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 149

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 149

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ROBERT E. BLACKER .- The superintendent of the stable department of the Kern County Land Company has been a resident of California from early life and beginning with his present employers in a very humble capacity he has worked his way forward to responsibilities of importance, in every task proving trustworthy, efficient and reliable. On one ( ccasion only did he permit other matters to interfere with the regular discharge of his duties, that exception occurring during the Spanish-American war, when he offered his services to the country as a volunteer. During June of 1893 he was mustered

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into Company G, Sixth Regiment of California Volunteer Infantry, with which he remained on military duty until December of the same year, when he received an honorable discharge.

Patriotic devotion to country is a characteristic of the Blacker family. During the Civil war J. N. Blacker, a native of Indiana, served as a member of the Third Cavalry Regiment from that state and two of his brothers also rendered efficient service in the same struggle. A farmer by occupation, he made his home in Indiana until his death in 1891. His first wife, who bore the maiden name of Mary Dunbar, died in Indiana and afterward he married Miss Jennie Bliss, by whom he had two children. Of the first union there were born four sons and two daughters, the youngest of the six being Robert E., who was born near Colfax, Clinton county, Ind., August 8, 1876, and passed the years of boyhood on the home farm and in the country schcol. Upon starting out to make his own way in the world, he came to California, settled in Bakersfield, and secured employment with the Kern County Land Com- pany, whose interests he since has made his own. During 1898 he was pro- moted to be foreman and in May of 1902 he became superintendent of the stable, which is one of the largest in Bakersfield as well as one of the best equipped.

The marriage of Mr. Blacker and Miss Gertrude Marshall Inboden, a native of Missouri, was solemnized in Bakersfield and has been blessed with two children, Robert E., Jr., and Mary A. The family residence at No. 2012 Cedar street was erected by Mr. Blacker. Although Mr. Blacker takes no active part in politics he keeps posted concerning all issues of national importance and gives allegiance to progressive projects for the benefit of community and commonwealth. For some years he has been identified with the Benevolent Order of Elks and in addition he is a leading worker in the Knights of Pythias lodge at Bakersfield, which he serves as past eminent commander, besides being connected with Uniform Rank No. 60 and holding office as its captain ; he is president of the board of directors of Castle Asso- ciation No. 76.

ALBERT WALDO ALBRECHT .- A native son of the state, A. W. Albrecht was born in San Francisco May 26, 1883, and attended school in that city and Fresno. When his school days were over he became interested in mining, search for the precious metal taking him successively into Mexico, back to California, then to Mexico and to Washington, in all of which local- ities he was engaged in development work.

A change of employment as well as a change of location occurred in 1909, when Mr. Albrecht became interested in the oil business in Coalinga, and during his residence there had charge of the Good Luck Oil Company, which he developed from one well to a plant embracing six producing wells. While there too he was at the head of a committee appointed to secure the right of way for the Coalinga and Monterey Railroad. Coming to Taft Janu- ary 1, 1912, he opened a real-estate and insurance office. That he is a man of enterprise and push is demonstrated in the fact that although a late comer to this community it was left for him to organize the board of trade in the town, and ever since its organization he has been secretary of that body. Another enterprise that has benefited by his ability and has added to the business status of the town is the Superior Vulcanizing Works, of which he is part owner.

Mr. Albrecht is a member of the Petroleum Club of Taft, a social organiza- tion of which he was one of the founders. His fraternal associations include membership in the Masons, he being a member of the lodge at Fresno, also Fresno Chapter No. 69, R. A. M., Commandery No. 29, and Islam Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., at San Francisco.

PHIL BLANKENSHIP .- One of the most enterprising men in Kern

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county is Phil Blankenship of Wasco, telephone proprietor and rancher, who has won a notable success in life and whose influence in the community has always been for the general uplift. Mr. Blankenship is a native of California, born at Visalia June 11, 1858, a son of William Moore Blankenship, who was born in Richmond, Va., about the beginning of the last century and died at Visalia in 1882. From the Old Dominion the elder Blankenship removed to Iowa and there engaged in farming and stock-raising. In 1849 he came to California and settled near Stockton and scon took up the business of bring- ing cattle from the east to the mining districts of the gold country. In the course of events he made three trips back to Iowa for cattle which he drove across the plains to California, on the first trip going around the Horn and by river to Iowa, the round trip consuming from two to three years. The two other trips were made via Panama, and on the last trip he took his son Phil with him, returning in 1860. He owned a ranch in Iowa on which he raised cattle. In 1854 he bought land at Visalia, but did not locate there until in 1858. As a rancher and cattleman he won an enviable success.

It was in California public schools that Phil Blankenship attained his education which was finished when he was seventeen years old. Until he was twenty-three he lived with his parents, employed by his father. He devoted himself entirely to ranch work until in 1884, when he went to Arizona and engaged in stock-raising on the San Pedro river until 1887. He then returned to California and located in Kern county, where he found employment with the Kern County Land Company on the Belleview and Poso ranches. In 1895 he began a connection with the Cox ranch which continued for fifteen years. In 1898 he became superintendent of the ranch, embracing thirty-one thou- sand acres, and served in that capacity until it was sold in 1908. He then engaged in the cattle business on his own account and at this time he owns a fine ranch which is a part of the old Cox ranch, consisting of one hundred and sixty acres, situated five miles north of Wasco on Poso creek. With J. T. Maguire Mr. Blankenship built the telephone system on the West Side, taking in Maricopa, Taft, Fellows and McKittrick, thus connecting, by telephone, all the West Side towns and having their main office in Taft. The company is incorporated as the Kern Mutual Telephone Company, Mr. Maguire serv- ing as president, Mr. Blankenship as vice president, and Mrs. Blankenship as secretary. After the Wasco colony was started Mr. Blankenship began build- ing operations there and has since resided in this location looking after his va- ried interests, enjoying the ample income from his ranch and telephone invest- ments.

Fraternally Mr. Blankenship affiliates with the Fraternal Order of Eagles and he wields a considerable political influence always in the interest of good government. In 1905 Miss Anna Steele Murdock, a native of Baltimore, Md., became his wife. She died July 21, 1907. His present wife, whom he married in Fresno July 1, 1909, was Miss Jennie G. Borrell, also a native of Balti- more, Md.

CHARLES V. MORRISON .- The foreman of the Southern Pacific round- house at East Bakersfield is a member of an eastern family that has been identi- fied with America since the colonial era and that furnished representatives to aid the patriots during the trying period of the Revolution. One of its lead- ing men during later years was Hon. Fletcher C. Morrison, a native of Ohio and for years engaged as United States Indian commissioner in Ohio. During the time of his service as commissioner he had charge of the removal of the Wyandotte Indians to their reservation in Iowa. Much other important work in the interests of the Indians was placed in his charge by the government. John S., son of Fletcher C., proved his loyalty to the Union by endeavoring twice to secure the acceptance of his service as a volunteer in the army, but each time he was rejected. During 1869 he took his wife and children from his

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HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY

native Ohio to the newer country of Minnesota, where he took up land near Eyota, Olmstead county. After eleven years in Minnesota he went to Mar- shalltown, Iowa, in 1880, and there remained until his death. Two months after his demise there passed into eternal rest his widow, Malinda (Burkhart) Morrison, a native of Bellefontaine, Ohio, and a daughter of William Burkhart, born in Philadelphia and deceased in Ohio.

There were five children in the family of John S. Morrison. The second, Charles V., was born near Mutual, Champaign county, Ohio, August 13, 1862, and at the time of the removal to Minnesota was a boy of seven years. During 1880 he accompanied the family to Marshalltown, Iowa. Meanwhile he had become prominent locally through his prowess as a runner and his skill as a swimmer and in 1879 he swam entirely across the Mississippi river. At Mar- shalltown he served as a member of the volunteer fire department about five years, being first foreman and later chief of the department. Largely to his work was due the winning of the prizes in the Council Bluffs races in 1889. For seven years he worked in a machine shop at Marshalltown and mean- while he acquired a thorough knowledge of the trade of machinist, which later he followed for two years in the Iowa Central machine shops. Next he secured a position as division foreman on the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad and continued in that place for seven years, first at Carroll and later at Boone, Iowa. When he resigned it was to come to the west. Upon his arrival at Bakersfield in January, 1887, he secured work as a machinist in the Southern Pacific shops. At the expiration of seven months he was promoted to be roundhouse foreman and since then has devcted his entire time to the filling of the position. The climate of Bakersfield has proved healthful and congenial, the possibilities of the place awaken his enthusiastic interest and he has shown his faith in the future of the city by buying lots and building three houses in East Bakersfield, which he rents. For a number of years he was a member of the volunteer fire department in Kern, from 1900 to 1904 he served as a trustee of the village and in both these positions he did valuable work for the town in the protecting of the property and the rights of the citizens. Politically he is a Democrat. After coming west he was made a Mason in Bakersfield Lodge No. 224, F. & A. M., and he is also connected with the Fraternal Brotherhood. His marriage was solemnized in Marshalltown, Iowa, and united him with Miss Elsie Hastings, who was born and reared in that city. They are the parents of five children, Harry, Floyd, Fannie, Lillian and Birdie. The eldest son is a machinist and the younger members of the family are students in the local schools.

DONALD H. FORSYTH .- With the exception of perhaps six years spent in Nevada during the period of the mining excitement at Goldfield and vicinity, Mr. Forsyth has been a lifelong resident of California and much of the time he has made his home in Kern county, although he was born in San Luis Obispo in 1874. Not only was his father a pioneer of that part of the state, but in addition he was identified with the early upbuilding of Kern county and in both places of residence he won and retained the confidence of other pioncers. At the time of the removal of the family to Kern county the son was a mere lad, hence his education was obtained principally in the pub- lic schools here and after he left school he learned the laundry business. Much of his time has been given to this work, and at this writing, as for some years past, he is in the employ of the American laundry, a local industry of con- siderable prominence.

In Los Angeles occurred the marriage of Donald H. Forsyth and Mrs. Mary (Gant) Beatty, a native of Illinois. Her father, Sylvester Gant, who died at her home some years ago, was born and reared in Chester, Ill., and in young manhood he came with friends to California. The trip was made in a wagon drawn by oxen. The plains were crossed in safety and he then traveled

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HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY

through California, working at any occupation that was offered. A brief stay was followed by a return to Illinois, where he married and established a home. Finally, however, he sold his interests there and brought his family to Cali- fornia, where he became a pioneer of Kern county and one of the very earliest settlers on Caliente creek in the Weed Patch.

Shortly after the mines at Goldfield had begun to draw people to that section of Nevada, Mr. and Mrs. Forsyth removed to that camp and he engaged in prospecting and mining, also conducted a laundry business. Six years were spent in Nevada, whence they returned to California and settled at Bakersfield. Later they purchased two lots on the corner of I and Twenty-first streets, where they erected the St. Elmo hotel. The building burned to the ground in August of 1910 and they then erected a substantial structure of two stories, now known as the Florence hotel. Both Mr. and Mrs. Forsyth are Republicans. Fraternally Mr. Forsyth is a Mason of the Royal Arch degree and in religion he is in sympathy with the work of the Methodist Episcopal Church and his wife is an active member of that organization. Mrs. Forsyth has one child by her first marriage, Charles W. Beatty, a merchant of Mari- copa

A. B. POLHEMUS .- Very early in the colonization of the new world the Polhemus family became identified with the agricultural upbuilding of the region lying along the Atlantic seaboard. Later generations turned from agri- culture to the industrial trades, but in whatever occupation followed the fam- ily was known for integrity of purpose and energy of will. It was Edward Polhemus, a native of Trenton, N. J., who established the family in regions further west. As early as 1832 he took up a tract of raw land in Washtenaw county, Mich., where he engaged in farming. During 1860 he took up land in Greene county, Mo., but with the outbreak of the war he found the location undesirable, for he was thoroughly Union in his sympathies, while the neigh- borhood was intensely southern in sentiment. Lack of harmony led him to re- move to Illinois in 1862 and he settled on a farm in Champaign county, where for seventeen years he had more or less success in agricultural enterprises. During 1879 he established a home in Pittsburg, Kan., where he died at the age of ninety-two years.

In the family of this western pioneer there was a son, Thomas S., whose birth occurred at Port Byron, N. Y., and whose life occupation has been that of a painter. Beginning the trade in the John Deere plow works at Moline, Ill., he continued the business in Danville, Ill., for more than forty years until his final retirement from active labors. During young manhood he had mar- ried Augusta M. Hankey, a native of Wurtemberg, Germany, and now seventy- three years of age. At the age of eighty he is hale and robust and among the people of Bakersfield, where he makes his home, he is regarded as a man of excellent information and fine qualities of heart and mind. By his marriage to Miss Hankey there was an only child, A. B., whose birth occurred at Sadorus, Champaign county, Ill., July 27, 1863, and whose education was obtained in the Danville public schools. From boyhood he was familiar with the trade of painter. From eighteen until twenty-one years of age he worked in Western Michigan. Upon returning to Illinois he engaged in business with his father at Danville. Ultimately their trade took them to other parts of Illinois and even into Wisconsin. Many of their contracts were for public buildings and represented a large outlay of money as well as considerable time for the work.

Coming to California in 1910 and settling in Bakersfield, Mr. Polhemus has business headquarters on the corner of I and Eighteenth streets, while for a residence he has purchased and now occupies property at Nos. 214-216 Eureka street. All of his time is devoted to the filling of painting contracts in Bakersfield and Kern county and in this work he has the energetic assistance

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of his three eldest sons, who have become his business associates. In addition to these sons, Harry L., Thomas E. and Charles Richard, he has a younger son, Jake H., now a student in the Kern county high school, also an only daughter, Helen Augusta. a clerk in the county tax collector's office. Mrs. Polhemus is a native of Hagerstown, Ind., and prior to her marriage in Danville, Il1., bore the name of Alice Leona Fleming. With her husband she holds active membership in the Court of Honor. Politically Mr. Polhemus has been stanchly Republican in his sympathies ever since attaining his majority and casting his first presidential ballot.

E. J. SCHNEIDER .- The name of Schneider indicates a Teutonic an- cestry. The first to seek a home in the new world was Rev. George Schneider, a man of college education, splendid mental attainments and high moral prin- ciples, an ordained minister in the Methodist Episcopal Church and a noble exponent by theory and by example of the lofty doctrines of his denomination. A member of a family of high standing and considerable means, he was given the best advantages offered by the educational institutions of his part of Ger- many and at the age of twenty-seven became a citizen of Pennsylvania, where he remained until his death in 1910 at the age of eighty years. Meanwhile he had assisted in the growth and advancement of denominational enterprises and had given liberally of time and means for the upbuilding of Christianity in the Keystone state, preaching regularly in many needy fields, but refusing any compensation for such work. From the time when Colonel Drake drilled his first oil well near Titusville until the death of this pioneer preacher, he earned his livelihood in the oil industry and this naturally necessitated the rearing of his children at oil camps or in towns in the center of the oil fields. Ilis son, E. J., was born in Oil City, Venango county, Pa., in 1862, and was carefully trained by a wise father and a devoted mother, the latter having been Catherine (Peters) Schneider, a native of Pennsylvania. As soon as he had completed the studies of the grammar school he began to earn his own livelihood in the oil industry, in which he passed through the various depart- ments from roustabout to positions of importance. When only sixteen he thoroughly understood drilling. After some years he became a contractor and later was promoted to be a superintendent in Pennsylvania fields.

Upon coming to California in 1901 Mr. Schneider engaged in drilling for oil at Vacaville, but met with no success. As early as 1902 he came to Mc- Kittrick with the Silver Bow Oil Company of Montana. The year 1906 found him in the Salt Lake field of Southern California as an employe of the Amal- gamated Oil Company, which soon promoted him to be a foreman. As pro- duction superintendent in the west side field he was transferred to the Asso- ciated Oil Company during November, 1910, making his headquarters in the Midway. Since November of 1911 he has engaged as superintendent of the Lost Hills division, where he has been very active in increasing production and otherwise promoting the interests of the company. During the period of his employment in the Salt Lake field he erected a substantial residence in Hollywood, which he still owns. He was married at Warren, Pa., December 15, 1887, to Miss Myrtle White, a native of Warren county and a daughter of Alfred and Marcia (Davis) White, the former a lumber manufacturer of that eastern city. They are the parents of two daughters: Mrs. Leah H. Middle- ton, of MeKittrick ; and Mrs. Nina K. Hamm, of Hollywood. The family are earnest believers in the doctrines of the Methodist Episcopal denomination and have contributed to general church benevolences. Fraternally Mr. Schneider is connected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

JASPER MYERS .- A native of Indiana, Jasper Myers was born in Anderson, Madison county, December 25, 1838. He was appointed a cadet to West Point and entered the academy in 1858, continuing his studies until 1862 and was commissioned second lieutenant in the ordnance department of the

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United States Navy, serving on the field and in different arsenals until the close of the war. He continued in the army until January, 1870, when he resigned, at which time he was holding a captain's commission. In the meantime he had studied law and on leaving the army began the practice of his profession in San Francisco, Cal.

In the fall of 1872, on the advice of a physician, Mr. Myers abandoned the law and came to Bakersfield and a short time afterward he located on his present ranch and immediately engaged in husbandry, which he has contin- ued ever since. His ranch is located nine miles southwest of Bakersfield and is devoted to alfalfa and dairying.

Mr. Myers was married in 1883 to Miss Mattie Cather, also a native of Anderson, Ind., who had spent several years in educational work. They are the parents of three children: Edith, Mrs. Marek, of Bakersfield; Robert, of Paraguay, South America ; and Ralph, who is attending Leland Stanford, Jr., University. Mr. Myers is a member of Hurlburt Post, G. A. R., and politically he is a Progressive Republican. Being interested in the history of Kern county he is a member of the Pioneer Society.

S. G. CRIPPEN .- Many of those connected with the oil industry in California are men whose broad knowledge of the business has been gained in the east, but this is not the case with Mr. Crippen, who is a native son of the west and by actual experience in California oil fields has acquired the most complete information regarding rig-building and other lines of carpenter- ing peculiar to this kind of work. As carpenter foreman for the Kern Trading and Oil Company, he has erected altogether ninety-seven buildings in the Sunset-Midway fields and has had charge of the erection of practically all of the buildings at Fellows, Oil City and McKittrick.

Mr. Crippen was born in Humboldt county, Cal., August 3, 1874, and is a son of Stephen G. and Mary (Beckett) Crippen, the former a native of Penn- sylvania, the latter born in Missouri. The father, who came to California for the first time during the summer of 1852 and made the tedious trip overland, engaged for a time in mining, but later settled on a ranch and began to raise stock. Although he returned to the east intending to settle there, he found himself dissatisfied and so came back to California and resumed stock-raising. He and his wife are still living at Lakeport, Lake county. Of their ten children five passed away. Reared and educated in Humboldt county, S. G. Crippen started out to make his own way at the age of seventeen. For two years he worked at the barber's trade at Petrolia, Humboldt county. Next he hired out on a ranch and later found employment in the lumber woods. His first training as a carpenter was received under a rig-builder and contractor and he soon became quite skilled in the construction of oil derricks. Upon starting out in the occupation for himself he engaged in house building at Ferndale and later became an independent rig-builder. For four years he followed the trade in his native county, after which he went to San Francisco and secured employment in building the woodwork for bridges with the Thompson Bridge Company, No. 29 Mission street. For a time he worked at house building in the city.

Coming to McKittrick, Kern county, in 1902, Mr. Crippen became a house builder in the employ of the Associated, but at the end of nine months he went to the Santa Maria field and engaged as a tool-dresser on the Casmalia for three months. Returning to Kern county and securing employment at Oil City with the Kern Trading and Oil Company, he entered upon an asso- ciation that has continued to the present time and that has been mutually sat- isfactory. Besides erecting the houses of the superintendents and many other buildings at Kerto he has had charge of a large amount of building at McKit- trick and Fellows. Having entire charge of the construction of rigs, he has built perhaps one hundred derricks in the Midway and Sunset fields and has

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worked from Pentland to McKittrick. Steadily since 1904 he has remained with the same company and for six years worked wholly in the Kern river field, although his first two rigs for the corporation were built at Coalinga.

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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 149

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