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 116

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 116

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FRANK A. BYRNS .- The superintendent of the pipe line department of the Standard Oil Company at Lost Hills was born in Oil City, Pa., Jan- uary 31. 1879. His father, M. A. Byrns, was connected with the oil and gas industry in Pennsylvania all his life and he is still an active business man, now engaged in general merchandising at Cranberry. Venango county. From a youth Frank A. Byrns grew up familiar with the oil industry. After graduating from the Oil City High School in 1896 he began the oil business under his father, continuing until 1899, when he entered the em- ploy of the Kenawah Oil Company in West Virginia, but two years later he left their employ to become pumper for Guffy & Galey at Weston, WV. Va. In the spring of 1901 he was employed at Deadwood, Dak., putting in a gas system, on the completion of which he came to California in September, 1902, and entered the employ of the Standard Oil Company as stationary engineer, under W. V. Miller. The next year he filled the same position at Coalinga, afterwards becoming field gauger. In 1909 he was transferred to San Pablo in charge of the storehouses, but he was later returned to Kern county by the company as assistant superintendent of the pipe line depart- ment at Lost Hills. In January, 1913, he was made superintendent of the department, a position he is now filling with his usual tact and ability.

In Stockton, Cal., in 1906, occurred the marriage of Mr. Byrns with Miss Margaret Neville, a native daughter of San Francisco, and they have one child, Frank L. Mr. Byrns is well and favorably known and fraternally is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

PERCY L. ROBINSON .- An aptitude for mechanical work inherited from his father who, although an agriculturist by occupation, exhibited ex- ceptional skill in the handling and repairing of machinery, early turned the thoughts of Mr. Robinson toward the earning of a livelihood through an occupation demanding mechanical skill and in the selection of the oil indus- try as his life work he has made no mistake, as his rising success abundantly proves. Of English birth and lineage, he displays the dignity, strong per- sonality and practical common sense that have characterized his nationality from the beginning of history. When he came to the United States in 1908. accompanied by his wife and infant child, he proceeded direct to California and secured employment in the Kern river fields, where since 1911 he has engaged as sub-foreman under S. H. Martin, having charge of the pump work on the Sterling division of the Associated Oil Company.

The shire of Bedford is Mr. Robinson's native place and January 24,

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1881, the date of his birth. As a boy he lived on a farm operated by his father, Henry R., who not only showed wise judgment in the tilling of the soil, but in addition was so capable in the handling of machinery that he was regularly employed in the running of threshing machines and similar work calling for considerable skill in mechanics. While attending school until fourteen years of age, the son during vacations had every opportunity to assist his father with the machines and thus he developed his native talent for such work. During December of 1903 he was united in marriage with Miss Susan Sophia Johnson, a native of the adjoining shire of Buck- ingham in England, and for some years after marriage he remained in Eng- land, earning a livelihood for his family through mechanical and kindred work. At Wakefield, Yorkshire, England, their eldest child, Ethel Maudie, was born, and a second daughter, Lillian, was born in the Kern River oil fields. After settling in Kern county Mr. Robinson engaged in the oil indus- try and was with various concerns, but principally the Cleveland Oil Com- pany, until his selection for his present position with the Associated Oil Company. Ile belongs to the Woodmen of the World and Loyal Order of Moose.

HON. JAMES WILLIAM FREEMAN .- The life which this narrative delineates began in Culpeper county, Va., November 6, 1821, and closed at Bakersfield, Cal., October 10, 1890. In 1850 he crossed the plains to California, going to Mariposa county, thence to Tulare county and becoming one of the founders of Visalia. While living there he represented Tulare county in the state senate, and it was at this session that he succeeded in passing the bill to form Kern county out of Tulare. At the time of the mining excitement in 1854 he became a resident of Keyesville and later engaged in practice at Havilah, at that time the county-seat of Kern county. For four- teen years he served as district attorney of Kern county and his oratorical skill, fluency of speech and soundness of logic made him a power in profes- sional circles. The title of General, by which he was known, came to him through his leadership of a company formed at Visalia at time of the Civil war. The larger opportunities offered by Bakersfield caused him to give up the happy associations of years and he removed from Havilah to the later county-seat, where, just after the completion of his new home, he passed away, followed to the grave by manifold tokens of affection and sincere regard. Fraternally, he was a Master Mason. From early life until the close of his useful existence he supported Democratic principles.

The marriage of James W. Freeman and Mrs. Martha Ann (Burkett) Brown was solemnized in Sacramento, Cal., October 13, 1876, and resulted in the birth of a daughter, Mattie, now Mrs. O'Reilly, of Pasadena. Mrs. Freeman, who still occupies the residence in Bakersfield built for her by the General shortly before his death, was born in Lexington. Tenn., and received her education in Arkansas public schools. Her parents, James and Mary (Greer) Burkett, were born in Tennessee, the former in 1818 and the latter in 1821 ; both died in Arkansas, the mother during 1863 and the father in 1876.

Shortly after leaving school Miss Martha Ann Burkett became the bride of Dr. Leonidas Brown. who was born in Tennessee September 18, 1839. At the outbreak of the Civil war, which occurred shortly after he had graduated from a medical college in Tennessee, he volunteered as a surgeon in the Con- federate army, was assigned to the First Tennessee Regiment and remained at the front until the end of the struggle. Twice wounded in battle, he car- ried two bullets in his body throughout the balance of his life and they were finally the cause of his death. When the south no longer had need of his services as a surgeon he began to practice in Arkansas, where, December 22, 1867, he was united in marriage with Miss Burkett. The young couple set- tled in Texas, but about 1870 they came to California and established a home

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at Havilah, where he served several terms as county physician. He resigned from that office when the county seat was moved to Bakersfield. His death occurred October 20, 1875, from the effects of his army service. Besides his wife he left an only child, Dardan L. Brown, now a resident of Bakers- field. For many years Mrs. Freeman has been a member of the Kern County Pioneer Society.

Upon the death of Mr. Freeman the following resolutions were passed by the bår of Kern county, October 14, 1890:

Whereas: Almighty God in his infinite wisdom has seen fit to remove from our midst our esteemed fellow citizen, beloved brother attorney and able jurist, the Hon. J. W. Freeman, and Whereas: He being one of the oldest residents in, and organizers of Kern County, California, and Whereas : He has represented this part of the State of California in the Senate of this State for the period of two terms, and has represented Kern County. Cali- fornia. as District Attorney thereof, for about sixteen years, and Whereas: He has been a kind husband. a loving and indulgent father and mild and honorable in all he did, and Whereas: His death has deprived Kern County, California, of one of its ablest and most honorable lawyers, and the people of this county and the members of the Kern County Bar in particular of one of their purest, noblest and truest friends.

Resolved: That while we deeply deplore his untimely death, we bow our heads in humble submission to this evidence of divine will. Resolved : That the relatives of the deceased have our deepest sympathy in this their hour of affliction. Resolved : That in the death of the Hon. J. W. Freeman, not only has his family, relatives, the members of this Kern County Bar, and the judicial interests of this county, suffered irreparable loss, but society at large has been deprived of one of the most useful members and brightest lights. Resolved: That these resolutions be spread upon the minutes of this court, and a copy thereof be sent to the family of the deceased, and one to each of the newspapers published in the County of Kern. State of Cali- fornia, with a request to publish the same.

Thomas Rhodes, J. W. Mahon and Alvin Fay, Committee.

DELL J. HOLSON .- In Silver City. N. Mex., where his youth was spent, Dell J. Holson first saw the light of day on September 10, 1874. He was the son of Thomas W. and Nannie (Rees) Holson, the former a native of Glasgow. Scotland, while the mother was born in the Alps, Switzerland. Both early settlers in Colorado, it was there they met and married. For a time the father followed mining and then ran quartz mills. Removing subsequently to Silver City, N. Mex., he became interested in the stock business and had a cattle ranch near the city which proved so profitable that he followed that as his life work and the family are now making their home there. Three children were born to this couple, our subject being the second, and he was the first white boy born in Silver City. Receiving the education afforded by the grammar and high schools in his native city, the boy early learned the cattle business and became so thoroughly inured to the life of a stockman that he has followed it ever since. He is very proficient with the lasso and in the saddle is much at ease, and he was considered one of the best riders and ropers in that section, having won in contests on many occasions. When he was twenty-one he took charge of his father's cattle ranch and conducted it most successfully, later forming the Holson Cattle Company, of which he was president. They ran a very large herd of cattle until 1910, when the company sold out and dissolved and Mr. Holson then came to Bakersfield to enter the employ of the Kern County Land Company as cattle shipper. Two years later he was promoted to stock foreman of the Stockdale division, and in August. 1913, on the death of the late Temple Taylor, he was promoted to superintendent of the division, which includes five of the company's ranches, thus reaping the reward for earnest, pains-

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taking labor and an unsullied record in the employ of the large company for which he is working.

Mr. Holson was married in Silver City, N. Mex., to Miss Lillian Clayton, a native of Texas and a graduate of the Silver City Normal. They have two daughters, Gladys and Fay. Mr. Holson was made a Mason in the Silver City Lodge No. 8, F. & A. M., and is a member of the Isaac Tiffany Lodge No. 13, I. O. O. F., and of the Knights of the Maccabees. Mrs. Holson is a devout member of the Presbyterian Church. In political senti- ment Mr. Holson is a Democrat.

J. J. DEUEL, SR .- Descended from French-Huguenots, Mr. Deuel fur- nishes a fine illustration of the possibilities before a skilled Amer- ican mechanic, for he has maintained an excellent reputation at his trade, besides showing ability as a farmer. Born at Wellsville, Columbiana county, Ohio, September 20, 1856, he began to earn his own livelihood at the age of eleven years and for some time was employed in the oil fields of Penn- sylvania and West Virginia. From 1871 until 1875 he served an apprentice- ship to the trade of boiler-maker in Pittsburg, Pa., whence he came to Cali- fornia in the year last-named, settling in San Francisco, where he worked for a steamship company until June of that year. Next going to Los An- geles he worked for almost two years with the George M. Wheeler geograph- ical survey and in the meantime surveyed from the Mexico line to Mount Whitney: During that period he was on top of every large mountain in California as far north as Mount Whitney.

Leaving the west Mr. Deuel for ten years engaged in building bridges. tanks and boilers for the Pennsylvania Railroad Company and in the mean- time maintained his home at Wellsville, Ohio, where in 1879 he married Miss Flora Virginia Eaton. His next location was at Pensacola, Fla., where for twelve years he was engaged as foreman with the Louisville & Nashville Railroad Company, having entire supervision of all boiler work for the company. Leaving Florida he returned to California and settled at Kern. where for five years he was employed by the Southern Pacific Railroad Company. The particular task in which he engaged was the changing of the engines from coal to oil. When that task was completed he left the railroad employ and began to work for the Axelson Machine Company in Bakersfield, delivering the pumps and fittings to the Kern river oil fields. Meanwhile he bought from Louis Smith eighty acres situated five miles southeast of Bakersfield. comprising one-half of the northeast quarter of section 2, range 29. where he now makes his home. This he has improved with three wells, one having a two-inch pump operated by a six horse power engine, and the other two have four-inch centrifugal pumps operated by twenty horse power oil engines which can deliver eighty inches of water.

Mr. and Mrs. Deuel are members of the Bakersfield Christian Church. Besides their own three children they have reared two other children, sisters, Flora and Eva Ramsey, the elder of whom is now the wife of a blacksmith at Kern. Of their own children. J. J., Jr .. holds a very respon- sible position as sales manager with the Axelson Machine Company for the state of California ; the only daughter, Lottie M., is the wife of Henry Pierce and lives at Pensacola, Fla. ; and the younger son, H. P., follows the trade of a boiler-maker at McCook, Neb., where he is employed by a railroad company.

JEAN B. ESTRIBOU .- Besides the management of the Metropole market, Mr. Estribou devoted much time to the raising of cattle and alfalfa, for which purpose he bought and improved a ranch two miles south- east of town, and there he built and now maintains a slaughter-house. In addition to raising cattle on the ranch he buys elsewhere, for his trade is large and there is a constant demand for beef of the finest quality. It is said that

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few men in Kern county excel him in judging the best points of stock and he shows especial skill in selecting cattle capable of being developed into the best quality of beef. In 1912 he sold his retail market, but continued the whole- sale beef business and then started the Estribou delicatessen, in the Metro- pole block, from which place he manages his wholesale business. It is equipped with a modern refrigeration plant.

From early life Mr. Estribou has made his own way in the world, but the necessity of self-support, instead of proving a detriment, developed in him qualities of frugality, self-reliance and thrift and proved the foundation of ultimate success. During childhood he lived in Basses Pyrenees, France, where he was born June 16, 1865, in the village of Ogeu. The second child in the family and the only one to attain mature years, he was only five when death deprived him of the loving care of his mother, Marie (Fayance) Estri- bou, and later his father, Paul, spent some years in Buenos Ayres, South America, engaging there in the stock business until his death. The break- ing up of the home threw the boy upon the world at an age, when he should have been in school, but in spite of this handicap he has acquired by self- culture a broad knowledge of the world. In boyhood he served an appren- ticeship to the trade of butcher. Coming to California in 1882 and arriving in San Francisco, he worked at the dairy industry on the bay and also found employment in a laundry, as well as in other lines of business. During 1893 he came to Kern county and two years later opened the Metropole market at East Bakersfield. Since then he has erected on Humboldt street a substantial brick residence, said to be one of the finest homes in the place. This beautiful home is presided over by his wife, whom he married in San Francisco and who was Miss Sophie Laborde, a native of Basses Py- renees, France. Five children blessed their union and the three youngest, Paul, Alfred and Denise, still remain to brighten the home with their pres- ence. The eldest, Mrs. Jeanette Bryan, is living in Bakersfield, and the second, Frank, a graduate of Heald's Business College at San Jose, is now a bookkeeper in the First National Bank of Kern. Besides being a leading member of the Board of Trade. Mr. Estribou has allied himself with other movements for the business and material upbuilding of his chosen place of residence. In politics he votes with the Republican party. Fraternally he holds membership with the Eagles, Druids, Woodmen of the World and Improved Order of Red Men.

CECIL H. HANNING .- A native of Maine, Mr. Hanning was born in Littleton, Aroostook county, July 14, 1872, the son of Merrell B. and Martha J. (Levitt) Hanning, farmers in Aroostook county. The father served in a Maine regiment during the Civil war for four years and eight months as a second lieutenant.

Cecil H. Hanning is the youngest of four children, all living. As a boy he was sent to the public school near his home and studied in that New England institution until he was eighteen years old. The ensuing year he spent in labor on the family homestead and in 1891 he came to California, arriving November 24 and settling on the South Fork of the Kern river in Kern county. Being without capital with which to start in life on his own account, he worked for wages eight years and in 1899 found himself able to set up as a farmer in a modest way. Renting four hundred and eighty acres of land, he engaged in general farming and stock-raising. At this time he has three hundred and seventy-five acres under cultivation, grows much grain and alfalfa and has two hundred and sixty head of cattle and two hundred and fifty hogs. December 25, 1900, Mr. Hanning married Miss May M. McCray, who was born at Kernville, October 26, 1880, and they have three children, John C., Charles F. and Ruth.

H. P. JENSEN, O. D .- A patronymic indicative of Scandinavian ancestry finds confirmation in the fact that Dr. Jensen is a native of the fine old king-

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dom of Denmark and a descendant of a race identified with that rugged coun- try from a period when authentic history lapses into tradition. His father, Mads, a man of exceptional expertness in the jewelry business, followed that line of work for years in Odense, Denmark, and later in Scranton, Iowa, where he still makes his home and carries on a prosperous trade. By his marriage to Caroline Larsen he had two children, the second of whom, H. P., was born at Nyborg, on the east coast of the island of Fyen, Denmark, Octo- ber 27, 1875. In addition to the usual public-school opportunities he had the privilege of a polytechnic course. During vacations he assisted his father in the store and thus gained a thorough knowledge of the jewelry business while yet a mere lad. Accompanying his father to the United States in 1895 he remained with him in Iowa for a brief period and then drifted west to Kansas, where he secured a position as manager of a jewelry business in Great Bend, continuing in the same place for five years and then resigning in order that he might enter upon a course of professional study.

From his young boyhood the study of diseases of the eye had interested Dr. Jensen and as much of his work in the jewelry store had to do with the fitting of eye-glasses and spectacles he began to specialize along this line, the result being that in 1900 he matriculated in the Kansas City College of Ophthalmology. At the completion of the regular course of study he was graduated in 1902 with the degree of O. D. and with an exceptionally fine record for successful work. Not content with the information thus acquired he took a post-graduate course in Dr. Hamilton's School of Ophthalmology, a department of the Columbia Medical College of Kansas City. After the com- pletion of the second course he opened an office at St. Joseph, Mo., where he built up a growing and valuable practice during the eighteen months of his residence in the place. Desiring, however, to establish a home in the west he came to California during 1907 and spent six months in a tour of inspection through the state.

At the expiration of the time Dr. Jensen selected Bakersfield as his future field of professional endeavor and at once opened an office at No. 1413 Nineteenth street, where he began the practice of ophthalmology. In 1912 he removed to his present quarters at No. 1513, where he has a suite equipped with every modern appliance for the successful prosecution of his work. Possessing superior ability along inventive lines, he recently invented a cylindrical grinding machine superior to any similar appliance now in the market and it is his expectation to utilize this invention in his own grinding establishment, which is operated by electricity. Recognized as a master of all diseases of the eye, he is consulted in all such cases in the community, not only by the patients themselves, but very frequently by physicians and other opticians, and his record for prompt and successful diagnosis of eye troubles entitles him to a position among the leading men of his profession in the state. To assist him in his practice he has his wife, whom he married in Fresno and who was Miss Lena Weiser, a native of Texas. Being a grad- uate of the California Optical College of San Francisco, she is thoroughly competent to assist him in the most delicate and intricate operations. Along the line of professional developments he finds pleasure and profit in asso- ciation with members of the American and California Optical Associations and further has served as vice-president of the Central California Optical Association, in which he ranks as a leading member. In fraternal relations he is connected with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, politically votes the Republican ticket at all national elections and in religion adheres to the Lutheran denomination, the church of his forefathers and the faith in which he was reared in his early home in Denmark.

GUS ODEMAN .- A member of a family of eleven children and fifth among the nine that attained maturity, Gus Odeman was born at Savrsborg,

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Norway, December 16, 1878. His parents sent him to school and brought him up in the faith of the Methodist Church. Like many of the boys of the community, he early went to sea. When only fifteen years of age he earned his livelihood as a sailor on the North sea. About 1896, after three years in brief voyages on that water, he shipped before the mast of an English vessel that started from Frederikstad on a cruise around the world, touching port at Australia and the Hawaiian Islands. At the time of stopping at Honolulu the plague raged in that city. The vessel was then turned toward America and cast anchor at Tacoma, where it was sold, over- hauled and loaded with lumber for the Australian markets. Altogether he made three voyages to Australia. In 1902, after having sailed several times around the world, first under the English flag and later under that of France, he settled in San Francisco and announced his intention of becoming an American citizen. During the two following years he was in the revenue service along the Pacific coast and as a salmon fisher in Alaskan waters. During 1904 he retired from the life of a sailor after eleven years spent on the high seas.

A brief period of employment as fireman on a dredge on the San Joaquin river was followed by promotion to be a leverman, but soon Mr. Odeman was obliged to leave on account of an attack of malarial fever. The doctor ordered him to the mountains, but a sojourn in Shasta county did not bring restoration of health and he then began work at a logging camp in the Santa Cruz mountains, where soon his strength was restored. Upon leaving the logging camp he spent five months as a fireman on river boats in the San Francisco bay, after which he engaged in fishing at Santa Cruz and followed kindred occupations in the same locality. Later he spent a few months in dredging at Moro Rock. For eighteen months he was employed in the vicinity of San Pedro, where a passageway for ocean vessels was being opened up to Wilmington. From there he entered the employ of the J. F. Lucey Company of Los Angeles, and was engaged in constructing siphons in connection with the building of the Los Angeles aqueduct which conveys the waters from the Owens river on its way to Los Angeles. Much of his work was in connection with the construction of the San Antonio and Dove Spring Camp siphons. When the job neared completion. he resigned for the work had been replete with accidents and inimical to life. Since then he has been in the Sunset and Midway fields. He has worked for the United Crude and American Oil companies and for the Monarch refinery, owned by the Sunset Monarch Oil Company, but more recently has been a pumper in the employ of the Boston Pacific Oil Company. Since coming to the oil fields he has invested in a tract of sixteen acres in Merced county and it is his intention to improve the property by planting fig trees.

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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 116

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