History of Los Angeles county, Volume II, Part 5

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

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January 19, 1898, recorded the marriage of Mr. Brenner and Miss Grace Adella Ketchum, a daughter of Albert and Adella (Williams) Ketchum, who at that time resided on their fine ranch in La Canada Valley, this county, five miles northwest of Pasadena, the father being now deceased and the widowed mother being a resident of Pasadena. Mrs. Ketchum is a daughter of the late Col. Adolphus Williams, who came to Los Angeles County nearly fifty years ago and who was one of its honored pioneer citizens at the time of his death. Mrs. Brenner was born at Lansing, capital of the State of Michigan, and received her education in Los Angeles and Pasadena. Mr. and Mrs. Brenner have no children.

GEORGE HUNTER GREENWELL, M. D. Few men exemplified the self- sacrificing devotion that is inherent in the practice of medicine to a higher degree than the late Doctor Greenwell of Los Angeles, whose steadfast

HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY

courage as well as ability will remain a source of comfort to his many patients and his associates in the profession.

Doctor Greenwell was born at Durham, England, August 21, 1864. He was only a boy when his father, Thomas Greenwell, died, and he had to make his way in the world without special help beyond his individual earnings. He paid his own expenses while a student of Oxford University, from which he graduated. On leaving England he came to California, and in 1905 he graduated from the Medical College of Southern California. Doctor Greenwell practiced in San Francisco and Santa Cruz, and seven years before his death located at Los Angeles. He was engaged in general practice as a physician and surgeon and was also an osteopath. He took a deep interest in fraternal affairs, being affiliated with Santa Cruz Lodge of Masons, Southgate Chapter, R. A. M., Golden State Commandery, K. T., Al Malaikah Temple of the Mystic Shrine and was a member of the Odd Fellows, Foresters, Court of Honor and others. Doctor Greenwell married Eva May Gens, of Minneapolis, Minnesota. Mrs. Greenwell survives him, as does also a son, George Hunter Greenwell, who was born September 15, 1922, four and one-half months after his father's death.

In his profession Doctor Greenwell did a great deal of charitable work. Several years ago he established a settlement in the hills near Monrovia, and a large part of his energies were devoted to the poor gathered at that settlement. In the influenza epidemic several years ago he attended many cases that other physicians refused, particularly in the Jewish settlement at Boyle Heights, where as many as six and seven in a single family were stricken. He was a member of the medical staff of West Lake Hospital, and he died at the Hospital April 22, 1922. His death came suddenly, and he had been engaged in the performance of his professional duties until late in the afternoon of the preceding day. He was buried under Masonic auspices in the Hollywood Cemetery. If there was one class of people more than another to whom he devoted himself as a physician during the influenza epidemic it was the members and families of the traffic squad of police, and many of these officers as a body expressed special tribute to him at the time of his death.

JOHN T. GAFFEY, resident of San Pedro, has been a prominent man in the public and business life of the County of Los Angeles for many years. Born in Galway, Ireland, November 1, 1860, son of Thomas and Ann E. (Tracy) Gaffey, he was seven years of age when in 1867 his mother brought her seven children by sailing vessel to America, and by way of the Isthmus of Panama to San Francisco. She bought a large cattle and sheep ranch at Santa Cruz, and in that environment John T. Gaffey grew to manhood.

His early education was acquired in private schools, and later at San Francisco he completed the work of the Lincoln Grammar School and the Boys' High School. After one year in the University of California he returned to Santa Cruz, in 1879, and there began his newspaper work as reporter for the Santa Cruz Courier. He was with that journal two years, and then established the Santa Cruz Herald, which he conducted for three years. After selling out he was appointed under sheriff of the county. At the close of his term of office he was appointed clerk of the Supreme Court of the Southern District, and the duties of that office brought him to Los Angeles. In 1886 he was elected a member of the Board of Equalization for the Southern District. After four years he engaged in mining in old Mexico, and during his absence was elected a member of the School Board of Los Angeles. He returned in time to serve in that position for ten months. In 1892 he was elected a member of the City Council, filling the office for six months, until he resigned to take charge of Stephen M. White's campaign, and handled it successfully, until Mr. White was chosen a member of the United States Senate. For eighteen months, beginning in 1894, Mr. Gaffey also served as managing editor of the Los Angeles Herald.

In 1893 he was appointed collector of customs by President Cleveland

HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY

for the Southern District, including Riverside, Orange, Ventura and Los Angeles counties. At the close of his four year term he retired from politics and gave his efforts to his mining interests in old Mexico and oil operations in Texas until 1906, when he disposed of most of his holdings and has since enjoyed the comforts of his beautiful home at San Pedro, with only his private affairs to require his supervision. Mr. Gaffey is president of the Bandini Baker Estate Company, is a director of the First National Bank, is president of the Gaffey Investment Company, and is a member of the California Club and Bohemian Club of San Francisco.

June 1, 1887, he married Arcadia Bandini, daughter of Don Juan Bandini. They have two children, William T. and Mrs. Mel, wife of Capt. John Mel. The son, William T., was born at Santa Monica, was educated in college at Santa Clara and soon afterward entered the United States Navy. In 1917 he was commissioned an ensign, and was in service until the close of the war, being now on the reserve list. The daughter was educated in the Sacred Heart Convent at Menlo Park.

CAPTAIN JOHN MEL has a public record that makes him an interesting citizen of California, and he is also held in high esteem at Pasadena, which has been his home for a number of years.' He is general manager and a director of Foss Designing and Building Company of that city, one of the largest organizations of its kind in the County of Los Angeles.

Captain Mel was born at San Francisco December 5, 1873. His great-great-grandfather was one of the seven Marshalls of France during the Napoleonic era. The grandfather, John Mel de Fontenay, was born and educated in France. The father of Captain Mel bore the name of Jean Henri Louis Francois Houston Mel de Fontenay and was also a native of France. He came to California and settled in San Francisco in 1851, and he was in business as an importer. He married Nellie F. Mann, and from San Francisco the family moved to Berkeley, where the father lived retired until his death about eight years later. He died there in 1917, and the mother is still living at Berkeley. Their family of four sons and five daughters are all living, Captain John being the second in age.

John Mel was reared in the San Francisco Bay District, and as a young man of twenty-two he joined the United States Coast Guard service. He was in that service from 1895 to 1910, retiring in the latter year. In the meantime he finished his education in the Uni- versity of California with the class of 1897, and was a member of the same class in the United States Coast Guard Academy, graduating in 1897 and being commissioned a captain of the Coast Guards. A year later, in 1898, he joined the navy and participated in the battle of Manila Bay. During the World war he again accepted service in the naval department, as executive officer of the U. S. Naval Train- ing Company at San Pedro, California.

Captain Mel is a popular citizen of Pasadena, where his time and energies are fully devoted to his duties as general manager of the Foss Designing and Building Company. He is a member of the Overland Club and Midwick Country Club of Pasadena, is a republican, a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason and Shriner and a member of the Episcopal Church.

November 1, 1919, Captain Mel married Margaret Gaffey, daughter of John T. Gaffey a permanent Los Angeles county citizen whose career is reviewed in a separate article. Captain and Mrs. Mel have one daughter, Sheila Ward, and a son, John Mel, Jr.

STEWART J. FITCH, D. O., M. D., has for a number of years been one of the leading practitioners of Osteopathy in Pasadena, where his active and able assistant and associate is Mrs. Fitch, also a graduate Osteopathic physician.

HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY

Stewart Jackson Fitch was born in Freeport, Illinois, October 1, 1884, son of Albert Bonner and Frances Elizabeth (Lawver) Fitch. Doctor Fitch was reared in Freeport, graduated from the high schools of that city in June, 1903, and spent the following year in a general literary course in the University of Wisconsin. In 1904 he entered the Chicago College of Osteopathy, graduating D. O. in the regular course in 1906, and in 1908 completed the four year course. Subsequently Doctor Fitch completed the studies and received the M. D. degree, in 1914, from the Hahnemann Medical College and Hospital of Chicago. He has devoted fifteen years to the practice of his profession, and in addition to his private practice he has assumed important responsibilities in Osteopathic education in California. He is a trustee of the College of Osteopathic physicians and surgeons of Los Angeles, and president of the Advisory Board of that institution. He was president of the Pasadena Osteopathic Society in 1921-1922.

Doctor Fitch also gave his professional service to the Government at the time of the World war. He was commissioned as first lieutenant in the Medical Corps, and was on duty with the Eighty-second Infantry, Sixteenth Division, at Camp Kearney, California, from September 25, 1918, to January 7, 1919. At the latter date he was transferred to the 264th Ambulance Company, 16th Sanitary Train, and was in service until his honorable discharge on February 11, 1919.

Doctor Fitch and Mrs. Fitch have a splendid practice, their office and residence being at 1175 North Los Robles Avenue. They were married in Chicago, April 26, 1913. At that time Mrs. Fitch was Dr. Marie B. Grunewald, daughter of Augustus H., Sr., and Emma (Baumgartner) Grunewald. Mrs. Fitch is a graduate of St. Mary's Hall at Faribault, Minnesota, and graduated from the College of Osteopathic Physicians and Surgeons at Los Angeles in 1907. Doctor and Mrs. Fitch have one daughter, Barbara Marie Fitch, born May 7, 1921.

Doctor Fitch is a member of the Alpha Sigma college fraternity, the Kiwanis Club of Pasadena, the University Club of Pasadena, the American Legion and is affiliated with the Pasadena Presbyterian Church.

HAROLD BROOKS LANDRETH, a representative lawyer of the younger generation in Los Angeles County, is engaged in practice in the City of Pasadena, where he is a member of the firm of Hahn, Hahn & Landreth, with offices in the Central building.

Mr. Landreth was born at Manitowoc, Wisconsin, on the 17th of January, 1891, and is a son of Albert and Annie F. (Hoes) Landreth. Albert Landreth was a pioneer in the canning industry in Wisconsin, where he established the first commercial cannery in the state and was the first to institute the canning of peas in an industrial way at any point to the west of the State of New York. He became one of the representative figures in industrial circles in the Badger State, and was passing the winter in Florida at the time of his death, in 1900, his widow being now a resident of Pasadena, California. Albert Landreth was born at Bristol, Pennsyl- vania, but was reared at Battle Creek, Michigan, from which state he finally removed to Wisconsin. In his family were one son and four daugh- ters, all of whom are living except two of the daughters.

The public schools of his native place afforded Harold B. Landreth his earlier education, which was supplemented by his attending the Harvard Military School at Los Angeles, California, and the high school at Pasa- dena, in which latter he was graduated in 1908. He was a lad of about ten years when he made his first visit to California, in company with his widowed mother, in 1901, and in 1903 the family home was established at Pasadena. In 1912 he graduated from Occidental College, Los Angeles, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts, and in the law department of Leland Stanford, Jr., University he was graduated in 1915, with the degree of Doctor of Jurisprudence, and with virtually coincident admission to the bar of the state. From July of that year until May, 1917, he was engaged

Harold B Jandreth .. 1

HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY

in practice in the City of Los Angeles, as a member of the law firm of Landreth & Patten, his partner having been James L. Patten and their offices having been in the Citizens National Bank building. When, in the spring of 1917, the nation became involved in the World war, both of these ambitious young lawyers entered the military service of their country. At Camp Fremont, Menlo Park, California, Mr. Landreth gained his preliminary training, and later he was stationed in turn at Camp Mills, Long Island, and Camp Merritt, New Jersey, he having been commissioned a captain in the Thirteenth Infantry. With his command he was for two days on a transport held at the dock in readiness to cross to France, and it was while he was thus placed that the armistice was signed and the war came to a close. He received his honorable discharge, and on March 1, 1919, arrived at his home in California. In April he opened an office and engaged in practice at Pasadena. From October of that year until Feb- ruary, 1922, he was a member of the law firm of Landreth, Musick & Newell. On February 1, 1922, this firm was dissolved and he became a member of the firm of Hahn, Hahn & Landreth.

Mr. Landreth is an advocate of the principles of the republican party. His basic Masonic affiliation is with Corona Lodge No. 324, A. F. and A. M., and he is a member of the local Chapter and Commandery bodies and the Mystic Shrine, while in the Scottish Rite of the time-honored fraternity he has received the thirty-second degree. He was president of the Rotary Club of Pasadena from April, 1921, to April, 1922, and was Commander of Pasadena Post No. 13, American Legion, from January 1, 1922, to January 1, 1923. In his home community he is a member of the Cauldron Club and the Flintridge County Club, while in the City of Los Angeles he holds membership in the University, the Union League, the Lincoln and the Bachelors clubs, besides which he is affiliated with the Phi Gamma Delta college fraternity and Phi Alpha Delta Law Fraternity, and is a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Pasadena. He is actively identified with the Pasadena Bar Association and the Los Angeles County Bar Association, is a member of the Pasadena Tournament of Roses Asso- ciation, is a member and takes loyal interest in the American Legion, and is a member of the Board of Trustees of Occidental College at Los Angeles and of the Advisory Board of the Union of the Pasadena Branch of the Pacific Southwest Trust & Savings Bank. His name is still enrolled on the list of eligible young bachelors in Los Angeles County.

HENRY D. RINEHART, M. D. The medical profession of Los Angeles County is ably represented by a number of men who by experience, knowl- edge of their calling and general personal worth are fitted to be devotees of this, probably the most exacting of the vocations in which man may engage. A worthy representative of this calling, and a specialist and recognized authority in diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat, is Dr. Henry D. Rinehart, of Pasadena, in whom the citizens of the community have learned to place the deepest and most sincere confidence. Doctor Rinehart has earned his standing by merit and unquestioned abilities. He has practiced none of the arts of the charlatan, and the tricks of the medicaster have played no part in his career. Coming to Pasadena in 1915, he has main- tained steadfastly the highest ethics of his profession, a calling in which the mere holding of an acknowledged position is an evidence of general worth.

Doctor Rinehart was born at Dayton, Ohio, some fifty years ago, and is a son of Daniel and Esther (Brumbaugh) Rinehart, the former a native of Virginia and the latter of Pennsylvania. In young married life they settled on an Ohio farm and there rounded out long, honorable and useful lives, the father passing away when eighty-eight years of age, and the mother attaining the remarkable age of ninety-three years. They were faithful members of the Church of the Brethren. Of their ten children three died in infancy, four sons and three daughters growing to maturity, of whom three sons and one daughter survive, all residents of Ohio except

HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY

Dr. Henry D., whose remoteness from the old homestead place was brought about in search of good health, Southern California having been advised by Mayo Clinic.

. Henry D. Rinehart was brought up on the home farm and attended the public schools of Ohio, and did college work at Ada, Ohio, and Hunt- ingdon, Pennsylvania. While he had been reared as a farmer's son, he did not take kindly to the life of the agriculturist, and, deciding upon a pro- fessional career, taught school for eight years in Ohio, in the meantime spending a part of his time in medical study. Eventually he graduated in medicine at the Long Island College Hospital, Brooklyn, New York, as a member of the class of 1886, receiving his degree of Doctor of Medicine, and subsequently took a special course and was house surgeon at the Chi- cago Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat College for two years. After graduation he was in general practice until 1902 at Covington, Ohio, but in the mean- time continued to take special courses at different cities, further improving his equipment for his calling. He spent a short time at Mayo Brothers' Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, and although there only a short time accumu- lated knowledge that he has found of incalculable value throughout his surgical career. For sixteen years Doctor Rinehart was engaged in general practice at Covington, Ohio, and then engaged in special work in the treat- ment and cure of diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat at Dayton, where he remained twelve years, being placed on the staff of the Miami Valley Hospital, an honor that came to him entirely unsolicited. During the twelve years he shared with another physician the work of caring for eye, ear, nose and throat cases in a hospital of 150 beds. . In 1915 he handed in his resignation and came to Pasadena. The hospital, however, would not believe that Doctor Rinehart would remain in California, and accordingly refused to accept his resignation, but after a year had elapsed became con- vinced of his determination to remain in the Golden State and subsequently gave him the title of Emeritus Oculist and Aurist of Miami Valley Hospital. Since locating at Pasadena Doctor Rinehart has built up a large and repre- sentative practice that has advanced steadily in scope and importance. He keeps fully abreast of the advancement being constantly made in his calling, and is a valued member of the Pasadena Medical Society, the Los Angeles County Medical Society, the California State Medical Association, the American Medical Association and Pacific Coast Ophthalmological and Otological Society. Every movement which has for its object the better- ment of the community or the welfare of its citizens finds in Doctor Rine- hart a hearty co-operator and generous supporter, and his standing as a citizen is absolutely assured. His offices are located in the Pasadena Clinic Building. He has also contributed to the upbuilding of Pasadena. He first built a court of twenty-six homes, which he still owns, located two and one-half blocks from the Maryland Hotel and known as "Reinway," this name being composed of the first half of his own name and the first half of the name of his wife. Doctor Rinehart himself resides in this court, which is one of the most popular in Southern California. In politics he is a republican. He is a member of the Pasadena Presbyterian Church, and for fifteen years was one of the most active Sunday School workers in Ohio and superintendent of a Sunday School in Covington, Ohio, and of the Third Street Presbyterian Church, Dayton, Ohio. He served for ten years on the Ohio State Sunday School Executive Committee.

At Dayton, Ohio, Doctor Rinehart was united in marriage with Miss Emma Waybright, who was born and educated at Englewood, Ohio, and to this union there were born three daughters, all of whom were given college educations. Pearl died in the influenza epidemic of 1918 at Dayton, Ohio, as Mrs. Lawrence N. Jackson, her death being a great blow to her parents as well as to her husband and little children, who now reside at the home of Dr. and Mrs. Rinehart, and are being cared for by their grand- parents with the most loving attention. Ethel is the wife of, E. N. Shoup, of Dayton, but soon to locate near Modesto, California. She has one son and four daughters. Opal, a special teacher of Household Economics,

HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY

served for about two years as dietitian in a large hospital. She is now a special teacher in the public schools of Pasadena.

Dr. Rinehart in January, 1922, purchased the best improved dairy- ranch in the Modesto Irrigation District, California, and registered it "The California Ranch," and which he is setting entirely to fruit. This ranch, on Waterford Highway, is planned to be a model fruit-ranch. Dr. Rinehart is an indefatigable worker. He also writes for the Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat Monthly articles pertaining to his specialty, and contributes as well to other publications.

ALVIN WALLACE VINEY, D. D. S., has been successfully engaged in the practice of his profession in the City of Pasadena since 1904, has special- ized in oral surgery, and his success in the work of his profession offers the most effective voucher for his technical ability and personal popularity.

Dr. Viney was born in the City of Bloomington, McLean County, Illi- nois, on the 23d of July, 1878, and is a son of Alvin Lewis Viney and Harriet (Wiley) Viney, the latter of whom died at Bloomington, Novem- ber 4, 1892, and the former of whom died at Great Falls, Montana, April 14, 1914. Alvin L. Viney was in his earlier career engaged in farm enterprise in Illinois, and later he was long and successfully engaged in the brokerage business. The lineage of the Viney family traces back to French, Welsh and English origin, to Sturminster, Newton, England. Representatives of the name were numbered among the Colonial settlers in Virginia, two of the men of this family having served as patriot soldiers in the war of the American Revolution, and the family having given loyal soldiers to the Union cause in the Civil war. Bartholomew and Andrew Viney were the Revolutionary soldiers, and from the latter the subject of this review is a descendant in the fifth generation. Alvin Lewis Viney was born at Bloomington, Illinois, July 16, 1848, a date that indicates that the family was there founded in the pioneer days. Ancestors removed from Alsace-Lorraine, France, to England, and it was from the latter country that came the founders of the American branch. The mother of Dr. Viney likewise was born in McLean County, Illinois. Of the four chil- dren one son died at the age of two years. Dr. Viney is the eldest of the three surviving children, Mrs. Frederick Strong being a resident of Floweree, Montana, and Mrs. Charles A. Tucker maintaining her home at Alhambra, California.

In the public schools of Bloomington, his native city, Dr. Viney con- tinued his studies until he had profited by the advantages of the high school, and thereafter he continued his studies in the Illinois Wesleyan University. Later he studied both medicine and dentistry in the St. Louis University of Missouri, and he made his first visit to California in 1897. Here he passed a year at Hanford, Kings County, and he then returned to the East. Since 1903 he has maintained his permanent residence in Los Angeles County, and in 1904 he received from the University of Southern Cali- fornia the degree of Doctor of Dental Surgery, upon his graduation in the dental department of this institution, later becoming professor of the chair of Dental Materia Medica. He has since been established in practice at Pasadena, where his well appointed and equipped offices are in suite 701-2 of the Citizens Savings Bank Building, at the northeast corner of Colorado Street and Marengo Avenue. In the World war period Dr. Viney was one of the fourteen members of the National Council of the Preparedness League of American Dentists, and was also the organizer of the local chapters of the Preparedness League of Southern California, this having been the nucleus of the well ordered Dental Corps of Southern California and Arizona, which rendered great service in giving dental attention to recruited soldiers entering the nation's military and naval service. Later, being already commissioned a first lieutenant of the Dental Reserve Corps, he was ordered to duty with "The Army Dental School" of the Medical Officers' Training Corps at Camp Greenleaf, Fort Oglethorpe, Chicka- mauga Park, Georgia, where he remained until he was discharged from the

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History of Los Angeles county, Volume II, Part 5

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