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 65

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 65

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HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY

across the Red river and later he worked on the South Canadian bridge at Sapulpa, in the Indian Territory. With his employers he worked in various parts of Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma as a bridge-builder. At the outbreak of the Spanish-American war he resigned his position and enlisted at Little Rock. Ark., in Company L, First Regiment of Arkansas Infantry, but at the expiration of five months he was honorably discharged, there being no need of his regiment at the front. Returning to the structural iron line of work, he continued in the south and was employed on the North Washataw bridge at Ravia in the Indian Territory at the time of the excitement in the Spindle- top region. Leaving the work in which he had been so notably successful, he embarked in the oil business. March 10, 1900, he began to work at Beaumont and Spindletop. During December of the same year he turned his attention to drilling in the Spindletop field. There he helped to bring in three gushers. Leaving that field in 1902, he went to Evangeline, La., as a driller and super- intendent of production. Upon returning to Texas he continued as a driller. About that time he made the acquaintance of the lady whom he married, February 22, 1904, at Houston, Tex., and who was Mrs. Mary Hill, daughter of John Manning, of Alabama. By her first marriage Mrs. Scott had one child, Mayna, who is now a student in St. Augustine's Academy at Fresno.

As owner of a one-half interest in two drilling rigs, with J. W. Boynton, of Beaumont, Tex., as a partner, Mr. Scott took contracts for drilling in a number of fields and made considerable money at such work. Unfor- tunately he and Mr. Boynton invested their means in a venture that lost each of them $8,000 or more, the two wells which they drilled proving to be unproductive. Later Mr. Scott engaged in drilling for the larger companies on the Gulf coast of Texas, but in 1906 returned to his previous location at Saratoga and secured employment as a fireman and pumper. During October. 1910, he came from Texas to California and established himself in the Sunset field, where in addition to serving as superintendent of one of the prominent companies he has acquired an enviable reputation as one of the best rotary drillers in the west. A portion of his time has been given to contract drilling and he has drilled four important wells on the leases of the Pacific Midway, Obispo and Brookshire Oil Companies.

ELONZO P. DAVIS .- The call of the frontier brought the Davis family by gradual migration and with several sojourns in the intervening territory, from the plantations of old Virginia, where they became established during the colonial era, to the coast of the Pacific ocean. The head of the house at the time of the removal to California was Isham Turner Davis, born near Lebanon, Wilson county, Tenn., but a pioneer farmer of Arkansas from a period antedating the struggle with Mexico. In that war he bore an hon- orable part and during the battle of Vera Cruz, serving under the illustrious general, Zachary Taylor,he received a severe wound in the leg. Upon the declaration of peace and the discharge of the army he returned to his Arkansas farm, where for many years he continued the arduous struggle for a livelihood. Meanwhile he had married Miss Mary A. Farley, a native of East Tennessee and a member of an old Virginia family. It became increasingly more and more difficult to earn a livelihood for their large family on their farm, so their thoughts turned longingly toward the west. Finally, during 1869, they started across the plains via Texas, New Mexico and Arizona, loading their necessary equipment in wagons and using oxen for motive power. The son, Elonzo P., was at that time a youth of about sixteen years, strong, willing and industrious. With a kind heart and willing spirit he often stood guard at night in place of older members of the party whose turn it was for such a task and he recalls vividly the loneliness of those occasions and the anxiety caused by the least noise of unusual portent. One cold, rainy night a strange noise put every nerve on

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tension. Twice he called, but received no answer. Then he fired. The next morning when an investigation was made the body of a large wolf was found. Fortunately the Indians did not attack them at any time during the long journey. From 1869 until 1871 the family lived at El Monte and from that time until 1876 they made their home in Kern county, but in the year last-named the father, accompanied by all of the family excepting a daughter and Elonzo P., went back to Arkansas, only to return to the west in 1883 and settle again in Kern county, where he died in 1900 at the age of eighty-seven. Here also occurred the demise of his wife.

In the family of Isham Turner Davis there were eight children who reached maturity, Elonzo P. having been the second among these. The eldest, William H., is a mining man at Rosamond, Kern county. Two daughters, Mrs. Addie Egan and Mrs. Mollie Purcell, are widows living in Bakersfield. Mrs. Sarah Houston resides in Los Angeles and Lucetta, Mrs. Martin Pettis, is a resident of Bakersfield. The youngest sons are John Edward and Robert Lee, the latter a resident of Rosamond, while the former, who lives in Bakersfield, is operating oil land on the west side in the McKittrick field. During early boyhood Elonzo P. Davis attended subscription schools in Arkansas. When the family crossed the plains he was able to do a man's work and proved of the greatest assistance in bring- ing the hazardous trip to a safe consummation. While living at El Monte he earned a livelihood by teaming and working on a farm. November of 1871 found him in Kern county, where he since has made his home. He had lived here but a short time when the county-seat question came up before the people and at election time he rode mule-back through Bear valley and Tehachapi, carrying tickets for voting as well as the other neces- sities of the election. Both before and after the return of his father to Arkansas he engaged in teaming to the mountains and into Inyo county, using twelve or fourteen mules to two wagons.

Ever since the autumn of 1881 Mr. Davis has engaged in the livery business in Bakersfield. For the first two years he carried on the Over- land stable located on Eighteenth near K street. Next he bought the old Dexter barn on Nineteenth between L and M streets. After having managed that stable for almost seven years he sold out and soon afterward the barn was destroyed by fire. Meanwhile he had purchased the old French stable, but when the Dexter was rebuilt on Nineteenth between M and N streets, he leased the place and for more than twenty years conducted a livery business at that location. During February of 1910 he leased the Union stable on K and Twenty-first streets and since then he has conducted here a large business in his line.

Politically a Democrat, Mr. Davis has maintained a warm interest in local and national issues. During a service of nine years as a member of the board of education he assisted in raising the standard of the graded schools and putting them into excellent condition for permanent helpfulness. For four years he served as city marshal of Bakersfield. His comfortable home in Bakersfield is presided over by Mrs. Davis, formerly Miss Margaret Hope Taylor, who is a native of Virginia and a member of an old and cultured family of that commonwealth. About 1879 she was brought to California by her father, J. C. Taylor, who settled in Kern county and engaged in general farming. In this county she received her education and here she became the wife of Mr. Davis. They are the parents of five chil- dren, Myrtle, Elonzo P., Jr., Pearl, Marvin and Erna. In young girlhood Mrs. Davis became identified with the Methodist Episcopal Church South.

ANTON THORAND .- Born in Germany, May 14, 1863, Mr. Thorand is a son of Joseph and Mary (Hanke) Thorand, the latter of whom was born in Germany and died in Illinois. The father brought his family to America when

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HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY

Anton was but four years of age, and they located in Trenton, Clinton county, Ill., where he has ever since made his home. He was the father of ten children. of whom six are now living, Anton being the youngest son.

Anton Thorand was reared in Trenton, and received but meager educa- tional advantages, being obliged early in life, when but a lad, to go to work in the coal mines in that vicinity. This work he followed until 1889, when he came west and on October 7 or 8, 1897, arrived at Bakersfield, where he en- tered the employ of the Sumner Water Company, under Simon W. Wible. He began work at the bottom as a general hand, by his diligent and attentive labor receiving rapid promotion, and in July, 1898, he was made foreman for the company. He superintended the laying of the pipes and mains (and there were miles of mains and pipe laid) and gave close attention to the plant until it was sold to the Bakersfield Water Company. As he was one of the organ- izers of the present company, Mr. Thorand was elected vice-president of the board of directors as well as superintendent, and in this capacity he has taken an active part in building the new plant, which they immediately proceeded to do. Five new wells were sunk, these yielding them more than ample supply for all present needs : three new electric pumping stations have been installed, giving a service that has become appreciated by the consumers, and that, too. of a splendid quality of water; and it has all been constructed on the plan that it can be easily enlarged as the population grows and there is greater demand. A storage system is arranged by means of a reservoir with a capac- ity of over two million gallons, constructed on the heights above East Bakers- field. Since the installation of the new plant there has been more activity in building operations in East Bakersfield from the fact that the citizens became convinced that they could be assured of adequate water supply and a good system for same. Politically Mr. Thorand is a Republican.

WILLIAM J. SCHULTZ .- On the paternal side he is of Teutonic origin, while the Genaud family were of French lineage, and in his own mentality may be seen the attributes of both nationalities, supplemented by traits distinctively American. His father, Frederick F., a native of Ger- many, but from young manhood a resident of Ohio and for many years a contractor and builder, is now living retired in Cincinnati, where the wife and mother died in May of 1901. Of the five children comprising the family, William J. was born at Mount Carmel, Clermont county, Ohio. March 23. 1879, received his education in Cincinnati, where he lived from the age of six years until after he had attained man's estate. Upon leaving school he became a clerk in a grocery and for three years continued in that business.

Coming to California and to Bakersfield during 1901, Mr. Schultz pro- ceeded direct to the Kern river field and secured employment as a roustabout. The exercise of ability brought him merited promotion. As a tool-dresser he proved efficient, as a driller he made good, and in a short time he rose to be superintendent of a company, where as in the less important posts of duty he displayed energy, discrimination and sagacity. At the time of his arrival in the Sunset field Jewell & Blodgett owned the principal interests, but the north end of the field was entirely undeveloped and the importance of the district as an oil center was not realized by the most optimistic residents. The Maricopa Oil Company owned forty acres lying in the southwest quar- ter of section 1. 12-23, and out of this tract they leased seventeen acres to the Gate City Oil Company, which later bought the land and platted the town site of Maricopa. As early as 1903 an extension of the Sunset Railroad had been built to Monarch (practically the nucleus of Maricopa), but it was not until some time afterward that the seventeen acres on section 1 were platted and sold. Upon the incorporation of Maricopa in 1910 other lands were included in the town site. so that now the town lies on sections 1. 2. 11 and 12. township 12. range 23. Even as early as 1902 Mr. Schultz was familiar with

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the tract where the present city stands. The possibility of oil discoveries had led him to this locality. For some time he had engaged with a firm of contract drillers. The first well that he drilled for the Maricopa Oil Company came in as a gusher and this led to his appointment as superintendent and general manager of the lease. Later he became interested in the property.

In 1906 a corporation known as the Maricopa Road Oil and Development Company was organized with the late Capt. F. F. Weed as secretary and Mr. Schultz as general manager. Four wells were drilled, all proving to be good producers. In the fall of 1908 the Maricopa Road Oil and Development Company sold out to the Gate City Oil Company. The two gentlemen worked together in the utmost harmony and with the most satisfactory results and acquired six hundred and forty acres of land in the gusher belt of the Midway field. The title to this land is held in the name of the Maricopa Investment Company, with Mr. Schultz as manager, while in addition he is manager of the Maple Leaf, Luxor and Maricopa Oil Companies, operating on the same section, namely: 22, 32-24.

WALLACE MELVIN MORGAN .- Mr. Morgan was born in De Soto, Johnson County, Kan., April 21, 1868. His father was Nelson Wallace Morgan, a native of New York, whose forebears had been residents of New York and the New England states since 1620. His mother was Jeanet Storms, also born in New York, of English-Dutch ancestry. They were married in Michigan, of which state both their families were pioneers, and moved to Kansas during the time when that territory was the principal battleground in the contest over the extension or restriction of slavery. When the Civil War began. Nelson W. Morgan enlisted in the First Kansas Infantry and served through the war. Except for a visit of a few months to her parents in Michigan. his wife, with three young children, remained in De Soto, a little town a few miles east of Lawrence, directly in the path of the guerilla bands that terrorized Eastern Kansas in the days when nearly all the able-bodied men of that section were fighting the larger battles in the East and South. In 1870 Nelson W. Morgan moved his family to Marshall County, Kan., where he took up a homestead close to the town of Irving, and a few years later moved to the latter place, where he conducted a wagon- making shop during the remainder of his active life.

The subject of this sketch grew up in Irving and was educated in the public school of that place with a few months' additional instruction in a little college at Holton. Kan. Up to the time he was twenty-one, outside of the months he spent in school, he worked on farms in the summer, chopped wood in winter, quarried rock, worked in a railroad grading camp, lived a generally vigorous out-door life, and acquired a greater or less degree of proficiency in several of the building trades to which his early intimacy with the wagon-making shop had afforded him a natural introduction.

In December, 1889, crops and the general business and industrial outlook in Kansas being uniformly bad. Morgan, then just past twenty-one years of age, followed the family instinct to go West, and bought a ticket to Bakers- field, Cal. After six months spent on a Rosedale raisin vineyard. he went to Miramonte in the artesian belt in the northern part of the county, where he homesteaded a quarter-section of land, farmed and raised a little livestock until June, 1902. when he bought the Delano Record and moved to that place.

Meantime. on February 18. 1896. he was married to Frances Howard Raymond, a native of San Francisco. daughter of George \. Raymond and Mary Hatch Raymond. Mr. Raymond is a son of one of the early California pioneers and a descendant, through his mother's family, of Abraham Howard, who came to New England in 1722. One of Mrs. Raymond's ancestors was Capt. Thomas White, one of the original settlers of Weymouth and a resident of Plymouth in 1635. After a nine-months' apprenticeship in country jour-

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nalism in which both Mr. and Mrs. Morgan learned enough about the art preservative to get out a little weekly paper without assistance at any stage of its manufacture, they came to Bakersfield, where Mr. Morgan took a place on the newsgathering staff of the Morning Echo.

Since April, 1903, Mr. Morgan has been continuously with the Morning Echo. In the summer of 1904 S. C. Smith, editor and principal owner of the Echo, began a successful campaign for election to Congress, and delegated to the subject of this sketch the duty of editorial writing. Since that time, with one or two intermissions of two or three weeks cach, nearly all of the editorials in the Echo have been his work. In addition he filled the position of city editor for a part of the time, and at all times has been one of the paper's general newsgatherers. Since Mr. Smith's death in January, 1913, the editorial direction of the paper has been in his hands.

Mr. and Mrs. Morgan have one daughter, Frances, born in Bakersfield on September 6, 1903.

ALEXIS FLAGG LOWELL .- The family of which Alexis F. Lowell is a member comes of English extraction and exhibits the qualities inherent in that race. The initial period of American development found the name transplanted to the soil of New England, where a number of genera- tions has lived and labored and where it is still worthily represented by men of intelligence and patriotism. Genealogical records show that John Lowell devoted his entire life to agriculture in New England. His son, William, a native of Olney, Me., learned the trade of ship carpenter in youth and for years engaged in the occupation, together with that of farming. Late in life he joined his sons in California and died in Bakersfield. By his marriage to Mary Tyler, a native of Maine, he became the father of six sons, of whom Wilmot, Danville and William Harrison died in Bakersfield, which city is still the home of John and Alexis Flagg. The only son who remained in the east was Henry H., who died in Boston, November 20, 1912.

The youngest of the sons, Alexis, was born at Concord, Me., November 19, 1846, and attended schools in his native township, where also at an early age he acquired a thorough knowledge of farm duties. An older brother, Wilmot, had come to California about 1862, and in 1873 he joined him here. For two years he engaged in the sheep industry near Hollister with that brother. During 1875 they removed the flock to Kern county and estab- lished their headquarters at Bakersfield. Here for a year or two they were exceptionally successful. Their flocks grazed on the Greenhorn mountains and along the plains, where an abundance of pasturage was to be found. However, the severe drought of 1877 completely changed conditions and wiped out all of their profits, so that their flock of four thousand was re- duced to a scant four hundred. With undaunted courage the brothers began anew. Fortunately they were not again called upon to sustain such a loss or endure such a drought.

When they disposed of their flocks about 1887 they did so at a fair profit. About that time they bought three hundred and twenty acres adjoining Bakersfield. This tract they devoted to general farm products and to fruit, particularly to peaches. Eventually the property was sold and a portion subdivided as the Lowell addition to Bakersfield, but Alexis F., having a fondness for the place, bought back twenty acres and planted it to fruit. He continued to superintend the acreage and care for the trees until 1910, when he disposed of the entire tract with the exception of the corner occupied by his residence. In addition he owns six houses in the Lowell addition, as well as other property in the city, and these various places he oversees personally. With that exception he has retired from all business activities, nor does he take any part in fraternal organizations, nor in politics aside from the casting of a Republican ballot at all national elections.

It was the good fortune of Mr. Lowell to have the cheerful co-operation

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and capable assistance of an appreciated helpmate. Mrs. Luella (Rogers) Lowell was born in Vanderburg county, Ind., and was next to the youngest among five children, all of whom attained maturity. Her parents, Samuel Curtis and Marilla J. (Sirkle) Rogers, were natives respectively of New Hampshire and Indiana. Early in life Mr. Rogers became a resident of Indiana and took up a raw tract of land, which he developed into a pro- ductive farm. During the summer of 1852 he crossed the plains to Cali- fornia and engaged in mining, but without any gratifying returns. Deter- mining to resume his profession of teacher, he went to Santa Clara county, where he opened and founded the first public school in the county. About three years later he went back to Indiana and resumed farm pursuits. How- ever, the lure of the west had sent its call to his soul and in 1867 conditions were such that he decided to remove his family to Arizona. The trip was made with wagon and ox-teams and he settled in Prescott, where he found employment as a teacher, in addition to which he engaged in general farm- ing, and while living there he also served as internal revenue collector at Prescott. After the death of his wife, which occurred in Arizona, he came to California and spent his last days in the home of his daughter, Mrs. Lowell. Here he passed away in 1909. Another bereavement came to Mrs. Lowell in 1910, when the second son of the family, Raymond Lowell, was called from the home by death. There still survive two sons, William Curtis and Alexis, who are the pride of their parents and in whose welfare they maintain the deepest concern.

THOMAS H. SMITH .- For fifty years Mr. Smith has been an active factor in the agricultural upbuilding of the remote but rich valley where he owns valuable holdings in land and stock and where, in the calm fruition of a life worthily spent, he is passing the twilight of a useful existence beneath his own vine and fig tree and surrounded by evidences of his thrifty manage- ment. It is said that his was the second family to locate in this valley and certain it is that none surpasses him in point of long and intimate association with the locality. A typical pioneer in temperament, he was well qualified for the hardships of the frontier and the loneliness of an isolated cattle ranch. As he pursued the even tenor of his way, adding to his acreage and increasing his herds, he did not neglect his duties as a citizen, but gave liberally to com- munity movements and especially interested himself in the starting of schools, for he was solicitous that the young people of the community should receive excellent educations. Known and honored for miles in every direction from his homestead, he is recognized as a pioneer who aided in the local upbuilding and who achieved success in local enterprises. His own individual success proves the possibilities of the valley and laid the foundation of the extensive stock business continued satisfactorily by his son, Thomas S., represented elsewhere in this volume.

Descended from an ancient Anglo-Saxon family, Thomas H. Smith was born in Bristol, England, in 1824, and from early life followed the sea. In the course of several voyages he saw much of the world and visited many im- portant ports, but he finally decided to locate permanently in the United States. For his wife he chose Miss Sophia M. Whittock, who was born at Salem, Washington county, Ohio, in 1829, being the granddaughter (on the maternal side) of Major Stanley, an illustrious officer in the war of 1812. The young couple were married at Salem and remained there for some time, but in 1853 Mr. Smith, leaving his wife in Ohio, came to California via Panama. Three years later Mrs. Smith came via the same route and joined him at Oakland. where he had engaged in clerking. During 1859 the family removed from Oakland to Tulare county and Mr. Smith took up land near Visalia, where he embarked in ranching. In 1862 he crossed the line into Kern county and located a claim on the South Fork of the Kern river, where the following year

Thomas for Jani the Mess of the smith.

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he was joined by his family. As time passed his fields grew larger, his tracts more widely extended and his herd of cattle more important, so that the brand 13 then, as now, became known far and near. It became apparent to him at an early period of his identification with the valley that he must take steps to secure irrigation facilities. Accordingly he took out what is now the oldest ditch at the head of the river, thus bringing under irrigation some four hun- dred acres of excellent land.

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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 65

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