USA > California > Los Angeles County > History of Los Angeles county, Volume II > Part 2
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Mr. Baehr began his practical associations as an American citizen in 1878 and for a number of years lived in Nebraska. At Omaha he took an active part in politics, and was republican candidate for the City Council in 1888, and for a seat in the Legislature in 1889. During 1894-95 Mr. Baehr was deputy county clerk of Howard County; Nebraska, and from 1895 to 1898 was clerk of the district court.
He was first appointed in the consular service in 1898, serving as American consul at Kehl, in Baden, Germany, for the District of Alsace- Lorraine, with residence at Strasburg, during 1898-99. He was appointed but did not accept the post of consul at Santos, Brazil, and continued in Germany as consul at Magdeburg during 1900-02. For many years Mr. Baehr has been prominently identified officially and in a business way with the City of Cienfuego's, Cuba. He was American consul there from 1902 to 1914, and in the meantime declined advanced appointment as consul-general at Callao, Peru, Buenos Aires, and on the eve of his departure from Cienfuegos the City Council unanimously passed a resolu- tion adopting him as a son of the City of Cienfuegos. After giving up his official residence in Cuba, Mr. Baehr was consul at Berne, Switzerland, during 1914-15, and in September, 1915, resigned from the consular service, having declined appointment as consul at St. Michaels, Azores.
Mr. Baehr is one of the largest property owners in the City of Cien- fuegos. In Long Beach he has become heavily interested in the Signal Hill oil fields. Recently he completed a beautiful residence at 100 Temple Street, one block north of the shores of the Pacific. This home has an ideal location and is one of the most perfect examples of the early Spanish style of architecture. Mr. Baehr is also chairman of the Board of Directors of the Long Beach Morning Sun, first morning newspaper established in Long Beach. Mr. Baehr married Marie A. Zeminek of Omaha, Nebraska, February 17, 1885. They are the parents of four children, two sons and two daughters. Both sons enlisted during the World war.
ANDREW TURNBULL JERGINS has been one of the outstanding figures in the development of the petroleum deposits of Los Angeles County, his name being especially associated with the Signal Hill fields. Mr. Jergins is president and trustee of the A. T. Jergins Trust, petroleum producers, and is also president and trustee of the A. T. Jergins Syndicate.
Mr. Jergins was born at Huntsville, Walker County, Texas, October 15, 1878. In the paternal line his grandparents were born in Ultman, Ger- many, while on his mother's side his grandparents were of French ancestry. He is a son of Jesse Jerome and Elizabeth (Dean) Jergins. His father was a pioneer in the West, living among Indians for a number of years. He was a soldier in the war between Texas and Mexico during the thirties. subsequently a volunteer in the war with Mexico, beginning in 1846, and thirteen years later, in 1861, joined the Confederate Army.
Andrew Turnbull Jergins was reared and educated in Huntsville, Texas, attending the public schools there. His business experience began as office boy for the firm of Clark & Boulder at Waco, Texas, and for a time he was engaged in the cotton business.
Mr. Jergins has been a resident of California since 1899. He entered the real estate field, handling city property in Los Angeles and farm lands in the San Joaquin Valley. He was also one of the promoters of the settling up of the Imperial Valley, operating in that district until 1908. In the lat- ter part of 1908 Mr. Jergins entered the oil business in the Midway oil field
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in Kern County. Largely due to him the discovery of oil was made in what is known as the Midway Flats in the Midway field. His attention was first attracted to the oil territory around Long Beach by a geologists report in 1910. From the latter part of 1911 until the close of 1913 he was abroad traveling throughout the oil fields of Mexico, Roumania and Russia. In 1916 Mr. Jergins became lessee of the Signal Hill oil fields. He instituted some of the early developments that have made that one of the most con- spicuous fields in the entire history of petroleum. During 1916 to 1921 Mr. Jergins carried on his operations in Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas. In 1922 he returned to California and took a lease upon the municipal lands on Signal Hill. His long experience and observation had convinced him that this land, though pronounced not productive by many practical and scientific oil men, had remarkable possibilities, and in the fall of 1922 he put his case to the test by bringing in the first well to the west and later on the first well to the east, thereby greatly extending the proven area of the field.
The A. T. Jergins Trust, of which he is president, handles the develop- ment work and operation of the Long Beach Municipal Oil Lands. Other practical oil men associated with him in the trust are C. M. Cotton, vice president, George L. Craig, treasurer, and Ralph H. Block, secretary. The A. T. Jergins Syndicate, of which he is president and trustee, owns other oil properties on Signal Hill. He is also secretary and director of the Midway Royal Petroleum Company.
Mr. Jergins at the time of the Spanish-American war was under the command of Captain Edward G. Shields in Company M of the Third Texas United States Volunteers. He was stationed with his command at Key West, Florida. He is a member of Westlake Lodge No. 392, F. and A. M .. at Los Angeles, Los Angeles Lodge No. 99, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and belongs to the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, the Long Beach Chamber of Commerce, Los Angeles Athletic Club, Annandale Golf Club of Pasadena, West Shore Gun Club of Los Angeles, and Virginia Country Club of Long Beach.
On June 21, 1902, at Los Angeles, Mr. Jergins was married, and has two sons: Allan A. and Merritt D. Jergins, both graduates of the Los Angeles High School and now attending Stanford University.
CHARLES HENDERSON WINDHAM was twice mayor of Long Beach under the old regime, later resigned from the County Civil Service Com- mission to accept the appointment of postmaster, and recently resigned the Federal office to become city manager of Long Beach.
His many years in public office and long continued activity as a leader in the republican party of Southern California have been the crown of his early successful business career. Mr. Windham has always been identi- fied with the constructive side of business. For a number of years he was engaged in contract work for railroads, has been an officer in several important corporations, and has had a wide experience in real estate and the oil industry. His home has been at Long Beach for nearly twenty years.
It is deserving of comment that City Manager Windham and City Attorney George L. Hoodenpyl of Long Beach are both natives of the same town in Tennessee, McMinnville. Charles H. Windham is a son of James and Feliciana Frances (Hopkins) Windham. His mother died in Redlands, California, in 1905. James Windham was an extensive planter and slave owner in Tennessee, and entered the Confederate Army at the beginning of the Civil war and was killed in the battle of Murfreesboro. Charles H. Windham's brother W. J. Windham died in Redlands, and his brother Thomas H. Windham died in Costa Rica, Central America. All these brothers had an experience as civil engineers and railroad contractors.
Charles H. Windham attended common schools in Tennessee, and later, after taking up a business career, he attended a high school for a time in Oregon. He did railroad construction work all over the West, with the
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awwork in
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HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY
Union Pacific, Northern Pacific, Southern Pacific and also with the Mexi- can National and Costa Rica Railways in Mexico and Central America. He was identified with the building of roads out on the frontiers in Mon- tana, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, California, and also assisted in operating several lines of railroads. He filled every position from water boy to train- master. . Mr. Windham has been president of oil companies and steamship lines, and was the first president of the Long Beach Steamship Company. He acted as general manager of the Western Dredging and Marine Con- struction Company which dragged all the harbors around Long Beach. For twelve years Mr. Windham lived in Spanish-American countries. He was in Central America, an employe of Minor C. Keith, a railway builder, banana grower and exporter. Keith merged his business with the Boston Fruit Company, resulting in the United Fruit Company, the largest ship- pers of bananas in the world, and practically all the bananas consumed in the United States are imported by this company. The company has a hundred ships, and Keith, a resident of New York, is still active as vice- president and general manager.
Mr. Windham served as the first mayor of Long Beach under the charter, his two terms running from 1908 to 1912. It was a period of much constructive activity. He was a delegate to the Republican National Convention at Chicago in 1912. From 1916 to 1922 he was a member of the County Civil Service Commission.
During the World war he was president of the Exemption Board for the Long Beach District, and throughout the war he was chairman of that . organization. Early in 1922 President Harding appointed him postmaster, accepting the choice of Congressman Lineberger for that post, and his appointment was approved by at least ninety per cent of all the residents of Long Beach. He was postmaster about eighteen months, and in December, 1922, resigned to accept the appointment from the City Council as city manager. His appointment was favored by a large number of the most influential citizens of Long Beach, and his term so far has justified fully the great confidence entertained in his administrative and executive abilities.
Mr. Windham is affiliated with Palos Verde Lodge of Masons of Long Beach, Long Beach Lodge No. 888, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and is a member of the Long Beach Chamber of Commerce, Southern California Athletic and Country Clubs and the Christian Church.
On November 16, 1892, at San Jose, Costa Rica, Central America, he married Miss Angelica Bonilla, daughter of Governor Don. Adolpho Bonilla, and granddaughter of President Don Tomas Guardia, who was president of Costa Rica for fourteen years and died in office. Mrs. Windham repre- sented the leading families of Costa Rica.
She is a prominent member of the women's organizations and move- ments in Long Beach, being a member of the Ebell Club, and does a great deal in church and for missionary and charitable causes. During the last four years Mr. and Mrs. Windham have been educating a Chinese boy, Charlie Chio, putting him through a grammar and high school in China, the University of Nanking, and then bringing him to America for a two years' course in theology at Princeton, and in 1923 he finished his education at Yale University and goes back to China as a missionary and preacher.
Mr. and Mrs. Windham are the parents of five children. The daughter Marta is the wife of Max R. Wallace, cashier of the Marine Trust & Sav- ings Bank at Long Beach. Clara is the wife of William N. Reagan, son of J. W. Reagan, flood control engineer. William Reagan was a lieutenant in the Aviation Corps and for twenty-six months and after the war became a vice consul. The son Charles A. married Miss Mary Barnett, of Long Beach. The two unmarried children are Marguerita Windham, aged nineteen, and James, aged seventeen.
ABBOT KINNEY, scientist, writer and publisher, founder of towns and upbuilder of communities, successful business man, a patron of institutions, was one of the most useful citizens who ever lived in Los Angeles County
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HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY
and had been so esteemed long before his death, which occurred November 4, 1920.
He died just a few days before his seventieth anniversary. He was born at Brookside, New Jersey, November 16, 1850, son of Franklin Sherwood and Mary (Cogswell) Kinney, both descendants of old Colonial families. He lived for a number of years during his youth in the City of Washington, with his uncle, James Dixon, United States senator from Connecticut. To complete his education he went to Europe, was a student at Heidelberg, Germany, and also in France and Switzerland. On re- turning to Washington he entered the tobacco business. He was one of the first American manufacturers to study and introduce the use of foreign grown tobacco. He went to Turkey and made a personal study of Turkish methods of manufacturing cigarets. In 1877 Mr. Kinney started a three year tour of the world. One year of this was spent in Egypt. He arrived in San Francisco in 1880, and on account of snow blockades came to Southern California, and his visits determined him to make this his per- manent home. He secured a large tract of unimproved land in the vicinity of Sierra Madre, and set about making a beautiful home out of the waste. From that time until his death his enterprise was directed to many large scale affairs. In 1894 he founded the City of Ocean Park. Just twenty years later, in 1904, he founded Venice of America, one of Los Angeles County's most conspicuous amusement centers. He was the builder and proprietor of the Venice of America Aquarium for California Coast fishes. and also of the Venice Marine Biological Station of the University of Southern California. He was also president of three mercantile concerns and a railway company, and in 1900 became proprietor and publisher of the Los Angeles Saturday Post.
A man of broad and liberal culture, and a forceful executive, he ac- cepted many opportunities for constructive public service. In 1883 he was appointed a special commissioner with Helen Hunt Jackson to investi- gate the conditions of the mission Indians of Southern California. In 1873 he served as an officer of the United States Geological Survey, and from 1884 to 1887 was chairman of the California State Board of For- esters, being appointed after that board was created. He held the rank of major in the California National Guard from 1888 to 1892. He was president of the Southern California Academy of Sciences from 1890 to 1900, president of the Southern California Pomological Society from 1882 to 1892, and president of the Southern California Forest and Water Societies from 1896 to 1909. He also served as vice president for Cali- fornia for the American Forestry Association, as vice president of the Water and Forestry Association of Los Angeles County, and president of the California Forestry Society.
His studies and researches in the scientific and literary field resulted in a number of pamphlets on forestry, political economy and other subjects, and he was also author of several books, including: Conquest of Death, published in 1893 ; Tasks by Twilight, published in 1893 ; Eucalyptus, 1895 ; Forest and Water, 1901 ; What Men do for their Nerves, in 1911. He was president of the first library board of Santa Monica. Mr. Kinney was buried at Santa Monica beside his first wife and his deceased children. His funeral was preached by Rev. C. W. Hollister, rector of the Church of the Good Shepherd.
On November 18, 1884, Abbot Kinney married Margaret Thornton, daughter of James Dabney Thornton, of San Francisco, a former justice of the Supreme Court of California. In March, 1913, Mr. Kinney mar- ried Mrs. Winifred Harwell Kinney, daughter of Courtland Harwell.
There are four sons, all active members and officials of the Abbot Kinney Company. Thornton, president, of the company ; Sherwood, secre- tary and treasurer ; Innes, director ; and Carleton, vice president and super- intendent of construction.
Thornton Kinney was born in Santa Monica, October 16, 1886, and. was educated in the public schools and Throop Polytechnic Institute.
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HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY
After finishing his education he had charge of the Kinnelon Ranch for ten years, and then also acted as secretary of the Abbot Kinney Company. Mr. Thornton Kinney is a member of the Chamber of Commerce of Venice, the Brentwood Country Club and is a democrat. During the World war he was in the Merchant Marine. Besides being president of the Abbot Kin- ney Company he is president of the Venice Railway Company, Venice of America Water Company and the Venice Investment Company.
Helen Hunt Jackson wrote a story about Abbot Kinney and his ranch, Kinnelon, which she named "Hunter Cats of Connorloa," and Abbot Kin- ney was the Mr. Connor of the story. Mr. Kinney and Helen Hunt Jackson were appointed as Indian commissioners, and it was during this association that Miss Jackson wrote the major part of her famous story Ramona, the story being the outcome of her sympathy with and interest in the Indians. She and Mr. Kinney toured the state at this time in a spring wagon. The San Gabriel Indians presented Miss Jackson and Mr. Kinney with many trophies, being very careful to give each an equal amount of presents. A number of these trophies were lost in the large fire at Venice in December, 1920, when the aquarium burned, in which they formed part of the museum. The files of the Saturday Post of Los Angeles, of which Mr. Kinney was publisher, were bound and are in the possession of the Los Angeles Library, in the historical department.
JOTHAM BIXBY, who lives in the memory and hearts of his former fellow citizens as "The Father of Long Beach," was one of the pioneers of Southern California, and a man whose many successes came as but the just reward of his initiative, wide vision, and overwhelming executive ability. He was born at Norridgewock, Maine, January 25, 1831, being descended from one of the oldest of the New England families, that had originally, upon their arrival in the New World from England, settled in Massa- chusetts. His father was Amasa Bixby, and his mother was Fanny (Weston) Bixby. Jotham Bixby's maternal grandfather, Joseph Weston, was a pioneer of Maine, who, during the first year of the American Revolu- tion gave his life in behalf of the struggling colonists. He volunteered his services as a woodsman to lead the ill-fated expedition of Benedict Arnold against the stronghold of Quebec, through the pathless forests of Maine, and died as the result of exposure in the discharge of this duty.
The same spirit which had led the Bixbys across the ocean to Massa- chusetts, and through the wilderness to Maine, animated Jotham Bixby and brought him to the then almost unexplored West. He had received the customary education of a Maine lad, one in a family of ten children, and realizing that there were few opportunities for him in the home nest, determined to branch out and seek his fortunes in that El Dorado which was then attracting the attention of the entire civilized world on account of the discovery of gold in California. Therefore, in 1852, young Bixby took passage on the ship Samuel Appleton which was bound for California by the long passage around Cape Horn. He landed in San Francisco, then the Mecca of gold seekers from all over the globe. With Jotham Bixby on his venturesome trip had come his elder brother Marcellus and several other young men from their home village and they soon after their arrival in California, went into the mining region near Volcano, Amador County, and he continued placer mining, with varying results for about five years, during that period accumulating a small capital.
Jotham Bixby possessed a sterling character that made him recognize the fact that while a few might amass fortunes at mining that the majority must naturally fail, and he resolved to turn to some regular line of endeavor where the profits would be more certain, if less sensational. Therefore in 1856 he began raising sheep and handling wool, and the subse- quent year moved south to San Luis Obispo County, near San Miguel, California, and for the subsequent nine years remained in that locality, giving close attention to his flocks.
The fame of Southern California had begun to impress itself upon the
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attention of a few far-sighted men like Mr. Bixby, and in 1866, he sold his interests in San Luis Obispo County, and came to the magnificent Rancho Los Cerritos of 27,000 acres in the vicinity of Los Angeles purchased from John Temple by Benjamin and Thomas Flint, cousins of Mr. Bixby, and Mr. Bixby's elder brother, Llewellyn Bixby, operating under the firm name of Flint, Bixby & Company. Jotham Bixby purchased a half interest from them, and formed with them the partnership of J. Bixby & Company, being its manager. This fertile, well-watered ranch, known as Rancho Los Cer- ritos lay east of the San Gabriel River fronting the Pacific Ocean, and was one of the most valuable tracts of land in Los Angeles County. It was not long until Mr. Bixby became known as one of the largest and wealthiest stockraisers in Southern California. With his indomitable force of char- acter he gradually worked his way to the front in other lines. He made additional land purchases, financed numerous worthy development proj- ects, and was one of the most progressive citizens of Southern California from the beginning of his residence in the County of Los Angeles. As their flocks multiplied and their profits increased Mr. Bixby and his asso- ciates purchased 17,000 acres of the Palos Verdes Rancho, and a third interest in Los Alamitos Rancho of 29,000 acres. Later Mr. Bixby pur- chased individually, 7,000 acres in the Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana, as well as business properties in and around Los Angeles. With this expan- sion of acreage his stock was correspondingly increased, and at one time he had 30,000 head of sheep on his range. From these flocks 200,000 pounds of wool were obtained annually. In later years Mr. Bixby raised cattle and horses as well as sheep, and during the final period of his life his principal live stock interests were in Holstein-Friesian cattle and in dairying.
From the original ranch of Los Cerritos five townsites have been taken, Long Beach, Clearwater, Hynes, Somerset and Bellflower. Mr. Bixby was one of the most important factors in the upbuilding of Long Beach, now recognized as one of the most important municipalities on the Pacific Coast, and a winter resort surpassed by none in the world. He was one of the original incorporators of the town; aided in laying out the streets and avenues; organized various business enterprises including the first bank; and was instrumental in furthering the city's interests in so many ways that, as before stated, he was given the honorary title of "Father of Long Beach." In his later years he worked just as eagerly for its further growth as he did at the beginning to make it a corporate city. Aside from the practical work of adding to the commercial importance of Long Beach Mr. Bixby and his family have, by force of character, had a strong influence on governmental and civic affairs in general with the result that Long Beach is one of the cleanest, physically and otherwise, in the country, and noted as one of the most refined resorts in the West. Despite his prominence in public affairs, Mr. Bixby never had any political ambitions, and was never an office seeker or candidate for any public office, although, as a recognition of his great work for his adopted state he could probably have had any office within the gift of the people of his section. He always took an interest in politics to the extent of assuring clean, conservative government, but in the main his work was that of a developer of resources, and his appearances in public affairs were limited to service on special bodies engaged in the promotion of movements for the benefit of the city. He always took a keen interest in looking after the details of his business enter- prises, particularly of his ranching operations, as they had formed the foundation of his fortune.
Jotham Bixby was interested in numberless enterprises, and served as president of the Bixby Land Company, the Palos Verdes Company, the Jotham Bixby Company, the Pacific Creamery Company and of many others. He was vice president of the Alamitos Land Company, the Alami- tos Water Company ; president of the National Bank of Long Beach, and vice president of the Long Beach Savings Bank & Trust Company, being associated in some of these enterprises with other members of his family, and in others with that eminent Pacific Coast financier, Isaiah W. Hellman.
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In addition to the enterprises mentioned above, Mr. Bixby was inter- ested in various others including orange growing, manufacturing, irrigation and cattle. He was president of the Chino Valley Cattle Company of Arizona, for several years, this company being engaged in the cattle raising business near Prescott, Arizona, upon an extensive scale. The direct management of this company he turned over to his son, Harry L. Bixby, who conducted the business until his death in 1902. Another important concern that Mr. Bixby helped to organize and put through to a successful completion was the Pacific Creamery Company of Buena Park, Orange County, California, manufacturers of condensed milk and cream, with a monthly output of 9,000 cases of evaporated milk and cream. Several years prior to his death Mr. Bixby resigned from the office of president of the National Bank of Long Beach, to take the less confining, although active, office of first vice president.
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