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 50

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 50

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Arriving in Bakersfield December 21. 1899, Mr. Duncan immediately made preparations to embark in the grocery business. From the first he

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retained as manager his son-in-law, Edward 1. Hougham, formerly manager of a wholesale and retail grocery business at Manhattan, Kan. The estab- lishment has been conducted along lines of honor and integrity and success has been its portion. In point of years of active business as a grocer Mr. Duncan has been considered the pioneer in the city, his only predecessor in the place having been A. Weill, whose store is somewhat different by reason of being conducted upon the department plan. The establishment of M. A. Duncan & Co., (of which, notwithstanding the "Company," Mr. Duncan is the sole owner), has given steady employment to five experienced salesmen, who under the efficient supervision of the manager fill every requirement of custom- ers with dispatch, care and keen attention to details. The central location at 1801 Chester avenue has been an aid in the building up of a permanent trade and securing a large patronage; but even more important than the location has been the reputation for the observance of the pure food laws.

After coming to California and settling in this city Mr. Duncan became a leading worker in Masonry and a prominent member of the Royal Arch Chapter. In addition he also identified himself with the Modern Woodmen of America. Having the efficient supervision of his son-in-law in the store, it became possible for him to relax from business tension and enjoy the social amenities of life. Early in his citizenship he won his way to the con- fidence of the people here and gained many friends. Like many other pron- inent and successful business men he found his automobile a source of recreation and pleasure, but he was unfortunate in an experience in driving a new car August 6, 1912. In crossing the track the automobile was struck by a Santa Fe engine and he was seriously wounded, the eranium fractured so that it was necessary to remove a large piece of the bone. He was taken to the hospital in a very serious condition and for a while lingered between life and death, but a strong constitution stood him well in hand and his recovery was good, and he is now back attending to business.

THOMAS ALEXANDER METCALF .- The earliest records that can be traced concerning the Metcalf family indicate their identification with North Riding, Yorkshire, England, several centuries ago. From there some of the name crossed the Irish sea into Ireland and established the family in Inneskillen, from which point William Metcalf immigrated to America during the colonial era of our national history. Curtis, son of William, was born in Lancaster county, Pa., and devoted his entire life to agricultural pur- suits there. The next generation was represented by Thomas Metcalf, a native of Lancaster county and in very early youth a soldier of the Revolu- tion, enlisting from Pennsylvania. For a long period after the close of that historic struggle he engaged in farming in his native county, but when ad- vanced in years he removed to Ohio and spent his last days in Belmont county. Among his children was a son, William G., born near Westchester. Pa., and for years a farmer in Belmont county, Ohio, but later a pioneer of Illinois, where he developed farm land in the vicinity of Mendon, 111. Although far beyond the limit of military service at the time of the Civil war he became an ardent supporter of the Union and was accepted as a private in Company G. One Hundred and Eighteenth Illinois Infantry, whose hardships he endured with a fortitude not surpassed by those younger than he. While living in Ohio he married Jane McMillan, a native of St. Clairsville, Belmont county, and a daughter of Alexander McMillan, who during early years had crossed the ocean from his birthplace, Glasgow, Scot- land, and had settled in Ohio. For years he followed the occupation of a merchant tailor at St. Clairsville and there his death occurred. Both William G. Metcalf and his wife spent their last days in Illinois. Of their ten children all but one attained maturity and there now survive four sons and one daugh-

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ter. One of the sons, Isaac, was a soldier in Company K, One Hundred and Nineteenth Illinois Infantry, and now makes his home in Texas.

The oldest member of the family circle, Thomas Alexander Metcalf, was born at St. Clairsville, Belmont county, Ohio, May 25, 1844, and at the age of twelve years accompanied the family to Illinois, settling among the pioneers of Adams county, where he attended public schools during the in- tervals of farm work. During 1863 he enlisted in Company B, Forty-fifth Illinois Infantry, and was mustered into the service at Springfield, Ill. With his regiment he participated in numerous of the most important battles of the war, being at Chattanooga. Missionary Ridge and Kennesaw Mountain, taking part in the siege of Atlanta and the engagement at Jonesboro, accom- panying Sherman on the famous march to the sea, bearing a brave part in the siege of Charleston and the battle of Goldsboro, where he was wounded in the left leg. For a time he was a patient in a hospital at Louisville, Ky., and in June of 1865 he received an honorable discharge with his regiment. Returning to his Illinois home he took up school-teaching. After several years he entered the employ of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy railroad as an agent on their line in Illinois and at Coatsburg, Adams county, he also served as judge of the police courts. Coming to California in 1883 and set- tling upon a ranch near Bakersfield. he became identified with the early upbuilding of this community. After a time he established his home on the corner of C and Dracena streets in the city itself and here engaged in contracting and building until the death of his brother-in-law. S. W. Wible. when he became administrator of the estate and since then has devoted his time to its affairs, necessitating trips to Alaska each summer to look after the mining properties of the deceased.

The marriage of Mr. Metcalf and Miss Elizabeth J. Wible took place in Mendon, Ill., and was blessed with two children, Simon Hubert and Modena May, the former an electrical engineer employed in Spokane, Wash., and the latter a teacher in the Bakersfield public schools. Mrs. Metcalf was born in Johnstown, Pa .. and removed to Illinois with her father. Peter Wible. who became a pioneer farmer of Adams county. Further reference to the family history appears in the sketch of her brother, Simon W. Wible. pre- sented on another page. Mrs. Metcalf's demise occurred February 20. 1912. The family hold membership with St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Bakers- field, in which Mr. Metcalf officiates as senior warden. While living in Illinois he was made a Mason in Benjamin Lodge No. 227. A. F. & A. M .. at Camp Point, Adams county. Upon the organization of Hurlburt Post No. 127. G. A. R .. in Bakersfield. he became a charter member of the organization and afterward for several years he was honored with the office of commander of the post. It was largely through his effort that the supervisors set aside a room in the new court house for the exclusive use of the Grand Army of the Republic and its allied societies, and it has been furnished and fitted up by the Post. It is the concensus of opinion that it is today the most elaborate and beautiful Grand Army Memorial Hall in California if not in the entire Union. This was all accomplished while he was commander and, being a builder, the arrangement was left to him. The altar is his own design and the only one of the kind. He has served several terms as an aide on the staff of different commanders of the department of California and Nevada. For the past two years he has been aide de camp on the staff of the com- mander-in-chief of the Grand Army of the Republic.

EDWARD L. HOUGHAM .- The manager of the grocery establish- ment of M. A. Duncan & Co., to whose able supervision the credit for much of its popularity may be attributed. is Edward L. Hougham, a native of the state of Kansas, born at Manhattan, November 30, 1874. As a boy he

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attended the public schools and later he attended the Kansas State Agri- cultural College in his home city, taking a full course of four years in the institution. It was not. however, his intention to enter the field of agri- cultural activities, for his tastes inclined him toward a commercial career. Upon leaving college he secured a position with the wholesale and retail grocery firm of Whitney & Hougham at Manhattan and advanced from one post to another until eventually he became the manager of the large and important business. When he resigned his position in 1899 he came at once to California and settled at Bakersfield, where in December of the same year the grocery house of M. A. Duncan & Co. was established.

Both comfort and culture are apparent in the attractive home of Mr. Hougham at No. 2129 Dracina street. Bakersfield. The presiding genius of this home is Mrs. Hougham, who prior to her marriage in Quincy, Ill., was Alta Lelah Duncan, her father being M. A. Duncan, the pioneer grocer of Bakersfield. Of her marriage to Mr. Hougham there are four children, namely: Edward Bennett, Theodore Sylvester, Mary Eleanor and Martha.

JAMES ARMSTEAD OGDEN .- Very early in the history of the Vir- ginian colony the Ogden family became established there. Not only were they among the oldest families of that state, but among the most prominent and popular as well, and for years after his return from the Revolutionary war one of the ancestors managed his plantation with a diligence that brought prosperity. Among the children of the Revolutionary soldier was a son, Henry, who lived upon a plantation in Bedford county and remained in the Old Dominion throughout all of his life. The next generation was represented by Champ Ogden, likewise a native of Bedford county near the thriving city of Lynchburg, but from early manhood until 1862 a planter in Virginia. In 1862 he removed to Pike county, Mo., where he died March 21, 1864, at the age of forty-one years. When he removed to Missouri he was accompanied by his wife, Elizabeth, daughter of Henry Ogden, a Virginian ; born and reared in the Old Dominion, she survived her husband thirteen years, dying in 1877 at the Missouri homestead. Of her seven children, James A. was the youngest and he alone, of the four now living, has established a home in California. Born near Bowling Green, Mo., March 4. 1864, he has no recollection what- ever of his father. After his mother's death at the age of thirteen years he was taken from Missouri to Virginia, where he became an inmate of the home of his aunt, Mrs. Harriet Matthews, in Rockbridge county, and under her careful oversight he was given a public school education at Lexington. When he had completed the studies of the town schools he settled in the country and took up general farming.

Coming from Virginia to California in 1887 and settling first in Tulare county. Mr. Ogden entered upon farming activities. From the first he was a close student of the soil. No department of agriculture was beyond his inter- est. When he left Tulare county and came to Kern county in 1893 he already had gained a broad knowledge of farming in all of its diversified forms and was well qualified to fill acceptably his new position as foreman on the Button Willow ranch for Miller & Lux. For eight years, beginning with 1893, he con- tinued in the same place. The ability manifested in every department of the work and the resourcefulness evident in every emergency won recognition for Mr. Ogden, who in 1901 was appointed superintendent of the entire division of southern ranches, including Button Willow ranch in Kern county (where he makes his headquarters, his home, however, being on Chester avenue, Bakersfield), Panama and Lake ranches in Kern county, Cuyama stock ranch in Santa Barbara county, Carissa rancho in San Luis Obispo county and the swamp range in Kings and Tulare counties. The three ranches first-named have splendid facilities for irrigation with a modern system of canals and reser- voirs. Altogether he superintends over six hundred thousand acres. the

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greater part of which is utilized as range for stock, although large tracts are devoted to the raising of grain and alfalfa. Shipments of produce and stock are made from Kern county to San Francisco. For some years the superintend- ent drove the teams and buggies from one ranch to another, but this proved too slow and he now utilizes an automobile in his frequent trips into Kings, Tulare, San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties.

The marriage of Mr. Ogden occurred in Tulare, Cal., December 31, 1891, uniting him with Miss Elmina Maples, who was born in San Benito county, Cal., daughter of Thompson W. and Elizabeth (Merritt) Maples, who were born in Liverpool, England, and Jefferson county, Ohio, respectively. Mr. Maples was of Scotch-Irish parents, and came to California via Panama in 1851, when he was seventeen years of age. He followed farming during his active years, and now makes his home with Mrs. Ogden. Mrs. Maples came in a sailer around Cape Horn in 1861 and passed away in Berkeley, October 13, 1909. Mrs. Ogden received a broad education in our western schools and is a woman of culture and a devoted member of the Congregational church. The only son in the family, Laurence Armstead Ogden, a graduate of the Bakers- field high school in 1910, is now attending Leland Stanford University, class 1915. The only daughter, Miss Edith, is a member of the Kern county high school, class of 1914, in Bakersfield, where the family own and occupy a mod- ern residence. In fraternal relations Mr. Ogden holds membership with Bakersfield Lodge, No. 266, B. P. O. E.

JAMES B. McFARLAND .- A native of Ohio, J. B. McFarland was born in Woodsfield, Monroe county, December 26, 1861, and his parents were Andrew and Catherine (Harmon) McFarland, natives of that county, and farmers there. The father died in Wilsonville, Nebr., and the mother makes her home with her children, being now seventy-six years of age. Genealogical records show that Mr. McFarland is of Scotch and German descent.

When he reached the proper age Mr. McFarland was sent to public school and later was a student at the normal school at Sardis, Ohio, until he was seventeen. He became a teacher and when eighteen was principal of the Mount Zion (Ohio) school. In 1880 he removed to Nebraska and continued to teach, also farming near Palmyra, and in 1882 he taught school west of Lincoln in Lancaster county. At the same time he engaged in farming in Lancaster county and in 1884 he raised the first herd of Hereford cattle in that state. In 1886 he removed to near Burlington, Colo., where he was in the cattle business and also taught school until 1893, at which time he was attracted to Oklahoma by the opening of the Cherokee Strip, and participated in the townsite fights at Enid with the Chicago & Rock Island Company. This was one circumstance when the people won out against the railroad company. At Enid he prospered as a druggist until 1895, when he engaged in mining at Cripple Creek, Colo., where he delved for gold and silver with varying suc- cess for four years. Then, locating at Colorado Springs, he devoted the en- suing four years to the lumber trade. In 1904 he came to California, settling at Anaheim, Orange county, where he engaged in horticulture and devoted himself chiefly to the growing of walnuts for the market. In 1907 he had become the owner of one hundred and sixty acres of unimproved land in Kern county, the present site of McFarland, associating himself with W. F. Laird. In December of that year they laid out the town of McFarland and began building. Laying out a subdivision they planned a town at the Hunt switch, twenty-six miles northwest of Bakersfield, which has now become a place of three hundred population and of considerable commercial importance.

Mr. McFarland was the father not only of the town but of its schools as well and they boast of a splendid new grammar school. His own ranch has been improved. He put in the first pumping plant in the town site and

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demonstrated the success of raising alfalfa by that form of irrigation, raising from ten to twelve tous to the acre. He is interested in the dairy business located one mile southwest of town, where he has a herd of Holsteins and Jerseys.

Extending his activities Mr. McFarland established a lumber mill in the Green Horn range in Kern county. With others he incorporated the Mc- Farland creamery, the plant of which, located at McFarland, makes twelve thousand pounds of butter per month. The butter produced at this estab- lishment took the first prize, a gold medal, at the California State Fair in 1911. The company also manufactures ice for local consumption. Mr. McFarland lias sold more than a hundred thousand acres of land and is the owner at this time of one hundred acres, all under cultivation. A five-horse-power motor engine affords him sufficient water supply for the irrigation of his own place, and his dairy is also equipped with an electric pumping plant. He is also engaged in raising Percheron Norman horses. Since the organization of the First National Bank of McFarland he has been a member of the board of directors.

In St. Clairsville, Ohio, in 1884, Mr. McFarland was married to Miss Martha L. Hart, also a native of Monroe county, Ohio, and they have seven children : Lenora, Mrs. A. E. Sherwood, of McFarland; Ethel, Mrs. M. Schumacher, of Los Angeles: Bessie, wife of T. L. Runyon, residing near McKittrick : Gladys, Myron, Marie and Francis. After coming here the father became a member of the board of trustees of the Lone Tree school district and with his usual vigor and ambition worked faithfully until they succeeded in having a grammar school second to none in the county. In national politics Mr. McFarland espouses the principles of the Republican party.

FRED WRIGHT .- The Wright family history shows that William Wright, a native of Ireland, came to America at an early age and during young manhood married Anna Rowley, who was born in Connecticut. For some time they lived on a farm in Minnesota, but the rigorous climate of that northern state proved unhealthful and they decided to seek a more southerly location. As early as 1878 they became residents of Texas, where Mr. Wright for a time followed the stock industry and later gave consider- able attention to the contracting business. His death occurred in Texas and afterward the widow came to California to establish her home, since which time she has resided in Los Angeles. The family comprised four sons and one daughter. the eldest of the five having been Fred, who was born near Austin, Minn., August 12, 1873, and was a child of five years when the family removed to Texas. The public schools of Tyler, that state, afforded him fair educational advantages. At sixteen years of age he began an apprenticeship to the trade of machinist in the shops of the St. Louis & Southwestern Railroad Company at Tyler. On the completion of his time he traveled as a journeyman and worked in many sections of the south. It was during this period that he married in Pine Bluff, Ark., Miss Lottie Woodland, a native of Charles City, Iowa, and daughter of Joseph and Mary (Wright) Woodland, the former a native of England, but a resident of the United States from a boy. Mr. Woodland served in the Civil war as mem- ber of an Iowa regiment, and he and his wife are now residing near Bismarck, North Dakota. Six children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Wright, Francis. Robert, Mary, Anna, Margaret and Mildred.

During 1908 Mr. and Mrs. Wright came to Bakersfield and he entered the Bakersfield Iron Works as a machinist. The quality of his work was so satisfactory that he was promoted to be foreman of the pump department. Later he held a similar position with Sprague Bros., resigning from the em- ploy of the last-named firm in order that he might establish a-partnership with Christian Nelson, and they started the East Bakersfield Garage and

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Machine Company and developed a splendid trade. Both being skilled mechanics and having a thorough knowledge of machinery gave them an important advantage and they met with success. However, in March, 1913, upon being tendered his old position as foreman of the pump department of the Bakersfield Iron Works, he was prevailed upon to accept it, and he is now actively engaged in looking after his manifold duties. With his fam- ily he resides at his comfortable home on the corner of Sixth and R streets in Bakersfield.

CHARLES WILLIAM JACKSON .- Born at Fort Worth, Texas, March 12. 1851. Charles W. Jackson was a son of Thomas Jackson, who was a native of Tennessee and removed to Texas, where he married Cecelia De- Witt, who was born in New Hampshire. * He was a cattle man in northwest Texas, where both parents died. Their family consisted of five children of whom Charles William was the second.

Reared on the frontier Mr. Jackson was deprived of the advantage of an education in the free schools as there were none in that locality, and he lived part of the time a hundred and fifty miles from the nearest neighbor. Each full of moon the family went to Pa La Ponte and forted up. Orphaned at the age of ten he was early taught a knowledge of farming and cattle raising. as a mere lad being thoroughly fitted for the career that was before him, and he has always been more or less successful as a rancher and cattle- man in different parts of the country. For a time he was employed as stage driver in Guatemala. Central America. and drove the first six-horse stage from the city of Guatemala to San Jose de Guatemala, a distance of ninety miles. and his activities in other out-of-the-way places have been noteworthy. On his way to Guatemala he went by vessel to Livingston, then to Pt. Isabelle. from which point they crossed the country on mule back. bringing a hundred and fifty head of mules to Guatemala. He remained there for three years. when he came to Kern county. Cal., in February, 1876, and entered the employ of Haggin & Carr. now the Kern County Land Company, as teamster on the Stockdale ranch under Captain Taylor. Later he became the vaquero on the ranch and then was made foreman of irrigation, then foreman of haying and harvesting at different times. In 1884 he was established as superintendent of the ranch on the north side of Kern river known as the Jackson ranch, and later was made superintendent of the Collins. Jackson and Poso ranches. Since 1886 he has made his residence on the Poso ranch. This property consists of about one hundred thousand acres. Seventeen thousand acres of it is in alfalfa: five hundred and sixty acres of it is in orchard. and fifteen thousand head of cattle are shipped from the ranch yearly.

When Mr. Jackson came to this part of the state the country was new and sparsely settled. Ilis connection with the Kern County Land Company has covered the entire period of its history. He assisted in the construction of the Calloway canal in 1877-'78, and in 1879 began putting in an irrigation system. He has seen the country improve from a dry desert until it is one of the most fertile countries in the world. Fraternally he affiliates with the Knights of Pythias and in political principles is a supporter of the principles of the Democratic party.

Mrs. Jackson, who was Mary Lillian Rogers, was a native of San Fran- cisco. She was graduated from the Berkeley schools. By a former marriage Mr. Jackson has two sons, George G. and Claude B.

JAMES HORACE ARP .- The first representative of the Arp family in America came from Germany during the colonial era and settled in the south, where Frederick M. B. Arp, a native of Wilkes county, N. C., gave his services to the patriots during the war of the Revolution. Next in line of descent was Benjamin Arp, who, exhibiting the loyal spirit that had characterized his father, enlisted in the war of 1812, served with self-sacri-

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ficing patriotism and bore a gallant part under General Jackson in the mem- orable engagement at New Orleans. The war ended, he returned to North Carolina, but later crossed the Great Smoky range of mountains into Ten- nessee and engaged in planting in Monroe county near the eastern border of the state. The martial spirit characteristic of the grandfather and great- grandfather became an inheritance of the father, James Addison Arp, a native of Wilkes county, N. C., and a captain in the Federal army during the Civil war. He and his comrades had many narrow escapes while making their way through the mountains of Tennessee to join the Union army. After the close of the struggle he returned to farming pursuits in North Carolina, where also he served as a justice of the peace and in addition carried on a tannery, sawmill and gristmill operated by water power. For many years he lived at Murphy, the county-seat of Cherokee county, in the southwestern corner of North Carolina, near the Georgia-Tennessee state lines and within the shadow of lofty mountain peaks. During young manhood he had married Miss Mary Grayson, who was born in Sweetwater, Monroe county, Tenn., and died in North Carolina. Her father, William Grayson, a native of Wilkes county, N. C., served under General Jackson at New Orleans in the war of 1812 and was so seriously wounded in battle that the amputation of a leg was necessary. After his honorable discharge he settled in the eastern part of Tennessee and acquired an extensive planta- tion near Sweetwater, where he remained until death.

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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 50

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