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 43

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 43

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The marriage of Mr. Schamblin and Miss Florence Smith, a native of Hollister, this state, was solemnized in Bakersfield and has been blessed with four children, Frank, Charles, Flora and Leo. The Merchants' Association numbers Mr. Schamblin among its leading members. Formerly he served as a member of the executive committee of the Bakersfield Board of Trade and he still maintains a warm interest in the welfare of that organization. Politi- cally he votes with the Republican party. For some years he has been identified with Bakersfield Lodge No. 266, B. P. O. E. While serving with the army in the Indian Territory he was made a Mason in Alpha Lodge No. 12 at Fort Gibson. Since coming to this city he has transferred his member- ship to Bakersfield Lodge No. 224, F. & A. M., besides which he is con- nected with Kern Valley Chapter No. 75, R. A. M., Bakersfield Commandery No. 39. K. T., in his home city, and Al Malaikah Temple, N. M. S., of Los Angeles, as well as Los Angeles Consistory No. 3, Scottish Rite.

WILLIAM S. BOGGS .- The genealogy of the Boggs family in America begins with the arrival of six brothers from Scotland and their subsequent settlement in Maryland, Alabama, Illinois and Missouri. The first of the name to establish himself and family in California was Hon. Lilburn W. Boggs, ex-Governor of Missouri, who shortly after the expiration of his term in the gubernatorial chair determined to identify his future interests with the development of the then unknown west. As chief executive of Missouri he had witnessed many stormy scenes and often had been in great personal danger, the principal cause of the trouble having been the colonization of Mormons in the state after they had been driven from Hancock county, Ill., where they had erected a temple at Nauvoo on the banks of the Mississippi. Not being desired in Missouri, they were notified to leave and apparently obeyed orders, but soon returned. Then it became necessary to use force

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in driving them from the state. In the skirmish Lieutenant-Governor Sterling Price was killed. In the excitement and turmoil that followed the governor was shot while seated in his office in the Missouri state capital. The wound, although painful, did not prove dangerous and he had fully recovered before he started for the west. After his arrival at Petaluma Mission, Sonoma county, he served as alcalde of the northern district of California and en- gaged in merchandising at Soroma, then the county-seat of Sonoma county. His death occurred in 1863. After the death of his first wife, who was a Miss Dent, he had married Miss Panthia G. Boone of Missouri, a daughter of Jesse Boone and granddaughter of Daniel Boone, the famous Indian fighter, whose name is indissolubly associated with the history of both Ken- tucky and Missouri.

Among the children of Governor Boggs there was a son, William M., a native of Jackson county, Mo., who inherited the love of adventure and the fearlessness characteristic of his ancestors. Intrepedity of nature led him to the plains when only thirteen years of age. While acting as a guide and helper to Kit Carson he learned the different tribal languages of the Indians, gained a thorough knowledge of their customs and became an adept in cir- cumventing their cunning devices. During the early days he was employed at Fort Laramie, Toas and Santa Fe, where his expertness with the rifle and familiarity with the tribal dialects brought him the friendship of the Indians. After his return to Missouri he married Miss Sonora Hickman, a native of Cass county, that state, and the daughter of William Hickman, who had been a large planter in Virginia prior to his removal to Missouri. Early in 1845 Mr. Boggs started with family and friends across the plains and en route overtook a party from Sangamon county, Ill., consisting, among others, of Jacob Donner with wife and seven children, and George Donner with wife and five children, who had left Springfield, Ill., April 15, 1845. The two par- ties traveled together with William M. Boggs as captain. The expedition reached the Little Sandy river on the 19th of July, 1846, and there a discus- sion arose as to the best route to follow. The Donner party had heard of a cut-off by way of the south end of Salt Lake and believed by taking it they could save over two hundred miles. Captain Boggs would not risk that route, but resolved to adhere to the Oregon trail. As the event proved, he chose wisely and well. When he found the Donner party determined to take the other road he divided provisions and equipment equally with them and brought his own party safely on to the old fort at Petaluma Mission, Sonoma county. Meanwhile the Donner party had met with misfortune from the moment of separation. Their cattle, some dead and others lost, were left on the desert. After a wearisome journey through Utah and Nevada they were imprisoned in the snows of the Sierra Nevadas, where many perished from starvation. When finally rescuers arrived George Donner was dying and his wife refused to leave his side, but bade her children a last farewell as they were carried away toward the far-distant haven of Sutter's Fort.

The Boggs family had been in California but a short time when hostilities arose with Mexico. As soon as Captain Boggs had settled his family in com- fort he enlisted eight recruits and with them journeyed to the old Plaza in San Francisco, where the men were added to a company then forming and sent to Monterey, where the captain served as first sergeant. At the close of the war he was honorably discharged and thereafter was variously em- ployed, acting as secretary to General Vallejo and as recorder of Sonoma county, also engaging in general farming and fruit-raising. Besides owning a part of the old Buena Vista grant, he owned a large tract in the Oak Knoll district. Napa county, where now stand Yountville and the Soldiers' Home. The comfortable dwelling-house, erected under his supervision, was located on that beautiful spot. After he had sold a portion of the large ranch to Mr.

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Yount he established a home at Napa and there spent his last years. but died April 22, 1910, while visiting his son at Bakersfield. A Mason from early life, he had been a member of the old California Lodge at Sonoma. Promi- nent in the state councils of the Democratic party and a leader during the memorable Hearst campaign, he had at one time officiated as chairman of the state central committee and throughout the entire commonwealth he long wielded a large influence in his party. Nor was his ability limited to agri- culture and politics. Notwithstanding his almost entire lack of early educa- tion, he became a man of literary talent and was well known by his contri- butions to the literature of his day. Particularly was he interested in early California history and his excellent memory, supplementing a fluent use of the pen, enabled him to give permanency to many early happenings that with- out him would have been unrecorded and forgotten. In Bancroft's history of California his contributions are especially numerous and interesting, and all his stories are told in a very interesting, realistic manner. For many years he served as president of the Sonoma County Association of California Pio- neers and among its members he was highly honored and greatly admired.

The family of William M. Boggs comprised seven children, whose mother died in Napa county in 1902. The eldest child. Guadelupe Vallejo, born in June of 1847 at the headquarters of General Vallejo, is now a resident of Salem, Ore. Lilburn W. is living at Susanville, Cal., and Angus M. in Lake county. Mary Finley Boggs, a graduate of Napa College and Napa Ladies' Seminary, was for eighteen years librarian at Napa, dying in that city, where she was known as an artist of remarkable ability. Jefferson D. Boggs is now principal of the schools of Watsonville, this state. Sterling Price Boggs died when only eight years of age. The youngest member of the family, William S. Boggs, was born in the Yountville district, Napa county, Cal., August 19, 1864, and in boyhood was a pupil in the Oak Mound school, Napa. He is a graduate of Napa College and also took a course at Heald's Business College. After a brief period as a clerk at Napa he went to Portland, Ore., where he was employed as a bookkeeper and also engaged in merchandising. Upon his return to California in 1888 he engaged in business in San Francisco, but soon went back to Oregon and found employment at Salem, thence re- turning to Portland in 1891 and acting as bookkeeper in the East Portland Bank. When next he went to San Francisco in 1894 he engaged as account- ant with the Iron Mountain Company, going to Shasta as manager of the purchasing department in their general offices. Later he held a position with the Sunset Telephone Company. When he came to Bakersfield in 1900 he took charge of the properties of the Imperial Oil Company and the 33-Oil Company in the Kern river field. Under his management the organizations were prospered and their wells became producers. When the properties were sold to an English syndicate he continued to manage them for two years, but in March of 1912 resigned in order that he might take charge of his in- dividual interests. Previous to this he had promoted the Alturas Oil Com- pany in the Kern river field; after one well had been developed, the holdings of this company were sold. In addition he organized the Boston Petroleum Company in the Kern river field, which developed twelve wells and then sold its holdings to Boston capitalists. Afterward he formed and promoted the Coalinga Eight Oil Company in the Coalinga field, which owns a tract of eighty acres and has developed three producing wells. Besides being vice- president of this company he acts as general manager and has been instru- mental in its profitable development.

The family of Mr. Boggs comprises his wife, who was Miss Nellie Smith, a native of Shasta county, and their three children, Irma, Helen and William S., Jr. Upon the organization of the Bakersfield Club he was a charter mem- ber and afterwards served one term as president. After coming to Bakersfield

Christian Ruedy.

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HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY

he was made a Mason in Bakersfield Lodge No. 224, F. & A. M., and later became identified with Los Angeles Consistory No. 3 of the jurisdiction of Southern California, Scottish Rite, thirty-second degree, and Al Malaikah Temple, N. M. S., of Los Angeles. In politics he has been stanch in his allegiance to Democratic principles. For eight years he was a member of Company G, First Regiment of Oregon National Guard, and after returning to California he became identified with Company H, Second Regiment of National Guard, with which he served in San Francisco during the strike of 1894 when called out to assist in quelling the outbreak and restoring order.

CHRISTIAN RUEDY .- In Zillis, Canton Graubunden, Switzerland, Christian Ruedy was born June 24, 1872, fourth in a family of five born to John and Anna (Thoeny) Ruedy, farmers, the former of whom passed away in 1889, and the latter in 1902. Christian Ruedy received good training in the public and high schools of his native place, all of which was received prior to his seventeenth year, for it was then that he left his native land and came to the United States. In April, 1890, he came to Kern county, and in Bakers- field he procured work in a dairy. Profiting by the experience which this employment gave him, in the year 1897, with Peter Gilli as a partner, he leased one hundred and sixty acres from Mrs. Chubb. In 1900, associated with his brother, John G. Ruedy, and his uncle, Anton Thoeny, he bought forty acres of land that forms a part of his present property, upon which he established a dairy business. Later the brothers bought out their uncle and in 1904 they bought eighty acres more. During this period, Mr. Ruedy with his brother John G., Peter Gilli and John Koch, organized the American- Swiss Creamery and built a modern creamery plant on his place operated by a steam engine. Ilere they engaged in the manufacture of butter for the Bakersfield market for about six years, when the dairy herd was sold and Christian Ruedy then engaged in raising mules. Ultimately he purchased his brother's interest in the property and he now owns the entire tract, com- prising one hundred and twenty acres, which is all in a high state of culti- vation, planted to corn and alfalfa. The raising of mules is also an important feature of the ranch income, Mr. Ruedy owning Blue Bird, a jack imported from Maltese Island, Spain. The ranch, which lies about nine miles south- west of Bakersfield, is all under irrigation from the Farmers canal, and is improved with a handsome residence and large farm buildings.

In Bakersfield, on October 2, 1907, Mr. Ruedy was married to Adeline Ursula Pesante, a native daughter born in Bakersfield, in December. 1890. the daughter of John and Adeline (Lehner) Pesante, both natives of Canton Graubunden, Switzerland. Mr. and Mrs. Ruedy are the parents of two children, John Christian and Vernon Lehner. Mr. Ruedy is widely known in fraternal circles, being a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows, Woodmen of the World and the Independent Order of Eagles. In their religious views Mr. and Mrs. Ruedy are Lutherans, while politically they favor Republican principles.

PERCY A. WILLIAMS .- In comprehensive grasp of technicalities and keen insight into the intricate problems connected with the oil industry the field superintendent of the Kern Trading and Oil Company has gained a rep- utation that is not limited to the particular field of his effort, but extends throughout the entire oil district and among men connected with other lines of business as well. The property of the company, usually known as the Southern Pacific lease, comprises four hundred and forty acres lying on section 3, township 29, range 28, located very close to the Ellwood lease on the Thomas A. Means farm where oil was first discovered. On the entire tract there are two hundred and seven producing wells which have been drilled as follows: Fifty-seven prior to 1906; seventy-three in 1906 and 1907; eight in 1910; thirty-four during 1911; and thirty-five in 1912. Well

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No. 1 was completed December 8, 1899 and, although the oldest well on the lease, is still a producer.

Born at South Vallejo, Solano county, Cal., on Christmas day of 1881, Percy A. Williams is a son of Alton and Kate (Cuilom) Williams, natives respectively of New York and Pennsylvania. The father is an employe of the company store of the Kern Trading and Oil Company and here he and his wife make their home, the latter a woman of capability, energy and ac- tivity, and at the age of sixty-six physically and mentally well preserved. The son received his education in San Francisco schools. In youth he was a member of the state militia and in the spring of 1898 he enlisted as a private in Company B, First California Volunteer Infantry, which sailed for the Philippines on the 23d of May and landed at Cavite on the 2d of July. During the thirteen months of his service on the islands he took part in the siege of Manila, the insurrection of the Filipinos and other army affairs. When peace was restored he was mustered out of the service and arrived back in San Francisco September 21, 1899. Shortly afterward he entered the California School of Mechanical Arts, an institution affiliated with the James Lick Poly- technic College, in San Francisco, and upon the completion of the regular course he was graduated in 1901. Securing a position as draftsman in the office of Stetson G. Hindes, of San Francisco, he had six months of valuable experience there. In addition he engaged in drafting with the engineer of the City Street Improvement Company of San Francisco and for a time was under James T. Ludlow in the Vulcan iron works.

After his arrival in Kern county in November of 1901 Mr. Williams took charge of the 1901 Oil Company at McKittrick. During 1904 he became an office man with the Kern Trading and Oil Company and in 1906 he was placed in charge of the McKittrick field, which he relinquished in order to undertake the superintendency of the Kern river oil lease in 1909. Since then he has established a reputation for drilling more wells than any other foreman in the oil fields. The ingenuity which he possesses has found tangible evidence in a pumping-jack system by which as many as thirty wells are pumped from one central power-house. It is his present plan to introduce the same system throughout the entire field. His ability is unquestioned and being an inde- fatigable worker, with a thorough grasp of all details, he manages the prop- erty with a skill and tact that are little short of remarkable. Fraternally he is connected with the Masons and Elks at Bakersfield. In 1906 at McKittrick, he married Miss Gertrude Bishop, of Oregon, who died in 1909, leaving two daughters, Kathleen and Gertrude.

JOHN J. GALLMAN .- Through various changes and in different locali- ties he gained a thorough experience with every phase and each department of the industry. In the early days of Taft he came to the Midway field, where since February of 1909 he has engaged as superintendent of the Fair- banks Oil Company, a corporation capitalized at $50,000 and operating a tract of forty acres with six producing wells. Under Ben Stroude, the first superintendent of the lease, one well had been drilled, but this is now abandoned, and the six wells in use, producing an average of ten thousand barrels per month, have been drilled under the personal supervision of Mr. Gallman, who in addition to being superintendent is also a small stock- holder in the company.

Although he has lived in California for considerably more than twenty years, Mr. Gallman is a native of Iowa and a member of a German-American family connected with the agricultural upbuilding of the Mississippi valley. His father, John Jacob Gallman, a native of Germany and a pioneer of Iowa, enlisted in the Union army at the outbreak of the Civil war, was assigned to the First Minnesota Infantry, accompanied his regiment to the front and served throughout the war. Upon receiving an honorable dis-

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charge he returned to the northwest, took up land in Bremer county, Iowa, there married Miss Catharine Zimmerman, and for years devoted himself to agricultural duties. At his death he was survived by the widow, now a resident of Waverly, Iowa, and by three children, viz .: John J .; Ida and Anna, both of whom married farmers and are living in Bremer county. The only son was born in Bremer county September 25, 1869, worked on the home farm as soon as old enough to be of service and during the winter months walked between four and five miles to a country school. Leaving home in 1888, he came to California, where he successively had employment in lumber yards and with grading crews in Pasadena, on a dairy ranch at El Monte and as a laborer on a stock ranch at Puente. The owner of the ranch, Mr. Roland, in 1889 sent him to work as a roustabout for the Puente Oil Company in Los Angeles county and in that way he acquired his first knowledge of the oil industry. From roustabout he worked up to be pumper, then tool-dresser and finally driller. The company of which Mr. Roland was president engaged him to drill in the Puente field, but when the wells were shut down he was obliged to seek work elsewhere.

An opportunity to engage with Will Kellerman, a contract driller, took Mr. Gallinan into a wild-cat venture in dry territory, but he continued with the same operator for perhaps seven years. Happening to meet Mr. Roland one day, he was asked to return to the Puente field, but intimated that he considered the chance for promotion there too meager, to which Mr. Roland replied : "Come back to me and you may yet get to be superintendent of the Puente." Accordingly, upon finishing a job at Newhall, he went back to the Puente field, where he was first drilling foreman and then superintendent. Two and one-half years later the Puente bought an adjoining oil lease and the management of the whole was given over to the superintendent of the company thus absorbed, whereupon Mr. Gallman became a real-estate dealer in Los Angeles. Not meeting with success, he returned to the oil business and for a time worked with the Union Oil Company near Lompoc and at Santa Maria. In the latter field he drilled on the celebrated Hartnell gusher. Next he operated a boarding house on the Union and Fox lease, after which he engaged in the restaurant business for six months in Los Angeles. The excellent profit made when he sold that restaurant was lost in the later operation of the Delmar Cafe at Long Beach. Forced to begin anew at the bottom, he returned to the oil fields and drilled at Santa Rosa and for the Paso Robles Oil Company. Since February of 1909 he has been superintendent of the Fairbanks Oil Company in the Midway field and meanwhile has become well known among the oil men of Taft, where he is an interested member of the Petroleum Club. His marriage took place at Fullerton, this state, and united him with Miss Myrtle Sprague, whose father was at one time engaged in the grocery business at Fullerton, but now engages in the manufacture and sale of monuments at Los Angeles. Mr. and Mrs. Gallman have one son, Woodley J. Gallman.

REUBEN A. EDMONDS .- The expansion of the Bakersfield postoffice since Mr. Edmonds was first appointed postmaster under the administra- tion of President Mckinley has been almost startlingly swift and has offered another evidence concerning the prosperity and material upbuilding of the city. When he took the oath of office for the first time, July 12, 1898, he found a postoffice of the second-class, employing two clerks and having annual receipts not exceeding $9,000. Since then he has continued in the office by appointments under Presidents Roosevelt and Taft and meanwhile he has witnessed and aided in the development of the local business, until now it affords him gratification to report that as a first-class office the annual receipts reach $65,000 and employment is furnished to thirty-two persons. Free delivery was established in the city in 1900 and

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four years later rural free delivery was started, there being now six routes out of Bakersfield, each one with a substantial list of patrons. The office was promoted to the first class in July of 1910, at which time the genial, successful postmaster was the recipient of merited congratulations from those familiar with his work and appreciative of his energetic application to official duties. There has lately been added the postal savings bank and the parcel post system, this postoffice being the depository for all the postal savings banks in Kern county.

Born near Eugene, Lane county, Ore., in 1859, Reuben A. Edmonds is a son of William and Adeline (Draper) Edmonds, and a grandson of Reuben A. Draper, an Illinois pioneer who, accompanied by relatives and friends, crossed the plains with wagons and oxen and settled in Oregon, where he developed raw lands in Lane county. Eventually he came to California and passed his last days in Sonoma county. William Edmonds, a native of Carlisle, Cumberland county, Pa., and a pioneer of Illinois, came to the Pacific coast with his father-in-law and settled near him in Oregon, where he developed a large farm. However, he was not satisfied with conditions in Lane county, so he packed his household effects, put his wife and children in a "prairie schooner" and drove along the coast route into California, crossing the mountains and settling near Sebastopol. Sonoma county. That was in 1867 and the next year his wife died at Sebastopol. Afterward he drifted into Nevada and followed mining pur- suits. The same occupation engaged his attention when he returned to California. In 1906 he was accidentally drowned in the Kern river. Of his three sons the eldest, Reuben A., is the sole survivor; the others, William and Joseph, both died in Bakersfield. The three daughters were Mrs. Rachael Maio, Mrs. Lavina Kratzmer, both of Bakersfield, and Mrs. Mary Burgin, who died in Portland, Ore.

Reuben A. Edmonds accompanied the others from Oregon to Cali- fornia in 1867 and settled in Sonoma county, but during 1874 removed to Napa. In 1880 he was graduated from the Napa high school and the fol- lowing year he completed the course of study in the commercial department of Napa College, after which he came at once to Bakersfield in 1881. Here he embarked in the dry-goods business on Chester avenue near Eighteenth street as a member of the firm of Hotz & Edmonds. The business con- tinued with fair success until the great fire of 1889, which caused him a heavy loss. Forced to start anew, he secured employment as a bookkeeper and continued in that capacity until he was appointed postmaster at Bakers- field. Besides this office he also served as city assessor for one term. Fraternally he is a charter member of the Knights of Pythias in Bakersfield (in which he has served in important offices) and also belongs to the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. After he had established a home in Bakersfield he formed domestic ties, being united in marriage with Miss Lizzie L. Ilallet, a native of Napa, this state. They are the parents of two children, Shirlie and Reubelle, both of whom are now students in the Notre Dame College at San Francisco.

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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 43

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