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 152

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 152

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Ben Ardizzi died at his home in Sumner July 31, 1895, while his wife passed away in Oakland March 20, 1900. Mr. Ardizzi was a member of Bakers- field Lodge No. 224, F. & A. M., and he was buried with Masonic honors. Politically he was a Democrat.

REV. EDWARD MORGAN .- St. Paul's Church at Bakersfield owes its organization, and in fact its early development, to Rev. D. O. Kelley, whose congregation erected a small frame church on Seventeenth street before 1898, later also building a chapel in Rosedale. It was in the latter year that the Rev. Edward Morgan, whose name heads this article, became rector of St. Paul's, and he immediately put forth efforts to acquire more land, subsequently build- ing the present church on the corner of I and Seventeenth streets on a prop- erty about double the size of the former site. This consisted of a substantial brick edifice which has proved a credit to the builders and a source of satis- faction to the city. The old frame church was moved to Kern city and placed on land donated by the Pacific Improvement Company and named St. Bar- nabas Chapel. The Rev. Edward Morgan also procured a property in the Greenfield district, where he built All Saints' Chapel.

While in Bakersfield Father Morgan purchased property on Chester avenue, and when the growth of the city justified he built the Morgan block, a two-story brick and concrete building, consisting of stores and offices, at a cost of $36,500. This is considered a valuable addition to the business build- ings in Bakersfield, and is a splendid structure throughout.

The Rev. Edward Morgan belongs to a family many of whose members have won merited recognition in the world, bringing honor and glory to the name. Born in County Cork, Ireland, he was the son of Anthony and Eliz- abeth (Tymonds) Morgan, the former an officer in the British army who dis- tinguished himself in the Crimean war at Alma. Inkerman and Sebastopol to such a degree that Queen Victoria conferred upon him three clasps and a

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medal, and he also received a medal from the Sultan of Turkey. A brother of the Rev. Edward Morgan, by name Lieut. Col. A. Hickman Morgan, D.S.O., was well known in Her Majesty's Army. The Morgan family were originally from Herefordshire, but removed from there to Ireland during the reign of Queen Elizabeth. The Tymonds were an old family in County Dublin but of English descent.

Primarily educated by private tutors, upon coming to San Francisco the Rev. Edward Morgan studied for holy orders under the Rt. Rev. William F. Nichols, Bishop of California, later was a student at the General Theological Seminary in New York City, and then did special work at Columbia College. Seventeen years ago he was ordained dcacon at St. Matthews Church, San Mateo, and one year later was ordained priest at the Cathedral Mission of the Good Samaritan, at Second and Folsom streets. There he worked under the Rev. William I. Kiop, grandson of the first Bishop of California, who had passed through San Joaquin valley before there were any settlers where now stands the city of Bakersfield, being escorted by soldiers for protection from the Indians. Soon afterward he was called to Bakersfield as rector of St. Paul's parish, and there he remained until 1905, imparting his broad influence for good throughout the community, lending his aid to suffering humanity and bringing peace and comfort wherever he went. As a reward for his efforts in 1905 he became Senior Curor at St. Agnes Chapel, Trinity parish, New York City, but in February, 1907, he returned to San Francisco and took charge of St. Luke's parish, which under his guidance has since erected a beautiful new church and is now one of the most prosperous and well known churches in the city.

THE PETROLEUM CLUB .- March 1, 1912, a number of oil men from the Midway field were discussing matters of general interest pertaining to their work. Certain matters they desired to discuss confidentially, but there was no convenient place for a meeting. Someone then suggested a club composed of oil men. E. D. Gillette was asked to convene the oil men of the community and March 4, 1912, a meeting was held in the office of the Western Water Company, attended by the following-named gentlemen : E. D. Gillette, W. A. Fisher, J. W. Squires, William McDuffie, E. H. Edwards, C. S. Crary and A. W. Albrecht. A committee on constitution and by-laws was appointed. It was decided to organize a club and the name Midway Club was temporarily adopted, the same being afterward changed to the present title. By resolution a membership fee of $25 was adopted, with a monthly fee of $5. The follow- ing officers were elected: E. D. Gillette, president ; William McDuffie, vice- president ; C. S. Crary, treasurer ; and A. W. Albrecht, secretary. The second meeting was held March 12 in Mr. Albrecht's office. At the third meeting, March 18, the question of location was discussed and it developed that it was impossible to secure a hall. Some then presented the plan of erecting a build- ing of their own. At the same meeting articles of incorporation were pre- sented and the certificate of incorporation bears date of March 27, 1912. The membership soon grew to twenty-five members. The by-laws were adopted March 23, at the first meeting of the board of directors.

A special committee and later a house committee considered the question of building. On the 15th of April this committee recommended the purchase of lots 13, 14, 15 and 16, block 18, townsite of Moron (now Taft), from the Southern Pacific Company, together with the purchase of lot 12, same block, from Mr. Savage. The recommendation passed by vote. At a later meeting plans for a building were discussed and those by E. D. Ferrell, architect, were adopted. The north end of the building, consisting of the main living room, 30x40, with hardwood floors, was erected in 1912 at a cost of $13,000. The bungalow style makes an attractive exterior, while the interior appointments

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are those of a modern, first-class club and already $19,000 has been expended. At the present time the membership is about one hundred and twenty-five.

Saturday, May 10, 1913, the Merchants' Association of San Francisco, one hundred and twenty-five strong, visited Taft and were entertained at a banquet by the club. Opening night, September 7, 1912, an impromptu pro- gram of local speakers and a banquet made a delightful function for the members and their gentlemen guests. About once in two months there is a ladies' night. Every Tuesday afternoon the Woman's Improvement Club of Taft holds its social and business meetings at the Club, which more and more is becoming a social center for the city. The present officers are as follows : E. D. Gillette, president ; E. B. Latham, vice-president ; T. O. May, treasurer ; and A. W. Albrecht, secretary.

The latest venture of the Club is the publication of the Petroleum Re- porter (independent), the first number of which appeared July 8, 1913. In putting out such a publication the members did so with the hope that it might accurately reflect conditions as they really exist in the great industry that forms the very life of Taft. Public measures affecting the oil fields and oil industries receive impartial comment.

Below we append a list of the active members of the Petroleum Club : A. W. Albrecht, F. E. Beach, A. R. M. Blackhall, F. R. Campbell, Walter Can- field, J. B. Carlock, J. B. Carter, W. O. Clay, J. P. Cooney, F. E. Davis, S. Duschak, Charles del Bondio, E. T. Edwards, W. A. Fischer, W. Follansbee, W. J. Fitzmartin, J. J. Gallman, E. D. Gillette, C. E. Good, L. P. Guiberson, C. H. Holmes, G. S. Hanning, H. M. Haseltine, J. P. Hickey, W. D. Head, Charles A. Hahn, George Kammerer, A. M. Keene, M. L. Kleinsmith, E. C. Kellermeyer, Dr. C. Lawton, E. B. Latham, F. W. Livingston, Jack Lilburn, H. H. Maddren, T. O. May, E. H. Marsh, F. Marsh, W. O. Maxwell, J. J. Meachem, R. R. Morris, J. M. Murray, S. W. Mimms, H. F. Mcshier, William C. McDuffie, J. F. McMahan, F. O. Patterson, G. G. Patten, J. C. Perkins, J. L. Philipp, J. H. Rainey, E. S. Rose, J. F. Ross, F. O. Redd, L. W. Sharp, C. L. Shirk, Charles St. Louis, W. G. Talbot, J. W. Tipton, George H. Todd, Wil- liam Walker, Clarence H. Williams, E. H. Williams, R. L. Agee, I. W. Alex- ander, W. J. Atwood, C. H. Allison, F. Bellis, George H. Bailey, R. A. Broom- field, E. M. Brown, T. F. Bastain, E. H. Conklin, George R. Caldwell, C. B. Colby, J. O. Clutter. W. Dumont, B. T. Dyer. J. P. Dooley, H. J. Everitt. E. H. Edwards, F. P. Findley, S. G. Gassaway, F. H. Hall, Stone Hastain, J. J. Hern, C. M. Imerson, J. M. Jameson, W. C. Johnson, Dave Kinsey, L. P. Keister. George R. Kerr, Everitt King, E. W. King, W. M. King, W. A. Kobbe, R. Laird. G. P. Louthaine, George H. Lowell, H. H. McClintock, P. M. Pike, A. E. Raine, William C. Rae, B. L. Stitzinger, Mel P. Smith, J. W. Squires, R. A. Sperry, Walter Snook, H. N. Taylor, HI. W. Wadeson, A. Wark, J. J. Wilt, C. E. Worden.

JOHN KOCH .- The earliest recollections of Mr. Koch are of a home nestled among the mountains in Canton Graubunden, Switzerland, where he was born January 25, 1863, at Zilles. That same canton was the birthplace and childhood home of his parents, John and Mary (Hunger) Koch, and there too they were married and continued to make their home.

Of the two children comprising the parental family John Koch was the younger, and early in life was made familiar with the duties of the dairy, for his father had extensive interests along this line. His services in the dairy, however, were not allowed to interfere with his education, but after school days were over he returned to the duties of the home farm and gave his services to his father until he took upon himself the duties of life. As a dairyman in the employ of others he worked as a butter-maker and as a cheese-maker from that time until he came to the new world in 1890. Coming direct to Kern county, Cal., he saw a good outlook for the business to which he had been

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trained. He was fortunate in securing ready employment, but no more so than was Chris Mattly, with whom he remained as butter and cheese maker for two years. He then engaged in business for himself. Associated with two others with like ambitions and with a good understanding of the business he rented a dairy in the vicinity of Bakersfield and for three years made a specialty of butter-making. After selling his interest in the enterprise in 1896 he returned to the old family home in Switzerland. While he enjoyed renew- ing the associations of family and friends, at the end of a year he was as anxious to return to California as he had been to leave it. Upon his return to Bakersfield he entered the employ of the Kern County Land Company as butter-maker, on the Stockdale ranch, remaining there about two years, or until his marriage.

In the Old River district, Kern county, John Koch was married in 1898 to Miss Mary Weichelt, who was born in Canton Graubunden, Switzerland, the daughter of Gottlieb Weichelt, and a sister of Mrs. Chris Mattly. In 1899 Mr. Koch purchased sixty acres of the property which he now owns nine miles southwest of Bakersfield. Here in a modest way he engaged in the dairy business independently, extending his interests as conditions permitted, and ultimately he purchased twenty acres adjoining his first purchase until he now has eighty acres altogether, under the Farmers canal and devoted to alfalfa and grain. During 1901, associated with Christian Ruedy and Peter Gilli, Mr. Koch erected a creamery which he and his associates ran for about eight years. Since then Mr. Koch has given his attention to the dairy business, and as a result of his unremitting efforts has built up one of the largest individual dairy interests in the vicinity of Bakersfield if not in Kern county.

Politically Mr. Koch is a Republican, and with his wife he is a communi- cant of the Lutheran Church. In this faith they are rearing their three chil- dren, John, Nina and Gottleib.

R. N. SIMPSON .- The San Francisco Midway Oil Company, of which Mr. Simpson acts as superintendent, is one of the organizations operating in section 24, 31-23, and where two wells produce an average monthly output of two thousand barrels. The superintendent of this property is a native of Pennsylvania and was born in Mercer county, February 19, 1864, being one of four children whose father, a farmer and oil speculator, died when the son was only eight years of age. The mother married a second time and now, again widowed, she makes her home at Long Beach, Cal. Besides Robert N., there were two sons and one daughter in the family, namely : George W., who was accidentally killed in 1909 while drilling on the Mascot lease near Taft ; Frank B., a driller now working on the San Francisco Midway lease near Shale; and Ada, Mrs. John Nonnemoker, who died in Ohio, leaving a daughter, Agnes.

Reared in Venango and Mckean counties, Pa., and near Windsor, Ohio, Robert N. Simpson has earned his own livelihood since he was a lad of twelve. At first he worked on an Ohio farm for his board and clothes. Later he was paid a small wage. During a part of his youth he was allowed to attend school in the winter months. When eighteen years of age in 1882 he successfully passed the teachers' examination in Ashtabula county, Ohio, where he taught in 1883 and 1884. Upon discontinuing work as a teacher he went to New York state with a roofing gang and later learned the details of the oil industry in the fields of Simpson, Pa., where he spent considerable time as a pumper. A well-known oil man of Pennsylvania, George McCloud, was his employer in the Pennsylvania oil fields. Returning to Ohio in 1892, he engaged as a tool-dresser at Woodville for four months. During eight years following he held a very important and responsible position with S. C. Heacock, an exten- sive farmer and prominent oil operator in Wood county, Ohio.

Coming to California in 1901, Mr. Simpson spent five months at Long

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Beach and meanwhile studied conditions in that part of the state. On his return to Ohio he resumed work in the oil fields, where he remained for two years. When he again came to California, he sought the Coalinga field and secured employment with the California Limited and the 28 Oil Companies, also held a position later with the Premier Oil Company. In 1910 he came to the Midway and worked as a driller under E. S. Brown. November 8, 1912, he was made superintendent of the lease owned by another oil company, and he now has charge of the San Francisco Midway lease of forty acres. During the period of his residence in Ohio he married in 1894 Miss Elvira Hill, of North Baltimore, that state, a lady of housewifely skill and gracious hospital- ity. They became the parents of five children, four of whom are living, namely : Hugh, a pumper on the San Francisco Midway lease; Gertrude A., Clyde R. and George F. The second son, Lyle, accidentally shot himself December 15, 1912, while duck hunting near Long Beach.

LESREY G. HELM .- One of the leading business men of Wasco, Kern county, L. G. Helm is the junior member of the firm of L. G. Helm & Son, general merchants, whose establishment is one of the finest of its kind in the vicinity. L. G. Helm, Sr., was born in Saline county, Mo., January 30, 1854. and for many years carried on merchandising in the east. In 1882 he moved to Texas, disposing of his property in Missouri, but finally returned east and engaged in business. In 1892 he came to California, locating at Rosedale, Kern county, where he lived until he settled in Wasco. While he retains his interest in the store with his son and is interested in the McKittrick and Lost Hills oil fields, he is practically retired from active business.

It was on the 25th of April, 1886, that the younger Helm was born. He came to Kern county with his parents when he was about six years old, and until he was fourteen attended the public schools at Rosedale and Bakers- field. Then for eight years he was a salesman in Redlick's department store at Bakersfield. Late in 1908 he moved to McKittrick, where he opened a general merchandise store which he conducted with success about six months. In 1909 he took up his residence at Wasco, where in partnership with his father he established the mercantile establishment of L. G. Helm & Son, a concern which supplies Wasco, Lost Hills and vicinity with merchandise of all kinds. They are local agents for the Moline Plow Company's implements and the Fish and Studebaker wagons and their trade extends widely throughout the country surrounding Wasco. The firm erected a large brick building 50x60 feet, in which their business is conducted. The son owns property in the Lost Hills oil district and in the McKittrick field. In 1910 he organized the Louise Oil Company, which is operating in the Lost Hills district. He is now a director in the Wasco Hall Association and he affiliates socially with the Woodmen of the World and the Modern Woodmen of America. He married, November 14, 1906, Miss Etta A. Martin, who was born in Arizona, and they have one child, Fay H. Mr. Helm was one of the organizers and a director of the Bank of Wasco.

GEORGE W. McCAUSLAND .- The revolution which during 1911 and 1912 rendered the presence of American business men in Mexico no longer safe proved the unfortunate affair which influenced George W. McCausland to return to the United States, thereby temporarily causing a cessation of his extensive mining operations in our neighboring country. However, much as he regretted the deplorable national occurrences that forced him to discontinue business interests in Mexico, he has had no reason to regret the decision that has made him a resident of Kern county and a contributor to the material development of Wasco, where he has been engaged in mercantile pursuits and also in the securing of an adequate water system for the town. As a boy he attended the common schools in Michigan, where he had been born at Saginaw July 21, 1884, and later he attended the Chicago high schools. The

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bent of his mind turned his studies toward mining and he qualified for scien- tific work in the occupation through attendance upon a college of mining in Michigan, where he had the best advantages the country afforded for special- izing in his chosen calling.

Upon leaving college and subsequently engaging for one year with the United States Gypsum Company in Chicago, Mr. McCausland resigned a flattering position in order to join his brothers in mining ventures in Mexico. Upon leaving Chicago and the north he proceeded to Santa Barbara in the state of Chihuahua, Mexico, where he acquired an interest in a valuable gold mine. With his brothers he managed and developed the property and his interest in the company is now very valuable, besides which he owns an in- terest in a copper mine in Chihuahua. He returned to the United States in 1911, at which time, after a visit of six months with his parents in Los Angeles, he came to Kern county and formed a mercantile partnership with G. R. Stillson. He now owns and conducts a general store at Wasco. He installed the water system which supplies the village with water, but this was later sold out. He has built a comfortable bungalow on the Main. During December of 1909 he married Miss Czegenyi B. Howes, who was born in Nashville, Tenn., in November of 1891 and received superior educational advantages in the south.

JOHN W. CANADAY .- Not only does the Canaday family enjoy the distinction of being numbered among the pioneers of California, but in addi- tion it is of colonial and Revolutionary lineage and different generations have aided in the material upbuilding of different parts of the country. The family history shows that William and Polly (Gier) Canaday, natives of Kentucky and farmers in Madison county, left their old southern commonwealth for the then undeveloped and sparsely settled regions of Missouri, where in 1836 they became pioneer farmers of Linn county. With them in the removal was a son of four years, John Turner, whose birth had occurred in Madison county, Ky., March 7, 1836, but whose recollections include only the most meager memories of his native place. Upon attaining his majority he started out to earn his own way in the world. For a few years he engaged in teaming and lumbering at St. Joseph, Mo., and in that period he heard much concerning the great west. During the spring of 1858 he joined an expedition comprising seventy-five large wagons and teams, which started from Independence, Mo., for the long journey across the plains. It was his task to drive nine yoke of cattle for their owner and he therefore was obliged to leave the main caravan at Salt Lake City, from which point he proceeded to Box Elder with the stock. Having delivered the drove to the proper parties, he then took charge of some horses and cattle and drove them through to Susan Bluffs on the Carson river for their owner, Mr. Blankinship. He then proceeded on foot to Placer- ville, where he landed in August after a journey of four months and eight days.

An experience as teamster with the Diamond Mills Placer Company dur- ing the autumn and as miner in the winter proved unremunerative, so he tried his luck on a ranch near Yolo and afterward engaged in teaming and ranching near Stockton. Later he took up land near Modesto, Stanislaus county, whence about 1878 he came to Kern county and for two years was with the Kern County Land Company. During 1880 he homesteaded eighty acres on the Beardsley canal and there he engaged in ranching until 1893. His marriage took place in Stanislaus county in 1868 and united him with Miss Louise St. Mary, a native of Illinois and a daughter of Alexander St. Mary. When only two years of age she was brought from Illinois to California by way of Panama. In girlhood she attended school in San Joaquin county. Five chil- dren were born of her marriage: James M., Bakersfield; George, who died at fourteen years; John W., whose name introduces this article and whose birth occurred near Modesto, Stanislaus county, November 20, 1875; MIrs.

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Barbara Wible, of Bakersfield ; and Mrs. Minnie Sleichter, a resident of Fresno.

Being only a small child when the family came to Kern county, John W. Canaday received all his schooling in Bakersfield and later he followed farm- ing in this county. An experience of four years as a driver with H. H. Fish was followed by a connection for five years with the Southern Pacific Railroad Company as locomotive fireman. Next he was a conductor with the street- car company in Bakersfield, resigning this June 7, 1910, to become collector for the water department of the Kern County Land Company. At Caliente, Kern county, June 26, 1901, he was married to Miss Mary Dukes, a native of Kernville, Kern county. In an early day Charles Henry Dukes came from his native Kentucky to California with two brothers. For a long period he was engaged with the Southern Pacific Railroad Company and made his home at Caliente, where his death occurred at the age of sixty-four years. In the same town in 1898 occurred the demise of his wife, who bore the maiden name of Sarah E. Bowen and was born in Tulare county, this state, in 1860. Their family comprised six children, the eldest of whom is the wife of Mr. Canaday. The others named are as follows: Mrs. Virginia Rose, of Los Angeles; Charles A. and W. G., of Globe, Ariz .; Sadie and Floyd, who are living in Bakersfield. Mrs. Canaday was educated in Caliente and Bakersfield and is a woman of intelligence and refinement, intensely devoted to the welfare and progress of California and deeply interested in the activities of Tejon Parlor No. 336, N. D. G. W., of which she is past president. In addition she is asso- ciated with the Pythian Sisters, while Mr. Canaday has been a leading member of the Knights of Pythias in the Kern Lodge, and he is further connected with Bakersfield Lodge No. 266, B. P. O. E., and the Woodmen of the World. Politically he is a Democrat.

M. A. LINDBERG .- The proprietor of the Arlington hotel and cafe at Bakersfield is of Scandinavian birth and lineage and was born at Skaane, Sweden, August 19, 1867, being the son of a farmer who also followed the occupation of a brick-layer. At the age of fourteen years he was taken out of school in order to begin an apprenticeship to the brick-layer's trade and for six years he devoted himself to the work in his native land, whence in 1887 he came to the United States, first settling at Omaha, Neb. The following year he went on to the central part of Colorado and began to assist in filling contracts for ties and timber for the Denver & South Park Railroad. On the completion of that job he filled similar contracts for different railroads in Idaho, Washington, Montana and British Columbia, and during that period he was married, in Virginia City, Nev., to Miss Hulda Streckenbach, who was born and reared in that place. During 1892 he came to California as foreman of construction work on the Coast line and three years later he came through Kern county for the first time. Relinquishing his railroad work, he entered into the restaurant business at Lompoc and after three years in that town he came to Bakersfield in March, 1900, shortly afterward buying an in- terest in the lease of the Arlington hotel. For a time the inn was conducted under the name of the T. H. Fogarty Company, but later Mr. Lindberg acquired control of the entire lease and since then has managed the hotel in his own name. The building occupies a central location on the corner of Chester avenue and Nineteenth street.

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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 152

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