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 123

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 123

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1910 ill health began to assail the Judge (for by that title he was commonly known) and early in 1911 he spent three months in the mountains near Weldon, but the change of climate proved of no avail. A few days after his return from the mountains he dropped dead from heart failure on the sidewalk a short distance from the residence of his step-daughter, Mrs. Miller, in Berkeley, whither he had gone to put himself under the care of physicians. The body was brought to Bakersfield and interment was made under the auspices of the Masonic fraternity, of which he was an honored member. Universal regret was felt on account of his sudden demise. None knew him but to admire him for his splendid qualities of mind and heart. It was profoundly felt that in the upbuilding of the community he, as a member of the bar, ranked with the most brilliant who ever practiced law in the broad San Joaquin valley. His youngest son, Rollin, whose career has somewhat resembled his own up to the present date and who is be- lieved to possess many of his sterling characteristics, was born in Inyo county, this state, September 8, 1880, is a graduate of the Valparaiso (Ind.) Law School in 1909, was admitted to the bar in Indiana and during the same year in Los Angeles, from which place he returned to Bakersfield to engage in practice. Elected city attorney in 1911, he is filling the office with such efficiency that his friends predict for him greater honors and a bright future in the political world.

FRITZ CHARLES NOEL .- Authentic history reveals the identification of the Noel family with the Huguenots in France as far back as the year 1416 and indicates their sufferings during the religious persecutions that culminated in the famous massacre of St. Bartholomew. Exiled from their home land, the Noels sought refuge in Germany and thence migrated to Sweden, where they lived and flourished for many generations. After having engaged for years in the lumber business at Stockholm, F. A. Noel removed with his family to England and secured a position with the Maxim-Norden- felt machine gun works in London, where he spent his remaining years in successful business activities. By his marriage to Hilda Rampe, who is like- wise deceased, he had a family of six children, of whom four are now living, namely: Frederick Adolph, a lumber merchant in London; Fritz Charles, the only one of the family to settle in America ; Ernest Rudolph and Gerda, both residing in Paris, France, where the former is a proficient and prominent civil engineer.

Stockholm, Sweden, is the native city of F. C. Noel and May 11, 1867, the date of his birth. He was educated in a high school in Sweden and in the City of London College. At the age of fifteen he accompanied his par- ents from Stockholm to London and at the age of twenty-one he crossed the ocean to America, settling first at Montreal, Canada, where he secured em- ployment on the Montreal Herald. During 1892 he came to the United States and established himself in Chicago, where he engaged with the Chicago Tribune until 1898. While living in Chicago he met and married Miss Martha Klöve, of Leland, Ill., and for some years he carried on the Leland Times, an eight-page weekly which he had founded. This he still owns, although since he came to California in 1911 he has leased it to others. During 1901 he visited his relatives in London and Paris and trav- eled through other parts of Europe, finding in the tour much to interest and impress him, but returning to the United States more than ever con- vinced of its superiority to the old world.

Upon his removal to the west Mr. Noel bought ten acres of orange land one and one-half miles south of Edison, in the Porter Land colony, and this he has commenced to improve. In addition he owns his residence at No. 1745 Orange street, Bakersfield, and recently purchased forty acres at the lower end of the Weed Patch near the Tejon ranch, as well as one hundred

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acres at Lerdo, the new fibre center. Together with Mr. Soper, who owns one hundred and forty adjacent to his forty, he has undertaken the devel- opment of water on the land, with the intention of planting the tract to orange trees as soon as adequate irrigation is assured.

The real-estate firm of G. W. Shearer & Co., formed in May of 1912, and constituting a continuation of the old company of Sears & Shearer, is com- posed of two energetic young men, G. W. Shearer and F. C. Noel. Mr. Noel's family consists of his wife and three children, Gladys J., Frederick A. and Myra H. They are popular in social circles and are regular attendants at the services of the First Congregational Church of Bakersfield.

GEORGE W. SHEARER .- The senior partner in the real estate firm of G. W. Shearer & Co. is a member of an old eastern family and was born in Franklin county, Pa., on Christmas day of 1879, being fourth in order of birth among the five living children that comprise the family of Jacob F. and Margaret (McCartney) Shearer. The eldest of the five, Annie, married S. R. Fortna, a farmer living in Franklin county, Pa. The second, Mac W., is engaged in general farming in that county, where also lives the second son, Frank S., a capable farmer. The youngest member of the family circle, May, is the wife of Calvin Leidig, proprietor of a meat market at Orrstown, Franklin county. The only one of the five to leave his native county was George W., who has been a resident of California since 1907. The father, now sixty-five years of age and a man of considerable means, has devoted his entire active life to agricultural pursuits and is still a large landed pro- prietor and stock-dealer at Upper Strasburg, Franklin county, where for years he and his wife have made their home.

By working on the home farm and by teaching school in. Franklin county for four years, George W. Shearer earned the money necessary for the completion of his education. In a business college at Lancaster, Pa., he studied bookkeeping and shorthand and thus became qualified for the posi- tion which he secured with the Chambersburg Electric Light & Power Com- pany. Upon giving up that place he taught one term of school and then became an instructor in stenography and typing. After two years as a professor in a commercial institution he resigned in 1907 in order to come to California, and here he immediately secured a place with the Associated Oil Company at Oil Center, Kern county. At the expiration of two years with the oil company he embarked in the real estate business, opening an office in the Oil Exchange building, Bakersfield, in May of 1909, and at this location he has since continued. During May of 1911 the firm of Sears & Shearer was organized with W. L. Sears as senior member. June 1, 1912, the com- pany was re-organized and is now composed of G. W. Shearer and F. C. Noel, both voung men of integrity, ability and energy. Since coming to this county Mr. Shearer has acquired property in East Bakersfield and Wasco, also a tract in the Lost Hills district and citrus lands at the lower end of the Weed Patch near the Tejon Pass.

Arrangements have recently been made whereby the firm of G. W. Shearer & Co. are the exclusive agents for the new seven thousand acre colony at Lerdo, Kern county, which is owned by the San Joaquin Light and Power Corporation. It is here that the ramie plant is being successfully culti- vated and grown, and it is here also where the inventor, G. W. Schlichten. has located one of his justly famous decorticating machines. The ramie plant has heretofore been grown principally in the Orient, in India. China and Japan, where labor is cheap. Mr. Schlichten's great invention, however, will now make it possible to produce the ramie fibre at a cost cheaper than it can be produced by hand work in India, China or any other country. This venture at Lerdo is attracting attention from far and near, so much so that the agricul- tural department sent to Lerdo the expert. Professor Dewey, to investigate

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and report on this industry. Ex-Secretary of Agriculture James Wilson has said that Schlichten's invention is the most important and valuable to the fibre industry of any machine since the cotton gin. It does the work of three thou- sand men and revolutionizes the former expensive and wasteful hand method.

Since the ramie fibre can be used in making twines, ropes, threads, fishing nets and lines, as well as cloths of the finest and most durable texture, it requires no great stretch of the imagination to see that Lerdo and its new industry will soon hold an important place in the industrial development of California. Ramie cloth has the fine, beautiful gossamer-like tissue of China or Japan linen. It is the identical cloth from which was made for the ancient queens of India bed sheets so fine and thin that they could be drawn through finger rings; while the Bible reveals the fact that ramie cloth was linen that was used in wrapping the bodies of the mummies, and the quality of the cloth is elsewhere fitly expressed in the words "raiment of fine linen."

NEWELL JONATHAN BROWN, M. D .- The principle of heredity appears in the selection of a profession by Dr. Brown and in his gratifying success as a surgeon and medical practitioner, for the genealogical records show that on one side of the house seven successive generations rose to local prominence as physicians and it has been a source of gratification to him that two of his sons have entered the profession, for which they exhibit a decided talent. Although of Canadian birth, he is a member of an old family of New England, whom chance or destiny caused to cross the border line into the province of Quebec. During the colonial period of our national history the family came to this country from England and his grandfather, Capt. John Brown, a native of New Hampshire, served as an officer in the war of 1812. Later he crossed into Quebec and engaged in farming. On that trip he was accompanied by his family, which included a son, Ozias Gilbert, a native of Epsom, N. H., near the city of Concord, born March 27, 1806, and died at the old home December 25, 1901, at almost ninety-six years of age. He too became a farmer in the province of Quebec, where he met and married Margaret Foss, a lifelong resident of Canada and of Scotch extraction. It is through the Foss ancestry that the heritage of professional ability is derived, their male representatives having been men of remarkable intelligence and manifest talent in surgery.

The youngest of six children, Dr. Brown was born March 10, 1854, in Stanstead, province of Quebec, a short distance across the line from Vermont. It was the desire of his father, Ozias Gilbert Brown, that he be educated for the medical profession and his own talents turned his ambitions in that direc- tion. After he had graduated from a local academy he matriculated in McGill University, a famous medical college at Montreal, where he studied medicine for three years. He then entered Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, being graduated from that institution in November, 1875, with the degree of M. D. Immediately he came west as far as Iowa, where he opened an office at Red Oak, but in 1877 he removed to Grundy county, the same state. The following year he married Miss Celia Frances Eastman, who was born at Oskaloosa, Iowa, being a daughter of Lieutenant-Governor (later State Sena- tor) E. W. Eastman, deceased in 1884. Dr. and Mrs. Brown are the parents of four sons, namely : Newbern Nuckolls, M. D., of Bakersfield ; Newell Jon- athan, Jr., M. D., of Tehachapi ; Austin Foss, a druggist and pharmacist by education; and Gilman Grenough, who is now engaged in farming near Modesto.

Professional labors became so exhausting and increased with such rapidity that Dr. Brown failed in health. During 1878 he spent three months in Colorado, camping and living an outdoor life in Elbert county. The result was so gratifying that he decided to remain and engage in practice. When he moved further west five years later his health was re-

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established and his practice large. Establishing an office at Hailey, Blaine county, Idaho, in 1883, he soon became known as a successful physician and surgeon. For many years he served as coroner and health officer of Blaine county. Meanwhile he had become owner and medical director of the Miners' hospital, the leading institution of the kind on the line of the Oregon Short Line Railroad. Much of his time was given to the care of patients in the hospital, which had a capacity of fifty beds and was equipped with every modern convenience for the care of the sick or the needs of operative surgery. As surgeon for the Oregon Short Line Railroad he also had a considerable practice. More than eighteen years were spent in Hailey and they were filled with professional successes. Meanwhile, how- ever, he had begun to realize the limitations of the region from an educa- tional standpoint and a desire to give his sons better educational advantages than Idaho afforded caused him in 1901 to remove to Los Angeles, where he opened an office at No. 42312 South Spring street. In addition to private practice he engaged as professor of dermatology in the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Los Angeles, from which institution his eldest sons, Newbern N. and Newell J., Jr., twins, were graduated in 1905. Newell J., Jr., afterward opened an office at Tehachapi, where he is now surgeon for the Santa Fe and the Southern Pacific Railroads. Newbern N. came to Bakersfield in the fall of 1907, and two years later he was joined by his father, the two having since practiced together with offices in the Oil Exchange building. In addition to their large private patronage they act as surgeons for the Santa Fe Railroad. The two sons and their father have maintained an active association with the county, state and American Medical Associations. The son, Austin F., is also a resident of Bakers- field, so that the youngest son, a resident of Stanislaus county, is the only member of the family living away from Kern county. In politics all affiliate with the Republican party. While making his home at Hailey, in 1884, Dr. Brown was made a Mason in Hailey Lodge No. 16, F. & A. M., of which he is still a member; he was raised to the Royal Arch in Alturas Chapter No. 5 and served as high priest. In 1887 he was made a Knight Templar in Boise Asylum Commandery No. 1, and the same year took the Scottish Rite thirty-second Consistory degrees and the K. C. C. H. in Hailey. On his removal to Los Angeles he affiliated with Los Angeles Con- sistory No. 3, of which he is still a member, and since coming to Bakersfield he has been elected president of the Scottish Rite Association. He is also a member of El Kalah Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., of Salt Lake City, being a charter member. He holds membership also in the Los Angeles Lodge No. 99, B. P. O. E., and with his son, Newbern N., belongs to the Bakersfield Club.

CAPT. ALVIN E. MORGAN .- Throughout the greater part of his life a resident of Bakersfield, where until his death he followed the building busi- ness, Capt. Alvin Edgar Morgan found another field of useful service in an identification with the California National Guard. When about twenty-four years of age he enlisted and was accepted as a member of Company .G, Sixth Regiment of the California Guards. Later through consolidation this became merged into Company L, Second Regiment, from which he was transferred to the hospital corps as sergeant. Later he was returned to Com- pany L as first sergeant, from which he was promoted to the rank of second lieutenant. During the chaotic condition in San Francisco following the fire he was on active duty as first sergeant. During 1911 he was success- ful in organizing Troop A of the First Squadron, California Cavalry, and immediately after the organization he was chosen captain, which office he filled with ability and characteristic energy until his death February 20, 1913, when he was buried with military honors.

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Born at Rochelle, Ogle county, Ill., September 8, 1875, Alvin Edgar Morgan was a son of C. M. and Ida (Canfield) Morgan, natives respectively of Illinois and Wisconsin, and now residents of Kern county. The father, who is a plastering contractor by trade, came to Bakersfield during 1884 and joined a brother, Alfred, then superintendent of the McClung ranch. The brother until his death in 1910 retained him in the capacity of foreman and since then he has been employed as night watchman on another ranch in this county. Of the eight children comprising his family all but three still survive. The eldest of the family, Alvin Edgar, attended the primary schools of Illinois and the grammar schools of California, and while still a mere lad acquired a thorough knowledge of the stock business. Upon starting out for himself he became an employe and learned to manufacture soda in the C. O. D. soda works, remaining with that company for nine years in all and holding the position of manager during the latter part of his connec- tion with them. In 1906 he went to San Francisco and worked at the trade of a carpenter, remaining for eighteen months. Meantime he took a corre- spondence course in the drawing of plans and in general architecture, also in the building business. From San Francisco he came back to Bakersfield and secured employment as foreman for Mr. Lindgren. During the eighteen months of his association with that contractor he aided in the building of the New Southern hotel, Tegeler building, Hotel Florence and Security Trust Company's bank. Upon severing his association with Mr. Lindgren he engaged in business for himself and since then had made a specialty of building cottages and bungalows, meanwhile having erected his own resi- dence on the corner of Ninth and L streets. This comfortable home is pre- sided over with dignity and economy by his capable wife, whom he married in Bakersfield and who was Miss Mamie Long, a native of Lawrence, Kans. She is the daughter of Elisha and Jennie (Canfield) Long, and came to California in 1897. Of the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Morgan was born one son, Alvin Reese. In fraternal relations Captain Morgan held membership with the Ancient Order of United Workmen.

J. M. SAFFELL .- The genealogy of the Saffell family indicates an honorable southern lineage dating back to the colonial era. Nor was there, in the entire American history of the family, any member more intelligent in mind, more efficient in service, more patriotic in citizenship or more earnest in religious work than Rev. Samuel Peck Saffell, who was born in Tennessee, November 29, 1820. With scarcely any educational advantages, he pos- sessed such great native endowments and such intense spiritual devotion of character that at the age of only seventeen he was a lay preacher of local tame. The bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church of his district, recogniz- ing his superior talents, ordained him to the ministry of the Gospel. Through- out a long and active life, while earning a livelihood in various occupations, he gave his services gratuitously in frontier communities. After a week of arduous labor as carpenter, wheelwright or wagonmaker (in all of which trades he excelled) he was never too weary to devote the entire Sabbath to preaching and other work of a similar nature. Remote and isolated regions, where people had no church privileges, felt the impetus of his generous aid and helpful sermons. At different periods of his mature years he lived in Arkansas, Illinois, Kansas and California, and in each of these states he accomplished much for Christ and His church. Born in Tennessee and deceased in Fresno, Cal., the interval between birth and death represented an era of intense religions activity and self-sacrificing labors for the uplift- ing of humanity.

By the marriage of Rev. Samuel P. Saffell and Mary A. Watson, who was born in Lawrence county, Ala., January 9, 1823, and died in Fresno, Cal., there were thirteen children and seven of these are now living. J. M., the

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fourth among the survivors, was born in Marion county, Ark., February 27, 1858, and at the age of six years accompanied his parents to Illinois, when ten years old moved with them to Kansas and at twelve returned with them to Arkansas. In each of these states he attended public schools. As soon as large enough to assist his father he began to learn the trade of carpenter. After he arrived in Kelseyville, Lake county, Cal., in November of 1873 he earned his livelihood at carpentering. After he had removed to Red Bluff in 1877 and had taken employment under Hans Hansen, builder, he began the study of architecture, his interest in the specialty having been fostered by the exceptional ability as architect and designer displayed by his employer. Initial experience as architect and superintendent of construction came to him with his location in Fresno, where he remained for eleven years, mean- while meeting with gratifying success. The first four-story building erected in the town was the Fresno Loan and Savings Bank, which he designed and superintended. Other important buildings were planned under his super- vision. A long period of intense devotion to professional work undermined his health. Unable to continue in business, he gave up his interests in Fresno and for seven years traveled in different parts of the west, working when able, roughing it in camp, living in the open air and seeing much of the country, while gradually regaining his strength.

As early as 1901 Mr. Saffell came to Bakersfield for the first time. In a temporary residence of eighteen months in this city he laid the foundation of the high professional standing he now enjoys. Among his architectural plans were those for the First Bank of Kern and the Mortenson hotel. Upon leaving this city he spent a number of years at San Pedro and there super- intended the construction of various large structures as well as private homes. Returning to Bakersfield in 1909, he since has devoted his time to the work of architect and superintendent of construction, having planned in this period the Axelson machine building, the Verdier building and many schoolhouses and residences. To a large degree he has recovered his health, so that it is possible for him to give to his profession the close attention and painstaking care it demands. By his first marriage he has a son, Joseph Edward, now a resident of Trinity county. By his second wife, who was Miss Ella Milne, a native of Nevada, he has four children, namely: Frank, now in Los Angeles; Mrs. Laura Zuver, whose husband is employed in the Kern river oil fields; Melvin and Lillie, of Bakersfield. Reared in the Meth- odist faith, Mr. Saffell always has retained a deep affection for that church and a practical interest in its progress. Politically he votes with the Repub- lican party. In fraternal relations he holds membership with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

JAMES SHANNON ADAMS .- As engineer for the North-American Oil Consolidated in the Midway field Mr. Adams is well qualified by an aptitude for mechanical engineering inherited from his father, a competent engineer at one time largely interested in saw-milling and lumbering.

Until about seventeen years of age Mr. Adams lived in Michigan and he was born in Isabella county, that state, August 6, 1891, being the only surviving son of Thomas G. and Sarah Jane (Muma) Adams, the latter of whom died in 1905. The two daughters in the family, Sarah L. and Hattie Irene, still reside in Michigan, the former in Detroit and the latter at Clare, Clare county. The father, who engaged in lumbering and also operated an engine at Gilmore, Clare county, finally removed from Michigan to the Pacific northwest and is now living in Washington. From early life he had a local reputation for skill as a mechanic and for ability to handle any kind of an engine. Training his only son with exacting care, he taught the lad in early years to understand every detail connected with engines and to operate them with unerring skill. Natural ability developed by care-

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ful training has enabled the younger man to make good as an engineer. March 12, 1908, he arrived in Bakersfield, and secured work in the Kern river field. During July of 1911 he went to Los Angeles, but soon returned to the Kern river field. In March of 1912 he came to the Midway field and secured work as an oiler under Mr. Caffrey on section 16 division of the North American Oil Consolidated, with which corporation he has continued up to the present time, and since January, 1913, has been filling the position of engineer. January 1, 1913, he was united in marriage with Miss Mildred Leone Whittekin, a native of Pennsylvania, and immediately after his mar- riage he brought his wife to the section 16 division, where they now occupy one of the company residences.

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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 123

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