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 130

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 130

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In San Francisco occurred the marriage of Mr. Ochs to Madeline Mc- Intosh, a native daughter of San Francisco, and to them have been born three children : Herbert (who died when three years old), Allen and Gertrude. Fra- ternally he is a member of the Knights of Pythias and the Improved Order of Red Men.

CAPT. FRED N. SCOFIELD .- One of the most active workers in the oil field has been Capt. Fred N. Scofield, who was one of the organizers of the Independent Oil Producers Agency, serving as an active director of same from its inception until the spring of 1912, when it had grown to such proportions that it handles one-third of the production of oil in the state of California. In this agency Captain Scofield represented the East Puente Oil Co., in which he held interests and it was at the time of disposing of these interests that he withdrew from the aforesaid agency of which he had been prominently connected on its executive committee.

Descended from an old family of New York state, Capt. F. N. Scofield was born at Paw Paw, Mich., December 5, 1858, and was given a common school training. During early life he lived in Chicago, but in 1876 he made his way to California and settled at San Diego. For many years he engaged in

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the mining business and the oil industry, which latter proved a source of such attraction to him that he afterward became one of the prime movers in its production. Meanwhile he had his headquarters successively in Arizona, Col- orado and California, but made his home most of the time at Phoenix, Ariz., whence he had moved in 1880 and where he was leading citizen and influential man. Years ago he held a prominent place in the Arizona National Guard and having received a commission as captain, thus acquired the title by which he since has been known. Since he removed to Bakersfield in 1901 he has been interested principally in the oil industry and in addition he managed his large and valuable stock ranch in Humboldt county, this state. It is said that few men in Kern county are more familiar than he with the condition and prospects of its oil industry and the heavy investments which he has made in the Kern river, McKittrick and Midway fields prove his deep faith in the growing pros- perity of these districts.

The Scofield home on the corner of Third and D streets is one of the most attractive in Bakersfield, four acres of ground providing an appropriate setting for the modern residence. Besides his residence Mr. Scofield has erected a three-story brick apartment house on Chester avenue, which is known as the Chester Apartments, and the Pioneer Mercantile building.

While making his home in Arizona Captain Scofield was united in mar- riage, at Phoenix, with Miss Margaret Fogal, a native of Los Angeles, by whom he has five children, George, Vera, Frederick, Addie and Edna. Politic- ally he is a Republican. When the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks estab- lished a camp at Phoenix he became one of the charter members of the or- ganization and maintained a warm interest in lodge affairs as long as he re- mained a resident of that city, and he still retains his membership.

FORD ALEXANDER .- As a member of the Allison & Berry Company, Incorporated, and manager of their Taft branch, Mr. Alexander has been of the utmost practical aid in the expert well-shooting which has given to the firm the appropriate name of "The Dynamiters." From the main office at Glendale, Los Angeles county, and from the branches at Coalinga and Taft, the company transacts a business covering all the oil fields of California and influencing in large degree the results obtained in production work. The three members of the firm, Messrs. Allison, Berry and Alexander, are practical oil operators, familiar with every department of production and supply, and identified with the industry in different districts prior to their organi- zation into the present concern. About 1910 Mr. Allison conceived the idea of the practical efficacy of dynamiting the wells, for the purpose of open- ing up the cavities in the sand, releasing the oil and increasing the produc- tion. The idea proved to be feasible. A company was formed and after Mr. Alexander was admitted as a third partner, papers of incorporation were filed and a close corporation formed. At the present time patents have been applied for on the invention of cap protectors and on single electric wire- shooting appliances. The claim is that the electrical processes of exploding the dynamite insure absolute safety. Large magazines are maintained at Glendale, Taft and Coalinga.

The junior member of the firm, Ford Alexander, was born in Washington county, Ohio, near the county-seat town of Marietta, April 20, 1886, and is a son of James Alexander, a pioneer oil operator in the Marietta field. He was the eldest of three children, the others being Laura Hope Alexander (now a school teacher in Washington county), and James Glenn Alexander. After completing the studies of public schools and a local academy. Ford Alexander began to earn a livelihood in the oil business. At the age of eighteen he took charge of the estate of James D. Lehmer, who had owned one of the principal oil properties in southeastern Ohio. For eight years he continued in the capacity of general foreman. Upon resigning that position he came to Cali- fornia. On Christmas eve of 1911 he arrived in Taft. The following day he

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exploded two shots for the Allison & Berry Company, and in May of 1912 he purchased a one-third interest in the concern, which later was incorporated. While still living in Ohio he married Miss Nellie E. Hendershot, of Washing- ton county, and they are the parents of two children, Garnet and J. Boyd. In politics he is a Republican of progressive sentiments. Since coming to Taft he has been an active worker in Taft Lodge No. 426, I. O. O. F., in which he now officiates as chaplain.

ASA ADDISON CROSS .- A native of the state, Asa Addison Cross was born near Glennville, Kern county, April 17, 1867, and has lived in Kern county all of his life. He was the son of Joel and Julia (Whistman) Cross, natives of Illinois and Missouri respectively, His father crossed the plains when a young man and after a residence for a time in Mountain View, in 1846 located in Linns Valley, where he followed the vocation of stockman until his death. His mother was brought across the plains by her parents in 1846, her father, J. W. Whistman, running the first stage line in Santa Clara county ; she is now Mrs. Grant of Weldon. To her union with Joel Cross there were four children, three of whom survive.

Asa A. Cross attended the public schools in Linns Valley and at Weldon until he was twelve years old, from which time he looked out for himself. His first employment was with W. W. Sanders in the cattle business on his ranch and then with Andrew Brown, ranching for four years. It was not until 1894 that he was in business for himself as the lessee of the Wallace ranch of six hundred and forty acres, on South Fork, which he operated four years. Then for two years he worked a tract of the A. Brown land, and after that he leased the Palmer ranch in Hot Springs valley. During all these years he was gen- erally successful, gradually but surely acquiring capital, and in 1908 he was enabled to buy his present ranch of two hundred and forty acres. He has devoted the place to general farming and stock-raising, giving attention to hogs, cattle and horses, and has one hundred and five acres of his land under cultivation. This is under irrigation and used for raising alfalfa and grain. His brand is the capital O.

Mr. Cross married Olla Beaty, who was born in Kernville, April 9, 1883, and she has borne him eight children: Lola (deceased in infancy), Eula (de- ceased at three years), Dell C., Claude and Clifford (twins), Muriel, Nell and James Kenneth. As a citizen Mr. Cross is progressive and public-spirited, and for five years has been a member of the board of trustees of Weldon school district. A Democrat in politics, he is not without a recognized politi- cal influence which he exerts uniformly for the good of the community.

Mrs. Cross was the fourth child born to John and Elvina ( Pemberton) Beaty, the former a native of Pulaski county, Ky., and the latter of Missouri. Mr. Beaty came across the plains in 1858 with ox-teams, finally making his way to Kern county, where he mined on Greenhorn mountain for.a time, afterward for four years in Oregon, and then returning to Kern county, engaged in teaming until he retired. He now resides in Los Angeles. His marriage occurred in Visalia in 1859 and to this union a family of nine chil- dren were born, of whom six are living. The mother died in Kernville.

P. J. MeCUTCHEN .- To battle against ill health in youth is to face tre- mendous odds in life's unending struggle for advancement. That Mr. Mc- Cutchen, while yet a young man, should not only overcome invalidism and reach a condition of excellent health, but in addition should establish a busi- ness of growing volume, testifies much concerning his force of will and energy of character.

Although not himself a native of California, Mr. Mccutchen is a member of one of the old families of Kern county, and his father, J. B. Mccutchen, still has charge of the old home ranch about twelve miles southwest of Bakers- field in the Old River district. During a sojourn in Arizona in young man- hood he married Margaret Dixon, who was there born in Skull valley ; her

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mother was the first white woman ever married in Arizona and the Dixons also were very early settlers of that part of the country. Born in Arizona February 3, 1889, P. J. Mccutchen was brought to Kern county by his par- ents in 1892 and grew to manhood on the Old River farm, meanwhile attend- ing the school in that district. For a time he also studied in a commercial college in Fresno and in 1909 he was graduated from Heald's Business Col- lege at Santa Cruz. In spite of ill health he has been a worker from his youth up and steadfast persistence in the performance of each duty, together with practical care of the body, has restored him to strength and given him the promise of a useful life. For three years he worked on the ranch for his father and received one cow a month for his wages. In this way he laid the foundation of a herd of fine milch cows and at the present time he owns thirty- nine head, the majority being pure-bred Jerseys, although in the bunch there are to be seen a number of Durhams and Holsteins. In 1912 he bought the Jersey dairy milk route and has since supplied customers at Taft with the best quality of milk, delivered twice a day from the Old River ranch.

CHARLES A. DAILEY .- From an elevation at Taft the stranger is in- terested in observing the derricks that extend in every direction as far as the eye can see. To the northeast and southwest for a distance of fifteen miles, and six miles across the main range of hills to the Buena Vista and Elk range, probably every section of land contains from half a dozen to half a hundred oil rigs, not all of course representing producing oil wells, but indicative of the great activity of the region. To the north of Taft and adjacent to the city lie the holdings of the Standard Oil Company, in whose interests Charles A. Dailey is engaged as cable-tool foreman.

Mr. Dailey was born in Wells county, Ind., January 2, 1880, and is the son of Michael Dailey, a lifelong worker in the oil fields of the east and middle west. Trained early in boyhood to a knowledge of the industry, he became self-supporting at the age of seventeen, when he secured a position in the oil field at Montpelier, Ind., working as an assistant to his father and learning the details of the occupation. At one time and another he worked in a num- ber of the best-known Indiana fields. Coming to California in 1908, he spent five months in the Los Angeles fields, and in 1909 became a pioneer at Moron (now Taft), where he has since been connected with the Standard, first as a driller, then as a driller foreman and now as cable-tool foreman. So closely has his attention been given to occupative duties that, aside from identifica- tion with the Elks at Bakersfield, he has formed no fraternal ties nor has he taken any part whatever in public or political affairs. The Standard employs two systems of drilling, namely: the old-time cable-tool standard drilling system and the newer rotary system.

LINDSEY B. LITTLE .- Trustworthiness and intelligence have been the keynote to the gradual rise of L. B. Little, recently appointed superin- tendent for the Standard Oil Company in the Midway field as successor to Cyrus Bell. In turn the latter has been promoted to the place held by F. M. Atwell, of Bakersfield, while Mr. Atwell has been transferred to San Fran- cisco to fill a post of great trust for the Standard in that city. Mr. Little re- flects credit upon his family and upon South Carolina, his native common- wealth. Attending strictly to business, unmarried, not connected with politi- cal affairs and caring little for social functions, with no fraternal associations aside from membership with the Elks when living at Jennings, La., and identi- fication with the Masons of the thirty-second degree and Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, he has given practically all of his mature existence to the oil industry.

In Gaffney, S. C., where he was born May 16, 1881, L. B. Little attended the public schools and had his first experience of business while clerking in a store. For a year he was employed as fireman on the Southern Railroad in South Carolina. Upon attaining his majority he went to Jennings, La .. and secured work as a roustabout. For six years he remained in the same

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field and during four years of that time he was employed as a driller. While in Louisiana he entered the service of the Standard, and when he came to California in 1908 he drilled at Altamont as an employe of the same corpora- tion. In the summer of 1909 he came to the Midway field, where at first he worked as a driller and then as tool foreman, from which position in July, 1913, he was promoted to be division superintendent in the Standard's produc- tion department.

OTTO P. LINDGREN .- The village of Norkoping in Ostergotland, Sweden, on the shores of the Baltic sea, formed the environment familiar to the childhood of Otto P. Lindgren, who was born there July 20, 1873, being among the youngest in a family of twelve children, seven of whom are now living, all but one of them in the United States. The parents, John and Marie (Johnson) Lindgren, died respectively in 1905 and 1893 at Norkoping, where the father had engaged extensively in building and general contracting. The surviving members of the family are named as follows: Mrs. Mathilda Lindstrom, of Norkoping, Sweden; Charles J., president of the Lindgren Construction Company, of San Francisco; Mrs. Annie Excell, of Kansas City, Mo .; A. Frederick, of San Francisco; Hilma, Mrs. Manley, of Bakersfield ; Otto P .; and Ellen, now living at Merrick, Long Island, N. Y. When only twelve years of age Otto P. Lindgren was brought to the United States by his older brother, Charles J., who settled in Chicago. Two years later they came to California and settled in Los Angeles, where the lad of fourteen years served an apprenticeship to the trade of a bricklayer. September 9, 1889, he came to Bakersfield and worked at his trade in the rebuilding of structures ruined by the disastrous conflagration of two months before. Later he be- came foreman for his brother, who was the most extensive contractor in the city at that time. With full charge of all the brick work for the Lindgren Construction Company, he continued in active employment until July, 1911, when the firm disposed of their Bakersfield interests, and since then he has engaged as foreman for different contractors. He is now conducting the Union Cigar Store at Chester and Twenty-first streets.

Of recent years Mr. Lindgren has erected four brick houses in East Bakersfield and one of these, built in 1910, is owned by himself and occupied by his family, this residence occupying an attractive location at No. 818 Ore- gon street. April 20, 1899, occurred the marriage of Mr. Lindgren and Miss Myrtle Carter, who was born at Santa Ana, Cal., being the youngest daughter of David Carter, an honored pioneer now residing at No. 1600 Kern street, East Bakersfield. When a mere youth Mr. Carter left Illinois for Utah, but finding little inducement to remain there he came to California. At the time of his arrival in Bakersfield the place was a very insignificant hamlet, and he frequently hunted wild game on the present site of the Southern hotel and also where stand other buildings of permanent and substantial construction. Mrs. Lindgren has spent the larger part of her life in East Bakersfield or in Bakersfield, and received an excellent education in the local schools. Of her marriage there is an only child, Otto Frederick. In politics Mr. Lindgren is a Democrat and fraternally he belongs to the Woodmen of the World. Upon the organization of the Bricklayers' International Union Local No. 3, Septem- ber 10, 1901, he became one of its charter members and from that time to the present he has been very influential in its activities. Formerly he was hon- ored with the office of president and at another time he was elected secretary, while at this writing he is filling the office of treasurer. He also holds the position of first vice-president of the California State Conference of Brick- layers, Masons and Plasterers' Union of America, and has been called upon at different times to proceed to different cities on the Pacific Coast as far north as Vancouver, British Columbia, to settle labor disputes. In May, 1898, he volunteered for the Spanish-American war, enlisting in the Hospital Corps of the Fourth Army Corps, with the expectation of going to the Philippines, but

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the corps was not ordered there. He was mustered out and honorably dis- charged December 18th, 1898. He is a member of Shafter Camp No. 3, Spanish-American War. Veterans, and is a member of its board of trustees.

JOHN A. RAYMOND .- The Raymond ancestry is of old French lineage, represented for generations in Hautes-Alpes, and John A. Raymond is a native of the vicinity of Gap, born August 2, 1881. During boyhood he learned the essentials of agriculture at home and the three R's in school, so that he was qualified for the responsibilities of maturity. As early as 1887 his father, August, had left the little farm for America and had settled in California, where he became interested in the raising of sheep. For a con- siderable period the length of his sojourn in the west was uncertain, but eventually he decided to remain and therefore sent for his wife and children, who joined him in Kern county in 1898. The mother, Rosalie (Martin) Ray- mond, died in this county, and here in 1904 also occurred the death of the father. Of their four children, Mrs. Rosie Rambaud lives in Kern, Peter is engaged in the sheep business with our subject, and Louise is the wife of Eli Blanc, of Kern.

The second in order of birth among the four children was Jean (or John) August, who on his arrival in California in December, 1898, found work with Jean Escallier, known as "Fourteen," who was a sheepman in Delano, and later had employment with others in the same line of work. At the end of about five years he formed a partnership with his father and brother, the three buying a flock of sheep to range on Poso creek. Upon the death of the father, the two brothers succeeded to his interests and since then they have worked together, ranging their flocks on the plains or in the Tehachapi mountains as abundance of pasturage and water render advisable. The com- fortable home of John A. Raymond at No. 924 Humboldt street, East Bakers- field, is presided over by Mrs. Raymond, formerly Miss Rose Eyraud, who was born in Hautes-Alpes and by whose marriage there are two children, Marcelle and Jean.

WALTER E. DAVIS .- The City meat market under the capable owner- ship and management of the two partners, Messrs. Venator and Davis, has risen to a prominent rank among the business enterprises of Tehachapi, where since August of 1908, Mr. Davis has made his home and business headquar- ters. The establishment in town has been equipped with every modern convenience to be found in model city markets, while at some distance from town the partners own and operate a slaughter house. To supply their whole- sale and retail trade, they ship in cattle by the train-load from Arizona and their operations reach an aggregate of many thousands of dollars every month. A modern cold-storage and ice plant has been added to their equip- ment and as the machinery has a capacity of three thousand pounds daily they are able not only to keep their own refrigerators supplied with an abundance of ice, but in addition they sell to consumers throughout the town. Besides their other operations they sell water for city consumption, having a deep well and pumping plant that furnishes more water than is needed for the use of their own business.

The youngest among four children, Walter E. Davis was born at Lowell, Washington county, Ohio, September 11, 1879, and is a son of Walter and Elizabeth (Trapp) Davis, natives respectively of Ohio and Pennsylvania. The latter, at the age of seventy-three years, is still living at the old Wash- ington county homestead. The former, who served in the Thirty-seventh Ohio Infantry during the Civil War, took up mercantile pursuits at an early age and rose from a clerkship to the management of a general store of his own. Later he engaged in farming near the town of Lowell, and there he died about 1892. At the time of his death his youngest child, Walter E., was a boy of thirteen and from that time he became self-supporting. With characteristic energy he determined to work his way through school and so

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learned the butcher's trade, from which he earned enough to pay his expenses in the Lowell high school and Marietta College. After he had completed the studies of the freshman class he left the institution at Marietta and matricu- lated in the Ohio Valley Business College, where he remained until gradua- tion. During 1898 he came west as far as Colorado and started a butcher shop on Nineteenth and Curtis streets, Denver. From 1899 to 1901 he en- gaged in mining in New Mexico and Arizona, after which he embarked in the meat business in Prescott, where he remained for about six years. Coming to California during April of 1908 he settled in Tehachapi four months after- ward and since then by energy, intelligence and business acumen he has de- veloped a valuable trade. The Tehachapi Board of Trade has had the benefit of his services as a progressive citizen and an upbuilder of the town. Al- though a stanch Republican, he has not been active in politics nor has he displayed a partisan spirit in his support of public measures. Fraternally he holds membership with the Modern Woodmen of America. While engaged in business at Prescott he met and married Mrs. Susie (Merrill) Robbins, who was born and reared in that Arizona city and who by her first marriage had one daughter, Maude. Her education was secured in the Prescott schools and in that city she was an active worker in the Methodist Episcopal Church, to which she has belonged since early life.

CHRIS CAYORI .- A native of Switzerland, Chris Cayori, who now lives fourteen miles southwest of Bakersfield, was born in Zillas, Graubunden, July 2, 1878, and has been a citizen of Kern county, Cal., since 1896. His father, George Cayori, was a native of the same place, and followed farming in the Alps. He married Menga Catrina, and both are still living on the old home place. Of their five children Chris was the third in order of birth. He attended public school in his native land until he was fifteen years old, and during the succeeding three years was employed by his father. He had heard much of the opportunities offered in America to honest, industrious men of enterprise and upon coming to the United States, made his way direct to Kern county, Cal. For ten years, or until 1906, he worked at dairying, then leased one hundred and sixty. acres of alfalfa land, the old Chubb place, which he has operated to the present time. In 1912 with his partners, Peter and Hill G. Mattly, he bought the old Chris Mattly place of five hundred and sixty acres, upon which their efforts are concentrated. All the land is under the Stine canal and planted to alfalfa. This property they are developing into a good dairy plant, and they are raising cows with a view to the early establish- ment of what they confidently expect to make one of the best producing milk and butter establishments in the county. In connection with these prepara- tions, they have also given their attention quite successfully to the breeding of mules. 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 130

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