History of Los Angeles county, Volume II, Part 71

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

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In the year 1868, Colonel Horne made his first visit to Southern Cali- fornia. At that time both Los Angeles and Wilmington were small towns, the latter being the more important. At this time he became favorably impressed with the site of the present fair City of Long Beach, then little more than a mustard field, and had a prevision of the splendid development in store for the place.

In 1882 his business called him East and he established his business head- quarters in Chicago. On December 18, 1888, he was united in marriage to Miss Caroline Gifford, daughter of Charles E. Gifford, a member of

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the Chicago Board of Trade. One son, Walter W. Horne, was born to them of this union, on August 9, 1890.

In 1893 Colonel Horne's health broke down and he returned to Cali- fornia, bringing his family with him. They came to Los Angeles and then moved to Ontario, where he became actively identified with orange culture.

Then in 1901, after eight years spent in Ontario, he sold his orange grove and brought his family to Long Beach, then little more than a strag- gling village of 1,500 people. He foresaw the possibilities for the upbuild- ing of a large city, and early made judicious investments in local real estate. He gained a substantial fortune through his real estate operations in this locality. He was loyal and liberal in the support of all measures that tended to advance material and civic development and progress. He became one of the active and influential members of the Long Beach Chamber of Commerce, and was a substantial stockholder in the National Bank of Long Beach, in which he resigned his position as a director after an effective service of fifteen years. He erected three business blocks, the last of which perpetuates his name, and six residences in Long Beach, and was one of the foremost in general real estate development in this district.

Well worthy of perpetuation in this volume are the following extracts from an appreciative article that appeared in the Long Beach Telegram at the time of the death of the honored subject of this memoir :

"With the passing of this man of vision, this sturdy, adventurous and courageous American who made several fortunes because of his vision, his enterprise, his foresight and his shrewdness, Long Beach loses a citizen who never wearied of praising her beauties and advantages, and who until bound by shackles of his final illness never ceased to give of his energy and his affection and his finances toward the advancement of the city that he loved with an undivided affection. Colonel Horne's life reads like a tale of the great Robert Louis Stevenson. It had to do with the waste places, the recesses of the earth, the shores of the great coast, with an empire that is known as California, but which when he first came within its bournes was a straggling stretch of sparcely settled territory, dotted by mines and villages of Mexicans. This adventurous spirit dwelt in San Francisco and Los Angeles and Long Beach and other parts of the state that are now famous the world over, when they were naught but mustard fields and cow pastures and mining towns. But because of his courage and his vision, his sturdiness and his shrewdness, Colonel Horne not only grew with the state, but he also contributed toward that growth by his devotion and his energy and enthusiasm."

Colonel Horne was very fond of travel and enjoyed three trips to Europe, visiting all the important countries. In the latter part of the Civil war Colonel Horne became a member of a regiment organized in San Francisco, but as the state did not have available funds to send the command to the stage of conflict, its service consisted chiefly in maintaining order in the north part of California. At San Francisco, Colonel Horne was for twenty years an active member of the California National Guard. He cast his first presidential vote for Abraham Lincoln, at the time of the Civil war. He was not yet of age when he thus exercised the franchise, but was six feet in height and had the manly bearing and judgment that avoided any question of his age eligibility, when he thus appeared to cast his vote. During all the remaining years of his life he continued an ardent advocate and supporter of the principles of the republican party. He was a stanch republican and a loyal patriotic citizen.

Colonel Horne was long and appreciatively affiliated with the Masonic fraternity and connected himself with both York and Scottish Rite bodies, as well as the Mystic Shrine. He was a charter member of Long Beach Commandery No. 40, Knights Templar, and was especially influential in this fine chivalric Masonic organization. He was an active member of the Jonathan Club of Los Angeles for more than twenty years prior to his death, and held membership in the Virginia Country Club of Long Beach. He was a liberal supporter of the Presbyterian Church in his home city,

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gave loyally to the support of the local Young Men's Christian Associa- tion and other worthy causes. In the World war period he sent $1,000 in gold to France to buy things wanted for the Long Beach boys in service at the front. He and his wife purchased a set of organ chimes and harp attachment and presented them to the First Presbyterian Church in which they held membership, as does also their only son, and this gift was made as a memorial to their first grandson, Laurie Horne.

Colonel Horne is survived by his wife, Mrs. Caroline Horne, his son, Walter W., who in 1912 was married to Marjorie Bronson, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Ira Bronson of Seattle, Washington, and three grandchildren, Walter W., Jr. ; Hallie Carol, and Marjorie Bronson Horne.

EDWARD LAURENCE DOHENY. The last word in superfluity would be to explain who Edward L. Doheny is or "introduce" him to the present or the next generation. But as a resident of Los Angeles for the past thirty years some of the more important incidents in his dramatic career deserve record in this publication.

He was born in a family of respectable and hard working people in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, August 10, 1856, son of Patrick and Eleanor Elizabeth (Quigley) Doheny. He grew up in the best kind of a home to develop sound character, one equally removed from extreme poverty and from the luxury of wealth. He has always owed much to the superior intel- ligence and influence of his good mother. His early years were distinguished chiefly by a keen intelligence that enabled him to graduate from high school at the age of fifteen. Mental arithmetic was his favorite subject. He grad- uated in 1872 and almost immediately began a life of adventure and strenuous outdoor activity. Some years ago Mr. Doheny confessed that he had lived so many years in the open that he found it difficult to accommodate himself to the conventional steam heat and soft beds of modern civilization.

Joining a surveying party under the United States Government he went to Kansas, assisting in surveying government land, the following year was in New Mexico, then returned to Kansas and during the year 1873-75 had an interesting experience among the blanket Indians of what is now Western Oklahoma, assisting in subdividing the Kiowa and Comanche reservations. In 1876 he joined an expedition to the mining district of the Black Hills. The Federal Government dispersed the party and drove them out of the then Indian reservation. Mr. Doheny was also frustrated in his next venture, an attempt to find a fortune in the mining district of the San Juan country in southwestern Colorado. From Silverton, Colorado, he and some associates wandered into the Southwest, arriving at Prescott, Arizona, and during the next fourteen years he held his own among the keen and resourceful gold prospectors in Arizona and New Mexico. He discovered and helped develop some of the most promising claims in those two southwestern territories.

Probably the chief characteristic of Mr. Doheny is that found in Kipling's character of "The Pioneer," whose desire and vision are always "over the passes," and once the interest of discovery and newness has worn off the rewards of wealth hold no charm to detain him. Several times it is said that Mr. Doheny was within reach of considerable wealth when he sold his claims and resumed the more interesting role of prospector.

During the seventies and eighties Mr. Doheny was always in contact with the raw and elemental factors of the southwestern country. He fought Indians and he fought wild animals, and accepted daily danger as a common- place of his work. In one encounter his hand was mangled by a mountain lion. Again as the result of a fall in a mine his legs were broken, and while recuperating he bent the resources of an active mind to the study of law, and was qualified for admission to practice in six months. For a year or so he contented himself with the routine of a practicing attorney. By similar study Mr. Doheny also acquired a knowledge, surpassing that of many graduates of technical colleges, in the sciences of geology and metallurgy.

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Mr. Doheny is widely known among his friends as an exemplar of the simple life. He yielded nothing to his parents in willingness to accept hardship and danger, but was free from practically all the vices associated with westerners, and has never used alcoholic liquor or tobacco.

One of his prominent associates both in New Mexico and also in his early days in California was C. A. Canfield. They tried to develop a gold mining claim in San Bernardino County, California, but finally abandoned it and not long afterward Mr. Doheny came to Los Angeles.

A few years ago he told the story of the first drilled well in the Los Angeles oil field. He and his fellow prospector in 1892 had observed certain signs which convinced them of the presence of oil sand within the city limits of Los Angeles. They possessed limited capital and practically no experience in oil well operations. Buying a small lot at the corner of West State and Cotton streets, instead of a well they began sinking a shaft in November, 1892. They had laboriously excavated to a depth of about fifty feet when they struck a small pocket of oil and gas, and were nearly asphyxiated before they could reach the surface. They continued the slow progress, but eventually took into consideration the danger they ran and also cast about to find better machinery and eventually the well was sunk to a depth of six hundred feet and yielded forty-five barrels a day. That was the pioneer operation in the Los Angeles oil field, and the success of Doheny attracted thousands to the district. Even after becoming an oil producer Mr. Doheny's career was not without vicissitudes. In 1896 at the age of forty he was still a poor man. Then followed the development of the Fullerton oil district of California, and later his operations in the Bakersfield district, and since then for twenty years there has been no more imposing figure in all the history of petroleum than Edward L. Doheny. In this later and familiar period of his life's activities, he has been dominated by the same ambition for achievement as in earlier years. From California he turned his attention to Mexico and with his associates bought several hundred thousands of acres of land in the vicinity of Tampico near the Gulf coast and in 1900 organized the Mexican Petroleum Company, which sunk the wells and started the development that have made the Mexican petroleum field probably the greatest in the world.

Mr. Doheny is president of the Mexican Petroleum Company, Lim- ited, and also president of the Pan-American Petroleum and Transport Company, owning the extensive pipe lines and a large fleet of tank steamers through which during the World war a large part of the fuel oil used by the British and allied navies was supplied. Mr. Doheny is also president of the Huasteca Petroleum Company and the Petroleum Transport Com- pany. In July, 1917, he became a member of the first committee on oil of the Council of National Defense.

Mr. Doheny is a member of the California and Jonathan clubs of Los Angeles, the Bohemian Club of San Francisco, and the Union League Club of Chicago. His home is at 8 Chester Place in Los Angeles. Mr. Doheny confesses that the greatest find in his entire life was his wife, Carrie Estelle Betzold, of Marshalltown, Iowa. They have a son, E. L. Doheny, Jr.

LOUIS RUEB. The lack of health, vigor and physical comeliness, undoubtedly caused a great deal of secret unhappiness to mankind, and the scientist who has perfected a system whereby these defects may be remedied, is nothing less than a benefactor. In so wide a field of needed effort there have, without doubt, appeared many so-called practitioners, who have made great pretentions and laid claim to impossible results, but, as their theories have proved unstable and their treatments useless, sufferers are apt to turn to such well established institutions as the Rueb's Scientific Institute for Physical Correction at Long Beach, California. That they may confidently do so has been attested by hundreds who have been bene- fited. The founder and director of this institution, Capt. Louis Rueb, a veteran officer of the Spanish-American war, is a man of wide experience in his professional line.

Capturdenow, MT.

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HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY

Louis Rueb was born in one of the provinces of Southern Germany, March 14, 1873. His parents were Soloman and Babetta (Marx) Rueb, both of whom spent their entire lives in South Germany, where the father was in the milling business. He served with official rank in the Franco- Prussian war.

Mr. Rueb came to the United States in boyhood and received a public school education in the City of Chicago, and later his course in physical training in a seminary at Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He has practically been connected with physical education work ever since, publicly declaring that it is his chosen life work to make men, women and children physically fit.

Mr. Rueb began his professional career as supervisor of physical educa- tion in the schools of Clinton, Iowa, and served in the same capacity in larger cities over the country, his work being interrupted by the Spanish- American war, during which he served in Porto Rico as captain of Com- pany L, Fifth Illinois Infantry. In 1913 he came to California and located at Long Beach, in the same year becoming supervisor of physical education in the Long Beach public schools, in which office he continued until 1919, when he established Rueb's Institute for Physical Correction, which under his progressive and scientific methods has become favorably known far and wide. Together with Professor Rueb's own special scientific methods, Swedish massage and the Battle Creek system of treatments are made use of in surroundings that are comfortable and with as little inter- ference with social or business life as possible. It is the undisputed claim of Professor Rueb that his system rejunevates the old, promotes vigor in the middle-aged, makes the young stronger and is a reasonable guarantee to childhood of virile man and womanhood.

Although not particularly active in political life, in sentiment Mr. Rueb is a democrat. He belongs to the Long Beach Chamber of Commerce and to the Lions Club of this city, and is interested in every substantial movement that promises to benefit the city. He belongs to the Masonic fraternity, to the Knights of Pythias and to the Elks at Long Beach, a member of Long Beach Lodge No. 888, in the last named order, having previously been identified with Lodge No. 29 at Little Rock. Mr. Rueb is a member also of the Independent Order B'nai B'rith and served as its president for two terms. In addition to all others, Mr. Rueb has a firm hold on the respect and affection of a large body of youths at Long Beach, as he was the organizer of the first Boy Scouts troop in this city, a most creditable body to which he devoted much time and attention.

C. MAX ANDERSON, M. D. The physician of today not only is a trained man whose faculties have been brought to perfection, but also one whose experience with people and affairs enables him to act with efficiency and to energize those with whom he comes into contact. He works rather for practical progress than spectacular results, and to him belongs the credit for practically all the progress made in civic sanitation and the obliteration of many" dreadful scourges. The wonderful results attained in recent years have been brought about by aggressive and self-sacrificing labor, not only on the part of the few who come into public notice, but the profession as a whole. One of the men who stands high as a physician and surgeon of this class is Dr. C. Max Anderson, of Hermosa Beach, who since his arrival in 1921 has gained gratifying success and a reputation for skill and thorough learning.

Doctor Anderson was born at Pawnee City, Nebraska, December 27, 1886, and as a child was taken to Illinois, where he received his early edu- cation in the public schools, He then pursued an academic course at the University of Illinois, following which he entered upon his medical studies in the same institution, this being supplemented by attendance at the Uni- versity of Iowa and the Medico-Chirurgical College, Philadelphia, Pa., from which last-named institution he was graduated as a member of the class of 1915, receiving the degree of Doctor of Medicine. He did not enter im- mediately upon the practice of his profession, serving one year as an in-

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terne in the Presbyterian Hospital, Philadelphia, then practiced two years in Manteno, Illinois, and for one year was surgeon in the Charity Hospital, Natchez, Mississippi. He also spent some time in Chicago hospitals in post-graduate work, and took post-graduate work in the laboratory of sur- gical technique of Chicago. In 1921 he came to Hermosa Beach, where he has since been engaged in the general practice of medicine and surgery. His long, thorough and careful training, his natural abilities, his inherent attraction to his calling and his humane sympathies equip him admirably for the attainment of success in his profession. Doctor Anderson is a member of the Phi Rho Sigma fraternity and the Ptolmy Society, a medi- cal organization. He is affiliated with the Masonic order, Benjamin Lodge No. 297, F. and A. M., of Camp Point, Illinois, and Natchez Chapter, R. A. M. No. 1, the latter being the oldest chapter in Mississippi, chartered in 1821. He is also a member of the Masonic Club of Hermosa Beach, and has several civic and business connections, among them being a direc- tor in the National Bank of Hermosa Beach. He was the organizer of the Hermosa-Redondo Hospital, and is president of that institution.

On June 4, 1912, Doctor Anderson was united in marriage with Miss Electa Wallace, of Clayton, Illinois, a daughter of John Weir Wallace and Angelette Sargent, the father a native of Illinois and the mother of the State of Maine. Dr. and Mrs. Anderson are the parents of three children : John Robert Henry, Electa Maxine and Roger Wallace.

NATHAN W. ZIMMER. A leading operator in realty at Sawtelle, Nathan W. Zimmer has been located in this thriving community since 1916, and has been a contributing factor in its progress and rapid development. He is now the owner of the oldest real estate business of this locality.

Mr. Zimmer is a product of the East, having been born in Scoharie County, New York, January 15, 1872. He received his early education in the schools of his native locality, following which he entered the Union High School, and was graduated therefrom. He began the study of medicine at Bellevue Hospital Medical College, New York, but in 1900 he decided that the Pacific Coast country offered better opportunities for advancement and he accordingly came to Los Angeles, where he engaged in the real estate and brokerage business. In 1916 he changed his base of operations to Sawtelle, and in 1917 became the successor to Mrs. Lois McBride, who at that time was the owner of the oldest real estate business at this place, which had been started at 328 Santa Monica Boulevard at the time the town had been laid out by Mr. Sawtelle. Mr. Zimmer erected his present place of business, at 332 Santa Monica Boulevard, in 1922, this being a modern and handsome structure. In his offices he handles real estate of all kinds, including subdivisions, insurance and bonding, etc.

Mr. Zimmer is one of the energetic and progressive men of his com- munity and is recognized as such by his associates. In appreciation of his ability in July, 1922, when the Sawtelle Realty Board was organized, he was elected president of this organization, his fellow officials being: J. Challen Smith, vice president ; I. Collodny, secretary, and C. A. Cochenour, treasurer. This organization has a membership of thirty realtors and is affiliated with the State Realty Board. Mr. Zimmer is also a member of the Santa Monica Realty Board. Director of the Sawtelle Chamber of Commerce, and is secretary of the Citizens' Organization of Sawtelle, a body which is working for better civic conditions and improvements. He is a director of the U. S. National Bank of Sawtelle, and has not neglected his duties of citizenship, having formerly served acceptably in the capacity of city judge. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Masons, and is a member of the Commandery and the Mystic Shrine, and also holds membership in Santa Monica Lodge No. 906, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. His religious connection is with St. John's Episcopal Church of Sawtelle.

On October 14, 1908, Mr. Zimmer married Miss Olive H. Haviside, of San Francisco, California, they having two children, Dorothy and Eugene

n. H. Kimmener

أم لاكهم

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Albert. Mrs. Zimmer was born at San Francisco, where she received her early education, later pursuing a course and graduating from the Westlake School for Girls, Los Angeles. She is a member of the Woman's Club of Sawtelle.

ORA E. MACDONALD is one of the active business women of Los Angeles County, and largely through her own initiative and individual efforts has built up a prosperous business in real estate and kindred lines at Hermosa Beach. The business is located at the corner of Thirteenth and Hermosa Avenue, and handles all classes of real estate, general insurance, loans and rentals, specializing in real estate sales.

Mrs. MacDonald opened her first office in real estate in September, 1920, in the First National Bank Building. Since 1922 her husband, Mr. Gordon MacDonald, has been actively associated with her. Mrs. MacDonald is a native of Evansville, Indiana, and was educated in the parochial schools there. She came to California in 1911, and has since lived at Hermosa Beach.

Mr. Gordon MacDonald was born at New Brunswick, Canada, was edu- cated there in the public schools and in 1888 came to the United States and located at Philadelphia. In 1891 he went Northwest, living in the State of Washington and extending his travels and interests over British Columbia and Alaska. He helped build the Northwestern extension of the Milwaukee Railway system and also the Great Northern Railway.

HAROLD L. FINLAY has been well known in business circles in Los Angeles County, and is senior partner of Finlay and Preston, realtors. This partnership was founded May 1, 1923, his partner being H. G. Preston. They have their offices at 131 South Brand Boulevard, in Glen- dale, and do a general real estate and insurance business, but specialize in business properties.

Mr. Finlay was born near Coshocton, Ohio, August 24, 1877, son of Joseph A. and Lydia (Hogle) Finlay, the former a native of Ireland and the latter of Ohio. Joseph Finlay was an Ohio farmer and in 1915 came to California, but subsequently returned to Ohio and died there in 1921. The widowed mother is still living in her native state.

Harold L. Finlay was educated in public schools of Ohio, and in 1900 graduated with the Bachelor of Arts degree from Park College at Park City. Missouri. After his college career he went to the Philippine Islands and taught in the schools there for three years. On returning to the United States he was for one year in business at Wagoner, Oklahoma, and was then in the Electrical Fixture business in Colorado until 1909. In the latter year he came to Los Angeles and was with the Pacific Telephone Company until 1914. Following that he was in the credit department of the Union Oil Company, and resigned from that corporation to engage in real estate at Glendale. He is a member of the Glendale Realty Board, the California State Real Estate Association and the National Realty Board Association. He belongs to the Glendale Chamber of Commerce, is an active member of the Presbyterian Church and Superintendent of the Sunday School.

June 2, 1909, he married Miss Mabel E. Thompson of Sebastapol, Cali- fornia, only daughter of Robert W. Thompson. She was born in Ohio and was educated in public schools there and at the University of Oklahoma. They have three children, Frances Elizabeth, Robert William and Lee Hogle.

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History of Los Angeles county, Volume II, Part 71

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