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 139

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 139

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Removing from Havilah to Glennville in 1869, during that year Mr. Wilkes was appointed the first postmaster of the village and at the same time he built the first hotel there. For years he acted as postmaster and as landlord of the hotel, also carried on a general mercantile store, and besides he pur- chased and improved a tract of eight hundred acres, where he engaged in · raising cattle, sheep and hogs. For years the buying and selling of cattle formed his principal business and in it he was prospered greatly. Mean- while his father had died in 1880 and upon the settlement of the estate he

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had received $11,000, which aided him in the development of his ranch and the carrying on of a stock business. The inheritance was greatly increased through wise management, so that he in turn was able to assist his children financially and yet retain a sufficient amount to provide all comforts for his old age. While his investments were almost wholly in California, there were occasional exceptions, chief among these being the purchase of Lookout Springs ranch, thirty miles east of Hackberry, Mohave county, Ariz .. and that property he developed from a raw tract into an improved stock ranch. The location on the Santa Fe Railroad and the presence of water on the ranch rendered it a desirable place for the stock industry.

In the midst of varied business activities Mr. Wilkes found the time to keep posted concerning public affairs and national issues. Politically he has always voted the Democratic ticket. He served as county auditor (1880-82) and deputy county assessor (1880-90). For a number of years he has owned and occupied a finely-improved tract of twenty acres on Union avenue, which he purchased from Ben L. Brundage and which combines the advant- ages of a country home with those offered by close proximity to the city of Bakersfield. During 1885 he was bereaved by the death of his wife, who' was Ann, daughter of Col. John C. Reid, a former sheriff of Tulare county. Of his four children now living the eldest, Albert R., who married Miss Lizzie Preston of Kern county, is an extensive rancher, a successful oil operator and a merchant at Linn's valley. The younger son, Carl, who married Miss Ida Shackleford of Bakersfield, is now proprietor of the Pioneer gun store in this city. The third child, Irene, married Robert B. McGee, who is employed as a foreman with Kern River Oil Company, and the youngest daughter, Austie, is the wife of George W. Leonard, a teaming contractor living in Bakersfield.

JOHN TYRER .- In coming to California from England Mr. Tyrer feels that he made no mistake, for he has met with success. There had been con- siderable uncertainty on his part as to the merits of California compared with those of New Zealand and he had read much concerning both regions. Finally he cast his decision in favor of California, came to the west and made his permanent home in the region whose subsequent growth he has witnessed.

Born in Manchester, England, April 7, 1846, John Tyrer is a son of Thomas Tyrer, who lived and died near Manchester, and that locality also remained the lifelong home of the mother. There were four children in the parental family and of these Mary is now deceased, Hannah is living at Windsor, Canada, and Thomas is employed as a plumber near Liverpool, England, so that John is the sole representative of the name in the United States. After he had completed his education in a school conducted under the auspices of the Church of England he became an apprentice to the trades of painter and plumber, at which he served from fifteen until twenty-one years of age. Upon starting out for himself as a journeyman he went to Yorkshire, England, and secured a position with the firm of George Walsh & Sons, of Halifax. By dint of hard work and intelligence he rose to be manager of the firm, with which he continued for eight years. Meanwhile at the age of twenty-seven years he married Miss Isabella Bradley, of Halifax, England.

After having conducted a plumbing business at Liverpool for a time Mr. Tyrer determined to seek a home in another part of the world. California was his choice for a location and with his wife and two children he took passage on the National line. During the fall of 1887 he arrived in Los Angeles and immediately afterward he secured a position under W. C. Furry, who con- ducted a hardware and plumbing establishment. For three years he continued with Mr. Furry, but in the fall of 1889, resigning the position, he started out independently. After fourteen years of independent work in plumbing,

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during 1904 he retired from the business and now gives his attention to the management of his ranch of twenty acres south of Bakersfield, in addition to which he owns other property in town, including a lot on the corner of O street and Truxtun avenue. After he had been in this country a few years he decided to remain permanently and accordingly took out naturalization papers, since which time he has maintained a warm interest in all move- ments for the national welfare. In politics he aims to vote for principles and to give his support to men of high character and recognized public spirit. For years his wife has been one of the most earnest and helpful members of the First Methodist Episcopal Church of Bakersfield and his contributions to the church maintenance have been generous. One of his daughters, Miss Lucy, resides with her parents on the ranch, while the other, Mary, is the wife of Charles E. Hallett, postmaster of Graton, Sonoma county, Cal., and pro- prietor of a general mercantile business in that village, which is the home of himself and wife and their daughter, Lucile.

CHARLES M. HART .- The father of the immediate subject of this sketch, Moses Hart, was born in Chickasaw, Indian Territory, December 1, 1833, and in 1850 started across the plains with ox teams, arriving in San Jose, Cal., in 1852. From there he soon moved to Mariposa county, where he mined until in 1856. Later he lived for a time in Los Angeles county whence he came in 1857 to Kern county. Locating in Oak creek two years later he became the owner of a ranch of one hundred and sixty acres and of a quarter section of railroad land. It is a matter of record that he was one of the petitioners, in 1865, for the organization of Kern county. In 1863 he was in the Indian fight in Kelsey Canon, Kern county, where he was waylaid by the Indians; his brother Martin and his step-brother Oliver were both killed July 3, 1863. The father organized a posse and followed the Indians to Owens River, where they attacked the Indians eighteen days later. Nineteen of the Indians were killed in the battle, the remainder escaping. Mr. Hart married July 15, 1859, Miss Julia Ann Findley, who bore him twelve children. She passed away January 21, 1907, and his death occurred December 21, 1903.

It was at Old Town, Tehachapi, that Charles M. Hart was born March 19, 1870. He attended public school at Tehachapi and in Bear Valley until he was seventeen years old, when he bravely took up the battle of life on his own account. He entered the employ of the Santa Fe and learned the machin- ist trade at Needles. From 1891 to 1894 he had a market and butcher business at Jerome, Ariz. In the year last mentioned he sold out and returned to Kern county and for a time lived at Bakersfield. In 1896 he established himself in the meat business at Tehachapi but soon sold his market and homesteaded land in the Weed Patch and for some time he farmed seventeen hundred acres of land, the greater part of which he leased. Eventually he disposed of his ranch, moved to Mojave county, Ariz., and established a meat market at Chloride which he conducted successfully three years. During the ensuing two years he was in the same business at Needles, San Bernardino county, Cal. Then, disposing of his interests at Needles, he went to Nevada, where he was employed as master mechanic for the Green Water Death Valley Mining Company. After eleven months' experience there he came back to Kern county and became the owner and lessee of mining land in the Caliente Valley which he operated a short time. In November, 1907, he took charge of the department distributing all the meat along the Los Angeles aqueduct for the butcher trade of the Bressler Meat Company of Los Angeles and for a year and a half filled the position of general manager. Then, removing to Lost Hills, Kern county, he opened a meat market there, of which he has since been proprietor. He owns the hotel and general merchandise store at Hart station, on the stage line two miles east of Lost Hills and also gives considerable attention to teaming and contracting, and the buying and selling

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of stock, hay and grain. He has interests in the oil fields, has invested in land in Lost Hills, but still maintains his home at Wasco. As a Democrat Mr. Hart has been active in local politics and as a delegate he has taken part in the deliberations of a number of Democratic county conventions and is serving as deputy sheriff. Fraternally he affiliates with the Fraternal Order of Eagles.

On April 3, 1900, he married Katherine Watchman, a native of Pennsyl- vania, who had come west with her parents, who located at Cripple Creek, Colo., where her father was chief clerk of the Colorado Fuel & Iron Com- pany at Walsenburg, Colo., for fourteen years. From there Mr. Watchman removed to Cripple Creek, where he remained until 1896, at which time he located at White Hill, Mohave county, where for several years he success- fully operated a mine. Thence he removed to Chloride, Ariz., where he bought mining property which he operated until in 1907, when he sold it and removed to Tonopah, Nev. After living there a year and a half he came to Kern county and leased a mine near Tehachapi. In 1908 he lived for eight months at Rands- burg, where he operated the Butte mine with satisfactory results. He then leased the King Solomon mine which he has since handled with success. Mrs. Hart has borne her husband four children, Laura J., Daniel C., Thomas M. and Frank M.

THOMAS H. FOGARTY .- Through a lifelong identification with Cali- fornia, of which his parents were pioneers, Mr. Fogarty gained a compre- hensive knowledge of the resources and possibilities of the commonwealth and became an enthusiastic advocate of its interests. Born in San Fran- cisco, educated in the schools and in St. Ignatius College, within the brief span of his useful existence (1861-1907) he witnessed the remarkable develop- ment of that city and saw it become the metropolis of the Pacific coast. For many years his parents, James F. and Nora (English) Fogarty, were numbered among the industrious working element of that growing city, where the former died and where the latter, advanced in years, still makes her home.

An early location at Lompoc, Santa Barbara county, and an association of several years with the hotel business in that village, gave Mr. Fogarty the experience and information that proved valuable to him when in March. 1900, he came to Bakersfield and bought the Arlington hotel in partnership with M. A. Lindberg, the two continuing together until 1906, when the present proprietor, Mr. Lindberg, acquired the ownership of the building. Turning his attention to other matters, Mr. Fogarty bought a farm one mile south of Kern and there until his death he engaged in raising standard thor- oughbred and full-blooded Percheron draft horses. The Arlington stock farm acquired a wide reputation for the fine quality of its stock and the keen business ability of its manager and owner. Joining with others, he had an interest in the building of the Hudnut driving track for race horses, in which he was a prime factor, creating interest in the raising of fine horses and also in starting a county fair and races. His starting of the county fair in the fall of 1900 was the beginning of a series of fairs which have proved an important factor in the county. Among Mr. Fogarty's finest animals was Richmond Chief, which had a reputation as one of the most perfect specimens of its class in the west.

The marriage of Mr. Fogarty took place at San Luis Obispo, Cal., and united him with Mrs. Nettie (Overholtz) Hoover, who was born in Santa Rosa and holds membership with the Native Daughters. The Overholtz family was represented in the east through several generations and her father, William, was born and reared in Pennsylvania, but came across the plains in young manhood and settled at Santa Rosa. Cal., where he followed the trade of a cabinet-maker. While still in the prime of manhood death ended his activities and later his widow, Elizabeth (Mankins) Overholtz, a native of Missouri, removed to San Benito county, where she now makes her home. Of their family only two children are now living, Mrs. Fogarty being the

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younger of these. Her education was received in the schools of San Benito and Santa Barbara counties and she was well qualified by natural endowments as well as school training to fill all the responsibilities of life. Two children blessed her marriage, James English and Norrine Elizabeth. Subsequent to the death of Mr. Fogarty she sold the ranch and the stock and removed to Bakersfield, where she has invested in city property. She built a comfortable residence at No. 2322 Eighteenth street, which she herself designed, and she also improved two residences on K street which she has since sold. On Beale avenue and Jackson street, East Bakersfield, there is a large residence built by her, which she leases. She has been very fortunate in investments and owns other valuable real estate in Bakersfield and throughout Kern county, as well as in Monterey, Oakland and Richmond. She is truly optimistic for California and believes the next decade will show wonderful results as to increase in values to the investor.

ALBERT WEEDALL .- England has furnished to the western country an especially high class of citizens whose thorough understanding of the work to which they are attracted and whose painstaking effort in their every under- taking have caused them to be recognized as a distinct value to their various communities. Among those who have made California their adopted common- wealth are James and Albert Weedall, father and son, who were both natives of Northwich, Cheshire, England. The elder followed the trade of florist and horticulturist in Cheshire, England, until 1892, when he brought his family to the United States and settled in Bakersfield, Cal. In Rosedale he engaged in general farming and remained at this work until 1909 when he retired from active work and now makes his home in Bakersfield. His wife was Susanna Penny and was also born in Northwich, England.

Albert Weedall was born December 19, 1870, and was reared in his native land, attending the public school. Upon completing his studies he entered into the employ of his uncle, who was a stock-dealer and butcher, but in 1892 left there to accompany his parents to Bakersfield, Cal. He there procured employment with H. A. Blodgett as a landscape gardener, working at garden- ing and nursery work for six years, at the end of which time he started out for himself, and he is now the proprietor of the oldest and finest nursery and florist business in Bakersfield. This is located at No. 603 Chester avenue, where Mr. Weedall has built three greenhouses, growing plants of all kinds. trees and shrubs.

Mr. Weedall was married (first) in Los Angeles, to Ida Florence Capper, born in Northwich, England, whose death occurred in Bakersfield. Two of their children are now living, Newton and Florence. Mr. Weedall's second marriage was in Bakersfield, to Nellie Straker Shields, who was born in New- castle-upon-Tyne, England. and they have one child, Albert William.

Mr. Weedall and family are members of St. John Episcopal Church in Bakersfield. In political questions he unites with the Democratic party, and fraternally he is affiliated with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, Woodmen of the World, Order of Eagles, and the Order of Moose.

MARTIN NEELY PETTUS .- During the early part of the nineteenth century James E. Pettus, of Virginian birth, accompanied his widowed mother to Arkansas and settled in Sevier, where later he conducted a general store in the small hamlet of Paraclifta. At the outbreak of the Mexican war he of- fered his services to his country, was accepted and sent to the front, where he took part in the battles of Vera Cruz and Buena Vista. Upon the ending of the war he received an honorable discharge and returned to his Arkansas home, whence during 1850 he came via Panama to California. A brief ex- perience at the mines was followed by identification with the hotel business, first in Vallejo and later at Petaluma. Next he went to Calpella, a small town eight miles north of Ukiah, Mendocino county, where he had charge of the

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Indian agency and also engaged in general merchandising. During the period of his residence in that small village his son, Martin Neely Pettus, was born November 22, 1861. Removing to Kern county in 1869 the father located a homestead and developed and improved a tract of one hundred and sixty acres on the old Buena Vista slough. Being able to secure water from the slough for irrigation he raised alfalfa with profit and made a success of the stock business. When eventually he retired from agricultural pursuits he lived his last days with a daughter, Mrs. Leonora Cross, in Bakersfield on the present site of the Producers' Bank and here, in July of 1899, he passed away, at the age of seventy years.

A few years after his arrival in the west James E. Pettus married Cornelia Veader, who was born in Minden, La., and died in Kern county, Cal., at the age of forty years. Her father, Col. Charles H. Veader, a native of Schenec- tady, N. Y., came south during the war of 1812 and after the engagement at New Orleans, in which he bore an active part, he received an honorable dis- charge from the army. Remaining in Louisiana, he engaged in mercantile pursuits and also practiced law. During the memorable year of 1849 he and his family crossed the plains in a wagon drawn by oxen. For a time he prac- ticed law in Vallejo, where his daughter became the wife of Mr. Pettus. Later he became an attorney at Petaluma. Next he followed his profession at Ukiah. Coming to Kern county in 1868, he practiced law at Havilah and did much of the early surveying in this part of the state. When the county-seat was brought to Bakersfield he established his home and office in this city, but finally entered land near Stockdale and there passed his last days.

There were five children in the Pettus family. The following survive : Mrs. Leonora Cross, a widow residing in Bakersfield; Martin Neely, of this review ; Carrie, wife of William H. Davis, of Rosamond, Kern county ; and Howard, who is living in the state of Washington. From the age of seven years Martin N. Pettus has been familiar with conditions in Kern county, where he attended school and learned general farming. At the age of sixteen he became an employe of Carr & Haggin. A desire to see the old home of his father in Arkansas induced him to visit Sevier county, that state, and for thirteen years he raised cotton in that county. Meanwhile he met and married Miss Lucettie Davies, who was born near Washington, Ark. Their union was blessed with three daughters, the eldest of whom, Ruby, is now the wife of F. M. Clark, of Stockton, Cal. The younger daughters, Alice and Thelma, reside with their parents. During December of 1890 Mr. Pettus brought his family to California and became a rider for the Kern County Land Company. After five years in the same position he turned his attention to farming and three years later came to East Bakersfield, where he owns a residence at No. 502 Pacific street. During 1898 he became janitor of the old H school, next was with the Emerson school, later was transferred to the Washington school in East Bakersfield and since 1910 has acted as janitor of the Kern county high school. He maintains a warm interest in national issues and votes the Democratic ticket. The Fraternal Brotherhood has his name enrolled upon its list of members, while in religious faith he is in sympathy with the doctrines of the Methodist Episcopal Church South and has served for some years as a member of the official board in the local congregation.

GEORGE H. PIPPITT .- With the exception of the first eight years of his life, which were spent in New Jersey, Mr. Pippitt has always been identified with the west. Born at Birmingham, Burlington county, N. J., June 6, 1869, George H. Pippitt is a son of Joseph M. and Hannah A. (Akins) Pippitt, na- tives of New Jersey, the latter now a resident of Sacramento, Cal. The father, after coming to the west about 1875, secured employment as a mill- wright with a large lumber company in the redwood district of San Mateo county. In the region made famous by reason of its great forests he worked

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for some time and meanwhile had his family join him in 1877 but in 1881 he took his wife and children to a ranch in Sutter county, where he engaged in general farming. October of 1885 found them residents of Oakland and in that city he died during February of the following year. There were two sons and two daughters in his family and the youngest of these, George H., received his education in the public schools of California. After having taken a com- mercial course in the Pacific Business College of San Francisco he became a bookkeeper in Oakland with a large wholesale house.

Railroading has engrossed the time and attention of Mr. Pippitt since the year 1890, when he became a tallyman in the lumber department of the Southern Pacific Railroad at Sacramento. Afterward he was transferred to the car-repair department and by promotion rose to be foreman. From 1893 until 1898 he had charge of the station at Winnemucca, Nev., but in the latter year he was transferred to Bakersfield, Cal., to fill temporarily the position of general car foreman. At the expiration of three months he was assigned to Sacramento, but in July of 1899 he was returned to Bakersfield as chief inter- change inspector and assistant foreman. December of the same year found him in Mojave as general foreman of the car and locomotive department and wrecking foreman, from which position in May, 1900, he was promoted to be joint general foreman of the same department for the Southern Pacific and Santa Fe Railroads. For more than a decade he continued in the same post. Meanwhile the work became very heavy and the duties exceedingly exacting. Finally it became necessary to divide the work. In April of 1911 the depart- ment was changed so that his responsibilities were lessened and since then he has been round-house and wrecking foreman for both companies.

Being a man of thrift and a believer in the future of the state Mr. Pippitt has invested in real estate from time to time and now owns a ranch of ten acres near Downey, also residence property in Sherman. While making his headquarters in Nevada he married Miss Jeannette E. Webb, a native of Sacramento, a lady of excellent education and an earnest member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Her father, Edwin Webb, who had served in the Black Hawk war, crossed the plains with wagon and ox-team during the early '50's. For a time he lived on a farm of one hundred and sixty acres situated in the vicinity of Westlake park, Los Angeles. When one hundred and four years of age he died in Sacramento. There are three children in the family of Mr. Pippitt, namely : Otis N., who is in the naval training school in San Francisco; Irene E., and Gordon D. In Tehachapi Lodge No. 313, F. & A. M., of which he is past master, Mr. Pippitt was made a Mason, and he is also past patron of Tehachapi Chapter No. 188, O. E. S. Mrs. Pippitt is past matron of the local chapter and a leader in the work of the order.

GAUDENZ WEICHELT .- Born July 26, 1873, at Cillis, Canton Grau- bunden, upon the farm occupied by his parents, Gottleib and Katherina (Wald) Weichelt, G. Weichelt passed the years of early life in an industrious but uneventful manner and at the age of fifteen was confirmed in the Lutheran Church. The parental family comprised seven children and all are still living, namely : Christian, the only one of the seven to remain in Switzerland ; Gott- leib, a farmer in the Panama district; Gaudenz, of Bakersfield; John, who is engaged in farming in the Old River district; Katherina, Mrs. Christian Mattly, of Bakersfield; Mary, Mrs. John Koch, who lives on a farm in the Panama district : and Carl, of Bakersfield. The first member of the family to come to America was Gaudenz and the reports he sent back encouraged the others to follow him, the father and mother also coming to California to spend their last days 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 139

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