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 98
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THOMAS HUGHES .- A pioneer of 1895 in Contra Costa County, Thomas Hughes has seen and been a part of the wonderful development of the Western part of this productive and important county. But few of the original settlers are now living; among them are the Edwards', Pat Murphy, J. J. Glancy, Pat Lucey, and a few others. The growth of the town has been safe and sure, and the incoming population have been the means of having parks established, playgrounds laid out and equipped, and some of the finest schools in the county erected, all of which have had our subject's most hearty cooperation and support. He was born in Ireland on August 31, 1873, the son of Patrick and Delia (Brown) Hughes, who sent their boy to the local schools of his native land; and when his school days were over he made up his mind that he would see something of the world, and accordingly made for California in 1895. He landed in San Benito County and worked on a ranch near Hollister a few months, and then sought employment in the big grain warehouses at Port Costa when this section was one of the most important grain- shipping centers in the State. One year later we find young Hughes in Crockett; and here he has been ever since, and has been a factor in its present growth and development. He holds the position of foreman of
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twenty men in the C. & H. warehouse, and is a trusted and efficient em- ployee. As he has prospered he has bought property, and owns his own home and other interests here.
Mr. Hughes was married in 1900 to Miss Mary Hopkins, and they have four children: Catherine, Theresa, Thomas Jr., and Peter. Mr. Hughes casts his vote for the men he considers best fitted for office, and best able to serve the people. The family belong to the Catholic Church.
W. A. CHRISTIANSEN .- Ably representing the younger genera- tion of men who are counted leaders in every community, W. A. Chris- tiansen is making his influence felt in civic, fraternal and business circles in eastern Contra Costa County. He is an expert automobile mechanic, agent for the Willys-Knight and Overland cars for eastern Contra Costa County, and is a member of the board of trustees in Antioch. He was born in Portland, Ore., on March 5, 1888, a son of W. A. and Carrie (Jasperson) Christiansen, and the second in a family of seven children, five of whom are still living. His father is a marine engineer of more than ordinary ability; and when our subject was a lad of five years his parents located in San Francisco, where his father followed his calling and where the son attended the grammar school and later took a course in Van der Nailen's Polytechnic School. After he had finished his school- ing, young Christiansen began an apprenticeship of three years with the Union Machine Works. When he had mastered the trade, then being nineteen years of age, he sought work with the Fageol truck and auto manufacturer in Oakland. Frank Fageol then had the agency for the Rambler automobile. After serving this concern four years Mr. Chris- tiansen came to Concord and found work in an automobile machine shop, and remained three years. He then came to Antioch and began business for himself, establishing himself as an expert machinist and automobile repairer and securing the agency for the Chevrolet automobile. So well has he succeeded that today he owns his own place of business and his home, and wields a strong influence for the public good. He deals in auto accessories, tires, and tubes, and also stores cars and maintains the Willys-Knight and Overland agencies, his establishment being located at First and I Streets.
At Concord, on July 10, 1909, W. A. Christiansen married Miss Victorina Matheson, born in Chico, Cal .; and they have two children: Alice, a pupil in the high school; and Melvin. Fraternally, Mr. Chris- tiansen is a thirty-second-degree Mason, belonging to San Francisco Consistory No. 1, and to Islam Temple in that city; he holds membership in Antioch Lodge No. 175, F. & A. M .; and with his wife is a member of the Eastern Star. He and his wife are members of the Congregational Church. He has served as city trustee since 1922, being now in his second term, during which time many developments have been made.
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ERNEST NAVELLIER .- One of the pioneer residents of this sec- tion of Contra Costa County is Ernest Navellier of El Cerrito, where he resides on his poultry ranch on the hills overlooking the city. From his home can be seen seven of the counties bordering the Bay of San Fran- cisco. Mr. Navellier was born in the Basses-Pyrenees, Southern France, on February 1, 1864. When he was sixteen he had graduated from the normal school, and soon thereafter he passed the examination for a teacher at Rodez, and taught for about two years prior to coming to California, when he was eighteen. He had sisters in San Francisco en- gaged in the laundry business, and thither he migrated to join them. Two hours after landing in the metropolis he had a job as driver of a laundry wagon; and in that line of business he continued for many years, both as an employee and later in the business for himself.
While Mr. Navellier was employed as driver of wagon No. 1, for an Oakland firm, he was given inside information that the Santa Fe Railroad was surveying rights of way for its terminal at what is now Richmond; so thither he came, with what ready cash he could get together, to look for a location where he might enter the laundry business for himself. Men were drilling test holes for water where the Standard Oil plant now stands. He gave $50 for an option on five acres where now stands Dr. Abbott's Sanitarium and the Point Richmond Bank, bargaining to buy this land for $150 per acre. After getting samples of the water from the wells, to see if it was suitable for laundry purposes he submitted it to chemists at the University in Berkeley, who pronounced it highly impreg- nated with alkali. He forfeited his option and looked further, and fin- ally found springs of soft water at the top of the hill where he now lives. Here he purchased five acres of land at $125 an acre, erected his house and other buildings, and started to build up a laundry business, taking in all the small towns as far as Franklin Canyon, and going as far east to meet the construction camps of the railroad then building. He continued this business for years. When he was looking for his location the only habitation on the site of what is now Richmond was one house. A scow was anchored in the bay for the convenience of Messrs. Miller and Smith, caretakers of the gun club grounds where the Standard Oil plant is now situated. There were no settlements on the flat to amount to anything, and only seventeen pupils were going to the school where now stands St. John's Catholic Church. He named his laundry the Richmond Laundry, being the first to carry that name around among the people of the community. Later, Mr. Navellier spent three years in Tacoma, Wash., in the laundry business; then he came back to his Contra Costa home.
Mr. Navellier was employed at the California Cap Works for about sixteen years as a foreman and shipping clerk. He established what was known as Lafayette Park, a resort which he improved and where he built up a good business, retaining control of the property for six years, the first two of which he was with the California Cap Company, before leav- ing to give his entire time to his business at the park. In the meantime
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he was gradually building up a poultry business at his home place. He now has 2200 birds on his ranch, where he is raising birds for breeding purposes as well as for the eggs. He has his own incubators and is doing a prosperous business. Some of his fowls are pedigreed, and cost him from $10 to $85 each. His trade is among the people of the immediate vicinity, and he cannot supply the demand.
The lady Mr. Navellier married in 1888 was in maidenhood Jose- phine Pontacq, born in Basses-Pyrenees, France. She came to California when she was sixteen, to make her home with two brothers in San Fran- cisco. Mr. and Mrs. Navellier's union has been blessed with four chil- dren. Victor, born in Tacoma, Wash., married Edith Bartel and has two children, Anna and Charlotte; Lucy, born in San Francisco, is the wife of Ernest Brensel and the mother of two children, Ernest and Eleanor; Louis married Gladys MacGregor and has a son, Ernest; and Ida is the wife of Arthur Bray and mother of a son, Arthur, Jr. Louis and Ida were born in Contra Costa County and, with the other children, attended the public schools here. Mr. Navellier was a member of the Sanitary Board of the Seventh District while the sewers were being installed. He served as a school trustee in the Stege district when the two schoolhouses, costing $40,000, were being built, and has always done his full duty as a citizen of his adopted country, taking out his citizenship papers when he became of age. He favored the incorporation of El Cerrito and helped put the issue through, and it is now a city of homes. Mr. Navellier is a member of the Berkeley Aerie of Eagles. He is a good-natured, whole-souled, public-spirited pioneer of this district, and with his wife and family he enjoys a wide circle of friends.
CHRISTIAN AUGUST LAURITZEN .- The descendant of pio- neer parents who arrived in California in 1872, C. A. Lauritzen first saw the light on Wood Island, Sacramento County, on March 17, 1882. His father, Hans P. Lauritzen, married Adelhyte Lorentsen in Denmark, where they were both born and reared and where their first four children were born. In 1872 this family left their native shores to join a brother of Mrs. Lauritzen in California. They made the voyage via Panama and endured many hardships and privations, so much so that the children suffered very much. This brother, A. P. Lorentsen, was engaged in the lumber trade, shipping to and from Fisk Mill in Mendocino County, and upon the arrival of the family in this State they went to Mendocino County and the father secured work in the logging camps for the Fisk Mill, continuing there until 1874. It was soon after locating at Fisk Mill that the Lauritzen children began to show the results of the priva- tions endured on board ship, where they did not have the proper food. Their mother knew they needed milk, but milk was not to be had, for the cattle were all wild. She persisted in trying to tame some of them and by kindness and perseverance succeeded in being able to milk them. At once, upon securing the nourishment they needed, the children began
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to recuperate and soon were entirely well. Mrs. Lauritzen still continued to milk her cows and found no trouble in selling the surplus milk and butter to neighbors. She also took in washing to help support their family. While living at Fisk Mill another child was born. There were many Indians in the county and some were their nearest neighbors. The women became much attached to this little white baby, with its blue eyes and fair skin, and were continually in evidence at the Lauritzen home. The mill manager began to be afraid that these Indian women might kidnap the little baby and advised the Lauritzen family to seek some other place for a home. Accordingly they went to Sacramento County and settled on Wood Island, where the father took up land, cleared it and began ranching, adding to his holdings until he owned the whole island of 250 acres. The hardships endured in time of floods can better be imagined than described, but Mr Lauritzen and his good wife stuck to their tasks and finally won out. When the State decided it needed this island for purposes of its own, Mr. Lauritzen sold it to the State of California. They had seven children, viz .: Robert, who died, leaving six children : Hans P., Lena, Niolcine, Tinca, Roland and Catherine ; Lena, married B. Bundesen and died leaving one daughter, Lena; Frederick C., a rancher in the Delta country; Hans P., now lives in Rich- mond and is manager of the Richmond Navigation and Improvement Company; Annie, who became the third wife of B. Bundesen and died, leaving three children: Rudolph, Elise and Adelhyte; Andrew, of Rio Vista; and Christian August, the subject of this sketch. The father died at the age of seventy-two and the mother at seventy-eight years of age, leaving a blessed memory of a pioneer couple with a work well done.
Christian August attended the public schools of Rio Vista, crossing the river every school day in a row-boat, which he and his brothers made into a sail-boat, the sails being made from three flour sacks. He grew up on Wood Island and helped his father to clear and till the land. Needless to say this pioneer experience has meant a great deal to our subject in his later years. He and his brother Frederick early engaged in carrying passengers to points on the river, their first boat plying be- tween Rio Vista and Antioch, where it made connections with the Santa Fe Railroad. The second boat they built was put on the run from Rio Vista to Sacramento, while the third and fourth boats made regular runs between Sacramento and Stockton and back to Sacramento. Their fifth boat was kept in reserve. With the building of the State Highway and the advent of the automobiles the river passenger traffic diminished : so the brothers divided their boats, Christian A. taking the three smaller boats. These he sold, and in 1917 established the ferry business known as the Antioch-Sherman Island Ferry. It was located at the point on the river where the new Antioch-Sherman Island Toll Bridge has just been completed. With his intimate knowledge of the Delta country, Mr. Lau- ritzen could forsee the logical site for his terminal for the Sacramento and Oakland automobile traffic, and the growth of his business was proof
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of his good judgment; and in locating their site the Toll Bridge Company made the same selection. Mr. Lauritzen had a partner, H. F. Lauritzen, his nephew, in his enterprise but he was the manager of the business. They ran the Victory and the Sherman boats and operated daily schedules until selling out to the American Toll Bridge Company on July 1, 1926. Mr. Lauritzen is equipped for building wharves and for doing pile-driv- ing and kindred work. He has one sixty-foot and one seventy-five foot pile-driver. This branch of the business is carried on under the firm name of Lauritzen & Legg, and has been meeting with good success.
In 1926 Mr. Lauritzen established a ferry business from Jersey Island to Bradford Island, the Webb Tract, and the Frank Tract, and return, to open up the Delta country for transportation.
C. A. Lauritzen was united in marriage on March 19, 1924, with Miss Irene Thomas, who was born at Antioch of pioneer parents. They have a son, Christian August, Jr. The family home is a comfortable bungalow at the ferry landing. The building was formerly located in Antioch, but was moved to the ferry landing and remodeled into a com- fortable residence. Mr. Lauritzen serves as a deputy under sheriff R. R. Veale. He is a very dependable man at all times, is public-spirited, and believes in progress on every hand. He has made many friends, who hold him in high esteem.
WILBUR S. PIERCE .- A man of liberal views, energetic, and progressive, Wilbur S. Pierce came to Richmond in 1914. Mr. Pierce is a lawyer of ability, being a member of the law firm of Pierce & Carlson, one of the leading firms of the East Bay section. A native son of Cali- fornia, he was born on March 12, 1891, a son of Charles E. and Virginia Alexander Pierce, the former a native of Iowa, and the latter of Cali- fornia. He is one of five children born to his parents, the others being Mrs. C. F. Robenson, Carl, Wirt E., and Harold D. Pierce.
Wilbur S. Pierce received his early education in Yolo County and was admitted to the bar on January 1, 1914. Coming to Richmond in the latter part of 1914, he was appointed assistant district attorney of Con- tra Costa County, in which capacity he served two years, and then en- tered into private practice.
During the World War, Mr. Pierce was first sent to American Lake, and from there was transferred to Washington, D. C., where he served as an attorney for the War Industries Board. During the time he was in Washington, he prosecuted several important cases concerning the vio- lation of war relief, and emergency measures. He was in the audience when President Wilson presented to Congress and the Foreign Diplomats the conditions under which Germany had signed the armistice, which audience was generally reckoned as an assemblage of the greatest number of distinguished men ever held in the history of the world.
Mr. Pierce is prominent fraternally, being identified with most of the leading clubs and organizations. He is a member of the American
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Legion, and at the present time is President of the Lions Club of Rich- mond. He is recognized as a trial lawyer of exceptional ability, and has distinguished himself as an eloquent forensic and public speaker. Mr. Pierce is a married man and the father of one child, five and one-half years of age, named Wilbur Barrett Pierce.
MRS. GERTRUDE BARNARD .- Taking her place in the business life of Contra Costa as assistant cashier of the Rodeo Branch of the Bank of Pinole, Mrs. Barnard is well known in her home county. A native of Crockett, she is the daughter of Edward Kearney, now residing in Oakland, but who was for many years an employee of the Selby Smelt- ing Works; Grandfather Kearney was the owner of the Kearney Ranch on the Sobrante in western Contra Costa County, which is now the site of the Giant Powder Works. After finishing her grammar school courses, Mrs. Barnard attended the John Swett Union High School three years.
Her marriage, at Selby, Cal., united her with L. Barnard, an em- ployee of the Selby Smelting Works, and one child blessed their union, a daughter, Cleo, who now makes her home with her mother in Oakland, Mrs. Barnard motoring to and from her work at the bank each day. She has proven herself to be a plucky and capable woman, both in her busi- ness duties and in the management of her personal affairs, and is deserv- ing of much credit as a native daughter of Contra Costa County, who is interested in its advancement and willing to do all in her power to help the work of progress.
WILLIAM R. SHARKEY .- He who labors to secure the develop- ment of the section in which he lives, striving to bring out its latent re- sources and devoting his time to the general welfare of its people by championing those measures that advance the best interests of education, agriculture, commerce and finance, is accounted a public benefactor. Such a man is the Hon. William R. Sharkey, native son, loyal citizen, editor of the Martinez Daily Standard and Contra Costa Standard, at Martinez, and State senator for the Ninth District of California, comprising Contra Costa and Marin Counties.
William R. Sharkey was born in Sierra County on June 6, 1876, a son of Richard and Mary Sharkey. His education was obtained in the public schools-and in the school of hard knocks in learning the printing busi- ness. His first work was done on the Sierra County Tribune; then he was connected with the Mountain Mirror at Sierraville until he went to Amadee and worked on the Amadee Geyser in Lassen County. Later he returned to Sierraville and accepted a position with the Sierra Valley Leader, remaining there for one year. His health becoming impaired, he then resigned his post and took up riding the range as an ordinary cow- boy until 1896, until he recovered his normal state of health and returned to newspaper work with the Sierra County Enterprise at Downieville. In 1899 Mr. Sharkey bought the Sierra Valley Record at Sierraville. He
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ran this paper until 1902, when he sold out and accepted a position with the Calkins Syndicate as coast manager. One year later he became city editor of the Morning Miner of Nevada City, and in 1905 he opened an office in Reno, Nev., for the Calkins Syndicate, representing the Orchard and Farm and Pacific Miner. His chief venture in the newspaper field was made in Martinez on April 1, 1906, when he became manager of the Contra Costa Standard. He greatly increased the circulation of the paper by his wise and business-like management and five years later es- tablished the Martinez Daily Standard, now one of the leading daily papers of the county. With the passing of the years these papers have succeeded financially, and in 1926 Mr. Sharkey erected a modern struc- ture to house his plant, in which every convenience is to be found to facili- tate the printing of a modern newspaper. This paper was established in 1874 at Pacheco, and was known as the Contra Costa News, then as the County Paper, and in 1906 as the Contra Costa Standard. In 1911 the Daily Standard was established; and today, through the judicious efforts of Mr. Sharkey and his corps of able assistants, both papers wield a healthy influence for progress in the county.
On September 6, 1899, William R. Sharkey and Miss Nannie Eliza- beth Gott, a native of Plumas County, were united in marriage; and their union has been blessed with two children. Mary Muriel is a graduate of the Alhambra Union High School and of Heald's Business College, of Oakland. She is now the wife of Harold F. Hexner and the mother of a son, William Harold. William R. Sharkey, Jr., is a student in electri- cal engineering at the College of the Pacific at Stockton, Class of 1927.
Mr. Sharkey has always been interested in politics, and in 1915 served a term as assemblyman from the Eighteenth District. In 1916 he was elected State senator from the Ninth District, being then made chairman of the Rivers and Harbors Committee. So successful was he in the per- formance of his duties at the capital, that his constituents returned him to the senate at the general election in 1920, and again in 1924. Through his influence Mount Diablo State Park was established in Contra Costa County in 1921. He has always had at heart the best interests of his home county, and also of Marin, and has striven to bring about legisla- tion for the good of the entire State.
Fraternally, Mr. Sharkey is a Past Master of Martinez Lodge No. 41, F. & A. M., and a member of Martinez Chapter No. 31, R. A. M .; Richmond Commandery No. 59, K. T .; Aahmes Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., of Oakland; Los Ceritos Chapter No. 234, O. E. S., of Martinez. ; and Antioch Pyramid of Sciots. He also belongs to Richmond Lodge No. 1251, B. P. O. E .; Martinez Lodge, L. O. O. M .; and Golden Key Lodge, K. of P., and is a Past President of Mount Diablo Parlor, N. S. G. W .; a Past Council Commander of Laurel Camp No. 145, W. O. W .: and a member of California Camp, M. W. A. He belongs to the Kiwanis Club of Martinez.
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EDWIN MARMADUKE TILDEN .- A progressive and enter- prising citizen of Richmond who possesses sound judgment and keen business ability, those indispensable adjuncts to the successful operation of large business enterprises, E. M. Tilden is the leading spirit and busi- ness head of the Tilden Lumber Companies, located in various sections of California, and an able financier of the San Francisco Bay section. He was born at St. Michaels, Talbot County, Maryland, on July 2, 1866, a son of Dr. Thomas W. and Helen (Dawson) Tilden, both born in Maryland of English extraction. They were married in 1858 and be- came the parents of two sons and two daughters, viz .: Mary Ridgley, Mrs. Waverley Stairley, of Richmond; James Dawson, of Sacramento; Edwin M., of this review; and Mrs. Louise Wasley, of Chico. Dr. Tilden served in the Jefferson Davis Regiment during the Mexican War and as wounded in action. He died in 1874, in Butte County, Cal., whither the family came and settled in 1858. Mrs. Tilden is living, making her home in Oakland.
Edwin Marmaduke Tilden received his education in the public schools and the Woodman Academy in Chico. On account of his father's death, when E. M. was but eight years old, the lad worked at such jobs as a boy could during his school days, viz .: selling and delivering papers and as errand boy for various stores, to earn something towards his support and to aid in the support of the family. As soon as he had finished high school he went to work for the Sierra Lumber Company, at Red Bluff, and remained with this firm thirteen years. He entered the employ of the company as an office boy, passed through the various departments, each change being an advancement, and when he left it was as the man- ager of the plant at Woodland. With his knowledge of the business, and the money he had saved, Mr. Tilden went to Woodland and carried on a lumber business for himself for three years. In 1900 he came to Point Richmond and was the pioneer lumber man of this place. He had two or three carloads of lumber and a span of horses and in this way began his retail lumber business. He prospered from the start and as the community grew, he expanded with it, lending a helping hand to every enterprise that he thought would help to develop the new district. This was the beginning of the Tilden Lumber Company, since then its expan- sion has been brought about by the indefatigable energy and business acumen of Mr. Tilden.
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