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 97

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 97

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Dr. Crinklaw is a native of Illinois, born in Belvidere, Boone County, on June 29, 1866. His wife was born in Owosso, Mich., and it was in Owosso on May 28, 1890, that George W. Crinklaw was united in mar- riage with Miss Winnie Belle Wright. This happy union has been blessed with two daughters: Mrs. Dr. A. B. Hinkley, residing at Rich- mond, Cal., and Mrs. Dr. E. B. Lewman of San Rafael, Cal., both of whom are successful chiropractors.

Before taking up the study of chiropractic, Mr. Crinklaw was for thirteen years steadily employed by the Toledo, Ann Arbor & Northern Michigan Railroad as a locomotive engineer. This is the railroad now owned and operated by Henry Ford. In 1920 Mr. Crinklaw and his wife became students of chiropractic at the well-known Palmer School located at Davenport, Iowa, and were graduated with the Class of 1923. After graduating they located at Los Angeles, for a short time, then removed to Oakland, and from Oakland moved to St. Helena, Napa County, where they remained until September, 1924. They then located at Pittsburg, Cal., where they have been successful in their chosen work. They are members of the Federated Chiropractors of California, and the Universal Chiropractors' Association.

WARREN EDMOND HASELTINE .- The assistant sugar inspec- tor at the California-Hawaiian Sugar Refinery at Crockett, Warren Ed- mond Haseltine, has won the respect of all who know him, for his up- right character and strict integrity. He was born in Bureau County, Ill., on June 14, 1878, the son of Theodore Harris and Mary Elizabeth (Ed- mond) Haseltine. The father was a Methodist preacher, as was also Grandfather Haseltine, and both lived lives full of usefulness to their neighbors and friends.

Warren Edmond Haseltine attended the public schools in his home town and then spent two years at Northwestern University, at Evanston, Ill. He then entered the University of Illinois and was graduated in 1899 with the B. S. degree. He had majored in chemistry throughout his entire college courses, and also took special interest in sociology and

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political economy. He was a member of the college track team, the only athletics in the college at that time; and he was a member of the literary society and took an active part in all its activities. He is a member of the Delta Tau Delta fraternity.

After his graduation, Mr. Haseltine secured a position in the labora- tory of the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad Company and remained in the testing department two and one-half years. His next move was to Aurora, Ill., where he was chief chemist for the William F. Jabbins Com- pany, manufacturing and analytical chemists; and this position he held for fourteen years. Going to Kansas City, Mo., he became the superinten- dent of the glycerine refinery of Peet Brothers Soap Company. This company sent him to Berkeley, Cal., to one of their branch plants, and he spent three years there. He then came to Crockett, in 1917, and was made a foreman of the Sweetland press, one of a series of thirty-four presses in the refinery. He rose to be assistant sugar inspector. During all of his wanderings about the country, Mr. Haseltine has kept up his studies. He declares the profits in manufacturing in the future will de- pend upon the handling of by-products.

Mr. Haseltine's first wife was Miss Ruth Cleveland Raymond, born in Illinois. She became the mother of two boys: Theodore Raymond, twenty-three years of age, a graduate of Stanford University and now with Burns & McDonald, engineers in Kansas City, Mo .; and Stuart Edmond, aged twenty, who is taking an agricultural course in the Univer- sity of Illinois. Mrs. Haseltine died on March 7, 1921. The second marriage united Mr. Haseltine with Miss Ruth Lillian Baker, daughter of Rev. L. H. Baker, a minister in the Methodist Church in Berkeley, but now in Long Beach, Cal. Rev. Baker was for a number of years pastor in Berkeley. Mrs. Baker is deceased. Mrs. Haseltine has one brother living in Santa Rosa. Mr. Haseltine belongs to the Elks Lodge in Vallejo, and to the Crockett Lodge of Masons, and the Consistory in Oakland. He owns his own home in Crockett and is surrounded with every convenience and many of the luxuries of this day and age. For recreation Mr. and Mrs. Haseltine enjoy camping and outdoor sports. Mr. Haseltine is much interested in the Boy Scout movement. He is a man of fine personality, cultured and well-read.

JOHN CHARLES GLANCY .- An early pioneer of the Crockett- Valona section of Contra Costa County, John Charles Glancy was priv- ileged to see much of the development of this part of the county and was closely identified with the industrial advancement of the community. He was born in Harrisburg, Pa., on August 23, 1844, attended the common schools of his day and place, and learned the iron moulder's trade, which he followed in the East and after coming to the Pacific Coast. He landed in Sacramento in 1873 and entered the employ of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company at their shops, and there he remained until 1882, when he came to Crockett. Mr. Heald had just started his manufactur-

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ing establishment, on the present site of the sugar refinery, and Mr. Glancy came to take charge of the foundry; and he continued at this work until the business closed down. It was Mr. Heald, in partnership with Thomas Edwards, who laid out the town of Crockett on land owned by Judge Crockett, he having received several hundred acres as a fee in settlement of a lawsuit in early days.

Mr. Glancy was married in Harrisburg, Pa., to Miss Catherine Helt, who was born on January 18, 1846, in Harrisburg, Pa. They had the following children: Charles, who died by accident when thirteen years old; Mrs. Ellen Dempsey; Mrs. Catherine Hunt; Mrs. Eva Abel, of Berkeley; William F. Glancy, of Elk Grove; Mrs. Mary Gebauer, of Crockett; Eugene J .; Leo A., of San Francisco; and Albert H. Mrs. Glancy conducted a store in Crockett, and the family remained here; and Mr. Glancy returned to Sacramento to resume work in the foundry for the railroad company. He died in Crockett on January 18, 1910. The mother died on March 22, 1924, active to the last in the store. They owned the store building and erected the second house in Crockett, the first one having burned. Mrs. Gebauer assisted her mother in the store until she married. Mr. Glancy always took an active interest in the maintenance of good schools and saw wonderful development here along educational lines, as he did in every other line of endeavor. In politics he was a Democrat. The family are Catholics.

ADOLPH GUSTAVE BOEHM .- One of the successful restaurant and cafe men of the Bay region, A. G. Boehm has been in business in Port Costa since 1914 and during that time has made hosts of friends throughout the district, where he has become known as one of its sub- stantial and progressive citizens. Born at Breslau, Silesia, Germany, on March 1, 1871, he is descended from an old German family, the full name of which was Von Boehm. His father, Lieutenant Herman Boehm, was a member of the famous Green Huzzars; and outside of army life he was a wholesale druggist in Gelsinkirchan Province, Westphalen, and in Essen. He married in Breslau, Pauline Ernestine Von Bulow. Both parents lived and died in Germany, the father dying in 1888, when a little over sixty-five years of age, as a result of wounds received in the Franco-German War; and the mother on November 7, 1922, at seventy- nine years, both deaths occurring in Essen. They were the parents of five children: Adolph Gustave, of this review; Conrad, formerly in the drug business in Germany, but now making his home in Essen, with his wife and three children; Herman Carl, a lieutenant on the German war- ship Embden, who went down with the ship when she sank during the World War, leaving a widow and three children; Pauline, wife of Carl Lux, residing at Dartmouth and the mother of two children; and Eliza, the mother of two children, residing at Wanne, Germany.

The eldest in the family, A. G. Boehm attended the grammar and high school in his native land. When seventeen he volunteered in the

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German Army, but after serving eight months made his way to New York City, landing at Castle Garden on March 8, 1888, without money or friends. He went to work at anything he could find to make an hon- est dollar, and learned the trade of the pastry cook. For four years he served in Company K, 4th Illinois Regulars of the U. S. Army, doing duty mostly in Illinois. Since then he has always been in the hotel and restaurant business. He came to California in 1914, from San Antonio, Texas, where he had been the proprietor of a hotel and cafe, and stopped in San Francisco for a short time. He came to Port Costa in the latter part of 1914 and obtained a lease of the Burlington Hotel and Restau- rant, and from the beginning he has made a success of the business. He is also the lessee of the Annex, with an additional thirty rooms.

The marriage of Mr. Boehm, which occurred in Flora, Ill., united him with Miss Maude Bryan, a daughter of Henry Bryan, who was a third cousin of the Hon. William Jennings Bryan. She has been a true helpmate to him, a capable wife and mother, and a woman of good sense and business ability who has been of much help to him in every busi- ness venture. They are the parents of . two boys and a girl: Bryan, Herman, and Elizabeth. Fraternally, Mr. Boehm is a Mason, belonging to the Blue Lodge of Benicia. He is a Republican in politics, and adheres to the I utheran faith in religion. In addition to his business affairs, he finds time for civic service, and is a deputy under Sheriff R. R. Veale. He is a director in both the First National Bank of Crockett and the First National Bank of Rodeo, and is also a director of the Crockett Investment Company. An affable and whole-hearted man, he has a gen- ius for making and holding friends, perhaps because he is a loyal friend himself, and is filled with a desire to help others to help themselves. He believes thoroughly in the future of this part of the State, and as a patri- otic citizen he does all in his power to help in the movements which have its best interests in view. Although of German birth, he yields to no man in patriotism for his adopted country; coming here as a boy of seventeen in order to live in a democracy and benefit by its laws, he has appreciated his opportunities and is grateful for them.

FRANK WILLIAM BAUER, JR .- Frank William Bauer, Jr., at- tended the schools in Crockett and San Francisco, and also night school. He learned the trade of the painter and has followed it all his active career. He is now employed in the sugar refinery as a painter, and has been with this firm since February, 1914.

The marriage uniting Mr. Bauer with Miss Esther Eriksen, a native of Michigan, took place on October 25, 1916. They have two children : Jack Francis and Francis William. Mr. Bauer is a member of the Knights of Pythias and the Red Men, and has held offices in these lodges. He is fond of camping and outdoor sports. Both Mr. and Mrs. Bauer are interested in Christian Science. They own their own home and have a large circle of friends.

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PETER HENRY NANCETT .- In point of service, Peter Henry Nancett is one of the oldest employees of the Oleum Refinery, and is a highly trustworthy man. He has worked hard and has combined such good management with his industry that he now owns his own home and other income property in Rodeo, where he makes his home. Mr. and Mrs. Nancett first came to Oleum in 1897, and he immediately found employment at the Union Oil refinery. It is an historic fact that their oldest son, Harry, was the first boy baby born at Oleum.

P. H. Nancett was born at New Bedford, Mass., on August 4, 1869, the son of Henry L. and Louise ( Rose) Nancett, both natives of Portu- gal. Grandfather Nancett was of half French blood, his father having been sent by the government from Lisbon to the Cape Verde Islands, where for many years he was a magistrate. Henry L. Nancett became a seafaring man and was a whaler out of New Bedford, and Peter Henry grew up at that place. His mother having died when he was only two years old, his stepmother reared him to maturity. He early became familiar with the sea, and went to Australia, where he lived for nine years, attending school there for about one year, and also worked as a marine fireman.

His stepmother preceeded him to San Francisco in 1893, and that same year he joined her and continued to follow the sea for some time after coming to California, making a trip to Alaska in the fishing in- dustry. Returning to San Francisco he was married on September 5, 1895, to Miss M. Victoria Perry, a native of Chile, South America, and daughter of Manuel A. and Augusta Perry, she being now the only one living of their three children. Her father was a merchant in Chile. Her mother having died, father and daughter sailed in a whaling ship around Cape Horn to Providence, R. I., and when Mrs. Nancett was a girl of ten years, they came to California. She attended the public schools in San Benito and Mendocino Counties and in Sausalito, and was a schoolmate of Sheriff Burns of Mendocino County. After their mar- riage, Mr. and Mrs. Nancett lived in Alameda County until they came to Oleum in 1897. After this date Mr. Nancett followed the sea for two and one-half years, and during this time he had an ex- perience which determined him to live on land for the rest of his days. He was shipwrecked off the coast of Cape Mendocino in 1900, when his ship, the Walla Walla, collided with the French freighter, Max, and for thirty-six hours battled the waves in a small boat, trying to land. He was one of nine out of thirty-six that escaped with their lives from the experience.

Five children blessed the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Nancett: Ema- linda, died when eighteen years old; Henry, or "Harry," in the employ of the Union Oil Company, married Miss Emma Hill, and is the father of three children, Rita, Victor, and Robert; Leo, a painter in the employ of the Shell Oil Company at Martinez; Arthur, with the Union Oil Company at Oleum, married Miss Anna Pezzuto of Crockett; and Peter

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Anthony. The family are members of St. Patrick's Church, at Rodeo. Fraternally Mr. Nancett belongs to the I. D. E. S., the Moose, and the Druids. He votes the Republican ticket, and is interested in the growth and advancement of his home community. Mrs. Nancett is interested in Americanization work and taught the Portuguese who came from the old country, in her own home in Rodeo, before the public schools took up that work. Three of her pupils were World War heroes.

ARASIMO CARDINALLI .- Among the pioneer citizens of Pitts- burg is Arasimo Cardinalli, now living retired at 421 East Fourth Street. Not only is he a pioneer, but he is rated among the wealthy men of this place. He erected the A. Cardinalli building on Black Diamond Street in 1919, and he and his wife conducted the Cardinalli Hotel, lo- cated on the second floor of his building. Mr. Cardinalli built and operated the first power launch on the rivers, using it to take him to and from the fishermen in smaller boats, from whom he bought fish. He had firm faith in the future of the town of his adoption and built several buildings on property he had purchased, one of which he and his family occupied as a home. He installed the first telephone to be used in this locality. Jealousy and his firm refusal to meet unreasonable demands on him led to black-hand methods, and this building was dynamited; but the family miraculously escaped, although the entire front of the building was blown out. Misfortunes never come singly; and in 1918 he consigned his pack of fish to the Talcot Grant Company of Astoria, Ore., and through their failure he lost heavily and was obliged to borrow $56,000. He paid every cent in time, and he was glad to get back on his feet once more, although he had to sacrifice much of his Pittsburg holdings.

Mr. Cardinalli was born in Palermo, Island of Sicily, Italy, on Nov- ember 5, 1861. He grew up in that place and early engaged in the fishing industry. When a young man he came to America, settled in New Orleans, and engaged in fishing for oysters for three years. Then he came on to California and located at Pittsburg Landing, where he became a buyer and packer of fish and prospered accordingly, in time becoming the leading fish merchant here. He built and operated a fleet of motor boats, the first boat is still in operation and is in good condition.

Mr. Cardinalli was married in the old City Hall, in San Francisco, on june 2, 1890, to Miss Frances Junta, of Pittsburg. She is the oldest of nine children of Rasmo Junta, the pioneer boat and ship builder in Pittsburg. Mr. and Mrs. Cardinalli have had nine children born to them. Frank J. is mentioned at length on another page in this history. Jennie is the wife of Philip Crerello of Oakland and the mother of Dante, William and Minna Crerello. Susie is the widow of Robert McGrath, and is a teacher in the Pittsburg schools; she has a son, Robert. Vincent is married to Catherine Rossi of Pittsburg, and they have a son named Ar- asimo. Jack is employed by the Paladini Fish Company and married Miss

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Ann Francois. The other children died in infancy. Through all his trials and tribulations, Mr. Cardinalli has had the loyal support and cooperation of his good wife, to whom he gives much credit for the success he has won and the position he holds in the esteem of his friends and associates.

OSCAR OTTO PRYTZ .- Descended from a pioneer of the sixties in California, Oscar Otto Prytz was born in Crockett, Cal., on May 23, 1883, a son of the late John Prytz, who was a native of Norway and a well educated man. Early in life he became a sailor and traveled to many ports until he finally rounded Cape Horn and arrived in San Fran- cisco, where he sought employment in the coast lumber trade and worked for the A. C. Freese Steamboat Company. There is now a boat named Freese running in the coasting trade, which was named after the owner of this company. John Prytz married Miss Katherine Wickerson, a native of Germany, who had come to California a young woman and met Mr. Prytz in Redwood City. They lived in Redwood City while Mr. Prytz was running in the coast lumber trade. Then the little family moved to Stockton, and from there to Crockett in 1887, where the father worked on the water front and in boating. He had tried out his fortunes in Crockett during 1886, then was joined by his family the following year. This remained his home and place of business until his death in 1914. There were four boys in this family, viz .: William Ward, employed in the yards of Port Costa Lumber Company in Crockett; George Grover, engaged in the fuel business in Oakland; Edwin Edison, also living in Crockett; and Otto, of this review. The mother makes her home in Crockett where she is surrounded by her children and grandchildren.

Oscar Otto Prytz attended the public schools in Crockett and then went to Santa Clara, where he served an apprenticeship in the plumbing and sheet metal trade, and remained for five years, then came to Crockett and in 1909 established a plumbing and sheet metal business. He equipped his shop with all modern machinery and began to build up a business for himself and has met with uniform success from a financial point of view, and at the same time made a name and place for himself in business circles in Contra Costa County. Besides giving his personal attention to his business affairs and carefully looking after his family, Mr. Prytz has taken a very active part in civic affairs. He became a member of the Crockett fire department and during 1916-1917 served as its chief. During his term in that position he gave especial attention to developing the department and was the means of having the town buy its first truck, extend the water system and purchase new hose. He has found the work very interesting and feels that he has done his share in building the foundation for the present department. He belongs to the Crockett-Valona Business Men's Association and is always to be found on the side of progress. In line with his business he holds member-

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ship in the Master Plumbers Association of Upper Contra Costa County. Politically he believes in supporting men and measures he thinks will be most beneficial to the people.

Mr. Prytz is the father of two children, Lorraine and Mabel, both pupils in the John Swett Union High School in Crockett. He belongs to the Masons, the Odd Fellows, and the Encampment I. O. O. F., the Red Men, Native Sons and the Foresters, and has held some offices at various times. He is one of the substantial citizens of Contra Costa County and encourages all safe and sound development.

CHARLES W. ZIMMERMAN .- A man prominent in the political life of El Cerrito, Charles W. Zimmerman is making his influence felt for the good of the community by his persistent efforts to advance the general welfare and make his city a pleasant place in which to live. He was born in Kansas on December 17, 1873, and when a babe in arms was taken by his mother to Cambridge, Ohio, where he grew to years of maturity and attended the local public schools. At the age of eighteen he came to California, and for a number of years was employed at vari- ous occupations in the southern part of the State. In 1900 he entered the employ of the Pacific Creamery Company in Buena Park, where he re- mained for six years, and then went to Tempe, Ariz., for the same com- pany, working his way from one post to another until he became assistant manager. In all, he remained with this company twenty years, the last six of which it was subsidiary to Armour & Company. The business grew to such proportions in Arizona that his firm had twenty-two trucks gathering raw milk throughout that section of the State. In 1919 he came back to California, and engaged in the dairy business on the Bixby ranch near Long Beach for seven months. Having a brother in Richmond, with whom he engaged in the bicycle business for a short time after leaving the ranch, he sold out and established an oil service station on San Pablo Avenue in El Cerrito. This was his first real venture in an independent business for himself. His was the first oil service station from University Avenue in Berkeley to his present place of business along the avenue. His home has been in El Cerrito since 1920, he having purchased a residence here at that time. He owns the land where his station is located and three lots farther to the north from his station.

The marriage of Mr. Zimmerman occurred in Honey Lake Valley, Lassen County, in 1895, while he was ranching in that county, where his brother was a pioneer of 1880. Mrs. Zimmerman was one of eleven sisters, five of whom are living. She was Minnie A. Tunnison, a native of Lassen County and the daughter of a California pioneer of 1850 in Honey Lake Valley, who farmed there all his life. Active to the last, he died at the age of seventy-seven years at the home of Mr. Zimmerman in Buena Park. Mr. Tunnison was active and enterprising, and a remark- able man in many ways. He kept a diary of daily happenings up to the

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day of his death. Mr. and Mrs. Zimmerman have three children : Erma, a graduate of the Tempe Normal School and now principal of the schools in Superior, Ariz .; Erdene, also a graduate of the Tempe Normal and now the wife of C. E. Ellsworth and mother of one daughter, Shirley; and Wesley L., who attended the Tempe High School and is now assist- ing his father.

Mr. Zimmerman entered into local politics in 1923, when he was ap- pointed a member of the board of trustees of El Cerrito to fill a vacancy caused by the resignation of a member of that body. At the general election in 1924 he was a candidate for office and was elected. An active worker for civic betterment, he helped put over the $65,000 bond election for a new city fire house and hall; the installation of a Gamewell fire alarm system sufficient to take care of eighty boxes, of which eighteen alone cost $12,450; and the purchase of a modern American La France fire engine. Since he has been in office $119,000 has been spent in laying a complete system of six-inch water mains to all parts of the city of El Cerrito; and some $500,000 worth of modern street paving has been laid, to be paid for by the property owners benefited. In 1926 he be- came chairman of the board of trustees, succeeding Frank McDermott. Mr. Zimmerman supports the Republican candidates in national matters, but in local politics he prefers to vote for the men best suited for the office rather than hew to party lines. Fraternally, he is a member of Tempe Lodge No. 8, I. O. O. F., in which he is a Past Grand and a Past Deputy Grand Master. Both he and his wife are members of the Re- bekahs. He enjoys the confidence and esteem of a wide circle of friends and business associates in this locality.

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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 97

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