USA > California > Los Angeles County > History of Los Angeles county, Volume III > Part 19
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intervals at different places in the southern part of this state, and both he and his wife having here passed the remainder of their lives.
Mrs. Bell acquired her youthful education in the schools of California, and after her marriage to William L. Sidwell they came to the Whittier District, a section in which virtually no improvements had been made at that time. Mr. Sidwell here acquired seventy acres of wild land on the present Whittier Boulevard and opposite Passons Boulevard. This tract was planted in walnut trees, and upon the death of Mr. Sidwell in 1902 the property was divided between his widow and their three children. Mrs. Sidwell, however, assumed active management of the place, in the operation of which she was most successful. The land was gradually sold, but of the same she still retains her attractive home place of nine acres, improved with good buildings and with an array of fine walnut trees. Mrs. Bell is associated with one of her sons in the ownership of 160 acres of valuable land in the famed Imperial Valley. Of the three children the eldest is Estella S., who is the wife of H. H. Judson, of Imperial, her husband being a veteran of the Spanish-American war. Mrs. Judson, like her mother, has proved a business woman of marked ability. From her paternal heritage she acquired a few acres of land in the Imperial Valley, and under her personal management have been conducted farm operations of such successful order that she has been enabled greatly to increase her holdings and is now the owner of a valuable landed estate of 720 acres. Lester L. Sidwell, the elder son of Mrs. Bell, likewise resides in the Imperial Valley, as a prosperous farmer. He is married and has one son, Lawrence. Chester C. Sidwell, youngest of the three children, was graduated in Throop College, is the owner of an apartment building in Los Angeles, and he and his wife have one daughter, Wilma Lucille.
The second marriage of Mrs. Bell occurred at Riverside on the 17th of December, 1909, when she became the wife of Andrew Jackson Bell, who was born in West Virginia and was one of the sterling pioneer citizens of California. He had extensive landed interests in the vicinity of Lan- caster, Los Angeles County, and continued to give the same his personal supervision, the while his wife looked after the property of her former husband. Upon the death of Mr. Bell his individual property passed to his natural heirs, his widow retaining no interest, though she was entitled to the same. Mrs. Bell recognized that it was but just that the other heirs should receive the property, and thus waived all claim to a share therein. Mrs. Bell has not only done much constructive service in connection with industrial and civic advancement in Los Angeles County and established a high reputation as a resourceful business woman, but she has also retained inviolable place in the confidence and esteem of the community which has long represented her home and the central stage of her activities.
ALEX J. MCALLISTER, while he has established some business con- nections since locating in Santa Monica, regards himself as retired after a long and successful experience in business in the West and Northwest. He is one of the enthusiastic citizens of Santa Monica, and one of the substantial men of the county of Los Angeles.
He was born at Mount Vernon, Ohio, December 12, 1856, son of Abram and Lucinda (Marshall) McAllister. His father was a native of Glasgow, Scotland, and his mother of Hillsboro, Ohio. Abram McAllis- ter was brought to the United States by his parents, was educated in the public schools of Pittsburgh, and devoted his active life to farming. He lived in Ohio and later near Burlington, Iowa, and from there he enlisted in 1861 in Company K of the Thirty-ninth Iowa Infantry. He served as a corporal, and as a result of wounds received in battle he died in April, 1863. He was survived by his widow for over thirty years. She died in Iowa in 1895.
Alex J. McAllister was only seven years of age when his father died. He acquired a public school education near Burlington, Iowa, also attended the Baptist College there, and as a boy began making his way, clerking in
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a drug store and subsequently was in the drug business and other com- mercial lines in Chicago, at Denver, Colorado, and Pendleton, Oregon. After an active career and energetic devotion to business affairs for over forty years he retired on March 1, 1920, and has established his home at Santa Monica. Since coming to this city he has engaged somewhat in the insurance business and real estate.
Mr. McAllister was a soldier in the Spanish-American war period, en- listing in 1898 in the Medical Department with a Colorado regiment. He saw twenty-one months' service in the Philippines. He is a member of the Spanish-American War Veterans and the Veterans of Foreign Wars. Mr. McAllister is a republican, a member of the Kiwanis Club and the Woodmen of the World.
On April 8, 1888, he married Clara Anne Johnson, daughter of the late John T. Johnson, of Malmo, Sweden. She was born and educated in Sweden and is a member of the Santa Monica Bay Woman's Club.
LEO J. MUCHENBERGER. Before coming to California Leo J. Much- enberger had, together with two brothers, developed as the result of many years of personal effort an extensive wall paper jobbing and paint manu- facturing business in the Missouri Valley. He is a resident of and has been in Santa Monica since 1910.
Mr. Muchenberger was born in Iowa City, Iowa, January 19, 1867, son of Leo and Magdeline (Bashnagel) Muchenberger, both natives of Baden, Germany. The father was born at Lenzkirch in the Black Forest. He came to the United States in 1850, lived in New York State for a time, was married and lived in Iowa City until 1869, and then moved to St. Joseph, Missouri. He was a baker and conducted a baking business at Iowa City and St. Joseph until he retired in 1873. He died there in 1881 and his wife in 1904. They were Catholics and he was a republican. They had four sons: Gottlieb and Otto, deceased; Leo J .; and John A., of St. Joseph.
Leo J. Muchenberger was two years of age when his parents moved to St. Joseph, Missouri, and he was reared and educated there, attending the public schools and Christian Brothers College. His first employ- ment was as a news agent on the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railway. At the age of twenty he went with Ernst & Brill, a wholesale book and sta- tionery house of St. Joseph. After five years with that firm he engaged in the retail wall paper and picture frame business for eight years, and at the end of that time, with his two brothers, John A., and Otto P., founded the wall paper jobbing house of Muchenberger Brothers of St. Joseph and Kansas City, Missouri. Mr. Muchenberger came to Santa Monica in 1910, and resides at 817 Ocean Avenue. He is a progressive in politics, and is an Elk. In the year 1923 Mr. Muchenberger and his son-in-law, Mr. Wenz, organized the Muchenberger Loan & Investment Company at Santa Monica.
On May 9, 1893, Mr. Muchenberger married Miss Annie E. Wecker- lin, daughter of Philip and Elizabeth (Knoth) Weckerlin, of St. Joseph, Missouri. Mrs. Muchenberger was born in St. Joseph, July 29, 1866, was educated there, and has taken an active part in social and civic affairs at Santa Monica, and is a member of the Santa Monica Bay Woman's Club. Mr. and Mrs. Muchenberger have one daughter, Leanna M., the wife of Edwin G. Wenz, formerly of St. Joseph, Missouri.
EDWARD BERNARD CONLISS, a vigorous and successful exponent of the real estate business in Los Angeles County, is engaged in this important line of enterprise in the City of Santa Monica and he has been successful in the handling of city and suburban realty, in the promotion and develop- ment of sub-divisions, and in the extending of loans on approved real estate security, his office headquarters being at 1300 Santa Monica Boulevard.
Mr. Conliss was born at Cooperstown, New York, on the 1st of Janu- ary, 1874, and after there profiting by the advantages of the public
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schools he completed an effective course in the Albany Business College in the capital city of the Empire State. At the age of twenty years he became identified with the newspaper business at Findlay, Ohio, and in 1899 he became associated with the Toledo News-Bee, with which representative paper in the City of Toledo, Ohio, he continued his connection twenty years, during the last fifteen of which he was its business manager. He served as vice president of the Toledo Chamber of Commerce, and in the World war period he was chairman of the Ohio War Commission. He was active and influential in civic affairs at Toledo, was a member of the Toledo Club and was affiliated with the local lodge of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
Upon severing his connection with the Toledo News-Bee Mr. Conliss re- moved to the metropolis of Wisconsin, where he held for one year the posi- tion of manager of the Milwaukee News. In 1921 he came to California, first locating at Los Angeles and for a time being identified with real estate operations at Hollywood. He then established his residence at Santa Monica, where he made investment in real estate and where he has become a prominent and honored representative of the general real estate business. He is an active member of the local Chamber of Commerce and the Greater Santa Monica Club, in which last mentioned organization he is serving in 1922 as a member of the Executive Committee.
GEORGE R. CRANE, now virtually retired from active business, resides in his beautiful home at 530 Wilshire Avenue, Santa Monica.
Mr. Crane was born at Greenville, Ohio, August 27, 1866, and is a son of John L. and Eveline Lavina (Bennett) Crane, the former of whom was born in one of the eastern states and the latter in Wayne County, Indiana. John L. Crane was for some time engaged in farm enterprise in Wayne County, Indiana, and he then moved with his family to Green- ville, Darke County, Ohio, near which place he became a successful and representative farmer. His political allegiance was given to the republican party, and he was called upon to serve in various township offices. Both he and his wife continued to reside in Darke County until their deaths and both were earnest members of the Christian or Campbellite Church. Of the children the first two, Viola Belle and William Ellsworth, are deceased ; George R., of this review, was the next in order of birth; Josiah F. is a resident of Dayton, Ohio; Jennie Olive is the wife of J. S. Skillman, of Darke County, Ohio; and in the same county resides the youngest of the children, Cora Estelle, who is the wife of Henry Neiswonger.
George R. Crane early gained practical experience in connection with the work of the home farm, and he continued to attend the public schools of his native county until he was thirteen years old, when he initiated his business career by there taking a clerical position in a general store in the village of Lightsville. In 1883 he became a clerk in a leading mercantile establishment in the City of Richmond, Indiana, where he remained thus engaged until 1887, when he initiated his remarkably successful record with the United Shirt & Collar Company of Troy, New York, which he represented as a traveling salesman in Missouri until 1907. He was then made assistant manager of the company's branch office in the City of Chicago, and three years later he was there advanced to the position of general manager of the western office. He retained this responsible office until 1917, when he resigned, and in the autumn of the following year he came to California. On the 1st of June, 1919, he established the family home at Santa Monica, and here he is living retired, a loyal and appreciative citizen who takes lively interest in all that concerns the well- being of his adopted city, county and state. He is a steward of the First Methodist Episcopal Church of Santa Monica, and is an active member of the local Kiwanis Club. His wife likewise is active in church work, and is a popular member of the Santa Monica Bay Woman's Club.
On the 7th of October, 1901, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Crane and Miss Electa A. Sparks, daughter of David G. and Lucy A.
Uma Mithours
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(Holmes) Sparks, of Richmond, Indiana. Mrs. Crane was born in Cler- mont County, Ohio, January 27, 1867, and was afforded the advantages of the public schools of Richmond, Indiana, where also she attended Earl- ham College, an admirable institution maintained under the auspices of the Society of Friends. Mr. and Mrs. Crane have one son, George Richard, Jr., who is a member of the class of 1923 in the Santa Monica High School.
WILLIAM MILHOUS. Since 1909 William Milhous has been one of the substantial residents of Whittier, where his financial interests are large and important. Prior to coming to California, during a very active career in Indiana and Illinois, he had amassed a comfortable fortune, and, having passed the three-score-and-ten mark, came to the Golden State to live the life of a man of means. Both he and his wife, with whom he celebrated their sixtieth wedding anniversary October 15, 1922, are in vigorous health and enjoy actively each pass- ing day amid congenial surroundings in the beautiful City of Whittier. They delight in any project for the beautification of the community, and Mr. Milhous has been largely instrumental in the construction of two fine buildings, of which the citizens are justly proud.
William Milhous was born at Columbiana, Ohio, March 10, 1839, and is a son of Vickers Milhous, a merchant, and a native of Ohio. The Milhous ancestors in about 1700 immigrated from Timmeho, Ireland, to Pennsylvania, and for three or four generations were farmers of Chester, that state. The grandfather of William Milhous married and went to Eastern Ohio, where both William and his father were born. All the Milhous's were Friends excepting Vickers, who was an earnest and conscientious worker in the Baptist Church.
When William Milhous was three years of age his parents went to Mount Union (now in Alliance County), Ohio, and there he attended college until reaching the age of seventeen years. The family then moved to Dupont, Jefferson County, Indiana, where they remained one year. At the age of eighteen years William Milhous secured the position of clerk in a store at Franklin, near Indianapolis, and in 1861 opened a general store of his own at Hartsville, Indiana, which he conducted successfully until 1863. He then moved to Salem, Ohio, where he conducted a shoe business for six years, and his next move was to Scott County, Illinois, where he opened a general store. Under his capable management this proved a very successful venture, and Mr. Milhous accumulated considerable property. He left the field of merchandising in 1884 and engaged in the real estate business, in which he had been partly interested for some time, also giving his attention to the operation of the Winchester Electric Light Company. In all he was forty years in Illinois, and in 1909 came to Whittier, California, where he built the handsome home at Painter Avenue and Camilla street where he and Mrs. Milhous have since lived. The home is an architectural triumph, and all who enter its portals exclaim at its artistic and attractive arrangement. It is an expression of the artistic taste of Mrs. Milhous, who was, in reality, the architect. She is a charming woman of marked talent and genius in things artistic, and is the possessor of many beautiful porcelains of her own handi- work.
While in the East Mr. Milhous built and sold many homes on the payment plan, and in their construction Mrs. Milhous' association and ideas were invaluable. As a result of her assistance, also, there 'are many people living at Whittier whose ownership of beautiful resi- dences rests upon her ideas. Mr. Milhous is one of the directors of the Murphy Memorial Hospital of Whittier, and the construction of this fine edifice was due, primarily, to him. During a period of illness he was taken to the local hospital, and the accommodations were so inadequate that he made up his mind to put $50,000 in the construction
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of a new building. Subsequently, Colonel Murphy, one of Pasadena's well-known men, agreed to take Mr. Milhous' place in the building of this institution, and put up $200,000, and Mr. Milhous contributed $25,000 as a memorial fund towards fitting up the institution.
Mr. Milhous is a member of the Baptist Church. The principal factor in starting the new modern $70,000 church just completed, he originally made the offer of a $10,000 donation for the new church, and as the subscription was too big to be passed the directors suc- ceeded in getting together the balance of the capital required. In politics Mr. Milhous is a republican, and has been somewhat active in this field, although he has never sought political office. He voted for Abraham Lincoln at the martyred president's second election. Mr. Milhous is a member of the Whittier Chamber of Commerce.
One daughter, Pearl Louise, was born to Mr. and Mrs. Milhous. She is the wife of J. D. Beall, a teacher of vocal music at Los Angeles and has presented Mr. and Mrs. Milhous with four grandchildren : Barbara, who is the wife of Marco Pelletie, with two children, John and William ; Richard, who is married and has one son, John ; Vickers, a resident of the Imperial Valley; and Frances, who is attending school.
EARL P. NITTINGER has been engaged in the plumbing, heating and sheet-metal business at Santa Monica since 1904, his original establishment, one of modest order, having been situated on Santa Monica Boulevard, between Third and Fourth streets. With the substantial expansion of the enterprise he moved, in 1907, to his present large and well equipped quarters, at 1348 Third Street, where he utilizes 8,000 square feet of floor space and retains a corps of twenty-five employes, including a number of highly skilled mechanics. He does a general contracting business in all lines of plumbing and heating, and has the best of facilities also for the handling of all kinds of sheet metal work, his establishment having made many important installations in homes and business places in this part of Los Angeles County and the reputation which he has gained being one of his best business assets.
Mr. Nittinger was born in the City of Chicago, Illinois, on the 20th of April, 1881, and was a boy at the time of the family removal to Los Angeles, California. His early education was obtained in the public schools, and at the age of fourteen years he entered upon a practical apprenticeship in the line of business with which he is now identified. He has been a resident of Santa Monica since April 29, 1901, and from a most modest inception, with all work done by himself, he has built up a large and pros- perous business and gained precedence as one of the progressive and repre -- sentative business men of this thriving little city. Mr. Nittinger is an active member of the Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce, the Greater Santa Monica Club, the City Club, and the Merchants Association, and he is affiliated with the local lodges of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
In the City of Los Angeles was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Nit- tinger and Miss Helen L. Hammond, who was there reared and educated. but whose birth occurred in the State of Florida. Mrs. Nittinger is a popular figure in the social activities of her home community, and is a member of the Santa Monica Bay Woman's Club. Mr. and Mrs. Nit- tinger have three children : Helen Evelyn, Robert Earl and Norman Ham- mond.
THE REBOK-GRIPP STUDIOS play an important part in the cultural ac- tivities of the Santa Monica community, as they offer the best of service for musical cultivation of the best standard. These popular studios were established in 1915 by Arthur E. and Gretchen (Rebok) Gripp, the original location having been at 629 Santa Monica Boulevard, whence, in December. 1921, removal was made to the present attractive and splendidly appointed
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headquarters at 525 Wilshire Boulevard. The studios offer the best of facilities for the study of voice culture, piano, violin, interpretative and classic dancing, and the members of the faculty of the institution are musicians of fine talent in their respective departments. The personnel of the faculty at the present time and the respective assignments thereof are as here noted : Anthony Carlson, voice; Mrs. Gretchen (Rebok) Gripp, piano; Arthur E. Gripp, violin; Miss Naomi Barrett, assisting teacher to Norma Gould. At the time of this writing, in the summer of 1922, the studios have an enrollment of nearly fifty students, and the graduates of the institution have proved in their artistic achievement and standing the excellence of the instruction which they here received. Miss Loraine Lightcop is the valued assistant of Mrs. Gripp in the piano department, in which she teaches the kindergarten class. Miss Jessie Helen Powers gives similarly effective service in the violin department, as teacher of elementary classes.
Arthur E. Gripp was born in Los Angeles, California, on the 26th of March, 1893, and is a son of Edward and Antonia (Boesmuller) Gripp, the former a native of Sweden and the latter of Germany. Upon coming from his native land to the United States Edward Gripp established his residence in Kansas, in which state he was successfully engaged in the milling business until his removal to California, both he and his wife continuing their residence in the City of Los Angeles, where he is now an engineer by vocation.
The public schools of Santa Monica afforded Arthur E. Gripp his early education, and thereafter he continued his study of the violin under the able direction of J. Bond Francisco and Christiaan Timmner, the cele- brated Holland violinist, until he had mastered the instrument and become an interpretative artist of distinctive talent. As a teacher of the violin he has been eminently successful, and equal success has attended his activities as chief executive of the Rebok-Gripp Studios. He is a member of the Gamut Club, a leading musical organization of Los Angeles County, and he and his wife hold membership in the Presbyterian Church. Mrs. Gripp likewise maintains membership in the Santa Monica Bay Woman's Club and the P. E. O., and is prominent in the social and cultural life of her home community.
On the 2d of September, 1915, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Gripp and Miss Gretchen Rebok, who was born in the State of Iowa, a daughter of H. M. and Edna (Thompson) Rebok, now well known resi- dents of Santa Monica. Mrs. Gripp received much of her early education in the public schools of Santa Monica, and in cultivating her exceptional talent as a musician she studied piano with such representative instructors as Thilo Becker, Brahm Van Den Berg and Professor Godowsky. Mr. and Mrs. Gripp have a fine little son, Robert Rebok.
SANTA MONICA PUBLIC LIBRARY. A most important and admirably ordered institution in the cultural life of the Santa Monica community is its fine public library. which, insofar as conception and purpose are con- cerned, is older than the city itself. Nine years before Santa Monica was incorporated as a city of the sixth class, and only a few months after the first sale of lots in the embryonic city, some of the pioneers who had the prevision to select this beautiful spot for their homes, conceived the pro- gressive idea of forming a library association. From a commercial point of view, July 15, 1875, marked a red-letter day in the early history of Santa Monica. It was on that day that the first home and business sites were offered to prospective buyers. In connection with the intellectual values the outstanding day of those times came soon afterward, when the Santa Monica Library Association was born. In the Santa Monica Outlook, then owned and edited by L. T. Fisher, we find the story of a meeting, at the home of Mrs. Devere, for the organization of a library. Mr. M. C. Olm- stead was made secretary and librarian. The next movement for a library and free reading room was started in 1884. The inspiration for this
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movement came to Mrs. Asenath Larimer and Miss Ellen A. Dow, the latter of whom immediately started forth with a subscription list for a fund to establish a library and reading room. Colonel Robert S. Baker, one of the founders of Santa Monica, was a generous contributor ; others fol- lowed with liberal giving and offers of books, with a view to effecting a permanent organization, but it was primarily through the faithful and enthusiastic work of Miss Dow that the plan was carried on. A concert given at the home of Miss Janette R. Niles is credited with making a sub- stantial addition to this fund. In connection with the public-spirited movement in these first struggling days much credit should be given to Dr. Frederick C. McKinnie, whose personal supervision was given to a reading room and library established in a store adjoining his drug store.
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