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 96

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 96

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).

Still another industry growing out of the refinery business and under the management of Mr. Campbell is the manufacture of petrophalt paint, now being made on a large scale by a company known as the Petrophalt Paint Company and located in the Kern river field. This paint is non-cor- rosive and a most excellent preservative, and is extensively used in painting oil and gas pipes. Three coats of the paint ordinarily make pipes immune to rust and well-nigh everlasting. This company has been doing business about five years and has painted several hundred miles of oil lines, this paint being considered one of the best preservers of iron when buried in the ground or subjected to salt water or alkali. It is also used very largely now by all large concerns on the coast, such as the Associated Oil Company. the Southern Pacific and Santa Fe Railways in their oil departments, the Southern California Edison Company, the Lacey Manufacturing Company and the Llewellyn Iron Works, and is now being handled extensively by such concerns as Fairbanks-Morse, J. F. Lucey Company, the Associated Supply Company, and by nearly all of the other large supply houses on the Pacific coast. The paint is now becoming very popular for the painting of steel structures and all metal surfaces either hot or cold, being used for heated surfaces such as smoke stacks and boiler fronts, and is also being used largely for roof paint on account of its lasting qualities.

At times it has been thought that the Sunset and Midway fields with their gushers were so far superior to the Kern river fields, that comparison became absurd. If, however, the steady production of the Kern river fields is taken into account it will be seen that the latter field is one of the greatest importance. Take for instance well No. 1 of the Section 5 Oil Company. located on the county road in section 9: It was the first one put down by Mr. Campbell and has now produced steadily for twelve years. Its pro- duction keeps right up to fifty barrels per day and produces as much now as ever, 18,250 per year, or 219,000 barrels since it was drilled, at fifty cents per barrel. It has produced more than $100,000 in wealth. Thẻ Kern river field is therefore one of the best paying propositions in existence.

The oil storage in the Kern river field is the largest of any field in the world, the soil being of such a nature as to hold oil in earthen reservoirs of enormous capacity, running from four hundred and fifty thousand (450,000) to one million barrels each. The Standard Oil Company is the first in capacity, with approximately fifty million barrels, besides about one hundred thirty-five-thousand-barrel steel tanks. Then come the Associated Oil Com-

987

HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY

pany, Petroleum Development Company and Producers' Transportation Company, which have many million barrels more storage.

Here is also located the first oil pipe line pumping plant. The Standard Oil Associated Pipe Line Company and Independent Transportation Com- pany pump under several hundred pounds pressure threc eight-inch streams of crude oil across the valley and over the mountain to several seaports from San Francisco to Los Angeles and Long Beach harbor. The total cost of these enterprises runs well up to twenty millions of dollars, making the Kern river field the head and one of the greatest oil centers in the world.

HENRY B. TRUE .- Born in Androscoggin county, Me., August 28, 1848, Henry B. True was the son of John True, who died when Henry was a babe. Consequently he was reared on the farm by his mother, working at farm duties and attending school during the winters. In 1865 he came to Windsor, Sonoma county, and in 1867 to Los Angeles county and followed farming near Los Nietos.

On May 26, 1870, Mr. True was married near Porterville to Miss Mary Gilliam, a native of Dallas, Ore., and the daughter of Robert and Julia Ann (Chance) Gilliam, who were born in North Carolina and Logan county Ky., respectively. Crossing the plains in 1846 with ox-teams to Oregon Mr. Gilliam took a Donation Land Claim. In 1858 he came to Contra Costa county, Cal., and afterward to Stockton. In 1864 he located in Visalia and in 1865 in Porterville. The father died in Dallas, Ore .. while the mother, aged eighty-nine years, makes her home with her daughter, Mrs. True. The latter is a near relative of Gen. Cornelius Gilliam, a pioneer Indian fighter in Oregon, who had command of the soldiers against the Indians and was killed by the accidental discharge of a gun. Mrs. True is the third eldest of a family of eleven children.

Coming to Kern county in 1872, Mr. True worked at the blacksmith trade in Glennville until 1878, when he started the first blacksmith shop in Weldon, continuing in business there for five years. He then purchased his present place of one hundred and sixty acres three miles east of Weldon and has improved the place so it is under irrigation, and he is engaged in raising alfalfa, grain, cattle and hogs and meeting with merited success.

Mr. and Mrs. True have one child, Lillian D., now Mrs. Diment, of Exeter. Mrs. True has aided her husband materially in his efforts to siic- cess and is a member of the Presbyterian church. Mr. True was a member of the board of school trustees of the Weldon district for eighteen years and politically is a Democrat.

C. C. LITTLE .- Some distance above the point where the waters of the Penobscot empty into the ocean and lying on the eastern bank of that turbid, restless stream, lies the quiet little city of Bucksport, near which for many years J. L. and Fannie (Blood) Little have made their home on a farm. At the same old homestead occurred the birth of C. C. Little on the 26th of April, 1884, and in all probability his life might have been passed in the community had not ill health forced him to seek a less rigorous climate. His common-school education had been completed and he had carried on the studies of the East Maine conference seminary at Bucksport for some time, when the failure of his health cut short his seminary course and caused him to seek a more genial climate than that of his own state. Arriving in Cali- fornia during August of 1904, he entered the Chestnut Woods Business College at Santa Cruz, from which he was graduated in July of 1905. Mean- while he had been restored to fair health by the invigorating influence of the sunny western climate.

A brief period of service as bookkeeper in San Francisco to H. H. Blood, president of the Gold Peak Mining Company, convinced Mr. Little that outdoor occupation would better conserve his health. Accordingly

988

HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY

in December, 1905, he was transferred to the company's headquarters in the Amelia mining district of Kern county and was given a position as assayer and superintendent of the cyanide plant. A course of study in a school of mines in San Francisco had qualified him for such work and he filled the responsible position with intelligence and adaptability. From that district he went to Piute in the fall of 1909 and engaged in the building of a mill and concentrating plant for the Little Mining Company, owners and operators of the Lulu mine. Since February of 1912 he has acted as proprietor of the Caliente hotel, a two-story concrete building, of fireproof construction and convenient interior arrangement. Being independent in his attitude toward public questions, he has not identified himself with any political party, nor is he particularly interested in fraternal affairs, although holding membership with the Woodmen of the World in Bakersfield. In the supervision of the hotel he has been assisted by his wife, who was Miss Nettie Fitch, of Bakersfield, a native of that city and educated in its schools. They are the parents of two daughters, Margaret and Mabel.

FRANK MERRILL WORTHINGTON .- The superintendent of the San Joaquin division of the Southern Pacific Railroad is a member of a pioneer family of the west and himself claims California as his native com- monwealth. The Worthington genealogy goes back to the colonial era of American history and the records show that Timothy Worthington mar- ried Maria Merrill February 12, 1823, at Hebron, Washington county, N. Y., whence they soon removed to the then frontier of Indiana and took up a tract of raw land in Elkhart county near the village of York. From them the lineage is traced through their son, Samuel Merrill Worthington, a native of Hebron, N. Y., but from early life familiar with the vicissitudes incident to existence upon the frontier. The discovery of gold in California turned his attention toward the far west and with several friends he determ- ined to seek the mines. The young men boarded a sailing vessel in New York City and sailed around the Horn. The voyage was one of great hard- ship. For seventy days they were becalmed. Meanwhile the supply of food and water ran short. Every heart was filled with joy when finally the vessel entered the Golden Gate and discharged its passengers in San Fran- cisco, whence naturally a rush was made for the mines. After several years as miners the young men decided to go back to the east and return with stock and implements to aid in farming. Two young men went back with Mr. Worthington and they became brothers-in-law by marrying three sisters.

The marriage of Samuel Merrill Worthington took place in Granville, Licking county, Ohio, March 4, 1858, and united him with Miss Julia Ann Hillyer, a native of that town. The young couple spent a few months in Indiana and then joined a party bound for California. Owing to trouble with the Indians the government stopped all travel across the plains, which forced them to remain at Leavenworth, Kan., for some time. The journey was resumed in April of 1859 with a train of thirty wagons, some drawn by oxen and others by horses. As Mr. Worthington was then in ill health his wife drove their four-horse team and also cared for her small babe, besides ministering to the invalid. To those who had taken the trip and knew of its roughness she was a heroinc. At times it was necessary to chain the four wheels of the wagon, on the rear of which all of the men would ride, in order to prevent a somersault, as the way was rough and steep. Only one wagon could be taken down at a time. About fifty men were in the party. They started with a thousand head of cattle, but many perished on the way because of the scarcity of feed and water.

The trip was full of danger and anxiety. The train ahead of them had been attcked by savages and some of the travelers had been massacred. The train following them also met with misadventure and losses from

7 M Worthingtoni

991

HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY

Indians. This party fortunately escaped, although they had several encount- ers with the Indians. They always found that kindness won. At one time they were forced to sell a pony rather than incur the enmity of their unde- sired guests. Two of the white men, while hunting for camp quarters. suspected Indians of a theft and determined to bring them back to camp for justice. Wiser men realized the mistake, but the two persisted in a spirit of fun. Thus they incurred the enmity of the Indians, who vowed to have their scalps. Intercessions were made and the Indians were persuaded to leave, but they departed in anger. The train had two very anxious days. At every moment they feared an attack by the savages in retaliation for the trouble. Meanwhile a consultation was held and the party decided, in case the two men were demanded, they would be given up, as they alone should suffer the consequences of their own deed. The entire party already had gone through the experience of viewing a war-dance and bonfire and they did not wish to continually encounter Indians during the remainder of the trip. Fortunately, however, nothing further was heard concerning the matter.

It was the custom at camping time to form a corral with wagons with the men taking turns as guards. On one occasion they camped for several days to permit the cattle to rest and the women to do their baking and laun- dering (for they had more conveniences than previous trains), Indians sud- denly appeared. Spying a tiny babe, the smaller of the two infants in the company, they determined to possess the child, and it was with difficulty that they were dissuaded from their purpose. In order to refuse them yet retain their friendship, various articles were bestowed upon them as peace offerings. The train never traveled on Sunday unless for lack of feed and water. Toward the last provisions became very scarce and when finally the party reached Sacramento in October, 1859, they greatly enjoyed a feast of potatoes and salt, the former bought at cost of twenty cents per pound.

From Sacramento the members of the expedition scattered in various directions. Mr. and Mrs. Worthington went to San Lorenzo, Alameda county, where a sister of the latter was located, having preceded them to California via Panama. Having been reared to farm work, Mr. Worthington decided to engage in ranching and he selected a claim in Santa Clara county in the foothills between Milpitas and Warm Springs. There he remained for some time, but eventually the Nevada mining excitement made him rest- less and desirous of a change, so he took his wife and three children over the mountains by team to Dayton, Nev., where he was employed in the mills as amalgamator. However, the climate of Nevada did not agree with his wife and she returned to California, accompanied by the three children. The only accident of the trip was caused by meeting a team between sta- tions on a steep and narrow grade, which resulted in the loss of a second wagon containing freight. On their return to California the family settled at Haywards, Alameda county, and about 1870 the father returned from Nevada to resume agricultural pursuits. Of a strong religious nature he and his wife were charter members of the Haywards Congregational Church and he served as an official until his death. Of a gentle, retiring nature, he was never so happy as when surrounded by his family or able to aid some one. The end came in accord with his life, so quietly that not even the loved companion by his side knew of the call until he was gone; always desirous of not becoming a burden, his prayer had been answered. Of his family there survive only Frank M. and Cora M. The latter married John Penney in October, 1880, and they have an only daughter, California Myrtle Penney. who in February, 1911, became the wife of Dr. Robert D. Healey, a very successful osteopathic physician. The Penney and Healey families reside at Pacific Grove, Monterey county.

992

HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY

Born near Hayward, Alameda county, Cal., March 11, 1862, Frank Mer- rill Worthington was educated in local schools and Heald's Business College in San Francisco (of which he is a graduate), also the University of Cali- fornia. During 1880 he became baggageman with the Southern Pacific Rail- road Company at Madison, Yolo county, where he learned telegraphy. Next he became a brakeman and then was made conductor between Elmira and Madison. During September of 1886 he resigned and went to Los Angeles, where later he worked under Superintendent Muir of the Southern Pacific. After a short service as brakeman between Los Angeles and Bakersfield in 1887 hie became conductor between Los Angeles and Kern. Upon the death of his father he resigned his position in order to settle the estate and upon his return in 1894, there having been a change of superintendents, he was obliged to begin again as brakeman, but soon he was promoted to be a conductor and after a time he was selected as traveling conductor. From 1898 to 1900 he served as train master on the San Joaquin division and then became assistant superintendent of the Tucson division. In December of 1906 he was appointed superintendent of the San Joaquin division with his headquarters in Bakersfield. At that time the division included the Southern Pacific from Los Angeles to Fresno with all of the branch lines, also the line between Saugus and Santa Barbara, comprising nine hundred and four miles. Since then the line from Saugus to Santa Barbara has been taken out of the division, but as many new miles have been added, so that the total mileage is practically unchanged.

Besides filling the many responsible duties connected with his prominent position Mr. Worthington acts as a director in the First National Bank of Bakersfield and also in the Producers' Savings Bank. Politically he keeps posted concerning national problems and votes with. the Republican party. He was made a Mason in Bakersfield No. 224, F. & A. M., member of Kern Valley Lodge No. 75, R. A. M., and Bakersfield Commandery, K. T. His family have been identified with the Emanuel Presbyterian Church of that city. His marriage took place at Hayward, Alameda county, April 23, 1882, and united him with Miss Sarah Frances Hampton, a native of Kentucky and a daughter of Henry Hampton, M. D., a pioneer physician of Ventura

county. Mrs. Hampton died in December, 1912, at ninety years of age. The other surviving members of the Hampton family are Mrs. Glenn Wallace and Mrs. Worthington, also three grandchildren, Mrs. A. A. Lee, of Los Angeles, and Edwin and Frances Wallace, of Venice, Cal. Ethel Marguerite, the only child of Mr. and Mrs. Worthington, was married to Arthur Albert Lee in Los Angeles April 23. 1906, and has one son, Merrill Worthington Lee.

ANDRE ANDRE .- Near Gap, Hautes-Alpes, Mr. Andre was born Sep- tember 18, 1854, and trained to till the soil, care for growing crops and tend the flocks of sheep on the home farm. His parents, Ambroise and Marian (Brocheir) André, died in France, the latter during 1875 and the father in 1897. During the decade from 1875 to 1885 the elder André lived in California, but a homesick longing for his beloved native land led him back to France to spend his last days in the midst of the friends and scenes beloved of his youth.

In a family of ten children, only three of whom are now living. André André was the first-born and for that reason he was perhaps unusually self- reliant and industrious. The care of the young children and the necessity to work carly and late that so many might be supported taught him the importance of frugality and industry. As he labored quietly at home he heard much concerning California and early resolved to seek a livelihood in this portion of the new world. At the age of nineteen he left home for New York and thence traveled west. Eighteen days were spent on an emigrant train between New York and San Francisco. After sailing via

André André

995

HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY

steamer on the Pacific from San Francisco he landed at the harbor of San Pedro, September 24, 1874. Ever since then he has kept more or less closely in touch with that city, where for twenty-five years he has owned a residence on Pleasant avenue.

A stockman in Los Angeles county gave the young French lad employ- ment as a sheep-herder and he remained for eighteen months with his first employer, after which he herded sheep for Eugene Garnie for eighteen months and then spent five months in the same work for the San Fernando Company. By 1878 he had saved enough to buy a small flock of sheep. These he ranged in various parts of Los Angeles county, but in 1881 he drove the flock across the Tehachapi mountains, arriving in Kern county on the 3d of December. He continued in the sheep business until 1889, when he sold the flock and returned to Los Angeles. Returning to France in 1890, he spent seven months in the old home neighborhood, and during that visit, October 28, 1890, he married Miss Inez Nichols, who was born in Hautes-Alpes and died in Kern county May 28, 1913. Five children, all at home, form the family of Mr. André, namely : André, Louis, Gabriel, Irene and Inez. The family are communicants of St. Francis Roman Catholic Church.

From 1890 to 1895 Mr. André made his home in Los Angeles, but spent much of his time on the range with his sheep. During 1895 he brought this flock of sheep over the Tehachapi and settled in Kern county, where he devoted his time to the occupation until 1906. At that time he sold the sheep in order that he might devote his attention wholly to farm pursuits. During January of 1904 he had purchased sixty acres on the Kern Island road a few miles south of Bakersfield. This tract he has improved with residence and barns and has developed an abundance of irrigation from the Kern Island canal, so that grain and alfalfa are raised with profit. Dur- ing 1912 he added to his possessions by the purchase of eighty acres on Union avenue. This tract also is under irrigation and is in alfalfa. For the present the larger farm is operated by a tenant, the care and cultivation of the sixty leaving Mr. André no time for more than a close supervision of the other property.

EUGENE RICHARD CARLTON .- The manager of Hotel Carlton at Caliente has been a resident of California from early childhood, but claims South Dakota as his native commonwealth, having been born at Custer, Custer county, on the 20th of September, 1884. From the age of four years he has lived in California, first in Tulare and then in Kern county. With this portion of the state he is familiar by long residence and active busi- ness identification. Through his kindly efforts he has been enabled to provide a comfortable home for his parents in their declining days, while his energy and enterprise have benefited also his own financial and business standing. The family of which he is a member comes of old southern extraction. His father, A. T., a native of Hickory county, Mo., gave his support to the Union at the time of the Civil war, entering the army and serving as a private until the expiration of his time. After the war he aided in quelling a number of Indian outbreaks and meanwhile had several nar- row escapes. After his marriage in Missouri to Telutha Minter he removed to the Dakotan frontiers and settled on the plains of Custer county, where he entered a claim, proved up on the land, developed a stock ranch and labored indefatigably, but without the merited returns of prosperity and comfort. Hoping to be benefited by a change, in 1888 he brought the family to California and settled at Tulare where with his wife he resides on a small farm within the city limits of Tulare. Among their nine children, six now living, Eugene Richard is the third eldest.

On leaving the Tulare high school Eugene Richard Carlton secured em-

996

HISTORY OF KERN COUNTY

ployment as clerk in a grocery and later conducted the old Exchange gro- cery with considerable success. When he sold out in 1901 he devoted the proceeds of the business to buying a small place for his parents, after which he started anew in the world. A brief experience in the teaming business in Bakersfield provided him with funds utilized in the establishment of the firm of Carlton & Crockett, which in January of 1913 bought the hotel at Caliente. After the building had been remodeled and overhauled, it was opened as the Hotel Carlton, with Mr. Carlton as the affable and popular landlord. Since then he has devoted himself faithfully and intelligently to the management of the hotel, giving little attention to politics aside from voting the Democratic ticket, and taking no part in any fraternities aside from the Eagles and the Improved Order of Red Men. After coming to Kern county he was united in marriage with Miss Effie M. Cootes, of Bakers- field, a native of San Diego, and they have one son, Eugene Richard, Jr.

ROBERT BURTON .- In Des Moines, Iowa, Mr. Burton was born Sep- tember 28, 1877. When only two years of age he lost his father, David Burton, an attorney of prominence, whose untimely death cut short a most hopeful career and left the family without means of support. There was another son, William, two years younger than Robert, and these two were taken into the home of their maternal grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph King, of Kansas City, Mo. When Robert was nine years of age he was orphaned by the death of his mother and two years later he started out to make his own way in the world. From that time forward he was self- supporting. Having always been fond of horses and experienced in their man- agement, he became a jockey and followed the circuit. For a time he worked with Bob Burns. The life was exciting, the experiences thrilling and the work interesting, but the boy whose admirable control of horses won many a cheer in closely contested races lacked the educational opportunities and the refined environment that would have been his if his cultured parents had survived. From the race-track he went to the sea and shipped as cabin-boy from New York City, afterward sailing from one port to another and visiting Japan, China, Africa, South and North America, and the principal seaports of Europe. When he left the sea he returned to jockeying and followed the circuit to San Francisco, where later he was variously engaged, then came to Kern county in 1903 and settled down to learning the oil business. For a time he worked on the San Joaquin division of the Associated and the Peerless lease in the Kern river field.

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 96

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