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 95

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 95

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

ABRAHAM JACOBY .- The genealogy of the Jacoby family shows an unbroken line of thrifty merchants and prosperous business men identified with various sections of Germany, but particularly with West Prussia, where Marcus Jacoby, for years a leading merchant at Loebau and a man of the utmost integrity and the highest character, died at the age of ninety- seven years. In the same Prussian town occurred the death of his wife. 39

974

HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY

Henrietta, daughter of Israel Lowenstein, a volunteer in the army of the illustrious Napoleon and a participant in the march to and the retreat from Moscow, being one of the fortunate few who was able to eventually reach his home in safety. The family of Marcus and Henrietta Jacoby comprised eight sons, one of whom, .Solomon, is a retired merchant and former coun- cilman of Magdeburg, Germany. Another son, Herman, now of Los Angeles, gave the most devoted service to the Union army in the Civil war, going to the front with the Twenty-sixth Pennsylvania Infantry. Among the numer- ous engagements in which he bore arms was that of Gettysburg, where he was wounded. For many years he has been a leader in Grand Army work in his home city, as well as an unusually prominent merchant and progressive citizen.

It is concerning another son of this family, Abraham, that these lines are written. Born at Loebau, West Prussia, June 30, 1852, he received an excellent German education in local schools and the gymnasium. During May of 1868, when almost sixteen years of age, he left home to join his older brothers in Los Angeles, then a sleepy town with only five thousand inhabi- tants. The brothers, who had established themselves in the place as early as 1861, already had built up a mercantile business, the nucleus of the great mercantile house of Jacoby Bros., now well known throughout South- ern California. From the first Abraham Jacoby was interested in the new location and in the environment so different from anything common to earlier experiences. With an eager desire to secure an English education he entered the College of Southern Methodists near Downey, where he worked his way by dint of unceasing industry and forceful application. Next he secured a clerkship in Los Angeles with I. W. Hellman, merchant. and banker, being employed in both places of business, and later engaged in business in San Bernardino. With the inauguration of the present firm of Jacoby Bros., in 1879, he became one of the active partners and not a little of the remarkable success enjoyed by the business may be attributed to his intelligent devotion and wise supervision in the early years of struggle.

As owners of a growing retail business on Main street and an important wholesale establishment on Los Angeles street, Jacoby Bros. witnessed and contributed to the commercial development of their home city. When the interests of their large trade demanded consolidation of the retail and wholesale departments, removal was made to Spring street, whence later they transferred their store to the central location now occupied on Broad- way. Patrons of their store came not only from the city, but also from all parts of Southern California. From the first up to the present time they have sustained an enviable reputation for exclusiveness of styles, variety of merchandise and reasonableness of price, and these characteristics have made their great department store popular and profitable. As the financial manager of the firm, Abraham Jacoby not only guarded their vast mercantile interests, but also developed their real-estate holdings to enormous propor- tions and in 1888 he laid out a sub-division and opened Los Angeles street between Eighth and Ninth. In 1889 he established the first public market in the city at Los Angeles and Ninth streets, and this market was the nucleus of the present large market in Los Angeles that is second to none in the United States. His idea was the full market basket, dealing direct from consumer to producer. For a time he served as president of the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, both of which organizations profited by his keen insight into details, his optimistic citizenship and his wise discrimina- tion.

The first investments made by Mr. Jacoby in Kern county included five sections of unimproved land in the Weed Patch and one and one-half sections at Bakersfield, all purchased as early as 1887. During 1893 he

Marie Rechnagel. Charles Rechnagel

977

HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY

acquired the title to eighty acres in the city of Bakersfield, which he still owns. At other times he bought other holdings. Finding that the climate here agreed with his health more than that of the country south of the Tehachapi range and believing that Bakersfield has a great future before it, he located in this city in order to develop his property and also to engage in business as a sub-division specialist. Already his efforts in the latter line have added millions to the value of Kern county property. Much of his success in sub-division work is due to wise advertising. Just now he is enthusiastically promoting a plan for a park of eighty acres and also for a free market in Bakersfield. It is his belief that Bakersfield, having cheap fuel for factories at its very door, is destined to become a great manu- facturing city. The presence of oil and gas combine to make it an ideal location for factories and he can see nothing ahead but steady growth and ultimate greatness. Such views make him a booster for Kern county. At his office on Nineteenth street near Chester avenue he spends much of his time in plans for property development and there he often is sought by citizens desiring advice on realty problems, for his long and successful experience gives weight to his counsel. Having lived in Southern California since 1868 and having owned property in Kern county for more than a quarter of a century, he is thoroughly posted concerning the advantages of this locality in comparison with those of other sections of the west and no trivial depression or discouragement detracts from his faith in city and county.

Since coming to the west Mr. Jacoby has been identified prominently with various organizations for benevolence and philanthropy, also has been associated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and was made a Mason in the West Gate Lodge No. 335, F. & A. M., of Los Angeles, while in political views he has been a stanch adherent of the Republican party ever since he became a voter. Some years after coming to Southern Cali- fornia he was married in Los Angeles to Miss Louise Lazard, a native of Los Angeles and the daughter of Solomon Lazard, a pioneer and influential merchant of that western metropolis, also one of the founders and for a time the president of the Los Angeles Water Company. Mr. and Mrs. Jacoby are the parents of two daughters, Carolyn and Rosalie.

CHARLES RECHNAGEL .- The foreman of the Knob Hill Oil Com- pany in the Kern river fields is a sturdy, efficient and enterprising Danish- American, who has made his own way in the world from the age of seven years and in spite of hardships innumerable, with the most meager educa- tional opportunities, has learned to read English, German and Danish liter- ature, at the same time speaking the language of the Danes with extreme ease and fluency besides mastering the English tongue in ordinary conver- sation. That a man could attain such linguistic skill and at the same time forge ahead to business prominence argues much for his mental alertness and keen intelligence of temperament. It was his good fortune. during a visit back to Denmark in 1910, to win for his wife an educated young lady of that country, Miss Marie Rosendahl, who although not yet familiar with the English language received an excellent education in her native land and is furthermore well trained in the domestic arts.

Born in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, September 8. 1866. Charles Rechnagel is a member of an old Danish family and at the age of seven- teen crossed the line into Denmark in order that he might become a citizen of that country. When seven years of age he was employed to herd cows. Later he was given more difficult work. The pav was small, but sufficient to meet his simple needs. After he went to Denmark he received two hundred marks a year. the mark being a German coin equivalent to about

978

HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY

twenty-four cents of our money. Believing that he could do better in the new world he left Denmark in March of 1900 and crossed the ocean to New York, thence traveled to. Nebraska, where for two months he worked as a section hand on the railroad in Kimball county. The work did not suit him and he determined to come further west. Accordingly he journeyed to Fresno county, this state, where he secured an unimportant job with Lowry & Ferguson, extensive farmers of the locality. When Gus Ferguson became superintendent of the Knob Hill Oil Company he suggested that Mr. Rechnagel leave the Fresno county farm and come to the Kern river fields to work as a teamster. The suggestion was carried out and he has lived here since October of 1901, meanwhile holding different positions until about 1908, when he was promoted to be foreman. A man of excep- tional worth, he has proved faithful and industrious in the highest degree. Aside from voting the Democratic ticket he takes no part whatever in the politics of his adopted country, but gives his undivided attention to the fore- manship of the company holdings. Out of thirty-six wells thirty-three are producers and twenty-eight of these are pumped from one jack, the net pro- duction averaging twelve thousand barrels per month.

AUGUST KRATZMER .- The Kratzmer family is of Danish origin. The capital city of the kingdom was the birthplace of Christian and Caro- line (Keck) Kratzmer and in Copenhagen also their last days were passed, the former throughout active life having earned a livelihood through his ability as a musician and through his services as bandmaster of the King's orchestra, a position of great honor and dignity. The parental family consisted of seven children and all but two of these attained mature years, but the only one to locate in the United States was August, the next to the youngest and a native of Copenhagen, born August 5, 1852. Primarily educated in a private school, later he was sent to a college in Copenhagen and on the completion of the course in 1864 he continued his studies at a military school until 1866. Starting out to make his own way in the world, he crossed the ocean to America and settled in Chicago, where he served an apprenticeship to the trade of wheelwright. On the completion of his time he engaged in business for himself, opening a carriage shop on Thirty- ninth street in Hyde Park, Chicago.

Having sold the business, in 1877 Mr. Kratzmer came to Bakersfield and, being favorably impressed, he decided to remain. As foreman of the wagon shop at Bellevue he engaged with the Kern County Land Company, but resigned in 1884 in order to embark in business for himself. On H and Nineteenth streets, Bakersfield, he bought a lot and built a shop, where he engaged in blacksmithing and carriage-making. In 1891 he sold the place and leased from the Kern County Land Company a place on H and Twentieth streets. During 1898 he sold his tools and supplies to the com- pany and bought a lot on Twenty-first and I streets, where he built a foundry, the first of its kind in Bakersfield. At the expiration of four years he sold out to Webster & Co., after which he engaged in ranching for one year. Returning to his former line of work, for four years he carried on a blacksmith and carriage shop on I street between Eighteenth and Nine- teenth streets. Meanwhile he had purchased one hundred and sixty acres of raw land thirteen and one-half miles northwest of Bakersfield. On relinquishing business enterprises he moved to the farm, which is under the Calloway canal, in the Rosedale district. Abundance of irrigation adapts the place to alfalfa, which in turn renders possible the raising of cattle, horses and poultry. To provide summer range for the cattle, a mountain ranch at Granite is leased. In addition to his farm Mr. Kratzmer owns a resi- dence lot on I street near Twentieth, which being close-in property has rapidly advanced in value. In politics he is independent. The co-operation

abbie Gist. J. R. Gist.

981

HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY

and advice of his capable wife has been invaluable to him in his work. Mrs. Kratzmer, who is a sister of R. A. Edmonds, the present postmaster at Bakersfield, was born in Lane county, Ore., and at the time of her mar- riage to Mr. Kratzmer in Bakersfield she was Mrs. Lavina Brown, the mother of a son, Frank A. Brown, now living in San Francisco. Of her second marriage there was one child, Lotus Jule, a resident of Bakersfield.

JABEZ RIGHT GIST .- A long period of identification with the Southern Pacific Railroad Company has proved the value of the services of Mr. Gist and the importance of the position which he has filled with marked efficiency for many years. As early as 1891, when the shops were moved from Tulare to Kern, he came to the new plant in the capacity of store- keeper. Considerations of health led him later to seek a change of location, although this did not bring a severance of his relations with the railroad. When he returned to Kern in April of 1896 he was made engine inspector. Eventually he was promoted to be stationary engineer, which position he fills with such intelligence, neatness and orderliness that in 1911 he received a medal from the inspector of power plants for the Southern Pacific system and the following year he was awarded an additional bar on the medal in recognition of his efficiency as engineer.

The lineage of the Gist family is traced back to Christopher Gist, the companion and friend of George Washington. From that Revolutionary hero descended J. C. Gist, a native of Jackson county, Tenn., and for years .. farmer near Tompkinsville, Monroe county, Ky., where also he served as a justice of the peace. In that county he married Kittie M. Marrs, who was born there, of Scotch descent, and whose death occurred in Tulare, Cal., at the age of seventy-three years. The family removed from Kentucky to California in 1875 and settled in Yolo county, afterward acquiring farm land in the vicinity of Madison, that county. Removal was made to Tulare county in 1881 and a ranch was acquired. In addition to cultivating the land Mr. Gist served from 1884 to 1898 as justice of the peace. When seventy- seven years of age he died in Tulare.

The parental family comprised ten children and all but three of these attained maturity, five being alive at the present time. The next to the youngest, Jabez Right, was born in Jackson county, Tenn., September 13. 1860, and as a boy attended country schools in Monroe county, Ky. At the age of fifteen he accompanied the family to California, where he immediately began to assist his father in the cultivation of a farm. During 1881 he removed with his parents to Tulare county and resumed agricultural operations at that point. At Tulare in 1885 he married Miss Sarah Abbie Boone, a native of Jones county, Iowa, and a daughter of George W. and Sarah Ann (McCul- louch) Boone, the latter a native of Ohio, the former a direct descendant of Kentucky's famous pioneer, Daniel Boone. The Boone family came from Iowa to California in 1876 and Mrs. Gist attended the public schools of Tulare until she had completed the regular course of study. By her marriage there are two children. The son, Mervil Ward, is employed by the Southern Pacific Railroad Company in Los Angeles. The daughter, Ruby Grace, is the wife of T. B. Kunselman, of Los Angeles.

Entering the Tulare shops of the Southern Pacific Company in the fall of 1887, Jabez Right Gist has continued with the same corporation up to the present time. After his first three years in railroading he was transferred to the clerical department of the Tulare shops. In 1891 he came to Kern (East Bakersfield) as store-keeper. Two years later he was transferred to Los Angeles, where he worked in the car department as air inspector. Returning to Kern in April of 1896, he has since been with the same plant, first as engine inspector and later as stationary engineer. Since coming to East Bakersfield he has acquired property, including two houses on Kentucky street. For two

982

HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY

terms he served as trustee of the city library. As a member of the board of education in East Bakersfield he gave long and satisfactory service. The erection of the Beale avenue school and the enlargement of the Baker street school were largely the result of his energetic efforts. During his entire term of office he gave practical evidence of the genuine interest felt in school affairs by making an official visit to each school two or three times a year, suffering the loss of his wages for every day thus given to educational interests.

Since the age of eighteen years Mr. Gist has been a member of the Chris- tian Church. For years he was a member of the board of trustees and during part of that time he served as president of the board. The interest which he maintains in the church is also felt by his wife. Both likewise are interested in the work of the Eastern Star. After coming to this city he was made a Mason in Bakersfield Lodge No. 224, F. & A. M., and as master of the lodge he participated in the exercises connected with the laying of the corner stone of the new Kern county courthouse in December, 1910. Besides being a prominent Mason he is connected with the Independent Order of Foresters and while living at Tulare was an active lodge worker in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. From the time of casting his first presidential ballot for James G. Blaine he has supported Republican nominees at every election and has maintained a warm interest in public affairs.

ARTHUR E. RAINE .- Several generations of the Raine family were identified with Kentucky, where Albert E. and his father, James B., were born in the vicinity of Bowling Green and where the latter, a planter by occupation, had served with conspicnous bravery for the lost cause. The struggle ended and his old home locality disrupted by the sanguinary con- flict, he determined to seek a home elsewhere. Accordingly during the sum- mer of 1865 he crossed the plains, accompanied by his family, which included Albert E., then a lad of about twelve years. Settlement was made at Ana- heim, where years afterward the firm of J. B. Raine & Son became very prominent along the line of its chosen specialties. Throughout that section of the state they planted orchards and vineyards for absent owners, also bought land for themselves, which they set out in horticultural products. In addition they engaged in hop culture and farming. Eventually the senior member of the firm retired from business pursuits and now, vigorous and sturdy notwithstanding his more than eighty years, he is living retired at Santa Ana. Meanwhile the business is being continued by Albert E., who resides on his valuable walnut orchard near Orange. During young manhood he married Anna King, who was born in Huntington, W. Va., and died at the family residence in 1892, leaving three sons.

The eldest of the sons, Arthur E., was born at Santa Ana, this state, February 8, 1880, and attended the grammar and high schools of his native city. For three years he served an apprenticeship to the trade of machinist in the Santa Ana machine shop. At the expiration of his time he entered the Orange County Business College in Santa Ana, of which he is a graduate. During 1900 he came to Bakersfield for the first time and here he secured a position as accountant and private secretary to George Easton of the Easton, Eldridge Company, a San Francisco firm, who were pioneers in the Sunset oil fields. A year later he became connected with the construc- tion department of the Southern Pacific Railroad and had charge of the material used in the building of the Kern river branch. Upon the comple- tion of the road he was transferred to the Atlantic system of the Southern Pacific as private secretary to George W. Boschke, chief engineer in charge of the company's docks in Galveston, these being the largest of the kind in the world.

Upon the completion of the construction work at that point Mr. Raine returned to Bakersfield as an accountant and stenographer in the transporta-

EB, Campbell

985

HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY

tion department of the Southern Pacific Railroad. During May of 1903 he resigned an excellent position in order to enter the employ of the Bakersfield iron works as bookkeeper and stenographer. At the time he was the only clerical help in the office, but the business grew steadily and when Henry D. McCoy resigned in 1904 and E. C. Wilson was appointed to fill the vacancy as manager, Mr. Raine became chief clerk, continuing as such until June of 1909, when upon the resignation of Mr. Wilson he was promoted to be manager. He filled this responsible position to the satisfaction of the company until February 1, 1913, when he resigned. Shortly afterward he associated himself with S. Wright Jewett, and under the firm name of Jewett & Raine engaged in buying and sub-dividing Kern county lands, and the result is that they are doing more to bring new people, not only from different parts of California but from the Middle States and Rocky Mountain region, than any other firm in the business. Both members are native-born Californians and believe in the great future of the state and particularly as Mr. Raine expresses it, "Kern, the county that made California famous."

The residence of Mr. Raine occupies the corner of Twenty-fourth and B streets, Bakersfield, and is graciously presided over by Mrs. Raine, formerly Miss Ann MacMurdo, who was born in Bakersfield, Kern county, where her father, W. R. MacMurdo served for eighteen years as county surveyor and now follows the occupation of a civil engineer. The family of Mr. Raine comprises, besides his wife, their two children, Arthur E., Jr., and Kathleen Ruth. Fraternally he holds membership with the Bakersfield Lodge No. 266, B. P. O. E., and the Native Sons of the Golden West. Upon the organization of the Bakersfield Club he became a charter member and since then he has served as a member of its board of directors.

E. B. CAMPBELL .- The superintendent and manager of the Section 5 Oil Company, the King Refining Company and the Petrophalt Paint Company, is further identified with the Kern river fields through being successor and owner of the Capital City Oil Company, which is now suc- cessfully producing in this district. While having made his home in Cali- fornia since 1892, he is a Canadian by birth, having been born in that country January 15, 1859, the son of a Baptist minister. In the early history of the Kern river field Mr. Campbell became well informed in matters pertaining to oil production, oil refining, the asphalt industry and the manufacture of petrophalt paint which one of his subsidiary companies has produced with success. He first became identified with the so-called Lincoln Oil Company, being persuaded to invest largely in the project upon the representations of the treasurer of the new concern, who was president of the Oakland Bank. Having the utmost confidence in the men at the head of the proposition he did not investigate, but invested in this concern. When he came to the Kern river field he at once saw that the proposition had been grossly mis- represented to him, and that the territory was outside of the real oil field. Immediately he severed his connection with the company as a director and notified his friends of the frauds he had discovered, being fortunate in saving his friends from loss, but unfortunate in losing his own investment.

Having determined with resolute fortitude to regain what he had lost in the place where he had lost it, Mr. Campbell secured a lease on twenty acres and organized the Section 5 Oil Company. In this he likewise met with personal disappointment, as oil declined from ten to fifteen cents per barrel to a point below the cost of production, and he sold out to the Associated Oil Company, receiving stocks and bonds for the company's rights under the original lease. Soon afterward he converted said stocks and bonds into cash and purchased a part of section 9, where he immediately began the work of development. His stockholders maintained implicit faith

986

HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY

in him and later large profits for them justified that confidence. The Section 5 Oil Company now owns the holdings on section 9, where it has eight pro- ducing wells with a monthly production of several thousand barrels.

The credit of building the first refinery in the Kern river fields belongs to Mr. Campbell, who became interested in the subject through the repre- sentations of an enthusiastic employe, formerly connected with a Standard oil refinery. After much discussion and study he resolved to put in a small refinery and this he built himself. Although built on a small scale it demon- strated the feasibility of refining the Kern river oil and the value of the by-product and asphalt for street paving. He organized a stock company called the King Refining Company, named after the late W. B. King, attor- ney-at-law, of San Francisco. The stock was sold to a few of their friends, being a close corporation. Only a small proportion of the stock was sold, and the industry was built up mainly from the earnings of the corporation. The company has surpassed the most sanguine expectations of its stock- holders. It erected a refinery which ran the first seven years day and night without shutting down, and is still running at a capacity of seven hundred tons of asphalt per month. The residuum oils are taken by certain other oil manufacturing concerns and largely used in the manufacture of lubricants.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

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 95

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