History of Los Angeles county, Volume III, Part 36

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

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HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY

there and learned the tailoring trade in his father's shop. As soon as pos- sible he also became a naturalized American citizen.

Mr. Reichling before coming to California had served a period as an enlisted man in the United States Navy, and was assigned to duty as ship's tailor on the famous old naval vessel the Mohican. He received his hon- orable discharge about 1888. After leaving the navy he engaged in the tailoring business, came to California and for two or three years was in business as a merchant tailor in Colton.

In 1893 Mr. Reichling married Miss Gene Hood. She was born in Ontario, Canada, daughter of Gideon and Catherine (Donaldson) Hood, both of whom were natives of Scotland and were pioneer settlers in County Perth, Ontario. Mr. Hood came to California in about 1880 and engaged in mining in various parts of the state and accidentally lost his life at Victorville in 1897, while conducting a galena ore reduction furnace. Mrs. Reichling was educated in Canada, and learned the woman's tailoring business. In January, 1892, she left Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, and came to California, for a time locating at San Bernardino, and then became an employe in the State Reform School for Girls at Whittier.

Mr. Reichling took charge of the tailoring department of the State Reform School at Whittier in 1892, and for twenty-two years he was the head tailor, serving under every superintendent from the first to the pres- ent occupant of that office. He was a republican in politics. In all the years he had charge of the tailoring department in the State School not a boy assigned to work in his department ever ran away. His discipline was firm but kindly, and he gained the confidence of the boys in his charge. Some of them are now prosperous merchant tailors, having learned their business under him.

Mr. Reichling died at Whittier November 29, 1916. Mrs. Reichling and four children survive him. The oldest, William Hood Reichling, was born at Whittier in 1894, graduated from the Whittier High School, spent two years in the University of California, and is now a rancher. He mar- ried Miss Theo Knecht, of Los Angeles, and they had a son, Harry William Reichling. The second child, Margaret Gene, born at Colton, California, in 1896, attended the Whittier High School, is a graduate of Whittier College and the University of California, and is now teacher of Spanish in the high school. Kenneth Charles, the third child, at home with his mother, was born at Whittier in 1899, graduated from the Whittier High School, and was one of thirty-four young recruits waiting at the depot enroute for army training camp when the armistice was signed. Louise, the youngest child, born in 1901, graduated from high school, spent two years in the University of Southern California, and is now the wife of Leslie R. Martz. Mr. Martz is an ex-service man, participated in four major en- gagements in France, and for six months was with the Army of Occu- pation at Coblenz, where his wife's grandparents were born and reared. Mr. and Mrs. Martz have two children, Richard William and Elizabeth Louise.

In 1902 the late Mr. Reichling bought ten acres from the old Rancho De Bartola, part of the Governor Pio Pico home ranch. For this he paid $500 an acre, and subsequently by other purchases increased the area to forty acres. This is now one of the large individual walnut groves in this section.

The late Mr. Reichling was a very enthusiastic Mason, served two years as master of the Lodge, two years as high priest of the Royal Arch Chapter, and at his death was patron for the second time of the Eastern Star Chapter. Mrs. Reichling is a past matron of the Eastern Star. She was the first noble grand of Arbutus Rebekah Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and had the honor of naming this lodge at Whittier. She and Mr. Reichling helped organize Arbutus Rebekah Lodge of Whittier.

Mrs. Reichling is a member of the Congregational Church, and is a charter member of the Whittier Woman's Club, and on its Board of Di- rectors. She is one of the very capable business women of Southern Cali-

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fornia, and has made a success of the forty acre walnut grove. She and Mr. Reichling came to Whittier with small means, and their good judgment and industry brought them a substantial fortune. When they first came to Whittier there were but four houses between the State School and the upper end of Philadelphia Street, and no buildings at all between Germain's old store on Whittier Boulevard and Laguna, most of the land in this sec- tion being either waste or cultivated to barley fields.

JOHN C. STEVENS first came to Whittier more than thirty years ago, and has been a permanent resident of that locality for over twenty years. The outstanding work by which Mr. Stevens is so well known and esteemed in this community was his long service as superintendent of streets. He performed that work not as an ordinary office holder, but as a man thor- oughly interested in his job, and inspired by ideals as to the possibilities of his work. Probably no one individual has contributed more to the permanent improvement and beautification of Whittier than Mr. Stevens.

He was born in Johnson City, Tennessee, October 11, 1870, son of John H. and Nancy Caroline (Dillingham) Stevens, his father a native of the same locality of Tennessee and his mother of Buncombe County, . North Carolina. John H. Stevens was a farmer, owning two hundred and seventy-six acres of fine lands adjacent to Johnson City, and also did a large business as a dealer in stock. He specialized in the buying of mules, and was one of the leading drovers of his time, taking his mules over the mountains to market in the Carolinas. John C. Stevens as a boy fre- quently accompanied his father on these trips.

John C. Stevens is one of a family of four sons and four daughters. He attended school at Johnson City, and spent one year in a famous insti- tution of learning in Eastern Tennessee, Carson Newman College, at Mossy Creek. He was nineteen when his father died, and from that time . he concentrated his energies on the farm, donating his services to his mother until he came to California.

Mr. Stevens came to this state in 1891. His employer was his older brother, A. J. Stevens, one of the prominent and wealthy citizens of Whit- tier, whose history is sketched elsewhere. His brother was then a cattle buyer and wholesale butcher, and John C. Stevens worked for him. At that time the State Reform School was being completed, and A. J. Ste- vens had the contract for supplying the institution with fresh meats. John attended to the butchering and cutting up of the meat. He remained here two and one-half years. Then the great panic of 1893 came along. It was the period of unprecedented depression. Mr. Stevens in those days fre- quently saw hundreds of horses driven to Los Angeles and sold to a soap factory at $5.00 a head. Not only the financial conditions, but several dry years had contributed to this necessity of sacrificing livestock. Mr. Stevens himself felt the panic, since prior to it he had been paid wages of $160.00 a month and subsequently he worked for a farmer at $18.00 a month. Becoming discontented, he returned to Tennessee, but his old home did not seem natural, and he soon went down to Central Texas, leasing land and raising a cotton crop. In this service he was stricken with the ague, and sold out after netting about $500.00. He went back to Tennessee and lived around Johnson City for several years.

In 1899 Mr. Stevens married Miss Belle Lorimer, a native of that state. Mrs. Stevens finished her education at Austin Springs, Tennessee. Soon after their marriage they came to California, arriving September 1, 1899. During the next three years Mr. Stevens was again in the employ of his older brother, and then for three years was foreman of the Dunlap ranch between the rivers at Rivera. When that ranch property was sold he made his first purchase of land, located on South Pierce Avenue at Whittier. He paid $1,000 for that land and subsequently sold it for $1,500. While developing his property he purchased a team and wagon and went to work for the town of Whittier, which was then a hamlet of three stores and a few homes and without a single paved street or walk. He was paid

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four dollars a day for teaming, and in this way gradually assumed all the duties and responsibilities of street superintendent. At first he hauled old tin cans and other rubbish to the hills, and voluntarily loaded his empty wagon with gravel which on bringing to town he used to fill up the holes in the streets. This naturally made his services all the more appreciated, and at the end of a month his wages were advanced to $4.50 a day. After teaming for two years he was officially made street superintendent, an office he held eleven years. He also had charge of the parks, and when the office of tree warden was created he was assigned that additional duty. All the street paving and street improvement work up to 1921 was done under the supervision of Mr. Stevens. He familiarized himself with all the technical details of paving and street construction, and was able to render some valu- able services by holding the contractors to strict performance of their du- ties. Since leaving the city office Mr. Stevens has been chief landscape gardener for the Union High School of Whittier. Since then he has trans- formed a tract of waste ground into a condition of beauty that makes it one of the show places of the county.

Mr. and Mrs. Stevens have four children. Paul Henderson Stevens, born at Whittier, is a graduate of the Union High School and is now a worker in the oil fields. He volunteered during the World war, was as- signed to duty with the Fifty-fifth Ammunition Train, and was with the colors two years and nine months. He entered the army at the very out- break of the war, and was overseas in France nine months. He performed especially dangerous and arduous duties as a dispatch bearer. He married Coney Kosovick, and they live at Whittier. The second child is Miss Ada Belle Stevens, also born at Whittier and educated in the public schools there. The third of the family, Gertrude Bernice, is now. the wife of An- drew Anderson, an employe of the Standard Oil Company at Santa Fe . Springs ; Andrew Anderson and Paul Henderson Stevens were boyhood friends, and both enlisted at the first call in the Fifty-fifth Ammunition Train and served together in France. The youngest child is Miss Beulah A. Stevens, who graduated in 1923 from the Union High School.

Mr. Stevens is a republican. He is a staunch patriot, and after seeing his son go into the army he bid the authorities to permit him to go to France as an enlisted man and assist in building roads, a work for which he was eminently fitted. The refusal to permit him to do this was one of the greatest disappointments he ever had to bear. Mr. Stevens is affili- ated with the Knights of Pythias Lodge of Whittier, and his family are members of the Church of the First Brethren.

FRANK ESCALLIER, whose home is on Whittier Boulevard, has lived in Los Angeles County nearly half a century, and has been a man of pioneer enterprise in several lines of business. He has been a very important fac- tor in developing the suburban district around Los Angeles known as the Belvedere section.

Mr. Escallier was born in Southern France, June 17, 1857, son of Honore and Veronigu (Raymond) Escallier. His father was a French vineyardist. In the family were eight children, three sons and five daugh- ters. The oldest son, Eugene, is still living in France. The other two, Leon and Frank, both came to California. Leon had a college education, and since coming to California has become a prominent banker of Los Angeles.

Frank Escallier attended the common schools of his home district, and acquired a thorough practical knowledge of grape growing in his father's vineyards. This was his training for useful work when he arrived in Los Angeles in 1875. He at once secured employment in a vineyard, and in 1876, as superintendent, he set out for the Nadeau interests what was then the largest vineyard in California, a tract of two thousand acres at Flor- ence. This vineyard later was almost entirely destroyed by the flood waters in the winter of 1883-84. In 1883 Mr. Escallier established at 500 Aliso Street in Los Angeles a wine and liquor store, his brother Leon becoming

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his partner. This business was continued until 1913, and for many years enjoyed a reputation second to none among such establishments in South- ern California for the exceptional character of the stock carried, particu- larly the wide selection of choice vintages.

In 1887 Frank Escallier built on Stevenson Avenue the first store building between Los Angeles and Whittier. He did some merchandising there, and also invested heavily in lands and in 1886 installed a pumping plant to irrigate his crops. For more than thirty years he continued the work of improvement, investment, buying and selling.

In 1887 Mr. Escallier married Miss Katherine Clos, a native of the Pyrenees District of Southern France, and of the Basque nationality. Mr. and Mrs. Escallier have five children. The oldest, Frank, born at Los Angeles, January 5, 1888, died in 1914. He was a graduate of St. Vin- cent's College and during his brief life distinguished himself for sturdy industry and sound scholarship. The second child, Bertha, born October 30, 1890, is a graduate of the Los Angeles High School, and by her mar- riage to Glen Kettlewell has three children, Harold, Bernhardt and Cath- erine. The three younger children of Mr. and Mrs. Escallier, all graduates of the Los Angeles High School and at home, are Louise, born September 4, 1892 ; Estella, born April 20, 1894 ; and Grace, born April 22, 1896.

The Belvedere suburban district which Mr. Escallier has done so much to promote lies about four miles from the Court House in Los Angeles, and some of his original investments there have grown into large values. For years he was a large grower of grain and hay in this section, and he farmed a large portion of the old Laguna ranch. Mr. Escallier came to California without capital, and has achieved a fortune through hard work, conservative management and by considering the interests of others in the community as well as his own. He and his family are all of the Catholic faith.

JOHN GUESS. Among the pioneers of the El Monte District of South- ern California, one who passed through the early settlement period of this region and who won success in the face of discouragements and through his own individual effort was the late John Guess. An adven- turous spirit of the year 1852, he found in Los Angeles County the opportunities for the attainment of prosperity in the field of stock- raising, and from humble beginnings worked his way to a position where he was recognized as one of the foremost stockmen of his locality.

Mr. Guess was born at Batesville, Independence County, Arkansas, March 20, 1830, a son of Joseph Guess, who came from the eastern states to Arkansas. He engaged in farming and trading and died while on a trip to buy merchandise at New Orleans during an epidemic of cholera. He was survived by his widow, formerly Miss Lottie Men- yard, also a native of the East, who passed away at the home of her son in California at the age of eighty-four years. There were three children in the family.

John Guess was reared in his native state and as a child was taken to Conway County, where he received some training in the public schools. His education was not extensive, however, as his father died when he was eleven years of age, and he was forced to contribute to his own support. At twenty years of age he began operations on his own account, farming on shares, and in this way accumulated some small capital. He was married in 1852, in March, and in the following April started on his first trip to California. His equipment consisted of a wagon, two yoke of oxen, the necessary equipment and provisions for seven months. He joined a party of eighty wagons and seventy men, well armed, and while the skirmishes with the Indians were frequent, serious trouble was always averted. The journey was made through Texas, via Fort Belknap, El Paso and Yuma, and the party finally reached its destination. For three weeks following his arrival

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Mr. Guess camped within three-quarters of a mile of what is now the Guess ranch. He then located in the vicinity of Compton, where he engaged in farming, and in the spring of 1855 returned to El Monte and rented some of the present ranch, subsequently buying a place one mile north of El Monte, where he farmed and engaged in raising cattle. Later Mr. Guess returned to Arkansas with the intention of buying a farm with the $3,000 profit which he had carried back with him, but the lure of California proved too strong, and in 1859 he returned to this state. After selling his first ranch he bought forty-eight acres on the present site of Savanna and remained there until 1867, until the courts decided that his title was not good to this land, which was proven to be property included in earlier grants. In the same year he located on the present Guess ranch, which is still owned by his heirs. This was disputed land, also, and was known as the old Mission Grant. This he improved and cultivated, and set out sycamore trees which still stand as massive sentinels about the place today. Mr. Guess applied himself to raising horses and mules, and likewise carried on extensive operations in cattle raising in the vicinity of Chino and Tehachapi, but always retained his home at El Monte. In 1888 Mr. Guess bought an interest in the San Jacinto ranch, and later in the Santa Rosa ranch near Temecula, Riverside County, where he had a herd of 800 head of cattle. He eventually added to this his original El Monte ranch of sixty-four acres, and this is all in one tract, adjoin- ing Savanna. Here he rounded out his useful and honorable career and died January 12, 1919, highly respected by the entire community. He was a Jeffersonian democrat in politics and took an active part in public affairs. He was one of the organizers of the First National Bank of El Monte, served as a member of the school board for some years, and was a faithful member of the Baptist Church. In 1862 he joined Lexington Lodge No. 104, A. F. and A. M., and was a Master Mason.

In March, 1852, Mr. Guess married Mrs. Harriet (Holifield) Rogers, a native of Conway County, Arkansas, and a daughter of John Holifield, a pioneer farmer of Arkansas. Mr. Holifield died March 18, 1870, at Santa Barbara, on a steamer en route to California. Mrs. Guess died at the old home in Savanna, March 18, 1889. She was the mother of eight children: Henry, the first American child born in Los Angeles County ; Louis, who died in infancy ; Sallie, the widow of the late William Slack; Alice, who died in childhood; Emma, now Mrs. William Parker; Richard, carrying on operations on a part of the old home place; Fannie, who died at the age of sixteen years; and Hattie, the wife of James Steel. Mr. Guess's second marriage occurred at Rivera, Los Angeles County, when he was united with Mrs. Sarah (Anderson) Hooper. They had no children.

RICHARD GUESS. A member of one of the old and honored pioneer families of Los Angeles County, Richard Guess is engaged in carrying on operations on the old Guess ranch near El Monte, and is known as one of his community's substantial and capable business men and reliable citizens. His entire career has been passed in this locality and has been characterized by industry and consistent application to high principals. He was born on the old home ranch at Savanna, Los Angeles County, December 22, 1865, and is a son of John and Harriet (Holifield) (Rogers) Guess.

The father of Mr. Guess, a native of Arkansas, was a pioneer to California of 1852, when he came over the southern route on a journey that cosumed seven months. He became a stock raiser in a small way, but gradually enlarged his holdings until at the time of his death he was one of the well-to-do men of his community. A complete sketch of his career will be found in the preceding sketch. He and his wife were the parents of eight children: Henry, the first American

RICHARD GUESS AND FAMILY CHARLIE, JOHN, THELMA, FRANK, MRS. RICHARD GUESS, RICHARD GUESS

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child born in Los Angeles County, who is now living in retirement at El Monte; Louis, who died in infancy; Sallie, the widow of the late William Slack; Alice, who died in childhood; Emma, now Mrs. William Parker ; Richard, of this review; Fannie, who died at the age of sixteen years; and Hattie, the wife of James Steel. The mother of these children died in 1897. The second marriage of Mr. Guess was without issue.

Richard Guess attended the district schools located at Savanna and grew up in a country which was still new and wild, without roads or railroads and with only the necessities and few of the conveniences of life. Brought up on the home ranch, he early learned to manage even the most fractious horses, and in his youth saw California in its primitive state. One of his early recollections is of the construc- tion of fences. As no nails were available, it was the custom of the early settlers to tie the poles together with green rawhide, which would shrink when dry and thus make a tight and solid joint. Mr. Guess has never worked a day for pay off the home ranch. For years he was associated with his father, from whose wild ranch he has de- veloped one of California's finest properties, wonderfully located in the valley, with an unlimited view of the mountains. Instead of the trails of dust which formed the roads of his youth he finds convenient to his use the Ocean to Ocean Highway and the electric road, and on his property are to be found all the comforts and conveniences of the big cities. For many years in addition to carrying on stock raising Mr. Guess has operated a dairy farm, and is now the owner of an establishment that is complete in every respect. He is a progressive man, has educated his children well, and is accounted an exemplary citizen.

In 1889 Mr. Guess married Miss Emma Williams, who was born in 1870 at Rosemead, Los Angeles County, California, daughter of R. W. and Martha (Humphreys) Williams, the former a native of Pennsylvania and the latter of Mobile, Alabama. The parents of Mrs. Guess crossed the plains as members of a tragic party of 1853, which, because of frequent quarrels as to routes, lack of proper clothing and supplies, numerous unforseen accidents and constant attacks by the Indians, was greatly decimated ere it reached its destination. So desperate was its need that clothes were stripped from the bodies of the dead, and even then the party arrived at its destination only scantily clad, while the child of Mr. and Mrs. Williams was the only child in the whole train to withstand the rigors of the wretched journey, all the others dying en route. The journey was made from Hempstead County, Arkansas, by ox-teams to El Monte, the end of the Santa Fe Trail, where Mr. and Mrs. Williams secured land. There five other children were born to them, their family being as follows: Catherine, born in Arkansas, the child to survive the journey across the plains, who is now Mrs. B. B. Cory, of Alameda, California ; John, a miner, from whom nothing has been heard for fifteen years; Fannie, who is deceased; Thomas, living in Tulare County ; Emma, now Mrs. Guess; and Blanche, deceased. Four children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Guess: John, Frank M., Charles Richard and : Thelma. John Guess was born August 23, 1890, and educated in the grammar and El Monte high schools. After being employed seven years in the mercantile business at El Monte he went north to Lake Tahoe, and his was the fifteenth name drawn in selective service in the entire United States. After training for ten months at Camp Lewis he went overseas with the famous Ninety-first Division, June 27, 1918, having been one of thirty-three selected from the first- comers to remain at Camp Lewis and drill new recruits. This division went into the Argonne engagement September 26, 1918, and two days later Mr. Guess received abdominal wounds from machine-gun fire which proved fatal forty days later. His remains were returned to

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El Monte in January, 1920, and interred with military honors in the old El Monte Cemetery. Entering the service as a private, he won well-merited promotion to the rank of sergeant. As he had been a leader among his fellows at school, so in the army he proved himself a leader of men, and in the action in which he received his fatal wounds had displayed such bravery that after his death he received the Dis- tinguished Service Medal, being one of thirty-two California boys to be thus honored. His death caused universal sorrow among those who had met him and who had become familiar with his manly and likeable qualities. Frank M. Guess, the second son of Richard Guess, was born April 25, 1895, at Savanna, and after graduation from the

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History of Los Angeles county, Volume III, Part 36

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