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 134

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 134

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For two years engaged as a plumber with that concern, Mr. Pearl later spent six years with the same company in the capacity of stationary engineer. From Arizona he came to California in 1907 and settled in Kern county, where immediately he secured work as a plumber and steamfitter on the Imperial and 33 leases, being retained in the same department when the firm of Keith, Mack & Guggenheim in 1910 was overtaken by the Kern River Oilfields of California, Limited. Since coming to this county he and his family have been members of St. Francis' Roman Catholic Church of Bakersfield, while frater- nally he is connected with the Eagles, Woodmen of the World and Modern Woodmen of America. The family home is a cottage on the company prop- erty and the family comprises six children, Irene, Edmund. Clement, Joseph. John and Clarence, of whom the eldest sons are now employed in the oil fields.

PHILIP BACH .- Philip Bach is of German extraction, his grandfather

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having been born in Baden-Baden, Germany. His father, Philip Bach, was engaged in the dry goods business at Ann Arbor, Mich., being a member of the firm of Bach & Able there. He married Nancy Royce, whose people came to Michigan from Massachusetts, and they were the parents of Philip, Jr. The father died in 1895, and the mother in 1871.

Born in Ann Arbor, Washtenaw county, Mich., October 20, 1863, Philip Bach was there reared to manhood, attending the public schools, and finally becoming a student in the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. Ill health, however, compelled Mr. Bach to relinquish his studies and he went to New Mexico to regain his strength. He began in the store-keeping business at Alma, Socorro county, then at Cooney, going from there to Magdalena, whence he found his way to Silver City, Grant county, at which latter place he kept a general store and also became interested in silver mining. Having in the meantime gained his former good health, in 1897 he came to Los Angeles, Cal., to engage in the securities brokerage business, but after a year and a half at this line of work he gave it up and went to Portland, Ore., where he secured a position in a dry goods store. After a year and a half there he returned to Los Angeles, and when oil was struck in Kern county, he came here and was employed by J. A. Chancellor and C. A. Canfield to take charge of the twelve wells belonging to the Canfield Company. As superintendent of this com- pany Mr. Bach increased this property to fifty-seven wells, and so successful was he in the conduct of it that, in 1902, when it was taken over by the Asso- ciated Oil Company, he was retained by the latter as foreman of the Canfield division, which position he has since held. The Canfield produces thirty thou- sand barrels of oil per month and is numbered among the best producers in the oil fields.

Mr. Bach makes his home on the Canfield properties, where he and his wife, who before her marriage in 1905, to Mr. Bach, was a Mrs. Page, give hearty welcome to their numerous friends and acquaintances. Mrs. Bach is a daughter of John R. Matlack, of Philadelphia, and sister of William V. Matlack, mayor of Bakersfield, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this publication.

MARTIN COYNE .- A native of Ireland, Martin Coyne was born at Castleray, County Roscommon, in 1860, a son of John and Mary (Rourke) Coyne. His father died when the son was about four years old, and the mother passed away at Avon, Livingston county, N. Y., in 1875. Of their twelve children Martin was the third youngest. Six of them preceded their mother to the United States, and she brought over the remaining six in 1870. He was a student for a time in the public school at Avon, N. Y., but early went to work on farms in the vicinity. Accompanied by an older brother, James Coyne, he came to California in 1876 and joined their brother, Bartley, in the Santa Clara valley. They engaged in farming there and in Yuba county more than a year. James and Bartley went back to New York state. Martin remained at Smartsville for a time, mining in the winter months and herding cattle during the balance of the year, then went to Nevada county and mined at Bloomfield until he met with an accident caused by a cave-in, by which he was buried up to his head in a heavy mass of gravel for more than half an hour. When he was dug out it was found that his arms and legs were crushed and he was laid up two years, during which he completely exhausted his little supply of money. His first employment after the accident was as a clerk in the Derbeck hotel, where he remained two years gradually improving in healthi. Then for three years he engaged in the liquor business in Nevada City. In 1886 he established a liquor store at Fifth and D streets, San Diego, which he operated until 1892. Early in that year he came to Bakersfield and was employed in the Hermitage saloon until 1904, when he bought the establish- ment which he has since managed and which is now the property of the firm

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of Coyne & Hewitt. In 1909 the business was removed to its present location on Chester avenue. Mr. Coyne erected his beautiful residence at Eighteenth and D streets at an expense of $10,000. He was one of the organizers of the Paraffine Oil Company, was a member of its first board of directors, has been one of its directors ever since and was for a time its vice-president. The company put down two wells in the Templor country without success, but later operations on 25 Hill were productive of better results. It now has six wells which produce about twenty thousand barrels of oil per month. He is also interested in the U. S. Oil & Mining Company, of which he is a director and vice-president and which has sunk four producing wells at McKittrick. He is a director and vice-president also of the Bakersfield Six Oil Company, which owns one hundred acres at McKittrick, and in numerous other cor- porations engaged in the development of the California oil fields.

At San Diego Mr. Coyne married Miss Nellie Hewitt, a native of Schenectady, N. Y., who has borne him five children, Marguerite, George, Helen, Esther and Mary. Marguerite is a graduate of Notre Dame College, San Jose, and George is a senior in Kern county high school. Mr. Coyne served as an officer in the Royal Arch, is a member of the Elks, and as a member of the Board of Trade and otherwise he has demonstrated a public spirit which has placed him in the foremost ranks of citizens of Bakersfield.

ALVA HUNTER .- Among those self-reliant, self-made citizens of Kern county who have solved the vital problem of achieving success in spite of the many impediments which have crossed their paths in the new country is Alva Hunter, the efficient and well-known superintendent of the Nevada Oil Com- pany, which is known as one of the most profitable producers in the region.

Alva Hunter is the son of Aaron and Charlotte (Grant) Hunter, born in Indiana in 1872. He was twenty years old when he came with his parents to Bakersfield, Cal., and he immediately began to work for the Kern County Land Company. Subsequently he farmed in San Luis Obispo county, this state, and it was here that he became interested in the oil business. obtaining employment at Rio Grande as tool-dresser for L. D. Heine. A year later, in 1902, he came to the Kern River field and secured a position as driller for the Nevada Oil Company, at which he worked for a year and a half. He remained with this company from that time on and proving himself to be so well-grounded in the details of the work, that in 1910 he was made superin- tendent of the company.

Some idea of the company may be obtained from the information that it has twenty-two wells, and produces about ten thousand barrels monthly. Mr. Hunter fills the office of superintendent of this company and enjoys the con- fidence of his employers and the respect of all with whom he has business relations.

In 1909 Mr. Hunter was married to Miss Effie Walker, of Arkansas, and they have two children, Nellia A. and William Grant. Mr. Hunter takes no part in public affairs, holding no offices, but he is actively interested in the Republican party, and votes that ticket. His home is on the Nevada holdings.

C. L. GIBONEY .- At an early age the obligation of self-support de- volved upon Mr. Giboney, who assumed such responsibilities with the cheerful aptitude that has marked every step of his busy existence. When only fifteen years of age he began to hustle for himself, yet he did not abandon all efforts toward securing an education; on the other hand, side by side with his energetic devotion to material affairs was a persistence in educational work, so that he not only was able to graduate from the Kern county public schools but in addition he took a commercial course in the business college at Bakersfield. A native son of California, he was born December 23, 1885, and at the age of sixteen years he entered upon an apprenticeship to the trade of a machinist at Needles, at the same time learning the blacksmith trade. Later

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he engaged as a horse-shoer at a railroad camp in Arizona. When the Edison plant was installed on the Kern river he went to Havilah in Kern county, where he worked under the contractor, J. B. Reed. It was the latter who had induced him to locate in the town. Besides doing general work in the black- smith shop he did the greater part of the horse-shoeing in the Kingman blacksmith shop.

An opening for a bookkeeper occurred in the department store of Hoch- heimer & Co., at Bakersfield, where Mr. Giboney found employment for which his talents qualified him in an admirable degree. So well did he succeed as bookkeeper for the concern that at the expiration of eighteen months he was made cashier and was given charge of the entire office force in the store, where he remained through a period aggregating five and one-half years. On May 4, 1908, he became bookkeeper for the Associated Oil Company. In a short time he was made chief clerk. After two years of office labor he was given a position as outside man and since then he has acted as foreman in the oil department. In every respect he has given satisfaction to the company and his work has reflected credit upon himself. In addition to handling the oil produced by the Associated, he also handles all that is bought by the company in the Sunset, Midway and McKittrick fields. Fraternally he is a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen at Bakersfield. His marriage at Fresno united him with Miss Rose Basye and they have an adopted child.

E. A. GROGG .- The Fellows Mercantile Company, although one of the recent institutions of Kern county, is unsurpassed in the character of its establishment and in the appreciation of its patrons. June, 1910, the company was incorporated with a capitalization of $10,000, and on the 1st of August their house of business was opened, with E. A. Grogg as treasurer and manager, C. W. Dickinson as president and John Patterson as vice-president. In every respect the store would do credit to a city far larger than Fellows.

The son of Samuel J. Grogg, an Ohio farmer, E. A. Grogg was born in Fayette county, that state, January 15, 1863, and became inured to the hard toil of the farm at a very early age. Leaving the country at the age of nineteen he turned his attention to mercantile pursuits. When twenty he became a clerk in a country store at Balbec, Jay county, Ind., and continued there for eight years, after which he clerked at Pennville for four years. Continuing in Jay county, he established himself as proprietor of a general store at Bryant, where he remained until 1903. The complete failure of his health forced him to sell out and seek a different climate. Going to Florida, he bought a small 1anch near the town of Ripley and there engaged in the poultry industry. The illness of a brother caused him to leave Florida to be with the invalid during an operation at Mobile and later he sold the Florida place, returned with the brother to Indiana and cared for the sufferer until the end came after an illness of six months. The management of a store at Dunkirk, Jay county, kept him in that town for a time, but later he availed himself of a better opening in the county-seat town, Portland, where he was connected with the department store of Cartwright & Haddington.

A desire to see the west caused Mr. Grogg to relinquish his interests at Portland, Ind., from which place he went to Portland, Ore., in October of 1907. In 1908 he came to California, settled in Tulare county and became manager of the Rochdale store at Orosi. After one year he embarked in the gent's furnishing business. At first there was every indication of success, but a panic resulted from the depreciated values of raisins, the principal crop of the locality, and he was forced to retire from business at a considerable loss. Thereupon he sought a new location and was led to establish himself in Fellows, where he has a business that is solid, growing and substantial and that merits and receives an excellent patronage from the community.

JAMES LOWELL ANNETTE .- The founder of his name in the new

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world, J. Wyatt Annette, led an eventful existence from the time that he left his native France and crossed the ocean to America, settled in Missouri and engaged in coal mining near St. Louis, until he was impelled to join an expedition of Argonauts who crossed the plains with wagons and ox-teams early in the '50s. Upon arriving at his destination he began to mine on the Feather river. At first fortune seemed to favor him, for he struck gold and with seven partners developed a profitable mine. After they had taken out as much gold as they were able to carry, in buckskin bags fastened to their bodies. they left the mine and started with their treasure for a place to market the gold, but as they were crossing Feather river all were drowned. On- lookers were powerless to aid them, for the weight of the gold caused them to sink before help could reach them.

The unfortunate gold-miner left a son, James William, a native of the vicinity of St. Louis, Mo., and from young manhood a resident of California, where he planted an orchard of Bartlett pears in Lake county. By his mar- riage to Fannie Baker, who was born in Missouri and died in California, there was only one child, James Lowell, born at Kelseyville, Lake county, Cal .. November 14, 1880, and reared on the home farm, meanwhile attending local schools and the Kelseyville academy. At the age of nineteen he became an apprentice under Mr. Kemper in the old Star mills at South Vallejo. Three years later he left the mill temporarily in order to take a course of study in the Oakland Polytechnic Business College, but after his graduation in 1904 he returned to the mill to resume his trade. Two years later he resigned as second miller there to accept a position as head miller with the Dixon Milling Company, but stayed there only five months, resigning in order to become head miller of the Kern river mills with the Kern County Land Company, coming December 27, 1906, to the plant where he has continued ever since.

In addition to acting as head miller of this mill Mr. Annette started and for one year operated the Annette bakery, where he put in the first dough mixed in Bakersfield. After selling the bakery he started on Nineteenth street the A. & L. sweet shop, which he sold about 1910. He now owns twenty- seven acres near Lakeport which he set out to Bartlett pears.

Mr. Annette is a Republican. While at Vallejo he was made a Mason in Solano Lodge No. 229, F. & A. M., is a member of Bakersfield Chapter No. 75, R. A. M., Bakersfield Commandery No. 39, K. T., and Al Malaikah Temple. N. M. S., of Los Angeles. In Vallejo occurred his marriage to Miss Lillian Steffan, a native of that city and a graduate of the high school there. For many years her father, Philip Steffan, has been engaged in the wholesale and retail meat business in Vallejo. The family of Mr. and Mrs. Annette com- prises two daughters. Madelyn Beth and Doris.

FREDERICK E. MANNEL .- The youngest in a family of four children and the only one of the number to establish himself in the United States, Frederick E. Mannel was born in Dresden, Saxony, Germany, November 30, 1864, and was named after his father, the manager of the zoological gardens in Dresden. An excellent education was afforded him through attendance upon grammar and high schools in Dresden and he was educated with a view to becoming a medical practitioner, but the profession did not appeal to him and he emigrated to the United States in 1880. With him he brought letters of introduction to William Conklin, manager of the zoo in Central park, New York City, and that gentleman gave him employment for a year. During 1881 he shipped to Montevideo, South America, impelled by a desire to see some- thing of that part of the world. Upon his return to New York he proceeded west to Montana in 1882 and secured work in the government employ. Some time later he went back to Dresden to visit friends.

It was during 1885 that Mr. Mannel saw California for the first time. After a brief sojourn in San Francisco he proceeded to Sonoma county and

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bought a small vineyard near Mark West Springs, later locating near Colfax, Placer county, where he planted vines and developed a valuable vineyard. Upon the sale of that property he removed to San Jose and became a retailer of oil and gasoline, continuing the business until 1896, when he sold out and started upon a trip around the world. The beginning of his journey took him to the old German home and gave him an opportunity again to renew the associations of childhood. Traveling through Germany and Denmark, he went thence to Norway and Sweden and as far north as Spitzbergen, after after which he returned to Germany and from there traveled through Austria and Russia, next back to France and from there to England. A long voyage from London took him to Cape Town, Africa, and after debarking he traveled with a hunting expedition to Fort Salisbury. The trip was made with wagons and oxen and enabled the men to prospect and hunt in leisurely manner. Upon leaving the party he traveled on foot across the Zambesi river into the interior of Africa, where he passed six months in exciting explorations among the natives. From there he traveled back south to Transvaal, Orange Free State and Cape Colony.

Australia was the next country visited, where he made a study of the pear! fisheries on Thursday Island, later visiting Port Darwin at the extreme northern end of the continent. Next he went to the island of Timook, his intention being to investigate some oil formations, but the natives were on the warpath and rendered personal investigations impossible. He next sailed for the Philippines and made a sojourn in Manila. In China he visited Shanghai, Hong-Kong and other points. En route to the United States he stopped at Yokohama, Japan, and Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands, landing in 1899 at San Francisco, whence he came to Bakersfield. With friends he secured a tract of oil land on section 11-29-21. His associates having been misinformed, decided to abandon the work at a depth of five hundred feet, but afterward this was found to be excellent oil territory. Next he prospected at McKittrick and in the Sunset and Midway fields, after which he went to Coalinga, bought a lease and extended the field three miles toward the north. On coming back to Kern county he developed his property in the Midway field and afterward as manager of the Mountain Girl lease put down several wells that became good producers. With others he secured the building of the Standard pipe line into the Midway field. During 1908 he started the Bakersfield soap works, which he developed into a plant of considerable size and importance. As the organizer of the St. Lawrence Oil Company operating on section 5 in the Midway field, for some time he held a large number of shares in the concern, but later sold his interest. Further he organized the Successus Oil Company now operating on the McKittrick front.

The marriage of Mr. Mannel and Miss Elsinore Hutton took place in San Francisco. Although a native of Indianapolis, Ind., Mrs. Mannel was reared in Alameda, Cal., where her father, Edward L. Hutton, was at the head of a mercantile establishment. After coming to Bakersfield Mr. Mannel built the residence which he now occupies at No. 2116 B street and which is brightened by the presence of his two children, Elsie Hutton and Frederick E., Jr. Since 1912 he has been manager of the Mannel-Minor Petroleum Company operating on the Balridge lease of two hundred acres. The com- pany was organized that year by himself and F. F. Minor and he is vice- president and manager. Two wells have been completed and a third started. One of these at a depth of two thousand feet, has a capacity of two hundred barrels per day of twenty-five gravity oil. Politically he is a Republican.

J. G. EDWARDS .- The farming element of Kern county has a note- worthy representative in the person of J. G. Edwards, who after having fol- lowed the ( ccupation of a millwright for years in Missouri finally met with reverses that took from him the fruits of his long toil, forcing him to start

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anew at an age when he might have been justified in anticipating ease and comfort. It was his good fortune, in choosing a new location, to select Kern county for a home and here he has retrieved the losses of the past, so that he and his capable wife are now surrounded by every comfort. Their success has been made possible by the possession and ownership of a fertile farm in the Weed Patch. Working contentedly and happily and enjoying life to the ut- most, they do not shut themselves out from the sorrows of the world and are especially in sympathy with the anxieties of the laboring man in his effort to provide food and raiment for his family. Mr. Edwards is a Socialist.

As a soldier in the Civil war he fought for the Union and in times of peace he has been equally loyal to the nation. Although himself of American birth, he is a descendant of Scotch progenitors. His father, Hugh Edwards, was born in Scotland, but crossed into Ireland during boyhood and as a young man became an immigrant to the United States, where he spent his remaining years in Pennsylvania. In that state he married Miss Catherine Cantwell, a member of a Welsh family. By trade a wagonmaker, he engaged in the manu- facture of vehicles in Pennsylvania throughout the balance of his life. When gold was discovered in California he was employed to build wagons for the trip to the coast.

Born near Johnstown, Pa., February 8, 1839, J. G. Edwards was one of three children who attained mature years. A brother, Charles G., twelve years older than himself, died in the army during the Civil war. His younger sister, Catherine, Mrs. McKnight, died in Philadelphia. At the age of twelve years he went to Coshocton county, Ohio, joining an uncle, Guy Edwards, a millwright and farmer. In that community the uncle had a reputation as an expert mechanic. The most intricate jobs were taken to him. It was under such excellent direction that the lad took up the occupation of mill-building. While thus engaged he enlisted in the Union army as a substitute. Becoming a member of Company F, One Hundred and Seventy-eighth Ohio Infantry, he engaged in guard duty below Baltimore, was stationed for some time in Virginia and West Virginia, and later was assigned to the secret service for duty in Ohio, Michigan, Indiana and Pennsylvania. At the expiration of two years and eight months at the front he received an honorable discharge.

A period of activity as a millwright in Ohio was followed by the removal of Mr. Edwards to Missouri, where he took up his trade in Greene county. There in 1872 he married Miss Torinda V. Tuttle, who was born in Indiana and at the age of twelve years accompanied relatives to Missouri. Until 1892 Mr. Edwards continued to live in Missouri and meanwhile he built or bought and sold mills in about six of the leading counties of southeastern Missouri. At first he was prospered, but reverses began to fall upon him and eventually he was obliged to give up the business. It was then that he came to California and secured work as a ranch-hand for Blodgett, Fish & Daggett. Next he spent a year in the employ of Captain McKittrick. Meanwhile he had saved his earnings and thus was enabled to buy twenty acres in 1895, three years after his arrival in Kern county. The place cost him $1,000 including the water right from the east side canal. From that invest- ment he has been able to earn a livelihood from year to year. The older son, Charles, is a mechanic and farmer living at Salem, Ore. The younger son, Arthur, is an oil-well driller, now following his trade at Vera Cruz, Mexico. The only daughter, Katie V., is the wife of A. E. Wilson and lives on a ranch in Kern county.

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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 134

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