USA > California > Alameda County > History of Alameda County, California. Volume II > Part 46
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preparation for a business career, he took a commercial course in a business college, after which he entered the employ of the Wiley B. Allen Company, dealers in music, remaining with that concern for eight years, during a part of which time he was in its branch stores. Later he was with the California Phonograph Company, in San Francisco, for six years, but in 1922 determined to embark on an independent business career, and came to Oakland, where he opened a music store. This proved a successful venture and two years later he took over the Oakland branch of the California Phonograph Company, which he is still conducting under the same name. He carries a complete line of sheet music, a large stock of musical instruments, phonographs and radios. He was a pioneer in the development of the radio, the wonderful possibilities of which he early foresaw, and took an active part in the organization of the Alameda County Radio Trades Association, com- prising the retailers and jobbers of the county, and was recently elected president of the organization.
Mr. Jessen was united in marriage to Miss Bessie L. Burkholder, who was born in San Jose, California, and they are the parents of two children, Eleanor and Dorothy. Mr. Jessen votes with the republican party and he is a member of Apollo Lodge, A. F. & A. M .; Oakland Consistory, A. A. S. R .; Aahmes Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., and Alameda Lodge, B. P. O. E. He is an energetic and progressive business man, has realized a very gratifying measure of prosperity, and in the commercial circles of his city is held in high regard. He has given his support to every measure for the progress and betterment of the community and is regarded as one of Oakland's substantial citizens.
FRED W. HEERE
One of the most efficient police officers of the East Bay district is Fred W. Heere, chief of the police department of Piedmont, whose record has gained for him a well merited reputation as a capable and reliable official. He was born in St. Louis, Missouri, February 5, 1888, and secured his elementary education in the public schools of that city, after which he matriculated in the Barnes Medical College, in which he pursued the regular course. Instead of engaging in the practice of medicine, however, he came to California, arriving in Los Angeles in 1905, and there was employed for a short time in a meat packing plant owned by an uncle. In 1906 he came to Oakland, and soon afterward accepted the position of assistant engineer in the engineering department of the city of Alameda. In 1916 Mr. Heere became a patrolman in the Oakland police department and in the following year joined the Piedmont police department. In 1918 he took a course in finger print identification and criminology under Chief August Volmer, of the Berkeley police department, and soon afterward was appointed a detective sergeant in the Piedmont department. On January 1, 1927, he was made chief of the department, with fifteen men under him, and has proven well qualified in every respect for the position.
Mr. Heere was united in marriage to Miss (Mrs. Catherine Plunkett, nee) Neal, who is a native of this state. He is a member of Plymouth Lodge, No. 560, F. & A. M., at Oakland, the California Peace Officers Association, the California Safety
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Conference, the International Identification Association and is a director of the California Identification Association. A man of alert mentality, faithful and fearless in the discharge of duty, and a close and constant student of his calling, he is recognized as a man of more than ordinary ability and commands the unqualified confidence and respect of the people of his community.
FRANK MITCHELL, JR.
Frank Mitchell, Jr., of Oakland, is one of the best known members of the Alameda county bar, his record having gained for him wide recognition as an able, learned and successful lawyer, so that he commands a large practice in the courts of this county. Mr. Mitchell was born in Portland, Maine, November 24, 1886, and is a son of Frank and Rosa (Amaral) Mitchell, both of whom are of Portuguese descent. When Mr. Mitchell was about eighteen months old, the family came to California, locating in Hayward, Alameda county, where his father engaged in the retail shoe business from 1889 to March, 1927, since which time he has been retired from active business. One of Mr. Mitchell's uncles came to Cali- fornia in 1856 and afterwards served in the Union Army during the Civil war.
After attending the grammar schools of Hayward, graduating from high school in 1906, Frank Mitchell, Jr., entered the law school of the University of California, and later completed his law course in the Hastings College of Law, in San Francisco, from which he was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Law in June, 1910. In the 1907 session of the state legislature he served as a clerk in that body. During his school and college years he had assisted his father in the latter's store and was with him for six months after completing his law course. In September, 1910, he entered the law offices of Gibson & Woolner, remaining with that firm until 1915. In the previous year he was elected justice of the peace for Eden township and at that time also engaged in the private practice of his profession. In 1912 he was appointed city attorney of Hayward, holding that office until 1916, when he resigned and in the following year joined J. A. Kennedy and J. J. McDonald, with whom he remained until 1922. On January 1st of that year he was appointed chief deputy in the office of the prosecuting attorney but later resigned that position in order to take up private practice in which he has since been busily engaged. He has a large clientele and, being of Portuguese descent, is accorded a substantial practice among the people of that nationality here. A man of keen mentality, thorough legal training, the highest sense of honor and keen appreciation of the service which he should render to his fellowmen, he has brought to the discharge of every duty a determination to give very best efforts, and his loyalty and capability have gained for him a high place in public esteem.
Mr. Mitchell has long been active in fraternal affairs, in which he has been honored with distinctive preferment. He is a member of the Foresters of America, of which he was grand chief ranger for California during the years 1920-21 and has three times been a representative to the nation convention of that order. Of the U. P. E. C. he was supreme president in 1923-24, and for the Knights of Columbus he represented the state of California at the supreme council at Daven-
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port, Iowa. He also belongs to the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, the Woodmen of the World, the Young Men's Institute and the I. D. E. S. He is an active supporter of the republican party. His professional connection is with the Alameda County Bar Association, of which he was vice president for ten years, and the California State Bar Association. He has a wide acquaintance in this section of the state and his splendid record and high personal qualities have gained for him a large circle of loyal friends and warm admirers.
HARRY W. PULCIFER
Among the able and widely known members of the Alameda county bar stands Judge Harry W. Pulcifer, of Oakland, in which city he has practiced his pro- fession for over thirty years, while during the past twelve years he has rendered signal service as a justice of the peace, in which capacity he has earned an enviable reputation.
Judge Pulcifer was born in Maine in 1869 and is a son of Alexander and Velona Brown Pulcifer. His father, who also was a native of that state, came to California, by way of the Isthmus of Panama in 1852 and was engaged in mining for a while. In this he was fairly successful and in a few years returned to his home in Maine. On the outbreak of the Civil war he volunteered his services in defense of his country, enlisting in the Sixteenth Regiment Maine Volunteer Infantry, with which he served three years in the southland, taking part in a number of important battles, and he was wounded twice. At the close of the war he was honorably discharged and returned to his home in Maine, where he re- mained until 1876, in which year he again came to California, bringing his family with him and locating in Oakland, where his death occurred in 1919.
Harry W. Pulcifer was about seven years of age when the family came to California and he received his educational training in the public schools of Oakland, graduating from high school, after which he entered the law office of Henry Vrooman, then one of the successful lawyers and prominent politicians of this city. After Mr. Vrooman's death, Judge Pulcifer obtained employment in the accounting department of the Southern Pacific Railroad, where he remained until 1894. During this period he devoted his spare time to the reading of law and on leaving the railroad he entered the law office of Davis & Hill, who were at that time attorneys for the city of Oakland in its fight to control the water front. Judge Pulcifer was admitted to the bar in 1897, after which he remained with that law firm for about six months, and then engaged in practice alone, gaining quick recognition and building up a large clientele, so that he was numbered among the successful lawyers of Oakland. In 1916 Judge Pulcifer was elected justice of the peace of Oakland township, in which position he has served continuously to the present time, having been reelected since 1918 without opposition. His is the busiest court in Alameda county. The civil business of the court is more than the aggregate of all other courts in the county, and has returned to the county treasury many thousands of dollars above the expenses of the court. Judge Pulcifer has always been actuated by a determination to dispense justice and give
HARRY W. PULCIFER
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a square deal to everyone appearing before him without regard to their station in life, with the result that he commands to a marked degree the confidence of everyone who knows him.
Judge Pulcifer has always given his political support to the republican party and has taken an active interest in city and county political affairs. He is a member of Oakland Lodge No. 188, A. F. & A. M .; Oakland Lodge No. 103, K. P .; Oakland Lodge No. 171, B. P. O. E .; the Athenian Nile Club; Oakland Yacht Club; Athens Athletic Club; Oakland Pyramid No. 2, A. E. Order of Sciots; Aahmes Temple of the Mystic Shrine; Oakland Aerie No. 7, Fraternal Order of Eagles; Kiwanis Club; member of the executive committee of the East Bay Safety Council; Scottish Rite bodies thirty-second degree; Loyal Order of Moose ; Oakland Chamber of Commerce; Brotherhood of Bison and the Sons of Veterans. He is a man of sterling character, splendid personality and agreeable manner, and throughout the city where he has spent the major portion of his life he com- mands public confidence and respect.
HENRY C. BARTON
Henry C. Barton has for seventeen years been prominently identified with the banking interests of San Leandro and is now manager of the San Leandro branch of the Bank of Italy. His life history exemplifies in a striking manner what may be accomplished by a man who, deprived at an early age of the care and advice of his parents, persistently strives along right lines to better his condition and eventually reaches a place of honor and influence among his fellowmen.
Mr. Barton was born at Willows, Glenn county, California, May 10, 1882, and is a son of Henry C. and Delia (Meeham) Barton, the latter a native of Ireland, brought to this country in young girlhood. The father was born in Ohio and came to California in an early day, here following the carpenter trade. To them were born three children, namely : Henry C., Frank Webster, who is engaged in farming near Anderson, Shasta county, California; and Ruth, who is the wife of G. C. Starkey, of Roseville, California. The mother died when Henry was but five years old, and one year later the father followed her in death.
Henry C. Barton was taken into the home of an uncle and aunt, Mr. and Mrs. F. M. Lutts, of Willows, and was reared on a ranch in Glenn county. He secured his early education in the public schools of Germantown, now Artois, California, after which he had two and a half years in the high school at Willows. After taking a commercial course in Heald's Business College, in San Francisco, he went to work as rent clerk for Burnham & Marsh, the largest real estate firm in San Fran- cisco prior to the great fire. He next went to Oakdale, Stanislaus county, where he became bookkeeper for Haslacher & Kahn, private bankers, grain and warehouse men, who at that time owned eighteen warehouses. There he gained valuable experience and remained with that firm until 1906, when he came to San Leandro and went to work as bookkeeper and cashier for the Best Manufacturing Company, with which he remained until 1910, when he engaged in the grocery business on his own account. A year later he sold out and became cashier and office manager for
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C. L. Best, who had organized the C. L. Best Gas Tractor Company, with a factory at Elmhurst, in which was constructed the first gas track-layer tractor. In 1911 Mr. Barton resigned that position and became one of the organizers of the State Bank of San Leandro, of which he was made assistant cashier. This bank was then located in the Daniel Best building, Mr. Best being the founder of the old Best Manufacturing Company. Eventually Mr. Barton was advanced to the posi- tion of cashier and proved an important factor in the success of the institution, retaining that position until the bank was sold to the Bank of Italy, in the fall of 1927, at which time he was made manager of this branch, which position he still fills. He is also a director of the San Leandro Investment Company.
In 1918 Mr. Barton was united in marriage to Miss Mayme O'Leary, of Modesto, California, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. P. J. O'Leary, both of whom are deceased. Mr. O'Leary was a dealer in coal and wood and was highly respected in his community. Mr. and Mrs. Barton have two children, Frank Daniel and Margaret Jane. In his political views Mr. Barton is a stanch republican and served as city treasurer from 1922 to1927. He is a member of the Masonic blue lodge in San Leandro, and the Scottish Rite bodies in Oakland. He also belongs to the Native Sons of the Golden West and the U. P. E. C., at San Leandro. He is a director of the San Leandro Chamber of Commerce. A man of unquestioned integrity and great force of character, he commands the confidence and respect of his fellowmen, and is deservedly popular among his associates and acquaintances. He has stood consistently for all that is best in the life of the community, giving his earnest support to all enterprises having for their object the advancement of the general welfare and the progress and development of his city and county.
ROBERT S. RILEY
Robert S. Riley, one of the highly respected citizens of Berkeley, is successfully engaged in the practice of law at 1078 University avenue. His family has long been closely and actively identified with the public affairs of California, his father, grandfather and an uncle having attained eminence and distinction in the legal profession. Robert S. Riley was born at Dutch Flat, Placer county, this state, on the 3rd of September, 1889, and is a son of George E. and Nellie (Johnson) Riley, the former born in South Carolina and the latter in St. Louis, Missouri. His paternal grandfather, Mitchael Riley, was an early pioneer of California, having lived for many years at Grass Valley, Nevada county, where he engaged in quartz mining. He also practiced law, proving an able and resourceful member of the bar, and served as district attorney of Nevada county. He and his wife were among the first settlers at Grass Valley, his wife being one of the first three white women to keep house in that locality, the other two being Mrs. Davis and Mrs. Brock. That was also the home of Bret Harte, with whom the Rileys were well acquainted. George E. Riley came to California by way of the isthmus of Panama, he and his mother riding into California on mules, his father having come to this state previously. Like his father, he also was a lawyer and served as district attorney of Nevada county. An uncle, Peter Riley, was a veteran of the Spanish-American
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war, in which he held a commission as captain. In his later years George E. Riley moved to San Francisco, where he taught school, and there his death occurred in 1923, at the age of fifty-six years. His wife died in 1908. They were the parents of eight children, of whom Robert S. is the oldest, and three of the children are living.
Robert S. Riley attended the public schools of Grass Valley and Berkeley, and then entered Leland Stanford University. Having determined to devote his life to the legal profession, he enrolled as a student in the Hastings College of Law in San Francisco, the law school of the University of California, from which he was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Law in 1918. He had worked his way through college, his attendance, however, being interrupted by his service in the United States Army during the World war, in which he was disabled while at Camp Lewis. He was honorably discharged in 1918 and resumed his law studies. On graduation and admission to the bar, Mr. Riley began practice in San Fran- cisco in the office of his uncle, J. F. Riley, who for forty years has been num- bered among the leading lawyers of that city, and there remained until 1922, when he came to Berkeley, where he has since engaged in the practice alone. He specializes in real estate law and has won a large and steadily growing clientele, having gained recognition as an able, resourceful and dependable lawyer, well worthy of confidence and trust.
On April 26, 1919, in Alameda, Mr. Riley was united in marriage to Miss Edna Lewis, who was born and reared in that city and is a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J. E. Lewis, the former a well known carpenter and builder. Mr. and Mrs. Riley have three children, Patricia, Carmel and Robert, Jr. Mr. Riley is a member of the Loyal Order of Moose, the American Legion, the Disabled War Veterans, the Chamber of Commerce, and the West Berkeley Commercial Assocation, of which he is secretary. He and his wife are earnest members of the Congregational church. Professionally Mr. Riley is careful, painstaking and thorough in his preparation of cases, is alert and determined in the trial of causes, and as an office counselor is sound and reliable, so that all who have come into contact with him hold him in high regard as a lawyer, while throughout the community he is recognized as a loyal and public-spirited citizen, always to be depended upon to support measures for the advancement of the public welfare.
CHARLES HOUSER
Among the wide-awake and progressive business men of Berkeley, none takes precedence over Charles Houser, who is conducting a prosperous confectionery, soda fountain and cigar store at 2001 San Pablo avenue. He is essentially a self- made man, his success being due to his initiative, his energetic methods and his sound judgment, while his splendid personal qualities have won for him many warm friends throughout the community. Mr. Houser was born in Port Clinton, Ottawa county, Ohio, on the 11th of April, 1890, and is a son of Henry and Sena (Holm) Houser, the former a native of Pennsylvania, while the latter was born in Denmark. His father, who was a plasterer and brick mason, died in San Jose, California, in
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1914, at the age of fifty-nine years, and subsequently his widow became the wife of Hans Damker and now lives at 1118 Cowper street, Berkeley. To Henry and Sena Houser were born eight children, of whom five are living, namely: Charles ; Emma, the wife of Chris Simonson, of Gilroy, Santa Clara county, this state; Edward, who is a brakeman on the Southern Pacific Railroad and lives in Berkeley ; Fred, who works for the Fleishman Yeast Company in Albany, California; and Peter, who is owner of the Berkeley Express and Storage Company.
Charles Houser began his educational training in the public schools of his native town, continuing in the schools of Racine, Wisconsin, to which city the family had moved when he was nine years old. He then took a commercial course in the Wis- consin Business College, at Racine, meeting his expenses through his employment by Peter Nelson, who owned a large confectionery store, candy factory and hotel and with whom Mr. Houser gained his practical knowledge of the confectionery business. On completing his education, he entered the employ of the Corliss Com- pany, at Corliss (formerly Western Union Junction), Wisconsin, there remaining until 1909, when he came to California. He found employment in San Francisco, in connection with the confectionery, restaurant and hotel business. He joined the Hotel and Restaurant Employees' Association in Oakland, and in July, 1915, was duly elected its secretary and gave his whole time and attention to his duties until 1917, when he returned east, visiting the principal cities of the east and middle west, returning to California in time to enlist in the World war, in the spring of 1918, as a member of Company F, Thirty-first Infantry Regiment. He was in training at Camp Fremont and in September, 1918, was ordered overseas, his regiment being assigned to the Siberian expeditionary forces. He crossed the Pacific to Japan, and thence to Siberia, where he was first stationed at Vladivostok, later being at Spaskoe and Rasdonia. They were very uncomfortably situated, the cold being intense and accommodations scanty, and they were engaged in a desperate guerilla warfare, in which his regiment lost seven and one-half per cent of its men, a heavier loss than was sustained by the army in France. He was returned home in October, 1919, and was honorably discharged at San Francisco, with the rank of corporal, October 15th.
On returning to civil life, Mr. Houser made an extended trip of investigation, looking for a satisfactory location, and in August, 1921, engaged in the confec- tionery business at 2215 Rose street, Berkeley, near the university. He was fairly successful there, but his real success came when he moved to his present location, at the corner of University and San Pablo avenues, where he has built up a splendid business. He manufactures much of his own candy, in the making of which he uses only the very best ingredients, while the prompt and efficient service which he gives to his patrons has won their favor and good will.
Mr. Houser has taken a keen interest in Berkeley and has given freely of his time and labor to the advancement of its commercial and civic interests. He is a member of the city planning commission ; is a member of the Affiliated Commercial Club, of which he was president for two years; the West Berkeley Commercial Association, of which he was president for three years; the University Avenue Development Association, the Chamber of Commerce, the City Commons Club, and the Berkeley Kiwanis Club, of which he is a director. He belongs to the Fraternal Order of Eagles and the American Legion, and gives his political support
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to the republican party, serving as a member of the county central committee. Cordial and affable in manner and standing for the things really worth while in the life of the community, he commands the confidence and esteem of all who know him and is regarded as one of the representative men of his city.
CHARLES HADLEN
In the death of the late Charles Hadlen the city of Berkeley lost one of its influential men of affairs and a representative citizen, who through a long period of years was active in efforts leading to the development and progress of his com- munity, standing consistently for all that was best in the life of the city and county. As the day with its morning of hope and promise, its noontide of activity and accomplishment, its evening of completed and successful effort, ending in the grateful rest and quiet of the night, so was the life of this good and honored man. His career was a long, busy and useful one, fraught with much good to himself, his family and to humanity, and his memory will long be revered by those who came in contact with him on life's highway.
Mr. Hadlen was born in Hanover, Germany, September 22, 1846, and was reared on his father's farm, securing his education in the public schools. In 1866 he came to the United States, settling in San Francisco, California, for a time. He then went to Montana and engaged in mining for a few years, after which he returned to San Francisco and opened a grocery store. Later he went to Alviso, Santa Clara county, where he was employed in a starch factory until 1879, when he came to Berkeley, where his friend, John Everding, owned a starch factory, and, being a starchmaker, was given employment here. About ten years later he quit that line of work and for about nine years was employed as a clerk in George Burns' grocery store in Berkeley. In 1898 he bought property at the corner of Ninth street and University avenue and engaged in the grocery business with marked success for many years. His death occurred at his home, at 947 University avenue, Berkeley, on July 15, 1927, in the eighty-first year of his age.
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