USA > California > Los Angeles County > History of Los Angeles county, Volume III > Part 11
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At Redlands, California, February 17, 1912, Mr. Wingard married Mary Harter Reeder, daughter of W. H. H. Reeder. Her mother's ancestry included the Daniel Boone family. Mrs. Wingard is secretary of the Shakespeare Club of Pasadena for the years 1922-23. Mr. and Mrs. Wingard have one daughter, a native of Pasadena, Lois Helen Wingard.
WILLIAM ORR. In nothing is the progress of the times more clearly indicated than in the revolution of the methods being evolved by the indi- viduals of foresight and judgment, who are boldly facing conditions and bringing their business up to standards never before attained. Pasadena may well lay claim to some of the most progressive men in this direction, and among them stands forth William Orr, proprietor of the Cow Butter Store, dealers in butter, ice cream, dairy products and home-cooked lunches. His business is so far in advance of some others in the same line that he may be said to be a specialist, and a very successful one.
Mr. Orr was born at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, March 23, 1875, and is a son of William and Annie (Milliken) Orr. His father and mother were both natives of Ireland. He came to the United States when he was nineteen years of age and settled at Philadelphia, where he made his home during the remainder of his life and died at the early age of thirty-six years, after a career in merchandising. His widow still survives him and resides at Philadelphia. There were four daughters and two sons in the family, and all are living except one daughter.
The eldest of his parents' children, and the only one in the family to come to the West, William Orr received his education in the public schools of Philadelphia, and when only fifteen years of age graduated from high school. As he was the eldest of the children, he was forced to go to work early, and while he was only a boy in years he was the mainstay of the family. Being possessed of some mechanical ability, he became a machinist, and followed that trade for about eleven years, in the meantime carefully conserving his earnings and putting them into safe enterprises. Later he recognized an opportunity and entered the coffee business at Atlantic City, New Jersey, continuing in that line for sixteen years, and being very successful as the proprietor of the William Orr Coffee Company. While at Atlantic City he also engaged in building enterprises, and among the structures erected by him was an apartment building that today is valued at $90,000. Mr. Orr sold the apartment house and later disposed of his other holdings in the East and started for Twin Falls, Idaho, where it was his intention to go into the apple business. While he is interested in the Central Deep Creek Orchard Company of Twin Falls, he never lived permanently at that place, but continued straight through to California and in February, 1917, located at Pasadena, although his home has always been at Altadena. For a time after his arrival he did not see the oppor- tunity he was seeking, and after two years began to sell coffee for a whole- sale house of Los Angeles. While he was thus engaged he recognized an opportunity in the Cow Butter Store, at 184 East Colorado Street, Pasa- cena, which he bought in October, 1919. This he has developed into one of Pasadena's large and important retail enterprises. The butter sold :s
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churned fresh daily, and the ice cream is also made each day, and neither these nor the other dairy products can be beaten for quality. "Quality," in fact, is the motto, policy and watchword of Mr. Orr, and the Cow Butter Store has one of the neatest and most sanitary kitchens in the city. A specialty is made of putting up lunches for business men, tourists, campers, picnickers, etc., and home cooking only is used in the preparation of these miniature feasts. Mr. Orr's success in the handling of this business is typical of true American ingenuity, industry and enterprise, and while he has gained considerable prosperity therein it has all come along legitimate channels, so that his business standing at Pasadena is of the highest. He is a member of the Pasadena Chamber of Commerce, and in politics main- tains an independent stand. His religious connection is with the Lincoln Avenue Presbyterian Church of Pasadena, and previous to coming to California, in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, he was active in state offices of the Presbyterian Church in organizing men's clubs and Bible classes over these states for about twenty years.
On April 26, 1899, Mr. Orr married at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Miss Anna Miller, who was born and educated at Philadelphia, where she taught sewing and drafting in the public schools for several years prior to her marriage. Four children have come to this union: Elizabeth M., born at Philadelphia ; William W. and Jean A., born at Atlantic City, New Jersey ; and George, born at Altadena. The family home is located in the exclusive residential section of Altadena.
PARKER DEAR, of Victoria Park, Los Angeles, has been a resident of California since the Centennial year, 1876, and thus has no small measure of pioneer distinction in this state. He was born in the City of Liverpool, England, February 25, 1859, a son of John Dear, who was there engaged in business as a tea and coffee merchant. Mr. Dear gained his early education principally in Durham, England, and as a youth he made the voyage to America and landed in the port of New York City. This change of habitation was made primarily for the benefit of his health, which had become impaired. He learned of the manifold attractions of California, and it was in the spring of 1876, at the age of seventeen years, that he arrived in San Francisco. At that time the railroad from that section to the southern part of the state was not completed, so he took passage on the steamer City of Los Angeles, but on getting on board did not like the looks of the vessel nor crew, so gave up his passage and in February of that year made the overland trip to Los Angeles by stage, the future and beautiful metropolis of Southern California having at that time impressed itself upon him primarily as "a pueblo of mud and blue sky." Mr. Dear at that time acquired an interest in the great Santa Rosa Ranch in Riverside County, which then contained 48,000 acres, and by the purchase of the interests of his associates he eventually became sole owner of this valuable property. He sold the ranch in 1894, and shortly afterward he established the family home at Alhambra, Los Angeles County. In his early experience on the Santa Rosa Ranch Mr. Dear was a long distance from Los Angeles and the social advantages offered in that place, which then had no semblance of metropolitan status, but in connection with his extensive ranch oper- ations, principally in the growing of cattle, he became well known through the East and even in Europe. This prestige was enhanced by the generous hospitality which he extended at the ranch, which was made the stage of splendid entertainment. Each year on the 1st of May he prepared and entertained his guests with a fine barbecue at the home place, and at times the company of guests numbered fully 2,000, including neighbors and many from remote points.
In the country and state of his adoption the young Englishman found a gracious companion and helpmeet, who still remains by his side in their attractive home at Alhambra, and their circle of friends is limited only by that of their acquaintances. Mr. Dear wedded Miss Elena Couts, of
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the famous Guajome Ranch, in the year 1881, her maternal ancestors having been of the fine old Castilian Spanish stock, Bandini and Estudillo, and her father, Colonel C. J. Couts, having been a distinguished officer in the United States Army. Mrs. Dear's maternal grandfather, Augustine Bandini, was commandante of the first Chilian war vessel, "La Reina de Los Angeles," that ever entered the harbor of San Diego, California. In the possession of Mr. and Mrs. Dear is the battle lantern that was used on this early vessel when it made the initial voyage to San Diego, the interesting heirloom having been equipped with many candles when there was requisition for its service. This ancient vessel and lantern were in the battle of the Nile, and of them mention is made in the Bancroft history of California. Mrs. Dear has also samples of the first gold taken from the famous Comstock mines, which was made into a beautiful bracelet and presented to her mother by Mr. R. E. Raymond. The record of the maternal ancestry of Mrs. Dear is one of prominent and influential con- nection with the early history and romance of California. In the World war period Mr. Dear gave local support to all patriotic activities in his home city and county, and despite his years, was an active member of the California Reserves. While in this service he accidentally fell into a trench and suffered a compound fracture of the bones of one of his legs, as the Reserves were giving an entertainment by drilling and a sham battle on the night of the armistice celebration in Alhambra, November 16, 1918.
Mr. and Mrs. Dear have five sons: Parker, Jr., John Arnitt, James DeBarth, H. Gilbert and Bandini. The youngest son, Bandini, who was born July 27, 1889, enlisted in the United States Army only a few months after the nation became involved in the World war, his enlistment having occurred October 3, 1917, and his preliminary training having been received at Camp Lewis. Thereafter he passed ten days at Camp Merritt, and on the 6th of July, 1918, he sailed with his command, in the Machine Gun Company of the 364th Infantry, on the transport "Olympic" for France. Out of a total of twenty-nine of his kinsfolk in the United States Army and the United States Navy he was the only one to participate actively in battle on the stage of the great conflict. He was made sergeant of his machine gun company in the Three Hundred and Sixty-fourth Regiment, received brief supplemental training after arriving in France, and his first active service at the front was in the St. Mihiel Sector. Thereafter he was in the Defensive Sector and on the battle line in the Meuse-Argonne District. Here the battle started September 26, 1918, and on the night of October 3d he received a serious wound. On the following morning, before he could be taken out of the front lines, he was again wounded, by shrapnel, this second wound, in the head, having been of serious order. He was removed to American Base Hospital No. 61, where he remained thirty-three days, and he was in Belgium, on his way to rejoin his regiment in command of forty men when the historic armistice was signed, November 11, 1918. Thereafter he remained two months in Belgium, then returned with his regiment to France, and after his return home he received his honorable discharge at Camp Kearney, California, April 25, 1919, and was given the medal with three clasps for battles of St. Mihiel, Meuse-Argonne and the Defensive Sector. He also received from Columbia the accolade of the New Chivalry of Humanity for having served in the World war and being wounded, with President Woodrow Wilson's signature.
TILGHMAN DAVIS ANDREW was not only an honored pioneer citizen of California at the time of his death, but was also a representative of a sterling family that was founded in Maryland in the Colonial era of our national history and that gave patriot soldiers to the Continental Line in the War of the Revolution.
Mr. Andrew was born in Caroline County, Maryland, May 11, 1846, and his death occurred at his home in the Mountain View District of
Vol. III-4
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Los Angeles County, California, in the year 1911. His paternal grand- father and great-grandfather, as well as his father, were likewise natives of Caroline County, Maryland, where the family name continued to be one representative of prominence and influence for many generations Members of this family not only participated in the War of the Revolution, but in a later generation Melville Andrew appeared as a gallant soldier in the War of 1812. Richard, son of Melville and father of the subject of this memoir, became a prosperous farmer in his native county, where he and his wife continued to reside until their deaths. He married Rebecca Kamper, who was born at Dorchester, Maryland, as was also her father, Samuel Kamper, a soldier in the War of 1812. Of the nine children of this union two of the sons served as soldiers in the Civil war, Isaac, a member of the First Maryland Volunteer Infantry, having been severely wounded at the battle of Gettysburg, as was also his brother James, who was a lieutenant in the First Delaware Cavalry.
Tilghman D. Andrew was reared on his father's farm and obtained his early education in the common schools of Maryland. He continued his active alliance with farm industry in Maryland until May, 1867, when he enlisted in the United States Army and was assigned to Company H, Thirty-second Regiment of Infantry, he having been too young to enter military service in the Civil war. His regiment was forthwith sent, via the Isthmus of Panama, to Wilmington, California, at which point he first set foot on the soil of Los Angeles County. Thence the regiment marched the entire distance of 700 miles to Tucson, Arizona, and in the same year Mr. Andrew was transferred to Company H of the Twenty- first Regiment of Infantry. He served two years and four months, and then received his honorable discharge. After thus retiring from the nation's military service Mr. Andrew returned to. California. In San Bernardino County he found employment in the saw mill of John M. James in the San Bernardino Mountains Bear Lake District. There on the 30th of April, 1872, he wedded Miss Sarah James, a daughter of his employer, the family home at the time having been at San Bernardino, San Bernardino County. John M. James was born in Tennessee, and ili Arkansas he married Margaret Johnson, who was born in Missouri, a daughter of Alfred Johnson, who crossed the plains of California in 1852 and whose death occurred at El Monte, this state. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. James made the long and hazardous overland journey to California in 1852, and established their home near El Monte, later moving to San Gabriel for a short time and then to San Bernardino. As a skilled millwright and carpenter Mr. James followed his trades successfully after coming to this state, and eventually he engaged in the whipsawing of lumber in Sawpit Canyon, the lumber having been sold at the rate of $100 a thousand feet. Later he purchased a saw mill in San Bernardino, and this he operated many years in the mountain districts north of that city. This honored pioneer died in 1903, when nearly eighty years of age, his wife having died in 1883. Of their nine children Mrs. Sarah Andrew was the fifth in order of birth, and her death occurred February 22, 1907.
After his retirement from lumbering operations Mr. Andrew was for three years engaged in stock-raising in the Mojave Desert, and he then returned to San Bernardino County and turned his attention to farm enter- prise. In 1882 he removed with his family to El Monte, Los Angeles County, and for a number of years thereafter he was engaged in farming on 300 acres of the Baldwin estate. In 1890 he purchased land in the Mountain View District, planted the tract to walnuts, and he made a splendid development of this property prior to his death. Of the children of Mr. and Mrs. Andrew the eldest is Mrs. Lillie Wright, who resides at Pasadena; Charles is individually mentioned in the following sketch ; Lawrence resides at Vernon, Los Angeles County, and is superintendent of the General Petroleum Oil Company; A. Clarence is associated with the operation of a great-gas-refining plant at Salt Creek, Wyoming ; and
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Stanley D., who is now a resident of Astoria, Oregon, well upheld the military prestige of the family name through five years of service in the heavy artillery arm of the United States Army, the major part of his active service having been in the Philippine Islands.
CHARLES ANDREW, who is now engaged in the real estate business at El Monte, and who is known and valued as one of the progressive and influential citizens of this part of Los Angeles County, was born in, the family home on Warm Creek base line in San Bernardino County, California, on the 14th of February, 1875, and is a son of Tilghman D. Andrew and Sarah James. Sarah James is the daughter of John M. James, who came to California and settled in El Monte in 1852. The family originally was from Lexington, Kentucky, and Virginia. Later Mr. James moved to San Bernardino, where he was for many years engaged in the lumber business in the San Bernardino Mountains. Mr. James served as state senator from San Bernardino. Mr. Andrew has an uncle living, William James, who came to California by ox team in 1852 and settled in El Monte and, as far as known, he is the only survivor of that expedition. Individual mention of Tilghman D. Andrew is made in the preceding sketch, as the immediate subject of a review that gives ample record concerning this honored pioneer and his family.
Charles Andrew was six years of age at the time of the family removal to El Monte, Los Angeles County, in 1881, and there he profited by the advantages of the public schools, besides which he has by his study, research and experience become a practical authority in all things pertaining to scientific agriculture and horticulture in this section of Calfiornia. He is specially well known as a soil expert, and this status gives him exceptional resourcefulness in determining land values and, as combined with his honorable methods and progressive policies, lends greatly to his success as a representative of the real estate business. In 1903 Mr. Andrew purchased twenty-two acres of wild land on Lexington road, three miles south of El Monte, in the Belmont & Garvey subdivision, the title to this tract having been acquired from the old Spanish family named Lugo. When Mr. Andrew purchased his land it was surrounded by swamps and was entirely unimproved. With characteristic energy and discrimination he reclaimed the property, which is now one of the well improved and valuable properties of the El Monte district. Mr. Andrew was literally reared in the walnut industry, and thus he naturally planted this land to walnuts, with the result that the place now shows one of the fine walnut groves of the county. He is an expert in walnut culture and the raising of nursery stock in this line, and thus it was but to be expected that he would make his own walnut grove one of model order. He is a director of the Mountain View Walnut Growers' Association, and has the distinction of being in 1921, 1922 and 1923 the president of the El Monte Chamber of Commerce, which had in 1921 but forty members, but which is at the time of this writing a vital and progressive organization of 500 members. Mr. Andrew is also president of the El Monte Cemetery Association, which was organized for the purpose of caring for, improving and maintaining the historic old American Cemetery at El Monte. In this cemetery lie the mortal remains of the maternal great-grandfather of Mr. Andrew, this ancestor having been the third person to be here interred and having been a brother of Captain William Johnson, who was in com- mand of a train of wagons and ox teams that crossed the plains to California in 1852. On Decoration day of the year 1922 was dedicated in this cemetery the handsome monument erected by the El Monte Cemetery Association as an enduring memorial to the pioneers who here rest in unmarked graves. The formerly neglected little graveyard is now one of the attractive and well kept cemeteries of Los Angeles County, and Mr. Andrew and his associate workers deserve much credit for the splendid improvements that have been made and that constitute a worthy tribute to the pioneers and other citizens who here sleep their last sleep. The
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El Monte Cemetery Association is endeavoring to raise a Perpetual Care Fund, which will be placed at interest so as to derive a perpetual fund for the caring of the cemetery grounds.
For the past twelve years Mr. Andrew has served with characteristic loyalty and efficiency as clerk of the El Monte Union High School Board of Education. Within this period have been erected most of the modern school buildings at El Monte, which is now the third wealthiest high-school district in the state. The fine school buildings were erected by special tax, with no bond issues, and the total indebtedness of the district in 1922 is but $12,000. All of the school buildings are of substantial and modern architecture, and their equipment is of the best standard throughout. Mr. Andrew served six years as deputy assessor of Los Angeles County. He is affiliated with the local organizations of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Modern Brotherhood of America, and the Modern Wood- men of America. He and his wife are active members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
While he still retains possession of his fine walnut-grove property, Mr. Andrew has been successfully established in the real estate business at El Monte since 1921, and he handles both city and country realty, the while his representations relative to soil, climatic influences and all other matters pertaining to agricultural and horticultural industry are ever reliable and authoritative, with the result that his real estate business is constantly expanding in scope. In politics he is a staunch advocate of the principles of the republican party.
The year 1896 recorded the marriage of Mr. Andrew and Miss Edna A. Taylor, who was born in the State of Michigan and whose death occurred January 8, 1914. Of the four children of this union the eldest is Florence M., who was born in 1897 and who is a graduate of the El Monte High School, she being now the wife of Lawrence T. Moore, of El Monte; Ray J. and Roy M., twins, were born in the year 1900; and George T., the youngest of the children, was born in 1903, and in 1922 he married Miss Bertha Serbeck. In 1916 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Andrew and Mrs. Eunice A. (Price) Hawes, a native of Ida Grove, Iowa, and they have four children : Arthur, Sarah Ellen, Charles D. and Barbara Ann. The family home in El Monte is a center of gracious hospitality and representa- tive social activity. Eunice A. Price Hawes Andrew on her maternal side is a direct descendant of Commodore Perry and with her father's family the Prices came over with Lord Baltimore, settling in Maryland and Virginia. The Prices were Friends. A family connection was made in early days with Benjamin Franklin. Mrs. Andrew first came to California in 1894, and she spent her girlhood days in Pasadena, where she attended school. After the death of her first husband she was for eight years private secretary to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors until the date of her marriage with Mr. Andrew. While in Pasadena she was a member of the First Baptist Church, and was active in church work. She is a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution.
LEMUEL LANGSTAFF TEST has been a resident of Pasadena since 1887, is one of the liberal and progressive citizens of Los Angeles County and is a representative insurance man of Southern California, as associate general agent for the Provident Life & Trust Company, one of the staunch and fine old institutions in the City of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In connec- tion with his large and important insurance business Mr. Test has offices in the Chamber of Commerce Building at Pasadena and in the Merchants National Bank Building in the City of Los Angeles.
Mr. Test was born on his father's farm near Salem, Columbiana County, Ohio, January 27, 1863, and is a son of Zaccheus and Drusilla (Langstaff) Test, both likewise natives of the Buckeye State. Isaac Test, grandfather of the subject of this review, was born and reared in New Jersey, a member of a representative old family prominent in the Society of Friends. In the earlier generations in Pennsylvania John Test, a member of the
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family, was the first sheriff of Pennsylvania, under William Penn. Isaac Test became a pioneer settler near Salem, Ohio, where he established his residence in 1803, and where he reclaimed a farm from the wilderness and where he and his wife passed the remainder of their lives. There their children were born and reared, as were also many of their children's children, it being interesting to note that Lemuel L. Test of this sketch is the first and only representative of the family to establish a home on the Pacific Coast. From Ohio Zaccheus Test eventually removed to Iowa, and at Whittier, that state, he died at the venerable age of eighty-eight years, in 1914, his wife having died at the old home near Salem, Ohio, in the year 1873. They became the parents of five sons and six daughters, and of the number two sons and three daughters are living at the time of this writing, in 1922.
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