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 64

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 64

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During 1877 Mr. Alexander was united in marriage with Miss Mary .A. Anderson, of Warren county. Ind., by whom he has four children, namely : John C .. who married Miss Estella McDonald. of Kern county : Nora A .. whose husband. William Patterson, formerly a druggist. is now engaged in farming at Lathrop near Stockton. San Joaquin county; Christine I .. the wife of Archie T. Rudrum, a farmer near Stockton ; and Arthur Arlington. now in Bakersfield. The family has a high social standing in their com- munity and all of its members receive the genuine respect which is their

Mary of Alexander & B Alexander

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HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY

due. In all of his efforts Mr. Alexander has enjoyed the hearty and wise co-operation of his wife, who is a woman of education and culture and possesses the gentleness of disposition together with intelligence of mind that gives her a first place not only in the home, but also in the neighbor- hood. At no time an office holder, Mr. Alexander has always espoused Re- publican principles.

MARION J. SCOTT .- From early life dependent upon his own efforts for a livelihood, Mr. Scott has met every hardship with a cheerful optimism and has risen to a position of considerable importance in the oil industry, being now in charge of the Brookshire Oil Company's holdings in the North Midway field. A native of the commonwealth where all of his life has been passed, he is a typical Californian in energy, progressive spirit and patriotic loyalty. The first three years of his life were passed in Modoc county, where he was born November 22. 1885, but in 1888 he was taken by his par- ents to Santa Barbara and with that portion of the state his early memories are most closely associated. When only fourteen he was orphaned by the death of his parents. He was the youngest of nine children, the most of whom had reached mature years at the time and were in a position to earn their own livelihoods. With characteristic energy and courage he discon- tinued his studies and took up the task of self-support. From that time to the present he has owed his progress to his unaided exertions. At the age of nineteen years he found employment in the Santa Maria field and ever since that time he has been identified with the oil industry, with the excep- tion of one year devoted to other work.

A long identification with the Santa Maria field was broken by removal to the Coalinga district, where Mr. Scott engaged with the Claremont Oil Company during 1908-09. During 1910 he came to Kern county and found employment with the Brookshire Oil Company, which corporation has since had the benefit of his arduous services and competent assistance. When A. P. Kennedy, superintendent of the Brookshire, died July 22, 1913, Mr. Scott was placed in charge of the lease, receiving his appointment as superin- tendent of the Brookshire August 10, 1913, since which time he has devoted himself with conscientious intelligence and excellent results to the many details connected with such tasks. The lease comprises one hundred and sixty acres located in the North Midway field, where three excellent wells give an average monthly production of thirty-six hundred barrels. He has little leisure for outside affairs. The discharge of his duties on the lease keep him closely confined to the property. While living at Coalinga he became a member of the Order of Eagles, but since coming to this county he has not identified himself with any organization of that nature. His marriage took place at Santa Barbara in 1906 and united him with Miss Lottie Foster, of Santa Maria, and they are the parents of two children. Marion J .. Jr., and Mary E., aged respectively four and two years. The family reside on the Brookshire lease in the North Midway field.

CHARLES G. WHITTIER .- Allied with an honored pioneer family of New England and a distant relative of the famous poet, John Greenleaf Whittier, it has been the ambition of Charles G. Whittier to add prestige to the name and such has been the result achieved in the midst of the strenuous activities of the oil field and in a region remote from the scenes of youth. As a boy he was familiar with the remote and isolated county of Aroostook in the northern part of Maine, where he was born at Caribou, August 4, 1871. and where he was reared in the midst of an agricultural environment and a wilderness that was bleak and stern and unfruitful. Self-reliance was de- veloped by force of circumstances. Ease and comfort was not possible to the family in their northern home. The most diligent effort was necessary to secure a livelihood from the sterile soil. Strength of body and fortitude of soul were the heritage of those reared in and inured to stern climatic condi-

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tions, and the mother, who bore the maiden name of Ruth Keach, is still hale and hearty at the age of seventy-one. The father, Charles Greenleaf Whit- tier, Sr., died at the old Maine homestead in 1912, when seventy-one years of age. The eldest of their seven children is Milo W., who remains at the old homestead. The second son, Mericos H. Whittier, a millionaire oil operator residing in Los Angeles, was a member of the firm of Green & Whittier, developers of what is now the Green and Whittier division of the Associated Oil Company in the Kern river field. The third son, Colon F., is also an oil operator and a resident of Los Angeles. The fourth son, Charles G., who has lived in California since 1903, is one of the leading oil superintendents in the North Midway field. There are three daughters in the family, namely : Olive, wife of Lester Fair, a merchant in Maine: Viora, wife of Henry Sousa. of Maine; and Florence, Mrs. Henry Vinol, who makes her home at Caribou.

Upon coming to the North Midway field immediately after his arrival in the west Mr. Whittier joined his brother, M. H., in drilling a discovery well on section 20, 31-22. This was practically the first development work at- tempted in the district. Although oil was struck, the well was closed down and the lease abandoned, after which he went to Coalinga, January 4, 1905. For eighteen months he worked on a lease in which his brother held an in- terest. Going from there to the Los Angeles field he entered the employ of the Salt Lake Oil Company and for five years continued on their lease, mean- time purchasing a substantial residence in Los Angeles and forming many warm and permanent friendships with well-known operators of that city. For the period of his residence there he held membership with the Indepen- dent Order of Odd Fellows in Hollywood. During February of 1911 he re- turned to the North Midway field, where now he engages as superintendent of the Hondo Oil Company, operating on section 15, 31-22. The name of the company is taken from a Spanish word meaning "a deep hole." Wells on the lease average one thousand feet in depth and two hundred and fifty barrels per day in production. Forty-two and one-half acres are leased by the two brothers, M. H. and C. G., who are partners in the Hondo Oil Company.

The marriage of Mr. Whittier took place at Portsmouth, N. H., and united him with Miss Mary Coughlan, who was born in County Cork, Ire- land, and at the age of seventeen came to the United States, settling first in Boston. From childhood she has been an earnest member of the Roman Catholic Church. While still retaining their Los Angeles residence, they are now making their home on the lease.

MRS. AMANDA RUBY .- The real estate business, which has made such strides in development in this part of the country in the last decade. has proved a most attractive field of labor for the progressive business woman, who recently has come to the fore and procured such good returns that her fellow workers are kept busy looking after their interests and keeping in close touch with her. Mrs. Amanda Ruby is a fine example of the self-made woman, whose untiring effort along this line has made her a most prosperous woman. She is the granddaughter of Frederick Wise. who was born in Pennsylvania, and who was one of the pioneer farmers of Illinois. Frederick and Rebecca Wise were the parents of Jacob Mason Wise, born in Springfield, Sangamon county, Ill., who became the father of Mrs. Ruby.

Jacob Mason Wise, was a blacksmith in Sangamon county, Ill., for a while and later went to Riverton and then to Mount Auburn, Chris- tian county, same state, but he soon returned to Sangamon county and settled in Niantic. Illiopolis was his next place of residence and later he returned to Mt. Auburn. He followed his trade for some years, then was a hardware merchant while at Mount Auburn, but finally returned to black- smithing, which he followed the remainder of his life. His wife, who before her marriage was Nancy J. Millstead, was born in Wheeling, W. Va., and

R. Mhochite

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IIISTORY OF KERN COUNTY

her death occurred in Mt. Auburn, Ill. Mr. Wise passed away in Mt. Au- burn in August, 1891, aged sixty four years. He was a Mason, and was a popular man in those circles which knew him. Three of the children born to Mr. and Mrs. Wise are now living, viz .: Amanda, Mrs. Ruby ; Alvin A., a resident of San Jose. Cal .; and George O., of Springfield, Ill. Mr. Wise served in both the Mexican and the Civil wars.

Reared in Illinois, Amanda Wise attended the public schools of the various localities where her parents were settled, and there grew to woman- hood. She married in Springfield, Horace S. Ruby, who was born in Macon county, Ill., and reared on a farm there. At the outbreak of the Civil war he enlisted in Company I, 7th Regiment, Illinois Cavalry, and was honorably discharged at the end of the great conflict. His death occurred in Bement, Ill., in May, 1884.

After the death of her husband Mrs. Ruby continued to reside in Illinois until 1891, when she came to Mojave, Cal., where she purchased a hotel and rooming house. This place was burned out twice, but undaunted she rebuilt again and remained there for a number of years, in 1907 locating in East Bakersfield, where she has since resided, looking after her interests.

RICHARD T. WILHITE .- That type of manhood which, in spite of vicissitudes and losses, in the face of disappointment, will nevertheless keep steadily at work, with untiring effort, is represented in the life of Richard T. Wilhite, who was born near Marshall, Saline county, Mo., September 7, 1851. His father, William Wilhite, a native of Tennessee, became a farmer in Saline county, Mo., where he married Martha Woolard, a native of South Carolina. The father was accidentally killed by a runaway horse, and the mother died at the age of sixty years. Of their seven children Richard is the oldest. He received his educational training in the schools of his native place and graduated from the Marshall high school in 1870.

Mr. Wilhite worked at farming for a short time, but in 1879 deciding to come west he set out for California. He first located at Modesto, Stanis- laus county, and there obtained employment in the grocery of L. Strauss & Co. at Turlock, remaining there five years. In 1886 he came to Kern county, and for several years worked for Haggin & Carr, later known as the Kern County Land Company. During this time he took up a home- stead claim of a hundred and sixty acres and proved up on it in five years, but he suffered losses and reverses and became in debt to the amount of $1000. Not losing courage, but rather with renewed effort, in 1890 he rented one hundred and sixty acres of land which was under cultivation, and later bought the eighty acres comprising his home ranch, upon which he is en- gaged extensively in general farming, making a specialty of raising alfalfa and grain. In connection with this he has for ten years also carried on a dairy business. Recently Mr. Wilhite disposed of nineteen acres of his place to a Mr. Attwood.

On May 24, 1885, Mr. Wilhite was united in marriage with Mattie J. Allen, born in Sawmill Flat, Tuolumne county, Cal., on November 24, 1864, the daughter of James M. and Eliza (Bradford) Allen, natives of Missouri and Tennessee, respectively, who came to California in the early days. Mr. Allen died in Bakersfield and his widow now resides in Modesto. Mr. and Mrs. Wilhite have three children, Rodney, of Taft; Shirley, Mrs. Watson, of Maricopa ; and Veda, at home. By a former marriage to Josephine Bene- dict, who died in Missouri, Mr. Wilhite had one child, Minnie, Mrs. E. K. Blood, of Bakersfield.

ALEXANDER H. CROMWELL, D. V. S .- Romance threw its warm glow of adventure, travel and thrilling experiences over the boyhood years of Dr. Cromwell, whose present quiet but efficient discharge of the duties of veterinary surgeon at Taft has for its background a career full of excite- ment and more or less danger. The trend of an entire existence was for 27

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him decided by the fact that in boyhood he lived on the largest cattle ranch in the United States and learned to ride horses almost as soon as he learned to talk. He was born at Anaqua, Victoria county, Tex., September 5, 1878, and was the eldest son of Col. Frank Hawkins Cromwell, a man of varied abilities, particularly skilled in the care of stock. Attracting the attention of Dull Bros., of Pittsburg, Pa., in 1881 he was engaged by them to manage their famous ranch in Texas. Under his able supervision the vast property was enlarged until finally the firm owned one hundred square miles, all under fence. comprising the largest stock ranch in the entire country.

In such an environment Dr. Cromwell passed his earliest years and developed fearlessness and self-reliance to an unusual degree. Three times he followed the trail up to the Yellowstone park. The first of these trips occurred when he was only twelve years of age. Leaving the Texas ranch during the latter part of February he made the long trip as a horse herder and reached the Yellowstone the following Christmas. Without accident or loss he brought out three herds of cattle numbering about twenty-five hundred head each, besides one hundred head of saddle horses. Scarcely had he reached the age of thirteen when he joined the celebrated Buffalo Bill show in 1891. Unusual skill in trick riding enabled him to secure a place in this show, which contained in its ring some of the finest riders in the world. During the World's Fair in 1893 he was with the show near the exposition grounds and did fancy riding which won for him continued applause from the vast throngs crowding the great tent. Besides showing with Buffalo Bill in the principal cities of the United States he accom- panied the circus to other countries and one of the first places visited was Mexico City, where there was an exhibition September 16. 1891. Nor did his travels end with his resignation from the circus work. In addition he has taken work and draft horses in great numbers to foreign countries, doing that work in the interests of large English and American oil com- panies, and for some time he was employed by S. Pierson & Son, of London.

A desire to acquire a knowledge of veterinary surgery and dentistry caused Mr. Cromwell to matriculate in the Veterinary Dental College at Detroit, Mich., during 1900. Two years later he became a student in the Veterinary Science Association's College at Ontario, Canada, from which he was graduated in March, 1903, in the veterinary surgical course, and in the same year he received his diploma in veterinary dentistry from the Detroit institution. Returning to Texas in the same year, he engaged in the oil fields at Beaumont and continued in different oil fields of Texas for a number of years. As an employe of S. Pierson & Son, of London, in 1906 he went to the isthmus of Tehuantepec, state of Vera Cruz, Mexico, where he engaged as transportation manager in the oil fields. When the position had become remunerative and the work had developed to large propor- tions, he almost lost his life in an attack of yellow fever during the latter part of 1908. Forced to abandon all work, he boarded a steamer that sailed around the Horn to New Orleans. The long ocean voyage gave him a little strength, but he was still emaciated and weak when he was advised to seek the oil fields of Coalinga in California. The change brought him benefit at once and he is now robust, rugged and fitted to discharge efficiently every business duty. With Dr. W. A. Seabury he built the Coalinga veterinary hospital in 1909, but this building was destroyed by fire in 1911, and since 1910 he has devoted his time to veterinary surgery in Taft, where Dr. Seabury has likewise been his partner. Since coming to this place he has bought stock in one of the oil companies and also has taken up several excellent government locations. Fraternally he is asso- ciated with the Improved Order of Red Men, holds the office of secretary in

HIN, Jausig

Edith M Jausing

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the Taft lodge of Knights of Pythias and is also an honorary member of the Pythian Sisters in this city.

NATHAN W. TAUSSIG .- Varied experiences and an association with diversified occupations have given to Mr. Taussig a broad knowledge of the great Southwest and have deepened in his mind a conviction that Kern county offers to settlers of energy and sagacity opportunities unsurpassed by any other section of the great empire by the sunset sea. Practically all of his memories of childhood cluster around San Bernardino, for he was only a little more than three years of age when the family left the East (where he had been born at Cleveland, Ohio, August 30, 1862), and cast in their fortunes with the then insignificant hamlet situated at the edge of the desert. Vividly he recalls the little schools of San Bernardino, the slow growth of the town and the struggle sustained by the people in their unceasing efforts to secure an adequate supply of water for irrigation. When only fourteen years of age he was hired to drive the stage coach from San Bernardino to Resting Springs in Death Valley. This was a task calling for physical strength, powers of endurance and fearless courage, and the fact that he continued with the company for two years furnishes proof as to his fine physical and mental qualities. When he resigned the position he crossed over into Arizona and secured a position in the quartermaster's department with the government service.

Returning to San Bernardino at the expiration of three years Mr. Taussig made a brief sojourn in that town and then proceeded to Barstow to work in a mill connected with the Waterman mines. For five years he remained in the mill, of which for a time he acted as foreman. Next he spent three years with the Barber Mining and Milling Company at Calico. An ardent desire to become a rancher led him to buy property near Santa Ana in 1887. but he found conditions unfavorable and sold in about one year, later returning to the mines. For a short time he worked in the Ibex mill in Death Valley, operated in conjunction with large gold and silver mines. From that place he went to Mexico and engaged as foreman in a mine in Sonora for one year.

Upon his arrival in Kern county during 1891 Mr. Taussig bought one hundred and twenty acres of unimproved land at Semi-Tropic, where he spent nine years in a vain endeavor to make a success of agricultural opera- tions. Discouraged by repeated failures, he finally sought another location and in 1900 bought one hundred and sixty acres of unimproved land on the Goose Lake channel of Kern river. The new property responded to his efforts for profitable cultivation. Crops of grain were remunerative. Stock- raising brought to him considerable success. Dairying, in which he embarked during 1905, also proved a success. Alfalfa, several crops of which were cut each year, furnished an abundance of hay for the stock. With the profits of a few seasons he felt justified in buying one hundred and sixty acres three and one-half miles north of Wasco and this tract has been put in an excellent state of cultivation. A well seventy-five feet deep is operated by a pumping plant with a ten-horse electric motor, providing a flow of water from fifty to sixty inches, sufficient to furnish an abundance of water for the irrigation for a quarter-section. During 1911 Mr. Taussig moved to his Wasco ranch, but he still continues to manage the other place.

The marriage of Mr. Taussig took place at Santa Ana, Cal., December 20, 1886, and united him with Miss Edith Siegfried, who was born in Waterloo, N. Y., April 27, 1862. She was the daughter of Henry and Mary (Poorman) Siegfried, natives of New York. Mr. Siegfried came to California via Cape Horn in 1849, landing at San Francisco, and for some years he followed mining. After a stay of eight years in the West he returned to New York, where he was married and there he followed farming until his death in 1870. Mrs. Taussig's mother, now Mrs. M. A. Hotaling, resides in Orange county,

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Cal. Mrs. Taussig was educated in Syracuse, N. Y., and came to Santa Ana in 1882. She is the mother of six children, as follows: Perla E., wife of T. T. Miller of Wasco; James W., who has been educated in public schools and the Heald's Business College at Riverside; Leona, Nathan, Theodore and Billie G.

ROBERT LEE SCOTT .- The Lakeview No. 2 Oil Company, of which Mr. Scott acts as superintendent, operates a lease of eighty acres situated on section 4, township 11, range 23, and is financed by the following officers and directors : Clarence H. White, president; Floyd G. White, secretary ; and W. W. Wickersham, treasurer, the three gentlemen named being capitalists residing in Los Angeles. The identification of Mr. Scott with the company dates from February, 1911, and since December of the same year he has filled the position of superintendent, in which capacity he has proved efficient, energetic and resourceful, a thoroughly dependable man for a position of great responsibility. When first he entered the employ of the company he took charge of the drilling of their well No. 2 situated on section 26, town- ship 32, range 24. This well has a depth of forty-five hundred and fifty-five feet and is excelled in depth by only one other rotary well in the entire country, namely : well No. 4, of the Lakeview Annex Oil Company, located on section 26, township 32, range 24, which has a depth of forty-nine hundred feet. Well No. 2, drilled by Mr. Scott, came in January 23, 1913, with a record of twenty-six hundred barrels as a gusher and is still a most valuable proposition, pumping six hundred barrels per day of twenty-four hours, and furnishing oil of twenty-six to twenty-seven degrees gravity. Eighteen men are employed on the lease, which presents an appearance of prosperous activ- ity and profitable operation.

Ever since the excitement caused by oil discovery in the Spindletop region in Texas Mr. Scott has been closely connected with the oil industry. All of his life has been spent in the south and west, where prior to his identification with his present business he had been employed as a structural iron worker. A member of an old southern family, he was born at Lost Prairie, Miller county, Ark., March 19, 1879, and was the fourth and youngest child of William B. and Emily Eliza (Evans) Scott, natives respectively of Virginia and Louisiana. The father, who migrated to Louisiana in early life, there met and married Miss Evans and later removed to Arkansas, where he became well-known locally as an expert judge of stock. About the time that his youngest child was born he was killed by being thrown from a horse. His widow afterward continued to reside in Arkansas, where in a few years she again married ; her death occurred at Texarkana in December of 1904. Three sons survive her and a daughter died in childhood. The eldest son, John Harrison Scott, is engaged in farming at Texarkana, Tex., and the second son, William B., Jr., is employed as a structural iron worker in St. Louis. The youngest child, Robert Lee, who has always been known as Lee Scott, passed the years of boyhood at Texarkana, Ark., where the family moved shortly after the accidental death of the father. A difference of opinion with his step- father caused him to leave home at the age of thirteen, in 1892, and since then he has been self-supporting. For two years he worked on a farm about thirty- five miles from Texarkana, but agriculture was not congenial to him and he was glad to turn from it to general work in a mechanical line, being engaged in saw-mills, shingle-mills and planing-mills as a mechanic. From that he drifted into structural iron work.

The owners of the Missouri Valley Bridge and Iron Works in Leaven- worth, Kan., were at that time extensively engaged in bridge construction through the middle west and Mr. Scott found employment with one of their construction gangs. For two years he was employed in building a bridge on the Kansas City, Pittsburg & Gulf (now the Kansas City-Southern) Railroad

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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 64

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