of Luce, McDonald & Torrance, which became in 1898 the law firm of Luce & Sloane, the latter part- nership continuing to the present. From early manhood he has been a warm admirer of Repub- lican principles, and has never failed to uphold them by his ballot. In 1868 he was an alternate to the national convention that nominated U. S. Grant for president, and he has frequently attended similar gatherings in later days. At one time he was chairman of the county central committee, and he has also been connected with the state central committee, and many times delegate to state conventions. His appointment as postmaster in March, 1898, was therefore not only a tribute from the president to him as a former friend and classmate, but was a worthy recognition of his long advocacy of Republican

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doctrines and his prominence in the party in Southern California.

The genealogy of the Luce family is traced back to Normandy, whence they accompanied William the Conqueror to England. From that country they carly came to America, settling in Massachusetts. Daniel Luce was born in Maine, his father having moved there from Martha's Vineyard. During the war of 1812 he went to the front with the American army. His son, Christopher, who was born near Farmington, Me., settled in Illinois in 1837 and became a pio- neer Baptist preacher in Adams and other coun- ties. In 1873 he settled at Poway, San Diego county, Cal., where he died in 1897, aged eighty- nine years. His wife, Sarah, was born at Mere- dith, N. H., and died in Illinois. She was a daughter of James Pottle, who was of English descent, as was also his wife, a Miss Hoyt. Christopher and Sarah Luce had three sons who attained mature years, viz .: George, who was an attorney in Monmouth, Ill., and died in 1861; William T., an attorney, who died in 1864; and M. A., of San Diego. The last-named was born in Payson, Ill., May 14, 1842, and was reared in Adams, Pike, Hancock and McDonough coun- ties, Il1. In 1858 he went to Hillsdale College in Michigan.

At the opening of the Civil war Mr. Luce de- termined to enter the army, and as soon as pos- sible volunteered his service. In May, 1862, hc became a member of Company E, Fourth Michi- · gan Infantry, which was mustered in at Adrian for three years. Among his first battles were the first engagement at Bull Run, Yorktown, Mechanicsville, Gaines Mill, White Oak Swamp. Malvern Hill, second battle of Bull Run, where, on account of sunstroke, he was obliged to re- main in a hospital at Alexandria for a time. Re -- joining his regiment, he was at Chancellorsville, Bristow, Rappahannock Station, Wilderness, Spottsylvania, Cold Harbor, Petersburg and minor skirmishes. At Spottsylvania he was made a sergeant. At the expiration of his time, in July, 1864, he was mustered out at Detroit. In 1890 one of his acts of bravery in the war re- ceived recognition from the secretary of war by the bestowal of the congressional medal of honor, given him for rescuing a comrade from Michigan, who was wounded and lay under the enemy's fire at Spottsylvania, after they had made the assault.

After his return to Hillsdale College, Mr. Luce earned the degree of A. B. in 1866 and later the degree of A. M. In 1866 he matricu- lated in Albany Law School, from which he graduated in 1867. Among his classmates there was William McKinley. After his admission to the New York bar he returned to Illinois and en- tered the law office of Judge Glenn in Mon- mouth. The next year he opened an office in Bushnell, near Monmouth, where he was city attorney for three terms. From there he came

to San Diego in 1873. In addition to his other interests, he is now president of the Golden Hill Land & Improvement Company and president of the Shenandoah Mining Company. During his residence in Bushnell, Ill., he married Miss Adelaide Mantania, who was born in New York. They have three children living: Grace, now Mrs. Wallace Irwin, of San Francisco; Marie H .; and Edgar A., who is a student in Leland Stanford University.

In the Unitarian Church Judge Luce is presi- dent of the board of trustees. While General Miles was commander of the Medal of Honor Legion he appointed Judge Luce as judge-advo- cate of the same. His connection with the Civil war is borne in his memory through attendance at the meetings of Heintzelman Post No. 28, G. A. R., and he was honored by this post in his election as its first commander. Fraternally he is associated with the Knights of Pythias and the Masons, his connection with the latter being particularly important. While in Hillsdale he was made a Mason and is now a member of San Diego Lodge No. 35, F. & A. M., also belongs to the Chapter, Commandery and Lodge Per- fection in this city, being a Mason of the thirty- second degree.

R. F. ROBERTSON. Thirty years of close association with the upbuilding and progress of a community gives a man prominence and influ- ence among his neighbors; hence we find Mr. Robertson one of the best-known pioneers of that portion of Ventura county lying near the present site of Bardsdale. After having accu- mulated a competency through his wise manage- ment, he retired from active cares, and August 26, 1901, removed to Los Angeles, and pur- chased property on East Ninth street. Later he acquired by purchase a comfortable home at No. 814 Golden avenue, and here he now resides. surrounded by the comforts possible in this twen- ticth century. In moving from Ventura county he left a host of friends there, all of whom pro- nounced him to be a true friend, an excellent business man and an ideal neighbor, which are three of the best qualifications of an American citizen.

In Hancock county, Ill., Mr. Robertson was born November 17, 1835. He was reared there and in Missouri, and engaged in farming. In the spring of 1862 he crossed the plains with an emigrant train, landing at Honey Lake valley. Lawson county, Cal., where he began farm pur- suits. A few years later he went to the mines of Idaho City and secured employment there. In the fall of 1870 he located on Sespe rancho. a portion of which he still owns and which is one of the pioneer grants of Ventura county. Believing the soil to be adapted to fruit-growing. he made some experiments in this direction, and as a result succeeded even beyond his expecta-

Theymouth Crowell

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

tions, thus encouraging others to take up the same industry. However, his attention was de- voted principally to the raising of hogs and draft horses. For years he noticed evidences of oil on his land, and since 1890 the Union Oil Company has operated, by lease, fourteen oil wells, the oil being of twenty-eight gravity. The homestead consists of three hundred and twenty- five acres. Besides this property, he owns one hundred and sixty acres near by, in Ventura county, also considerable real estate in Los An- geles, and other property, all of which has been accumulated since he came west. He is a stock- holder in the South Side Improvement Company, also a stockholder in the People's Lumber Com- pany of Ventura county, and Yellow Bird Min- ing Company of Arizona, and for years was actively connected with the Pioneer Society of Ventura county. Politically he is a stanch Re- publican.

The marriage of Mr. Robertson, in 1874, united him with Mrs. Sarah (Edwards) Haw- kins, who died in 1888. The children born of their union are named as follows: Ella, who is the wife of Walter Smith, a merchant in Los Angeles ; Permelia ; Esther; Owen, now attend- ing the California State University at Berkeley ; Thomas, a student in the Los Angeles high school; Emily, a student in the State Normal School at Los Angeles; and Nevia, who attends the high school of Los Angeles. Mr. Robertson has always been a believer in education. Per- haps because he had few educational advantages in boyhood, he has been especially solicitous that his children should receive the best training pos- sible and he has prepared them for the respon- sibilities of life by giving them a good education.

WEYMOUTH CROWELL. As a contrac- tor and builder Mr. Crowell is well known in Los Angeles, Pasadena, and Seattle, Wash. The occupation to which he is devoting himself does not represent the sum of his activities, nor does it properly gauge his claims for recognition. A man with a large fund of general information gained by travel in different parts of the coun- try, he has assimilated much knowledge of men and events. Of Scotch ancestry, he is one of a family for many years associated with Yarmouth county, Nova Scotia, where he was born April 10, 1864. His father, Weymouth Crowell, Sr., was a native of the same county and spent the greater part of his life in coast fishing on Grand Banks, Newfoundland, but now makes his home on a farm at Glenwood. By his marriage to Elizabeth Gavel, who was born, reared and died in Yarmouth county, he had eleven children, four of whom are living in California, two in the east, while five are deceased. Two sons. Charles F. and William C. are residents of Pasa- dena.

Until his sixteenth year Weymouth Crowell lived on his father's farm at Glenwood and at- tended the public schools. In 1881 he went to Townsend Center, Mass., where he worked in a saw-mill, later learned the cooper's trade and afterward studied carpentering, which he fol- ' lowed in different parts of that state and Con- necticut. The fall of 1884 found him. after a short stop in Chicago, coming across the conti- nent to Los Angeles, where, failing to find work as a carpenter, he sought other employment. For six months he chopped stove wood at Sierra Madre and later worked at his trade there. Next he went to Pasadena, where he engaged in car- pentering. In 1889 he went to Seattle, Waslı., where he built the Minor School and many fine residences. Returning to Pasadena in 1894, he engaged in contracting there, and finally estab- lished himself in Los Angeles.

A notable experience in the life of Mr. Crow- ell was his sojourn in search of gold in the Klon- dike during 1897-98, at which time he and his brother, with two companions, went over the Chilcoot Pass, taking with them five tons of provisions, necessary tools and each a dog. The hardships they endured are scarcely conceivable to those who are unfamiliar with the conditions of the frozen north. By laying off over Sunday they were saved from perishing in a snow-slide, but their provisions were buried ten feet under the snow. For navigation down the Yukon river they built their own boats, sawing the lum- ber out of large trees by hand, and, going up the Stewart river, hitherto traversed by but few white men, met with disasters discouraging in the extreme. Their raft was smashed going over the rapids on the Mayo river and their packs were scattered broadcast over the water, which necessitated an enforced fast of two days. Arriv- ing in Dawson, three out of the four worked on one of the first claims discovered on Bonanza creek, which they bought a lay on for $5,000. By the hardest of work, putting in eighteen out of every twenty-four hours at manual labor, and keeping at their post for eight months, they se- cured excellent returns, and returned to Califor- nia with a fair opinion of the possibilities of a dreary region.

After a visit to his old home in Nova Scotia. Mr. Crowell again engaged in contracting and building in Pasadena, where he built the Dods- worth block, the finest in the city. In Los An- geles he built the Angelus hotel, the first seven- story structure erected there. In the summer of 1902 he built four additional stories to the Grant building, which makes it a seven-story structure. In the fall of 1901 he erected his own residence on the corner of Fifth street and Beandry ave- nue, Los Angeles, which is a model of comfort. Fraternally he is connected with Pasadena Lodge No. 702, 1. & A. M., in religion is of the Baptist faith, and in politics votes with the Re-

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publican party. By his marriage to Ethel May Ryder, a native of Nova Scotia, he has six chil- dren: Harold R., Ethel May, Willard W., Flor- ence A., Andrew and Alice Edna.

J. P. KILER. Since establishing his home in Ventura county, in the spring of 1886, Mr. Kiler has been identified with the horticul- tural interests of this locality. During August following his arrival, he bought twenty-four and one-half acres near Ventura, and on this place he has since resided. His principal crop is apri- cots, of which he produces five tons per acre each year. To aid him in his work, he has equipped a drying plant, with a capacity for one hundred and fifty tons of green fruit, which, being larger than the amount produced by him, enables him to engage in the drying business for others. Everything about the property bespeaks the care and thrift of the owner, whose ambition it is to bring the land under the best possible cultivation and secure from it the largest crops of which the soil is capable. In addition to this ranch, he owns fifty-two and three-fourths acres near Colton, San Bernardino county, which he purchased in 1895.

In Greene county, Ohio, Mr. Kiler was born in 1843 and there he grew to manhood on a farm, learning the carpenter's trade when he was a boy. At the age of nineteen, in 1862, he en- listed in Company F, One Hundred and Tenth Ohio Infantry, and was assigned to the army of the Potomac, serving under Generals Meade, Sheridan and Grant. One of his first engage- ments was at Winchester, in the Shenandoah valley, after which he was at Mine Run, the Wilderness and Spottsylvania. In the battle of the Wilderness he was slightly wounded. At a later engagement under Grant, in 1864, at Cold Harbor, he suffered a great misfortune, his left eye being shot out, and afterward he was for a year confined in hospitals at Washington, Lit- tle York and Philadelphia, Pa. Upon receiving an honorable discharge from the army at the close of the war, he returned to Ohio.

The year 1867 found Mr. Kiler settling upon a farm in Cass county, Mo., and there he remained for nine years, engaging in farm pursuits. Next, returning to Ohio, he followed the carpenter's trade for three years. In 1878 he went to Johnson county, Neb., and embarked in the general mercantile business in Tecumseh, where he remained seven years, and from that town he came to California in 1886. All movements for the benefit of Ventura county receive his hearty support. He is a stockholder in the Sati- coy Water Company, also in the Rothdale Co- operative Company at Ventura. The Prohibi- tion party receives his stanch support and he is a subscriber to all of the well-known papers of his party. In the work of the Anti-Saloon League he has been especially active, but all

temperance movements receive his earnest sup- port as well. By his contributions to the Pres- byterian Church of Ventura, with which he is connected, he helps to promote the cause of re- ligion in his community. During August of 1898 he assisted in organizing the Ventura County Mutual Fire Insurance Company, of which he has acted as agent for two years. The excellent standing of this company is shown by the fact that he has written up $129,175 in policies from the Ist of January, 1901, to the Ist of January, 1902. The Farmers' Club of Ventura county has him among its members, and he takes a lead- ing part in all of its activities.

In Ohio Mr. Kiler married Miss Letitia Baker, daughter of Nale and Hulda Baker, who were of Quaker ancestry. They have six chil- dren: Brinton C. B. and W. L., both of San Francisco; Mrs. May Dunning, of Ventura: Dale, of Indio, Cal .; William and Mary Alice, of Ventura.

W. D. ROBINSON. The career of Mr. Rob- inson represents the fulfilment of practical as- pirations. His efforts have been founded on the pressing needs of the community and fortified by sound business principles and admirable com- mon sense. While he is at present living in Santa Barbara, a large portion of his success is connected with the city of Detroit, Mich., which owes not a little of its prestige to his un- tiring work and keen foresight.

A native of Shrewsbury, England, Mr. Rob- inson came to America with his parents when eight years old, and settled in Rochester, N. Y .. where his father was engaged in the coal trade. On graduating from the high school, at nineteen years of age he went to Boston. Mass., and be- came a traveling salesman for a large shoe man- ufacturing establishment. After building up a large business through Michigan, Indiana, Ohio and Illinois, he proposed to the house the open- ing of a branch wholesale establishment in De- troit, Mich., which suggestion seemed feasible. and resulted in the incorporation of the firm of Underwood, Cochrane & Co. Of this house Mr. Robinson became managing partner. Under his administration the business increased to the ex- tent of covering the whole western country. At the end of three years H. S. Robinson. a brother of W. D., was taken into the company as part- ner, and the name was changed to W. D. Robin- son, Burtenshaw & Co. The firm built a large shoe factory in Detroit and transacted a business aggregating three-quarters of a million dollars annually. Mr. Robinson continued at the head until his retirement in 1890, after which H. S. Robinson and Mr. Burtenshaw continued the business for several years.

During 1890 W. D. Robinson began to oper- ate in real estate in Detroit, and from that time

Град. Все

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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 74

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