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 138

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 138

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A resident of California since 1899, William C. Perry was born in Chanute, Kan., October 2, 1876, and was fifth in order of birth among ten children, all of whom are still living. The parents, John and Lucinda (Bradley) Perry, natives respectively of Pennsylvania and Ohio, and for years engaged in farming in Kansas, now make their home in Venice, Cal. Reared on a farm in the Sunflower state and engaged in agricultural pursuits on the completion of a public-school education, Mr. Perry decided in 1899 to seek another occupa- tion and a new location. Accordingly he became a worker in the Olinda oil fields in California, where he rose from roustabout to tool-dresser. During a later experience in the Los Angeles oil field he gained his first experience as a driller. From that place he came to the Kern river field. Still later he spent two and one-half years as a driller in a Wyoming oil field at Spring Valley, Uinta county, after which he returned to California and resumed work in Kern county. Since then he has worked steadily in the west side districts. For two years he held an important position as head driller on the Dabney lease, in the McKittrick field, while for a considerable period he has been employed in Maricopa and Fellows districts. Meanwhile he established domestic ties through his marriage in Los Angeles to Miss Edith Bush, who was born near Selma, Fresno county, this state, and died at Los Angeles June 19, 1912, leav- ing to her relatives and friends the memory of a gracious womanhood and cultured mentality. Aside from voting the Republican ticket Mr. Perry takes no part in political contests, yet he is progressive and may be relied upon to promote by time, influence and co-operation all measures for the general welfare and especially all projects for the development of the oil industry in Kern county.

EMIL T. LUTZ .- Born at Monroe, Monroe county, Mich., E. T. Lutz went to Philadelphia while a mere lad and there grew to young manhood. When about eighteen years old he went on the road as a commercial traveler for the firm of Palidini & Cappale, importers and wholesale manufacturers of

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silk. While still very young he became a member of a Philadelphia company of the Pennsylvania National Guard. Going to Chicago he secured employment in a restaurant. For some years he acted as steward of the Stock Exchange restaurant on the corner of Washington and LaSalle streets and later he held the position of steward in the American oyster house for several years.

Arriving in Bakersfield April 29, 1900, led hither by the recent oil dis- coveries in Kern county, Mr. Lutz embarked in the liquor business and for some years was a part owner of the Turf on Nineteenth street, but now in company with J. B. McKinley he is conducting the Commercial at No. 1129 Nineteenth street. Fond of sports and particularly interested in baseball, during 1909 he consented to take the management of the Bakersfield base- ball nine and his leadership brought victory to the organization. A lover of fine horses, he has trained some of the finest horses exhibited on the turf in Southern California and his reputation as a judge of equine flesh is unex- celled. During the streetcar strike in San Francisco he was assigned to duty at that place, serving as first lieutenant of a company in the Second regiment National Guards of California. He has purchased and now occupies a resi- dence at No. 2228 Nineteenth street, this being presided over by Mrs. Lutz, formerly Miss Susie Hill, a daughter of W. W. Hill, the first county treasurer of Fresno county. Reared and educated in that county, Mrs. Lutz is a mem- ber of one of its old families.

LYMAN C. ROSS .- A native son of the state Mr. Ross was born in Santa Clara county March 15, 1865, his father having been James Ross, a · California pioneer of 1852. Educated in the local schools, he has been self- supporting from an early age and about 1895 came to Bakersfield, where he has since made his home. For a time he engaged in business as a member of the firm of Anderson & Ross, but about 1905 he bought the interest of his partner and since then has conducted the business under the title of L. C. Ross. United in marriage with Anna D. McBain, he has enjoyed the advantage of the co- operation and companionship of a woman of culture, education and gentle character and who shares with him the faculty of winning and retaining warm friends. There are five children in the family, Edna, Harold, Stuart, Donald and Margaret.

Concerning the business established and built up by L. C. Ross we quote the following from "Bakersfield and Kern County, 1912, A Half Century of Progress :" "Never were the people of the United States more in earnest regarding the strict enforcement of the laws prohibiting adulteration and the misbranding of foods, drugs and liquors than they are today. Out of the smoke and the fog of controversy has come a better understanding of the conditions under which the upright manufacturers are laboring, and the spirit of unscrupulous greed animating their competitors, who seek to foist upon the public impure and adulterated products. A concern in Bakersfield handling the products of manufacturers known to live up to the very spirit and letter of the pure food law is L. C. Ross, wholesale liquor dealer. Ad- herence to strict business methods has enabled him to grow from a compara- tively small beginning to a position of prominence in Bakersfield's commer- cial life. At his up-to-date establishment, No. 1521 Nineteenth street, he has every facility for the proper handling and storage of his immense stock, and his specialties are fine old straight Kentucky bourbons, Pennsylvania ryes, California invalids' ports and sherries, imported sherry from Puerto Sta Maria, Spain ; imported port, old and tawny from O'Porto; the leading brands of eastern beer, also the famous Rainier, the best beer made west of St. Louis, and various mineral waters. Mr. Ross caters particularly to the family trade of Bakersfield and vicinity, and personally guarantees the purity of everything carried in his stock."

In addition to the wholesale business on Nineteenth street Mr. Ross

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is a member of the firm of Hoagland & Ross, proprietors of the bottling works on the corner of Fifteenth street and Chester avenue. Since about 1909 the firm has acted as distributors of Rainier beer. The proprietors give much time to the development of the business, as they also do to outside movements for the general upbuilding of Bakersfield and they are known as optimistic be- lievers in the continued prosperity of their city.

P. MULL .- One of the progressive farmers of Kern county, and an original homesteader, is P. Mull, who is well informed on all matters pertain- ing to his chosen work. He was born in Keosauqua, Van Buren county, Iowa, July 12, 1852, son of Nathan and Eliza Mull, who removed from Iowa when he was a boy of two years. They came directly to California and settled in So- noma county, where they were pioneers in the farming industry.

P. Mull grew to manhood in Sonoma county, experiencing the hardships and vicissitudes of the early life in this part of the country, and his first work for himself was in the vineyards for a number of years. In 1881 he went to Hanford and engaged in raising alfalfa and following stockraising to some extent. As the years came and went he added to his property and became independently well-to-do, reaping good results from his toil and being most fortunate in his crops. While there he was married to Mrs. Mary E. Bartlett, of Kings county, and they became the parents of four children, Leland E., Nathan H., and Alice and Eva.

In 1887 Mr. Mull came to Kern county, where he bought from Judge Brundage his present tract of land. The latter has a desert filing of this prop- erty, and Mr. Mull bought a relinquishment from him, it being located at . section twelve, township thirty, range twenty-eight. About three-quarters of this Mr. Mull sold off to other parties who filed homesteads. He has proved up on about a hundred and sixty acres of this, eighty of which he has sold, and the remainder is the property he now holds and operates. He has fifty acres planted to alfalfa, has some fruit and is continually improving his property to make it one of the most modern in the vicinity.

Mr. Mull has taken a deep interest in the development of his community, and has helped to organize the Fairfax public school, which was so much needed there. He is a stanch Republican, thoroughly familiar with all its principles, and is conversant on all subjects of the day. He has a fine family to which he is much devoted, and his life is lived on an even, conscientious plane, being a most fitting example for his children to follow.

JEAN PIERRE MARTINTO .- Near Osses, Basses-Pyrenees, toward the southern border of France, stood the old family home where he was born January 22, 1871. That neighborhood remained the abiding place of his father, Michael, a stone-mason and contractor, his business activi- ties continuing until his demise in 1907. The mother, who remains at the old home, bore the maiden name of Mary Peyrot and was born in Canton St. Jean-Pied-de-Port, Basses-Pyrenees, not far distant from the native place of the senior Martinto. Their family numbered five sons and three daughters and of these six attained mature years, namely J. F., now living in Fresno, Cal .; Mrs. Laffargue, who died at Tehachapi, Kern county; Jean Pierre; Mrs. Molle, living at San Pedro, this state; Dominick, of Fresno; and Mrs. Chalias, who resides at the old home in France. In order of birth Jean Pierre was fourth among the eight and he was educated in the schools near his early home. At the age of sixteen he left France and crossed the ocean to the United States, proceeding direct to Los Angeles where he found employ- inent on a ranch near by.

Upon coming to Kern county in 1888 Mr. Martinto was employed to herd sheep for his older brother, J. F., and later he did similar work for other parties in Kern and Fresno counties, continuing in the sheep industry until he determined to embark in the hotel business at Tehachapi. Purchasing six

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HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY

unimproved lots on Main street in 1895, he built a substantial structure which he named the Basses-Pyrenees hotel. On the same lots he put up a large livery barn. Another improvement on the same property was that of a hand- ball court constructed of stone and cement, as substantial and complete as good workmen and good material could make it and said to be the best in the county. From the first the hotel proved popular. Not only was it the largest hotel in Tehachapi, but it acquired a patronage surpassed by none. When finally in 1908 he retired from the business and leased the building, the new tenants changed the name to Martinto's hotel and as such it still is known. After leaving the hotel business he purchased a ranch of forty- five acres near Bakersfield. The property was wholly unimproved. The fertility of the soil convinced him as to the wisdom of buying the land and results justified his investment. The ranch is under the Kern county ditch and is devoted to alfalfa and vegetable gardens. The neat house which he erected on the land was occupied by his family for two years, but he then leased the place and built the residence at No. 1223 California avenue, Bakers- field, where he has since resided. Since becoming a citizen of our country and attaining his majority he has supported Republican principles. At Tehachapi in 1896 he was united in marriage with Miss Veronica Borda, who was born and reared at Cambo Basses-Pyrenees, France, and came from that country in 1894, settling in Bakersfield. Four children were born of their union and three are now living, Elizabeth, Jean Baptiste and Lyda.

ALBERT L. WANGENHEIM .- To assure success in the conduct of an up-to-date store it is necessary that the officials in charge of the various departments are thoroughly acquainted with all the details, quick to see the necessity for improvement, and able to cope with other like enterprises in the best selection of their goods. The firm of Hochheimer & Co., the largest department store in Bakersfield, has such a man in its employ in the person of Albert L. Wangenheim, whose varied experience has made him the practical manager he is today.

Mr. Wangenheim was born October 31, 1874, in San Francisco, the son of Henry Wangenheim, who makes his home in San Francisco. The latter was one of the founders of the business of Hochheimer & Co. at Willows, and also at Bakersfield. He was also interested in the starting of stores in Germantown and Orland, and is at present a large stockholder in the com- pany. Albert L. grew to manhood in his native city, where he attended the public schools and was graduated from the Cogswell College, which covers a high school course, normal training and business course. From schcol he went to work in the shops of Porter Schlessinger & Co., manufacturers of boots and shoes, then worked in the wholesale store of that firm, and later became traveling salesman for them, his territory being the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys. In order to thoroughly learn the retail business, he then took positions in the following stores of Hochheimer & Co., located respectively, at Willows, Germantown and Orland, Cal., serving as clerk at each place, after which he became sales manager in the large wholesale furnishing business of Greenebaum, Weill & Michaels, located at San Francisco.

In 1908, at the death of his brother, Melville H., Mr. Wangenheim was called to Bakersfield, to take his position of manager of the men's furnish- ings, boots and shoes and clothing department of Hochheimer & Co. Mr. Wangenheim fills his position with that ability which has marked him a progressive, capable business man from the start of his career.

Mr. Wangenheim was married in 1903, in Oakland. He has a com- modious residence, which he built in 1909 and wherein is dispensed a warm hospitality. Mr. Wangenheim affiliates with the Native Sons, the Woodmen of the World, the Eagles and the Loyal Order of the Moose.

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H. H. SPEARS .- The distinction of being the first to locate on the town site of Fellows belongs to H. H. Spears, who arrived here March 23, 1910, having moved up from Bakersfield with his entire stock of horses and necessary equipment, including a cook-house. Since then he has witnessed the rapid growth of the place and its transformation from an uninhabited waste to a progressive little town whose residents work unitedly and harmon- iously for the general welfare and civic advancement. He has been connected personally with almost every measure for the benefit of the place and the people. As proprietor of the Fellows livery stable he engages about ten head of livery stock and fifty head of work stock and these he hires out by the month or uses in the filling of contracts for jobs where the heaviest of machinery is to be hauled to the fields. Through personal oversight given to his farm of three hundred and twenty acres near Button Willow (one hundred acres of which are in alfalfa) he secures large erops of hay and grain and thus is in a position to sell feed, besides having an abundance of grain and hay for his own teams. Primarily for the purpose of attending to his own work he has established a blacksmith shop, where two blacksmiths are steadily employed.

The life of Mr. Spears has been filled with adventure. He was born at the family home a short distance from Detroit, Mich., August 10, 1862, and is a son of Henry Spears, who was a butcher by trade and conducted a meat market in Detroit. Of a roving disposition, with little fondness for school, but with a love for travel and a desire to see the world, the lad became self-supporting in early years and drifted from one place to another as work could be found. Always he loved horses and showed an aptitude in their care. His skill in breaking colts was remarkable even when he was very young. After a short period of employment in Chicago he drifted out to Idaho and became a cowboy on the plains. Similar work took him to Eastern Oregon and from the White Horse ranch in that country he came down into California, bringing a drove of cattle to San Francisco. Next he worked in Fresno county, after which he spent four years in Inyo county as a teaming contractor, and engaged in freighting from the railroad at Mojave up to Bishop and Independence for four years. Meanwhile he had never lost his interest in horses, but had maintained a drove and had also done much work in breaking colts for others. The fall of 1889 found him in Bakersfield with his horses and wagons. With that town as headquarters he teamed in different parts of the surrounding country, also bought and sold horses and broke colts. After coming to Bakersfield he married Miss Alice Dickinson, by whom he has one child now living, Elizabeth G. The family has been identified with the Episcopal Church of Bakersfield and fra- ternally he holds membership with the Woodmen of the World in that city, while since coming to Fellows he has assisted in the organization of the Chamber of Commerce. Throughout this part of the oil district he is well known. His work has brought him into personal relations with many oil men and in every instance he has won their confidence as a business man of honorable methods and distinct efficiency.

CHRISTIAN NELSON .- One of the most recent accessions to the indus- trial life of East Bakersfield is the East Bakersfield Garage and Machine Company, organized in January of 1913 by Christian Nelson, who has since engaged in the automobile repair business, also a general repair and machine trade, and in addition is acting as agent for the Warren and Hupmobile cars. The fact that he is a first-class machinist contributes to his success and enables him to carry out the most difficult tasks with ease and promptness.

The Nelson family comes from Norway. For generations its members lived on the rockbound coast of that bleak country, earning a livelihood by the most arduous exertion. Seeking something better than his own land

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afforded, Lewis A. Nelson, who was born and reared at Bergen on the Atlantic ocean in 1848, left Norway in 1865 for the United States and followed the trade of machinist in Chicago, Ill., where he married March 16, 1870, Sorine Skarning, a native of Christiana, Norway. From Chicago he moved to Kansas and secured employment as a machinist in the Santa Fe shops in Topeka. After having followed the trade at various points in the central west he came to California in 1904 and now makes his home in Bakersfield. His wife passed away April 1, 1913. Her seven living children are: Edward, of Fairbury, Nebr., Walter A., of El Paso, Texas, Jennie, Mrs. Sornborger, Christian, Lewis, of Lincoln, Nebr., Andrew, of San Francisco, and Martha. The last named was a pioneer teacher in Lost Hills, opening the first school there.

Christian Nelson was born at Topeka, Kans., October 30, 1881, and received his education in public schools in Kansas and Nebraska. At the age of seventeen he entered upon an apprenticeship to the trade of machinist in the Santa Fe shops at Albuquerque, N. M., where he completed his trade. Thereafter he worked as a journeyman in New Mexico and Arizona and while living in Arizona he joined Douglas Lodge No. 955, B. P. O. E. From Arizona he came to California in 1904 and settled at Bakersfield, where for some time he was employed as a machinist with the Southern Pacific Railroad Company. Work at his trade kept him in the Kern river oil field for a time and later he gained further valuable experience as a machinist in the west side field. On leaving the oil fields and coming to East Bakersfield he became interested in the establishment of the business to which he now devotes time, attention and his splendid skill as a machinist.

BERT E. GOULD .- The first manufacturing establishment started in Fellows and the fifth business house to be erected in the town, the Fellows Tank and Job shop, dates its history from the year 1910, when Mr. Gould took advantage of the opportunities offered by the new town in the heart of the oil fields and built the present plant.

Prior to his removal to the west Mr. Gould had been a resident of Water- loo, Iowa, where he was born June 12, 1875, and where his parents, George E. and Ella M. (Wolfe) Gould, natives respectively of Wisconsin and Pennsyl- vania, still make their home, the father being engaged in the building business in that city. The second among four children and the only member of the family to locate in California, Bert E. Gould received educational advantages in the Waterloo public schools and found employment during the summer months on farms near town. At the age of twenty years he became an employe of the Tallarday Steel and Pipe Company in Waterloo. That he was a steady worker and faithful employee is evidenced by the eleven years of continuous service with the same firm. During the latter part of the period he acted as foreman of the pipe department. Resigning in 1906 and coming to Cali- fornia, he engaged at Alhambra with Tallarday's Steel-pipe and Tank Com- pany. Later he traveled for the company, erecting tanks for parties who had ordered them. Leaving the employ of the Alhambra firm for an important position in the Los Angeles plant of the Western Pipe and Steel Company, he continued there until 1910, the year of his removal to Fellows. In this city he has since been engaged in building up a trade along the line of his specialties and also has acted as the local representative for the J. McDonald Gas Company of Taft.

The Chamber of Commerce and other organizations for the material and commercial upbuilding of Fellows have in Mr. Gould an able and intelligent member. He is stanchly Republican in his opinions and at national elections votes the straight ticket. Besides his interests at Fellows he owns some valuable oil land in the Cuyama valley. One daughter, Murel, was born of his first marriage, which united him with Miss Luella M. Marquis, a life-

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long resident of Waterloo, Iowa. Her demise occurred in young womanhood and afterward he was united with Miss Mabel Shields, a native of Wisconsin, their union being blessed by a son, Howard M.

W. PERRY WILKES .- An identification with the west covering a period of more than fifty-five years has given to Mr. Wilkes a comprehensive knowl- edge of the resources and possibilities of this promising region. At the time of his arrival, during the fall of 1856, mining was still the principal occu- pation of the country. The possibilities of the land for agriculture and horti- culture were dimly grasped by only a few far-seeing optimists; by far the larger number of the people still considered that mining for gold offered the only opportunity for material prosperity. One of the shrewd, keen-sighted pioneers whose vision of the future evinced a wise judgment was Albert G. Wilkes, who brought a large herd of cattle to California at the time of his migration hither in 1856 from Missouri. He had come to California in 1849 from the same state, arriving in Eldorado county (Georgetown) October 1 of that year. For a while he carried on placer mining, but later established a bakery and store in Georgetown which he operated three years. He then returned to Missouri for his family, and brought them with him when he came west in 1856.

With the expedition of immigrants traveling with ox-teams and wagons came the boy of thirteen years, W. Perry Wilkes, who was born March 21, 1843, at the home farm thirty miles south of Jefferson City, Mo. He did not allow the fact of his extreme youth to deter him from doing a man's work during the long journey. To his charge was given the driving of the one hundred head of dairy cows and he maintained considerable pride in his success with the herd, for he lost only one cow during the long and difficult journey across the plains. Among the drove there were sixteen head of Durham cows, these being the first thoroughbred Durhams ever brought into California and from them as foundation stock a large business was established in that now popular breed. A dairy ranch was established on the Tassejara, in Contra Costa county, and the successful prosecution of dairy interests through a considerable period of years . brought wealth to the family, enabling the father eventually to retire with ample means to Stockton, where his death occurred in 1880. He was a brother of Col. P. S. Wilkes and also of Rev. L. B. Wilkes, for years a leading minister in the Christian Church.

After having completed the studies of the common schools of Contra Costa county and also spent one term as a student in Union academy, in 1863 W. Perry Wilkes went to Arizona to aid in developing the Vulture mine, but the following year he returned to California and settled in Kern county, of which he now is among the oldest living pioneers. During the winter of 1864-65 he taught the first public school ever held in the county at Linn's Valley. After his marriage in 1866 he engaged in the livery busi- ness at Havilah, then the county seat and a town of considerable promise. The discovery of gold had caused a boom at Havilah and within eighteen months it had grown from nothing to a population of fifteen hundred, but that represented the height of its prosperity, for many of the mines failed to pay, the miners sought other locations and then the county seat was removed to Bakersfield.

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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 138

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