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 85

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 85

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Bailey

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be to better prepare the youth of the county for life's responsibilities, thus eliminating the work of the juvenile courts.

FRANK O. BRATT .- A native of Nebraska, Frank O. Bratt was born in Nemaha county May 26, 1874. The same county in Nebraska was the place of residence and of marriage of his parents, Garrett and Salome (Grove) Bratt, the former now deceased, and the latter, at the age of fifty-eight (1912), still a resident of Riverside county, Cal. It was during 1891 that the family removed from Nebraska, where the father had conducted a wholesale and retail furniture business at Hastings, and established their home in Riverside county, where the only daughter, Miss Ina, passed away at the age of eighteen years. Upon coming to California the family brought considerable means with them, but during the panic of 1893-94 the City Bank of Los Angeles failed and about $8,000 which the father had deposited in that institution was entirely lost to him.

Having gained a very helpful experience in the stock business while assisting his father on the home farm, Frank O. Bratt has had the practical benefit of such work in his later operations. During 1902 he went to Nevada and engaged in teaming and freighting between Austin, Tonopah and Gold- field. By means of his two fourteen-mule teams he was able to haul twenty- eight tons each month and for this he received $100 per ton. The profits, however, were not as large as this statement would seem to indicate, for his expenses were proportionately great, hay being worth $100 per ton and barley for feed $135 per ton. When at the expiration of two years the railroad had been completed and thus rendered further association with the hauling business undesirable, he left Nevada in 1905 and came to Kern county, where during some years he engaged in the stock business as a partner of the late John E. Bailey, a prominent and well-known resident of Bakersfield. During the lifetime of Mr. Bailey they handled as many as three thousand head of cattle in one year, as many as four hundred head of mules and about two hundred head of hogs. While mainly engaging in the stock business, Mr. Bratt also had a fourteen-mule team engaged in hauling borax. After the death of Mr. Bailey, which occurred February 22, 1912, Mr. Bratt formed a partnership with Joseph L. Bailey, a nephew of John E., and together they purchased the ranch and stock and continue farming operations on a larger scale than ever. They have the home ranch of five hundred forty-seven acres, also one thousand acres on the plains. Having gone extensively into the dairy business they put in an auxiliary pumping plant with a capacity of one hundred fifty inches. They are large producers of alfalfa for their cattle and hogs.

The marriage of Mr. Bratt took place in 1898 and united him with Miss Lucy Clark, a native of Inyo county, this state. Two children bless their union, namely: Margaret, born in 1900; and Francis, born in 1910. The family now occupy the commodious brick residence of the late Mr. Bailey at No. 1002 Nineteenth street. In religious associations Mrs. Bratt belongs to the Methodist Episcopal Church and has been a generous contributor to its missionary enterprises. Politically Mr. Bratt votes with the Republican party. Fraternally he holds membership with the Woodmen and the Foresters.

JOHN E. BAILEY .- It is a matter of family history that the religious persecutions connected with the early history of Scotland forced the Baileys to flee from that country across to Ireland, where they established a per- manent home in the north country. James Bailey, a farmer by occupation, has spent his entire life in county Down, as has also his wife, Rosanna (Edgar) Bailey, who too claims Scotland as the country of her ancestors. Both are still living, he at ninety and she at eighty-five years (1912) and both retain their physical and mental faculties to an unusual extent considering their great ages. Of their six children all but one have preceded them to the grave. The only one living is Matthew, who resides on a farm in county Down.

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The next to the oldest, John E., was born November 28, 1852, in county Down, eighteen miles from Belfast, and there he passed the days of boy- hood on the home farm and in the neighboring school. During 1869 he left Ireland and came via Panama to San Francisco, thence proceeded to Sonoma county and found employment on a farm. His identification with Kern county dated from 1872, when he secured work as a farm hand. Husbanding and saving his wages with frugal care, he was enabled in 1877 to acquire the title to eighty acres eight miles southwest of Bakersfield on the Kern river.

By subsequent purchases of adjacent tracts Mr. Bailey increased his ranch to five hundred and forty-seven acres, all under irrigation, the main conduits being two ditches, one on each side of the river. About three hundred acres were put into alfalfa and on the balance of the tract grain and corn were raised by irrigation. Although he rented much of the ranch during his last years, he retained one hundred and sixty acres of alfalfa land and found the hay very essential to his industry of cattle-feeding, in which he specialized. For twenty years he engaged in raising cattle on his mountain ranch of three thousand acres at the Dead Ox and even after he sold that large tract he still retained his cattle for a few years. After he had sold the large drove he began to buy steers from others as he needed them in his feed-yards.

In addition to his ranch holdings Mr. Bailey owned property in Bakers- field. On the corner of Nineteenth and M streets he conducted a livery busi- ness until the stable was destroyed by fire in 1889. Later he erected on the same site the Cosmopolitan hotel and ran it for many years until it burned to the ground in 1907. He then discontinued the hotel business and only partially built up the lots. On Nineteenth street he erected the Decatur, one of the finest rooming houses in the city. Included in his other property was a modern and substantial residence on the corner of Nineteenth and ( streets. Besides this valuable real-estate he owned one-half interest in the Southern, the largest hotel in Taft, also owned a large amount of stock in the Kern Mutual Telephone Company which operates a line from Bakersfield to Maricopa and Taft. Some years after coming to Kern county he married Miss Carrie Voges, a native of New Orleans, La., but from girlhood a resident of the west ; she died January 1, 1905.

The fraternal associations of Mr. Bailey included membership in the Eagles, Independent Order of Odd Fellows and Foresters. His death, which occurred February 22, 1912, was a distinct loss to these lodges as it was to other interests in Bakersfield and the county. From the re-incorporation of Bakersfield until the consolidation with Kern, a period of about eleven years, he served as a member of the board of trustees and for the four years prior to the consolidation he was honored with the chairmanship of the board, a position corresponding to that of mayor and carrying with it all of the heavy responsibilities and official duties connected with the mayoralty.

It should be mentioned that during the last five years of Mr. Bailey's life he was assisted in the management of his diversified interests by his nephew, Joseph L. Bailey, a native of county Down, Ireland, and a son of Matthew Bailey. Joseph L. Bailey was a graduate of the Royal University of Ireland in Dublin. Coming to California in 1907 he assisted in the manage- ment of his uncle's general affairs, and after the death of his uncle, he and Frank O. Bratt purchased the ranches and stock and are continuing stock- raising and dairying on a large scale. In the management of the ranch and in making improvements the new owners are following the policy and methods which proved so successful with the elder Mr. Bailey.

EDWARD F. EILAND .- Although by occupation an oil-field worker and more interested in that occupation than in any other industry, at the present time Mr. Eiland gives his attention wholly to the duties of city marshal, an appointment to the office having been conferred upon him March 1, 1913, by the board of city trustees, at the expiration of a year's service

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HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY

as night watchman. From the age of fourteen he has lived in California. but Texas is his native commonwealth and he was born at Henderson, Rusk county, June 5, 1875, being a son of E. H. and Mary L. (Moore) Eiland, natives respectively of Alabama and Texas, but now living retired at Fresno, Cal. Throughout his active life the father engaged in teaching school. The parental family comprised nine children and seven of these are still living, the third in order of birth being Edward F., who was fourteen years of age at the time of coming to California. After a year at Templeton, San Luis Obispo county, he removed to Fresno county and began to work upon a farm there. From an early age he was familiar with the oil industry and had considerable experience in the fields as a roustabout, later rising to be a tool-dresser and from that being promoted to production foreman. While working for J. C. McDonald on the Amazon he became a driller and to a considerable extent he has made a specialty of that branch of the oil business. For a time he had charge of various properties for Barlow & Hill, the capitalists, of Bakersfield.

As a city official Mr. Eiland has had a harmonious connection with civic affairs. Cool-headed and quick in action, he is well qualified for the position of marshal and has the city's business well in hand. The place is quiet and orderly, fortunately having none of the rougher element to be found in some towns. The difficulties that confront some marshals have not come into his experience at Taft, but should they arise he would receive the stanch support of his many friends and the practical aid of other city officers. He still owns a farm in Fresno county and also has city property at San Diego. Twice married, his first wife, who bore the maiden name of Frances M. Pitts, was born in Chalome valley, Monterey county, Cal., and died in 1904, the body being interred in Mountain View cemetery in Fresno county. Of that union there are two sons, Franklin W. and Benjamin, now sixteen and thirteen years of age respectively. The present wife of Mr. Eiland, whom he married at Stockton, was Miss Mabel Askew, of Visalia.

MRS. MARY J. AVILA .- Descended from a long line of Portuguese ancestors, Mrs. Mary J. Avila was born on the Azores islands and received a fair education in parochial schools there. Her father, John J. Soares, now eighty-two years of age, still makes his home on these islands, but her mother, Isabel, has passed from earth.

On the Azores occurred the birth, May 22, 1861, of Manwell Jose Avila. a descendant of a Portuguese family of high standing and ancient pedigree. When but eighteen years of age he left his native place and crossed the ocean to America, proceeding from New York to San Francisco and securing employment in the west. As the years passed busily with their cares and labors he gave no thought to marriage or a home of his own, but when finally he returned to the Azores to visit the home of his boyhood he there met Miss Soares, then a charming young lady of eighteen years. Instantly a change was made in his plans and a new purpose entered into his life. When after a visit of one year in Portugal he returned to California in 1893. it was with the thought of saving his earnings with the utmost frugality in order that he might establish a home of his own. During 1898 he sent for his betrothed, who took passage from one of the Portuguese harbors on the steamer. Pininiolar, which after a voyage of seven days landed her on American soil on the 27th of September. From New York she traveled across the continent to San Francisco, where Mr. Avila awaited her coming and where they were united in marriage.

For twenty years Mr. Avila remained an employe of Miller & Lux and at the time of his death he was superintendent of their sheep department. having charge at times of as many as one hundred thousand head of sheep. In the discharge of his great responsibilities he gave universal satisfaction

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to the firm and acted with rare discretion and almost unerring judgment. In the meantime he had purchased eighty acres on Union avenue about eight miles south of Bakersfield and had commenced to improve the property with a view to establishing a permanent home here, but his plans were brought to naught by an untimely fate. While at Hanford he became ill with ptomaine poisoning and was brought to the hospital at Bakersfield. but no remedies availed to lighten his suffering and after four weeks he passed away November 19, 1910. Besides his wife he is survived by their four children, Gloria, John, Manuel and Isabel. During 1911 Mrs. Avila erected on their farm a residence that for beauty and convenience is surpassed by few within the limits of Kern county and here she and her children have established their home, meanwhile winning the regard of neighbors and holding a prominent position in the membership of the Roman Catholic Church of Bakersfield.

CARLOS GRANT ILLINGWORTH .- The oldest established general store in the Mojave Desert, which is situated in the town of Randsburg, Kern county, and its several branches which are found in the smaller towns in this vicinity, are owned by Carlos Grant Illingworth, the inventory of whose stores in 1912 showed stock amounting to $100,000. Mr. Illingworth's childhood was passed in various places, he having been born in Mt. Carroll, Carroll county, Ill., April 30, 1873, and from there brought by his parents when he was aged five years to Wichita, Kan. Here he was sent to school for a short time, in 1887 moving with his parents to California and settling at Pomona, where they stayed but a short time. In the same year they moved to Upland, San Bernardino county, and Mr. Illingworth went to work for himself. Buying a team he started into the contracting business for grading and leveling land, remaining in this vicinity until 1896, when he came to Randsburg to contract with the Yellow Aster Mine Company to haul ore for them. This he followed until the time the company built their plant in 1898, when he embarked in the general mercantile business, which has proved such a successful undertaking. It is fitting here to relate that the extent of Mr. Illingworth's capital at this time was a thousand dollars worth of stock. and when it is considered that he is now the owner of a large flourishing establishment with a number of branch stores and four ware- houses, it is readily understood that he is peculiarly fitted for the conduct of this form of business. One of the branch stores is located at AAtolia, San Bernardino county. In connection with his mercantile business, Mr. Illing- worth has also engaged in mining, at the present time working the Santa Ana group, and he also owns the Pearl Wedge mine. These have proved profitable, and promise to bring in exceptional results in the near future. In 1913 he incorporated the G. B. Mining & Reduction Company, of which he is majority owner, and serves as president of the company. They built a twenty-ton capacity roll mill and engaged in mining and milling the ore. They have already found it necessary to increase it to fifty-ton capacity, which has been done, and the showing made demonstrates that it is one of the best mines in the state. The plant was built to mine and mill $4 rock profitables, but at 285 feet they have $42 rock and find it necessary to build the new mill mentioned above. Needless to say the outcome far exceeds his expectations.

Mr. Illingworth married Leah Blanch Baker, who was born in Ottawa, Canada, their marriage occurring June 17, 1909. Mrs. Illingworth came to California in January, 1908, and has since made it her home. She assists her husband in making their establishment the modern, well-equipped place of business it is today, and is a popular and pleasant woman. They are the parents of two children, Myrtle, born March 12, 1910; and James Grant Illingworth, born January 2, 1913. Mr. Illingworth is interested in the cause

Margrith Bowman

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HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY

of education and is a member of the board of trustees of the Randsburg district.

JACOB BAUMAN .- Since his arrival in California during 1887 and his settlement in Kern county the following year Mr. Bauman has devoted his attention to agricultural pursuits and by his individual success has proved the possibilities of dry farming when rightly prosecuted. Wheat raised by this process makes an excellent crop in most years and harvests as high as fifteen hundred sacks of grain of finest quality, so that his large wheat- fields form a positive asset in his agricultural operations. The first land, a tract of eighty acres, which he acquired in the county was secured by pre-emption and lies on section 14 of township 28, range 29, in the famous Weed Patch. Later he homesteaded one hundred and sixty acres on section 4, township 30, range 30. The final acquisition of land gave him the title through purchase of three hundred and twenty acres on section 8, township 30, range 30, so that his landed possessions now aggregate five hundred and sixty acres. On the tract last acquired he has erected a comfortable cot- tage, also a barn 50x60 feet in dimensions, together with a granary and such other buildings as the needs of the work render desirable. In addition he has fenced the half-section and has further enhanced its value through a well three hundred and fifty feet deep, pumped by means of a four horse-power gasoline engine.

Bern, Switzerland, is the native canton of Mr. Bauman, and August 20, 1860, the date of his birth, his parents having been Jacob and Susan (Stadtman) Bauman, lifelong residents of Switzerland, where the father gained modest success through intelligent labors in the dairy industry. There were seven children in the family, namely: Susan, who married in girlhood, became the mother of fifteen children and died in Switzerland ; Magdalena, who is married and remains in her native country ; Jacob, of Kern county ; Christ, who immigrated to America, settled in Ohio and died there, leaving seven children ; Annie and John, both of whom died, unmarried, in Ohio; and Fred, a resident of Bakersfield, Cal. From an early age Jacob Bauman was familiar with the care of stock and the rudiments of farming. The home farm comprised only twenty-five acres, but was made remunerative through intensive methods of cultivation and he was taught to be useful in every department of the farm work. The family were identified with the German Lutheran Church, in which he was confirmed at the age of sixteen.

Upon attaining his majority in 1881 Jacob Bauman came to the United States and secured employment as a farm laborer near Cleveland, Ohio. Returning to Switzerland he there married, February 2, 1884, Miss Margaret Tschanz, a native of Canton Bern, and a daughter of the late Christ and Margaret (Von Gonton) Tschanz, the former a farmer by occupation. Be- sides Mrs. Bauman there were three other daughters, Magdalena, Anna and Mary, in the Tschanz family and one son, Christ, who died at nineteen years of age. The three sisters of Mrs. Bauman are married and reside in Switzerland. Upon settling in Ohio after his marriage Mr. Bauman found work in a stone quarry at Cleveland and later farmed near that city, whence he came to California in 1837 and identified himself with the agricultural upbuilding of the west.

MRS. ELIZABETH COOLBAUGH .- The matron and superintendent of the Kern County Children's Shelter is of western birth and has spent the greater portion of her life in California. As early as 1843, when the first movement of white settlers was being made in the direction of the Pacific coast and ere vet paths had been blazed for the emigrants, Alexander Blevins, a native of the vicinity of Lexington, Ky., crossed the plains of Oregon accompanied by his wife and their three small children. The trip required the greatest courage and fortitude. Dangers seen and unseen surrounded them all of the way as well as after they had settled in a little cabin near

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Salem, where the hardy pioneers took up a six hundred and forty acre donation land claim from the government. The tract was in the primeval condition of nature and he made a number of improvements, also placed the land under profitable cultivation. While living on that ranch a daughter, Elizabeth, was born. The family removed to the Livermore valley of Cali- fornia during 1857 and there Mr. Blevins engaged in ranching and stock- raising, but later he moved to Stockton and finally to Lodi, where he passed away at the age of eighty-seven years. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Levina Vanderpool, was born in Tennessee, lived in Kentucky during girlhood, and now, at the age of ninety-four years, remains at the old homestead in Lodi.

There were in the Blevins family twelve children, all of whom attained maturity and seven are now living, Mrs. Coolbaugh having been the fifth in order of birth. In childhood she attended the public schools and later was graduated from the Stockton Young Ladies' Seminary. Her marriage took place at Lockeford, San Joaquin county, and united her with David H. Cool- baugh, who was born in Bradford county, Pa., came via Panama to Cali- fornia in 1860 and engaged in general contracting and in stock-raising near Stockton. During the spring of 1881 he came to Kern county and settled six miles south of Bakersfield, where he had charge of thirty-three hundred acres of land for G. M. Fisher. Six hundred and forty acres of the tract. known as the Berkshire farm, were improved through his personal labors, After nine years on the ranch he came to Bakersfield and here engaged in general teaming and contracting until his death, which occurred April 30, 1898. Fraternally he belonged to the Ancient Order of United Workmen, while in religious matters both he and his wife from early years were earnest supporters of the Methodist doctrines.

Since the death of Mr. Coolbaugh his widow has remained at their home in Bakersfield and has had charge of the interests left her, representing the savings of their years of economy and wise management. A woman of large charities and deep sympathies, she always has been a worker for the needy and suffering. It always has been her aim to help the poor to help themselves, but no one is quicker than she to realize that there are occa- sions when they must have help or all is lost. Upon the organization of the Associated Charities she was chosen the first registrar and continued to fill that office until 1912, when she resigned. With Mrs. Yancey she organized the Juvenile court committee for Kern county, having been chosen for the work by Judge Bennett ; the court has for its object the mental and moral upbuilding of waifs of humanity whose early path in life has turned toward evil. About the beginning of the twentieth century, with Mrs. Yancey and E. J. Emmons, she started the Kern County Rescue Society for the preven- tion of cruelty to children. October 19, 1906, there came to Bakersfield a woman with three half-fed, half-clothed children, with only a few crackers between them and starvation. These children were taken temporarily by Mrs. C. P. Larsen. Upon investigation Mrs. Coolbaugh and Mrs. Yancey found they could not provide a home for the children anywhere in the state without the mother relinquishing her right. There was need of a home where helpless children could be left until the father or mother was able to support them. November 12, 1906, these courageous women rented a cot- tage of six rooms at No. 1408 Eleventh street. They had not a cent of money to pay the rent nor a piece of furniture to put in the house, but they did have the promise of Mrs. M. E. Stephenson to work free of charge for six months. Donations had been made for the victims of the San Francisco disaster and some of these supplies, not being needed there, were available for use and gave a start in bedding, groceries and other supplies. Rev. Angus Mathewson donated new matting for two rooms, window shades,

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bedstead and kitchen furniture. Others responded gladly. In six months after the house had been secured the way opened for the Kern County Children's Shelter to be incorporated as a state institution, April 16, 1907. At that time thirteen children were being supported. May 24, 1907, the first officers were elected, also an advisory board of seven gentlemen. Dur- ing 1908 twenty-one children were supported in the Home under the care of Mrs. M. E. Stephenson, who was retained at a fair salary. In September of 1910 the institution was moved to its present quarters, No. 920 Twen- tieth street. On the first tag day, which was celebrated in Bakersfield in 1909, nearly $6,000 was raised to pay for this building, the site for which was donated by Mrs. Ellen M. Tracy. Generous men of Bakersfield donated the furniture. In all of this work Mrs. Coolbaugh bore her share and as superintendent she now devotes all of her time to the worthy philanthropy, finding a constant pleasure in the thought of helping these little ones in their unequal struggle against adverse circumstances. The Shelter has accomino- dations for forty-six children in single beds. The furnishings are simple but substantial and the arrangement of the house conduces to convenience. Per- haps no part of the building is a source of greater pride to the superin- tendent than the Sunshine room, a bright, sunny, pleasant room, where the sick ones are cared for and nursed to recovery, and where, when not needed for hospital purposes, the children enjoy many a pleasant hour of recreation and play. In their health and in their preparation for future usefulness through instruction in simple tasks suited to their vears, the children have the sympathetic oversight of the superintendent and the other philanthropic women whose names are indissolubly associated with this worthy enterprise.

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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 85

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