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 101

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 101

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Beginning in the fall of 1884 Mr. Hastings had a run between Needles and Mojave, after which he had charge of an engine from Barstow to Mojave, making his headquarters in the latter town. Nor was there any change in his location when he was given the helper engine over the Tehachapi moun- tains, and he still makes his home in Mojave, where he owns a cottage erected by himself. For years he has been interested in the work of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers. His marriage took place in Peoria, Ill., and united him with Miss Ida West, who was born in New York state and died at Mojave in May of 1909. Five children had blessed their union. namely: Mrs. Eva Parton, of Mojave; Howard, who died at the age of twenty-two years; William and Elmer, both employed in Los Angeles ; and Bessie, who remains with her father. Always interested in the cause of education, he has been active in the upbuilding of the grammar schools of Mojave, having been a member of the board of trustees for about thirteen years, most of the time serving as clerk of the board. Fraternally Mr. Hast- ings holds membership with the Ancient Order of United Workmen and with the Masons, having been made a Mason in Tehachapi Lodge No. 313. F. & A. M., and also being connected with Tehachapi Chapter No. 188, Order of the Eastern Star.

ANGUS McLEOD CRITES .- For a period of more than one-half cen- tury Mr. Crites was intimately identified with the upbuilding of California, and for forty years he made Kern county his home, meanwhile associating himself with many movements for the local advancement. It was his privi-

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lege to witness a radical transformation in the country. Its crudities gave place to refining influences and its primeval aspect became merged into an attractive environment of great productive possibilities. Today it boasts of a population as refined and cultured as is to be found in the state. Born near Massena Springs, St. Lawrence county. New York, on the St. Lawrence river. in 1838, Angus McLeod Crites was a youth of seventeen when he followed the tide of emigration toward the far west. During 1855 he sailed from New York on a ship bound for the Isthmus of Panama. Arriving there, he walked the entire distance across to the Pacific coast and then boarded a ship bound for San Francisco. On his arrival he secured work on Alcatraz island and later helped in the building up of Fort Point. By practical experience he gained a thorough knowledge of carpentering and the millwright's trade. After he came to Kern county in 1864 he was employed as a millwright at Havilah and built several quartz mills, including the mill for the Big Blue mine at Whiskey Flat. From there, in 1868, he went to Rio Bravo and built the farm buildings for Jewett Brothers. Next he became interested in the sheep business, bought a flock and ranged them on the plains and mountains, later locating land in Keene district, on what is now the road between Te- hachapi and Bakersfield, and building a house at that place. Like many other of the early sheep-growers, he left that industry for the cattle business and in time he became the owner of a very large herd of stock. In addition to his cattle interests he served as deputy county assessor, and at the time that the railroad ended at Caliente he was serving as justice of the peace. He was married in 1870 to Miss Louesa M. Jewett, whose biography appears else- where. His death occurred September 28, 1904, and removed from among his family and friends one who ever had been devoted to their welfare, a pro- moter of their happiness as also of the general community prosperity. In the annals of the county history his name is worthy of a permanent place.

MRS. LOUESA MARIA CRITES .- The distinction of having been the first woman teacher in Kern county belongs to Mrs. Crites, who as Miss Jewett began to teach at Tehachapi May 20. 1867, and continued in the same position for five months. It is interesting to note how many pupils she had in that first school and to what families they belonged. The school was com- posed of the following pupils : five of the Dozier children and the same number from the Wiggins family ; four of the Brites family, one Hossick, two Hart children, four of the Cuddeback family, three of the Tyler and one of the Hale family, and Nellie Calhoun, later a celebrated actress, who was then seven years of age and staying with her grandmother, Mrs. James Williams, at Old- town. At first the teacher boarded with the Dozier family, but when their house was destroyed by fire she was taken into the Wiggins home, from which place she rode on horseback to her school. The original agreement provided that she should teach for three months, but when the patrons of the school found that if she taught for five months they could draw public money for her salary the change was made and she remained for a longer term than originally stipulated. When she made the trip to Tehachapi she rode horseback, as there was only a trail.

Born at Weybridge, Addison county, Vt., in 1833. Louesa Maria Jewett was a daughter of Solomon Wright Jewett, the most prominent im- porter and breeder of merino sheep of his day. Further mention of the family appears elsewhere in this volume, in the sketch of her brother, the late Solo- mon Jewett. The best educational advantages of the locality were given to her during girlhood and of these she availed herself to the utmost. After her graduation from the seminary at Middlebury, Addison county, she went south to Virginia and taught in a young ladies' boarding school in Mecklenburg county. During 1860 she went to Texas to serve as teacher in private schools in Gonzales county and continued in that position until 1866, when, after hav-

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HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY

ing spent the summer in Wisconsin, she came in the autumn to California by way of Panama, arriving in Kern county January 17, 1867. Until her mar- riage she made her home with her brothers, Solomon and Philo D., on the Kern river. As previously stated, she was the first woman teacher in the county. Miss Jackson, who was the second, soon followed her in the work.

Rev. Mr. Edwards, a Presbyterian clergyman, officiated at the marriage of Angus McLeod Crites and Louesa Maria Jewett, which was solemnized at Visalia, August 30, 1870. Four children came to bless their union. The eldest, Fidelia Belle, died at the age of eleven years and eleven months. There are three sons now living, namely : Angus Jewett, who is superintendent of the Peerless Oil Company ; Arthur Saxe, cashier of the First Bank of Kern ; and George Solomon, a supervising engineer at Tucson, Ariz. From girlhood Mrs. Crites has been an earnest Christian.

CYRUS FELIX DEMSEY, M.D .- The strong qualities that made members of the Demsey family desirable citizens in every locality in which they settled were well represented in the make-up of Cyrus F. Demsey, who tor over sixty years was a resident of this state, twenty years of this time being passed in Mojave, where as physician during the earlier years and as postmaster in later life he rendered conscientious service to his fellow-citizens. Ohio was the early home of the Demsey family, and in Portsmouth C. F. Demsey was born April 30, 1838. The schools of his birthplace supplied him with a good educational foundation and the locality otherwise contributed to his well-being until he attained young manhood, when the interest in Califor- nia which had then become so general throughout the country attracted him to the west. By way of Panama he reached California in the early '50s and was interested in mining more or less until the breaking out of the Civil war. As a member of what was known as the "California Hundred," he returned east and enlisted his services for the defense of the Union, becoming a private in Company A, Second Massachusetts Cavalry, and during the three years of his enlistment he was twice wounded. It was after his service in the army that he turned his attention toward a professional life, having in the mean- time determined to become a physician and surgeon. With this idea in view he went to Chicago and matriculated in Rush Medical College, from which well-known institution he was graduated in due time with the degree of M.D. Subsequently he established an office for the practice of his profession in Missouri, and later in Macon county, Illinois, but still later he returned to California and for a number of years carried on a very successful practice in San Francisco.

The year 1892 marked the advent of Dr. Demsey in Mojave, and here as in his previous places of residence his ability received recognition and he built up a commendable practice. Mining also engaged his attention to some extent, and in April, 1906, he was honored with the appointment of postmaster at Mojave under President Roosevelt, and under President Taft he was reappointed in 1909. He continued to fill the office with efficiency up to the time of his death, which occurred March 27, 1913, when he was seventy-five years of age. In Los Angeles, in January, 1902, Dr. Demsey married Miss Matilda Kern, a native of Bluffton, Ohio, their marriage resulting in the birth of one child, Naomi Kern. Mrs. Demsey, a woman of strong and deep personality, was peculiarly fitted to be an able helpmate to her husband. Dur- ing the later years of his life she was his valued assistant in the postoffice and so well fitted was she to become his successor in office that following his death she was appointed to fill the vacancy. Optimistic as to the future of the west in general and of California and Mojave in particular, Dr. and Mrs. Dem- sey gave proof of their faith by the purchase of real estate from time to time, ultimately becoming owners of considerable property. This they improved for business purposes, the postoffice being located in one of their buildings,

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and they also erected one of the largest and most comfortable residences in the city, which is still owned by Mrs. Demsey.

LLOYD P. KEESTER .- The secretary and treasurer of the California Market Company holds a prominent position among the rising young busi- ness men of Bakersfield, with whose interests he first became identified as a resident in 1901 and as a partner in the present business during 1906. The market which has developed even beyond the most sanguine anticipa- tions of its projectors occupies a central location on Nineteenth street and, remodeled as recently as 1912, is now unsurpassed by any similar plant in the entire state.

In identifying himself with the west Mr. Keester came hither from Kahoka, Clark county, Mo., where he was born October 23, 1884, being a son of William Keester, a native of Lima, Ohio, and for years a hardware merchant of the Missouri town, but now retired from business activities. After he had graduated from the Kahoka high school Mr. Keester became a student in the business department of the Highland Park College at Des Moines, Iowa, where he completed his education. From boyhood he had been a frequent assistant in the hardware store of his father and after leaving college he clerked for one year with the Wengert-Bishop Hardware Com- pany of Kansas City, Mo., returning from that place to Kahoka, where for two years he assisted his father in the store. From Missouri he came to California during 1901 and settled in Bakersfield, where he learned the butcher business as an employe of J. J. Anderson, on the site even at that time known as the California market. Being credit man, he also became familiar with business conditions in the town and with the financial respon- sibility of customers.

Together with Mel P. Smith, also an employe of the same market, in 1906 Mr. Keester purchased the business which since has grown to very large proportions. The California .Market Company was incorporated in 1908 with Mr. Smith as president and Mr. Keester as secretary and treasurer. In 1911 the firm built and opened a wholesale warehouse and cold storage plant, on the west side at Taft, where they maintain a supply of wholesale meats, provisions and produce, operating their own refrigerator car line between Bakersfield and Taft, and in addition they own and operate the Pa- cific market at Taft for the accommodation of the retail trade. The history of the business has been one of rapid, but conservative and substantial growth. Mr. Keester is a leading member of the Bakersfield Merchants' Association and the board of trade, also keeps well posted concerning the policies of the Democratic party, to which he adheres with conscientious devotion. Fra- ternally he holds membership with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. Since coming to Bakersfield he has established domestic ties through his marriage to Miss Frances Gagne, a native of Oakdale, this state, and to secure a suitable home he erected on the corner of Twenty-second and E streets a modern bungalow supplied with every comfort and furnished in a manner reflecting the culture of the family. He is a director in the National Bank of Bakersfield, which he helped to organize in the latter part of 1912. This institution threw open its doors to business April 1. 1913, and will be located on the southwest corner of Eighteenth and Chester avenue.

J. E. GARDNER .- An experience in the lumber woods of Michigan, while radically different from the work in the oil fields, nevertheless prepared Mr. Gardner for such enterprises, for he had to combat with many difficulties of a similar nature. There was the same isolation from the great centers of popu- lation and the same shadow of aloofness from the world's activities, yet the same specialized interest and intense devotion to the work at hand. When he gave up the work in Michigan lumber regions and came to California oil dis- tricts, arriving at Bakersfield March 13, 1905, he was eager to accept any kind of employment. The first that offered was as roustabout with the East Puente

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Oil Company and for a long time he continued with the organization, rising meanwhile to the position of superintendent of the lease.

Descended from an old eastern family, J. E. Gardner was born in Isabella county, Mich., March 30, 1882, being a son of L. C. and Mary (Watson) Gardner, the latter deceased. When seven years of age he accompanied other members of the family to Huntington, Ind., the change being made for the convenience of his father, who was a railroad man for many years. Later, however, the latter returned to Michigan and is now living retired from active cares in the little village of Rosebush in Isabella county. There were two marriages, so that Mr. Gardner has five half-brothers and sisters in addition to his own sister, Oleva, who is the wife of Olin Walker, a farmer of Isabella county. As a schoolboy he lived in Indiana and attended the schools of Huntington, completing the grammar grade and taking two years in the high school. During 1902 he was graduated from a business college at Ypsilanti, Mich., and thereafter worked in the lumber woods until his removal to the west. May 18, 1904, he was united in marriage with Miss Lulu Belle Graham, of Isabella county, Mich., and they now have two sons, Lyle D. and Thomas L.

Understanding every department of production, Mr. Gardner became an efficient superintendent. Close attention was given to every detail. Having simple tastes, he laid aside a portion of his earnings each year and thus was enabled to make some advantageous investments in Bakersfield income prop- erty. His position with the East Puente Oil Company he resigned April 1, 1913, after eight years of satisfactory service and received the best of recom- mendations. Moving to Bakersfield, where he has valuable real estate, on the 28th of April, 1913, he opened up the Chester avenue meat market at No. 2709 Chester avenue, where the firm of Gardner & Calkins engages as retail purvey- ors of fresh and salt meats, poultry, eggs and game in season.

PAUL HORNUNG .- The business originally conducted by the C. M. Stoll Company and purchased during 1910 by Paul Hornung forms one of the most complete of the kind within the limits of Kern county. A central and desirable location in the Masonic Temple, originally secured by the earlier organization, has been continued by the present proprietor, who from child- hood has been skilled in harness-making and also possesses an expert know- ledge concerning machinery and vehicles. Besides acting as agent for the Henney buggies, Studebaker wagons and Oliver chilled plows, all of which have an established reputation and a steady sale in the community, he deals in wagons and buggies of other makes, carries implements called for by the farmers of the county, has a valuable stock of harness and saddles, and makes a specialty also of carriage and automobile trimming, these varied lines of business activity enabling him to furnish employment to a large corps of workmen and thus become a valuable factor in the industrial life of his city. Besides the capital invested in this business, which reaches the large total of $18,000. he has about $5,000 invested in a business at Ventura, where he started in business in 1905.

The name Hornung is indicative of Tentonic ancestry. Paul Hornung was born in Oberferrenden, Germany, January 6, 1876, and passed the years of early childhood at Nuremberg, where his father, Henry Hornung, followed the trade of harness-maker. The mother, who bore the maiden name of Mar- garet Stoll, and who is still living in Germany, is a sister of George Stoll, who during 1884 brought his nephew. a boy of eight years, to California. In a family comprising four children Paul was next to the youngest and after coming to this country he made his home with the uncle, who apprenticed him to the trade of a harness-maker and gave him common-school advantages. For four years he served as an apprentice at Red Bluff, this state, and then worked as a journeyman at Sacramento for six months Thence, at an age of eighteen he came to Bakersfield and engaged as a harness-maker for

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his uncle, C. M. Stoll, continuing there for nine years and then going to Ventura to embark in business. Skilled in his trade, he has met with a success abundantly merited and constantly increasing. During 1901 he was united in marriage with Miss Edna Herrington, of Fresno, and by this union he has one child, Ventura. It has not been possible for him to engage actively in public affairs, because the interests of his large business demand his entire time, but he keeps posted concerning national issues, voting the Republican ticket at all elections. In Masonic relations he holds membership with the Blue Lodge, Royal Arch, Chapter, Commandery, Eastern Star and Amarinth, also is fraternally connected with the Woodmen of the World and the Knights of Pythias. A thorough believer in the city of Bakersfield and Kern county, he homesteaded one hundred and sixty acres in the Weed Patch in Kern county sixteen years ago and has recently (1913) bought forty acres at Rio Bravo. In addition he is the possessor of one of the best residence lots in the Kruss tract, where he will soon erect a bungalow which will be up-to-date in its appointments and suited to the cultured and refined tastes of himself and wife. He still owns his original residence at Ventura.

WILLIAM HARMON .- At this writing Mr. Harmon makes his home upon a mining claim. comprising the southwest quarter of section 34, township 29, range 30, in which township and range as early as 1891 he located about twelve hundred acres mostly valuable for clays and gypsum, and on this property he has continued to keep up the assessment work. Altogether he has twelve mining claims, some of which have valuable deposits of fuller's earth, pottery and china clay, aluminum and silver, while in a few there are indications of gold.

In the southern part of Illinois, in Randolph county, William Harmon was born February 14, 1852, being a son of William and Sarah (Gant) Har- mon, the latter deceased in Randolph county during middle age. The father, who was born and reared in that county, removed from there to Kansas about 1876 and settled in Saline county, where his death occurred some years afterward. There were seven children in the family, namely : Lila, Zachariah, Eliza, William. Robert, Rosamond and Mattie. The fourth in order of birth, William, passed the years of boyhood in Randolph county, where he had somewhat meager educational advantages. In the early part of 1871 he left home for Kansas and secured employment in a sawmill in Montgomery coun- tv. but in a short time he returned to Illinois. During the autumn of 1872 he again went to Kansas, this time taking up a pre-emption fourteen miles west of Oswego. On that tract he remained until he had proved up on the property and brought it under cultivation. Meantime he married and two daughters were born of this union. The elder, Leonora, is the wife of John A. Slininger, a cigar manufacturer living in Bakersfield. The younger, Vio- lante, is the wife of Paul Weichelt, at present engaged as a mechanic for the Kern County Land Company and resides at Bakersfield.

It was on the 17th of March, 1886, that Mr. Harmon arrived in California from Kansas and concluded his long railroad journey at Goshen on the main line, from which point he proceeded to the vicinity of Kettleman plains and took up a homestead. After having proved up on the land in 1893 he came to Kern county in the same year and took up a timber claim of one hundred and sixty acres in the Weed Patch, choosing as his location the southwest quarter of section 12, township 31, range 29. During 1898 he proved up on his claim. Later he bought three hundred and twenty acres forming the east one-half of section 26, township 30, range 29. Both of these tracts he has im- proved and placed under cultivation, but he now rents them to other parties for farming purposes. Since 1901 he has been interested in mining claims, and of late years he has devoted much of his time to their development,

Wingharmon

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although he also engages in the teaming business to some extent. Ever since attaining his majority he has voted with the Republican party.

WILLIAM FRANKLIN WHITAKER .- The engineering ability pos- sessed by Mr. Whitaker has made him a potent factor in the development of the San Joaquin valley and enables him to fill with unquestioned success his present positions as civil engineer for the Kern County Land Company and superintendent of canals for the Kern County Canal & Water Company. Descended from an old eastern family, he is himself a native of Indiana and was born in Boone county, January 20, 1880. During boyhood he attended the public schools of that county and the high school of Lebanon. Upon leaving Boone county he came west to California in the latter part of 1898 and for six months carried the chain for a surveying party employed by the Kern County Land Company. From the first the work interested him and he manifested ability for the occupation, therefore he determined to educate himself for similar activities. Going to Palo Alto in the fall of 1899 he matriculated in the Leland Stanford University, where he took the regular course in civil en- gineering and thus became qualified for what has proved to be his life work. A subsequent position kept him in Santa Clara county for eighteen months. As an employe of the Bay Cities' Water Company he held a responsible po- sition in the preliminary work connected with the securing of a large water supply.

Upon returning to Bakersfield in December of 1904 Mr. Whitaker was employed in the engineering department of the Kern County Canal Company. The following year he was given charge of the canal system and since then, in the capacity of superintendent, has had the oversight of the operation and maintenance of the canals owned by the Kern County Canal & Water Com- pany. Giving his attention closely to personal matters and business concerns, he has taken no part in elections aside from the voting of the Democratic ticket. The Bakersfield Club has received the benefit of his active member- ship and he is further allied with the Masons in this city. During 1907 he married Miss Gertrude Scribner, by whom he has one daughter, Mary Eliza- beth. The religious views of the family bring them into affiliation with the Episcopal Church. Mrs. Whitaker is a member of an honored pioneer family of Bakersfield, her father, W. H. Scribner, having been an early settler and also one of the most progressive men of the community. The Scribner opera house is a monument to his enterprise as a builder and he also erected build- ings on Chester avenue, besides being one of the builders of the Grand Hotel. In his death, which occurred in 1906, the city lost one of its efficient citizens.

EARL NORTHROP .- It is the younger generation that is materially aiding in the development and forging to the front in Kern county, and among this class we find Earl Northrop, proprietor of the Wasco-Lost Hills auto stage line. who was born in Plover, Pocohontas county, Iowa, in 1891, the son of T. D. and Lillie (Conley) Northrop, natives of Batavia, N. Y .. and Attica. Green county, Wis., respectively. The parents were farmers in Iowa, then ranchers at Durango, Colo., and Farmersville, Tulare county, Cal., and still own the farm in the latter place, but now reside in Wasco. Of their seven children Earl is the second oldest. His early life was spent on the farm in Iowa and a cattle ranch near Durango, Colo., where the family had moved in 1899. While making himself generally useful on the cattle ranch he also attended the public school in the vicinity.

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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 101

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