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 88

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

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The early education of Joseph Nunan was ac- quired in St. Mary's College, which was at that time located in San Francisco, but has since been removed to Oakland. After having com- pleted the classical studies he took the post- graduate course in the same institution. Later he became a student in St. Bonaventure's Theo- logical Seminary, and completed the studies of that institution. The service of ordination, at the expiration of his divinity studies in 1893, was held in Buffalo, N. Y., Bishop Ryan presiding. For eighteen months after completing his theo- logical studies Father Nunan was engaged as assistant pastor of the Plaza Church, Los An- geles. Afterward he went abroad and studied church law for a year at Toledo University, in Spain. Upon returning to Los Angeles he re- sumed his labors as assistant at the Cathedral. In November of 1896 he was transferred to Santa Barbara as assistant rector of the Church of Our Lady of Sorrows, where he remained for five years. In 1901 he was promoted to the pastorate of the church at Castroville and has since made this city his home.

Father Nunan is a member of the Native Sons of the Golden West. Those who know him well speak highly of his many noble traits of character, his intellectual attainments and his many qualifications for effective work in the Roman Catholic ministry. Nor is his popularity confined to his own denomination. Among Protestants he numbers many friends, who re- spect his devotion to duty, his desire to promote the spiritual welfare of mankind and his tireless labors in behalf of his church

ROBERT ORTON. To the pursuit of his occupation of milling Mr. Orton brought a wide understanding and a practical experience cover- ing many years. The city of Ventura was the scene of his business activity for a considerable period before his death. A native of Genesee county, N. Y., Mr. Orton was born March 23, 1834, a son of Roger B. and Clara (Bicknell) . Orton, the former of Scotch descent and born in New York, and the latter of French and Eng- lish extraction, and born in Utica, N. Y. When a small boy he removed with his parents to Ohio, and from there to Iowa, where he learned the milling business with his father at Burlington, after which they removed to Augusta, Iowa, and built their first saw mill in the midst of the forest. Their efforts were rewarded by a large patronage, the mill being devoted for the greater part to sawing black walnut, which brought as high as $10 a thousand feet. For many years this mill continued to be a busy center of activ- ity, until the moving spirit of the enterprise, the

B. F. Shenow

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

elder Orton, died in Augusta in 1852, at the age of fifty-twu.

In 1853 Robert Orton looked for new fields of activity, and removed to the west, locating in Volcano, Amador county, Cal., where, with two brothers, he engaged in placer mining for three years. They averaged an advance of about $200 per day during their stay in Amador county, and finally disposed of their holdings at a profit. Mr. Orton then came to Gilroy, Santa Cruz county, and milled for a large firm, after which he located in Watsonville, where he bought a mill and operated the same from 1860 until 1870. While living in Santa Cruz county he was elected sheriff and served for ten years, and (luring that time succeeded in arresting some desperate characters. One man he followed for eleven hundred and eighty miles, and, single- handed, arrested him in a saloon, lodged him in the jail at Salt Lake City, and took him by train to Ogden and on to California. Mr. Orton next settled in San Luis Obispo county, and again went into the milling business. In part- nership with E. W. Steel he built a one hun- dred barrel flour mill and operated it for two years, when he disposed of his interest to Mr. Steel. After returning to Watsonville, Santa Cruz county, and operating a mill for a year, he sold out and removed to Ventura.

The mill at Ventura in which Mr. Orton is interested and which he manages so successfully was established by Willits, Chilson & Daily, and was afterwards bought by Clark & McGuire, and later by L. J. Rolls & Fargo. They eventu- ally consolidated and took stock in the Santa Ana Water Company, on the Ventura river, three and a fourth miles from Ventura, and Mr. Orton assumed charge of their enterprises in 1887. The mill is of the flour, feed and grist variety, and is the only mill in the county, and consequently has the trade for many miles around.

Near Watsonville, Santa Cruz county, in 1861. Mr. Orton married Elizabeth Hunt, a native of Missouri, and daughter of John and Julia Hunt. The Hunt family came to California in 1852, crossing the plains with ox teams, after which the parents removed to Bakersfield. The father still lives, aged eighty-three; the mother died when seventy-seven years of age. To Mr. and Mrs. Orton have been born five children, viz .: Fred, who for many years worked with his father, from whom he learned the milling busi- ness; Edgar, an electrician: Emma J., Mrs. William Orr, who is the mother of two sons and one daughter, and whose husband is a miller by trade and an agriculturist by present occupa- tion; John, who is engaged in running the pump station for the city of Santa Barbara; and Lu- cius, who is fifteen years of age and living at home. Mr. Orton affiliated with the Republican party. Fraternally he was associated with the

Masons as a Master Mason, with the Odd Fel- lows, the Red Men, and the Ancient Order of. United Workmen. His death occurred May 21, 1901, and was recognized as a distinct loss to his community.

. B. F. SPENCER. The town of Nordhoff is fortunate in the possession of one who embodies so many admirable traits of citizenship as does B. F. Spencer, who came to California in 1874, and whose hopes and ambitions have been cen- tered in the southern part of the state since the following year. At first a resident of San Fran- cisco, he later went to San José, and located in Ventura February 23, 1875. A carpenter by trade, he successfully followed the same in Ven- tura until 1882, and, after his removal to Nord- hoff, until 1889. He then started a lumber yard for Woodbury & Co., which has the distinction of being the first and only one ever conducted in the place, and the circumstances surrounding its rise to prominence and success were such as to discourage those less stout of heart and less determined to succeed. All of the lumber for the yard was hauled by team from Ventura, a method of transportation quite remote from that which is at present employed. The ven- ture proved a benefit to the town and owner, and in the manner of its conduct filled a long felt want. The name of the company is now the Ventura County Lumber Company.

Not content with the somewhat circumscribed lumber business, Mr. Spencer branched out into real-estate in 1896, and has since been equally successful in this line of activity. He has been prominent in the public eye for many years, and held a number of important official and other positions. A Republican in politics, his first vote was cast for Abraham Lincoln in. 1864, and he has since neglected no opportunity to vote the Republican ticket. He was appointed postmaster under Benjamin Harrison's adminis- tration, and filled the office to the satisfaction of all concerned, and he was further honored by his fellow townsmen by being nominated for county supervisor in 1884, for which office he was unfortunately defeated. He is frater- nally associated with the Masons, having joined that organization in Illinois in 1864, and he is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic at Ventura, a charter member of Post No. 44. No more ardent friend of education lives in the county. He has been foremost in projecting im- provements of all kinds, and was one of the principal leaders in bringing about the erection of the new school building in 1895. This school cost $8,000, is two stories high, and has four school rooms and one assembly hall. Mr. Spencer was also active in securing the Nord- hoff branch of the Southern Pacific Railroad, which has done so much toward the later de- velopment of the town.

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

The early life of Mr. Spencer was spent near New Lexington, Ohio, where he was born in 1843, a son of Edward and Mary (Fowler) Spencer, natives respectively of New York and Maryland. The father was a farmer during the greater part of his life, and was one of the pio- neer developers of Ohio. There were five chil- dren in the family, four sons and one daughter, of whom B. F. was the oldest. At the early age of fourteen years he left the familiar sur- roundings in Ohio and removed to Bushnell, 111., where he lived until the breaking out of the Civil war. He enlisted April 15, 1861, in Com- pany A, Sixteenth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and took part in the battle of New Madrid and Tippinville, at which latter conflict his regiment captured more prisoners than they had men in the brigade. He served in Mississippi, Ten- nessee and Alabama, and during the last few months of the war was laid up in a hospital with pneumonia, and unable to re-enlist. - At Nashville, Tenn., in June of 1864, he was honor- ably discharged from the army, and at once returned to his home in Illinois, where he lived until his removal to California in 1874.

At Lincoln, Neb., in April of 1872, Mr. Spencer was united in marriage with Rosie Purchas, and of this union there are five chil- dren: R. M .; Jennie, now the wife of J. R. Bald; Herbert; B. F., Jr .; and Maud M.

CHARLES H. PEARSON. One of the en- thusiastic advocates of the Los Alamos valley is Charles H. Pearson, who has here found a field for his activities, and has been equally successful as a blacksmith, general merchant, and rancher. In fact, he is one of the pioneers of the town of Los Alamos, having been inter- (sted, from the time of his arrival in the fall of 1879, in the general growth of the place, to which he has contributed no small share.

A native of Canada, Mr. Pearson lived in the northern country until his fifteenth year, re- ceiving his education in the public schools, and learning the trade of blacksmith. In the United States he lived for a time in Vermont. He ar- rived in California in 1871, and for a few years traveled through different parts of the state, endeavoring to decide upon a permanent-loca- tion. For three years he served as a clerk in Guadaloupe, leaving there in 1879, and coming to Los Alamos. He first went into the black- smithing business with a firm here, and then for three years ran his own shop. In 1886 he started a general merchandising business, and built his own store on the corner of Bell and Centennial streets. He has a complete line of general mer- chandise, and a trade in accord with his enter- prisc, honest business methods, tactful manner. and great desire to please.

From time to time Mr. Pearson has come into the possession of city and country real estate,

and he has erected a very pleasant home in Los Alamos, surrounded by shade trees which were set out by himself. He has large holdings in the country, owning two hundred and fifteen acres adjoining the town, and a quarter section eight miles out. He also owns other country prop- crty, raising thereon principally wheat and bar- ley, which invariably result in excellent crops. He has been very active in promoting the edu- cational facilities of his town, and has been a school trustee and clerk for many years. To him this locality contains all that one could de- sire of resources, climate, soil and general advan- tages, and he expects to spend his remaining days in the sunshine and happy optimism of his surroundings in this part of the state. He main- tains that there is plenty of wood, water, oil and all that is needful for the carrying on of general enterprises. He is a Republican in pol- itics, and is a notary public, but has never in- dulged in political longings. Fraternally he is associated with Lodge No. 224, I. O. O. F., at Guadaloupe, Cal. In 1891 Mr. Pearson returned to the land of his birth and married Nettie Spaf- ford in August of that year. To Mr. and Mrs. Pearson have been born two children: Nettie Elizabeth and Agnes Marion

C. W. RASEY, county recorder of Santa Bar- bara county, was born in Washington county, N. Y., in 1856, of Scotch and Holland-Dutch de- scent, and was a son of a Civil war soldier in the One Hundred and Twenty-third Infantry from New York. When a mere boy he learned teleg- raphy with the Western Union Telegraph Com- pany, and was employed as an operator in north- ern and eastern New York. From there he went to Denver, Colo., in 1878, and for two years was employed by the Denver & Kio Grande Railroad Company. Going to California in 1881, he was employed in the general offices of the Central Pacific road in San Francisco, where he held a position of responsibility and trust.

During 1887 Mr. Rasey came to Santa Bar- bara, where he has since made his home, and with the interests of which he has been closely identified. At first he held a position as ticket agent for the Santa Fe road, continuing in that capacity until he resigned to accept the office of county recorder. In 1894 he was nominated on the Prohibition ticket. This fact would not seem indicative of much hope for success, and, indeed, he was the only one on that ticket who was elected. His selection for the office was a tribute to his personal popularity and to the ap- preciation in which he is held by the people of the county. His term of four years began in January, 1895. In the fall of 1898 he was elected. as an independent candidate, by an increased majority over his first election, and is still filling the office, his term to expire in January, 1903. This county was organized in 1850, and in 1873

Sugarcelou,

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

Ventura was cut off, reducing Santa Barbara county to its present limits. In the recorder's office may be found complete records, embrac- ing altogether three hundred or more volumes, and the oversight of these records makes the re- corder a busy man indeed.

In Glens Falls, N. Y., Mr. Rasey married Miss Alice E. Whedon, who was born in Rutland county, Vt., and by whom he has two daughters, Mabel A. and Dorothy W. During his residence in San Francisco Mr. Rasey was made a Mason and is now connected with both the blue lodge and the chapter, besides which he is associated with the Ancient Order of United Workmen, Woodmen of the World, the Benevolent Protec- tive Order of Elks, and the Sons of Veterans. A member of the Baptist denomination, he is now serving as a trustee of the church at Santa Barbara. All public matters pertaining to the welfare of Santa Barbara receive attention from Mr. Rasey, who is connected with the Cham- ber of Commerce and one of the members of the board of directors, and as such has rendered valuable services to the city of his adoption.

GEORGE WILLIAM GARCELON. As a director of the Southern California Fruit Ex- change, vice-president of the Riverside Fruit Exchange and president of the Riverside Heights Fruit Association No. 10, Mr. Garcelon is closely identified with the citrus fruit indus- try in this locality. Throughout California he is often alluded to as the "father" of the lemon industry in the state, nor have his labors been less constant in behalf of orange culture. Since he came to Riverside in 1872 he has engaged in horticultural pursuits.

Born in New Brunswick, March 18, 1832, Mr. Garcelon is a son of Harvey and Charlotte (Sutherland) Garcelon. He was reared in New Brunswick, where he attended a private school. At twenty years of age he went to Lewiston, Me., where he carried on a drug business for twenty-four years. Having a fondness for floriculture, he engaged in raising greenhouse plants and in this way began to long for a more southern climate. Impelled by this desire to seek a more genial climate, in 1872 he came to California and bought nearly thirty acres at Riverside where he still resides. Most of the land he improved, part of which is twenty acres on Brockton avenue.

As previously intimated, Mr. Garcelon was one of the first who made a scientific study of lemons. He noticed that a lemon tree needs constant care, because it is a continuous bearer and the lemons therefore have to be gathered regularly. As the oranges are annual bearers, people neglected the lemon trees for the others. However, at that time even oranges were not raised in Riverside, as it was reported that noth-

ing could be done with them in this locality; but he set out some trees, gave them every care, and finally was rewarded by having them bear an abundance of fruit. The first citrus fruit fair in the world was held in his house, which was the first plastered building in River- side. When the fair was held specimens of oranges were brought from other localities for comparison, the various specimens were num- bered by a committee appointed to prepare them, and the verdict of those present was a surprise, as the Riverside oranges were pro- nounced the best.

Meantime, Mr. Garcelon being interested in lemons started to work in that business. At first he budded on a lemon seedling, and it was not until after an unfortunate experience of sev- eral years that he learned lemons, to be suc- cessfully grown, should be budded on orange stock. At first lemons were gathered only once a year, which resulted in unmarketable fruit and put a damper on the industry. Undis- couraged, he continued his experiments, and finally attained success. It was the custom to award premiums on the fruit, and although his lemons were pronounced good by an inex- perienced committee he received only the sev- enth prize at the Riverside fair. However, at a state citrus fair in Los Angeles the following week, the same fruit was exhibited, and he was awarded the first prize of $100 for best exhibit of lemons and $50 for best box. The state horticultural board was so interested in his success that they had him prepare an article de- scribing his modus operandi in the lemon in- dustry, and 16,000 copies of this pamphlet were published and scattered broadcast at the state's expense. At the World's Fair in 1893 he had charge of the Riverside citrus exhibit in the hor- ticultural building, exhibiting there oranges from Riverside and also lemons and oranges from his own ranch. The foreign experts employed by the managers of the fair claimed that his exhibit of lemons was a fraud, saying they had tested them and found them so much better than any lemons they had ever tasted from California that they believed he was attempting to impose on them by exhibiting foreign fruit. This admission of excellence was what Mr. Garcelon wanted, for he could easily prove that it was a genuine California product. He re- ceived a medal and diploma from the manager of the World's Fair. Since then he has con- tinued to advocate the raising of lemons, and the result is that people began to give more care to this branch of the citrus industry. No one is more interested than he in the recogni- tion of Riverside's fruit as among the best in the market. During the long period of his resi- dence here he has become so fond of the place that he is not satisfied to have it "second best" in anything, hence he works constantly to raise

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HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.

the standard of the citrus industry and secure for the valley, products that will attract uni- versal attention and command high prices.

W. H. PECK. The genial and popular ma- nipulator of the United States mail at Lompoc is one of those pioneers whose lives are full of interesting happenings, and who have found in the sunshine of California much that they sought after leaving their homes in the east. He was born in Kent county, Mich., in 1838, and up to liis seventeenth year lived in his native state, the first nine years of his life being spent on his father's farm. He then lived in Grand Rapids, Mich., where he attended the public schools and graduated from the high school, thereafter ap- plying himself to learning the trade of tinner. His father, Orson Peck, was born in New York in 1812, and has been a merchant for the greater part of his life. He is now living at Lompoc, and is by far the oldest man in this valley. He married Lydia Hunt, who also was a native of New York state, and who died in Lompoc in 1875. In the family were nine children, but only two survive, the daughter, Mrs. Lydia J. Baldwin, being a resident of Oklahoma.

Upon starting out in the world for himself, Mr. Peck went to Kansas in the spring of 1857, settling on a farm in Coffey county, where he remained until 1861. With the call to arms for three hundred thousand volunteers for the Civil war, Mr. Peck and his two brothers, Theodore Frelinghuysen and Henry Clay Peck, and his father, enlisted, the former, his father, and Henry Clay serving in the same regiment. He enlisted in Company E, Fifth Kansas Cavalry, General Clayton commanding, and was at Little Rock and Pine Bluff and engaged in general scout- ing. The family sustained the loss of one of the sons, Henry Clay, during the war, and all served with courage and distinction, as became loyal citizens. With the restoration of peace Mr. Peck returned to Kansas, and in Burlington established a hardware business, which he con- ducted until 1870. The country was wild, and he used to frequently hunt buffalo in what is now Oklahoma. After leaving Kansas he spent a year in Montana, going from there to British Columbia, thence, in 1871, down the coast to California. After settling in Santa Cruz he worked at his trade of tinsmith for three years, removing to Lompoc in 1874. Here he opened another hardware store in partnership with his father, conducting his affairs under the firm name of O. Peck & Son. For thirteen years this enterprising little store continued to supply the demand for tinware and its accompaniments, and became an integral part of the commercial life of the settlement. During that time W. H. Peck repaired to San Diego during the boom, but, instead of an anticipated gain, lost heavily. He also spent some time in Old Mexico, and

went to Cleveland county, Okla., for two years, and then, returning to Lompoc, continued his former occupation of hardware business.

An ardent Republican in politics, Mr. Peck is following in the footsteps of his father, who has ever acknowledged allegiance to Republican principles. He was appointed postmaster during McKinley's first administration and has since satisfactorily sustained the position. A Mason for thirty-three years, he is a Royal Arch Mason and past master at Lompoc, and a charter mem- ber of the lodge. He has been an Odd Fellow for twenty-seven years, is past grand, and a char- ter member of the Lompoc Lodge. He is also a member of the Eastern Star, a charter member of the Grand Army of the Republic, and is asso- ciated with the Continental League at San Fran- cisco. At Santa Cruz, in 1872, Mr. Peck mar- ried Frances Peck, a daughter of Henry Peck, one of the Forty-niners of California.

EDWARD F. REILLY. A membership in the Native Sons of the Golden West is Mr. Reilly's by reason of his birth in California. His father, Michael J., was one of the pioneers of '49, and came from New York City around the Horn in a sailing vessel to San Francisco, thence going to the mines. For a year he en- gaged in freighting up the Sacramento river, after which he turned his attention to mining. Later he bought a ranch in Yuba county, where he engaged in raising stock. After eleven years on that place he removed to Nevada City, Cal., and opened a wholesale and retail hay and grain business, which he conducted for some years. Coming to Ventura in November, 1874, he was thereafter principally interested in the buying and selling of ranches. It was here that he died in 1879. His wife was also one of California's pioneers, but instead of making the trip by water, as did he, she crossed the plains in 1850, from her birthplace, Cook county, Ill., and set- tled in Oregon, later removing to California, where she now resides in Ventura. She bore the maiden name of Eliza J. Finley. In her family there are five children, viz .: W. H., who was sheriff of Ventura county for two terms and is now engaged in ranching here; George A., and Edward F., who are partners in business; Mrs. Mamie McFarland, of Ventura; and Mrs. Hattie B. Wood, of Wheatland, Cal.

Near Marysville, in Yuba county, this state, Edward F. Reilly was born March 2, 1864. At the time the family settled in Ventura he was ten years of age. For a time he studied in the public schools, after which he was a student in the University of Southern California for almost three years, leaving at the junior year in order to take a course in Woodbury's Business College at Los Angeles. From the latter institution he was graduated in 1887. He then went to San Francisco, where he studied embalming with the

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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 88

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