History of Los Angeles county, Volume II, Part 30

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

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Miss Buchanan was born at Preston, Ontario, Canada, and is a daughter of John Calder and Catherine (Bergey) Buchanan. Her father, born Sep- tember 12, 1832, in Scotland, was taken at the age of eleven years by his parents to Canada, where he obtained a common school education, and sub- sequently rose to be superintendent of the Preston schools. In 1872 he came to Marquette, Michigan, where he established a newspaper, and later

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went to Appleton, Wisconsin, and edited the Appleton Post. He next went to LeMars, Iowa, where he edited the LaMars Sentinel, and while thus engaged was credited with being the one who started the boom for General Grant's third term as president. He was always a stanch repub- lican in politics. In 1886 Mr. Buchanan went to Springfield, Illinois, as ' editor of the Springfield" Journal, one of the leaders of republicanism in the country and the oldest newspaper in Illinois, and remained several years, but in 1890, because of bronchial trouble, went to Pittsburg, Kansas, where he edited the Pittsburg Kansan. He sold this newspaper a year prior to his death, which occurred in 1907. He was a man always far in advance of his time, a splendid character, wise and gentle, of wonderful toleration. In 1864 he married in Canada Catherine Bergey, who was born in 1847, in Pennsylvania, and they became the parents of eight children. Mrs. Buchanan's mother was a Sauder, and her father was Daniel Bergey. His mother was born on the Island of Ceylon, India, and was there reared from the age of twelve years by her grandfather, later marrying John Calder Buchanan. Her grandfather was one of the organizers of the East India Company.

Ella Buchanan was an infant when taken by her parents to LeMars, Iowa, where she received her early education in the public schools, her literary training being completed at the Betty Stewart Institute, a finishing school for girls at Springfield, Illinois. For five years she served at Pitts- burg, Kansas, in the capacity of librarian, where she resided until her father's death. During this time she had exercised every opportunity of developing her talent as a sculptor, which had been seeking expression since childhood, and after her father's demise she went to the Chicago Art Insti- tute, where she subsequently became assistant instructor to Charles .A. Mulligan, a capacity in which she served four years, spending two years in the sculpture department of the summer school. In 1915 Miss Buchanan came to Los Angeles to make her own way in her chosen field, and her success has followed as a natural result of the display of her talent. Among the better-known of Miss Buchanan's sculptural pieces may be mentioned : "The Suffragist Arousing her Sisters," "The End of the Strike," "White Slavery," "A Fragment from the Bread Line," "The Children's Lincoln," "Out of the Trenches," "Altar of the Nations," "Pershing," "The Moving Finger Writes," "The Soul-Mate" and "The Desert Man." Of the "Altar of the Nations," R. W. Borough, of the Los Angeles Record, said, in the issue of January 30, 1922: "What was once warm and pulsing, what once quivered with a thousand nameless delights, what once worked and builded its fine dreams into finer realities, what once knew the tenderness of woman's love and her career, what lifted its eyes into the starlight and the sunglow, is gone! Dead, and worse than dead ! The cannon is muck-mired and on its metal tube this mangled, bleeding form, its head wrench downward in the last agony. Gone down in hate after sending others down! Man, victim of the war god. And lifting her arms in supplication over the wreckage, woman kneeling at the 'Altar of Nations.' More powerful than any anti-war sermon is this sculpture of Ella Buchanan, now at Los Angeles Museum in the exhibition of the Sculptors' Guild of Southern California. More than 1,000 persons have seen it and most of them have thrilled to its message of revolt. Women, particularly, have turned away from it with grimly determined faces as if to say: 'You've got to deal with us, Mr. Militarist, before you do it again.'"

W. R. BARNES, whose home was in Pasadena for about ten years, enjoyed a conspicuous place among the financiers of Los Angeles County, and the responsibilities accorded him were evidence of the high esteem paid him by his active associates.

Mr. Barnes died at his home in Pasadena July 13, 1907, when only forty-eight years of age. He was born near Pomeroy in Meigs County, Ohio, January 16, 1859, and represented old New England stock run- ning back into Massachusetts through Colonial times, the family

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being represented by active service in the American Revolution. His father, R. B. Barnes, and his grandfather, R. M. Barnes, were both natives of Massachusetts. The late Mr. Barnes acquired his early education in the schools of Albany, Ohio, in Mount Union College and Rio Grande College in his native state. He had his early business experience and training at McArthur, Ohio, and in 1885, at the age of twenty-six, he went to Colorado Springs. There he became inter- ested in banking, and in 1897 was elected a director and member of the discount board of the Exchange National Bank of Colorado Springs, and subsequently became its active vice president. He also held county offices at Colorado Springs from 1887 to 1889, and was during his residence there secretary of the school board and a city alderman.

Having spent three winters in Pasadena, Mr. Barnes established his permanent home in that city in 1899. He came here with a successful business and financial record, and for two and one half years he was a director and vice president of the First National Bank, resigning that office to fill a similar position with the Union Saving Bank, which he helped organize.

The late Mr. Barnes was undoubtedly possessed of remarkable ability in business affairs. He was also big hearted and generous in his civic and social relationship, and used his means and influence in every possible way to build up the beautiful community where his home and affections were centered. He was a regular attendant with his family of Rev. Mr. McLeod's Church, and a member of the finance committee that had charge of the funds during the construction of the Prebysterian Church in Pasadena. He was a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason.

Mr. Barnes was survived by his widow and three sons: Walter A. Barnes, cashier of the Union Trust & Savings Branch bank of Pasa- dena ; P. V. Barnes, of Pasadena, and R. K. Barnes, also of that city.

MRS. HARRIET WILLIAMS MYERS, of Los Angeles, who is known throughout California, principally for her bird protective work, which she has been carrying on for over fourteen years in the way of writings and lectures, was born January 11, 1867, at Durand, Illinois, and is a daughter of Dr. Edward J. and Orrilla N. (Webster) Williams, and the wife of William Raymond Myers.

Mrs. Myers comes of a literary family, her two brothers both being well- known writers. One, Henry Smith Williams, M. D., LL. D., a resident of New York City, was editor-in-chief of the Historians' History of the World (26 vol.), and Luther Burbank (12 vol.) ; and author of The Science of Happiness, Everyday Science and The Witness of the Sun, etc., and recently has been writing scientific detective stories under the nom- de-plume of Stoddard Goodhue. Her other brother, Edward Huntington Williams, M. D., a specialist in mental and nervous diseases at Los Angeles, is former associate professor of pathology, State University of Iowa; associate editor of the Encyclopedia Britannica (tenth edition) . assistant physician, New York State Hospital System; special lecturer on criminology and mental hygiene, State University of California; and author of Mental Hygiene, The Walled City, a Story of the Criminal Insane, The Question of Alcohol, and Opiate Addiction, just from the press of the Macmillan Company. Mental Abnormality and the Law, writ- ten by Doctor Williams and Dr. Ernest Bryant Hoag, is soon to be pub- lished by the Bobbs-Merrill Company.

When she was about five years of age Mrs. Myers was taken by her parents to Charles City, Iowa, where her father died February 8, 1881, and where five years later she graduated from the Charles City High School. In the fall of 1886 she entered the State University of Iowa, at Iowa City, and while there was an active member of the Erodelphian Literary Society and the Pi Beta Phi fraternity. Because of trouble with her eyes, she was deprived of graduation. On March 18, 1890, at Iowa

Harriet Williams Myers

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City, she was united in marriage with William R. Myers, a graduate of the law department of the State University, and went to Anita, Iowa, where her husband was associated with his father in the Bank of Anita. Two daughters were born to them: Neva M., who married W. Donelson Jones, of Los Angeles, and has three children, Myers, born in 1913, Lunsford, born in 1915, and Margaret Helen, born in 1920; and Helen W., who married R. W. Rohrer, of Los Angeles, and has one son, James Stoddard, born June 13, 1922. In the fall of 1894 Mr. and Mrs. Myers came to California, and have lived ever since at Los Angeles, most of the time in their present home, 311 W. Avenue 66, along the Arroya Seco, in what was formerly Garvanza. They are fond of their part of the city and have worked to make it beautiful and a desirable residence section. They have seen it grow from a few scattered houses to a thickly-settled community, and have taken an active part in its development, Mrs. Myers being president of the Highland Park Ebell Club, an organization of 375 members organized in 1903, which owns its own clubhouse at 131 E. Avenue 57.

As before noted, Mrs. Myers is widely known for her bird protective work. Her lecture work is illustrated with slides of birds, many made from her own photographs. In 1904 she helped organize the Pasadena Audubon Society, and a month later the Garvanza Audubon Society, of which she was president, this later becoming the Los Angeles Audi- bon Society, with Mrs. Myers as the first vice president and later acting president for the first year. In 1906 the California Audubon Society was formed, and in 1907 Mrs. Myers became secretary, an office which she held until 1921, when she passed the work on to another and accepted her present position as vice president. For four years she was chairman of Birds and Wild Life of the State Federation of Woman's Clubs, and for the past six years has been chairman of Birds and Flowers of the General Federation of Woman's Clubs. In this work she has written four leaflets for distribution throughout the United States. These contain economic value of birds, suggestions for work to protect and increase both birds and flowers, and suggestive programs. Mrs. Myers is an authoress of The Birds' Convention, and Western Birds, the latter now being published by The Macmillan Company, and both books being illustrated with bird photographs taken by herself. For years she has contributed bird stories to the Los Angeles Times Magazine, as well as children's stories to the juvenile department. Her bird articles have appeared in Country Life in America, the Youth's Companion, St. Nicholas, Bird Lore, The Condor, Recreation and Eastern Sunday school papers. On April 13, 1917, she was given "honorable mention for her long continued work in bird protection, and in the promotion of the game sanctuary cause in Southern California," by the trustees of the Per- manent Wild Life Protective Fund. A handsomely engraved certificate . of honor was sent her, the signatures being those of the trustees, William T. Hornaday, Clark Williams and A. Barton Hepburn.

Mrs. Myers is an official or member of the following organizations : President of the Humane Animal Commission of Los Angeles, appointed by Mayor F. E. Woodman; director of the State Humane Association ; first president of the Garvanza Parent Teacher Association, which office she held for three years ; past matron of Garvanza Chapter No. 266, O. E. S .; past most excellent chief, Miramonte Temple No. 41, Pythian Sisters ; past royal matron, Royal Court No. 23, Order of the Araminth, and past grand marshal-in-the-East of this order ; at present a director of the Coun- cil of Community Service and in charge of the grounds of Monte Vista Lodge. During the World war she gave the most of her time to this work, being first secretary of the Garvanza Red Cross and later president. She worked with the Los Angeles Council of Defense in all the drives and work carried on by that body, having charge of thirteen precincts in her district, appointing chairmen and seeing that all work was done. She still repre- sents the Garvanza-Highland Park District in the Council of Community

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Service Work. She is vice regent of Tierra Alta Chapter, D. A. R., and a member of the Colonial Dames of Connecticut Residing in Cali- fornia, receiving this membership through John Webster, fifth governor of Connecticut ; through Rev. Charles Chauncey, second president of Har- vard College; Rev. Gershon Bulkeley, etc., and Dr. Thomas Williams, lieutenant-colonel in the wars at Lake George, in 1755-6. Col. Ephriam Williams, the founder of Williams College, was Mrs. Myers' uncle, being the brother of Dr. Thomas Williams, her great-great-grandfather. On her mother's side she is descended from fifteen barons of Runymede, and is eligible to membership in the Dames of Royal Descent.

For years Mrs. Myers was a member of the Ruskin Art Club. She is now a member of the Southern California Press Club, the Woman's Alli- ance of the Unitarian Church of Los Angeles, the Cooper Ornithological Club, the American Ornithological Club and the American Forestry Asso- ciation, a charter member of the Woman's Athletic Club of Los Angeles, a life member of the National Association of Audubon Societies and the State Audubon, and an honorary member of the Los Angeles Audubon Society.

WILLIAM DUNKERLEY, secretary-manager of the Chamber of Com- merce and Civic Association of Pasadena, has had a long and notable experience in commercial and trade organization work in California.

He was born June 4, 1882, at Canton, Stark County, Ohio, son of Edwin and Eliza Ann (Bailey) Dunkerley. His father was a financier and business man, and after ten years of residence in Washington, D. C., the family came to California in 1904. His father died in Los AAngeles in 1917, and his mother is still living in that city.

William Dunkerley acquired his education in the public schools of Canton, at Washington, D. C., and in a military academy in Mary- land, and altogether he had fifteen years of experience in the Govern- ment service. Since 1913 he has been in various forms of commercial organization work. From 1904 to 1909 he served as chief clerk of the U. S. Naval Station in Porto Rico. He was in charge of the foreign trade department of the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, had charge of the Los Angeles Co-Operative Office of the United States Bureau of Foreign Domestic Commerce, and altogether served eight years under Frank Wiggins as an assistant secretary of the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce. During the World war he was exempted from military duty by order of the President on account of his service as agent in charge of the United States War Trade Board. Since April 20, 1920, Mr. Dunkerley has been secretary-manager of the Pasadena Chamber of Commerce. For five years he has represented the Goverment of Bolivia in Los Angeles as honorary Consul. He is a republican, is affiliated with Pasadena Lodge No. 672, Benovelent and Protective Order of Elks, is a member of the Kiwanis Club, the Y. M. C. A., the Pasadena Country Club and the War Trade Board Club.

At Washington, D. C., January 22, 1907, Mr. Dunkerley married Florence Phoebe Joyce. Her father, Colonel John A. Joyce, soldier. poet and philosopher, who died in Washington, D. C., left as the great monument for his lasting memory the poem familiar to every school boy-"Laugh and the world laughs with you, weep and you weep alone." Mr. and Mrs. Dunkerley have two children: Florence Joyce Dunkerley, born at Washington, D. C .; and William Joyce Dunkerley, born at Pasadena, California.

JAMES CLARKE has been a resident of Pasadena since 1881, and was one of the founders and for over thirty years acted in one of the most important of local industries, the Pasadena Manufacturing Company. Both among the older and the newer classes of citizenship he enjoys

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a high degree of esteem, and has been one of the most loyal and progressive men in this city.

Mr. Clarke was born in Devonshire, England, November 11, 1850, son of Thomas and Mary (Joyce) Clarke. His father was a gardener, a profession he followed both in England and in the United States. About 1854 he came to this country and settled in Saratoga County, New York. His wife and his family did not join him until some years later, and they spent the rest of their days in Saratoga County. Their children were eleven in number, four sons and seven daughters, and three sons and three daughters are still living. One son, John, became a Union soldier and died at Alexandria, near Washington, in 1863, as a result of his army service.

James Clarke, the only member of the family in California, had a brief term of school in Devonshire, but did not attend school after he was six years of age. In 1869 he came to America, and he had three months of schooling in Saratoga County, New York. He learned the lessons of toil when a boy, and after coming to this country he farmed for a time, learned the trade of blacksmith in England and finished his apprenticeship after coming to this country, and worked at his trade six years in the East. Then for four or five years he was connected with a firm in Albany, New York, in the oyster business.

Mr. Clarke came to California in the spring of 1881, locating at Pasadena. For several years he was a rancher and then became one of the organizers of the Pasadena Manufacturing Company. This industry has been the local source of a large part of the building material used in this vicinity. The company has operated saw mills, planing and sash and door plant, manufacturing everything in the building line. Mr. Clarke was active in this firm for over thirty years, finally selling his interest about five years ago.

In the meantime he became financially interested in other enter- prises, and his active connections at the present are as vice president of the California Security Loan Corporation of Pasadena, and as president of the Broadway Syndicate of Pasadena. The duties of good citizenship have also claimed part of his time. He served as a trustee of the Whittier State School and for four years was a trustee of the City of Pasadena. During the World war he was an active worker for the Red Cross. Mr. Clarke is a republican, and is one of the three sur- viving charter members of Pasadena Lodge No. 272, F. and A. M. He is also a Knight Templar and Scottish Rite Mason and Shriner, a member of the Shrine Club and was the first Senior Deacon of Pasadena Lodge.

Mr. Clarke has had his home on South Marengo for about thirty- eight years. He put up this fine old home and is the only one living in that vicinity who was there when he came. His property there com- prises a frontage of 128 feet, with a depth of 305 feet, and the grounds are an interesting example of long care and tasteful arrangement in the placing of trees and shrubs. A fine magnolia tree stands in the front yard, which was planted by Mr. Clarke forty years ago. There is a garden of roses, and altogether it is one of the most beautiful home sites in this section of the city.

August 26, 1879, at Kinderhook, New York, Mr. Clarke married Miss Emma Proper, who was born at East Greenbush, New York, near Albany, and was educated there. She is a member of the Eastern Star Chapter and the Amaranth Club of Pasadena.

HARRY H. GODBER has been a resident of Pasadena since 1904 and actively engaged in the real estate, bond, loan, rental, building and insur- ance business since 1909, his operation having been of extensive and im- portant order and having contributed materially to civic and general progress in the city and surrounding districts.

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Mr. Godber was born in Amitt County, Mississippi, on the 7th of June, 1869, and is son of Prof. William H. and Elizabeth (Liter) Godber, both now deceased. Professor Godber was born in England, and was a boy when his parents came from Manchester, England, and settled in Ger- mantown, Pennsylvania, about 1830. He was reared to manhood in the old Keystone State, where he was graduated in Washington and Jefferson College, from which he received the degrees of Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts. Prior to the Civil war he became a teacher in the South, and eventually he gained secure prestige as one of the able and distinguished educators in the Southern States, with specially high reputation as a teacher of mathematics. He did successful service as a teacher in both Mississippi and Texas, and in the well ordered private school which he conducted at Waco, Texas, his son Harry H., of this review, gained most of his youthful education. Professor Godber later became cashier for the Houston & Texas Central Railroad at Waco, and had the distinction of being the only cashier retained in the service of this railroad corporation without bond require- ment. His wife's father was of German and French lineage, and came from France to the United States and established his home in Jefferson, Indiana, where his daughter Elizabeth (Mrs. Godber) was born. She graduated in a college at Danville, Kentucky, and was a successful and popular teacher prior to her marriage, as well as for several years there- after. Both she and her husband were most zealous and influential mem- bers of the Presbyterian Church.

As previously noted, Harry H. Godber gained most of his education in the school conducted by his father at Waco, Texas, and his initial business experience was gained by service as cash boy in the mercantile establish- ment of Sanger Brothers at Waco, this firm having conducted the largest department store in the Lone Star State. Mr. Godber remained in the employ of this firm thirteen years, and during the last five years was manager of the advertising and mail-order departments. At the age of twenty-seven years Mr. Godber engaged in the book and stationery busi- ness at Waco, and eight years later he sold the stock and business and came to California, in 1904. For the first year he gave his attention to the life- insurance business, with headquarters at Pasadena, and he passed the next four years as secretary with the B. O. Kendall Company of this city. In 1909 he engaged independently in the real estate, loan, insurance and build- ing business, in which he has since continued with distinctive success. About 1915 he admitted Clifford C. Gates to partnership, and the enter- prise was thereafter continued under the firm name of Godber & Gates until January 1, 1922, when Mr. Godber purchased his partner's interest. He has since continued in individual control of the substantial and repre- sentative business, with offices at 17 North Raymond Avenue. His attractive home place is at 455 North El Molino Avenue. Mr. Godber has investments in valuable apartment-house properties in Pasadena, is a stockholder of the Royal Laundry Company, and is a director of the First National Bank of Monterey Park, California. He is an influential member of the Pasadena Realty Board, of which he has served as president, is a member of the National Realtors Association, the Pasadena Chamber of Commerce, and the Pasadena Civic Association. He and his wife are prominent and active members of the First Presbyterian Church of Pasadena, of which he is secretary of its Board of Trustees. He is now financial secretary of the Sunday School of this church, and was formerly its superintendent. He is president of the Southern California State Sun- day School Association, president of the Missionary Educational Movement of California, and a former president of the California Christian Endeavor Union.

October 7, 1906, recorded the marriage of Mr. Godber and Miss Bettie Adair Segner, daughter of John M. Segner, of Waco, Texas, in which state Mrs. Godber was born and reared. The one child of this union is Ellen Adair, who graduated in the Pasadena High School, class of 1918, and who is a member of the class of 1922 in Occidental College.

RE Wirsching

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ROBERT E. WIRSCHING, who died August 30, 1922, became a resident of Los Angeles in 1875, and for years was closely identified with the con- mercial life of the city, being one of the pioneers in making Los Angeles an independent distributing market for the Southwest. Probably no citi- zen had a wider experience and gave a finer service in a public capacity. He was in some office or other involving large responsibilities for over thirty years. After nine years of consecutive service he retired from the Board of Public Utilities on January 1, 1922, and for several years had been president of the board.

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History of Los Angeles county, Volume II, Part 30

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