USA > California > Los Angeles County > History of Los Angeles county, Volume II > Part 78
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P. E. KEELER, Long Beach attorney, has had over thirty years of success- ful experience in his profession in the western states. He was educated for the law in the East, and on the basis of liberal training in the fundamentals and philosophy of jurisprudence he has developed the talents and resources of his own mind and become one of the most accomplished members of his profession in Southern California.
Pearl Eben Keeler was born on a farm near Galena, Ohio, October 23, 1868, son of Henry Clay and Catherine (Williams) Keeler. The Keeler family was established in Connecticut about 1640 from England, and men of the name were soldiers in the Revolution. The Long Beach attorney is eligible for membership of the Sons of the American Revolution.
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Henry Clay Keeler enlisted during the second year of the Civil war at the age of sixteen in an Ohio regiment and was in service until the end, participating in the campaign in Eastern Tennessee, including the battle of Lookout Mountain. The grandfather of P. E. Keeler was Diadatus Keeler, one of the early settlers of Delaware County, Ohio, where he acquired extensive land holdings. Mr. Keeler was born on the old Ohio homestead, which included several thousand acres. The maternal grand- father of Mr. Keeler was.George W. Williams, an early settler of Dela- ware County, Ohio, and one of a family of fourteen children. There are over two hundred descendants of these fourteen children, and an annual reunion of the Williams family for forty years has been held at Columbus on the sixteenth of August.
Pearl E. Keeler as a boy attended public school in Iowa, also denomi- national schools at Ogden, Utah, was a student in the Pennsylvania State Normal at Indiana, and as a youth he mastered without a teacher the science of shorthand and at the age of nineteen became a court reporter at Ogden. This experience proved a valuable preparation for the law, and gave him at the same time the means to pay his college expenses. Mr. Keeler with this experience was able to accomplish three years of work in two years at the Boston University Law School, where he graduated LL. B. in 1891. He was admitted to the bar of Idaho in 1891, in Utah in 1894, in Nevada in 1906 and in California in 1912, and over thirty years of general practice have put him in the very highest rank in his profession. While in Utah he was associated with his father-in-law, Judge C. C. Goodwin. He has always been interested in democratic politics, and was a factor in the party in Nevada, serving on the county committee and was vice-chairman of the county central committee during the first campaign of Woodrow Wilson for president. He was one of the few men in the party in Nevada, who favored the nomination of Wilson over Champ Clark. After his removal to Nevada he was the nominee of his party for district judge of Nye County, Nevada, in 1910. He was elected and served two terms as city attorney at Logan, Utah, and was county attorney of Cache County, that state.
Mr. Keeler came to Long Beach in December, 1913, and was first associated with Herbert M. Haskell, Clyde Doyle, subsequently joining them in the firm of Haskell, Keeler and Doyle. This was a firm special- izing in probate and corporation law. November 1, 1918, the partnership was dissolved and continued as Keeler and Doyle until July 1, 1919, since which date Mr. Keeler has practiced alone. He is attorney for the Pacific South West Trust & Savings Bank, Long Beach branch, and California National Bank of Long Beach and a number of other corporations.
Mr. Keeler is a member of the Long Beach, Los Angeles County, California State and American Bar Associations. He is a past master of Tonapah Lodge No. 28, Free and Accepted Masons, Past King of Tonapah Chapter No. 12, Royal Arch Masons, in Nevada, and as grand orator of the Grand Lodge of Nevada, his oration at the laying of the cornerstone of the court house of Reno, is published in the minutes of the Grand Lodge. He now has his membership in the Lodge Chapter and Knight Templar Commandery at Long Beach, and Al Malaikah Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Los Angeles. Mr. Keeler is a member of the Christian Science Church and was First Reader of Third Church of Christ Scientist of Long Beach. He is a member of the Virginia Country Club, and the Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Keeler is president of the Palms Hotel Corporation which is building a $1,000,000 hotel in Long Beach.
June 20, 1894, at Logan, Utah, he married Miss Rose Maud Good- win, daughter of Judge Charles C. and Phebe Ann Goodwin. She was born and educated at Logan. Her parents were married in Birmingham, England, and lived at Stratford-on-Avon, Shakespeare's old home, until coming to the United States in 1864. They moved out to Utah in 1865, before the first railroad was built across the continent, and were pioneers of that territory and state. Her mother died at Fresno, California, in
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May, 1922, at the age of eighty-four, and her father now lives with Mr. and Mrs. Keeler. He served as United States Commissioner in Logan, Utah.
ROBERT LEE COUTS, who died at Los Angeles, March 18, 1920, was a son of the distinguished Southern California pioneer Cave J. Couts, whose record is given elsewhere in the history of Los Angeles County. The wife of Cave J. Couts and the mother of Robert L. Couts was Ysidora Bandini, a daughter of Juan Bandini, whose name also figures prominently in the history of Los Angeles County. Cave Couts established the Rancho Gua- jome in San Diego County, and it was on this rancho that Robert Lee Couts was born April 12, 1864. Robert L. Couts was educated at the Cali- fornia Military Academy in San Francisco, and was a graduate of St. Vin- cent's College at Los Angeles.
As a young man he was an officer of the law, and did much to rid the mountains and valleys of Southern California of their criminal element. He was a member of the United States marshal's force, and subsequently was a deputy sheriff of Los Angeles County.
In July, 1882, he married Sue Thompson, whose father was Col. James P. Thompson and whose mother was Manueleta Del La Ossa, a descendant of the old Spanish Gillen family. Members of the Del La Ossa family owned all of the San Gabriel Valley. The grandmother of Mrs. Couts reached the venerable age of 109 years, and at her funeral there were twenty-four great-grandchildren, and six of them were pallbearers. James P. Thompson was the first sheriff of Los Angeles County, and he estab- lished and owned the first stage line between Los Angeles and San Fran- cisco.
Sue Thompson was born February 24, 1865, and was educated in Holy Name Academy. She died at Los Angeles in March, 1923, just three years after the death of her husband. Another daughter was born to Mr. and Mrs. Thompson, Adella F., who died on December 23, 1917. She was a graduate of Notre Dame College and a scholar in Spanish and music.
Members of the Thompson family at one time owned all of the prop- erty now known as the famous LaBrea oil fields, but James B. Thompson sold a thousand acres of this stock for $1,300, to Mr. Hancock, who sub- sequently discovered the subterranean resources of oil and became immensely wealthy. Robert L. Couts inherited and acquired a large prop- erty, and for a number of years before his death was engaged in managing it and figured in some of the extensive real estate deals in this part of the state. Among the properties of the family are the beach home at Santa Monica, the home at Fifteenth and St. Andrews, and also twenty acres of ground at Station Bandini, where the Standard Oil Company are now drill- ing for oil, and paying members of the family a very handsome income for a lease and a sixth royalty.
Mr. and Mrs. R. L. Couts were the parents of ten children. One of the sons, Deputy Constable Bryan A. Couts, was killed a few years ago while in the performance of his duty, and the son Chalmers Couts likewise lost his life while an officer of the law. The surviving children are: R. Lee Couts, who for the past nine years has been a deputy sheriff of Los Ange- les County ; James T .; Percival S .; Miss Susan T .; Miss Ysidora B., and Mrs. Kelsey Olds, all of Los Angeles.
WILLIS NEWTON is a California pioneer who had his share of nearly all the dangers and difficulties attending life in a new country. To no small degree the work and experience of such men made possible and opened the way for the easier life and prosperity that a later generation has enjoyed.
Willis Newton was born in Hot Springs County, Arkansas, February 8, 1840, son of John and Lydia ( Meredith) Newton. He is of Irish descent, his great-grandfather having been a native of Ireland who came to this country in time to participate in the Revolutionary war. His grandfather, William Newton, could recall incidents of that war which occurred when
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he was a lad in Virginia. William Newton came to Tennessee as a pioneer, and there John Newton, Willis' father, was born. About 1839 John Newton and his wife, Lydia (Meredith) Newton, who also was a native of Tennessee, moved to Arkansas, they in their turn being pioneers in that state. There, in the vicinity of Hot Springs, Willis was born and received what meager education he could under the frontier conditions. The opportunities for attending school were very limited, the settlers having to build the schoolhouses as they advanced. They would gather together, cut the trees, hew out the boards and build the houses with tools made mostly in their own blacksmith shops.
When Willis was only seventeen he married Miss Charlotte Hudson, who was born in Calloway County, Missouri, in 1840. After their mar- riage they continued farming and cattle raising in Arkansas and Eastern Texas, remaining there until the Civil war ended. One of Willis' brothers was killed in the Civil war, but Willis, who had small children, stayed there on the frontier and guarded the homes of those who did go from Indians. They were menaced by Indians and had their saddle horses stolen by them, but were never really attacked, though one boy in their neighborhood was stolen and died from their treatment.
After the war conditions were so unsettled in Texas they decided to migrate to California, so on May 3, 1865, a party largely made up of members of the Newton family started out with their teams of oxen for the great West. In this party were John and Lydia Newton, parents of Willis, the latter's brother, Anderson Newton, with wife and six children, Marion Hutchinson, his brother-in-law, with wife and six children, and Willis and his wife and three children. Out in the desert region of Western Texas they suffered severely. Almost at the start the tire from one of the wagons was lost, and in the absence of tools or blacksmith they finally used a half-inch cold chisel and with it made holes through the heated tire, and with a few old bolts managed to rivet it fast. In the desert country they were sometimes drenched by a sudden cloud burst and a few miles farther on were toiling in the midst of hot, dry sand, bringing alternate thirst and serious inconvenience from flood waters. It became necessary to travel mainly at night to escape the toil and heat of the day. Mr. New- ton's brother, Jasper, who grew impatient and started out a few days before Willis, encountered even more unfavorable conditions, and when he reached water he had suffered so much from thirst that his tongue was so swollen he could not drink and he almost died. He started with a large herd of cattle, but so many had died from thirst that he even had to break some of his beef oxen to the yoke and turn back. Willis' party did not encounter such hot weather, so they got through with most of their cattle. On reaching the Pecos River in Western Texas, they found the stream running bank full, and in order to cross it they improvised a ferry, tying empty water kegs to the side of the wagon, which buoyed it up so that the families and goods could go safely over, while the animals were made to swim across. The men in the party drew lots to see who should swim the swiftly flowing river to carry the cable over to guide them. After many hardships the party reached El Paso and joined a larger train of emigrants who were on their way to California, and thus reduced the danger from Indian attacks. Going by way of Yuma, the party reached California on January 1, 1866. The Newton family settled near Old Gallatin, now Downey, in Los Angeles County. There were very few people there and Los Angeles was just a small town.
Willis Newton reached there destitute. For two years he rented and farmed land at El Monte, and then returned to Gallatin. There were no railroads then, and farm produce which was not exchanged for neces- sary supplies had to be hauled to Los Angeles with horses and wagon. In 1868 he bought one hundred and eleven acres on the river four miles south of Downey. He built a home there, improved the land and took an active part in the community life. He was a leader in their singing school, went about taking care of the sick and was one of the charter members of
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the Downey Baptist Church, which was one of the first of that region. There he was a rancher until the river floods destroyed his property. He then came to Los Angeles and used his teams to do public street work. He sold his ranch holdings in 1900 for only $5,000 and disposed of all his teams in 1901, on account of failing health. He then set out to recover his health and to find a more desirable means of earning a livelihood by traveling over Nevada, and it was successful only so far as his restored health was concerned. He went as far as Inyo County, California. About that time the famous Tonopah mines in Nevada were opened, and an investi- gation showed him that supplies were very limited and, returning to Cali- fornia, he bought a heavy mule freight team, laid in a stock of groceries and set out alone for the mining regions, failing to persuade anyone to go along with him. There were many bandits on the way, but he succeeded in reaching Big Pine and thence went across White Mountain to Tonopah, where he quickly sold his stock of goods. A short time afterward he went into the general merchandise business himself there in Tonopah in a tent store, and for three and one-half years did better financially than he ever had done before. At the end of that time his wife became danger- ously ill and he had to return to Los Angeles to care for her. In his absence the people he had left in charge of his business so mismanaged it that they destroyed it and he was forced to start over again. He then engaged in grain raising in the vicinity of Fresno. Mr. Newton has had his courage and persistence tested on many occasions, and has exhibited that forceful character that does not like to recognize failure.
Mr. Newton was of a large family, he being the sixth in a family of eight children. His mother died in El Monte, California, in 1866. The father, John Newton, went back to Texas, came again to California, but again returned to Texas, where he died about 1896. Willis Newton reared four children. William, born in Arkansas in 1858, died at Norwalk, Cali- fornia, in 1917, leaving a wife and ten children. The son, John, born in Arkansas in 1859, died in Imperial Valley, California, leaving two children, Jesse Newton. born in Texas in 1862, is a resident of Oceanside, California, and is married and has four children. Alice, who was born near Norwalk, California, in 1869, is the wife of C. C. Hayes and the mother of one child, their home being near Riverside, California.
Mr. Newton's home in his later years has been in Los Angeles and vicinity.
JAMES H. DODSON, SR. One of the prominent factors in the substantial upbuilding of San Pedro, California, has been the abiding interest of such reliable, well informed men as James H. Dodson, Sr., who is now one of the city's capitalists and most highly esteemed retired citizens. An able business man all his life, he has also had the advantage of extensive travel, and his enlightened judgment on matters of public policy and general welfare has, in the last twenty years, been well worth accepting, and San Pedro has profited greatly thereby.
The name of Dodson, associated as it is with large enterprises, is a very familiar one in California. James H. Dodson was born at Los Angeles, on February 26, 1861. He had both private and public school instruction during the life of his parents; but was yet a boy when he became a member of the household of George Hinds, of Wilmington, California. Mr. Hinds was a large stockman and was the junior member of the firm of Vickery & Hinds, wholesale butchers, which firm had stores located in all the principal towns along the coast. It was not long before the youth, under the train- ing of these keen, astute business men, gave evidence of commercial talent, and for the next twenty years he was connected with the operation of their coast stores, in positions of responsibility. In 1883, when the firm estab- lished a store at San Pedro, the pioneer market here, Mr. Dodson was placed in charge and continued until he resigned in order to establish a similar business of his own, which he carried on until 1899.
In the meanwhile, with the spirit of enterprise that marked his entire
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active business career, Mr. Dodson had watched the trend of events and the extension of world's markets, and in 1899, after retiring from individual business at San Pedro, crossed the Pacific to Manila, Philippine Islands. There, as a member of the firm of Simmie, Swanson & Co., he was inter- ested in the erection and operation of the first modern sawmill, later estab- lished the first American carriage works there and during all this time had a profitable mail carrying contract. In 1901 Mr. Dodson set out on his travels that extended through the Islands, Asia Minor and Arabia, and back through Europe and from England to the United States, in which he completed the circumnavigation of the globe.
In 1902 Mr. Dodson once more reached his native state, and shortly afterward leased of George Porter 7,000 acres of the Old Mission ranch, this entire acreage being devoted to the growing of wheat. In 1903 he once more became a resident of San Pedro and established a partnership with his brother, the late John F. Dodson, under the name of Dodson Brothers, general contractors for grading and cement work, a business combination that commanded public confidence. Mr. Dodson was one of the organizers of the Pacific Manufacturing & Supply Association, manu- facturers of ornamental and building brick and builders' supplies, and Mr. Dodson was the manager of the same.
In 1881, while a resident of Wilmington, California, Mr. Dodson was married to Miss Rudecinda F. Sepulveda, who is a descendant of one of the most prominent families of the state. She was born on the old Palos Verdes rancho, a daughter of Jose Diego Sepulveda, who was one of the five owners of a vast estate which extended along the sea coast from San Pedro to Redondo Beach and for miles back into the foothills. This land was originally owned by Mrs. Dodson's grandfather, Dolores Sepulveda, who was killed by Indians while he was returning from Monterey, where he had gone to obtain a patent to his ranch. Much of the property was handed down to his son Jose Diego, who was born on the old ranch near San Pedro, in 1813, and his daughter, Mrs. Dodson, is the largest property owner at San Pedro today. It is related of her father, Jose Diego Sepul- veda, that during the war between the United States and Mexico, he was loyal to the former country and contributed generously of cattle, horses, provisions and money, and materially aided in extending the dominion of the United States to the Pacific Ocean. Six children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Dodson and three survive: Florence, James H., Jr., and Carlos D.
Not particularly in a political sense, but in a general way, Mr. Dodson, with wisdom gained through a wider experience than many others, has been continuously a valuable citizen, markedly public spirited and charitable. For a number of years he was a member of the city council of San Pedro and was its president for one term. For eight years he served the city on the board of education and in other offices, and for a time was license collector. He has been an encourager of the Chamber of Commerce ever since its organization, and has taken pride and pleasure in the city's material development. While a resident of Wilmington, Mr. Dodson united with the Masonic fraternity and is a member of San Pedro Lodge No. 332. Free and Accepted Masons, having been past master of his lodge at Wilmington. Few residents of San Pedro are better known and perhaps none have a wider circle of warm personal friends, for they are inter- esting people of courteous manner and kindly intent.
JAMES H. DODSON, JR. A most inviting little city of Southern Cali- fornia is San Pedro, and in the period covered by the last twenty years, its development has been amazing, this progress having largely been brought about by the permanent settlement here of men of capital and enterprise, one of whom, James H. Dodson, Sr., is an honored retired resident of this place. He is the father of James H. Dodson, Jr., a representative young business man of San Pedro, who is secretary of the Triangle Construction Company, and formerly, prior to its merging in this corporation, was president of Dodson-Incorporated.
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James H. Dodson, Jr., was born at San Pedro, California, July 11, 1890, and bears his father's honored name. His mother, Rudecinda T. S. de Dodson, is a member of one of the oldest families of California, that for generations have owned vast estates on the Pacific coast, and have been people of social importance.
Mr. Dodson was educated in the San Pedro public schools, the Poly- technic at Los Angeles, and the University of California at Berkeley, and was graduated from the latter institution in 1914, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. During his four years at the university, he not only acquitted himself well in scholarship and was admitted to membership in the "Big C" Society, but also took a leading part in athletics, playing four years on the university baseball team, of which, during his senior year, he was captain. He has never lost interest in wholesome outdoor sports and belongs to numerous organizations.
When the World war came on and his own country became involved, Mr. Dodson turned aside from his business plans and other ambitions and entered military service in the United States Navy, and during his two years of service, was stationed at the Naval Training Station at Balboa Park, San Diego, he being detailed as secretary to Capt. W. D. Brotherton and Capt. Arthur McArthur. After his honorable discharge, he returned to San Pedro and is serving as secretary of the Triangle Construction Company of this city. He is president of the American Legion Building Corporation of San Pedro, which erected the magnificent American Legion building on Tenth and Gaffey streets, San Pedro. Work was started on this structure on August 28, 1922, and the imposing building was dedicated on November 11, 1922. It is modern throughout, is finely equipped, has the largest auditorium of any public building at San Pedro, and represents an expenditure of $25,000. Its appearance would do credit to any city in the country.
In political life Mr. Dodson is a thorough republican and, while he has never sought a political office for himself, he has taken quite an active part in local politics. He is one of the vigorous members of the San Pedro Chamber of Commerce and has often put himself on record as an encour- ager of worthy enterprises sure to be of substantial benefit to the city. He is president of the Harbor Hospital Association of San Pedro, and is commander of San Pedro Post No. 65, American Legion. In fraternal life he is an Elk, a member of Lodge No. 966 at San Pedro and he resides as the Elks Club in this city. He believes in wholesome recreation and is a member of the Los Angeles Athletic Club and the Newport and Cali- fornia Yacht clubs, and belongs also to the Lions Club of San Pedro and to Ramona Parlor of Los Angeles, Native Sons of the Golden West.
SELDEN JESSE NEWTON. Thoroughly trained in his chosen calling, Selden Jesse Newton is one of the most expert jewelers of Long Beach, and his handsome store, located at 223 Pine Avenue, is one of the most completely stocked of any in Southern California. Mr. Newton was born at Boone, Iowa, June 15, 1870, a son of A. V. and Louise ( Marvin) Newton, both of whom died at Boone, Iowa. A. V. Newton was a carpenter and cabinetmaker by trade, and became a contractor and con- ducted a planing mill at Boone for years. He was one of the very early settlers of that locality, having come there before the railroad was completed through Iowa. At that time he was unmarried, and after he had pre- pared a home for his bride, he returned to New York State, his birth- place, and was married. As a wedding trip the young couple started out for their far-off western home. The railroad had reached Marshall- town, Iowa, and from that point to Ames they traveled on a construction train, and completed their journey by stage coach. Five children were born to them, four sons and one daughter, of whom three survive: Mr. Newton, a brother, Claud H., of Omaha, Nebraska, and a sister, Miss Evalena L. Newton, of Boone, Iowa.
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