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 84

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 84

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On coming to California in 1894 at the age of nineteen Peter Etcheverry joined his older brother, Jean, who had preceded him to the new world by a number of years and had been one of the early settlers of Kern county, there embarking in the sheep business. For five years the young Frenchman worked in the employ of the older brother, but about 1899 he bought a few head of sheep and gradually acquired a flock of considerable size. From that time until 1908 he gave his attention wholly to the sheep industry, then with his brother Michel bought eighty acres of land, all now in alfalfa.

In 1909 at East Bakersfield Peter Etcheverry married Miss Catherine Saldonbehere, a native of Basses-Pyrenees, who died seven months later. Subsequently Mr. Etcheverry was married again, October 28, 1913, in East Bakersfield, being united with Miss Marianne Saroiberry, a native of Al- dudes, France. Since coming to this country Mr. Etcheverry has made a study of political conditions and is now an ardent supporter of Republican principles.

JOHN J. HENDRICKSON .- The ancestral home of the Hendrickson family was situated in the village of Husum on the western coast of Schles- wig-Holstein and owing to the location being in close proximity to the North sea various members of the family in generations gone by followed mari- time pursuits, but Henry V., having learned the trade of watchmaker in youth, devoted all of his active years to the occupation, including also the sale of jewelry and the repair of watches and clocks. All of his life was passed in Schleswig-Holstein and there also occurred the death of his wife, Catherine (Johnson) Hendrickson, daughter of Cant. John J. Johnson, who was commander of an ocean vessel that took him in the course of many voyages to the principal ports of the world. There were five children in the family of Henry V. Hendrickson and of these John J. was third in order of birth, he having been born in 1841 at the family home in Husum. From his

Seter Etcheverry

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HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY

earliest recollections he was familiar with the sea and very naturally there- tore, upon coming to the United States in 1856 at the age of fifteen, he took up a sea-faring existence. The early voyages out from New York City took him to the Mediterranean sea and South America, after which for sixteen months he sailed on the Maygi to the Philippine Islands and around the Cape of Good Hope, thence back to New York. At the age of nineteen years he shipped as mate on the J. N. Hicks out of New York via southern ports to England with cargoes of cotton. Three trips were made on that vessel, after which he shipped as boatswain on the Minnehaha via Cape Horn to San Francisco, and his arrival there in April of 1862 brought to an end all identification with the occupation of a sailor.

Six months after landing in the west Mr. Hendrickson went to the mines in the Slate range, located in San Bernardino county. After a few months he proceeded to Los Angeles in 1863 and engaged in supplying its residents with water from a water-cart filled by buckets dipped into the zanje or ditch that ran down Los Angeles street. Recalling the appearance of that place during the period of its early history, he has witnessed its subsequent rapid development with constant interest. During the early days he and Charles Russell prospected for oil at Santa Paula and near the San Fernando mis- sion, only to find, after they had discovered quantities sufficient to make production profitable, that the land office at Los Angeles had all of that land recorded as a portion of a large grant. Coming to Havilah, Kern county, in 1864, he operated the Delphi hotel with Andrew Denker and found the business profitable owing to the fact that Havilah was then the county- seat and the headquarters for stage lines running from Visalia and Los Angeles. At different times he conducted other hotels on the desert and more than once he had trouble with the hostile Indians, but he suffered small loss from their depredations. In the Tehachapi mountains he bought and later operated an hydraulic mine, which eventually he sold to John Brite. Meanwhile he had pre-empted a claim of one hundred and sixty acres and had taken up a homestead of eighty acres, also bought an adjacent tract of one hundred and sixty acres, so that he acquired the title to four hundred acres four and one-half miles east of Tehachapi. On the land now stand the cement works of the Los Angeles aqueduct.

Upon leaving the ranch Mr. Hendrickson embarked in the lime business and built his first kiln on a claim in the mountains, where he opened and operated quarries. Later he had kilns in other places. After the limestone had been burned to lime, the product was shipped to Los Angeles, Bakers- field and Fresno, where a large trade was established. In addition to managing the lime business he owned a one-half interest in a mercantile busi- ness at Tehachapi for two years, having A. Weill as a partner. While mak- ing his headquarters at Tehachapi he there married Mrs. Elizabeth Jane Mc Vicar, who was born in Missouri and during 1863 was brought across the plains by her parents, Dr. Russell and Margaret (Cook) Peery, born in Virginia and Kentucky, respectively. Mrs. Peery traced her ancestry back to the Cooks who came from England in the Mayflower. Dr. Peery was a pioneer physician of Missouri and Nebraska. The trip west was made with wagons and ox-teams and came to an uneventful termination. Three years jater Dr. Peery returned to Johnson county, Neb., and there passed away. By her first marriage Mrs. Hendrickson has three daughters, namely: Mrs. Laura Tourpin, of Tacoma, Wash .; Mrs. Margaret Jones, of Taft, Cal. : and Mrs. Emma Lovejoy, of Los Angeles. There are two sons of the second marriage. The elder, John James Hendrickson, is connected with the San Joaquin Light & Power Company. The younger, Edward Hale Hendrick- son, has charge of the postal savings bank department in the Bakersfield postoffice.

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HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY

After his marriage Mr. Hendrickson lived for many years upon a grain and stock ranch of two hundred and forty acres situated near Tehachapi. The management of the land brought him financial prosperity. When event- ually in 1905 he retired to Bakersfield. it was with a competency repre- sented by the continued ownership of the fine ranch and by other invest- ments. In Bakersfield he makes his home at No. 637 R street, where he owns one and one-third acres of land, the whole forming an attractive and valuable property. The ranch is rented to tenants and brings him an im- portant annual revenue, for the land is the very choicest in its locality and the presence of fine springs enhances its value. While living on the ranch he maintained a warm interest in the material and educational upbuilding of that neighborhood and contributed to all progressive enterprises, and this excellent public spirit he has continued to manifest since coming to Bakers- field to make his home. From young manhood he has been an advocate of Republican principles. During the administration of President Grant he served as postmaster at Tehachapi and for years he also served as a trustee of the Tehachapi schools, besides holding other local offices that gave him an opportunity to work for the advancement of his community.

OCTAVE CHASTAN .- Jean Chastan was born in France, where he fol- lowed the trade of shoemaker all his life, his death occurring there. He married Philomen Bressong, and their children were four in number, three of whom are now living. Octave being the third oldest in the family. The mother of these children also passed away in France.

Octave Chastan was born January 9, 1872, in Embrun, Hautes-Alpes, France, and was sent to the public school there to obtain his educational training. He learned the shoemaker's trade under his father, and continued to work at this trade until 1895, when he came to California and settled in Sumner, now East Bakersfield. For four years he was in the employ of Philip and Joseph Girard, sheepmen at Delano, and then purchased a flock of sheep, engaging in the business for himself in the vicinity of Delano, but he now herds his sheep in both Kern and Tulare counties along the line be- tween the two counties. His herd consists of from two to three thousand head of fine merino sheep, and he has always found a ready market for them, as they are recognized as well-bred and well-kept animals, of the best variety.

Mr. Chastan was married in East Bakersfield to Berthe Espitallier, also a native of Hautes-Alpes, and they make their home in East Bakersfield, where Mr. Chastan has bought a residence at No. 1410 Baker street.

CHARLES SOWASH .- The opportunities afforded by Maricopa, Kern county, to men of self-reliant and persevering energy find a most noteworthy illustration in the activities and success of Charles Sowash, the proprietor of the Sowash Clothing Store of Maricopa, the stock of which embraces fur- nishings of all sorts for gentlemen's wear. They are extensive bout and shoe outfitters as well and handle a fine and up-to-date line of clothing supplied from the shops of Adlers Collegiate, Royal Tailoring and Lamm & Company busi- ness houses, whose reputations for good taste and the fine quality of their materials are widely known throughout the country.

Born October 17, 1881, in Pittsburg, Pa., Charles Sowash was the son of Dr. M. F. Sowash, an eminent, well-known physician there, who for a time served as county physician and made his home in Pittsburgh. From the latter Charles Sowash inherited his logical mind and unusual ability which early evidenced itself in the honors which he received at graduation from the high school when he was eighteen years of age. At this time he stood third in the order of scholarship, ranking high in the estimate of his preceptors, and upon his graduation he became engaged in the paymaster's department of the Penn- sylvania Railway Company. Later he was employed by the Westinghouse Electric Company, serving in the cashier's department, and so well did he

Berthe Chastan O. Elmention

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HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY

fill that position that he was entrusted with large sums of money, handling hundreds of thousands of dollars each week. However, the duties of this position finally became so irksome as to impair his health, and he was obliged to relinquish it and remove to California, where he settled at Chino and for a period was timekeeper for the American Sugar Beet Company. Going from there to Los Angeles, he was in the auditor's office of the Santa Fe Railway Company for one year and then went to Bakersfield where he filled the posi- tion of cashier for the latter company for four years. In the meantime his quick observation and the close study of conditions prompted him to invest in Maricopa interests and hic resigned from a very lucrative position in order to take charge of his business interests in the last named place. He came here permanently in 1908. He has rebuilt his store building, which accommodates a stock to the value of seven thousand dollars and which is up-to-date and first class in every respect. Mr. Sowash enjoys a wide patronage and his pleasant, genial manner and kindly disposition have not only made him deservedly popular in the business and social world of his community, but have brought him many patrons.

In 1910 Mr. Sowash was married to Miss Eliza Humphreys, of Pitts- burgh, Pa., who with her husband enjoys a wide circle of friends.

H. G. MOSS .- The development of the Kern River oil district has at- tracted capital from all portions of the United States and even from abroad, but in an especially large degree California capital is invested in this great district and it is western capital (the Spreckels interests) which owns the great corporation known as the Sunset Monarch Oil Company. Every depart- ment of this organization has been established and developed with a view to permanence. Modern equipment has been introduced. Large tracts have been acquired. The work of oil development is still in its infancy. The demands made upon managing employes are therefore unusually great. Particularly is the post of superintendent. filled by H. G. Moss, one of arduous application and engrossing oversight.

Mr. Moss comes of English family and naturally possesses the character- istics of the Anglo-Saxon race. He was born in the shire of Cumberland, Eng- land. May 23, 1871. His family came to California when he was fourteen years of age and settled in Orange county. At the time the discovery of oil was made there he began with a pick and shovel as a day laborer and for several years he continued in the district near Los Angeles. Then he became a stu- dent in Van Der Naillen's School of Engineers at San Francisco. For three winters he carried on engineering studies in that institution.

After leaving the San Francisco institution Mr. Moss engaged as a civil and mining engineer. Unfortunately he decided to go to Alaska and there he lost everything he had, returning after two seasons in that country as empty of purse as when he first began to be self-supporting. On his return in 1900 he heard of the discovery of oil in the Kern river field. Immediately he joined the throng of operators making for this new prospect. Here he began to take contracts for drilling on the property of the Reed-Conde Oil Company. For some time he continued to drill, meeting with alternating success and dis- couragement. However, his work and ability attracted attention and he was appointed superintendent of the Eastern Consolidated Oil Company, with which he continued for seven years or until his acceptance of the position of superintendent with the Sunset Monarch Oil Company in 1908. Since that time he has devoted himself with unwearied assiduity to the many responsibilities connected with his position, taking no part whatever in political affairs or fraternal organizations, although when living in Orange county he was con- nected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. With his wife, formerly Miss Clara Finley, of Orange county, and their two children. Zada and Mar- garet, he has established a home on the company property near Maricopa.

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Under his oversight are the various departments necessary to the correct continuance of the business. The interests of the company are large and include one hundred and sixty acres, without wells, situated on section 7, township 11, range 23; also ninety acres with five wells, on section 26, town- ship 12, range 24; a quarter section and another tract of sixty acres, both on section 2, township 11, range 24, having twenty-seven wells, the whole form- ing a total of four hundred and seventy acres with thirty-two wells.

HENRY H. FENNEMAN .- The United Electric and Mercantile Com- pany, established at Taft during 1910 under the title of Fenneman Bros., and incorporated with its present title in January of the following year, has the following well-known citizens of Taft as its officers: E. C. Kelermeyer, . president : L. R. Buchanan, vice-president : J. Pope, secretary, and Henry Fenneman, treasurer, superintendent and general manager. The concern acts as general contractors for electrical machinery and electrical work of all kinds, and makes a specialty of wiring oil rigs, installing motors on oil leases and wiring buildings for electric light. All of their work is guaranteed to stand the inspection of the National Board of Fire Underwriters. Earn- estly recommending the wiring of oil rigs in iron conduits, they have filled many contracts of this nature for many of the large operating companies. At their office, which is also their warehouse and workshop, they carry a complete line of fixtures, motors, batteries, fans and the celebrated Mazda lamps, the most perfect light manufactured. A great number of Monarch Mazdas have been installed by them in the district. Besides having con- tracts for electrical wiring of many cottages, they also had the contracts for the work on the buildings erected by Smith Brothers and Dr. Key, the Taft garage, C. B. Callahan building, Conley school, First National Bank of Taft, Hotel Alvord and the new Mariposa hotel built by C. A. Fox, a leading citizen of Taft. While this list is by no means complete, it will give some idea of the important nature of the contracts carried by the firm to suc- cessful consummation.

The manager of this large business was born and reared in Indianapolis, Ind., and at the age of twenty years entered the employ of the Sanborn Electric Company of that city, afterward continuing with the firm for ten years altogether. Meanwhile he rose to be construction foreman and was assigned to important work in St. Louis, Mount Carmel, Ill., Chicago, and Springfield, Ohio. For two years and nine months he worked without vaca- tion or change on one government job at Fort Benjamin Harrison, where among other tasks he completed the wiring of forty-six two-story houses. At the opening of the war with Spain he was eager to enlist and when vol- unteers were being accepted for service in the Philippines he became a mem- ber of the Sixty-first Company of the Sixth Coast Artillery of Baltimore and was sent with the regiment to the islands, where he remained for two years and nine months, meanwhile serving as electrician with the rank of sergeant. When peace was declared and the troops were returned to the United States he went back to Indianapolis to resume work with the San- born Electric Company. September 19, 1910, he arrived in Taft, where in partnership with a brother, W. 11. Fenneman, now the manager of the Inde- pendent Oil Well Supply Company, he organized the firm of Fenneman Bros., now known as the United Electric and Mercantile Company. Being an expert electrician as well as a capable business man, he is well qualified for the successful supervision of the business and is making good in his important responsibilities. While living in Indianapolis he married Miss Vona Louthain of that city, a young lady of education and culture. Since coming to California he has allied himself with various organizations of a fraternal nature, including the Bakersfield Camp No. 266, B. P. O. E., at

& P bastão

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HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY

Bakersfield ; also the Improved Order of Red Men, Tribe of Pocahontas and Knights of Pythias lodged in Taft.

EPIFANIO P. CASTRO .- Agriculture has been the life work of Epifanio P. Castro, who has been identified with the farming interests of Kern county since he was able to work, following the pursuit of his father. Born April 7, 1872, in Kern county, Cal., he was the son of Thomas Castro, a pioneer settler of this county.

Thomas Castro was born in 1830 in Sonora, Mexico, where he grew to manhood and married. In 1867 the Revolution broke out, and because of his political inclinations he decided to remove from there, coming to Bakers- field, Kern county, where he remained for the balance of his life, successfully engaged in stock raising. His death occurred here when he was sixty-eight years old. It is of interest to note that the Castros are near relatives to the late Gen. Jose Castro, one of the most prominent historical figures in the state of California.

Twelve children were born to Thomas and Concepcion (Coronada) Cas- tro, nine of whom grew up, as follows: Ramona, Leonides, Domitilo, Manuel (now deceased), Thomas, Luciano, Perfecto, Epifanio P. and Amelia. The mother of these children passed away at the age of sixty-three years.

Epifanio P. Castro received his education in the public schools of Kern county, attending until he was sixteen years of age, when he went to work for his father on the ranch. Until he was twenty-three he gave his entire time to this work, giving his father every assistance in his power, and look- ing after the home place. Then for two years he worked for the Kern County Land Company, in 1896 buying a forty-acre tract four miles south of Bakers- field on Kern Island road, which he has cultivated and brought to an excel- lent state of production. He has labored industriously and his property is vielding a fine crop which he markets at a substantial price. In 1913 he leased the Brundage ranch of one hundred and seventy-five acres on South Union avenue. and here he is engaged in horticulture and hay and grain raising.

HON. HOWARD ALLEN PEAIRS .- A strong, forceful mentality whose judicial bent is no less pronounced than its humanitarian tendencies indicates that Judge Peairs has inherited the substantial qualities that char- acterized the early settlers of America. The ancestral lineage can be traced to several countries, for the Peairs and Davis families were of Welsh origin, while the Byers genealogy indicates a mingling of the blood of the Scotch. the Irish and the Dutch. In the life record of the Judge a careful student of humanity may note the thrift of the Welsh, the sturdiness of the Dutch, the logical temperament of the Scotch and the humor of the Celt, mingled with the enterprise that is distinctively American, the whole combining to form a personality at once progressive and conservative, vividly interesting, and well adapted to leadership in any community. The forebears were .mostly Presbyterians in their religious views and mostly farmers in their chosen life occupations. With the drifting of the tide of emigration toward the west they became transplanted from Pennsylvania into Ohio, where some of the Peairs family were among the earliest settlers of Zanesville.

Another removal took the family across the Mississippi and out to the prairies of Kansas, where John Byers Peairs and his wife, Jerusha (Davis) Peairs, who was a native of Germantown, Pa., became pioneers of Law- rence during 1876. Of their seven children the third, Howard Allen, was born near Zanesville, Ohio, September 25, 1861, received his early educa- tion there, and after the age of fifteen continued his studies in Lawrence. Kan., where he spent considerable time at the university. In order to pay his way through college he taught school, but it was not his desire to make a life work of pedagogy ; on the other hand, his talents seemed to point 35

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toward the law and he took up special law studies under D. S. Alford, an influential attorney in Lawrence. In 1888 he was graduated from the Uni- versity of Kansas with the degree of LL.B. and the same year was admitted to practice before the courts of Kansas. Afterward he received the degree of A.B. from the same university. For a time he was a member of the firm of Poehler & Peairs in that city.

During the entire period of his continued residence in Lawrence he was popular with the faculty at the university and frequently, in the absence or illness of one of the professors, he was engaged to act as substitute in the chair. Meanwhile he mastered a number of studies in the institution, where he specialized in analytical chemistry, law, pharmacy, history and economics. In the course of his identification with the bar of Kansas he became inti- mately acquainted with William Allen White, General Funston, James H. Canfield, Messrs. Kellogg and Franklin, ex-Governor Stubbs of Kansas and ex-Governor Hadley of Missouri, together with many other men who since have become eminent in various avenues of endeavor. For a short time he was connected with the Kansas City Journal and for another period, begin- ning in 1898, he was connected with the Indian service, where he developed various advanced ideas in vocational and manual training and also com- menced to apply these methods of instruction.

Certain unfavorable tendencies in health led Judge Peairs to remove to California in 1898 and here he soon regained his former ruggedness and strength. For a time he engaged as a manufacturing chemist in Los Angeles. His knowledge of pharmacy and analytical chemistry has led him at times into research work wholly unallied with his law practice, yet interesting to him and often quite important. An instance of his original investiga- tions appears in his profound knowledge of every phase of food adultera- tion and it was this thorough information that enabled him to assist in the drafting of the national pure food law passed in 1906. Having embarked in the practice of law in Los Angeles, he soon found himself at the head of a growing clientele and his worth as an attorney has been demonstrated repeat- edly in cases of great responsibility. A stanch Republican of progressive sentiments, in 1912 he was his party's candidate for the assembly and was elected to represent Los Angeles county in the legislature of 1913. Among the important bills which he introduced and championed may be mentioned the medical bill, the juvenile law, the Torrens act relating to an improved system of land titles, the law fixing the age of consent at eighteen years and the asexualization bill.

The marriage of Judge Peairs in Lawrence, Kan., united him with Miss Ilelen Webber, by whom he has two children, Marion and Howard Allen, Jr. Fraternally he holds membership with the Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows and Los Angeles Lodge No. 278, F. & A. M., and Fraternal Brother- hood. Upon the death of Judge Bennett of Bakersfield, Governor Johnson, August 14, 1913, appointed Judge Peairs to fill the vacancy caused by the passing of the jurist. Since coming to Bakersfield he also has been made judge of the juvenile court. At present he is advocating a project for the establishment of a vacation or "opportunity" farm in Kern county, the same to comprise about one thousand acres, to be devoted to the industrial and vocational training of the boys and girls of the county, the idea being that during vacations spent on the farm each child will be taught some special work. Work, not merely as a necessity, but also as a desirability, will be made attractive to their plastic minds. Machinery of all kinds is to be explained to the boys who show a fondness for agriculture or mechanics. Horticultural courses and agriculture are to be taught to youthful fruit- growers and farmers. Classes in cooking and hygiene would be made as interesting as possible. In fact, the object of the great enterprise would

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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 84

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