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 47

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 47

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

While the demands of his large landed possessions were so great that Dr. Woody had no leisure for professional practice and only responded to calls when there was no other physician near and the suffering of the patient was intense (in all of which cases he made no charge whatever). it must not be inferred that he fell into a narrow groove of exhausting agricultural labors. On the contrary. no one was more interested than he in the growth of the county and the development of its resources. Every progressive pro- ject received the benefit of his calm judgment and sagacious counsel. Dis- cerning the need of good educational facilities, he assisted in the building of the first schools in Kern county, and often served as a school trustee in order that he might promote such work. Religion also entered into his character and implanted in his soul its own lofty ideals. From early life a member of the Christian Church, he assisted in the building of a house of worship at Woody and generously supported all missionary movements of that congregation. Fraternally he was a Mason. When the first grand jury was convened at Havilah (then the county-seat) he was chosen its chairman and his impartial judgment aided the body in its deliberations. Fond of the best books, he was himself a scholar and a man of unusual

402

HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY

mental attainments, an honor to the citizenship of Kern county, and in his death, which occurred September 2, 1910, he was deeply mourned.

Where the city of Bakersfield now stands Dr. Woody was married in 1861, his bride being Miss Louisa Bohna, who was born in Arkansas and died in Kern county in 1909. Her brother, Henry Bohna, is a resident of Woody, and her father, Christian Bohna, who died here, crossed the plains twice during early days, his first trip having been made shortly after the discovery of gold, at which time he followed the southern route and settled in Kern county. His second trip was made in 1858, when he brought his family in a prairie schooner drawn by oxen, a journey of six months. His daughter, Louisa, then thirteen years of age, was one of twelve children, and made her home with her father on Kern Island until her marriage. She was a woman of lovable disposition, kindly traits, and a strong character, always looking to the high moral uplift of the community, and during all her life showed a true charitable and Christian spirit, ex- emplified in the fact that she reared two orphaned families besides her own, and during her whole life was a conscientious member of the Christian Church. Later Christian Bohna became a pioneer of Oregon, but after having made his home in that state from 1862 until 1870, he returned to Kern county to spend his last days. In the Woody family there are three daughters and two sons. The eldest daughter, Eugenie, married Alexander Carver and lives near Delano, Kern county. The other daughters, Nettie, Mrs. W. H. Howard, and Victoria, Mrs. Clark Green, reside at Dinuba, Tulare county. The two sons, Stonewall A. and Elmer, own the old Woody ranch of four thousand acres. To this they have added until they now have about sixty-five hundred acres and engage extensively in raising grain and stock, the younger brother residing at the old home ranch, while the older, a citizen of Bakersfield since 1907, erected and now occupies a modern resi- dence on the corner of E and Twenty-second streets. Born at the old homestead near Woody June 6, 1869, Stonewall A. Woody attended the country schools and in 1890 was graduated from Heald's Business College in San Francisco. Upon his return to the ranch he assisted his father in the cultivation of the land and the care of the stock. At the age of twenty- one he took up a homestead not far from the parental home and in due time proved up on the land, after which he bought adjacent property and railroad land. Until the death of his father he continued to raise grain and stock in partnership with him and used the brand TD.

When only twenty-one years of age Mr. Woody became a member of the county central committee. Under his father's supervision he had been trained in the Jacksonian Democratic policies and in early youth he was able to give a concise, clear and positive reason for his political views, while now he is regarded as one of the best-posted Democrats in the entire county. In recognition of his able services in behalf of the party, in 1906 the Demo- crats nominated him for county auditor and he was duly elected, taking the oath of office in January, 1907. During 1910 he was re-elected, to serve until January of 1915. As a county official he has proved prompt and painstak- ing, enterprising and efficient, and his popularity has not been limited to members of his own party, but extends to all those who appreciate con- scientious, honorable devotion to the business affairs of the county. In fraternal relations he holds membership with the Woodmen of the World and the Native Sons of the Golden West. During 1900 at San Jose he married Miss Odile Enderlin, a native of Idaho, and the daughter of Frank and Hannah (Gay) Enderlin, natives of France and Philadelphia, Pa., re- spectively. Her father served in the Civil war in an Eastern regiment, sub- sequently coming to California. Here he met and married Miss Gay, who had come to California by way of Panama. Her parents died in San Jose. Mrs. Woody is a graduate of the Santa Rosa Normal School. Her excel-

403

HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY

lent education was utilized for some years as a teacher, and she proved well qualified for educational work. Since her marriage she has joined with Mr. Woody in social affairs and in the support of movements for the benefit of their home city and county, believing with him that this part of Cali- fornia is unrivalled in resources and alluring in possibilities.

GEORGE B. EDWARDS .- Influential among oil men is George B. Edwards, superintendent of and a heavy stockholder in the Midway Northern and the Maricopa Northern Oil Companies, whose properties lie on section 32, township 12. range 23. the former consisting of eighty acres lying due west of a tract of equal size operated by the Maricopa Northern. An investigation of the properties convinced Mr. Edwards of their value and with characteristic quickness of decision he purchased an interest in the concern, since which time he has devoted himself to the work of superin- tendent. The Midway Northern has three producing wells, one well drilling : the last well came in as a gusher June 27, 1913, and is now making over fifteen hundred barrels per day. 24.7 gravity oil. Well No. 1 was brought in as a gusher with a record of fifteen thousand barrels per day. but naturally this high average could not be maintained. the production of the two wells being now in the neighborhood of fifty thousand barrels per month.

Since coming to Kern county in 1909 Mr. Edwards has been associated with the Sunset field, and on the 15th of January, 1912, he became super- intendent for the two companies previously named. The company's resi- dence on the Midway Northern lease furnishes a comfortable home for himself and wife, the latter, whom he married at Los Angeles December 8. 1912, having been Miss Rose Gonzales, member of a pioneer family of that city. He himself is of eastern birth and education and was born on Christmas day of 1865 in the city of Buffalo, N. Y., where his father. Alfred B. Edwards, at one time was a leading merchant. The family con- sisted of three children, George B., Mary L. and Dollie. The mother, who bore the maiden name of Jane Ann Falloon, was born in Ireland, but at an early age accompanied her parents to Canada and settled in Toronto. where she was reared and educated. Her death occurred in 1876. twenty years before the demise of her husband.

The management of a mercantile business did not limit the business activities of Alfred B. Edwards, who as he found himself financially pros- pering began to be interested in the oil industry. However, his first experi- ences were far from profitable. Indeed, he was practically ruined by invest- ments in fields that proved worthless. Instead of becoming discouraged by the failure he gave himself to the acquisition of a practical knowledge of the industry and through this means he retrieved some of his losses. About 1869 he moved to Venango county, Pa., and became associated with the Shamburg oil fields, but later he was also interested in other fields, continuing in the east until his death. Meanwhile the family had experi- enced hardships subsequent to his financial failure and the only son, who otherwise would have been reared in luxurious ease, now found it necessary His to earn his own livelihood. Self-reliance was thereby developed. success in the first instance has been due to industry and determination. With courage and sagacity he has invested the proceeds of his endeavor back into the same industry. Exceptional insight aided him in achieving success in the occupation. Long experience in the various oil fields of the United States has given him a thorough knowledge of the business in all of its departments. Meager educational advantages have not lessened his usefulness in the world. During early boyhood he secured work in the oil fields at Tidioute. Warren county. Pa .. and later he was successively em- ployed in McKean. Venango. Butler. Clarion, Washington and Allegheny

404

HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY

counties. that state, after which he worked in the oil fields of West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Oklahoma and Wyoming.

A first trip to California, where he arrived in September of 1902, gave Mr. Edwards an opportunity to investigate the oil fields of the state. For a short time he engaged as a driller in the Los Angeles fields with the Union Consolidated Oil and Refining Company of New York. Leaving California for Oklahoma, he became a pioneer driller at Cleveland and brought in seven excellent wells, the first one of which (the second well drilled in the Cleveland field) proved to be a gusher, and the seven wells had a record of thirty-five hundred barrels per day. From 1903 until 1909 he remained in the oil fields of Oklahoma. He owns undeveloped oil lands in two different fields, viz .: at Newhall, Cal., and the Spring Valley field, Wyoming. Returning to California in 1909, he engaged as a driller with the Standard Oil Company at Newhall and thus enlarged his scope of information in regard to conditions for discovery and drilling of wells in the west. This broadened knowledge he utilized through an investment in the stock of the companies for which he now acts as superintendent and whose properties under his intelligent oversight have been put on a paying basis. While making his headquarters in Cleveland, Okla., he identified himself with the Knights of Pythias at that place. In politics he asserts that he is a Lincoln Republican and a Bryan Democrat, which today in a time of progressive politics. has a definite meaning and puts him in touch with the forward movement in our national history. He was elected mayor of the city of Cleveland, Okla., in April, 1909, defeating Dr. George W. Sutton, president of the First National Bank of that city.

WILLIAM H. WEAVER .- Since coming to California in October of 1907, Mr. Weaver has engaged in contracting and building in the Maricopa district, at first as a member of the firm of Weaver & Schultz and later alone. Scores of oil derricks have been built under his capable supervision. A num- ber of frame buildings have been erected by him, among them the residences of Dr. Page, Postmaster E. E. Brown, F. M. Train and Guy Ball, a block of four buildings since destroyed by fire, all the carpenter work on the Coons & Price large brick store building, besides the Gates City Pharmacy and many other public buildings.

Born in the vicinity of Memphis, Tenn., William H. Weaver was an infant when his father returned to Pennsylvania with the family and he was less than four years of age when that parent died. The mother, who bore the maiden name of Saralı Kaanan and was born in Tennessee, after- ward married again, becoming the mother of eight children by the second union. Of her first marriage there were three children, those besides William H. being Lizzie and George W., the latter following the oil business in Venango county, Pa. The daughter married C. D. Mattison, a pumper employed on 25-Hill in the Midway field, in Kern county. Beginning to support himself at a very early age, William H. Weaver was only fifteen when he was made superintendent for Manning Bros., oil drillers at Oil City. In that capacity he had charge of the production of sixty-three wells. Going to Pittsburg at the age of eighteen Mr. Weaver secured work as locomotive fireman with the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company. For six years he continued as a fireman and meanwhile crossed the Alle- ganies almost daily. At first he made the run from Pittsburg to Cumber- land, Md., on the Pittsburg division and then he was transferred to the Cleveland division. In recognition of his fidelity and efficiency he was promoted to be a locomotive engineer and as such continued for three years, eventually leaving the railroad service in order to remove to the west. Immediately after his arrival in Kern county he engaged at the trade of rig-builder, which he had learned during boyhood, and as å partner of

Curra 1

407

HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY

William Schultz he also carried on general business in contracting and building. Their co-partnership, begun in 1908, continued for fourteen months, after which Mr. Weaver continued alone, and since then he has engaged in building frame structures of all kinds. As a carpenter he is reliable, skilled and popular and he is usually kept busy in the district lying near his own home. Politically he votes with the Democratic party and fraternally he is a member of the Eagles. While living in the east he was active in the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Engineers. When he came to California he brought with him his young wife, whom he had married in Lorain, Ohio, and who was Miss Reba Bills, daughter of L. D. Bills, of that city. Two children blessed their union, Kenneth and Gertrude. The latter died in 1911 at the age of eighteen months and in 1912 occurred the death of the wife and mother.

JAMES CURRAN .- The identification of the Curran family with the United States began in the year 1842, when James Curran, Sr., accompanied by immediate family and other relatives, crossed the ocean to the new world. County Tyrone, in the north of Ireland, had been hi's home and the environ- ment familiar to his entire life that had been passed at Stewartstown in the vicinity of Lough Neagh presented a striking contrast to the surroundings of his last days, passed in the then small but thriving village of Dixon, Ill., where he opened and conducted stone quarries. The next generation was repre- sented by Daniel Curran, who was reared in Illinois and engaged in the building business and the manufacture of brick from an early age, holding a position as a foreman in New York City from 1856 until 1862. Returning from the east to Dixon, he took up brick-making in the place of his former residence and became known for the superior quality of his product as well as for the high character of his citizenship. For a long period of helpful service he was a member of the board of aldermen of Dixon and his death occurred in that city in 1902 when he had reached the age of sixty-three years. While living in New York in 1860 he had married Catherine Donahoe. who was born in county Tyrone, Ireland, and died at Dixon during January of 1873. The four sons and one daughter are still living, the eldest of these being James, who was born in New York City March 14, 1862, and is now engaged in the brick-manufacturing business at Bakersfield. Charles P .. of Pomona. Cal .. is proprietor of a lumber yard. Frank holds a position with a lumber firm in Los Angeles and W. H. is assistant superintendent of the coast division of the Southern Pacific railroad.

When nineteen years of age, having completed the studies of the Dixon schools. James Curran was eager to earn his own way in the world, but was so afflicted with asthma that he found it difficult to continue steadily at any work. A physician advised him to seek the inland regions of Cali- fornia. Crossing the continent in 1881. he soon proved to his own satis- faction that the coast region did not benefit him and after a sojourn of six mouths in San Francisco and a later residence in Los Angeles he sought the inland sections advised by medical authorities. Meeting Mr. Brower and referred by him to Mr. Colton, he secured employment with the Kern Island Canal Company. The day that he crossed the Tehachapi range the asthma left him, to return no more. For three years he worked on the canal and during that time he was obliged to ride at least thirty miles every day. During 1886 he was elected justice of the peace. In the same vear he sent east for a machine to be used in the manufacture of brick. This arrived in 1887 and was the first machine of the kind in Southern California. all brick prior to that time having been made by hand. The sandstone brick which he began to make was the first of the kind on the Pacific coast. During 1903 the Bakersfield Sandstone Brick Company was organized with the following officers: W. S. Tevis. president : Charles J. Lindgren. vice-

408

HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY

president ; First National Bank, treasurer ; and James Curran, manager, which position, together with that of a director, he has since filled with recognized ability. The company occupies twenty-six acres in East Bakers- field. The clay here found is admirably adapted to the manufacture of the finest brick and the plant has a capacity of ten million brick per annum. The newly completed office building is a model of its kind, while the ware- house, kilns and entire yards are also modern and adequate to every need of the business. The products of the plant wherever used have proved equal to the demand. Since the organization of the company in 1903 they have furnished the brick for every large building in Bakersfield.

In addition to the management of this important undertaking. Mr. Curran has been interested in agricultural affairs and realty enterprises and with Mr. Lindgren built the Western and Kern hotels, besides which he has platted a subdivision to Bakersfield, has erected a substantial residence in the city, and has been interested in oil development in the county. During the early period of his residence in the west and after the incorporation of Kern, he was elected a member of its board of trustees and served as presi- dent of the same. Later he became a director of the Bakersfield Board of Trade and a member of the Merchants' Association of this place. Fra- ternally he holds membership with the Knights of Pythias. Ever since at- taining his majority he has supported men and measures of the Republican party. On one occasion, in 1896, his party asked him to accept the nomina- tion for the state legislature and he consented to make the race, although the district usually gave so strong a Democratic majority that a campaign offered little hope of success. However, he came within one hundred and eighteen votes of being elected. which proved that he not only held his own party, but won many votes from the other side. Frequently he has acted as chairman of the county Republican central committee and at this writing he is still a member of that organization. During 1911 he accepted an ap- pointment from Governor Johnson as a member of the board of trustees of the Fresno State Normal.

The marriage of James Curran took place at Rosedale ranch in 1887 and united him with Miss Mary G. Swain, by whom he is the father of eight children, namely : Mrs. Sibyl L. Chenoweth, of Bakersfield : Charles S., Val- entine. Arthur. Roland, Hugh, Rosalind and Robert. Mrs. Curran was born at Loda, Iroquois county, Ill., and is a sister of Arthur Swain, receiver of the United States land office at Visalia. Her parents. Thomas Howland and Sarah (Arthur) Swain, were born on Nantucket Island. The father descended from an honored' English family, identified with the Society of Friends, and represented among the very earliest settlers in the new world. Succeeding generations bore an active part in the material upbuilding of New England. The first to seek a home in the Mississippi valley was Thomas Howland Swain, who became a pioneer of Iroquois county, Ill., and took up raw land near the village of Loda. Throughout the remainder of his useful life he carried on general farming in that locality and from there in 1879 his widow removed to California, where she spent her last days with her children.

AMOS E. WARREN .- The eldest of seven sons and two daughters, Amos E. Warren was born in Orange county. Ind .. September 16, 1883, and was reared in Kansas, the family having moved to that state in his early childhood. In education he was limited to a somewhat brief attendance in country schools. It was necessary for him to become self-supporting as soon as possible and hence he was deprived of all higher advantages. Upon leaving home in 1901 he went to Colorado and for a year worked in the oil fields near Florence, for seven months was employed as a tool dresser at Fort Collins and also engaged as a cowboy on a cattle ranch near Greeley. After three years in Colorado he came to California in 1904

S. Minor

Emily Daniels Minor.

413

HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY

and secured work as a pipeman in the Kern river fields. After perhaps five months with the Standard Oil Company he went over to the Imperial Oil Company, for whom he worked one vear as a roustabout. Leaving this locality for the Santa Maria field in Santa Barbara county, he entered the employ of the Union Oil Company as a roustabout and tool dresser. Within one-half year, however, he was back in the Kern river fields and working as a tool dresser with the West Shore Company for several months.

Under J. L. Bruce, then the foreman of the drilling department of the Associated Oil Company, in October of 1907 Mr. Warren secured a position as tool dresser. During the fall of 1908 he began as a driller with the same organization and continued in that capacity until February of 1911. At that date he became assistant to J. A. Jones, foreman of the San Joaquin division of the Associated Oil Company, and June 1. 1912, he was promoted to his present position, that of field foreman of the Green and Whittier division of the same company, a responsible post in which he is giving satisfac- tion. He has established his home in the oil fields and with his wife, formerly Miss Tina Orton of Bakersfield, and their only child, Esther, has a comfortable cottage whose hospitality is always extended to other workers in these fields.

THEODORE HENRY MINOR .- As president of the Paraffine Oil Com- pany, the Arcata Oil Company and the Mannel-Minor Petroleum Company, Mr. Minor's identification with the development of the oil industry in Kern county has continued throughout an important period of local history. Mr. Minor traces his lineage to remote English ancestry, but he belongs to a family that has been represented in America since the colonial period of national history. The early home of Revolutionary forebears was in Con- necticut, but later generations became established in New Jersey and Samuel Minor, a native of the latter Commonwealth, transplanted the family name to Pennsylvania, where he earned a livelihood through the tilling of the soil. Isaac, son of Samuel, was born near Uniontown, Fayette county, Pa., and came to California via Panama during 1851. For a brief period he en- gaged in mining and by chance he was in Sacramento at the time of the great flood. Going to Humboldt county immediately after the Trinity river mining excitement of 1852. he there formed the acquaintance of Hannah Nixon, who was also born near Uniontown, Pa., and who became his wife and shared his responsibilities and anxieties through a long and happy wedded life. To her loyal companionship was due much of his later success. In sunlight and shadow she walked beside him, his adviser and helpmate, and not until her death in 1906 was their helpful co-operation broken. Of eastern birth and parentage. she was a daughter of Capt. Isaac Nixon, who was an early settler of Iowa from Fayette county, Pa., and started from Iowa. settling among the pioneer homesteaders of Humboldt county.

Various interests. all of them important. filled the active years of Isaac Minor. At different times he was proprietor of a mercantile store and a transportation business. farmer and stock-raiser, also a manufacturer of lum- ber and builder of four different mills in his home county. When advancing years and the accumulation of a competency rendered further labors unneces- sary and undesirable. he retired to private life and has since enjoyed the comforts provided by the incessant labor of younger days. Of his twelve children only six remain and the eldest of these. Theodore Henry, was born at Arcata. Humboldt county. Cal .. August 31, 1856. Primarily educated in Arcata schools, he later attended the California Military Academy at Oakland until his graduation in 1872. after which he assisted his father in tallying lumber. For a time he was bookkeeper in the sawmill, then assisted in the management of the mills and lumber business. After his father sold all of the lumber interests to the children in 1896. he organized the Minor Mill &

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

History of Kern County, California, with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its growth and development from the early days to the present, Part 47

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