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 83

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 83

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In erecting the hospital the owners considered suitability to climate and therefore placed a broad porch on the south and west, thus tempering the strong rays of the sun, while at the same time admitting an abundance of light and allowing the cooling breezes to mitigate the heat of midsummer. The general ward for men is on the first floor with toilet and bath adjacent, while similar quarters for women have been equipped on the second floor. In addition there are about twenty private rooms, some equipped with private baths, a large kitchen, dining room for nurses, doctors' dining room and doctors' dressing rooms. The most remarkable room is the one equipped for operations. This has a Baldwin operating table, adjustable at any angle, which is a great advantage in surgical operations. The floors are made of tile ; walls are enameled. Adjoining the operating room is the sterilizing and doctors' scrub room, which is also tiled and enameled. The operating room is constructed of glass on practically three sides, making the department very light and thus facilitating delicate operations. In an adjoining room two enameled wash basins have hot and cold water faucets controlled by pedals so that nothing except water touches the hands of the surgeon while cleaning them preparatory to the operation. The arrangements of the entire operating department are absolutely sanitary in every respect. No expense has been spared here, for the owners appreciate the incomparable importance of perfec- tion of detail in every matter relative to surgical operations. At the same time they exercise equal care in all departments and fever patients or chronic cases receive the same skilled supervision given to those undergoing operations, so that each class of patients has the experienced care of trained nurses and the vigilant attention of conscientious physicians.

E. E. WINNEY .- Among those industrious and persevering men who have come to the coast to aid in making for progress and development the younger generation has carried with it the essential spirit and vigor which is so necessary in the fight for success in a new country. Among the latter we find E. E. Winney, manager of the King Lumber Company, and also pro- prietor of the bowling alley at Maricopa. Mr. Winney is a native of Manning. Carroll county, Iowa, born June 17, 1884. He attended the public schools and then became a student at Humboldt College, where he was graduated with the class of 1904. He had taken the normal business course, and after his grad- nation became engaged in teaching school until March 17, 1905. On the first

OF Rinaldi,

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HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY

of the following April he arrived at Spokane, Wash., and became an employe of the Washington Mill Company, after a short time being placed in full charge of the cutting department of the sash and door works. Here he re- mained employed for about fifteen months, and then went to Vancouver, B. C., to take charge of the sash and door factory of the Fairview Cedar Lumber Company, where he was employed about eight months. Through the intro- duction and kind offices of his former employer at the Washington Mill Com- pany, G. W. Palmer, he secured a position with the West Side Lumber Com- pany, at Tuolumne, and he continued there as assistant salesman until in December, 1908. At this time he came to Maricopa, where he became manager of the King Lumber Company, and also the proprietor of a bowling alley.

Mr. Winney was married in San Luis Obispo county to Margaret Smith. Fraternally he is a member of the Order of Elks, of Bakersfield.

OTTO FRANK RINALDI .- The family of which Mr. Rinaldi is a member comes of Italian and German descent and was established in Cali- fornia by his father, Charles Robert Rinaldi. a German by birth and education, but after the '50s a resident of the Pacific coast country. With a partner he established the first furniture store in Los Angeles, but in a short time he disposed of the business in order to undertake agricultural pursuits near San Fernando. After years of varying success as a stock-raiser, during which time he also served as deputy sheriff, he sold his property to the city of Los Angeles and it is now the reservoir for the Owens river aqueduct. Since his death San Fernando has continued to be the home of his wife, who was Francisca Valdez, a native of Los Angeles and a member of a prominent old Spanish family of that city. Of their seven children all but one are still living. The third in order of birth, Otto Frank, was born at San Fernando, this state, December 12, 1872, and received a public-school education, mean- while learning the details of farm work and stock-raising. At the age of twenty-one he began to learn the trade of blacksmith in Los Angeles and on thoroughly mastering the occupation he opened a shop in San Fernando, but soon abandoned the business in order to devote himself to the butcher's trade. For a time he conducted a meat market at Newhall. Meanwhile dur- ing 1902 he had purchased the butcher shop at Randsburg and had put his brother in charge of the business, but at the expiration of two years he closed out other interests in order to devote himself to his enterprises in Kern county.

As proprietor of a wholesale and retail meat market Mr. Rinaldi has important interests in Randsburg, from which point he sells meat to all adjacent places. Aside from conducting the market he engages in retail ice delivery and also acts as agent for the Maier Brewing Company of Los Angeles. A suitable warehouse has been provided for storage purposes. Since 1910 he has had charge of the stage between Johannesburg and Ballarat, also between Johannesburg and Skidoo, a distance of one hundred and ten miles, covered by three trips each week. In addition he hauls all the freight and supplies from Johannesburg to all points as far as Skidoo. For this work he utilizes about seventy-five head of horses and mules besides a large number of wagons and freighting outfits. Since coming to this part of Kern county he has purchased three hundred and twenty acres in the Kelso canyon in the South Fork country. Of this half-section he has put forty-five acres under cultivation to alfalfa and beans. As farmer, business man, agent for various companies and stage-coach operator, his interests are diversified. important and engrossing, and leave him little leisure for outside enterprises, although we find him a leader in local politics. During 1912 Governor John- son appointed him supervisor of the first district, to fill out the unexpired term of William M. Houser, deceased, and he remained in the office until the expiration of the time specified. While still living in San Fernando he was

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made a Mason in San Fernando Lodge No. 343, F. & A. M., and since coming to Kern county he has been prominently identified with Randsburg Aerie No. 188 of the Eagles. His family comprises a son Fred, and Mrs. Rinaldi, formerly Miss Laura Nieto, a native of Los Angeles and member of an old family of that city.

C. E. REAL .- The Real family descends from a long line of Teutonic ancestry and was founded in the new world by Frederick Real, a native of Germany, who desirous of improving his condition sought the opportunities of America and settled in Salem, Mass., where he met and married Ellen Gill- man, a native of that city and a descendant of French forefathers. For years he was associated with a shipping business, but during that long period of useful activity he had an interval of travel and experiences in the west. Upon hearing of the discovery of gold in California he came to the Pacific coast during 1849, proceeded direct to the mining camps and began to prospect for himself, meeting with some encouragement for a time. As soon as his success began to wane he returned to the cast with his little store of gold and erected in Salem a large and comfortable home for his family. The young- est of his twelve children, C. E., was born in Salem December 29, 1861, and shortly before his birth the father was taken from the home by death. The amount he left was small, wholly insufficient to the support and rearing of so large a number of children ; therefore C. E. began to support himself while yet he was a small lad. Various occupations earned a livelihood for him, but he worked principally in shoe, glue and box factories in Salem.

Coming to California during 1883 at the age of twenty-two years C. E. Real landed in Los Angeles with only $75 in his possession. The first job he found was that of working on the section and he went to work eagerly and continued perseveringly. In May of 1884 he came to Bakersfield and for a time worked under E. M. Roberts on the old McCord ditch. Proceeding next to Stanislaus county, he engaged in wheat farming for three years, but found little or no profit in the venture. As early as 1886 he took up a homestead of one hundred and sixty acres at Rio Bravo, sixteen miles west of Bakersfield. Proving up on the land, he continued to till the soil until the financial panic of 1893-94, when unable to meet his interest he lost the entire property. He was thus left to begin anew at the bottom once more. Afterward he bought and sold city property and oil stocks and of recent years has been proprietor of the Peerless cafe. at No. 1819 Chester avenue, Bakersfield. In addition he owns a ranch of forty acres three miles southwest of this city, also a ranch of one hundred and sixty acres about thirteen miles west of McKittrick. At the time of the organization of Section 12 Oil Company he was a prime mover in the enterprise and has since continued as a stockholder, the concern now being a dividend-payer. The McKittrick Oil Company and Section 25 Oil Com- pany also have the benefit of his identification with their interests as a large stockholder and in addition he owns town property in Bakersfield, so that he has retrieved the losses of times of panics and is now comfortably provided with a competency. During 1902 he married Miss Bettie Monkmyer, by whom he has one daughter, Ellen, born in 1904. In political belief he supports Democratic principles and fraternally he holds membership with the Eagles.

OLA G. DIXON .- The four members of the undertaking firm of Temple- ton & Co. have each contributed effectively to the development of the business and not the least prominent of these partners is Ola G. Dixon, who has been connected with the concern ever since he became a resident of Bakersfield and gives of his time to its upbuilding as one of the essential factors in the welfare of the city. Born in Kansas in 1880, on the 2d of November, he re- ceived the best educational advantages afforded by Fairview, his native place. In addition to completing the study of the various grades of the grammar school, he is a graduate of the high school. At the age of twenty-one years

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in 1901 he came to California in company with other members of the family and for a time made his home in Los Angeles, where with his brother, A. H. (now deputy coroner of Kern county), he conducted a store. After six years in business in that city he removed to Bakersfield and united with his father and brother in carrying on the undertaking concern of Dixon & Sons, now known as Templeton & Co., and he has continued with the same establishment since its change of name, devoting himself to assisting in the discharge of the important duties devolving upon the company. Through his marriage to Miss Ethel Munsinger, a native of Kansas, he is the father of two children, Dorris and Hazel.

V. G. HUTCHINS .- Reared to a knowledge of the oil industry, the son of one of the pioneer operators in the Los Angeles fields, it was but natural that V. G. Hutchins should select the business as his chosen avenue of occu- pative activity. The enthusiasm that he always has possessed for the work appears in the fact that, having graduated from the Los Angeles high school on a Friday during 1907, he reported for duty the following Sunday at the Coalinga oil fields and at once began an identification with the industry that has continued, although in another district, up to the present time. Still a young man (he 'was born October 23, 1885), he has every reason to look for- ward to many years of continued usefulness and increasing influence in his chosen calling, and taking the past as a criterion a prosperous future may be predicted for him. His parents, Alvin G. and Ida Hutchins, continue to make Los Angeles their home and the former, now forty-six years of age, has en- gaged in the cil business ever since the first discoveries were made in the Los Angeles district.

Familiar with Los Angeles from his earliest recollections, educated in its schools, acquainted with its progress and interested in its activities, V. G. Hutchins is a typical Californian in every sense of the word. From youthful years the oil industry has engaged his attention. After he went to Coalinga he engaged in dressing tools on a rotary drill for the Associated Oil Company and scon acquired a practical knowledge of the work. From Coalinga he came to Maricopa in October of 1908 and since then has engaged in drilling on almost all of the wells on the Ruby lease. On the Ist of July. 1912, he was promoted to be superintendent of the Ruby Oil Company on section 2, township 11. range 24 of the Sunset field, where he has charge of a lease of twenty acres with ten wells, from which is secured a net monthly production of fifty-five hundred barrels. Giving his attention closely to the oversight of the company's interests, he has had little leisure for political or fraternal activities, but has become a member of the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks at Bakersfield and is a con- tributor to its various enterprises. During 1909 at Los Angeles occurred his marriage to Miss Cora E. Canfield, daughter of N. O. Canfield, a pros- perous rancher of Tulare county and a niece of C. A. Canfield of Los Angeles, the influential and widely known oil operator. Mr. and Mrs. Hutchins are the parents of a daughter, Frances Ida.

GEORGE KAY JOHNSTON .- Dr. Johnston was born in Santa Barbara county, Cal., April 1, 1876. After attending public school he worked on a ranch until he was twenty-one years old. He then matriculated in the Kansas City Dental College, taking the regular course, and in the year 1902 was grad- uated from there with the degree of D.D.S. He then returned to his native state and opened a dental office in San Francisco, practicing there until 1904, but in a short time he removed to Lompoc and was there for four and a half years, following his chosen work. Thence in 1910 he came to Taft, where he has since successfully practiced with gratifying results.

His profession is Doctor Johnson's chief interest in life. To serve the public zealously, to give satisfaction and to build up an honorable, as well

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as a lucrative, business has been his aim, and he has won this by untiring energy and effort. He has suffered losses, and it has been only his perse- verance and tenacity of purpose which have enabled him to be successful. A week after coming to Taft he was burned out and had to begin again with renewed effort, which only makes him more to be admired.

Dr. Johnston was married in 1906 to Miss Eleanor F. Lowe, daughter of James F. Lowe of San Jose, who is an ex-State Senator. Two children have come to them, viz. : Bernard L. and Enna.

ORRIN R. TAYLOR .- A native of New York state, Mr. Taylor was born January 23, 1843, in Tioga county, where his father, Alonzo F. Taylor, was also born. The father was a shoemaker and farmer by trade and with his wife. Sarah M. (Ellis) Taylor, and their family, removed to Summit county, Ohio, where they remained nine years, subsequently going to Orland, Ind., where he passed away. The mother, who was born in New York, still survives at the age of ninety-four years. Nine children were born to this worthy couple, of whom six are now living. The eldest, Lorenzo, also served in the Civil war, being a member of the Twelfth Indiana Cavalry, and his death occurred in Angola, Ind.

Orrin Taylor was about seventeen years of age when' his parents re- moved to Indiana, having obtained his educational training in the public schools in Ohio. He entered the Orland Seminary to take a preparatory course before entering Hiram College, but his enlistment for war cut short this course of study. Enlisting on August 14, 1862, he was mustered in as private in Company B. One Hundredth Indiana Volunteer Infantry, August 24, and on the day before he was ordered to the front he was married to Miss Mary E. Barnard, who was born in Steuben county, Ind., daughter of John A. Barnard, a native of Massachusetts and a farmer in Indiana. Mr. Taylor saw active service until June, 1863, when he was mustered out on account of physical disability. He re-enlisted in 1864, becoming a member of Com- pany K, One Hundred and Fifty-second Indiana Volunteer Infantry, and served until after the close of the war, receiving his honorable discharge September 5, 1865, when he returned home. He then bought a farm near Orland, and engaged in general farming for eight years, then embarking in the hardware business, which he continued until failing health caused him to relinquish those interests. Realizing the need of a more moderate cli- mate he came to California in November, 1892, and located in Kern county, where he farmed for about eight years; in Rosedale. He then made his way to Panama and, buying a forty-acre farm there, engaged in agricul- tural pursuits for some years. Two years were spent in the grocery busi- ness in Porterville and he then returned to Panama and bought a half inter- est with his daughter, Mrs. Hastings, in the general merchandise establish- ment, and here he still continues in business. His wife passed away in Porterville in 1908; she was the mother of three children, of whom two survive, Ona E., Mrs. Hastings of Panama, and Orrin Ross, of Douglas, Ariz. Mrs. Hastings is the mother of three children, Guy, Esther and Thelma ; she is a clever business woman, able, thrifty and full of that splen- did integrity which proves the most important characteristic in a noble makeup. Mr. Taylor is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. In religion he unites with the Congregational church in Panama and is a member of its board of trustees. To him is largely due the credit for the upbuilding of this church, as he served as one of its founders in Panama, having drawn the plans and aided in the building of the church edifice as well as the parsonage, and he gave freely of time, labor and means.

J. W. RAGESDALE .- From the organization of Taft up to the present time Mr. Ragesdale has been a large contributor to the material growth of the place and as a member of the city board of trustees, as proprietor of a large and popular hotel, as a stockholder in various concerns for the devel-

OR Taylor

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opment of public utilities and as the optimistic projector of civic enterprises of worth, he justly occupies a position of permanent influence in the midst of a growing citizenship. Attracted to this place in January of 1910, almost one year prior to the organization of the town under its present name, he immediately discerned a favorable opening for an hotel business. The Alvord hotel, which he acquired shortly after his arrival, occupied small quarters at the time, but by building a substantial addition he has provided ample accommodations for the traveling public.

The distinction of being a native son of California belongs to Mr. Ragesdale, who was born in San Joaquin county in 1862, being a son of John W. and Sarah (Ketcham) Ragesdale. As early as 1847 the father made his first trip across the plains to California, coming from his home common- wealth of Kentucky. Later he returned to Kentucky, but again made the tedious trip across the plains to the western coast, this time to make a permanent settlement. Some time after settling in the state he met and married Miss Ketcham, who had come to the west in 1852 by way of the Isthmus of Panama. After years of residence in San Joaquin county the family removed to the town of Merced, where the son, J. W., was appren- ticed to the trade of blacksmith. For fourteen years he devoted himself to that occupation with skill and perserverance and during much of the period he operated a shop at Madera. Meanwhile he studied mines and mining, in which he gained considerable experience through opening up a quartz mine in Maricopa county.

The most profitable venture ever engaging the attention of Mr. Rages- dale was the organization of the Fortune mine by a company of which he became president. The mine was named in honor of Mrs. Fortune, one of the stockholders of the company, and the name did not prove a misnomer, for the results were such as to delight everyone concerned. At intervals during ten years Mr. Ragesdale owned important interests in mines. From 1896 to 1898 he was connected with the Alameda mine at Randsburg. With the advent of the oil industry at Coalinga he sought that field, where he operated successfully in oil stock. From Coalinga, after a season of suc- cessful activities, he came to Taft in 1910 and has since devoted his time largely to the management of the Alvord hotel, which he owns jointly with R. H. McCreary of Hanford, under the firm title of Ragesdale & McCreary. In all of his hotel enterprises he has had the capable co-operation of his wife, formerly Miss Annie Pratt, a woman of energy, amiability and business judgment. Their only son, Elmer, is now in Mono county, this state.

Upon the organization of the California Well Drilling Company at Taft Mr. Ragesdale became a charter member, but after some time he disposed of his interest in the concern. For the purpose of aiding the people of the town in their efforts to secure water, he helped to organize the Taft Public Utility Company, a concern established by a few leading men of the place and engaged in the business of bringing water to Taft in tank cars, from which it was distributed to private customers. The directors, H. A. Hop- kins, R. H. McCreary, C. C. Painter, R. L. Wood, C. A. Ford and J. W. Ragesdale, were actuated by a desire to help the town rather than from monetary motives and when they sold out to the Consumers' Water Com- pany in 1912 it was at actual cost. The first electric light company was organized by Mr. Ragesdale, who became its first president ; it was organized for the purpose of securing electricity for the town and received the ener- getic assistance of Mr. Ragesdale as a promoter and stockholder. However, the original owners soon sold out to the San Joaquin Light and Power Cor- poration, the present owners of the plant. The pioneers in this utility move- ment managed to generate electric current from the power furnished by a large Fairbanks-Morse engine and the small concern was well and success-

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HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY

fully managed by Mr. Ragesdale as president of the company, with the fol- lowing board of directors: C. C. Painter, H. E. Smith, A. A. McCumber. J. A. Murdock, E. L. Burnham and I. A. Felter.

PETER ETCHEVERRY .- The facilities for stock-raising and agri- culture that are bringing Kern county increasingly into public notice induced Mr. Etcheverry to identify himself with the Rosedale district after fourteen years of experience in this portion of the country. Starting in 1908 on an unimproved tract of eighty acres, he has since erected a farmhouse and other buildings and has put the entire tract into alfalfa. The farm is under the Beardsley canal and he has put in an excellent pumping plant.

A native of Basses-Pyrenees, France, born at Aldudes April 4, 1875, Peter Etcheverry is a son of John and Catherine (Laxague) Etcheverry, who still live in that district in France, owning and occupying a farm that lies in the valley and extends into the foothills near the lofty Pyrenees. Fine cattle are kept on the farm and a specialty is made of the manufacture of cheese and butter, to which work the owner and his wife still give their per- sonal attention. The family comprises nine children, namely: Mrs. Maria Laxague, on a farm in Basses-Pyrenees, France; Jean, on the old homestead in Basses-Pyrenees: Martin, a farmer still living in France; Peter, of Kern county : Mathilda, Mrs. Fernando Etcheverry, on a farm in Kern county ; Mary, Mrs. D. Bordo, also on a farm in Kern county: Michel, a partner of his brother, Peter: Jennie, wife of Tomas Echenique, of Kern; and M. Louise, wife of Miguel Echenique, also a resident of Kern.

Michel Etcheverry was born in Aldudes, France, January 6, 1882, re- ceived his education in the common schools and came to Kern county in 1901. Two years later he became associated with his brother Peter in the sheep industry, and in 1908 in the farming enterprise, to which he has since given his entire attention. He was married in 1910 to Miss Marguerite Othar, born in Basses-Pyrenees, France, and they have one child, Mathilda.

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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 83

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