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 78

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

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denly and the large estate he left was, by un- just means, wrested from his family. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Julia Mitchell, was born in North Yarmouth, and died in Massachusetts. Of their six children four daughters and one son are living, and all but Mrs. Williams reside in Sharon. She was next to the oldest of the family and was reared in Eastport, Me., where she became the wife of Albert J. Williams, in 1848. Mr. Williams was born in Waterville, Me., a son of Col. Johnson Williams and a grandson of Dr. Obadiah Wil- liams, an old settler of Waterville. He was reared to a knowledge of merchandising, in which he assisted his father. In 1849 he came to California via Panama and for eight months engaged in business at the isthmus, thence go- ing to Calaveras county, Cal., where he had a ferry and a hotel. Deciding to remain in the west, he wrote his wife to join him here, and in February, 1853, she began the long journey, traveling via steamer from New York to Aspin- wall, then across the 'isthmus (where the rail- road had not yet been built) and from there proceeding by steamer to San Francisco.

For some years Mr. and Mrs. Williams re- sided in San Francisco, where he carried on a painting business. He was particularly fitted for artistic work, and was both a fine penman and skilled in devising original designs for signs, etc. In August, 1856, he was appointed by President Franklin Pierce as lighthouse keeper at Santa Barbara, the appointment hav- ing been secured through the influence of his brother, Hon. Bion Bradbury Williams, who was then member of Congress from Maine. The first incumbent of this position, he lighted the first lamp in the lighthouse December 19, 1856, and it is fitting that Mrs. Williams through all of these intervening years should have con- tinued so faithfully the work that he be- gun. At the expiration of four years, he re- signed his position and settled upon a home- stead of one hundred and sixty acres, where he built a residence and turned his attention to the sheep business. In February, 1865, Mrs. Williams received the appointment as light- house keeper from Commodore Watson, in- spector of lighthouses for the San Francisco district, and she has since devoted herself to the work, Mr. Williams meanwhile carrying on work at the painter's trade until his death, in 1882, at the age of fifty-seven years. They be- came the parents of six children, as follows: Mrs. Helen F. Maxfield, of San Diego, Cal .; Ada C., who died at fifteen years of age; Bion Bradbury, an architect and builder, in Santa Barbara ; Mrs. Julia C. Baker, of Seattle, Wash .; Albert C., who is a dairyman near Santa Bar- bara; and Franklin S., a farmer in Santa Bar- bara county. Mrs. Williams is identified with the Congregational Church at Santa Barbara

H le Richardan

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

and is a life member of the Home Missionary Society, in the work of which she is deeply in- terested.

CHARLES H. McKEVETT. Numerous in- terests have occupied the time and attention of Mr. McKevett during the progress of his suc- cessful career in Santa Paula. While most widely known as the president of the First Na- tional Bank of the town, his executive and financial ability has penetrated and developed many enterprises of equal moment in the gen- eral growth of his adopted city and has se- cured for him an enviable reputation as a man of business discretion, as well as unquestioned moral integrity.

The ancestral home of the McKevett family is in Scotland, the first emigrating member being the paternal grandfather, Alexander, who came to America when a boy, and settled in New York. There was born his grandson, Charles H., in Cortland county, October 3, 1848, as were also his parents. When old enough to assume responsibility, he found a field for occupation in the oil business in Penn- sylvania, first as an employe, later as a con- tractor to drill wells, and still later as an inde- pendent operator. Through application he gained a wide knowledge of the business, and for a period of fifteen years he continued to successfully manipulate oil affairs in Clarion, Butler, Warren and Mckean counties, and as the result of his labors amassed a considerable fortune. Desiring a complete change of cli- mate and surroundings, he visited California in January of 1886, and selected Santa Paula as his permanent residence, although at the time it was destitute of railroad advantages, and con- tained in all but about two hundred residents. He immediately purchased four hundred and twenty-four acres of the Bradley and Blanchard rancho, his land extending from near the cen- ter of the town out into the country. A por- tion of this land has since been subdivided. and sold, and at the present time he owns three hundred acres planted in oranges, lemons, apri- cots, and devoted to general farming.

In 1887 Mr. McKevett organized the Santa Paula Lumber Company, and was president of the same until its consolidation with the Ven- tura County Lumber Company, since which he has been general manager of the combined companies. In 1888 he organized the Santa Paula State Bank, of which George H. Bone- brake was president; Mr. McKevett, vice-presi- dent, and J. R. Haugh, cashier. September 23, 1889, the bank was converted into the First Na- tional Bank of Santa Paula, at which time Mr. McKevett was elected to his present position of president. He is also interested in oil produc- tion to the extent of being secretary and treas- urer of the Graham Loftus Oil Company, which

organization has seventeen wells in Fullerton, Orange county, and he also owns interests in several other oil companies. He is a director and the treasurer of the Limoneira Company, owners of a ranch of four hundred acres, upon which are raised principally lemons, but also oranges and walnuts. He is also vice-president of the Santa Paula Water Company.

In 1873 Mr. McKevett married Alice Stow- cll, a native of Pennsylvania, and of this union there are three children, two of whom were born in Pennsylvania, and the third, a daughter, was born in Santa Paula. Mr. McKevett is a Republican in national politics, and is very pop- ular in fraternal circles, being associated with the Santa Paula Lodge No. 291, F. & A. M .; with Ventura Chapter, R. A. M .; with the Knights Templar Commandery, Al Malakiah Temple, N. M. S., and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. In 1890 he further increased the possibilities of Santa Paula by laying off a portion of land north of the railroad, and in 1900 built a fine bank building which is in every way a credit to the town.

HENRY CLAY RICHARDSON. One of the enterprising owners and managers of ranch property in Ventura county is H. C. Richardson, whose property lies near the village of Oxnard. He was born in Warren county, Mo., March 20, 1844. For many years his life work was carried on in connection with that of his father, John Richardson, an interesting character and a man of successful undertakings. He was born in New York in 1796 and participated in the war of 1812, his last work in that connection being in the mail service in Boone county, Mo., which continued to be his home for several years. Dur- ing his residence in Missouri he married his first wife, and she died there. Later he married Lucy Benson Wright, who died at the home of her son, Henry C., October 5, 1898.

The family settled in Grant county, Wis., in. 1845, where H. C. Richardson received his edu- cation in public schools. In 1860 he accom- panied the other members of the family to Cali- fornia, the journey being made by the overland route with ox-teams and wagons. The father, mother, ten sons and two daughters remained in Shasta county for a short time, thence removed to Sacramento county, and from there to Stock- ton, returning soon to Sacramento county, where the father died in 1868. The others later re- inoved to Santa Barbara county and were among the earliest white settlers of that region. It was at Carpinteria, that county, Mr. Richardson was united in marriage, November 3, 1868, with Augusta Isabelle, daughter of William and Eliz- abeth (Vance) McFarland, both of whom died in Missouri when their daughter was a child. An aunt of Mrs. Richardson, Sally G. Vance, died at the Richardson home, November 11, 1901, aged

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

ninety-three years and seven days. To the union of Mr. and Mrs. Richardson have been born seven children, namely: John V., a rancher, who imarried Alma Hickson and has one child, Mil- dred A .; Lucy, Mrs. C. Cox, of Sutter county, who has a son, Byron; William, who married Miss Emma Cook and has one son, Henry, the family living on the Broome ranch, owned by Mrs. Frances Broome, of Santa Barbara; Mrs. Sallie Reno, of Oxnard; Herbert, Arthur and Albert, who are at home. The oldest son re- sides on Chapedra's ranch between Saticoy and Springfield.

In 1891 Mr. Richardson came to his present ranch near Oxnard and has since successfully conducted the same. He is the possessor of nearly forty acres of land, upon which he has erected a commodious and comfortable house, and a well-arranged and substantial barn. His varied interests demand the renting of more land in the neighborhood, so that he superin- tends a considerable acreage. As a rule, his crops are good, hence he has gained a fair de- gree of financial success. In politics he is a Socialist and a strict party man. His parents were stanch workers in the Baptist Church and he is in sympathy with the work of that denom- ination, as indeed he is with all movements for the benefit of mankind, but he is not identified with any church. He is well and favorably known in the farming communities of the two counties of Santa Barbara and Ventura, and his business and personal integrity is well estab- lished in every community where he has made his home.

REV. PETER WALLISCHECK, O. F. M. The president of St. Anthony's College at Santa Barbara was born at Wiesloch, Baden, Germany, April 4. 1852, and was brought to America in the spring of 1854. During his boy- hood he lived for a time in Ohio, but mostly in Illinois. In the fall of 1868 he began to study for the Franciscan Order at St. Joseph's Col- lege, Teutopolis, Ill., and in that same place he entered the Franciscan Order December 21, 1871. At the close of the novitiate, January 3, 1873, he gave his attention to his studies in St. Francis Solanus College, Quincy, Ill. His phil- osophical studies were pursued in the monas- tery at Quincy, Ill., and his theological studies at St. Louis, Mo., from 1877 to 1880. In tlie latter city he was ordained priest, June 22, 1879, by Archbishop Patrick John Ryan, D. D., LL. D., of Philadelphia, then coadjutor of Most Rev. Archbishop P. R. Kenrick, D. D., of St. Louis, Mo.

In the summer of 1880 he was sent to St. Jo- seph's College, at Teutopolis, Ill., as a profes- sor but the following year on account of poor health a change of location became necessary. For this reason he was sent to St. Francis Col-

lege, Quincy, Ill., in the summer of 1881. From there, June 27, 1896, he was sent to San Francisco, and on the 18th of August, same year, was transferred to Santa Barbara, where, from that time on, lie has been engaged in pre- paring young men for the priesthood in the Franciscan Order.

A. L. LINQUEST, superintendent of the Santa Barbara County Hospital, was born in Skara, Westrejutlan, Sweden, October 15, 1860. The paternal grandfather was a soldier in the Swedish army, and after returning to civilian life engaged in agriculture until his death. The father, John, was born in Sweden, and farmed for the greater part of his life, his death occur- ring in Sweden at the age of seventy-seven years. By his marriage to Greta Anderson, who died in Sweden, he had five children, three of whom are in America and two in Sweden. Al- fred lives in Santa Clara county, Cal .; Chris- tine remains on the old homestead; Gustav is in the transfer business in Santa Barbara; and Carl is at the old home.

A. L. Linquest was educated in the public schools of Sweden, and in 1875 came to Santa Barbara, whither he had been preceded by his uncle, Edblom, two years before. Almost im- mediately his lines were cast in pleasant places, for he entered the employ of Col. W. W. Hollis- ter, and served in this capacity for eighteen years. In time he became foreman of the Glen Anna ranch, and was engaged in horticulture and the dairy business, and after the colonel's death he continued in the employ of Mrs. Hol- lister. In 1890 he resigned to accept a position as superintendent of the Dixie Thompson ranch at Ventura, his responsibility extending over twenty-four hundred acres, of which fifteen hundred acres were planted in lima beans. In 1892 yet another change was made to the Hol- lister employ, as superintendent of the Santa Anita Ranch, containing seventeen thousand acres devoted to stock-raising enterprises. In May of 1896 lie resigned from this position and took a trip back to the scenes of his childhood in Sweden, sailing on the City of New York from New York to Southampton and Götten- burg. After a sojourn of two months he re- turned to California and to his former position on the Santa Anita ranch, holding the same until 1897, when he entered the employ of the Los Angeles Street Railway Company. In April of 1898 he took a trip to Alaska on the steamer Alaska, going up the Kobuck river for about four hundred miles, prospecting and min- ing during the summer and winter.

In January of 1901 Mr. Linquest was ap- pointed superintendent of the county hospital at Santa Barbara, by the board of supervisors, and has since given entire satisfaction in his management of the affairs of the institution.

Robert Bell

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

The capacity of the hospital is thirty rooms, and the location commands a fine view of the ocean. Mr. Linquest is prominent in the Re- publican party and in fraternal circles, being a member of the Santa Barbara Masonic Lodge, No. 242, the Royal Arch Masons, St. Omar Commandery, and Al Malakiah Temple, N. M. S., besides which he is connected with the In- dependent Order of Odd Fellows. He was married in Los Angeles April 18, 1898, to Amanda Erika Saunders, who is also a native of Sweden. Mrs. Linquest is a member of the Rebekahs.

ROBERT BELL. One of the most success- ful ranchers of Ventura county is Robert Bell, than whom his community has no citizen more honored or enterprising. He was born in Rich- land county, Ohio, May 27, 1842, and comes from one of the oldest American families, and one known for the sympathy, harmony and good fellowship existing among its members. His grandfather, Robert Bell, was a soldier in the war of 1812 and assisted in guarding Perry's fleet while it was being built on Lake Erie. The parents, William S. and Polly (Turbetty Bell, were born in Pennsylvania, and the former was reared in Ohio. In 1898 they came to Cali- fornia, and here their respective deaths occurred within forty-eight hours of each other, the inci- dent suggesting in its conclusion the many years in which they had lived together, unselfishly sharing the joys and sorrows that came their way. They reared to health and usefulness two sons and two daughters, the latter living in Ohio, while the sons, Thomas and Robert, are ranch- ers in Ventura county, the former owning a fine ranch near Oxnard, while the latter is a rancher near Camarillo.

The education of Robert Bell was acquired in public schools. The first important incident that disturbed his otherwise uneventful youth was the breaking out of the Civil war. This brought to the surface the innate patriotism that he possessed and inspired him to enlist in Com- pany C, Twentieth Ohio Infantry, Seventeenth Army Corps. For three years he served his country, being mustered out at Columbus, Ohio, in 1864. Soon after the restoration of peace he came to California and settled in Yuba county, where he worked on the Virginia ranch. Dur- ing 1871 he came to Ventura county, where the next year he married Rebecca L., daughter of Peter and Isabelle Rice, pioneers of California from Ohio, both of whom ended their days on their son-in-law's ranch. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Bell are Polly, Bertha and Walter, of whom the two younger are school students. The family are connected with the Episcopal Church.

The ranch which has been Mr. Bell's home ever since he came to Ventura county is a por- tion of the Las Posas rancho, embracing 26,623 acres, granted to José Carillo May 15, 1824,

and confirmed to José de la Guerra y Noriega, being held by him and his heirs until 1876, when it was sold to a company. Las Posas lies about twelve miles east of Hueneme, within sight of the ocean, in the southern part of Ventura county. The Simi ranch adjoins it on the east, the Calleguas on the south, the Santa Clara del Norte on the west, and a range of mountains on the north. Grains and semi-tropical fruits succeed here, barley, wheat, corn and beans have been successfully grown without irrigation, while there is also much grazing land.

In partnership with Peter Rice, one of the successful pioneers of Las Posas rancho, Mr. Bell bought from Hon. Thomas R. Bard eleven hundred and thirty acres of the ranch, but after- ward transferred the property back to its former owner. Mr. Bell now cultivates five hundred and fifty acres of this property, and all is devoted to barley and beans. in the cultivation of which he is an expert. The railroad runs through a corner of the ranch, and there is a depot for the accommodation of passengers. In national politics he votes with the Republican party, but, while interested in public affairs, he has never entertained political aspirations, his tastes in- clining him toward business and domestic affairs rather than toward politics.

ST. ANTHONY'S COLLEGE. It has al- wavs been the greatest desire of the Generals of the Franciscan order at Rome to uphold not only the provinces established in different parts of the world. but also the individual houses or monasteries belonging to these prov- inces. The Most Rev. Father General. Bernar- dino a Portu Romatino. O. F. M .. was not less solicitous in this regard. He especially desired that the missions in California, established by the pioneer missionaries of the Franciscan or- der, should be preserved, if human zeal or energy could prevent them from falling a prey to the elements and vandalism. But. alas! only one of the twenty-one once flourishing missions remained in the possession of the padres. This was the mission at Santa Barbara. Should it also be abandoned and crumble into ruin? No! Divine Providence watched over this relic of the pioneer missionaries. It was not to fall into utter decay, as did most of the twenty-one Franciscan missions in California. The Most Rev. Father General requested the provincial of the Sacred Heart province of St. Louis, Mo .. to take charge of the Santa Barbara mission. After the matter had gone through its legal proceedings in Rome, the Santa Barbara mis- sion was dulv incorporated in the Sacred Heart province of St. Louis, Mo. This was done in 1885.

As time passed on, it became obvious that, if the Franciscan order was to maintain a perma- nent footing in California and to return to its

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original splendor it would be necessary that young recruits should be procured and edu- cated, not as had hitherto been done, in Quincy, Ill., or Teutopolis, Ill., but in California itself. It was therefore decided at the chapter which convened in St. Louis, Mo., July 22, 1896, at which Very Rev. Michael Richardt, O. F. M., presided, that a house for classical stud- ies should be erected at the Old Mission in Santa Barbara with Rev. Peter Wallischeck, O. F. M., as its first rector or president. At the historic Old Mission, St. Anthony's College had its beginning. This beginning was indeed a humble one, because besides the president there was only one professor, Rev. Felix Raab, O. F. M. The college then comprised two classrooms, one dormitory, one dining room, and two apartments for the president and pro- fessor respectively. The cook of the padres did also the cooking for the students, of whom there were eleven. The college was formally opened September 22. On the 26th of October Rev. Mathias Rechsteiner, O. F. M., was added to the staff of professors.

It soon became obvious that the apart- ments occupied were inadequate for the pur- pose. It was therefore decided that plans should be devised and proposed to the Very Rev. Michael Richardt, O. F. M., according to which a second story was to be added to the L of the mission building. The architect of the province, Bro. Adrian Wever, O. F. M., made the plans for the superstructure, and the Very Rev. Michael Richardt approved them. These plans arrived at Santa Barbara on the IIth of June, and on the 18th the work of remodeling began. The building was sufficiently completed so that the second scholastic year could be opened September 13. The college faculty was again increased by the arrival of Rev. Onesi- mus Lunney, O. F. M. The number of students had increased to twenty-six. It very soon be- came apparent that the apartments at the Old Mission would not long be sufficient to accom- modate the ever increasing number of students. Consequently new plans were made for the erection of a large and commodious building, the present St. Anthony's College. In April, 1898, the Very Rev. Theodore Arentz, O. F. M., who had been elected provincial at St. Louis, Mo., the year before, came to California, and at a meeting held at the Old Mission April 8, the necessity of a new college was considered. At this meeting, which was presided over by the Very Rev. Theodore Arentz, O. F. M., and attended by Very Rev. Kilian Schloesser, O. F. M., commissary of California and Ari- zona; Rev. Peter Wallischeck, O. F. M., the president of the college; and the professors, Rev. Mathias Rechsteiner, O. F. M., and Rev. Felix Raab, O. F. M., the necessity of a new building was considered. The former provincial

had chosen Fruitvale, near Oakland, as the place where the college was to be built, but after mature discussion, at the meeting men- tioned, it was decided that the college should be erected on Mission Hill at Santa Barbara.

The architect of the province, Bro. Adrian Wever, O. F. M., was again called upon to make a sketch of the proposed college. It hap- pened that the architect was at Santa Barbara at this time, and he, in consultation with the president of the college, drew up plans which finally resulted in putting up the present build- ing. Excavations were commenced August 25, 1898. Here many obstacles had to be sur- mounted on account of the hardness of the soil, and on several occasions the contractor of the excavations, A. L. Pendola, was anxious to give up the work. Being assured again and again, however, that he was not to lose any- thing on the contract, he resumed the work. When plow and pick no longer made any head- way, they had recourse to powder. Holes were drilled every three or four feet apart and charged with giant-powder. After weary and toilsome weeks the excavations were suffi- ciently advanced so that the first stone for the structure could be laid on the 10th of October. The first stone was blessed and laid at 3:40 o'clock by the Very Rev. Kilian Schloesser, O. F. M., commissary of California and Arizona, in the presence of Rev. Peter Wallischeck, O. F. M., the faculty and students of the college. The work necessarily went on slowly owing to the lack of necessary funds. In consequence of this the corner-stone could not be laid until June 13, 1899. This ceremony was performed by the Right Rev. George Montgomery, D. D., bishop of Monterey and Los Angeles, in the presence of a great multitude of people. The Right Rev. Bishop delivered the English ser- mon and Edmund M. Burke, mayor of Santa Barbara, addressed the people in Spanish. The work now went on as the means would permit. But it was not until January 8, 1901, that the building was ready for occupancy. The first divine services were held in the college chapel on the same day. Rev. Peter Wallischeck, O. FF. M., was celebrant and St. Anthony's College choir sang a beautiful four-voiced mass ar- ranged by Father Xavier Zettel, O. F. M., who also presided at the organ.

The solemn dedication of the college was celebrated April 25, 1901. Solemn high mass was celebrated in the Old Mission by Very Rev. Hugolinus Storff, O. F. M., provincial of the Sacred Heart province of St. Louis, Mo .; Verv Rev. Theodore Arentz, O. F. M., commissary of California and Arizona, was assistant priest : Rev. Maximilian Neumann. O. F. M., pastor of St. Boniface Church, San Francisco, was dea- con; and Rev. Victor Aertker, O. F. M., pastor of St. Joseph's Church, Los Angeles, was sub-

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deacon. The Rev. Raphael Fuhr, O. F. M., pastor of St. Anthony's Church, San Francisco, was master of ceremonies. The Right Rev. George Montgomery, D. D., bishop of Mont- erey and Los Angeles, was in the sanctuary, as- sisted by Very Rev. J. A. Linn, C. M., president of St. Vincent's College; Los Angeles, and Rev. Polydore J. Stockman, pastor of Na. Sa. de los Dolores Church of Santa Barbara. The Right Rev. Bishop delivered the dedication sermon to a large audience. After the solemn services in the church a procession was formed, headed by the Santa Barbara military band. Having ar- rived in front of the building the Right Rev. Bishop said the prayers for the dedication or blessing of the college. The clergy and laity then went to the chapel, where the bishop gave benediction with the Blessed Sacrament. After benediction the choir sang "Holy God, we praise Thy name," in thanksgiving for all the favors God had bestowed upon the new. St. Anthony's College.

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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 78

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