USA > California > Los Angeles County > History of Los Angeles county, Volume III > Part 38
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HOWARD SEELY is president of the Seyler-Seely Motor Car Company of Lankershim, a corporation that was organized September 1, 1921, and of which he has been chief executive officer from the time of incorporation, Mrs. Seely being vice president of the company and W. A. Lanz being its secretary and treasurer. The company has a modern and well equipped establishment, with 30,000 square feet of floor space, and has the local agency for the Ford and Lincoln automobiles and the Fordson tractors. The general garage and display rooms are modern in all appointments, a full line of accessories is carried in stock and a well ordered repair and service department is maintained, the company having in connection with its large and substantial business a corps of twenty employes.
Howard Seely, known and valued as one of the progressive business men and public-spirited citizens of Lankershim, was born on the parental homestead farm in Oneida County, New York, and the date of his nativity was January 1, 1863. He is a son of Isaac and Martha A. (Graves) Seely, both of whom likewise were born and reared in the old Empire State of the Union, where they passed their entire lives, the father having died in 1874, when the subject of this review was about ten years of age, and the mother having survived him many years.
The public schools of his native county afforded Howard Seely his youthful education, and thereafter he there continued his active alliance with farm enterprise until he was twenty-seven years of age, when he en- tered the employ of the Oliver Chilled Plow Company of South Bend, Indiana, with which great industrial concern he continued his connection many years. In August, 1921, he came to California, and in the fol- lowing September he effected the organization of the company of which he is now the president. He is an active member of the Lankershim Cham- ber of Commerce and the local Kiwanis Club, a director of the First Na- tional Bank, is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, and he and his wife hold membership in the Presbyterian Church in their home community.
April 7, 1889, recorded the marriage of Mr. Seely and Miss Lulu B. Wright, daughter of Dennis and Harriet A. (Bush) Wright, of Mason, judicial center of Ingham County, Michigan. Mrs. Seely was born in Onondaga County, New York, near the City of Syracuse, and was a child
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at the time of the family removal to Ingham County, Michigan, where she was reared and educated. Mrs. Seely passed to the life eternal on the 16th of October, 1915, the family home at the time having been at Ann Arbor, Michigan, and she is survived by four children: Howard F. is instructor in English at the Frank Vanderlip School at Scarborough, New York; Cecil J. resides at Lankershim, California, being salesmanager and assistant secretary and treasurer of the Seyler-Seely Motor Company, Incorporated ; Gladys V. is the wife of J. J. Kucera, of Pasadena, this state ; and Harriet A. survived her mother by about three years, her death having occurred December 10, 1918. Howard F. Seely has one daughter, Mary Belle. Cecil J. is married and has one son, Edward Seyler. Gladys V. has one son, Howard Seely Kucera, named in honor of his maternal grand- father.
On the 21st of December, 1917, Mr. Seely contracted a second marriage, when Miss Amanda Judson, of Detroit, Michigan, became his wife, she be- ing the popular chatelaine of their pleasant home at Lankershim.
EDWIN B. MITCHELL is one of the successful fruit growers of the Lankershim District of Los Angeles County, and his well improved fruit ranch of twenty-five acres is situated on Second Street, the home receiving mail service on rural route No. 1 from Lankershim post office.
Mr. Mitchell was born at Holly Springs, Mississippi, November 18, 1861, and is a son of Joseph and Elizabeth (Kelsey) Mitchell, both natives of the State of Tennessee, where the former was born at Covington and the latter at Henryville. Joseph Mitchell became a successful farmer in Tennessee, and when the Civil war began he went forth as a loyal soldier of the Confederacy. He was finally captured, and he was held a prisoner during the final six months of the war, at the close of which he was re- leased. His death occurred in the autumn of 1865, within a short time after his return home, and his wife passed away in 1863, while he was in service at the front.
After having duly profited by the advantages of the schools of his na- tive state Edwin B. Mitchell was for twelve years there employed as clerk in a hardware store at Holly Springs. He then, in 1886, came to California, and for a few years was engaged in the general mercantile business at San Jacinto. About the year 1890 he removed to the State of Oregon, where he was engaged in farm enterprise near Albany until 1892. He then estab- lished himself in business as a contractor, in which line of enterprise he maintained his headquarters at Port Angeles, Washington, until the spring of 1894. On the 1st of April of that year he came to California, and engaged in farm industry in the vicinity of the present fine little City of Lankershim. He had done his part in the civic and material development and advancement of this now favored district, and has made his fruit ranch one of the model places of the locality. Though he has had no ambition for political preferment, he has given unwavering support to the principles and policies of the democratic party, and he and his wife are communicants of the Protestant Episcopal Church.
On the 27th of March, 1889, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Mitchell and Miss Elvira Beatrice Shaw, of San Jacinto. Mrs. Mitchell was born at Bolsa, Orange County, California, November 6, 1872, and she received her early education in the public schools at San Jacinto. She is a daughter of Robert Wade Shaw and Mary Jane (Campbell) Shaw, the former of whom was born at Plainsderling, Louisiana, and the latter at Painesville, Pennsylvania. Mr. Shaw came to California in the year 1849, and for a period he maintained his headquarters in San Francisco. In 1854 he established his residence at Los Angeles, and in 1859 he removed to Julian, San Diego County, in which locality he remained ten years, and was engaged in farming. He was identified also with mining enterprise in San Diego County, and later he became a rancher near Bolsa, Orange County. He next followed the same line of industry near Los Cerritos, Los Angeles County, and for a time he was a rancher near San Jacinto, Riverside
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County. He then came to the Lankershim District of Los Angeles County, where he purchased fifty acres of land and engaged in the raising of citrus fruit. He here continued to maintain his home until his death, in February, 1901, when he was seventy-three years of age, his widow having passed away in February, 1903. Mr. Shaw was one of the sterling California pioneers who here gained broad experience in connection with the activities of the early days and who contributed his share to the development of the state of his adoption. In conclusion is given brief record concerning the children of Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell: Ethel Faye is the wife of Edward J. Brechtel, of Santa Monica, and they have two children, Edna Faye and Edwin J. H. May Amanda, the second child, died in early childhood. Edwin Clarence, William Leland, Elvira Beatrice and Robert Dorsey remain at the parental home (1923).
CHARLES HENRY BAKMAN was a youth of fourteen years when he came with his widowed mother to California, in the year 1889, and they became pioneer settlers in the Lankershim District of Los Angeles County. Here he was reared to manhood and here he became a sterling citizen of prom- inence and influence, he having been in the very prime of his strong and useful manhood at the time of his death, on the 31st of July, 1919, and a tribute to his memory consistently being entered in this history.
Mr. Bakman was born on his father's farm near Portsmouth, Ohio, March 18, 1875, and thus he was but forty-four years of age at the time of his death. He was a son of Carl and Dorothy (Renigar) Bakman, both natives of Germany and both young folk at the time when they came to the United States. Carl Bakman became a prosperous farmer near Ports- mouth, Ohio, and there he continued his residence until his death, his widow having passed the closing years of her life at Lankershim, Cali- fornia, where she was a pioneer woman who was held in the highest of regard by the people of the community.
Charles H. Bakman acquired his earlier education in the public schools of the old Buckeye State, and after coming with his widowed mother to California he attended the schools at Lankershim. He purchased and de- veloped here a tract of 150 acres, and was specially prospered in his pro- gressive activities as an agriculturist and fruit-grower. He sold a portion of his land, but his widow still retains possession of seventy acres of this valuable property. Mr. Bakman was a director of the Bank of Lankershim and also of a canning company of Lankershim, and was one of those financially interested in the Rio Vista Fruit Company. He was a valued member of the Lankershim Chamber of Commerce, was a republican in political allegiance, and was affiliated with the Masonic fraternity. Mr. Bakman was a man whose course was ever guided and governed by a fine sense of integrity and honor, and his genial personality gained to him a host of friends. He was most loyally active in the support of Governmental war service in his home district at the time of the nation's participation in the World war, assisted in the local campaigns in support of the Govern- ment war loans, and was specially influential in the local drives in the sup- port of Red Cross work, in which connection was eventually issued to him a certificate of appreciation and thanks on the part of the Government.
May 5, 1904, recorded the marriage of Mr. Bakman and Miss Mollie- Schisel, and with their widowed mother the five children still remain at the time of this writing, in the spring of 1923, namely: Charles Edward, Ida Elizabeth, Frank Stanley, Walter William and Richard Leroy. Mrs. Bakman was born in the City of Cincinnati, Ohio, August 22, 1884, and is a daughter of the late Anton and Elizabeth (Baninger) Schisel, both natives of Germany, where the father was born at historic old Bingen on the Rhine. The marriage of the parents was solemnized in their native land, and after coming to the United States Mr. Schisel became a successful contractor in the City of Cincinnati, Ohio. Both he and his wife passed the closing years of their lives in Los Angeles, and he was a communicant of the Catholic Church.
L政、
MRS. LUZ G. VIGARE
DOMINGA GONZALES
MRS. ROMONA VERMUDES GONZALES
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Mrs. Bakman attended both public and private schools in the City of Los Angeles, and her gracious personality has made her a popular figure in the representative social activities of her home community. She holds mem- bership in the Order of the Eastern Star, the White Shrine and the Ama- ranth Club, besides being a member of the Woman's Club of Lankershim.
LEWIS E. BLISS. To the bankers of the country is due the financial stability of today which this nation alone enjoys among the others of the world. This class of astute, sound and conservative financiers of long and varied experience have gauged the resources and possibilities of this country and its industries and workers and their relation to foreign monied systems and credits, and have made their loans accordingly. They have been generous in their backing of sound propositions, but have flatly refused to countenance any expansion not justified by gilt-edged securities. While the currency of every other country has depreciated in a most alarming manner, that of the United States has remained stable, and today, for the first time in its history, the United States controls the money market. No one man has brought this about. It has come through the concerted and well-advised action of all combined, for no organization, no matter how worthy may be the object for which it works, can be stronger than its weakest member, and therefore this very stability and financial strength reflects honor and credit upon every individual banker of the country. One of these able and experienced men of affairs worthy of more than passing mention in the history of Los Angeles County is Lewis E. Bliss, vice president of the California Bank of Los Angeles and manager of the Van Nuys branch.
Lewis E. Bliss was born at lowa Falls, Iowa, November 16, 1885. He was educated in the public schools of his native city, but left it in 1902, when he went to Louisiana and entered the banking business, first being employed in the Calcasieu National Bank of Southwestern Louisiana, and later was connected with the banking business of Lake Charles and Jen- nings, Louisiana, remaining in that state until 1910, in which year he came to California, and was connected with the syndicate operating in the San Fernando Valley, and which in 1912 organized the First National Bank of Van Nuys, with H. J. Whitley as president ; M. H. Sherman as vice presi- dent, and Lewis E. Bliss as cashier. It was capitalized at $50,000, with a surplus of $5,000. The original building, located at Sherman and Sylvan streets, was destroyed by fire in 1914, and was immediately rebuilt. The original stockholders were: H. G. Otis, O. F. Brant, Harry Chandler, George Hanna, Frank Pfaffinger and W. P. Whitsett. In 1917 the bank was reorganized, with a capital of $100,000, and surplus and profits of $50,000, and with the following officers: Lewis E. Bliss, president ; G. B. Jess, vice president ; and Paul F. Shepard, cashier. Its deposits during that year averaged $1,250,000. In October, 1921, this bank was sold to the California Bank, and was made the Van Nuys Branch of this large institu- tion, with Mr. Bliss as its vice president and manager, and member of the executive committee of the main bank. In 1922 the building was remodeled at a cost of $35,000. Mr. Bliss is a director of the California Security Company, vice president of the Wilshire Building and Loan Association, and vice president of the Van Nuys Chamber of Commerce. Well known in Masonry, he is a past master of the Van Nuys Blue Lodge, and he belongs to the Van Nuys Chapter, R. A. M.
In July, 1910, Mr. Bliss married Miss Edith Ellen Steere, of Iowa Falls, Iowa, and they have one son, Robert, a bright lad attending school. Both Mr. and Mrs. Bliss have many friends in Los Angeles County, and enjoys a delightful social life.
JUAN VIGARE. The family of Vigare both by birth and marriage are linked closely with the early, quaint and picturesque pioneer days of California, and much of the accuracy of detail found in the Mission Plav has been secured through the memoirs of this family, reaching back to the
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time of the Padres. One of the well-known and highly esteemed members of this distinguished family was the late Juan Vigare, who was born at San Gabriel, California, August 10, 1861, and died there December 25, 1908.
Mr. Vigare was a son of Juan Vigare, who came from his native country, France, to America in 1848 and secured lands just south and near the San Gabriel Mission. He purchased fifty acres in this community, which he set to vines, together with 150 acres adjoining which he had secured from the Government, and which he cleared of wild growth. He spent the remainder of his life in this community and became a well-to-do and much respected citizen. Juan Vigare, the elder, married Jacinta Herrera, a native of California, who was baptized at the old San Gabriel Mission, where their marriage was performed. Her father, Augustine Herrera, came from Spain via Mexico with a group of priests and was a teacher for the Padres, teaching the Indians in San Gabriel Mission and proving a valuable assistant to the Spanish fathers.
Juan Vigare, the younger, grew up on his father's property and devoted himself to the vineyard business. In May, 1890, he married in San Gabriel Mission Miss Luz Gonzales, who was born March 12, 1863, at San Gabriel, and was baptized at the Mission. She is a daughter of Felis and Ramona (Vermudes) Gonzales, the former of whom died at San Gabriel in 1870, aged forty-eight years, having come to San Gabriel from Mexico at the age of sixteen years. He was a professional violinist, a talented performer and an eminent teacher, having much more than a local reputation. His wife, Ramona Vermudes, was a member of one of the noted California Spanish families of the early days, and was born at San Gabriel and baptized and married at San Gabriel Mission, where inass was read after her death. Her grandmother, Marie Antonia Lugo, a member of one of the most prominent families in the history of Southern California, was herself an historical character and had an interesting career. During. the early days of the San Gabriel Mission she was an overseer, having charge of work, art and teaching the Indians in the days of the Padres. At one period, when they were at war with the United States, all the available men had been assembled at and to defend Paso de Bartolos against the invading soldiers. Marie Antonia Lugo, dressed in a Spanish soldier's uniform, placed herself at the head of a band of Christian Indians and stood guard over San Gabriel Mission all night. She kept her lone vigil until three A. M., when her father returned to see if all was well. Being challenged, he gave the previously-arranged password, and his daughter, recognizing him, followed the usual respectful Spanish custom of saluting him by kneeling before him and bidding him good morning.
Juan and Luz (Gonzales) Vigare became the parents of nine children, all of whom were born in the old Spanish home on Ramona Street, San Gabriel, being the fourth generation of the family to be baptized and married at this Mission. Victoria, the eldest, born in 1891, was educated at the Convent of the Sacred Heart of Mary on Pico Heights, Los Angeles, and married Ignacio Rangel, now living at San Gabriel. Juanita, the second child, born March 6, 1892, was educated in the same convent, and was baptized at San Gabriel Mission, where she married Juan Zorraquinos, having as best man John Stephen McGroarty, manager of the Mission Play at San Gabriel, and as bridesmaid Lucretia Del Valle, who at that time was the leading lady in the Mission Play. Juan and Juanita Zorra- quinos have been associated with the famed Mission Players since the first performance in 1912, and Mrs. Zorraquinos has missed only one per- formance since that time, that being the date when she and her husband were married. They are of the Spanish dancers and perform the famed La Jota (the Whirlwind Dance of the Fiesta), and Mrs. Zorraquinos, as director of the Mission Play dancers during eight seasons, has the dis- tinction of having trained all except three of the dancers during its exist- ence. Juan Vigare, the third child of Juan and Luz (Gonzales) Vigare, was born January 20, 1894, and is also famed as one of the first. of the Mission Play dancers, having performed for four seasons. He then enlisted
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and was overseas during the World war, taking part in some of the hardest engagements, including the Argonne Forest, St. Mihiel and others. He was gassed and confined to the hospital, but eventually recovered and returned home, where he married Miss Natalia Yorba, of the notable family of that name, and lives at Alhambra. Concepcion, the fourth child, was born January 16, 1896, and married Juan Alvarado, a member of an old and prominent family in Spanish California, of pure Castilian blood. The fifth child, Felis, was born January 22, 1898, and danced for four seasons in the Mission Play. Dominga, the sixth child, was born December 20, 1900, and was prominently associated for some time with the Mission Play, being the Marguerita of the play. She now lives with her aunt, Mrs. Walter Temple, of Alhambra. Jose, the seventh child, was born September 15, 1902, at 11 P. M., the anniversary as to day and hour of Mexico's declaration of independence. Luzita, the eighth child, was born November 9, 1904. The ninth and youngest child, Guadalupe, was born September 26, 1906, and attends the Convent School and is a dancer in the Mission Play.
WILLIAM PAUL WHITSETT. Connected with one of the basic industries as the chief executive of several coal producing companies in the East, William Paul Whitsett after coming to California became useful to his community as president of the Bank of Van Nuys, one of the sound and dependable financial institutions of Los Angeles County, and at the same time he finds time and opportunity to attend to his civic duties in other ways. His influence upon the commercial and industrial life of this district is a strong one, and it is ever exerted in behalf of solid and healthy business propositions and high ideals of living and transacting business.
William Paul Whitsett was born at Scenery Hill, Pennsylvania, De- cember 27, 1875, a son of Ralph C. Whitsett. Carefully educated by watchful parents, William Paul Whitsett attended the public schools of his native state, the Southwestern Normal School of Pennsylvania for a year, and then took a commercial course at Farmington College, Farm- ington, Ohio, in which latter institution he gained a thorough grounding in the fundamentals of business.
Mr. Whitsett's first connection with the business world was through the coal industry, with which he has been connected all his life. He was in the Pennsylvania and Kentucky fields, and then went to Chicago, Illinois, where he was occupied with the selling end of the business. Subsequently he became part owner of valuable mines in Sullivan County, Indiana, and still has these interests. Coming to California about a dozen years ago, he was connected with the development of several subdivisions to Los Angeles, and in January, 1910, bought a half interest in the town of Van Nuys and opened it for settlement February 22, 1911, since which time his pride in it has constantly augmented.
Among other successful ventures he helped to organize the First National Bank of Van Nuys. Later he established the Bank of Van Nuys, of which he is president, H. C. Hatterscheid, vice president, and H. C. Sorgenfrey is cashier. This bank has a capital of $100,000 and total re- sources of $687,432. It carries 1,040 commercial accounts, and 710 sav- ings accounts. Mr. Whitsett is president of the W. P. Whitsett Coal & Coke Company, secretary of the R. B. Whitsett Coal Mining Company, and is a director of the Van Nuys Chamber of Commerce. He is a member of the Hollywood Country Club and the Los Angeles Athletic Club. Both as a member of the Masonic fraternity and the Christian Church he lives up to high ideals of Christian manhood and good citizenship.
On June 14, 1899, Mr. Whitsett married Miss Sarah Haddock, of Ligonier, Pennsylvania, and they have three children, Katherine, Paul and Frank Ross, all of whom are at home.
Mrs. Whitsett was born at Chicago, and there was educated. She is much interested in the development of Van Nuys and has always assisted in the planning and carrying out the activities of the new community.
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Having brought Van Nuys into being, Mr. Whitsett is naturally very proud of the flourishing little city and what it represents as an example of a center of agricultural industry as well as a most desirable residential district in one of the wealthiest counties in the country. He has always supported the different movements having for their object the further advancement of this "Garden Spot of the World," and will continue to do so, for its welfare lies very close to his heart.
HUGO C. HATTERSCHEID. Not yet a dozen years old, Van Nuys is one of the most prosperous of the smaller cities of Los Angeles County, but this expansion has been brought about by the whole-hearted efforts of those men who have its best interests at heart, and working together, pro- duce results that are really remarkable and inspiring. Standing back of these improvements and increased production is the Bank of Van Nuys, which carries a number of the leading citizens as its depositors, and receives from them an unqualified support. This bank is owned by seventy-two stockholders, all residents of the San Fernando, so it is essentially a local concern, officered by local men, whose interests are centered in this district. Its president, William Paul Whitsett, founded it by securing the co-opera- tion of the above-mentioned stockholders, and its vice president, Hugo C. Hatterscheid, whose name heads this review, is one of the most experienced bankers in the county. The Bank of Van Nuys opened its doors for busi- ness February 19, 1921, and is capitalized at $100,000, with a surplus and undivided profits of $21,000. It has resources of over $600,000. The bank occupies the first floor of a modern bank building that is fully equipped for banking purposes, including a safety deposit vault of large proportions. Ten persons are employed in the bank. Mr. H. C. Sorgenfrey as cashier ably cooperates with the other two officials of the bank in rendering a very efficient service to the people of the Van Nuys District.
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