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 164

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 164

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

The war ended, Sergeant-Major Overall took up any work that offered an honest livelihood and for some time he was employed at the trade of a carpenter. From Kentucky he went to Kansas during the spring of 1868 and settled in Leavenworth, where he worked as a carpenter. Afterward he took up a government soldiers' homestead in Harvey county, Kans., and this he proved up on during 1873, after which he continued to cultivate the land and make it his home until the fall of 1889. Selling out at that time he went to Seattle, Wash., and from there in February, 1890, came to California, arriving in Bakersfield on the 30th of May. Since establishing a home in this section he has made many friends. He has never married and at this writing is keeping "bachelor's hall" on his farm of ten acres on Union avenue near Bakersfield, where he raises alfalfa and poultry. Since casting his first vote for Abraham Lincoln he has never failed to support the candidates of the Republican party and is stanch in his allegiance to party principles. Fraternally a master Ma- son, he belongs to the Veteran Masonic Association. For years he has been identified with the Grand Army of the Republic and is now a member of Hurl- burt Post at Bakersfield.

MARCUS B. THOMAS became a resident of California in 1890, when he located at Traver, Tulare county. Unfortunately, on account of the condition of the soil, the agricultural and dairy industries did not thrive and he removed to Sanger, where for two years he was employed in a warehouse. Then for fourteen years he was in the Sanger box factory, his work being principally around the engine, thus acquiring the knowledge of stationary engineering. He then located in San Francisco, where he followed the trade in which he had become proficient, and while thus engaged he also became interested in and was proprictor of a hotel on Folsom street. At the time of the earth- quake and fire he was burned out, which caused the loss of all he had. He then entered the employ of the Santa Fe railroad as engineer of the pumping plant at San Pablo, afterwards holding the same position at Richmond, Angiola and Ellensworth. In 1906 he came to Wasco for the company and since then has had charge of this pumping plant.

Mr. Thomas was born in Fostoria, Ohio, November 5, 1850, and when two

1513

HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY

years of age removed with his parents to Hudson, La Port county, Ind., where he was reared on the farm and received his education in the local schools. After he reached his majority he engaged in farming his father's place until 1890, when he came to California, which has since been the field of his endeavors. He was married in Indiana to Miss Ella Barnes, whose death occurred in Sanger. Of their union were born two children : Nellie, Mrs. Dyer, of Soledad and Berna O., foreman of Madera's box factory in Fresno. Fra- ternally Mr. Thomas affiliates with the Knights of Pythias, while in national politics he is a Republican.

LEROY ALFRED DENNEN .- Born in Pottawatomie county, Kans., January 14, 1883, a son of C. L. and Mary (Davis) Dennen, when he was quite young Leroy Alfred Dennen of Bakersfield was brought to Kern county by his parents. He was educated in the public schools of Bakersfield, graduating from the Kern county high school in 1904, and worked for his father until he was twenty-three years old. On March 4, 1905, he married Arta May Web- ster, who was born August 19, 1888, in Henry county, Mo., and who has borne him a son, Kenneth. He is the owner of seventy acres of alfalfa and grain land and is giving successful attention to general farming.

In Oxford county, Me., C. L. Dennen was born March 7, 1857. In that same year his parents settled in Brown county, Kans., and when he was four- teen years old, in 1871, they moved to Pottawatomie county, that state. In 1876 he married Miss Mary Davis, of the same county, a daughter of pioneers who came from Iowa. George B. Davis, her father, died about thirty years ago and her mother, who was Miss Catherine Taylor, lives at Santa Ana, Cal. After his marriage Mr. Dennen rented a farm three years and then became the owner of one which he operated until 1886, when he came to Cali- fornia with his wife and five children, with a capital of only $400, arriving in Bakersfield in December. He homesteaded one hundred and sixty acres of land and with B. F. Stoner as a partner engaged in the livery business at Bakersfield for some time. In due time he proved up on his land and he owns one-half of it at this time. He rented land and afterwards bought acreage from the Kern County Land Company. His first purchase was twenty acres at $1200 on which he was able to make a payment of only $10. He now owns two hundred and sixty acres in one tract and eighty in another and a fine residence at No. 1227 G street, Bakersfield, where he is now living retired from active life, his ranch being in the hands of his son-in-law, F. W. Silver.

The following are the eight children of C. L. and Mary (Davis) Dennen : Josephine is the wife of James Hosking, living in Union avenue, Bakersfield; Charles Richard, a bookkeeper for A. F. Stoner, Bakersfield, married Libbie Hansen, from Placer county ; George Berry married Etta Webster of Bakers- field ; Leroy Alfred is mentioned above ; Millie L. is the wife of F. W. Silver; Lewis W. was graduated from the Kern County High School in 1910 and is bookkeeper for the Union Oil Company-he married Lucile Sanders; Mary Myrtle is a graduate of the Kern County High School class of 1912 ; Vernon V. is at home. L. W. Dennen, father of C. L. Dennen, enlisted in the First Regi- ment, Kansas Infantry, and served three years and a half in the Union army. Clara B. Andrews, who became his wife, was born in Oxford county, Me., a daughter of Capt. John Andrews.

PHARES HARRY SHANNON .- The history of the Shannon family in America goes back to early Canadian colonization. Phares H. Shannon, Sr., a Canadian by birth and parentage, became a pioneer of Michigan and worked as a pattern-maker in Detroit up to the time of the Civil war. Throughout the entire period of that struggle he served as a member of a Michigan regiment of engineers and after receiving an honorable discharge he moved from Detroit to Grand Rapids, where he followed his trade. Later he and his wife, who was Frances Godfrey, a native of Flint, Mich., established a home at Ovid,

1514

HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY

Clinton county, Mich., and there a son. Phares Harry, was born September 26, 1879. The opening up of vast timber tracts further north in Michigan attracted the attention of the father, who decided to take up a homestead. With that purpose in view he went to Kalkaska county and secured a timber claim, which he cleared of trees and stumps and placed under cultivation. There his death occurred in 1910, when he was seventy-five years of age and there his widow is still making her home. The farm is now owned by their two youngest sons. William and Lewis. The eldest son, Charles, is living at Lynchburg, Va., and the second son, Fred, died at the age of twenty years.

The rigorous climate and the hardships of pioneering in Michigan did not appeal to Phares H. Shannon and after spending two years at Kexton, in the northern peninsula (from 1902), where he was in the employ of a large con- tracting firm, he came to California. Arriving in Visalia, in May of 1904, in the fall of the same year he came to Bakersfield, where since July of 1907 he has been an employe of the Kern County Land Company on Kern island. The following year he was promoted to be foreman of the ranch, a position he has since filled. Politically he votes the Democratic ticket, and fraternally he holds membership with Kern Lodge No. 202, I. O. O. F., and is also a member of the encampment and the local lodge of Rebekahs.

W. S. SEYMOUR, contractor and builder, with main office at Taft, is well known throughout Kern county. Although engaged in business here for only a brief period, Mr. Seymour has established a reputation for trust- worthy work; to his credit also there is a long record for successful work in many parts of the country, where he had practical experience in the erection of large schoolhouses, substantial government buildings, court-houses and other structures.

An early thorough experience in carpentering came to Mr. Seymour un- der the wise training of his father, whose skill is in evidence in a large num- ber of houses and bridges at Great Barrington, Mass. That city was the native place and early home of W. S. Seymour, whose birth occurred May 25, 1861, and whose education was gained largely in the great school of experience and hard work. As soon as old enough to use tools he was taught the prin- ciples of carpentering. After he had worked in many buildings in his native commonwealth, in 1887 he left home to follow his trade in other states. From that time until he came to Bakersfield in January, 1909, he visited many states, worked in almost every part of the country, and became a thorough master of his trade through holding important positions in the construction of large public buildings. For three years after his arrival in Bakersfield he engaged as construction foreman with C. B. Brown. During 1910-11 he had charge of the construction of the substantial Conley grammar-school building at Taft, a structure erected at a cost of $50,000 and containing every equipment known to the educational world of the present day. . The school building at Fellows was also erected under his personal supervision. The Brundage school has been erected by him and in addition he had the contract for the erection of a grammar-school building in Taft, a brick structure, completed at a cost of $25.000 and opened for the fall term of school in 1913. Among the other build- ings to the credit of Mr. Seymour may be mentioned the Murphy apart- ments on Nineteenth street, Bakersfield. Others might be listed, but these are sufficient to indicate the importance of his contracts and his ability as a builder. Outside of building circles, as within, he has a host of warm personal friends, for he is genial in temperament, energetic in action and kindly in disposition. Fraternally he belongs to the Loyal Order of Moose.

JOHN WILTON .- The steadfast, reliable temperament that forms one of the principal characteristics of John Wilton has been evidenced in his long identification with the Kern County Land Company, of which he has been a trusted employe for many years and in whose interests he has labored with

1515

HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY

the same conscientious devotion and unwearied fidelity he would have given to his own affairs. His Anglo-Saxon ancestry is apparent in his dignity of manner, breadth of character and the care with which he discharges all duties connected with the position of time-keeper of the Kern Island Irrigation Canal Company. Since coming to Kern county he has bought property and built a residence at No. 2024 Twentieth street, where with his family he has a comfortable home convenient in appointments and modern in equipment.

The Wilton family comes from the south of England. John C. and Ann (Hoskin) Wilton were natives respectively of the shires of Cornwall and Devon and for many years have made their home upon a farm at Buck- fastleigh, where the former, although seventy years of age, is still active in the management of his interests. There were six children in the family and the eldest, John, the only one of the six to come to America, was born near Plymouth, Devonshire, England, January 17, 1864. After he had completed his schooling he worked as a farmer and became a foreman in agriculture, con- tinuing as such until he came to America. Meanwhile he had married in Cornwall, his wife being Miss Mary Hoskings, a native of St. Uny, Lelant, Cornwall. One of her brothers, James Hoskings, had come to California and was living in Kern county, and this fact induced the young couple to try their fortune in the new world. March 15, 1890, they sailed from Liverpool on the Atruria, which cast anchor in New York at the end of a pleasant voyage.

Crossing the continent they proceeded to Bakersfield and settled perma- nently in Kern county, where for seven years Mr. Wilton worked on the farm owned by his brother-in-law on Union avenue. At the expiration of the seven years he became a zanjero on the system of the Kern County Land Company, continuing as such for twelve years, when he was promoted, in March of 1908. to be time-keeper of the Kern island canal. The details of irrigation are familiar to him and he thoroughly understands all of the work connected with his department. While giving his time and attention closely to the duties of the position, he does not neglect his duty as a citizen, but aims to keen posted concerning all movements for the welfare of city and county. In politics he votes with the Democratic party. His membership was formerly in the Church of England and after coming to the United States he and his wife identified themselves with the Episcopal Church. Their family consisted of three children, two now living, John Henry and Frederick George. The only daughter, Blanche H., died when five months old. Mr. Wilton holds member- ship with Bakersfield Lodge No. 202, I. O. O. F., and the Independent Order of Foresters.

GERARD C. La MARSNA .- The name of La Marsna indicates French extraction and we find that the family for generations lived in France and became established in Canada during the period of immigration from their country to the new provinces of America. James Jeffrey La Marsna, who was of Canadian birth, grew to manhood in Michigan and at the opening of the Civil war offered his services to the Union, was accepted and sent to the front, where he served as aide-de-camp to his general. During a fierce fight in the Cumberland mountains he was wounded by a shot from the enemy and lost his left leg, which greatly incapacitated him in his subsequent efforts to earn a livelihood. Finally the government appointed him as a deposition agent in the pension department. About 1888 he came to California and settled on a ranch in Tulare county, where he engaged in the raising of grain and stock with more or less success. His death occurred on the ranch in 1907. Surviving him is his widow, who was Maria Clough, a native of Massachusetts and now a resident of Tulare.

The parental family comprised eleven children, but only four of these attained maturity and these four still survive. The youngest son in the family. Gerard Chastleline La Marsna, was born at Onaga, Pottawatomie county.

1516

HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY

Kan., October 14, 1880, and was two years of age at the time of the removal of the family to Washington, D. C. In 1885 another removal was made, the family going to Irenton, Lawrence county, Ohio, whence they came to Cali- fornia three years later. On the 31st of January, 1888, they arrived at Tulare and shortly afterward settled on a ranch near Woodville in the same county. The eight-year old boy saw much to interest him in the west and soon became familiar with conditions as they then 'existed in Tulare county, where he received a public-school education. He can scarcely recall when he first began to help his father. From an early age he was taught to be self-reliant and helpful. Much of his work was the driving of a mule-team, but he aided in other ways on the home ranch and on other farms.

At the age of about nineteen years Mr. La Marsna began at the bottom in the employ of the Mount Whitney Power Company, his first work being in the construction department. For almost ten years he continued with the same company and at the time of his resignation he was serving as district superin- tendent of the Exeter division. During July of 1900 he came to Bakersfield as an electrician, to enter the employ of the Power Transit and Light Company, now absorbed by the San Joaquin Light and Power Corporation, and with these two concerns he has continued up to the present time, having since February 10, 1910, filled the position of city foreman of construction and has given his time closely to his duties. He holds membership with the Woodmen of the World. At Porterville, this state, January 8, 1905, he was united in marriage with Miss Nellie A. Gibson, by whom he has two children, Fred Gibson and Anna Pauline. Mrs. La Marsna was born in Lamar, Barton county, Mo., and is a daughter of Benjamin Workman and Sarah (Billings) Gibson, for many years farmers of Missouri, but eventually residents of California where Mr. Gibson died at Porterville and where his widow continues to make her home.

A. B. ECHOLS .- Following the trend of migration toward the west, A. P. Echols, a native of Georgia, established himself in Texas and earned a livelilicod as a carpenter, but before he had been able to lay aside any consid- erable sum for the support of his family he was taken from their midst by death, leaving the little children without means for their education and up- bringing. Of the three children the second, A. B., was born in Corsicana, Tex., March 7. 1887, and was only five years of age at the passing of his father in 1892. The mother, who bore the maiden name of Caroline Pettigrew and who was a native of Missouri, took the family to Oklahoma in 1904 and is now making her home with one of her daughters at Tulsa.

Between the years of seventeen and twenty-one A. B. Echols served an apprenticeship to the machinist's trade with the American Well and Pros- pecting Company in Oklahoma. At the beginning he was paid $1 per day. The wages were gradually increased until finally he received $3.75 per day. After leaving the employ of the Oklahoma concern he came to California in 1908 and settled at Coalinga, where he engaged with the Bunting iron works. There, as in his former position, he soon proved the value of his work. Leaving Coalinga for Taft in 1912, he has since been connected with the General Petroleum Company and now fills the responsible position of foreman of the machine shon. His comfortable home in Taft is presided over by Mrs. Echols. who prior to their marriage at Fort Smith, Ark., was Miss Hilda Barry. During the period of his residence at Coalinga he was made a Mason in the blue lodge at that point and in addition he identified himself with the Scottish Rite Consistory at Fresno.

GEORGE DAVIS .- Many of California's most skilled drillers and most successful superintendents come from Pennsylvania and that is likewise the native commonwealth of the young and energetic foreman of the Reward Oil Company, operating a lease on section 26, 31-22. Bradford is his old home town and July 26, 1882, the date of his birth. As a boy he became familiar with

1517

HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY

the enormous development of the Bradford oil fields. He witnessed the excite- ment incident to the striking of new wells and felt a personal pride in the con- stant increase in production which was the record made by that district in the period of its nascent growth. Sharing the general interest concerning the business, he also shared its toil, privations and hardships, and learned every phase of its occupative duties. When he came from Pennsylvania to Cali- fornia in 1904 he sought the Kern river field, then one of the greatest fields in the entire country. For five years he worked on various leases and in various capacities. With the early development of the Midway he came to Moron, now known as Taft. For six months he worked as a driller on the Mascot lease and then went into the service of the Operators Oil Company at McKittrick.

To take up the work of driller Mr. Davis came to the North Midway in 1910 and the following year he was made foreman of the Reward, formerly the Result Oil Company, which now has connection with the Reward at Mc- Kittrick. Drilling was first started on the lease in April, 1910, so that he has been connected with the work from the very cutset, and it is a source of pride to him that there has been a constant and profitable development and that there are now two productive wells, flowing one hundred and seventy barrels every twenty-four hours and producing oil of 19.4 gravity. As foreman Mr. Davis is expeditious, energetic and justly popular. Fraternally he is iden- tified with the Aerie of Eagles at Bakersfield. His marriage in Los Angeles united him with Miss Emma Lufkon, of Los Angeles, and they now have a comfortable home on section 26, on the company's lease.

RICHARD A. JOHNSON .- In the Sunset and Midway fields there are few operators more popular or more experienced than the pioneer driller, "Dick" Johnson, superintendent of the Security Development Company, oper- ating thirty-five acres on section 15, 31-22. Strangers are always impressed by the stature of Mr. Johnson, who measures six feet and three inches in height. and whose massive frame and stalwart physique are supplemented by mental attributes equally unusual. Other members of his family exhibit the same splendid physique and almost gigantic stature. An older brother, Albert H., who is engaged in the cattle business and makes his home a: Iron Point, Nev., whose remarkable height of seven feet makes him a man of commanding presence. The youngest brother, Charles L., who is now connected as driller with the San Francisco Midway Oil Company in the Midway field, weighs three hundred pounds and is six feet and six inches in height.

The parental family comprised six children. The eldest of these, Samuel A. Johnson, is a well-known and wealthy oil operator residing in Bakersfield. The second, Albert H., has been alluded to above. The third, Mary, is the wife of C. P. Dorn, of Hollister. The fourth, Richard A., was born in Santa Cruz county, Cal., November 4, 1871, grew to manhood in Monterey county, and was the first of the family to embark in the oil business. The fifth, Ella, married Dr. E. K. Peters, of Fresno, and the youngest, Charles L., is in the Midway field, as previously mentioned. The father, Alden S. Johnson, a pioneer of 1849, crossed the plains with wagon and ox-teams, and settled eventually at Grass Valley, where he married Mrs. E. H. Whiting, whose maiden name was Miss Clara Swain. She was a daughter of Dr. H. P. Swain. a prominent pioneer dentist at that place. Her death occurred about twenty-five years ago, while that of Mr. Johnson occurred in 1906. Throughout the greater part of their married life they had lived on a ranch. In addition to the members of the family named there is a half-brother, E. H. Whiting, now engaged in farming at Turlock, Stanislaus county.

Since 1893, when he entered the oil business at Coalinga, Mr. Johnson has continued steadily in the same occupation and has risen from roustabout to superintendent. While with the Petroleum Center Oil Company he learned to be a tool-dresser. After remaining with the company for six months he

1518

HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY

entered the employ of Hendrickson & Snyder, oil-well drilling contractors, with whom he continued for two years, meanwhile learning to be a driller. From Coalinga he drifted to Bakersfield and the Kern river field. About 1899 he came to the Sunset field to work as a driller. At that time there were only three strings of tools running in all this great oil district. A later experience as a driller took him to the oil fields at Evanston, Wyo., where he was em- ployed for one year. On his return to California he worked successively in the Sunset and Coalinga fields.

With a desire to see something of Mexico Mr. Johnson entered into a con- tract to drill in the state of Tabasco for the English firm of S. Pierson & Son, and during the year in that connection he prospered financially but lost his health on account of climatic and unsanitary conditions, so returned to Cali- fornia, where he soon regained his customary strength. In the North Midway field he became an employe of the Fox Oil Company. which owned one hundred and sixty acres of oil land. Subsequently forty acres of the quarter section were sold to the M. & M. Oil Company, and eighty-five acres were leased to two other concerns in equal parts, so that the original owners had but thirty-five acres left and this is now being operated under the title of the Security Development Company, with Mr. Johnson as superintendent. There are four wells on the lease and the aver- age production runs from five thousand to six thousand barrels per month. Fraternally Mr. Johnson holds membership with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and with Bakersfield Aerie of Eagles No. 93. With his wife, whom he married in 1910 and who was Miss Lynda Ward, of Missouri, he makes his home on the company's property on section 15. Of recent years he has acquired some interests in oil lands in the Lost Hills, while in addition he owns city real estate at Oakland.

VERNE L. ADAMS .- The Globe division of the General Petroleum is operated under the efficient supervision of Mr. Adams, who while one of the youngest is also regarded as one of the most dependable superintendents in the Midway field. Eighty acres, located on section 15, township 31, range 22. comprise the holdings of the said Globe Division whose twenty-four producing wells average seventy-five thousand barrels per month.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

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 164

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