USA > California > Los Angeles County > History of Los Angeles county, Volume II > Part 55
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MISS MINNIE HUTCHINGS WATSON. Initiative, courage to attempt new lines of endeavor, and sound achievements in professional and practical business affairs are rather characteristic of California women. One of them, a pioneer in her line, and proprietor of a very prosperous business at Los Angeles, is Miss Watson.
She was born in Michigan, and her father, George H. Watson, was born in this country of Scotch parentage, while her mother came from England. Two of her father's brothers were California forty-niners and established the town of Watsonville, California.
When Miss Watson was young her parents moved to New York
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City, where she was reared and educated. In 1900 she came to Cali- fornia, and it was in 1903 that she engaged in business for herself.
Her first work was taking care of all the ostrich feather repair work, such as cleaning, curling and dyeing the feathers, from the Caw- ston Ostrich Farm and she was advertised all over the United States in the Cawston Ostrich Farm catalogues. Miss Watson, however, found a field still more suited to her special skill and talent and affording an opportunity for a capable business executive. Her orig- inal shop was devoted to braiding, embroidering, hemstitching, and pleating and the making of buttons. She started with two rooms at Third and Broadway and only a couple of employes. From that beginning there has been a steady development until she now occupies the top floor of the building at 525 South Broadway, and an ent- broidery shop at the "Brack Shops" on West Seventh Street. She has a large staff of skilled workers at each place the year around, and all of them are high salaried workers. The lowest wage paid in her shop and that to only one employe is $18.00 a week.
Through this business Miss Watson has accumualted a comfortable competence. She owns some important real estate holdings and is interested in several of the finest subdivisions around Los Angeles. She is a charter member of the Soroptimist Club.
MRS. M. B. BROWNSON. Born in the country, a few miles north of Des Moines, Iowa, Minnie Beatrice Thompson came to the coast during her girlhood, and at Pasadena was married to Harry Brownson, Jr., of Omaha, Nebraska. Two children were born of the marriage, namely, Ruth and Harry, and both were born in Whittier.
When the girl was five and the boy three Mrs. Brownson found herself facing the world with little besides an obdurate optimism, an insatiate capacity for friendship, a willingness to work and her two adored children. After contributing to various magazines in a rather haphazard way, without notable compensation, and after having had a book of child verse published. she took up newspaper work as a means of earning a livelihood for herself and children and to educate her little ones.
She has been for a number of years a member of the Southern Cali- fornia Woman's Press Club and also a member of the League of American Penwomen of Washington, D. C. She has edited several newspapers and has written for many of the popular magazines, notably those relating to recreation and athletics. She was the first woman on the coast to success- fully write college sports, football, basketball and baseball, field and track for the metropolitan newspapers. There is an unwritten law at Whittier college that she is to be adopted as their foster mother by the college boys who are away from home. To few women has been given the loving insight into a boy's heart that Mrs. Brownson seems to possess. She relates with evident satisfaction that during the time she conducted a society and club department on a daily paper, the editor would frequently ask her to write the account of a football game, a fire and a funeral to round ont a day's work.
Mrs. Brownson was the first woman in the United States to be secre- tary to a Chamber of Commerce; that was at Alhambra. She was pub- licity manager of the San Gabriel Valley Inter-City Commission, which was composed of eighteen of the cities and villages of the San Gabriel Valley. Later she was commercial secretary of the Redondo Beach Chamber of Commerce. She has been but mildly interested in politics, though since women were given the vote in California she has exercised her franchise.
A word should be said of her Southern ancestry. Jefferson Davis, first president of the ill-starred Confederacy, was a near relative of her paternal grandfather Davis. She had a great-uncle, Charles Lewis, who perished in Libby Prison, and two great-uncles, the Johnniken brothers of Kentucky, who rose to the rank of colonels in the Confederate Army. Her own father, Henry C. Thompson, was an officer in the Northern Army and was
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wounded at the battle of Gettysburg. Her mother was Lucinda Lewis Thompson. Former Governor Gage of California was a near relative of her maternal grandfather Gage. Col. Harry Brownson, her father-in- law, was quartermaster general at Washington during the Civil war and was a close friend of Abraham Lincoln. Among the treasured relics of by- gone days she has a playing card of the vintage of 1863, evidently cut out of a piece of cardboard, the five of hearts drawn in pencil and filled in with red ink. On the reverse side of this playing card is written a pass through the army lines issued to Col. Harry Brownson and signed by Abraham Lincoln. The daughter has shown exceptional ability along the lines of her mother's chosen profession. Miss Ruth was editing a newspaper before she was twenty-one, and for some time she was known as the "Press Club Baby," being the youngest member at that time. The son is a graduate of Whittier College and starred in athletics while in school. He was the only man entitled to wear the four arm bands denoting four years of football service to the college when Whittier won the Southern California College Conference football championship in 1922, the first time the high honor was ever won by the Quaker College; there are six colleges in the confer- ence. His baseball record, however, was considered by many equal if not superior to his football and basketball. He was a student for some time at the California State University at Berkeley, and is a Phi Kappi Psi man, a national fraternity which flourishes in the larger universities.
Born a "birth-right" Quaker, Mrs. Brownson used the "plain" language, the soft "thee" and "thou" of the early days until she was grown, "and since then," adds Mrs. Brownson, "being a mere woman, I suppose I have used plenty of other language, but none ever sounds quite so sweet to me as the plain Quaker language."
She has no fads, unless, she says, "you want to call the pursuit of health and happiness a fad. Give the average girl and boy health and happiness and one need not worry much about them. Of course it was a long, long time ago that I was girl, but think of all the happy hours I have had during that long time." Her white hair would seem to belie the fact that she still swims, dives, drives a car, dances and hikes, a walk of ten miles in the mountains being a little pleasure jaunt. "Life is sweet, I would not know what to do without it, as they say in the advertisements, and so long as I live I want to live in Whittier, although I have lived in perhaps twenty of the large cities and smaller villages of the state. I confess Whittier and its dear people have rather spoiled me; I do hope paradise is as nice as Whittier."
HARRY M. GORHAM. A business experience covering a number of years, is, according to its nature, honorable or otherwise, but in either case it develops capacity and either broadens or lessens the outlook on life. While every type of business man must possess certain qualities to ensure success in his undertakings, those indispensable to the banker rest on a higher plane than in many lines, and for this reason, if for no other, the banker occupies a position in his community comparable to no other. Long identified with banking affairs, Harry M. Gorham is one of the best-known citizens of Santa Monica, where he likewise has various other interests and where his influence is felt for good in the movements and enterprises that have broadened the city's territory and heightened its ideals of citizen - ship.
Mr. Gorham was born at Cleveland, Ohio, March 4, 1859, and is a son of Edward J. and Cornelia (Jones) Gorham, natives also of Cleveland. Edward J. Gorham, who was engaged in business at Cleveland for many years, retired from active pursuits in 1890, in which year he came to Santa Monica, where he continued his home until his death in 1903. The mother passed away at this place in 1917. Harry M. Gorham received his education in his native city, where he attended the graded and high schools, and after his graduation from the latter became associated with his uncle, Senator John P. Jones, in mining projects in the vicinity of Virginia City, Nevada.
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During the twenty-five years that he spent in that region he was identified with several financial institutions and gained a first-hand knowledge of the various details of banking. In 1903 he came to California, and at Los Angeles became interested in realty and other investments. Later he re- sumed his banking activities and eventually was made president of the Bank of Santa Monica, a position which he held until the bank was con- solidated with the California Bank of Los Angeles, February 1, 1922. The Bank of Santa Monica was organized March 15, 1888, as the First National Bank of Santa Monica, its original capital being $50,000 and its first officials, George H. Bonebrake, president, and E. J. Vawter, cashier. On April 14, 1893, the institution was reorganized by Senator John P. Jones under the name of the Bank of Santa Monica, with a capital of $25,000 and deposits of $49,000, the officers being Robert F. Jones, presi- cent, and H. J. Engelbrecht, cashier. R. F. Jones resigned from the
presidency September 18, 1912, and was succeeded by Roy Jones, who re- tained the presidency until November 5, 1913. When he tendered his resignation he was succeeded by Harry M. Gorham as president, H. J. Engelbrecht retaining the office of cashier. At that time the capital stock had advanced to $200,000, and the surplus to $100,000, while the deposits had reached the figure of $3,250,000. On January 31, 1922, the bank was merged into the Bank of California of Los Angeles. Mr. Gorham, with Mr. Engelbrecht as vice presidents, directs the institution at Santa Monica, and the personnel of the other officials has also remained the same. Thirty persons are given employment in this modern establishment, the system and equipment of which are complete and up-to-date in every particular. The bank occupies a new banking house, which is one of the handsome new additions to the buildings of the city. In addition to his identification with this institution Mr. Gorham has a number of other connections. He was for two years president of the Santa Monica and Ocean Park Chamber of Commerce. He is a member of the Greater Santa Monica Club, the Brentwood Golf Club, the California Club of Los Angeles and the Rotary International. He has not cared for political honors, but fulfills the duties of public-spirited citizenship in every particular.
Mr. Gorham on June 19, 1908, married Mrs. Florence Halliday Rogers. By a former marriage he has one son, Harry Winthrop Gorham of Ojai, California, engaged in orange culture. He married in 1908 Margery Clover, and they have four children, Jessie, John, Sam and Suzanne.
GRIFFITH W. MILHOUS. A great business man has recently said, among other wise things, "Make a place also in your scheme of life for Music." While not a musician himself, possessing not a spark of the divine fire and no technical understanding of the art, in a long life filled with important activities in association with his fellow men he had come to recognize the helpful, uplifting, inspiring influence that real music exerts. In this he gives expression to what may be called a leading thought of the times, one that is making its beneficent way in every progressive community. It is notably evidenced at Whittier, California, where the teaching of real music, by real musicians, has become a feature in the public schools.
Griffith W. Milhous, musical instructor in the public schools of Whittier, is a musician of experience and reputation. He was born in Jennings County, Indiana, May 8, 1873, a son of Frank and Sarah Emily (Arm- strong) Milhous, both of whom were born in Ohio and both now deceased. Frank Milhous was a farmer in Indiana until 1897, when he came to Whittier, California, which continued to be his home until his death in 1919. His aged mother, Mrs. Elizabeth P. Milhous, accompanied him to Los Angeles County and still survives, residing at East Whittier, and although in her ninety-fifth year, is in the enjoyment of both physical and mental health. When Frank Milhous came to Whittier he purchased six acres of orange grove south of the city, on the country road, and also a tract of thirty acres in Tulare County. His ancestors had come to the American colonies with William Penn, and through succeeding generations
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the Quaker faith continued to prevail in the family. Mr. Milhous was an elder in the Friends Church at Whittier, and in the community was highly respected.
Griffith W. Milhous attended the public schools in Jennings County, Indiana, Sand Creek Seminary, and Earlham College at Richmond. He early developed unusual musical talent which justified him in making music his choice of career, and after a course of thorough instruction in both vocal and instrumental music in the Metropolitan School of Music at Indianapolis he entered upon the work of his profession, in which he has gained marked distinction. For sixteen years he held. the position of director of music in the Indiana Boys School at Plainfield, and during this period and afterward, continued his musical studies in Indianapolis. He has paid much attention to band and orchestra work, and is a master of piano, violin and all orchestral instruments, having large classes in the same at all times. Professor Milhous came to California in 1917 and purchased six acres of orange and lemon groves at Yorba Linda, where he remained for two years and which he recently traded for Whittier property. He came then to Whittier to take charge of the music in the public schools, and has been the able director ever since. He owns three improved properties in the city, one at 429 South Painter Avenue, another, which is his private residence, at 234 North Painter Avenue, and an apartment house at 115 North Painter Avenue.
Professor Milhous married December 7, 1899, at Plainfield, Indiana, Miss Cora Edna Green, a daughter of Cyrus and Almeda Green. Her father was a railway agent at Plainfield and a member of an old Indiana family that could trace back to Revolutionary war times. Professor and Mrs. Milhous have two children, a daughter and son: Esther Emily, who is a student, class of 1923, Whittier College ; and William Carleton, who is a student, class of 1925, in the Whittier High School. Although but four- teen years old, this young man has made remarkable progress in wireless telegraphy. He owns a fine wireless receiving set and is devoting all his spare time to the study of the intricate problems that yet remain to be solved in relation to this marvelous scientific discovery. The family belongs to the Friends Church. Professor Milhous is a member of the Whittier Men's Chorus and is an authority on all musical questions. He belongs to the Whittier Citrus and the Yorba Linda Citrus Associations.
ARTILISSA DORLAND CLARK. To those residents of Whittier, California, who know their valued fellow citizen best Mrs. Artilissa Dorland Clark is much more than a kind neighbor, an unfailing friend in time of trouble, a dispenser of charity and a faithful worker in the church. There are many others who could so qualify, but this modern, wideawake, intellectual woman has other very generally recognized claims to prominence. From the time she came to Whittier until the present Mrs. Clark has been fore- most in every progressive movement for the town's welfare, and her bracing personality has not only made itself felt along philanthropic and cultural lines, but no other individual has been more influential in arousing a civic consciousness that has worked for general betterment in every direction.
Artilissa Dorland Clark was born in Iowa, and is a daughter of Willet and Abigail B. (Bedell) Dorland. The Dorland ancestors came from Hol- land, in their wooden shoes and leather breeches, in 1664, on the good ship Spotted Cow. The Bedells were French, and during the Huguenot perse- cutions fled to Wales and from there to American in the sixteenth century.
For over two decades Willet Dorland was connected with the Union National Bank of Chicago. When he severed his relations with that finan- cial institution in 1887, with the intention of moving to California, his business associates tendered him a banquet, and it was upon this occasion that Mr. Coolbaugh, president of the bank, took particular pains in an address to emphasize his high regard for Mr. Dorland, asserting that he ever considered Mr. Dorland's word as good as his bond. Mr. Dorland was not only a Quaker in religious sentiment, but for twenty-one years was at
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the head of the Society of Friends in the City of Chicago. When he reached California he was led to locate at Whittier largely because many Quakers had already settled in this district, and he found a hearty welcome among them and became one of their spiritual leaders. He purchased a small ranch in the town, and was one of the founders of the municipality, and as long as he lived assisted in its development and furthered its inter- ests. He was a member of the Pickering Land and Water Company, and was concerned in other developing agencies. During an epidemic of diph- theria the necessity arose for a cemetery, and Mr. Dorland immediately solved the problem by donating an acre of land for this purpose. Mr. Dor- land maintained his home on his ranch until his death in 1899. The mother of Mrs. Clark died in 1892. The latter has three brothers: Rev. Chester P. Dorland, of South Pasadena, a retired minister ; Willet S. Dorland, president of the Security & Commercial Bank of San Diego: and Barclay H. Dorland, now retired, for thirty-five years accountant for the Chicago Consolidated Railway Company.
In her parents' home at Whittier, California, on August 8, 1889, Miss Artilissa Dorland was united in marriage with Aretas Charles Clark, the marriage service being read by her father. Mr. Clark was of English ancestry, was born on Prince Edward Island, but was reared and educated in the United States. He was a chemist and geologist, and in recognition of his acquirements in the latter science he was appointed a member of the Geological Survey Commission in the upper part of Wisconsin. His place of residence was Warsaw, Wisconsin, for some time, and during that period he served two terms as mayor of that city. In business life he was in the drug trade and connected with the Richard Hudnut Company, New York City, and the house of Bliss & Sharp, Chicago, but had retired from busi- ness before locating at Whittier, where his death occurred in 1903. He had many quiet tastes, and at one time was recognized as one of the world champion chess players and was a member of the American team when the famous contest, by cable, took place with the English team, when victory crowned the American players. Mrs. Clark has one son, Charles Dorland Clark, who is now majoring in engineering in the University of California at Los Angeles, as a member of the graduating class of 1924.
Following the death of her husband Mrs. Clark assumed management of his estate, and has demonstrated business capacity of a high order, but it by no means absorbs all of her attention. Mrs. Clark is secretary of the Whittier Cemetery Association, and with but few intervals, has been presi- dent of the Associated Charities since the organization of that body, and also a director. She is interested in everything that promises to be of sub- stantial benefit to Whittier. She was the moving force that brought about the establishment of a reading room in 1888, and the present Carnegie Library is the outcome of this effort, and she has been secretary of the Library Board for twenty-two years. For two years she was president of the Woman's Club, a charter member of the same and also a charter mem- ber of the Plymouth Congregational Church, in the work of which religious body she continues very active. Mr. Clark was the first clerk of this church. In the political field also Mrs. Clark has long been an important factor in Los Angeles County. She is president of the Women's Democratic Club of Whittier, which she assisted in organizing in February, 1922, and which now has a membership of 300 earnest women. She is a keen observer of current events both at home and abroad, and under her able leadership this organization will undoubtedly make political history in California.
BARCLAY J. CHARLES. From the earliest settlement of Whittier, Cali- fornia, careful, shrewd and observing investors have had firm belief in the possible development of this part of Los Angeles County into one of the greatest and most profitable citrus and nut growing sections of the state. There had been but comparatively little effort made in this direction when Barclay J. Charles, a veteran of the Civil war, came here in 1887, and Whittier has been his chosen home ever since. He has watched with interest
Ist Kibler
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and assisted in the development which in thirty-five years has changed a quiet little country hamlet into the present important city with commercial and social interests reaching all over the country.
Barclay J. Charles was born in Hamilton County, Indiana, July 14, 1844, coming of remote English ancestry and proud of being of Revolution- ary stock. His parents were Thomas and Charlotte (Johnson) Charles, the former a native of Indiana and the latter of Ohio. They moved to Iowa in 1851, when Barclay J. was seven years old, and there he attended the district schools and assisted his father on his pioneer farm. He was yet a boy when he enlisted for service in the Civil war, entering Company D, Seventh Iowa Cavalry, becoming sergeant of his company and bugler, and served throughout the war with his regiment on the plains, operating on the North and South Platte from Omaha to Denver and from Fort Laramie to Fort Hallock. He was honorably discharged in 1866 and mustered out at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
Mr. Charles immediately located in Jasper County, Iowa, where he bought 120 acres of land and engaged in farming there until 1887, in which vear he came to California. After a visit with a sister in Pasadena he came to Whittier, where at that time there were but few houses and cows were pastured on the present site of Central Park. He assisted in the construc- tion of the Bafkin Block, and as soon as completed opened a restaurant there, which he conducted for two years. His first investment in land was the purchase of ten acres just outside the city limits, which he devoted to walnuts and oranges, and at a later date bought twenty acres near Orange Cove in Tulare County, where he has five acres in valencia oranges and fifteen acres in navels. This property he now owns jointly with his son-in- law. Before the electric road was built into Whittier the Southern Pacific Railroad station was a mile distant from the town, and Mr. Charles found it profitable to operate a busline to and from it, and continued until 1912. In many other directions Mr. Charles displayed enterprise that assisted in the general development. In 1893 he built his comfortable residence at 217 North Washington Street, and has occupied it ever since.
Mr. Charles married in Iowa, September 5, 1867, Miss Sarah A. Dysart, who was born in Indiana, a daughter of William Dysart, a farmer in that state, who was of Holland ancestry. Mr. and Mrs. Charles have had six children : Minerva, who died when thirty-five years old ; Lillian, who is the wife of W. D. Collins, a railroad engineer, and they have two children, Fred and Helen, the former of whom served in the navy during the World war; Fred, who is connected with the Los Angeles Gas and Electric Com- pany, was with the Edison Company fourteen years and a contractor in the Imperial Valley for four years, is married and has two children, Bettie and Barbara ; Leona, who is the wife of E. C. Worth, of Los Angeles, and they have one daughter, Pauline; Ethel, who is deceased, was the wife of Dr. F. H. Hadley, of Whittier; and Jennie, who is the wife of T. G. Souther- land, who has charge of the citrus holdings of the Murphy Oil Company.
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