USA > California > Los Angeles County > History of Los Angeles county, Volume II > Part 63
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The president of the bank and one of its organizers is H. R. Earp; the five vice presidents are : F. H. Downs, H. A. Bull, Fred S. James, Charles E. Gordon, Walter H. Walker and the cashier is Simon N. Smith. Besides the president and vice presidents, other directors are: P. M. Petersen, Dr. W. E. Daniels and Wilber F. Downs, who is counsel for the bank. F. H. Downs is a member of the city council. H. A. Bull is a banker of thirty-five years experience who came from Oklahoma. Fred S. James is a prominent real estate broker and former harbor commissioner of Long Beach. Charles E. Gordon is nationally known as an engineer, having spent many years in service of the Government in the Philippines and in other parts of the world, and is now president of the Long Beach Harbor Commission. W. H. Walker is a banker from Southeastern Idaho, and was closely associated with Mr. Earp in the organization of the American Savings Bank. P. M. Petersen is in the loan business at Long Beach and is one of the older residents. Doctor Daniels is a well known physician and surgeon, and Wilber F. Downs is one of the city's prominent younger attorneys.
H. R. Earp, president of the bank, was born in Wyandot County, Ohio, November 4, 1878, son of F, M. and Sarah Jane (Martin) Earp. The Earp family came from England and are pioneers of Ohio. The parents of
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Sarah Jane Martin were born in Holland and settled in Pennsylvania. F. M. Earp and wife now live at Colton, California. The former followed farming in Wyandot County, Ohio, many years, and both he and his wife were natives of that state. Of their seven children, three sons and two daughters are living, H. R. Earp being the oldest son.
Mr. Earp has had an interesting career, one typical of an industrious American boy who finds life a great opportunity and attains success through the overcoming of many obstacles. He attended public school in Hancock County, Ohio, and has been earning his own way practically since he was nine years of age. He sold newspapers on the street, as a boy worked in glass and chain factories and other establishments, getting wages of 50 or 60 cents a day and walking two and one-half miles to work in order to save car fare. He literally saved all his money beyond that needed for living expenses. When he was about twenty years of age he went to North Dakota, took up a Government homestead, remained on it three years and after proving it sold out and had in the meantime accumulated about $4,200. He then bought a ticket to Spokane, Washington, and during the next year and one-half he was in Seattle, Portland and San Francisco. Different business ventures used up all his capital, and he then returned to North Dakota, spending three years this time. He bought a small farm, and after his marriage moved to Twin Falls, Idaho, and engaged in the land business, buying and selling land. He had thirteen years of prosperous connection with the business affairs of Twin Falls, and in the Winter of 1919 moved to Long Beach. Since coming to this city Mr. Earp has built eighteen homes, and in 1922 he was associated with Walter H. Walker in organizing the American Savings Bank.
Mr. Earp is a republican, is a member of the Long Beach Chamber of Commerce and the Young Men's Christian Association. His home is at 718 East Sixth Street.
January 2, 1906, he married Miss Barbara Dvorshak at Minot, North Dakota, where she was born and educated. Their two children, born at Twin Falls, Idaho, are Truman W. and Mary Irene.
DONALD K. BROWN. In the organization and successful expansion of the Long Beach Photo-Engraving Company, at Long Beach, is shown that spirit of western enterprise that has played so large a part in bringing com- mercial prosperity to Southern California. This concern, practically, has its particular field to itself and is the direct result of the progressive spirit and business sagacity of its president and general manager, Donald K. Brown.
Mr. Brown was born at Belfast, Ireland, January 25, 1890, a son of James and Jessie (Kennedy) Brown, the latter of whom survives and resides with her son, Donald K., at Long Beach. Both parents were born in County Down, Ireland, and were reared and married there. For a number of years afterward, James Brown was in the wholesale grocery business at Belfast. In 1901 the family came to the United States and settled at Colorado Springs, Colorado, where James Brown died in 1904, at the age of forty-six years. Of his family of four daughters and two sons, Donald K. is the elder son, and he and his mother are the only mem- bers of the family living in Los Angeles County.
Donald K. Brown was graduated from the high school of Colorado Springs in the class of 1909, and in the following year came to Los Angeles, California, and went into newspaper work on the evening journals, the Tribune and the Herald, and when the World war came on, had already made something of a name for himself on the newspapers. His future seemed bright but when he heard the call of duty, all personal considera- tions were put aside and he joined the Royal Flying Corps, after which, until his honorable discharge following the signing of the armistice, he was stationed in Canada, preparing for overseas service in the following January, in the meanwhile having been recommended for promotion to the rank of pilot.
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When Mr. Brown returned to Los Angeles he resumed newspaper work on the Los Angeles Evening Herald, with which paper he had been connected for six years, but in November, 1919, he left the Herald and joined the Long Beach Press staff. Very soon after making this change, he recognized the handicap under which the Press and the merchants of the city and business men generally, suffered because Long Beach had no modern engraving plant of its own, an indispensable modern feature in the printing and publishing business. This was a business opportunity that he had no desire to overlook, and with characteristic energy he set about finding a remedy, that resulted in his organizing in the summer of 1920, the Long Beach Photo-Engraving Company, Incorporated, of which he is president and general manager. This engraving plant is modern in every particular, supplying color plates, zinc etchings, copper half tones, drawings and designs. Mr. Brown is a member of the Chamber of Commerce, of Palos Verdes Lodge. Free and Accepted Masons, of the Long Beach Rotary Club. and the First Presbyterian Church.
LOUIS WEITZ, who died January 21. 1923, had been a resident of Los Angeles County over thirty-five years. The happiest years of his life were spent on his ranch, where he died, near Covina, but he was also active in business affairs, being an early contractor and later a merchant at Los Angeles.
He was born in Brumath, Alsace, near the City of Strassburg, February 3, 1865. His father, Louis Weitz, and his mother, Louisa ( Metger ) Weitz, were also born in Brumath. His father also Louis, served for fourteen years under Napoleon the First in the Crimean war in Russia. He was the recipient of medals from Napolean and from Queen Victoria for distinguished service. After his discharge he came to America, in October, 1893, and lived in Los Angeles until his death, May 24, 1898. Louisa (Metger) Weitz's father also served throughout the Crimean war. Louis Weitz, the subject of this sketch, was reared and educated in Strassburg and Brumath, served an apprenticeship at the painting trade, and at the age of eighteen came to America and a year later to California. Mr. Weitz was a painter and paint contractor in Los Angeles for eighteen years. This was a long period to be engaged in an occupation so unhealth- ful, and he had made plans to get away from the business. Finally he bought a pioneer feed business from Mr. Sibley, and for fourteen years he continued that as a prosperous enterprise. Following that he retired and bought his ranch of ten and one-half acres in Baldwin Park. He developed the land by planting orange and other citrus trees, and he found the greatest joy of his life in working the ranch, and was a most enthusiastic horticul- turist. However, he retained a home in the city. Mr. Weitz made many stanch and loyal friends in Los Angeles County. He was known as a man honest to a fault, generous and a participant in every worthy movement that demanded his cooperation. He was a republican in politics.
On July 12, 1887, in Los Angeles, Mr. Weitz married Marie Antonette Ott, a native of Nancy, France, and a daughter of Joseph and Caroline (Menqua) Ott. Mrs. Weitz's uncle, Antoine Ott, served thirty years in the army and gendarme service in France. His brother, Charles Ott, served throughout the World war, and was with the Army of Occupation in Germany. After the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Weitz they lived on a ranch in "Happy Valley," a name that has since been changed to Glen Alba. Mr. Weitz is survived by Mrs. Weitz and by five children, all natives of Los Angeles. Louis A., whose home is in Alhambra; Mrs. Flora T. Raessler and Mrs. Marguerite C. Raessler, both of Los Angeles; George A., a produce broker of Los Angeles; and Fred A. Weitz, a produce dealer of Los Angeles.
During the war Fred A. Weitz was in Camp Kearney for fourteen months, when he was sent overseas in 1917, serving at the front with a machine gun corps and later was assigned to driving trucks. He saw much active service, and was honorably discharged seven months after
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the signing of the armistice. Mrs. Flora T. Raessler is the mother of one son, Arno E. Raessler, and Mrs. Marguerite C. Raessler also has one son, Freddie Weitz Raessler. Louis A. Weitz is married and is the father of three children, Louis, Albert and Dorothy Weitz.
WALTER HARCOURT RIMMER, D. D. S. An advantage that Long Beach may well lay claim to, with very many others, is that in this beautiful city, home people as well as the great annual army of tourists, find no lack of skilled professional service. It is doubtful if any city in Southern Cali- fornia can show a larger or better qualified body of scientific men, well trained and experienced in their professions. An eminent member of this body is found in Walter Harcourt Rimmer, D. D. S., who has been in the active practice of his profession in California for fourteen years.
Doctor Rimmer is a member of an old settled family of Illinois and his birth took place in the City of Chicago, on April 21, 1875. He is a son of Dr. Reuben L. and Jane (Christie) Rimmer, the latter of whom died at Chicago in 1899. The father of Doctor Rimmer, who now lives retired in California, practiced dentistry in Chicago for fifty-five years and stood high in his profession. Of his family of four sons and three daughters, all reside in California except one married daughter, whose home is in Arizona.
Walter Harcourt Rimmer attended the public schools of Chicago and La Grange, Illinois, and was graduated from the high school of La Grange in the class of 1893. For some time afterward he assisted his father in his office, in the meanwhile learning many of the practical details of dental surgery, which he early decided to make his own profession. In 1900 he entered the Dental School of Northwestern University at Chicago from which he was graduated with his degree in 1904. For three years after- ward he practiced dentistry in the City of Chicago. In 1907 he removed to the Pacific coast and spent one year at Seattle, Washington, and in 1908, came to Los Angeles County, California, in the early part of 1909 opening an office at Riverside. Doctor Rimmer continued in practice there for the next five and a half years, after that practicing for eighteen months at Los Angeles. In 1917 he came to Long Beach, where he has rapidly come to the front in his profession, being well qualified in every branch of dental science. Doctor Rimmer maintains his offices in the Montana Building, on the corner of Ocean Avenue and Pine Street, right in the center of the business district. His office equipments are modern in every particular and he employs three assistants.
Doctor Rimmer was married at Seattle, Washington, March 13, 1907, to Miss Hermine Steinmetz, who was born and educated at Chicago, where her people settled early. Her father, the late Conrad Steinmetz, was a well known building contractor. Doctor and Mrs. Rimmer have one son, Walter Harcourt, Jr., who was born at Chicago. Doctor Rimmer was reared in the Episcopal Church.
In political sentiment Doctor Rimmer is a republican, always ready to use his influence according to his understanding of good citizenship, but never to his personal political advantage, for a busy professional man has no time to give to public office. He is a valued factor in the Long Beach Chamber of Commerce and active in all movements that promise to be of substantial benefit to Long Beach. In addition to his professional interests here, he is president of the Brentwood Film Corporation, of Hollywood. Doctor Rimmer is a thirty-second degree Mason and Shriner, a member of Ashlar Lodge No. 308, Free and Accepted Masons, at Chicago, Illinois, and Al Malaikah Shrine, Los Angeles, and belongs also to the order of Elks at Riverside, California.
F. MARSHALL SANDERSON. Few American representatives of the pro- fession of journalism have had as wide, varied and interesting experience as has this well known citizen of Long Beach, where he is now one of the interested principals of the Commercial Press, at 43012 Pine Avenue.
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Frank Marshall Sanderson was born at Norwich, County Norfolk, England, and is a son of Marshall and Katherine Sanderson. In England Marshall Sanderson was a well known publisher, besides having been influential in political affairs, as a representative of the Liberal party. He served as a member of the County Council of Norfolk County, and was a leading lay- man of the Wesleyan Methodist Church.
In the schools of his native city F. Marshall Sanderson acquired his early education, and there he was graduated in the grammar school, in July, 1897. From his youth to the present time he has been actively identified with newspaper publishing and editing. Since 1900 he has traveled exten- sively throughout the world as a newspaper correspondent and as a lecturer. He passed several years in China, where he was associated with many business enterprises. He edited and managed several British and American publications in the Far East. In research work and as a representative of British government publications Mr. Sanderson passed four years in the South Sea Islands, principally Fiji. In journalistic work he traveled exten- sively also through Australia and New Zealand. Mr. Sanderson has seen much, experienced much and done much-a true man of the world who has profited by all this and whose experiences have found positive expres- sion in his character, his talent and his service. He has been a resident of Long Beach since 19 -- , is here president of the Commercial Press, which conducts a publishing and general job printing establishment of excellent equipment, and he is president also of the California Alfalfa Products Company, the headquarters of which are in the city of Pasadena. He is vice president of the Anchor Building & Loan Association at Long Beach, and he is also president of the Southwest Petroleum Syndicate. He is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Sons of St. George, and he and his wife hold membership in the Methodist Church.
At Hong Kong, China, in 1912, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Sanderson to Miss Marjory Fraser, daughter of the late Donald Fraser, of Glasgow, Scotland. The two children of this union are sons-Arthur George Marshall, and Ian Fraser.
BURNS S. CHAFFEE, M. D., who is engaged in the practice of his pro- fession at Long Beach, with offices at 623 Markwell Building, has gained special reputation and prestige in the surgical department of practice, for which his thorough preparation was splendidly reinforced by the loyal service which he gave while in the medical corps of the United States Army in France, in the late World war.
Doctor Chaffee was born in the City of Elgin, Illinois, June 26, 1880, and is a scion of honored pioneer families of that state, within whose borders his parents, Albert J. and Susan E. (Ambrose) Chaffee, were born, the former in 1847 and the latter in 1851, their marriage having there been solemnized in the year 1872. Albert J. Chaffee was reared and educated in Illinois and was for many years numbered among its successful exponents of farm industry. He continued his residence in his native commonwealth until 1881, when he came with his family to California, the closing period of his life having been passed at Garden Grove, Orange County, where his death occurred June 4, 1920, and where his widow still resides, he being survived also by three sons and two daughters. Mr. Chaf- fee was a man of fine character, strong mentality and mature judgment. He was always ready to do his part in the furtherance of measures projected for the general good of the community and was an earnest and zealous member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, as is also his widow. Albert J. Chaffee was a representative of a family, of English origin, that was founded in New England in the early Colonial period of our national his- tory. His father, Asa Chaffee, was born and reared in Vermont, where he continued his residence until 1846, when he proceeded to Buffalo, New York, and there embarked on the vessel that afforded him transportation to Chicago. While on shipboard he suffered an attack of smallpox, and so perturbed was the captain of the vessel that he threatened to throw the
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afflicted man overboard. Friends of Mr. Chaffee who were likewise pas- sengers on the boat retaliated by informing the captain that if he attempted to follow this course with the sufferer he would himself be cast overboard. Mr. Chaffee finally arrived in Chicago, where he was carefully attended until he regained his health. He then obtained a tract of about 1,000 acres of land in Kane County, Illinois, and set about the reclaiming of a farm. On this old homestead he erected a large and substantial brick house that is still in service at the present time and which is said to have been the first brick house erected west of Chicago. Asa Chaffee was one of the honored pioneers and influential citizens of Kane County, and there he and his wife continued to reside until their death.
Dr. Burns S. Chaffee was not yet one year old at the time of the family removal to California, and it is needless to state that to the state in which he was reared he has the full loyalty that is usually ascribed to the "Native Sons of the Golden West." Here he received the advantages of the public schools, and after his graduation in the high school at Santa Ana, in 1904, he entered Leland Stanford, Jr., University, in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1908 and with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Thus fortified along academic lines, he followed the course of his ambition by matriculating in the medical school of the great Johns Hopkins Univer- sity, Baltimore, Maryland, and in this institution he was graduated in 1912, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. After his graduation he passed four years in special clinical and surgical training at the Union Memorial Hospital in Baltimore, and during the last year he was the resident surgeon at this great hospital. For his further advancement in the science and practice of surgery it was perhaps a matter of advantage to Doctor Chaffee that he was soon called into military service of the nation, in connection with the World war. When the United States entered the war he received commission as first lieutenant in the medical corps of the United States Army, and after being stationed seven months at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, he was sent to France, in charge of a surgical team with Evacuation Hos- pital No. 8. With his unit the Doctor was in active service in the Champagne-Marne, Aisne-Marne, St. Mihiel, and Meuse-Argonne sectors, and it was thus his to experience the full tension of the great conflict and to make a record that shall ever reflect honor upon his name. He entered the service October 6, 1917, as first lieutenant in the medical corps, was ·commissioned captain in March of the following year, and he received his honorable discharge July 30, 1919. After the signing of the historic armistice which brought the war to a close, Doctor Chaffee was assigned to service with the medical corps of the allied Army of Occupation on the Rhine, in Germany. Upon his return to California he established himself in practice at Long Beach, and here he has gained a representative clien- tage and a place as one of the leading surgeons of Los Angeles County. He is actively identified with the American Medical Association, the California State Medical Society, the Southern California Medical Society and the Los Angeles County Medical Society. He is affiliated with the Phi Chi college fraternity and with Long Beach Lodge No. 888, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and in his home community is a member of the Virginia Country Club and the Exchange Club. The Doctor is loyally aligned in the ranks of the republican party and he holds membership in the First Presbyterian Church of Long Beach.
October 22, 1921, recorded the marriage of Doctor Chaffee to Miss Gertrude Ann Maurer, who was born and reared in California and who is a daughter of John H. and Sarah Maurer, who were born in Indiana, where they were reared and educated and where their marriage was solem- nized. In 1880 Mr. Maurer came with his family to California, and he established the first creamery in the City of Oakland, the same being entitled the Santa Clara Creamery and the plant being still in active operation, under the name of the Oakland Creamery Depot. Mr. Maurer was the first creamery man to have cream shipped to Oakland from the San Joaquin Valley, and was also the first to install Sharpless cream separators on the Pacific coast. He developed an important enterprise at Oakland in the
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manufacturing of butter from cream shipped in from the San Joaquin Valley and other districts. Prior to her marriage Mrs. Chaffee was a dramatic reader, teacher of dramatic expression and a stage director. She is a popular factor in the social and cultural circles of Long Beach, where she is a member of the Ebell Club and a member of the First Congregational Church of Long Beach.
PETER KAUFMANN. An excellent example of the enterprise and indus- try which earn for their possessors success and position is found in the career of Peter Kaufmann, the owner of one of the most valuable and highly productive orange and lemon groves in the Montebello colony, and a citizen of public spirit and enthusiasm who has contributed to his com- munity's development.
Mr. Kaufmann was born in Berne, Switzerland, December 10, 1869, and is a son of Peter Kaufmann, who was the owner and operator of a small farm in that country. Peter Kaufmann of this review received a common school education, and prior to reaching his majority came to the United States, first locating at Portland, Oregon, where he was variously employed for four years, and where he took out his first naturalization papers. In January, 1894, he located at Los Angeles, where he was em- ployed for about two years, and for eighteen months searched for knowl- edge in histories and in the Bible. In 1898 he decided to embark on a venture of his own. This was the raising of strawberries and raspberries, and as he had no money he rented ten acres of land in Florence, with the agreement that he would pay the rental when he harvested his crop. At this time he had the misfortune to fall ill, and when he recovered, four months later, was $800 in debt, with his property overrun with weeds. Nothing daunted by his misfortune, he cleared his land, put it into good condition again, and when his berries grew, were picked and marketed and he cleared himself from debt in one month. This property he sold sub- sequently, and in 1905 purchased nine and one-half acres in Montebello. In the following year he bought five acres more and later five acres to the south, buying this property on time. The "lower" ten acres he planted to quinces and plums, but later accepted an advantageous offer for this property and is now the owner of twelve acres at the corner of Lincoln and Poplar avenues. From orange seed Mr. Kaufmann planted a nursery, and from buds selected with his own hands he planted his property to oranges and lemons in 1913. This has grown to be one of the best orchards in the entire colony. His present modern and handsome home was erected in 1917.
In addition to contributing to the development of Montebello through bringing this property up from bare land to its present high state of cultivated improvement Mr. Kaufmann has also displayed always a great deal of interest in civic improvements. He was one of the leading men to organize the Montebello Improvement Association, and was made its first vice president, George Harrenton being the first president. He is now an active member of the Chamber of Commerce. When the matter of the location of the high school came before the people the trustees of the school board endeavored to have it built in Los Angeles, and, failing in that, tried to establish it in Whittier. At a mass meeting called by the Montebello Improvement Association in which Mr. Keppel was the chief speaker, Mr. Kaufmann moved that the Montebello school district vote $35,000 bonds for high school purposes. This was unanimously carried and resulted in establishing the institution in Montebello. In this connection he advised his fellow early settlers that the situation of the high school at this point would mean that new people and money would be attracted to improve the colony and town, and this has proved to be the case. Mr. Kaufmann received his final citizenship papers while residing at Los Angeles, in 1900.
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