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 153

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 153

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Besides acting as proprietor of the hotel Mr. Lindberg represents the Pabst Brewing Company of Milwaukee and is also president and a director of the S. P. Oil Mining Company, which operates producing wells in the Kern river field. During June of 1911 he bought the Democrat springs and the O. K. placer claim of twenty acres on the Kern river, where the presence of one of the finest white sulphur springs in the state makes the place valuable as a health resort. A hotel and cottages have been erected, a large plunge and mud baths have been instituted, attractive facilities for boating and fishing have

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been provided and many other improvements have been made, including an electric light and storage plant and good roads by stage or automobile from Bakersfield, the distance of forty miles being easily made in three hours. He has installed an automobile stage plying between the Arlington and Democrat springs. The resort is run both winter and summer and has already estab- lished a record for the great curative properties of the water, particularly for rheumatism. Ever since he began to vote Mr. Lindberg has supported Demo- cratic principles. The Bakersfield Board of Trade has his name enrolled among its members. Fraternally he has been identified prominently with the Improved Order of Red Men, the Royal Arch, Benevolent Protective Order of Elks and the Eagles, in which last-named organization for seven or more years he has served with fidelity and accuracy in the office of treasurer.

EDWARD F. NEWSOM .- The lineage of the Newsom family indicates long identification with the history of Virginia and at Petersburg, that state, occurred the birth of David Frank Newsom, a pioneer of California. Long before the Civil war (in which a brother bore an active part) he had left the old home and had begun to earn his own livelihood as an employe of the Hudson Bay Company, in whose interests he conducted sutler stores at Bellingham bay, on Puget sound and along the Fraser river in British Colum- bia. Upon resigning the position he had held with them he came to Cali- fornia and became one of the very first settlers of San Luis Obispo county, where he married Miss Annie Branch, daughter of an Englishman, Ezba Branch. Elected the first clerk of San Luis Obispo county, he filled the office for many years. The salary, however, was scarcely adequate for the needs of a large family and accordingly he followed other lines of work to increase the annual income. One of his early occupations was that of schoolteacher. In addition he served for years as county judge. Meanwhile, having been greatly troubled with catarrh, he had found a permanent remedy in the waters of a fine medical spring owned by his father-in-law and when the latter presented his daughter, Mrs. Newsom, with the springs and adjacent grounds they were named the Newsom Arroyo Grande warm springs. A resort was established two and one-half miles from Arroyo Grande and many people troubled with rheumatism, neuralgia and catarrh found relief from the diseases through the waters of the springs. After the death of Mr. Newsom, in 1901, his widow became the manager of the springs and she conducted the resort until her death in April, 1912. The land, together with a large tract adjacent thereto, had been given to her father, Ezba Branch, a pioneer of San Luis Obispo county, after his marriage to Dona Manuella Ortega, a native daughter of California and a member of a pioneer Spanish family well-known along the coast. Through the prominence and high standing of this family the Mexican government was influenced to bestow upon Mr. Branch the Santa Manuella grant and thereafter he had charge of the vast tract, which he devoted to stock-raising purposes.

Six sons and six daughters comprised the family of David Frank Newsom and among these (all still living) Edward F. was next to the eldest. Born at Arroyo Grande, San Luis Obispo county, December 16, 1865, he attended the schools of the locality in boyhood and at the same time acquired a knowledge of the fundamentals of agriculture. A decided fondness for the care of horses decided his occupation in life and while he worked with the Kern County Land Company in Bakersfield from 1898 to 1904 and with the Standard Oil Company from 1904 to 1906 he used teams in all of this work and thus con- tinued to study the care and management of horses. After he had completed a job of excavating for reservoirs for the Standard Oil Company he embarked in the livery business in Bakersfield, where he has a feed and sale stable on the corner of M and Eighteenth streets. A general livery business is conducted with a full equipment of fine horses and neat vehicles. Horses are bought, sold

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and exchanged, while many also are taken as boarders. He also runs the stage line to Glennville, a distance of forty-five miles, making three round trips a week. While he displays ability in every line of the business, it is in the breaking of horses that he has gained his widest reputation. He has built two bungalows on Grove and Sonora streets in one of which he makes his home, and he also owns real estate in Los Angeles and San Diego. Aside from maintaining a constant supervision of his stables, he has been active in the Knights of Pythias, Woodmen of the World and the Owls, while in politics he has stanchly supported Democratic principles. He is a widower with one son, Alfred, whose mother, Eveline (Cochrane) Newsom, a native of Paso Robles, San Luis Obispo county, and a daughter of a pioneer physician in that portion of the state, died after the family had established their home in Bakers- field.

P. J. O'MEARA .- The real-estate and insurance interests of East Bakers- field find able representation in the firm of Woody and O'Meara, whose offices are located in the Hotel Metropole and who are now owners of one-half interest in that hotel. In addition to negotiating sales of farms and town properties, they sell oil lands, put through important leases, secure options, make first-mortgage loans, effect exchanges of properties and indeed discharge any duty or carry out any transaction connected with their chosen occupation. Many of the most important real-estate and promotion deals in East Bakers- field have been made under their supervision, and by integrity, honesty and intelligence they have won the confidence of all. Along insurance lines they represent such well-known companies as the German-American Insurance Company of New York, the Fireman's Fund Insurance Company of San Fran- cisco and the Royal Insurance Company of Liverpool. A safety deposit de- partment has been added to their office equipment and there are fire and burglar proof boxes for rent to customers.

Born at Vancouver, Wash., October 9, 1876, P. J. O'Meara was fifth in order of birth among ten children, eight of whom are still living. The parents, Patrick and Johanna (Long) O'Meara, died respectively in 1903 and 1904, the former at the age of seventy-eight years. He had come to California in early life from the mines of Australia and New Zealand and after his arrival in 1850 had engaged in the hotel business in San Francisco, but later became a pioneer of Washington and engaged in ranching near Vancouver. Returning to California in 1885, he took up land near Keene, Kern county, and engaged in stock-raising and farming. From time to time he added to his possessions until he had acquired the title to about two thousand acres of land near Keene. To his labors was due the organization of a school district and the building of a schoolhouse. For years he gave faithful service as school trustee. For some years he was employed as bridge inspector of the district along the Southern Pacific Railroad.

Coming to Kern county when less than nine years of age, P. J. O'Meara passed the uneventful years of boyhood on the home ranch near Keene and attended the school in that district. After leaving school he aided his father on the home ranch. At the age of nineteen he became a fireman of the South- ern Pacific Railroad and continued in that capacity for four years, after which he returned to the stock industry and engaged in raising cattle on a ranch near Breckenridge. For three years he continued raising cattle on the Kern river and then disposed of his stock, investing the proceeds in a stock of general merchandise at Caliente, Kern county. While carrying on the store he also served as justice of the peace. During 1908 an explosion of dynamite in the Southern Pacific warehouse started a fire that almost wiped out the village and he was one of the heaviest losers by the catastrophe. The following year he formed a partnership with A. J. Woody in the real-estate business at Kern, where also they with J. H. Stevenson own the Hotel Metropole. In

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addition to other holdings Mr. O'Meara is interested in oil development in the west side fields, serves as a director in various companies and is part owner of a quartz mill in the Amelia district. Fraternally he holds membership with the Eagles and the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks.

FREDERICK ELI HARE .- Best known in Delano as manager of the Union Lumber Company's yard stationed there, Frederick Eli Hare is classed among the reliable, honest and trustworthy citizens of the county. He was the elder of two children born to his parents, Elias C. and Anna (Woods) Hare, the former of whom was born in Wooster, Ohio, and came to California when eighteen years old. Traveling by way of Panama he reached the California coast in the '50s and followed placer mining in the Sierra Nevadas for many years. Subsequently he successfully conducted a mercantile business in San Francisco, relinquishing this interest to become secretary of the Masonic Board of Relief in that city, and for many years he filled that responsible position with credit and ability. Mr. Hare is now making his home with his son at the age of seventy-seven years. His wife, whom he married in Eldorado county, was a native of Illinois, and crossed the plains with her parents by means of ox-teams. The father was prominent in Masonic circles, has been grand lecturer of Grand Lodge of California, serving for four years, and attained the Knight Templar degree.

Frederick E. Hare was born September 11, 1864, at Rose Springs, Eldorado county, on Tennessee Creek. This was located about eight miles from Coloma, where gold was discovered by Marshall in 1848. Reared in the city of San Francisco, he there obtained a good public school education and graduated from Heald's Business College in 1882. Then he gained experience by filling the position of bookkeeper for several firms, after which for eight years he served as route agent for the San Francisco Chronicle. The succeeding four years he passed in the employ of T. J. Conroy's insurance agency. Coming to Bakersfield in 1903 he assumed the management of the Coffee Club but the duties proved too arduous for his constitution and he went to Nevada county to regain his health. After eighteen months spent on a ranch he returned to Bakersfield and entered the employ of the Union Lumber Company in the capacity of bookkeeper. In 1908, upon the establishment of the lumber yard at Delano, he was made manager of same and to k full charge of the building up of the branch, in which he has met with signal success. Mr. Hare's marriage occurred in Nevada county, Cal., uniting him with Amy Isbister, a native of that county and daughter of John Isbister, who was a pioneer miner and farmer of this state. Three children have blessed this union, John, James and Frederick. Fraternally he is a member of San Fran- cisco Lodge, No. 212, F. & A. M., and politically a Republican.

ROBERT GUNDERSON .- To leave a Norwegian home at the age of fifteen years and to devote the next decade exclusively to mining in lonely regions far removed from educational centers, would seem to offer. few advan- tages to a young man for the acquisition of culture and a comprehensive fund of knowledge in history, literature and the arts, yet we find Mr. Gunder- son one of the best-posted men in his part of Kern county. Both he and his brother, Daniel, who is in partnership with him in the book and stationery business at Randsburg, are regarded as men of intelligence and much general information ; furthermore, they have a high standing in the community for their honesty, integrity and moral worth. Their stock of books has been selected with more than ordinary care and they also maintain a branch of the county library in their book-shop, further have a newspaper agency and deal in cigars and tobacco. Since they bought the McCarthy store in April, 1905, they have conducted their book and stationery business at Randsburg, besides having other interests in this portion of the county.

Near Mandal, Norway, Robert Gunderson was born February 5, 1871,

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the son of a well-to-do farmer who gave him the advantage of a thorough education in the common branches of study. Upon coming to the United States in 1886 he found employment in Michigan iron mines at Ironwood, but a year later removed to Wisconsin and secured employment on the coal docks at West Superior. During 1888 he migrated to Montana, where he was employed in mines and the smelter at Anaconda. In a short time he went to Utah and found work in mines at Park City. The year 1890 found him at Pioche, Nev., where mining pursuits occupied his time for two years. The trip from that locality to Vanderbilt, San Bernardino county, Cal., in 1892 was made by wagon. Happening to be in Los Angeles in 1893 when Mr. Reed brought a $1,000 nugget obtained in Reed Gulch in the Goler district, he decided to prospect in the new location. Immediately he came to Kern county and took up work in the vicinity of Goler, where he located the Last Chance, Norway and Rocket mines, and where he met with considerable success in the placer mines. Upon the starting of Randsburg he decided to locate at this point and October of 1896 found him a newcomer in the district, where ever since he has been interested in quartz mining. He discovered and located what is known as the Minnesota group of four claims situated two and one- half miles southwest of Randsburg, where he is engaged in mining and ship- ping ore, while in addition since 1905 he has been a partner in the book business. Fraternally he holds membership with the Eagles. His brother and partner, Daniel, completed his education in the high school at Ottawa, Minn., and engaged in teaching in that state until 1903, when he joined Robert in Kern county. For a time he taught in the Randsburg school, but later he has engaged in the book business, besides acting as a member of the Kern county board of education for two terms. In the community the brothers have the highest reputation for progressive tendencies, personal energy and keen mentality and they have been important factors in the permanent upbuild- ing of Randsburg.

FRED C. CLARK .- New York state has given to California many citi- zens who have contributed to its growth and development and participated in the benefits accruing therefrom. Born in De Peyster, St. Lawrence county, N. Y., February 23, 1853, Fred C. Clark was the son of John B. and Amelia G. ( Robertson) Clark, natives of New Hampshire and Wales, respectively, who farmed in the state of New York until their deaths.

At the public school near his boyhood home young Clark was a student until he was seventeen years old, living meanwhile with his parents and assisting with the work on the home farm. About that time his father sold his property and the family moved to a town nearby, where the young man learned the trade of carriage-making. Finding that a place in a carriage shop was not always open to him he became a carpenter and builder, and as such was constantly employed in various cities in New York, Illinois, Missouri and Kansas, until he came to the Pacific coast, arriving at Los Angeles January 3, 1890. Here he was employed as a carpenter until February, 1891, when he came to Bakersfield and prospered as a rancher for twenty-one years. He purchased a ranch of twenty acres on Kern Island, later adding ten acres mure, the land being unimproved when he took possession. But he began with alfalfa and grain and soon improved it and had it all under successful cultiva- tion. In 1904 he bought forty acres about a mile from his first purchase, and when he had put it under cultivation to some extent he bought an adjoining sixty acres, making a hundred and thirty acres in alfalfa and grain. In the same year he also carried on dairying for a short time. In 1911 he sold his first thirty acres and now owns one hundred acres, most of it under alfalfa and grain, the remainder devoted to pasturage, and he keeps a limited number of cattle and hogs. In 1911 he removed to Bakersfield, purchased a home on Dracena street, and is to a degree retired from active life. Mrs. Clark was

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formerly Miss Annie M. Handley, who was born near Attica, Ind., February 16, 1863, and she has two children, Fred H. and Glenn B. Mrs. Clark was the daughter of William and Maria (Pyle) Handley, natives of Scotland and Ohio respectively, who were farmers in Indiana. From there they moved to Kan- sas and thence in 1894 came to Bakersfield, where the mother died in 1903. The father resides with Mrs. Clark. She is a member of the Methodist Episco- pal Church South. In politics Mr. Clark is a Republican.

ADOLPHUS DOWD .- Varied experiences in different parts of the coun- try have come to Mr. Dowd since he earned his first money as a messenger boy in Sherman, Tex., and since he devoted his evenings after school to acquiring an expert knowledge of telegraphy, an art in which he gained re- markable proficiency at an early age. For years he had a reputation as one of the swiftest and most accurate operators in the service and although no longer following the occupation his hand has not forgotten its skill at the key. In addition to expertness in telegraphy he had completed a commercial course and thus became competent in stenography and bookkeeping, so that while still young he was well qualified to carn a livelihood. The course of his business life took him to every part of the country and even to Panama, but he found it impossible to forge ahead financially ; indeed, when he arrived at Taf: February 15, 1909, he had but $1.65 in his possession. Today he owns his own garage, owns also a neat cottage in Taft, and as a partner in the firm of Stebbins & Dowd owns an interest in the stock, equipment and supplies of the Ford automobile agency at this point.

A member of an old Southern family, Mr. Dowd was born in Toledo, Ohio, August 25, 1880, and was the eldes: child of Gundulphus and Mary (Strickland) Dowd. The mother died at the age of thirty-three and later the father married again, by the second union becoming the parent of one child, Henry, now living on the home ranch in New Mexico. After suc- cessive removals through the south, from Georgia (where he was born), to Texas, Mississippi and other states, the elder Dowd eventually established a permanent home in New Mexico, where he since has engaged in ranching and cattle-raising. His second and third sons, Cephus and George T., are living in Texas, where the former is a cattleman and the latter an emplove of the Santa Fe Railroad Company. The fourth son, Edward S., works for his oldest brother in the garage at Taft, while the fifth son, Harry T., and the son by the second marriage, Henry, remain with their father on the New Mexico ranch.

When nine years of age Adolphus Dowd accompanied the family from Mississippi to 'Texas, where at the age of eighteen he completed the literary course in the Sherman schools. Meanwhile he had gained a thorough knowl- edge of telegraphy by night study and his first paid position as operator was at Trinidad, Colo., where he worked for two vears with the Colorado South- ern Railroad Company. Later he had positions in many places and with different companies. Particularly he worked for the Postal and Western Union Companies, and the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company under Capt. H. J. Hughes, head of the Marconi system. In New York City he was with both the Postal and the Western Union. In Texas he worked at Dallas and Galveston, later held a position at Denver, Colo., and as early as 1904 went to Panama under a three-year contract in the government service, but an attack of malaria and consequent ill-health led to his honorable dis- charge from the service. During 1905 he arrived in San Francisco, where he engaged as telegraph operator for the San Francisco Examiner and the Associated Press. One of the most thrilling experiences occurred at the time of the earthquake, when he was on duty in San Francisco. From that city he went to Kansas, where he was employed successively at Topeka, Dodge City and Herington. The year 1907 found him with the Western Union in Los Angeles. Later he was employed for a year at New Orleans,

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La., and next went to Houston, Tex., to engage with the Houston Belt & Terminal line. When he resigned from that position he was sent to San Francisco by the Southern Pacific Railroad Company and next came to Kern county early in 1909. After a few months as Southern Pacific agent at Taft (with office in the Santa Fe depot, which at that time consisted of a box car), June 12, 1900, he opened the independent office for the Western Union Tele- graph Company, installed the equipment and started a set of books. From the Western Union service he drifted into the livery automobile business and now, as a member of the firm of Stebbins & Dowd, has the agency in Taft and the west side for the Ford automobiles, Haynes autos and Federal trucks, buying and selling automobiles and their accessories, also doing re- pair work of all kinds.

The marriage of Mr. Dowd took place at Taft and united him with Miss Ruth Elder, of Indianapolis. Ind. They are identified with the Baptist de- nomination. Fraternally Mr. Dowd ranks as one of the leading Pythians of California. During 1903 he first identified himself with the order in Texas and ever since that time he has maintained an interest in its progress. After coming to Taft he interested others in the movement and as a result organ- ized the Knights of Pythias lodge at this point, from which he was sent as delegate to the Grand Lodge of Pythias, held at San Diego, May 19-23, 1913.

E. D. BURGE .- The name of Burge has been connected with the agri- cultural development of California and particularly with the farming inter- ests of the San Joaquin valley, ever since the era of mining activity began in the west, for it was during the year 1850 that J. C. Burge, a West Virginian by birth, made the tedious voyage via Panama to San Francisco and from that city proceeded to the vicinity of Lodi. After he had been in the west about a year he sent for his wife and two children. The former, who bore the maiden name of Sarah E. Hurlbut, was a native of Virginia and came from an old family of that state. A large expedition in charge of his brother, Simeon Burge, crossed the plains and she with the two children accompanied the party. Four children were born during the residence of the family near Lodi. The father died in El Paso, Tex., and the mother in Bakersfield in 1908.

Of the six children comprising the family the next to the youngest, E. D., was born November 3, 1867, and received common-school advantages in boyhucd. His identification with Kern county dates from March 17, 1901, when he came to the Midway oil fields in the employ of the Midway Oil Company of Oregon as their foreman. On New Year's day of 1902 he took charge of the property as superintendent, in which capacity he continued until his resignation in August of 1909. After leaving that concern he located in Bakersfield and began to handle oil lands, and the returns from valuable properties in his possession have been most gratifying. Meanwhile he has been concerned in the u building of Bakersfield. During 1910 he built the Southern garage on Chester avenue and Twenty-fifth street, a structure exhibiting the mission style of architecture.

Having purchased property at Santa Ana, in 1911 Mr. Burge removed with his family to that place, where now he owns and superintends an orange grove of twenty acres and a walnut grove of twenty-one acres, the whole forming a very highly improved and valuable property, and is known as one of the show places in the county. Much of his time is now given to horti- culture, yet he has not neglected his Kern county properties nor lessened his deep interest in the progress of this section of the state. Since the organiza- tion of the National Bank of Bakersfield he has been a stockholder and director in the institution. With. Mr. Thomas he organized the Security Development Company, of which he since has officiated as president. The company owns the old Fox and Tamalpais leases in the North Midway and on 25 Hill. At this writing six wells are in operation, while others are in process of drilling.

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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 153

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