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 81

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 81

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A member of an old southern family, James Robert Caldwell was born in Sumner, Miss., in 1868, and is a son of the late \V. A. F. Caldwell, M. D., a graduate physician and skilled surgeon, whose quiet and successful practice of the profession in the south covered many years, broken only by arduous service as a surgeon in the Civil war. During 1879 the family moved across the Mississippi river into Arkansas, but not being satisfied with conditions in that state, they came to California in 1883, where afterward Dr. Caldwell engaged in farming and stock-raising in Kern and Tulare counties. His death occurred in Tulare county and the widow is still living at the old homestead there. Of the ten children in the family all but four are still living. James

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HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY

Robert being the fourth in order of birth. After coming to California he at- tended school in Kern county for a brief period, but for the most part he gave his time to the cattle industry. During 1891 he went to Arizona, where he embarked in the cattle business. As soon as able, he purchased a ranch in the Williamson valley. After having continued in stock-raising for a long period, in 1909 he disposed of his interests and returned to Kern county, join- ing his brother, John E., a cattleman in the Greenhorn mountains. The brothers purchased the old French ranch of nine hundred and sixty acres in these mountains, adjacent to the government reserve. An abundance of rain- fall enables the land to afford excellent grazing for the stock. In addition to this large tract, the brothers own eight hundred acres near Granite, a tract well watered and used exclusively for their large and growing cattle business. January 17, 1913, Mr. Caldwell was bereaved by the passing of his wife, Laura M. (Cook) Caldwell, who left four children, Claude, Alice, Harry and Walter. Giving his attention closely to his important cattle interests and devoting his leisure to his home and family, Mr. Caldwell has had little opportunity or inclination to enter into public life, political campaigns or fraternal activities, and the only organization in which he has been especially interested is the Woodmen of the World.

JOHN L. GILL .- The Gill family to which belongs the present editor of the San Joaquin Valley Farmer is an old historic one in the United States, many of its members numbering among the pioneer citizens who have aided in the development of the country, settling first in Virginia, and then pioneer- ing in Ohio, Indiana and Missouri. John L. Gill grew to manhood in Kirks- ville, Mo., where he was born March 24, 1872. His grandfather, John Gill, was one of the carly builders of the west. 1Ie was a native of Ohio. Upon going to Indiana he helped remove the Indians from that section to Kansas, and deciding to settle in the west he became a pioneer in Missouri and a large landowner in Northeastern Missouri before the war. Developing his land he had it in splendid condition when the war broke out, as a result of which he lost most of it.

The parents of John L. Gill were married in Missouri, the father, Wil- liam Maxwell Gill, being an only son. He was a self-educated man, well read in history, the scriptures and belles-lettres, and was extremely intel- lectual. He enlisted in the Ninth lowa Cavalry and served during the Civil war. For forty years he was in the newspaper business in Missouri and California. He established the Kirksville (Mo.) Graphic, and was at one time half owner in the Kirksville Journal. He married Anna M. Link, and they came together to California and settled at Lemoore in what is now Kings county. There he established in connection with his son John L. the Lemoore Leader and he made his home in Lemoore until his death, which occurred in the fall of 1901. The mother of John L. is still living, making her home on a hundred and sixty-acre ranch situated about eleven miles from Bakersfield. These children were born to the marriage of William Maxwell and Anna M. (Link) Gill; Mand, who is the wife of L. C. Hyde, cashier of the National Bank of Visalia ; John Louis, who is mentioned below ; William E., who is a farmer in Kern county, having a ranch of a hundred and sixty acres eleven miles northwest of Bakersfield; Samuel, who is manager of the Walter Scott Company store and resides in Selma; Frank, who is manager of the Walter Scott Company store at Kingsburg; Bert, who is a plumber and resides at Lindsay; and Harry, who is an accountant and connected with the K. T. & O. Company at Coalinga.

John L. Gill was early taught the printer's trade by his father. Gradu- ating from the Northeastern Missouri Business College he early became interested in the business and evinced a particular talent for that trade. When he was seventeen years of age he came with his parents to California

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and settled at Lemoore where he established the Lemoore Leader in partner- ship with his father. Competent at so early an age to conduct a newspaper business he carly branched out for himself, and for one year was editor and manager of the Anticch Leader, which he conducted successfully. He then established the Sanger News and the Wasco News, the latter of which he conducted for fourteen months and brought it to a high state of success. Selling the Wasco News he then bought out the San Joaquin Valley Farmer, and this he is at present conducting along the most modern and up-to-date lines. This paper is a first-class family weekly with a circulation of about two thousand copies. The subjects treated are the current topics of the day. good short stories and some serials, the object being to put before the sub- scribers the best literature obtainable, be it fiction, history or politics.

In 1900 Mr. Gill married Miss Ida May Whitmore, of Sanger, and to them six children have been born, viz. : John Louis, Jr., William, Ruth, Doug- lass, George and Wilbur. In fraternal relations Mr. Gill is a member of the Independent Order of Foresters and the Woodmen of the World and in political sentiment unites his forces with those of the Progressive party.

JOSEPH F. ENDERT .- Mr. Endert was born at Crescent City, Del Norte county, Cal., February 24, 1878, the eldest of four children of Joseph Bernard and Clara (Fleming) Endert. His father, a native of Ohio, and of German descent, was born in 1851, and in due time crossed the plains to California. After living many years in San Francisco he removed to San Diego, where he was employed in the construction of the first wharf, and whence he came forty-two years ago to Del Norte county, locating at Crescent City, where he attained distinction in many ways. He filled the office of sher- iff of Del Norte county for sixteen years and that of tax collector for fourteen years, and he is also well known for his long connection with the banking business as a director of the Del Norte County Bank. The first theatre at Crescent City having been destroyed by fire, he was the builder of the second theatre in the town ; he erected an ice plant and bottling works and became the owner of valuable timber land and of much city property. His wife was a daughter of John Fleming, a Pennsylvanian, who came overland to the Pa- cific coast with ox-teams, went up the Snake river and down the Columbia river to Astoria, Ore., and had memorable experiences in the Rogue River Indian war in which he served. He farmed for a time and then established the Del Norte Hotel at Crescent City, which he owned until he removed to Eureka, where he passed away.

It was in the public school at Crescent City that Joseph F. Endert began his education. Later he studied at the Van Der Naillen School of Engineering at San Francisco, making a specialty of electricity and graduating in 1901. Until 1904 he was associated with his father in different enterprises at Cres- cent City, then went to San Francisco to become a traveling salesman with the John M. Klein Company, in which capacity he made his earlier visits to Kern county. Later he organized the Sterling Electric Company, afterward known as the Pacific States Electric Company, with headquarters in San Francisco and branches at Oakland, Portland, Seattle and Los Angeles. He severed his relations with that concern in 1910 to succeed J. H. Carr as proprietor of the Kern Valley Electric Supply Company in Bakersfield, which under his man- agement has built up a large trade in Bakersfield and vicinity, affording ample service in the way of appliances and repairs to all who use electricity in any form. Mr. Endert furnishes estimates for any work in the electrical line and contracts awarded to him are carried out according to latest scientific methods. He makes a specialty of fixtures, carrying a large stock of electric and gas and electric goods, and has wired and furnished fixtures for most of the resi- dences and bungalows built in Bakersfield in recent years as well as for the Redlick. Tegeler and Brower buildings, the Kern County court house, the

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Southern Hotel and the Security & Trust building. He did the electric work in more than two hundred cottages in 1910, averaging more than one cottage a day for eight months. From time to time he has interested himself in other business enterprises. For years he has been a stockholder in the Olsen & Mahoney Steamship Company, which owns thirteen vessels in the coasting trade out of San Francisco. He is a member and director and vice-president of the Builders Exchange of Bakersfield and a member of the California State Electrical Contractors' Association. In his political alliance he is a Democrat. He is identified with the Bakersfield Club and with the Merchants Association of this city and affiliates with the Knights of Columbus, the Benevolent Pro- tective Order of Elks and the Native Sons of the Golden West. He married at Bakersfield Miss Iola Havey, a native of Oroville, Butte county, and they have a son, Joseph Francis Endert.

DOMINGO BORDA .- Mr. Borda is the son of Martin and Dominica (Latsalda) Borda, both of whom passed away in their native France, at Basses Pyrenees. The father followed farming, and was well informed on all the details of that work. Six children were born to this union, four of whom grew to maturity and are now all living in California.

Born December 12, 1863, Domingo Borda was brought up in his native place at Cambo, and there was sent to the public school, to attain what edu- cation that school afforded. When he reached manhood he decided to try his luck in the New World and came to the United States in 1884, locating in California. His first employment was with a sheep man in San Bernardino county, driving between San Gabriel and Pomona valley, and also between Perris and San Jacinto. Four years later he bought a lot of sheep and em- barked in the sheep business in San Jacinto, following this until 1894, when he drove them to Tehachapi. in Kern county. After remaining there four or five summers he decided to range them near Famosa, about four miles east of there on the plains, and in the summers in the mountains of Garcia.

Mr. Borda resides at No. 719 Nile street, East Bakersfield. He home- steaded a quarter of section twenty-six, one mile from Buena Vista Lake. and built a house and barn. In all, his place covers one hundred and sixty acres, on which he raises grain. He also owns an eighty-acre ranch about five miles south of Bakersfield, which is under irrigation and planted to alfalfa.

In Tehachapi Mr. Borda married August 28, 1902, Mary Etcheverry. who was also born in Basses Pyrenees, France, and to them have come four children : Catherine. Pierre, Baptiste and Michel. Politically Mr. Borda is a Republican.

CHARLES F. JOHNSON .- As manager of the Consolidated Pipe Com- pany at Bakersfield, president of the Kern County Board of Trade and presi- dent of the Kern County Democratic League, Charles F. Johnson is throw- ing the influence of his aggressive and forceful personality into the upbuild- ing of this part of California. Significant of the future of Bakersfield is the increase in its manufacturing plants. One of the recent accessions of local industries is the Consolidated Pipe Company, manufacturers and jobbers of riveted steel well and water pipe, galvanized steel irrigation pipe, hydrants. gates, valves, flanges, tanks and sheet metal pipe of every description. The present plant located in Los Angeles covers about three acres of ground space, furnishes employment to upwards of one hundred and fifty skilled mechanics and is under the personal direction of able business men includ- ing the president. Gus D. Harper; the vice-president, Bert G. Harper; and the secretary, N. W. Myrick. When the officials determined to establish a new plant in Bakersfield they chose Mr. Johnson as its manager and since December 13, 1911, he has filled the position with energy, tact and skill. The plant is located on Union avenue at the Santa Fe Railroad tracks.

Born in San Francisco October 31, 1865, Mr. Johnson accompanied the family to Los Angeles in 1870, when according to census reports the popula-

Mrs. D. Borda OD Borda

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tion of that place was only five thousand two hundred and seventy. All of the subsequent growth he has witnessed with pride and interest. On both sides of the house he represents the pioneer element of California. His widowed mother, who now makes her home with him in Bakersfield, bore the maiden name of Mary M. Johnson and was born in St. Joseph, Mo. During the memorable summer of 1849 she traveled across the plains in a wagon drawn by oxen. After the arrival of the family in Sonoma county her father, David C., who had been a miller and merchant first in Tennessee and later in Missouri, became a pioneer of Healdsburg and turned his attention to farm pursuits. Later he tilled the soil in Merced county. During 1870 he removed to Los Angeles and there he remained a resident until his death in 1882. His daughter in young womanhood had become the wife of John Henry Johnson, a native of New York City and a pioneer carpenter of San Francisco, where he had the contract for the building of the old Lincoln school and other public structures. While yet a young man he passed away, leaving his widow to care for their children, whom she then took to Los Angeles, the home of her father. There were four sons in the family and three of these are still living, Charles F. being next to the eldest. After he had studied for a short time in the Los Angeles high school he left in order to earn his own livelihood. Entering the Los Angeles woolen mills in a very humble capacity he worked up to be a weaver. When the late B. F. Coulter took over the mills he was made assistant superintendent of the plant and upon their being closed down, he was tendered a clerkship in the Coulter mercantile establishment.

Upon resigning his position in the Coulter store Mr. Johnson entered the employ of the Harper-Reynolds Hardware Company as a shipping clerk and later was transferred through other departments until he was made a traveling salesman for the firm in Southern California. For twenty-six years altogether he continued with the same firm, but eventually resigned in order to accept the management of the Consolidated Pipe Company's plant in Bakersfield. While his identification with Bakersfield has not been of long duration, already he has become associated with movements for the local upbuilding and has proved a factor in commercial progress. The recognition of his abilities led to his unanimous choice as president of the Kern County Board of Trade while his devotion to the principles of Democracy caused him to be elected president of the Kern County Democratic League. For years he was actively connected with the United Commercial Travelers. During his residence in Los Angeles he was a leading worker in the Royal Arcanum and Modern Woodmen of America, while since coming to Bakersfield he has joined the Woodmen of the World. Prominent in the D. O. K. K. and Mira- monte Lodge No. 79, K. of P., until his removal from Los Angeles, he had officiated in the latter as chancellor commander and also was a member of the Grand Domain of California. In Los Angeles occurred his marriage to Miss Clara L. Dangerfield, a native of London, England, and a daughter of Samuel and Elizabeth Dangerfield, now residents of Los Angeles. The only living child of Mr. and Mrs. Johnson is Clinton Shields Johnson, who was educated in the Los Angeles Polytechnic high school, Occidental College and Holman's Business College and is now engaged as bookkeeper for the Con- solidated Pipe Company of Bakersfield.

GEORGE N. PEMBERTON .- A Californian by birth, having been born in Napa in 1873, George N. Pemberton is a son of R. W. Pemberton, who came to California in the pioneer days. He was brought up on farms in Kings and Kern counties, where he attended the public schools. After farming for some time he engaged in the wood and hay business in Hanford for about twelve years. During this time he also operated the Henry Burris ranch and in one year put up twelve hundred tons of hay. On the place he also burned

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charcoal, having three large pits burning at one time. For ten years of the time he had wood choppers busy, sometimes as many as fifty men cutting wood on the grant, and during this time he cut the willow and oak wood from a strip ten miles in length. He also ran a horseshoeing shop and was pro- prietor of the Corey House.

Selling his interests in Hanford, Mr. Pemberton leased land from Cham- berlain and Carr and raised barley and grain on about one thousand acres. In April, 1911, he located in Lost Hills, where he built the Pioneer House, the third building erected on the townsite, and at the time there were only five derricks in the Lost Hills oil field. Here he is engaged in raising corn on fifteen hundred acres near his old adobe house on the southwest end of Tulare Lake, and for the purpose is utilizing his forty head of mules and horses. He is also engaged in contract teaming and heavy hauling.

The marriage of Mr. Pemberton occurred in Fresno, uniting him with Margaret B. Winsor, who was born in Newfoundland, and to them have been born four children : George, Evelyn, Alvina and Irene. Fraternally Mr. Pemberton is a member of the Eagles.

ELIAS MARQUESS DEARBORN .- The identification of the Dear- born family with California dates from the early period of American oc- cupancy and from the exciting era of gold discovery, for it was during 1849 that Elias Dearborn, a youth of some seventeen years and a native of Bangor, Me., came via the Horn to San Francisco for the purpose of trying his luck in the vast and unknown west. The stories concerning the presence of gold in the streams and mountains arcused his ambition and allured his imagination to test by actual experience the prospects of the country. It was not, however, his good fortune to make any valuable discoveries or to gain wealth from the mines of the state, although he worked in many from the north country as far south as Havilah in Kern county. Eventually he decided that any chance for independence must come to him from another occupation besides mining and he turned to the stock industry, taking up land in the Rincon country, Kern county, and eventually becoming the owner of large tracts of land and large herds of cattle. Until his death about 1907 he continued to make his home on the ranch. Three years after his demise his widow died in Mojave. Prior to their marriage in Los Angeles she had been Mrs. Elizabeth (Lemon) Covington. Born in Indiana, she was a young girl when the family crossed the plains in a prairie schooner drawn by ox-teams, and from that time she continued to make California her home. Of her union with Mr. Dearborn there were three children, two now living, Elias Marquess being one of twins; the other son. Jacob, has charge of the old Kern county homestead.

While the family were living in the Rincon country Elias Marquess Dearborn was born on the home ranch October 30, 1872. The first seventeen years of his life were spent on the farm. Having completed the studies of the common schools he went to Los Angeles and matriculated in Wood- bury's Business College. From that institution he was graduated in 1895. In the mean time he had studied law in an evening school. Upon his return to Kern county he settled in Mojave and engaged in mining and prospecting. An appointment as justice of the peace in July of 1898 was followed by elec- tion to the office during November of the same year and for four years he filled the position with fidelity, resigning by reason of removal to Caliente. In the latter village he not only engaged in mining, but in addition for one term he served by election as justice of the peace for the fourteenth town- ship of Kern county. On returning to Mojave in 1910 he again was selected to serve as justice of the peace for the tenth township and ever since he has filled the position, besides engaging in the real-estate business, in mining and in farming. The town hall in Mojave was erected by him and he also

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has built other buildings in the town, where now he owns residence and business property. In addition he owns a ranch in the Rincon country.

As a justice of the peace Judge Dearborn shows impartiality and a wide knowledge of the law. Some of the cases brought to his court have per- tained to mining rights and have been of great importance. Although some- times appealed to higher courts of the state, there has not been in a single instance a reversal of his decisions. His family consists of a daughter, Catherine, and his wife, who was Miss Catherine Cuddahy, a native of Colo- rado, but a resident of Mojave at the time of their marriage. In national politics he has given stanch support to the Democratic party. Frequently he has been selected to serve as a member of the county Democratic central committee, has twice been delegated to the state convention and always his work has been efficient, intelligent and helpful. For years he has served as a member of the Mojave Board of Education, his principal service having been as clerk of the board, in which responsible post he has been vigilant, energetic and thoroughly capable.

J. E. GILLESPIE .- The treasurer of the firm of Templeton & Co., under- takers and funeral directors, of Bakersfield, was born June 22, 1865, on a farm near Evansville, Ind., where his father, Jacob E. Gillespie, now deceased, engaged in agricultural pursuits for many years. The mother, who bore the maiden name of Matilda Wilson, is still living, at the advanced age of seventy- six years, and now makes her home with her son in Bakersfield. Other members of the family have become prominent in localities further east. A brother, Rev. M. L. Gillespie, is a Presbyterian minister at Fayettville, Ark., and has a wide acquaintance among the leading men of his denomination. A half-brother, C. A. McGrew, acts as manager of the Evansville (Ind.) Coffin Company, which is engaged in the manufacture of caskets and undertakers' supplies. After he had completed the studies of the public schools and had attended the Oakland City (Ind.) Normal School, J. E. Gillespie became an in- structor in that institution and for three years followed the profession of an educator. During 1894 he became connected with the Evansville Coffin Com- pany as a traveling salesman and for sixteen years he represented the con- cern in Illinois and adjacent territory, meanwhile becoming familiar with the requirements of the undertaking business, a knowledge that stands him well in hand since he became connected with the firm of Templeton & Co., in Bakersfield. After he came to this city he was bereaved in 1910 by the death of his wife, Mrs. Ida (Harris) Gillespie, who left two children, Cecil, now seventeen years of age, and Finis L., twelve years old. On June 22, 1912, Mr. Gillespie married Mrs. Ella V. Harris, of Philadelphia, Pa., who is delighted with her new social environment at Bakersfield and is an active worker in the Presbyterian Church.

The firm of Templeton & Co. may be denominated the pioneer undertaking business of Bakersfield. Jacob Niederauer, the pioneer undertaker of Bakers- field, sold to Morton & Connelly, who in turn sold to Dixon & Sons, and eventually Messrs. Templeton and Gillespie bought an interest in the busi- ness, including the original Niederauer funeral records. On the corner of Nineteenth and F streets the firm has erected funeral parlors. The commo- dious and attractive building, which is 32x110 feet in dimensions, is built in the colonial style of architecture. Instead of being grewsome or dreary in aspect, it is beautiful in its architectural simplicity and cheerful furnishings. The building contains a vestibule, hall, family reception room, chapel with accommodations for upwards of one hundred persons at funerals, a laving- out room and a morgue with a cement floor, also a stockroom and a casket showroom, with fireproof vault and all the other modern conveniences for the management of such a business. A lady attendant has charge of the bodies of women and children. In the laying out of the dead Mr. Gillespie himself is

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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 81

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