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 56

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 56

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HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY

her marriage was Elizabeth de Jersey, made their home in Nevada. In the latter year he came with his family to Kernville, this county, where he was the local pastor until his death, in April, 1888. From Kernville he went to different parts of the county to minister, his trips often being made on foot, and extending from Tehachapi and Bakersfield and places on the south fork to Linn's valley and Darwin. His wife, who was a native of the Isle of Guernsey, England, and was of French parentage, passed away in Bakers- field. Of their six children, four are living: Charles F .; Annie, of Bakers- field ; Edith, Mrs. Charles C. Taylor ; and Nellie, of Bakersfield.

Charles F. Bennett was but eleven years of age when his parents brought him to Kern county and until he was thirteen he attended the public school of his vicinity. His first work was on neighboring ranches; after- ward mining took his attention, and he learned the details of that industry, becoming foreman of Warrington mine at Havilah, and after a time foreman of the Lady Bell mine, at Kernville, and he also prospected and mined in Piute. Subsequently for some years he was engaged in running a hotel bus in Kernville, and it was in 1888 that he entered into public life by being elected on the Democratic ticket as supervisor of the first district, his term of service covering the period from January, 1889, to January, 1893. In 1903 Mr. Bennett started a livery business in Caliente, which also embraced a hay and grain business, a blacksmith shop and a wagon and carriage fac- tory. The business was a splendid success from the start and he built it up to a most profitable condition. In 1910 he built the store in which he is now engaged in general merchandising, his capable wife lending her assist- ance in order to relieve Mr. Bennett of the many arduous tasks incident to the business.

On February 16, 1892, Mr. Bennett was married in Bakersfield to Miss Lulie Jones, a native of Mariposa county, Cal., and daughter of D. E. and Caroline (Wyatt) Jones, born in Ohio and Virginia, respectively. Her father was a miner, but has passed away, the mother making her home with her daughter. Three children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Bennett, Jesse L., who is a member of the San Luis Obispo high school class of 1914; Loring F. and Alice Caroline. Mr. Bennett was for several years a member of the board of school trustees in Caliente, serving as clerk for seven years. In 1912 he was an independent candidate for county supervisor and received the election, taking the oath of office in January, 1913, for a term of four years. His former experience as well as his inherent ability in this direc- tion, ably qualifies him for the office and his fellow-citizens have the utmost confidence in his efficiency. He is a stanch Democrat in politics and in fra- ternal connection is a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen.

JOHN ROBERT JESSUP .- Allegiance to the Society of Friends char- acterized the Jessup family both in their English home and in the colonial environment of North Carolina, and their dominant traits were such as marked the Quakers in every part of the world. Uniformly industrious. thrifty and peace-loving, they aided in the early development and upbuilding of the south and particularly wielded a large influence in North Carolina, from which state in the first half of the nineteenth century Caleb Jessup removed to Indiana. At the time of the migration his son, Frank. was a mere lad and from that time until his death he continued to make Indiana his home, engaging both in general farming and carpentering until his death in 1853 at middle age. During young manhood he had married Elizabeth Sanders, who was born in North Carolina, of Quaker parentage. and whose death in 1851 left him a widower for the last two years of his life. Their family comprised eight children and the fifth of these. John Robert, whose birth occurred on the home farm near Worthington, Greene county, Ind., April 4, 1846, was only seven years of age at the time the death of his father left him an orphan. An uncle. James Jessup, took him

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into his home, but at the expiration of four years he was given into the care of his eldest sister, the wife of Fayette A. Dickinson. Until he was twenty-eight the Dickinson farm continued to be his home with the excep- tion of four years in the army during the Civil war.

With the very first call for volunteers in the Union service the heart of the youth of fifteen years became fired with patriotic fervor and he determined to go to the front in defense of his country. During November, 1861, he was assigned to Company E, Fifty-ninth Indiana Infantry, and was mustered into service at Gosport, Owen county, Ind., whence he was dispatched to the south in February of the following year. From that time until the close of the great struggle he fought in many decisive battles, endured the hardships of forced marches and underwent privations in camp and on field. In the most strenuous exertion and the greatest danger to life and limb, no one heard a word of discouragement from this lad; on the other hand, he was always willing, courageous and helpful, and proved his patriotism on many a fiercely-contested field. Among his leading engagements were the following: New Madrid, Mo .; siege of Corinth; battle of Corinth, October 3-4, 1862; Forty Hills, Raymond and Jackson, Miss., in the last-named of which his regiment placed the first flag on the state- house at Jackson ; Champion Hill ; the siege of Vicksburg lasting forty-seven days, where his regiment sustained a heavy loss; Chattanooga; Missionary Ridge ; the Atlanta campaign of 1864, including the battles of Resaca, Dallas, Buzzard's Roost, Snake Creek Gap, Kenesaw mountain, Atlanta and Jones- boro; Sherman's march to the sea with the siege of Savannah and the battle of Bentonville : and last, participation in the grand review at Washington, followed by honorable discharge at Louisville, Ky., in August, 1865. At the expiration of the war he returned to the home of his sister in Indiana and resumed his studies, ending with a commercial course in Terre Haute.

The marriage of John Robert Jessup was solemnized at Paris, Ill., in December, 1874, and united him with Miss Annie Marie Welch, a native of Vigo county, Ind. The young couple began housekeeping on a farm near Hume, Edgar county, Ill., and later settled near Decatur, Macon county, in the same state, eventually going from the farm into the city of Decatur for the purpose of operating a dairy. Four children were born of their marriage, namely : Maude Marie, Mrs. B. S. Ilageman, of Rosedale, Kern county ; John Clyde, who died at the age of seven years; Elizabeth Catherine, wife of Frank Cary, of San Francisco; and Harry Warren, of Portland, Ore. The family came to California in 1891, arriving at Bakersfield in December of that year. The first venture of Mr. Jessup proved unsuc- cessful, for the farm which he bought in the Rosedale district eight miles west of Bakersfield could not be made remunerative owing to the lack of water in the Calloway canal. At the expiration of nine years of strenuous exertion he abandoned farming and gave his attention to the teaming busi- ness in Bakersfield, later having a fruit wagon in the Kern river oil field. During January, 1909, he bought out the grocery business of C. C. Minter & Bro., on Chester avenue, and has continued the enterprise with the satis- faction of a growing trade and increased patronage on the part of a most desirable class of customers. In politics he always has supported Repub- lican candidates and principles. While still living in Indiana he was made a Mason in Worthington Lodge and later identified himself with Macon Lodge No. 8. F. & A. M., at Decatur, Ill., where his name is still enrolled as a member. With his wife he belongs to the Eastern Star Chapter at Bakersfield and in addition Mrs. Jessup is a leading worker (and now president) of the Ilurlburt Women's Relief Corps, while he has been inti- mately associated with the activities of Hurlburt Post No. 124, G. A. R., also at Bakersfield.

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HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY

HENRY R. SCHAFFNIT .- The chief of the Bakersfield fire depart- ment, whose wide reputation for successful work in this important specialty led to his selection for his present responsible post, belongs to a German- American family and is a son of Leonard and Emma (Miller) Schaffnit, natives of Germany and descendants of long lines of Teutonic ancestry. An uncle. Henry Schaffnit, an immigrant to America in early life, served gal- lantly as a lieutenant in the Union army during the Civil war. Leonard Schaffnit was by trade a cabinet-maker and trained to an unusual degree of skill in the occupation, besides being an expert mechanic, and it was not difficult for him to secure steady employment after he came to the United States and he worked for some years for day wages. When the west was still undeveloped and he was yet a young man, he crossed the plains to California in 1854 with a party of emigrants traveling with wagons and ox-teams, but a short tour of inspection ended his residence in California at that period. After his marriage he lived in St. Louis, Mo., where his eldest child, Henry R., was born June 27, 1874. Shortly after the birth of that son he took the family to Colorado and settled at Central City, where he built and for twenty-five years conducted the Washington house. His wife died in Denver in 1902 and more recently he has established a home in Los Angeles, his present place of residence.

Out of seven children comprising the parental family all but two are still living and the eldest of these, Henry R., received a public-school educa- tion at Central City, Colo., from which place he went to Denver at the age of fifteen years. Ever since then he has been self-supporting. As early as 1894 he became connected with the Denver fire department, where an experi- ence of six years proved most helpful to him in later labors along the same line. In company with George Hale he attended the exhibitions at Kansas City and Omaha and the Louisiana Purchase Exposition at St. Louis, where as captain of the life line and pompier work during the fair he led off the best crew in the United States, comprising a fine body of men personally selected by an inspection of the entire country. At the close of the exposi tion he returned to Denver, Colo., as captain of engine No. 2 under Chief Owens. Resigning from that position in 1905 he became chief of the new fire department at Goldfield, Nev., selected by the Board of Underwriters. The occasion of his employment had been the need of perfected fire system. The task proved one of great responsibility and many difficulties, but he triumphed over every obstacle, surmounted every difficulty and succeeded in securing for the town a splendid system with headquarters in a new fire house costing $20,000 and containing every equipment for the fighting of fire. January 2. 1911, he was transferred by the Board of Underwriters from Goldfield in order to enter upon similar duties at Bakersfield. where he has since labored with tireless energy and sagacious judgment.

The Bakersfield fire department at the present writing has three hose wagons, four engines, one chemical engine, one hook and ladder truck and an auto truck, also two large gas pumps and six electrical pumps. the water for which is supplied from an excellent irrigation system with ten- inch mains and six eight-inch laterals. At all times there is a pressure of thirty-five pounds in the plugs. The signal telephone fire alarm system contains forty-one boxes at the present writing, these being distributed with such care that no point is far distant from fire alarm call. Fifteen paid men are in the employ of the department. besides sixteen call men. Under the present chief improvements are being made constantly and effectively. Four thousand feet of hose have been provided. and two new fire houses are being built. In the course of a few months six automobiles, combination hose, engine and chemical will be installed, the expenditure for all these new facilities amounting in all to $75.000, and in a short time Bakersfield will

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have a fire department brought to the rank of first place on the coast, this gratifying condition resulting from the wise use of the tax-payers' money on the part of the chief in charge. Through membership in the Association of Fire Chiefs of the Pacific Coast and the International Association of Steam Engineers, Mr. Schaffnit keeps in touch with every development in his special work and is therefore thoroughly modern and up-to-date in his ideas. While living in Goldfield he was connected with Montezuma Lodge No. 30, F. & A. M., and since coming to Bakersfield he has joined the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks No. 266. His marriage took place in Denver and united him with Miss Hattie Schultz, who was born and educated in that city and by whom he has two sons, Robert and Peter. The family hold membership in the Bakersfield Presbyterian Church.

ROLAND G. HILL .- The task of converting the Greenfield ranch into an alfalfa and stock farm recently has been assumed by Mr. Hill, who is thoroughly prepared for his large responsibilities by reason of previous suc- cessful experience along the same line of enterprise. The property lies twelve miles south of Bakersfield and includes two thousand three hundred and sixty acres of land. To guests the chief attraction of the ranch is the comfortable and attractive modern residence, presided over graciously by Mrs. Hill, for- merly Miss Edith Baker.

A lifelong resident of Kern county, Mr. Hill was born in Cummings valley and with his sisters, Ruby and Emma, and a brother, Russell (now foreman of the Hill ranch in the Cummings valley) belongs to a family long known and highly honored in this locality. His father, the late Ross Hill, came to Kern county as early as 1882 and embarked in the cattle business, starting a stock ranch on a very modest scale, but working his way forward by sure degrees to a position among the prosperous ranchers of the valley. Since his death, which occurred on the ranch about 1902, his widow (formerly Lottie Gridley) has removed to Los Angeles and there established a home. When sixteen years of age Roland G. Hill left school to take up ranching. The next year his father died and that threw into his care the home ranch of two thousand acres. Assuming the heavy responsibilities with an energetic will, he gave to the work close and undivided attention. A specialty was made of raising horses, cattle and hogs. So well did he succeed that the Hill ranch increased in area from two thousand acres to fourteen thousand acres, the latter being its size in 1912 when it went into the hands of the Tehachapi Cattle Company. The latter organization was founded by R. G. Hill and Messrs. P. G., A. H. and C. W. Gates, three brothers residing in Pasadena and owning vast interests in different places, including large lumber interests in Arkansas. In the present possession of the company are the following holdings : the Greenfield ranch of two thousand three hundred and sixty acres ; (leeded land in Cummings valley aggregating fourteen thousand acres ; and leased land in the same valley comprising about five thousand acres, making a total of twenty-one thousand three hundred and sixty acres. The cattle in- dustry has been a specialty with Mr. Hill for some years in the past and in developing the Greenfield ranch it is with the intention of continuing in the same business. While some of the cattle are raised on the range, many are shipped in from Arizona and kept on the home ranch for fattening.

W. W. STEPHENSON .- A citizen of worth and integrity, W. W. Ste- phenson, or "Big Bill" Stephenson (as he is known among his confreres), enjoys to an unusual degree the confidence of all who have known him during his residence in Kern county. To no man is greater credit due for the development of the oil industry in this district. He and a brother. R. M., now an oil operator near Tampico, Mexico, were the only children of W. P. Ste- phenson, who in an early day removed from Iowa to Oregon, sojourned for a brief period in Salem, thence removed to Portland, that state, and became

Poland & Hill.

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HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY

chief engineer for the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company, returning to Iowa during the latter part of 1882 and re-establishing himself on the farm in Palo Alto county which had been his home prior to the removal to the west. It was during the residence of the family in Salem, Orc., that William W. Stephenson was born in that city June 20, 1875, but his earliest recollec- tions are associated with the city of Portland and there he was a pupil in the primary grades of the public school. At the age of seven years he accom- pamed his parents to Iowa and from that time until seventeen he lived on the old homestead of the family.

Returning to the west when seventeen years of age Mr. Stephenson established himself in Santa Barbara county, Cal., and became interested in the business which he has since followed. The fields at Summerland and Santa Paula gave to him his initial experience in the oil industry. Soon he began to take contracts for drilling. Much of his work was in the interests of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company. For three years he continued in contract drilling. Much of the work was in the ocean. Drilling was done by means of wharves built out into the water for a distance of one thousand feet from shore. Experiences in the employ of others whetted his ambition to undertake the business for himself. In the summer of 1899 he purchased two drilling outfits and brought them to the Kern river fields. The venture proved a success and justified the purchase of four additional outfits in the fall of the same year, so that by 1900 he had six drilling outfits in operation.

U'pon becoming a stockholder in the Alma, Wolverine and Black Jack Dil Companies, Mr. Stephenson deemed it advisable to dispose of a number of his drilling rigs. Although the Black Jack and Wolverine have since been sold. he still retains a block of stock in each, while he continues as superin- tendent of the Alma Oil Company, which has recently taken over the Alma, Jr .. so that the two are practically under one management. The officers of the company are as follows: president, W. H. Mason, Battle Creek, Mich. : vice-president, J. E. Beard, of Napa, Cal. : secretary, M. A. Thomas of San Francisco; treasurer, the Canadian Bank of Commerce in San Francisco. The following gentlemen comprise the board of directors : W. H. Mason and C. E. Thomas. of Battle Creek. Mich .; J. E. Beard, of Napa, this state; A. Kaines of San Francisco; and W. W. Stephenson of Bakersfield. Beginning operations in September of 1900, the company now holds one hundred and twenty acres of land, employs eleven men, and has twenty-four producing wells in the Alma and Alma, Jr., with an average net output of twelve thousand barrels per month.

The oil interests owned by Mr. Stephenson, including his stock in various oil companies throughout the California fields, by no means repre- sent the limit of his mental activities and commercial relations. As president of the Pacific Motor and Engineering Company, he maintains an intimate association with the development of a business for the buying, selling and renting of motors and for the monthly inspection of motors. In addition the company engages in the manufacture of machinery for the use of bakers and confectioners, also makes a specialty of other machine and repair work. and of the wiring and installing of motors. The headquarters of the con- cern are at No. 527 Mission street, San Francisco. Besides being the prin- cipal owner of this large business. Mr. Stephenson is president and leading stockholder in the Butterworth-Stephenson Company of Portland. Ore .. and the Hamilton Cloak and Suit Company, the Midway Equipment Com- pany and the Central Purchasing Company, all of Bakersfield.

The California Well Drilling Company of Taft. the B. S. & B. Company of Los Angeles and the Western Trust Company of Portland. Ore., have the benefit of the services of Mr. Stephenson as a director and principal

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stockholder. As a stockholder he is further interested in the First National Bank of Bakersfield, the California Life Insurance Company of San Fran- cisco, the Inter-Urban Realty Company of Portland, Ore., the Willamette Realty Company of Portland, Ore., the Hydraulic Mining Company of Oroville, Cal., and a number of mining concerns at Randsburg, this state. A stanch believer in life insurance, for years he has carried heavy policies as a possible protection for his family and large business interests. In land and real estate his holdings are important and include a beautiful home on Perkins street in Oakland, Cal., an attractive residence in the Irvington district of Portland, Ore., property in Bakersfield and valuable holdings at Wildwood. Del Monte and other points.

In December of 1910 Mr. Stephenson lost his wife, Mrs. Edna (Nance) Stephenson, by her death in young womanhood. A daughter survives, Zada, now a student in the high school at Berkeley, this state. From a business standpoint Mr. Stephenson ranks among the most capable men in the oil fields. Taking the past as a criterion and remembering that he is yet a young man, it is safe to state that a brilliant future awaits him. For much that he has accomplished he gives credit to the inheritance of large miechan- ical and engineering ability from his father, who, as has been stated, served for years as chief engineer for the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company at Portland. Personally Mr. Stephenson is a man who thinks for himself and conducts his researches independently. Consideration for others is a leading characteristic. While he possesses a worthy ambition to make and enjoy his share of the world's wealth, he has never trespassed upon the domain of others in the acquisition of his possessions. A practical demonstration of the Golden Rule has been made in his interesting career.

OTTO R. KAMPRATH .- The assistant cashier of the Security Trust Company of Bakersfield is a member of an old eastern family descended from Teutonic ancestors. The genealogy shows that Ferdinand Kamprath in an early day drove overland from New York to Michigan, accompanied by his family. and took up a tract of raw land from the government, later devoting his time to the tilling of the soil in that then frontier region. Among his children was a son, Henry F., a native of Buffalo, N. Y., but from childhood a resident of Michigan, where for many years he has engaged in the manu- facture of furniture at Monroe, Monroe county. During young manhood he married Miss Christine Enselberger, who was born and reared in the vicinity of Monroe, being a daughter of Leonard Enselberger, a pioneer farmer of honored name. Not only are the parents still living, but their three children also survive, the eldest of these being Otto R., who was born at Monroe, Mich .. November 21, 1875, and in 1891 was graduated from the high school of his native city. Immediately afterward he secured employment as a messenger in the First National Bank of Monroe and later was promoted to be a bookkeeper in the institution.

A desire to remove to California caused Mr. Kamprath to resign his position with the Michigan bank and thereupon he came to Bakersfield, where he secured a place as bookkeeper in the Bank of Bakersfield. A few years later he was promoted to be teller. When by consolidation the Security Trust Company was organized October 7. 1910, with a capital stock of $300,000 fully paid in, he was chosen assistant cashier of the new institution. Since its inception the bank has been noted for the conservative spirit of its officers and directors. The men at its head are among the leading financiers of the city. Their judgment is recognized as excellent, their ability as above the ordinary and their energy as boundless. Much credit also is due to the assistant cashier, who fills his position with accuracy, dispatch and mental alertness. thereby winning for himself a recognized place in local financial circles. After coming west he was married at Los Angeles to Miss Dorothea

Mrs. W Tracy

W Tracy.

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Heinicke, who was born at Pleasant Ridge, Ill., and by whom he has three children, Gerald. Willard and Marie. The family residence, erected by Mr. Kamprath, stands at No. 2212 Truxtun avenue and both in exterior appear- ance and interior finishings indicates the cultured tastes of the family.

As one of the founders of St. John's Lutheran Church, as the chairman of its building committee, a member of the board of trustees and the present treasurer of the congregation, Mr. Kamprath has been closely identified with the upbuilding of the church and in its annals his name will hold a place all its own. He keeps posted concerning current events and national problems and supports the Republican party in general elections. The board of trade has had the benefit of his intelligent services as a member of its executive committee.

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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 56

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