History of Los Angeles county, Volume II, Part 69

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

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Mr. Thatcher is a director and treasurer of the Chamber of Com- merce, is a member of the Board of Education and the Masonic Order. October 20, 1920, he married Margaret A. Salinas, of Hermosa Beach. They have one daughter, Elizabeth Ann. Mrs. Thatcher was born in Kansas City, was educated there and also in Los Angeles. She is talented musically and a member of several musical organizations and also the Hermosa Woman's Club.

ALVIN HENRY COGSWELL. A well-known and prominent figure in business circles of Alhambra is Alvin Henry Cogswell, who has numerous interests in this community and is route superintendent for the Alhambra Laundry. During the thirteen years that he has been a resident of this place he has been a constant contributor to its welfare and development, and at all times has given his support to beneficial movements.

Mr. Cogswell was born in Onondaga County, New York, July 6, 1862,

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and is a son of Henry and Asenath L. (VanAntwerp) Cogswell, the former born at Salem, Washington County, New York, January 29, 1829, and the latter in Ohio, November 30, 1829. Henry Cogswell in his younger years owned and operated a boat on the Erie Canal, and also was a lake captain for a number of years. He also followed the business of railroad construction work as a contractor and at one time operated saw- mills. In 1875, with his family, he moved to Eaton County, Michigan, where he bought forty acres of land two miles east of Mulliken, where he spent the rest of his life engaged in agriculture, and died November 7, 1894, his widow surviving him for several years and also dying on the farm. They were the parents of two children: Mary Louise, born in Madison County, New York, November 13, 1852, who is the wife of Charles W. Allen, of Alhambra ; and Alvin Henry, of this review.

Alvin Henry Cogswell received his primary education in the public schools of New York and was about thirteen years of age when his parents moved to Michigan, where he continued his training in the district schools of Roxana. He worked on his father's farm until 1888, when he became associated with Byron I. Whelpley in the hardware business. Disposing of his interests two years later he returned to the home place, but later was employed as a salesman in a general store conducted by Moses P. Beach, of Mulliken. Later he went to Detroit, where he had a position in the offices of the Michigan Central Railroad for one year, and in 1899 returned to Mulliken, where for two years he was associated with John H. Moyer in conducting a general merchandise business under the firm style of Cogswell & Moyer. Selling his interest in the business, in 1901 he established himself in the dry goods and general furnishing goods busi- ness and eventually became the leading merchant of the town. He was also township clerk for a number of years.

On February 10, 1886, Mr. Cogswell married Carrie R. Taylor, of Detroit, Michigan. A daughter was born to them March 13, 1887, Nanne Edith. She was married to Morris Marquis on January 8, 1905, at Detroit, Michigan. They have one daughter, Esther, born September 26, 1906. They all live in Alhambra.

In 1893 Mr. Cogswell married Charlotte Humphrey, a native of Mich- igan and daughter of John and Ellen Humphrey, residents of Washtenaw County, where Mrs. Cogswell was born. While a resident of Michigan Mr. Cogswell became affiliated with Mulliken Lodge No. 412, Free and Accepted Masons ; Grand Lodge Chapter No. 79, Royal Arch Masons ; Grand Lodge Council, Royal and Select Masters; Charlotte Commandery No. 37, Knights Templar ; and Mulliken Tent No. 390, Knights of The Maccabees, of which he was treasurer, and he and Mrs. Cogswell were members of the Order of the Eastern Star.

In the fall of 1909, with his family, Mr. Cogswell came to California and purchased his present modern home on Bay Street, Alhambra. For one and one-half years he was manager for Abbott's Dairy, following which he accepted a position with Utter & Allen, a concern with which he remained six years. At the time of his arrival he had become a stock- holder in the Alhambra Laundry, and in 1916, after repeated invitations, joined the active operating force of this company and became route super- intendent, a position which he has since retained. In World war work both he and Mrs. Cogswell were most conscientious participants. The family are Episcopalians. Mr. Cogswell has always been a strong and unswerving republican. He has continued his lodge work at Alhambra, is a capable business man, a member of the local Business Men's Associa- tion and a loyal worker for a better Alhambra.

Cleo Allen Cogswell, eldest child and only son of Alvin Henry and Charlotte Cogswell, was born at Mulliken, Michigan, September 24, 1896, and attended the Garfield Grammar School and the Alhambra High School, from the latter of which he was graduated in June, 1916. He was a class athlete and a basket ball and baseball player of real note, with numerous trophies in honor of his achievements. After graduation he became asso-

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ciated with the California Edison Electric Company, where he now holds a responsible and remunerative position as traveling power salesman. During the World war he enlisted, August 15, 1918, as a fireman in the United States Navy, and was in training at San Pedro at the time of the signing of the armistice. He received his honorable discharge in Febru- ary, 1922. On October 3, 1920, he married Miss Mildred A. Smith, of El Monte, California, a daughter of Rev. Albert Hatcher Smith, a retired Baptist minister. Mr. Cogswell belongs to Alhambra Lodge No. 322, Free and Accepted Masons; Alhambra Lodge No. 1328, Benevolent and Pro- tective Order of Elks, the Modern Woodmen of America, the American Legion and the Alhambra Chamber of Commerce.

Lela Cogswell, the youngest child and only daughter of Alvin Henry and Charlotte Cogswell, was born at Mulliken, Michigan, November 14, 1897, and is a graduate of the Garfield Grammar School and of Alhambra High School, class of 1917. She was prominent in athletics, particularly in basket ball and gymnastics, and also possesses remarkable dramatic ability, her work in a local play, "The Melting Pot," in which she took a leading part, causing much favorable comment. Later she took a business course and accepted a responsible position in a real estate broker's office. She is a member of the Eastern Star. On August 20, 1920, she married John Feutz, of Alhambra, engaged in the insurance business.

JAMES G. SOUTHWICK. After a long and successful career as a mer- chant, banker and land owner in the Middlewest James G. Southwick came to Southern California about twenty years ago, and with health largely restored under this genial climate has accepted many opportunities for the exercise of his energy, good judgment and his financial resources. He is a citrus grower and banker at Whittier, and a man of the highest standing in that community.

Mr. Southwick was born in Erie County, New York, November 10, 1845, son of Jonathan I. and Sarah (Hull) Southwick, both of New York and of old American stock of English descent. His father was a fruit grower and nurseryman near Buffalo.

James G. Southwick grew up in a home of average comfort and had the advantage of the common schools, but at the age of fifteen he started to make his own way in the world. He worked on farms and at other employment. When he was sixteen he enlisted in Company B of the Thirty-first Iowa Infantry, but owing to his youth his father secured his release from military service. Mr. Southwick laid the foundation of his material prosperity at Center Dale, Iowa, where he established and built up a prosperous mercantile business and was also postmaster. His home was at Center Dale until 1875, and he then moved to the adjoining state of Nebraska, and accumulated extensive interests as a merchant and farmer near Lincoln, where he remained until 1900. Mr. Southwick has been associated with six different banks in Iowa, Nebraska and California. For seventeen years he stood behind the counter of the Bank of Bennet, Nebraska, part of the time as cashier, and the rest of the time as presi- dent. After coming to Whittier he sold his interest in this bank.

On account of poor health Mr. Southwick came to California in 1900, first going to San Francisco, and then coming down the coast to Los Angeles. He spent a year in that city looking for a prominent location for a home. Whittier appealed to him more than any other locality and he acquired his primary interests in citrus culture here by the purchase of fifty acres which he has planted. He still owns thirty acres of this pur- chase, located on the county road in East Whittier, between the Leffing- well ranch and the hills. Mr. Southwick also acquired an interest in the Whittier National Bank, and has since been one of its directors. After coming to California he also invested in 1,424 acres of land in Kansas, but recently sold that property.

Mr. Southwick is a republican and a member of the Friends Church. In Iowa, in April, 1871, he married Miss Esther Austin. Three children

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were born to their marriage, the oldest being Bert D. Southwick, a sketch of whose career is given in this publication. Vesta M. is the wife of Oscar Stutcite, formerly of Lincoln, Nebraska, now a citrus grower at Whittier. The other child, Winnie Lysle Southwick, died when seven years of age.

BERT D. SOUTHWICK, son of James G. Southwick, of Whittier, has been active in this community for the past sixteen years. He resides at 507 North Bright Avenue, and has extensive interests as a citrus fruit grower and is one of the citizens most frequently called upon for public service in connection with the city and its institutions.

Mr. Southwick was born March 21, 1874, while his parents were living at Center Dale, Iowa, but when he was a small child they moved to Nebraska. In that state he grew up and laid the foundation of his busi- ness career. He attended public schools, graduated from the local acad- emy and the business college at Lincoln and for twelve years was in the banking business, part of the time associated with his father's bank at Bennet, and also with the Bank of Palmyra, Nebraska.

Several years after his parents came to California Mr. Southwick joined them at Whittier, in 1906, and bought a ranch in the Lowell tract, just beyond the Leffingwell ranch. He now owns twenty-three acres individually and is associated with his father and his brother-in-law in the ownership of sixty acres in the same district. This land is planted to walnuts, oranges and lemons. Mr. Southwick is a member of the La Habra Citrus and La Habra Walnut associations.

A republican in politics, he represented his party in several county conventions while in Nebraska. He was also city trustee in Bennet, and was trustee and mayor of Palmyra, but left that town before serving out his term of mayor. Since coming to Whittier he has been particularly active in matters of education. He was elected a member of the board of education in 1917, and his present term will expire in 1923. He was president of the board in 1919-20. For six years he was treasurer of Whittier College, and had charge of the endowment fund and its collec- tion. Mr. Southwick volunteered and expended much time and energy in every patriotic drive in the community during the World war. The Government gave him special recognition for his services in several of the campaigns. Mr. Southwick is a member of the official board and a trustee of the First Methodist Episcopal Church at Whittier, and Mrs. Southwick shares with him in all his church activities. He is now super- intendent of the Sunday school and Mrs. Southwick is a teacher in the Sunday school.

On June 12, 1901, at Bennet, Nebraska, Mr. Southwick married Miss Ida D. Ehlers. She was born in Indiana. Her father, Frederick Ehlers, became a successful fruit grower and farmer in Nebraska. Mrs. South- wick is a woman of liberal education, a graduate of the Nebraska State Normal School at Peru, and was a teacher until her marriage. They have two children: Roy Wendell, member of the class of 1923 in the Whittier High School, and is planning further education in Whittier College; and Harold Leland, of the class of 1925 in the Whittier High School.

WALTER C. BRODE, who died April 9, 1923, was a native son of Los Angeles, and was associated with some of the city's most substantial busi- ness, civic and social interests. His life was a constructive one though comparatively brief in time of years.

He was born at the family home on the west side of Spring Street, between Second and Third streets, May 26, 1876, and was not yet forty- seven when he died. His parents were Charles and Clara (Alexander) Brode, pioneers of California. His father was one of the prominent builders of Los Angeles.

Walter C. Brode attended public schools in Los Angeles, and for several years was identified with the iron manufacturing industry. He was best known in the later years of his life as owner of the Shoreham Hotel, which

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he had built as an investment and business. It has long been one of the most fashionable and exclusive family hotels in the city. He was its pro- prietor until his death, and at one time was president of the California Hotel Men's Association.

The late Mr. Brode was a man of strong character, scrupulous honesty and frank and manly, and won a host of friends in all the walks of life. He was a prominent club man, a member of some of the most exclusive clubs of Los Angeles including the Jonathan Club, the Los Angeles Country Club, the Uplifters, the Athletic Club and others. He was prominent in Masonry, being a Knight Templar and Scottish Rite Mason and Shriner, and he was buried under the auspices of the Knight Templar Commandery No. 9.

Mr. Brode had suffered a six weeks' illness from typhoid, and was apparently recovering when he was suddenly stricken. February 28, 1907, he married Sara Mathewson of Denver, Colorado, who survives him. His two brothers are A. C. Brode, vice president of the Los Angeles Soap Com- pany, and Leo Brode. There are also three surviving sisters: Mrs. Oscar Lawler of Los Angeles, Mrs. Emma Friese of Los Angeles, and Mrs. Louisa Bruning of San Francisco.

HARWOOD HUNTINGTON, who died at his home on South Lorraine Boulevard, Los Angeles, January 4, 1923, was one of the master minds of his generation. He was a brilliant scholar in the chemical sciences, and after taking up the law made himself a recognized authority on chemical jurisprudence. After practicing law ten years he entered the ministry of the Episcopal Church, and in the last two or three years of his life he was especially interested in adapting the moving picture to religious edu- cation. He was the author of two technical works, and also books on Christian philosophy that went through several editions.

His versatile character can be better estimated by a brief study of his ancestry. It is said that when he made out papers for admission to membership in the Society of Colonial Wars he had more than thirty sup- plementary ancestors, a fact almost unprecedented. One of his ancestors was Lion Gardiner, a military engineer who was born in England in 1599. He came to America in 1633 as engineer for a company of Lords and Gentlemen interested in establishing a colony along the Connecticut River. Later he bought a tract of land known as Gardiner's Island, and on it made the first white settlement within the modern State of New York, and his daughter was the first white child born in New York. On his mother's side Doctor Huntington was descended from the Williams and Tracy families, both prominent in Colonial history.

In the paternal line he was a descendant of Nathaniel Huntington, of Connecticut, father of five sons, four of whom became clergymen of the Congregational Church. The remaining son was apprenticed to a trade. This son was Samuel Huntington, who became one of the distinguished men of his time. He was born in 1731 in Connecticut, learned the trade of cooper, and by extraordinary abilities and force of character found time to study law and eventually ranked as one of the ablest men of the legal profession in Connecticut. He served in the Colonial Assembly, as King's attorney, was elected to the Connecticut Assembly of 1775 and served as a member of the Continental Congress from 1776 to 1783, being president of that body from 1779 to 1781. He was a friend of Washington and one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. He was chief justice of the Supreme Court of Connecticut in 1784, and was governor of the state from 1786 until 1796.

One of the other four sons of Nathaniel Huntington was Enoch Hunt- ington, noted for his distinguished talents and his classical scholarship. His son, Enoch Huntington, was a graduate of Yale College and became a lawyer. The third successive Enoch Huntington, grandfather of the late Dr. Harwood Huntington, was both an educator and minister of the Episcopal Church. His son, John Taylor Huntington, was for many

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years professor of Greek in Trinity College at Hartford, Connecticut, and at the same time an Episcopal clergyman.

With such an ancestry it was natural that Harwood Huntington should inherit a scientific and legalistic mind as well as an inclination for the ministry. He was born at New Haven, Connecticut, December 1, 1861, son of John Taylor and Elizabeth Tracy ( Williams) Huntington. He graduated from Trinity College in 1884 with the A. B. degree cum honore in chemistry. Then for three years he traveled and studied in Europe, and in 1894 was awarded the degree Doctor of Philosophy by Columbia University. While abroad he was a student at Berlin, and attended a textile school in Alsace, and in Switzerland became familiar with the technical processes in the manufacture of woolen goods. For some time he was chemist and superintendent of the Norwich bleachery, and served as a chemist to the New York Wool Exchange. In 1895 he was admitted to the bar, and during the next ten years he practiced law in New York City, making a specialty of chemical jurisprudence and for some time administered a chemical laboratory for research and commercial service. His attainments in these fields were sufficient to have satisfied the ambitions of most men. In 1900 he published two books, one being chemical jurisprudence and the other the year book for chemists. Dur- ing Roosevelt's administration while Mr. Shaw was secretary of the treasury Mr. Huntington was appointed assistant appraiser in the woolen division of the appraiser's office at the port of New York.

For all these achievements eventually he answered the strong call of heredity to the ministry. After a course of study in the Union Theological Seminary he was ordained a deacon in 1906 and a priest in 1907, and spent the year 1908 as a student of missionary work in China and Korea. "In the work of the ministry he found rest and comfort through being the means of conveying rest and comfort to others." That was his life work-"A man of God with the urge to make God known to men." From 1913 to 1917 he was rector at Hot Springs, Virginia, where his services as pastor and preacher was of a high order. He retired from the active min- istry in 1917 and early in the World war volunteered his services as a chaplain. He was cut out by the examining surgeon, whereupon he took the place at home of a young and stronger man, thus setting him free to cross the sea. In 1919 he moved to Los Angeles, and carried on the work of what was called "The Nation-Wide Campaign" for many months with characteristic energy and devotion. He preached most extensively in many churches in the Diocese of Los Angeles, including long periods at the church of the Epiphany and St. Johns. Of the former he was rector emeritus at the time of his death.

In the meantime he had become interested in the "Sacred Film Cor- poration." When he saw the opening of this wonderful avenue of com- munication-through the eye-he desired to utilize it to extend the Knowledge of God. It was a twentieth century method of translating the Bible-a new interpretation of the Bible to the people, and one bishop of the church has stated his opinion that the achievement of such a work would be second only to the translation of Tyndale. As his father before him for more than thirty years had given freely of his services to the ministry without any compensation, Doctor Huntington set aside a portion of his means to what he regarded as a religious duty and a sacred oppor- tunity. It was his ambition to present the Bible through moving pictures in a way that would be scripturally true and yet would commend itself to critical cultured minds, a most difficult undertaking. To this end he sought out the most expert of ahchæologists and those most proficient in the art of film production. Though death overtook him before the work had been completed, many tributes have been paid to the beauty and excellence of the production so far as this had progressed. Eminent men in the church, leaders in other denominations, scientists and all who had learned to appreciate the high quality of Doctor Huntington's scholarship

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and his aims for service united in a common expression of grief and sense of loss when death removed him from the midst of his great labors.

Bishop Joseph H. Johnson of the Los Angeles diocese recently said of Mr. Harwood: "I have never known a man to be more eager to spend himself unreservedly in causes of a high and noble character than he. He was willing almost beyond belief to give of his substance, his intellect and his physical strength that he might advance the interests of the parishes which he was called to serve. I might well speak of him, did I have the time, as a man of fine cultural attainments, but apart from spiritual and literary work his great service to the Church was his colossal effort to place the story of the Biblical narrative before the public in such a form that its purpose could be grasped by men of every sort and condition. Money, time and thought were so contributed by him to the accomplish- ment of this scheme that even though all of his ideals may never be real- ized, at least some conception of the earlier chapters of the Sacred Scrip- tures will always be an open book for the generations yet to come."

A great many people know him chiefly as author of "Cui Bono" or "What shall it Profit." This, published in 1912 and in its third edition in 1914, is a gentle philosophy for those who doubt. It is a statement of Christianity in the words of a trained advocate, the aim being to bring thoughtful men back to the religion of their birthright and to state in simplest terms a religious faith which contains not only present peace, but future joy. On every page it bears evidence of the wide scholarship, lofty character and literary ability of Doctor Huntington.

Just before going abroad Doctor Huntington married, on February 22, 1908, Miss Grace Beecher Goodhue, of Springfield, Massachusetts. Mrs. Huntington and three children survive him, the children being Harriett, born in 1910, Grace, born in 1913, and Charles Goodhue, born in 1918.

Doctor Huntington was a member of the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity, the University Club of New York and of Los Angeles, and the Los Angeles Country Club. Some of the facts stated above are taken from a memo- rial resolution drawn up by the Society of Colonial Wars in the State of California, of which he was a distinguished member.

MRS. JOSIE MCDOWELL MATHEWS, president of the West Side Ebell Club of Los Angeles, has become known for the power and resourcefulness of her leadership and in making and carrying out plans that have brought results ordinarily deemed impossible. Mrs. Mathews was recently endorsed by many of the leading clubs in the city for the office of vice president of the California District Federation of Woman's Clubs.

For eight years she was a member of a Travel Club, serving as their secretary and later as a member of the board. She was secretary of the program committee of the West Side Ebell Club for two years, and has now completed a service of two years as president. The West Side Ebell Club having grown and prospered, Mrs. Mathews determined the club should have a club house, and in two years' time this plan has been car- ried out so that the club occupies an $18,000 home. Mrs. Mathews showed a genius in solving the financial problems involved. The club sold a few bonds it held, took some subscriptions, bought a lot, and by a series of entertainments and other enterprises erected and paid for the club house. The club under President Mathews has been divided into twelve sections, according to the months in which the members were born, each division being held responsible for devising means to raise money for its month. The membership of the club is made up of brilliant women, all working in harmony, and while the primary object is literary study they have held many of the outstanding social parties of the city.

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History of Los Angeles county, Volume II, Part 69

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

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