USA > California > Alameda County > History of Alameda County, California. Volume II > Part 57
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Lester L. Steele attended the public and high schools of Modesto, graduating from the latter in 1910, and then entered Leland Stanford University, in which he pursued the study of law. He was admitted to the bar in 1915 and at once engaged in the active practice of his profession, to which he has devoted his atten- tion closely to the present time.
Mr. Steel was united in marriage to Miss Edna Lucile Hollingsworth, a native of Kansas, and they are the parents of three children, Mildred, Marjorie and Laverne. Mr. Steele.has built and is now occupying a fine residence at 1100 Renleigh way, Piedmont.
In politics Mr. Steele is a republican and he has shown a deep interest in public affairs. He is a Mason, is past president of Oakland Parlor No. 50, Native Sons of the Golden West, and also a past governor of the East Bay County As- sembly of Past Presidents of the N. S. G. W., and is a member of the Native Sons' Luncheon Club. Though a busy man professionally, he is a man of strong domestic tastes and his favorite form of recreation is gardening. Cordial and friendly in manner, he is well liked by those who know him and commands the respect of the entire community in which he lives.
WILLIAM WALLACE CAMPBELL
William Wallace Campbell, who unquestionably holds a place in the front rank of the educators of this country, enjoys a two-fold distinction: as one of the world's noted astronomers, and as president of the University of California. In the field of astronomy, to which he has devoted forty years of his life, his observa-
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tions, lectures and writings have attracted world-wide attention, for he has made valuable contributions to the science of the stars, on which subject he is regarded as an authority. As the executive head of the University of California he has dis- played an ability and a comprehensive grasp of the problems connected with college life which have enabled him to maintain the university at the high standard of efficiency for which it has always been noted, and his eminent services entitle him to representation in any work embracing the higher educational activities of this state.
Mr. Campbell was born on a farm in Hancock county, Ohio, on the 11th of April, 1862, and is a son of Robert Wilson and Harriet (Welsh) Campbell, the former of Scotch descent. He secured his early education in the public schools, graduating from the Fostoria high school, and he taught in the public schools of Ohio in the year 1881-2. In 1882 he entered the University of Michigan, from which he was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Science in civil engineering in 1886. At the end of his junior year in the university Mr. Campbell chanced upon an excellent textbook of astronomy, Newcomb's "Popular Astronomy." He found it very interesting and read it through in two days, with the result that he decided to become an astronomer. During his senior years he devoted as much time as possible to the study of mathematical astronomy, under the direction of Professor Schaeberle. A few days before graduating from the university, having found available no position in astronomy, he was appointed professor, and head of the department, of mathematics in the University of Colorado, at Boulder. Two years later, when Professor Schaeberle became an astronomer in Lick observatory, upon the opening of that institution, Mr. Campbell resigned his professorship in the University of Colorado and became Schaeberle's successor in the University of Michigan as instructor in astronomy and assistant in the observatory, where, in addition to teaching engineering astronomy, he made a specialty of comet observa- tions and comet orbit computation. During the summer vacation of 1890 he went to the Lick observatory as a volunteer assistant, at his own expense, for the pur- pose of widening his astronomical experience. A few months later Astronomer Keeler of the Lick observatory was appointed director of the Allegheny observa- tory, at Pittsburgh, and Professor Holden secured Mr. Campbell's appointment as an astronomer in the Lick observatory in succession to Keeler, his prinicipal duty being to take charge of the spectroscopic department. Professor Keeler be- came director of Lick observatory in 1898, but his lamented death occurred in August, 1900, and Astronomer Campbell was at once appointed acting director of the' observatory, ad interim. The duty of filling the director's position devolved on President Wheeler and the Regents of the University of California. President Wheeler requested twelve leading astronomers in this country and abroad to recom- mend an astronomer for the position. The twelve responses were unanimously in favor of Mr. Campbell, and accordingly he was appointed in December, 1900, and his services as director of Lick observatory date from January 1, 1901. On January 4, 1923, he was elected president of the University of California, in which position he has served since July 1st of that year.
Mr. Campbell's active work in astronomy has been noteworthy, as may be gathered from the following brief outline: His early work at Lick observatory was on the spectra of new stars, variable stars, various classes of bright-line stars
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and comets. Since 1896 he has engaged especially in determining motions of approach and recession of the brighter stars by means of the Mills spectograph, an instrument presented to the Lick observatory by D. O. Mills. Velocities of about two thousand stars in all parts of the northern sky have been observed at Mt. Hamilton. He organized the D. O. Mills expedition from the Lick observatory to Santiago, Chile, now known as the Chile station of the Lick observatory, Uni- versity of California, to measure the motions of approach and recession of about one thousand bright stars in the southern sky not visible at Mount Hamilton, thus extending the work over the entire sky. Associated with his colleagues, especially Joseph H. Moore and R. E. Wilson, he has measured motions of approach and recession of about one hundred and twenty-three nebulae, at Mount Hamilton and at Santiago. He discovered that, of the naked-eye stars about one in four, on the average, is not the single star which it appears to be in high-power tele- scopes, but is a double star in which the two components are revolving around their mutual center of mass. Many hundreds of binary stars of this kind have been discovered with the Mills Spectographs at Mount Hamilton and Santiago. A study of the motions of the stars observed at Mount Hamilton and Santiago enabled him to determine that our solar system is traveling through the great stellar system at a speed of about twelve and one-half miles per second.
Mr. Campbell was in charge of seven Crocker eclipse expeditions from the Lick observatory, namely, to Jeur, India, 1898; to Thomaston, Georgia, 1900; to Alhama, Spain, 1905; to Flint island, Pacific ocean, 1908; to Kief, Russia, 1914; to Goldendale, Washington, 1918; to Wallal, Australia, 1922; and he was a mem- ber of the expedition to observe the eclipse of 1923, in Lower California, Mexico. Many contributions to our knowledge of the outer parts of the sun, and of the sun's surroundings, including the solar corona, have resulted from these expeditions.
Mr. Campbell was the Silliman lecturer at Yale University in 1909-10, de- livering eight lectures on the motions of the stars; being the first American to be invited to fill this lectureship. In 1914 he was William Ellery Hale lecturer, National Academy of Sciences, on stellar evolution. In 1915 he was president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and in 1915-16 the first president of the Pacific Division of that association. From 1922 to 1925 he was president of the American Astronomical Society, and in 1922, at Rome, he was elected president of the International Astronomical Union, for the period 1922-25, in succession to Director Baillaud, of the Paris observatory, who was the first president of the union, which had been organized in Brussels three years earlier. He was Halley lecturer at Oxford University in 1925. Mr. Campbell is the author of a textbook on "Elements of Practical Astronomy," Macmillan Com- pany, 1900; of a volume on "Stellar Motions," containing the Silliman lectures of 1910, Yale University Press and Oxford University Press, 1912; and of numerous papers published in the Astronomical Journal, Astronomische Nach- richten, Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, Astrophysical Journal, Bulletins of the Lick Observatory and Publications of the Lick Obser- vatory.
Mr. Campbell received the honorary degrees of Master of Science, University of Michigan, 1899; Doctor of Science, University of Western Pennsylvania, 1900, University of Michigan, 1905, University of Western Australia, 1922, Cambridge
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University, 1925, and Columbia University, 1928. Doctor of Laws, University of Wisconsin, 1902. He is a member of the American Astronomical Society, Die Astronomische Gesellschaft, Astronomical Society of the Pacific, Washington Academy of Science, Seismological Society of America, and many others; is a Fellow of the American Society for the Advancement of Science, a member of the National Academy of Sciences (United States), the American Philosophical Society of Philadelphia, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences at Boston. He has also been elected to honorary membership in the following academies of sciences and similar organizations : Royal Astronomical Society, London; Royal Academy of Sciences, Stockholm, Sweden; Royal Academy of Sciences, Upsala, Sweden; Society of Italian Spectroscopists, Rome; Royal Society. London; Madrid Academy of Sciences; Royal Society of Edinburgh; Russian Astronomical Society, Moscow; California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco; Royal Institution, London; Royal Astronomical Society, Canada ; l'Institut de France (Paris Academy of Sciences), Paris ; Bureau des Longitudes, Paris : Russian National Academy, Leningrad; and the Royal Italian Academy of Sciences (dei Lincei), Rome. The following medals have been awarded to Director Campbell : Lalande gold medal, Paris Academy of Sciences, 1903; gold medal of Royal Astronomical Society, London, 1906; Draper gold medal, National Academy of Sciences, Washington, 1906; Janssen gold medal, Paris Academy of Sciences, 1910, and the Bruce gold medal, Astronomical Society of the Pacific (international medal), 1915. In 1919 he was appointed by King Albert of Belgium a Commander of the Order of Leopold II, with gold insignia; and in 1927 he was awarded the Cross of Officer of the Legion of Honor, with gold insignia, from the Republic of France.
In 1892 Mr. Campbell was united in marriage with Miss Elizabeth Ballard Thompson, of Grand Rapids, Michigan, and they are the parents of three sons, Wallace, Douglas and Kenneth.
Despite the honors which have been bestowed on him in deserved recognition of his attainments and achievements Mr. Campbell is modest and unaffected in manner, is kindly and generous in his relations with those about him, and he possesses the valuable faculty of getting close to the student body of the university. His fellow citizens take pride in the fact that their great university is under such competent direction, and throughout the commonwealth of California he commands the unqualified respect and confidence of the people.
SAM TAYLOR
The oldest merchant in Berkeley in point of years of continuous business is Sam Taylor, and no business man in the city is better known. During the thirty- seven years of his residence here he has commanded the public confidence and Taylor's Trunk Shop is one of the landmarks of Berkeley.
Mr. Taylor was born in Morpeth, Ontario, Canada, June 7, 1859, and received his education in the public schools of that locality. When seventeen years old he began learning the harnessmaker's trade in his home town, completing his appren-
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ticeship in Toledo, Ohio, where he was employed for eight years in a custom harness shop. He also worked two years at his trade in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he was connected with a wholesale saddlery concern.
Mr. Taylor came to California in 1888, locating first in San Francisco, where he remained until July 5, 1891, when he came to Berkeley and engaged in business for himself. He was first located at Stanford place and Addison street, where he remained eleven years, during which period his business steadily increased, so that he was compelled to seek larger quarters, and he moved to Allston way, across the street from his present location, where he remained eleven years, and then came to 2110 Allston way. He carries the largest and most complete line of leather goods in the city, his being the outstanding shop of its kind in Berkeley. He has the most up-to-date and smartest in traveling bags, fitted and plain; suit- cases, patent hat boxes, handbags, vanity cases, and the modish envelope bags in all sizes and every kind of leather. He is also the exclusive dealer here for the famous Hartmann wardrobe trunks, in all sizes and styles for men and women. Because of his progressive spirit, his invariable courtesy and his honorable dealings, Mr. Taylor has proved worthy of the great popularity which his store enjoys among discriminating buyers and he enjoys a large patronage.
Mr. Taylor married Miss Alice Beighle, and they are the parents of two chil- dren, Wilson B. Taylor and Mrs. Helen Jean Munnis. For thirty-two years Mr. Taylor has been a member of the Woodmen of the World. He has been a witness of the development of Berkeley from a small town, when there were no paved streets nor sidewalks, and he recalls that when he came here the street on which he is now located was but a lane, with a creek running along one side. During these years he has shown an active interest in everything pertaining to the progress and prosperity of the city ; has always been regarded as one of its substantial and de- pendable citizens and enterprising merchants; and he has a host of loyal personal friends.
LEO F. KOCHENDORFER
Among those whose individual efforts have in a very definite way advanced the general development of Alameda, Leo F. Kochendorfer is entitled to specific mention, for as a contractor and builder he has become a prominent figure in busi- ness circles of this locality. He is a native son of Alameda county and a member of one its old pioneer families. His maternal grandfather, Fred Sunkel, a native of Germany, was one of the first settlers in the town of Alameda, there having been but three houses here when he located, and for many years he conducted a successful nursery business.
Leo F. Kochendorfer attended the public schools of Alameda, graduating from high school, and later he worked as a clerk in the offices of the Southern Pacific railroad in San Francisco. Subsequently he learned the carpenter's trade in Alameda with Robert Clark and Conrad Roth, and followed that occupation as a journeyman until 1920, when he embarked in the contracting business on his own account. He has since erected many of the most important business structures and best homes in this section of the county and has gained an enviable reputation as a competent
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and reliable builder. Among the contracts handled by him is the addition to the Elks Home, the Chevrolet garage building, the Konigshofer building and the Judge E. J. Silver, J. H. Callenburg and McCormick residences. He has also built and sold a large number of houses on his own account, in which business he has met with very satisfactory success. In 1926 he became one of the organizers of the Fernside Building Company, which is now engaged in the erection of seven fine residences on the Fernside tract. He is a good workman and employs none but the best, so that every job turned out by him stands the most rigid inspection, a fact in which he takes a justifiable pride.
Mr. Kochendorfer married Miss Millie Riechter, a native of Chicago, Illinois. He is a member of West Alameda Lodge No. 1015, B. P. O. E .; Alameda Aerie No. 1076, F. O. E .; Encinal Camp No. 757, W. O. W .; and Alameda Parlor, N. S. G. W. He has been a useful citizen of his community, in the welfare and progress of which he has shown a live interest, and among his fellowmen he is regarded as one of Alameda's most progressive and enterprising men.
WILLIAM S. PORTER, M. D.
One of Alameda county's most distinguished citizens is Dr. William S. Porter, of Oakland, who has not only gained wide fame as a skilled and able surgeon, but is well known as an artist and art connoisseur and one of the leading factors in stimulating the esthetic life of his community. He has been more than ordinarily successful professionally and to a marked degree commands the uniform regard of his fellowmen. Dr. Porter was born in Melbourne, Australia, October 1, 1867, and is a son of Dr. Thomas and Ellen (Haynes) Porter, the former born in Belfast, Ireland, and the latter in Salisbury, England. His parents went to Australia many years ago, residing there until 1871, when they came to the United States. The father graduated in medicine in Cincinnati, Ohio, and later came to California and practiced his profession at Colusa and Watsonville. Subsequently he became a minister of the Gospel, and devoted his efforts to that calling for a number of years, or until his retirement, when he returned to Australia, where his death occurred in 1927, at the age of eighty-eight years. He was a great student of astronomy, was a member of the Astronomical Society, and did much microscopical research work, as a result of which a number of items in the British Museum at London bear his name.
William S. Porter was about four years old when brought to this country and spent his boyhood days in Colusa, Watsonville and Oakland, in which cities he received his public school education. He was graduated in the classics from the Uni- versity of Kentucky, at Lexington, and then matriculated in the medical school of the University of Pennsylvania, at Philadelphia, from which he was graduated with the degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1895. In the following year he returned to Oakland and entered upon the active practice of his profession, specializing in surgery. For some time he was chief surgeon of the Oakland Receiving Hospital, but since then has devoted his attention largely to private practice. He is a member of the surgical staffs of the Merritt, Fabiola, Providence and Peralta Hospitals,
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and commands one of the largest practices in his line in California. He has per- formed many exceedingly delicate and difficult operations and is generally regarded throughout the profession as possessing remarkable ability as an operating surgeon.
Though his professional work makes heavy demands on his time, Dr. Porter has managed to devote a share of his attention to art, in which his efforts have received distinctive recognition. His pen and ink sketches reveal his taste and ability as an artist and in recognition of his attainments in that line the California School of Arts conferred on him the degree of Master of Arts. In his home he has a well equipped studio, in which he spends that time which he can devote to his art work, and in his rooms of his home may be found a fine collection of art work of various descriptions, including paintings, etchings, statuary and antiques, as well as many specimens of Chinese and Japanese work. He has a large and well selected library, in which is to be found the best classical and current literature, and many of the works of Jack London, on whom the Doctor operated at one time and with whom he maintained close friendship. It was Dr. Porter who first started the movement which has made Oakland a city of art. He gave to the city a number of valuable paintings, which formed the nucleus for the fine collection which the city now owns. He also contributed a number of valuable paintings and pictures to Mills College art gallery at Berkeley. The Doctor's most recent work in the direction of public art development was as a member of the committee of five who made possible Oakland's first grand opera season in the spring of 1928. This proved a very successful venture and undoubtedly will be continued as an annual affair. In his office Dr. Porter has fine, large portraits of Lincoln, Roosevelt and other eminent men and is a great admirer of Roosevelt, "Buffalo Bill" Cody and other men of their type, being himself a lover of the great west, its history and noted characters.
Doctor Porter is a strong republican in his political views, but finds little time to indulge in public affairs, except as referred to. He is a member of the Phi Gamma Delta college fraternity, the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, the Athens Club, the Claremont Country Club and the Piedmont Trail Club. He has made a number of trips abroad, visiting the principal cities and points of interest, and also studying the various surgical methods in European institutions. A man of sterling character, strong individuality and exalted purposes, he has long held a high place in the confidence and respect of the people of his community and is regarded as one of Oakland's representative men.
ERNEST R. NEISS
Ernest R. Neiss has attained well deserved prominence in business and civic affairs of Alameda, and is regarded as one of its leading and influential citizens, a position which he has won through his earnest and well directed efforts along right lines. He was born in Germany on the 30th of September, 1877, and attended the public schools of that country until ten years of age, when he accompanied his parents on their emigration to America. They located in Syracuse, New York, where he completed his education in the public schools, and then learned the trade
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of a photo engraver in the plant of the Syracuse Times. After completing his apprenticeship, he worked in various cities, being employed on the Minneapolis Journal, the Portland Oregonian, the San Francisco Examiner, the San Francisco Chronicle, the San Francisco Bulletin and the Oakland Tribune.
Mr. Neiss gained recognition as an expert workman in his line and in 1919 he bought an interest in the Phoenix Photo Engraving Company, at 324 Thirteenth street, Oakland, with which concern he has been identified continuously since. This is the largest and best equipped establishment of the kind in the East Bay district, owning the building which it occupies, and it has enjoyed a steady and healthy growth, now commanding a large and important patronage. Mr. Neiss has given his close attention to the business and has been an important factor in its success. He has prospered in his material affairs and is a stockholder and director of the Alameda Hotel Company.
Mr. Neiss was united in marriage to Miss Laura Pollard, who was born in Stockton, Cedar county, Missouri, and is a member of a prominent old family of that locality. She is a cousin of Isaac L. Patterson, former United States senator and now governor of Oregon. To Mr. and Mrs. Neiss has been born a daughter, Helen Julia, now the wife of Charles Turner.
In his political affiliation Mr. Neiss is a stanch republican, and he has long been active in local public affairs. He was appointed to fill out an unexpired term as a member of the city council, and has since been twice elected to that office, his present term expiring in 1929. Prior to his appointment he had run for the office, and was defeated by only fifty-six votes, but at the last election he was elected over eight other candidates, receiving two-thirds of the combined vote for all the others, which fact stands in marked evidence of his popularity and the efficient manner in which he had filled the office. He has shown a genuine interest in the welfare of his city and has given his earnest support to every measure calculated to advance the community along material, civic or moral lines. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias, the Fraternal Order of Eagles, the Woodmen of the World and the Royal Arcanum; is a director of the Northern California Photo Engravers Association ; a director of the Alameda Chamber of Commerce; and his firm is a charter member of the Oakland Rotary Club. Personally, Mr. Neiss is a man of strong character and marked individuality, cordial in his social relations and constant in his friendships, so that throughout the city he is held in the highest esteem.
COLONEL A. J. EDDY
Colonel A. J. Eddy, city engineer of Berkeley, has long commended distinctive recognition for his ability and attainments in his profession and in his present position is rendering a high type of service to his community. Colonel Eddy was born in Jacksonville, Jackson county, Oregon, on the 25th of December, 1885, and is a son of Adolphus F. and Mary (Slover) Eddy. When he was about one year old the family moved to Pendleton, Oregon, where he attended the grade schools, and in 1894 they took up their residence in Ashland, Oregon, where he was graduated from high school in 1904. Going to San Francisco, California, in
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