History of Contra Costa County, California; with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its growth and development from the early days to the present, Part 63

Author: Munro-Fraser, J. P
Publication date: 1926
Publisher: Los Angeles, Calif. : Historic Record Co.
Number of Pages: 1118

USA > California > Contra Costa County > History of Contra Costa County, California; with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its growth and development from the early days to the present > Part 63

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In 1922 the company purchased forty acres in Marin County for its Marin terminal; and in 1922 leased the property at Castro Point and began building roads and blasting away hills and embankments to make way for landings, piers and the necessary buildings, and to provide ample parking space and the extension of street car lines. Over 4,000,000 of peo- ple have ridden on the steamers of this company since it inaugurated its service, and over 2,000,000 automobiles have been carried. Two hundred thousand machines and 700,000 passengers were carried by this company in 1923. The personnel of the corporation is Charles F. Van Damme, president; A. F. Mahoney, vice-president; H. T. Gill, auditor and secre- tary; O. J. Olson, treasurer; Mose Moch, manager; Henry A. Jacobs, attorney. The company give a 20-minute service when needed, and main- tain a regular summer schedule until November, when their winter sched- ule goes into effect. The company show an investment in ships, piers, roads and terminal facilities of nearly $1,000,000. What this service has meant to the traveling public cannot be estimated in dollars, but it is conceded by all who know that no one interest has accomplished as much for the good of the bay cities as has the Richmond-San Rafael Ferry and Trans- portation Co., and their watchword is progress at all times, which also means service.

JOSEPH ROLANDO .- The owner of the Rolando Block in Brent- wood, Joseph Rolando, has erected one of the best structures in Brent- wood, most modern in all its appointments. It is of brick and stucco finish, is 50x100 feet in dimensions, and cost $20,000. It houses the post office, the Brentwood Electrical Company, the Brentwood Drug Store, and the Rolando Billiard Hall.

Left an orphan by the death of his parents before he was eighteen months old, Joseph Rolando was brought from France to Calumet, Mich., as a babe of one year and there he grew to boyhood. His schooling was neglected and at an early age he went to work in the Calumet and Hecla Mine. From the age of twelve until he was twenty-five he showed the stuff he was made of and satisfied his employers. He saved his money and embarked in business on his own account, being located in Duluth, Minn., and in Wisconsin and Illinois, until coming to California in 1913. He

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landed at Brentwood and engaged in business, and now conducts an up- to-date refreshment parlor, giving it his personal attention. He leases his billiard parlor to others.

Mr. Rolando was married at Calumet, Mich., to Miss Felicina Guaia, born at Savoy, France. Mr. and Mrs. Rolando dispense a liberal hos- pitality to their many friends in Brentwood and vicinity, where both are well known.

EDWARD J. BURG .- In Edward J. Burg of Richmond, Contra Costa County has a man whose faith in the possibilities of this section of the county are unbounded. The real estate field in Richmond has called forth the most creditable ambitions of a few men whose resourcefulness, executive ability, keen business judgment and foresight have been the di- rect means of building up one of the finest cities on the Pacific Coast, with unlimited possibilities as an industrial center. These men have become leaders in all projects for advancing the varied interests of the citizens who have sought homes within the boundaries of the city.

Conspicuous among these men of vision is Edward J. Burg, president of Burg Brothers, Inc., pioneer realty dealers of Richmond. Mr. Burg was born in Sweden on January 12, 1868, a son of John and Augusta Burg. The mother died in 1873, and the father in 1879, leaving their family of three children to shift for themselves at an early age, our sub- ject being but eleven years old when the father died. When he was twelve he accompanied his brothers, C. H. and G. F. Burg, to America, and for a short time stopped in Illinois. In 1881 he came on to California, lo- cating in San Francisco. He first attended school in this country at Alamo, Contra Costa County, and the old schoolhouse is still standing. He then went to Oakland and worked his way through the California Military Academy, said to be the oldest private school in the State. Graduating from this institution, he took up newspaper work and traveled over the country extensively. In 1884 he was in the Indian campaigns in Montana as a member of the United States Cavalry. During his travels he visited South America and Central America, and was in Chili in 1889 during the revolution between the army and navy in that country; he also was inter- ested in a coffee plantation in Central America for a time. If the complete life history of Mr. Burg were to be written, it would fill a volume; but we can only touch upon the most important events in his life.

In 1898 Mr. Burg went to Seattle, Wash., and joined the rush to the Alaskan gold fields ; but he returned to San Francisco in 1900, and in 1902 began operating in Richmond real estate, having an office in San Fran- cisco. His faith in the future of this city was built upon a firm foundation and he prospered so well that in 1906 he organized the Bay Cities Land Company, which was incorporated in 1912. The firm of Burg Brothers, Inc., was consummated in 1910; and afterwards he organized the Burg Brothers Lumber and Building Company, and later disposed of its in- terests. An example of what energy and resourcefulness can accomplish

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is furnished in the development of the following tracts in Richmond: Cen- tral Richmond Tract, Pullman Townsite Tract, Key Tract, Grand View Terrace Tract (a high class, fully restricted residential section of Rich- mond), and the Spaulding-Richmond-Pullman Townsite Tract. In 1912 Mr. Burg purchased from John Nicholl 112 acres, which he subdivided into the now famous Nicholl Macdonald Avenue Civic Center Tract upon which he caused a fine city hall to be built; and that, with two half city blocks, he presented to the city of Richmond as a civic center. It might be of interest to mention that in 1898 Mr. Nicholl tried to sell his 200- acre farm for seventy dollars per acre and was unable to find a purchaser ; but in October, 1912, Burg Brothers paid $725,000 for 112 acres of it and in 1912 one lot 50 by 100 feet in size sold for $15,000, just $1000 more than the amount for which Mr. Nicholl offered the entire property less than fifteen years earlier. In 1926 part of this same property sold for $500 per front foot, thus showing the great advance in price of prop- erty on Macdonald Avenue and Twenty-third Street, now acknowledged to be the center of the future city. When Mr. Burg negotiated for the large acreage, the price paid was said to be the highest amount paid for that amount of land anywhere in the United States. In laying out the streets in these subdivisions Mr. Burg personally supervised the work, and to him must be given the credit for the fine wide streets that traverse the various properties.

On November 30, 1893, Edward J. Burg was united in marriage with Miss Beatrice M. Ramus, born in England but a resident of San Fran- cisco at the time of their marriage. This union has been blessed with nine children, five boys and four girls. Edward A. married Miss Grace Cox, of Waco, Texas, and they have a daughter, Martha Ann. Edward is associated with his father and resides in Richmond. Dorothea is the wife of B. F. Edwards, a banker in Oakland, and they have three chil- dren, Robert, Benjamin and Dorothea. Ada married Basil L. Spurr, who is associated with Mr. Burg. They have two children, Patricia and Basil, and the family live in Richmond. The others are Cecil, John, Helen, Mary Lillian, Grant Lee, and David. Mr. Burg is intensely interested in the welfare of Richmond, and no other citizen is better qualified to judge of its potential possibilities than he. He believes sincerely in its future and declares that there is no other city on the Coast so ideally situated for industrial plants and transportation facilities, and that there is nothing to obstruct its growth, or to prevent it from becoming one of the greatest cities on the Pacific Coast. Mr. Burg belongs to Durant Lodge of Masons, in Berkeley; Berkeley Commandery; Aahmes Temple, in Oakland; Berkeley Lodge No. 1002, B. P. O. E .; and the Woodmen of the World.

HENRY EDWARD BOLTZEN. - Thoroughness has been the watchword of Henry Edward Boltzen; in whatever he has attempted to do he has labored persistently and untiringly for that success which today places him among the deserving agriculturists of Contra Costa County.

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He farms forty acres belonging to Mrs. C. W. Lent, 130 acres belonging to Mott C. Preston, and the E. W. Netherton ranch of forty acres, all lying in the same neighborhood in Precinct No. 2 north of Byron, and all devoted to the growing of alfalfa. He was born on his father's ranch near Bethany, San Joaquin County, August 20, 1892, a son of Henry and Emma Boltzen, both natives of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. The mother has been dead for twelve years. The father, now sixty years old, has a ranch of 160 acres near Bethany where he is a pioneer farmer.

The education of Henry Edward Boltzen was limited to the grammar school, but by diligent application he has become a well posted man. In 1920 Mr. Boltzen was married to Miss Virginia Lent, born in Oakland, Cal., and they are the parents of three children: Donald Lent, Virginia May and Henry Le Roy. In politics Mr. Boltzen is a Republican and fraternally, is a member of the Woodmen of the World. His wife is a member of the Native Daughters of the Golden West.

ALICE G. WHITBECK .- As librarian of the Martinez Free Li- brary since 1913, Alice G. Whitbeck has filled a most important and really county-wide position in the way of education through good reading as supplementary to the regular school work, and also for those who have done with school days but are still reaching out for more mental work and advancement. A native daughter, Mrs. Whitbeck was born in San Francisco, a descendant of California pioneers on both sides of the family. Her father, William A. Grover, was born in Connecticut, in which state he studied medicine and received his degree as an M. D., before coming around Cape Horn to the Golden State. Arriving in San Francisco in 1849, he was a prominent physician and surgeon there during the pioneer years of the state's history. Much interested in education, he served for many years on the San Francisco board of education; and he was a mem- ber of California's first State Board of Medical Examiners. His marriage, in San Francisco, united him with Miss Marietta Osborn, of Sacramento, who also came around the Horn with her father's family.

Alice G. Whitbeck, after finishing her primary education, entered the University of California and graduated with the class of 1887, with her degree of B. L. This training she supplemented with the State Library course, at Albany, N. Y. Her first position was in the Mechanics-Mer- cantile Library in San Francisco, before the earthquake and fire, where she was assistant cataloguer. She was chosen as children's librarian of the Berkeley Public Library in 1905, and served there until 1910. She founded and started the Richmond Public Library in 1910-1913; and in the latter year she came to Martinez and became county librarian for Contra Costa County, which position she has admirably filled since that date. The library has been built up until it now has ninety-eight dis- tributing points, the headquarters being at Martinez, with a county-wide library service, embracing all but two schools in the county. One of the most important pieces of educational work was done by the librarian in

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1924-1925 when she supplied a very carefully selected list of books for general reading in the seventh and eighth grades, which was followed by the giving of certificates, supplied by the superintendent of schools, to the pupils who had read eight books from the assigned lists. During that period 457 such certificates were given out, thus showing the value of such suggestions in connection with the regular school courses, and its realization by the pupils who are endeavoring to gain the best results pos- sible from their years in the schoolroom. Although this reading course entailed the purchase of a great many new books, with the necessary cata- loging and extra statistical work, the result was so satisfactory as a whole that there is no doubt as to its worth, and as soon as possible it should be extended to the lower grades.

It is a fortunate county which can have at the head of its library work one so thoroughly in harmony with the spirit of the times; with broad vision, and at the same time competent to look after the detail work nec- essary to carry plans to a successful culmination. Continuous coopera- tion has been maintained with the County Farm Home demonstrator in furthering her nutrition projects by supplying books to the different cen- ters on the subject; with the two directors of Citizenship classes by fur- nishing them with easy texts, pictures and foreign records ; with the county nurse by supplying the necessary books on health instruction; with the Boy Scout and Sunshine Camps by sending to the camps books for their use ; with the County Federation of Woman's Clubs and the Parent- Teacher organization by having exhibits of books and art pictures; and with every project which can be helped by the public library.

A clear and forceful speaker, Mrs. Whitbeck gives talks on books and reading whenever asked to do so by the different organizations. She stands for progress in library work throughout the county, and her work is much appreciated by the community at large, who recognize her as a woman of high ideals and fine executive ability.

Her marriage, occurring in 1892, united her with James L. Whitbeck, a native of New York State, and a graduate of the University of Califor- nia, class of 1891. His death occurred in 1908, at Berkeley.

OTTO KRESSE .- Among the many artisans and expert workmen whose knowledge and workmanship contributed to the successful construc- tion of the great steel plant of the Columbia Steel Corporation, at Pitts- burg, Cal., none are more worthy of mention than Otto Kresse, superin- tendent of its open hearth furnaces. Mr. Kresse built and installed the first open hearth furnace for this plant, and is the oldest employee in the operative department.

Otto Kresse was born at Milwaukee, Wis., January 10, 1886, a son of Arnold and Theresa Kresse; his father is deceased, but his mother is still living and resides at Milwaukee, Wis. Otto's boyhood days were spent in Milwaukee, and after finishing his elementary education he at- tended the Milwaukee University, where he specialized in chemistry and

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metallurgy, graduating with the Class of 1904. During the next two years he was employed by the Dutcher Steel Casting Company of Mil- waukee, following which he accepted a position with the Wellman-Seaver- Morgan Company, of Cleveland, Ohio, during the years of 1906 to 1910. Most of his work with this firm was the installing of steel furnaces in the plants to which the company had sold machinery equipment. Mr. Kresse built furnaces at Menominee, Mich .; Marion, Ohio; Milwaukee, Wis .; and Bucyrus, Ohio.

In September, 1910, Mr. Kresse was sent as the representative of the Wellman-Seaver-Morgan Company to Pittsburg, Cal., for the special pur- pose of building the first steel furnace at the plant of the Columbia Steel Corporation. It required four months to build the first furnaces and in- stall the necessary equipment. This plant has had a phenomenal growth and has gained a nation-wide reputation for the execution of orders for extra large steel castings. During the World War the officers of the United States Navy and United States Merchant Marine were greatly sur- prised when they found that the Columbia Steel Corporation's work com- pared favorably with the best steel foundries of the East. Castings weigh- ing as high as 80,000 pounds have been poured here, and some steel cast- ings as large as 56,000 pounds have been shipped East. Keels were cast for several battleships and merchant vessels, and some of the steel keels were shipped as far East as Newport News and the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Credit is given to Mr. Kresse for his part in the execution of these orders.

On June 5, 1913, Otto Kresse was united in marriage with Miss Maud Minaker, of Pittsburg, Cal., the daughter of George A. Minaker, well- known former constable who served in that capacity for twenty-five years and is now a retired citizen of Pittsburg. This union has been blessed with two children, Georgia Jean and Doris May. Fraternally Mr. Kresse is a member of Pittsburg Lodge No. 429, F. & A. M., and was the first member of this lodge to be made a Master Mason, to which position he was raised in 1912. He has served as treasurer of the city of Pittsburg, first by appointment and afterwards by election for another term, and is an active member of the Pittsburg Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Kresse is a man of high ideals and stands for all movements that make for good citizenship.

EDWARD PETERSON .- The position of yard foreman for the Coos Bay Lumber Company, formerly the C. A. Smith Lumber Company at Bay Point, is one that requires native force and ability, coupled with patience and good judgment. In Edward Peterson the corporation has a valued employee, and in point of years of service with this concern he ranks among the very oldest, having entered the employ of the original company in 1908. To show the responsibility that falls upon the man in this position, we will state that the plant and yards cover 460 acres of ground, 260 acres of which are actually covered with lumber, mainly Douglas Fir and Port Orford Cedar, the latter a high-grade finishing lum-

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ber coming from the Coos Bay district in Oregon, in the southwestern part of which State this company owns seventy-five per cent of the standing timber. It is one mile from the dock to the offices of the company.

Edward Peterson was born in Christianstad, Sweden, on January 6, 1867, and was brought up and educated in his native land, serving in the army for two years. His father, Peter Abrahamson, is a farmer and is still living at the age of eighty-two, and his mother is also of that same age. Of the nine children in the family, our subject is the eldest. At the very early age of nine he started working on neighboring farms, doing such work as a child of his years could handle, receiving his board and clothes at first, and later being paid 125 crowns per year. In time he was married in his native land, and there his oldest child, Herman, was born. When the babe was only six months old Mr. Peterson sailed from Malmo, in the latter part of February, for the United States, arriving in March, 1893, with but one dollar to his name, and this a part of the sum he had borrowed to pay his passage. Being only twenty-six years old, and hav- ing a sturdy constitution and willing hands, he began work and earned enough to take him to Brainard, Minn., where he had intended becoming a farmer. This was the year of hard times, however, and for three months he could find no work to earn any money and was compelled to work for his board and room. When at last he secured employment he was paid $1.25 per day as a common laborer for the Northern Mills Lumber Company, remaining with them until they went broke, when they paid off their help with due bills. He realized he could not make headway in this manner and struck out for the country and found work on a farm for his board and twenty-six dollars a month. That winter he spent in the lumber woods at eighteen dollars a month and board, and worked from daylight till dark, in Cass County lumber camps. In the summer time he worked in the saw mills, and thus he came to be interested in the lumber and milling business instead of farming. Three years he con- tinued at this employment. Then, having saved enough money to take him back to Sweden, he returned to his native country, where he farmed on rented land three years.

The call of the New World was too strong to be resisted any longer, however, and Mr. Peterson, with his wife and two children (Edwin having been born in the meantime), embarked for New York and landed there in April, 1900, going direct to Brainard, Minn. He took up his old line of work in the lumber industry. In 1908 he went to Potlatch, Idaho, and engaged with the Weyerhouser Lumber Company for two years, passing from one position to another until he was in charge of the sorting shed. There he became acquainted with S. W. Rodgers, who came to Bay Point in 1908. Mr. Rodgers sent for Mr. Peterson and he came out to join him in Bay Point and became his right-hand man. He helped to plan the yards, which cover 260 acres; helped lay the rails; and helped build the wharf, with the two traveling cranes, which now unload as high as 1,500,- 000 feet of lumber a day from the ships. Three Fordson tractors and

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fourteen horses are used in the yards, where some 120,000,000 feet of lumber are handled annually. There are eighty men under, his supervision, his chief assistants being Oscar and Axel Anderson. In 1914 a fire de- stroyed 40,000,000 feet of lumber, tracks, etc., so that our subject has practically rebuilt the entire yards.

After coming to this country, two more children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Peterson : Hilma, and Ida, a stenographer in San Francisco. Mr. Peterson is a member of the Lutheran Church in Bay Point. He helped to build the church and to organize the congregation, he being a deacon in the church. He helped also to organize the First National Bank in Bay Point. Politically, he is a Republican. There is no man in Bay Point in the lumber business better known than is Mr. Peterson, and he has hosts of friends.

MARY A. RIDGWAY .- Among the business women who occupy a position of prominence in the esteem of the citizens of Walnut Creek is Mary A. Ridgway, who since 1908 has been connected with the San Ramon Valley Bank, and since 1919 has occupied the responsible position of as- sistant cashier. She has also served as city clerk for three terms, and has won a wide popularity for the sterling traits which distinguish her character.

The Ridgway family has been identified with Contra Costa County ever since the seventies, and Mary A. was born at Walnut Creek, a daugh- ter of Frazier and Amelia (Howard) Ridgway, the former a native of Shawneetown, Ill. The mother was born in San Francisco, Cal., and taught school for a number of years in Contra Costa County. Grand- father John Ridgway was also a native of Illinois, while Grandmother Ridgway, whose maiden name was Mary Alexander Posey, was a native of Kentucky. The grandparents on the mother's side were Nathaniel S. and Sarah Elizabeth (Hatch) Howard, both natives of Massachusetts. Nathaniel S. Howard came to California in 1850 via the second clipper ship that came to the Coast, and he landed in San Francisco on January 1 of that year; two years later he sent for his wife, who came via the Panama route. In 1856 the Howard family settled in Green Valley, Con- tra Costa County, where Nathaniel S. Howard became one of the sub- stantial citizens of the county.

Frazier Ridgway is one of two brothers, and the only one to come to California. He settled in Contra Costa County some fifty years ago. For many years he was secretary for Daniel and Seth Cook, and now makes his home in San Francisco. There are two daughters in this family, Mary A. and Ruth Howard Ridgway, also of Walnut Creek.

Mary A. Ridgway attended grammar school in Walnut Creek, and when ready for high school she entered Mount Diablo Union High School at Concord, remaining until she entered the employ of the San Ramon Valley Bank some eighteen years ago, where as above stated she has held the responsible position of assistant cashier for the past seven years.

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CARLETON E. WIGHTMAN .- One of the well-known men of the Oakley district, of Contra Costa County, where he is a successful con- tractor and rancher, is Carleton E. Wightman, better known to his friends as Carl Wightman. He was born at Antioch on August 2, 1880, the oldest son born to Joel D. and Sarah (Snead) Wightman, mentioned at length on another page of this history.

Carleton E. Wightman spent fourteen years of his life in Antioch and there attended the public schools; then with his parents he went to the ranch home consisting of twenty-five acres half a mile west of Oakley, where he now lives. Twenty-two acres of this ranch is planted to olives. In addition to his ranch work, Mr. Wightman has built many buildings and residences in Antioch, Knightsen, Oakley, Brentwood and Byron.

At Brentwood on August 18, 1901, Mr. Wightman was married to Miss Lillian Lindsey, a native of Illinois, but brought up since twelve years of age in the Oakley precinct. Of this union eleven children were born, ten of whom are still living: Helen Minerva, graduate of the Uni- versity of California hospital and now working at her profession in San Francisco; Joel David, mechanic in the paper mill at Antioch ; Maude Lil- lian, a bookkeeper in San Francisco; Forest Pearl, at home; Frederick William, who died in 1918, aged nine years; and Frances Evelyn, Eugene, Bessie B., Wallace, Ruth Merle, and Barbara Ann. Mr. Wightman is serving as a school trustee for the Oakley school district.

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History of Contra Costa County, California; with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its growth and development from the early days to the present, Part 63

Author: Munro-Fraser, J. P Publication date: 1926 Publisher: Los Angeles, Calif. : Historic Record Co. Number of Pages: 1118

Author: Munro-Fraser, J. P
Publication date: 1926
Publisher: Los Angeles, Calif. : Historic Record Co.
Number of Pages: 1118