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 82

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 82

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HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY

exceptionally efficient, being a graduate of Clark's School of Embalming in Cincinnati, Ohio, the Barnes school in Chicago and the Myers School of Embalming in Cincinnati. Automobile ambulance service has been installed by the firm, this being the only service of the kind from San Francisco to Los Angeles. By the use of the latest scientific methods bodies are prepared for shipment to all parts of the world and in this respect the firm yields superiority to none.

ROBERT T. NORRIS .- An honorable lineage is indicated by the gene- alogy of the Norris family, who belong to the Anglo-Saxon race and were identified with England in the remote period to which the records can be traced. The colonial era of American development found them associated with the agricultural upbuilding of the eastern states and several genera- tions remained near the Atlantic seaboard. During the Revolution they fought for independence. As the tide of migration began to turn toward the west one of the name removed from South Carolina to Tennessee and settled upon a plantation, but eventually removed to Missouri to spend his last days. Rev. Abner Norris, who was a son of the frontier emigrant, was born in Tennessee and died in Missouri. Throughout life he earned a live- lihood by farming, but much of his time was given to the ministry of the Baptist Church, in which he labored without salary but with a simple-hearted devotion that aided greatly in the local upbuilding of the denomination. In early manhood he had married Jane Evans, who was born in Kentucky. but in childhood went to Missouri with her father, Samuel Evans, and later came to California. When ninety-eight years of age her death oc- curred at Bakersfield. The Evans family is of Welsh lineage, but has been identified with American history for a number of generations.

There were six sons and four daughters in the family of Abner and Jane Norris. Five of the number are still living. It is a noteworthy fact that three of the sons, Samuel, David and Robert T., served during the Civil war as members of Company HI, Fourth Missouri Cavalry, United States Volunteers, and finally received honorable discharges at the expiration of the struggle. All settled in Missouri, and David remained there until his death : Samuel removed to California and died in Long Beach in November, 1912. Robert T., who was seventh among the ten children, was born near Platte City. Platte county, Mo., March 4, 1841, the date of the inauguration of William Henry Harrison as president of the United States. For a time in boyhood he was a pupil in a subscription school and later he attended a free school. March 26, 1862, he volunteered in Company H, Fourth Mis- souri Cavalry, and was mustered in at Stewartsville as corporal, from which later he was promoted to be sergeant. With his regiment he bore a part in battles throughout the south, particularly in Texas and Arkansas. The war ended, he was mustered out April 18, 1865, at Warrensburg. Johnson county, Mo., and during the same year, in Dekalb county, that state, he married Miss Virginia Tyler, who was born in Ohio and died at Riverside. Cal., in 1899.

The family home continued to be in Missouri until 1875, when Mr. Norris came to California and spent one year at Visalia. March of 1876 found him a resident of Kern county, where he located a homestead in the Weed Patch and embarked in agricultural pursuits. Later he took up and improved a desert claim. Finally he had eighty acres in alfalfa and made a specialty of selling hay. When he sold that property he bought one hun- dred and sixty acres in this county and became interested in the cattle industry. Coming to Bakersfield in Angust of 1888, he bought property, planted trees and engaged in raising alfalfa. besides improving the place he still owns. Meanwhile he spent some years on a ranch in Riverside county

RJ harrie

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HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY

and after his return to Bakersfield he began to operate the City dye works on Eighth and N streets. This business he still owns and manages, his trade extending through Bakersfield and East Bakersfield and into the Kern river oil field. A few years after the death of his first wife he married Mrs. Maggie A. Brooks, of Healdsburg; she was born in Kentucky and died at Bakersfield July 6. 1911. Of his first marriage there are two children. The daughter, Alfarata, married William W. Baker, associated with Mr. Norris in the dye works; they became the parents of eight children, seven living. The son, Perry, owns and manages the dye works at Chico, this state. In religious belief Mr. Norris adheres to the Presbyterian faith. Politically he votes with the Republican party. After coming to Bakersfield he became associated with Hurlburt Post No. 127. G. A. R., and holds office as senior vice-commander.

CHRISTIAN WEICHELT .- A native of Zillis, Graubunden, Switzer- land, born February 12, 1869, Christian Weichelt was the only son of John and Freda (Readhauser) Weichelt, who died at seventy-six and seventy-seven years respectively. Bidding farewell to his parents March 29, 1889. Mr. Weichelt proceeded to Havre, France, from which point he sailed to New York. At the expiration of fourteen days he landed in the new world and at once crossed the continent to California, landing at Bakersfield April 30, 1889. For six months he worked under Christ Stockton on the Lakeside ranch, then spent four months under Mr. Pyle on the Sixteen ranch, and from there went to Mono county, where under Mr. Reese as foreman he worked on the railroad and in a sawmill for eighteen months. During the winter he worked on Mr. Neigh's ranch near Mono Lake. In the spring he proceeded to San Francisco, looked up his former employer, Mr. Reese, and asked him for work. Within an hour he was given a position as helper to carpenters in the employ of Runtra Bros., with whom he continued for six months. About that time Mr. Rantree brought him to the notice of Mr. Dutton, a large and prosperous cement contractor, who taught him the cement business with the utmost thoroughness and then gave him steady employment in San Francisco.

After having continued with Mr. Dutton for four years Mr. Weichelt re- turned to Bakersfield in 1897 and found employment in a dairy operated by John Ellis, afterward entering the employ of a cousin, Gaudenz Weichelt, with whom he continued for two years. During six months of the time he drove a milk wagon. Going up to Tehachapi. he spent one winter on the Fickett ranch. Returning to Bakersfield in the spring he engaged with George Beardsley in the dairy business, Mr. Beardsley having purchased the dairy formerly owned by Gaudenz Weichelt. Later he was with Klepstein Bros. and then with Goode Bros., continuing steadily at work until 1904, when he suffered a very severe attack of typhoid fever. For some time his life hung in the balance. It was four months before he was able to leave his bed and even longer before he was able to do the lightest work. When he had finally regained his strength he entered the employ of T. H. Fogarty, a stockman on Union avenne. After a year with him he assumed the management of the Herschfield fruit orchard on Union avenue and there he was engaged for four vears, thence returning to Bakersfield to enter the employ of Weitzel & Lar- son. In the fall of 1887 he married Miss Mary Heim at the old Anderson dairy near Stockdale. Mrs. Weichelt was born in Germany, whence in 1892 she had immigrated to California. From early life she has been a devoted member of the Roman Catholic Church and her two children, Freda Alma and Hilda Pauline, are being reared in this religious faith. Since becoming a citizen of our country Mr. Weichelt has voted with the Republican party in local and general elections, while in fraternal connections he holds membership with the Ancient Order of United Workmen. He is one of the strongest and most active union labor men in the city of Bakersfield and is vice-president of 34

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HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY

Local No. 130, Cement Workers, and always the delegate to the Labor Council.

ERNEST E. YARBROUGH .- Long identification with the oil industry in Kern county, dating back to the opening of the Kern river field and extend- ing almost continuously up to the present time, has made Mr. Yarbrough an expert in his judgment concerning the possibilities of any lease and enables him to fill with accuracy and intelligence his present position as superintend- ent of the leases of the State Consolidated Oil Company in the McKittrick, North Midway and Bellridge districts, in which capacity he has engaged with efficiency since July of 1911, besides being a stockholder in the same concern.

A resident of California since 1891, Ernest E. Yarbrough came to the state from Kansas, where he was born near Winfield, Cowley county. Feb- ruary 12, 1879. His parents, Newton L. and Mollie Yarbrough, were natives respectively of Missouri and Illinois and homesteaded a claim in Kansas, where the father engaged extensively in stock-raising. The purchase of land adjacent to his original claim gave him a large acreage to superintend and cultivate. During 1891 he removed from Kansas to California and settled in Sonoma county, where he and his wife own and conduct a summer resort, known as the Yarbrough farm, one mile north of Guerneville. Of their two children the elder, Ernest E., was about twelve years of age at the time of settling near Guerneville, where later he attended school during several terms. From the age of sixteen he has been self-suporting. His first experience in the industrial world gave him employment in a sawmill at Guerneville for one vear, after which he spent another year in the McFadden mill above Spring- ville.

With the opening of the Kern river oil field Mr. Yarbrough sought em- ployment in the new center of oil development. In a short time he had gained a knowledge of dressing tools. After a period of employment with Anderson & Morton in 1900 he came to the McKittrick field to work as a driller with the Dabney Oil Company. A year later he went to the Sunset field, but another twelve months found him back in the McKittrick field, where he did consider- able important work in drilling. About that time (1905) he was induced to seek employment in the famous Goldfield mines in Nevada and later he located and devel ped mines at Lida. Nev., where he remained for a year or until sell- ing the property. From that district he went to the Needles, now known as California hills, where he discovered and located the Gold Dollar group of mines and the Bluebird claims. Upon selling these properties he took employ- ment with a Los Angeles capitalist and as a mining expert traveled through almost every portion of Nevada and Arizona. Returning to McKittrick in 1907, he began to work with the Associated Oil Company as a driller, but in March of 1909 he transferred to the State Consolidated Oil Company for similar work, since which he has been promoted to be superintendent of the company's holdings in the McKittrick, North Midway and Bellridge fields. While in Los Angeles he met and married Mrs. Sadie (Woods) Riggan, who was born in San Francisco and by her first marriage had two children, Stan- ley and Helen.

CHARLES TEMPLETON, Jr .- An identification of several years with the undertaking firm of Templeton & Co. brought Mr. Templeton into promi- nent relations with the business men and commercial activities of Bakers- field, where he is known and honored as a young man of ability and com- mendable public spirit. Born in the southern part of Illinois, at Harrisburg. Saline county, July 28, 1884, he received a fair common-school education in that state and also acquired there his early knowledge of the undertaking business, being a graduate of the Chicago College of Embalming, class of 1902. Later he had the advantages afforded by a post-graduate course in the Renaurd School of Embalming in New York City. During 1909 he was united

Mr & Mrs Tornas Echenique

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HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY

in marriage with Miss Mabel Robinson, a native of Illinois, and accompanied by her immediately after his marriage he came to Bakersfield, where in the same year he acquired an interest in the undertaking business of Dixon & Sons, buying out F. S. Dixon, Sr., in the establishment originally founded by Jacob Niederauer, then sold by him to Morton & Connelly, who in turn sold out to Dixon & Sons. January 1, 1913, Mr. Templeton sold out his interests in the said firm of Templeton & Co. to J. C. Flickinger. Mr. and Mrs. Templeton have one son, Charles Frederick.

TOMAS ECHENIQUE .- Jose Maria Echenique, father of Tomas, was born in Maya, Navarre, Spain, where his son also was born. He followed farming all of his life, his death occurring at the home place. His wife, Petra Dendarieta, now deceased, was born there, and was the mother of seven children, all of whom are now living, Tomas being the youngest.

The birth of Tomas Echenique occurred April 19, 1878, at the same place where his father first saw light of day, and there he spent his young days, receiving his educational training in the local school. As he grew up he became interested in accounts of the new world, and in 1897 finally started for America, full of ambition and purpose to succeed in his new efforts. On January 24, 1897, he came to San Francisco, and in less than a week he procured employment with a sheepman at Huron, Fresno county, where he remained for some time, learning all the details of the business. As he was energetic and thrifty, having the future in mind, he saved his earnings, and in 1903 bought a small flock of sheep, which installed him in the sheep business on his own account. The ensuing year brought him good results, and in 1904 he came to East Bakersfield to make his home, ranging his sheep during the winters in Kern county, and in the summers in the Tehachapi mountains. His ranch headquarters are on Poso creek.

On April 4, 1908, Mr. Echenique married one of his countrywomen, Miss Jeanne Etcheverry, born in Aldudes, Basses-Pyrenees, becoming his wife. They are the parents of two children, Marie and Jeanne Mathilda.

J. I. WAGY .- It would be practically impossible to name any enterprise for the upbuilding of Maricopa and vicinity that has lacked the sturdy sup- port of Mr. Wagy, but perhaps his most important association is with the West Side Water Company, of which he is manager, director and principal owner. The most serious problem in the oil districts of Kern county has been to secure pure, wholesome water for house use, and it is indeed fortunate that Maricopa, located in a desert country, should be in possession of an abundant supply of good water furnished by the West Side Water Company, a con- cern incorporated in 1910 with a capital stock of $100,000. The method of organization included the placing of one thousand shares at $100 each, and of these ninety-two thousand have been issued, Mr. Wagy being owner of four- fifths of the entire stock and therefore almost sole proprietor of the business. The water is available for domestic and other purposes. Several of the finest springs located in the Coast Range mountains toward Ozeña form the source of supply. In four-inch mains, by means of the gravity system, the water is piped to Maricopa from Ventura county, a distance of eighteen miles. Sub- stantial tanks have been built and lines of mains laid with particular reference to use for fighting fires, and under a pressure of ninety pounds a three-fourths stream can be thrown seventy-five feet into the air. When the pure mountain source of the water is appreciated, it will be understood that it is entirely free from disease germs and may be used freely by all citizens who value their health.

The successful putting through of an undertaking so important as the water company by no means represents the limit of the business activities of Mr. Wagy, who is further known as the proprietor of the Gordon livery stables at Maricopa and engaged in a general contracting, hauling and house-moving

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business, owning and working sixty head of horses and mules. The develop- ment of land also has enlisted his forceful labors. South of Bakersfield he has developed a fine alfalfa ranch. In the Coast Range mountains he has estab- lished the Ozeña ranch, a vast tract embracing four thousand acres, whereon he now has approximately seventeen hundred head of cattle.

To listen to a recital from the friends of Mr. Wagy concerning his finan- cial success and large possessions and to glance at his stalwart figure indica- tive of robust health and sturdy strength, one finds it difficult to believe that he came to California without means and broken in health, given up by many friends as beyond hope of recovery. He was born near Chillicothe, the county-seat of Ross county, Ohio, February 13, 1865, and passed the years of childhood principally in Richland county, Ill., where his father engaged in farming. From early life he was not rugged and health considerations caused him to come to California in 1888. With resolute determination he earned his own livelihood in spite of his lack of strength. Soon he began to show marked improvement and it was not long before he was able to endure the most difficult tasks. The first industry that engaged his attention was the raising of grapes. Securing twenty acres in Tulare county, he planted a vineyard and soon had his tract covered with grape vines of the raisin varie- ties. It was no slight task to remove the sage brush that had covered the land, plow and cultivate the soil, plant the vines and care for the vineyard until it had become productive, but he proved equal to the emergency. The busi- ness, however. did not attract him as a source of permanent income, so he sold out and then bought a shoe store in Tulare, where he remained for two and one-half years.

Coming to Kern county in 1893 Mr. Wagy settled east of Lake Buena Vista near the present site of Conner's Station and there he rented grain land until a succession of dry years made the occupation unprofitable. As early as 1894 he began freighting from Bakersfield to the west side oil fields and engaged in hauling between the two points until 1901. From 1904 until 1907 he was very successful in the mercantile business at Sunset and during 1907 he had a real-estate office in Los Angeles, where he dealt in west side oil lands. At this writing he owns eighty acres of oil lands lying one mile east of Maricopa. For some years, indeed since the beginning of oil activities at Maricopa, he has been interested in this locality and his faith in the future of the town itself has been exhibited by the erection of a substantial residence, provided with modern conveniences and with all the comforts usually seen only in the large cities. This home is presided over graciously by Mrs. Wagy and is brightened by the presence of their two sons, Julian and Philip. Mrs. Wagy was Julia Maples of Bakersfield, her father, T. W. Maples, having long been a well-known citizen of that place.

ARCHIE H. DIXON .- The secretary of the undertaking firm of Temple- ton & Co., who is also filling the position of deputy coroner of Kern county, claims Kansas as his native commonwealth and was born, reared and edu- cated at Fairview, Brown county, that state, whence in 1901 he removed to California in company with his father and mother and wife. During the period of his residence in Bakersfield he has been identified with movements for the local upbuilding and assisted in conducting the undertaking business of Dixon & Sons, in which his father, F. S. Dixon, was the senior member and leading partner. Later, through the purchase of the interests of the senior Dixon by Messrs. Templeton and Gillespie, the name was changed to Temple- ton & Co., and as such is now conducted. A new building has been erected, modern in every respect, and every convenience has been added for the satis- factory management of the business. In addition to acting as secretary of the company Mr. Dixon since 1911 has served as deputy coroner, having received the appointment from the present coroner and public administrator of Kern

Pauline Weichelt

John Michelt.

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county, viz .: W. A. McGinn, who is also an attorney and has offices in the Morgan building. By the marriage of Mr. Dixon to Miss Jessie Culverhouse, of Kansas, there is one daughter, Alta.

JOHN WEICHELT .- The science of dairying as taught and worked out in Switzerland has formed the basis of the success which has come to John Weichelt in the field of dairying in Kern county. Thoughts of his boyhood home take him back to the beautiful surroundings in which the parental farm was located, nestled among the mountains of Switzerland, and there, September 14, 1880, he was born in Zillis, Canton Graubunden. His parents were Gottleib and Katherina (Wald) Weichelt, natives of the same locality, and stanch communicants of the Lutheran Church, in the faith of which they reared their seven children. All of the children are living and filling their appointed places in the activities of the world: Chris- tian, who still makes his home in Switzerland; Gottleib, a rancher in the Panama district. Kern county; Gaudenz, a resident of Bakersfield; John, the subject of this sketch; Mrs. Katherina Mattly, wife of Christian Mattly, of Bakersfield; Mrs. Mary Koch, the wife of John Koch, of Panama; and Carl, a resident of Bakersfield.

With his brothers and sisters John Weichelt was given the best educa- tional advantages that the schools in the neighborhood of the parental home afforded, and like them, too, he was given a practical training in the duties that fell to them as the sons and daughters of farmers, all working together with a common interest and all reaping a benefit that accrues from unity of purpose and common weal. He was about seventeen years old when he assumed the responsibilities of life on his own account, leaving the con- genial surroundings of his boyhood for the unexplored field of activities that awaited him in the United States, whither he came in 1897. April 13 of that year found him in Kern county, and as he had a good knowledge of the dairy business his search for employment was brief. He was for- tunate in securing employment with Christian Mattly, in whose service he remained for four years, during which time he became familiar with the dairy business as conducted in this country and also became familiar with the language and customs of his adopted home. After leaving Mr. Mattly's employ he worked at the harness-maker's trade in Bakersfield for about a vear, but as it was not to his liking he turned his attention once more to the dairy business and has followed it ever since. His first venture, in 1903, was in company with his brother Gaudenz, they renting the farm of their former employer, Christian Mattly, the property comprising five hundred and fifty-two acres well adapted to the industry. The partnership lasted three years, at the end of which time Gaudenz Weichelt removed to his own place and John continued to manage the property alone. Here at times he had as high as one hundred and seventv-five head of Durham cows and the land not used for pasturage was devoted to alfalfa. The raising of this com- modity was not confined to supplying his own needs, but formed a source of income in the sale of seed, the yield at times running as high as five hun- dred pounds to the acre. A change in Mr. Weichelt's activities was necessi- tated by the sale of the Mattly ranch in 1912, when he moved onto a ranch of his own which he had purchased in 1910. This consists of eighty acres one mile west of the Old River school house, in the district of that name, and here he makes a specialty of raising grain and alfalfa. In 1913 he raised a banner crop of oat hay, the yield being over four tons to the acre, the largest crop of the kind ever raised in the vicinity. The ranch is splendidly supplied with irrigation, water being provided by the Stine canal, and he also has installed a pumping plant on the property for irrigating the orchard and gardens and for domestic use.

The marriage of Mr. Weichelt occurred in Bakersfield and united him with Mrs. Pauline (Ruefernacht) Conger, a native of Yelta, Crimea. Russia.

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Her father, Gottleib Ruefernacht, was a native of Canton Bern, Switzerland, while the mother, Fredericka Metzger, was born near Ulm, Wurtemberg. Mrs. Weichelt was educated in Yelta and came to California in 1893. Mr. Weichelt and his wife are members of St. John's Lutheran Church, Bakers- field, and in sympathy with Republican principles.

SAN JOAQUIN HOSPITAL .- With the opening of the San Joaquin Hospital, October 6, 1910, the city of Bakersfield and the surrounding country were given the opportunity of prompt and skilled attention in surgical opera- tions and critical illnesses, and thus was met a need felt for many years not only by physicians but by all interested in the general health of the com- munity. The building occupies an excellent location at No. 2628 1 street, being removed from the noise of the commercial centers of the city, yet suffi- ciently near to render expeditious and easy all trips with patients or any com- munication for business purposes. The three-story structure, erected by the well-known contractor, M. T. Kean, at a cost of $20,000, represents a total investment of $30,000 on the part of its owners, Misses Margaret Quinn and Mary O'Donnell, the former a native of Richmond, Ind,, and the latter a native of Philadelphia. Both are professional nurses, skilled in every depart- ment of the healing art and particularly efficient in surgical operations. Since the erection of the building and the opening of the hospital Miss Quinn has served as the executive and business manager while Miss O'Donnell is in charge of the surgical department.

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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 82

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