History of Los Angeles county, Volume III, Part 41

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

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Samuel H. West was born in Coventry, England, September 8, 1880, and was reared and educated in his native land. At the age of nineteen years he went to Siam, and later he passed considerable time at Singapore and Hong Kong, in which latter city he was in the employ of the Hong Kong & Whampoa Dock Company. From the Orient he finally returned to Eng- land, and in 1919 he came to California and began making investment in real estate at Santa Monica. He has since continued a leading exponent of the real estate business in this city, is a member of the Santa Monica Real Estate Board, the Chamber of Commerce, and the Greater Santa Monica Club. He is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity and the Sons of St. George, and he and his wife are communicants of the Protestant Episco- pal Church, representing the same household of faith as that in which he was reared, the Church of England. In May, 1900, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. West and Miss Anna Louise Smith, of Coventry, England, and they have four children : Arthur Henry, Reginald William, Alexander and Terrence Cyril. The eldest son was born in New Zealand, and all of the other children were born in Singapore. Mrs. West is a popular mem- ber of the Santa Monica Bay Woman's Club and she and her husband hold membership in the Iluka Club.

P. KEITH MACKEDIE, secretary and treasurer of the important real estate corporation of S. H. West & Company at Santa Monica, is one of the progressive business men of this beautiful little city, and of the cor- poration with which he is here identified further mention is made in the preceding sketch, in the personal sketch of its president, Samuel H. West.

Mr. Mackedie was born in the City of Montreal, Canada, June 11, 1882, and after having profited by the advantages of the public schools he was

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there identified with mercantile enterprise for a period of ten years. The ensuing decade found him actively associated with the lumber business at Vancouver, British Columbia, and he next passed one year in Hong Kong, China. In 1921 he established his residence at Santa Monica, California, where he has since been successfully identified with the real estate business, as secretary and treasurer of S. H. West & Company. He is a loyal citizen who takes lively interest in all that concerns the well being and progress of his home city and county, and is a valued member of the Greater Santa Monica Club, the Chamber of Commerce and the Santa Monica Realty Board.

On the 15th of September, 1909, at Montreal, Canada, was recorded the marriage of Mr. Mackedie and Miss Isabel Verner, who was there born and reared, and the three children of this union are Verna, Lorraine and June.

ROBERT M. TEAGUE. The distinction of having developed and being proprietor of one of the largest citrus nurseries in the world belongs to Robert M. Teague of San Dimas, who has been established in this business for the last thirty-five years.

Mr. Teague was born in Davis County, Iowa, May 6, 1863, son of Crawford Pinckney and Amanda R. (May) Teague. He was next to the youngest in a family of eight children, and was brought to California across the plains by wagon and team, the journey lasting for six months. He grew up at Santa Rosa, where he attended school, and from boyhood was well acquainted by experience with California methods of farming and horticulture.

Mr. Teague is a pioneer of San Dimas, one of the oldest residents there, having come to this locality in 1880, when he was seventeen years of age. He was then associated with his father and brothers, who leased the seventy-eight hundred acres comprising the San Jose ranch. They used the ranch primarily for grain growing. During these years Mr. Teague became thoroughly acquainted with the possibilities and characteristics of the soil and the climate, and in no small degree those years were years of prepara- tion for the great awakening of 1889, just after the boom. He took advan- tage of conditions and started a small citrus nursery, buying twenty acres of the San Jose tract on Cienega Avenue. There he started his nursery. In 1901 he bought twenty-five acres on Bonita Avenue in San Dimas, piping water to this tract. He also bought forty acres of bottom land, for which he developed water and an electric pumping plant. This was set to lemons. Mr. Teague now owns ninety acres on La Habra Heights, and this entire acreage has been set to nursery stock, propagated from his standard and tested budded stock at the old nursery. With all this acreage devoted to the nursery industry, it is obvious that his business is conducted on an immense scale. His business headquarters are still at San Dimas. He owned a half interest in the California Cultivator, published in Los Angeles, and at one time was half owner of the Pacific Rural Press, but disposed of these interests. He is a firm believer in co-operation and is a member of the San Dimas Orange Association and was one of the organizers of the California Association of Nurserymen and throughout has been one of its leading members. He with others was instrumental in organizing a bud selection department of this association for the purpose of keeping records and having a reliable bud supply in all lines and also to standardize varieties. Mr. Teague is a member of the Pacific Coast Association of Nurserymen.

The success of his own business has been due to reputable and reliable methods based on scientific care in propagating and budding and testing all stock that goes from his plant to individual growers. He employs from thirty to one hundred and fifty men, and during the year 1912 he shipped 280,000 trees.

On November 29, 1892, at Pomona, he married Miss Minnie E. Cowan, a native of Thorntown, Indiana, and daughter of E. A. Cowan, who was a pioneer settler of Pomona. Mrs. Teague was the only child of her par-

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ents. Mr. Teague is a member of the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, the Los Angeles Athletic Club and the Pomona Lodge of Elks.

JOHN M. FUQUA, one of the pioneers of Southern California, now liv- ing in comfortable retirement at Pomona, has witnessed the remarkable development in this region, where as a boy he used to ride to church in an ox cart, but now can, and has, covered the same distance in an areoplane. He was born in San Diego County, October 3, 1853, and during his boy- hood endured the hardships incident to pioneer life. While attending the subscription schools of his time and locality he also enjoyed joining in the hunting of the plentiful wild game of every description. He herded sheep on the present site of Redland. Later he farmed and raised stock. This most remarkable man has met with more than his share of disaster, but has kept up his spirits, and while he has suffered the loss of both of his legs, is actively interested in all that takes place, and finds enjoyment in many ways. His right leg was amputated September 10, 1912, and his left, July 16, 1916.

On September 19, 1878, Mr. Fuqua married Miss Sarah Neighbors, a native of Mississippi, brought to California by her parents in 1864. Her father was a Confederate soldier who was captured by the Federal authori- ties, but when he promised to leave the army he was freed, and he then took his family to the Western coast. Mr. and Mrs. Fuqua became the parents of nine children, namely : I. W., who is a resident of Los Angeles, is in the oil business, and he is married and has two children; Mrs. Mary Boutell resides at Pomona, and has three children; Mrs. Tennie E. Payne, who has three children, lives at Phoenix, Arizona, where her husband is a Standard Oil Company official; Stanford, who is engaged in a transfer business, lives at Pomona; Ida May, who is the wife of R. R. Solmeink, Standard Oil Company's agent at Klamath, Washington, has one child; Clennie, who is the wife of A. B. Chambers, deputy sheriff of Los Angeles County, lives at Pomona, and has three children; John, who resides at Parada, Los Angeles County, is unmarried; Pearl, who was an aviator during the World war, was trained at San Diego, California, and was released after the signing of the armistice; and Florence M., who lives at home. Mr. Fuqua belongs to Pomona Lodge No. 246, I. O. O. F., and was made an Odd Fellow at Corona, California, thirty years ago. He belongs to the Baptist Church. A life-long democrat, he has held the office of road commissioner for both Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties. While residing in San Bernardino County his father set out one of the vineyards in that region, in 1857. Mr. Fuqua drove antelope from the present site of Pomona many times, and he has seen all of the growth of this beautiful little city. The pioneers of Southern California experienced many hardships in their struggle to establish themselves. The years 1863 and 1864 were dry years. It was estimated that there were about 19,000 head of cattle in the locality of the Chino ranch, and they died faster than twelve men could skin them for their hides, which were then more valu- able than their carcasses. The loss of the Fuqua family was heavy, all but thirty-seven of their 500 head of cattle dying, and these were saved by being fed the leaves from the willow trees. By March, 1865, the cattle in this region were almost wiped out. The days of the pioneer and his difficulties are past, but the results of his courage and hard work remain, and are productive of everlasting benefits to his descendants.

HAROLD G. BENNETT. A well-known figure in the business circles of Pasadena, Harold G. Bennett has erected a business structure of worth and substantiality, based upon the solid principles of honorable dealing, industry and progressive spirit. He is at the head of the H. G. Bennett Company, dealers and installers of hardwood floors, and is also a citizen who is taking a helpful interest in the advancement of his community.

Mr. Bennett was born at Hereford, Herefordshire, England, Decem-

Harold &. Bennett

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ber 12, 1885, and is a son of Charles Price and Annally Jeanette (Probert) Bennett. Charles Price Bennett was of an old English family who owned a splendid estate in England, where he was born, and for a number of years was the proprietor of a hardware store at Hereford, being, as known in England, an ironmonger. While his operations in his native land were successful, he felt that an even better opportunity awaited him in the United States, and, accordingly, immigrated to this country in 1890, landing first at New York, whence he went direct to Chicago. He spent twelve years in business in that city, and died in 1902, honored and respected by those who had known him. In England Mr. Bennett was united in marriage with Miss Annally Jeanette Probert, who was born in Wales, of an old Welsh family. She did not accompany her husband to the United States, but waited until he had become settled, joining him in 1891 and bringing with her their children, of whom there were two daughters and six sons, as follows: One son who is deceased; Clive P., a resident of New York City; Mrs. Ethel Casper, of Pasadena; Bessie, a teacher in the public schools of this city; Robert, of Pasadena; Berkeley B., of the firm of the Bennett-Montgomery Hardware Company of Los Angeles ; Harold G., of this review, and John C., an architect of Pasa- dena. Following the death of her husband, in 1902, Mrs. Bennett brought her family to Pasadena, in which city she still makes her home.

Harold G. Bennett attended the public schools of his native place and those of Chicago, Illinois, and was seventeen years of age when he accompanied the family to Pasadena. Here he first secured employment in a grocery store, later being associated with a certified milk enterprise, the Arden Dairy Company. Mr. Bennett felt that he was not making sufficient progress, and accordingly sought a trade in which he could make advancement. Eventually he made his decision and became a journeyman floorman, at $1.50 per day, learning to lay, scrape and polish floors. He mastered the vocation and in 1914 invested his savings in his present business, known as the H. G. Ben- nett Company, hardwood floors, an enterprise in which he has been engaged to the present time with constantly-growing success. He purchases his lumber, consisting of oak, maple, beech and birch, direct from the E. L. Bruce Mills of Memphis, Tennessee, by the carload lot. He furnishes, lays, scrapes and polishes all kinds of hardwood floors complete, does machine sanding, scrapes, cleans and polishes old floors, handles hardwood flooring and sells to competitors. His establishment, at 524-26 South Raymond Avenue, consisting of office and warehouse, is one of the modern structures of the city. The busi- ness has been built up through industry and a thorough knowledge of all details, backed by good management and unfailing integrity.

Fraternally Mr. Bennett is identified with Crown City Lodge No. 324, I. O. O. F., of Pasadena. He likewise holds membership in the Pasadena Chamber of Commerce, the Pasadena Merchants Associa- tion, the Automobile Club of Southern California, in all of which he is popular. As a citizen he willingly gives his support to all measures which promise to benefit the community, and is ever alert to cooperate in constructive measures.

HERMAN C. SCHEEL, D. C., PH. C. In the ranks of Los Angeles County men who have devoted themselves to the science of healing is found Herman C. Scheel, D. C., Ph. C., of Alhambra. A devotee of chiropractic, which is defined as a philosophy, science and art of things natural, and a system of adjusting the subluxated vertebrae of the spinal column, by hand, for the restoration of health, he has won the confidence and gratitude of a large and representative practice.

Doctor Scheel was born at Shickley, Fillmore County, Nebraska, De- cember 14, 1887, and is a son of C. H. and Minnie (Meyer) Scheel, natives of Germany who were brought to the United States in early childhood by

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their parents, later married and passed their active years in the pursuits of farming, and are now living in comfortable retirement. The only child of his parents, Doctor Scheel received his early education in Nebraska and the grammar and high schools of Davenport, Iowa. He then became identified with the general merchandise business, and for some years was known as an efficient salesman. In addition he was an extensive traveler, visiting the Canadian provinces and Europe, and touring England. When he left home he had but three dollars in his pocket, and made his own way. During the course of his travels Doctor Scheel became intensely interested in chiropractic, and eventually entered the Palmer School of Chiropractic, at Davenport, Iowa, where he took a full detailed course, and graduated November 12, 1921, receiving his diploma and the degree of D. C., Ph. C. This science is the outgrowth of a discovery made by Daniel David Palmer in 1895, who founded the Palmer School of Chiropractic, conducted under his supervision and that of his son, B. J. Palmer, the latter of whom now has full control. The first chiropractic adjustment was given in 1895 to a man of impaired hearing. An analysis of the spine disclosed a pronounced subluxation in the upper region of the spinal column. Adjustments restored the misaligned vertebrae to its normal relations, and soon the patient could hear as before his affliction, and thus specially laid the foundation of a new science, now grown on its merit as an efficacious health agent, to a profes- sion of 10,000 members in the field. On January 26, 1922, Doctor Scheel located at Alhambra, where he at once established himself in modern offices at No. 15 First National Bank Building, later, however, moving his office to his home, and has already built up a large and prosperous practice. His is a work selected as a helping hand to afflicted humanity, and his con- scientiousness and superior knowledge have served as agencies in bringing many people to a belief in the efficacy of drugless heading. In all of his chiropractic work he is assisted by Mrs. Scheel. Doctor Scheel is the owner of a handsome modern home on Beacon Street, a community in which he has established many friendly relations and connections. Fraternally he is connected with the Knights of Pythias and the Modern Woodmen of America.

In 1908 Doctor Scheel was united in marriage with Miss Della .Petersen, a native of Iowa, and to this union there was born one child : Myrtle, born at Davenport, Iowa, September 24, 1909. In 1916 Doctor Scheel married Miss Sophia W. Hansen, a native of Davenport, Iowa, who graduated at the same time as her husband from the Palmer School of Chiropractic. Mrs. Scheel is a daughter of H. J. and Clara (Schmidt) Hansen, of Davenport, Iowa. They are the parents of one son: Kenneth E., born October 12, 1919, at Davenport. Doctor and Mrs. Scheel are members of the First Christian Church.

THOMAS H. LAMBERT, of the El Monte District, furnishes one of the best examples of the self-made man Los Angeles County possesses, and his success, through honorable methods, proves what can be accomplished by anyone if he will only work intelligently and industriously, save thriftily and invest wisely. He was born in Franklin County, Arkansas, April 28, 1870, a son of Frank M. and Elizabeth (Jones) Lambert, both natives of Limestone County, Alabama, farming people. They had five children, of whom Thomas H. was the youngest, and he had the misfortune to lose his father when he was four years old, and his mother when he was seven. His father had been a Confederate soldier, enlisting in the Southern Army in 1861, and as a member of the Nineteenth Arkansas Infantry served through the entire war, returning home broken in health, and his death in 1874 was a result of his army hardships.

After his mother's death in 1877 Thomas H. Lambert lived with an uncle for two years, and then with a married sister for five years, and at the tender age of fourteen years began to shift for himself. He had but few opportunities to go to school, and had to work for very small wages. When he was eighteen, realizing his lack of an education and that this

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hampered him, he made arrangements to attend a subscription school for nine months, and work for his board and clothing.

In spite of the fact that his wages were so small, he managed to save a little money, and when he was twenty bought a ticket which enabled him to reach Los Angeles, although he landed in that city in 1890 with but $1.20 in his pocket, which was his entire capital. Within two hours, such was his initiative, he had a job in a grading camp, at $30 per month. This camp was in the charge of S. S. Watson, contractor, and did the construc- tion work on the bridge and fill over Arroya Seco. When this work was completed Mr. Watson kept Mr. Lambert for two weeks on pay, for he valued his services and wanted to have him on other contracts, but as there seemed to be no immediate prospect of them Mr. Lambert went with John L. Chase, of Pasadena, and continued with him for three months for the same pay, doing the same kind of work. He then secured a temporary job on the Killian Ranch at El Monte, planning to remain but three weeks and then return to Arkansas, as he was homesick. At the end of the first week Mr. Killian asked him to remain permanently, but the lad, yearning for his old home and family, declined, but by the end of the second week decided to accept his employer's offer, and remained. His industry and reliability were rewarded in the spring by his being made foreman of this 700-acre ranch, and for four years he was its superintendent.

By this time he felt ready to go into business for himself, and leased land, and from then on has been remarkably successful. He is original in his operations. On that leased land he began raising Irish potatoes, and ever since has grown this crop, although his ventures have broadened in many ways. So well did he plant and cultivate that he raised two crops a year, and he is still doing this. In 1910 he bought a ninety-acre ranch in the Fernando Valley, and was a pioneer in this region, and here he is still growing potatoes, although until 1914 there was no artificial water. Others declared that his scheme was not practical and that he would fail, but he has proven to them during his many years of successful operation that he knew better than they. He has also been one of the successful potato growers in the El Monte District. In partnership with Johnny Blackley he leased the Cushing ranch near El Monte, at Savannah, and during 1909 and 1910 they put down two wells, which, however, were destroyed by an inexperienced air compressor man, who misused compressed air, and this venture was a total loss to the partners, although through no fault of their own. How- ever, undaunted, they at once sunk two other wells, and developed over 100 inches of water. The delay in securing water, together with the loss on the first wells, entailed a loss the first year of $14,000, but the second year they were so successful as to wipe that out and clear $28,000 on their potato crop.

Mr. Lambert made his first purchase of land about 1900, when he bought fifteen acres of land on Monrovia Road, which he planted to Walnuts, and this he sold two years later, and bought thirty acres on Tyler Avenue. This was grain land, but he planted it to soft-shell walnuts. In 1904 he leased the seventy-acre Proctor Avenue ranch, one of the most beautiful walnut ranches in this region, and on it he has erected his fine modern residence. In 1920 he entered the dairy business permanently, although at different times he had produced milk, but his other varied interests had prevented his expanding this line. In May, 1919, he bought 155 acres of the Baldwin estate, one mile due north of El Monte, and this land he reclaimed, setting some of it out to walnuts and planting the remainder to alfalfa. On this ranch he has equipped one of the most sanitary and modern dairies in the state. At present he has over 100 head of fine Holstein cows in his herd. He raises all of his own feed, and markets his produce through the Los Angeles Creamery.

Mr. Lambert married Miss Fannie E. Bryant, of Arkansas, born in Georgia in 1871, from which state she was taken to Arkansas by her parents when still a child. After their marriage, January 11, 1893, Mr. and Mrs. Lambert came back to California. They have had two children, namely :

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Stella and Ottie B. Stella was born November 26, 1893, and graduated from the El Monte High School and the University of Southern California. In June, 1920, she was married to Ray V. Marshall, a native of Pomona, California. Ottie B. was born September 6, 1895, in Arkansas, as was his sister. He, too, graduated from the El Monte High School, and was a splendid type of vigorous young manhood. He lost his life in an accident in the pumping plant on the ranch, September 13, 1913. Mr. Lambert has always been a democrat. He belongs to El Monte Lodge No. 104, F. and A. M .; Alhambra Commandery, K. T .; and Whittier Lodge No. 1258, B. P. O. E. Personally a man of genial disposition, he makes friends easily, and holds them firm in bonds of affection. During his many experi- ences he has found that industry, thrift and good management are, perhaps, the best equipment a man can have in order to become successful, while honesty and fairness in dealing will secure him an enviable place in his community.

ROBERT L. CASNER owns and conducts at 620 South Myreta Avenue, one of the leading meat markets in the City of Monrovia, and the scope and importance of the enterprise indicate the excellent service given at the well ordered establishment.

Mr. Casner is a native son of California, his birth having occurred at Santa Paula, Ventura County, on the 24th of September, 1883. He is a son of Thomas J. and Texana (Lester) Casner, both natives of Texas and representatives of sterling pioneer families of the Lone Star State. Mr. and Mrs. Casner came across the plains, by the Southern route, from Texas to California, the journey having been made in a train of wagons and ox teams, and though they were mere children at the time of this pioneer journey they were married while en route, he having been thirteen years old and she only twelve. The juvenile couple became early settlers at Santa Paula, where they established their home in the year 1853. In that locality the youthful husband entered claim to 140 acres of Govern- ment land, and then turned his attention to its reclamation and improvement. He eventually perfected his title to this property, and there he continued his productive operations many years. The deplorable drouth which came to that section in 1894 made the cultivation of the land impossible, and with his family Mr. Casner abandoned the farm. Of the changes that time has brought there an idea is conveyed when it is stated that on this old Casner homestead are now in operation 169 producing oil wells. Mr. Casner, now a venerable pioneer citizen, resides at Selma, Fresno County, his wife having died in the year 1914. . They became the parents of six sons and six daughters, and of the number four sons and four daughters are living at the time of this writing, in the winter of 1922. Thomas J. Casner and his wife bravely faced the problems and hardships that con- fronted them in the pioneer days, and with the passing years they provided well for their children and gradually prospered in their affairs.

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History of Los Angeles county, Volume III, Part 41

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