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 102

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 102

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In January, 1910, Mr. Northrop came to Visalia and in May of 1911 to WVasco, Kern county, where he entered the employ of Martin & Dudley as a chauffeur, afterwards working in the same capacity with the Associated and the Universal. Early in 1913 he started the mail stage line between Wasco and Lost Hills, a distance of twenty-one miles, and for the purpose he uses two automobiles. Aside from the daily trips he makes special trips to ac-

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HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY

commedate the public. He is an energetic young man and by close application is making a success of the undertaking.

PATRICK GILLESPIE .- Before the world had been aroused by the remarkable story concerning the discovery of gold in California there had come around the Horn as early as 1847 an active young Irishman bearing the name of Patrick Gillespie. Being near the early gold mines, it was but natural that he should hasten to the scenes of mining activity as soon as he heard of the great discoveries at Sutter's camp. For some years he and his wife lived at Placerville and there occurred the birth, November 22, 1849, of a son to whom was given the name of the father and whose earliest recollecions cluster around that strange and bustling town then known by the unattractive and suggestive appellation of Hangtown. When he was a mere lad he was accustomed to go on horseback to Coloma, Eldorado county, twice each week, carrying for a merchant of Placerville a generous amount of gold dust in buckskin purses hid in the bottom of a flour sack. Although prowlers constantly lurked along the highway, seeking to steal the gold dust from miners, the small boy was allowed to pass unmolested, for no one suspected that gold would be entrusted to his care.

At the age of seventeen the young miner left the mines to seek other avenues of occupation. Teaming presented the most favorable opening and he began to haul freight to Virginia City. At first he had a single team, but later he became the owner of two twelve-mule teams. The bell arrange- ment on the housings of the leaders of the team is well known and was adopted by him as a precaution and means of safe travel. On his trucks he hauled the first locomotive ever brought into Virginia City. Long after the railroad had connected the east and the west and even after branch roads had brought interior points into close connection, he continued in the team- ing business and found not only a livelihood in the work, but also much that was interesting and pleasant. When he sold out in 1880 he became a fireman on the Central Pacific railroad and continued as such for five and one-half years, when he was promoted to be engineer. When he resigned from the Central Pacific in 1888 he came to Sumner (now East Bakersfield) and secured a position as engineer with the Southern Pacific Railroad Com- pany. For some years he has been running the switch engine in the East Bakersfield yards. He is a member of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Fire- men and Enginemen and ranks as one of the oldest engineers on the Southern Pacific road.

A firm believer in the principle of every man aiding in the upbuilding of his town, Mr. Gillespie has not only erected his family residence at No. 926 K street, but in addition he has built seven other houses in East Bakersfield and six of these he still owns. Fraternally he is connected with the Knights of Pythias. In politics he votes with the Democrats and his wife, a warm admirer of Speaker Clark, was the first woman in Kern county to contribute to the Champ Clark campaign fund in 1912. Mrs. Gillespie bore the maiden name of Melissa Adams and was born and educated at Ludlow, Windsor county, Vt., being a daughter of Abel and Abigail (Spaulding) Adams, natives of Vermont, the former a direct descendant of ex-Presidents John Q. Adams and John Adams. From 1882 until she came to California Mrs. Gillespie was a resident of Nevada, and at Reno, that state, Rev. Mr. Lucas performed the ceremony that united her with Mr. Gillespie. By her first marriage she was the mother of two children. The only son, Bert Coolidge, died at Sumner, Kern county. The daughter, Katie Coolidge, mar- ried T. J. Yeargin and resides in Sacramento. For many years Mrs. Gillespie has been an earnest and devoted member of the Presbyterian Church and a generous contributor to denominational activities.

H. D. JOHNSTON .- Until twenty-one years of age Mr. Johnston lived in Ontario. He was born near Guelph and reared at Windsor. He is a

Stillupin Melissa Sallechix

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HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY

son of Samuel and Elizabeth (Moore) Johnston and belongs to an old Cana- dian family whose name originally was spelled Johnstone, the final "e" having been dropped for the purpose of convenience and brevity. After he had completed the studies of the common schools he attended the Windsor Colle- giate Institute and during his vacations devoted his time to the study of telegraphy, in which he soon became an adept. During 1899 he entered the employ of the Great Northern Railroad Company at St. Paul, Minn., where he spent seven months as division relief agent. From there he was trans- ferred to the Cascade division of the same road at Everett, Wash., where he remained for a year. Next he received an appointment as agent at Burlington Junction, Wash. Coming to California in March of 1901 he entered the employ of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company and officiated as cashier of the freight office at Santa Barbara. From that city in 1909 he was transferred to Fresno as clerk in the freight office. In January of 1910 he was promoted to be agent at Porterville and there remained until May of 1912, when he was transferred to Bakersfield as freight and passenger agent for the Southern Pacific road. He maintains a deep interest in every feature of the business and is a member of the Pacific Coast Freight Agents' Association. While engaged in the freight office at Santa Barbara he formed the acquaintance of and was united in marriage with Miss Rosa Beatrice Logan, a native daughter of that coast city and a young lady of education and culture, who had been given the best educational advantages by her father, Dr. D. D. Logan, a retired surgeon in the English army with a splendid record for professional service both in India and England.

S. WRIGHT JEWETT .- The family of Jewett has an honored and influential representative in this native son of California, a citizen whose prominent association with Bakersfield and whose identification with the development of many of its important projects causes his name to be insep- arably connected with the local history. The interests of a lifetime of useful- ness endear him to Bakersfield. Here he was born at the family residence on Jewett avenue, May 24, 1877. Here he received the advantages offered by the grammar and high schools. In this vicinity, under the wise training of his father, Solomon Jewett, one of the most prominent upbuilders of Kern county, he gained a thorough knowledge of the stock industry while yet a mere lad. He was taught to discriminate between poorly-bred stock and the better grades and soon became an expert judge of cattle and sheep. With a natural liking for stock and a decided ability in the direction of their manage- ment, it is probable that he would have made a specialty of the business throughout life had not other interests intervened, but even with many enter- prises to engross his attention he has retained in some degree his association with the stock industry.

When the oil business began to be one of the most promising oppor- tunities for young men in Kern county, Mr. Jewett relinquished his activities in stock and began to study oil operations. In 1898 he entered the employ of Jewett & Blodgett and from a very humble position rose to be a driller, meanwhile acquiring a very comprehensive knowledge of every department of the work. Notwithstanding the many experts now identified with the work in this county he is considered one of the best posted men concerning local fields. As a stockholder and director he is connected with the Jewett Oil Company, a concern operating in the McKittrick district. During 1901 he made a trip to the east and to Canada and at Riceberg, province of Quebec, was united in marriage with Miss Lucy Eleanor Potter, a native of Montreal, a young lady of culture, and an earnest member of the Episcopal Church. Two children have blessed their union, Philo Landon and Lois Evelyn.

From the time of his marriage until the closing of the Kern Valley Bank Mr. Jewett was connected with that institution of Bakersfield, first holding a position as bookkeeper, then receiving a promotion to be assistant cashier

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HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY

and finally becoming vice-president of the concern and member of the board of directors. As a financier he possesses exceptional qualifications. His judgment of men and of valuations is keen and shrewd. His personal char- acteristics are such as to win and retain the friendship of associates. Since his retirement from the banking business he has devoted his attention to his oil and stock interests and to the oversight of his landed holdings. At this writing he owns eighty acres on Kern Island, where the soil and the prox- imity to Bakersfield make the market-garden business profitable. The irri- gation facilities for the tract are adequate and permanent. In addition he owns a two hundred and forty acre alfalfa ranch at Rosedale with a sixty horsepower pumping plant having a capacity of two hundred and twenty inches, and a stock range just east of the Kern river oil field and embracing three sections of land. While at no time has he sought political prominence, his opinions nevertheless are firm and positive, and bring him into sympathy with the Republican party. The Bakersfield Club numbers him among its members and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks also has the benefit of his capable co-operation in the local lodge.

FRANK ERWIN BLAIR .- The genealogy of the Blair family extends back to a long line of Scotch ancestors. The first American representative, James A. Blair, came from his native Scotland across the waters of the Atlantic to the new world and settled in Pennsylvania, where he passed the balance of his life in industrial pursuits. In the family of the Scotch- American emigrant there was a son, Brice Hugh Blair, whose birth occurred at Shadegap, Huntingdon county, Pa., and whose early years were devoted to attendance at school and to the learning of the carpenter's trade. At the age of twenty-one he sought the larger opportunities of the west and settled in Illinois, where he followed the occupation of a cabinet-maker for some years. When news came concerning the discovery of gold in California he immediately sold out his interests in Springfield and invested the proceeds in the common fund, started by a party of six, toward the purchase of mule teams and wagons. Properly outfitted, the small party joined a larger expe- dition and started across the plains in the spring of 1848. During the spring of 1849 they landed at Gold Hill. A year later Mr. Blair arrived at Sacra- mento. For two years he mined in or near Coulterville, Mariposa county. Later he had the contract for hauling brick and sand used in the construction of the first insane asylum built at Stockton and on the completion of that task he took up agricultural pursuits in Santa Clara county. Three years after- ward he outfitted to haul freight between Stockton and Coulterville.

When the Indians were moved from the reservation at Stockton to Fort Tejon a position as guide with the expedition was given to Mr. Blair, who later resumed- agricultural pursuits in Santa Clara county. Next he opened a mercantile store at Santa Clara and at the same time engaged as agent for the Wells-Fargo Company at that point. While living in Santa Clara he married in 1859 Miss Jane Quinlin, who was born in Ireland, but had accompanied her parents to New York at a very early age and in 1858 came via Panama to California. Immediately after their marriage the young couple began housekeeping at Napa, where Mr. Blair engaged as agent for a steamship line. During 1863 he secured employment as millwright in the old flour mill, but two years later he resigned to remove to Vallejo, where he was employed in the Mare Island navy-yard as foreman of the ship- joining department. When the yards were closed down in 1874 he removed to Oakland and took up carpentering, but in April of 1876 returned to the vicinity of Napa and engaged in ranching in the Foss valley. There he re- mained until his death, which occurred May 9, 1891. There likewise occurred the demise of his wife in 1900.

Four children comprised the family of Brice Hugh Blair. All are still living. The eldest, Frank Erwin, was born in Napa, this state, May 15, 1860,

Frank OBlein

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HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY

and completed his education in the high school of Vallejo, after which he aided his father in the care and cultivation of the ranch in Foss valley. From 1882 until 1884 he engaged in ranching near Chico, after which he settled in Los Angeles and established a teaming and transfer business at No. 3 Market street. The business continued under his management for six years and when it was sold he entered the employ of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company as a carpenter and builder. Two years later he resigned the place and entered the Santa Fe employ, being from 1892 until 1898 stationed at Mojave as car inspector. Meanwhile he built a cottage in that place. The position at that point had been sought by him with the hope that the climate might benefit the health of his wife and in this respect the change proved most gratifying. During October of 1898 he removed to Napa and engaged in ranching near that city, whence during April of 1900 he came to Bakersfield as car inspector for the Santa Fe Railroad.

Transferred to Point Richmond during the spring of 1901, Mr. Blair remained with the railroad there until February of 1904, when he entered the employ of the Standard Oil Company as car inspector. Later he was transferred to Bakersfield to take charge of the Union tank line department of the Standard Oil Company, with which concern he has since remained in the same capacity and meanwhile he has bought his present home at No. 1217 Baker street. In politics he has given stanch support to the Republican party. For two years prior to the consolidation of the two cities he served as trustee of the Summer school district. Fraternally he is a trustee of the Loyal Order of Moose, an active worker in the Woodmen of the World and a charter member of Napa Parlor No. 62, N. S. G. W. Since 1926 he has served as a member of the board of library trustees for the city of Bakersfield. Mr. Blair's family comprises four children and his wife, the latter hav- ing been Lizzie Agnes Hayes, a native of Ottawa. Ill., their marriage occur- ring in Los Angeles June 18, 1890. Mrs. Blair was the daughter of Michael and Honora (O'Brien) Hayes, early settlers of Ottawa, Ill. The father served in the Civil war in a Massachusetts regiment. The mother spent her last years in Los Angeles. Mrs. Blair was graduated from the Ottawa high school, and in 1884 came to Wilmington, Cal., where lived her uncle, T. B. Hayes, then United States marshal for the district. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Blair are as follows: Herbert, May, Brice and Frank.

O. C. BANGSBERG .- The responsible position of superintendent of the power plant, canal and lands on the Kern river for the Pacific Light & Power Corporation, of Los Angeles, is filled by O. C. Bangsberg, who was born near Christiana, Norway, November 27, 1879. His father, Christian Bangsberg, was a builder, but in 1882 disposed of his interests and brought his family to La Crosse, Wis. There he engaged in contracting and building until 1897 and then purchased a large farm in Vernon county, Wis., which he still operates.

O. C. Bangsberg graduated from the La Crosse high school and when eighteen years of age entered the employ of the Central Electric Company, of La Crosse, as a fireman. Being greatly interested in the science of electricity and desirous of making it his life-work, he took a course in electricity in the International Correspondence School of Scranton, Pa., from which he was duly graduated. Meantime he had risen to the place of chief engineer with the La Crosse Gas & Electric Company, having charge of three electric light plants and one gas plant.

Desiring to come west to seek greater opportunities, Mr. Bangsberg re- signed his position in 1910 and came to Cheyenne, Wyo., where he was con- sulting engineer for the Northern Colorado Power Company. In June of 1912 he accepted the position of electrical operator for the Pacific Light & Power Corporation at Redondo Beach, Cal., and in August of the same year he was transferred to Borel, Kern county, as power house foreman at the power plant, and in May of 1913 he was made superintendent. The power plant is

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the largest in Kern county. The twelve miles of canal gives a fall of two hun- dred and sixty feet. The water enters five large pentstocks, to which are con- nected five waterwheels, each generating 2500 k. w., and the electricity thus generated is transmitted by two three-phase power lines to Los Angeles, a distance of one hundred and twenty-five miles, where it is connected with the Pacific Light & Power system, furnishing power for operating the cars of the Pacific Electric and Los Angeles railways, as well as the suburban lines. Superintending this large plant and looking after the company's vast hold- ings takes all of his time and he is kept continually busy. During this last vear four of the five waterwheels have been replaced by the latest type of Francis turbines, thus greatly increasing the efficiency of the plant.

In La Crosse, Wis., Mr. Bangsberg married Miss Josephine Tucker, who was born near Buffalo, N. Y., and they have one child, Ralph. Mr. Bangsberg was made a Mason in Acacia lodge No. 11, F. & A. M., at Cheyenne, Wyo. In religious views he is a Methodist. Politically he is a Republican.

CHARLES D. HITCHCOCK .- The ability as a production man which Mr. Hitchcock displays is particularly noteworthy, inasmuch as his identifica- tion with the oil industry does not cover any lengthy period of years. As superintendent of the Kern Crown Oil Company he manages a lease of one hundred and sixty acres, on section 23, township 32, range 23.

The honor of being a native son belongs to Mr. Hitchcock, who was born in San Luis Obispo county, April 7, 1878, and passed his early years upon a ranch. His father, the late Isaac N. Hitchcock, a native of Ohio, joined an expedition of Argonauts bound to California during the eventful summer of 1849 and reached Eldorado county at the end of a tedious but uneventful journey. Like the majority of early settlers he tried his luck in the placer diggings. When he had made his little stake he decided to quit the mines and embark in the cattle business. Accordingly he looked up a location in San Luis Obispo county, took out a claim to land, developed a ranch and ultimately acquired one thousand acres in his home place. Mean- while he had married Elizabeth Gibson, a native of Missouri, but a resident of Eldorado county after she had crossed the plains with her parents during the '50s. Seven children comprised their family, namely : Annie B., Mrs. Gay, a resident of Cambria, San Luis Obispo county ; Eugene L., who is engaged in the creamery business at Santa Barbara; Etta, wife of C. K. Bright, who is engaged in the real-estate business in San Diego; Alvin, of Cambria, Cal., a stock-raiser and proprietor of a meat market ; Charles D., of Kern county ; Lillie, who married Henry Pugh, a grain farmer of Monterey county, and died at twenty-two years of age: and Thomas F., who is employed as a driller in the Lost Hills field.

At twenty years of age Charles D. Hitchcock left the home ranch and went to Tuclumne county, where he began to work on the Eureka gold mine. Later he was employed at the Black Oak mine as a foreman and held a similar position with the Liberty quicksilver mine at San Luis Obispo. Ill health forced him to relinquish work in gold mines during 1908 and it was then that he directed his attention to the oil business. His first experiences in the industry would have discouraged a man less optimistic than he, for while operating unsuccessfully in the Arroyo Grande he lost practically all of his savings. Forced to begin anew, he came over to the Midway in February, 1910, and secured employment as a pumper. Since then he has not lost a day from his work and meanwhile he has been promoted so that he is now superintendent, a fact that bears testimony concerning his ability and the intelligence with which he has grasped the difficulties of the industry. At no time has he been deeply interested in public affairs, yet he keeps posted concerning the issues of the age and in politics votes with the Demo- cratic party. With his brother, Alvin, he owns two farms in San Luis

André Vieux

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Obispo county, one of these comprising nine hundred and twenty acres, while the other is three hundred and sixty acres in extent. In addition he owns a meat market in Cambria with the same brother as a partner, and he now devotes his savings to these large and important interests, which eventually will assume a moneyed value commensurate with his most optim- istic expectations. His marriage in Alameda united him with Miss Agnes Tucker, daughter of Ira N. Tucker, and by this union there are two children. Ira and Verna, six and four years of age respectively.

ANDRE VIEUX .- Writers on the growth and development of California have had occasion frequently to refer to the part played by Frenchmen in bringing about the wonderful advancement which has given this state world- wide fame. Andre Vieux, of Delano, Kern county, was born in Sainte Laurent, Hautes-Alpes, France, August 18. 1870, the son of Victor and Madelena (Vol- laer) Vieux. He has no personal recollection of his father, for that parent died when he was only one year old. Necessity forced him to begin to earn his own livelihood at the age of eight years, and three months schooling each year was the extent of his advantages for obtaining an education. Until the year 1889 he continued to work out on farms, giving his earning therefrom to his mother. In the year mentioned, however, he came to the United States. landing in Los Angeles May 22, 1889. After working for six months in that city he came to Delano, his residence here dating from November 7, 1889. For several years he was employed as a sheep herder in this vicinity. Mr. Vieux made an unfortunate move in loaning his money to sheepmen, for in the panic of 1894 he lost all of it and was compelled to defer his own ambition to man- age a business of his own. In 1896, however, he was able to purchase some sheep, which he fed among the hills of Inyo and Kern counties. By buying and selling stock to the very best advantage whenever opportunity was presented he soon won a notable success. Such operations he continued until 1910, when he sold his sheep and engaged in cattle raising, importing fine stock from Mexico, but he soon sold out and again engaged in the sheep business. Gradu- ally he has acquired real estate holdings of considerable value. In October, 1905, he made an investment in a hardware store at Delano, which he owns and is conducting at this time as the Delano Hardware store. In 1904 he bought out the general merchandise store of Faure Brothers, continuing the business with success, until it is now one of Delano's most dependable concerns. Mr. Vieux was also one of the organizers of and a director in the First National Bank of Delano.

As a citizen Mr. Vieux is known for his generous and patriotic public spirit, which impells him to aid to the extent of his ability any movement which in his good judgment promises to enhance the fortunes or prospects of any considerable number of his fellow citizens. He has consistently demon- strated his solicitude for the upbuilding of Delano by taking a prominent part in all work conducive thereto. A man of progressive ideas, he favors all political measures looking to the improvement of the condition of the people at large. Fraternally he affiliates with the Bakersfield organization of the F. O. E. He was married in Los Angeles to Mrs. Amiee (Villard) Rostin, born in Hautes-Alpes, France. In national principles he is a Republican.

JOSEPH REDLICK .- Any mention of the large commercial enter- prises of Bakersfield would be incomplete without reference to the important business founded by the four Redlick brothers, namely: Henry. Samuel B .. (deceased in 1904), A. L., and Joseph. Such was their enterprise and such their keen commercial insight that they not only established and built to large proportions the department store in this city, but in addition they owned and operated a chain of similar stores at Tulare, Fresno, Stockton. Sacra- mento and Jackson, and upon selling out these several establishments they became the owners and proprietors of the Redlick-Abrams Company and the

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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 102

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