USA > California > Alameda County > History of Alameda County, California. Volume II > Part 43
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Active always in teachers' welfare, he was a prominent factor in the adoption of tenure provisions and took much initiative in the writing and carriage of the Teachers' Annuity and Retirement laws ; and to aid in supervising the professional work of the teacher he served many years on the board of trustees of the San Francisco state normal school. During the first thirty years in California he never missed the annual meetings of the State Teachers Association, and during the past thirty years he has continuously been a member of the Alameda county board of education.
In speaking of his educational experience, Mr. Fisher remarked that if, instead of coming to California, he had gone to Oregon where United States Senator Mitchell of Portland and Congressman Herman were his friends, he would prob- ably have gone into law and politics. For this he stated he had no regrets. He is a man who loves school work and knows school work-and is glad his lot was cast in glorious California, into every part of which his lecture work has taken him. He stated that at no time in his entire experience did he enjoy himself more than when teacher of the Sunol school where Judge William Donohu of the Alameda county bench was one of his pupils. He and the latter have maintained ever since the friendship that started then. His relations with his pupils at Irvington and Technical high school of Oakland have given him enduring pleasure.
Mr. Fisher was married at Mission San Jose to Anna C. Laumeister, member of a well known family of California and Alameda county pioneers, a devoted wife and mother and a woman of high ideals. The couple had two daughters and two sons, three of whom are graduates of the University of California. Both sons served in the World war-one, Charles W. Fisher, now an Oakland attorney, as sergeant major of an ammunition train in France; the other, Philip M. Fisher, Jr., a writer by profession and now executive secretary to Mayor John L. Davie of Oakland, as an officer of the United States Destroyer Forces. Miss Annie Emerson, a former pupil and daughter of a pioneer family of Washington township, has been a member of Mr. Fisher's household for thirty-five years.
J. LENOX WARD
J. Lenox Ward, who for several years has been engaged in the general practice of law in Oakland, has had many years of professional experience, during which he has enjoyed a well merited reputation as an able, honorable and successful lawyer, and he commands a large and representative clientele. Mr. Ward was born in Shell- rock, Butler county, Iowa, on the 15th of September, 1874, and is a son of Rev. Z. R. and Matilda (Myers) Ward, the former a minister of the Methodist Episcopal church. In 1882 the father took up a homestead in South Dakota. to which state he moved his family, establishing a residence in Parker, where he and his wife lived until their deaths.
J. Lenox Ward was about eight years old when the family moved to South Dakota and in the schools of that state he secured his preliminary education, grad- uating from the high school at Parker in 1893. He entered Upper Iowa University, from which he was graduated in 1898, after which he taught school for two years.
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He was graduated from law school in 1904 and in that year moved to Yakima, Washington. He was county clerk of Yakima county, serving during 1906-7, and in the following year entered actively upon the practice of law. In 1908 he was elected prosecuting attorney of Yakima county, serving until 1912, the full time allowed by law, after which he devoted his attention closely to the practice of his profession until 1924, when he came to Oakland and opened offices in the Bank of Italy building, where he is still located. A constant student of his profession, determined and resourceful in the handling of all cases entrusted to him, he has earned a high place among the capable and reliable attorneys of the Alameda county bar and commands both the respect of his colleagues and the confidence of the public.
In 1900 Mr. Ward was united in marriage to Miss Mabel Penney, of Stacey- ville, Iowa, and they are the parents of two sons, Roland C. and Robert F. Mr. Ward is a member of the Masonic order, in which he has received the thirty-second degree of the Scottish rite; the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks and the Sons of the American Revolution, having had eight ancestors in the war for indepen- dence. He is a gentleman of straightforward manner and agreeable personality, absolutely dependable under all circumstances, and is regarded as one of his com- munity's best citizens.
PRESTON HIGGINS
No citizen of Oakland stands higher in the esteem of his fellowmen than does Preston Higgins, widely known as an able and successful lawyer and the present city attorney. He was born in Fairfield, Somerset county, Maine, April 23, 1891, and is a son of William Francis and Elizabeth Jane (Daugherty) Higgins, the former of whom was born in Bath, Maine, February 17, 1839, and was of Scotch- Irish descent, while the latter, who was born in Council Bluff, Iowa, July 27, 1850, and was of English and French antecedents. William F. Higgins came to California in the early days and was living in Santa Cruz at the outbreak of the Civil war. He responded to President Lincoln's first call for volunteers and during the greater part of the war was engaged in fighting and holding in check the Indians in Cali- fornia and Utah. At the close he was mustered out at Camp Fort Douglas, Utah, and soon afterward met his future wife, who had crossed the plains in 1865. They came to California in March, 1892, and located in Santa Clara county.
Preston Higgins attended and graduated from the Lincoln grammar school at Cupertino, Santa Clara county, and was graduated from the San Jose high school in 1911, after which he entered Leland Stanford University, graduating from that institution in 1915. He had a splendid record there and was the first student to make the varsity debating team in his freshman year, in consequence of which he was admitted to the Delta Sigma Rho international honorary oratorical fra- ternity during his first year in college. On leaving Leland Stanford he became secretary to the mayor of Oakland, in which position he served until 1919, and has since engaged in the practice of law. He conducts a general practice but specializes in jury trial work, in which he has been remarkably successful, having
PRESTON HIGGINS
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won one hundred and ten out of one hundred and fifteen jury trials, a record that has hardly been excelled in the history of the courts of this country. Thoroughly grounded in the basic principles of jurisprudence, careful and painstaking in the preparation of his cases, determined and resourceful in the trial of causes and a forceful and convincing speaker, he is regarded as one of the leaders of the bar of Alameda county. Mr. Higgins served as deputy district attorney from 1921 to 1923 and has been city attorney of Oakland since July 26, 1927.
On April 18, 1917, in Oakland, Mr. Higgins married Miss Beth Jaeger, who was born in Indiana, November 14, 1896, and left an orphan in young girlhood, after which she made her home with her three brothers. Prior to her marriage she served as a deputy in Associated Charities work. Mr. and Mrs. Higgins have one daughter, Jane Elizabeth, who is ten years of age and is a pupil in the John Muir school in Berkeley.
Mr. Higgins is a member of Oak Lodge No. 324, L. O. O. M., of which he was dictator in 1922-3; Oakland Lodge No. 171, B. P. O. E., the Modern Wood- men of America; the Athenian Nile Club ; the Athens Athletic Club; the Orinda Country Club; and the Berkeley Tennis Club. During the World war he had charge of the registration and draft for Oakland, under Mayor Davie, who in turn acted under Adjutant General J. J. Boree. After the Mayor had appointed the draft boards, in accordance with the national program, Mr. Higgins acted as advisor to the boards in interpreting their many inquiries as to procedure. He also gave his active support to various other war measures and did effective work throughout that period. A man of keen and alert mentality and a pleasing person- ality, he makes a favorable impression on all with whom he comes in contact and he commands the confidence and esteem of his fellowmen.
ONWARD ROSSELL MOLLER
Onward R. Moller, president of the Electric Steel Foundry Company, of Berkeley, owes his present success to his determined efforts along definite and well directed lines, and his record has gained for him an enviable place in the industrial circles of Alameda county. Mr. Moller was born in Santa Rosa, Sonoma county, California, February 12, 1889, a son of Philip Henry and Sarah (Mills) Moller, the latter a native of Canada. His father was born in San Francisco, California, February 6, 1864, and was a son of Captain Henry and Emma (Lang) Moller. Captain Moller, a native of Denmark, was well educated, being able to speak seven or eight languages. He came to California in 1849, locating on Montgomery street, San Francisco, where he followed the trade of ship carpenter and sailmaker but later became captain of a river boat running to Sacramento. He lived to the age of seventy-five years, his wife dying when sixty-six years old. Their only child, Philip H. Moller, who was reared and educated in San Francisco, moved to Napa, and thence to Santa Rosa, which was his home for many years. He secured a public school education there and when twenty-one years of age learned the carpenter trade. He was in business on his own account for awhile but later was for ten years a guard at the San Quentin prison. About five years
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ago he came to Berkeley and has since served as carpenter at the Electric Steel Foundry plant. In Santa Rosa he was married to Miss Sarah Mills, and they have three children living. Onward Rossell; Clifford, who is a contractor in steel products in San Francisco; and Blanche, the wife of Richard Snyder, of Vancouver, British Columbia. The mother died in 1907, and in 1908 Mr. Moller was married to Mrs. Sarah McDonnough, who was the mother of a daughter, Lillian, who took her step-father's name and is now the wife of Collin DeVine.
Onward R. Moller was reared in Santa Rosa, San Rafael and San Francisco. He attended the public schools, including the day and night high schools of San Francisco, graduating from the academic course in the latter school in 1910. He served an apprenticeship as electrician, after which he worked for the local tele- phone company and in various electrical shops. In the meantime he had continued his studies in the night high school, obtaining a rather comprehensive knowledge of bookkeeping, business management and common law. About 1921 he went to work for the Marchant Foundry, in Emeryville, but later entered the employ of the Green Steel Casting Works. This company failed and in 1925 Mr. Moller and A. Klaeger were persuaded to take over the plant. They changed the name to its present form and started in with three employees. By diligent attention to the business and wise management they have achieved noteworthy success, and now give steady employment to twenty-five men. On October 24, 1926, the business was incorporated, with O. R. Moller as president, A. Kloeger as secretary and treasurer, and Edward Sextus, as vice president, and with an authorized capital stock of one hundred thousand dollars. The company does general jobbing steel foundry work, producing automobile castings, and castings for Diesel engines and gas engines, and for electric equipments.
On January 1, 1911, Mr. Moller was united in marriage to Miss Mabel Hogan, who was born and reared in San Francisco, where her family had long resided, and they are the parents of three children, Chester, Dorothy and Ralph. Mr. Moller is a member of the East Bay Foundrymen's Association and the Berkeley Lions Club. He is a stanch republican in his political views and has shown a live interest in everything pertaining to the welfare of his community. Mrs. Moller is a member of St. Mary Magdaline Roman Catholic church in Berkeley. Mr. Moller is a man of marked natural ability, possesses a strong personality and agreeable manner, and throughout the community in which he lives is held in high esteem.
ARTHUR L. BRODT
Arthur L. Brodt, manager of the Pacific Meat & Packing Company, at Berkeley, is well qualified for this position, possessing splendid executive ability and a thorough knowledge of the meat business. Mr. Brodt was born in San Francisco, California, on the 13th of March, 1890, is a son of Lincoln and Emma Brodt and is descended from old pioneer stock, his paternal grandfather having come to this state in 1849. His father was born at Quaker Hill, in Grass valley, Nevada county, this state, and was for many years closely identified with mining interests, having served as superintendent of some of California's noted mines. In 1896 he brought
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ยท his family to Mont Clair, Alameda county, and is now retired from active business. His wife died March 13, 1926, at the age of fifty-one years.
Arthur L. Brodt received his education in the San Pablo avenue school and the Berkeley high school, and then learned the meat business, becoming an expert butcher. He worked for various meat packing companies, being so engaged when the United States entered the World war. He enlisted for four years in the United States Navy, in which he served until the close of the war, being at Hampton Roads, in the Chesapeake bay, when the Armistice was signed. He had risen to the rank of second class company commander, and at the close of the war resigned and was honorably discharged as a seaman. On his return home, Mr. Brodt went to work for Steinbeck & Company at Berkeley, with whom he remained for four years, and then became manager for the Union Meat & Packing Company, at Oakland. He was with that firm four years and in 1927 resigned in order to accept his present position as manager for the Pacific Meat & Packing Company, at Berkeley, having complete charge of the packing plant. He has discharged his duties in a highly creditable manner and has been an important factor in the successful operation of this business.
In 1913, in Oakland, Mr. Brodt was united in marriage to Miss Blanche Hogan, who was born and reared in that city. Mr. Brodt is a member of the American Legion and gives his political support to the republican party. A man of earnest purpose and upright life, he has been loyal and true in every relation, and has shown sound judgment, great energy and the ability to handle men and at the same time retain their confidence and respect. He has many warm friends throughout this community and is highly esteemed by all who know him.
PHILIP M. FISHER, JR.
Philip M. Fisher, Jr., born in Oakland in 1891, and son of P. M. Fisher who for fifty years has been one of California's most prominent educators, has had a varied career in different activities and one that has taken him far afield.
He began, as did his father, as a teacher, being elected to the staff of the Fremont high school shortly after graduation from the University of California in 1913. Teaching during the day at this institution and during the nights con- ducting the Melrose Evening School, he studied the art of short story writing in the afternoons and in 1916 published his first manuscript in the Youth's Com- panion, a short essay on the Mennonites of Canada. Shortly thereafter he began publishing with the Munsey Company of New York City, his forte at the time being the wierd and semi-occult.
At the outbreak of the World War, when about to sever connection with school work and go into the literary field, he signed up for service in the United States Navy. The call to active duty took him to the San Pedro Naval Training Station, then to Mare Island, where he was commissioned as ensign. Shortly after the war he was released from active duty, and for some months sold automobiles in Vacaville, Solano county. At the same time he wrote several stories later published by the Munsey Company.
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In October, 1919, he accepted active commission in the Navy again, and was attached to the Pacific Fleet destroyer forces. With the old Thirteenth Destroyer Division he spent two years in Chinese and other Oriental waters and gathered much material for fiction. Released in November, 1921, he returned home and again took up fiction, which he followed with success until the fall of 1925, when he became associated with the Oakland Examiner in newspaper work. In this work he stayed until December 1, 1926, when he was appointed executive secretary to Mayor John L. Davie of Oakland, in which duty he now stands.
Mr. Fisher has published several serial stories and many shorter works in such magazines as Argosy, All-Story, Munseys, Sunset, Adventure, Short Stories, Sea Stories, and others. Every part of his experience has been utilized in fiction, his writings including not only his earlier work in the occult, but stories of the navy and the sea, of China, of school work, and of western mining country. He is a member of the California Writers' Club and other writing organizations.
W. H. REES
W. H. Rees, managing superintendent of the El Dorado Oil Works, at Berkeley, is regarded as one of the leading chemical engineers of this part of the country, for he has not only proven capable and efficient along technical lines, but is also a successful executive, having operated the El Dorado plant in a very able and satisfactory manner. He was born on a farm just west of Colusa, Colusa county, California, in March 1871, and is a son of Stephen and Elizabeth Jane (Smith) Rees. His father, who was a native of Pennsylvania, came to California, by way of the isthmus of Panama, in 1852, with his parents, and on reaching maturity engaged in farming in Colusa county.
There W. H. Rees spent his boyhood years, attending the public schools to the age of fifteen years, when he entered Hopkins Academy, in Oakland, and was graduated in 1889. He then pursued the chemical engineering course, including assaying, metallurgy and allied subjects, in the University of California, and was graduated in 1893. He first worked in the chemical department of the Giant Powder Company, at Giant Contra Costa county, and later for the Vigorite Powder Company, at El Cerito, this state, helping to establish its plant. During the hard times immediately following, he was dropped from the payroll temporarily, at which period he became connected with the wine business as chemist for the Condensed Must Company, which was engaged in concentrating fresh grape juice for shipment to France, where it was used in reinforcing foreign wines, a process which was not an entire success. Following this, Mr. Rees taught a country school for one year, as business in his professional line was very dull. Early in the '90s he became connected with the El Dorado Oil Works as assistant in the chemical laboratory. About that time W. B. Rising was at the head of the department of chemistry in the University of California and assigned Mr. Rees to a position as assistant to the state analyst in chemistry, while during that period he also taught chemistry in the Boone Academy, in Berkeley. At that time a manufacturer of fireworks in San Francisco was experiencing trouble with his foreman and chief
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chemist, who refused to divulge the secret formulas used in the making of the various kinds of fireworks. He got into touch with Mr. Rees, whom he employed, and the latter immediately set to work, making chemical analyses and experiments, and soon had discovered the secrets of the construction of sky rockets, roman candles, bombs and set pieces, and, through his persistent and intelligent efforts, was able to duplicate everything that the former chemist had produced, including the famed electric star, completing this work in 1898. During this period he had retained his connection with the El Dorado Oil Works, but in 1899 resigned his position and, going to Inyo county, this state, became superintendent and manager of a borax concern in Saline valley, known as the Western Borax Company, for which he served as chemist for six years. In March, 1905, he returned to Alameda county as chemist for the Alameda Sugar Company, with which he remained until 1911, and in January, 1912, he returned to the El Dorado Oil Works as chemist, while at the same time he gave a course of lectures in applied chemistry at the University of California. He served for several years as assistant to the superintendent, Mr. Searly, and on the latter's death, in 1915, Mr. Rees was made managing superintendent, which position he still holds. At that time the business had outgrown its plant and Mr. Rees drew the plans and superintended the con- struction of the new mill, installing much new machinery, some of which is of his own invention.
The El Dorado Oil Works, located at Second street and University avenue, Berkeley, was established in 1892 and has been profitably operated. The first oil mill, known as the Pacific Oil Mill, was established in San Francisco in the early '80s, but the El Dorado Company has become the leading concern of the kind in the country. Its special line is cocoanut oil, which it extracts from copra, brought from the South sea islands, Singapore and Sidney, Australia, being the principal sources of supply. The copra is shipped to the Oakland wharf on the Dollar line steamboats, whence it is transported by rail to the mill. Here is produced the famous Snowflake brand of cocanut oil, which is shipped out in steel tank cars. About five cars, or thirty-five thousand gallons of the oil, are produced daily, the output being sold mainly in the United States, though some is also shipped to Canada, Mexico and Hawaii. It is used in the manufacture of soaps, foods and cooking oils, among the extensive buyers of the oil being such firms as Armour & Company, Swift & Company, the Fairbank Company, the Hoskins Soap Company, the Southern Cotton Oil Company, Procter & Gamble, and the Palm Olive-Pett Brothers Manufacturing Company. The plant, which covers an area of two and a half acres, represents an investment of five hundred thousand dollars and gives steady employment to one hundred men, the main building being one hundred by four hundred feet, and high in proportion. Six thousand tons of copra are handled each month and the aggregate business of the company for 1927 amounted to over eight million dollars. In spite of the fact that last year was one of general depression in most lines of business, the El Dorado plant was run continuously night and day, showing a steady increase in product. One of the secrets of its success has been the fact that the product has been maintained at a uniformly high standard of purity. A valuable by-product of the El Dorado plant is the "El Dorado Cocoanut Oil Cake Meal," which is an excellent stock food and is now extensively used for milk cows, hogs and poultry. Three carloads of this
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meal is produced daily, is packed in one-hundred-pound sacks, and great quantities of it are shipped to the poultrymen of Petaluma, while thousands of tons go to the dairymen in Humboldt county. Mr. Rees is the inventor and patentee of a number of machines which have greatly facilitated the operation of the plant, one of which is a weighing machine, a wonderful mechanical and electrical ap- paratus, which has proven very successful. It is entirely automatic and absolutely accurate, and it is now protected by patents in the United States, Canada, England, France, Germany and other manufacturing countries.
In Berkeley, in January, 1900, Mr. Rees was united in marriage to Miss Mary L. Brehn, who was born in Illinois, but was reared and educated in California. Prior to her marriage she was a teacher in the art department of the Berkeley public schools. They had a son, Edward, who died when nineteen years old. Mr. Rees is a stanch republican, is a member of the Sigma Xi college fraternity, the Rotary Club and the Berkeley Chamber of Commerce. He has devoted his efforts closely to the interests of the company with which he is connected and his record stamps him as a man of outstanding ability and achievement. To a marked degree he possesses the qualities essential to success as a manager, being a man of clear- headed judgment, tactful in handling men, absolute loyal to his employers and en- thusiastically interested in his work. Among his associates he is cordial and affable and throughout the community is held in high regard by all who know him.
FRANK ORRA
Among the pioneers of the Melrose district of Oakland, who were actively interested in the development of their community, contributing through their in- dividual efforts to its improvement and progress, the late Frank Orra is deserving of specific mention. For a number of years he conducted a successful nursery business and held a prominent and influential place among his fellow men, being recognized as a progressive and public-spirited citizen, well worthy the confidence and respect which were accorded him. Mr. Orra was born in France July 7, 1847, and received a good education in the schools of that country. When eighteen years of age, he emigrated to the United States, coming to California by way of the isthmus of Panama. In San Francisco he met Miss Marianne Bernamayou, who was a schoolmate of his in France and who had come to this country when a girl of twelve years, and they were married there in 1871. Mr. Orra came to Oakland soon afterwards and opened a grocery store at East Fourteenth street and Twenty- fourth avenue, where the Grant Miller funeral parlors are now located. He was successful in that enterprise but later sold the property to J. R. Talcott and bought a lot, one hundred and sixty by three hundred and sixty feet, at Central avenue (now Fifty-fifth avenue) and East Fourteenth street, and there engaged in the nursery business, under the name of the Central Nursery. He prospered in this venture, building up a large business, and was long the leader in his line in this part of the city. He conducted the business until 1905, when, because of poor health, he retired, and was not thereafter actively engaged in business pursuits, his death occurring March 24, 1920. His wife died October 20, 1926.
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