History of Los Angeles county, Volume II, Part 10

Author: McGroarty, John Steven, 1862-1944
Publication date: 1923
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 840

USA > California > Los Angeles County > History of Los Angeles county, Volume II > Part 10

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).

Kartsook Photo.

axepela @ Kaufmann

HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY

American Legion ; Pasadena Lodge No. 272, F. and A. M., and with the Phi Delta Phi legal fraternity. Both he and his wife are members of the Lake Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church at Pasadena.

On February 24, 1919, Judge Newell was united in marriage with Miss Corinne M. Burns, who was born and reared at Santa Ana, California, where her parents, Mr. and Mrs. C. W. Burns, still maintain their home. Mrs. Newell is a popular figure in the social activities of Pasadena, where she is a member of the Browning Club.

MRS. ANGELA C. KAUFMAN, civic crusader and organizing genius of international experience, through her broad spirit of human sympathy and helpfulness to His "little ones," to those "sick and in prison," has car- ried into life the symbolism of the name she bears and merits the title of "angel of the jail."

But she is far more than that, and in addition to the thousands whom she has aided in and out of prison, she has set in motion agencies for the benefit of hundreds of thousands through fundamental machinery for social civic service in human engineering. She is president and founder of the Independent Business Women's Association, organized with thou- sands of members and international headquarters in the Garland Build- ing, Los Angeles. This will provide a home and training for young women on far-reaching basic lines.

Calling for the co-ordination of all legal, official and civic forces, Mrs. Kaufman has taken the lead in a crusade to abolish the narcotic traffic of the nation. She organized a company which produced the vital motion picture film, "The Greater Menace," written by Mrs. Kaufman from her experiences in fighting the dope evil. This is a call to the nation to awaken to the evil which holds over a million Americans in its grip.

Another step mothered by Mrs. Kaufman, "the Universal Mother," is the proposed California act to legitimatize all children. A name and legal status she holds is the God-given right of every child "trailing clouds of glory from God, which is its home."

Angela C. Kaufman came to California in August, 1917, and very shortly after plunged into activities which have given her not a day of vacation since. In 1920 she spent eleven months in China, Japan and the Philippines studying the dope and similar problems among the people of every great Oriental city.

To go into the highways and byways seeking to help those who have fallen, and above all to bring about conditions where boys and girls can be helped before they fall into mistakes which lead to crimes, Mrs. Whit- tle, 1009 Galena Avenue, Pasadena, has long taken the "boys" paroled or discharged from prison, giving them a chance to be decently cared for until they can secure employment. For this service, carried out with loyal interest, she receives from Mrs. Kaufman ten dollars for each person, paid from her private funds. Mrs. Kaufman's interest continues in help- ing to find employment and in many ways. She has had scores of wed- · dings performed in her home of girls who within a few weeks became mothers, and every one is still contentedly married. She has secured pro- bation for hundreds in first offenses before they ever came to trial, has visited the jails and prisons in a ministry of divine love. Self-building and the foundation of a new life based on character is the lesson Mrs. Kaufman ever holds before those whom she aids. Criminals and un- fortunates have spent many nights under the hospitable roof-tree of this minister of mercy, and seldom has her faith in humanity been taken ad- vantage of.

Mrs. Kaufman is uncompromisingly opposed to the death penalty, carrying her active hours into efforts to have repealed this dark blot upon civilization.

A young woman of fine social graces and financial responsibilities, Angela C. Kaufman has so spiritualized her entire life that time, income and energy are all expended on those who are friendless. That she has

HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY

co-ordination is shown by such attorneys as David Welts, S. S. Hahn and others defending cases which she has aided with no idea of compensa- tion.

She is striving to build a better social order, but does not fail, like the great Master whom she has chosen as her pattern to lift up the fallen and heal the broken hearted who come to her from the present bankrupt social system. A modern Joan of Arc, she has listened to the voice of the inner whispers and, unafraid, has unfurled the banner of the crusader. To legitimatize all children, to have all mothers and children sheltered, to give business women and office girls the social opportunities, to abolish the traffic in narcotics, to do away with the death penalty-these are some of the various weapons with which Angela C. Kaufman is doing her share as a true Angeleno to make Los Angeles the center from which goes forth a bright light that shall illumine a nation's darkness and share in the usher- ing into being of a glorious New Civilizaton.

RICHARD D. DAVIS, JR. The activities of the real estate man are varied and the responsibilities resting upon him are important, for it lies within his province to foster a local spirit in making men proud of and interested in their community. This accomplished, the progressive realtor reaches out for wider fields and endeavors to attract to his city new blood and capital. He in a measure develops the policies of his community, popularizes it and develops its interests and directs the investment of its revenues and securities. At Pasadena the part played by men of this class is so important as to command respect, and one of the men who for several years has gained a strong position through the possession of the characteristics necessary to the success- ful prosecution of the real estate business is Richard D. Davis, Jr., of the Davis-Baker Company.

Mr Davis is a native Californian, and was born at Sacramento, November 6, 1895, a son of Richard D. and Leila (Stevenson) Davis. His father was born at Guelph, Canada, but as a young man came to California and for a time was in business at Sacramento, later moving to San Francisco, where he carried on successful operations in dry goods until the great earthquake and fire. Following this he retired from active business pursuits, but still has considerable large real estate interests at Pasadena, where he makes his home. Mrs. Davis died at Sacramento in 1898.

After attending the grammar and high schools of San Francisco and Pasadena, Richard D. Davis, Jr., spent four years at St. Andrews College, Toronto, Canada, and then enrolled as a student at Occidental College, Los Angeles. He had attended that institution for three years when the United States entered the World war, and Mr. Davis enlisted in the United States Navy, going to the Officers' Training Camp at Annapolis, Maryland, where he spent a period of six months in training. He was then assigned to the U. S. Battleship Arizona and subsequently saw much overseas service. Honorably discharged in . February, 1919, he returned to Pasadena and in March of that year became identified with the automobile business, with which, how- ever, he was connected only a short time. He received his intro- duction to the real estate business in the office of the William Wilson Company of Pasadena, and in September, 1921, formed a partnership with Harrison R. Baker, under the firm style of Davis-Baker Company. Mr. Davis went into the field because he recognized its possibilities and had faith in his special fitness for the work, and through his energy and determination has assisted his concern into the foremost ranks within a short period. The company carries on a general real estate business and handles insurance and investments, and has been the medium through which a number of large and important transfers have been effected. Mr. Davis is a man of energy and progres- siveness. Whenever he enters upon anything he keeps up his en-

HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY

thusiasm sufficiently to see it carried through to a successful con- clusion, and even then does not lose interest, but keeps in touch with its progress. Although still a young man, his judgment is acted upon by many who place a high valuation upon his advice, always sufficiently conservative to make it safe. The offices of the company are at 223 Boston Building. Mr. Davis is a republican, but has had no political yearnings. He belongs to the American Legion, the Cauldron Club of Pasadena, the Pasadena Country Club, the Pasadena Golf Club, the Pasadena Chamber of Commerce and the Pasadena Optimists Club. His religious connection is with the Presbyterian Church.

On May 31, 1918, at Pasadena, Mr. Davis married Miss Mildred Baer, a daughter of John Willis Baer, a sketch of whose career will be found elsewhere in this work. Mrs. Davis, who, like her husband, belongs to one of the most highly respected families of Pasadena, was born at Medford, Massachusetts, and is a woman of many attain- ments, having been splendidly educated at Bishop's School, a poly- technic institute, and at Dobbs Ferry. They are the parents of two children : Richard D. III and Donald Baer, both born at Pasadena.

C. J. DAMM. A certain interest attaches to the individual who owns the largest object of its kind in a certain community, whether it be a professional practice, a personal belonging, or a business industry. In order that a man attain such ownership he must necessarily possess certain attributes beyond the mediocre, and he is accordingly rendered tribute by his fellows. In this category is found C. J. Damm, the proprietor of the largest individual painting establishment in Los Angeles County, who is now devoting himself exclusively to the painting of automobiles.

Mr. Damm was born at Ashland, Pennsylvania, January 28, 1881, and is a son of Jacob and Gabriel (Mayer) Damm. His father was born in Europe, and was still a small lad when brought by his parents to the United States, the family settling in Pennsylvania. Jacob Damm was a contractor in driving tunnels in the Keystone State, and his vocation was the cause of his death, the dust from the rocks through which it was necessary to drill settling on his lungs, with the result that he passed away when only twenty-nine years of age, at Ashland, Pennsylvania. Mrs. Damm, a native of Alsace-Lorraine, still sur- vives her husband as a resident of Los Angeles. She and her husband were the parents of three children : C. J .; Mrs. Earl Baldwin, of Guil- ford, Connecticut ; and Frank, of Los Angeles.

C. J. Damm attended the public schools of Ashland, Pennsylvania, but was not able to secure much of an education as he was only a lad when his father died and. being the eldest of the children, was called upon early to contribute to the family's income. His first occupation, when at an age when most boys are still attending grammar school and enjoying boyish pastimes, was as a coal breaker in the Penn- sylvania coal fields, this vocation claiming his energies until he reached the age of seventeen years. He then went to the City of Newark, New Jersey, and for a time was employed in the iron foundries at Coremaker, and when he left that position it was to go to New York City, where he began to learn the trade of carriage painter for the Brewster Company. From New York he went to New Haven, Connecticut, where he worked in the same line for S. K. Page, and when automobiles began to take the place of carriages, entered the employ of A. T. Demearest, in the line of automobile painting. He spent about three years with Mr. Demearest, and was then for a like period again with Mr. Page, and eleven months following the earth- quake came to San Francisco, where he remained about nine months; working for Larkins & Company, automobile painters. His next location was at Los Angeles, where he was associated with McMullen,

HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY

the automobile painter, and after three years came to Pasadena, where he took charge of the painting shop connected with I. D. Collins' automobile business. After two years, in 1912, he embarked in business on his own account, at Union and Broadway, and at the present time has the largest individual painting shop in Los Angeles County, as well as the best equipped. He devotes himself to auto- mobile painting exclusively in the line of his trade, but also manu- factures Damm's Enamel Cleaner and Damm's Varnish Cleaner, both of which have a large sale. During the World war Mr. Damm enlisted in the heavy artillery branch of the United States Army, but before his contingent got into action the armistic was signed. In politics he is a republican, but does not take an active part in public affairs or political controversies, although a good citizen and a supporter of worthy community movements. He joined the Knights of Pythias while at New Haven, Connecticut, and now belongs to that order at Pasadena, in addition to which he is a life member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks No. 672 of this city.

On October 26, 1901, at Pasadena, Mr. Damm married Miss Mildred H. McIntire, who was born in Ohio, but educated in the schools of Pasadena, to which city she was brought as a child of five years. Their pleasant and attractive home is located at 645 North Mentor Avenue.

HIRAM SINSABAUGH. Though a resident of Los Angeles only about a dozen years, Hiram Sinsabaugh made himself a power for good in the constructive development of the community and many of his former busi- ness associates and fellow citizens still recall and cherish his memory after more than thirty years have lapsed since his death.

He was born in Norwich, Ohio, March 2, 1832, son of David Sinsa- baugh. As a young man he was graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University, and also finished a theological course and fitted himself for the Methodist ministry. For several years he was pastor of churches and presiding elder in Ohio, also preached at Iowa City, Iowa, and for a time was a pastor at Blairsville, Pennsylvania. While there on account of failing health he resigned and with his family removed to Denver, Colorado. He then gave up the ministry, and in an effort to recover his health lived in the open and did surveying, though occasionally he supplied pulpits where the regular ministers were absent. Doctor Sinsabaugh married for his first wife Sarah L. Mccullough of Ohio. With his wife and six children he removed to California in 1881, and his wife died soon afterward. In 1885 he married Mrs. Mary R. Voss of Rushville, Indiana, of an old American family of Revolutionary stock.

In Los Angeles Doctor Sinsabaugh became prominently interested in financial affairs. He helped organize the Broadway Bank which later merged with the Citizens Bank, and was a director of the old University Bank and director of the Los Angeles National Bank, since changed to the First National Bank. He served as president of the Los Angeles City Council and took a very deep interest in all matters of civic welfare and public charity. He was one of the organizers of the Humane Society and was a director of the University of Southern California. It was through his initiative that the Rosedale Cemetery was founded, and he served as president of the Rosedale Cemetery Association. He was also the first president of the State Mutual Building and Loan Association.

Dr. Hiram Sinsabaugh died in May, 1892. He was survived by his widow, Mrs. Mary R. Sinsabaugh, for over thirty years. Mrs. Sinsabaugh passed away March 7, 1923, having been a resident of Los Angeles for thirty-eight years. Doctor Sinsabaugh's oldest son, George Sinsabaugh. was prominent in business and Masonic circles up to the time of his death in 1903. Two daughters are also deceased. Mrs. Mary S. Gallup and Hettie Sinabaugh who died in infancy. The surviving children are: Mrs. Emma S. Keith of Oakland, Mrs. Helen Cherington of San Diego, Simpson M. Sinsabaugh, and Miss Lucy D. Sinsabaugh of Los Angeles.

grauseure Slimani

HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY

G. LAWRENCE STIMSON has gained prominence as one of the repre- sentative architects and builders in the City of Pasadena, and has been the designer and builder of many of the finest residences in this city and its vicinity, his operations being conducted under the title of the G. Lawrence Stimson Company and his office headquarters being maintained at 431 Chamber of Commerce Building. Mr. Stimson was not yet three years of age when his parents established their home at Pasadena, which then had no railroad facilities and few metropolitan pretensions. It has been a matter of gratification to him that he has not only witnessed but has also been able to contribute to the splendid civic and material development and progress of this idyllic city, and he is one of its most loyal and appreciative "boosters." In his profession he has been closely identified with the up- building of Pasadena and its beautiful suburban districts. He has been the designer and builder of many of the most modern and attractive resi- dences on South Orange Grove Avenue and in the Oak Knoll District, and he has the distinction of being the first architect in California to design and build bungalows and other types of houses of the white-stucco order, in which field his artistic ideals have been shown to fine advantage.

Mr. Stimson was born at Washington Court House, judicial center of Washington County, Ohio, on the 22d of June, 1882, and is a son of George W. and Jennie (Wickersham) Stimson, of whom more specific mention is made on other pages, in the personal sketch of George W. Stimson. The subject of this review received the advantages of various private schools, in California and elsewhere, and he attended the Pasadena High School, studied two years in schools in Europe, and he was a student also in Throop Institute, now known as the California Institute of Tech- nology. After his technical studies had duly fortified him he initiated his activities in connection with architectural designing, and later he was for a time associated with the jewelry business of J. B. Hudson & Sons of Minneapolis, Minnesota. In 1906 he established himself in business at Pasadena, where he has achieved unqualified success as an architect and builder and where he is known and valued as a progressive citizen who takes loyal interest in all things pertaining to the communal welfare.

The original conception of the unit idea of gas furnace heating and the greatest control of such units by electricity was first conceived by Mr. Stimson, and the first unit furnace and first electrically controlled furnace was especially made, according to his specifications, to be used in Stimson houses. Experiments were conducted for him of hydraulic pressure and electricity, and he finally decided upon the latter. It was a year or more before others began to copy the idea, which today is quite prevalent.

Mr. Stimson was a director of the old Crown City Savings Bank of Pasadena, the National Bank of Pasadena, the First National Bank of South Pasadena, and the South Pasadena Trust & Savings Bank, all of which have since been merged into or with other banking institutions. He is aligned in the ranks of the republican party, is a member of the Valley Hunt Club, and in the Masonic fraternity is affiliated with Corona Lodge No. 324, F. and A. M., besides having received the thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite.

At Pasadena, on the 9th of September, 1911, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Stimson and Miss Florantine T. Coombs, who was born, reared and educated at Brooklyn, New York, where her mother, Mrs. Marie de Beixedon Coombs, still resides. Her grandfather was a member of a distinguished French family. Mr. and Mrs. Stimson have one daughter, Florantine Louise.

HJALMAR JOHNSON. In 1903 there came into the port of Los Angeles a Swedish ship on its way from Japan. When it steamed away again it unknowingly left behind a hidden sailor lad who for five years had known no other home than the sea. He was weary of its limitations and longed for a different life, although he had had no preparation for it, but these five years of struggle and hardship had made him courageous and self

HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY

reliant. Thus, almost penniless and unable to speak a word of the English language, Hjalmar Johnson, who is now one of Pasadena's successful business men and universally respected citizens, became a resident of Cali- fornia. In his simply told story there is much to interest the casual reader, while it contains a world of inspiration for others whose fate it is to start out in life handicapped by poverty and lack of every social advantage.

Hjalmar Johnson was born in the Province of Bohuslan, Sweden, Feb- ruary 5, 1884. He was the only child of John and Mary (Johnson) Van Nesman, the latter of whom still lives in Sweden. His father, a deep sea fisherman, was accidentally drowned before the son was born, and since coming to the United States Mr. Johnson has borne his mother's name. She was left in very poor circumstances, but did what she could for her son in the way of schooling and saw that he was confirmed in the parish church. By the time he was fourteen years old the youth realized that he must try in some way to provide for himself and care for his beloved mother, with the result that he, like his unfortunate father, became a deep sea fisherinan, and before he abandoned the life of a sailor, had twice sailed around the world. While his book education had naturally been very limited, the experiences of travel could not help but broaden his mind even in rough surroundings.

When Mr. Johnson escaped from the Swedish vessel in the California port he had resourcefulness enough to securely hide himself, for he had no intention of continuing on the sea, and if found by the officers of the boat would have been carried back to Sweden to serve a prison sentence of two years. With $3.55 in his pocket, his sole capital, he started out to find work, and for a time was employed at Los Angeles, splicing cables, after which he came to Pasadena, and here was employed among the first cement mixers and layers, work done by hand, and for three months worked in concrete on North Raymond Avenue, for 20 cents an hour and lived in a tent, after which he found work in the fruit orchards.

When winter came and less outside work was at hand Mr. Johnson managed to find work at shoe cobbling, and won a small wage in this way. while on Saturady evenings he offered his services to other shops for noth- ing, in order to learn the details of the trade. By constant industry, thrift and self denial, he was able in 1911 to take a course in Potts' Business College, and with this preparation, and a cash capital of $13, he started into business for himself, securing a corner of a small harness shop, where he went to work in the old fashioned way in the shoe repairing business. Later, when the harnessmaker went out of business, he enlarged his quar- ters and began to sell shoes, his first purchase of stock being one dozen wide-width men's shoes. Today Mr. Johnson occupies the entire building in which he began with a corner shoe bench but a few years ago. He con- ducts one of the large and reliable shoe stores of the city, under the name of the Johnson Shoe Shop. On one side of his large store he has installed the most modern shoe repairing machinery in use, while on the other side he carries a large and carefully selected shoe stock. He gives employment to sixteen shoe men, two clerks and a bookkeeper, and supervises his entire establishment with great care that his patrons shall be well and honestly served. He has worked hard, but his creed is that hard work hurts no one, and also that one of the best means to success is honest work, and he has often been heard to say "give your employer the best that is in you and it will pay you better than watching the clock."

Mr. Johnson married at Pasadena on April 15, 1906, Miss Anna M. Westling, who was born also in Sweden, and was sixteen years old when she came alone to the United States, living for a time before coming to Pasadena in Chicago, Illinois. They have two sons, Leonard H. and Arthur V. The family home is at No. 1281 East Orange Grove Avenue. Mrs. Johnson belongs to the Eastern Star, the Rebekahs and the Vasa Order of America.

In political sentiment Mr. Johnson is a republican. He is a Knight Templar Mason and a member of the Eastern Star. He belongs to the

HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY

lodge of Elks at Pasadena and is a member of the Grand Lodge of Cali- fornia and on the committee on laws of subordinate lodges; to the Lions Club of Pasadena ; the Independent Order of Foresters ; American Yeomen; Fraternal Brotherhood ; the Vasa Order of America; and to the Pasadena Chamber of Commerce and the Pasadena's Merchants Association. With his family he belongs to the Swedish Lutheran Church at Pasadena.

WILLIAM B. WILKINSON. The importing and manufacturing estab- lishment of the Wilkinson-Scott Company is one of the busiest and most successfully managed trade establishments in the field of lighting fixtures maintained at Pasadena. This business, formerly the Webster Company, has enjoyed a splendid growth during recent years, and much of the credit for its development must be given to William B. Wilkinson, secretary and treasurer of the concern, and a man of sound ability and broad experience.

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 Los Angeles county, Volume II, Part 10

Author: McGroarty, John Steven, 1862-1944 Publication date: 1923 Publisher: Number of Pages: 840

Author: McGroarty, John Steven, 1862-1944
Publication date: 1923
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 840