USA > California > Los Angeles County > History of Los Angeles county, Volume II > Part 53
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Mrs. Abbott started her class in Los Angeles with a dancing club, making only a small charge, and it grew rapidly so that her classes demanded the equipment and facilities supplied by the new school building.
Mrs. Abbott is a daughter of W. H. Gardner, who for a number of years owned and conducted minstrel shows, was a playwright, and at one time owned a chain of thirty theatres. After retiring from that business she located at Los Angeles and now operates a school of art in the Douglas Building. Her mother was Daisy May Brown, of Beverly, Massachusetts.
Mrs. Abbott was educated in the schools of New York, took oratory and expression in Emerson College, studied dancing in New York under Madame Monzetti, a noted French ballet performer, and also took Russian technique under Vestoff, of the famous Russian Ballet. Mrs. Abbott danced in her father's companies, had a solo part in "Birds of Woodlands," which played eight months in Boston, and also played a number of Eastern engagements on the Keith circuit.
In 1911 she was married to Edward H. Abbott, who is a talented baritone singer, well known in Los Angeles for his singing in churches and clubs. Mrs. Abbott has a daughter, Laverna Mae, born in January, 1916. This daughter has been well trained by Mrs. Abbott, and now with a small partner has filled several vaudeville engagements and during the summer of 1922 had engagements with Bert Levy and Micheljohn and Dunn.
JOHN HOWARD JOHNSON was a resident of Whittier for eighteen years. He was a devout friend, had been prominent in his church in his old home State of Iowa, and he enjoyed many congenial and useful rela- tions with this important California colony of friends. The Whittier community thoroughly esteemed him, and his life record is therefore appropriately included here.
Youngest of the eleven children of Macajah and Rebecca (O'Neal) Johnson, he was born April 26, 1839, near Waynesville, Ohio. ITe was eighty-two when summoned by death at his home in Whittier, May 29, 1922. His childhood days were passed amid the deprivations incident to. pioneer surroundings where luxuries were practically unknown in family life. His elementary education was obtained in a log school house made from trees cut from the forest primeval on his father's farm.
On March 21, 1861, he was united in marriage with Sarah Hawkins, daughter of Abram and Jane Hawkins. In the autumn of 1863, with their small son, Allen Clifford, they moved to Oskaloosa, Iowa, to make their future home. They secured a homestead of virgin land, cleared it of timber and erected a log cabin, which was their com- fortable and happy home for years. Later they purchased a residence
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in the west part of Oskaloosa, near the site of the old lowa Yearly Meeting House, and this became well known as the hospitable home for "visiting Friends," a multitude of whom were made partakers of their fireside comforts and bountiful table ever spread for the hungry.
Then came a day of deep sadness, for the good mother was stricken with a lingering illness and in the spring of 1887 the family circle was broken by her summons to the home beyond. In August of 1893 the reaper angel visited this home a second time, taking Mariana, the only daughter, the wife of I. W. Cook, to join her beloved mother.
In 1904 he was persuaded to make his home with his son in Cali- fornia and in June of 1906 he married Martha Greaves, of Newburgh, New York, with whom in their beautiful home on East Philadelphia Street he lived in happy companionship until her death in November. 1917. On May 8, 1919, at the home of her brother, Dr. Logan Avey. of Redlands, California, he was joined in marriage with Dora Avey, a friend of long standing. He is survived by the widow, by his only son, Allen Clifford Johnson, and by several nephews and nieces, his brothers and sisters all having preceded him to the other shore.
"J. Howard Johnson lived to see the triumph of his cherished causes which he had ardently espoused. One of his first civic duties in Iowa was a call to help build and equip the Spring Creek Academy, from whose doors went out to useful lives becoming important workers in the new commonwealth, the same becoming a forerunner of Penn College. With an unfailing interest in education, he gave his son and daughter the privileges of the college halls, and for the children of friend and neighbor he coveted the same invaluable benefits. When the Spring Creek Academy was changed into Penn College he was made a member of the first Board of Trustees, and at the time of his death he was the last surviving representative of the first board. For a time his daughter, Mariana, was a member of the Penn College faculty and his son, Allen Clifford, was secretary of the board at the time when he was compelled to seek a climate milder than that of Iowa. For, half a century some member of the family had held an honored place on the Penn College board of trustees.
"He was a good neighbor and an unfailing friend in time of need. whose sound advice and disinterested help, like Job, came to the rescue of the widow and the fatherless when the burdens of household affairs to which they were unaccustomed came heavily upon them and his wise forethought saved them from the designs of sordid men who had no respect for the property rights of the defenseless."
His enjoyment of the good things of life was unbounded and wholesome. He loved a good horse and a good dog ; he delighted in birds and trees, especially in the autumn foliage of an Iowa October ; he was sensitive to color whether in jewels, fabrics, fruits or flowers; he had a keen appreciation of the beauty of polished woods, of the sheen of delicate china, of the gloss of snowy linen; he was fond of good pictures, good stories and good music and his sense of humor was keen and flashing. He thoroughly enjoyed the companionship of men in their church leagues, political meetings and business rela- tions, and was always ready to contribute his full share. He possessed strong convictions of right and a high sense of honor and duty. In a sentence-summary it may be said that he was a loyal friend, a good neighbor, a tender father and a loving husband. A birthright Friend, he believed implicitly in the principles and customs of the Friends Church, and as he had lived so he departed with a confiding faith in God as his Father and an unfaltering trust in Jesus Christ as his Savior.
WILLETT LEE BOWLING, D. O. May the time never come when, in pride of personal achievement, descendants of those sturdy, courageous founders and builders of the great American Republic forget their
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glorious heritage or fail to rejoice in it. Students of United States history, and particularly of many stirring periods of early Kentucky, need not be told of the distinguished services there and elsewhere of the Clarks, the Ewings, the Temples, Bowlings and others, and it is a matter of justifiable pride in Dr. Willett Lee Bowling that he can claim such illustrious ancestors.
Dr. Bowling came to California because of impaired health in 1907, and in 1911 established himself at Pasadena, where he has met with unusual success as an osteopathic physician. He was born at Adair- ville, near Bowling Green, Kentucky, May 20, 1881, the younger of two sons born to Judge James Robert and Emma (Walters) Bowling, the former a native of Kentucky and the latter of Ohio. Both are now deceased, the father dying in Kentucky in 1899, at the age of fifty-five years, and the mother in South Pasadena, in 1919, in her seventy- fourth year. In a work entitled "Famous Men of Kentucky" appears an extended biography of the father of Dr. Bowling, giving interesting details of the peaceful life of a quiet farmer and local jurist, in con- trast to the bravery and valor of Captain Bowling during the war between the states, who, on a momentous occasion, courageously started out in the face of danger to carry important dispatches, and when surrounded by the enemy swallowed them rather than let them fall into the hands of the foe. Although Captain Bowling preserved the secrets of his mission and managed to elude his would be captors by hiding in the dense swamp, he suffered from this act of patriotic self sacrifice during the remainder of his life. Before he could reach Confederate headquarters his water-filled army boots had frozen to his feet and serious disabilities followed. He was faithful to the cause of the Confederacy throughout the war, and afterward was prominent in democratic politics in Logan County.
Willett Lee Bowling attended the public school at Adairville and his country's history was a favorite study. He found the first men- tion of his family name in Col. Robert Bowling, of the Revolutionary war, and collateral branches that led his ancestral line back to the Indian princess, Pocahontas, who also has been discovered an ances- tress of that gracious lady, Mrs. Edith Bolling Wilson, wife of ex- President Wilson. Dr. Bowling's great-great-grandfather, Jonathan Clark, was a brother of William and George Rogers Clark, and the Temples and Ewings, all distinguished, are his kindred in more or less degree.
After completing a course in Bethel College, at Russelville, Ken- tucky, Dr. Bowling took the senior year's studies in the University of Kentucky, and was graduated with the degree of Mechanical Engi- neer in 1902, when he accepted a position with the B. F. Sturtevant Company of Philadelphia, heating and ventliating engineers, in the following year being transferred to their New York offices.
In the meanwhile Dr. Bowling's older brother, Dr. Robert W. Bowling, now of South Pasadena, had become dean of the Los Angeles College of Osteopathy, and to him the former turned when he realized himself to be in failing health. In 1907 he came to Los Angeles, and soon became so interested in the system of osteopathic treat- ment that he decided to become a student, and in 1911 graduated from the Los Angeles College of Osteopathy, in April of that year took the state board examination, in May opened his office at Pasadena, and has built up a large and substantial practice.
Dr. Bowling married at Pasadena on December 22, 1913, Miss Marguerite Neumann, born and educated in New York City. She is a member of the Opportunity Club at Pasadena. They have two children, James Robert and Irma Lee.
Dr. Bowling is a democrat in politics, as was his father, but other interests have so absorbed his time that personally he has had little time to give to public affairs. He is a member, however, of the Pasa-
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dena Chamber of Commerce and concerned in local progress ; belongs to the Elks at Pasadena; is a member of the Alumni Chapters of the Pi Kappa Alpha and Tau Beta Pi fraternities, and belongs to the state and national organizations of Osteopathic Physicians and Surgeons and to the University Club of Pasadena.
WILLIAM SAMUEL STEVENS. Even a cursory glance at the life record of the late William S. Stevens reveals him as a man of singularly gentle and noble nature, of fine ideals and of distinctive culture. He was a man of thought and action, and he achieved greatly and well. He did much to further the development and progress of Long Beach, and was one of the leading citizens of this fair little city of Los Angeles County at the time of his death. Concerning him the following appreciative statements have been made: "In spite of his physical condition, he evinced an optimism and a courage that were contagious, a positive force despite the frail physique with which nature had endowed him. Those who had any dealings with him soon learned that he possessed the noble virtues of honesty, sincerity and loyalty-virtues which endeared him to all who had the privilege of know- ing him." The death of Mr. Stevens resulted from cerebral hemorrhage, and he passed to the life eternal on the 6th of May, 1921.
Mr. Stevens was born in the City of London, England, December 20, 1863, a son of Henry and Christina Stevens. His early educational training was limited in scope, but in later years, through study, reading, travel and practical experience, he became a man of broad mental ken and fine intel- lectuality. He was but a lad when he found employment in the Bank of London, in which his ability and faithful service won him advancement to a responsible post in the foreign exchange department. In this connection his close application enabled him to gain a working knowledge of foreign lan- guages and to become well informed in foreign monetary systems.
In the year 1883 Mr. Stevens came to the United States, and after remaining for an interval in the City of Chicago he made his way to Port- land, Oregon. He engaged in the grocery business at Centralia, that state, where success attended his well ordered activities. He continued his resi- dence in Oregon until 1897, when he came with his family to California and engaged in the grocery business at Long Beach. Later he became associated with W. W. Lowe and Joseph E. Shrewsbury in the real-estate business, as an exponent of which he was specially successful and was able to con- tribute much to the material and civic advancement of his home city and district. He disposed of his grocery business within a short time after entering the real-estate business. Mr. Stevens built and owned the Surf View apartments, and was associated with Aaron C. Grube in the erection of the Grube apartment building. After passing nine months, in company with his wife and daughter, in a trip to Europe Mr. Stevens returned to Long Beach, where he continued a member of the real-estate firm of Mal- com, Davis & Stevens, from 1910 to 1917. Within this period he became secretary of the Mutual Building & Loan Association, which had been organized in 1904. He was a strong guide in the upbuilding of the sub- stantial business of this association, and finally its demands upon his time and attention became so exigent that, in 1917, he retired from the firm of Malcom, Davis & Stevens. In consonance with the insistent importunities of his associates he finally assumed the presidency of the Building and Loan Association, an office which he retained until his death. He took great delight in his beautiful home, in the attractive north part of Long Beach, and there indulged his hobby of cultivating flowers, with the result that he made the home domain one of the show places of the city. In such a review as the one here offered it would be inconsistent to tempt any revelations of the ideal associations of the domestic life of Mr. Stevens, but it is sufficient to say that in sympathy, devotion, aspirations, hopes and ideals he and his wife and daughter constituted a home trio whose like is not often found. Together the three made three visits to England, and on one of these occa- sions they remained eighteen months, within which period the daughter
MUS Steteur
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there attended school. The three likewise made a delightful visit to Aus- tralia and New Zealand, and of them it has consistently been said that they "were devoted to one another and when they could be together their cup of happiness was full to overflowing."
Mr. Stevens was one of the owners of the Yale Hotel Building at Long Beach and also of other valuable realty in this part of Los Angeles County. It was primarily through his well ordered administrative policies that the Mutual Building & Loan Association was developed into an institution with resources in excess of $2,000,000. At the time of his death he was not only president of this great corporation but also a director of the Exchange National Bank and the Western Savings Bank. At the time of his death the president (Charles A. Wiley) of the Exchange National Bank gave the following appreciative estimate: "He was a man of high ideals, a man dis- tinguished by an unblemished character, and a man of rare financial ability. His counsel was always valuable. To know him was to love him. We shall sorely miss such a fine character."
Reared in the faith of the Church of England, both Mr. Stevens and his wife became communicants of the American church of the same household of faith, the Protestant Episcopal, and he was a loyal, earnest and liberal churchman. Mr. and Mrs. Stevens were numbered among the founders of of St. Luke's Episcopal Church at Long Beach, and he purchased the lot on which was erected the original church edifice. He was prominently affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, and for a number of years was treasurer of Long Beach Lodge No. 327, A. F. and A. M. In the York Rite of the fraternity he was affiliated also with the local Chapter and Commandery and the Chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star, besides having been a trustee of the Masonic Temple from the time of its founding until his death, he having been one of those instrumental in the building of this temple. He was affiliated also with Long Beach Lodge, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
At Portland, Oregon, in 1890, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Stevens and Miss Clara Gillingham, who was born at Chettle, England, their acquaintanceship having been formed on the vessel on which they were returning from the United States to their native land. Of their one child, Margaret N., more specific mention will be made in a later paragraph. Mrs. Stevens is prominent and influential in church and club work, and she and her daughter are popular factors in the representative social life of their home community. Mrs. Stevens is President of the Ebell Club, and both she and her daughter are past matrons of the local chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star, she and her husband having been charter mem- bers of the same. Mrs. Stevens has exceptional literary ability, and is doing much writing, besides being repeatedly called upon to speak before clubs and other organizations and to deliver lectures of general public order. At the time of this writing, in the summer of 1922, she and her daughter are preparing for a trip abroad, in which they expect to make an extended Oriental tour.
After her graduation in the local high school and the Long Beach Busi- ness College Miss Margaret N. Stevens assumed the position of steno- grapher in the offices of the Mutual Building & Loan Association, of which she was assistant secretary for a period of three years prior to the death of her honored father, its president. After the death of her father, because of the large part she had taken in the upbuilding of this great institution, she was, in May, 1921, made a director of the association, as successor of her father, and also had the distinction of being elected vice president, in recognition of her rare business ability and the effective service which she had given. She is one of the representative young business women of Los Angeles County, and yet finds time to maintain her cultural and social activities on the high plane set by her father and mother.
PAUL J. DENNINGER. Connected with the management of Whittier's public utilities, on which depends to great extent the successful carrying
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on of business, and the health, safety and comfort of the homes, are busy, reliable, well trained men, who have made themselves thoroughly familiar with the important duties for which they have been selected and could not be replaced without great loss in efficiency. A representative member of this body is Paul J. Denninger, district manager of the Southern California Edison Company, and one of Whittier's most popular men.
Paul J. Denninger was born at Spring Valley, Minnesota, December 14, 1879, and is a son of Dr. P. G. and Cora B. (Griswold) Denninger. The father of Mr. Denninger was formerly a practicing physician of Faribault, Minnesota, and the mother was of the same state. They now live in comfortable retirement at San Jacinto, California. After coming to California in 1890 Dr. Denninger continued in active practice at San Jose, Santa Clara County, until he retired in 1912.
After attending the public schools of San Jose Mr. Denninger continued his education in the University of the Pacific at College Park. California. The year 1902 found him in the gas business at Riverside for the Riverside Light & Fuel Company, where he remained six months, then went to Pomona for the Pomona & Ontario Light & Fuel Company for eighteen months. In 1904 he came to Whittier as superintendent of the local gas company, which was later absorbed by the Southern California Edison Company, of which he has been district manager since 1905. An able, progressive, reliable business man, Mr. Denninger commands the respect and enjoys the confidence of his associates all over the district and particu- larly at Whittier, where he is ever ready to heartily co-operate with others for the public welfare. He is a past president of the Chamber of Commerce, and for eight years a director, and was a charter member of the organiza- tion committee of the Rotary Club and was its first president. He is a member and past worshipful master of Whittier Lodge No. 323, F. and A. M .; Whittier Chapter, R. A. M., and a past commander of Whittier Commandery No. 51, K. T.
Mr. Denninger married, September 3, 1900, Miss Irene Hambly, a daughter of James Hambly, a wholesale druggist of Bellville, Ontario, Canada, and a granddaughter of Hon. David Roblin, who for a number of years represented Lennox and Addington counties in the Ontario Par- liament. Mrs. Denninger is a member of the Whittier Woman's Club. Both Mr. and Mrs. Denninger are members and active workers of St. Mathias Episcopal Church, Mr. Denninger being one of the vestrymen.
LESLIE ALBERT BOADWAY, vice-president and director of the Security Trust & Savings Bank of Los Angeles and manager of its Pasadena branch, is one of Southern California's most prominent bankers and business men, and has been identified with the business life of the county of Los Angeles for a score of years.
. He is a native of the State of Maine, born at Bradley November 5. 1868, son of Joseph and Laura Ann (Rose) Boadway. His father was a native of Canada and his grandfather Boadway was born in France, while his grandmother was born in England. Laura Ann Rose was born in Maine, and was descended from the old New England families of Brown and Rose of Scotch-English ancestry.
L. A. Boadway fulfilled the traditional equipment of a typical New England man by acquiring a liberal education and preparation for life. After graduating from high school he entered the University of Maine. graduated Bachelor of Science in 1891, and for about ten years following was engaged in the mercantile business at Madison in his native state. On moving to California in 1902 Mr. Boadway engaged for ten years in the real estate and investment business. In 1912 he organized the Boadway Brothers Corporation, and is now president of the Boadway Brothers Company, operating a chain of department stores in Southern California. He is, therefore, an active man in the commercial life of the county in addition to his responsibilities as vice-president of the Security Trust & Savings Bank of Los Angeles, one of the largest financial institutions in
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the Southwest, with total resources of over one hundred and fifty million dollars.
Mr. Boadway was president of the Pasadena Y. M. C. A. during the World war. He is a director of the Board of Trade, is a republican, Knight Templar and thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason, and a member of the Valley Hunt Club and Pasadena Golf Club. He is affiliated with the First Baptist Church at Pasadena.
June 14. 1893, at Madison, Maine, Mr. Boadway married Bertha Marion Blackwell, daughter of William H. Blackwell, of Madison, representing one of the old New England families. Mr. and Mrs. Boadway have three children : Walter Melville, who married Elizabeth M. Frost, daughter of George Frost, of Pasadena; Edith Marion and Eleanor Leslie.
CHARLES B. DIRKS, PH. B., M. D., a prominent and representative member of his profession in Los Angeles County, is a specialist in neurology and psychiatry, and has gained authoritative status in the treatment of nervous and mental diseases. The Doctor maintains in the City of Pasadena an office at 607 Central Building, and in the City of Los Angeles he has office headquarters at 506 Brockman Building.
Dr. Dirks was born at Plano, Kendall County, Illinois, and is a son of Christoph and Henriette Dirks, who were born in Germany and who were young folk when they came to the United States. Upon attaining to his legal majority the father became a full-fledged and loyal American citizen, and he not only gained substantial success in connection with mercantile enterprises at Plano, Illinois, but also established a high reputation as a man of fine attributes of character and of utmost civic loyalty and appre- ciativeness. He gained wide acquaintanceship among public men in Illinois, and in connection with his business activities became a close friend of Carl Schurz and of the late Marshall Field, the great Chicago merchant. The lineage of the Dirks family traces back to staunch Holland Dutch origin, and representatives of the name have been distinguished as painters and musicians in Holland in both early and later generations. On the maternal side Dr. Dirks is of German ancestry.
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