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 70

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 70

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HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY

termis he served as supervisor and during part of the time he was honored with the chairmanship of the board.

There were four daughters and four sons in the parental family, namely : Isabella, who married P. J. Garwood and lives at Glennville, Kern county ; Minerva, Mrs. Collins, who died in this county ; James, city marshal of Bakers- field ; John, a farmer living in Tulare county ; Julian, a stockman who follows his occupation in the vicinity of Glennville; Daniel, who died in Mendocino county in 1885; Virginia, Mrs. Alfred Harrald, of Bakersfield; and Mrs. Fannie Hughes, of Glennville. The eldest son, James, passed his childhood years on a ranch in San Joaquin county and attended the school of which his father was trustee. The district, indeed, had been organized largely through the influence of the father and still bears the name of the McKamy school district, although years have passed since the family removed from the vicin- ity. Even before leaving that county the lad had earned his livelihood by teaming and hauling, harvesting and threshing, and after he had permanently located in Kern county in 1874 he aided his father in the care of the sheep. When the flock was lost in the drought of 1877 he entered the employ of Carr & Haggin and operated a threshing machine on their ranch during the summer months. In the spring he engaged in sheep-shearing, a work in which he gained such remarkable speed that he was able to shear from one hundred and forty to one hundred and fifty sheep per day.

Leaving the busy activities of the ranch and the farm in 1882 Mr. Mc- Kamy went to Colorado and engaged in mining in the San Juan and Ouray districts. Upon his return to Bakersfield in 1887 he secured a deputyship under the county assessor, Thomas Harding. Later for four years he acted as deputy constable and for two terms of four years each he was constable. In April of 1907 he was elected city marshal and took the oath of office for a term of four years. However, the consolidation of Kern and Bakersfield called for a special election, which occurred July 19, 1910. After a hot campaign he was elected. During April of 1911, at the regular election, he won by a majority of twenty-seven votes. The election was contested and he won in the contest. The city marshal's office is now in the second story of the fire department house on the corner of K and Twentieth streets and here Mr. McKamy makes his headquarters. In national politics he votes with the Democratic party. In his work as an officer he does not consider party, but endeavors to maintain law and order and to promote the reputation of Ba- kersfield as a law-abiding city of patriotic citizens and high moral standing. Since coming to this city he has erected a residence at No. 2124 E Street. His marriage took place in Bakersfield and united him with Mrs. Emma Gagne, who was born in Ontario, Canada, and died in Los Angeles January 31, 1909, leaving one son, James L. McKamy. In fraternal relations he is a local leader in the work of the Eagles, besides being actively interested in the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks.

GEORGE KAMMERER .- It would be difficult to name any phase of the oil industry with which Mr. Kammerer is not familiar, for he has been connected with the business from childhood and has ever been a close ob- server and careful student of the occupation. A native of Pennsylvania, born at Pleasantville, Venango county, March 11, 1873, he was only six years of age when the family removed to Bradford in the same state and thus he was made familiar with the oil fields of Mckean county. The chief topic of conversation in the neighborhood was some development in oil, so that he grew up to a thorough knowledge of the business, and he also learned much from his father, who was a pioneer driller in Pennsylvania. Ever since thirteen years of age he has earned a livelihood as a worker in oil fields. Industry and perseverance came naturally to him, and an intelligent mind

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enabled him to grasp every problem presented by the work. The path to success was not easy. For hours each day he worked as a pumper, but pro- motion came as a result of his diligent attention to duty. He was only fif- teen when he was trained in the task of tool-dressing. All through his early life he worked for large firms in the oil and gas fields of the east. mainly in New York and Pennsylvania, and in that way he gained an experience of the greatest value to him in subsequent positions.

The Fullerton field was first sought by Mr. Kammerer when he arrived in California in 1899 and for six years he was an emplove of the Santa Fe on its leases at that point. He then went to work for the Union Oil Company and spent one year at Casmalia, four years in the Fullerton and three years in the Midway field. He has been an employe of the Union Oil Company continuously since 1905, and has been in the Midway since 1910. He and his wife, formerly Miss Kathleen Enoch, and their daughter, Virginia, now make their home in a company cottage on the Bed Rock lease, one mile north of Taft, on section 14, township 31, range 23. In his present position as superintendent of development in the Midway and Maricopa districts, he gives not only faithful, but also intelligent and remarkably efficient service to the Union Oil Company, whose interests have been protected and pro- moted by his alert supervision. Besides his identification with the oil indus- try he has other interests at Taft, where he now owns one-third interest in the Taft garage and where also he is popular in the Petroleum Club, of which he is a charter member. While making his headquarters in the Fuller- ton field he was initiated into Masonry at Fullerton, became a member also of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at that place, identified himself with the Elks at Santa Ana and with the Eagles at Anaheim.

F. B. GORMLEY .- Born at Marion, Ind., September 7, 1891. F. B. Gormley is the second son of Thomas and Sarah (Finnigan) Gormley, long residents of Marion. The family consisted of nine children and six of these are now living. The father, a native of West Virginia, born about 1854, has been employed by the Pennsylvania (known as the Panhandle) Railroad Company since 1880, holding the position of telegraph inspector in charge of poles, instruments and lines extending from Logans- port, Ind .. to Bradford, same state. From the age of seventeen years F. B. Gormley has been self-supporting. Upon the completion of the studies of the grammar grade in the Marion schools he turned his attention to the earning of a livelihood and for a time worked at bookkeeping. While he was employed by the Gulf Pipe Line Company at Tulsa, Okla., he received a telegram stating that his older brother, who had come to California suffer- ing from tuberculosis and was temporarily at Maricopa, was very ill and in all probability would soon pass away. Hurriedly severing his business con- nections at Tulsa he started for California and May 10, 1909, arrived at Mar- icopa, where he cared for his brother until the end came seven weeks after- ward. Accompanying the remains he went back to the old Indiana home and afterward visited with friends and relatives for two months. Upon his second arrival at Maricopa he became an employe in the men's furnishing department of the store owned by Coons & Price. Eight months later he entered the employ of the Honolulu Oil Company, with which he continued for nine months, meanwhile filling the position of warehouseman. Resign- ing from the Honolulu he spent three weeks in San Francisco. On coming back to Maricopa he became a clerk in the hardware store of J. F. Blessing, with whom he continued for eighteen months. From April until June of 1912 he visited in Indiana and since his return to Maricopa he has been en- gaged as warehouseman with the Lakeview Oil Company, whose interests he has promoted by his uniform business tact, strict integrity and recognized capability.

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HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY

LAYTON JUDD KING .- An efficient oil operator, Mr. King is the son of a pioneer in that business, for his father, John King, a native of Geauga county, Ohio, worked at oil camps in Ohio and Indiana, then re- turned to Ohio to resume the business in the fields of that state and event- ually came to Los Angeles, where he makes his home. While living in Ohio he married Miss Etta Judd, who was born in Massachusetts, a descendant of a colonial family of New England. Their son, Layton Judd, was born in Geanga county. Ohio, in 1880, and received his education in public schools and Geauga Seminary. During 1895 he removed to Indiana with his father and found employment in the oil fields near Montpelier, but in a short time returned to Geauga county, and resumed drilling in Ohio. Besides working in oil fields he drilled water wells and took many contracts for such work in Geauga. Cuyahoga and Ashtabula counties. Upon his arrival in Cali- fornia in 1902 he secured a position with the R. D. Robinson Drilling Com- pany as a tool-dresser. Nine months later in 1903 he entered the employ of the Associated Oil Company as a driller in the Kern river field.

An experience of nine months as a driller in the oil fields of Coffeyville, Kan., was followed by the return of Mr. King to California, where in Octo- ber, 1904, he again became an employe of the Associated in the Kern river field. In July of 1905 the company appointed him foreman of the Central Point division in the same field. A merited promotion to be superintendent of the same division came to him in April, 1906, and in February, 1907. he was transferred to be superintendent of the San Joaquin division, at that time the largest division of the entire concern. The year 1908 found him super- intendent of the McKittrick division and in that capacity he developed the valuable holdings of the company in that field. Transferred in February, 1910. to act as superintendent of the Midway division, he since has had charge of development work in the Midway field and Elk Hills territory. When at leisure from the heavy responsibilities incident to his important position he finds his chief pleasure in the society of his wife and four chil- dren, Rupert. Ronald, Reginald and Ethelyn. Prior to their marriage at Chagrin Falls, Cuyahoga county, Ohio, Mrs. King was Miss Ethelyn Parker; born in the Buckeye state, educated in its schools, a graduate of the high school at Burton, Geauga county, she is a woman of education and culture and has many friends back in her girlhood home, as well as in the newer home of the west. In politics Mr. King always has voted with the Republi- can party. Since 1905 he has been connected with Masonry, having been made a Mason during that year in Bakersfield Lodge No. 224, F. & A. M.

H. E. BECKER .- From the beginning of the development work under- taken by the Pacific Crude Oil Company in the Midway field Mr. Becker has had charge of its important enterprises in the capacity of superintendent and has made good in a position demanding boundless energy, great tact, quickness of decision and a thorough knowledge of the oil industry. Since November, 1911, when he entered the employ of the company, work on the lease near Fellows has been started and brought up to a point of great importance and considerable promise. Well No. 1 on the lease came in as a gusher, but in the midst of its first enormous output the rig caught fire. After having burned for five days the fire was smothered with steam and brought under control. In the seven following months the well produced one million barrels and is now flowing at the rate of two hundred and fifty barrels per day. Well No. 2 came in as a gusher of eighty-five hundred barrels and is still producing seven hundred barrels of 26 gravity oil as the daily output. The latest development has been in well No. 3, the drilling of which was completed in 1913 and which is proving a valuable acquisi- tion to the holdings of the company.

In boyhood Mr. Becker lived in his native city of Pittsburg, Pa., where

& & Brinkmann

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HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY

he attended the schools and at the age of seventeen was graduated from the high school, later completing the trade of machinist as an apprentice in the Pittsburg locomotive works. His father. Elias, a machinist by trade and a lifelong resident of Pennsylvania, served throughout the entire period of the Civil war as a soldier in the Ninth Pennsylvania Infantry. Upon com- ing to California in 1901 the son, H. E., learned the oil business in the Newhall field as an employe of the Standard Oil Company. While in that field he worked first as a tool-dresser and then as a driller. In the Santa Maria field he engaged as a driller with the Union Oil Company. Coming to Mari- copa. Kern county, in 1908, he continued to work for the Union Oil Company as a driller. Later he entered the employ of the American Midway Oil Com- pany, of which he became superintendent, and he was further associated with the Cleveland Oil Company and the Canadian Pacific Oil Company in the Midway field, where since November of 1911 he has worked in the interests of the Pacific Crude Oil Company. Always busily engaged in occupative duties, he has had no leisure for participation in public affairs and has taken no part in fraternal matters aside from being a member of Bakersfield Lodge No. 266, B. P. O. E.

JOHN J. BRINKMAN .- With characteristic modesty and affection he attributes his success largely to the noble example set by his mother and to the encouraging companionship of his wife. The former, who was Sophronia Beacock and a native of Michigan, is now seventy-four years old and resides at the old Ohio homestead associated with her younger days. The father, Henry Brinkman, was a farmer by occupation and died in 1910 at the age of seventy-three, his death being caused by an accidental injury. The fifth among seven children, John J. was born in Williams county, Ohio. De- cember 28, 1871, and had but meager advantages for an education in his early life. For a time he attended the public schools of Angola, Ind., from which place he went to Kansas, where he earned his livelihood by teaching in the winter and working on ranches during the summer months. His own efforts were made to defray his expenses in the Salina Normal University, from which he was graduated in 1895.

Arrival in California during the fall of 1900 and an immediate identifica- tion with the oil fields of Kern county brought to Mr. Brinkman an early and adequate comprehension of the oil industry. Thus apparently by chance he was led into the occupation with which, although indirectly, his greatest lifework has been accomplished. After he had worked in the fields until he thoroughly understood the business he entered the employ of the Hardison Perforating Company. When he left the employ of that concern many of his friends urged him to secure a perforator of his own and, acting upon their suggestions, he leased two old contrivances, but found them to be unservice- able, so he turned his mind toward the invention of a new machine. In this difficult task he was remarkably successful. However, he was wholly with- out means and unable to build a machine for lack of money. At this crisis the Associated Oil Company came to his aid and built the first machine, also made the first test, which proved the value of the perforator without a question. Even then all was not "smooth sailing." for the Hardison Per- forating Company in 1903-4 brought suits against him in the United States district court for infringement of their patent. The outcome of the case was that Mr. Brinkman was upheld in court on every point of the case.

The business having proved very profitable, Mr. Brinkman has been enabled to invest in farm lands and real estate and now owns four hundred acres in the Weed Patch, which by means of artesian water and an adequate pumping system he is bringing under a high state of cultivation. His faith in Kern county is great and he is proving it by his investments, and pos- sessing a commendable spirit, he rightly ranks high among the busi-

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ness men of the county. Sharing with him in this popularity is his accom- plished wife, who prior to their marriage in March. 1908. was Miss Margaret Jenkins of Oakland. this state. They are the parents of two children, Rolla and Helen.

CLARENCE S. GREEN .- The business men of Maricopa have been leading factors in its rapid growth and not the least of these is Clarence S. Green, who during May of 1907 came to the west side and since then has witnessed the entire material growth of the town. At first its destiny secmed uncertain. The mushroom character of the original growth caused many to believe its importance would be temporary, but with each year it has planted its roots deeper in the soil of prosperous existence and since 1907 it has developed into a city, rich, progressive and permanent. July 20, 1911. it was incorporated as a city and Mr. Green, who had been chosen a mem- ber of the board of school trustees in 1909, was again chosen to serve the newly-incorporated city in the same office. In fact, it was his work, together with that of other leading men, that rendered possible the successful incorpo- ration, and since then these same citizens have fostered all public enterprises

Born at Watsonville. Monterey county. Cal., September 16, 1868, Mr. Green has little recollection of his birthplace, for at the age of three years he was taken by the family to Santa Barbara, where later he was sent to the public school. He began to earn a livelihood as a farm hand and soon be- came an expert in the care of stock as well as in the tilling of the soil. As early as 1889, when scarcely twenty-one years of age he came to Kern county and here he has since made his home, having in 1892 married Miss Mollie Emerson, of Kern county, but who was born in San Luis Obispo county, Cal. She was reared there until she was eighteen years of age, when she came with her parents to Kern county. Three sons were born of the union, Clar- ence, Robert and Edward. The first home of the couple was in the south- west part of the county, where Mr. Green made a specialty of stock-raising and general ranching. During 1904 he moved to the vicinity of Bakersfield and rented land, which he devoted to the raising of general crops and of stock. As previously stated, he came to the west side in 1907 and has been a resident of Maricopa ever since the town started. For one year he devoted his time to contract teaming, next he started a livery stable and six months later he opened a blacksmith shop and started in the harness business also. During 1911 he erected a building for a harness shop and this he now occu- pies, doing an excellent business in the making, repair and sale of harness of all kinds. Although he left his farm some years ago he still retains the tract near Old River twelve miles southwest of Bakersfield, where he owns a well-improved estate of three hundred acres in grain and alfalfa. He is identified with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks at Bakersfield, also with the Ancient Order of United Workmen in the same city.

Mr. Green continues to run the livery, harness, blacksmith and team contracting business at Maricopa, while Mrs. Green, with the help of her three sons, operates the large three hundred acre alfalfa, grain and stock ranch in the Old River district of Kern county.

Mrs. Green is the daughter of E. S. Emerson, who was born in Missouri and came to California in the early days. He was with the Government troops in Mexico driving team during the Mexican war and then came up to California and engaged in the stock business. He was married in So- noma county to Miss Julia Duncan, of Missouri, who crossed the plains in 1849 in company with her parents. Settlement was made in Sonoma county, where she grew up to young womanhood and where she was married. \ part of her children were born in that county. Later the parents moved to San Luis Obispo county and in 1886 the parents and their family came to Kern county and settled on the Paleto country land. Here they homesteaded

Henry Thomas Freear

Mro Mary Crear

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HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY

one hundred and sixty acres. The seven sons also took homesteads there, and this gave rise to bitter litigation which ran through several years, hitt the case was finally won by the Emersons.

HENRY THOMAS FREEAR .- Many years ago, when the nineteenth century had scarcely rounded ont one-half of its era of progress, a parish in Norfolk, England, had as its rector Rev. Henry T. Freear. a popular and talented young clergyman in the Church of England, beloved among his parishioners and deeply mourned when in 1852 death brought an untimely end to his ministerial labors. Surviving him were an only child, Henry Thomas, and the widow, Ann (Stribling) Freear, who was a native of the city of London. After being left a widow she and her small son accom- panied her brother, John Stribling, to the United States and settled with him in Dekalb county, Ill., where she met and married Robert Mott, a pros- perous pioneer farmer of the community. Thus it happened that Henry Thomas Freear, whose birth had occurred in London, England, December 18, 1845, passed the years of his youth upon an Illinois farm owned by his stepfather, Mr. Mott, and he gave cheerful aid to such farm work as his strength and years permitted. In 1863 at the age of almost eighteen he enlisted in Company C. Seventeenth Illinois Cavalry, and continued in the service until the close of the war, meanwhile receiving a wound in battle which proved slight in importance and did not prevent him from accompany- ing the regiment through all of its marches and campaigns. At the expira- tion of the war he engaged in farming. At Sycamore, Ill., October 24, 1866, he married Miss Mary Garlick, who was born on a farm near Kingston, Canada, and in 1853 removed to Illinois, settling on a farm in Dekalb county, where she was sent to the neighboring schools and trained to a knowledge of housekeeping. Her father, Joseph Garlick, was born in York- shire, England, and died in Illinois; the mother, who bore the maiden name of Elizabeth Holderness, was born in Kingston, Canada. of English parent- age, and upon leaving Illinois came to California, where her declining years were passed happily in the home of her daughter. Mrs. Freear, until her death about 1884.

For three years after marriage Mr. and Mrs. Freear lived upon an Illinois farm. During 1869 they became pioneers of Nebraska and pre- empted a homestead in Lancaster county near Lincoln. where a small sod house was their home for a number of years. Meanwhile two sons, Horace R. and Charles H., were born on that frontier Nebraska farm. In 1874 the family came to California and located on a claim ten miles south of Bakers- field in the Old River district, where Mr. Freear developed a fine farm out of an uninviting and unpromising quarter section. After disposing of the property he bought another farm of one hundred and sixty acres one and one-half miles from the old place. and this in turn he developed from raw land into a remunerative proposition. The work of improvement was still being prosecuted when death interrupted his activities, March 4, 1902, and terminated the career of one of the most honored and successful farmers of Kern county. In religion he had always clung to the Episcopal faith. in politics he had been a stanch Republican and fraternally he held membership with Hurlburt Post. G. A. R., in Bakersfield. For years he served efficiently as school trustee of the Old River district. As superintendent of roads, which position he held for some years, he maintained a close supervision of the roads of the district.

For five years after the death of Mr. Freear the widow continued to make the ranch her home, but in 1907 she rented the property and removed to Bakersfield, where she erected and now occupies an elegant residence at No. 1709 Maple avenue. In addition she has built and now owns two other houses in this city. During 1910 she sold the old homestead to R. L. McCutchen, the husband of her third child. Lena. Her eldest sons, Horace R. and Charles H ..

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are living in the Old River district and Bakersfield respectively, while the fourth child, Joseph P., makes Bakersfield his home. The twins, Burt and Alfred, are now in Maricopa. The youngest members of the family circle are Mrs. Laverna Bess, of Maricopa, and Mrs. Viola Perry, of Bakersfield. In religion Mrs. Freear is of the Baptist faith and has been interested continu- ously in all movements for the religious and moral uplifting of humanity. Since coming to Bakersfield she has become a prominent member of the Women's Relief Corps and has participated in many of its philanthropies and social functions.

MILO G. McKEE .- This well known citizen of Kern county was born in the town of Adams, Jefferson county, N. Y., October 17, 1862, and attended the public school near his parents' home until he was fifteen years old. Then he learned the tinner's and plumber's trades, at which he worked until his removal to California. He remained in his native state until 1888, when he came to California and located in Kern county. Here he worked as a tinner and plumber until 1891, when he bought twenty acres, which he farmed until 1898. It was in the last-mentioned year that his brother George S. McKee came to the county and the two formed a business partnership. They bought land from time to time until they now have a fine homestead of one hundred and sixty acres all under cultivation, seven miles south of Bakersfield on the Kern Island road, and of this sixty-five acres are in orchard, sixteen in peaches. twenty-six in prunes and ten in apricots, and ninety-five in alfalfa and grain.

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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 70

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