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 54

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 54

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It was in Ontario, Canada, that Mr. Crichton was born December 20, 1861. There he lived until in 1870, attending school and learning useful work. He was fifteen when he laid down his educational books and was in his sixteenth year when he was taken by his parents to St. Johns, Mich. There he lived until 1888, working for his father, later farming on his own account. He then went, in 1889, to Butte. Mont., where he engaged in mining. In 1891 he went into the business of running diamond drills. It was Mr. Crichton who utilized the diamond drill in the operation of the Hope mine at Phillipsburg, Mont., in 1893. He came to Kern county in 1894 and located at Mojave where he was employed by the old Atlantic & Pacific, now the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad Company. In 1901 he asso- ciated himself with William Concannon in the liquor trade, in which they have achieved success. He is engaged in mining in Inyo county and is the owner of and has built up many houses in Mojave. From 1897 until 1902 with George Roper he operated the Bobtail mine in Soledad Hill, Kern county, when it was sold to Los Angeles people.

February 24, 1902, Mr. Crichton married Miss Eva Underhill, who was born at Phoenix, Ariz., in 1878. As a citizen he is helpful and popular and in all his relations with his fellowmen he has shown himself upright, pro- gressive and public-spirited.

JAMES EDWARD DICKINSON .- Born in Newman, Douglas county, Ill., August 6, 1874, James Edward Dickinson, of Bakersfield, came to Kern county January 18, 1891, at which time his parents settled here. His father. Samuel Dickinson, a native of Indiana, served as sergeant of an Indiana regi- ment in the Civil war. On coming to Kern county he located on eighty acres of land on what is now the oil field road, and there for a time engaged in melon raising. Subsequently he sold off a portion of the land and on this has since been built up the town of Waits The father met an untimely death in 1911, when he was killed by a Southern Pacific train at the Chester avenue crossing. He was seventy-eight years of age. His widow, who was in maid- enhood Martha J. Danely, survives him, making her home with her son James E. The parental family included five children of whom three are liv- ing, James E. being the eldest.

After completing his education James E. Dickinson continued farming and raising melons until his enlistment for service in the Spanish-American war in 1898 in Company G, Sixth California Volunteer Infantry. His service extended until the close of the war, when he was mustered out in San Fran- cisco. After his return home he was employed for two years with the Kern

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County Land Company, following this by eight years as foreman of carpenter work for the Petroleum Development Oil Company, after which he went into business for himself as a general contractor and builder, operating in Bakers- field and vicinity. AAlthough much of his skill has been employed in building cottages and apartment houses, he has also done much work in the oil fields in the construction of rigs and buildings. AAssociated with him in business is M. A. Dulgar, a man of large practical experience as a builder.

May 26, 1905, Mr. Dickinson married Miss Mabel Clara Poole, who was born in Nebraska, September 9, 1886, and they have three children, Erwin, Laura and Robert. Fraternally Mr. Dickinson affiliates with Bakersfield Lodge No. 224, F. & A. M., and with a local division of the Woodmen of the World. He is also a member General Shafter Camp, Spanish-American War Veterans.

ELMER HENRY WOODY .- The genealogical records indicate an early identification of the Woody family with colonial Virginia. Several successive generations lived and labored there, the majority of them being planters by occupation. In the family of one of these planters, whose spe- cialty was the raising of tobacco, there was a son, Sparrell Walter, born at the old homestead near Rockymount, Franklin county, Va., March 10, 1826, and reared amid the cultured surroundings characteristic of his day and locality. The best of educational advantages were made accessible to him in youth. After he had acquired a fair classical education he took up the pro- fession of medicine and from 1845 to 1848 studied the science under the friendly preceptorship of Dr. W. E. Dillard, of his home county. Later he attended lectures in St. Louis and received the degree of M. D. from the medical department of the University of Missouri. Scarcely had he begun the practice of his profession in Missouri when news came concerning the discovery of gold in California. With all the eagerness of youth and with the love of adventure characteristic of him, he made immediate plans for removal to the west. During the summer of 1849 he crossed the plains with an expedition of Argonauts and joined the great throng of men endeavoring to find a fortune in the mines. For three years he remained in Placer county, but his earnest and long-continued efforts brought him little of the gold of which he had dreamed. Finally it seemed desirable to seek other lines of enterprise, and accordingly he engaged in the hotel and livery business, which brought him fair financial returns. However, an eagerness to see more of the world led him to give up the business and go to the Sandwich Islands in 1858. Securing employment in the government custom house at Honolulu, he remained for some months, but in 1859 returned to San Fran- cisco, content to settle in that city for the time being. Later, after a brief sojourn in Visalia, Tulare county, he came to the present site of the city of Bakersfield in the fall of 1860, and made an earnest endeavor to engage in farming, but the disastrous floods of 1861 and 1862 entailed a complete loss and forced him to seek a new location. In this way it happened that he settled in 1862 in the district that now bears his name.

The marriage of Dr. Woody took place in Kern county May 20, 1861, and united him with Miss Sarah L. Bohna, who was born at Warsaw, Benton county, Mo., June 13, 1845, but had been brought to California by her father, Christian Bohna, during the era of mining excitement. Her death occurred March 3, 1909, in the district where for so many years she had been a beloved resident, and here, too, her husband passed away September 2, 1910. Their memory is revered not only by their children, but also by the warm personal friends, who will never cease to bear in mind their many virtues and by future generations who will learn with interest of their asso- ciation with the pioneer history of the county.

Elmer H. Woody, son of Dr. S. W. and Sarah Woody, was born at Woody. Kern county, July 10. 1880. and received a public-school education,

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supplemented by attendance at Woodbury's Business College in Los Angeles, from which he was graduated in the spring of 1900. After his return home from the college he began to improve and develop a quarter-section adjoin- ing his father's estate and for five years he remained on the new tract, meanwhile devoting his attention to farming. Until the death of his father he carried on a partnership with him in the livestock industry and since the death of his parents and the division of the estate he and his brother own in partnership about six thousand acres of land devoted to the cattle business, the Short-horn Durham breed predominating. The ranch lies on the west side, at the foot of Blue mountain and at the head of Rag gulch. It is well watered by numerous springs and is thickly studded with native oak, such as water and white oak.

On August 27, 1911, Mr. Woody was united in marriage at Bakersfield with Miss Frances J. Weringer, a young lady of education and refinement, the daughter of Joseph and Lucy Weringer. After her graduation from the Western Normal school at Stockton she was engaged in teaching until her marriage. One child has blessed their marriage, Ward Sparrell. In politics Mr. Woody has always given his support to Democratic doctrines.

SERAPHIM POURROY .- The Pourroy family had generations of repre- sentatives among the farmers in Hautes Alpes, France, where Joseph Pourroy passed his life as a stock-raiser at the old homestead near the Pondus Fose river. Both he and his wife, who bore the maiden name of Emelie Richau, remained on the home farm until death gave them rest from their labors. Of their five children four are yet living, the youngest of the family being Seraphim, born at the old homestead September 21, 1876, and reared to a knowledge of agricultural duties under wise parental training. His brother, Theophile, came from France to California in 1881 and settled in Kern county, whither he also came in 1884 with the hope of securing advantages impossible in his native land. The voyage was made via steamer from Havre to New York City. Thence he traveled across the country to Sumner (now East Bakersfield ). For three years he herded sheep for his brother, of whom he then bought a small flock with which to make his start in the business. On the range in this part of the country he pastured his flock of seven hundred head. At first he was greatly prospered and after he had formed a partnership with his brother they owned five thousand head in their combined flocks. Just as their affairs seemed to be established upon a firm basis the panic of 1893-95 developed and prices dropped to such a point that both brothers were bankrupted.

Forced to begin again as a wage-earner, Seraphim Pourroy became a sheep-herder on the ranges of the San Joaquin valley. At the expiration of six years of the most arduous and untiring effort he was in a position to buy another flock of sheep and he took this step, undismayed by the results of his former venture. Forming a partnership with M. Plantier, he assumed the management of the flock and for four years made his headquarters on the O'Neil place. This time he was prospered in his undertakings and when the partnership was dissolved he was in a position to invest in land. Since 1906 he has owned and operated forty acres seven miles south of Bakersfield between Union avenue and Kern Island road. At the time of purchase the land was unimproved. It was no small task to make all the needed improvements, but with characteristic energy he has kept at the work until now he has a comfortable house, a substantial barn, irrigation facilities from the Kern Island canal and the land leveled, sowed to alfalfa and productive of profitable crops of hay. Mr. Pourroy is proud of his farm. but he is even more proud of his family, which comprises his wife and three children. Gertrude. Seraphim and Emma. Miss Fanny Gerand was born in Hautes Alpes. France. in 1875. and is a daughter of Jean and

Of Goods

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HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY

Rosalie (Bertrand) Geraud, the former a farmer by occupation. During 1900 Miss Gerand came from France to California and settled in Bakersfield, where March 12, 1904, she and Mr. Pourroy were united in a marriage that has proved of mutual happiness and helpfulness.

ALBERT S. GOODE .- In 1853 James M. Goode, a Kentuckian by birth and ancestry, crossed the plains with his parents in a "prairie schooner" drawn by oxen. The record of his subsequent hardships and privations does not differ materially from the history of other pioneers of sterling worth and unwearied energy. In the land of the golden west he met and married Susan H. McPhetridge, who in 1856 had crossed the plains from her native Missouri with her parents. The young couple settled in Santa Barbara county, took up land, developed a ranch, made a specialty of stock-raising and eventually attained a degree of success more than merited by the pains- taking industry of years. When the acquisition of a competency and the oncoming of old age rendered further labor on the ranch undesirable they came to Bakersfield and have since lived in retirement in this city.

The family of James M. Goode comprised eight children, all but one of whom are still living. The fifth in order of birth, Albert S., was born at the old homestead near Santa Maria. Santa Barbara county, this state. Jan- uary 26, 1879, and received his education in local schools. After he had entered the high school of Santa Maria the family removed to Bakersfield and here he completed his studies in the excellent high school of the city. Two years after he came to Kern county he started out to earn his own way in the world. Since that year (1901) he has engaged in the dairy business. His rise in the industry has been rapid in an exceptional degree. Beginning with one cow, he delivered milk to private customers in Bakers- field. The business was well received. Others desired to be added to his list of customers. That rendered necessary the buying of other cows. By the end of five years he owned seventy-five cows. During 1906 he contracted to supply milk and cream to all the eating houses on the Atchison. Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad in the states of California, Arizona and New Mexico. In addition he supplies milk and cream to all the Pullman dining cars on the same railroad as far east as Chicago.

The Goode dairy, located on six hundred and forty acres four and one- half miles south of Bakersfield, has become well and favorably known through- out the county, where it is by far the largest plant of its kind. The proprietor of the dairy maintains every modern convenience and desirable equipment for the management of the business. Since leasing the Kerr and Aspinwall ranches in 1910 he has kept his herds here and has built three large silos for ensilage, also has provided other improvements necessary to a modern and sanitary dairy. A cold-storage plant gives evidence concerning his adoption of modern ideas. Intensified farming has been adopted, thus rendering pos- sible a large yield of alfalfa and grain. It is a source of pride to him that he owns the finest herd of dairy stock in the west. Every head has been selected under his personal oversight. Altogether he owns three hundred head of cattle and of these about two hundred are full blooded milch cows of the celebrated St. Lambert strain of Jerseys and combine finest quality and best breeding.

One of the most important of Mr. Goode's business enterprises was the laying out of forty acres known as the Goode tract, the same forming the first large subdivision district in Bakersfield. Since the tract was subdivided in 1910 it has been sold in lots, bringing a fair return to the original owner. At the present writing Mr. Goode owns an alfalfa ranch of one hundred and twenty acres on Kern Island, where he is extensively engaged in the stock business. With H. R. Peacock and others he organized the Ve-seven Cattle Company, engaged in breeding and raising cattle. feeding, buying and selling

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stock, and shipping the same to the markets of the north and south. Since the organization of the company he has served as its secretary. So closely have his interests tied him to business matters that he has had no leisure for par- ticipation in public affairs, but he has formed a number of fraternal associa- tions and is very popular among the Woodnien of the World, Elks Lodge No. 266 and the Elks Club in Bakersfield. Although identifying himself to some degree with social functions he leaves such activities largely to his wife, formerly Miss Cornelia K. Hansen, who was born, reared and married in San Jose and who is a woman of culture, a leading member of the Woman's Club of Bakersfield and a participant in many important movements for the educational and social upbuilding of the city.

WILLIAM MENZEL .- It is characteristic of the native sons of Cali- fornia that they evince the utmost interest and put forth generous efforts toward the welfare of their commonwealth, and this, coupled with the natural enthusiasin and sturdy powers of energy and effort of his Teutonic ancestors, has accomplished much to make William Menzel the prominent citizen he is to-day. He is the son of one of the earliest miners of Kern county, his father, William Menzel, being a native of Hamburg, Germany. When a lad of fourteen he ran away from home to seek the gold fields of California, reports of which had reached him in his far-away home. Working his way across the Atlantic and on to California he arrived in San Francisco in 1849 when the mining excitement was at its greatest, and he immediately began mining. In 1851 he drifted into the Kern river placers soon after the first discoveries and followed mining around Keyesville and Kernville and also on the Piute mountains. He identified himself conspicuously with Kern- ville by starting the first butcher shop there, at the same time raising stock. Afterward he sold this business to become head amalgamater at the Big Blue Mill, but in 1884 removed to Havilah to become proprietor of the Golden Gate hotel which he conducted until his demise in 1896. A short time after his arrival in California he made a trip back to his old home where he re- newed his acquaintance with a young lady who later, in 1871, came to Cali- fornia and married him in Visalia. Her maiden name was Johanna Goden- rath, and she survives him, residing in Long Beach, Cal.

Of the four children born to his parents William Menzel was the eldest and to him was given the best educational advantages afforded by the local schools of Kernville and Havilah. When seventeen he began to do for him- self, having charge of the stage stables at Havilah for Judge Sumner, who had the Caliente-Kernville mail contract. Thirteen months later he bought a team and wagon and some cattle and sheep and embarked in the stock busi- ness. Establishing the brand he had purchased (two quarter circles, joined points downward), he continued the stock business, and he is today still using that brand. His cattle range for a time was on the Breckenridge moun- tains with headquarters on the old Welch ranch adjoining Havilali on the north. In October. 1908, he purchased sixty acres about seven miles south of Bakersfield on the Kern Island Road, and removing to this place, he has since made it his headquarters. The ranch is under the Kern Island canal and is devoted to grain and alfalfa. His sheep are ranged on the plains and in the Kern National Forest.

Mr. Menzel was married in Hanford, Cal., to Mrs. Ella (Walsh) Kincaid, who was born in Walkers Basin, Kern county, the daughter of Martin and Bridget (Welch) Walsh. Her parents were early settlers of Kern county, the father following the vocation of miner in the early days. Then he engaged in cattle raising and owned a farm known as the Walsh ranch, just north of Havilah, continuing there until his death. The mother is making her home with her daughter, Mrs. Menzel. One child was born to Mr. and Mrs. Menzel, Gladys. By her former marriage to Mr. Kincaid Mrs. Menzel was the mother

Thomas m young

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of four children, Martin, deceased. Joseph, William and Myrtle Kincaid. Mr Menzel is a stanch Republican in political sentiment.

THOMAS MILTON YOUNG .- The identification of the Young family with the Pacific coast country dates back to the era of gold discovery and indicates an honorable association with the entire period of agricultural development as well as with other occupations scarcely less important than that of agriculture. The first to seek the unknown opportunities of the west. Thomas J. Young, a native of Massachusetts, made the long journey from the old Bay state by way of Panama and for a time after his arrival tried his luck in the mines. Later he turned his attention to the hotel and livery business at Sutter creek. Meanwhile he had married Elizabeth Hinkson, who was born in Missouri and during the '50s crossed the plains with her parents, the family settling in Amador county. Five children were born of the union and the third of these. T. M., is a native of Drytown, Amador county. this state, born December 19, 1868. During 1869 the family removed from Amador to Stanislaus county, where the father took up land in the vicinity of Modesto. From a small beginning he enlarged his holdings until he had accumulated five thousand acres. In the midst of his great holdings, about three and one-half miles from Modesto, he made his home for years in a comfortable ranch-house, but about 1900 he retired to Stockton, where he has since lived in the enjoyment of a competency and leisure amply merited by past years of toil. Always a stanch Repub- lican, he twice was nominated for sheriff of Stanislaus county, but the party being greatly in the minority in that county, he suffered defeat at both elections. He is a citizen of great worth and the highest standing. The changes of sixty years he has witnessed in the commonwealth of his adoption and his name is entitled to lasting remembrance in the annals of pioneer history.

For some years in early life T. M. Young engaged in the dairy business and during that period he paid his way through the San Joaquin Valley College at Woodbridge, remaining a student until the close of the junior year. At Woodbridge, January 23, 1895, he married Miss Odessa Riley. a native of Indiana and a graduate of the San Joaquin Valley College. Of the union there is one son, Hobart Nading Young. Upon selling the dairy business Mr. Young entered the employ of the Southern Pacific Company, which soon afterward sent him into Kern. During June of 1893 he was made a clerk and operator in the freight department at Bakersfield, from which he was promoted to be cashier and assistant agent, and later he held positions in the passenger department and the superintendent's office. February 16. 1907 he resigned to accept a place as chief clerk with the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad at Stockton, but that important place he was forced to resign owing to ill health, his resignation taking effect on the 30th of May. Returning to Bakersfield he embarked in the oil industry and assisted in organizing the Emerald Oil Company, of which he became secretary and manager. Besides being interested in this company in the Kern river field he had other holdings of stock. With the organization of the Topaz Oi! Company in the Sunset field in June, 1908, he became secretary and manager.

The water supply on the west side was inadequate, of poor quality an.l very expensive. For the purpose of securing better quality and larger quan- tity Mr. Young helped to organize the Kern Midway Water Company. of which he was chosen secretary and manager and which shipped water in cars by rail to the Midway field for domestic as well as boiler and general development use. During March of 1909 he assisted in organizing the T. W. Company in the Midway field, of which he was chosen secretary and manager. April of the same year found him actively promoting the organiza -

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tion of the W. T. & M. Company operating in the Midway and of this he also became secretary and manager. During June of the same year he organized the Carbo-Petroleum Company, operating in the Midway, and in this he was made manager and secretary. In February of 1910 he became secretary and manager of Los Pozos Oil Company in the Midway field. May of the same year witnessed the organization by him of the 23 Water Company, of which he was chosen secretary and manager, and which engaged in distributing water for operating purposes in the Midway field. Another Midway concern, the S. F. Midway Oil Company, was organized by his efforts in August, 1910, and he became secretary and manager. January 1, 1911, he was chosen secretary and manager of the Railroad Water Company Association, another distributor of water in the Midway field. A later enterprise was the organization, in June of 1911, of the M. G. & P. Company, operating in the North Midway, with himself as secretary and manager. In all of the before-mentioned organizations, except- ing the Railroad Water Company Association, he officiated as a director. In October, 1913, with associates, he organized the Midway-Simi Oil Com- pany developing an oil property of two hundred and fifty acres in the Simi valley, Ventura county, of which company he is secretary, treasurer and manager. In November, 1913, with associates, he went to Oklahoma and Texas, leasing nine thousand acres in Jefferson county, Okla., and twelve thousand acres in southeastern Texas, and the development of these proper- ties has been begun. Aside from these companies he is interested in and a stockholder in various other oil companies. Upon the incorporation of the Western Water Company he became a director and assistant secretary and since then he has been connected actively with this concern, which furnishes water to the Midway and Sunset fields. Since the organization of the Consumers Water Company he has been secretary and a director and has had charge of the company's business of delivering water for domestic use to the town of Taft. The Kern County Oil Protective Association was formed for the purpose of controlling and preventing the percolation of water into the oil sand and to encourage the proper drilling of wells. From the first he was deeply interested in the movement. In order that he might promote its helpful influence he consented to serve as secretary and vice- president. At this writing he is a director in the Independent Oil Producers' Agency. Besides being connected with the Merchants' Exchange Club of San Francisco, he holds membership with the Bakersfield Club, the Bakers- field Lodge No. 266, B. P. O. E., and the Independent Order of Foresters. The interests of Bakersfield, where he has made his home for more than two decades receive his co-operation and encouraging assistance, and with genu- ine public spirit he has stood ready to promote any measure for the perma- nent benefit of city, county or commonwealth.

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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 54

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