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 127

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 127

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While en route to San Francisco and when as far as Reno, word was re- ceived of the earthquake and fire at San Francisco. Mr. Chauvin pursued his way to Oakland, where he entered the relief service. His linguistic ability enabled him to be of great assistance as an interpreter. When the excite- ment had somewhat subsided he engaged to go to Costa Rica, Central Amer- ica, in order to hunt birds for the San Francisco Museum. In addition while in the southern country he engaged in hunting birds for their plumage, which he shipped to the New York markets. Within eight months he had cleared about $2,000. For the purpose of continuing such work he went to Barran- quilla, Colombia, South America, but found that the government had imposed heavy fines and penalties for shooting the particular kind of birds desired. This brought the object of the expedition to an end. Later he was joined by his brother, Emile, from France and the two went to Bogota, where the younger brother remains. His own attention was given to the purchase and management of an English soap factory. Raw material, however, was so difficult to procure and so expensive that he abandoned the manufacture of soap. Intending to again hunt birds of plumage, he pushed into the interior, but there fell seriously ill with malaria, and for some time hovered between life and death. At such a crisis he was fortunate in having as a nurse Miss Elena Gonzales, whose mother owned a ranch of fifteen thousand acres in that section of the country. When the invalid had regained his strength through the ministrations of the beautiful young Spanish nurse, the two were married at Bogota, and for a time afterward he engaged with his brother in the man- agement of a school of languages in that city.

Chance brought Mr. Chauvin into contact with the great magician, Ray- mond, at Panama, where he entered into a contract with him to act as man- ager and interpreter. Accompanied by his wife, he traveled with the Ray- mond party through Colombia and Venezuela, thence proceeded to the ad- joining islands of Grenada and Trinidad, also exhibited in various cities of the larger West Indian group and toured through the Barbadoes and St. Vincent's Island. The itinerary of the party included Brazil, but the yellow fever being very prevalent in that country, Mr. Chauvin refused to continue and resigned at the Barbadoes. With his wife he then visited Canada, where he engaged with a stock company of actors and in that work visited the principal cities of Canada and Nova Scotia. Later he went south to Mexico, where he met with success in his specialties. Since 1910 he has lived in California and has carried on a bakery business in Kern county. Since coming here he has identified himself with Blue Lodge No. 426, F. & A. M., at Taft.

JAMES ALLEN BARR .- The developments that have made the Kern county oil regions the cynosure for the eyes of the world and that have attracted hither young men of brain and optimistic faith, drew to their ever- present possibilities James Allen Barr, the manager of the store of the Asso- ciated Supply Company at McKittrick and a young business man of excep- tional capability, well qualified by training and experience to take charge of

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the responsibilities associated with a position of unusual importance. Throughout almost his entire life Mr. Barr has lived in California, but Kansas is his native commonwealth, his birth having occurred in the city of Topeka on the 5th of September, 1887. In company with other members of the family he came to the west and settled in the little town of Sanger, where he attended the grammar and high schools, graduating from the latter in 1907 when nineteen years of age.

In a family of six children, all still living, James Allen Barr was next to the eldest. His father, W. M. Barr, a native of Iowa, and during young manhood a merchant in Topeka, Kan., married Miss Janie Chambers Allen, who was born in West Virginia and died at Sanger, Cal., during 1902. Sub- sequent to the removal of the family to the Pacific coast, W. M. Barr engaged in the real estate and insurance business at Sanger. Upon his election in 1907 as cashier of the Sanger State Bank he closed out his other interests and gave his time wholly to the banking business. Upon the merging of that institution into the First National Bank of Sanger he remained as cashier.

Following his graduation from the high school James Allen Barr entered the employ of the Associated Oil Company at Oil Center, where he continued for one year, resigning his position in order to take a business course in the College of Commerce, University of California. One year was spent in that institution. Upon his return to Oil Center he entered the employ of the Associated Supply Company in 1909, and was sent to the McKittrick field immediately. As an assistant in the Company's stores at McKittrick, Oil Center and Fellows, he gained the experience and the familiarity with the business that qualified him for promotion and since December of 1912 he has served with efficiency as manager of the store at McKittrick.

DAVID EDWARD THOMSON .- Born near Plano, Tulare county, July 8, 1869, D. E. Thomson is a son of William Thomson, who came to California in 1865 and became a merchant near Plano.

The grandfather of David E. Thomson was a native of Kilmarnock, Scotland. In the public schools of Plano our subject received his edu- cational training. Upon leaving school he drove stage from Visalia into White River for some years until he reached his majority, when he went into the cattle business on Deer Creek in Tulare county. In 1894 he left his home place and made his way to Lone Pine, Inyo county, where he followed the cattle business for two years, at which time he came to Randsburg, Kern county, as one of the first settlers, in October of 1896. He took a position with the Yellow Aster Mining Company with whom he remained for a short time. However, he was not the man to be satisfied with working for others, and he branched out for himself, locating in the Struger district, where he remained for about ten years engaged in mining. For four years he worked for a wholesale liquor concern, but finally gave that up to devote his time to his own interests. At present he is one of the proprietors of the Houser hotel at Randsburg, and he also has some mining property, all of which is a source of income for him, which is extremely gratifying. Aside from the hotel business he is agent for the Bakersfield Brewing Company. Since No- vember, 1912, he has been conducting a meat market in Randsburg; also a retail ice business.

As a public-spirited and interested citizen Mr. Thomson has served his adopted town as constable, and also as deputy sheriff, and his services have been most satisfactory to his fellow-citizens. He is a popular member of the Fraternal Order of Eagles, and his name is well-known in that locality as that of a reliable, conscientious man. Politically he is a Republican.

Mr. Thomson was married February 12, 1908, in Los Angeles, to Sadie Nieto, who was born in Los Angeles, and they have two children, Ploomey Jane and Edward. Mrs. Thomson's parents were of old Southern California families and the town and valley of Los Nietos were named for her father, he

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being the owner of a very large landed estate; his death, however, occurred when he was still a young man.

E. R. LONG .- The growing business interests of Bakersfield have a capable representative in E. R. Long, who for some years has conducted a wholesale hay and grain business with office in the Fish block. Since coming to this section of the state he has formed a wide acquaintance among the farmers of the San Joaquin valley, from whom he buys hay and grain in large quantities for shipment to his customers in Los Angeles and elsewhere. Ship- ments are made in carload lots, the cars being filled at various stations along the line of the railroad, thus affording the utmost convenience to the farmers who deliver the product and enabling them to avoid the annoyance of long hauls. In other instances, when the hay is purchased in the bulk, Mr. Long himself attends to the matter of baling and hauling, and these large interests make him a very busy man indeed during certain seasons of the year. As a commission man he has proved resourceful, energetic and industrious, and by integrity in all transactions has won the steady patronage of a large number of customers.

Allen county, Ohio, is Mr. Long's native place, and he was born near Lima, January 7, 1875, being a son of M. H. and Clara A. (Cochran) Long, the latter of whom passed away many years ago. The father, who engaged in the hay business in Ohio for many years, came to California about 1908 and is now living retired in Los Angeles. E. R., who was the eldest child in the family, has an own brother and one half-brother living. When not in school he assisted his father in the hay business and thus early acquired a thorough knowledge of the industry now engaging his attention. At the age of nineteen years he came to California and settled in Los Angeles, where during 1895 and 1896 he was in the hay commission business. Later other business enterprises commanded his time and gave him the training essential to successful business activities. When he came to Bakersfield in 1903 he embarked in the wholesale commission business with E. H. Loveland as a partner and gave personal supervision to the hay business of the firm. After five years in the co-partnership he retired from the firm in order to establish a business of his own, and since then he has maintained an office in the old Fish building in Bakersfield, but spends much of his time in various parts of the valley buying hay and baling it for the markets of the city.

The marriage of Mr. Long took place in 1905 and united him with Miss Minnie B. Painter, of Los Angeles, by whom he has three children, Helen Anita and Orley Delbert, and a baby girl yet unnamed. In political views he votes the Republican ticket, but never exhibited any partisanship in his opin- ions, on the contrary placing a genuine public spirit ahead of narrow partisan strife. From early life he has been interested in religious affairs and now is a leading member of the First Methodist Episcopal Church of Bakersfield. Here, as well as in his former home in Los Angeles, the church has had the benefit of his sincere interest, generous contributions and unwavering devo- tion. He is trustee of the official board and the Sunday school superintendent, which latter position he has faithfully held for the last eight years.

JOSEPH BAUMGARTNER, SR .- The founder and first president of the Bakersfield Brewing Company was born in Koetzing, Bavaria, Germany, February 19, 1859, and died at his home in Bakersfield April 2, 1912, at the age of fifty-three years. As a boy in his native land he served an appren- ticeship to the brewers' trade and gained noteworthy skill in the occupation, so that when he crossed the ocean to the new world he experienced no diffi- culty in securing steady employment. After a sojourn in New York City he went to the then new district of Winnipeg, Canada, where lie held a position as brewmaster in the Drewry brewery. Removing from Canada to Pennsylvania he worked as a brewmaster in Allegheny and was a trusted employe of the large concern operated by Hipley & Son. Meanwhile he had

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been utilizing every experience so that he might qualify himself for inde- pendent business undertakings and when he went to Latrobe, Pa., in 1893, he built the Latrobe brewery, which later he sold to a syndicate, operating under the title of the Pittsburg Brewing Company. The venture had been profitable and he had laid the foundation of a substantial fortune during his Pennsylvania experiences. His next enterprise took him to Iowa, where he built a brewery in Sioux City and conducted the same under the title of the Sioux City Brewing Company until he sold in 1899 at a gratifying profit.

When the Iowa venture had been brought to a successful consumma- tion Mr. Baumgartner went to New Jersey and built a brewery at- Camden. This likewise proved a profitable investment and during 1910 he sold for a sum that represented large returns for his capital and labor. Imme- diately afterward he came to California and settled in Bakersfield, where he purchased a desired site on Twenty-fourth street and there erected a brew- ery with a capacity of thirty thousand barrels per annum. The plant repre- sents an investment of $300,000 and the product, known as the Lion brew, was put on the Bakersfield market for the first time May 2, 1912, since which time it has leaped into great popularity.

The Bakersfield brewery was from its start equipped with every appli- ance and improvement that modern science could suggest, including two electrically driven boilers of one hundred horse-power each; fourteen chip casks of one hundred and ten barrels each; fourteen stock tubs of one hun- dred and eighty-five barrels each ; twelve fermenting tubs of one hundred and ten barrels each, and the capacity of the outfit is one hundred and twenty barrels to a brew.

In the refrigerating room ten new chip-casks, with a capacity of one hundred and fifty barrels apiece, are now being installed, while the bottling department has added a National soaker of the Berry-Wehlmiller make, with a capacity of one hundred barrels per day, said machine insuring the highest possible sanitary service. The bottles are soaked in two separate antiseptic solutions and twice rinsed in hot water, after which they are taken to the new Eick washer, where they are thoroughly scrubbed by a most ingenious mechanism. Being thus thoroughly cleansed and rinsed, the bottles are next filled by means of a new Henes-Keller rotary counter pressure filling machine, and promptly corked by means of a "Jumbo" crowner. The prod- uct is then treated to a thorough pasteurizing process, and finally labelled by means of a new Ermold labeling machine. Thus the whole process of bottling is done by a complete set of the latest and most approved machinery built for that purpose, in the most cleanly and sanitary manner which busi- ness ingenuity has thus far been able to devise. The company's large and constantly increasing trade has necessitated the use of two new auto trucks of one and one-half and three tons capacity respectively.

The most skilled brewers are employed and the best of ingredients are utilized, the aim being the highest stage of perfection possible. The insti- tuition is destined to become an important factor in the future development of the city. Much of the material used will be produced in Kern county, so that farmers will be benefited. However, some of the hops will be imported from Bavaria and Bohemia, these varieties being essential in the manufacture of their beer. A well ninety-three feet deep has been driven on the premises, which is pumped at the rate of one hundred and seventy-five gallons a min- ute. Employment is furnished to about thirty persons. The company was incorporated for $200,000, with the following officers: Joseph Baumgartner, Sr., president; John Baumgartner, vice-president; William Baumgartner, treasurer ; and Joseph Baumgartner, Jr., secretary. The death of the founder in no respect changed the plans of the institution, for John and William for years have been practical brewers, while Joseph, Jr., has been thoroughly familiar with every detail of the office work. There has been, therefore, no

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essential change in the management since the death of the founder of the business.

The marriage of Joseph Baumgartner, Sr., united him with Miss Mar- garet Brautigam, a native of Bavaria, and now a resident of Bakersfield. Eight children comprise the family, namely: Joseph, Jr., John, William, George, Rose, Anna, Charles and Margaret.

PATRICK LAMB .- Descended from an honored eastern family Patrick Lamb was born at Mount Clemens, Mich., June 11, 1869, and is a son of the late Frank and Mary (Feller) Lamb, the former of whom, an attorney well known among professional men in Mount Clemens and also widely acquainted in Kentucky, passed away about 1898 after a long and successful career as a lawyer. After his decease the widow went to Kansas to make her home. A lady of culture and education, she had made a specialty of the study of music in girlhood and for years was recognized among the most skilled and proficient musicians in Mount Clemens. The family comprised five sons and one daughter, viz .: Patrick, Charles C., Hugh B., Frank C., Ralph and Mamie, the last-named being a trained nurse residing in St. Louis.

After having completed the studies of the grammar and high schools of his native city, Patrick Lamb started out to make his own way in the world. When seventeen years of age he found employment in the Lima oil field in Ohio, where he worked his way up from roustabout to tool dresser. Succes- sively he was employed in the fields at Findlay, Signet and Bowling Green, Ohio. From that state he went over into West Virginia and engaged in drilling at Sistersville. A desire to see more of the world led him to Kansas, where he had considerable experience in the Neodesha oil fields. Returning to Ohio, he resumed work at one of the oil centers in that state. The same industry took him to Bartlesville, Okla., in the boom period of that oil center. At different times he engaged in other oil fields, principally in the Caddo field in Louisiana. Again going to Oklahoma, he resumed work at Bartles- ville, and also made brief sojourns at Cleveland, Nowater, and Kiefer. Im- mediately after coming to California early in 1908 he secured employment in Kern county, where he has engaged successively as driller on the Santa Fe lease, with the Consolidated Midway and Western Minerals for one year each, with the Gate City for five months, the Sunset Extension for seven months, and lastly with the Miocene, where at present he is retained in the capacity of driller.

GEORGE W. SHAFFER .- A member of an old eastern family, G. W. Shaffer was born October 19, 1881, at Cumberland. Md., also the birthplace of his father, Conrad, while his mother, Alice, also claimed Maryland as her native commonwealth. When yet a mere infant he was taken by his parents into a timber and mountainous region about twelve miles west of Cumber- land, and there the father secured employment in connection with the running of a sawmill. Later, however, the parents removed to a farm and took up agricultural pursuits, which they have since followed in the vicinity of Cum- berland. Besides their only son, who was the youngest child, they had three daughters, Jessie May, Cora Jeanette and Clara Belle. From childhood the son exhibited an inclination toward mechanical work. One of his favorite pastimes was the making of wooden models for engines. Any department of mechanics became a hobby with him. His first practical experience was gained while operating the engine in the saw-mill for the W. C. White Lum- ber Company. At the age of twenty-one he became an apprentice in the Westinghouse shops at East Pittsburg, Pa., where he won the good-will of the foreman and gradually worked his way out of the ranks of unskilled laborers.

An idea of the remarkable exactness demanded by the shop superinten- dents of their workmen may be gained from the statement that, while varia- tions of one-fourth of .001 would be allowed to pass, any greater variation

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would not be accepted and the workman must take up the task again. While at times this extreme accuracy seemed needless, in the main every worker in the shops saw the justice of the demand and strove with painstaking care to bring his work up to the mark of perfection. Such training was of invaluable aid to Mr. Shaffer then and has assisted him in later positions, causing him to discharge every duty with unfailing accuracy. After he had spent five busy and helpful years in the Westinghouse shops. he entered the employ of the Union Switch and Signal Company at Swissvale, Pa., but resigned his posi- tion at the expiration of six months in order to come to California. On the 6th of May, 1908, he arrived in San Francisco and there he was engaged to enter the employ of the Los Angeles Aqueduct Company at Mojave, this state. For two years he worked as a machinist with the construction corps at Mojave, his leading jobs being the repairing of steam shovels, gas engines, concrete mixers and automobiles. Upon leaving that place he came to the oil fields near Maricopa and entered upon his duties as machinist with the Monte Cristo Oil and Development Company in the Sunset field at Maricopa. Since coming to this locality and engaging in his present position, November 11, 1911, he has had charge of all work in a mechanical line upon the two Monte Cristo leases at Maricopa and Kern river, besides which he is pre- pared to do outside job work.

PARKER BARRETT .- As the original locator of section twenty-five, on which the well-known gusher Lakeview appeared. Parker Barrett became prominent in the oil fields in Kern county, but he has been identified with va- rious industries throughout the west in which he has evidenced his keen business judgment and unquestionable integrity in whatever he finds at hand. His enterprise has taken him into the fields of mining, railroading. contracting and building, and the automobile business as well as the oil industry, and ' his vast experience in these lines has served him in good stead in his de- cisions and movements. His father, Uriah, a native of Ohio and of old Quaker family, was a pioneer in Jasper county, Iowa, owning the original site of Grinnell, that state, where Parker Barrett was born September 3. 1860. However, Uriah Barrett returned to Ohio and located in Belmont county until 1866, when he removed to Marshall county, Kans., and settled at Barrett, on Vermilion creek, where he passed away. His wife was Nancy Beall, a native of old Virginia, whose death occurred in Kansas. Six of their seven children are surviving them, Parker being the third youngest and the only one of the family living on the coast.

From the age of six Parker Barrett lived on his father's farm at Barrett, Kans., and attended the local schools. When eighteen he went to Nevada to follow mining and stock ranging for two years, and then returned to Kan- sas to remain a year. The year 1884 brought him to California and he soon made his way to Kern county, and in Caliente entered the bridge and building department of the Southern Pacific railroad. One year later he went to the mines in Piute, where he spent a year and then, in 1886 went on to Tulare, where he again entered the employ of the Southern Pacific, serving this time as fireman on the run between Tulare and Bakersfield and north to Lathrop. In 1889 he was promoted to engineer and in this capacity drove the engine between these same points, but the railroad union trouble in 1894 influenced him to give up railroading and for two years he mined in northern California in Shasta and Trinity counties. The inauguration of the oil industry in Kern county caused him to come back to Bakersfield and in 1900 he made a loca- tion on 25 Hill and succeeded in getting a well under way, when he sold out and engaged in contracting and building in Bakersfield. In 1906, when the Standard Oil Company began the construction of their pipe line on the west side, he located there and continued in the contracting and building business, making his headquarters at Maricopa. In this business Mr. Barrett was asso- ciated with J. M. Dunn, they making a specialty of rig building until Mr.

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Barrett sold out his interests to his partner. In 1908 he began locating oil lands in partnership with Messrs. Freed, Dunn & Stroud, the company locating on fractional 25, 34 and 8 and fractional 30, building rigs on a large scale. Later they sold their improvements to the Lakeview Oil Company, leasing their property to them, with the result that the world-renowned gusher made its appearance. Associated with Messrs. Dunn, McReynolds & Derby, Mr. Barrett also located sections 24. 26, 14, 12, 2, 4 and 8 in Buena Vista Hills, which were leased to Captain Mattson, now the Honolulu Consolidated Oil Co. Valuable wells have been struck and the property is considered the best oil holdings on the west side, as there is a production of gas as well as oil and they are now the greatest natural gas producers in the state of California. Mr. Barrett is now associated with J. M. Dunn in the M and F Garage under the firm name of J. M. Dunn Auto Company and he is serving as vice presi- dent. They handle the Overland, Stutz and Marion cars and the business has shown rapid increase since the organization.

Along with his many business interests Mr. Barrett is largely interested in the Bank of Maricopa, and with his investments and oil property has be- come a well-to-do man. He married in Bakersfield Miss Oma Dover, a native of California, who bore him three children, Percy M., Gladys E. and Thelma. Socially he is a member of the Bakersfield Club, the Sierra Madre Club of Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Athletic Club.

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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 127

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