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 136

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 136

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Charles R. Brite was born at El Monte, Los Angeles county, October 20, 1868, during the temporary residence of the family there and six months later they returned to Kern county and as he grew up he was sent to school in the valley. Compelled to go to work at only twelve years of age, he drove an ox- team at his father's sawmill. For six years he was employed in the mill and then worked on his father's ranch, remaining with him until he reached his twenty-third year. In partnership with his three brothers he conducted the ranch for about four years, and then the estate was divided, and each started out for himself. At this time he had acquired three hundred acres of land, also owning a hundred and sixty of the home place, and he engaged in general farming and stockraising, at various times buying land, until he now owns five thousand acres in all. Four hundred acres are under cultivation, the re- mainder being utilized for the ranging of his stock, as he has about five hun- dred head in all. In addition to this Mr. Brite owns forty acres of land planted to alfalfa on Union avenue near Bakersfield, under the Kern Island Canal, and he has found this a most profitable investment.

Mr. Brite, like his brothers, has become prosperous in his undertakings. On January 25, 1901, Mr. Brite married Ella Buhn, who was born in Tehachapi, January 28, 1885, and died June 22, 1908, leaving two children, Richard G. and John E., both of whom are attending public school. Subse- quently Mr. Brite married Della Merwin, a native of Pennsylvania. He is much interested in educational work and at present is serving as trustee of the Brite's valley school district. Politically he is a Democrat.

CALVIN HALL HOLMES .- Three generations of the Holmes family have lived and labored in California, and the present representatives feel a merited pride in the long and honorable identification of their name with this section of the country. When news was received in Arkansas concerning the discovery of gold at Sutter's camp three brothers, Calvin, Henderson and William Holmes, at once began to make preparation for the long journey to the west. The summer of 1849 found them traveling overland towards Cali- fornia. It was the brother first-named who became the ancestor of C. H. Holmes, of Taft. Following the example of the majority of early settlers, he tried his luck at mining and even after he had taken up land in Sonoma county he helped to develop the Yellow Jacket quicksilver mines on his ranch. Three different times he traveled back to Arkansas and to Kentucky for the purpose of buying horses and cattle to drive overland to California and on one of these trips to Kentucky he married Miss Elvira Hoffman, who accompanied him on the long journey across the plains to the new home. To an unusual degree he identified himself with the upbuilding of California, where he was widely known. On the site of the new mint in San Francisco he built one of the first slaughter-houses in that city. To aid in building the railroad from San Francisco to Calistoga, Napa county, he donated $10,000, and many other public improvements of early days felt the impetus of his generosity. Finan- , cially and politically he was a man of influence. When finally his earth life came to an end friends and family mourned the passing of one whose existence had counted in the world's work and whose patriotic services placed him high in the citizenship of his adopted state.

There were three children in the family of this pioneer and of these Edward, whose death occurred in 1902, was the youngest. By his marriage to Miss Emily John six children were born, viz: Edward, who is engaged in farming a part of the old homestead; Calvin Hall; Anna L. wife of Egbert Smith, a farmer of Napa county ; Herman and Ovid, who are ranching on a part of the old homestead; and Kate, a student in the Berkeley high school who resides with her mother, now Mrs. Fred Emerson Brooks. Born at Kel-

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logg, Sonoma county, Cal., March 20, 1888, C. H. Holmes began to help on the ranch when he was only seven years of age. By the time he was fourteen he did a man's work on the farm and earned $20 per month as wages during the busy season. His father was a college graduate and desired that his children should also have good advantages, so he bought a residence in Berkeley and sent the children to the splendid educational institution in that city.

During an attendance of three years and six months in the Berkeley high school C. H. Holmes became an athlete and still holds the records on one-quarter mile run, accomplished in 52 2-5 seconds, in the spring of 1907. For a time he was business manager of the high school paper. On returning to the ranch he acted as assistant foreman. Later he spent six months as manager of the Jewett fruit ranch. Going back to Berkeley, he became official coach for the Berkeley high school track team and remained for a year. In April of 1910 he left Berkeley and proceeded to Maricopa where he secured a position as stock clerk with J. F. Lucey Co., continuing in their employ for two and one-half years. During the last year of his association with the firm he served as manager. May 15, 1912, he entered the service of the Axelson Machine Co., and since February of 1913 he has been their manager at Taft. The company is a Bakersfield concern, but now has its headquarters in Los Angeles, although retaining the store at Bakersfield, besides the branches at Coalinga and Taft. Giving his time and attention closely to the interests of the company, he has had little leisure for identification with outside activities, but he and his wife, who was formerly Miss Cleta Lamb Hickerson, of Bakers- field, have a large circle of friends in Kern county. Politically he favors the principles of the Democratic party.

A. M. WEAVER .- A son of C. Weaver, who had conducted a cooper shop and lampblack factory in Pennsylvania, A. M. Weaver was born at Oil City, Pa., July 6, 1884, became an employe of the Oil Well Supply Company when he was only fifteen years of age, since which time he has been connected contin- uously with the same firm. A long, successful and honorable record with the same concern stands to his credit and testifies as to his ability.

As a clerk in the store of the Oil Well Supply Company at Oil City. Mr. Weaver gained his first practical knowledge of business in general and the oil supply business in particular. Transferred from one Pennsylvania town to another in the interests of the same concern, he became proficient as a sales- man, and April 28, 1905, opened up the company's store at Bullion, that state, where he was the first manager. His selection for such a position attested to his high standing with officials of the corporation. During 1909 he came to California and spent nine months in the Los Angeles salesroom, from which he was sent to Kern county in April, 1910, in order to open the company's store at Shale, two miles northwest of Fellows. Here he has since continued as manager of the Shale branch of the R. H. Herron Co., affiliated with the Oil Well Supply Company. While living in Pennsylvania he was connected with the Elks at Franklin. In Los Angeles he was united in marriage with Miss Eva Eakin, daughter of Alonzo Eakin, at one time a prominent oil operator in Pennsylvania fields. Mrs. Weaver met her death in a runaway accident March 5, 1913, leaving a small child, May, who since has made her home with the maternal grandmother, Mrs. Eakin, in Los Angeles. A woman of culture and charming social graces, Mrs. Weaver was much beloved in the circle of her intimate friends and her death was an irreparable bereavement to the imme- diate family.

FRED B. VAUGHN .- The selection of the oil business as his life occu- pation was the natural outcome of the early environment of Mr. Vaughn, who as a boy became familiar with the sights and scenes in the great oil fields of Colorado lying near the city of Florence. Himself a native of that state, born at Rosita, Custer county, January 14, 1883, he is the son of Bridd and Clara

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HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY

(Blakesley) Vaughn, the latter deceased in 1903, and the former, a gold-miner by occupation, still a resident of Florence, Colo., and quite active notwithstand- ing his sixty-three years. In remote and isolated communities, far from the commercial centers, he has lived his life in patient toil, and much of the remark- able energy displayed by his son, Fred B., is an inheritance from this pioneer miner of the Rocky mountain region. Of the five children in the family, Fred B. was the fourth in order of birth and the second son. During boyhood he spent the winter months in school and the summer seasons at work in the oil fields of Colorado.

When he had advanced so that he could fill the position of a tool-dresser Mr. Vaughn came to California in 1905 and for a year worked in the Los Angeles field, from which he came to the Kern river field to work as a pro- duction man on the Associated lease. After four years there he began as a tool-dresser for the same company on the west side, where later he drilled on the Bear Creek lease. After eight months as superintendent of the Stock- ton Midway Oil Company he came into the service of the M. & M. Oil Com- pany as a driller, from which he was promoted, June 23, 1913, being made superintendent of the company's holdings on section 15, 31-22. Ten active wells on the tract of eighty acres now average a monthly production of seven- teen thousand barrels, and it is the ambition of the superintendent to not only maintain, but also increase the output of the lease. His time is given closely to the work and his advancement has been made wholly on merit. He is a member of the Woodmen of the World. With his wife, who was formerly Miss Fannie Westfall, of Florence, Colo., he has established a comfortable home in the superintendent's residence on the M. & M. lease.

CHRISTIAN W. CLINE .- Perseverance in the face of obstacles which to many another man would have been insurmountable has been the chief factor in the success of C. W. Cline. He was born in Franklin, Ohio, May 25, 1864, and was educated in schools in different parts of his native state. After leaving school he made his home with his parents and was employed on farms until he was twenty-four years old, then coming to California and settling in Orange county, where he worked two years. From there he went to Redlands, where he spent a year. In 1890 he came to Delano and found em- ployment in the store of M. Swartz & Son, where for three years he filled the position of head salesman. By this time he had a thorough knowledge of merchandising and sufficient capital to engage in trade on his own account in a modest way. He opened a general store in Tehachapi, but his health soon became so greatly impaired that he was obliged to close out his interests there and seek a more favorable location. This for a time he thought he had found at Sumner (East Bakersfield). He established a store there and soon worked up a business which promised great success; but again ill health interefered with his plans and he was obliged to find out-door employment. This he found on Senator Cox's ranch, where he engaged as a laborer and later was made superintendent of the ranch. Eventually he resigned that position to take charge of the W. H. Harrelson ranch in Tulare county, which he managed until 1908. Then, going to Bakersfield, he was assistant postmaster under Postmaster Edmonds for six months, at the end of this time resigning his position as he was unable to longer continue indoor work. He then came to Delano, leased land of the Kern County Land Company and began a career as a grain farmer which has been almost uniformly successful to the present time. The acreage which he operates under lease varies from year to year from three hundred to eight hundred acres.

As a farmer Mr. Cline has won distinction among the leaders in his vicin- ity. The family residence is in Delano, where Mr. Cline owns a comfortable home. As a Republican he is active in politics, as a citizen is public spirited and fraternally belongs to Delano Lodge No. 309, F. & A. M., Tulare Chapter

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No. 71, R. A. M., Visalia Commandery No. 26, K. T., and Al Malaikah Tem- ple, N. M. S. in Los Angeles. December 26, 1905, Mr. Cline married Miss Edna Mccutchen, a native of Augusta county, Va., and they have two chil- dren, Harry T. and Virginia M.

STAR SODA WORKS was started on a small scale in Sumner (now East Bakersfield) in 1888 by G. Galli, who was born on a farm near Lucca, Italy, May 8, 1856. He came to San Francisco in 1871 and on October 1, 1879, he arrived in Bakersfield, following farming in this county until he started the Star Soda Works. The enterprise was the first of its kind in the village and for a time its success was problematical, but eventually the energy of the owner brought a merited measure of financial success and business standing.

The incorporation of the Star Soda Works occurred in 1905 with Mr. Galli as president and he still fills the same office, having entire supervision of the plant on Grove street in East Bakersfield, where he is engaged in the manufacture of soda and soft drinks, also acts as agent for the products of the Mathie Brewing Company in Los Angeles. While the main business of his company is in Bakersfield he also makes shipments to different parts of Kern county and has built up an important trade through efficiency and energy. Besides owning the location of his plant he also owns three houses in East Bakersfield, including the residence which he built and now occupies. Since becoming a citizen of the United States he has affiliated with the Republican party. In fraternal relations he holds membership with the Druids.

A. B. GREEN .- Although the association of Mr. Green with business interests in California has been of but brief duration as counted by years, already he has risen to a position of distinct importance along the line of his chosen occupation and at Taft, where he has engaged in business since April of 1910, he is known as a man of tireless energy and shrewd business judgment. Prior to his removal to the west he resided in Kentucky, of which commonwealth he is a native, having been born at Bowling Green, June 4, 1878, and having received a common-school educa- tion in that town. His studies, with the exception of a subsequent commercial course, were cut short at a very early age and he turned his attention to the sheet-metal work and to drafting, along which lines he acquired efficiency. With the exception of a visit to California during 1906 he devoted his atten- tion steadily to occupative labors in Kentucky until 1908, when he relinquished associations with the Blue Grass state and became a citizen of California. In coming here he had the advantage of a previous experience of fourteen years at his trade and therefore possessed every qualification for a successful continuance in the same or kindred pursuits. For one year after his arrival in Bakersfield he held a salaried position with Max Gundlach, Jr.

One year was sufficient to convince the employer of the value of the clerk, therefore a partnership was proposed and inaugurated, the firm con- sisting of Max Gundlach, Jr., George A. Morris and A. B. Green, associated under the title of the Gundlach Tank Company, with places of business at Bakersfield, Maricopa and Taft. March 1, 1913, George A Morris sold out his interest to the two other partners, who have since conducted the business. Mr. Green was sent to Taft in April, 1910, to open the branch house at this point and to erect the necessary buildings. He has established a home at Taft, having been married in 1911 to Miss Jessie Balderson, a native of Illinois and a daughter of a pioneer of that state. With the exception of an active associa- tion with the Knights of Pythias, Woodmen of the World and Improved Order of Red Men, he gives his time and attention wholly to business affairs and takes just pride in the large trade he is building up through the whole field extending from Maricopa to McKittrick. Sheet-metal work of every descrip- tion is conducted along modern lines.

VALENTIN LAFONT .- A gentleman well and favorably known in

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Kern county is Valentin Lafont, who was born in St. Laurent, Hautes-Alpes, France, August 27, 1876, the son of Xavier and Josephine (Borel) Lafont, who were progressive farmers of that community and whose family comprised four children. Valentin, the third in order of birth, from a youth attended the local schools during the winters, while in summers he made himself useful on the home farm learning the mode of agriculture as it is accomplished in the South of France. At the age of seventeen he went to the adjoining department, Bouche du Rhone, where for three years he was employed on a farm at teaming until he enlisted in the Twenty-second Regiment of Infantry in the French army. At the expiration of three years of service he was honorably discharged with the rank of corporal. After spending a year in St. Laurent he came to Bakersfield, Cal., in 1901 and immediately entered the employ of the Kern County Land Company. Later placed in charge of the tallow-rendering department of their Bellevue packing house, he continued in that capacity until 1908, when he accepted a position in the Bakersfield ice plant but after eighteen months resigned to re-enter the employ of the Kern County Land Company as fence rider on the Poso ranch. Desiring to engage in farming for himself in 1911 he leased the present ranch, which he has since operated and devotes his time to raising grain, alfalfa hay and corn.

The marriage of Mr. Lafont occurred in East Bakersfield, March 21, 1903, when he was united with Miss Marie Pauline Achin (also a native of St. Laurent, France), who is his able helpmate and assists him in his efforts towards success.

A. RODONI .- The Vineland cheese factory, which is being conducted in Kern county by A. Rodoni and Peter Cattani, was the first factory of its kind in this part of the country. It has a daily capacity of three hundred pounds of cheese, the quality of which is excellent and bears wide reputa- tion the country round. The fact that both these men have had a long experi- ence in the dairy business, and were brought up to learn the secrets of the making of this product in Italy explains their success.

A. Rodoni is a native of Switzerland, having been born in December, 1853, at Biasca, in Canton Ticino. There he was sent to school and reared to the life common in that country. He had early evinced a desire to see America, and when he had reached eighteen he started out, July 24, 1871, to make his way hither. From his home place he went to Liverpool, from there taking passage to New York, and he arrived in that port in early September, a few weeks later reaching San Francisco, Cal. He immediately went to San Mateo county, where he worked at dairying for a long period, later being engaged in farming, and for a short period in the saw mills. Before his marriage in 1894 he rented a dairy farm, and at this event he renewed his efforts in this direction, with the aid of his efficient wife building up a fine business in the manufacture of cheese, which he conducted for about fourteen years. In Merced county, he had bought a dairy ranch and started a creamery, and he is now the owner of one hundred and twenty-six acres in that county.

In November, 1911, in partnership with Peter Cattani, Mr. Rodoni pur- chased one hundred and sixty acres, on section 20, 31-29, and later two hun- dred acres adjoining, making a total of three hundred and sixty acres for their dairy farm. They are milking a hundred cows, and their product is a full cream cheese which is classed among the best produced in the factories. A large barn was built by the partners which is well equipped, the aim being to procure the best results with the best methods. In 1894 he married Flor- enda Mattei, who was born in the same canton of Switzerland as was her husband. She came to this country in company with her brother, Victor Mattei, who settled at Pescadero, San Mateo county. Four children were

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born to Mr. and Mrs. Rodoni as follows : Roy, Henry, Theodora and Florence. Mrs. Rodoni is an intelligent, sturdy woman, whose aid has been no small element in her husband's success.

LESS CLOTFELTER .- Since coming to Bakersfield in 1901 and to McKittrick in 1904 Mr. Clotfelter has watched the development of the oil industry in this section of the country with the deepest interest and the keenest intelligence. While not participating actively in the strenuous tasks of oil development, like the majority of men living in the locality, he has invested in organizations devoted to such work and offering considerable promise of future returns. At this writing he owns shares in different oil companies now operating in the vicinity of McKittrick and the North Midway field. All of his life has been passed within the boundaries of Cali- fornia and from the age of nineteen he has lived in Kern county. Born at Visalia in 1882, he is a son of Daniel L. and Sophia (Grove) Clotfelter, who still reside in Visalia, the father having been identified for years with mer- cantile interests and the stock industry in that locality.

The parental family numbered eleven children. All of these attained mature years and are still living, Less Clotfelter being the fifth in order of birth. After he had graduated from the Visalia high school in 1898, he secured employment in a fruit-packing house and also engaged in buying fruit for the packers. Different fruit companies in the San Joaquin valley secured his services in these capacities for brief periods, but at the age of nineteen he gave up that work and came to Kern county, where he since has engaged in the liquor business. Fraternally he is a member of the Eagles and the Moose. His marriage took place in San Francisco and united him with Miss Abigail Hock, a native of that city. By this marriage he has two daughters, Ruth and Hazel. Interested in educational matters, he has aided the development of the McKittrick school and has served as a member of the board, in which for one term he officiated as clerk. Through his valuable oil holdings in the McKittrick and North Midway fields he has enjoyed the prosperity resulting from investments in this highly favored district.

JOSEPH P. STIER is a member of an ancient German family whose successive generations have been represented by specialists in the brewing of beer and whose name in certain localities became a synonym for skill in the business. The first to immigrate to the United States was Leo Stier, whose education and training in the old country proved of the utmost assist- ance to him in Chicago, where he followed the brewing industry and reared his family. Among his children was a son, Joseph P., born in Chicago in 1880, educated in the public schools of that city, trained to the trade of brewer by the father and apprenticed to the bottling business with the Godfrey Brewing Company, of Chicago. On the conclusion of his time he remained with the same company as a paid employe. After working at the bottling business for some time, he took a course in the Siebel Brewing Academy, Chicago, from which he was graduated in 1910, upon the comple- tion of the regular course of study and practical work.

Coming to California and settling in Bakersfield in April, 1912, Mr. Stier has since filled the position of brewmaster with the Bakersfield Brewing Company. Understanding the work thoroughly, he superintends the manu- facturing with intelligence and is not only an able brewer, but also a resource- ful business man. Fraternally he holds membership with the Hermann Sons.

EMILIO C. CASTRO .- A native son of Kern county, Emilio C. Castro was born August 5, 1873. His elementary training was obtained in the local public schools, and at the age of fourteen years he began to work, procuring a position with the Kern County Land Company, where he remained for nine years. Then he became employed by the Miller & Lux Company, working for them for a period of seven years. It is proof of Mr. Castro's

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ability that his employers held him as long as he would remain with them and reluctantly gave him up. However, he was ambitious to be doing for himself, and accordingly, in 1907, he bought twenty acres of land two and one-half miles south of Bakersfield and started farming, putting his land in alfalfa. He has also interested himself in stock-raising and runs cattle in the Breckenridge mountains, where recently he has expanded his interests, giving much of his time to this enterprise. He is a Democrat in political principles and takes a deep interest in the progress of his country.

Mr. Castro was married May 28, 1907, in Bakersfield, to Mrs. Mary Pink (Clark) May, who was born in Lake county, Ore., June 15, 1874. She came with her parents, William and Martha (Robinson) Clark, to Kern county in 1887, and they settled in Cummings valley, Tehachapi, where they lived for some years; her father died there and the mother in Iowa. She then returned east to Iowa, but came back to Kern county in 1907 and was mar- ried to Mr. Castro. By her former marriage she had two children, Pink and Clark Allen. Of the union of Mr. and Mrs. Castro there is one daughter, Frances Leonora.

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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 136

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