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 93

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 93

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GEORGE W. CARRICK .- A resident of Contra Costa County since October 22, 1911, George W. Carrick was born in Klamath Falls, Ore., on August 16, 1884, the son of Arthur Carrick, a native of Cali- fornia, born at Yreka, where he grew to manhood and learned the trade of the blacksmith. He started under Mr. Johnson, and shod the stage horses for the company running stages between Sisson and Red Bluff, when he was eighteen years old. He married Mollie George, who crossed the plains with her parents when she was eight years of age. Her father, Ben George, homesteaded land near Grants Pass, Ore. Both the Carrick and the George families were among the early pioneers of the northern part of California and saw much of the pioneer life of their period. Arthur Carrick and his wife located at Klamath Falls, Ore., where he was the blacksmith for the stage company running to that place. He owned forty acres in what is now the heart of Klamath Falls. There were five children born to Mr. and Mrs. Carrick: Fred W., who died in Los Angeles; Lela, who married William Humphrey of Klamath Falls; George W., of this review; Eva, Mrs. Steve Pollett, of Portland, Ore., and Sidney. Mr. Carrick sold lots 62 by 125 feet for twenty dollars each in Klamath Falls, and these same lots sold in 1910 for $480 per front foot. He was associated with the growth and devel- opment of the place and served as an early member of the city council. He met his death by lightning stroke on July 6, 1902. The wife and mother passed away on March 15, 1903, at the age of fifty years. Dave Carrick, a great-uncle of George W., came to California as a prospector and miner and later became one of the large stockmen near Weed, Cal.

George W. Carrick attended the public schools in Klamath Falls. When he was eighteen he began an apprenticeship to learn the plumber's trade, receiving for his services three dollars per week. After four years he went to Portland, Ore., to finish his trade, after which he worked as a journeyman in that city until 1910. He then bought an automobile, shipped it to The Dalles, and used it in the stage business, being the pioneer in staging between Shantico, Lake View, Madras, Bend, Burns and Klamath Falls. At some places he paid one dollar per gallon for gasoline. He operated one season and then quit and came to California, locating in Contra Costa County, and entered the employ of the Stand- ard Oil Company at Richmond as a plumber, and he had charge of the plumbing of their large office building in San Francisco. He remained with the Standard for twelve years. He had saved his money, and now

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concluded that he could better his condition by being his own master; and accordingly he opened a plumbing business and gradually built up a good patronage. Two years of his time in this county he was a resident of Richmond; then he bought a place in the Richmond Annex and lived there until moving onto San Pablo Avenue. He still owns his Annex property. He built up a business in general plumbing and installing heating plants, his custom being drawn from a territory extending to Pinole and East Oakland. In 1926 he engaged in the grocery business at Mr. Miner's old stand, where he is catering to the needs of the public.

On July 28, 1910, Mr. Carrick was united in marriage at Portland, Ore., with Miss Jessie L. Dickerson, who was born in Oregon and lived there up to the time of her marriage. There are three children to brighten their home: Wilburn Lavern, born at Klamath Falls; and Barbara Jessie and George James, both born in Contra Costa County. In matters pertaining to the early history of California Mr. Carrick takes a great interest, his forebears having been among the trail-blazers here. In politics he is a Republican.

MORRIS PATANE .- Thrift and industry are illustrated in the career of Morris Patane, proprietor of the grocery department of the Grand Central Market, at 240 Railroad Street, Pittsburg. The subject of this sketch was born in the Province of Sicily, Italy, April 15, 1884, the son of Morris and Ida Patane. The mother is deceased, and the father still lives in the old homeland.

At the age of thirteen, Morris Patane became a sailor and visited the principal seaports of Italy, France, Albania and Greece. Being thrown upon his own resources so early in life his education was limited, but he was endowed with good health and self-reliance and determined to suc- ceed in whatever line of work he undertook. Realizing that America offered better opportunities for an honest, hard-working young man, Morris Patane set sail for the United States in 1900, landing in New York City, where he was employed for four years. Hearing so many wonderful reports about the Golden State he journeyed to California and located in Pittsburg in 1910.

In 1913 he engaged in business for himself, opening the New Fish Market. Being successful in this venture, he opened a more extensive business in 1922, under the name of Grand Central Fruit Market, where he owns and operates the grocery department at 240 Railroad Street. Here he carries a good assortment of staple and fancy groceries, fresh fruit, vegetables and fish. By hard work, close attention to business details and square and courteous dealings with his customers he has established a good business and has the esteem of a large circle of friends.

In 1912 Mr. Patane returned to Italy, where, on November 12, he was united in marriage with Miss Sarin Ortolani, born in that country. They came to Pittsburg in 1913, when Mr. Patane opened his business. The family home is at No. 270 East Fourth Street.

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N. S. NELSON .- The manager of the Pioneer Dairy Company, which also manufactures the Pioneer Ice Cream in Pittsburg, is N. S. Nelson, who holds an assured place in the business circles of Contra Costa County, and of Pittsburg in particular. A native of Sweden, Mr. Nelson was born in that country on July 2, 1863, and there received his education and his start in life, so that when he arrived in the United States, at the age of twenty-three, he was well equipped with a first-hand knowledge of farm- ing, such as to enable him to carry on a successful business wherever he was located. After arriving in New York on May 20, 1886, he went direct to Galva, Ill. For two years he worked out on farms to acquaint himself with the American methods of agriculture, spending his time in Illinois, Minnesota and Dakota Territory. In 1889 he came to San Francisco and for seventeen months worked for the Safety-Nider Powder Company, where the Giant now is. With the savings of his few years of labor Mr. Nelson went to San Francisco and bought a milk route, and began delivering milk and cream to customers in that city. For two years he continued that business and prospered exceedingly, employing eighteen people in his business, which was conducted under the name of the San Carlos Dairy. In order to provide milk and cream for his business in San Francisco, Mr. Nelson came to Contra Costa County and bought a half interest in a lease of 2000 acres of land, and a small dairy thereon, from Joe Minice. The land was owned by the C. A. Hooper Company. The dairy was named the Diamond Dairy because the name of the town at that time was Black Diamond. After a partnership of one year Mr. Nelson bought the other's interest, thus becoming sole owner, and having as his manager John Helm. He carried on the San Francisco business for twenty-seven years, but lost considerable money because his first lease was not profitable. Relinquishing his business in 1919, he founded the Pittsburg Pioneer Dairy Company, which buys milk from the dairy farm- ers as far south as Byron and west to Lafayette, running eight big trucks and two teams to gather the product and bring it to his plant, where it is prepared for distribution and manufactured into various milk products. He sells milk and cream in Antioch, Brentwood, Oakley, Avon, Martinez, Concord, Cowell, Clyde, Nichols, Bay Point, and nearby localities, and he also sells his ice cream throughout these sections of the county. It might be fitting to mention that the superior product known as the Pioneer Ice Cream, manufactured by Mr. Nelson, is chemically pure and in great demand. An extensive business in milk, cream and milk products is also enjoyed in Pittsburg and vicinity, as well as in the various parts of Contra Costa County mentioned. These products are strictly pure and are rec- ommended by physicians because of the sanitary methods of handling and preparing them for distribution. Mr. Nelson gives the business his per- sonal attention, and since he is thoroughly competent as an experienced dairyman this personal oversight is in itself an assurance that every care has been given to produce nothing but the best of all kinds of milk and milk products distributed by the plant.

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On March 14, 1896, in San Francisco, N. S. Nelson was united in marriage with Miss Sofina Blomquist, a native of Finland, and they have had three children, viz .: Carl, who married Miss Miller of Oakland and has two boys, Carl and Richard; Esther, who married Louis Rosenbloom and lives in Pittsburg; and Lillian, who is attending the Pittsburg High School. In political affiliations Mr. Nelson is a Republican. For many years he has been prominent in the Swedish Mission Church in San Fran- cisco, and he is a member of the board of trustees of Mission Church, at Dolores and Dorland Streets. He belongs to the Pittsburg Chamber of Commerce, the East Contra Costa Chamber of Commerce, and the Credit Association. Ever since he has resided in this county, Mr. Nelson has been one of its upbuilders and has given freely of his time and means to assist all worthy projects. He is strictly a self-made man, and his word is con- sidered as good as his bond.

YOUNG L. HARVILL .- The head of the police department and also of the general welfare work at the Columbia Steel Corporation's plant in Pittsburg, Cal., is Young L. Harvill, a man of wide acquaintance and much force of character. He was born at Centerville, Hickman County, Tenn., on March 16, 1886, and is one of a family of twelve children, all living, in the family of Young F. and Fannie ( Williams ) Harvill. The Harvills owned a large plantation in Tennessee, and the father served two terms in the legislature of that State, and for more than twenty-five years was justice of the peace in his county. The grand- father, Young J. Harvill, was a well-known Baptist preacher and a large landowner in Hickman County; he was prominent in all religious works, and served as a soldier in the Confederate Army during the Civil War. During the World War Young F. Harvill purchased a cotton plantation of 200 acres twelve miles north of Jackson, Miss., on the Illinois Central Railroad, and there he now makes his home.

Young L. Harvill attended the public schools of his native county, graduating from the high school in 1904, and soon after enlisted in the Third United States Cavalry at Fort Apache. He served in Ari- zona, and from there went to Fort Snelling, Minn., their troop being the first soldiers to occupy the new buildings at that fort. He was sent to the Philippines and served as a special assistant in the Headquarters Department under Major General McCarty and General Weston, and later under General Pershing. He received his honorable discharge at Luzon by special order of General Leonard Wood. After leaving the army, in 1908 he joined the Metropolitan Police Department in Manila, and remained there until 1912; then he was transferred to the Panama Canal Police Department and served at General Goethal's headquarters at Culebra. He was present when the dyke was blown up at Gamboa to admit the water into the canal at Panama. In 1915 he received an as- signment to the detective department of the Government service and came to California to guard the Hercules Powder Works, officiating as

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the chief executive in the patrol department there. It was during the progress of the World War that he was assigned to the Columbia Steel Corporation's plant at Pittsburg, which was then engaged extensively in filling government contracts. Later Mr. Harvill was employed jointly by the Columbia Steel Corporation and the Electro-Chemical Company to organize the patrol for the two corporations in 1917.

In April, 1922, he was selected by S. F. Rutter, at that time Cali- fornia dry enforcement official, and was made a director of the prohibi- tion forces in California. He continued in this work until in June, 1923, playing a major part in enforcing the Eighteenth Amendment and bring- ing to the bar of justice some of the most noted violators of the liquor law in the entire State. He has two honorable discharges from the United States service, and well merits the distinction he has won as a most efficient public servant.

Perhaps his most important work in Contra Costa County is the welfare work for the corporation he represents. There are 1250 men on the payroll of the Columbia Steel Corporation at Pittsburg, and Mr. Harvill looks after the safety of these men. The police department has made only nine arrests during the time Mr. Harvill has been at its head. The corporation has a hospital department with two nurses al- ways on duty, an efficient fire department, a club room, including restau- rant, reading room, pool hall and billiard room, and one hundred living rooms for the employees who prefer to live on the premises. As this population at the plant includes men of all nationalities, the position occupied by our subject represents one of great responsibility.

In 1916, at Pinole, Mr. Harvill was united in marriage with Miss Lillian M. Mills, daughter of the late Norman T. Mills. Mr. Harvill belongs to the Pittsburg Lions Club and is a member of the Knights of Pythias and the Pythian Sisters. He is a loyal booster for Pittsburg and Contra Costa County, and for all that makes for civic betterment. In politics he is a Republican.

MARTIN TOST .- The plant superintendent of the California & Hawaiian Sugar Refining Corporation is Martin Tost, of Crockett. A native of Germany, he was born on November 8, 1882, and was educated in the schools of his native country. On reaching manhood's estate, he came to America, landing in San Francisco in September, 1903. That same year marks his advent to Crockett and his entrance in the refinery as a day laborer. Since then Mr. Tost has gradually worked his way through the various departments until he reached his present position of trust in 1920. He is a most painstaking person, with an abundance of natural ability, and has won the respect of all.

Mr. Tost was married on May 27, 1916, to Miss Nora Helena San- ford, of Pacheco, Contra Costa County. In the month of March, 1926, Mr. and Mrs. Tost left on an extended visit to Europe. They were gone nearly four months, returning to Crockett on the 23rd of June.

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They had a most delightful visit, especially at the home of Mr. Tost's mother at Hameln, Germany, where she still lives at the age of sixty-four. Mr. Tost's father died in 1918 at the age of sixty. It had been twenty- eight years since Mr. Tost had seen his mother, and it is needless to say that it was a most affectionate greeting. After two months spent at Hameln, Mr. and Mrs. Tost toured in other portions of Germany, and in France, Switzerland and England, returning to their home in Crockett much refreshed in body and spirit. Mr. Tost is a member of the Red Men and the Knights of Pythias. In politics he is a Republican on na- tional issues, but in local affairs he considers the man rather than the party. He is a plain-spoken, generous-hearted man, and has a host of warm friends in his adopted home city and community.

CHARLES APPLETON HOOPER .- On July 12, 1914, at his home in Pittsburg, Cal., Charles Appleton Hooper passed away at the age of seventy-one years. He was one of the really great business men of California, and it is almost impossible adequately to write the story of his life without writing the history of the many industries with which he was connected, which space here forbids. Mr. Hooper came from sturdy New England stock, members of the family having participated in the Revolutionary War. He was born at Bangor, Maine, on March 14, 1843, and was graduated from the Hawes Grammar School in 1858, in South Boston, Mass., after which he attended the English High School for a short time. Upon leaving school he at once entered the employ of his uncle, William S. Perry, a lumber merchant, as a clerk and in two years rose to the position of bookkeeper and salesman, and then to active superintendent of the yard. At this time the Civil War swept over the country and young Hooper resigned his position to enlist, at the age of nineteen, in the 43rd Massachusetts Volunteers. After one year he received an honorable discharge, in 1863, and then decided to try his fortunes on the Pacific Coast, with his destination Amador County, whither his father, John Hooper, had migrated in 1851 and founded the town of Plymouth. Upon arriving there he worked at min- ing for his father in the Plymouth Mine one year.

Thinking that mining was not his forte, Mr. Hooper then went to San Francisco and established the firm of C. A. Hooper & Company at Fourth and Townsend Streets, and for several years did a thriving busi- ness in supplying lumber to the city and country districts around San Jose, and up the rivers tributary to San Francisco Bay. In 1867 he took as a partner William Lockerman, under the firm name of Hooper & Lockerman, but at the end of two years bought Lockerman's interest and resumed the old firm name. In 1869 George William Hooper, his brother, became a member of the firm, which had become enlarged into a wholesale, retail, and manufacturing business.

Mr. Hooper organized several lumber companies and invested heav- ily in California ranch lands and timber tracts, thus showing the firm

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faith he had in the future of this great State. He can justly be called one of the lumber kings of this northwest territory. Among the early companies he organized were the Sacramento Lumber Company, of which he was president. In 1881 he organized the L. W. Blinn Lumber Company at Los Angeles, for the Arizona business, and headed that company also. Then came the Southern California Lumber Company at Los Angeles and the Russ Lumber and Mill Company at San Diego. He was also the founder of the California Lumber Company and the Red- wood Manufacturers Company; and in 1907, of the Big Lagoon Lumber Company of Humboldt County. This latter he sold one year later for more than $4,000,000.

The history of Pittsburg is almost a history of his life. The Los Médanos Rancho was granted to Jose Miguel and Antonio Mesa in 1836 by Mexican authority, and consisted of two square leagues, more or less, of land. The grant took its name from the heaps of sand or sand dunes that originally lay upon the ground. It comprised about 20,000 acres, running from the river on the front to the lomaries, or small hills, at the back. With the influx of Americans in 1848 disaster overtook the owners, who mortgaged or sold some of the property, until it was finally lost to them. In 1849 Col. Jonathan D. Stevenson, who came to California in 1847 in command of a regiment of soldiers to help hold California for the United States, and Dr. William Parker jointly bought the land and planned the creation of a great enterprise and the building of a city to be known as the New York of the Pacific. Lieut. Gen. William T. Sherman, who later was made famous as a general by his "march to the sea" in the Civil War, was hired to survey the town- site and make a plat of it. This he did, receiving for his services $500 and ten city lots. The place was called New York Landing and Colonel Stevenson intended to make it the capital of California. The Black Diamond Coal Company were operating on a large scale a little later, and were doing a thriving business until they got into litigation, and from them the town took the name of Black Diamond. Rather than face a verdict against them they caused the mine to be flooded, and mining ceased. P. B. Cornwall, for many years a prominent citizen of San Francisco, was president of this company and the railroad station was named for him.

After the Mesas lost the property it fell into the hands of Col. L. L. Robinson, but he lost it after long litigation. He had erected a beautiful home two miles from Black Diamond on ground covering forty acres, and here he lived in splendid style. When the Bank of California fore- closed, C. A. Hooper became the owner of some 8500 acres of the Los Médanos Rancho; and subsequently he purchased additional holdings until he owned about 11,000 acres, all told, in this locality. Through his experience in California he was able to foresee the possibilities of this place as the site of a thriving industrial city. Mr. Hooper main- tained upon the site of the old Stevenson place a large and comfortable

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residence which he made his country home. In 1903 he founded the Redwood Manufacturers Company, which covers 100 acres of ground. This is the largest manufacturing concern of its kind in the West, and its products are sent to every part of the world. He was liberal and donated sites for churches, parks, etc., and in time the town grew to considerable proportions and was given the name of Pittsburg, which it now bears. He was the means of establishing the Columbia Steel Corpor- ation here, and also the Bowers Rubber Works, now the Pioneer Rubber Works, the Diamond Milling Company, the Pioneer Dairy, and other industrial concerns. In most of these organizations he was personally active and helpful, especially in capitalizing them. How well he suc- ceeded can be seen from the fact that in 1925 said industrial concerns have a total capitalization of more than $30,000,000, with an annual payroll of $4,500,000 and with some 4000 people employed.

On June 7, 1880, at Grounsville, Maine, Mr. Hooper was united in marriage with Miss Ida Geneva Snow. They had two daughters, Mrs. Wigginton E. Creed, of Piedmont, and Mrs. Idalene H. Hale, of San Diego. The death of C. A. Hooper marked the passing of one of the most influential citizens of Contra Costa County. Every line of activity had felt the impetus of his large endeavors, notable among which is the C. A. Hooper Company, which has done much to foster the development of homebuilding in this thriving industrial city-a city that will always stand as a monument to his far-seeing vision and constructive enterprise.

JAMES L. McDONALD .- A fine type of Western self-made young manhood, James L. McDonald is now in charge of the pumping station for the Santa Fe Railway, at their Glen Frazer plant, about four miles south of Martinez on the Franklin Canyon highway. Having been in the railway service since the age of sixteen, he has had charge of their water plants at various stations since 1909, and through years of train- ing is thoroughly capable in that line of work. Born in Ray County, Mo., he is the son of Alex and Cordelia (Mars) McDonald, both natives of that State and both now deceased. The father passed away in 1918, and the mother in 1919, both deaths occurring in Fresno. One brother and two sisters of James L. McDonald are residing in Yuba City, Cal., and one sister in Kansas. James L. is the youngest in the family, his birth having occurred on April 25, 1893.

The first marriage of Mr. McDonald united him with Miss Mar- garet Wright of Fresno. She died in 1919, leaving one child, Hazel, now attending grammar school. He was married a second time, in Fresno, choosing for his wife Miss Bernice Wright, a sister of Margaret; and three children have blessed their union: James and Harry, twins; and Margaret. The family reside in the cozy home provided for them by the railway company, and take an active part in the social life of their home community.

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JOHN J. DAVI .- It would be hard to find a man or firm more actively in accord with the program of progress and advancement going forward in Pittsburg, Contra Costa County, than John J. Davi and the firm of John J. Davi & Bro., established by him in 1912. A native son of Pittsburg, John J. Davi was the first white boy born of Sicilian parents in that city, his birth occurring on July 15, 1892. He is a son of the well-known pioneers of Pittsburg, Girolamo and Angelina Davi, both born at Isolla, Della Femmine, Province de Palermo, Italy, where also they were married. The father came first to California, locating in Black Diamond, now Pittsburg, in 1888; and the mother joined him here in 1891. Both parents come from excellent Sicilian families, and the mother has been a woman of unusual ability, for years keeping the books for her husband's business at Black Diamond. Her maiden name was Angelina Siino, and she is the daughter of Giovanni Siino, who was justice of the peace, notary public and collector of port in his native country, as also the official appraiser of real estate. John J. Davi is named for him. On coming to Black Diamond, G. Davi en- gaged in fishing and kept a store there, and became the fish buyer for A. Palladini of San Francisco. He was both industrious and a good manager, and with the help of his capable wife he prospered in the new country. Both parents are still living in Pittsburg. Their chil- dren are: Salvatore T., born in Sicily and now employed by the Sacra- mento Short Line Railway, and John J., Bernard G., Horace D., Neno E., Victor, and David T.

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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 93

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