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 82
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Mr. Lauritzen was married on May 5, 1924, at Antioch, to Miss Mary Faye Cox. The family home is located at No. 710 F Street, Anti- och. He is a member of Harding Post No. 161, American Legion, at Antioch; and of Antioch Lodge No. 175, F. & A. M .; and is a thirty- second degree Scottish Rite Mason, holding membership in San Francisco Consistory No. 1. He also belongs to the Sciots in Antioch. Mr. Laurit- zen is public-spirited and is popular in the community where he has made his home for so many years. He and his wife move in the best social cir- cles in Contra Costa County.
E. J. SWANSON .- A resident of El Cerrito since 1920, E. J. Swan- son has been very closely identified with the development of its varied in- terests and has taken an active part in civic affairs as a member of the El Cerrito Improvement Club. He was born in La Porte County, Ind., on April 23, 1876, and received his education in the public schools. At the age of seventeen he began working at the carpenter's trade, and as he was handy with tools, soon became a good workman and labored as a journey- man in Chicago for ten years prior to coming to California.
On May 24, 1906, Mr. Swanson was united in marriage with Miss Agnes Soderberg, a native of Sweden. She had been in San Francisco for some time and went through the great earthquake and fire of April, 1906, after which she went back to Chicago and there was married to Mr. Swan- son. They have a son, Harold William, in the Richmond High School.
In 1917, on account of the ill health of Mrs. Swanson, Mr. Swanson decided he would come to the Pacific Coast and they arrived in San Fran- cisco and made that city their home for three years, at the same time he was employed at carpenter work. He became tired of paying rent and living in flats and decided he would look for a place to buy a home. He found a fine location in El Cerrito and bought 200 feet on Stockton Street, just at the foot of the hills and overlooking the bay and valley below. When he moved into the little house that was on the land there was not a house on the hillside where now stand some 400 homes. Little by little Mr. and Mrs. Swanson have built up a very comfortable home and have a valuable property. He works at his trade and has been employed on
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buildings from Berkeley to Crockett. There has been no movement for the bettering of conditions in El Cerrito that has not found Mr. Swanson a champion of the cause. He takes an active part in church work and is a member of the Bethel Lutheran Church in Berkeley. In political matters he registers as a Democrat, but in local affairs he supports men and meas- ures regardless of politics.
SAMUEL KIRKHOUSE .- An active member of the Crockett- Valona Business Men's Association, Samuel Kirkhouse is giving his best efforts to promote the welfare of his adopted city of Crockett. So far as he is able he contributes to all enterprises for the development of this section of Contra Costa County. Visible evidence of his work is seen on all sides for he has erected many homes and remodeled many buildings since he came to Crockett. He was born in England on July 21, 1871, a son of John and Susan (Price) Kirkhouse, the former still living in Eng- land, but the latter is deceased. His schooling was obtained in his native land and he lived there until July 20, 1911, the date of his arrival in this country. Arriving in California he worked at the building business in Vallejo, until he came to Crockett a few months later and established his own business as a contractor in house-painting and decorating. He tries to serve his patrons in a satisfactory manner, and by so doing has built up a substantial business in his line and is recognized as being dependable in all matters. He has an established credit for honest workmanship.
Mr. Kirkhouse married Miss Isabelle McLean and they have two boys: John Colin, a graduate from the high school, and with two sessions at the University of California to his credit; and William Reginald, also a graduate from the high school. In politics Mr. Kirkhouse is a Republi- can. He is a Scottish Rite Mason and a Shriner, belongs to the Elks, the Eagles, the Odd Fellows Lodge and Encampment, and also to the Eastern Star Chapter, and has held offices in some of these lodges. He is a Presbyterian in religious belief. Soon after coming to Crockett he purchased his own home, where he and his family now reside.
Mr. Kirkhouse has a brother, Ernest, and four sisters, Alice, Blanche, Susan and Julia, all married and living in England.
FRENCH McDONALD .- A resident of Contra Costa County since 1920, and an enterprising business man and citizen of El Cerrito since 1921, French McDonald is making his influence felt for the good of the community in civic matters as a member of the El Cerrito Improvement Association. He was born in Brown County, Kans., on June 30, 1879, and attended the public schools in Hiawatha, with two years in the high school there. At the age of nineteen he entered the employ of a large power company at its plant in Hiawatha. Beginning at the bottom, he gradually worked up to positions of trust and responsibility. From the age of nineteen until he came to California in 1920, Mr. McDonald was employed by various large power companies, water, steam and electric,
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in Kansas, Oklahoma, Iowa, Nebraska and Missouri. In the latter state, at Carrollton, he was chief engineer in an electric plant for seven years.
Thinking to better his condition and knowing that he would not make much advancement as long as he was working for wages, Mr. McDonald came to California looking for a place to engage in business. He entered the employ of the East Bay Water Company at the San Pablo Filter plant and remained one year, during which time he was studying the local con- ditions in El Cerrito. In 1921 he decided to embark in business and with his brother-in-law, H. P. Rude, started in the electrical contracting busi- ness and dealing in electrical supplies. From the first their business pros- pered and in 1923 Mr. McDonald bought out his partner and now carries on the business alone. He is located at 212 San Pablo Avenue and does everything in the electrical line. His handiwork shows in many of the homes erected here since he began business.
In 1903 Mr. McDonald was united in marriage at Winfield, Kans., to Daisy Rude, a native of that place, and they have three children: Thomas, a graduate of the Richmond High School and now a student in the Oakland Polytechnic College of Engineering; and Elizabeth and Mary, both in the Richmond High School. Mr. McDonald is a member of the Berkeley Chamber of Commerce; and also belongs to Wakenda Lodge No. 52, A. F. & A. M., at Carrollton, Mo. He is thoroughly equipped to handle any electrical job and is a very competent workman.
SAMUEL AND JOHN GIAMMONA .- The enterprising firm of wholesale dealers in fruits and produce at Pittsburg, Cal., is composed of two energetic and progressive young Italians, Sam and John Giammona, natives of Palermo, Island of Sicily, Italy. Sam was born on July 24, 1891, and John on January 15, 1895 ; their parents are both dead. Re- alizing that America offered a greater degree of independence and pros- perity than the old home land, Sam preceded his brother to America by six years, locating at Grand Rapids, Mich. John joined his brother there in June, 1911. The two brothers have been closely associated in work and business ever since. At first they accepted work at anything that was honorable and by economical living saved their money until they had ac- cumulated sufficient to enter the fruit and produce business at Grand Rapids, Mich. After the opening of the World War, Sam was drafted and served overseas about two years in France, where he was severely gassed and was in a French hospital for nine months. In the meantime John looked after the business at Grand Rapids. Upon Sam's return to America he reentered the business at Grand Rapids, although still feeling the ill effects of the gassing received during the war.
Samuel Giammona was married on June 21, 1915, to Miss Josephine Minardo, the ceremony occurring at Grand Rapids, Mich. John Giam- mona was united in marriage the following year, on September 11, 1916, to Lucy Minardo, a sister of Sam's wife. Both sisters are natives of
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Michigan. The two brothers have each five children, and each family has chosen the same five names for the children: Frances, Pietro, Michael, Josephine, and Joseph.
For about three years the Giammona brothers conducted a fruit and produce business from wagons at Pittsburg. In June, 1925, they opened a large and commodious storeroom for the operating of a wholesale business, at No. 115 Black Diamond Street, where they are meeting with success, although this is a new enterprise for Pittsburg. The splendid executive and financial ability thus far shown by these two young men predicts for this firm an expanding business and a successful career.
CLARENCE ARCHER ODELL .- A pioneer of Richmond and a man who has been much interested in preserving its history is C. A. Odell, who, since March 4, 1918, has served as police judge of Rich- mond. He was born at Thorntown, Boone County, Ind., on November 4, 1868, a son of Alpheus Odell. He was also a native of Boone County, born there on February 7, 1836, and educated in the Thorntown Acad- emy and Asbury University. After finishing college he began teaching school and followed that vocation practically the balance of his life. He married Julia Archer, at Spencer, Owen County, Ind., on November 26, 1862. She was born in Spencer on August 28, 1844, and became the mother of six children. The Odell family first came to Richmond in 1900, and established their residence in that place in 1901. A. Odell had the distinction of teaching the first school in Richmond. He was one of the first men to agitate the question of incorporating Richmond, wrote and circulated the first petition for that purpose; he also wrote the first petition for annexation and fixed the original boundaries of the city. He was one of the first to agitate boring a tunnel through the mountain for the municipal wharf; and was also the man who called the meeting for the organization of the first Masonic lodge. He died in Richmond on January 22, 1922. Mrs. Odell passed away on December 28, 1918.
C. A. Odell received a good education and then studied law and was admitted to practice, after passing the supreme court examination, at Sacramento, May 8, 1894. At San Francisco, on June 21, 1909, he was admitted to the United States District Court. Since taking up the law he has practiced uninterruptedly and has met with a flattering degree of success. He served as city recorder of Richmond from November 1, 1908, to August 1, 1909. When the freeholders charter went into effect on July 1, 1909, there was a change of administration and he was then appointed judge of the police court and has served continuously ever since. He has always taken a very active interest in development work and by his wide knowledge of conditions has been of much help in ad- vancing the interest of the city of his adoption.
C. A. Odell was united in marriage on June 11, 1912, to Katherine R., daughter of Gersham D. and Jeanette R. Richardson. Mrs. Odell
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is a professional nurse, having graduated from the San Bernardino County Hospital, and the California Hospital in Los Angeles. They have three children: Clarence Archer, Jr., aged thirteen; Elizabeth T., aged eleven; and Lois E., aged one year. The Judge is a member of Mckinley Lodge, F. & A. M., and the Eastern Star, and also of the Woodmen of the World.
RAYMOND HAYNES STANDISH .- The Pacific Coast manager of the United Cartridge Company is Raymond Haynes Standish, who is also serving the public as justice of the peace in the Twelfth Judicial Town- ship, which comprises Crockett, Valona, Tormey and Selby. He is a native son and was born at Pacheco, on June 17, 1883, a son of George E. and Charlotte (Haynes) Standish, the former also having been born at Pa- checo, the son of pioneer parents. He was a machinist by trade and for twenty-two years was superintendent of the cartridge factory of the Selby Smelter. He died at the age of fifty-two years, after a useful and honored career; the mother died in 1926, having reached the age of sixty-three years. She was the first librarian of the Crockett branch of the county free library and served for many years with marked efficiency. Mrs. Standish was born in the Willamette Valley in Oregon, and after settling at Crockett took an active interest in all matters pertaining to the general welfare of the people.
After graduating from the grammar school in Crockett, R. H. Stand- ish became a student at the Wilmerding School of Architectural Arts, which is now a part of the Lick-Wilmerding School in San Francisco. After completing his course he entered upon a four-years apprenticeship as a machinist at the Union Iron Works. During this same time he pur- sued studies in the Humboldt Evening High School in San Francisco, majoring in mechanical arts for two years, and then served another ap- prenticeship as draftsman at the Union Iron Works for two years, when he received his certificate as master mechanic and draftsman. He then entered the employ of the Selby Smelter, where he worked as draftsman in remodeling the plant. When his father retired as superintendent of the cartridge factory in 1911, our subject succeeded to his position, having served as assistant superintendent from 1907 to 1911, under his father. In 1920 the Selby Smelter was sold to the United Cartridge Company, at which time Mr. Standish became manager on the Pacific Coast.
Raymond H. Standish was married first to Miss Flora McNeill, of San Francisco, and they had a son, Raymond Leslie, born March 11, 1907. who graduated from the John Swett Union High School and is now in the employ of the Bethlehem Steel Corporation in San Francisco. His second marriage united him with Miss Eva Rose, born in Kansas. In political affairs Judge Standish is a Republican and he was elected on that ticket to the office of justice of the peace of District No. 12 in 1914, and reelected twice since, thus showing the confidence his fellow citizens have in him. He has always taken an active interest in political matters that concern
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his county and community and counts his friends by the hundreds. He deals out justice to those brought before him without fear or favor and his administration of the office is very economical; he holds court at his office in Crockett every work-day evening except Saturday. Judge Standish is active in fraternal circles and belongs to the Odd Fellows, the Encamp- ment, Improved Order of Red Men, the Knights of Pythias, the Vallejo Elks and the Native Sons, and has held various offices in these several or- ders. He is a booster for Contra Costa County and considers Crockett one of its favored sections; and accordingly he has invested his money in property in this city. He takes an active interest in civic matters and is considered a leader in all progressive movements for the upbuilding of town and county.
JAMES J. WHITE .- As chief of the Valona Fire Department, James J. White has proven himself a very efficient officer and all who know him are loud in the words of praise spoken in his behalf. He was born in Martinez on November 11, 1887, a son of Thomas and Mary (Tately) White, both natives of Ireland. The father came to America in young manhood and died in 1900. James J. attended the Martinez public schools and then was sent to St. Vincent's Home in San Rafael. His first work after leaving school was driving a milk wagon in Petaluma. One year later he went to work on the farm owned by James McKenna and remained there six years.
Mr. White was preparing himself physically for the position he had sometime hoped to hold, that of chief of a fire department. He took special training for the position he holds today. Entering the employ of the sugar refinery his adaptability was soon recognized and he was sent to San Francisco to enter the fire department to obtain all the instruction and information he could. The letters of commendation and the certifi- cates of satisfactory work in the department of the bay city attest to his qualifications; that department also awarded him a medal for his efficiency.
On December 2, 1906, J. J. White married Miss Gertrude McVay, daughter of Hugh McVay of Prince Edward Island, who married Mar- garet Hughes. Mr. McVay was a grain merchant at Charlottestown, P. E. I., and with his wife is living in the enjoyment of good health. Of a family of two boys and twelve girls, one boy and five girls are living. Mr. and Mrs. White have had three children: William, who completed the courses at St. Vincent's Academy at Vallejo, where he took a special course in chemistry, and bears the distinction of being the first member of either side of the family to graduate from a high school. Florence died in infancy; and Althea is in the grammar school.
Immediately after their marriage, Mr. White started at boiler-making in 1906, and continued until 1911, when he came to the sugar refinery and took up his work there. At present he is a stationary fireman. He has been connected with the Valona Fire Department since 1914, and in 1918
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was made chief, at which time he was sent to San Francisco as related. The department is equipped with a splendid chemical and hose wagon. This was converted from an ordinary truck automobile after Mr. White became chief. The water system has been extended and hydrants in- stalled in various parts of the town to better serve the needs of the place. The apparatus is in first-class condition, with adequate hose for all re- quirements. He is a member of the National Fire Protection Associa- tion. By virtue of his position he serves as deputy sheriff under R. R. Veale. He belongs to the Knights of Columbus and the Red Men. In political affiliations their house is divided, Mr. White being a stanch be- liever in Democratic principles, while Mrs. White is a radical Republican. However, harmony reigns when it comes to voting for local officers for they both support the best men and measures. The family are members of the Catholic Church.
HENRY ROMAN .- Among the efficient planing mill superintendents on the Pacific Coast, one who understands the business, from the filing and running of saws and planers to the finest kind of work turned out by the mills, is Henry Roman, a whole-hearted man, self-made in the truest sense of the term. Mr. Roman has been a resident of Bay Point since 1908, when he came here at the request of S. W. Rodgers, the superinten- dent of the plant of the C. A. Smith Lumber Company. A native of Sweden, he was born on December 17, 1872. His father was a foreman in a limestone quarry in Sweden and died when our subject was only eight years old, since which time he has been self-supporting. His mother met with a serious accident, and for two years lingered in pain, finally dying in a hospital in their home town.
From the age of eight years Henry Roman worked at any kind of work his hands found to do. When he was eighteen, in 1890, he came to America to better his condition. He had had some experience in mill work in a planing mill in Sweden, becoming a fireman on one of their boats that plied in neighboring waters. Then he was an errand boy in a shoe factory, for a while, but went back to the planing mill, remaining in that work until he came to this country. He landed in New York on October 5, 1890, en route to Manson, Iowa, where he had a brother engaged in farming about twenty miles from Fort Dodge. This kind of work was not to his liking; so he went to Rhinelander, Wis., where there were eleven sawmills and fifteen planing mills operating, and secured work with Abner Connor & Son, remaining for two years. While living at Rhine- lander Mr. Roman met with a very severe accident while working with a circular saw on August 5, 1895, and for months his life was despaired of. Later he engaged with the Underwood Lumber Company, continuing with that same plant until 1906, but under the successive ownership of Weeks, Bronson and French, and G. H. Queal, and meanwhile becoming thor- oughly experienced in the various branches of planing mill work. In 1906 he went to Potlatch, Idaho, and worked there two years, becoming planing
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mill foreman under Superintendent S. W. Rodgers, who came to Bay Point to establish the yards and plant for the C. A. Smith Lumber Com- pany. That same year Mr. Roman came to this State to join Mr. Rodgers and was made planing mill foreman. Under his direction all the machin- ery in the plant was set up, and his promotions have been well deserved. He became superintendent of the planing mill in 1921, and has one assis- tant, Henry Johnson, a competent workman.
At Rhinelander, Wis., on August 5, 1897, Mr. Roman was united in marriage with Miss Beda Olson, a native of Sweden, and they have had four children: Wilhelm, a tool and lock maker with the Sledge Lock Company, in San Francisco; Clarence H., proprietor of the Bay Point Garage; Anna, wife of L. Merrill, a fruit grower near Concord; and George, an employee of the Coos Bay Lumber Company in the planing mill. The family home is at Bay Point, where Mr. Roman owns two residences, and there the family are surrounded by a wide circle of friends. Mr. Roman is a member of the Odd Fellows at Bay Point and belongs to the Masonic Lodge in Martinez. In politics he supports the men and measures of the Republican party.
LEWIS B. WEATHERBEE, M. D .- Among the practicing physi- cians of Contra Costa County, none is more in touch with the general spirit of progress in his chosen profession than Dr. Lewis B. Weatherbee of Antioch, Cal., widely known as a proficient exponent of the latest principles of medical science. Antioch and the surrounding country are fortunate to have such an able and conscientious physician to care for the physical welfare of their citizens. Dr. Weatherbee was born at Lincoln, Maine, June 14, 1880, the son of A. W. and Lucinda (Butterfield) Weatherbee, both now deceased. The father was an honored member of the bar of Penobscot County, Maine, while the mother came from the well-known and highly esteemed Butterfield family of Maine.
Lewis B. Weatherbee spent his boyhood days in his native State and when twenty-one years old migrated to Baker, Ore., where he completed his high school studies and thereupon took up a special preparatory medi- cal course at the University of Oregon, at Eugene. Later he entered the California Medical College at San Francisco, taking the regular four-year course. The great earthquake of 1906 caused the discontinuance of this college ; so he took the last two years of his course at the California Eclec- tic Medical College at Los Angeles, graduating with the Class of 1909.
Dr. Weatherbee began practicing at Forest Hill, Placer County, Cal., where he remained one year. He then moved to Oakland, where he re- mained four years, afterwards locating at Oakley, in Contra Costa County, and also establishing an office at Brentwood. In 1918, Doctor Weather- bee moved to Antioch, where he has successfully practiced ever since. Be- ing possessed of a vigorous mentality and endowed with an aptitude for learning, Dr. Weatherbee took advantage of several postgraduate courses under well-known national specialists, including the technique of X-Ray
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under Dr. E. C. Jermen of Chicago, and individual electric treatments under Dr. Waggoner, of Cleveland, Ohio. Although adhering to the methods of the eclectic school of medicine, he uses electricity very exten- sively in his practice, and his office is equipped with the latest X-Ray machine and electrical appliances that are equal to those found in the larg- est cities of the State. During the World War Dr. Weatherbee served in the Volunteer Medical Reserve Corps.
In Stockton, Cal., on June 20, 1923, L. B. Weatherbee was united in marriage with Miss Meda Andrews. They have adopted a daughter, Thelma, now thirteen years of age, who brightens their ideal home life. Dr. Weatherbee is a member of the National Eclectic Medical Associa- tion and State Medical Society. He is a member of Antioch Lodge No. 151, I. O. O. F., and also of the Encampment, and belongs to the Loyal Order of Moose at Pittsburg.
MATTHEW WARD .- To those who have succeeded in life solely by their own efforts much credit is due, and such an one is Judge Matthew Ward, justice of the peace of the eighth judicial township of Contra Costa County, who is in every way worthy of the success he has achieved. Judge Ward was born near Clayton, Contra Costa County, on September 24, 1883, the son of Matthew and Elizabeth (Dolan) Ward, the former a native of Ireland and the latter born in England, of Irish parentage. The father of Judge Ward emigrated to America, locating for a while in Pennsylvania and later removing to New York State, whence he came to California in 1868. He located and worked in the coal mines at Norton- ville and it was at this place he was married to Miss Elizabeth Dolan in 1872. When the coal mines gave out he took up government land and became a sheep raiser and eventually a stockman, and the owner of about 500 acres of land in the Mount Diablo section. He passed away in 1906, at the age of sixty-one years; his wife died in 1884 when Matthew, Jr., was one year old, and he was reared by an older sister, Delia Ward, now deceased. There were five children in the family, only two of whom are now living: Robert E., a farmer living near Antioch; and the subject of this sketch.
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