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 163

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 163

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Born in Youngstown, Ohio, February 12, 1876, G. F. Adams is a son of Peter Adams, a lifelong resident of Mahoning county, Ohio, and a grandson of Hilgarde Adams, who about the year 1832 left his native land of Germany to identify his fortunes with those of the new world. It was he who established the family in Ohio and he followed agricultural pursuits, as did also his son, Peter. The latter was the father of ten children, all of whom attained mature years and nine still survive. The only one taken from the family, Edward Adams, died in 1912 after a prosperous period of identification with the wheat-raising industry in Saskatchewan, Canada. Those still living are scattered throughout different parts of the United States. Two of the brothers are carpenters in Los Angeles.

At the age of sixteen years G. F. Adams became an apprentice to the trade of machinist in Youngstown, where he worked for four and one-half years in the American Tube and Iron Works. At the expiration of that time he became a machinist with the Smith Brewing Company and con- tinned in the employ of that organization for two and one-half years. Upon leaving Ohio he went to South Dakota and settled at Edgemont, Fall River county. As a machinist in the shops of the Burlington Railroad Company he remained for a number of years and from there during 1902 he came to California. In this state his first position was in the Bakersfield Iron Works, where he remained for four years. Removing to Coalinga in 1906, he en- gaged with the Bunting Iron Works and continued in various capacities with that concern for two years, his special work, however, being on the pumps. From Coalinga he came to Maricopa in 1908 and secured a position with the Sunset Monarch Oil Company, in whose employ he remains at the present time.

FRED ABELS .- One of the capable operators in the West Side oil field is the superintendent of the La Blanc Oil Company, who although young in years has been earning his own way in the world for a goodly number of years and has gained popularity and a record for efficiency in the oil business. Combined in his character are the sturdy attributes of Teutonic ancestors and the energy so essentially American. These qualities have aided him in his efforts to make good in the Kern county fields, where since March 25, 1911, he has been retained as superintendent with the Le Blanc Oil Company, an organization operating on section 6, 11-23, where two wells have been sunk that produce an average of one hundred and ten barrels per day.

The parents of Mr. Abels were Martin and Emma (Leursen) Abels, natives of Germany, but residents of Illinois from early life until about 1886, when they removed to the Ozark region of Missouri. At the opening of the Civil war the father enlisted as a private in the Thirteenth Illinois Infantry, accompanied his regiment to the front and remained for four years, receiving an honorable discharge at the expiration of the war. Later he was ap- pointed successively to several important government positions. On ac- count of the failure of his health he removed to Missouri and settled in Texas county, where he was greatly benefited by the pure air of the Ozarks. While still living in Illinois he had married Miss Leursen and all of their nine children were born in that state, namely: John, now a farmer in Texas county, Mo .; Henry, who holds a very responsible position as secretary of the Franklin Life Insurance Company at Springfield, Ill .; Martin, a printer

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employed in Oklahoma City; Gus, who is engaged in general farming near New Sharon, Iowa; Amelia, who died at the age of four years; Herman, an employe of the Franklin Life Insurance Company; Emma, who married Walter Jadwin, who is engaged in educational work at Houston, Mo., and also owns farm lands in the same locality; Fred, who was born in Spring- field, Ill., June 12, 1882, and at the age of four years accompanied the family to Missouri; and James, who is connected with the Franklin Life Insurance Company as an employe.

At the age of seventeen years, having previously completed the studies of the common schools in the Ozark region, Fred Abels began to earn his own livelihood. After working for twelve months in Arkansas he spent a number of years in Colorado and then made a brief sojourn in Oklahoma, whence he came to California, arriving in Bakersfield January 23, 1905. His first experience in the oil business was acquired in the Kern river field and for a time he worked on the Peerless under the superintendent, Angus Crites. The next year found him at Coalinga, but in three months he re- turned to Kern county and resumed work on the Peerless. Coming to Mari- copa April 3, 1907, he secured work as a roustabout, much of his time being devoted to the driving of a team. From that humble position he worked his way up until he engaged successively as tool-dresser and driller, and then, March 25, 1911, came to his present place as superintendent of the Le Blanc Oil Company. At Bakersfield, February 13, 1909, he married Miss Marie McIntosh, daughter of Daniel and Romana McIntosh, of Ramona, San Diego county, Cal. Mrs. Abels is a woman of gracious personality, repre- senting on her mother's side an old and honored Spanish family of Cali- fornia. Their union has been blessed by a daughter, Barbara Romana.

J. M. WHYTE .- Large executive ability and unusual powers of organi- zation have marked the identification of Mr. Whyte with the Panama Oil Company, in which he is a large stockholder and of whose lease in the Sunset field he acts as superintendent. The company's lease of sixty acres lies on section 30, 12-23, and contains two wells, one of which, drilled by Mr. Whyte from the surface down, has produced continuously excepting for one month, when extensive repairs had to be made by reason of the collapsing of the casing. The head offices of the company are in the H. W. Hellman building, Los Angeles, and its officers reside in that city, namely : J. B. Hedrick, president : C. F. Spelman, vice-president ; J. S. Wallace, sec- retary ; and A. M. Allison, treasurer.

Throughout early life Mr. Whyte was familiar with gold mining and his knowledge of that industry is thorough and covers many fields. Born in Kansas City, Mo., March 22, 1880, he was twenty-four years old when his . father died. Prior to that he and his three sisters accompanied their parents to Colorado, settling at Silver Cliff. where the elder Whyte engaged. in gold-mining and where he himself became familiar with such work. In the intervals of attendance at school he found employment in the mines and gained a comprehensive knowledge of the work. During 1903 he went to the Goldfield and Tonopah regions in Nevada, where he bought a number of gold mines and for a time prospered in the work. The mines were sold to excellent advantage and the money re-invested in other claims. Unfor- tunately he met with heavy losses during the panic of 1907 and while he was able to meet his obligations it left him without money, forcing him to begin anew. It was then that he came to Kern county and began to work as a roustabout in the North Midway field. In a short time he became an employe of the United Oil Company and by swift degrees worked up until he had charge of the production. Meanwhile he attracted the attention of C. F. Whittier. of the United Oil Company, who interested himself in the young man's advancement, having found him to be alert. wise, energetic and capable. During 1910 he became a stockholder in the

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Panama Oil Company and since then he has acted as superintendent of the company's lease, having charge both of the drilling and the production of the wells.

It is anticipated that the Panama will become one of the best producers in the field providing the strong underflowing current of water can be shut off effectually by means of cementing. Eight capable men are employed under the supervision of Mr. Whyte, who gives his entire time to the work and with his wife, whom he married in August of 1911 and who was Miss Josephine Omphalius, of Buffalo, N. Y., he makes his home on the lease in the Sunset field. While still living in Colorado he became connected with the Elks at Creede, but since coming to California his time has been given so closely to the oil industry that he has not been able to participate actively in fraternal affairs.

J. J. TEAGUE .- No slight responsibility devolves upon Mr. Teague in his position as foreman of the refinery of the Sunset Monarch Oil Company at Maricopa, the organization with which he has been associated for some years ranking among the largest and most important in the entire field. Skilled workmen are retained, none of whom, however, are more capable or conscientious than Mr. Teague, who with the aid of the twenty mnen work- ing under him manages the refinery with energy, discretion and excellent judgment. The cooper shops of the company are also under his immediate surervision. When running on heavy oils the refinery turns out fifty-five tons of asphalt of the Monarch brand. The output is less when running on light gravity oil. Aside from asphalt there are two other leading products, known as Monarch red engine distillate and Monarch pale oil distillate, both of which are shipped out in tank cars. Every equipment has been provided for the making of gasoline also, although the enterprise has not yet been made a feature of the business. Eight hundred barrels of crude oil are used each day, ample facilities for the same being provided by a storage tank with a capacity of twenty thousand barrels.

Born at Winston-Salem, Forsyth county, N. C., August 3, 1885, J. J. Teague was third among the nine children comprising the family of Charles N. and Sarah (Idol) Teague, natives of North Carolina, where the father has followed farming as a life occupation. The son was sent to the public schools when his help was not needed on the home farm. At the age of eighteen years he came to California and secured employment with the Cucamonga winery in San Bernardino county. For three years he con- tinued as an employe of the California Wine Association. Next he came to Kern county during 1906 and began to work with the Sunset Road Oil Company at Hazelton (Pioneer postoffice), where he remained for two and one-half years. A visit to his old home in North Carolina was followed by a return to California and a resumption of work in the oil fields. After two months with the Standard Oil Company at Taft, Kern county, he came to Maricopa and secured employment as stillman with the Sunset Monarch Oil Company. Later he was made yard foreman and in 1909 he was pro- moted to be superintendent of the refinery. While with the Sunset Road Oil Company he had learned the distilling of oil and this knowledge proved of the greatest benefit to him in later activities. Shortly after New Year's of 1912 he returned to North Carolina and there, February 4, he was united in marriage with Miss Magdaline Glascoe, a daughter of D. P. Glascoe, prominently known among the farmers of Davidson county, that state. The young couple came to California shortly after their marriage and have since established themselves in a comfortable cottage on the Monarch lease. They have a daughter, Millicent.

ALMANDO BANDETTINI .- When Mr. Bandettini started in business at Asphalto, now McKittrick, his was the first building and business: the only water obtainable was hauled in from Santa Mona spring, seven miles

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away, and cost Mr. Bandettini $8 per barrel. Such were the conditions in those carly days when Almando was mine host at the Old Headquarters and made many a heart glad with his cheer and optimism and the comforts of life. He was the first settler and business man in McKittrick and became well and favorably known among all the oil men.

Lucca, Italy, is the birthplace of Mr. Bandettini and September 21, 1867, the date of his birth. He is the son of Pasquale and Angelina (Ouilicé) Bandettini, who were farmers there. They now live in a beautiful house in the suburbs of Lucca, a place purchased for them by Almando on his visit there in 1911. at a cost of $6,000, and where he provides them with the comforts of life. They are now eighty-nine and eighty-four years old, re- spectively.

Of the seven children born to them the subject of this review is the third oldest and was brought up on the farm in Italy and was educated in the public schools there. Having heard and read much concerning Cali- fornia he became possessed of a keen desire to come to the Golden West. Having saved enough money to get to Chicago, in the spring of 1885 he started for that city, where a sister was living. Securing employment, he laid aside his wages and thus made his way to Kansas City and thence to Nevada, working mostly on railroads. In September, 1885, he arrived in Santa Barbara, where for four months he was employed on Santa Cruz Island, then at different points on the coast, ranching. In 18º2 he came to Kern county and entered the employ of Miller & Lux at the Old Headquar- ters, afterwards at Firebaugh. In 1898 he established the Old Headquarters Hotel at Asphalto, now McKittrick, and when the oil business began to develop he built shacks and put up tents, cared for the people and furnished them accommodations. He is well acquainted with the oil men of Kern county. In 1902, when the Southern Pacific started selling lots at their new station about a quarter of a mile below his first hotel he purchased eight lots and built the new Headquarters Hotel and liverv and feed stable and corral and continued doing a very successful business there until 1910, when he sold out.

During these years he has been considerably interested in oil develop- ment. Among other companies he and H. S. Williams sunk a well on section 18. in the McKittrick field, and at ten hundred and thirty feet struck oil, sub- sequently putting down four more wells and producing oil until they sold it. Mr. Bandettini still owns about two hundred acres of land in the McKittrick field and sees a big future for the oil business in California.

The marriage of Mr. Bandettini and Marguerite Arrighi was celebrated in San Francisco April 20, 1903. Mrs. Bandettini was born in Lucca, Italy, and came with her parents when four years old to San Francisco, where she received her education in Presentation convent school. They are the parents of two children, Hazel and Edith. In 1900 Mr. Bandettini made his first trip to the old home in Italy and in 1911 with his wife and children he made the second trip, spending about seven months, and during this time purchased and improved the comfortable home for his parents, where they are spending their declining years in comfort, quiet and peace. Politically he is a staunch and ardent Republican.

EDGAR E. SHERWOOD .- One of the best known breeders of fine liorses in Kern county is Edgar E. Sherwood, of McFarland. Mr. Sherwood was born in Shelburn, Sullivan county, Ind., May 3. 1869, and was educated in Indiana public schools and at the University of Indiana at Vincennes. Living with his parents, he worked on ranches near his boyhood home until 1897, when he came to California and entered the employment of A. B. Chap- man in Los Angeles county. For six months he had charge of the dairy, then began his connection with the orange industry. He was eventually advanced to the position of superintendent of the Chapman place, in which capacity he

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served twelve years, having complete charge of the ranch as well as packing and shipping of oranges. During this time he had purchased five acres of land in Pasadena. During these years he filled the offices of deputy sheriff and deputy constable. Some time later he sold his property in Pasadena and in 1907 bought four hundred acres at McFarland, Kern county, two years later locating on it. This land was the old Benson place, two hundred and forty acres of which were then under cultivation, and his purchase included water rights. Since purchasing the land he has sunk deep wells and put in a pump- ing plant with a capacity of one hundred and twenty-five inclies. The cultiva- tion of alfalfa occupied his attention. for a time, then he became interested in the breeding of Holstein cattle, Poland China hogs and German Coach horses. While in Southern California he had begun raising standard horses and im- ported a stallion, "Lubins Kanitz," already a prize winner in Germany, which has since won important awards in America, notably in Kansas, at Des Moines, Iowa, and at the international fair held at Chicago. He breeds par- ticularly draft horses and is a member of the McFarland Horse Breeders Company who own "Helot," an imported Percheron stallion, Mr. Sherwood serving as secretary and manager of the company. Some horses he has raised have brought as much as $4,000 each, among them the noted "Bessie Barnes," and he is at this time the owner of some of the finest stock in Kern county, among them "Cresindo B," a full brother to "Capa de Ora" whose record is 1.59.

Mr. Sherwood was one of the organizers of the McFarland Co-operative Creamery Company, in which he is a stockholder and director, and he has from time to time been identified with other important interests. As a citizen he is influential in public affairs and he is ably filling the offices of trustee of schools and deputy constable at McFarland.

Mr. Sherwood was married near Lawrenceville, Lawrence county, Ill., March 31, 1889, to Miss Florence E. Newell, a native of that county, where she was graduated from the Lawrenceville high school. They have three children : Adley, who is farming the old place at McFarland; Harvey and Carrie, still at home. Fraternally the father affiliates with the Woodmen of the World and was made a Mason in Delano Lodge, No. 309, F. & A. M. With his wife he is a member of the Eastern Star, and she is a member of the Women of Woodcraft. Mr. Sherwood was one of the organizers and is a direc- tor in the First National Bank of McFarland.

PETER DORAN .- Born in County Down, Ireland, in 1857, until he was fifteen years old Peter Doran attended the public schools near the home of his childhood. Well grounded in the principles underlying good citizenship and instructed in useful labor, he was fairly well fitted to undertake the responsibilities of life in a new land, and when he came to the United States in 1882 he located in the vicinity of Delano, Cal. At that time the country was new and undeveloped and there was not a house within ten miles of the present town. After following general farming for four years, in 1889 he bought sheep and started in business for himself as a sheep-raiser. Later he sold his stock and engaged in the sale of lumber, feed and fuel at Delano, which was by that time a thriving village, and his was the first lumber yard in the place. Since selling the business to the proprietor of the Union Lumber yard he has been variously engaged : At one time draying and teaming com- manded his energies; he was interested in an ice plant; he owned a saloon and soda fountain; and is now the proprietor of the Pioneer feed and fuel yard, which is located on the site formerly occupied by his lumber yard. At one time he owned the land upon which the bank of Delano is now located, and he is regarded as one of the largest property owners in his home town. As a citizen he has been public-spiritedly helpful to every promising local interest. energetically doing everything possible for the upbuilding of the town. In

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1891 and in 1892 he filled the office of constable. Fraternally he affiliates with the Knights of Columbus.

PHILIP M. DAVIS .- When scarcely old enough to understand the work done in the machine shop of his father, he enjoyed no greater pleasure than that of watching the men at work. To him the repairing of broken machinery, the putting together of different parts, scemed a far more interesting process than that of attempting to memorize dry facts in the text-books of the schools. His father, Philip Davis, carried on a machine shop in Foxburg, Pa., and taught the lad to develop his natural ability, so that at the expiration of an ap- prenticeship he had a thorough comprehension of the trade of mechanic. Throughout early life he made his home in Pennsylvania, where he was born at Parker's Landing, Armstrong county, June 24, 1874, and where he received a grammar-school education. The quiet round of attendance at school and work in the shop filled the days of youth.

Upon leaving the east Mr. Davis first went to Arizona and spent two years at Winslow as a mechanic in the Santa Fe shops. From that place he re- moved to Tucson, in the same state, where he remained for seven years as a mechanic in the Southern Pacific machine shops. During 1907 he came to California for the purpose of entering the Southern Pacific railroad shops at Bakersfield and there he continued for several years. Meanwhile he had studied the field and had become convinced that Taft offered an excellent opening for a machine shop. Accordingly he formed a partnership with an acquaintance under the firm name of Davis & Elliott and in 1911 built a machine shop in South Taft. During May of 1912 he bought out the interest of his partner, since which time he has been the sole owner and with the assistance of three skilled mechanics carries on his business in a shop well equipped with modern machinery. In the oil fields he is known as a skilled mechanic, accurate in workmanship, prompt in the filling of orders and de- pendable for efficiency in every contract. Before leaving Pennsylvania he was made a Mason in a blue lodge in Pittsburg and later he was raised to the chapter and Knights Templar degrees in Arizona, where also he became identi- fied with the Shriners of Phoenix. When he came to California he was accom- panied by Mrs. Davis, formerly Miss Angie Hutchinson, of Kane, Pa., and they have established a comfortable home in Taft, where they have a large circle of warm personal friends.

JOSEPH W. OVERALL .- Prior to the beginning of the Civil war his sympathies had been aroused in behalf of the slaves, this feeling on his part being an inherited opinion from his mother, Louisana (Duvall) Overall, a descendant of French ancestry and of Revolutionary stock. On the other hand the father, George Washington Overall, was a slaveholder and in sym- pathy with the stand taken by the southern states, although he adhered to the policy favored by Henry Clay that Kentucky should establish gradual emancipation, that California should be admitted without stipulations con- cerning slavery and that territorial governments should not be restricted by any obligations in that regard. The Overall family came from England during the colonial era and settled in Virginia, where they migrated across the moun- tains into Kentucky and became contemporaries of Daniel Boone in the original upbuilding of the Blue Grass state.

There were six children in the family of George Washington and Louis- ana (Duvall) Overall, namely : James B., who served in the Union army under Colonel Pennybaker as a member of the Twenty-seventh Kentucky Infantry ; Joseph W .; Gabriel P., now living in Phoenix, Ariz. ; Annie, who died at the age of sixteen years : Melinda E., who married Frank C. Parepoint, of Hardin county, Ky .; and Susan C., Mrs. Columbus Clark, who settled near Canton, Mo. After the mother of these children had passed away, the father was again married and by the second union he became the parent of three chil- 66

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dren. Born near Bardstown, Nelson county. Ky., March 20, 1844, Joseph W. Overall passed the years of boyhood in his native locality and had very meager educational opportunities. In February of 1863, when a little less than nineteen years of age, he enlisted at Louisville, Ky., in Company I of the Eleventh Kentucky Cavalry for three years or during the war. His command was known at Welford's cavalry and he served successively under Colonels Reiley, Graham, Holman and Major Boyle. Following the siege of Knox- ville, in which he served under Gen. A. E. Burnside, he was placed under George H. Stoneman in the celebrated Stoneman's cavalry under General Sherman and took part in the famous march through Georgia to Atlanta as a member of the First Brigade, First Division, Twenty-third Army Corps, com- manded by General Scofield. While the army was stationed near Kingston, Ga., in 1864 Mr. Overall was commissioned sergeant-major and served as such during the return from Atlanta to Louisville. From the latter city a start was made for West Virginia, where an assault was begun upon the Kings salt works, but the Union men, repulsed with severe loss, retreated to Louisville via Lexington. Later under Stoneman another attack was made on the salt works and this raid proved successful, for the plant was captured and destroyed by the Union forces. Following the later return to Louisville the young soldier was confined to a hospital through illness and after he had recovered and rejoined the regiment he aided in a raid through North Caro- lina and Tennessee during April and May of 1865. His last service consisted in the auditing of officers' accounts and in October, 1865, he received an hon- orable discharge at Louisville.

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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 163

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