History of Los Angeles county, Volume III, Part 24

Author: McGroarty, John Steven, 1862-1944
Publication date: 1923
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 844

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dent ; and W. E. Roscom, secretary and treasurer. There were sixteen charter members. The officials for 1922 were: W. A. Thompson, presi- dent ; C. R. Graham, vice president ; and A. C. Gage, secretary and treas- urer. The charter membership has been increased to twenty-two, and meetings are held every two weeks.

FRED W. PRINCE, one of the most capable and experienced bankers of the San Fernando Valley, has been connected with the financial history of San Fernando since 1919, when he and several other men of large means bought the San Fernando National Bank and re-organized it. This bank was established September 12, 1912, by L. C. Brand, president ; J. T. Wilson, vice president ; F. P. Grant, cashier, and W. H. Holliday and J. O. Jenifer. It was capitalized at $25,000, and its home was the corner of Porter Ave- nue and Grand Boulevard. When Mr. Prince and his associates re-organ- ized the bank, November 19, 1919, they retained the same capitalization and had a surplus and undivided profits of $25,000. Mr. Prince was its vice- president, and Dr. A. B. Brown was its president and F. L. Shimmin was the second vice president. In addition Mr. Prince also served as cashier. This bank had 518 depositors, deposits of $339,387.70, and was operated under this management, with remarkable results, until January 2, 1923, when it was merged with the Peoples Southwest Trust & Savings Com- pany. The new bank brings to the San Fernando Valley a capital of $1,800,000, and resources of over $200,000,000. Mr. Prince, who was presi- dent of the San Fernando National Bank at the time of the merger, is vice president and manager for San Fernando; and F. J. Hendershot is cashier for San Fernando. At the time of the merger so remarkable had been the growth that the bank had 2,750 depositors, deposits of $875,360.63, and assets of $945,034.35. The present bank is housed in a thoroughly modern bank building. It is thoroughly equipped, and the business of the bank is carried on according to the most approved methods. There are 365 safety deposit boxes for the use of those with valuables to safeguard. Employ- ment is given to fourteen employes. This merger undoubtedly has been an excellent thing for the people of this community and for Mr. Prince and his associates, who brought it about through their excellent showing in their old bank.

Fred W. Prince was born in Ohio, and attended Kenyon College. When only fourteen years old he began working as a telegrapher in the employ of the Pennsylvania Railroad, with which company he continued until 1888, but in that year came West and entered the employ of the Santa Fe Rail- road Company at Pasadena, becoming chief clerk of the Los Angeles ticket office of that road in the course of time. In 1898 he went to San Francisco to take charge of the ticket office of the road in that city, and remained in that position for eleven years. After twenty-one years with the Santa Fe Railroad he went with the Harriman lines as a lecturer and publicity man, and for two years traveled all over the United States and Western Canada. . Resigning then, he came to San Fernando as cashier of the First National Bank of this city, but resigned his position to associate himself with the San Fernando National Bank, as above stated. He has been otherwise active at San Fernando and organized the San Fernando Chamber of Commerce, and was its president for eight years, and he is still in office, and is one of its directors. He belongs to the Hollywood Country Club. Active as a Methodist, he is serving as superintendent of the Sunday School of the San Fernando Methodist Episcopal Church. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity.

On June 3, 1877, Mr. Prince married Miss Grace Moffet, of San Fer- nando, where she was born and educated. Mrs. Prince belongs to the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, the Ebell Club and other organiza- tions, and is a lady deeply interested in moral uplift. Mr. Prince has played a very important part in the development of San Fernando, and his fellow citizens owe him a heavy debt because of what he has been able to effect through his good management and sound business judgment.

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FRANK J. HENDERSHOT, cashier of the San Fernando National Bank, is not a native son of California, but is just as enthusiastic with reference to its glorious possibilities as are those who have the right to lay claim to the honor. He was born at Hebron, Nebraska, June 14, 1885, a son of Flavius Josephus and Matilda (Gates) Hendershot, natives of Ohio. Dur- ing the war between the two sections of the country Flavius Josephus Hen- dershot served in the Fifty-second Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and after the close of war, became a merchant. Coming West, he was first at Hebron, Nebraska, but later moved to Ogden, Utah, which is still his home, and there he has built up a large wholesale and retail floral business.

After he had completed his studies in the public schools of Ogden, Utah, Frank J. Hendershot entered the Ogden State Bank, but after a short time in that institution was appointed to a position in the county clerk's office as deputy in charge of the work of the Probate Court, and he also served as court clerk. Subsequently he was made clerk of the Juvenile Court, and held that position until 1910, when he went with the Tracy Loan & Trust Company of Salt Lake City as chief accountant. A year later he resigned, returned to Ogden and embarked in an electrical business carrying it on until 1915, when he sold it and became a florist, operating under the name of F. J. Hendershot & Son, wholesale and retail florists. For two years he served as superintendent of the municipal water department for Ogden, Utah, and was then made assistant city auditor of Ogden, but after two years resigned to become assistant auditor of the Los Angeles Trust & Savings Bank, and was later promoted to manager of the adjustment department of that insti- tution, and held the latter position until October 1, 1922, when he resigned to become cashier of the San Fernando National Bank. Mr. Hendershot is a director of the Associated Chamber of Commerce of the San Fernando Valley. He is a director and first vice president of the Kiwanis Club of San Fernando, is a member of the Los Angeles Athletic Club, the Malibou Lake Country Club, and the American Institute of Banking, and is on the lecture team of the last-named organization. Fraternally he belongs to the Masonic Order, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and the Modern Wood- men of America, and is also a member of the Los Angeles Masonic Club, which he assisted in organizing. The Christian Church is his religious home.

On December 25, 1906, Mr. Hendershot married Miss Flora B. Ander- son, who was born at Ogden, Utah, where she was educated. She belongs to the Ebell Club. Mr. and Mrs. Hendershot have one daughter, Florence. Mr. Hendershot is a man of wide and varied experience. Not only has he been connected with numerous lines of activity, but he has a fair working knowledge of law, acquired during two years of study in the American School of Law, Ogden, which he has found very useful to him, although he has not cared to complete the course and enter upon the practice of the profession.

SYLVESTER BAKER, D. D. S., who is established in the successful practice of his profession at San Fernando, where his well appointed office has the best of modern equipment and general facilities in both operative and labora- tory departments, was born in the City of St. Louis, Missouri, on the 24th of November, 1890, and is a son of Marshall and Elizabeth (Dempsey) Baker, the father being a successful commission merchant in St. Louis and the mother being now deceased.

After duly profiting by the advantages of the public schools of his native city Dr. Baker availed himself of a course in the academic or literary depart- ment of St. Louis University, and in the dental department of this institu- , tion he was graduated as a member of the class of 1913. After thus receiving his degree of Doctor of Dental Surgery he was engaged in the practice of his profession in St. Louis until 1921, when he came to California and established an office at San Fernando, where he has built up a substantial and representative practice that shows a constantly cumulative tendency. He is a member of the Northwestern Missouri Dental Society, the Missouri State Dental Association and the National Dental Association. The Doctor

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is one of the appreciative and loyal citizens of San Fernando, is a valued member of the local Kiwanis Club, and he is affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.

August 10, 1915, recorded the marriage of Dr. Baker and Miss Lucile Gromer, daughter of William J. Gromer, of St. Joseph, Missouri, in which state Mrs. Baker was born and reared, her educational advantages having included those of the musical department of Howard Payne College at Lex- ington, that state. Dr. and Mrs. Baker have one daughter, Jeanette Mar- shall, who is a student in the public schools of San Fernando.

CYRUS J. COOK, M. D. Two of the most prominent family names in the history of Whittier . have been Cook and Jessup, both representative of the substantial Quaker stock that was responsible for the founding of the town and the shaping of its early institutions.

Cyrus J. Cook was born in Indiana in 1849 of English-Irish ancestry, and was a son of Ira and Irena Cook. His parents moved to Iowa when he was three years of age, and his early education was acquired in the public schools of that state. In 1875 he graduated from Bennett Medical College in Chicago, and successfully followed his profession in Hardin County, Iowa, until he moved with his family to California in 1888, locating in Whittier in that year. For about twelve years he made his profession a service to that community as well as devoting much time to church, schools and civic affairs. He was one of the founders and for many years president of the Board of Trustees of Whittier College ; he was president of the first Board of Trustees of the City of Whittier and also of the Whittier Union High School. He worked long and faithfully for county, state and national prohibition.

Dr. Cook, with many other men in the vicinity, pioneered the lemon and orange industry in the Whittier District, the Cook ranch on Whittier Boulevard being planted by him among the earliest citrus plantings. He served for many years on the board of the Whittier Citrus Association, being one of the earliest members, and through the latter years of his life used his far-seeing intelligence in improving the citrus industry in Southern California as well as furthering his own financial success. He died in 1909, at his home on his East Whittier ranch, revered by the community at large and loved by his many friends, relatives and former patients. He was a member of the Friends Church, and of the State and American Medical Associations, and while in Iowa he represented his district in the Legislature of that state.

On November 29, 1876, in New Providence, Iowa, Dr. Cook married Eva K. Jessup, a native of Indiana. Her father, Doctor Elias Jessup, was a physician for many years in Iowa, a widely known minister of the Friends Church, and was one of the first settlers in the Whittier Colony, arriving with his family in 1887. He served as pastor of the first Friends Church at Whittier, and was widely known as a temperance lecturer. He died at his home in Whittier after many years of usefulness to the com- munity in which he lived.

Two of his sons, brothers of Mrs. Cook, were also prominently iden- tified with the early life of Whittier. Edgar M. Jessup, the eldest son, was one of the engineers who surveyed the original Whittier town site, his name appearing on all of the early maps of the town. Later he was one of the constructing engineers in the building of the Salt Lake Railroad extending from San Pedro and Los Angeles to Salt Lake City and now known as the Union Pacific System. At the time of his death in 1916 he was a much valued officer of this railroad. He is survived by a wife, son and daughter, residing in Pasadena.

The second son, J. J. Jessup, was connected with Whittier College as president for a number of years. Later he became city engineer of Berkeley, California, holding that position until the late war, when he went to France for the Y. M. C. A. Since his return he has engaged in municipal engineer- ing work in Southern California. A third son, Elmer L. Jessup, has been

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connected with the engineering department of the City of Los Angeles for many years. Arthur Jessup, the youngest son, practiced dentistry for a time after graduating from dental college, but was compelled to give up his profession on account of failing eyesight. Since that time he has been prominent in musical and church circles in and around Whittier.

Mrs. Cook lives at her country home on the Cook ranch, Whittier Boulevard. She is an active member of the Friends Church and of the W. C. T. U., taking an active part in the affairs of these organizations and is deeply interested in all matters of public welfare. She has been a member of the board of Whittier College for many years.

Doctor and Mrs. Cook were the parents of five children. The only son, Edgar Byrd Cook, was a rancher at Whittier, where he died in 1912. Irene J., eldest of the four daughters, is the wife of John L. Morris, an orange grower at LaHabra, near Whittier. They have five sons, Leo, Roy, Cyrus, Philip and Harold Elmer.

Anna, the second daughter, resides in Whittier and is the wife of J. Clem Arnold, formerly prominent in newspaper circles in California, but at present engaged in managing his own citrus groves. They have one son, Jerold Clement.

Miss Lorette Cook, at present residing with her mother, spent two years in China as matron of the school for missionaries' children.

Claren, the youngest daughter, is the wife of R. Richie Morris, who is engaged in real estate promotion and also in managing both his own and Mrs. Cook's properties. They have two children, Elizabeth Ann and Katherine Patricia.

HERBERT A. DECKER, a representative member of the bar in the attrac- tive and vital little City of San Fernando, was born at Newton, Kansas, on the 13th of August, 1889, and is a son of Andrew and Anna (Cliever) Decker, both of whom were born near the City of Warsaw, Russia. Andrew Decker was a lad of twelve years at the time of his arrival in the United States, and he eventually became a successful exponent of farm industry in the State of Kansas, where he remained until 1898, when he came with his family to California and engaged in orange-growing near the City of Pasadena. He and his wife now reside at Artesia, Los Angeles County, where he is living retired from active business.

After attending the public schools of Pasadena and Artesia, Herbert A. Decker took a course in the Los Angeles High School, and in preparation for his chosen profession he entered the law department of the University of Southern California, in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1912, his admission to the California bar having been virtually con- comitant with his reception of the degree of Bachelor of Laws. The first years of his active professional work was in association with the law firm of Porter, Morgan & Parrott of Los Angeles and thereafter he continued in independent practice in that city until he formed a professional alliance with John M. Metcalf, with whom he continued his association until the spring of 1916. He then removed to San Fernando, where he now has a substan- tial and representative general law business and where he is serving also as city attorney and as justice of the peace. He is a member of the Union League Club of Los Angeles, the Sunset Canyon Country Club of Burbank and the Malibou Lake Club. He was secretary formerly of the San Fer- nando Chamber of Commerce, 1918-21, and is still an active and valued member of that organization, as is he also of the local Kiwanis Club, of which specific mention is made elsewhere in this work.

On the 15th of September, 1916, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Decker and Miss Jessie E. Johnson, of Artesia, this county. Mrs. Decker was born in Omaha, Nebraska, and supplemented the discipline of the public schools by attending a Catholic convent school in Los Angeles. At San Fernando she is a member of the Ebell Club and the Civic League, and both she and her husband hold membership in the Elective Study Club.

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Mr. and Mrs. Decker have three children : William F., Jessie Eurdean and Audrey Irene.

HENRY HERBERT DACE. One of the well ordered and important retail mercantile establishments at San Fernando is that conducted by Mr. Dace, dealer in dry-goods, shoes and furnishing goods, this being the largest store of its kind in the San Fernando Valley and its effective service in each department having gained to it a large and representative supporting patronage throughout the district tributary to the fine little City of San Fernando. Mr. Dace founded his business in August, 1916, and he main- tained headquarters on North Maclay Avenue until December 1, 1922, when he moved to his present large and well appointed store at the corner of Maclay and Porter avenues, where he has 3,600 square feet of floor space. The proprietor has adopted and followed a wise economic policy, in doing an exclusively cash business, which ever insures more satisfactory service and a greater financial stability.

Mr. Dace was born at Rushville, Illinois, on the 26th of February, 1879, and is a son of Henry M. and Catherine (De Lapp) Dace. The father was long engaged in the mercantile business, and since his death his widow has become a loved member of the family home circle of her son Henry H., subject of this review.

The public schools of his native place afforded Henry H. Dace his early education, and thereafter he was there associated with his father's mercantile business until 1906, when he came to California and established his residence in Los Angeles. He gave his attention to the buying and selling of bankrupt and other mercantile stock from that time forward until the summer of 1916, when he founded his present business enterprise at San Fernando, his excellent judgment in the selection of a location having been proved in the development of his large and prosperous business. He takes deep interest in all that touches the civic and material advancement of his home city, and is an active and popular member of the local Kiwanis Club, which has done much to further progress and prosperity in this inviting community.

On the 5th of February, 1922, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Dace and Miss Catherine Hubbard, who was born and reared in San Fernando, and who is a popular figure in the representative social and cultural circles of her native place. She holds membership in the Ebell Club, the Elective Study Club, the Friday Morning Club, the Woman's Civic League, and also the chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution in the City of Los Angeles.

JOSEPH MONTGOMERY DOUGLASS, president of the First National Bank of San Fernando, a specific record of which appears on other pages of this publication, was born at Kirksville, Missouri, April 20, 1885, and is a son of Frank M. and Phoebe (Montgomery) Douglass, the former of whom likewise was born at Kirksville and the latter was born in the State of Illinois, at Apple River. Frank M. Douglass became successfully established in the lumber business in Missouri, where he continued his resi- dence until the spring of 1887. He then came with his family to California and established a home in Los Angeles, where he engaged in the investment business. He later became prominently identified with the citrus-fruit industry in San Gabriel Valley, and since 1890 he has been a prominent figure in banking enterprise in Los Angeles County, he being now vice president of the First National Bank of San Fernando and a director of the Citizens Trust and Savings Bank of Los Angeles. He and his wife maintain their home at Hollywood.

Joseph M. Douglass was two years old at the time of the family re- moval to California, and his early education was here obtained in the public schools of the San Gabriel Valley and the village of Hollywood. Thereafter he attended Pomona College, at Claremont, and after leaving college he was four years in the Government department of Indian Service. During

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the next four years he held a position in the Home Savings Bank in Los Angeles, and since August, 1916, he has been giving a signally effective administration as president of the First National Bank of San Fernando. He is a loyal and progressive citizen who is looked to for leadership in enterprises and movements advanced for the general good of the com- munity, is an active member of the local Chamber of Commerce and the Kiwanis Club, is a member of the committee on education of the California Bankers Association, is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, including the Mystic Shrine, and holds membership also in the Benevolent and Pro- tective Order of Elks. He is a member of the Hollywood Country Club, and in their home city he and his wife are zealous members of the Presby- terian Church, he being a member of its Board of Trustees. Mrs. Doug- lass, who was born and reared at Santa Barbara, this state, and who attended the California State Normal School in Los Angeles, is a popular figure in the social and cultural circles of her home community and is here an active member of the Ebell Club.

June 26, 1918, recorded the marriage of Mr. Douglass and Miss Olive Arné, daughter of William H. and Louise (Sanders) Arné, of Santa Barbara, and the one child of this union is a son, Joseph Montgomery Douglass, Jr.

GEORGE H. WOOD. The energy, foresight and broad vision of the realtors of the country have developed their work from a business into a profession, and the men engaged in it are rendering a most valuable service to their communities in stabilizing values and developing new districts. Especially is this true in Los Angeles County, where the growth in popula- tion is way above normal, and where the demand for proper housing facili- ties is constant. One of the men who are handling the difficult problems connected with this work in a capable and satisfactory manner is George H. Wood of Burbank, one of the older realtors, in point of establishment, of the city. =

George H. Wood was born at Elgin, Illinois, April 19, 1870, and he was educated in the country schools near Dundee, Illinois. His first con- nection with business was acquired at Evansville, Illinois, after he had studied some in its schools and academy. There he was buyer for the Evansville Mercantile Company for twelve years, leaving that concern to come to Los Angeles, and a year later, in 1902, he settled at Burbank. At the time he came here Burbank was a very small community, and for seven years he conducted a general store and then sold out and opened the first dry goods store in the city, and at the same time opened a moving picture house. He made his own electric lights on a four and one-half horsepower Fairbanks & Morse gas engine, this being the first electric lights in Bur- bank. As Burbank began to increase in population Mr. Wood began to realize the possibilities of the realty market, and in 1910 formed the firm of Wood & Shelton, J. T. Shelton being his partner. The firm maintained offices at San Fernando Road and Olive Street. The firm was dissolved, and for a time Mr. Wood was engaged in managing his own property, and then again entered the field. He now handles city, suburban and farm properties, collects rentals, makes exchanges and sells insurance, in the latter line representing several standard companies. Employment is given to two persons. Mr. Wood built the Masonic Hall in Burbank, over his dry goods store. Fraternally he maintains membership with the Blue Lodge, being a charter member, Chapter and Council of Burbank, Glen- dale and Los Angeles in the order named, of the Masonic order, and he also belongs to Glendale Lodge, B. P. O. E., and to the Modern Woodmen of America. Both he and his wife are members of the Eastern Star. Through his membership with the Burbank Chamber of Commerce he keeps in close touch with civic affairs.

Mr. Wood married Miss Margaret J. Holley, of Albany, Wisconsin, and they have four children : Evelyn, who is the widow of Henry Lehman, and has three children, George, Harold and Ralph Lehman; Charles E.,

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who is the second child ; Wayland, who is married and has one son, Way- land, Junior; and Margaret, who is at home. Mrs. Wood was born at Albany, Wisconsin, and was educated at the Evansville, Wisconsin, Semi- nary. In addition to belonging to the Eastern Star, as above mentioned, she is a member of the Burbank Woman's Club, the P. E. O., the Royal Neighbors and the Five Hundred Club. The Presbyterian Church of Burbank has her name on its membership rolls, and she is active in its different organizations.

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History of Los Angeles county, Volume III, Part 24

Author: McGroarty, John Steven, 1862-1944 Publication date: 1923 Publisher: Number of Pages: 844

Author: McGroarty, John Steven, 1862-1944
Publication date: 1923
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 844