USA > California > Alameda County > History of Alameda County, California. Volume II > Part 32
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EDWARD H. CLAWITER
No record of the annals of central California would be complete without specific reference to the Clawiter family, whose members have borne an important part in development and progress here. The family is worthily represented in Alameda by Edward H. Clawiter, one of the oldest native sons of this state, who through the years has been active in affairs of importance to the com- munity. Mr. Clawiter was born at Alvarado, on the 27th of November, 1852. the place of his birth being at that date the seat of the county government. His father, Edward Clawiter, was a native of Alsace-Lorraine, Germany, whence in 1847, he started for the United States, making the long voyage in a sailing vessel around Cape Horn. In 1849 he went to the mines and was successful in his search for the yellow metal. During his operations he secured a gold nugget of extraordi- nary size, which he took to Berlin, Germany, and it is still on display in the Berlin Museum. In 1850 he located at Alvarado, where he established a store, and also raised cattle, which he butchered, selling the meat in San Francisco, it being taken across the bay in small boats by Spanish sailors. Later he acquired five hundred acres of land at Mount Eden Station, Alameda county, a part of which he planted to wheat. He was a man of attainments, speaking three languages, took a keen interest in matters relating to the development of his locality, and was very influen- tial in local affairs. He became a member of the Society of California and his portrait now hangs in the Museum in Golden Gate park, San Francisco.
Edward H. Clawiter secured his early education in the San Lorenzo district school, also taking a course in the Pacific Business College, in San Francisco. As a boy, he rode the range for a number of years, and then, going to Mount Eden Station, built a hay and grain warehouse, sixty by one hundred and fifty feet. He was there engaged in the warehouse business for twenty-seven years, meeting with very satisfactory success. He also subdivided one hundred and seventy-five acres of the old home farm into five-acres tracts, all of which have been sold and are now occupied. He retains ten acres in his home place, on which he has an
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attractive and comfortable residence, and now, in the golden sunset years of his life, is spending his days in well earned leisure.
Mr. Clawiter was united in marriage to Miss Anna Schafer, of Placerville, El- dorado county, California, and they are the parents of, two children, Edward J., who is a prominent civil engineer of San Francisco, and Grace, who is the wife of Clyde Laizure, a mining engineer of San Francisco, California. In 1908 Mr. Claw- iter built their present home in Alameda where he is now living retired. Mr. and Mrs. Clawiter celebrated their golden wedding October 18, 1927, on which occa- sion thirty relatives were present, some coming from as far as New York. Mr. Clawiter in connected with all branches of masonry, including Aahmes Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., of Oakland, of which he is a charter member, being No. 118 on the original list of members. He is active in local public affairs and is a director of the Eden Township water district. He maintains a keen interest in everything pertaining to his locality, in the splendid growth and development of which he takes great pride, recalling interesting incidents of the early days here, in many of which he had a part. His sterling rectitude of character and his kindly and friendly manner have gained for him a high place in the regard of all and he is widely known as one of the grand old men of his section of the state.
PETER BERGES
Peter Berges, proprietor of the American French Laundry, in Alameda, has exemplified in his career the fact that success may be attained through persistent and determined effort, backed by right principles, and today he is numbered among the leading business men of his community. Mr. Berges was born on the 5th of September, 1874, in the Pyranees mountains of the Basque district, on the border between France and Spain, and was there reared to the age of eighteen years. After attending public school, he learned the trade of stone cutting, at which he worked until 1892, when he came to the United States, locating in San Francisco, Cali- fornia, where he was employed at his trade for a short time and then went to work in a French hand laundry at 829 Sutter street. He also worked in a French laundry in East Oakland, and later owned a laundry there for two years. About thirty years ago he came to Alameda and bought Mrs. Thompson's laundry on Encinal street, to the operation of which he has given his attention to the present time. When he assumed control of the place four persons were employed, but the business has enjoyed a steady increase in volume and now twelve persons are em- ployed, and the equipment of the plant has been modernized in every respect, steam being largely utilized in its operation. The laundry now occupies a splendid new building, erected by Mr. Berges, which is well adapted to the purpose to which it is devoted. Mr. Berges has been prospered in his material affairs and is also the owner of two other valuable properties in Alameda.
Mr. Berges was united in marriage to Miss Jennie Muton, of San Francisco, and to them have been born two daughters, Louise, who taught for six years in the public schools and is now the wife of Edward Chaponot, and Lorine, who is a student in the University of California, where she is preparing for teaching. Mr.
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Berges is a member of the Foresters of America and the Lafayette Club of Oakland. He was made an American citizen in 1912 and has been loyal in every respect to his adopted country. He has in all of his business affairs shown sound judgment and keen foresight, recognizing the fact that only high-grade service will retain the patronage of the public, and he has well merited the prosperity which has crowned his efforts.
RODOLPH HATFIELD
Rodolph Hatfield, who stands among the leaders of the bar of Alameda county, has lived a long and useful life, during which he has been active and prominent in public affairs, and his abilities and high attainments have won for him a well merited distinction among his fellowmen. He was born in London, Madison county, Ohio, on the 6th of October, 1854, and is a son of Rensselaer and Eliza Ann (Coultas) Hatfield, the former of whom was a native of Indiana and the latter of Ohio, where their marriage occurred. The family moved from Ohio to Logan county, Illinois, where the father bought a tract of land and was there engaged in farming until the spring of 1878, when he moved to Sedgwick county, Kansas. There he continued to follow agricultural pursuits until his death, which occurred in April, 1904, when he was seventy-one years of age. He was survived a number of years by his widow, who passed away in December, 1913, at the age of eighty-one years. Mr. Hatfield was an active supporter of the republican party, and served as a township supervisor in Illinois and Kansas.
Rodolph Hatfield spent his boyhood in Illinois, where he attended the public schools and then entered Lincoln University, from which he was graduated in June, 1876. He took up the study of law and, after attending law school at Bloomington, was admitted to the bar of Illinois in June, 1878. In that year he moved to Trini- dad, Colorado, where he was engaged in the practice of his profession for one and a half years, after which he located in Wichita, Kansas, where he practiced from 1880 until 1914, building up a large practice and taking rank among the able and successful attorneys of Kansas. His ability and public spirit gained for him dis- tinctive public recognition and he was elected three times to the state legislature and became one of the regents of the Kansas State Normal School, serving four years as chairman of the board. He served from 1898 to 1908 as president of the Wichita board of education. He became prominent in the political affairs of that state and in 1904 lacked but two votes of being elected United States senator from Kansas.
In February, 1914, Mr. Hatfield moved to Sacramento, California, remaining there until May 1st of that year, when he came to Oakland and in October opened an office in the Bacon building, which is now the Federal Telegraph building. He has built up a large and remunerative clientele and has been connected as counsel with many important cases in the courts of Alameda and adjacent counties, where he has shown himself a skillful, determined and successful attorney.
Mr. Hatfield has been married twice : first, in 1878, to Miss Hattie E. Harts, a native of Pennsylvania and a daughter of John and Rachel (Minsker) Harts, and to this union were born six children, five sons and one daughter : Rodolph H.,
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Merle E., Herbert H., Paul C., Rachel N. and Kenneth E., all of whom are living with exception of Paul C. The mother of these children died in Wichita, Kansas, in January, 1906, at the age of fifty-one years, and in 1910 Mr. Hatfield was mar- ried to Mrs. Allie M. Morehead, of Wichita, who had served several years as a principal in the public schools of that city prior to her marriage.
Mr. Hatfield has always been affiliated with the republican party; has for over thirty years been a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and a member of the Presbyterian church since twenty years of age. He has been loyal to the highest demands of citizenship, has been true to the noblest ethics of his profession and has a host of warm friends among those who have learned his worth and sterling qualities of character.
JORGEN (GEORGE) LARSEN
Among the grand old men of San Leandro is George Larsen, who, though born under a foreign flag, has been a resident of this locality for over half a century and has proven himself a loyal and patriotic citizen of his adopted country, while in a commercial way he has enjoyed a measure of success that has enabled him to retire from active business and spend his remaining years in well earned leisure. Mr. Larsen was born on the island of Fyol, Denmark, on the 13th of July, 1845, and is a son of Lars and Margrethe (Jorgensen) Jensen. He received his educational training in the public schools of Denmark to the age of seventeen years, when he was apprenticed to the blacksmith trade at Ellerop, Denmark, at which he worked from fourteen to sixteen hours a day for four years. He then served in the Danish navy as a marine, and on May 5, 1873, embarked at Copen- hagen on a Cunard liner for England. Landing at Hull, he crossed over to Liver- pool, where he embarked for the United States, arriving at Castle Garden, New York, after a voyage of two weeks. He secured employment at his trade in Brooklyn, New York, where he remained about six months, and then started for California, to which state a younger brother, Jens Larsen, had preceded him and was working in the quicksilver mines in Napa county. From there the brothers came to San Leandro. Mr. Larsen had a friend, John F. Hooper, with whom he had become acquainted in Denmark and who had accompanied him to California. Mr. Hooper was a woodworker and Mr. Larsen a blacksmith, and when they arrived in San Leandro, in May, 1874, they at once looked for work together. They were fortunate in securing employment in the Baker & Hamilton shop, the pioneer manufactory of farm implements in this locality, and there they worked for about six months. Ambitious for independent business careers, on January 1, 1875, they formed a partnership and in a small way engaged in the blacksmithing and wheelwright business. They were successful in this venture and in the course of time developed a very respectable wagon and carriage building business, besides doing a general line of blacksmithing. They remained in partnership until 1888 and Mr. Hooper died about four years ago, at the age of seventy-four years. They were both expert workmen and demanded the best from their employees, so that through all the years of their business life here they commanded the fullest
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measure of public confidence. During his earlier years Mr. Larsen was an ex- ceedingly active and energetic man and the shop which he and Mr. Hooper built in 1876, at the corner of East Fourteenth street and Callan avenue, is now oc- cupied by Joseph V. Mendonca as a restaurant and hotel.
On March 27, 1875, in San Leandro, Mr. Larsen was united in marriage to Miss Dorthea Andersen, who was born on the island of Fyen, Denmark, and is a daughter of Anders and Catterina (Hansen) Nelsen. The former was a pros- perous farmer and both parents are now deceased, the mother dying when her daughter was but eight years of age, and the father when he was seventy-four years old. Mr. and Mrs. Larsen have two children: Arthur, a blacksmith, residing at 645 Wood street, San Leandro, is married and has three children, Arthur G., Magdalina and Dorthea; and Anna Margretta, is the wife of Herbert Landis, of San Leandro, mentioned elsewhere in this work. Mr. and Mrs. Larsen have twc great-grandchildren. Mr. Larsen is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows in San Leandro and the Danish Brotherhood in Oakland. He became a citizen of the United States in Oakland in 1879 and has always given his political support to the republican party. He has watched the wonderful growth and de- velopment of this favored section of the state and takes a justifiable pride in the community in which he lives and in the welfare of which he has had a constant interest. Because of his splendid record, his upright life and his fine qualities he is held in high esteem by all who know him.
RAYMOND SALISBURY
One of the leading representatives of the legal profession in Alameda county is Raymond Salisbury, of Oakland, who has an extensive clientele, which has come to him because of his well earned reputation as a learned, capable and honor- able attorney. Mr. Salisbury was born in Oroville, Butte county, California, on the 5th of May, 1881, and is a son of Willis and Alice (Haycock) Salisbury. He spent the greater part of his boyhood in Truckee, California, and Eugene, Oregon, and received his educational training in the public schools of the latter city, grad- uating from high school. He spent one year in the University of Oregon, and then entered the University of California, from which he received the degree of Bachelor of Letters in 1912 and that of Doctor of Jurisprudence in 1915. He then located in Oakland and engaged in the active practice of his profession, to which he devoted his attention until the United States became involved in the World war, when he enlisted and went into a training camp, where he received a commission as first lieutenant. He was sent overseas and served in France with the general headquarters of the Engineer Corps until 1919, when he returned to this country and was honorably discharged. In 1920 he resumed the practice of law in Oakland and in 1924 became assistant city attorney, filling that position in a very creditable manner until March 10, 1927, since which time he has been engaged in private practice, being associated with J. A. Kennedy, with offices in the Bank of Italy building. A man of alert and vigorous mentality. well learned in the law and with splendid powers of analysis, he has shown himself "a warrior
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worthy of any foeman's steel" and, though always courteous to his opponents, is a determined and resourceful trial lawyer, while as an office counselor he has gained a reputation as a sound and safe advisor.
In 1922 Mr. Salisbury was united in marriage to Miss Isabella Porter, who was born and reared in Oakland and is a daughter of George and Adelaide (LaFleche) Porter, both of whom are representatives of old pioneer families of this city. Mr. and Mrs. Salisbury have two children, Raymond and Janis. The republican party has always received Mr. Salisbury's support and he has stood ready at all times to cooperate with his fellow citizens in every movement for the advancement of his community's interests along material, civic or moral lines. He is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, in which he has attained the thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite; the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, the American Legion and the Kiwanis Club. Loyal and true to all of life's responsibilities, he has measured up to the highest standard of citizen- ship and no resident of Oakland commands to a greater degree than he the con- fidence and respect of his fellowmen.
PETER M. HOLST
The career of Peter M. Holst presents the story of a man's determined and persistent efforts, in the face of obstacles, and his eventual success in attaining his goal, his record gaining for him the unqualified respect of all who know him, and he stands today as one of the solid and substantial business men of his community. Mr. Holst was born in Denmark, November 18, 1867, and is a son of M. P. and Christina Holst. His father, who was a seafaring man, had in the course of his voyages visited California in early days. Both parents are now deceased, the father dying at the age of eighty-seven years.
Peter M. Holst was educated in the public schools of Germany, which at that time dominated the section of Denmark in which he lived, and he remained at home until twenty-four years of age, when, in 1892, he emigrated to the United States. Going direct to San Jose he worked in orchards there and then came to Oakland, California, where he secured work with Andrew Jensen, who was a dealer in hay and was renting what was then known as the Clark farm. Mr. Holst remained with Mr. Jensen four years and as his employer was unable to pay him what was due him in wages, he took in lieu thereof a team of horses, a wagon and a hay press. With this equipment he began to bale and sell hay on his own account and later, when Mr. Jensen quit the business, Mr. Holst took over the Clark place. He also farmed the Tooler place at Elmhurst, both of these places now being in Oakland. Mr. Holst was industrious and energetic and by close attention to his business developed a good trade. Twice he has had partners in the business. He has made good progress and has gradually advanced until he has eventually reached an inde- pendent position in the business world. He has acquired the valuable properties and now owns and lives on the old Clark place, on which he has a large warehouse for the storage of hay and feed, and also has another large warehouse on an acre of land near the railroad, where he has the advantage of a switch, which simpli-
PETER M. HOLST
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fies the shipment of his products. He has an office and retail yard at 5000 East Fourteenth street and employs a number of men and several teams and motor trucks.
Mr. Holst has been married twice, first to Miss Christena Anderson, who died after ten years of happy married life. To them were born four children, namely: Annie, who is teaching in the high school at Hayward; Max E., who is associated with his father in business; Elsie, who is superintendent of the operating room in Merritt Hospital; and Marrietta, who is teaching in Sacramento. For his second wife Mr. Holst chose Miss Karen M. Swansen and they are the parents of a daugh- ter, Bernice. Mrs. Holst is a past worthy matron of the Order of the Eastern Star and is an active member of the Melrose Parent-Teachers Association. Mr. Holst gives his political support to the republican party and is a member of the Masonic order, in which he has attained the thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite; and has crossed the sands of the desert with the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. He also belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He is a self-made man in the best sense of the term and deserves much credit for what he has accomplished, for he started out in life empty-handed and has worked his way upward through his unfaltering enterprise and the exercise of right principles. He is a man of high ideals, loyal in his citizenship and reliable in business and well deserves the pros- perity which is now his.
T. C. DRENNAN
T. C. Drennan, who is rendering efficient service as chief deputy coroner of Alameda county, has been connected with the undertaking business for many years and is now manager of the Grant D. Miller mortuary at Oakland. He was born in Alameda on the 26th of September, 1891, and is a son of Valla and Pearl (Hard) Drennan, the former of whom was born in Santa Rosa, Sonoma county, California, and the latter in Illinois. He is of old pioneer stock, his paternal grandfather having come to this state in 1846, largely in a spirit of adventure. Shortly afterward he returned east, but in 1848, on the discovery of gold here, he returned to California and made this his permanent home. The maternal grandfather, David T. Hard, who was a native of Vermont, came to California at the close of the Civil war and be- came prominent in the public and political life of Alameda county, serving a number of years as a justice of the peace.
T. C. Drennan was educated in the public schools of Alameda and Colfax. Placer county. At the age of fifteen years he began working at the undertaking business, first with James Fowler, in Alameda, later was with A. A. Barber, in Fruitvale, and for a time with Craig, Cochran & Company in San Francisco. For the past fourteen years he has been associated with Grant D. Miller at 2372 East Fourteenth street, Oakland, as manager, and when Mr. Miller became coroner of Alameda county he appointed Mr. Drennan his chief deputy, in which capacity he is still serving. He is a graduate embalmer and holds license No. 30 issued by the state board of embalmers of California.
Mr. Drennan was united in marriage to Miss Anna Trishman, who was born and
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reared in San Francisco, and they are the parents of a daughter, Anne, who is now six years of age. Mr. Drennan is a member of Brookly Lodge No. 225, F. & A. M., of which he is a past master ; Fruitvale Chapter No. 111, R. A. M .; Oakland Council No. 12, R. & S. M .; Oakland Commandery No. 11, K. T .; Oakland Con- sistory, A. A. S. R .; Aahmes Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S .; is a charter member of Fruitvale Parlor, N. S. G. W., and belongs to the Woodmen of the World, the Loyal Order of Moose and the East Lake Kiwanis Club. Because of his excellent business record and his fine personal qualities he commands the respect and esteem of all who know him.
ROLAND ESTEVES
It is a pleasure to record the career of a successful, self-made man, for peculiar honor attaches to that individual who, beginning the great struggle of life alone and unaided, gradually overcomes every obstacle and by his own force and effort forges to the front and wins not only material success, but also a position of esteem and influence among his fellowmen. Such is the record of Roland Esteves, than whom no citizen of San Leandro enjoys a larger measure of public con- fidence and respect. Mr. Esteves was born at Rivadavia, Spain, on the 7th of April, 1896. Three years later his father, who had suffered severe financial re- verses during the Spanish-American war, emigrated to Honolulu, where he soon afterwards died, and his son Roland was placed in Castle's Home for Children, a Protestant institution, where he remained from 1904 to 1907. In the latter year his mother left Honolulu because of her health and soon afterwards Roland seized an opportunity to make his way to the United States mainland. Making the voyage on the "G. W. Porter," a Standard Oil Company boat, he landed at San Francisco, November 8, 1907, and from that day has made his own way in the world. He was first employed here in Haywood Brothers' chair factory, where he worked as a chair packer and finisher, for which he received pitifully small wages. He remained there three years and then, with a desire to better his con- dition, went to work in the kitchen of "The Dauntless," a river boat belonging to the Rideout Company and plying the San Joaquin river in and out of Benicia. For this work he received twenty-five dollars a month. Soon afterward he became an apprentice boy in the F. S. Johnson Company harness factory in San Francisco, with which concern he remained a year. He then bought a job from an employ- ment agency in that city and was shipped to Redwine, Mendocino county, buť' he found conditions there so unbearable that, with only four dollars and a half in his pocket, he turned his face again toward the city. He walked forty miles one day and had a very hard trip, but was glad to again go to work in the harness factory, where he remained until 1917, earning six dollars and a half a day. He then worked for Hoverstadt & Leist, where he learned automobile trimming, at which he worked for five or six months, after which he went to Gillig Brothers, on Post street, San Francisco, where he continued as an automobile trimmer and top maker. In 1919 Mr. Esteves went to Palo Alto, California, and in July of that year formed a partnership with J. Silva, under the firm name of Silva &
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