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 37

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 37

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JAMES NICHOLAS NORRIS .- Very early in the colonization of the new world the Norris family became established in South Carolina and in that state David Norris owned and operated a large plantation during the early portion of the nineteenth century. The exact date of his migration to Missouri is not known, but it occurred early in the century named and thereafter he devoted his time to the difficult task of developing a produc- tive farm out of a tract of raw land. Among the children in his family was a son, Abner, who became a man of such deep religious fervor and such intense spiritual zeal that he gave his services for years to the Baptist de- nomination without hope of remuneration or thought of financial returns. Indeed, he made his livelihood and that of the family through his work as a farmer and stock-raiser, but always he was ready to sacrifice his own interests for those of the church with the hope that thereby the cause of Christianity might be promoted. Cheerfully, willingly he gave his all to promote religion and the ideals that possessed him he endeavored to im- plant in the hearts and minds of his children. In early manhood he had married Jane Evans, who was born in Kentucky and had gone from that

8 l. Smith

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state to Missouri in company with her father, Samuel Evans, a pioneer farmer of the middle west. Sharing with her husband his self-sacrificing purposes, she cared for the farm and the family during his absences on preaching tours and desired no recompense other than the thought of duty done. When advanced in years she came to Bakersfield to the home of her son, James Nicholas, and here her death occurred at the age of ninety-six.

The youngest of the ten children of Rev. Abner and Jane Norris, James Nicholas Norris was born near St. Joseph, Mo., April 17, 1849. When the Civil war began he was too young to participate, but he recalls the anxieties and privations of that period of national trouble and individual distress. His schooling was meager, but he was trained well in agriculture and made that his occupation for some years in Dekalb county, Mo., after which he conducted a general mercantile business at Cosby, Andrew county. Leav- ing Missouri in 1883, accompanied by wife and children, he came to Cali- fornia and settled in Kern county, where for a brief period he devoted him- self to ranching. However, for the greater part of his residence in the west he has given his attention to carpentering and building in Bakersfield. Not only has he taken contracts for many residences for others, but he has built a number of houses for himself and he still owns two in Bakersfield and one in Kern (East Bakersfield). In politics he is a Republican and in religion a member of the Baptist Church. For one term he served as superintendent of streets of Bakersfield. By his marriage in Dekalb county, Mo., to Sarah Lee, a native of Iowa, he had a family of two daughters and two sons, namely: Mrs. Lillie Gamble, of Bakersfield; Mrs. Lulu J. Adams, also of this city; Edward Garfield, one of the proprietors of the Kern Plumbing Company ; and Herbert H., property man at the Bakersfield opera house.

HON. SYLVESTER CLARK SMITH .- The Smith genealogical rec- ords indicate an identification with American soil dating from the arrival in Massachusetts of John Smith of Puritan fame and continuing through all of the succeeding generations, each member stanch of purpose, earnest of soul and positive in achievement. The family remained resident in New England until finally the westward drift of emigration bore Sylvester Smith in its tide and planted him upon the then frontier of Northern New York. Nor did this represent the end of his journeyings. With true pioneer instinct he followed the star of empire in its course toward the prairies and plains of the west. When his son, Edward, a native of New York, was still a small child the family removed to Ohio and later traveled by wagon to Illinois. In that state Edward grew to manhood, rugged in body and resolute in character. The vicissitudes incident to frontier existence had developed within him self- reliance and independence and he was admirably qualified to contribute to the development of the middle west. As early as 1835, when Iowa was yet in the infancy of its agricultural progress, he removed to that state, where he met and married Celia Shockley, a native of Ohio. She, too, came of stanch pioneer ancestry. In infancy she had been taken from Ohio to Iowa by her parents, who became residents of the last-named state at a time when it was very sparsely populated.

Taking up land in the rich but undeveloped section of southeastern Iowa Edward Smith gave himself entirely to the task of changing the homestead into a productive and remunerative farm. As the years went by he and his wife had the capable assistance of their children, numbering five sons and three daughters. While riches did not come to them, they gained that which is more to be desired; the deep respect of acquaintances and the implicit confidence of all with whom they had social intercourse or business dealings. In type they were representative of the splendid element whose labors were the foundation of the ultimate agricultural development of Iowa and whose sincere characters reappeared in a later generation of practical, sensible daughters and talented sons.

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The life which this narrative depicts began in the home of Edward and Celia Smith near Mount Pleasant, Henry county, Iowa, August 26, 1858, and closed at Hollywood, Cal., January 26, 1913. In early years there came ever and anon glimpses of the splendid mental endowment and resolute nature that were to bring subsequent national prominence, yet those years were far from eventful. More fortunate than the sons of many pioneers, he was allowed a term in an academy after he had completed the studies of the country schools. The few months spent in Howe's academy at Mount Pleas- ant aroused his ambition for higher educational opportunities and at the age of eighteen he began to teach in the spring and summer months in order to carn the money necessary for attending school in the winter. Coming to California in 1879 he secured a position as teacher in a school of Colusa county, where, May 7, 1882, he was united in marriage with Miss Maria Hart, a native of Franklin county, Mo., and soon afterward they removed to San Francisco in order that he might have the best advantages for the study of law. The summer of 1883 found them newcomers in Kern county, and from that time until his death the history of Mr. Smith was in many respects a history of the county itself, so intimately was he associated with its moral, educational and political growth. An ambition to complete his law studies led him to teach school at Tehachapi and Glennville in order that he might carn expenses during the course of his law education.

After having been admitted to the bar in October of 1885, Mr. Smith opened an office in Bakersfield. Chance directed that his fame should come in another field than that of the law. A great struggle was being waged between the riparian owners and the appropriators of the waters of Kern river. In 1886 the Kern County Echo was founded as a militant factor in the controversy and Mr. Smith became editor. The controversy ended, but the Echo, having established a place of its own in the journalistic field, has con- tinued with increasing circulation and popularity up to the present time and now, as the Morning Echo, wields a high influence for good in every avenue of local activity. During the early years of the existence of the paper, when funds were low and the future prospects at times discouraging. the editor made his home on a claim at the extreme southern end of the Kern mesa, riding horseback to and from the editorial rooms in Bakersfield. Meanwhile he had become a member of the first company of the National Guard organ- ized in this city, had helped to organize debating clubs and street improve- ment associations, and from the very first had been a local leader in the Re- publican party. Editorial work then, even more than now, necessitated the possession of both physical and moral courage, and that he possessed such qualities is evidenced by an incident that still is told among his friends. One evening a citizen, armed with a gun, rushed into the office exhibiting a clip- ping from the morning paper that had aroused his wrath. Presenting the gun at the head of Mr. Smith, he demanded that the editor literally eat the offending article. It was useless to argue with the infuriated man. Still covered with the weapon, Mr. Smith quietly asked a clerk to telephone for the sheriff. As he resumed writing at his desk, the angry man had time to become ashamed of his fury and the affair ended amicably. Nor was Mr. Smith less brave morally. Always he expressed his personal convictions in the paper, no matter how unpopular they might be or how much they might seem to augur his personal defeat. Indeed, his high moral courage was one of his most notable attributes, and while at times bringing him criticism, in the end it became the foundation and the root of his great influence. From the day the first issue of the Echo appeared until the last day of his life (a period of twenty-six years, seven months and twenty-one days) his name appeared at the head of the editorial columns of every issue. In addition he was the leading editorial writer during much of that time. Even when official duties kept him from the city he still directed the policy of the paper.

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In every step of its advancement might be seen his quiet but decisive influ- ence. Not only was he one of the oldest editors in the state in point of con- tinuous service, but he also had the distinction of being one of the most able, forceful and influential.

The distinction attached to the career of Mr. Smith derives much interest from the public service of the man. Even more important than his labors as editor were his disinterested services in behalf of his state and country. Broad as was his field of usefulness as the journalistic head of a great paper, helpful as was his work on the Bakersfield Board of Trade and Board of Health, progressive as was his co-operation with many organizations of the community, he realized that there was need of reform movements in the com- monwealth and he desired to aid in the legislative work of the state-hence his first campaign for the state senate in 1894. Elected not only then, but again in 1898, he served for eight years with honor and fidelity. Usefulness as a legislator paved the way for a later service in congress. As senator he was the author of a counties government act, the registration law of 1898, the constitutional amendment authorizing the use of voting machines, and (this he regarded as his most important public service) a bill establishing. the state polytechnic school at San Luis Obispo. This institution became a pioneer in the field of manual training. The author of the bill had in mind a training in agriculture, mechanics, engineering, business methods, domestic economy and indeed all occupations except those dealing with the profes- sional walks of life. When he first presented the bill in 1895 the senate passed it, but failure came in the assembly. In 1897 it was passed by both houses, only to be vetoed by the governor. Session after session he labored persistently until finally in 1901 it became a law and the school was estab- lished. His theory in urging so persistently the establishment of the school was that labor must be made more efficient and better trained, then it will be better paid and less irksome; and every trained worker, if industrious and frugal, may reasonably hope to support his family and educate his children, in turn preparing them to be trained specialists in some avenue of employ- ment.

When he first announced himself as a candidate for congress in 1902 Mr. Smith was defeated in the convention on the forty-ninth ballot. The contest, begun in Sacramento and ended at Ventura, had been peculiarly strenuous and even bitter, but no trace of the bitterness lingered in the mind of Mr. Smith, for with characteristic enthusiasm he threw himself into the campaign on the side of his successful competitor, Captain Daniels, and the latter was elected. His own laurels came to him at a later date. August 25. 1904, he was nominated by acclamation and in November he was elected by a majority of more than ten thousand. From that time until the day of his death he continued to represent the Eighth California district. Meanwhile he had been recognized in congress as a ready debater and an excellent committee-worker. As a member of the original commission appointed to revise the banking and monetary system, he served until the loss of health necessitated relinquishment of such duties. The present postal savings bank bill is a monument to his labors, supplementing those of other congressmen. When the speaker of the house was shorn of much of his power, Mr. Smith was elected a member of the new rules committee, to which was given much of that power.

As was natural to one coming from Kern county, the interest maintained by Mr. Smith in the oil industry led him to make an effort to promote the permanent welfare of that business. A bill presented by him sought to extend to the taking up of oil land the essential provisions of the homestead law, varied of course to suit the different need. No provisions had been made to secure to a locator of oil land any legal right of possession until such time as he might make an actual discovery of oil. Before any such discovery it

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was necessary to spend thousands of dollars, which under the then law was jeopardized. The bill limited the amount of oil land which a man or com- pany could acquire, but also insured peaceful possession of an oil claim during the time necessary to complete a well. However, although the bill passed in the house, it failed of the support of the senate, and before the next session the deluge of oil land withdrawals swept over every district of the west where the presence of oil was suspected. Then followed the Yard decision with its disastrous results; the visits of delegations of oil men to Washington ; the presentation of memorials to congress; and finally, under a suspension of rules, the Smith remedial bill was passed in February, 1911, when Mr. Smith, so ill that he was supported by fellow-members and so weak that his voice could hardly be heard a dozen paces away, asked consent for the passage of the measure.

Another measure of importance presented by Mr. Smith prevents the monopoly of patented articles and processes by permitting any person to make use of an invention on the payment of a stipulated royalty to the in- ventor, and providing for government supervision of these royalties so that favoritism might be eliminated. Through his labors an appropriation of $2,000,000 was secured to protect the settlers in the Imperial valley from the ravages of the Colorado river. His highest honor in the congress came with his appointment in 1908 as a member of the national monetary commission. During 1910 he secured an appropriation of $20,000 for a site for a federal building in Bakersfield. Later a recommendation was made to appropriate $135,000 for the erection of a postoffice, and this will ensure the erection in the near future of a building here for federal use. In all of his official career his affection remained deeply rooted in Bakersfield. When he returned hither after an absence he noted with intense eagerness every phase of indus- trial development, every improvement made, whether in an electric light or sewerage system, in the residence district or the business center, in the streets, the paving or the roads. Along every line of civic activity he had pronounced and progressive opinions and he had studied park systems, fire departments and indeed every department of importance to a growing muni- cipality. One of his ideas was the establishment of comfortable rest rooms in the lodging-house districts, where the men, necessarily idle at certain sea- sons of the year, might congregate in their old clothes without any feeling of discomfort, but with a genuine enjoyment of their own club room. Many of these men, disliking to loaf on the sidewalk or in the saloons, would greatly enjoy a plain but pleasant club room where they might meet their friends and enjoy conversation or games during the days of their unemployment. Parks also would aid in promoting the happiness of the people and give them healthful outdoor exercise, hence he earnestly advocated them.

Through a long illness Congressman Smith never lost touch with the world of progress and particularly with his own home county. The mails kept him in touch with Bakersfield and Washington, the two spots of his deep- est interest. To his friends he sent the most encouraging messages. No word of discouragement was allowed to leave his room at the sanatorium, but in illness as in health he was brave, hopeful and dignified, always interested in others and constantly urging measures for the benefit of the people. In one of his last letters he urged better church equipment and pledged his full co- operation to that end. On his last day a public document called his atten- tion to the fact that sixteen members of the sixty-first congress had passed from earth. Before the sun had risen he was the seventeenth. He had fallen with his armor on, with mind alert, with reputation at its highest and with honor unimpeached. Surviving him were his wife and two daughters, Mrs. E. S. Larsen, of Washington, D. C., and Mrs. A. W. Mason, of Bakersfield. Relatives and a delegation of friends accompanied the body from Hollywood to Bakersfield, where the magnificent funeral cortege with marchers repre-

Paul Galtes

Mariana Galter

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senting military, labor, civic and fraternal organizations attested to his deep hold upon the affections of his fellow-townsmen. Thus passed into eternal silence one who had lived nobly and well and whose name will long stand in the annals of Bakersfield as that of a distinguished citizen, who climbed by sterling worth from obscurity into an honorable place in the councils of the nation.

PAUL GALTES .- To present the biography of the pioneer merchant of Bakersfield is to depict in many respects a commercial history of the city itself, with the development of which he has been identified from the days when it sheltered only six families up to the present time with a proudly acclaimed population of almost seventeen thousand. A few shanties repre- sented the business blocks of the village at the time of his arrival in 1871. The railroad had not been built and passengers had no means of conveyance aside from the stage or their own private vehicles. On every side the barren land stretched out toward the sun-stricken desert and only an optimist could have predicted the possibilities of irrigation. The following year, however, found the county-seat removed from Havilah to Bakersfield and the prosperity of the present dates from that period. Meanwhile the young Spaniard had bought a shanty with a frontage of twenty-five feet on Nine- teenth between K street and Chester avenue and in the small building he stocked groceries to the amount of $600, for the greater part of which he had been given credit. It should be mentioned for the good of young people that one of the reasons that he was given so great credit was, as was stated by one of the prominent wholesale merchants of San Francisco of that day, that the mercantile agency book stated that Paul Galtes of Bakersfield never entered saloons nor played cards, hence his unlimited credit. From that time his rise was steady, his debts were met as promised, his credit became first-class and he entered into the financial independence whose later fruition has brought him every comfort of life as well as every possibility for rest, travel and recreation. In 1889 he returned to his native city in Spain to visit old friends and again in 1911 he made a trip to Barcelona, besides tour- ing throughout Europe and into Palestine.

Mr. Galtes was born near Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, October 25, 1840, being a son of Paul Sr., a blacksmith and a manufacturer of tools for farmers. After he had been given an excellent education in the Spanish language the son was taken from school and apprenticed for four years to the trades of locksmith and blacksmith. Builders' hardware also was among his special- ties. In those days all hardware for buildings was made by hand and he · acquired considerable skill in the art. At the expiration of four years, during which he had received no pay whatever, he began to work for wages and traveled as a journeyman throughout Europe. In 1861 he crossed the ocean to Cuba and secured employment in Santiago as clerk in a dry-goods store, where he remained for eight years. While favorably considering an offer of partnership in the business trouble arose with the mother country over the city of Independence, a revolution seemed imminent and, rather than take up arms against his native land, he decided to come to California. The attractions of the west had been depicted to him often and always with alluring eloquence, therefore he was prepared to find a country of great possibilities and unexcelled climate. Landing at San Francisco De- cember 23, 1868, he found himself at great disadvantage by reason of lack of knowledge of English. On the advice of Archbishop Alamany of San Francisco, who had come from the same Spanish province as himself, he spent four months in language study at St. Vincent's College in Los An- geles. At the expiration of that time he secured work in a Los Angeles bakery. During the erection of the then leading hotel he was a hired work- man and when the building was completed he received an appointment as steward, with full charge of all supplies. For fourteen months he filled the

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same position at $75 per month and this gave him a little sum to invest in business when he came to Bakersfield, where by 1874 he had accumulated $27,000 in general merchandise. During 1878 he erected the first brick block in the city. This cost $18,000 and was his business headquarters until he retired from the mercantile business in 1888. At the time of his retire- ment his stock was valued at $40,000 and his credit was the very best. His confidence in Bakersfield was shown in the erection of the first two-story brick block with plate glass front, a building which was burned in 1889, but re- placed with a block equally substantial and expensive. In retiring from the mercantile business it was not with any desire to enter larger affairs, but in order that young men ambitious to become merchants might have a better chance to succeed. Since then he has built the Grand hotel on the · corner of Chester avenue and Twentieth street and the Para theatre on Chester between Twentieth and Twenty-first, besides which he owns an elc- gant residence on Truxtun and F streets.

Upon the incorporation of Bakersfield and the election of the first board · of trustees Mr. Galtes was elected to serve as trustee, but declined re- election at the end of the term. In politics he has been independent and has voted for the man or the principle rather than the party. For some years he has been a leading worker in the Kern County Pioncers' Association. In addition he is associated with the Knights of Columbus. At San Francisco in 1874 he married Miss Mariana Lexague, a native of Basses-Pyrenees, France. Seven children were born of the union and four are now living. The eldest son, Paul, Jr., a graduate of Santa Clara College, has entered the order of Jesuits and is now a priest in St. Louis, Mo. The younger son, Felix, also a graduate of Santa Clara College, is employed in the Security Trust Company Bank of Bakersfield. The elder daughter, Sister Mary Christa, is stationed at Santa Monica with the Sisters of the Holy Name. The younger daughter, Lucy, is the wife of Edward Helbling, of Bakersfield. Mr. Galtes is a member of the Roman Catholic Church.

W. S. LIERLY .- To make mention of commercial, financial or educa- tional affairs in Taft and to omit therefrom the name of Mr. Lierly would be to do an injustice to one of the pioneers of the town, one of the up- builders of its permanent prosperity and one of the promoters of its school · system, a man of clear brain, strong character, iron will and strict integrity. The importance of his identification with Taft may be inferred from the fact that as senior member of the firm of Lierly & Son he owns and operates two barns, known as the Midway stables, engages in house-moving and team contracting, sells and hauls sand and gravel, owns and conducts a well equipped blacksmith shop, also owns the Taft harness shop (an enterprise of no small importance), and is president of the company, incorporated for $25,000 and known as the Taft Ice Delivery, the purpose of which is to handle and deliver ice to stores and private customers. In addition the firm carries on an express and transfer business at Taft and owns nine small houses which are rented to tenants. All of this has been accomplished and developed since the arrival of Mr. Lierly at Taft March 10, 1909.

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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 37

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