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 111

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 111

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hood. The first work which he undertook was the learning of the brick- layer's trade and in this occupation he served a thorough apprenticeship. At the expiration of his time he worked as a journeyman, visiting various points of the west and finding temporary employment at San Diego and other California cities, as well as Reno, Nev., and elsewhere. After taking contracts for mason work he began also to contract for houses and other buildings and upon his return to Bakersfield in 1907 he engaged in con- tracting and building, which he followed until he entered the automobile business. Meanwhile he erected a number of houses in Kern, some of which he sold, but still owns eight at the present time, including the resi- dence which he erected for his family. To his efforts in no small measure was due the organization of the Builders' Exchange in 1910 and he was honored by being chosen its first vice-president, which office he filled for one year and then withdrew from the organization upon giving up his build- ing activities. Fraternally he belongs to the Knights of Pythias and has been a generous contributor to the philanthropic work of the order. In marriage he became united with a native daughter of Kern county, Miss Agnes Montgomery, who was born and reared here, received an excellent education in Bakersfield and has made her lifelong home in this community. Two children bless their union, John and Emma.

JACOB FETROW KAAR .- With other members of the family Jacob F. Kaar came to East Bakersfield in 1894 at the age of fourteen years and in this vicinity he has since been a resident, promoting local activities by his own admirable qualities of manhood and his devoted loyalty to the community. Son of John Kaar, mentioned elsewhere in this publication, he was born at Lochiel, Benton county, Ind., July 31, 1879, and received a fair education in the schools of his native locality, but at an early age he left school in order to earn his own livelihood. When fifteen years of age he began to learn the butcher's trade. Every department of that business soon became familiar to him. His judgment concerning fat stock was excel- lent even when he was a mere lad and now it is doubtful if any man in the county surpasses him in that respect. At the age of nineteen he engaged in the business with his father, John Kaar, and a brother, Charles, but at the expiration of six months he began to assume the entire management of the industry and when he was less than twenty-one he bought the interests of his two partners. Not having any money of his own he went in debt for the entire sum, but such was his resolution and so accurate was his judgment that in eight months he was able to discharge the entire indebtedness. His next step was to start a bank account, in order that he might accumulate the capital necessary for the buying of stock.

The small shack on Baker street with its limited space (20 x 20) soon became inadequate to the needs of the growing business, whereupon Mr. Kaar's father assisted him in the buying of his present site in East Bakers- field and here he erected a brick block of two stories, 50 x 90. Later he added a third story. The first floor contains a laundry which has an annex of 40 x 100. A grocery and the meat market occupy the remaining space on the first floor, while the upper stories are devoted to a rooming establishment. Modern conveniences aid the proprietor in his effort to give the people of his town the best service and meat of the finest quality. The trade is so large that the slaughtering of the beeves forms an essential part of the business and this work is done at the slaughter-house one and one-half miles southeast of the city. Besides owning this important business Mr. Kaar has other interests, including the ownership of an eighty-acre ranch at Rosedale, where irrigation enables him to put the entire tract into alfalfa and thus engage profitably in the raising of hogs. In addition he owns valuable residence property in East Bakersfield. In fraternal relations he holds mem-

ST.BRENDAN'S CHURCH MARICOPA

ST. JOSEPH'S CHURCH E. BAKERSFIELD

ST. MARY'S CHURCH TAFT

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bership with the Knights of Pythias, while politically he votes with the Democratic party. His marriage took place in Bakersfield and united him with Miss Laura Edna Wells, a native of Lochiel, Ind., the recipient of excellent educational advantages and a devoted adherent of the Congre- gational Church. Their family consists of three daughters, Emma Carolyn, Laura Edna and Mary Elizabeth.

REV. J. J. PRENDIVILLE .- St. Joseph's Catholic Church, East Bakers- field, was founded in 1900 as a mission by Father Patrick Lennon, who con- tinued to officiate as pastor until it was made a separate pastorate in 1907. It was then that Eugene Hefferman became the first resident pastor and he was succeeded in March, 1910, by Father J. J. Prendiville, the present pastor, who soon after his arrival also began holding services in Taft and Maricopa.

In September, 1911, Father Prendiville built the Catholic Church at Taft, a $5,000 edifice. He originated the plan, following the old mission style, be- sides which he superintended the building, selected the lumber and his efforts have produced one of the finest churches in the San Joaquin Valley. He has also built a church for St. Patrick's congregation in Maricopa and he is holding services in Fellows.

St. Joseph's Church and parsonage occupy about half a block of ground on Kern street, East Bakersfield, and among the different societies are the Children of Mary, League of the Sacred Heart, Total Abstinence Society and The Sanctuary Society for Boys. In 1911 St. Joseph's Dramatic Society gave a play that proved a success and was repeated in the Bakersfield Opera House for the benefit of St. Francis Church.

The pastor, Father Prendiville, was born in Ireland, was graduated at St. Brendaus Seminary in Killarney, then studied theology and philosophy at C'arlow college. In 1907 he was ordained priest by Bishop Foley for the Los Angeles diocese. He was assistant to Monsigneur Fisher at Holy Cross Church, Santa Cruz, until March, 1910, when he was appointed to St. Joseph's Church.

IRA HOCHHEIMER .- The Hochheimer department store on Chester avenue, extending one entire block from Nineteenth to Twentieth street, rep- resents the tireless supervision of its present manager, Ira Hochheimer; as well as the ability of his father, Amiel Hochheimer, who is yet living, at the age of sixty-two; Moses Hochheimer, an uncle, now deceased, a man of great executive ability and a moving spirit in the upbuilding of this establishment : Monroe Hochheimer, who acts as assistant manager at the present time ; M. H. Wangenheim, deceased, a former manager and a merchant possessing unusual faculty for organization ; and Henry Wangenheim, who has charge of the San Francisco offices of the four Hochheimer & Co. stores. Duly organ- ized as a corporation under the laws of the state of California, the company operates in all four departments stores in this state, one at each of the follow- ing places: Willow, Germantown and Orland in Glenn county, and Bakers- field, the establishment at Willow having been the first in the chain of stores.

The brothers, Amiel and Moses, both of whom were natives of Penn- sylvania but residents of California from early years, embarked in mercantile pursuits at Dixon, Cal., but upon the completion of the railroad went to Wil- low, Glenn county, and established a store at that point, later establishing the three other stores still owned by the corporation. About the year 1900 Moses Hochheimer and M. H. Wangenheim, both now deceased, came to Bakersfield and purchased from Mr. Belau the establishment known as the Pioneer store. At that time there were twelve employes. Business was con- ducted in a single store-room on Chester avenue, immediately north of the alley between Nineteenth and Twentieth streets. Today the business supports one hundred and fifty employes and ranks as next to the largest mercantile establishment in the entire San Joaquin valley. An entire block of ground

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floor space is occupied on the east side of Chester avenue from Nineteenth to Twentieth street, in the Hopkins, Brodek and Scribner and Grand buildings.

The manager of this great business enterprise was born in the city of San Francisco August 6, 1876. The store at Willow was established in the same year (1876) and his parents moved thither, so that he grew to manhood in Glenn county. Besides having such advantages as were offered by the public schools he took a regular course of study in the University of California, from which he was graduated in the spring of 1898. Immediately after gradua- tion he returned to Willow and became manager of the store at that point. Four years later, upon the death of M. H. Wangenheim, the manager of the Bakersfield store, he was transferred to this city to fill the vacancy and this at the age of only twenty-six assumed responsibilities of a very weighty nature.

The presidency of the company is still held by Amiel Hochheimer, who remains actively in the business world and displays an energy scarcely less than that of his younger years. His brother, Moses, who died in the year 1912. is remembered kindly by the people of Bakersfield, where he was considered the leading merchant of the town and a man of high-minded, noble and humanitarian impulses. At one time Mr. Hochheimer served as lieutenant on the staff of Governor Gillett. Notwithstanding his business responsibilities he is sociable and companionable and finds relaxation from business cares through membership in various organizations, including the Bakersfield Club, Army and Navy Club of San Francisco, Argonaut Club of San Francisco, and the Shriners and thirty-second degree Masons.

EDWARD F. MILLARD .- The Millard family comes of old English lineage and the first representative of the name in America was Stephen William Millard, a native of the shire of Somerset, England, and a pioneer of 1852 in California, having been allured on the long voyage around the Horn by reason of tales heard concerning the rich mines of the then unknown west. By the time of his arrival, however, a reaction from mining had begun and many were seeking their livelihoods along other lines of labor. It was to ranching that he turned his attention after he had landed at San Francisco and had taken a tour of inspection toward the interior of the state. For a time he held the position as foreman of the ranch owned by Lyman Beard at Mission San Jose. Later he began to farm rented land for himself, living for a time at Sunclglen, Alameda county, where his son Edward F. was born August 12, 1875; but later removing to Irvington in the same county and during 1892 coming to Kern county to take up general farming. For a number of years after his arrival in California he remained a bachelor, but after a time he met and married Rebecca Lively, who was born in Kentucky and at the age of three years had been brought across the plains by her parents, the family making the long journey in a wagon drawn by oxen.

Among nine children comprising the parental family, seven of whom are now living, Edward F. Millard was next to the youngest. As a boy he at- tended country schools in Alameda county. At the age of fourteen he began an apprenticeship to the trade of printer. Three years later, when the family came to Kern county, he secured work as a type-setter in the composing room of the Weekly Echo under Messrs. Gregory and Smith, with whom he re- mained for eighteen months. Next he began to be interested in horticulture and general farming. The study of the fruit industry proved interesting to lim. He devoted much time to developing kinds of fruit adapted to the cli- mate and soil of Kern county. After about ten years of labor in fruit-growing and kindred pursuits he became a conductor with the Bakersfield and Kern Electric Railway Company and in that position proved alert, capable and courteous. For about six years, beginning in 1906, he was connected with the office force of the Power Transit and Light Company. continuing in the meter department after the concern had been absorbed by the San Joaquin

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Light and Power Corporation. During 1912 he received a merited promotion to the position of window clerk.

Politics has not received a great amount of attention from Mr. Millard, yet he keeps in touch with national problems, favors progressive measures in local affairs and votes with the Republican party in the general elections. Fraternally he holds membership with the Modern Woodmen of America. In Bakersfield, May 4, 1902, occurred his marriage to Miss Josephine Cowing, who was born in Tulare, this state, and completed her studies in the Kern county high school. Descended from old Anglo-Saxon ancestry, she is a daughter of John Cowing, an Englishman who came to California in young manhood and engaged in farm pursuits. After he had settled in Tulare county he met and married Sarah Baley, a native of Georgia. Upon his removal to Kern county he purchased land five miles from Bakersfield and devoted many years to the development of the property, making of it a productive and val- table tract. For some years he and his wife have lived in Los Angeles.

GEORGE CARL HABERFELDE .- As proprietor of one of the most important furniture establishments in the San Joaquin valley and as secretary of the Bakersfield Merchants' Association, Mr. Haberfelde has been intimately identified with the commercial upbuilding of his community and holds a posi- tion among those enterprising, capable and resourceful merchants who sur- mount obstacles and rise superior to misfortune. Of German birth and an- cestry, he was born in Nuremberg, November 20, 1871, and was a son of John and Barbara Haberfelde, also Bavarians by birth. For some time the father carried on a factory where he manufactured frames for pictures and for mir- rors, but influenced by the reported opportunities of the new world he closed out his interests in Bavaria and brought the family to America about 1880. After a brief sojourn in New York City he went further west and settled in Chicago, where George C. served an apprenticeship to the trades of cabinet- maker and upholsterer and gained a knowledge of the furniture business of the utmost value to his later undertakings. There are four sons and one daughter in the parental family and all of these now reside in California, one brother, Henry, having come to Bakersfield after the arrival of George C. in this city.

The year 1891 witnessed the arrival of George C. Haberfelde in California and the establishment of his headquarters in San Diego, where he opened and operated a bakery. At the expiration of two years he disposed of that shop and resumed work in the furniture business as manager of a large San Diego firm. During the period of his residence in that city he married Miss Alvina Schmidt in 1894 and they are the parents of four children, Albert, Clarisse, Ed- mund and Roland. The family removed from San Diego to Bakersfield in 1897 and here Mr. Haberfelde later bought out the furniture business of Jacob Nie- deraur at Nineteenth and K streets. Although almost wholly without means, he had a good credit and was able to maintain a business of growing im- portance. The little frame building where he first started in business has since been replaced by the Fish building. But before it had been removed it proved inadequate to the demands of his increasing trade and as there were no large store buildings in Bakersfield at the time he secured a shack a little larger than the original place of business. When he removed to it he had a total capital of only $200. From that small beginning he rose to prominence and success. By the prompt payment of his bills he maintained an excellent credit. Little by little he increased his stock of furniture until it represented a valua- tion of about $8.000. Just then, when he had only a small insurance protection of $600. a disastrous fire entirely destroyed the building and left him worse than penniless.

Undismayed by the great disaster. Mr. Haberfelde began in business once more, for his reputation was so high that he had no difficulty in securing on

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credit all the merchandise he desired. By his upright treatment of customers he had won their friendship and they rallied to his support. In a short time he had regained his former position in commercial circles and since 1908 he has occupied commodious quarters in the Dinkelspiel building at Nos. 1904-1906 Nineteenth street, having the most extensive establishment of its kind in the county, of which he is now the pioneer furniture dealer. In former years he was compelled to buy his furniture through middlemen, but even then he had resolved that when the business justified different procedure, he would go to headquarters for the source of his supplies. It is now possible for him to buy direct from the factory and thus save all of the profits of the middlemen, which in turn enables him to give to his customers the advantage of the reduced rates at which he buys. With all of his heavy business responsibilities he finds leisure to serve efficiently as secretary of the Kern County Merchants' Association, besides which he has been connected actively with the Knights of Pythias, Woodmen of the World and Ancient Order of United Workmen. In politics he supports Democratic principles.

LEONIDES CASTRO .- With nothing but a stout heart and his good health to aid him, it is to his credit and a high compliment to his abilities that Leonides Castro has reached his present standing, due largely to his un- daunted effort and determined industry. He was born May 18, 1856, in Sonora, Mexico, son of Thomas and Concepcion (Coronada) Castro, who were pioneers of Kern county. Leonides, familiarly known as Lee, is the eldest of their twelve children, seven of these now surviving. In his boyhood it was necessary for him to ard in the support of the growing family and as he gave his time to work on the home farm it left little opportunity for attend- ing school. Meager as were his facilities for gaining an education he never- theless became a well-informed man, self-study and observation, coupled with a quick mind and a retentive memory, being largely responsible for this. In 1867 he came with his parents to Kern county and here he worked for his father more or less until he was twenty-five years old. He first settled on Panama ranch, where his father engaged in stockraising and general farming, later purchasing a hundred and sixty acres on section twelve. In 1876 he and his brothers were taken into partnership by the father and together they farmed this tract for about two years, when Lee Castro withdrew and entered the employ of Miller & Lux as horsebreaker. He remained with this com- pany for ten years, after which he was with the Kern County Land Company, engaged in the stock business. In 1890 he bought twenty acres of land, five miles south of Bakersfield. From time to time he added to this until he now owns one hundred and twenty acres, devoted entirely to general farming, with the exception of about eighty acres in alfalfa, under the Kern Island canal. It should be stated that the oldest ditch in the county was built by his father and was known as the Castro ditch. Thomas Castro built this for four and a half miles by the aid of ox-teams, plows and men to do the shoveling.

Mr. Castro is raising horses, mules, cattle and hogs. He has three jacks and two stallions, all splendid specimens, and in his herd are some large, well- built mules and horses. For his cattle, horse and mule range he owns four hundred and eighty acres on Cottonwood creek, on the south slope of the Breckenridge mountains, where he also has access to a large public range. His brands are two Js with an inverted C above and VC. He is also engaged in contracting and teaming, grading and leveling of land.

Mr. Castro was married in Sacramento, Cal., in 1880, to Miss Dixie Cage, who was born in Napa county, the daughter of Edward Cage, a pioneer of that county, whose sketch appears in that of Mrs. Domitilo Castro, her sister. Mrs. Castro was reared in Los Angeles and Kern counties, and was educated in the public schools. Mr. and Mrs. Castro became the parents of ten chil- dren. five of whom are living. Named in order of birth, the children are:

Lee Castro Mas Lee Castro 6

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Charles, who helps his father and superintends the farm and stock business ; Daniel, assisting in the care of the cattle; Robert, who died at twenty years ; Henry, who died at the age of eighteen ; Sylvania, when twenty-two; Annie, when six years; John, who is with Miller & Lux; Lottie, Mrs. Hughes, of Kern county ; Martin, attending the Kern county high school; and Louisa, who died at fifteen years of age. Mr. Castro is a Democrat. The family resi- dence is at No. 708 Oregon street, East Bakersfield.

ALFRED SWOFFORD .- Born in Daviess county, Mo., February 20, 1874, Mr. Swofford there grew to manhood, giving diligent attention to his studies at the local schools, and becoming a healthy, well-bred and am- bitious young man. Attracted early to the west and hearing reports which assured him of a good chance to improve his circumstances, he came to Cali- fornia in 1898, in March of that year locating in Tulare county, where he found employment and worked for about two years. Coming in April, 1900, to Hill's Valley, Fresno county, he went to work on a wheat ranch, of which J. W. Carpenter was proprietor. The latter did freighting as well as farming and ran two twelve-mule freight teams in hauling lumber from the sawmills of the Pine Ridge Lumber Company in the mountains to Fresno. Mr. Swofford began as a teamster and worked his way up to be head teamster. continuing at this job until July, 1902, when Mr. Carpenter sold out to the Reed Brothers of Reedley, Cal., and he continued in their employ doing team- ing until 1905. During this interval the Reed Brothers, H. M. and E. R. Reed, were filling their freighting contract to haul up all the heavy freight consisting of material and machinery for the Kern River Power Company, now known as the Huntington Electric Power Plant, twelve miles below Kernville. At times Mr. Swofford handled teams of eight, sixteen, twenty-four and thirty- two horses, as the weight demanded, and machinery, some pieces weighing as much as fifty-two tons, was hauled, this necessitating the utmost skill in driving and the most accurate solving of the problems of directions and the careful management of his teams. Freight machinery, lumber and cement were carried for this firm, and Mr. Swofford hauled the first and last load, his services proving most valuable to his employers. The job was completed in November, 1904. He remained with the Reed Brothers until July 1, 1905, then driving sixteen-horse teams for the borax contractor, Hank Hawn, and hauled borax from the Frazier Borax Mines in Ventura county to Bakersfield, taking eight days to make the round trip. In about November. 1905, he went to Los Angeles and engaged with Donovan-Bourland as a teamster, and remained with them through the winter, then returning to Bakersfield. He went to logging for the Frazier Borax Company until September, 1906, and through September, October and November of that year was at Edison hauling heavy machinery for the Edison Electric Company as teamster for the Short Broth- ers, who had the contract for hauling all that heavy machinery. It was while in this employment that he drove thirty horses and hauled some pieces of machinery weighing as much as twenty-eight tons apiece. In 1907 he re- engaged with the Frazier Borax Company and became head teamster, work- ing for them until January, 1908, when he was transferred to Lang, Los Angeles county, and there continued teaming until August 1, 1908, when he went east to Missouri for a three months' visit, during August, September and October. The first of November found him back in Kern county and he then leased the Beekman ranch for five years, this being his present place. which bids fair to become one of the most productive places in the county. Mr. Swofford has spent much time in corn-growing and has evinced a great interest in its production. In 1912 he grew several acres of corn which in yield and quality would compare favorably with that grown in Missouri. He has raised fine corn as a second crop after the first crop (of barley hay) has been taken off. In 1912 he planted several acres in this manner and found to his

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surprise that the second crop outyielded the corn planted as the first crop over two tons to the acre and the ears were exceptionally large and fine. So successful has he been in this venture that he is becoming a specialist on corn- raising. Mr. Swofford is also interested in the breeding of good horses and is a shareholder in the celebrated Union Avenue Horse Company, owner of one of the best imported stallions ever brought to this state. Politically Mr. Swofford is a Democrat.

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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 111

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