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 46

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 46

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During the residence of Christian Bohna in Pike county, Ark., his son, Henry, was born October 15, 1842. By reason of the frequent removals of the family and their isolation in remote mining camps, he was deprived of educa- tional advantages. His entire attendance at school was limited to three weeks, when he was a pupil in a subscription school. During 1859 he arrived in El Monte, Cal., with his parents, and in February, 1860, he came with them to the present site of Bakersfield. In 1862 he began to mine in the White river district, where he took up a mining claim. In November of 1863 he joined his parents in Idaho, where he engaged in mining in 1864 and 1865. The fall of the latter year found him in Montana, where he bought a claim at Last Chance gulch and engaged in mining. Returning to Oregon in the fall of 1866, he spent a few months in and near Portland and in 1867 returned to Kern county with his father, settling at Woody. Up to 1872 he devoted his attention to mining, but after that he engaged exclusively in farming and stock-raising. He had taken up and improved one hundred and sixty acres, but in 1882 the railroad took one-half of the tract from him. During 1882 he took up a homestead of one hundred and sixty acres in the Greenhorn range and moved to the land in 1883, but again in 1892 the railroad took eighty acres from this tract. While living in the mountains he purchased from settlers title to six hundred and forty acres, which he used as a summer range for cattle. This place, which is known as Shiloh, he still owns. During 1904 he bought the old Maltby tract of four hundred acres at Woody, and in 1905 he moved to this place. In the meantime he has purchased three hundred and twenty acres adjoining and now owns and successfully operates eight hundred and eighty acres of well-improved land. Being profusely wooded with native oak the place has been appropriately named Oak Lodge.

Since the age of twenty-one years Mr. Bohna has been an active worker in the local ranks of the Democratic party. During 1894 he was elected supervisor of the third district and in that responsible position he served with the greatest efficiency for four years. Elected a trustee of schools in the Blake district, he was clerk of the board for six years. From early life he has been a member of the Christian Church and a generous contributor to its maintenance. His marriage took place in Woody February 16, 1876, and

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HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY

united him with Miss Annie E. Rutledge, who was born in Tuolumne county, Cal .. September 7, 1856, being a daughter of Paschal and Mary Ann (Mc- Elroy) Rutledge. Her father was born at Greenville, S. C., July 15, 1823, and during the great excitement of 1849 joined an expedition bound for Cali- fornia, where he was a pioneer tinner in San Francisco. After a time he added a stock of hardware and carried on an extensive trade in his line. Sep- tember 24. 1846. he had married Miss McElroy, who was born in Philadelphia, Pa., January 1, 1824, and who came alone to California, making the trip via Panama. After having lived temporarily in various parts of the state Mr. Rutledge removed to Woody, Kern county, and here his body lies buried ; this also is the last resting place of his wife, who passed away in 1893. The family of Henry and Annie E. Bohna comprises nine children, the eldest of whom are high-school graduates and three of the daughters have taught school with success. Paschal married Miss Birdie Morse December 25, 1899; Chris- tine M. taught school for a time, and February 8, 1903, became the wife of F. H. Jameson : Evelena Paralee taught school for some years, and August 15, 1909, became the wife of Henry B. Gardette ; Clara J. married Harvey Buf- fington November 15, 1905 : Marianna, after completing high-school, took up teaching with energy and intelligent application; Roy H. now manages the ranch in the Greenhorn mountains ; Alice Muriel, Thomas Hugh, and Lillian Rae complete the family.

JULES RUFENER .- Where the foothills stretch from the Jura range of the lofty Alps westward toward the sunny slopes of France lies the thriving Swiss city known as La Chaux de Fonds, Canton Neuchatel. In that place Jules Rufener was born July 24, 1865, there he passed the unevent- ful years of childhood and there also he learned the tedious lessons so indispensable to educational or occupative progress. The family for several generations was noted for skill in watchmaking. The men of the race seemed to possess a natural talent for the delicate mechanism so essential to the trade and they therefore gained local prestige in a calling requiring exceptional delicacy of touch and accuracy of vision. Jacob, the father of Jules, was born at Interlocken in the Alps and has devoted his entire active life with success to the manufacture of watches. Even now, although he has reached the age of seventy-three, he is still regarded by the people of La Chaux de Fonds, where the firm of Rufener & Co. wields the influence due to long identification with the business of the city, as the leading watch- maker and most competent jeweler in the entire community.

The marriage of Jacob Rufener united him with Barbara Gertsch, who at her death in 1911 was survived by seven of her ten children. It is a noteworthy fact that four sons became very skilled watchmakers. Of these the second child. Jules, was the only one to engage in business in America. Fritz until his death in 1910 carried on a large business as a watchmaker and jeweler in Bombay, India, while Charles, also identified with business in India, is a wholesale dealer in watches and jewelry in Lucknow. The only one of the sons continuing in business in his native city is Alfred, a manufacturer of watches, well known throughout Canton Neuchatel. At the age of sixteen Jules was apprenticed to his father and later was sent to a factory in order that he might become familiar with every department in the trade of watchmaker. Coming to the United States in 1890, he first engaged at his trade in Johnson, Nemaha county, Neb., and later in Niobrara, Knox county, same state. whence in 1897 he came to California and secured work at his trade in San Jose. The following year he arrived in Bakers- field, where he had no difficulty in securing a position suited to his ability. From 1901 to 1906 he engaged in business on Beacon street, San Pedro, where he still owns two residences close in. Upon selling the business at that point he returned to Kern county and secured a position in East

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Bakersfield. In April of 1908 he bought a one-half interest in a business established by his cousin. H. Oppliger, and later known as the Kern Jewelry Company. When in 1910 he bought the interest of his partner he changed the title of the business, which is now conducted under his own name, occupying a convenient location at No. 818 Baker street. After coming to East Bakersfield he married in 1901 Miss Marie Louise Nouguier, who was born in Hautes Alpes, France, and by whom he has one son, Jules Eli. He is a Republican and belongs to the Tribe of Ben Hur and the Woodmen of the World.

BEDELL SMITH .- The first American representatives of the Smith family, which is of mingled Scotch and English lineage, lived on Long Island and even to this day many of the name remain in that portion of New York. Benjamin Smith, the son of a native of Queens county, was likewise born and reared on Long Island and remained there until death. For eight years under the presidential administrations of Franklin Pierce and James Buchanan he held a position as keeper of the Fire Island light- house, retiring to a farm in 1861 and dying three years afterward. In young manhood he had married Miss Hannah Bedell, a native of Queens county and a descendant of Teutonic ancestry. According to the family traditions three brothers came from Germany in a very early period of the American colonization. One brother settled on Long Island, another went into the northern part of New York and the third migrated as far west as Ohio. From the Long Island settler Mrs. Smith was descended and she passed her entire life in that part of New York, dying there about 1866. Of her marriage there had been born ten sons and two daughters, of whom the daughters and six of the sons attained maturity, and at this writing four sons and one daughter survive. The third from the youngest and the only one of the large family to settle in the west was Bedell, whose birth occurred at the family home near Freeport, Queens county, N. Y., November 1, 1851. and who was given the name of his mother's people. From 1853 until 1861 he lived at the Fire Island lighthouse, after which he was taken by the parents to a farm near Freeport and sent to the schools of that Long Island town. When he was thirteen he lost his father and two years later his mother passed away, leaving him without a home and thrown upon his own resources for a livelihood. Immediately he secured employ- ment as clerk in a general store at Freeport. In that position he learned his first business lessons. At the age of nineteen he went to New York City and secured a clerkship in a tea store on Eighth avenue, where he remained until sickness caused the loss of the position.

June of 1874 found Bedell Smith a newcomer in St. Paul, Minn., and eight months later he arrived in Denver, Colo., where he found employ- ment in business. During 1875 and 1876 he spent one month visiting with relatives and friends in the east and on the 15th of January, 1876. he boarded the Acapulco in New York harbor, with the Isthmus of Panama as his first destination. From there he traveled across to the Pacific coast, then shipped on the Colorado to San Francisco, where he landed on the 11th of February. In the same year of 1876 he saw Bakersfield for the first time while making a trip of inspection through the valley. Later he was en- gaged as a clerk in the New York Exchange hotel at San Jose for four years, and upon resigning the position he spent two years in travel through Utah, Idaho, Montana and Nevada. Returning to San Francisco, he then proceeded toward the southwest and traveled through Arizona and New Mexico. After his arrival in Texas he secured a position as clerk in a store in El Paso, where he remained for eighteen months. Next he went to Los Angeles and secured work as clerk and bookkeeper. March 14, 1890, he arrived in Bakersfield with the intention of becoming a permanent resi-

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HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY

dent. For nine years he engaged in a restaurant and hotel business. Since January, 1899, he has served as deputy county clerk and as clerk of depart- ment No. 1 of the superior court. Meanwhile he has been a warm sup- porter of Democratic policies and has served as a member of the county central committee. In San Francisco he married Miss Maggie Larkin, who was born in Ireland and during 1875 came from New York to California via Panama. Six children were born of their union, but only two of the number attained mature years, these being Millicent and Edna, the former now the wife of Lawrence Lavers, editor of the Wasco News, of Wasco, Kern county, and the latter the wife of E. F. Britton, attorney at law, of Bakersfield.

WALTER JAMES .- The irrigation project developed by the Kern County Land Company into a system famous throughout the entire world owes much of its remarkable success to the genius and skill of Walter James, who came to Bakersfield during 1871 and secured employment as civil engineer on the vast estate that eventually was merged into the holdings of the organization named. To him belongs the distinction of having been at the head of the irrigation system that has made the county famous. From the inception of the enterprise he planned and superintended the con- struction of the greater portion of the works, which were the first in the entire country to be instituted upon so large a scale. Everything connected with the plans originated in the minds of the men having the enterprise in charge, Mr. James having been foremost among these. That his ability has been recognized admits of no question. The works have been visited by engineers from every country in the world where irrigation is practiced. In addition they are mentioned at length in almost every book that has been published bearing upon the subject.

Born near Marion, Ohio, April 22, 1837, Mr. James can scarcely recall a time when he was not interested in engineering and matters pertaining to the subject, and surveying as well. At the opening of the Civil war, during 1862, he enlisted as a member of the Ninety-sixth Ohio Infantry and was assigned to Company E. Later he was transferred to the signal corps and served in that position until the war had been brought to an end. On the 4th of July, 1865, he was honorably discharged at New Orleans, and he then returned to his home in Ohio, where he was united in marriage with Miss Lauretta G. Gillespie, of Marion, that state, and they became the parents of a daughter, Dora, who married Charles M. Clark, of Los Angeles. Mrs. James, who has been a resident of the west since 1865 and of the county since 1871, is one of the pioneer women of Kern county and has given of her best efforts to enhance its educational, literary and social advancement. She is the daughter of Noah and Emily (Owens) Gillespie, and was born in Marion, Ohio, where she completed her education in the high school, and later followed teaching until her marriage in November, 1865. Of late years Mr. and Mrs. James have resided in Los Angeles, having a comfortable home at No. 1050 West Forty-eighth street. Mrs. James is a member of the Unitarian Church.

Immediately after the close of his army service Mr. James and his wife came to California by way of the Isthmus of Panama, and he at once entered the employ of his brother, I. E. James, with whom they made their home. The latter was a civil engineer employed on the Comstock lode, and while working with him Mr. James acquired some valuable experience in railroading and other engineering works. In partnership the two brothers became interested in a mining enterprise in Eldorado county, Cal., and later engaged in farming in the San Joaquin valley near what is now Newman, Stanislaus county. In 1871 Mr. James began farming in Kern county on what is still known as the James ranch, now a part of the

Walter James

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Bellevue, and he has ever since been identified with the county. Some years later, in 1874, he was employed by the firm known as Carr & Haggin, predecessors of the present Kern County Land Co., entering upon his long and successful association with that company, whose irrigation works bear silent but eloquent testimony as to the splendid resources of his mind, the wisdom of his judgment and the original nature of his ideas. The irrigation system was installed and promoted by the Kern County Land Co. and its predecessors at a large cost. The investment has proved to be profitable, and its success has encouraged other companies seeking in a similar manner to conserve the use of fertile soil in dry countries. Water for irrigation in Kern county is almost entirely taken from Kern river, which has its source at Mount Whitney, the highest peak in the United States and covered with perpetual snow. With the Kern river as the channel and conveyer, the water passes into canals and ditches and thence is brought to each tract at stated intervals. The importance of the enterprise to the agricultural development of Kern county cannot be overestimated, for the availability of water at a reasonable price has been the basis of all improvement of lands and profitable cultivation of farms.

Although Mr. James' time was given very closely to business affairs he nevertheless served as county surveyor for one term, from 1873 to 1875. Fraternally he is identified with Bakersfield Lodge No. 224, F. & A. M., Kern Valley Chapter No. 75, R. A. M., was one of the early members of Bakersfield Lodge No. 266, B. P. O. E., and is a member of Hurlburt Post No. 127. G. A. R., of which he is a past commander.

CHARLES FREDERICK OFF .- Ancient and honorable Teutonic line- age appears in the genealogy of the Off family and it is worthy of note that six successive generations have had male representatives bearing the name of Charles Frederick. Three generations of the family have been associated with Los Angeles: The late Rev. Charles Frederick Off, formerly a leading minister in the German Evangelical Church of North America : Charles Fred- erick (more commonly known as Charles), who is superintendent of the celebrated Lakeview Oil Company and in the discharge of official duties spends much time in the Sunset-Midway field; and Charles Frederick, the youngest son of the oil superintendent and a bright boy now attending the city schools.

From early life the German Evangelical minister showed fine mental qualities. Born at Canstadt, Wurtemberg, Germany, and educated at Basel, Switzerland, he engaged in educational and ministerial work throughout much of his career. At St. Joseph, Mo., he married Miss Louise Meister, who was born at Zurich, Switzerland, and crossed the ocean to the United States in 1850 with her parents, settling in Missouri. Her death occurred in 1903 at Stockholm. Sweden, and since that time the minister, having retired from professional labors, has made his home with his eldest son in Los Angeles. For years he was a man of great influence in his chosen denomination. Following a service of eight years as a professor of music in Elmhurst College near Chicago, he was given charge of the missionary work of the Iowa and Nebraska synod of the German Evangelical Church, and while serving in that capacity and temporarily stationed in Hardin county, Iowa, a son, Charles Frederick, was born May 13, 1866. There was one child older than he, a daughter, Louisa A., who died at the age of thirty-three years. The other members of the family are as follows: John W. A., a retired capitalist residing in Los Angeles; Julia Maude, a teacher of music : Theofil R., who died in childhood ; and Edward T., of Pasadena.

Although he did not attend school after the age of thirteen, Charles Frederick Off is a man of unusually broad information and is well educated in both German and English, besides having considerable knowledge Ct 20

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both piano and organ. When only thirteen he began to be self-supporting. For three years he engaged as a clerk in a general mercantile store at Plymouth, Sheboygan county, Wis. On resigning that position he removed to Denver, Colo., where he was employed for three years in a music store. January 1, 1884, he came to Los Angeles with his mother and sister, who were invalids. Since then he has made his home on the northeast corner of First and Union avenue, where he owns a residence. Shortly after his arrival in Los Angeles he purchased a stationery store at No. 148 North Spring street and from the first he met with a fair degree of success in the business. In 1895 he made the acquaintance of Miss Grace Maude Bemis, formerly of Evansville, Wis. Their marriage was solemnized in 1897 at the old homestead under an arch where three older sisters had previously stood as they took the marriage vows. Four children bless the union, Lillian Merle, Howard J., Teddy R. and Charles Frederick.

The Pacific Truck Company, started by Mr. Off as a ten-cent delivery, developed into a large incorporated concern that made a specialty of heavy trucking and hauled the stone for the City Hall, Court-House and Phillips Block. As the business grew with startling rapidity and as the president, Mr. Off, was obliged to devote his time very closely to the books and office work of the company, his health began to be impaired by the con- finement and in December, 1889. he sold his interest in the business. In order that he might have outdoor occupation, he bought land near Whittier, east of Los Angeles, and began to raise standard-bred horses and milch cows. Unfortunately a serious drought soon came on, feed became scarce and horses valueless, thus entailing a heavy loss in the venture.

As a contractor in the well-drilling business in the Whittier district, Mr. Off retrieved former loses. In addition he engaged in leveling lands and planting trees for others under contract. In 1895 he left the Whittier district and put down his first oil well in the Los Angeles field, Thomas ('Donnell and Max Whittier doing the work of drilling. After having put down about six wells in the city he leased eighty acres of oil land at Whittier, where he drilled wells under the incorporated title of the Whittier Crude Oil Company. At this writing he still serves as manager of the company, which owns twelve wells in operation. Having completed the work of drilling these twelve wells, he went to the Santa Maria field as organizer of the Rice Ranch Oil Company at Orcutt and there he had charge of the drilling of seven wells. Desiring to extend the company's interests in 1908 he came to Kern county on a tour of investigation. After an inspection of the Sunset-Midway field he leased the property now controlled by the Lakeview Oil Company. From the first he was convinced of the value of the property, but when he submitted the details to the direc- tors of the Rice Ranch Oil Company he found a majority of them decidedly against investing in a new field. However, the president of the company, R. D. Wade, of Los Angeles, joined him in forming the new company and through the assistance of F. E. Dunlap of Los Angeles a twenty-year lease was secured from the locators.

Under the management of Mr. Off drilling was begun at wells Nos. 1. 2 and 3. Financial necessities forced the management to sell fifty-one per cent of the stock to the Union Oil Company. Under the contract the management remained with that company for three years, from June 1, 1909, to June 1, 1912. At the latter date the management was again returned to the minority and Mr. Off was chosen superintendent. Under his supervision two wells, Nos. 9 and 10 are prospective successful pumpers, and No. 11 is now nearing completion and it is the expectation to begin drilling on No. 12. Lakeview No. 1. popularly known as the Lakeview gusher, is probably the most famous well in the entire country. During the period of the gushing.

Sa. Moody.

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from March 15. 1910, to September 12. 1911, it is conservatively estimated to have produced ten million barrels. Such an enormous output naturally gained world-wide attention and the success of the well permanently placed the Sunset-Midway field upon the map of the world's oil industry. At great expense Lakeview No. 1 was re-drilled and was brought in as a forty- barrel per day pumper, with a strong flow of gas sufficient to fire eleven boilers and equal to one hundred and fifty barrels of crude oil per day, besides furnishing natural gas to about twenty private families. The association of Mr. Off with this famous property on section 25, township 12, range 24, has been long and intimate.

STONEWALL A. WOODY .- The auditor of Kern county traces his lineage to a colonial family of Old Virginia. As the tide of migration drifted toward the west one branch of the name became established in Missouri and from there Sparrell W. Woody, M. D., crossed the plains to California during the exciting period of '49, identifying himself with the permanent growth of the then unknown coast country. Born in Virginia in 1826, he was taken to Missouri by his parents in 1835, and had endured the vicissitudes of frontier existence while aiding in the clearing and improving of a tract of raw land in Boone county. After he had received his degree from the St. Louis Medical College he engaged in professional work in Missouri for a year. but plans for a quiet continuance of his practice gave way before the more alluring visions offered by the unknown west. During the summer of 1849 he crossed the plains with wagon and oxen and upon his arrival in California began to mine on the American river, later, however, turning his attention to the management of an hotel and livery stable in Auburn. At the expiration of seven years he sold the business and spent a year in the Hawaiian Islands. Returning to San Francisco he came on to Kern county in 1860 and settled on the present site of Bakersfield, where he engaged in raising grain, corn and potatoes. The great flood of 1862 brought him losses that would have discouraged a less optimistic pioneer and he was further handicapped by ill health. However, his was not the spirit to be depressed by adventitious circumstances. The flood taught him the necessity to ranching on higher ground, so he removed near the present site of Woody, and when later the village was started it was named in his honor. Soon he regained his health and recuperated his losses. Eventually he acquired a grain and stock ranch aggregating four thousand acres, the ranch house standing three miles from the town of Woody, which still affords a convenient market for many of the farm products.

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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 46

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