USA > California > Los Angeles County > History of Los Angeles county, Volume II > Part 54
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In the great University of Chicago Dr. Dirks was graduated as a member of the class of 1899 and with the degree of Bachelor of Philosophy. In the celebrated Rush Medical College, which has since become the medical school of the University of Chicago, he was graduated in 1903 with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. Prior to this he had pursued effective post- graduate courses in the cities of Paris, Vienna and Berlin (1898-1902). and in 1911 he was a post-graduate student at Fordham University, New York. He is giving able service in connection with the educational work of his profession, as professor of neurology in the College of Medical Evangelists in the City of Los Angeles. The Doctor has specialized in neurology and psychiatry from the time of his graduation in Rush Medical College. He came to Los Angeles in 1914, and his residence is maintained at Eagle Rock, one of the attractive suburbs of the metropolis of Southern California. In 1912 Dr. Dirks was acting superintendent of the Illinois State Hospital for the Insane at Elgin, and prior to this, 1906-8, he was assistant superintendent of the Milwaukee Sanitarium at Wauwatosa, Wis- consin. He was appointed medical director of the Psychopathic Hospital at Los Angeles, but declined this position to enter the nation's service in connection with the World war. In 1917 he was commissioned captain in the Medical Corps of the United States Army, and in this connection he served as special neurological examiner until the signing of the historic armistice brought the war to a close, after which he received his honorable discharge.
In politics Dr. Dirks is a democrat of liberal tendencies, and he is affil- iated with the Masonic and the Phi Gamma Delta fraternities. He holds membership in the Psychopathic and Neurological Associations of Los Angeles, the Glendale Clinical and Pathological Society, the Los Angeles County Medical Society, the California State Medical Society and the
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American Medical Association. Until recently he held membership in the University Clubs of Los Angeles and Salt Lake City, and he is a member of the First Baptist Church of Los Angeles.
On the 1st of August, 1908, Dr. Dirks wedded Miss Alice Augusta Thompson, daughter of E. T. Thompson, of Madison, Wisconsin, she having been prior to her marriage secretary to Dr. Richard Dewey, the distinguished alienist and author. Mrs. Dirks was born in Baraboo, Wis- consin. She was president of the Parent-Teachers' Association of Los Angeles in 1915-16 (Child Welfare Committee), and has been closely identified with school work. She has been president of the School Board of Eagle Rock for three years, is worthy matron of the Order Eastern Star, and was social chairman of the Presbyterian Church, having charge of all social activities of the church, but recently resigned, in March, 1922. She is interested in educational and civic work, in the Political Action Club work, in the Twentieth Century Club of Eagle Rock, and was press chairman of that club. Dr. and Mrs. Dirks have two children, Maitland Stanley and Dempster Perry, aged respectively thirteen and ten years, in 1922.
CARLYLE CHANNING DAVIS. It was once written of the late Carlyle Channing Davis, when he was at the zenith of his career, "He has a dauntless courage, unequalled capacity for application, exhaustless physical endurance, a most ingratiating address, a loyal and lovable nature, an alert intelligence and unblemished business honor." To this sentiment all those who came within his personal influence during a long and busy life filled with brilliant achievement heartily subscribe. For over a quarter of a cen- tury he was known, admired and esteemed as a citizen of Los Angeles.
Carlyle Channing Davis was born in 1847, in the village of Glens Falls, New York, a picturesque region that might have had a marked influence in developing his natural vivid imagination had his boyhood and youth been spent there. He was but one year old, however, when his parents started West as pioneers, on a conscientious journey, and he re- tained no memories of his early surroundings. Both parents were born in Connecticut, the father at Killingly and the mother at Bethel. His father, a physician, was a man of moral fiber, and when he felt called to the ministry, was willing to make any sacrifice and in his zeal accepted a mis- sion to the Indian tribes still remaining in the center of the Territory of Iowa. This far western post of the time was finally reached after a journey of five months, and later Mr. Davis' father had the satisfaction of organizing the first Universalist Church at Iowa City.
As may be supposed, the lad had no special educational privileges, and in fact early became self-supporting, at first working for a German farmer for his board and clothes. In 1861 he was apprenticed to a firm of printers in the town of Anamosa, Iowa, where he spent two years setting type on the Eureka, then accompanied one of the editors to Morris, Illinois, and later to Chicago, returning then to Iowa and enlisting for service in the Civil war, then in progress, as a member of Company D, 44th Iowa Volun- teer Infantry.
When eighteen years old Mr. Davis was editor and publisher of a news- paper called the Olney Record at Egypt, Illinois, and because of his youth was referred to as "the beardless editor of Egypt." From there he went to Cincinnati, where he remained until 1872, working on the Times, the Enquirer and the Chronicle, then removed to St. Charles, Missouri, where as editor of the Cosmos until it was destroyed by fire, he was largely in- strumental in securing the establishment of the repair shops of the North Missouri Railway. The burning of his newspaper plant left him without occupation or income for a time, but his was not a nature to be easily dis- heartened, and in the spring of 1876 he hired out as a sheep herder for a rancher, but shortly afterward accompanied a friend to Denver and on the Rocky Mountain News, resumed work at his trade.
In January, 1879, Mr. Davis reached Leadville, Colorado, an important
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Carlyle ( Davis,
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move of his life, and here followed seventeen busy and fruitful years. Newspaper enterprises intrigued him again, and it was no small achieve- ment to build up from the ground the Leadville Evening Chronicle until it became the leading journal in the state. He published also the Carbonate Weekly Chronicle, at a profit, and developed into one of the responsible business men as well as leading journalists of Lake County. In 1882 he was elected city clerk of Leadville, in 1883 was made postmaster and in 1884 was chosen delegatc-at-large to the Republican National Convention at Chicago. He became president of the City National Bank of Leadville, and was one of the prime movers in the construction of the Colorado Mid- land Railway and drove the first spike. His many responsibilities and mani- fold activities finally told on his health, and his physicians ordered a more genial climate, but he disregarded their advice for a time and with the result that after coming to Los Angeles in 1895 he was forced to remain in a hospital for months. In time he resumed literary work, becoming chief editorial writer for the Los Angeles Herald, as well as president of the Phillips Printing Company. He was the author of such popular books as "Olden Times in Colorado," "The Truc Story of Ramona," and "A Trip Through the Orient."
Mr. Davis married at Las Vegas, Mexico, on September 13, 1897, Miss Mary Alice Summers. His death occurred on November 29, 1921, at his beautiful home, 64 North Avenue, Los Angeles.
EDWARD H. ANGLE, founder of the Angle School of Orthodontia, has for many years been a recognized authority on that subject in Amer- ica. When he came to Pasadena in 1915 a number of students from different parts of the United States sought him out in order to study under him. There are about twenty, representing many states in the Union, who take instruction under him. Through the initiative of these students a fund of about cight thousand dollars has been raised, and on ground donated by Doctor Angle on Jackson Street, adjoining his own home on North Madison, a building has been erected and equipped as a laboratory to be used as the foundation equipment of the Angle School of Orthodontia.
Edward Hartley Angle was born at Herrick, Pennsylvania, June 1, 1855, son of Phillip C. and Isabelle (Erskine) Angle. His father was born at the Delaware Water Gap in 1820, was a farmer, largely self educated, and was a pioneer in Bradford County, Pennsylvania, being the first to take up land in Herrick Township. He and his wife spent the rest of their years in that locality. Isabelle Erskine was born at Ballibay, Ireland, in 1824, and came to America at the time of the great Irish famine. She was a beautiful woman and was widely known as Aunt Bell in the old home locality in Pennsylvania. Of her four sons and three daughters two sons and two daughters are still living, and the only two in California are Doctor Angle and his sister, both at Pasadena.
Doctor Angle graduated D. D. S. from the Pennsylvania College of Dental Surgery in 1878. The honorary M. D. degree was bestowed upon him by the Marion-Sims-Beaumont College of Medicine in 1899, and the honorary Doctor of Science degree by a Pennsylvania Uni- versity in 1913. From 1889 to 1891 he was professor of histology and comparative anatomy of teeth and orthodontia in Minnesota Uni- versity ; was professor of orthodontia in Northwestern University from 1892 to 1898: held the chair of orthodontia in Marion-Sims- Beaumont College of Medicine at St. Louis from 1896 to 1898, and during 1898 also at Washington University. He was founder and professor of orthodontia in the Angle School of Orthodontia at St. Louis and New London in 1900 to 1913. During 1892-95 he served as special surgcon for the Great Northern Railroad, and in a similar capacity for the Wabash Railroad from 1896 to 1908. Doctor Angle is a member of the American Society of Orthodontia and was its presi-
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dent in 1900; is an honorary member of the Soc. Dental Mex .; honorary member of the Verein Zahnarzte; honorary member of the Verein Oster Zahnarzte; honorary member of the Vienna Orthodont. Gesell .; honorary member of the Verein Wiener Zahnarzte; honorary member of the Dental Society of Sweden; honorary member of the Med .- Dental Society of Finland. He is author of fractures of the Maxillae; Malocclusion of the teeth, and Orthodontic Mechanism, which has passed through seven editions and has been translated into German and other languages and several reprints have been made of the edition and another one is now being prepared and is recognized as the standard text book on orthodontia today. Dr. Angle is now preparing another work on the same subjeet, which will be completed the coming year and which brings his ideas right up to date.
Doctor Angle had spent a number of winters in Southern Cali- fornia, and when he established his home at Pasadena, he planned a long rest and retirement, but the duties of instruction have not allowed him the complete leisure he anticipated. Doctor Angle's hobby is collecting Indian relics. He has perhaps the finest collection in Cali- fornia of beaded clothing and hunting outfits, representing many dif- ferent tribes.
LOUIS A. WALKER, D. D. S., brings to bear in the practice of his pro- fession the best of technical ability and the most modern laboratory and operative facilities, his practice being well established and of representative order. He maintains his offices at 516-18 Chamber of Commerce Building in the City of Pasadena.
Dr. Louis Abraham Walker was born in Geauga County, Ohio, not far distant from the City of Cleveland, and the date of his nativity was November 10, 1880. He is a son of Abraham B. and Elizabeth Jane (Brown) Walker, both now deceased. The father was long and successfully identified with the lumber industry, in which his opera- tions were principally in Ohio and West Virginia. He was a gallant young soldier of the Union in the Civil war, his enlistment having occurred at Nashville, Tennessee. His brother William became a captain, served three years, and was killed in the battle of Chattanooga. Abraham B. Walker was born in England and his wife in Ohio, where their marriage was solemnized. Their surviving children are three sons and two daughters. Dr. Walker of this sketch is the only repre- sentative of the family in the West.
The early education of Dr. Walker was acquired in the public schools of Middlefield, Ohio, where he graduated from the high school as a member of the class of 1898. Thereafter he was for two years a student in the University of Colorado, and in 1904 he graduated from the Colorado College of Dental Surgery, from which he received his degree of Doctor of Dental Surgery. From 1904 until 1911 he was engaged in the practice of his profession in the City of Denver, and he passed the ensuing three years on a ranch which he owned in Colo- rado. He had been at Casper, Wyoming, about six months when the World war began, and soon afterward, in the autumn of 1914, he came to California. He passed the first two years at Oakland and Stockton, and in the fall of 1916 he came to Pasadena, where he has since been successfully established in the practice of his profession. In the World war period he was a member of the Dental Reserve Corps of the United States Army, but was not called into active serv- ice. He enlisted at the time of the Spanish-American war, was in a military training camp four months, but was not called to the stage of active conflict. The Doctor is an active member of the Southern California Dental Society, his political allegiance is given to the repub- lican party, and he and his wife are members of the First Congre- gational Church of Pasadena. He is affiliated with Pasadena Lodge
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No. 672, B. P. O. E., and Mrs. Walker is a popular member of the P. E. O. and the Shakespeare Club.
At Denver, Colorado, on the 6th of October, 1904, Dr. Walker wedded Miss Minnie Katheryn Harvey, who was there reared and educated, though she was born in Ohio. Her parents, Mr. and Mrs. S. H. Harvey, now reside at Stockton, California. Dr. and Mrs. Walker have two children, Brandt Edwin and Jane Helen, both of whom were born in Colorado.
Reverting to the ancestry of Dr. Walker, it is to be noted that the family was one of prominence in military affairs in England for many generations, the original representative of the name in England having come from France with William the Conqueror. The paternal grandfather of Dr. Walker came from England to the United States about 1850, and became a large landholder near Toledo, Ohio. The father of the Doctor initiated in Michigan his association with the lumber industry, and he became extensively engaged in the manu- facturing of pails, in which connection he supplied pails for the lead- ing oyster-packing concerns in Baltimore, Maryland, and for seven large paint concerns in the City of Chicago, where branch offices were maintained. This business was conducted under the corporate title of the Ohio Pail Company, with office headquarters in the City of Cleveland.
JOHN H. BREYER, M. D. Among the many advantages enjoyed by the residents of Pasadena, California, that make the business of living more agreeable than elsewhere, the fact that this is the home of skilled medical men may not be overlooked, for even Southern Cali- fornia, with her great preponderance of healthful conditions, has undoubted need of their science, wisdom and skill. These men of science and scholastic training have brought to this beautiful city elements of strength and culture, have been valued additions to the social atmosphere, and through their professional achievements, modest as may be their claims, have added to the fame of the city. A physician and surgeon of high attainments and solid worth, who has been established professionally at Pasadena for twelve years, is found in Dr. John H. Breyer, who now limits his practice to surgery and is a member of the surgical staff of the Pasadena Dispensary.
Dr. Breyer was born on his father's farm in Cook County, Illinois, December 11, 1883. His parents were Andrew J. and Margaret (Karsten) Breyer, the latter of whom survives and is a resident of Los Angeles, California. The father of Dr. Breyer died in Illinois in the fall of 1918, at that time living retired after many years devoted to agricultural pursuits. He was a substantial, reliable citizen, and throughout life a useful and respected member of the community.
After completing the public school course John H. Breyer became a student in Wheaton College, from which institution he was grad- uated in 1905, with the degree of A. B. His future career having been decided upon, he then entered Rush Medical College, Chicago. completed his course and graduated in 1909 with his medical degree, after which he served as an interne in the Presbyterian Hospital at Chicago.
In 1910 Dr. Breyer established himself at Pasadena, California, and still maintains his office in the Chamber of Commerce Building, this city. For some years he was a general practitioner, but in late years has confined himself entirely to surgical cases, in which branch of his profession he has won public confidence through remarkable skill. He is a member of state, county and city medical organizations and is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, and a Fellow of the American Medical Association. During the World war he served with the rank of first lieutenant in an evacuation hospital with the American Expeditionary Forces.
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Dr. Breyer married, April 9, 1910, at Los Angeles, California, Miss Georgia Allen, a daughter of Byron Samuel and Jane (Judd) Allen, the latter of whom survives and resides at Pasadena. The father of Mrs. Breyer was living retired in this city at the time of his death, which occurred in 1913. Dr. and Mrs. Breyer have one son, Lloyd Allen Breyer. Mrs. Breyer was born and reared in the City of Chi- cago, received her early educational training there and then entered Wheaton College. She is a lady of broad mind and literary tastes, taking great interest in the Shakespeare Club of Pasadena, and assum- ing citizenship responsibilities as a member of the Civic League. She is also a member of the Daughters of the Revolution.
Dr. Breyer's tastes have never led him into undue activity in the political field, a busy professional man having little time for public responsibilities. He is a member of Pasadena Lodge No. 272, F. and A. M., and belongs also to the Kiwanis Club. Dr. and Mrs. Breyer are members of Tremont Baptist Church.
JOSEPH L. BRADY lived in Los Angeles the last twenty years of his life. He was well known here as an attorney, though ill health interfered with his regular practice. His professional accomplishments were attained in Minnesota, where for many years he was one of the leading members of the bar of that state, and where he resided from early childhood until about 1900, when he came to Los Angeles.
He was born at New Lebanon Springs, New York, son of James and Alice ( Dunn) Brady. When he was a child the family moved out to the Northwestern frontier, into the vicinity of St. Cloud, Minnesota. Min- nesota was then a territory. The family encountered all the rigors and hardship of a frontier existence, endangered for some years by Indian hostilities. The Bradys were pioneer farmers in Minnesota. Joseph L. Brady developed his muscles and the fiber of his strong, self-reliant character by the labors on a Minnesota farm and the difficulties he had to overcome in achieving an education and qualifying himself for a professional career. He was a self made man: his family was unable to afford him any financial assistance ; he was capable and industrious, and succeeded. In the prime of his life his mind was especially brilliant, and this with his great energy, he attained many of the finest prizes of the legal profession. In his early manhood he was engaged in educational work, and was superintendent of schools in Mille Lacs County, Minnesota. He also served as county attorney there, and he laid the foundation of his high reputation as a successful lawyer in that and adjoining counties. From there he removed to Minneapolis, and was one of the able attorneys of that city until about twenty years ago, when he brought his family to Los Angeles. He came here a sufferer from the strain of overwork, and his practice as a lawyer in California was continued in spite of ill health. At all times his associates admired his forceful character and the achieve- ment his career represented in a successful conflict with poverty and adversities.
One who knew his personal character and his standing as a lawyer as"a result of an acquaintance and friendship of thirty years is George B. Edgerton; head of a large law firm of St. Paul, Minnesota. Mr. Edgerton said : "I met him for the first time at his home at Princeton, Minnesota, in the summer of 1893. He was then a resident of Princeton, Mille Lacs County, and had obtained an enviable position at the bar of Minnesota. He was regarded among his associates and people generally as a thorough and reliable lawyer. He was ever loyal to his friends and to the client whose cause he espoused. I was deeply impressed with his sincerity and tenacity of purpose in everything he undertook and his loyalty and devotion to his friends .. He had the reputation among those who knew him of doing the right thing at all times; particularly in upholding and maintaining the dignity of the law and respect therefor. "He will be missed by his Minnesota friends, who have always had the highest regard for him."
Mr. Brady's death came quietly and peacefully on February 11, 1923,
ASBrady
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when he was seventy years of age. His intimate friends knew him for his literary gifts, and he was author of many beautiful verses. A book of his poems called "Philosophy in Verse" is promised as a forthcoming publication.
Mr. Brady is survived by Mrs. Brady and two sons. The older, Ernest L. Brady, is a well known Los Angeles lawyer, with offices in the Washing- ton Building. The other son. De Witt J. Brady, is a Ford agent at Culver City, California.
WILTON HOWARD PALMER, M. D. The service represented in pro- fessional skill and kindly sympathetic nature Doctor Palmer con- tinued to render until within a few days of the end of his long and useful career. He had been a resident of Los Angeles over thirty-two years and was one of the city's most honored pioneers.
He died at his home 908 West Thirty-fifth Place, August 24, 1922, at the age of seventy-three. He was born in Loraine County, Ohio, December 24, 1849, and his people were pioneers in that section of Ohio. He acquired a liberal education in Cleveland, attending the public schools of that city, and in 1879 graduated from the Hahnemann College of Homeopathy at Cleveland. Later he took post-graduate courses in surgery. After graduating he stepped into the practice of an old physician at Prairie Depot, Ohio, but in 1890 he came to Los Angeles, and soon afterward established his home where it remained until his death. He came to Los Angeles and began practice in a small way in the neighborhood, and in a few years had all the pro- fessional work his time and energies could handle. In addition to his general practice he did a great deal of charity work among the poor Mexicans, and it was a habit of people to come to him for counsel on other matters than those connected with medical ills. He was a member of the Homeopathic Medical Society, and had attained the highest degrees in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. His funeral services were held under the auspices of this fraternal order.
Doctor Palmer married Doris Swope, of Cleveland, who died one year after their marriage. In 1882 he married Amanda Cristee, of Osceola, Ohio. There is one daughter by this marriage, Fern Palmer, who is a graduate of the Cumnock School of expression and is the wife of Max Parker. Mr. and Mrs. Parker have two children, Sylvia, born in 1911, and Wilton, born in 1915. Max Parker for several years has been art director of the Lasky Studio. He is a native of Prescott, Arizona, and a son of Frank G. Parker, a pioneer lumberman of that state. Max Parker came to Los Angeles as a youth and engaged in architecture, which profession he followed for twelve years. He then spent three years in San Diego, and took an active part in the con- struction of the Fair buildings there in 1914 and 1915. He then re- turned to Los Angeles and spent three years as assistant art director in the Lasky Studios. He was then art director for a year and one- half with the Mary Pickford Company, when he was called back to the Lasky Company in 1920 to fill the position of art director. He is a member of the Writers Club. San Gabriel Country Club and the Art Directors Association.
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