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 81

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

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Major Bonebrake returned to Indianapolis and formed a law partnership with his former instructor under the style of Brown & Bone- brake. About the same time he married a for- mer schoolmate, Miss Emma Locke. In 1869 he was made cashier of the Citizens' Bank at Noblesville, Ind. He held this position until

1878, when, consumption attacking the health of Mrs. Bonebrake, the family came to California, hoping the climate might restore her. The hope was vain. The insidious disease had obtained too firm a hold; she declined little by little, finally dying. In accordance with her request, she was laid to rest beneath California's sunny skies.

Too energetic of mind to be idle long, Major Bonebrake soon went into business with all the intensity of his nature, and for nearly twenty years he stood in the foremost ranks of the little army of courageous and enterprising men who have so marvelously developed the resources of this section and built up the city of Los Angeles. Away back in the early 'Sos he was instrumen- tal in tearing away the old shanties at the cor- ner of Spring and First streets and replacing them with the handsome bank building. Di- rectly afterward he was the main spirit in re- placing the oid Spring street brick school with the magnificent Bryson-Bonebrake block. Dur- ing all this time he was one of the active finan- ciers of this section. His masterly hand was busy in organizing bank after bank in the towns as they have grown and multiplied, until he be- came a director in half a score of these institu- tions, being vice president of most of them, as well as president of the Los Angeles National. Every bank which had the advantages of his wise direction proved a gratifying success. Meantime he established carriage repositories all the way from here to Puget Sound. He was also a successful patron of horticulture, plant- ing, owning and supervising numerous groves of walnuts, olives, lemons and oranges.

JONATHAN BAILEY. To Mr. Bailey be- longs the distinction of being the first settler of what is now Whittier. As president of the Pickering Land and Water Company he came to the present site of the town in May, 1887, and established his home in the midst of a field of barley, his nearest neighbor being two miles distant. He continued as president of the company for two years and for some years afterward officiated as vice-president, in both of which capacities he did much to secure the development of the place and interest people in investing in property here. Naturally, there- fore, he has a wide acquaintance throughout this section of the state. His first trip to Cali- fornia was made in 1875, when he brought an invalid son, E. F. Bailey, to this state, hoping that the change of climate might prove bene- ficial, and the result proved that the step was a wise one. Four years later he again came to the Pacific coast, remaining for a short time. His permanent removal to the state was in 1885, and for two years he resided in Los Angeles, after which he came to his present home in Whittier. Since then he has been identified

John G. Carl

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

with many of the movements originated to pro- mote the welfare of the town.

JOHN G. PRELL. It is with a feeling of justifiable pride that Mr. Prell narrates his ex- periences in the early days of the Santa Maria valley, of which he was one of the first settlers and in which he built the first house. When he first came here in 1868 he took up a quarter sec- tion of land, six other people having taken up the same amount. However, no one had as yet built a house, and he paid a man $35 to haul sufficient lumber for a cottage from San Luis Obispo. November 7, 1868, the home was ready for occupancy, and the following year the family took possession. From then until the present time Mr. Prell has demonstrated his right to be accounted one of the most substantial and pub- lic-spirited citizens of this part of Santa Barbara county, his industry and correct knowledge of farming having been rewarded with unfailing crops and a corresponding reward for labor in- vested. To his original purchase of a quarter section have since been added varying amounts from time to time, so that now he owns five hundred and sixty acres of land, all tillable, and devoted largely to beets, beans, barley and gen- eral produce, as well as stock-raising. The whole constitutes as fine a property as one would care to see, with a commodious and comfortable home, equally convenient and modern barns, and the best procurable implements on the market.

A native of Germany, Mr. Prell was born in Prussia February 5, 1837, and was reared on a farm and educated in the public schools. At the age of fifteen he was apprenticed for three years to learn the trade of cooper, and when eighteen years of age accompanied his mother, three brothers and one sister to America, his father having died in 1855. They settled on a farm near South Bend, Ind., where John G. worked at brick molding, being one of the youngest in the fam- ily, a fact which necessitated his leaving the parental roof to hustle for himself. In 1860 he became possessed of the westward fever, and of the possibilities of mining near Pike's Peak, Colo., but his success there was not such as to justify him in experimenting in mining for more than a few months. Going further west he engaged in placer mining near Placerville for a short time. and later, in the quest for a desirable permanent location, visited San Fran- cisco and San José. In the spring of 1861 he went to Los Angeles and was there one summer. when it had but three brick buildings-the Tem- ple block, Presbyterian Church and United States District court. He returned to San José. where he remained until the spring of 1866. Overcome with longing for the familiar faces of his family near South Bend, Ind., he repaired thither and bought a farm in Jasper county, Mo., hoping to there realize his expectations for a

prosperous and comfortable home. Somewhat disappointed in this regard, he retraced his steps to California in 1867, and the following year settled in the Santa Maria valley, as heretofore stated.

At Rolla, Mo., Mr. Prell married Eliza Pow- ers, a native of Ohio, and to this couple were born four children: John S .; Lillie, now Mrs. Cook, of the Santa Maria valley; Blanche and Laura, who are at home. A Republican in poli- tics, Mr. Prell departed from the traditions of his party during the last election on account of his affiliation with the free silver platform and voted the Democratic ticket. For nearly forty years he has been a Mason, having joined that organization in Santa Clara, and he has been a member of the Odd Fellows since 1858. In re- ligious belief he is a Unitarian.

FRANK M. CHAPMAN, of Covina, is a native of Illinois, having been born in Macomb, McDonough county, of that state, on the first day of the year 1849. He is the eldest of a large family of children born to Sidney S. and Rebecca Jane Chapman, His father was born in Ashtabula county, Ohio, in 1826, and was a descendant of one of three brothers who canie from England to Massachusetts about 1650. He went to Macomb when a young man, and in 1846 was united in marriage with Rebecca Jane Clarke, the eldest daughter of David and Eliza (Russell) Clarke, natives of Kentucky and early pioneers of central Illinois.

Mr. Chapman's boyhood was passed at Ma- comb. Here he attended the common schools and engaged in various occupations until he answered the last call made by President Lin- coln for soldiers. He enlisted in Company C, One Hundred and Thirty-seventh Illinois In- fantry. Though a mere boy in years he was accepted, and with his regiment went south, where he remained until after the close of the war, when he was honorably discharged.

Upon his return home Mr. Chapman engaged at clerking in a store until 1868, when he went to the neighboring town of Vermont and en- gaged in business for himself. After the great fire at Chicago in 1871, there being a great de- mand for bricklayers in that city, and having learned that trade with his father, who was a builder, he went there, and for a while was fore- man for a large building firm. Then for a time he engaged in building and contracting in that city, when he again drifted into mercantile life. This he followed with varying success until he began the study of medicine. Entering the Ben- nett Medical College in Chicago, he was gradu- ated with the class of 1877.

Though by nature well adapted for the med- ical profession, yet a business life seemed more attractive to Mr. Chapman; at least it offered a better outlook for getting on in the world. We

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therefore soon find him closing his Chicago office and joining his brother Charles at Gales- burg, Ill., and engaging in the publishing busi- ness. This enterprise proved successful, and with his brother he was soon able to return to Chicago and start a publishing house. Pros- perity attended this enterprise and the business grew until Chapman Brothers (as the firin was known) erected their own building and owned a large printing plant. For a dozen years the firm of Chapman Brothers did an extensive and prosperous printing and publishing busi- ness, at the same time erecting several large buildings in Chicago. The firm invested heavily in hotel enterprises during the World's Fair held in that city, and, as is well known, the financial panic of 1893 crippled the great fair and likewise every enterprise in any way de- pendent upon it.

On the 2d of December, 1894, Mr. Chapman landed with his family in California, taking up his residence in Los Angeles. Here he lived for a year, when he came to the Palmetto ranch at Covina. Since taking up his residence here he has been identified with almost every local enterprise inaugurated by its people, and is re- garded as one of the substantial and highly re- spected citizens of the community.

Mr. Chapman was united in marriage with Miss Wilhelmina Zillen in 1886. To them have been born four children: Frank M., Jr., born July 17, 1888; Grant, June 1I, 1891; Grace, Oc- tober 18, 1895; and Clarke, February 21, 1898. Mrs. Chapman was born in Friedrichstadt, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, July 2, 1861. She is the daughter of Wilhelm Ferdinand and Louise (Fencke) Zillen, and came with her father to the United States in 1866.

Politically Mr. Chapman has been a life-long Republican, and has taken more or less active part in politics. He has been sent as a delegate to various county and state conventions, and was elected to represent the twenty-fifth ward in the Chicago city council.

WILLIAM D. ELLIS. The history of the dwellers of the San Gabriel valley would be in- complete without mention of William D. Ellis, who, although not one of the old residents of the locality, is one of the best-known and most influential. He owns a ranch one mile west of San Dimas, consisting of thirty acres, devoted principally to orange culture. On this place he has made his home since 1896, meantime giv- ing his attention closely to its improvement.

The year 1883 found Mr. Ellis in Pomona, Cal., which at that time was a mere hamlet, with a few scattered houses here and there and with no noticeable prospects for the future. He was one of the pioneers to whom the city owed its first start and the fact that it is now in so , Hourishing a condition. In 1896 he moved to

San Dimas and settled on the ranch he now owns and cultivates. He was one of the prime movers in organizing the Artesian Belt Water Company, in which he is now a director.

GEORGE H. WATERS. While much of the fruit raised in California is shipped to the market in its fresh state, it has been found in- possible to get the entire products to the dis- tant points of shipment before the process of decay begins. Hence, the canning and drying of fruit has become one of the most important industries of the state. It is this occupation which Mr. Waters successfully follows. He is the principal member of the firm of G. H. Waters & Co., of Pomona, who have made a specialty of the following brands of canned goods: Orange Blossom, Mocking Bird, Chrys- anthemum and California Poppy. In addition to these brands, which are their leaders, they have nine other brands on the market, most of their product being sold in eastern cities. Dur- ing the busy canning season they furnish em- ployment to about four hundred hands, which makes their industry one of the largest of its kind in all of this fruit-growing region.

JOHN ROWLAND, a pioneer of Los An- geles county, was born in Maryland, and in early manhood settled in New Mexico, where, as a partner of William Workman, he engaged in mining at Taos. In 1841 he and his partner set out for California, in company with John Tete, Santiago Martinez, Thomas Belarde and others. The next year they returned to Taos for their families. On coming to California the second time they were accompanied by B. D. Wilson, D. W. Alexander, John Reed, William Perdue and Samuel Carpenter, all of whom became resi- dents of Los Angeles county. Rowland & Workman obtained a grant of La Puente rancho, comprising forty-eight thousand acres, and there they settled and spent the balance of their lives.

In 1869 Messrs. Rowland and Workman di- vided their rancho and about a year afterward Mr. Rowland settled up his estate and divided the ranch among his heirs, giving to each about three thousand acres of land and one thousand head of cattle. His last years were spent on the ranch, and he died at the old homestead, Oc- tober 14, 1873, aged eighty-two years.

CHARLES J. VERNON is associated with some of the enterprises that are contributing to the prosperity and progress of Whittier. Com- ing to this place as early as 1887, he was a pio- neer in the cstablishment of new industries in the then new village 'and erected the second store building that was put up here. Forming a partnership with his brother, W. A .. under the firm name of Vernon Brothers, he embarked

Nannie Taylor

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

in a general mercantile business, and the part- nership continued actively until 1891. Mean- time, in 1888, he established the Whittier can- nery, and organized the company having charge of the plant, he himself being chosen secretary of this company. After three years in the office of secretary, in 1891 he was made manager of the plant. In 1893 the name was changed from its corporate title of Whittier Canning Company to the Whittier Cannery, under which title busi- ness was transacted until 1900, when it became a part of the California Fruit Canners' Associa- tion. At the time the name was changed he was made manager of the new concern, and from 1893 to 1900 he served as manager of the Whittier Cannery. During the latter year he was given a similar position with the California Fruit Canners' Association. Under his able su- pervision the canning business grew from an output of eleven hundred cans the first year to about one million and five hundred thousand cans in 1899, constituting three hundred and seventy-five car loads of cauned goods. During the busy season employment is furnished to about six hundred hands.

G. B. TAYLOR. A native of Huntsville, Ala., Mr. Taylor was fourteen years of age when he accompanied his father, John E., from that point to East Tennessee. Near Chattanooga, that state; on the 4th of July, 1846, he married Miss Nancy A. Donohue, who was born in Monroe county, Tenn., her father, Charles, having come there in an early day from his birthplace near Rockbridge, Va. Her grandfather, Capt. James Donohue, a native of Ireland and a captain in the Revolutionary war, belonged to that class of pioneers and Indian fighters to whose forti- tude and dauntless courage the development of our country is due. In the development of his plantation in Monroe county success came to Charles Donohue. . Large crops rewarded his painstaking industry and wise judgment, and in 1844 he raised the largest quantity of produce of any planter in Tennessee. As the years passed by he accumulated thousands of acres of land and hundreds of slaves. His cattle "fed upon a thousand hills." He counted his possessions in land and stock almost as far as his eye could scan from his comfortable plantation house. Politics, too, engaged his attention, and he was a. prominent Democratic leader. During Indian fights he served as major. Though himself a man of peaceable disposition, yet the destruc- tion of property by the savages and the murder of helpless women and children roused his in- stant wrath, and he left no stone unturned to rid the neighborhood of these miscreants. To his attractive southern home came prominent men from all sections, who were glad to accept his hospitality and to consult with him concerning measures of moment. Possessing the hospitable

disposition that is pre-eminently a southern trait, his latchstring always hung on the outside, and there was a glad welcome for everyone, whether stranger or friend, whether rich or poor. His life was not prolonged to old age, but ended when his daughter, Nannie, was eleven years of age. His wife, Margaret, who was born in Rock- bridge, Va., and died in Tennessee, was a daugh- ter of Capt. Joseph Ware, an officer in the Revo- lutionary war and a pioneer settler of Monroe county, Tenn.

In a family of twelve children, ten of whom attained maturity and two are living, Mrs. Tay- lor was the youngest and the only one to settle on the Pacific coast. She was born May II, 1831, and in childhood attended female semi- naries at Athens, Madisonville and Cleveland, remaining in school until her marriage to Mr. Taylor, who was at the time a resident of Hamil- ton county, Tenn., near Lookout mountain. After a short time there and a year in Dekalh county, in 1850 they settled in Cook county, Tex., but suffering from fever there they soon removed to San Antonio. In 1852 they started for California, coming by the Nicaragua route. After two years in Sonora thev went to what is now Merced county and settled upon a large stock farm, later removing to Tulare county and thence to San Luis Obispo, where they en- gaged very successfully in cattle and sheep- ranching for eleven years. In 1870 Mr. Taylor moved his stock through Ventura county to Rock Creek, Los Angeles county, but the fol- lowing year took the herds and flocks to Ven- tura county and purchased the Canon Diablo grant, comprising nine thousand five hundred and twenty-two acres, with six miles of coast frontage and containing over six hundred acres of tillable land. Here he found fine grazing for the stock and was enabled to successfully prose- cute the business of a stockman. The ranch is as fine as can be found in the county and con- tains improvements that greatly enhance its value, besides having deposits of asphaltum of superior quality. On this place Mr. Taylor died January 1, 1897, and the following year the sheep and cattle were sold, since which time Mrs. Taylor has rented the ranch and made her home in Ventura. Among her property inter- ests is one-half ownership in the Collins & Tay- lor block, the largest and finest business build- ing in the city, and in addition she owns other property. She is the mother of three children, of whom the daughter, Mrs. Alice Grubb, resides in Carpinteria, while the sons, Charles and Ed- ward, are in Ventura.

During the long period of Mrs. Taylor's. resi- dence in California she has witnessed remark- able changes. A half century has passed since the vessel on which she sailed cast anchor at the Golden Gate. Few of the pioneers of early days remain to enjoy the prosperity of the pres-

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ent, and those few find a source of enjoyment in meetings of the California Pioneers' Society. Mrs. Taylor is identified with this association and interested in its work. Though many years have elapsed since she left the home of her youth, she shows the effects of southern train- ing and ancestry. Intensely devoted to the coun- try of her forefathers, she takes a just pride in the hospitality, the chivalry, warm-hearted kind- ness and culture that gives the southerner pres- tige throughout the world and makes a visit to a typical southern home an event never to be forgotten.

REV. EDWARD P. GRIFFITH. Occupy- ing. a conspicuous position among the Roman Catholic priests in Southern California is Father Griffith, who, in December, 1899, received the appointment of rector of St. Boniface Church in Anaheim, St. Joseph's Church in Santa Ana and St. Anthony's Church in Yorba, since which time he has devoted his attention closely to the oversight of these three charges, maintaining his residence in Anaheim. The churches are doing excellent work and have the usual sodali- ties and other organizations, including St. Boni- face Association at Anaheim and St. Joseph's Society at Santa Ana. In addition, there is an orphan asylum for boys at Anaheim, which has about two hundred boys, under the oversight of fourteen Dominican sisters. A large academy and dormitory have been erected to provide for the physical comfort and the mental training of the lads, who are being reared under the most painstaking supervision and with every effort to prepare them for life's activities.

In Clare-Morris, County Mayo, Ireland, Father Griffith was born November 29, 1866, a son of Martin and Ann (Noone) Griffith, also natives of Mayo and still residents of that county. The mother is a daughter of Michael Noone, a farmer, and the father was both a farmer and a merchant, and for a time acted as superintendent of the county poor farm. The national schools at Clare-Morris furnished Ed- ward P. Griffith the rudiments of his education. At an early age he displayed unusual mental gifts and it was therefore decided to give him special advantages. For five years he was a student in St. Jarlath's College in Galloway, Ire- land, where he completed the classical course, and then for four years he studied philosophy and theology in Maynooth's College in County Kildare. He was ordained to the priesthood of the Roman Catholic Church in Dublin, Ireland, at All Hallow's College, hy Rt .- Rev. Bishop Donnelley, and was at once assigned to the Los Angeles diocese.

After coming to the United States Father Griffith was for a year assistant pastor of the San Bernardino Church and later filled a similar position in San Luis Obispo for a year. Next

he was transferred to the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin at Visalia, where he re- inained as assistant pastor for two years and as pastor for another two years, meantime also ministering to St. Luis' Church in Tulare. From there he came to his present charges, in the oversight of which his time is fully occupied.

HOMER W. JUDSON, a successful horti- culturist and walnut grower, and president of the Los Nietos and Ranchito Walnut Growers' As- sociation, is a native of Bristol, Elkhart county, Ind., where he was born May 2, 1848. His par- ents, Lemon and Philena (Bacon) Judson, were natives of Vermont. In 1856 the family moved from Indiana to California and cast their lot with the very early settlers of Sonoma county, and engaged in farming and stock-raising. Here Homer W. was reared on his father's farm, and educated in the public schools of the county. In the fall of 1875 he left Northern California for what is now called Orange county, and settled at Tustin, where he lived until 1887, busily engaged in growing oranges and apricots. He soon after moved to Los An- geles county, on the ranch which is at present his home. Of the one hundred and forty acres, about one hundred acres are under English walnuts. Mr. Judson takes great pride in his well-developed ranch, and is entitled to vast credit for the perfection of its management.

Mr. Judson married Martha Stanley, of So- noma county, Cal., and of this union there were seven children, six of whom are living. In po- litical matters Mr. Judson is a Republican, and has been identified with many of the enterprises for the improvement of his town and county. Greatly interested in education. he has served for several termis as a member of the school board and as trustee of the Pico school district. He is also a director of the Los Nietos Irrigat- ing Company, and secretary and treasurer as well as director of the Rincon Irrigation Com- pany.

DEWITT L. DAVENPORT. Since Febru- ary, 1886, Mr. Davenport has been a resident of Pomona. Arriving here, he bought land and set out an orange grove. The following year his family joined him. During the years that have since passed he has gained a thorough knowl- edge of the raising of fruit. particularly oranges (his specialty), and it is said that no one in the entire county is more successful in this industry than he. His first purchase consisted of two tracts of land, one of which is now owned by Alexander Moncrieff, and the other is owned by H. B. Hottel and S. W. Arbuthnot. Later he bought some land at Cucamonga, which he after- ward traded for his present property, and an- other piece of property near by. The latter he gave, as part payment, to Mr. Joy for his

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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 81

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