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 158

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 158

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HARRY G. MASSA .- Born in Cadiz, Spain, November 28, 1863, since that time the career of H. G. Massa has been in the course of development in many parts of the world, his parents having removed from there when he was about three and a half years old, going to Kornstadt, Germany. Here he was reared and attended school until he became old enough to learn the cabinet-maker's trade, which he thoroughly mastered.

With his brother Gustav H., Mr. Massa decided to come to the new world while he was still a young lad, and embarking for America they reached New York February 2, 1879, anxious to obtain work and acquire a fortune as so many of their friends had done before them. From this time his life work varied from one line of business to another, he proving himself an efficient, observing employee. Learning the barber trade in New York City he worked there until 1881. For two years following he worked in Elizabeth, N. J., and then returned to New York. In 1883 he enlisted in Company D, Second Infantry, his term expiring in 1888, and he procured his honorable discharge at Omaha, Neb., on January 30 of that year.

In May, 1888, Mr. Massa settled at Sioux Falls, S. D., where he was em- ployed in the Cataract barber shop until 1900, then coming to Bakersfield, where he has made his permanent residence, having valuable property holdings here as well as his barber interests. He has been thrifty and economical, and has saved his earnings, so that he has been enabled to invest them most judiciously. In 1891 he married Ollie Johnson, and she has been the means of aiding her husband in the wise management of his affairs.

Mr. Massa's military training has served him well in many instances, not the least of which is in his capacity of drillmaster of the Bakersfield local team in Aerie 93 Order of Eagles, of which he is a member. Mr. Massa is a Democrat. From June 3, 1912, to january 7, 1913, he was president of the Labor Council of Bakersfield.

CHARLES BRANCH TIBBETTS .- Born at Alpha Hill, Nevada county, Cal., January 29, 1859, C. B. Tibbetts is a son of Roswell G. Tibbetts, who came from the state of Maine as second mate on a sailing vessel around Cape Horn to San Francisco in 1850. His wife was named Helen Branch and resides in Oakland, while he died in Bakersfield. Charles Branch was the oldest of a family of seven children and received his education in the schools of Santa Cruz county. In 1879 he came to Kernville and for two years was employed by the Big Blue Mining Company, hauling quartz on contract. He hauled twenty-four tons a day with a four-horse team and averaged $10 per day above expenses. These savings he invested in cattle and bought land on the North Fork, establishing his ranch headquarters opposite the old

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mill. His brand was the double TT. He continued in the cattle business until 1897, when he made the trip to Alaska, packing fifteen hundred pounds of notions over the Chilcoot trail, built a boat and conveyed them down the Yukon to Dawson, where he immediately sold them at a good profit and returned home via St. Michaels. On his return he had a contract packing goods into the mountains for the Kern River Company, then contracted to furnish the same company with meat, but the second year he sold his business and located in Bakersfield, investing in real estate there and at Sawtelle. In the latter place in 1904 he built the first brick store, which he still owns, besides owning residence property there. In Sawtelle he had the mail contract and ran the buss between Sawtelle and the Soldiers' Home, but sold when the car line was built. In Bakersfield he has built a store building and two dwellings on F street near the Santa Fe depot. Of late he is spending the greater part of the year in Kernville, where he is road overseer of the district.

In Kernville June 7, 1893, occurred the marriage of Mr. Tibbetts and Emma L. Klosa, a native daughter of Ventura. Her father, Louis Klosa, was an early settler of California and died on his farm near Kernville, while her mother, now Mrs. Anna Lurch, is one of the honored old settlers of Kern- ville. To Mr. and Mrs. C. B. Tibbetts were born three children, as follows : Roswell, a graduate of the Bakersfield Business College; Harry, who was accidentally drowned in the Kern river in July, 1913, aged seventeen ; and Carla B. Mr. Tibbetts has always manifested an active interest in politics and is a stanch Republican.

ELI BLANC .- The third of a family of four children, whose parents, Casimir and Theresa Blanc, are deceased, Eli Blanc was born November 11, 1871, at La Batineuve, Hautes-Alpes, France, and spent the years of boyhood upon a farm near the foothills of the Alps mountains, where he grew familiar with the care of sheep. His schooling, although somewhat irregular, was thorough and gave him an excellent education in the French language. When about eighteen years of age he came to California in 1889 and found employ- ment near East Bakersfield (then called Sumner) with a sheep-raiser in the Poso creek country, where he remained for two years as a herder. Mean- while he had started a small bunch of sheep as an individual flock. As the number increased he felt justified in giving to the flock his entire time and attention. For the most part he ranged the animals along Poso creek and in the hills and the location has proved so satisfactory that he still retains his flocks in that country, having at this time a large drove of merinos as fine of flecce as may be found. Meanwhile he has bought a home at No. 831 Hum- boldt street, East Bakersfield, also has acquired other property at this place, and he is further an active member of the Kern County Live Stock Association.

The marriage of Mr. Blanc and Miss Louise Raymond took place at Ba- kersfield October 28, 1901, and has been blessed with six children, viz .: Louise, Henry, Elise, Olga, Eli Jr., and Armand. A resident of California since about the year 1898, Mrs. Blanc is of French birth and ancestry and was born at Pont du Fossé, Hautes-Alpes, being a daughter of Auguste and Rose Raymond, members of the farming community of Hautes-Alpes at the eastern edge of France. Both parents are now deceased. By a singular coincidence their four surviving children all live in East Bakersfield, from which point the two broth- ers of Mrs. Blanc, Jean and Peter Raymond, superintend their large sheep in- terests. The eldest member of the family, Rose, is the wife of Vincent Rambaud. Since becoming a citizen of our country Mr. Blanc has affiliated with the Republican party and has given stanch support to its principles. In religion he and his family are actively identified with St. Joseph's Catholic Church.

WILLIAM H. McCLURE .- Too much credit cannot be given to the men who spend their lives at the front looking after the construction of new enterprises. Such positions are fraught with danger as well as privation, yet

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to their promoters the country owes its greatness. Such a man is William H. McClure, who was born in Buffalo, N. Y., in 1856, but removed to Marquette, Mich., when a mere child with his father, James McClure. There he grew to manhood and received his education in the public schools. After com- pleting his education he began working as a miner and later became foreman in the Washington mines. About 1877 he removed to Oshkosh, Wis., and there began work in the woods. Two months later he was placed in charge of the camp for Spaulding & Peck, filling the position of foreman for a period of two years. Next he accepted a position as foreman on construction of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad in Minnesota, a year being spent in taking out rock cuts and driving tunnels.

On the completion of the road Mr. McClure became a contractor on the Northern Pacific Railroad in Minnesota, furnishing ties and timbers for eighteen months. About 1883 he came west and made an extended trip along the Pacific coast. On his return to St. Paul he entered the employ of Keefe & Duffy, contractors on the Great Northern, for two years filling the position of superintendent of construction from Pacific Junction west. He then filled a similar position with W. D. Bailey, railroad contractor, building from Duluth to Tower, Minn. This took three and one-half years, at the expiration of which time he came again to the Pacific coast in 1899 and entered the employ of the Edison Electric Company (now the Southern California Edison Electric Company) as foreman on construction of the Kern River No. 1 plant. In 1906 he became superintendent in charge of all the works on System 3 and as such began the work. Since then he has surveyed and built about forty miles of road and has done the preliminary work towards bringing the North Fork through the mountains by tunnel, a distance of fourteen miles to the power plant, which will give a fall of nine hundred feet. The tunnel has already been started and the work is progressing satisfactorily. The work of the com- pany has been of great benefit to Kern county, as it has opened a road along the north fork of the Kern river heretofore accessible only by trail, but now used by automobilists, thus penetrating in a day's journey of ease the beauties and grandeur of the high Sierras in Kern county.

Personally Mr. McClure is well and favorably known. Not only in Kern county, but throughout the entire state he has hosts of friends and well- wishers. Fraternally he is a member of Bakersfield Lodge No. 266, B. P. O. E.

FRANK ANDERSON .- Twenty-five miles north of Des Moines in the then sparsely settled county of Polk in Iowa, at the farm home of Nelson Anderson a son, Frank, was born September 14, 1854. The father, a native of Syracuse, N. Y., had been one of the carliest settlers of Polk county, having located a raw tract of land on the barren prairie during 1838. Aside from the tilling of the soil he ran a blacksmith shop and attended to repairing the machinery and vehicles of the husbandmen of the community in the se primi- tive days. In such an environment the son was taught the trades of black- smith and carriage-maker and he remained with his father until twenty-three years of age. During 1885 he made his way to Colorado, where he followed mining. In 1886 he came to California and operated a combined harvester in Sonoma county. Coming to Kern county in 1887, he conducted a blacksmith shop at Lebec and also engaged in prospecting and mining. In 1904 he made the voyage to South Africa, where he welded steel in Kimberly until he became somewhat familiar with the different forms of diamond mining. While operating a placer diamond mine he made $22,000 in four months. On the return trip to California he spent some time in England. His next trip was to the Copper river in Alaska, from which country he returned to Kern county. In 1911 he settled at Wasco, where he built his present shop and embarked in general blacksmithing and repair work, in which he is very skilled.

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AUGUST KLINGENBERG .- This well-known contractor in East Ba- kersfield was born in Dansig, Germany, December 30, 1857, the son of Cor- nelius and Charlotte (Dravitz) Klingenberg, who with their family removed to Southern Russia. From that country in 1875 they came to the United States and settled in Marion county, Kans., later going to Kirk, Colo., and eventually to Minnesota, where the father died. The mother, at the age of ninety-three, is now making her home in East Bakersfield. After becoming a resident of Kansas, August Klingenberg took up farming pursuits in Marion county. That occupation engaged his attention until he located in Henderson, York county, Neb., in 1886, when he began as a contractor for stonework and plas- tering. During 1893 he removed to Mountain Lake, Minn., where he followed the same business for eleven years. Next he established himself in business at Loveland, Colo. The year 1908 found him in Bakersfield, where he took up contracting and building, and he is now located on Humboldt street, East Ba- kersfield, where he manufactures cement blocks in addition to following his regular line of work.

The marriage of Mr. Klingenberg took place in Marion county, Kans., and united him with Miss Anna Schoenhoff, also a native of Germany. They are the parents of eight children, as follows: Nettie, who married J. E. Wiens, of East Bakersfield, and has three children; Henry A., of Bakersfield. who is married and the father of three children; Anna, Mrs. Henry Wall, of Chey- enne, Wyo., who has three children: Cornelius, of Montana; Peter, of East Bakersfield, who has two children; August C., of Denver, Colo., who is mar- ried and has one child ; Mary and Louise, who reside at home. An enterprising citizen, Mr. Klingenberg is willing to do all he can to advance the interests of the community. Religiously he is a member of the Mennonite Brethren Church.

MISS ANNA CLAR .- The leading exclusive ladies' and gents' furnish- ing goods establishment in East Bakersfield is presided over by Miss Clar, who received her education in Philadelphia and the Lincoln school, San Fran- cisco, also in the schools of Selma, Cal., under Prof. Walker, after which she engaged in the millinery business in Visalia and then opened a dressmaking parlor in Kern, now East Bakersfield. In 1910 she started the present store at No. 727 Baker street, where individually she has built up a large business.

Miss Clar is the daughter of Ludwig S. and Anna (Heidrich) Clar, na- tives of Poland and Saxony, Germany, respectively. In 1884 they came to Philadelphia, Pa., and in March, 1889, to San Francisco, Cal. Following the tailor's trade there and later at Visalia, Hanford, Lemoore, and Selma until February, 1894, Mr. Clar then located in Kern (now East Bakersfield) where he engaged as a merchant tailor at No. 816 Baker street. The mother of Miss Clar is assisting the daughter in the mercantile business. Anna Clar is a member of Kern Lodge No. 58, Fraternal Brotherhood, and St. Joseph's Catholic Church.

HARRY Le ROY COLEMAN .- Recognized as one of the competent men in the employ of the Santa Fe Railroad company, Mr. Coleman has been stationed on the Bakersfield division for a number of years as locomotive engineer. During his employment he never has had an accident or even any serious delay. In the Brotherhood cf Locomotive Engineers he has been a local worker and a generous contributor to its helpful charities. Although he came to California from Colorado and had lived in Denver during the years of youth, Mr. Coleman is a native of Kansas and was born at Washington, Washington county, April 4, 1881. being the eldest among four children form- ing the family of George F. and Albina (Smith) Coleman, natives respectively of Ohio and Indiana. The father, a miller by occupation, engaged in that work for some years in Kansas and from that state moved to Colorado in 1891,

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settling in Denver. At this writing he and his wife make their home in Los Angeles. When ten years of age Harry LeRoy Coleman accompanied his parents from Kansas to Colorado and later attended the Denver public schools. Upon leaving school he served an apprenticeship to the trade of machinist in the Burnham shops of the Denver & Rio Grande railroad. On the expi- ration of his time he was made a fireman out from Pueblo on the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railroad and continued in the same place until 1903, when he resigned to remove to California.

After six months as a fireman on the Southern Pacific railroad out from Los Angeles, followed by a tour of inspection through Mexico and the south- ern part of our own country, Mr. Coleman resumed work with the Los Angeles division, but in May of 1934 he began as fireman out from Needles on the Santa Fe railroad. Fidelity to every duty caused him to be promoted to the position of engineer in December, 1906, and ever since then he has been with the same company in the same capacity, his runs having been out from Needles, Bakers- field and Mojave. While living in Los Angeles he formed the acquaintance of Miss Ethel E. Compton and they were married in 1904 in that city. For a time they lived at Mojave, but now they reside at No. 711 K street, Bakersfield. Mrs. Coleman is a woman of education and an earnest member of the Chris- tian Church. Although much of her life has been passed in this state she is a native of Oregon, born in Jackson county, where her father, William J., was a well-known resident, and her grandfather, John Compton, an honored and influential pioneer.

DANIEL RICE MILLER .- Both through his father, David Miller, who more than sixty years ago conducted a cooper shop in Harrison county, Ind., and through his mother, who bore the maiden name of Mary Ellen Miller, the gentleman whose name introduces this narrative traces his genealogy to Germany, but both of these families (unrelated, although bearing the same name) have been represented in the new world since the colonial period. The mother was a daughter of Gen. James Miller, a patriot of national renown and intrepid valor, who in young manhood served as sheriff of Hardin county, Ky., a region known chiefly through having been the birthplace of Abraham Lin- coln. At the opening of the war of 1812 this gallant young Kentuckian offered his services to his country and, while acting as a lieutenant-colonel, was sent with troops to open communication with the base of supplies at Raisin river. In the course of the journey he was attacked by an ambuscade at Ma- guaga, but after a brave fight of two hours he and his men routed the enemy, forcing them to flee to their boats. In that brief battle the Indians lost one hun- dred and the English about fifty, while the American loss was very small. Even greater honor came to General Miller at Lundy's Lane in 1814. This engagement, known also as the battle of Bridgewater or Niagara, was one of the hardest ever fought considering the number of the participants. When the crisis of the battle was at its height and the English guns seemed impregnable, Colonel Miller at the head of his regiment, in the midst of the greatest peril to themselves, shot down every man at the guns, rushed forward in the face of sharp fire and captured the guns. This turned the tide of victory and gave to the brave leader of the American troops a renown that is deathless.

The discovery of gold in California was the attraction that caused the Miller family to give up their home in Indiana and remove to the then un- known regions along the Pacific coast. Early in 1850 they joined an expedition that journeyed across the plains with ox-teams and wagons. At that time there were five children in the family, namely: Sarah, who later married William Gregory and is now living at Reno, Nev .; David and Nicholas, both now deceased ; Daniel Rice, who was born in Harrison county, Ind., August 3, 1843, and was less than seven at the time of leaving Indiana ; and John W.,

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now a resident of Napa county, this state. Two children were born after the family settled in California, namely : Isaac L., the present county clerk of Kern county, Cal. ; and Gilla Ann, wife of George F. Mack, who for many years was school superintendent of Amador county and at the present time is cashier of the bank at Ione, where he now resides.

About the 1st of September, 1850, the family arrived in Eldorado county. Besides engaging in gold mining at Coal Springs, that county, David Miller carried on a hotel. The boy, who was only seven at the time the family settled in the mining district, found much to interest him in the life of the camp and did not then realize his deprivation in a lack of any educational advan- tages. When his father took up a government homestead in 1854 he began to assist him in the difficult task of transforming a raw tract into a productive ranch. From an early age he has earned his own way in the world and at the age of twenty-one he left home to go to Nevada, where he engaged as clerk in a hotel at Washoe, City. After a year as hotel clerk he took a contract to cut saw-logs in the woods for the Virginia mines. Altogether he spent three years in Nevada and then returned to Coal Springs, where he engaged in merchandising. In the mean time his father died and he bought the old family home. Conditions had changed in the surrounding country. The era of gold excitement had passed and with it went the period of high prices. In the early days meals were $1 each, pork fifty cents per pound, pies $1 each and bread $1 per loaf, other things being in proportion. On the other hand, many of the miners made money easily and were willing to spend without stint. He recalls how, when employed by leading miners, he took out of the placer mines as much as $1,000 per day, with the assistance of only one helper.

The marriage of Mr. Miller in 1873 united him with Miss Mary Ellen Gard- ner, who was born in Eldorado county, Cal., in 1856, the daughter of George and Betsey Gardner, pioneers of 1852 in California, where her father for years engaged in business as a nurseryman. After his marriage Mr. Miller engaged in general farming, improved a tract of raw land, then sold the place and in 1879 came to Kern county. On the present site of the Southern hotel, Bakers- field, he conducted the French hotel, then the leading hostelry in the county, and which under the supervision of himself and wife retained its firm hold upon the good-will of the traveling public. After a year at the French, he bought the Central hotel at Sumner (later known as Kern, now East Bakersfield). Where that inn then stood now stands the Metropole hotel. After four years as proprietor of the Central he leased it and later sold out. For about six years he lived at Tulare. then spent two years at Fresno and from there returned to Bakersfield, where he kept a lodging house until the building was destroyed by fire. His next step was to buy a tract of ten acres south of Ba- kersfield and here he has since made his home, with the help of his capable wife improving the little property and greatly enhancing its attractions as well as its productiveness. As early as 1884 he located twenty-two hundred acres of oil land at Sunset, Kern county, but since then he has not been inter- ested in the oil industry Mr Miller is a Mason. His parents and family were Methodists. At the present time, although not a member of any denomination, he is in sympathy with the Episcopal Church, to which his wife belongs and with her he has contributed to its maintenance. While he has never aspired to office, he has been a stanch Democrat and has attended the greater number of the state conventions of the party, has kept posted concerning political issues and has enjoyed the acquaintance of many of the leading politicians of the state.

JOHN FRANCIS MAIO .- The death of John Francis Maio, which oc- curred May 10, 1912, in Bakersfield, from the effects of an injury received from being thrown to the ground while leading a mule to water, removed from

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the vicinity a citizen whose broad charities and gentle influence for good were deeply felt throughout the long period of his residence here. A man of strong personality, in temperament optimistic, he displayed a spirit and influence that proved a factor for good in all emergencies, and he was looked upon by all who knew him as a man whose kind sympathies and helping hand were ever at their disposal at the time of need and adversity. His genial disposition and cordial, courteous mannerisms drew to him a host of friends who have felt deeply the great loss of his companionship and strong influence for good among them.

Mr. Maio is a native son of the Golden state, having been born in San Francisco November 4, 1854. His father, Victor A. Maio, was born in France and during the gold excitement in 1849 came to the United States, making San Francisco his point of destination. He finally removed to Kern county, where the remainder of his life was spent. The son, John F., grew to young manhood in his native city, receiving thorough training in the public schools there and then entering Christian Brothers College in Iowa, from which latter institution he was graduated. Pharmacy had early attracted Mr. Maio as a desirable line to follow, he being led to this decision by his experience in a drug store in San Francisco, and he accordingly entered the College of Pharmacy there and received his pharmaceutical degree upon graduation. In Virginia City, Nev., he established a drug store and in its successful conduct continued until the year 1880, when disposing of it he came to Bakersfield and started a similar store on Nineteenth street, on the present site of the Gundlach shoe store, and here he remained for many years, administering faithfully to the wants of his many patrons, and becoming a prominent factor in the business world of the city.

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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 158

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