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 82

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

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& M. Cool

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Glendora ranch, and this property he sold a year after its purchase to C. C. Warren. In 1892 he bought a sixty-acre ranch in San Diego county, on which he set out forty acres to olives, peaches and prunes. This property he has since sold. In 1897 he bought from J. C. Callicott a nine- acre ranch on the Kingsley tract, near his home place. He now owns and cultivates fifty-five acres of orange land, all bearing. The success he has had in orange-growing has made him an authority on the subject in his locality. He believes four watchwords must be observed in raising oranges, "fertilization, cultivation, irri- gation and fumigation," and without due observ- ance of each of these no one can hope to suc- ceed. It is one of his theories that no pruning should be done, but that the limbs should be allowed to grow naturally, as the tree is kept warmer in winter when the limbs hang over and touch the ground, and a hard wind does less damage to fruit and tree, also the top then represents a larger bearing surface (this princi- ple has special reference to the Washington navel orange). Once in three years he fumi- gates his orchard by the tent and cyanide proc- ess. Every detail of the business is given the closest attention, and it is to this fact that his success may be attributed.

MRS. SARAH M. COOL. Side by side with the brave and ambitious men who came to Cali- fornia in the early days, most patiently endured the perils and hardships of the overland trail, and cast their lot amid the discomforts and vague possibilities of the Pacific coast, are the women who accompanied them hither to stand as sentinels of encouragement on their desolate hearthstones, and mingle their hope and zeal and sympathy with the intoxicating sunlight and balmy air of the land of their golden dreams. Whether as matrons or children they faced the vastness of the plains, wonderingly awaiting the happenings of each succeeding dawn, with its possibility of storm and flood and disease, and the approach of murderous Indian faces or beasts of prey, there was instilled into their minds and hearts a largeness of purpose and an unflinching devotion without which the present civilization of California had never been accom- plished. Of all who have experienced the vicis- situdes of the almost primeval conditions and are now spending their days amid the fulfilled expectations of Los Angeles, none is more worthily enshrined in the hearts of the people than is Mrs. Sarah M. Cool, widow of Rev. P. Y. Cool, one of the pioneer Methodist Episcopal clergymen of this state.

A native of Cleveland, Ohio, Mrs. Cool was, before her marriage, Sarah M. Aram, whose most remote ancestors are first heard of in England, in which country the paternal great-

grandfather, Joseph, was born and eventually died. Eugene Aram, whose rueful and tragic life Bulwer Lytton illuminated with the touch of his genius, yet who is by many supposed to have been a creation of the novelist's brain, lived in reality, and was a great-great uncle of Mrs. Cool. The paternal grandfather, Mathias, was also born in Yorkshire, the birthplace of his father, and he was thrice drafted for military service in the wars between France and Eng- land, but found a substitute for his service. In 1806 he brought his family to Geneva, N. Y., where he lived on a farm, and where he left his plow in other hands to shoulder a musket in the war of 1812. He was a member of the Methodist church, and New York continued to be his place of residence up to the time of his death.

Capt. Joseph Aram, the father of Mrs. Cool. was born in Geneva, N. Y., and when old enough to shoulder responsibility became a dairyman in the vicinity of Cleveland. Owing to precarious health he decided to try his for- tunes in the west, but at the time of setting out with his family had little thought of ever reach- ing California. Rather he headed towards Ore- gon, starting in May of 1846 with an ox-train and numerous other emigrants, this being the first wagon train to cross the plains. At Green river they met Kit Carson, who persuaded them to go to California on account of the delightful climate. For a time they traveled with the party of which Mr. Donner was a member, and which met such a sad fate at what is now known as Donner's lake. Their immunity from a similar death was owing to the fact that they followed Mr. Carson's advice and got "The Truckee Guide," an old and reliable Indian, to take them through before the severe storms set in. The party remaining behind died of exposure and lack of food, but the old Indian with his wise knowledge of the country hurried them over the mountains to safety. Arriving at Fort Sutter in October of 1846 the party met General Fre- mont, who was in search of able-bodied men, and Mr. Aram enlisted as captain and was de- tailed to take the party to Santa Clara. He afterwards continued to serve under Fremont until the close of the Mexican war, and the sword which he wieldcd so bravely in the ser- vice is now one of the treasured possessions of his daughter, Mrs. Cool. In the spring of 1847 Mr. Aram took his family to Santa Cruz, going almost immediately to Monterey, then the cap- ital of California. He became a man of influ- ence and force in the early administration of California, and was a member of the first con- stitutional convention that met in Colton hall and framed the first laws of the state. He was also a member of the first state legislature. In 1849 he moved with his family to San José. where lie carried on extensive nursery opera-

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tions until his retirement from active life, and where his death occurred in March of 1898, at the age of nearly eighty-eight years. For many years he was a member of the city council of San José, and was one of the chief promoters of the welfare of his locality. Up to the end of his life he retained possession of his splendid facul- ties, and was as deeply interested in the political and other undertakings of the state as when he first sat among the framers of its laws. His many fine traits of character drew to him dis- tinguished friendships, for he had an intimate knowledge of Fremont, and was more than a passing friend of the great silent soldier, Gen- eral Grant.

On the maternal side Mrs. Cool is descended from the Wrights of New England, who in turn claimed kinship with the Huguenots of France. Her mother, formerly Saralı Ann Wright, was born in Rutland, Vt., as was also her paternal grandfather, Edwin. Mrs. Aram stood the hardships of the journey over the plains with wonderful fortitude. When the party arrived at Santa Clara the emigrants were taken ill with camp fever, a species of typhoid, and nearly every family lost a member. The disease was so prevalent that there were not enough well ones to take care of the invalids. At that time Mrs. Aram lost a little son, George, who was but ten years of age, and this left four other children, viz .: Sarah M .; Jennie, who is now deceased, and who married Mr. Pomeroy, for- inerly of San José, but now of Los Angeles: Mattie, who died in San José; and Hon. Eugene Aram, who is a prominent attorney of Sacra- mento, and an ex-member of the state legisla- ture.

Mrs. Cool was but a child when the family fortunes were shifted to the west, and she was reared and educated in San José, her first teacher at school being Rev. Mr. Willie, who is still living in Benicia, Cal. She also received instruction from her mother, and for a time had a private tutor. She retains vivid impressions of the early days of San José, and says that the Indians were kind to them, as were also the Spanish women, but that the men were treach- erous and not to be depended on. In fact, the English consul, Mr. Forbes, informed them of a deep laid plot to massacre them, a plot which was fortunately discovered in time for frustra- tion.

The marriage of Miss Aram and Rev. P. Y. Cool occurred in San José, August 28, 1855. Mr. Cool was born in Cayuga, N. Y., of re- mote German ancestry, was educated at Auburn College, and came to California in 1850, via Panama. For a time he engaged in mining. but eventually turned his attention to teaching in lone City, and in 1853 was ordained in the Methodist Episcopal church. After his mar- riage he continued to preach in the Old Con-

ference in Northern California for twenty-one years, between 1853 and 1874. He was the or- ganizer of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Santa Barbara in 1868, and built the first house of worship in the place, also built churches all over the state. After the Santa Barbara charge he was presiding elder for the Santa Barbara district, and in 1874 came to Los Angeles as pastor of the First Methodist Episcopal Church to succeed Rev. Mr. Hough, which position he held for a year. This church was then located where the old Fourth Street Methodist Church now is. Mr. Cool was afterward pastor of the church at San Diego for a year, and for the same length of time served the church at Comp- ton, after which he retired from the ministry, but often supplied temporarily vacant pulpits. He was a man of broad education and liberal tendencies, and an emphatic supporter of edu- cational institutions in the state. One of his chief responsibilities was the University of Southern California, of which he was a founder, also a member of the board of trustees up to the time of his death, November 6, 1882. He was a stanch Republican, and held many offices of trust in the county, and served for a term as superintendent of education in Santa Cruz county. In political affiliation he was a Mason. Mr. Cool devoted his life to the cause of the oppressed and suffering, and his utterances and example were based on broad and humanitarian lines, far removed from cant and perplexing vagueness. The good that he accomplished in California can hardly be estimated, and was lim- ited only by the length of years accorded him for work in his chosen vineyard.

Since the death of her husband Mrs. Cool has lived in the university part of the city, where she has purchased the southwest corner of Jef- ferson and Wesley streets and erected the larg- est block in the addition. This building is two stories high, and in ground dimensions is 60x 100 feet. The city contains no more enthusiastic advocate of higher education, and the Univer- sity of Southern California has continued to be her special pride, and the object of her greatest and most practical solicitude. Financially and otherwise she has contributed towards the suc- cess of this model institution. However, this represents but one of her many worthy interests. She is active in promoting the welfare of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and is a member of the executive board of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society, and of the Eastern Star. Politically she is a Republican, and is a firm believer in the suffragist platform for women. She is one of the substantial, moral and intel- lectual agencies in this city of gifted women and large ciub and humanitarian enterprises, and many friends have risen up to appreciate and rejoice in her manifold gracious personal at- tributes.

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WILLIAM FRANCIS EDGAR, M. D. After having graduated from the medical de- partment of the University of Louisville, Dr. Edgar was commissioned assistant surgeon in the regular army March 2, 1849. Soon after- ward he accompanied a regiment of mounted rifles across the plains, and assisted in gar- risoning a military post in the heart of the Sho- shone Indian country. Afterward he was sta- tioned at The Dalles for a year, and thence came to California. In the spring of 1852 his command was ordered into the Yosemite val- ley to punish the Indians who had massacred a party of miners. In 1854 he was ordered to Fort Redding, and later assisted in establish- ing Fort Tejon. One night, while answering a summons to assist a wounded man at the fort, his horse fell and he was severely injured, being unable to walk or speak for four months. As soon as able to travel, he was sent east on a furlough, and at the expiration of his leave of absence reported at Jefferson Barracks. With the Second Cavalry he was ordered to Texas and thence to Florida, later taking some invalid soldiers to New York. In 1857 he returned to- Fort Miller, whence he accompanied troops to quiet Indians in Oregon. After being stationed at the Presidio in San Francisco and at Benicia for a time, he was ordered, in 1858, to join an expedition from Los Angeles to the Colorado river, against the Mojave Indians. This was his first visit to Los Angeles and the first night here he slept at the Bella Union hotel, which was then a two-story adobe.

The expedition proceeded, via Cajon Pass, to the Colorado, where it subdued and punished Indians who had massacred whites, and then returned to Cajon Pass. Later a much larger expedition was organized by the same and other officers and marched to the Mojave country. To this force the Indians surrendered and a treaty of peace was made. Part of the com- inand remained to garrison Fort Mojave and the other part returned to Los Angeles county, the officers of the command camping at Comp- ton. Dr. Edgar was ordered to San Diego, where he remained until November, 1861, and then, with the balance of the regular troops of the coast, was ordered east to participate in the Civil war. He was for some time with the army of the Potomac and was promoted to sur- geon (with the rank of major) in Buell's army in Kentucky, where he organized a large gen- eral hospital in Louisville.

Next he was made medical director at Cairo, Ill. However, the uncongenial climate caused a partial return of the paralysis and rendered lim unfit for duty. He was ordered before a retiring board at Washington, D. C., and on examination was retired from active service. After recovering from the effects of a surgical operation he was assigned to duty in the medi-

cal directors' office in the department of the east. During part of the time he was a member of the board that organized the Signal Corps in Washington. At the close of the war he closed up the hospitals of his department. He was then ordered to return to California and in 1866 was stationed at Drum Barracks, Los An- geles county, where he remained for three years. Failing health obliged him to seek a furlough and for a year he rested. During that time (in January, 1870) Congress passed a law which provided that officers retired from active service should be relieved from all duty. The passage of this law placed him on the retired list. He remained on his ranch at San Gorgonio for some years and then came to Los Angeles, where he engaged in the practice of his profes- sion. In 1881 he sold a portion of his ranch and in 1886 disposed of the remainder, after having owned it since 1859. The ranch was first owned by the well-known trapper, Pauline Weaver, of pioneer fame.

In March, 1866, Dr. Edgar married Miss Catharine Laura Kennefer, of New York, who suryives him, making her home in Los An- geles. Dr. Edgar spent his last year retired from the active duties that had filled his younger years, and enjoying that rest from professional and business cares which he so richly deserved. He died August 23, 1897, mourned by the host of friends who honored and admired him for his high ideals, his genial disposition, broad knowledge and his varied intellectual attain- ments.

W. S. COLLINS. A native of the vicinity of Connersville, Fayette county, Ind., Mr. Collins was born November 17, 1863. He came to Riv- erside in 1889, and purchased a ranch which he set out in oranges. The real-estate business held out superior inducements which were read- ily taken advantage of, and he was also inter- ested in loans on an extensive scale. He pur- chased property in different parts of the town and erected many residences, perhaps fifty in all, which have been sold to purchasers. Aside from his ranch, which is a fine orange property, he has set out about a hundred acres in oranges. In the spring of 1901 he built a home on the corner of East Seventh street and Comner avenue. The majority of the building has been the result of the organization, in 1900, of the Real Estate, Loan and Building Company, of which Mr. Col- lins has since been manager. To a large extent he is interested in mining in Nevada and Colo- rado.

The oil industry has furnished an added re- sponsibility for Mr. Collins, and he is substan- tially involved in its development. As one of the promoters of the Grand Central Development Oil Company, and as secretary of the same, he has been instrumental in bringing about splen-

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did results. At one time he individually owned the property of the Aladdin Oil Company, of which he is the incorporator, and now the presi- dent, and which is being rapidly pushed and de- veloped. He is also a promoter and the vice- president and manager of the Kern Oil De- veloping Company. The Kern Western Oil Company is also due to his promotion and or- ganization, and he owns eighty acres of land in the middle of the district, which is at present in process of development with bright prospects.

The manifold interests of Mr. Collins extend to various kinds of manufacture, and he is gen- eral manager of the Western Duryea Manufac- turing Company, which turns out automobiles and motive power. the headquarters of the com- pany being located at Los Angeles. Also he is president of the Bennett Smokeless Furnace Company, the works of which are in Detroit, Mich., and the headquarters at Los Angeles.

HON. S. N. ANDROUS. During his early life Mr. Androus was a business man of Flint and Detroit, Mich., and he was also a soldier in the Union army during the entire period of the Civil war, rising to the rank of major. Closing out his interests in Michigan in 1886, he came to California and has since made Pomona his home. He is the owner of an orange orchard comprising thirty acres, north of Pomona. The oranges on this place are of a fine variety. The trees were planted by him and he had personally superintended their care and development. The place attracts the attention of visitors, and its well-kept appearance indicates the thrift of its owner. The house is of the Spanish type of architecture that is so admirably adapted to this section of the country.

Besides the management of his horticultural interests, Mr. Androus has other important in- terests. For several years he was vice-president of the People's Bank of Pomona. Interested in everything pertaining to education, his service of four years as a member of the Pomona board of education has been helpful to the public- school interests. The Republican party receives his stanch support and its candidates his vote. He has been honored by his party in election to positions of trust and responsibility. In 1892 he was elected to represent his district in the state assembly and his service was so satisfac- tory that two years later, on the expiration of his term, he was chosen to serve in the state senate. Believing a public office to be a public trust, during his incumbency of these positions he devoted his attention to the faithful discharge of his duties. His keen intuition, sound judg- ment and broad knowledge made him a power in the halls of legislature. His record was that of an able legislator, and during his term of service he gained the confidence of the people to an extent seldom surpassed. After his retire-

ment from the senate he filled no political office until July, 1899, when he was appointed post- master of Pomona for a period of four years.

S. O. HOUGHTON was born and reared in New York City. At the age of eighteen he en- listed in the First Regiment of New York Vol- unteers, commanded by Col. J. D. Stevenson, which was mustered into the service of the United States in July, 1846, for the war with Mexico. He came with his regiment around Cape Horn, and after a six months' voyage ar- rived in San Francisco, March 26, 1847. Soon afterward he accompanied the detachment of his regiment, commanded by Lieut .- Col. H. S. Burton, to Mexico and there participated in nu- merous conflicts with Mexican troops. In De- cember, 1847, when in his twentieth year, he was promoted to a lieutenancy, having gone through all the intermediate grades, and was made adju- tant of his command. At the close of the Mex- ican war he returned to California, arriving here in October, 1848. Shortly thereafter he went to the gold mines and remained about one year. ·mining, trading and transporting provisions and supplies for the miners. He had received a com - mercial education and was thoroughly conver- sant with the French and Spanish languages, and this training proved of great value to him in the early years of the American occupation of Cali- fornia. He was one of a party of four who were the first to dig gold in the famous mining dis- trict of Sonora, in this state. In 1849 he settled at San José, where he remained until 1886, and then removed to Los Angeles, his present home.

In 1852 Mr. Houghton took the official census of Santa Clara county, in 1852-53 was deputy recorder, and in 1853-54 served in the city council of San José, over which body he pre- sided. He was clerk of a senate committee of the first legislature of California and in 1854 served as deputy clerk of the state supreme court. In 1854 he was deputy tax collector, and in 1855-56 held office as mayor of San José. For five years he served as a volunteer fire- man of his city. He organized the Eagle Guards, one of the first independent military companies in the state. He was ordnance offi- cer on the staff of Major-General Halleck, and during the period between 1857 and 1866 held seven military commissions. During the war of the Rebellion he drilled a company of infantry and another of light artillery for active service in the army.

In 1857 Mr. Houghton was admitted to the har, and for a number of years made a spe- cialty of settling titles to old Spanish land grants before the United States courts. In the Forty-second Congress of the United States he represented the then first district of California. and in the Forty-third Congress he represented the fourth district. While congressman he se-

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cured a liberal appropriation for the inner har- bor at San Pedro and work on the same was then begun.

During the administration of President Ar- thur he was appointed a member of the com- inission to investigate and report upon the con- dition and management of the United States mint at San Francisco, his associates on the commission being ex-United States Senator and ex-Secretary of War Ramsay, of Minnesota, and ex-Governor Young, of Ohio.

NICHOLAS LINDENFELD, M. D. One of tlie most gifted of the sons of Germany whose wealth of adaptability absorbed and utilized the opportunities of the early days of California, and whose superiority touched into brightness and success various avenues of activity, the most momentous of which was the profession of law, was Nicholas Lindenfeld, or Dr. Lindenfeld as he was commonly known. Descended from an- cestors who cherished national tradition and devotion to that exalted culture of which the Teutonic mind is capable, he was born near Dieburg, Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany, January 17, 1843, and was educated at Mainz and the university at Giessen. From the latter seat of learning he secured a medical diploma, and, aside from a regular classical and scientific course, perfected himself in geology and miner- alogy. Thus equipped with unusual mental training, he sought a fitting field of effort, and upon locating in Rochester, N. Y., at the close of the Civil war, built up a successful and ap- preciative medical practice.

Ambitious of the best possible in his environ- ment, Dr. Lindenfeld came to California in 1875, and from the very first seemed to realize the future greatness of Los Angeles. So keen were liis perceptions and so accurate his estimates that at the present time many recall prophecies that then seemed vague and barely possible. For a time he applied his knowledge of geology and mineralogy in the mines of the county, and was so impressed with the prospects of Colo- rado that he repaired hence in 1880, intending to make that his permanent home. During the great boom at Leadville he was one of the first on the scene, and he afterwards as enthusiastic- ally tried to wrest a fortune from the hidden stores near Pueblo. After two years of mining in Colorado his experience did not justify con- tinued residence in the state, and he therefore returned to California and became superintend- ent of the Kelsey mine at San Gabriel. After some years of varied success and failure he opened an office in the Temple block and de- voted himself to real estate and insurance, and was also a notary. In the mean time he spent his leisure moments in studying law with F. K. Howard, and after being admitted to the bar in 1883 began to practice law with Judge Taney,

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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 82

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