USA > California > Los Angeles County > History of Los Angeles county, Volume III > Part 39
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Hugo C. Hatterscheid was born in Alsace-Lorraine, France, July 27, 1878, and was brought to the United States when he was three years old by his parents, who located in Iowa. He was educated in the public schools of Corwith, Iowa, and this was supplemented by a course in Northwestern University of Illinois. For several years thereafter he and his father were in the grain business, operating in the vicinity of Chicago, but he later left that field for the banking one, and conducted a bank at Corwith, Iowa, for five years. Selling this business, he then bought a bank at Cedar Bluffs, Nebraska, and conducted it for twelve years. Then, in 1921, he came to California, and after a short connection with Glendale, came to Van Nuys to assume the duties of the vice presidency of his present bank.
On April 20, 1904, Mr. Hatterscheid married Miss Margaret Hinkey, of Corwith, Iowa, and they have three children, Margaret, Hugo, Junior, and Harriet, all bright young people at home. Mrs. Hatterscheid was born in Nevada, but was educated in the public schools of Iowa. A practical banker, Mr. Hatterscheid is well qualified for his present responsibilities, and his connection with the bank gives it added solidity. Although one of the new comers to Van Nuys, he has already earned a position in its business and social life, and has won appreciation from its best people. His wife is also popular, and they are very enthusiastic about California, and espe- cially about that portion of it in and about Van Nuys.
SANTA MONICA BAY DISTRICT REALTY BOARD. This organization, the formation of which was effected in 1920, is playing a large and important part in connection with the civic and general material development and advancement of the beautiful Santa Monica District of Los Angeles County, and on its roster of active members are found the names of virtually all of the representative exponents of the real estate business in this district. The board maintains affiliation with the California State Realty Board and also with the national organization of real estate men. Upon the organization of this progressive board the following executive officers were chosen: F. E. Bundy, president; W. R. Garrett, vice presi-
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dent; W. M. Conklin, secretary ; and R. I. Jarvis, treasurer. The year 1922 finds this original corps of officers in service with the exception of the vice president and the secretary. The present vice president is C. C. Torrence, and William V. McCoy is the secretary. F. E. Bundy, the popular president of the organization, is one of the prominent realtors in the City of Santa Monica and is one of the liberal and forward looking citizens who are ever ready to give influence and cooperation in the further- ance of measures for the general good of the city, district and county.
LEE FREER. The soft-shell walnut industry is one which has been developed into one of the most important lines of horticulture in Southern California through the initiative and industry of a small body of earnest men who have devoted their lives to this work. The Freer brothers, Lee and Jackson, have been especially successful in it, and their magnificent ranches in the vicinity of El Monte are famed all over the state as being among the best walnut groves in the world. Both of them developed these groves through their own efforts from wild land, and did so at a time when the walnut industry was in its infancy, so that they worked under many disadvantages, and much of their initial work was in the line of an experiment, and one which had many hazards. That they succeeded so well is due almost entirely to their own efficiency and good management.
Lee Freer, to whom this sketch is devoted, was born at San Jose, Santa Clara County, California, April 6, 1870, a twin brother of Jackson Freer and a son of William H. Freer, both of whom are written of elsewhere in this work. Lee Freer was sent to school at Savannah and to Saint Vincent College, Los Angeles, but much that he now knows was obtained through his own study and powers of observation, for schools in those days and in this vicinity were poor affairs. He was later employed at farm work, by John Barton on his ranch, and then, when he was twenty-one, he purchased his present ranch of forty-six acres on Durfee Avenue, which was then merely a wild tract of land. At that time Mr. Freer was young and ambitious, and determined to get this land into a productive state. Like his brother Jackson, at first he had the idea of making an agricultural ranch out of it, and for some years raised corn and other farm products on it, but then decided to experiment on a few soft-shell walnuts. The results were such as to lead him to gradually plant all of his acreage to walnuts, and he now has the satisfaction of owning a splendid walnut grove which yields him a princely income. Conditions have greatly changed since he began working his land, for his høgs sold as low as two and one-half cents per pound, and corn for fifty cents per hundred pounds. Many who bought land at the same time as he and his brother lost out, but they worked and managed, and always found a way out of the difficulties they encountered, but did so in an honorable and praiseworthy manner. He sunk his own wells for irrigation and home supply purposes, and pumps 150 inches of water at a fifteen-foot lift, which gives a supply that would be adequate for 200 acres.
Lee Freer married at Savannah, California, Miss Caddie Adams, a native of that city, a daughter of the highly esteemed minister, Rev. Abram Adams, born in Lowndes County, Alabama, a son of Abram Adams, Sr., who moved from his birthplace, North Carolina, to Alabama, and there became a prominent and wealthy planter. He served in the War of 1812, and also in the Mexican war, and in the latter commanded a company. He was of Scotch descent and a zealous Presbyterian, dying firm in that faith in 1869. Rev. Abram Adams became a minister of the Methodist Episcopal denomination, and after ministerial work in Mobile, Alabama, was sent to Columbus, Mississippi, where he became presiding elder. In 1869 he came to Los Angeles, and here established the first church of his faith, and from then on until 1891 followed his profession at different points in California. In that year he retired from the ministry and began devoting his attention to the ranch he had bought upon coming to California, and died on it April 10, 1901, aged seventy years. He
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married Isabella Williams, born in Greene County, Alabama, a daughter of Benjamin Williams, born in South Carolina, who located in Alabama, and owned and conducted a large plantation there until his death. Her mother was Mrs. Edna (Hitt) Williams, whose father was a native of Wales. Mrs. Adams died in El Monte, in February, 1892, aged fifty-one years.
The following children were born to Lee Freer and his wife: Zerelna, who is Mrs. Herbert Reed, of El Monte; Ruth, who is Mrs. Reuben Benson, of Whittier, California; Wesley; Shirley, who died in Tehechapi, California; Haven, who is now a resident of Inyo County, California ; Max, who is studying dentistry; Edna Allen, who was a high-school student and is deceased; Wendell; and Margaret, who died in childhood.
Mrs. Freer and the children belong to the Presbyterian Church, and Mr. Freer gives it an earnest support. Since reaching his majority he has been a republican, and believes in a strong protective tariff. One of the organizers and charter members of the Montara View Soft-Shell Wal- nut Association, he is active in this body. Fraternally he maintains mem- bership with El Monte Lodge, I. O. O. F. For many years he has been a recognized authority on soft-shell walnut culture, and his advice is sought upon other subjects as well, for his good judgment makes him a safe counsellor on matters of moment.
JUAN ZORRAQUINOS. While the latter years of his life were passed in Mexico, the late Juan Zorraquinos was for a number of years a resident of what is now Palms, California, and is remembered by a number of the older settlers as a man of industry, good business ability and public-spirited citizenship. He was born at Aragon, Spain, January 7, 1833, a son of Manuel and Juana (Abad) Zorraquinos, his father having been identified with the Spanish Government postoffice department at Aragon.
Juan Zorraquinos was educated in the public schools of his native land, where he married Maria Gordo, a native of Spain, and in 1877 came to the United States, settling at what is now Palms, California. There he pur- chased a sixty-acre property, which he developed into a productive vineyard and orchard and for fifteen years continued its cultivation with good success. In 1890 his first wife died, without issue, and in 1892 Mr. Zorraquinos was united in marriage with Miss Mary Eakin, who was born at Los Angeles, California, November 5, 1864, a daughter of William D. and Priscilla Jane (Ramsey) Eakin, natives of Zanesville, Ohio. The parents of Mrs. Zorra- quinos were among the hardy souls who made the long and perilous journey around Cape Horn during the gold rush of 1849, and suffered shipwreck. Eventually they reached Placerville, California, where Mr. Eakin engaged in placer mining for a time, but later came south and was employed by Gover- nor Pico, California's first governor. He was long employed by the Fed- eral Government, having charge of freight teams in hauling freight into the mines of the interior country, after which he went to Guaymas, Sonora, Mexico, where he conducted a wholesale liquor and produce business of his own for about fifteen years. Subsequently he embarked in business in the City of Mexico, where his death occurred in 1898, his wife having passed away while they were residing on the ranch of Governor Pico. Of her childhood days Mrs. Zorraquinos remembers residing at Los Angeles when that city was yet a hamlet, without pavements and with principally adobe houses. However, all had plenty of the necessities of life and every- one lived a happy existence.
Following his second marriage Mr. Zorraquinos disposed of his Palms property and went to Tehuantepec, Mexico, where he lived for thirteen years. For a time his affairs prospered greatly, he being engaged in mining, but after about five years he became an invalid and continued as such during the remaining eight years of his life, his death occurring at Tehuantepec April 8, 1905. In these last years he lost much of his for- tune, but was still accounted a well-to-do man at the time of his demise To Mr. and Mrs. Zorraquinos there came five children, all born at Tehuan-
Jassen Zorraquinos.
Many @ Jorraquinos
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tepec : Juan William, born June 29, 1893, a Mission Play dancer at San Gabriel, who married, April 7, 1915, Juanita Vigare, who was educated at the San Gabriel schools and Los Angeles Convent, and is a member of an old and prominent family of San Gabriel. She is a dancer and directs the dancing at the Mission Play at San Gabriel. Marina, born January 14, 1896, is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley, and a prominent Spanish educator, now teaching Spanish in the Los Angeles High School. She married William Whiteman. Joseph A., born February 17, 1898, was educated at the Alhambra High School and is now employed by the Standard Felt Company of Alhambra. Mary Carmen, born Decem- ber 10, 1899, a graduate of the Alhambra High School, is unmarried and resides at the home of her mother. Louis J., twin of Mary Carmen, born December 10, 1899, was educated in the schools of San Gabriel, and is now employed by McEvoy at Los Angeles. The family belongs to the Roman Catholic Church. Mrs. Zorraquinos, who survives her husband, is a resident of Alhambra, where she presides over a pleasant and attractive home at 2204 Cedar Street.
ROBERT JAMES HICKS in the ten years he lived at Los Angeles became prominently known in financial circles, as vice president and secretary of the Los Angeles Finance Company. In his earlier life he was a South Dakota banker.
Mr. Hicks was born at Newmarket, Ontario, Canada, April 9, 1866, son of John and Letitia (Cunningham) Hicks. His father, who is still living and a resident of South Dakota, was born in England, came to New York at the age of nineteen, and subsequently moved to Canada and engaged in agriculture there.
Robert James Hicks was reared in Ontario, attended the public schools and completed his education in a college at Brookings, South Dakota. As a young man he entered a banking institution at Milbank, South Dakota, and remained there seven years, with a growing interest and responsibility in the community and its business life. From there he moved to Big Stone City, South Dakota, and became head of the land department of the State Bank. Mr. Hicks was a resident of Big Stone City for thirteen years. Among other interests that identified him with the community was his work as manager of the Big Stone Chautauqua.
In 1912 he moved to Los Angeles, where in company with others, he organized and took out the charter for the Los Angeles Finance Company, locating his offices in the Los Angeles Trust & Savings Building. He was its vice president and secretary until his death. The business enjoyed an exceptional growth, and his executive responsibilities were so centered in his office that he felt it impossible to leave the business temporarily to secure a much needed rest and undoubtedly the heavy strain put upon him for several consecutive years brought about his untimely death on March 10, 1923.
The late Mr. Hicks was affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Ancient Order of United Workmen, was a director of the Los Angeles Y. M. C. A., and a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. During all his career he exemplified the principle of being helpful to others, and his life represented a real service to mankind.
At Milbank, South Dakota, on December 22, 1899, he married Miss Anna Carrick, of Elk River, Minnesota, a daughter of George and Mariette (Thorpe) Carrick. Mr. Carrick was one of the pioneer lumbermen of Northern Minnesota. Miss Carrick taught in the high school of Milbank for three years prior to her marriage. She is a member of the University Woman's Club and is a teacher of the Woman's Bible Class of the Uni- versity Methodist Episcopal Church of Los Angeles, the class numbering about 150 members. Mr. Hicks is survived by Mrs. Hicks and three daughters, Eloise and Florence, graduates of the University of Southern California, and Rachal, a junior in the same university. Florence married
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Carl Hendrickson, a teacher in the Junior College at Santa Maria. They are the parents of one daughter, Eloise Marie.
JAMES HORTON SHANKLAND had rounded out almost half a century of active membership at the California bar before death came to him at the age of seventy-seven. For thirty-five years his home was at Los Angeles, where he enjoyed exceptional honors both in his profession and in private citizenship.
He was born at Nashville, Tennessee, August 12, 1846, son of Alexan- der Beatty and Sarah E. (Scoville) Shankland. He was reared in Tennes- see, and received his preparatory education in Crocker's Academy there, and subsequently entered Brown's University, Providence Rhode Island, where he was graduated in 1869 with his law diploma. He then returned to Tennessee, and on June 6, 1870, was admitted to the bar. Mr. Shankland came to California in 1874 and located at San Francisco. For a time he was associated with A. W. Thompson, and subsequently served as attorney for the San Francisco Board of Trade for a period of thirteen years. He resigned this position in 1888 and came to Los Angeles, where he took up practice with Mr. J. A. Graves and Mr. H. W. O'Melveny in the firm of Graves, O'Melveny and Shankland. For sixteen years this firm con- tinued its extensive law practice, with offices in the old Baker Block. The partnership was dissolved in 1904, and after that Mr. Shankland was asso- ciated with his son-in-law, Mr. J. P. Chandler, under the firm name of Shankland & Chandler, which firm was dissolved in 1914. For nearly ten years Mr. Shankland continued his professional work alone. He died after a brief illness on January 24, 1923. Mr. Shankland was one of the founders and early officers of the Los Angeles Bar Association, serving it as president. He was for many years a director of the Security Trust and Savings Bank, was a member of the Theta Delta Chi and the California Club, and was a member of the Baptist Church.
In 1874 Mr. Shankland married Miss Louisa Fowler, daughter of 'Joseph S. Fowler. In 1865 Mr. Fowler was elected a member of the United States Senate from Tennessee, and had the privilege of passing a deciding vote in the impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson. Mr. Shankland is survived by two children and five grandchildren. His son is Fowler Shankland, and his daughter Elizabeth S., the wife of Jefferson P. Chandler, of Los Angeles.
WILLIAM HENRY SWAN, who died in Los Angeles County a number of years ago, was one of the notable California pioneers of the fifties. He achieved wealth in the central part of the state, and finally came to South- ern California and became one of the land owners in Los Angeles County and left a large estate there.
He was born in 1834, while his parents were temporarily residing in Canada. His father, Joseph Swan, was of old Mayflower, New England, stock and was a pioneer settler in Wisconsin. William Henry Swan was one of seventeen children. He grew up in the frontier region of Wisconsin, and at the age of sixteen, in 1850, following the great exodus to California the preceding year, he went to New York and sailed around the Horn, attracted by the lure of gold. He and his older brother, George, were together, and instead of doing the work of an ordinary miner they became interested in the transportation problem. William H. Swan soon became an employe of the Fargo Brothers, who subsequently established the Wells Fargo Express. He had to do with their pack horse express, carrying bullion over the Sierra Nevada Mountains. He was so employed until the toll road was constructed. He and his brother George built the old Placerville coal road, a highway still used over the Sierra Nevada Moun- tains. The Placerville route runs over the mountains to Lake Tahoe. They used as many as three hundred men during the construction period, and the road was a scene of some of the heaviest and most interesting traffic in pioneer times. There were many sixteen mule teams hauling gold and
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supplies, and many stage coaches passed back and forth over the line. The most famous driver was the historic character Hank Monk, made famous as the subject of many stories. He was immortalized by Mark Twain as driver of the coach which carried Horace Greeley to Carson City. This toll road made the Swan Brothers wealthy. George Swan subsequently by unfortunate investments lost practically all his fortune.
In 1864 William H. Swan settled at San Jose. On Thanksgiving day, 1862, he married Miss Harriet A. Webster, a native of New York. Her father, Hazard A. Webster, was a native of New York and first crossed the plains in 1849 by ox teams. He went from Wisconsin, and subse- quently made nine trips by ox teams across the continent. He took his family in that way to California in 1860. He was a noted pilot of trains of gold seekers and adventurers across the plains. He knew the route thoroughly, and was chosen captain of many parties that came overland. Hazard Webster died in California in 1894.
In 1869 Mr. and Mrs. Swan preempted 160 acres at Hollister, Cali- fornia. Selling that property, they left Hollister in 1872 and came to Los Angeles. November 6, 1872, Mr. Swan bought the northeast corner of Seventh and Broadway in Los Angeles for $2,000. Three years later he sold the property for $2,500, and the same land is now worth a fortune. In the meantime he bought farm lands in the Corbin Canyon, and used these lands for grazing sheep. He continued his land purchase until he owned a large amount of property in this section, and still retained a large share of it when he died in 1905. His widow survived him until 1912. He bought principally wild lands, and during his lifetime he did something toward developing them and making them available for agricultural pur- poses. He sold one tract of fifteen hundred acres to the well known William Rowland. A large quantity of land which he bought and paid for was lost through bad titles. He was a staunch republican, was a public spirited citizen, and though as a youth he had few opportunities for an education he was well read and a man of wide and eventful experience.
Mr. and Mrs. Swan had three children. Clara A., the oldest, born at San Jose in 1865, is the wife of Edwin T. Hunter, living at Woodlake, California, and they have a daughter, Susie A., now the wife of William D. Ferry, who was in the World war and saw service overseas. Lillie G. Swan, born in 1867, at San Jose, married Marion A. St. Clair, a native of Iowa, who came to California in 1887 and has been an orange and walnut grower, and they live at Walnut, California. Mr. and Mrs. St. Clair have one son, George. The third child of the family is William H. Swan, Jr., born in 1872 at Hollister, California. He lives at Woodlake in Tulare County, and is married and has four daughters.
WILLIAM H. FREER. The late William H. Freer was one of the pioneers of the El Monte District, and a man whose good judgment and decisive character enabled him to take advantage of the opportunities as they presented themselves, and to become one of the very wealthy men of his day. He was born on the Little Miami River in Ohio, February 5, 1814, a son of Jonathan and Hannah (Swords) Freer, natives of North Carolina and Virginia, respectively. They located in Ohio at a very early day, and there engaged in farming, but later moved to Randolph County, Indiana, and still later to Atchison County, Missouri, where he died. His widow survived him for a number of years, and passed away in California.
Early in life William H. Freer was engaged in farming in Atchison County, Missouri, and there in 1840 he married, and in 1849, with his wife and three children, his widowed mother, two sisters and two brothers, started on the long journey across the plains to California with oxen. They traveled by way of the Salt Lake and the Truckee route, and were on the road from May to October. Their first winter in California was spent on the Stanislaus River in San Joaquin County, where Mr. Freer was engaged in making saddle trees. In the spring of 1850 he located in Santa Clara County, on Penitentia Creek, at Berryessa, three miles from San Jose,
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where he bought a small farm and began farming and raising fruit. During 1851 he tried mining, but not liking that kind of a life, returned to his ranch, and kept on adding to his original purchase until he had 175 acres.
In 1869 Mr. Freer made a trip to Southern California, and with that broad vision so characteristic of him saw the possibilities of this region and bought 320 acres of the old Dalton tract, to which he moved his family in 1875. This property was located one and one-half miles north of El Monte, and lay along the banks of the San Gabriel River. It was wo:1- derfully fertile, and Mr. Freer's long experience as a farmer enabled him to develop his acreage to the best advantage. He raised hogs and cattle, and it was not long before he began setting out fruit trees, and he erected on the place a fine residence. Subsequently he bought 317 acres of the old Tibbett ranch, for which he paid $5,000, and he sold this same property in the noted boom of 1887 for $72,000. He was a very successful business man, but all of his operations were conducted according to the strictest code of stainless integrity. His death occurred in Grundy County, Mis- souri, February 11, 1902.
On November 25, 1840, he married Miss Zerelda Stucker, who was born in Indiana, March 15, 1824, a daughter of John and Susannah Stucker, both of whom were born in Woodford County, Kentucky. The following children were born of this marriage: Alexander, who died in Los Angeles County, California, in 1870; James B., who is a resident of El Monte; Ellen, who died in infancy, while they were living in Missouri; Matilda, wife of Edward Godfrey, of San Jose, and by a previous marriage she had one son, George; Johathan Perry, who died in 1861; John H., who is a resident of Arcadia; Martin, who lives at El Monte; Hannah, who married Mr. George Dobbin and died at Tehachapi; Thomas, who resides at El Monte; Delilah, who married Walter Lowery and died in 1887; Mary Louise, who married Thomas Stucker, of Los Angeles ; Julia, who died in Santa Clara County when one year old, and Jackson and Lee, twins, who live at El Monte and whose biographies appear elsewhere in this work.
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