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 131

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 131

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EUGENE VERDIER .- Since 1878 Eugene Verdier has been a resident of California, and since 1883 has made his home in Kern county, having in the meantime figured prominently in the upbuilding of Kern, now East Bakers- field. He was born in the department of Gers, Hantes-Pyrenees, July 4, 1863, and attended the schools of his native place until fifteen, when he came to San Francisco with friends, there attending public school for two years, when he began working in a restaurant. In 1883 he came to Sumner, after- wards Kern, and now East Bakersfield, where he engaged in the sheep busi- ness, ranging his flocks on the plains and in the mountains until 1886, when he sold out and returned to San Francisco, but in 1889 he again returned to Kern and purchased two separate corners on Humboldt and Baker streets, afterwards selling one corner to the First Bank of Kern for the purpose of erecting their bank building. On account of their making this permanent improvement, Mr. Verdier reduced the price of the lot $500. He afterwards built a concrete hotel building on the other corner, 75x75, two stories, which he leases and which is known as the Imperial Hotel. In February, 1908, he

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located at Granite Station, where he is the proprietor of the hotel and store and is the postmaster at Elmer, as the postoffice is named. In connection he owns and operates a stock ranch located six miles above Granite.

Mr. Verdier was married in San Francisco to Miss Marie Laborde, also a native of Basses-Pyrenees, France, and they have two children: George, who has charge of the ranch, and Eugene, who is in charge of the store, and is assistant postmaster. Fraternally Mr. Verdier is a member of the Eagles and Owls, while politically he is a Protectionist and Republican. In 1911 he made a trip back to France, visiting the place of his childhood after thirty- four years' absence.

FLOYD H. BARNETT .- Prior to the Revolutionary war the Barnett family became established in Virginia, where successive generations lived and labored and where they bore themselves courageously alike in war and peace. One of the brave soldiers of the Revolution was Isaac Barnett, who partici- pated in a number of memorable engagements with his comrades of the Vir- ginian troops. A son and namesake of this Revolutionary hero left the Old Dominion for the then primeval forests of Tennessee and his son, Frank, was a native of Washington county, that state, while the next generation is represented by Floyd H. Barnett, a great-grandson of the Virginian patriot. In his marriage to Emily Randolph, a native of Tennessee, Frank Barnett became allied with a very prominent and patriotic family originally connected with the settlement at Jamestown. The most distinguished representative of the name was Payton Randolph, who two times served as president of the continental congress.

At the old homestead near Sparta, White county, Tenn., Floyd H. Barnett was born August 25, 1876, and from there he accompanied the family to a cattle ranch near Ranger, Tex., where he learned the stock business and also received a high-school education. At the age of twenty he went to Colorado and found work in the Cripple Creek mines. Next he went to the eastern part of Oregon and engaged in mining in Baker county, besides running a stage line out of that town. A later tour of inspection took him to Idaho, where he became acquainted with the Thunder moun- tain and other central districts in that state. He made a special study of the development of mines, assaying and mining geology and became well posted in his line of work. At the time of the famous strike in Nevada he was early on the ground and later he devoted himself to promoting mining enterprises and managing properties. A visit to Bakersfield in 1910 con- vinced him of the possibilities of the place and caused him to establish a real-estate office here for the handling of city and country properties as well as oil lands, his headquarters being at No. 1917 I street. With the Bakers- field Realty Board he has become prominently associated and has added to its meetings the benefit of his sagacious judgment and hopeful spirit. The Fraternal Brotherhood and Ancient Order of United Workmen number him among their well-known members.

HARRY C. BUSBY .- The Busby family is of old Virginian ancestry. During the Civil war William V. Busby, a young Virginian who was born and reared at Hampton Roads, entered the' Confederate service and re- mained at the front until the surrender of arms and the defeat of his cause. Returning to the old neighborhood he resumed the trade of a brick mason and under the adverse conditions incident to the reconstruction period patiently endeavored to gain a foothold in the industrial growth of the country. In the belief that better opportunities awaited him elsewhere, he removed to Indiana and engaged in the manufacture of brick at Indian- apolis. From 1878 until 1884 he aided in the material upbuilding of Kansas City, where he was a member of the firm of Sibley & Busby, contractors and builders and brick manufacturers. Next he engaged in the manufacture

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HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY

of brick at Rich Hill, Mo., whence he removed to Denver, Colo., to take up contracting. From 1893 until 1900 he followed contracting and building in St. Louis, but in the latter year he retired to Dallas, Tex., where his last days were passed. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Louise Clark, was born at Asbury, Miss., and died in Los Angeles.

The youngest of the three children comprising the family of the Virgin- ian soldier, Harry C. Busby was born in Indianapolis, Ind., June 26, 1877. On the conclusion of a grammar-school course, when he was sixteen, he became an apprentice to the trade of brick-layer in Denver, Colo., but in the same year accompanied his parents to St. Louis, where he completed the trade under his father. Returning to Denver in 1899 he spent a year at the trade in that city, whence in 1900 he came to Los Angeles. As an employe of Carl Leonardt he had steady work and an important experience in every department of brick contracting, so that when he came to Bakers- field in 1911 he was well qualified to engage in the contracting business for himself. At first he engaged in business with A. C. Silver under the firm title of Silver & Busby and among their contracts were those for the Quincey and Ochavich buildings, the Citizens laundry and the addition to the Eagles Hotel. Since the spring of 1913, when the partnership was dis- solved, he has had the contracts for the Presbyterian Church, the raised gardens of the court-house square, the Bakersfield Club and the Amour building. In national elections he votes the Republican ticket. Fraternally he is a member of the Woodmen of the World. Since coming to Bakersfield he has established his residence at No. 827 Nile street, where with his two children, Harry Gilmore and Clara Elizabeth, and his wife, formerly Miss Clara A. Gilmore, whom he married in Denver and who is a native of Iowa, he has a comfortable home.

ARCHIBALD EDWIN DALTON .- The Dalton family comes of old English lineage. The founder of the name in the new world was Capt. George W. Dalton, a native of England, who at the age of eleven ran away from home and became a sailor. Ultimately he was made captain of a vessel in the English merchant-marine service. When finally he retired from a sea-faring life he came to the United States and settled in Ohio at Cir- cleville, and there occurred the birth of his son, Edwin Henry.

The excitement caused by the discovery of gold in California directed the attention of Captain Dalton toward the then unknown west. Accom- panied by his family he boarded a sailing vessel bound for the Pacific coast via Cape Horn. The ship cast anchor in the harbor of San Pedro October 29, 1851, and on the same day the newcomers arrived in Los Angeles, where they made permanent settlement. The old sea captain found great pleasure in developing a tract of land. His death occurred at the family home on Washington and Central avenues and the surrounding tracts were left to his heirs. Edwin H. owns a home at No. 1436 East Washington street and Archibald Edwin owns a house at No. 1420, on the same street. The father served with efficiency for twenty-eight years as water overseer for the city of Los Angeles, but more recently he has given attention largely to the sale of city realty and in addition he now serves as vice-president of the Industrial Oil Company of Los Angeles, owning large holdings at Olinda.

The marriage of Edwin Henry Dalton united him with Hattie E. Dye, who was born in Missouri and is now living in Los Angeles. At an early age she came to California with her father, George W. Dye, crossing the plains with oxen and settling on what is now Figueroa street and Slauson avenue, Los Angeles. The Dalton family numbered eleven children and all are still living. The next to the oldest, Archibald Edwin, was born at the Los Angeles homestead December 20, 1875, and received a high-school education, after which he worked for several years in the city water

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department. In 1899 ·he began an apprenticeship to the trade of sheet-metal worker with the Consolidated Pipe Company of Los Angeles. On the com- pletion of his time he remained with the company as a paid employe. In December of 1911, when they started the works in Bakersfield, they assigned him to this point for the purpose of installing the machinery. Working with great energy and expedition, he enabled the company to open the plant January 10, 1912. Since then two buildings have been added and additional machinery installed, all of this work being done under his supervision as foreman of the plant. Aside from voting the Republican ticket he gives no attention to politics. Fraternally he holds membership with the Maccabees. In Santa Ana he married Miss Josephine McDonald, who was born in Los Angeles and is a graduate of the high school of that city. The eldest in a family of twelve children, she is a daughter of A. S. McDonald, one of the pioneer shoe merchants of Los Angeles and now a well-known retired business man of that city. Mr. and Mrs. Dalton are the parents of four children, Edison, Naudine, Douglas and Juanita.

JOHN M. DUNN .- A year before the first great rush of gold-seekers across the plains to California a father and three sons started on the long journey from the east. It proved to be the last journey which the father was destined to make, for ere they had reached the mountains a fatal illness run its course and the three sons laid his body in a last resting-place in the Flint hill region of Kansas along the old Santa Fe trail. One of these three brothers, William T., was born in Pennsylvania in 1832 and at the time of the death of the parent he was a youth of sixteen. In disposition he was courageous, aspiring and his absolute disregard of precaution or fear amounted at times almost to recklessness, yet a kind destiny seemed to guard his steps and he passed through countless dangers unscathed. For many years he acted as a guide with Kit Carson on the plains, the latter being his tutor as a scout, and he also had many experiences with Buffalo Bill and Wild Bill as companions. When Wild Bill finally was fatally shot he fell back into the arms of the young scout.

After some years of dangerous experiences on the plains William T. Dunn tried mining in California and it was not long before he was able to return east with a fortune. Going via Cape Horn to New York City, he there purchased a seat on the stock exchange, where in less than two years he lost $250,000. Coming to California once more he again took up mining and though less successful than on the first trip, he made enough to start in farming. Later he went to Missouri, bought land in Chariton county and remained there until his death at the age of sixty-eight years. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Ann Lingo and was born in Missouri of Pennsylvanian parentage, had passed away when her children were small. Of the children, five are still living: Cyrus, of Texas; Mrs. Maggie Allen, of Arkansas; Mrs. May Heavilin, of Bakersfield; John M. and J. F., of Bakersfield. John M. was born April 8, 1880, at the old home farm in Chari- ton county, Mo., near Marceline. From an early age he was self-supporting. Employment with the Little Pittsburg Coal Company enabled him to pay his expenses through school. Leaving school he traveled in Illinois and Iowa for Snyder, Buell & Lavin of the Chicago stockyards and for Eubank & Hutton of the Kansas City stockyards. Later the buying of stock took him into Oklahoma, Indian Territory, California and Texas. As a cowboy on the range in the round-ups of cattle he was considered to be unexcelled in the management of horses and cattle, but this was not to his liking as a permanent means of livelihood, so he changed to carpentering and served an apprenticeship of two years at the trade. For two years he worked in the oil and gas fields near Elk City, Kan., and at the opening of Lawton, Okla., he engaged in carpentering and building in the new town.

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The year 1901 found Mr. Dunn in California and Kern county, where he followed rig-building and contracting in the Kern river and west side fields. At the time of the great fire in San Francisco in 1906 he went to that city to fill a position as superintendent for Carroll Bros., contractors. Returning to Kern county in July of 1907, he engaged in contracting and rig-building in the Maricopa district. Soon afterward he became interested in oil lands with Parker Barrett and located several claims. It was this firm who located all of section 34 and fractional 25 that gave the Lakeview gusher to the world. When they located the property it was a wild-cat proposition and the people declared the two partners were insane and that their rig in two years would be sold for kindling wood. Undaunted by such dire pre- dictions they developed the property and the remarkable success is well known. In other fields that looked more promising they lost money, but here they made a large sum. They located the Consolidated Midway gusher on fractional section 30, section 8 at Pentland Junction where good wells were struck and the great Matson tract in the Buena Vista hills, also a success. In each location they did the first work, but in order to hold the properties from jumpers they have been obliged to spend as much as eleven days and nights on the spot without rest or change of clothes. Mr. Dunn is still interested in lands in different oil territories and during the winter of 1910 he spent several months in Washington, D. C., aiding to put through the Sixty-first congress the celebrated Smith bill, which afforded temporary relief to oil operators.

The M. and F. garage in Bakersfield, said to be one of the largest and most complete in all of Kern county, was purchased during June of 1912 by Mr. Dunn, the business being conducted under the name of the J. M. Dunn Auto Company. The company was incorporated June 22, 1912, with himself as president, Parker Barrett, vice-president, and Mrs. J. M. Dunn, secretary. The company is agent for the Knox automobile, Knox truck and fire apparatus, also the Moreland truck, and the Stutz and Overland automobiles. The first-class location of the garage and the business-like methods pursued by the proprietors are bringing a high class of patronage to the place, which has proved very popular among owners and drivers of machines. The partnership of Mr. Dunn and Mr. Barrett which was so successful in the oil lands has continued very agreeably and profitably in other enterprises, notably in the M. and F. garage. In addition to the enterprises mentioned Mr. Dunn manages the Dunsmuir ranch eleven miles south of Bakersfield and adjoining the Alameda farm, and here he raises alfalfa and grains. He also owns other valuable property in Bakersfield, including his residence, Panorama Heights, situated on the heights above the city. Mr. Dunn is a member of the Bakersfield Club and the Sierra Madre Club of Los Angeles. In Bakersfield he was united in marriage with Miss Selena Ritter, who was born in Helena, Mont., and by whom he has two children, William H. and Marjorie T.

GEORGE W. CALL .- The association of the Call family with the agri- cultural development of the new world began with the arrival in this country of seven brothers from the north of Ireland. In the old country they had been known by the surname of MacCall, but they dropped the prefix upon their immigration to America and ever since their descendants have borne the name of Call. The lineage of the ancestors is traced to Scotland, but a religious persecution forced them to flee from their country and they found refuge in the north of Ireland. Prior to the Revolution the seven brothers became pioneers of our own land, where several of them served with patri- otic spirit and great bravery in the first struggle with England. From one of the Revolutionary soldiers the line is traced down to Hiram HI. Call, a native of Ausable Forks, Essex county, N. Y., and a machinist by trade.

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During early manhood he was employed in a rolling-mill and later he became a locomotive engineer. He helped to build some of the first engines ever used on the Erie Railroad. Afterward he took his family to Illinois and settled in Belleville, St. Clair county, where from that time until his death he was employed in a nail-mill. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Mary Jerome, was born at Keyesville, Essex county, N. Y., and died in St. Louis, Mo. Only two of their six children are now living.

The youngest member of the family was George W., born at Kingston, Luzerne county, Pa., July 4, 1860, and educated in the public schools of Lancaster, Pa., and Oxford, Warren county, N. J. After he had accom- panied other members of the family to Illinois he learned the trade of nailer at Belleville, where he completed an apprenticeship of four years. At Belleville, during 1884, he married Miss Nannie E. Smart, a graduate of the Emporia (Kan.) State Normal School and a woman of fine mental endow- ments. An only child blessed their union, Joel, now a skilled and expert machinist, connected with the San Joaquin & Eastern Railroad.

Removing from Illinois to Missouri in September of 1885, Mr. Call entered the employ of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad Company. At first he engaged as passenger brakeman running from Kansas City (where he made his home) to Nickerson, Reno county, Kan., and later he was employed as baggageman between Kansas City and Pueblo, Colo. In 1888 he resigned and became an apprentice machinist in the roundhouse of the Missouri Pacific Railroad in Kansas City and there completed the trade. Seven years later he was promoted to be foreman of the roundhouse and continued in the position until his removal from the city. August 16, 1898, he and his family arrived in Bakersfield. On the 17th he entered the employ of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company as foreman of the truck depart- ment in the roundhouse. December 27, 1900, he was promoted to be night roundhouse foreman.

Since coming to Bakersfield Mr. and Mrs. Call have erected their resi- dence at No. 808 Monterey street and they also have purchased the Haber- felde apartments on Nineteenth and I streets, which Mrs. Call manages. In addition for a time they owned a ranch of fifteen acres nine miles from Bakersfield and improved the property with a pumping plant and a fine stand of alfalfa, after which they disposed of the place to advantage. In social circles they have made many friends and they also are prominent and popular in various fraternities, Mrs. Call being a leading member of the Royal Neighbors and the Degree of Honor, while he has identified himself with the Ancient Order of United Workmen and the Modern Woodmen of America.

WILLIAM HENRY DEAN TAYLOR .- The genealogy of the Taylor family as far back as the records can be traced indicates an intimate identi- fication with England and an association with the commercial development of Lancashire. The first to establish a business in the new world was John Taylor, who left his native shire to establish a manufacturing industry in New York City, thereafter maintaining a high position among the manu- facturers of the metropolis of the western world, but at the same time con- tinuing his business and social relations with Lancaster. Indeed, for a number of years his family residence was maintained in Lancashire and thus it happened that his son, William, was a native of that English shire, although reared for the most part in New York City, where in due time he joined his father in the manufacturing business. Frequent visits to England gave him a large circle of acquaintances in Lancashire, where he married Miss Mary Dean, daughter of Samuel Dean, a farmer in the shire. It was at Failsworth, Lancashire, that William Henry Dean, son of William, and grandson of John Taylor, was born, although like his father he was

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reared almost wholly in New York City. In addition to attending the schools there he was for a time a student in the College of the City of New York.

Mr. Taylor set sail from New York in 1867 on a vessel bound for the Isthmus of Panama. There he was employed for one year as a freight clerk with the Panama Railroad Company. During the fall of 1868 he secured a position as purser with the Pacific Mail Steamship Company on the steam- ship Colima, plying between Panama and San Francisco. Until 1871 he con- tinued with the same company and then resigned in order to take up ranch- ing in California. He first purchased a tract of ranch land near Clayton, Contra Costa county, where he engaged in general farming and stock-raising until 1893, meanwhile enduring the hardships incident to the bringing under cultivation of a large tract of raw land. After disposing of his interests in Contra Costa county in 1893 he came to Kern county, where ever since he has been an efficient and trusted employe of the Kern County Land Com- pany. Until 1897 he engaged as a clerk at the Poso ranch and then was transferred to Bakersfield to act as clerk in the cattle department of the company. During 1899 he was appointed bookkeeper for the company at the Stockdale ranch, where he has since remained. From early life he has been an Episcopalian and since coming to Kern county he has been a com- municant in St. Paul's Episcopal Church, in which he has officiated for two terms as vestryman. On the organization of the Bakersfield Club he became a charter member. In addition he holds membership with Bakers- field Lodge No. 266, B. P. O. E., and Kern Lodge No. 76, K. of P. While making his home in Contra Costa county he became interested in political problems and espoused the principles of the Democratic party.

E. J. THOMPSON .- Although a resident of the west throughout the greater part of his life (having moved with the family to Montana when fourteen years of age), Mr. Thompson claims Canada .as his native country, his birth having occurred January 25, 1874, at Brantford, in the province of Ontario. During early childhood he lived in Syracuse, N. Y., where his father, Joseph, followed the trade of a saddler and harness-maker. Remov- ing to Montana in 1888 the father established himself in business at Missoula, and there continued until his death, the mother, Jennie (Lee) Thompson, later coming to Bakersfield and making her home here with her son, E. J., until death ended her labors. There were five children in the family and three of these are now living. The youngest of the number, E. J., was only sixteen when he became self-supporting and even before that he had earned a little during vacation months. Being of a resolute, independent spirit, he was anxious to earn his own livelihood at as early an age as possi- ble. His first steady employment was as call-boy with the Northern Pacific Railroad Company at Missoula. Step by step he worked his way from one position to another. Merit won his promotion in the face of rivalry and competition. Eventually he was made a conductor on the North Coast limited and the Burlington limited, overland passenger trains of the Northern Pacific.

A visit to Kern county during June of 1911 convinced Mr. Thompson that there was an opening for an auto stage line between Bakersfield and Oil Center. With him decisions have been made with promptness through- out his entire life and this instance was no exception to the usual rule. Without delay he ordered a three thousand pound White gas truck, removed his family to Bakersfield, established a home in the city and began business as proprietor of the Oil Center stage. During June of 1912 he admitted Fred L. Smith into partnership and they added another White truck of one and one-half tons. The third truck was secured in November, 1912, and was another White of three thousand pounds, with a new body, built

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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 131

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