USA > California > Los Angeles County > History of Los Angeles county, Volume II > Part 26
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While in Galveston he met and married Mary A. Hand, daughter of John J. Hand, a newspaper publisher. Two great daily papers, the Gal- veston News and The Dallas News, owe much of their success to his talents and executive ability. His wife and three children, John H., Robert C. and Laura S., survive Mr. Harrigan. A son, Philip F., died in 1918.
JOSEPH MARION Goss. The career of Joseph Marion Goss is one in which continued effort and strict fidelity have aided inherent ability in the gaining of merited promotion. In 1910 Mr. Goss was a bank messenger, working at a meagre salary; today he is treasurer of the II. G. Chaffee Company of Los Angeles and Pasadena, and occupies a recognized position of prominence in business and social circles.
Mr. Goss was born at Centerville, Iowa, November 3, 1886, and is a son of Henry and Eva (Drake) Goss. On his father's side he is descended from an old and honored family of English merchants, and is a grandson of Joseph Goss, who came to the United States as a young lad from Liverpool, England. Henry Goss was a wholesale shoe dealer for many years in Iowa, and a Knight Templar Mason, being one of the well respected and influential men of his community at Cen- terville. On his mother's side Joseph M. Goss is descended from a brother of Sir Francis Drake. His maternal grandfather was Francis Marion Drake, a general during the Civil war, afterward governor of Iowa, a well-known railroad builder and the founder of Drake Uni- versity at Des Moines.
Joseph Marion Goss attended the grammar high schools at Cen- terville, Iowa, from the latter of which he was duly graduated. He then spent two years at Andover, following which he enrolled as a student at Yale University and was graduated as a member of the class of 1910, receiving the degree of Bachelor of Philosophy. Not long after his graduation he accepted a position as bank messenger for the Pasadena National Bank, with which he remained, earning gradual promotions, until October, 1917, when he enlisted in the United States Army. He served throughout the war as a member of the 347th Field Artillery, Ninety-first Division, and spent nine months
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overseas. He was eventually mustered out in April, 1919, with the rank of corporal. At that time he returned to the bank and resumed his duties, and when he left, in March, 1920, had the position of head teller. At his resignation from the bank position he accepted an im- portant post with the H. G. Chaffee Company, and in 1921 was elected treasurer, a position which he has retained to this time. This concern operates a chain of grocery stores extending all over Southern Cali- fornia, mainly at Los Angeles and Pasadena and other points of Los Angeles County. The main office is situated at 912 East Third Street, Los Angeles. Mr. Goss is progressive and energetic, a man of modern views and tendencies, and an executive of capacity, tact and sound judgment. In politics he is a republican, but his business duties have precluded the idea of his entering public life, although he gives a good citizen's aid to all worthy public movements. While at Andover he belonged to the Phi Beta Theta fraternity, and at Yale was a member of the Berzelius and Colony Clubs, but at present belongs to no fra- ternities. He is not indifferent, however, to the companionship of his fellows, and holds membership in the Annandale, Overland and Caul- dron Clubs, and the American Legion. He, belongs to the Episcopal Church.
On February 19, 1914, at the Church of the Angels, Mr. Goss mar- ried Miss Madeline Binkley, who was educated abroad, studied piano and vocal music at Dresden, completed her education at St. Mary's, Knoxville, Tennessee, and is a member of the Tuesday Musical Club of Pasadena. She is a granddaughter of Dr. C. W. Leffingwell, the noted educator and divine, and her father, Dr. John T. Binkley, was a prominent physician and surgeon of Chicago prior to his retirement. Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Goss: Norman Lef- fingwell, Alan Drake and Eva Vail.
LEWIS ALEXANDER GRANT. That all men do not find the niche for which they consider themselves specially fitted is largely due to their inabil- ity to fit themselves for those niches which they could occupy with profit and honor. They do not concentrate themselves upon what they do under- stand, and for which nature and training have made them ready, but dif- fuse themselves over too wide a territory, and in the end accomplish little or nothing. The successful man in any line is he who develops his latent strength by the use of vigorous fitness, innate powers and expert knowl- edge, gradually attaining to an efficiency not possible in the beginning. Each line demands certain special qualifications. Some men are born executives, while others are equally well fitted for constructive work. The late Lewis A. Grant for years one of the dominant men of Los Angeles, found expres- sion for his unquestioned ability in the building of railroads and the con- struction of permanent streets and public works.
Mr. Grant's connection with Los Angeles dates back to 1886, when he came to the city as a member of the firm of Grant Brothers, although these brothers had been for a year in California, with headquarters at San Ber- nardino. They engaged in the building of the Southern California Railroad, now a part of the Santa Fe System, from San Bernardino into Los Angeles, and from Riverside to Oceanside, via Santa Ana. Later they built the line from Santa Ana to Los Angeles, and Oceanside to Escondido, and also from Los Angeles to Redondo. During the ensuing period they built lines for the Southern Pacific, part of the Coast Line, and were engaged in the reconstruction work of lines through California and Arizona. Their work for the Santa Fe comprised the building of the line from Stockton to Bakersfield in California, and the Bradshaw, Montana Branch out of Pres- cott, Arizona, through Arizona, and from Phoenix to Winkleman, Arizona : and the Arizona from Wickenburg to Parker, Arizona. In addition Mr. Grant was engaged in street work in conjunction with his firm, and they were the builders of irrigation systems. They built the old Los Angeles Terminal, now part of the Union Pacific System, from Pasadena to Long
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Beach, and from Ontario to Riverside. While he was a republican and interested in the success of his party, he never was willing to come before the public for office, although he did consent to serve on the water works commission under Mayor Snyder's appointment, and subsequently by elec- tion, for he recognized that his expert knowledge was necessary to the board to insure pure and ample water for the city. Aside from his membership with the Knights of Columbus, of which he was a first grand knight, he did not belong to any fraternity He was one of the original members of the Los Angeles Board of Trade, a charter member of the California Club, a charter member of the Newman Club, and was a director of the Los Angeles National Bank during the time Mr. Patterson was its president. Mr. Grant died December 5, 1904, and in his passing Los Angeles lost one of its most useful and representative citizens.
On June 23, 1891, Mr. Grant married Harriet Mary McPherson, and they had two daughters, namely: Anna C., who is Mrs. John C. Wilson ; and Gertrude Mary, who is a graduate of the Sisters of Saint Joseph, at Saint Mary's Academy, of which her sister is also a graduate.
The parents of Mrs. Lewis A. Grant, Mr. and Mrs. William McPher- son, came to Los Angeles from Ontario, Canada, about 1904, and settled at Hollywood, where Mr. McPherson opened a general store, thus becoming one of the first merchants. His place of business was on Hollywood Boulevard. He died in 1911, and his widow, Dec. 3, 1921. After the death of her husband Mrs. McPherson made her home with her only daughter, Mrs. Lewis A. Grant. She was a prominent member of the Friday Morning Club and the Catholic Woman's Club.
FRANCISCO ESTUDILLO, whose death occurred at his home in Los Angeles June 29, 1922, represented in his personal life the finest traits of character, in his individual career mueh of splendid achievement, and in his ancestry the finest of the traditions of the old Spanish regime in California. He was seventy-six years of age at the time of his death, and was a loved and honored native son of California to whom is due a tribute in this publication.
Francisco Estudillo was born at San Diego, California, in the pic- turesque old adobe house that was immortalized by the late Helen Hunt Jackson in her famous novel entitled "Ramona," this historic old homestead of the Estudillo family having eventually passed into the possession of Mr. Spreckels, who has immortalized it under the name of "Ramona's Marriage Place," thousands of persons visiting it annu- ally to mark their appreciation of its interest as one of the important places in the romantie story written by Mrs. Jackson, while many of the visitors find added pleasure in the mystic rite of dropping coins into the old "wishing well" on the property.
Don Estudillo, grandfather of the subject of this memoir, was a representative of a distinguished Castillian family in Spain and be- came one of the very early settlers in California, where he had large grants of land given to him by the King of Spain, who then' held dominion over California. Don Estudillo, the pioneer, first settled at Monterey, where one of the early Catholic missions was established. and from this little Spanish colony he later removed to and became a pioneer of San Diego. He owned at one time 30,000 acres of land in Southern California, and upon coming to this locality from his native Spain he was accompanied by one of his brothers and by Signor Dominiguez, the names of these two families having large and honored place in the early history of this great commonwealth. In the course of later years it is interesting to record that beautiful Balboa Park at San Diego was given to that eity by representatives of the Estudillo family as the stage of the great exposition there held a few years ago and as a permanent park for that beautiful city.
Francisco Estudillo was the yougest in a family of twelve children and was reared under the gracious influences of the fine old Spanish
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traditions in Southern California, his mother having been a member of the patrician Dominiguez family mentioned in the foregoing para- graph. His father owned a great cattle ranch near the present city. of Riverside, and the old landed estate of the Estudillo family in- cluded the sites of the present cities of Hemmet and San Jacinto. Fran- cisco Estudillo lived many years on his fine homestead ranch at San Jacinto, where he owned large tracts of land. He was influential in public affairs, served as one of the judges of the plains of the Temecula range, as supervisor of San Diego County, and as mayor and also postmaster of San Jacinto. In 1893, under the administration of President Cleveland, he became government agent of the Mission Indians. The Indians under his benignant charge looked upon him as friend and father, loved and trusted him and each of them familiarly referred to him as "my commissioner." He was kind and considerate in his treatment of the Indians, earnest and honest in protecting and advancing their interests, and in this connection made a record of able administration-in fact his high sense of personal stewardship marked his work and service in all of the relations of life. He was the owner of 5,000 acres of land in the vicinity of the Indian reserva- tion, and to-day all water-rights in the locality have his documentary signature. At San Jacinto he had a fine home, and it was while she was entertained in this home that Helen Hunt Jackson wrote the greater part of "Ramona." Local characters suggested names to Mrs. Jackson for her title of Ramona, taken from the name of Mrs. Ramona Wolf, a beautiful Mexican girl whose husband was a mer- chant at Temecula, while the character of "Alessandro" was drawn to a large degree from Samuel Temple, a resident of San Jacinto.
Francisco Estudillo was a typical Spanish gentleman, gentle, urbane and kindly, full of love for his neighbors and other friends, charitable and hospitable and well worthy of the high esteem in which he was held by all who came within the compass of his influence. His political support was given to the democratic party, and he was an earnest communicant of the Catholic Church. At his home were entertained the priests and bishops who visited San Jacinto in the early days. He took great pride and satisfaction in his affiliation with the Native Sons of the Golden West. His father died in the year 1852, and for $4,000 he acquired the old homestead. The title to the same proved faulty, however, and he finally sold this historic old "Marriage Place of Ramona" to Mr. Spreckels for a consideration of only $500.
Mr. Estudillo was twice married, and the two surviving children of the first marriage are Christopher, a resident of Arizona, and Fran- cisco P., of San Francisco. For his second wife Mr. Estudillo wedded Felicitiz Machado, who, with one son, Joseph A., of Calexico, survives him and who continues to reside at the beautiful home which he pro- vided in Los Angeles, at 1667 Oxford Avenue.
THOMAS J. CARRIGAN, a pioneer in both railroad construction and mining enterprise in the West, maintained his residence and business head- quarters in the City of Los Angeles for more than a score of years prior to his death, which here occurred at Clara Barton Hospital on the 8th of March, 1922.
Mr. Carrigan was born at Elmwood, Illinois, on the 1st of January, 1859, and thus was sixty-three years of age at the time of his death. His parents were natives of Ireland, and his father became extensively engaged in farm enterprise in Illinois, where he owned large tracts of land. The early education of the subject of this memoir was of limited order, for he left home at the age of nine years and found employment in a coal mine in his native state. Thereafter he returned home and assisted in the work of the farm, but at the age of seventeen years he initiated his long and effective career in connection with railroad service. His ability led to his rapid promotion, and he served in many responsible positions, the first of which
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was that of superintendent of the Monon Railroad. After the death of the celebrated outlaw, Jesse James, Mr. Carrigan took an engine and private coach to St. Joseph, Missouri, and with the same transported the body of Jesse James from that point back to his old home. By the Monon Company Mrs. Samuels, mother of James, was given an annual pass over its lines.
Mr. Carrigan was actively identified with the building of the Union Pacific, the first transcontinental railroad, and in the early '80s he came to California and built the railroad line from San Diego to Coronado. There- after he went to French Lick Springs, a great health and recreation resort in Indiana, where at one time he owned all important concessions, the same having later been acquired by his friend, Thomas Taggart, long a power in Indiana politics. In 1890 Mr. Carrigan assumed supervision of the con- struction of the Santa Fe, Prescott & Phoenix Railroad between Ash Forks and Phoenix, Arizona, and he ran the first passenger train over the new road. In 1895 he built for the Congress Gold Company the railway line from Congress Junction to Congress, Arizona, and he continued as superin- tendent of this railroad until 1905, when he established his permanent home in Los Angeles. In the period from 1900 to 1905 he effected the organiza- tion of several mining companies, including the Clara Consolidated Gold & Copper Company, for which a few years later he effected a consolidation with the Signal Copper Company, whereupon the title of the corporation was changed to the Swansea Consolidated Gold & Copper Company, the mine of which is today being operated by the Clark interests. Mr. Carrigan finally resigned his office of president of this company to take up and develop other mining properties, and for fifteen years he gave his close attention to the development and management of the properties now con- trolled by the Arizona Standard Copper Company. He brought this prop- erty up to the point of effective production of copper, and the corporation is now on a most substantial basis. His one surviving son, William E., is proving his able successor in the position of general manager of this com- pany, with headquarters in Los Angeles, where he remains with his widowed mother in the attractive family home at 445 West Thirty-first Street. Mr. Carrigan was a man of much initiative and constructive ability. was a productive worker in connection with enterprises of broad scope, and was a man who commanded unqualified popular esteem. His political sup- port was given to the democratic party, and his religious faith was that of the Catholic Church, of which his widow and son likewise are communi- cants. He was a charter member of the lodge of Benevolent and Pro- tective Order of Elks at Phoenix, Arizona, and affiliated also with the Woodmen of the world.
May 24, 1885, recorded the marriage of Mr. Carrigan and Miss Mar- garet Jane Maloney, and they became the parents of two children, Thomas Howard and William E. Thomas H. Carrigan died, of influenza, on Christmas day of the year 1918, and his wife died of the same disease three days later. William E. Carrigan was in active service in the great World war, as a member of the One Hundred and Fifteenth Trench Mortar Battery.
JOHN KENEALY. The earlier residents of Los Angeles remember with great respect one of the pioneer dry-goods merchants of the city, John Kenealy, who, with his partner, Richard Dillon, founded and conducted the mercantile house of Dillon & Kenealy, the second to be established here. Mr. Kenealy was born at Glenmara, New Market, County Cork, Ireland, in 1837, and when he was fifteen years old he commenced what was to be a most eventful business career, by going to the City of Cork and entering the Queen's Old Castle store for the purpose of learning the dry-goods business. He succeeded so admirably that when only twenty-one years old he was made buyer of laces and linens, and as such was sent all over Ireland, Scotland and England. While learning the details of his business he did not neglect other features of his education, but studied by himself and in night school, and developed a natural love for the best in literature, music
Paul Schwensfeer
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and the drama. One of the most pleasing features of his travels was the opportunity thus afforded him to see the leading operatic and theatrical people.
For seven years he followed his work as a buyer, but his career in his native land was cut short by his arrest as a suspect in the uprising of 1865, by the British government, and was confined first in an English prison but was later removed to one in Western Australia. After a period of imprison- ment pressure was brought to bear upon Queen Victoria, and she released the prisoners, and John Kenealy as soon as he was free left Ireland for the United States. Coming West, he located for a time in San Francisco, and there he married, his wife, also a native of Ireland, being then on a visit to her brother and sister in that city.
Five years later he and his wife joined Richard Dillon and his wife and came to Los Angeles, and the two formed the well-known firm of Dillon & Kenealy. After conducting their store for a number of years, and becoming the leading merchants of this region, they branched out into handling real estate, and acquired a large amount of land, as did the majority of the early settlers who had faith in the future of the city. Subsequently they sold their mercantile business, and later on in life Mr. Kenealy became manager of the Home Life Insurance Company. He was also connected with the bond department of the city treasurer's office and resigned from it only when ill health no longer permitted his further activity. His death occurred September 9, 1908.
Mr. Kenealy was always active in different movements to advance the city. He belonged to the Newman Club and the Celtic Literary Club. From the time he cast his first vote he was a democrat. His wife survived him until 1912, when she, too, passed away. They were the parents of two children who reached maturity, namely: James F. Kenealy and Miss May Kenealy. The latter is a member of the Catholic Woman's Club and secre- tary of the Queen's Daughters. All his life Mr. Kenealy had many warm friends, who recognized in him a man of earnest purpose and progressive principles. He stood for the things that were right and for the advance of good citizenship, and was especially interested in the intellectual develop- ment of his community.
PAUL SCHWENZFEIER has built up at Pasadena a substantial business in painting and decorating and in the handling of domestic wall papers and imported hangings, his modern and handsomely appointed establishment being at 182 South Raymond Avenue.
Mr. Schwenzfeier was born in the fair old city of Leipzig, Germany, on the 4th of June, 1879, and is a son of Ferdinand and Henrietta (Seeburg) Schwenzfeier. In his native land the father learned the trade of painting and decorating, and upon coming with his family to the United States in 1884 he engaged in the work of his trade in the City of Boston, Massachu- setts, where he remained until 1889. He then established his permanent residence at Detroit, Michigan, where he built up a large and prosperous business as a painter and decorator and where he continued actively in charge of the business until within six months of his death, which there occurred in 1916. His widow now makes her home with her son Paul at Pasadena. The elder son, Charles W., is a resident of Glassboro, New Jersey ; and the only daughter is the wife of Gustav Koenig, of Detroit, Michigan.
To the public schools of Boston and Detroit Paul Schwenzfeier is indebted for his youthful education, and in the latter city he learned the painting and decorating business in the establishment of the Harry J. Dean Company, with which he continued his association about six years. During the ensuing period of about four years he journeyed over the country, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and worked at his trade at various places. In 1901 he established his residence at Pasadena, where he has continuously maintained his home save for a period of two years passed in San Francisco after the great earthquake and fire which wrought devastation in that city,
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to the upbuilding of which he contributed in a measure by effective work at his trade. After his return to Pasadena Mr. Schwenzfeier continued as junior member of the firm of Bliss & Schwenzfeier for twelve years, or until July, 1921, since which time he has conducted an independent business of successful order, his previous reputation and effective service insuring to the new enterprise a representative supporting patronage.
In a generic way Mr. Schwenzfeier gives allegiance to the republican party. He is a member of the Pasadena Chamber of Commerce, the Mer- chants' Association and the Rotary Club, and holds membership in the International Master Painters' Association. His basic Masonic affiliation is with San Pasqual Lodge, A. F. and A. M., and he has received the thirty- second degree of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite.
At San Diego, this state, on the 20th of June, 1903, Mr. Schwenzfeier wedded Miss Barbara Denne, who was born and reared at Detroit, Michi- gan, and they have three children: Paul William, Mildred and Chester Arthur. The family home is at 1857 Paloma Street.
WILLIAM ADAM STEEHLER, whose death occurred at his home in the City of Los Angeles on the 28th of August, 1921, was in the very prime of his strong and resourceful manhood when he was thus called from the stage of life's activities. His business career had been one of unusual and con- structive order, and involved his residence in the Orient for a long period prior to his death. His health became much impaired, and he returned to his native land and to California, where his wife was born and reared, in 1921, only a few months prior to his death. Mr. Steehler was a man of fine character and marked business ability, and he left to his widow and their little daughter a substantial fortune.
Mr. Steehler was born in the City of Rochester, New York, where he was reared and where he profited fully by the advantages of the public schools. As a youth he entered the employ of the Stoecher Lithographing Company of Rochester, and he learned the business in all of its practical and commercial details. For six years he was representative of this com- pany in Japan, where he was one of very few foreigners then residing in that country. He was the first man to teach lithography in Japan, and in recognition of this service he was decorated by the Emperor. For sixteen years thereafter he was a resident of Shanghai, China, where he was the representative of the British-American Tobacco Company. Prior to coming to California in the year of his death, he had passed only three weeks in the United States in a period of eight years.
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