History of Kern 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 100

Author: Morgan, Wallace Melvin, 1868- [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1914
Publisher: Los Angeles, Cal., Historic record company
Number of Pages: 1682

USA > California > Kern County > History of Kern 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 100

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GEORGE LEE SNIDER .- The transplanting of the Snider family from Germany to Pennsylvania took place in the era of colonial settlement in America. Later generations removed from the Keystone state to Ohio and A. W. Snider, a native of Montgomery, Hamilton County, Ohio, established the family fortunes still further toward the west, removing first to Illinois and later to Missouri, where he engaged in the manufacture of lumber. About 1877 he became a pioneer of Florida and settled at Quincy, Gadsden County, where he operated a sawmill and made a specialty of the manufacture of lumber. Years of active business pursuits were followed by retirement to private life and in 1908 lie and his wife joined their youngest child in East Bakersfield, where he still makes his home. For a number of years before the consolidation he served as a trustee of Kern. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Ellen Conover, was born in Newark, N. J., of Scotch and Dutch ancestry, and died in East Bakersfield. Five children comprised their family and the youngest of these, George Lee, was born near Carthage, Mo., November 22, 1875, but was only two years of age at the time of the removal to Florida. During boyhood he attended the public schools of Quincy, where later he learned the trade of a machinist and the details of the sawmill business.

Arriving in Bakersfield on a November day in 1886 with only $16 in his possession, George Lee Snider immediately inquired concerning employ- ment and was fortunate in securing work at once. The day after his arrival he began to work for the Kern County Land Company and for three years he continued in their warehouse department, meanwhile being promoted to the foremanship of the Sumner warehouse. Upon resigning from that company he entered the machine department of the Southern Pacific shops, where he remained a valued and trustworthy employe until June of 1904. resigning at that time in order to engage in business for himself. Ability as a mechanic led him to embark in the bicycle business. For a time he had a shop in a basement on the corner of Humboldt and Baker streets. Soon, however, he outgrew those quarters. From there he removed to No. 985 Baker street. Next he purchased unimproved property at No. 958 Baker street, where he erected a frame business building, 22×90 feet in dimensions. equipped with the conveniences desirable for the satisfactory management of his affairs. In 1913 he moved the old building and erected a new brick

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building, 25x60, two stories, with an addition 25x30 feet. He occupies the entire building for his business.

Besides owning his business building and a residence at No. 1012 Sacramento street. East Bakersfield, Mr. Snider owns a stock ranch near Glennville and is engaged in raising cattle and horses. In Calvary, Ga., he married Miss Lochie L. Herring, a native of that town and a daughter of P. H. Herring, who for years has held the office of county ordinary. They are the parents of three children, Leota Ellen, Lloyd Conover and George Lee, Jr. The family hold membership with the Chesboro Methodist Episcopal church in East Bakersfield. The Bakersfield Motorcycle Club numbers Mr. Snider among its most interested members. Politically he votes with the Democratic party in general elections. Perhaps no movement of public importance interests him in a greater degree than does that of education. The public school system has in him a stanch friend. When the consolidation of Kern with Bakersfield took place he was serving as a member of the Kern board of school trustees. At the first election (special) he was chosen a member of the Bakersfield board of education. At the regular election in June of 1911 he was re-elected to serve for a term of four years.

NICKLAS TSCHURR .- A native of Switzerland, Nicklas Tschurr was born in Donath, Canton Graubunden, January 9, 1888. His father. Chris Tschurr, was a farmer and dairyman at Donath, where he was also a mem- ber of the board of village trustees. In this Alpine village Nicklas received his education in the public and high school, assisting his father and learn- ing the dairy business from the time he was a boy.

In 1907 Nicklas Tschurr determined to try his fortune in the United States, and having heard good reports from Kern county, Cal., came here forthwith, arriving in April, 1907. For eighteen months he was employed as buttermaker at the Swiss-American Creamery, after which he leased land and ranched with such success that three years later, in 1912, he was able to purchase one hundred and sixty acres of wild land two miles south of the Old River school house. This he has put under the plow and into grain, while twenty acres has already been checked and sown to alfalfa. It is his intention just as soon as it is possible to have it all in growing alfalfa and engage in the dairy industry that he understands so well. The place is all under irrigation from the Stine canal. He has put up substantial improve- ments, such as a comfortable bungalow and a large barn. Politically he es- pouses the cause of the Republican party.

J. C. McDONALD .- To serve the Combination Midway Oil Company as superintendent and to hold rank among the thoroughly reliable operators in the west side field does not represent the limit of activities of Mr. McDonald, for being a carpenter and builder by trade, he obtained the contract for the building of the I. O. O. F. hall on Center street, Taft. The summer of 1913 was largely devoted to the task of building this hall, which is 50x118 feet in dimensions, with a cement basement surmounted by two stories, of pressed brick construction, with plate-glass front.

It is natural that Mr. McDonald should show skill in carpentering, for he was brought up to a thorough knowledge of the trade by his father, J. W. McDonald, a contractor and builder in Missouri, more recently a resident of Lemoore, Kings county, Cal. Born in Centralia, Mo., July 28, 1881, J. C. Mc- Donald was orphaned by the death of his mother when he was only two years of age and the loss of her affectionate oversight cast a gloom over the days of his boyhood. On the day that he was eighteen he left Missouri for California. To earn a livelihood he was prepared by a knowledge of carpentering. Imme- diately after his arrival in Bakersfield he secured day work with Superintendent Canfield on the Central Point. In a short time he had mastered the business of perforating wells and he continued at that work in the Kern river field inntil 1902, when he went to Los Angeles to take up work as a carpenter and

THE BROWER BUILDING, CORNER OF NINETEENTH AND I STREETS, BAKERSFIELD

140

WICKERSHAM GO. ..

MALN.OVER SHOE STORE

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builder. Four and one-half years were spent in that city and in 1907 he returned to Kern county, came to the Midway field and secured a position with one of the companies engaged in development work. For a time he was with the Amazon and Alpine Oil Companies. For some years he has been asso- ciated with Barlow & Hill, the well-known oil operators of Bakersfield, and for them he has built rigs in the North Midway field and more recently has had charge of the Combination Midway Oil Company on section 2, 31-23. At Bakersfield in 1901 he married Miss Lizzie McMahan, of Missouri, and .they and their children, Erwin and Irma, occupy a cottage on the lease of the Combination Midway, where also he has his office and headquarters.

CELSUS BROWER .- Descended in direct line from Jacob Brower (or Brauer, as originally spelled), who came from Holland to New York during the seventeenth century, Celsus Brower was born in New York City July 21, 1840, and received the advantages of the New York free schools and free academy. However, owing to ill health, he left the academy during the second year of his attendance, and in October of 1859 came to California, where he settled in Sierra county and engaged in the hotel business. The floodtide of patriotism sweeping through Sierra county in 1863, he joined a company organizing there under promise of incorporation with an expedition under General Banks against Texas, which falling through, and failing of muster-in under a commission received as second lieutenant in the Sixth California Infantry, he served on extra duty in the commissary department in San Francisco during the remainder of his term. Upon being mustered out as sergeant-major in 1866 he immediately was appointed chief clerk in the offices of the mustering and disbursing officer, the acting assistant provost- marshal general and superintendent of volunteer recruiting service, under Gen. Washington Seawell, an officer noted for system and integrity in the performance of his official duties.

Upon the closing of the military department and the arranging of its records for preservation at Washington, the interim between that time and coming to Kern county was divided by Mr. Brower between service as inspector of customs at San Francisco and a visit in the east. In search of health, which had been shaken through pulmonary affection, he left San Francisco in October, 1872, and settled at Bakersfield, where since he has made his home. Business activities in Bakersfield began with the keeping of books for the firm of Livermore & Chester. In 1873, upon assignment of the affairs of the Cotton Growers' Association to J. H. Redington in trust for settlement. he was appointed attorney-in-fact for the trustee, with manage- ment of the business, which later was absorbed by Horatio P. Livermore and continued under the name of the Livermore agency of Kern county.

The various litigations over water rights resulted finally in the transfer of the Livermore property to J. B. Haggin. Mr. Brower was retained as secretary in charge of the canal department of Haggin & Carr until the year 1898, when ill health forced him to resign and seek change through a visit in the eastern states. Returning in the fall of that year. when the Haggin & Carr lands were about to be offered for colonization, he accepted a position with L. C. McAfee in the management of the colony sales under the name of the land department of J. B. Haggin, subsequently turned over to S. WV. Ferguson upon a general change in the business of Haggin & Carr to the Kern County Land Company, in present existence. Upon the approach of the four hundredth anniversary of the discovery of America the Kern County World's Fair Association was formed for the purpose of gathering and installing a Kern county exhibit at the Chicago exposition. Having been selected as secretary and manager, Mr. Brower completed the assembling and installation of Kern county's products at that exposition. As of more inti- mate association with the affairs of Bakersfield, it may be stated that Mr.

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HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY

Brower was the first president of the Board of Trade, elected in 1889; first president and afterward secretary of the Southern Hotel Association, director variously in the Kern Valley Bank and the First National Bank of Bakers- field ; secretary of the Bakersfield school department since 1897, a position still held, and in which, in association with E. P. Davis, a trustee, and H. A. Blodget, subsequently the president of the school board, the school affairs of the city were wrested from political influences and placed upon a constantly advancing line of progress. At present Mr. Brower is interested in oil and real estate, also in the management of his office building recently erected in Bakersfield. The Brower building is a four-story brick building on the corner of Nineteenth and I streets, in the center of the business district, which was erected in 1910-11, is the most up-to-date office building in the city, having all the modern conveniences.

J. H. WHALEY .- It would be impossible to make an extended mention of the Honolulu Consolidated Oil Company without considerable reference to the popular superintendent, J. H. Whaley, whose association with the great corporation has been conducive to the profitable development of its holdings in the famous Midway field. Equally impossible would it be to mention either the superintendent or the property without extensive reference to the presi- dent of the company, Capt. William Matson, of San Francisco, a wealthy and influential sea captain, who owns large holdings in that city and is also a large stockholder in the steamship line and president of the Matson Navigation Company. In the course of his many voyages to the Hawaiian Islands he has formed the acquaintance of capitalists in Honolulu and some of these gentle- men organized the Honolulu Oil Company, choosing the Captain as presi- dent. The majority of the stock is held in the island city.

The honor of being a native son of California belongs to Mr. Whaley, who was born in Placer county July 18, 1870, and was one of three sons attain- ing to maturity. Of these Edward is now deceased and C. C., a carpenter, is living at Santa Maria, this state. The parents, John Q. and Margaret E. (Hol- land) Whaley, were natives respectively of Missouri and Georgia. As early as 1852 the former came across the plains with a train of wagons and ox-teams. Arriving in California, he mined in Placer county and later engaged in farm- ing. His marriage to Miss Holland was solemnized in Sacramento county. For some years he has been living a retired life at Santa Maria, enjoying in his declining days the comforts accumulated during an identification with California of more than sixty years.

From an early age Mr. Whaley was self-supporting and upon his arrival in Kern county he secured employment as a day laborer for the A. N. Towne Company, on the Towne ranch south of Bakersfield. With the opening of the Kern river oil field he became interested in the oil industry and ever since then he has devoted himself with energy to the business. After seven months in the Kern river field he went to the Sunset field and worked with a drilling gang. For seven years he was engaged at Coalinga with a number of promi- nent companies, but much of his association with the industry has been in the Midway field. After a year as superintendent of the Commercial Oil Com- pany he came to the Honolulu at the request of Captain Matson, whose ac- quaintance he had formed while engaged as a driller. For some years he has made his home on the company property. After coming to Taft he aided in the organization of the blue lodge, became one of its charter members and is the present master, besides which he is a Scottish Rite Mason and belongs to the Fresno Consistory.

WALTER PALMER .- One of the native sons of Kern county is Walter Palmer, born at Claraville November 21, 1876, the son of Robert Palmer, who was a pioneer of California and Kern county and whose biography appears elsewhere in this volume.

But Green

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Robert Palmer from a boy was reared on the Palmer ranch in Hot Springs valley, receiving a good education in the local schools. He was actively helpful to his father in the stock business and learned ranching and the cattle business. He also tried his hand at mining and began develop- ing one of his father's old claims, the Ticknor creek placer mine, where he has been mining for many seasons.

In 1910 Mr. Palmer joined with his mother in operating the Palmer ranch, where they are engaged in hay and stock-raising. Ninety acres of the ranch is devoted to alfalfa and he is making a specialty of raising hogs.

GREEN BROTHERS .- In 1907 John L. and Bert Green purchased eighty acres five and a half miles south of East Bakersfield, upon which an excellent system of irrigation was established. Here they engaged in raising alfalfa for hay until leasing the property in 1912.

The brothers are native sons of the state and were born in Santa Barbara county, John L., January 12, 1873, and Bert, March 17, 1875, being sons of J. W. Green, an honored citizen of Kern county and Californian pioneer, having come to the state January 6, 1846, and now acting as road overseer under Supervisor J. M. Bush, whose wise judgment in selecting him for the responsible position is proved by the excellent work done on the county roads. The father being unable to give the sons any financial help, it was necessary for them to take up the battle of self-support when still young in years and they therefore had only limited educational advantages, although through reading and observation both have become well informed. After having spent the years of early life in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties they came to Kern county in November of 1891 and began to earn their livelihoods as teamsters. For some years they made a specialty of hauling freight to "Old Sunset". Working early and late and saving their earnings with frugal fore- thought, they were able to secure an amount finally that justified them in buying land, and thus they have become property owners solely through their own unaided and long-continued efforts. The younger brother is un- married. The older brother, John L., in 1900 was united in marriage with Miss Margaret T. Wright, a resident of Sacramento and a native daughter of the commonwealth, her father. Oren Wright, having been a pioneer of California. The brothers have been stanch in their allegiance to the Demo- cratic party ever since they became voters, but neither has sought official honors or local party leadership. Fraternally they hold membership with the Woodmen of the World at Bakersfield. In regard to the future of Kern county both are optimistic. Appreciating the possibilities of the land, the fertility of the soil and the advantages of the climate for the production of many valuable agricultural crops, they discern for their community a future of material prosperity and enlarged importance, and their own diligent efforts and unwearied industry are promoting the attainment of this desired result. The brothers sold out their stock and dairy interests December 10, 1912. and rented their eighty-acre ranch for five years. John L. has assumed the superintendency of the H. R. Peacock stock farm, situated nine miles south of Bakersfield, while Bert is taking charge of the W. W. Frazier stock and hay ranch of four hundred and forty acres, near the Gosford ranch. one mile west of Gosford Station.

ROBERT R. McGUIRE .- A reputation as one of the experienced and skilled drillers in the Midway field belongs to "Boh" McGuire, who has had an extensive training in many of the oil fields of the United States and who is perhaps as favorably known as any west side oil man. It is natural that he should be interested in the oil industry, for his father before him. although a farmer by occupation, devoted much time to the oil business in the pioneer period of its development in the York state fields, and in addition his only brother, Harry H., now in Olean, Cattaraugus county, N. Y .. has been a

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skilled driller for some years and recently had charge of a very important drilling contract in the Brazilian fields of South America. Besides these two brothers there is a sister, Eva, who is now the wife of R. L. Turner, employed in the Fullerton oil fields in California. The father, J. G. McGuire, a native of New York, is now deceased; the mother, who bore the maiden name of Elizabeth Gross, is now making her home at Santa Paula, Ventura county. The first twelve years in the life of Robert R. McGuire were passed at Olean, Cattaraugus county, N. Y., where he was born December 24, 1882. After the death of his father the family came to California and settled at Santa Paula, where he completed the studies of the grammar schools. He also attended the Ventura high schools for two years. At seventeen he began to work in the Santa Paula oil fields. For a time he was engaged in laying pipe lines for the Union Oil Company and later he was with other companies in the same field.

Coming to Kern county in 1901 and engaging with Easton, Eldridge & Co., in the Sunset field, he remained with that concern for eight months. Upon returning to the Santa Paula field he secured employment with Hobson & Co., with whom he continued for four months. Coming again to Kern county, he went over to the Kern river field and engaged with the California Mutual Oil Company. In a short time he left for McKittrick, where he dressed tools on the Southern Pacific lease and then for some years engaged in drilling under the superintendent, W. E. Ott. An experience with the Kansas oil fields began in 1905 and continued for one and one-half years, dur- ing which time he drilled successively at Peru, Bolton, Sedan and Coffeyville. · Upon his return to California and the resumption of work with the Union Oil Company, he was put to drilling in the Santa Maria field. Eighteen months later he went to San Luis Obispo and took charge of the drilling for the Southern and Encinal Oil Company. From there he went to Humboldt county and drilled for the Petrolia Oil Company, but was not able to find oil in pro- ductive quantities. Returning to the Midway field, he took charge of the Golden Gate Petroleum Company near Maricopa and again suffered the dis- appointment of drilling without success. His next experience as a driller was on the Sunset Extension. From there he went to the Northern Exploration Company as field foreman and six months afterward, in 1913, he entered upon his present duties as drilling foreman on the lease of the Honolulu Con- solidated Oil Company, situated on section 10, 32-24, in the Midway field.

JOHN P. JOHNSON .- The Scandinavian countries have given to the United States numerous industrious citizens, whose untiring effort. econom- ical habits and thrifty manner of living have made them prosperous home- makers, bringing their families up to be loyal. patriotic citizens of America. In Kern county there are large numbers of these residents, who have brought their worldly goods here with the intention of settling and making California their permanent homes, and almost inevitably they have prospered and be- come well-to-do and contented. John P. Johnson, owner and manager of the liquor house situated at No. 705 Sumner street. East Bakersfield, was born on the island of Oeland, Sweden, September 22, 1882, and his early youth was there passed on the farm of his parents.

The father. John P. Johnson. Sr., was a native of Sweden and there passed his entire life, following agricultural pursuits. He was prosperous and so en- abled to give to his children the advantages of a thorough educational training, rearing them to become representative men and women. In such an atmos- phere John P., Jr., grew to manhood, working on the farm with his father during his vacations from school until he reached the age of seventeen years. then embarking for the new world to try his fortune among the people of the far west. Sailing for America he upon arriving immediately made his way to San Francisco, where he arrived in 1900, and after a month came to Bakers- field. where he has ever since resided. Until January, 1909, he was employed

Sw Hasting

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HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY

by various firms, gaining a foothold in the business world, and at this time he purchased an interest in the Leader liquor establishment, which he con- ducted with such success that in January, 1912, he accepted an offer to buy it. After selling the business to G. Galli he was persuaded by the new owner to remain as manager. His knowledge of the conduct of the place and his familiarity with its details made him invaluable in this direction. In June, 1912, he bought back the Leader and is now its sole owner.

Mr. Johnson has been thrifty in his manner of living and keen in invest- ing his accumulations, and he owns property in East Bakersfield, including city lots and a residence, which have become valuable holdings. He and his charm- ing wife, who was Miss Marcelle Phillips before her marriage, reside in their well-built home in East Bakersfield, where they give a hearty welcome to their many friends. Mrs. Johnson was born in East Bakersfield and is a daughter of Jean Phillips, well known in this town. In party affairs Mr. Johnson in- terests himself with the Republican party, though he does not hold political office or have any desire for same. He is a member of the Eagles and the Order of Mcóse.

GEORGE HASTINGS .- In a family of nine children, four of whom are living, George Hastings was third and was born in Newmarket, Highland county, Ohio, September 1, 1851. When four years of age he was taken to Illinois by his parents, James and Rebecca (Dill) Hastings, natives of Ohio, who settled in Chicago. Eventually the father became a pattern-maker in a shop in Rock Island, Ill., where he remained throughout the balance of his life. His wife also died in Illinois. When the family removed to Rock Island the son was a boy of nine years and afterward he attended the public schools of that city until sixteen years of age, when he was apprenticed to the trade of a machinist in the Rock Island shops in Chicago. Upon the completion of his time he was given work as a fireman on a Rock Island train out of Chicago, and in 1876 he was promoted to be an engineer from Chicago to Peru, and Peoria, Ill., after which he served successively with the Illinois Central, the Wabash and the Frisco roads. Coming to the Santa Fe road he was retained for a time as machinist in the Albuquerque shops and in January of 1882 was given an engine. Five months later he was transferred to Arizona and stationed at Winslow as headquarters.

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History of Kern 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 100

Author: Morgan, Wallace Melvin, 1868- [from old catalog] Publication date: 1914 Publisher: Los Angeles, Cal., Historic record company Number of Pages: 1682

Author: Morgan, Wallace Melvin, 1868- [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1914
Publisher: Los Angeles, Cal., Historic record company
Number of Pages: 1682