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 28

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 28

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12, range 23. At that time the lease had one well, a gusher. Since then he has helped to bring in five wells on the lease, the last one, Maricopa Queen No. 7, brought in March 1. 1913, being a gusher yielding two thousand barrels per day of oil of twenty-five degrees gravity. The entire production from the lease averages about seventy thousand barrels per month, an almost phenom- enal record and one indicative of the value of the properties. The superin- tendent understands the business in every detail and has proved thoroughly competent to handle the many vexatious problems presenting themselves for daily consideration and solution.

HARRY ROSCOE LUFKIN .- The day of the office boy who enters a business establishment and soon works his way to a place of high responsi- bility is well nigh past. It may not be impossible for such a thing to occur under present conditions, but the likelihood of its occurring in the case of any specific office boy is very slight. To meet the strenuous economic condi- tions now existing young men and young women must be equipped with a business training thoroughly up-to-date, such as may be obtained at the Bakersfield Business college, of which Harry Roscoe Lufkin was the founder and of which he is the proprietor and manager.

It was at Walnut Grove. Sacramento county. Cal., that Professor Lufkin was born June 3, 1880, a son of H. T. and Louisa J. (Wise) Lufkin. His father was born at Freeport, Cal., a son of David T. Lufkin, a native of Maine. who came to California in the early '50s and died in the East while absent from home on a business trip. Grandfather Lufkin farmed and mined in the Sacramento valley and was one of the early horticulturists in the vicinity of Freeport. His son, H. T. Lufkin, was in his early life a teacher and later a general merchant at Walnut Grove. Still later he engaged in horticulture on the old Lufkin homestead at Freeport, where he died in 1899. Louisa J. Wise, whom he married, was born at Walnut Grove, a daughter of Joseph Wise, a native of Missouri, who came across the plains with an ox-team train locat- ing in 1852 on a ranch at Walnut Grove, where he has prospered and where he is still living at the advanced age of eighty-four years. Mrs. Lufkin, who died at Freeport, bore her husband three children, of whom Harry Roscoe was the eldest. He lived at Walnut Grove until he was sixteen years old, attending public schools, then his activities were transferred for a time to Freeport. After having acquired a normal school education, he became a student at the Atkinson Business College in Sacramento, where he was graduated May 5, 1902. He found employment as a bookkeeper in a commercial house in that city, but after five months was sent for by Professor Atkinson and offered a position as teacher in the commercial department of the Atkinson Business College, where he was in charge of actual business instruction for more than four years. He then went to Reno, Nev., to take the management of the Atkinson Business College in that city. After a year and a half he went back to Sacramento with a commercial house there, but at the solicitation of Pro- fessor Atkinson again took charge of the commercial department of the Atkin- son Business College in Sacramento. In 1907 he gave up his position there and came to Bakersfield and in September of that year opened the Bakersfield Business College in the Galtes building, where he conducted it until in Septem- ber, 1910. It having outgrown its quarters he removed it to its present loca- tion at No. 2020 I street. The institution was a success almost from the start. Beginning with five students it had twenty-three before thirty days had passed and has been growing ever since. This popular school is conducted on strict business lines and its rooms are especially arranged, well lighted and ventil- ated, and no expense has been spared to afford to the student every possible convenience. The work of imparting a business education is as systematic as if the institution were a real financial, commercial or industrial concern. In the stenographic department students work exactly as they would work in a business office and are instructed how to conduct themselves in a real office

Andrew Borrow

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position. Shorthand, bookkeeping, typewriting and commercial law are taught and a high grade of scholarship is maintained. Graduates, now filling posi- tions in commercial and manufacturing, railroad, real estate and law offices are giving satisfaction and working their way to high places in the business world.

In politics Mr. Lufkin is a Republican. He was made a Mason in Bakers- field Lodge No. 224, F. & A. M. He was married at Reno, Nev., to Miss Myrtle G. Reel, a native of Oregon, and they have a son, Harry Roscoe Lufkin, Jr.

ANDREW BROWN-A summary of the splendid life of the late An- drew Brown would be indeed lacking were the mention of his influence and close associations in Kern county omitted, for to him not less than to any other individual who has lived in that vicinity is due the advancement and improvement of commercial conditions in the county. A self-made man in the best sense of the word, upon coming to Kern county he lent his aid toward its progress, his keen foresight, wonderful business acumen and strict honesty early winning for him respect and esteem from all with whom he had dealings. The son of Samuel Brown, a merchant and farmer in Fal- carragh, County Donegal, Ireland, it was in that place that Andrew was born September 15. 1829. Fortune brought him when a youth to Philadel- phia, Pa., whence in 1852 he sailed around Cape Horn and landed in San Francisco. Like many of the early pioneers he rushed to the mines, but not finding the Eldorado dreamed of he began the mercantile business and conducted a store in Mariposa county. Later he became a farmer and stockman in Tulare county, but soon afterward made his way to Kernville to enter the employ of Judge Joseph W. Sumner, who later became his father-in-law, and had charge of operating the quartz mill of the latter. Purchasing the store in Kernville, which later assumed such large propor- tions, he successfully conducted it, and later seeing an opportunity opened to him whereby he could purchase the store and ranch at Weldon on the South Fork he became owner of them, continuing the mercantile business at Weldon in connection with his store in Kernville. At the same time he began farming operations on his Weldon ranch. As business increased he bought other farms on the South Fork and became engaged extensively in raising cattle, horses, sheep and hogs. Large quantities of wheat were raised on his land, and to achieve the best marketing results he built a flour mill at Weldon, where the wheat was ground into flour and prepared for the local trade. This saved the long haul over the mountains to the railroad. He next built a sawmill, where he manufactured lumber from his lands, much of his lumber being used in the building throughout that section. By additional purchases Mr. Brown became the owner of thousands of acres of land, among which were several thousands of acres of valuable farm lands on the South Fork, which have been brought under irrigation by ditches from the river. Grain and alfalfa are raised in abundance. He also acquired large holdings at Pampa, which are now being developed with a pumping plant for irrigation, as the land lies in a thermal belt which bids fair to prove valuable citrus land.

In 1901 Mr. Brown incorporated the North and South Fork interests as the A. Brown Company, of which he was president until his death, Octo- ber 12, 1909, since which time Mrs. Brown has filled that position in the company. He also had large real estate interests in Los Angeles which are still owned by Mrs. Brown and their children. In 1904, after many long, useful years of active participation in business, Mr. Brown retired and moved to Los Angeles, where he made his home until he passed away, leaving the imprint of his energetic and persevering career in the many im- provements he had accomplished in the county. Truly he was a benefactor to Kern county, and he was known throughout the county as one of its most prominent upbuilders, his unselfishness, dauntless courage and never-

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failing will power proving a splendid example for the young men of today to emulate. In fraternal affiliations he was a Master Mason, while his religious tendencies were with the Episcopalians. A Protectionist and a Republican, he was ever stanch in his allegiance to party principles. For many years Mr. Brown was a director in the bank of Bakersfield.

The marriage of Mr. Brown to Miss Alice M. Sumner took place in Kernville June 18, 1873. She was born in Lubec, Me., the daughter of Judge Joseph W. Sumner, a native of Newburyport, Mass., and of old Colonial and Revolutionary stock. Judge Sumner was a merchant in Lubec, Me., for some time, in 1849, however, becoming excited over the gold discoveries and coming via Panama to San Francisco. He followed mining in different districts in California and even into British Columbia, and he was one of the early miners at Kernville, operating the Sumner mine and quartz mill until he bought his ranch on the North Fork. He spent his last days in Kernville, where he died in 1911, aged ninety-two years. Like so many of his comrades he had ever a deep interest in mining, which he retained to the last days of his existence. He served as justice of the peace for over thirty years and he was so well liked and esteemed in the community that there was not another person who held a higher place in their regard. His wife was Mary E. Dakin, a native of Digby, Nova Scotia. She passed away in Kernville two months after her husband's death, when she was eighty- five years old. They were the parents of three children, of whom Mrs. Brown was the youngest. Her girlhood was spent in Maine and in the schools of Saco she received her elementary education, later attending Saco Academy. Since her husband's death she has alternated her residence between Kernville and Los Angeles and continues to look after the large business interests which her husband left. She is a member of the Friday Morning Club as well as the Ebell Club, in Los Angeles, making her home at 949 South Hoover street, and she is a devout member of the Emanuel Presbyterian Church. Her two children are P. Sumner, in the real estate business in Los Angeles, and M. Elizabeth, who is the wife of Dr. Edward M. Pallette, of Los Angeles. Mrs. Brown is a woman much beloved, and numbers her friends by her acquaintances. She is charitable and kind, but so unostentatious in her giving that none but those receiving the benefits are cognizant of it, and refinement, intelligence and strong will power are her marked characteristics.

JAMES ALBIAN FREEAR .- The name of Freear has been identified with the development of Kern county for a period of almost forty years, its first representative in this region having been Henry T. Freear, an honored veteran of the Civil war, a man of indomitable perseverance and a farmer of considerable ability. After he had served the Union for three years in the Civil war he received an honorable discharge from the Seventeenth Illinois Cavalry and returned to his old home, there to take up the earning of a liveli- hood through the arts of peace. About 1875 he came to California from Nebraska, where he had engaged in general farming for a few years. In his trip to the west he was accompanied by his family, which at that time con- sisted of two children beside his wife. Settling in the Old River district of Kern county, he took up raw land, developed a farm, devoted himself to the cultivation of the land and finally retired with a competency. During the last years of his life he made his home in Bakersfield, where he was a leader among the members of the Grand Army and where he was well known for his stanch allegiance to the Republican party. Since his death, March 23, 1904, his widow, Mary (Garlick) Freear, has made her home at No. 1709 Maple avenue, Bakersfield, where she has a comfortable modern bungalow and where, at the age of sixty-three, she attends to housekeeping duties with much of the zest and energy of her younger years. In her family there are eight children,

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namely : H. R. and C. H .; Lena, wife of R. L. Mccutchen, of Old River ; J. P .; John Alfred and James Albian, (twins) ; Verna, who married R. W. Bess, lessee of the United Crude Oil Company, of Maricopa; and Viola, wife of William Perry, engaged as a salesman and demonstrator at Bakersfield for Ben L. Brundage.

The early years of James Albian Freear were passed in an uneventful manner. Work on the home farm alternated with attendance at country schools in Old River district. When twenty years of age in 1905 he was graduated from Heald's Business College at Stockton. From that time until 1909 he was employed in the Santa Maria field, where he learned the details of the oil industry and studied it from the viewpoint of production. Naturally he began work as a roustabout. Later he learned to be a driller. More recent- ly he has been employed in the production department of the Maricopa Queen Oil Company. As gang pusher he has proved energetic, capable and efficient, well liked by the workmen, popular among other officers. The high reputation of the company as the owner of one of the best leases in the Sunset field may be attributed in no small degree to his laborious and intelligent devotion to the production department.

M. W. PASCOE, M. D .- Intense devotion to the science of therapeutics and a thorough knowledge of the attractions, demands and possibilities of the profession, supplementing an excellent practical training in one of the finest universities of the new world, admirably qualify Dr. Pascoe for the building up of a substantial clientele represented by a growing practice in the city of Taft and the surrounding oil districts. While the period of his association with professional work in the west has been comparatively brief (for it was in September of 1911 that he came to California and to Taft), the confidence and patronage of the people of the community have been accorded him and he numbers among his friends the leading men of the locality. When he under- took the establishment of a general hospital at this point he received the warm support of the general public, for all saw the wisdom of his belief that there should be first-class accommodations for the care of men injured in the work of the oil fields or for those of the community in need of surgical treatment or special care. The success of the hospital has been a source of gratification to him personally besides affording him an opportunity to offer to his patients superior advantages and experienced nursing.

Of Canadian birth and parentage, Dr. Pascoe was born at Bowmanville, Ontario, May 10, 1871, and is the fourth among seven children and the young- est of four sons in the family of Thomas and Margaret (Hogarth) Pascoe, now residents of Hempton, Ontario. Excellent educational advantages were put within his reach and of these he availed himself to the utmost. For some years he pursued a special scientific course in Trinity University. Later he took the medical course in the Trinity Medical College, from which he was graduated in 1898 with the degrees of M. D. C. M. and F. T. M. C. Shortly after graduating he came to the States and settled at Ottumwa. Iowa, where he practiced for a period of twelve years. Meanwhile he developed special aptitude for the treatment of diseases of the eye, ear and nose, and in order to fit himself to specialize in these branches he took a post-graduate course in Chicago during 1910-11, after which he came to California and settled at Taft. During his residence in Ottumwa he met and married Miss Mary E. Hendershott and they enjoy the comforts of a cozy home in a five-room bunga- low erected by the Doctor shortly after coming to this place. During 1913 he completed the general hospital which he erected at a cost of $5,000 and which is open to all practicing physicians and surgeons for use by their patients, the most experienced and skilled care being given to every inmate. Personally the Doctor is of genial and companionable disposition and he has formed many friendships through his active identification with members of

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the blue lodge of Masonry, and with the Elks and Moose. In politics he has been a stanch believer in Republican principles and a firm supporter of candi- dates of that party.

ORVILLE LEE CLARK .- A colonial identification with the common- wealth of Massachusetts and a later migration to Ohio marked the early his- tory of the Clark family in America, It was Orin Clark, a native of the old Bay state, who established his branch of the family in Ohio, settling upon a farm in Cuyahoga county and devoting the balance of his life to its cultiva- tion, excepting only the period of his service in the Sixth Ohio Infantry during the Civil war. The valor which he displayed in military service and the patriotic character of his life both in peace and in war were duplicated in the history of his son, Wallace Watson Clark, a native of Cuyahoga county, Ohio, and at the age of only fifteen years a volunteer in the Union army. Being accepted in spite of his youth, he went to the front with the Fifth Ohio Cavalry and served with recognized bravery and devotion for three years, until the struggle had ended, meanwhile receiving several wounds in battle. For several years after the war he worked in the employ of a large lumber con- cern at Saginaw, Mich., but from there returned to Cleveland, Ohio, and took up contracting and building. After a long period of activity in that occupa- tion he removed to California in 1903 and is now living retired in Los Angeles. During young manhood he had married Martha Celestia Newton, who was born in Cuyahoga county, Ohio, and died at Cleveland in February of 1886, leaving four children. The next to the youngest of these, Orville Lee, was born in Cleveland, Ohio, March 10, 1883; and was orphaned by the death of his mother when he was yet too young to realize his irreparable loss. The family continued to make their home in Cleveland for some time and he was sent to the grammar-schools of that city, later becoming a student in the high school at Huntsburg, Geauga county. Next he studied mathematics and mechanics at the institute in New Lyme, Ashtabula county, Ohio, and at the same time studied architecture with Mr. White, a prominent architect of Ashtabula. A breakdown in health obliged him to engage in outdoor work and he took up carpentering, from which he was promoted to be superintend- ent of construction with an Ashtabula concern.

Coming to California during 1907 and from Los Angeles to Bakersfield in February of the next year, Mr. Clark embarked in business as an architect and engineer and since then has been engaged to design many of the most important buildings in the city and county. Among his contracts may be mentioned those for the Hotels Kosel, Olcovich, and Decatur, the addition to the homelike and attractive hotel Massena, the Dixon apartments and the Barlow, Hill and Helm residences. The Southern garage on Chester avenue and Twenty-fifth street represents a style of architecture which is one of his favorites for this climate. This building is almost absolutely fireproof and has a storage capacity of fifty cars. In addition he was architect and engineer of the Bakersfield Club building and Mercy hospital. Two school buildings at Taft, admittedly the most substantial of their kind in the entire county, were designed by him, as were also the Maricopa school house and the H. F. Wil- liams school house, the Franklin school house and the large wing of the Emerson school, the last three in Bakersfield, as well as the Pacific Telephone and Telegraphı Company's main office building on Twentieth street which is a fire-proof building and one of the most substantial and artistic office build- ings in the city. The Bakersfield Club has his name enrolled upon its mem- bership list. Made a Mason in Bakersfield Lodge No. 224, F. & A. M., he always has supported the philanthropic principles of the order and has been a most generous contributor to its charities, besides being interested warmly in the work of the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. Among the scientific societies of which he is a member is the American Institute of Architects and the National Geographic Society of Washington, D. C.

Fred It Hall

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HON. FRED H. HALL .- From whatever standpoint the life of Mr. Hall is viewed, whether as a deputy sheriff and marshal in his earlier years or as a special agent of the Santa Fe Railroad Company, whether as a mem- ber of the state legislature promoting measures for the welfare of his con- stituents, whether as the owner of alfalfa lands or as a large stockholder and director in oil organizations and in water companies, he is found to be a man of versatile abilities, possessing a high order of intelligence, devoted to the commonwealth of his nativity, well informed concerning its possibilities and eager to develop its vast resources. To such citizens may be attributed the great development of the state and from them and their successors must come all future advancement. No narrow spirit has governed his business enterprises, for they have been as broad-gauged as his own mental equip- ment and as purposeful as his own existence. Throughout the entire west he is well-known in many avenues of activity, where his splendid character and broad intelligence have left an indelible impress for good.

A study of the Hall genealogy indicates that Fred George Hall, a native of Portland, Me., learned the occupation of nurseryman and horticulturist under his father, who for years engaged in that avocation in Maine. As early as 1852, when about thirty-four years of age, he came via Panama to San Francisco and engaged in mining at Mormon Island. During the Civil war he served in California and Arizona as a member of Company I. Second California Cavalry. After receiving an honorable discharge from the army he became interested in horticulture and the nursery business east of Visalia, Tulare county, but a long period of invalidism greatly hampered his activi- ties. His death occurred at Visalia in July of 1893, when he was seventy-five years of age. During 1907 occurred the demise of his wife at Fresno, this state ; she bore the maiden name of Matilda Dillon and was born at Peoria, Il1. Their family comprised two sons and four daughters, but at this writing there survive only Fred H. and one of his sisters. The former was born near Visalia, Tulare county, this state, May 17, 1868, and from the age of four to twenty years he lived with his parents at Tulare. After he was ten the invalidism of his father prevented him from attending school and forced him to work not only for his own support, but also to aid the family. Indeed, for some time he was the sole support of the family. He worked in brick- yards, harvest fields and wherever honest labor commanded living wages. During 1888 he took the family back to Visalia, where he secured employ- ment as deputy city marshal under E. A. Gilliam. In addition he served as deputy sheriff. For one term, beginning about 1892, he served as marshal of Visalia, but he was not a candidate for re-election, continuing, however, as deputy sheriff and deputy city marshal and in these capacities making about thirty-four hundred arrests, some of the suspects proving to be desperate criminal characters. While acting as marshal O. P. Byrd served as his deputy.

Subsequent to his service in Tulare county Mr. Hall entered the special agents' department of the Santa Fe Railroad, where during the first fourteen months his duties consisted chiefly in investigating stolen goods and the pilfering of box-cars. From that he was promoted step by step until finally he was appointed assistant chief of the department with headquarters in Los Angeles. The duties of the position consisted in hiring men and superintend- ing the department work between Albuquerque and San Francisco, also in collecting evidence in law suits and investigating matters that came up in the law department. Often it was said concerning him that he was the only man serving in the office who left the railroad company without an enemy. Railroad Brotherhoods and legislative boards wrote him very complimentary letters of thanks for his services. In every responsibility he exhibited not only wise judgment and practical common sense, but also the utmost tact and the greatest consideration of others.

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Resigning from the Santa Fe railroad service in 1906 in order to engage in private business and having previously purchased oil lands, Mr. Hall be- came a large stockholder in the Visalia Midway Oil Company and assisted in the development of lands secured by that concern. From the first he has been vice-president and general manager of the company and under his saga- cious supervision the work of development has proceeded without any ne- cessity for an assessment of stock. On the other hand, there has been an assured income for investors. Near Fellows on the west side the company owns eighty acres, where there are five wells producing and two in process of drilling. It is said that the company for its size is one of the most pros- perous in the state. The success of the enterprise may be attributed in large measure to the sagacity of the general manager. The oil lands, how- ever, do not represent the limit of his useful activities. As vice-president and the largest stockholder of the Western Water Company, a company organized to furnish water for the west side oil fields, he has been identified with a movement of considerable importance. By an expenditure of over $500,000 the company has secured water from the artesian wells near the north end of Buena Vista lake. This water, pumped through a twelve-inch line for a distance of twelve miles to Taft and then stored in two tanks of fifty-five thousand barrel capacity in order to furnish pressure for the villages of Taft and Fellows and vicinity, was the first water of good quality ever secured in the locality and the expense to consumers is only one-quarter for domestic use, and one-sixth for oil wells, of what was formerly paid for poor water. On the organization of the National Bank of Bakersfield he was elected a member of the board of directors, and is now serving as its vice-president.

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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 28

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