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 157

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 157

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ciated with the then frontier of Missouri, where he helped to till the soil and harvest the crops, doing a man's part in the field while he was yet a mere boy. The family was poor and the struggle for a livelihood keen. Switzerland was his native county in Indiana, being born near Allensville, September 25, 1857. He was the son of William Atwell and Prudence (Ray) David. In 1859, when the son was two years old, the parents removed to Holt county, Mo., where the father died during the same year. The death of the mother occurred in Kirksville, Mo. While his mother sent him to the county schools as much as possible, he was so greatly needed at home that his educational advantages were meager and his present broad fund of information results from habits of careful reading rather than from attendance at school. When he was fourteen years of age his mother died and he went to work on farms in Missouri, con- tinuing this until he came to the Pacific coast.

Upon arriving in California March 19, 1887, Mr. David was without means for the purchase of land, but it was possible for him to take up a gov- ernment claim and he therefore located one hundred acres in the Rio Bravo country. For eleven years he lived on the homestead, meanwhile filing his claim, proving up on the land and acquiring a clear title to the property. As he was entirely without capital for the working of the land he engaged with neighboring farmers and the wages thus earned helped him with the develop- ment of his own property. Then, as now, it was no easy task to improve a farm when without funds and he was handicapped constantly by this lack, but finally he emerged from the most discouraging of his troubles and entered upon a greater agricultural independence. With his removal to and leasing of forty acres twelve miles west of Bakersfield in the Rosedale colony he found conditions more favorable and in 1899 he bought the nucleus of the tract which now forms his homestead. This he added to at different times until he now owns one hundred acres in a body under the Colloway canal. This he checked and leveled and sowed to alfalfa and it is now well improved with suitable buildings. In Taberville, St. Clair county, Mo., September 23, 1877, occurred the marriage of Mr. David to Miss Catherine A. Baker, who was born in Clinton, Henry county, Mo., the daughter of Stephen P. and Catherine Baker, early settlers of Missouri. Of their union have been born eight children : Katie, Mrs. Spurlin of this vicinity ; Daniel, who assists on the farm ; John, of Los Angeles; Vernie, of Panama, this county ; Maude, Mrs. Krause, of Rose- dale ; Artie, at home; Eddie, who died in 1912, at the age of fourteen years ; and Lloyd, also at home.

Mr. David now ranks among the oldest residents of this part of the county. He has always been interested in the cause of education, and has served on the board of trustees in the Rio Bravo district, and assisted in building the first school house.

W. O. THOMAS .- The general foreman of the Kern River Oilfields of California, Limited, enjoys the distinction of being the oldest man in years and also in point of continuous service with the organization whose interests he now serves. Coming to this district to take the position of engineer, at the recommendation of his personal friend, W. S. Boggs, then the superintendent of the 33 and Imperial Oil Companies, he remained in the employ of the successor of these concerns and eventually was promoted to be foreman, in which post he has the responsibility for the proper working of the two hun- dred and thirty-five wells on section 33.

Born in Wales Mav 12. 1860. Mr. Thomas has made his own wav in the world ever since he was ten years of age. At that early age he began to learn the cement business under his father. an expert in that line. When only fifteen vears of age he had passed through the chemical department of the Portland cement manufacturing business owned by White Bros., and situated on the Thames in the outskirts of London. His ability for successful work in

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the industry seemed an inborn talent. Even at that youthful age his work was recommended for its permanence and satisfactory condition. When seventeen years old he came with his father to New York. The White Bros. Portland Cement Company had engaged them as inspectors and instructors in the con- struction of the menagerie building in Central park, New York City. The young man had been working for some years with the company and they recognized his dependable character and efficiency in the cement business, while the father had a wide reputation in the same line.

While working in Central park W. O. Thomas made the acquaintance and won the approval of Clifford Richardson, chief inspector of asphalt and cement at Washington, D. C. When the contract in the park had been completed Mr. Richardson introduced him to some of the Santa Fe officials and gave such a recommendation for his work that the railroad company hired him to assist in their cement construction work. After a time he was made superintend- ent of cement construction and had charge of the building of bridges and abutments of concrete. During this period of work he put in the foundation for the Union passenger depot in Kansas City, Kan. Later he secured a position with the Western Cement Company at Salt Lake, Utah, where he continued for five years of successful work. While gaining expertness in the concrete business he had not limited himself to that specialty but in addition he had become an expert steam engineer and it was in the latter capacity that he remained for two and one-half years with the Portland General Electric Company at Portland, Ore., next going to the Mountain Copper Company at Shasta county, Cal., where he spent six years. The failure of his health induced him to give up a congenial business connection and thereupon he came to Bakersfield in 1902, securing employment immediately after his arrival through his friendship with W. S. Boggs, superintendent of the 33 and Imperial Oil Companies. After coming to this county he married Miss Nora Monahan and they have established a comfortable home in the oil district. When he came here as an engineer there were only twenty-one wells on section 33 and he has been identified with the rapid increase, also has had charge of the work of re-drilling many of these wells and putting in air compressors.

FRANK H. NEWTON .- An appreciation of the possibilities offered by Kern county induced Mr. Newton, upon arriving in California from Texas to become a resident of this section of the state and here since 1900 he has made his home. As a lad and young man in Texas he became familiar with ranch- ing as conducted in the Lone Star state, but being entirely without means and obliged to work for wages in the employ of others he had no opportunity to forge ahead. Nor were his first years in California more encouraging than those of earlier life, but a few years ago he was able to embark in independent agriculture and since then he has made a specialty of the dairy industry.

Ellis county, the portion of Texas where Mr. Newton was born April 27. 1878, lies in the north central part of the state, not far from the important communities of Fort Worth and Dallas. He entered the employ of a rancher when he left the public schools at the age of seventeen years. For some years he continued in the same locality, but there seemed little opening there for the future and he determined to try his luck in the far west. Accordingly he came to California and settled in Kern county in 1900. The first position held by him was at Oil City and later he worked for the Sterling Oil Company during a period of five years. In 1909 he leased twenty acres in the Rosedale district and embarked in the dairy business with a herd of twelve milch cows. Since then he has added to his drove and now owns thirty head of fine cows, which he keeps on a leasehold of sixty-six acres. The milk is delivered in Oil City. Besides the dairy business he engages in raising alfalfa, for which the land is well adapted. Fraternally he holds membership with the Woodmen of the World. He was married in Ellis county, Tex., to Elizabetli

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Kizziar, a native of that county and the daughter of W. L. Kizziar, now of Bakersfield, and they have five children, Lorena, Let B., Frankie, Ray and Allie.

WILLIAM EDWARD HEASLEY .- Mr. Heasley ranks as a pioneer in the oil industry for he has been identified with the oil business almost one-half century and has witnessed the transformation of the work from crude and primitive methods to the most up-to-date equipments. Many of the oil fields of the eastern and central states he thoroughly understands in all their difficulties and possibilities. Actual experience has taught him that oil development forms one of the most promising industries in the entire country and he regards California as in the forefront from the standpoint of its great fields and many producing wells.

Not only has Mr. Heasley been an oil operator throughout his active life, but in addition his father, Elias, followed the same occupation, while the third generation in the same business is represented by his son. The father and mother, Elizabeth, were lifelong residents of Pennsylvania, and he was born in that state, at Irwin, Westmoreland county, December 12. 1854. When thirteen years of age he found employment in the oil fields. Learning to be a tool-dresser he followed such work at St. Petersburg, Clarion county. Later he engaged in drilling at Richburg, Allegany county, N. Y. Another oil field in which he worked for years was that of Montpelier, Ind., where he took drilling contracts and operated two strings. Similar work kept him in the Robinson field in Illinois for some time, after which he engaged in the same work at Cuba, Mo. Upon returning to the east he engaged in drilling in the gas fields at Buffalo, N. Y., for two years. When he came to Cali- fornia he entered upon relations with the Kalispel Midway Company at Fellows, where he engaged as a driller in 1911 and August 1, 1912, received merited promotion to be foreman of the lease. While living in Pennsyl- vania he was a member of the Knights of Pythias lodge at Foster Brook, McKean county, but since coming to this state he has had little leisure for fraternal interests.

The marriage of Mr. Heasley and Miss Lizzie Gary, a native of Leon, Cattaraugus county, N. Y., was solemnized at Bradford, Pa., and has been blessed with five children. The eldest son, Morris W., is an employe of the Kalispel Midway Oil Company at Fellows. The second son, Harold remained in Indiana, where he is now a reporter on the Montpelier Herald. The daughters are Mrs. Ray Dawson, of Montpelier, Ind. ; Mrs. Ina Hickey, of Dayton, Tex .; and Mrs. Anna Risk, of Montpelier, Ind. The family stands high for those qualities that give influence in a community and Mr. Heasley himself is regarded as an oil man whose long experience has given him a most accurate comprehension of the industry.

FRANKLIN LEE VAN EPPS .- The earliest recollections of Mr. Van Epps are associated with the oil fields of Mckean county, Pa., where he was born at Bell's Camp May 15, 1881, being the only son of Lee Lloyd and Lizzie (Mixer) Van Epps, likewise natives of the Keystone state. The former, after having engaged in the oil business in Pennsylvania, went to New Mexico and started a trading post at Socorro, but in 1881 he was killed during an Apache uprising. Orphaned in infancy, Franklin Lee Van Epps was taken into the home of his maternal grandfather in Mckean county. When twelve years of age he accompanied the Mixer family to the vicinity of Pittsburg, where he attended high school until graduation. For two years he lived in Chicago with his maternal grandfather and in 1898 he came to California, where he soon found work in the oil industry. As a tool-dresser he engaged with the contracting firm of Dunn & Erwin. In 1899 he learned drilling while working for the San Buena Ventura Oil Com- pany in Ventura county. Much of his later work was done in the same

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county and eventually he was promoted to be superintendent in that field. Contracts that took him to other points gave to Mr. Van Epps a wide experience in the oil industry as conducted throughout the west. For a time he remained in Arizona, where he had contracted to drill a well near Winslow. Similar work took him into Death Valley and into the Devil's Den country, while he also had a number of contracts in Ventura county. During the last five years of his identification with the county he engaged as superintendent for the Dixie National Oil Company near Fillmore. Feb- ruary 2, 1912, he came to the Midway, where at first he gave his attention wholly to the development of the Maricopa Union. During September of 1912 he was made superintendent of the Midway Five Oil Company, whose holdings he has put in shape for profitable work. Still more recently he was chosen superintendent of the West Virginia Oil Company at Maricopa, so that he now has charge of three important companies in the Midway field. While he votes the Democratic ticket he gives little attention to politics, the demands of his positions as superintendent of three companies being so engrossing as to preclude any outside interests .. His family comprises two children, Isabelle and Lloyd, and their mother, whom he married in Santa Barbara and who was Miss Isabelle Rich, a native of Massachusetts.

WILLIAM FRANCIS CLEGG .- Since establishing a home in Kern county in 1911 Mr. Clegg has been identified with the Bakersfield Iron works, being first a machinist in the Bakersfield plant, and from there he was trans- ferred, June 14, 1913, to the foremanship of the Fellows shop. The eldest among five children and the only one of the family to establish a home in the United States, William Francis Clegg was born at Liverpool, England, June 9, 1879, and is a son of Thomas and Ann (Mulligan) Clegg, the former of whom is still living. At the age of three years he entered school and when he left St. John's at the age of eleven he had entirely completed the course of study. As an office boy in an insurance office he earned his livelihood until he was fifteen, when he became an apprentice in the machine shop of the Liverpool Engineering & Condenser Company and for five years he worked to master every detail of the machinist's trade. When scarcely twenty years of age he went to sea as marine engineer with the British merchant marine, having obtained a license as chief engineer. During the eight years of his service as marine engineer he visited almost every country in the world. Altogether he made about twenty-six voyages to the Mediterranean sea. Six times he rounded Cape of Good Hope, twice he sailed through the Suez canal and twice passed the Straits of Magellan below South America. In April, 1906, Mr. Clegg gave up marine engineering and established a home on the Pacific coast, following his trade at Portland, Ore., for three months and then securing employment in San Francisco with the Peters Gas Engine Company. After a time he became a machinist with W. A. Boole & Co., ship-builders (now Moore & Scott), of whose shops he was made foreman, holding the position until he resigned to engage as first assistant engineer on a steamship engaged in the ocean trade. In the course of eight months with this ship he visited Mexico and the Orient. Upon resigning the position he came to Bakersfield in 1911 and since then has been associated with the Bakersfield iron works. His family consists of his wife, formerly Miss Alice Edith Williams, of Liverpool, England, and their three children, Alice Edith, Dorothy Margaret and William George.

L. R. COOK .- A native of Galesburg, Knox county, Ill., born April 4, 1876, L. R. Cook was the son of James P. Cook, who lived and died in Gales- burg, having been the proprietor of a wall-paper store there for a number of years. His widow survived him and removed to Chicago, where she is now living. The son, L. R. Cook, remained in his native town until he was nine- teen, having obtained his educational training there in the public schools. His

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first business venture was operating a dairy there, and he next engaged in the livery business at Ethley, Ill., a coal mining town, where he built up a brisk trade. Upon the closing down of the mines he went to Knoxville, Ill., where he resumed the livery business, but soon sold out and went to Chicago, where he followed the race course for about four years. At this time he accepted an attractive offer from M. R. Hoxie, the millionaire cattleman and rancher, whose ranch was situated at Taylor, Williamson county, Tex., whither Mr. Cook went to serve as one of several foremen and to have full charge of the Hereford cattle department. On leaving that position and spending a short time in Oklahoma, he returned to Chicago and in 1902 came to Kern county, Cal. For four years he was cashier and steward at the Turf restaurant in Bakersfield and in September, 1906, he established Cook's Cafe, which is now catering to a wide patronage, and is considered one of the most up-to-date short-order houses in the city.

The marriage of Mr. Cook to Mrs. Maggie Foster, of San Francisco, took place November 23, 1906, and she proved a helpmeet of no mean ability, aiding her husband in the conduct of his business and lending that delicate touch which only a woman can add for the completion of an excellent table. The place of business was moved from No. 2021 K street to No. 2105 Chester avenue (formerly the Russ cafe) May 23, 1913, and only one week later, on the 1st of June, Mr. Cook was bereaved by the death of his wife, who had been cashier at the cafe and the most trusted business associate of her husband, as well as a devoted wife and whole-sculed friend. Kindliness of heart and a cheerful disposition endeared her to every acquaintance and her passing was deeply mourned. The body was taken to San Francisco and interred in the Cypress Lawn cemetery. Fraternally Mr. Cook is still connected with the Eagle Aerie No. 226 at Iola, Kans., from which he has never obtained his demit. In politics he is a Democrat and while never seeking or holding public office lie has united with other public-spirited citizens to promote beneficial move- ments in Bakersfield.

C. Le ROY WHITE .- Exceptional qualifications for the peculiar duties incident to auctioneering led Mr. White to enter this line of salesmanship and he since has risen to the very front rank among the auctioneers of the San Joaquin valley. In addition to such work he carries on a store in Bakersfield, where the name of Roy White is synonymous with energy, fairness and an optimistic personality that sees the cheerful side of life. Through long and honorable identification with the business growth of the community he has won the confidence of its residents, who regard him as a buyer of unerring sagacity along the line of his specialties. With customary carefulness he has eliminated from his store everything not thoroughly reliable, so that he is enabled to make sure that promises are kept and the details of every transac- tion are carried to the limit of fulfillment.

Although still a young man, Mr. White has been associated with the business history of Bakersfield since 1889. Born at Marshalltown, Iowa, October 18, 1869, he is a son of Abraham White, who lived to be eighty-four years of age. Longevity is noticeable throughout preceding generations of the family, whose history is traced back to the very earliest attempts at coloniza- tion in Kentucky. They have been typical Americans, devoted to their country and genuinely helpful in pioneer development. During the year 1885 the family removed from Iowa to California and settled in Los Angeles county, where for three years Roy White worked in a furniture and carpet establish- ment. Meanwhile an older brother, Richard J. White, had come to Bakers- field, where he is now president of the Bakersfield Hardware Company. An- other brother, Ansil J., also a resident of Kern county, is employed as engineer for the Santa Fe Railroad. Their mother is still living, hale and mentally active, at the age of seventy-nine years.

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Arriving in Bakersfield August 23, 1889, Roy White at once began to work for his brother, Richard J., and later acquired a business of his own, which he still conducts, in addition to answering many calls for his services as auctioneer at sales throughout various parts of the valley. While at no time a partisan in political connections, he stanchly favors Republican principles and always votes that ticket in general elections. In fraternal relations he has been for years a popular worker and leading member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen and Woodmen of the World at Bakersfield. By his mar- riage to Miss Dora C. Coughran, a native of Maricopa county, this state, he is the father of three children, Irwin, Thelma and Harold.

WALKER RANKIN .- It is interesting to chronicle the life history of the pioneer, the man who in his prime entered the wilderness and claimed the virgin soil as his heritage and becoming inured to privations and hardships accomplished the transformation of the country to its present wonderful state of development. Among those early settlers now remaining who aided in this accomplishment is Walker Rankin, who was born in Pittsburg, Pa., June 2, 1842, the son of William and Ursula (Keene) Rankin, born in Ireland and Pennsylvania respectively. On coming to the United States from his native Ireland the father became foreman in an iron works in Pennsylvania and after- wards a farmer in Westmoreland county, where he and his wife spent their last days. Of their family of eight children two came to California, namely : Walker and Aquilla. The latter crossed the plains in 1853 to Los Angeles and was afterwards a resident of Alameda county for many years, but spent the last year of his life with his brother Walker.

The public schools of Westmoreland county afforded Walker Rankin his educational advantages until a youth of fourteen, when he determined to come to California. Making the journey by way of Panama he landed in San Fran- cisco early in January, 1856. He followed mining in the Sierra Nevadas for two years and from Butte county returned to San Francisco bay where he engaged with his brother in the dairy business on Alameda creek in Alameda county for five years. Dissolving the partnership and dividing the stock, he then brought his flock to Mill creek, Tulare county, and in 1867 he brought his stock to Walker's Basin and purchased a farm from Dan Walser. At once he began to improve the ranch and raise hay and cattle, thus laying the founda- tion of his present large holdings in lands and cattle. His brand is the quarter circle over the capital U. Later he bought the Wicks ranch and afterwards the Williams ranch of eight hundred acres, besides many sections of range land. The ranch is well watered from Walker's Basin branch and from the same source he obtains water for irrigating and raising about one hundred and fifty acres of alfalfa. He also owns a valuable ranch on South Fork, which he operated until lately when he gave its supervision to his sons.

Mr. Rankin did not assume domestic ties until 1872, when he married Miss Lavenia Lightner, a sister of Abia Taylor Lightner, in whose sketch on another page appears the family history.

Mr. and Mrs. Rankin have six children living, named as follows: Charles W., a stockman near Havilah; Warren, a stockman at the head of the South Fork Valley; Edward, who is farming his mother's (the old Lightner) place in Walkers Basin; Le Roy, a stockman near Weldon; Jesse, who resides in San Francisco, but is interested in the stock business in Kern county ; and Walker, Jr., also a stockman on the South Fork. Mrs. Rankin is a member of the Baptist Church. Always interested in the cause of education, Mr. Rankin served some years and was a member of the first board of education of the Walkers Basin school district. Politically he is a Democrat.

EDWIN P. LIEB .- Born in Buffalo, N. Y., March 15, 1867, E. P. Lieb is of German extraction, his father, Adam Lieb, having been a native of Wurtem- berg, Germany, and migrating from that place to New York state. In the fall

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of 1867 he brought his wife and little son by way of Panama to San Francisco and immediately went to Sierra City, where he followed mining. Afterwards he located on a farm in Sutter county where he died. The first nine years of Edwin Lieb's life was spent in Sierra City and then he lived on the farm in Sutter county, where he attended the schools of the locality. After his father's death he went to Santa Barbara, where he followed farming and asphalt mining. In 1897 he came to Kern county and engaged in mining near Bodfish, being successful in locating and opening several small mines and disposing of them. He then engaged in raising alfalfa near Bakersfield until 1909, when he entered the employ of A. Brown & Co., as foreman of their farms and mill on the South Fork. Since then he has devoted all of his time and best efforts towards advancing the company's farm holdings. Well and favorably known and an influential man in his community, he takes an active interest in the success of the Democratic party and is serving as a member of the county central committee.

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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 157

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