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 120

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 120

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Engineering skill by no means represents the limit of the ability of Mr. Burnes, who is also of a literary bent of mind, a student of the best liter- ature of the ages, the composer of a number of songs now in the hands of publishers and the author of several scenarios that have been accepted for publication. One of the pastimes of his leisure hours has been the writing of short stories and these have appeared in Sunday papers in the west. SAMUEL R. CLARK .- It would be difficult to name any depart- ment in the meat business which is not thoroughly understood by Mr. Clark, proprietor of a large market at Mojave and a joint owner with H. A. Wenz in a first-class market in San Diego. To a large extent he gives his attention to the business in Mojave. This, since its purchase from his brother in 1908. he has continued to operate under the name of the City meat market, with himself as sole proprietor and owner. The location is central, the busi- ness flourishing, the equipment up-to-date and the sanitary conditions 1In- surpassed, so that the energetic manager is reaping the financial profit to be expected from a work so well conducted. Nor is the San Diego business less flourishing. Indeed the Palace market on D between Seventh and Eighth streets, with its attractive new fixtures, its fine refrigerating conveniences and its sanitary conditions, ranks as the finest place of its kind in the city by the southwestern sea.

The Clark family comes of Irish lineage, David Clark, a native of the Emerald Isle, but a resident of the new world from youth, crossed the plains with wagon and oxen to California during the summer of 1853 and mined for a time with other Argonauts in search of gold. Not finding the hoped-for fortune he returned to Illinois and became a pioneer of Warsaw, a river town in Hancock county, where for many years he served as constable and was well-known among the early settlers of that then prosperous place. From Illinois he removed to Kansas and took up land in Morris county. Nine years later he became a pioneer farmer in Thomas county, same state, where he and his son, Samuel R., still own the old homestead of four hun- dred and eighty acres, although of recent years he and his wife, Lucinda (Webster) Clark, a native of Iowa, have been making their home in Cali- fornia at the ocean port of San Pedro.

There were thirteen children in the family of David Clark and all of these are still living. The fourth youngest, Samuel R., was born at Warsaw, Ill .. April 25. 1877, and received a common-school education in Kansas, where from a very early age he assisted in the work of the home farm. During 1898 he volunteered for the Spanish-American war as a private in Company M. Twentieth Kansas Infantry, with which he went to the Philippines and served under General Funston on battlefield and in camp. At the expiration of nine- teen months of active, arduous service on the islands he was mustered out in October of 1899 and settled in California during December of the same year. Joining a brother, D. S., in Mojave, he became an employe in the butcher business owned by the former and in time he bought one-half interest, then in 1908 became sole proprietor, continuing as such up to the present time. Markets which he formerly owned at Barstow and San Pedro he has sold. retaining only the home market and the business at San Diego, which. to- gether with his farmi interests in Kansas and his ownership of two houses in Mojave, combine to give him a place among the most prosperous business men of Mojave. His family consists of his wife, who was Miss Minna Mc- Bride. a native of Ireland, and during girlhood a resident of Los Angeles. and their two sons, Webster and Norbert. Interested in educational matters. he is rendering efficient service as a member of the board of school trustees

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and is endeavoring to promote the welfare of the Mojave schools. Since com- ing to this city he was made a Mason in Tehachapi Lodge No. 313, F. & A. M.

GEORGE CALHOUN .- The president of the National Oil Refining and Manufacturing Company and the efficient business manager to whose keen, capable supervision may be attributed the growing importance of the organization, traces his lineage to Scotland and exhibits in his own forceful personality many of the qualities that brought fame to the representatives of that country. He is a son of David and Isabelle (McKay) Calhoun, natives respectively of Edinburgh and Inverness, Scotland, but from early life resi- dents of Nova Scotia, where they bought land near Pictou and developed a large farm. It was at that old homestead George Calhoun was borni Sep- tember 7, 1850, and from there, after having gained such book-learning as the country schools afforded, he went forth to earn his own livelihood in the world. Early travels took him to Maine, where in 1864 he began an appren- ticeship to the trade of a stone-cutter and served his time with fidelity, meanwhile acquiring a thorough knowledge of the occupation. When ready to do journeyman work he engaged in contracting. Later for five years he had charge of the Boston water works and during the period of his superin- tendency he put in all of the city reservoirs.

A new line of business next engaged the attention of Mr. Calhoun, who embarked in the publishing business in New York City as an employe of F. A. Munsey at the very beginning of the latter's spectacular career as a pub- lisher. Later he held an important position with Robert Bonner on the New York Ledger. Upon resigning from that publishing plant he went with the George Munro Publishing Company as a traveling salesman. After he had traveled for one year in their interests, they stationed him in Chicago as western manager and for sixteen years he continued in that city, meanwhile promoting their interests by his energetic application to business. During the later years of his identification with the company he had become inter- ested in California oil fields. In 1901 he began the organization of the National Oil Refining and Manufacturing Company, which was incorporated under the Arizona laws and capitalized at $1,000,000, with himself as president and general manager. Both of these positions he has retained to the present time. Construction work on the refinery was begun in 1903. The following year the plant was started for the refining of oil and the manufacture of asphalt, the latter product now being shipped to every part of the world. The refinery is situated in the Kern river oil field and has a capacity of fourteen thousand tons of asphalt a year. Aside from asphalt they also manufacture gasoline, gas-engine distillate, coal oil and a variety of lubricating oils. Among the leading brands are the Golden State. Pioneer, Superior and National. In order that he might be able to devote all of his time and atten- tion to the refinery the president in 1906 established his home in Bakersfield and as a result of his wise judgment and keen ability he has been able to develop one of the largest refineries in the entire state. In 1912 he organized the Bakersfield Investment Company, of which he is president and his son is secretary and superintendent. At Hanford the company built a refinery for the manufacture of light oils.

The first marriage of Mr. Calhoun took place in Conway, N. H., in 1870 and united him with Miss Nellie G. Bachelder, who was born in New Hamp- shire and died in Chicago May 3, 1906, leaving an only child, George W., now the superintendent of the National Oil Refining and Manufacturing Com- pany. At Bakersfield, November 8, 1908, occurred the marriage of Mr. Cal- houn and Miss Alice M. Rogers, of Covington, Ky., a lady of cultured mind and many attractions, who shares with him in the respect and regard of acquaintances. For years he has been closely interested in Masonic affairs and meanwhile he has taken many of the degrees of the order. First made

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HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY

a Mason in Hope Lodge No. 244, A. F. & A. M., in New York City, he later identified himself with Lincoln Park Chapter No. 177. R. A. M., in Chicago. also Chicago Council No. 4 and Oriental Consistory, Scottish Rite, in Chi- cago. While still residing in that city he also became connected with Lincoln Park Commandery No. 64, K. T., and Medinah Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S .. in addition to maintaining an intimate association with the work of Mizpah Chapter No. 549, Order of the Eastern Star.

ARTHUR WEABER .- During the early portion of the nineteenth cen- tury Benjamin Weaber, a Pennsylvanian by birth, became a pioneer in the sparsely settled regions of Illinois adjacent to the city of Chicago. The gov- ernment land which he first pre-empted formed a part of the vast swamp district near Naperville, Dupage county, but later he took up land at Brush creek, Cook county, fifteen miles out from Chicago, and from there eventually he removed to a tract of raw land two miles from the present site of Riverside. Among his children there was a son, Edward, born prior to the removal of the family from the vicinity of Allegheny, Pa., and throughout life an industri- ous tiller of the soil, giving time and attention to no other occupational calls, except that he served with quiet heroism during the Civil war as a member of Company B, One Hundred and Fifth Illinois Volunteer Infantry. It is a noteworthy fact that he had three brothers in the same company, while four of the Townsend family, brothers of his wife, also served in the same company. In spite of participation in many desperate engagements and the dangers inci- dent to long forced marches and camp life, all of the number returned except one of the Weaber brothers, who fell in battle. For some years after the war Edward engaged in farming in Illinois, but during 1876 he took his family to Kansas and homesteaded one hundred and sixty acres of land in Russell coun- ty. His death occurred ten years after he had settled upon that farm. Two years before had occurred the demise of his wife, Alida May (Townsend) Weaber, who was born near Buffalo, N. Y., and at an early age had been taken to Illinois by her father, Gilbert Townsend, pioneer of the region adjacent to Chicago.

Among four daughters and two sons comprising the family of Edward Weaber, all of whom are still living with the exception of one daughter, Arthur Weaber was next to the oldest and was born at Hinsdale, Cook coun- ty, Ill., April 6, 1868, but at the age of eight years accompanied the family to Kansas. That country was then new and unimproved. Little opportunity to attend school came to him. His present wide fund of information results from self-culture rather than attendance at school. From the age of twelve years he gave his entire time to the work of the home farm, where the struggle for a livelihood was stern and discouraging. After the death of his mother and father he started out to make his own way, returning in 1887 to Illinois, where for eighteen months he was employed as a switchman in the Chicago yards of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad. During that time he studied telegraphy and then was given employment as an assistant in offices between Chicago and Aurora, where he continued for eighteen months. Next he was appointed assistant agent at Hinsdale. During December of 1889 he came to California and after a brief sojourn at Delano, Kern county, on the 1st of March, 1890. he was appointed agent for the Postal Telegraph Company at Bakersfield. This position he has since held with the exception of one year, when as an employe of the San Joaquin Valley (now the Santa Fe) Railroad he held a position as assistant agent at Bakersfield for three months and as agent at Wasco, Kern county, for nine months. At the expiration of the year he resigned and returned to Bakersfield where he resumed the agency of the Postal Telegraph Company. His high reputation as a citizen and his devo- tion to Republican principles led that party to nominate him in 1902 for city treasurer and tax collector, and he was elected by a gratifying majority, not

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HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY

only that time, but in 1906 at the expiration of his first term. Upon the con- solidation of Bakersfield and Kern in July, 1910, he was chosen to act in a similar capacity for the new town and in April of 1911 he again was elected to the offices of city treasurer and tax collector.

When the stationery store belonging to the Scribner estate was placed on sale during 1907 Mr. Weaber acquired the business and since then he has occupied the quarters at No. 1822 Chester avenue, where he carries a full line of stationery, office supplies, carbon paper, typewriter ribbons, fountain pens, sporting goods, toys, books and games, and other articles to be found in a first-class establishment of that kind. In the store he has the Postal Telegraph office as well as the office of the city treasurer and tax collector. As a business man he has proved his worth, while as a citizen his standing is the highest. As a member of the Kern County Board of Trade and Bakers- field Merchants' Association he has been identified with two leading organiza- tions for the material upbuilding of the city. After he came to Bakersfield he here married Miss Myrtle Tyler, who was born at Shaftsburg, Mich., and by whom he has two children, Ora and Perry. His fraternal relations are extended and include membership in the Yeomen, Ancient Order of United Workmen (in which he is past master workman). Woodmen of the World. Modern Woodmen of America and the Degree of Honor (in which he has held leading official positions), beside which with his wife he has been identified with the Women of Woodcraft at Bakersfield.

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN McCULLOUCH .- The McCullouch family traces its history back to an early identification with that of America. The first of the name to establish a home in the central west was John, born at Pittsburg, Pa., in 1804, and by trade a weaver and spinner, working for some years in a factory in his native city, but attracted to the Mississippi valley during the period of its early development. Settling in Iowa in 1848, he operated a sawmill and a planing mill at Ozark on the Maquoketa river in Jackson county. The mill was run by water power and became popular among pioneers throughout all that section of the country. To establish a lumber yard and engage in the lumber business followed as a direct result of his suc- cessful management of the mill and until his death in 1868 he continued to be one of the leading business men of Jackson county. By his marriage to Mary McSurley, who was born at Youngstown, Ohio, in 1815, and died in Iowa in 1887, he became the father of seven sons and four daughters. Six of the eleven children still survive. One of the sons, Alfred, enlisted in the Twelfth Iowa Infantry at the opening of the Civil war and while gallantly fighting at Shiloh he was wounded and captured. While imprisoned at Macon, Ga., he died, and another son, Charles, died at St. Louis while on his way home from the front, having served through the war as a member of the Twenty- sixth Iowa Infantry.

The youngest of the sons, Benjamin Franklin, was born near Canton, Jackson county, Iowa, September 23, 1849, and was a child of about twelve years when the war opened. He recalls vividly the uneasiness of that period and the sorrow of the family over the untimely fate of his older brothers. From childhood he had been taught to be useful. His work in the lumber yard and the mill gave him such a thorough knowledge of the business that at eighteen he was able to run the sawmill at Ozark without assistance. After two years there he operated a similar business at Clay Mills for seven years. An experience with other occupations followed and in April of 1879 he came to California. On the 23d of that month he arrived at Tulare, where he engaged at carpentering for three years. As manager of a warehouse he spent one year at Tipton, Tulare county. Entering the employ of the Puget Sound Lumber Company in 1885, he became a salesman in their Tulare yard and continued as such for twelve years.

A resident of Kern county since 1898. Mr. McCullouch for ten years

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HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY

acted in the capacity of stationary engineer in the Southern Pacific shops at Kern, now East Bakersfield. Since 1908 he has been a yard salesman for the King Lumber Company in Bakersfield. His long experience in the business and excellent knowledge of different grades of lumber give value to his serv- ices. Meanwhile he has erected four houses in East Bakersfield, but all of these have been sold and he now resides on Terrace Way, a suburb of Bakers- field, where he owns ten acres of land under irrigation and devoted to alfalfa, poultry and fruits. Before leaving Iowa he had married Miss Emma Bick- ford, who was born in Jackson county, that state, and died at Tulare, Cal., in 1884. Of that union there are two children now living, namely : James A., on the ranch ; and Mrs. Mary J. Bishop, of Bakersfield. The second marriage of Mr. McCullouch took place in Tulare and united him with Miss Mary J. Berry, a native of Oregon. The nine children of their union are named as follows: Mrs. Eulalia Blalock and Mrs. Frankie Karpe, both of East Bakers- field ; Mrs. Veldora Maston, of Los Angeles; Mrs. Mida Garrett and Mrs. Marie Finn, both living in East Bakersfield; Naomi, Eva, Leo and Emma, who remain with their parents in the suburban home. While living at Tulare Mr. and Mrs. McCullouch were prominently connected with Rebekah Lodge No. 118, and in addition he was past noble grand of Tulare City Lodge No. 306, I. O. O. F., also past district deputy grand master and a leading local worker in the order. Politically he is a Democrat.

DAVID WHITSON NELSON .- The superintendent of the city schools of Bakersfield is a descendant of a colonial family of old Virginia, whose earlier representatives bore an honorable part in the material upbuilding of the colony and whose later representatives followed the tide of migration across the mountains into the blue grass regions of Kentucky. Still another generation crossed the Ohio river into the undeveloped country of Indiana and rendered pioneer service upon that then frontier of agriculture and civilization.

Into such a pioneer family Rolla T. Nelson was born in Indiana, the son of a Kentuckian who developed a farm in the state further north. He, how- ever, turned to carpentering rather than to agriculture and made the building business his principal occupation, following it for some years in Hendricks county and later in Boone county, where he died. When a young man he had married Mary E. Jordon, a native of Indiana, now residing in Boone county. The family comes of Irish extraction and her father, David Jordon, came to America from the north of Ireland, settling in Indiana. In the old country he had learned and followed the trade of a weaver, but in the new world he gave his attention to general farming. The family of Rolla T. Nelson comprised nine children and seven of these are still living, one, L. E., being a resident of East Bakersfield. The next to the eldest in the family circle, David Whitson Nelson, was born in Hendricks county, Ind., May 30, 1856, and began his education in public schools in Boone county, later taking the regular course of study in an academy at Battleground, Tippecanoe coun- ty. It was not possible for his parents to give him the advantages his ambi- tious spirit craved. With typical resolution he determined to earn his own way through college. Fortified by that high ambition, he began to teach school while yet a mere youth. For a considerable period the work of teach- ing alternated with attendance at institutions of learning. By his own efforts he completed the course in Wabash College as far as the close of the sopho- more year. In the same way it was possible for him to spend several terms at the Lebanon Normal and a similar institution at Ladoga, Ind., where dili- gent application to study qualified him for important future responsibilities.

The first position of especial importance to which Professor Nelson devoted himself was that of principal of the literary department in the insti- tution for the education of the blind at Indianapolis, Ind., where he taught for eight years, meanwhile winning a high place in the regard and confidence of those having the oversight of the school. With the end of the eighth year

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HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY

he resigned in order that he might take some pedagogic work of especial value to future educational work. For the accomplishment of his purpose he matriculated in the Indiana State Normal at Terre Haute, from which he was graduated in October of 1893 with high honors. Immediately after gradu- ating he came to California and established his residence at Bakersfield, where for a year he served as deputy county recorder under T. A. Wells. Meanwhile he had secured a position in the Beardsley school and at the beginning of the fall term entered upon his duties there, where he continued for two years. During 1896 his ability was recognized bv election as supervising principal of the Bakersfield schools and he has continued for eighteen years in the same position, the title in 1904 having been changed to that of superintendent. Un- der his administration a remarkable improvement has been effected. manual training has been introduced, the schools have been well graded and brought to a high standard.

Fraternally Professor Nelson is a Master Mason. Prior to his removal to the west he was married in Lebanon, Ind., to Miss Clara Ross, who was born and reared near that place. In national principles he favors the Demo- cratic party. Along the line of his chosen profession he has maintained a warm interest in the work of the California State Teachers' Association and is also an associate member of the National Educational Association. Ever since he established his home in Bakersfield he and his wife have been identi- fied with the Methodist Episcopal Church and at this writing he is officiating as a member of the board of trustees. Upon the organization of the Beale library he was chosen a member of the board of trustees and for several years he has served as secretary of that body.

WILLIAM HENRY THOMAS .- Of Welsh descent William Henry Thomas' family was founded in America early in the '30s by his father. John Thomas, a native of Caermanthenshire. in the southern part of Wales and by trade a harness-maker and saddler. After he had crossed the ocean to Penn- sylvania and had taken up land in Union county he followed his chosen occupation while at the same time he devoted some attention to the clearing of a farm near Buffalo Cross Roads. For a short time subsequent to his im- migration he remained unmarried, but among the fair daughters of Union county he chose a wife and then established a home of his own. The capable woman who remained the companion of his maturity and advanced years was Lydia Ann Hartman, a native of Union county and a member of a very old and honored family of that portion of Pennsylvania, her father. Jacob Hartman, having been likewise a native of the same county, where he devoted his active years to farm pursuits. While the family were living near what was then known as Buffalo Cross Roads (now Buffalo Rads) a son was born in 1847 to whom was given the name of William Henry and who is now city recorder of Bakersfield. The tide of migration was taking men and women to the unimproved prairies of the Mississippi valley and the Thomas family joined in the westward movement, during 1852 establishing a home at Cedarville, Stephenson county, Ill., where the father found employment as a saddler and harness-maker. Another move was made during 1865 and settlement was made in Iowa, where a fine farm was developed near Marshall- town. Both the father and mother remained in lowa until their death.

The parental family comprised eight children, all but one of whom at- tained maturity and three sons and one daughter now survive, the eldest being William Henry, whose birth occurred August 22, 1847, and whose boyhood from five years was passed in Illinois. One of the most vivid recollections of his youth is that of hearing the celebrated debate in Freeport, Ill., between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas. When scarcely seventeen years of age in the spring of 1864 he enlisted as a private in Company F. One Hun- dred Forty-second Illinois Infantry, and was mustered into service at Spring- field, that state, after which he accompanied the troops into Kentucky and

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Tennessee. The enlistment had been for a hundred days only, but they were kept in service about six months and in November, 1864, he was honorably discharged at Springfield. Immediately afterward he enlisted as a member of Company G, Forty-sixth Illinois Infantry, and again he accompanied his regi- ment into Confederate territory, where he participated in the siege of Mobile and the taking of Fort Blakely, the final engagement of the war. His regi- ment was retained in the south after the close of the long struggle and he was finally mustered out at Baton Rouge, La., in February of 1866. Meanwhile his father had removed to Iowa and had settled upon a farm near Marshalltown, where the young soldier joined him. At once he began to assist in the im- provement of the land and the raising of the crops. The years passed by swiftly and for some years he was connected with the sheriff's office in Mar- shall county. In 1881 he left Iowa for California, settling in Los Angeles and engaging in the real-estate business. From that city in 1888 he removed to Fresno to continue the same line of business. From 1890 to 1893 he made his home in Chicago, but during the year last-named he returned to the west and February 28, that year, settled in Bakersfield, where he was employed as superintendent of the horse department with the Kern County Land Com- pany. For a long period he continued in the same position and even after he had resigned from their employ in 1902 he continued to handle horses, a work in which he was unusually proficient. In 1907 he was elected city recorder of Bakersfield and at the consolidation of Bakersfield and Kern in July, 1910, he was elected to the same position, to which in April, 1911, he was re-elected for another term of four years. In Bakersfield he married Miss Arvad Mel- linger, a native of Stephenson county, Ill. Since coming to this city he has identified himself with Hurlburt Post, G. A. R .. and has been generous in his contributions to its charities. Politically he is a Republican.

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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 120

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