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 52

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 52

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Appointed postmaster at Caliente in 1898 and re-appointed every four years, Mr. Ripley discharged his duties faithfully and well through a long . period of service. In January, 1913, he resigned the office and in June of the same year, upon the appointment of his successor, he relinquished the duties of the place. Through all of his life he has been a stanch Republican. For two terms he served as constable at Caliente. He was made a Mason in

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HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY

Tehachapi Lodge No. 313, F. & AA. M., and is also connected with Hurlburt Post, G. A. R. While living in Vernon county, Mo., he married Miss Clara M. Albright, a native of New York state and a woman of gentle disposition, energetic temperament, large charity and kindly spirit. Cheerfully she aided Mr. Ripley in his enterprises. With unfailing optimism she encouraged him to surmount every obstacle and meet every discouragement. At her death in March, 1913, many testimonials were given concerning her womanly at- tributes and her devotion to family and friends. Surviving her are five chil- dren, namely : Mrs. Hattie Colton, of Bakersfield; Ella, wife of Warren Rankin, of South Fork; Mrs. Maude A. Walton, of Bakersfield; Edward, who is living in Oregon ; and Clayton, now engaged as cattle superintendent on a large ranch in the South Fork country.

THOMAS A. BAKER .- Not alone through the interesting fact that he is the son of Col. Thomas Baker, founder of Bakersfield, but also by reason of his own intimate identification with public affairs and his own successful incumbency of important positions, Thomas Alverson Baker worthily has a permanent place in the list of progressive men of Kern county. At this writing he fills the office of sheriff. a post for which he is well qualified by reason of his fearless nature, inflexible determination to enforce law and order, and wide acquaintance with the country and its people. The office of sheriff has developed of recent years along with every other department of public work in the county.

From Visalia, Tulare county, Cal., where he was born July 22, 1859, Thomas Alverson Baker came to the present site of Bakersfield in 1863 with other members of the family. Although so young at the time, he vividly recalls incidents connected with the journey and has not forgotten the ap- pearance of the now flourishing city as their wagon and teams were halted at the destination. His father being a believer in educational advantages sent him to the public schools and also to Washington College at Irvington, from which he was graduated in 1880 as valedictorian of the class. The salutatorian of the class, Maurice Powers, became a prominent attorney of Visalia and for years served as district attorney of Tulare county.

Immediately after completing the college course Mr. Baker returned to Bakersfield, where he has since resided with the exception of a brief sojourn at Globe, Ariz., during the copper excitement at that place. Besides being employed as a clerk he served as assistant postmaster and had entire charge of the postoffice for one year. An experience as bookkeeper for the Kern River flouring mills qualified him for successful work as an account- ant. Prior to 1882 the offices of sheriff and tax collector had been combined, but they were then separated and a well-known citizen was elected tax col- lector at a salary of $1.000 per annum. The pay was far too small for the work involved and the gentleman elected refused to qualify. Thereupon the supervisors cast about for a man who would be willing to take the office at the small salary, furnish a bond of $100,000 and do the heavy work promptly and efficiently. Taxes were due. It was necessary to act with dispatch. An appeal was made to Mr. Baker, who acceded to their wishes and entered upon the duties of the office. At the expiration of two years he was regularly elected to the position. Next it was annexed to the county treasurer's office and he was elected to both positions, which necessitated the furnishing of bonds of $222,000. For three terms of two years he held the two offices, his work proving satisfactory to all concerned. Induced by his friends, he be- came a candidate for sheriff in 1894, but was defeated by forty-two votes. During 1896 he was elected the first city marshal of Bakersfield upon its incorporation. At the expiration of the term of two years he refused to be- come a candidate for re-election. From January of 1899 until January of 1903 he served variously as deputy county assessor, deputy tax collector and

LAliberson

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HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY

deputy county auditor, and in 1902. when J. W. Kelly was elected sheriff, he chose Mr. Baker as under sheriff. a position that he filled with con- spicuous success for eight years, resigning only to enter upon the duties of sheriff. In the fall of 1910 he was nominated for sheriff on the Democratic ticket. In the primary he won by seven votes and at the regular election he had a majority of five hundred and eighty-three. During January of 1911 he took the oath of office for a term of four years.

From young manhood Mr. Baker has been stanch in his allegiance to the Democratic party. His elections to various offices have come through the regular party channels and he also has been a leading member of the county central committee. Fraternally he is connected with the Eagles. also ranks as past chancellor commander in the Knights of Pythias and as past exalted ruler of the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, in which he is a charter member. His marriage took place in Florence, Ariz., and united him with Miss Ann Smith, who was born at Keyesville. Kern county, but grew to womanhood at Azusa, Los Angeles county. At one time her father. J. M. Smith, owned the old Keyesville mine. Of her marriage there are four sons and one daughter, namely : Thomas Tracy, a graduate of the Bakers- field high school and now employed as a bookkeeper; Francis H .. who is serving in the United States navy, at present on the steamship Connecticut : Roy J., teacher of piano: Edwin A. and Ellen.

LORRAINE PARR GUIBERSON .- The genealogy of the Guiberson family is traced back to Scotch and Norwegian blood, but indicates an identi- fication with the new world dating back to the pre-Revolutionary period and shows a long line of ancestors prominent in the professions and in business circles. Following the westward drift of migration, each successive genera- tion left further behind it the Atlantic seaboard and the limitations of the east. The first to seek the unknown possibilities of the Pacific coast regions was Samuel Allen Guiberson, a native of Ohio and in early life a farmer in Iowa. A love of adventure and a desire to see the west led him to join an expedition of emigrants in 1858. The most eventful occurrence of that long journey across the plains occurred during a brief halt at Fort Laramie, Wyo., where he was united in marriage with Miss Mary Ellen Greene, a lineal descendant of General Nathaniel Greene and of General Stark, of Revolutionary war fame. Arriving at their destination the young couple settled on a ranch in Napa county, but about 1868 moved from there to Ventura county and re- sumed agricultural pursuits in the new environment. Fairly well prospered by his long and sagacious activities as a farmer, Mr. Guiberson is now living retired in Ventura county and bears well the weight of his seventy-six useful vears. His wife died in Ventura county at the age of about sixty-five. Eight children formed their family, the eldest of these being Lorraine Parr, born in Napa county September 27. 1863. The second son, Hon. J. W. Guiberson, an extensive dairyman and rancher in Kings county, residing at Corcoran. is a member of the California state legislature of 1913. The third son, Na- thaniel Greene, prominent in the oil industry and a dealer in oil-well sup- plies, has traveled throughout the world and is now in South America in the interests of his business. The fourth son, Samuel Allen. Jr .. now living retired in San Francisco, was for years one of the best known oil operators in the Coalinga field. The fifth son. William Richard, a resident of Los An- geles, formerly engaged in the oil business, but more recently has devoted his attention to the invention and development of a smudge pot for raising. the temperature in orange groves. The three daughters of the family are as follows: Zuleika, wife of R. S. Hazeltine, manager of the British Con- solidated Oil Company, of Coalinga; Carrie Luellyn, who resides with her father at Fillmore. Ventura county ; and Blanche, who married John B. Mc- Nabb, the president and a large stockholder of the Sespe Land and Water Company.

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HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY

When five years of age L. P. Guiberson was taken to Ventura county by his parents, who sent him to the country schools there and trained him wisely for the practical affairs of life. In order that his educational advantages might go beyond the curriculum of the home schools he was sent to the University of Southern California and while a student there he formed the acquaintance of Miss Frank M. Fry, likewise a student in that institution. The young couple were married in July, 1887, at Bakersfield, the home of her parents, the late John A. and Mattie J. Fry. In the early history of Kern county Mr. Fry had been a well-known figure. For several years he engaged with Messrs. Haggin and Carr as superintendent and he continued in the position when the interests of those gentlemen were merged into the Kern County Land Company. Mr. and Mrs. Guiberson are the parents of two daughters, Ramona and Ellen Bernice. The elder daughter, now a student in the Uni- versity of California at Berkeley, has had the advantage of a thorough musical training under Hugo Mansfeldt, the celebrated pianist of San Francisco.

After two years in the drug business at Santa Paula and three years in business in the east, Mr. Guiberson returned to Santa Paula and engaged in ranching near that town. However, he soon sold the ranch in order to identify himself with the educational profession of Ventura county. For two years he engaged in teaching. While engaged as principal of the Bards- dale school in Ventura county the summer vacation of 1895 afforded him two months of leisure. More as a matter of diversion and recreation than with any intention of changing his occupation, he took his wife and infant daughter up to the mountains in Ventura county and pitched his tent at a point overlooking the Old Tory oil field. Soon he became intensely interested in the matter of oil production and secured employment as roustabout for the Union Oil Company in the Old Tory oil field. Before the vacation of two months had ended he was engaged as tool-dresser on the Cnion property and was making more money than was possible in teaching. Thereupon he resolved to continue in the business at least one year. It is worthy of note that he has remained at the work up to the present time and has lost only two days in all the years of his identification with the industry ; further- more, in changing positions he has always gone from a good to a better one. By the end of his first year he was a driller. For four years he remained with the Union Oil Company and then resigned for the purpose of drilling a wild- cat well for Clark & Sherman of Los Angeles. The well was drilled on the Chaffee ranch adjoining the Troy, but no oil was found and the enterprise proved futile. Entering the employ of the Modelo Oil Company in the Peru field in Ventura county, he thus became identified with the oil interests of W. H. Crocker and associates of San Francisco. For three years he was engaged as a driller and for two years as superintendent, after which he became superintendent for the 28 Oil Company at Coalinga, also for three adjacent leases.

Resigning after seven months with the 28 Oil Company, Mr. Guiberson became superintendent of the California Monarch and the California Diamond Oil Companies, in which responsible posts he continued for five years. Dur- ing 1910 he became superintendent for the Petroleum Properties Syndicate. Limited, whose successor, the British Consolidated, Limited, continued hin in the same position of trust. These two concerns were controlled by boards of management, but when the latter company sold out to the Indian and Colonial Development Company, Limited, December 1, 1911, the ownership of the properties passed into the hands of another corporation organized under the laws of England. but by power of attorney Mr. Guiberson was given control of all matters pertaining to the development of the lease. This is said to be the only instance in all California where a large corporation has given full power of attorney, as well as complete management. to one man. The fact bears evidence as to his judgment and ability.

Judson H Jordan

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HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY

The Indian and Colonial Development Company, Limited, owns one hundred and twenty acres on section 22 and a similar acreage on section 23. 32-23. The lease is completely equipped with electrical power for pump- ing. Twenty-two wells have been completed and well No. 23 is now being drilled. The average depth of the wells is about one thousand feet. Eighteen wells are producers, turning out an oil of fourteen degrees gravity, and averaging a monthly production of thirty thousand barrels. The loca- tion of the company main residence was personally selected by Mr. Guiber- son and affords a most enchanting view and an inspiring outlook.

In social and public matters Mr. and Mrs. Guiberson are prominent and the latter has been a leading member of the Women's Improvement Club, which provided and now maintains the public library of Taft. In religion they are of the Methodist faith. Fraternally Mr. Guiberson is a Royal Arch Mason and in politics votes with the Democratic party. Since he came to his present location in March, 1910, he has witnessed the remarkable growth of Taft and has seen a city spring into existence as if by magic. In the work of upbuilding he has been a factor. The Petroleum Club numbers him among its charter members and organizers. Another enterprise that commanded his warmest support was the securing of a school building on section 26, township 32, range 23, now known as the Hill school of the Conley school district. With other progressive citizens, he bore a part in organizing the First National Bank of Taft in 1911 with a capital stock of $25,000. From the first he has been a director and in January, 1913, he was elected vice-president. The institution has been successful in a re- markable degree and already has deposits aggregating $500,000. Upon its organization the directors bought the building and fixtures of the Taft branch of the old Oil and Metals Bank of Los Angeles, but during 1912 a more suit- able structure was provided by the erection of a substantial bank building on the corner of Fifth and Center streets.

JUDSON H. JORDAN .- The vice-president of the Bakersfield Abstract . Company descends from an honored family of colonial Virginia. whose splendid record in the professions and as cotton planters has been excelled only by their military achievements in the early French and Indian strug- gles, the Revolution and the war of 1812, the Mexican war and that sanguinary contest of the '60s between the states. Genealogy fails to give the exact date of the emigration of the first American representative from England. but it is known to have been shortly after the first attempt at colonization in Virginia. Keen, forceful mentality has characterized every generation. as evidenced in the lives of John H. Jordan, a planter of the Old Dominion, and his son. Rev. John C. Jordan, an influential and prominent minister in the Baptist denomination and a graduate of the Philadelphia Theological University. Shortly after the young Baptist clergyman entered upon his ministerial career he married Miss Lucy H. Tyler, an own cousin of John Tyler, the tenth president of the United States. In eastern pulpits he won distinction and accomplished much for the spiritual uplifting of humanity. An opportunity for enlarged ministerial usefulness led him to bring his family to California in 1884 and here he accepted the pastorate of the Fresno Bap- tist Church. During the five years of his ministry in that city he had charge of the erection of a substantial house of worship. \ later pastorate at Bakersfield covered a similar period and also witnessed the erection of an edifice for the congregational worship. Upon leaving Bakersfield he was sent to Alaska to oversee the spiritual interests of the Baptists at Skagway, where he had charge of the construction of the handsome, substantial edifice that now ranks among the finest buildings in the city. After several years in Alaska he returned to the United States and entered upon the pastorate of the Baptist Church at Dillon, Mont .. where he largely increased the mem-

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bership and placed the congregation upon a permanent basis of useful service in the cause of Christianity. A later pastorate at Fallbrook, San Diego county, Cal., resulted in the erection of a house of worship for the Baptists at that point. Since his resignation from that charge he has been retired from active ministerial labors.

There were eight children in the family of the Baptist clergyman and all of these are still living. The third member of the family circle. Judson H., was born at Manchester, Chesterfield county, Va., May 9, 1876, and at the age of eight years accompanied his parents to California, where for five years he was a pupil in the public schools of Fresno. When only fifteen he studied law for a time, but he soon gave that up for a salaried position in an abstract office. Turning his attention to the oil business about 1900, he became iden- tified with an industry in which he has been interested continuously up to the present, sometimes with other men and at times alone. Individually he still owns valuable oil lands in different fields. Shortly after the opening of the Jewett & Blodget wells in the Sunset field he with others formed the Occidental Oil Company, of which he became vice-president. After two producing wells had been obtained by the company, they sold out to the Spreckels interests. Later he was a member of different companies that developed oil and owned lands in the principal fields.

With the co-operation of J. B. Batz and George Hay. Mr. Jordan organ- ized the Bakersfield Abstract Company in 1903 and since then has held the office of vice-president. With the same gentlemen he organized the Bakersfield Land and Development Company, dealers in argricultural and oil lands. Of this concern he is secretary. George Hay being president and J. B. Batz vice-president. They also incorporated the Kern County Realty Company, of which Mr. Jordan is the treasurer, the company owning valuable tracts of real estate in the county. In addition he holds office as secretary of the Blue Jay Mining Company in Trinity county, this state. where the company operates the noted Blue Jay mine, celebrated on ac- count of the $42,800 nugget taken out of it during 1897. The company also operates the Morrison gulch mine, an hydraulic mine in the same section. The important interests connected with increasing business responsibili- ties necessitated the removal of Mr. Jordan from Bakersfield to San Fran- cisco during 1901 and the family still maintain a residence in that city. although for the past year or more he has made his headquarters again in Bakersfield, resuming the management of local interests.

Prior to his removal from the city in 1901 Mr. Jordan was a member of the Bakersfield Club, which he had assisted in organizing and whose early growth was largely due to the efforts of such progressive leaders as himself and other young men of like enterprise and civic devotion. After he had established a residence in San Francisco he became a member of the Olympic and Southern Clubs and also entered San Francisco Lodge No. 3. B. P. O. E .. to all of which he still belongs. Politically, although not active in public affairs and in no sense of the word a partisan, he has been stanch in his allegiance to the Democratic party. His family consists of wife and two children, Daisy M. and John Stanley, the former having been Miss Daisy M. Batz. a native of Kernville. Kern county, and a daughter of J. B. Batz, one of the honored pioneers of the county.

GUSTAV POSCH .- Extended travels throughout the old country as well as in the United States have given to Mr. Posch a broad outlook upon life and have made of him an independent thinker. familiar with the prob- lems which the world is facing today and particularly solicitous concerning the material upbuilding of California, the chosen home of his adoption. In his identification with Bakersfield he has not been limited to the manage- ment of a tailoring business, but has associated himself with many local

J. O Sullivan

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HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY

movements of note and in connection with Messrs. William H. Scribner and Paul Galtes built the Grand hotel, hence must be taken into considera- tion as one of the persons contributing to the material upbuilding of the city. During early life he was a resident of Neiderlausitz, Germany, where he was born January 21, 1867, and where he received a fair education in the German language. At the age of fourteen years he left school and entered upon an apprenticeship to the trade of a merchant tailor, which occupation he has since followed with deserved success. When only seventeen he had acquired a practical mastery of the trade and his skill was so marked that he had no difficulty in securing employment in any town. Being restless as a lad, eager to see the world and fond of travel, he had no difficulty in work- ing his way from one point to another until he had seen much of the old country. Traveling as a journeyman, at the end of two years he landed at Amsterdam and in that interesting city he spent eight busy and enjoyable months. Illness caused him to return to Germany when about nineteen vears of age, but soon his socialistic ideas brought him into conflict with the national police and he went to Copenhagen, Denmark, to follow his trade. Shortly returning to Germany, he set sail from that country for the United States when he was twenty years of age. In the new world, as in the old, he encountered no difficulty in finding employment as a skilled tailor. For a time he worked in Buffalo, N. Y., but later he went as far west as Toledo, Ohio, and next we find him working as a tailor in Leadville, Colo., whence he came to Bakersfield.

For a considerable period Mr. Posch has occupied a portion of the Galtes block for his tailoring shop and here he has built up a large patron- age. Meanwhile he has exhibited his faith in the future of city and county by investing in property here, not only aiding in the building of the Grand hotel. but also having bought a particularly fine quarter section of land near Kern, which he still owns. Since he became a citizen of our country he has been a Republican. He is a member of the Germania Society and belongs to the Woodmen. Eagles, and Benevolent Protective Order of Elks.

TIMOTHY P. SULLIVAN .- Near the city of Cork in Ireland, Timothy P. Sullivan was born June 29, 1845. The difficulties surrounding the school system of that day on the Emerald Isle prevented him from receiving an education in that land but he always has been quick to observe. fond of reading and alert in mental vision. In 1859 he arrived in Boston, Mass .. his total capital limited to a six-pence, but he was able to obtain work on a farm without any delay. After a time he left the farm to learn the trade of butcher. At no time was he without employment and while his wages were very small they were sufficient for his modest needs. It was during this time he paid his tuition in night school in Boston, applying himself most diligently to acquire the education that had been denied him as a boy. Coming to California during 1872, he followed the butcher's trade for one vear in San Francisco. Then he became a Southern Pacific employe at Elk Grove, Sacramento County, where soon he was made foreman of the section. Later he held a similar position at Banta and then at Bethany. San Joaquin County. For three years he was employed as foreman of switches in the Oakland yards and superintended the putting in of switches throughout that city.

On being assigned to duty in Kern County Mr. Sullivan spent eight years of faithful service as foreman of the Sumner yards (now East Bakersfield). after which he was promoted to be roadmaster of the Colorado division between Mojave and Needles, with headquarters at Fenner. When the road was sold to the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe he was made roadmaster of the Tulare division with headquarters at Sumner for seven years. .At the expiration of that period he was chosen to work in the mountain division. where his long experience made his services especially valuable to the

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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 52

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