USA > California > Los Angeles County > History of Los Angeles county, Volume III > Part 58
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HON. CHARLES MACLAY was one of the most distinguished and influ- ential pioneer clergymen of the Methodist Episcopal Church in California, became a prominent figure in political affairs here, was called to offices of high public trust, and in every relation of life manifested that splendid stewardship that denotes the strong, noble and loyal nature. He did much to further civic and material progress in the state, and was the founder of the now vital little City of San Fernando.
Charles Maclay was born at Concord, Franklin County, Pennsylvania, November 9, 1822, a representative of one of the old and honored families of the Keystone State. In advancing his education of higher academic order he attended a college at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and after due prepara- tion he was ordained a clergyman of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He held pastoral charges in the Baltimore Conference and was also agent for ·Dickinson College, Pennsylvania. In 1851, accompanied by Mrs. Maclay, they came, by way of the Isthmus of Panama, to California as pioneer
Mary E. Surwold
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missionaries of said church, and established his residence at Santa Clara, where he began his labors at that place and San Jose, erecting the first protestant church edifice of his denomination at Santa Clara, and assisted with the first conferences held in the homes. He was influential in estab- lishing the California Christian Advocate. In 1854 he assumed pastoral charge in San Francisco. While there he rendered appreciative service as a member of the Vigilance Committee in his district in 1856.
From San Francisco he returned to Santa Clara. His character and ability well fitted him for leadership in popular sentiment and actions In 1861 he was elected to the State Legislature on the republican ticket, and in 1862 was re-elected by a large majority. During the second election of Abraham Lincoln to the presidency his name was on the state electoral ticket, and from 1868 until 1873 he was a republican member of the Senate from Santa Clara County. While in the Legislature he was instrumental in having a State Normal School located at San Jose and in having passed the bill under the old constitution, exempting church and school properties from taxation. He was one of the first trustees of the College of the Pacific at San Jose. In local affairs he took a prominent place, and it was largely through his efforts a toll road was built from Santa Clara to Santa Cruz.
In the spring of 1874 Mr. Maclay and his family moved to Southern California, and at that time purchased from Don Eulogio de Celis, Jr., the north half of the San Fernando Ranch, which consisted of 56,000 acres. He plotted and founded the town of San Fernando. On April 4, 1874, the Southern Pacific Railroad ran its first train into the new town. Ex- Gov. Leland Stanford, executive head of the railroad company, gave half rates for one year on tickets and freight to families as an inducement for them to settle at San Fernando. In 1884 Mr. Maclay built the first protestant church in San Fernando Valley, and, as may well be under- stood, this was a Methodist Church. Maclay Addition to San Fernando was placed on the market in 1885. In 1885 he endowed the Maclay College of Theology, with lands valued at $200,000.00, which is now a department of the University of Southern California at Los Angeles.
Mr. Maclay was a man of broad vision and initiative and constructive ability, and to his progressiveness San Fernando owes much in connection with its founding and early development, he having among other liberal activities here erected several business blocks. He continued constant and devoted in church work until the close of his long and useful life. His death occurred at his home July 19, 1890.
On March 2, 1851, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Maclay and Miss Catherine Paxton Lloyd, who was born at Williamsport, Pennsyl- vania, December 15, 1824, a daughter of Hon. Thomas Lloyd. Mrs. Maclay received excellent educational advantages, was a woman of noble character and well known for her benevolence and influence in charitable work, and she shared with her husband in the vicissitudes of pioneer life in California, where she gained the affectionate regard of all who came within the sphere of her influence. She survived her husband by about eight years, having passed to the eternal life on July 2, 1898.
In the concluding paragraph of this memoir is given brief record con- cerning the children of Mr. and Mrs. Maclay. Thomas Lloyd, the first born of the children, died when about fourteen years of age. Arabella is the widow of Albert B. Moffitt and resides at San Fernando. Robert Holmes resides at San Fernando. Mary Elizabeth is a resident of San Fernando and is the widow of Henry W. Griswold, to whom a memorial is given in the preceding sketch. Catherine Paxton is the wife of Henry C. Hubbard, of San Fernando. Josephine Lloyd, youngest of the children of the honored subject of this memoir, is the wife of Thomas J. Walker, of San Fernando.
WILLIAM HENRY HOSKING, business manager of the Long Beach Press, has been in the newspaper business practically ever since he left high school.
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Mr. Hosking was born at Grass Valley, California, July 9, 1889, son of James and Alice Hosking. His parents were pioneers of Grass Valley, settling there in the early sixties after they came from England and lived there nearly half a century.
William H. Hosking graduated from the Grass Valley High School in 1907. Prior to that he had been a newspaper carrier, and subsequently he served in reportorial and editorial capacities on several papers in the state. He first identified himself with the fortunes of the Long Beach Press in the capacity of advertising manager, and subsequently was appointed assistant to the publisher, and is now secretary and director and business manager of the Long Beach Press Publishing Company.
Mr. Hosking is affiliated with Long Beach Lodge No. 888, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and is a member of the Virginia Country Club and Kiwanis Club of Long Beach. At Nevada City, in Nevada County, California, August 12, 1914, he married Miss Mary Lou Werry, her father was the late John Werry, former manager of the Drum Dis- trict of the Pacific Gas & Electric Company. Her mother, Mrs. Libbie Werry, now lives at San Jose, California. Mr. and Mrs. Hosking have one child, Everett Werry Hosking.
THE LONG BEACH PRESS, pioneer newspaper of the second city in Los Angeles County, has been owned and managed by the Long Beach Press Publishing Company since 1910. W. F. Prisk is president of the corporation and editor-manager of the paper. W. H. Hosking is business manager. Mr. Prisk is also interested in the publication of the Pasadena Star-News, but devotes his entire time to the Long Beach enterprise.
The Press has shared the general prosperity of Long Beach and the American Southwest ; and that its constructive policies have aided materially in the progress of its community and district is conceded by the civic and financial interests.
The Press has stood consistently for the best in the social and political life of Long Beach. It has earnestly and tirelessly supported those stand- ards which have caused its city to be widely recognized as the nearest approach to the ideal as a home center, and resort.
The Press is published every evening and Sunday morning. The daily editions range in size from twenty-four to fifty pages, and the Sunday morning paper from seventy to one-hundred or more pages, with an illus- trated colored magazine section and comic supplement, and printed in the Press plant. The local and suburban fields are thoroughly covered, with special correspondents in all of the surrounding cities and towns, and in Los Angeles. The United Press wire service, high-class features and well- selected general miscellany, with a strong editorial policy, are other attrac- tions which have contributed to the popularity and leadership of the Press.
WILLARD M. CONKLIN. To give credit to those to whom it is due, perhaps no class of business men deserve more in connection with the substantial development of many of the beautiful and healthful sections of Los Angeles County than the honorable dealers in real estate. Through them the whole country has learned facts that never before came to their knowledge, through them vast capital has been invested here, and through their efforts what was once a wilderness has been converted into almost a modern paradise, where business flourishes and beautiful homes abound. Santa Monica has thus been built up and great progress has been made within the last decade, especially at Ocean Park, where Willard M. Conk- lin, a leading member of the bar, is a well known realtor and dealer in insurance.
Willard M. Conklin was born at Attica, New York, September 3, 1879, and is a son of Leonard and Nellie L. (Mattison) Conklin, of remote Irish ancestry. He was still young when the family moved to Portland, Oregon, where he completed the public school course, then entered the University of Oregon, from which he was graduated with the class of 1909, with his
Willand M. Conklina
.
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degree of LL. B. Mr. Conklin opened a law office at Portland and was en- gaged there in the practice of his profession until 1912, when he came to Los Angeles County and established himself in his profession at Ocean Park, at the same time embarking in the real estate and insurance business, with offices conveniently located at No. 165 Pier Avenue.
Mr. Conklin has rapidly forged to the front in the real estate business, greatly assisted by his knowledge of the law and his professional experi- ence, and at present is handling some of the finest city and suburban prop- erties on the market. Insurance also is a leading feature, and he deals also in mortgage loans, his volume of business requiring the assistance of three office clerks. Mr. Conklin as agent represents the following representative insurance companies : Great American Insurance Company, St. Paul Fire & Marine, Home Fire & Marine, Colonial Fire, New York City Fire, Glens Falls Fire, City of New York Fire, and also the National Surety Company. At the present time Mr. Conklin is giving attention to a very important enterprise, the subdivision of Central Place, Ocean Park, con- sisting of twenty acres beautifully located and ideal for residential pur- poses.
With a group of Los Angeles capitalists he has formed a syndicate for the development of an oil field that will be known as the Santa Monica Oil Fields. This is located between Pico and National Boulevard, within the city limits of Santa Monica. At the present writing, in the spring of 1923, this company of men is engaged in sinking a test well. Mr. Conklin is a member of the Casino Building Company, which has just started the construction of the first five-story, Class A building, covering an entire block on what is known as the Busch property. It is to be a commercial and office building, to be known as the Casino Building.
Mr. Conklin married, June 27, 1908, Miss Veva C. Best, then of Port- land, Oregon, where she was educated, but born at Canton, Missouri. She is a lady of many social accomplishments and is a member of the Eastern Star.
Mr. Conklin is active and alert in all that concerns his city, is a member of the Chamber of Commerce and of the Civil Service Commission of Santa Monica, belongs to the Masonic fraternity, the Elks and the City Club, and is a member of the State, National and local realty and insurance boards.
EDWARD HAROLD WALLACE. In the death of Edward Harold Wallace, on June 26, 1922, Long Beach lost one of her most highly esteemed and worthy citizens. As president of the Golden State Bank, he stood fore- most in the financial field, and for years had been identified with important business affairs and public matters. Mr. Wallace was a man who ignored personal consideration in community service, a sincere patriot in times of national peril, and an example of true manliness both in public and private life.
Edward Harold Wallace was born at Elora, Ontario, Canada, April 16, 1872, and was nine years old when he accompanied his parents, John D. and Hanna (Patmore) Wallace, in their removal to Drayton, North Dakota, where he had his earliest schooling. In 1888 he entered the prepar- atory department of Hamline University, Minnesota, in company with his brother William H. Wallace, and this fraternal companionship continued until both were graduated in 1895, Edward with the degree of Bachelor of Philosophy and William with the degree of Bachelor of Arts.
Mr. Wallace's first business position after leaving the university, was that of chief accountant for the Amenia & Sharon Land Company at Amenia, North Dakota, a corporation that owned 25,000 acres of wheat land, the president of which was H. F. Chaffee, who was one of the victims of the Lusitania tragedy. In 1900 Mr. Wallace resigned his position with the land company and purchased an interest in the M. T. Dill Grain Company at Prescott, Wisconsin, dealers in grain and lumber, and as junior member of the firm, proved business capacity of a high order.
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In the meanwhile Mr. Wallace had married, and in July, 1908, came with his family to Long Beach, where his brother, William H. Wallace, was cashier of the Exchange National Bank, of which institution he became assistant cashier and so continued until 1916, when he resigned in order to become vice president of the Marine Commercial and Savings Bank. In 1921 he accepted the vice presidency of the California National Bank and later became one of the organizers and the president of the Golden State Bank at Long Beach. For fourteen years Mr. Wallace had been active in the religious, social, civic and business life of Long Beach. For two terms he served as a member of the Board of Education, of which he was president one term, and served with notable efficiency on the Board of Municipal Charter Freeholders, and at the time of his death was a director of the Chamber of Commerce. He was a member of Palos Verdes Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, and a charter member and first president of the Long Beach Optimists Club.
While a student in Hamline University, Mr. Wallace had become acquainted with a classmate, Miss Eleanor Dill, of Prescott, Wisconsin, to whom he was married in July, 1899, and five children were born to them, all of whom except the eldest reside with their mother in the family home at Long Beach: Jean became the wife of Donald Condits of El Monte, California, and resides near San Gabriel, California, John D., Marjorie, William and Eleanor. Mr. Wallace is survived also by his mother, Mrs. J. D. Wallace of Long Beach, and six brothers and sisters, all people of importance in the localities in which they reside.
Among his other sterling qualities was Mr. Wallace's intense love of country. Although never of very robust constitution, he was one of the earliest volunteers for service in the Spanish-American war in 1898 and was actually mustered in, but physical disability soon caused his honorable discharge. At the beginning of the world's war he was equally patriotic, joined the Home Guards and on many a stormy night stood guard with the strongest of his comrades in the harbor district, and addi- tionally never spared himself when he felt he could be useful in further- ing any of the patriotic drives. In 1919 Mr. Wallace fell a victim of the prevailing epidemic of influenza and had never fully recovered from this subtle disease, making him easily susceptible, so that a heavy cold con- tracted while attending a bankers' convention at Del Monte, completely prostrated him and his death followed several weeks later. He was a member and a trustee of Grace Methodist Episcopal Church, in which and in many benevolent organizations, his helpful encouragement had been typical of his often expressed feeling of human responsibility.
JULES FREDERICK ROTH, M. D., was a resident of Los Angeles nearly forty years. During most of that time he was a practicing physician of thorough ability, and was a man of exceptional experience professionally and as a citizen.
Doctor Roth was a native of old Mexico, born at La Paz in Lower California, December 21, 1862, son of Adolph and Delfina Roth. His mother was born in Mexico, of French ancestry. Her father, Adolph Savin, a native of France, went to Mexico about 1842 and engaged in the mercantile business at La Paz. In 1849, after the California gold discovery, he drove a hundred head of horses from La Paz to San Diego, disposing of them on reaching there. For a time he was successfully engaged in placer mining, leaving his family at Los Angeles, and in 1852 returned to La Paz. There he engaged in pearl fishing and merchandizing. He shipped hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of pearls to Europe. During the revolution that made Maximilian the dictator of Mexico, Adolph Savin subscribed practically his entire fortune of $200,000 to the cause, and after Maximilian was deposed he never succeeded in recovering any part of it. He died in La Paz about 1896.
Adolph Roth was a native of Alsace Loraine, and married Miss Delfina
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Savin in La Paz. In 1866 they moved to San Francisco. He was a man of exceptional attainments, and as a linguist had a fluent command of Spanish, French, Italian, German and English. He conducted a commission business in San Francisco and had other interests in that city. He came to Los Angeles in 1885 to join his son in the jewelry business, and after the land boom of 1887-89 he resumed the commission business and continued in that line until his death on July 5, 1904. He and his wife were the parents of eight children, four of whom survive.
Dr. Jules Frederick Roth was four years of age when his parents moved to San Francisco, and he was reared there, attending the public schools. As a young man, at the age of twenty-three, he came to Los Angeles and opened a jewelry store well known to old timers as the Diamond Palace, on North Main Street. He subsequently retired from merchandising, attended the medical college of Los Angeles on Aliso Street, and from there went East and finished his education in Baltimore and Philadelphia. After graduating he went abroad to Paris, was a special student in the Sorbonne and for five years engaged in private practice in Paris and in Belgium. He left there to accept appointment as chief physician on the Red Star Lines, and in that capacity made eighteen trips across the ocean.
After this extended service and experience Dr. Roth came to Los Angeles and established his offices first in the Lankershim Building, later in the Grant Building and for several months before his death had his offices in the Grosse Building. He was a member of the Sierra Madre Club, was one of the organizers of Lodge No. 99, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and in 1917 became a member of Silver Trowel Lodge of Masons.
Doctor Roth died April 11, 1923, in his sixty-first year. In 1898 he married Ella K. Hine, of Akron, Ohio, who died December 27, 1917, leaving one son, Jules H. Roth. On June 15, 1918, at San Diego, the late Doctor Roth married Marie Elizabeth Baer, of St. Louis, Missouri, who survives him. Doctor Roth's mother is still living. There are also two sisters, Mrs. Joseph Scott of Pasadena and Mrs. W. H. Rocholl of Los Angeles and La Paz, and two brothers, Eugene Roth of Hollywood and Raoul Roth of Los Angeles.
Jules H. Roth, only son of the late Doctor Roth, is a native of Los Angeles and has distinguished himself this early as a young man of great vision and unusual success as an executive. He was educated in the Los Angeles High School and during the World war was enlisted in the air service, but the armistice was signed before he went to the front. Mr. Roth is vice president of the Julian Petroleum Corporation of Los Angeles, a $10,000,000 concern, one of the largest producers of petroleum in Southern California. This corporation has a production of about 50,000 barrels daily in the Sante Fe Springs field. The corporation is now constructing a pipe line from the fields to San Pedro harbor, where a $3,000,000 refinery is being constructed. Mr. J. H. Roth is a member of Silver Trowel Lodge No. 415, Free and Accepted Masons.
WILLIAM HORACE AUSTIN came to Long Beach when a boy, and in preparation for his chosen profession had a long practical experience in the building trade. As W. Horace Austin, architect, he has for several years been established and at the head of a business, one of the largest enjoyed by any architect in Southern California.
Mr. Austin was born March 12, 1881, at Abilene, Kansas, and was fourteen years of age when he came to Long Beach in September, 1895, with his parents, who sought the Pacific coast climate for the benefit of their health.
Mr. Austin began his career as a carpenter's apprentice, later became a carpenter foreman, and for several years did a contracting business as a builder. He took this practical knowledge of building mechanic to the University of Pennsylvania, where he pursued special courses in architec-
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ture, and since his return to Long Beach has practiced as W. Horace Austin, architect. He is a member of the American Institute of Architects.
Mr. Austin, whose office is in the First National Bank Building of Long Beach, married Miss Marjorie Sedgwick, born July 31, 1912. They have three children, Marjorie Florence, William Horace, Jr., and Albert Bennett.
GEORGE F. MORRISON is one of the most vigorous and influential ex- ponents of the real-estate business in the Lankershim District of Los An- geles County, and his professional prestige and personal popularity have significant voucher in his having been elected president of the Lankershim Realty Board at the time of its organization, with twenty members, on the 21st of November, 1922, O. A. Duncan being chosen the vice president, Herbert J. Penfield, the secretary, and Mrs. W. E. McCann, the treasurer. This organization was formed for the purpose of effective co-operation among the representatives of the real-estate business in this section of the county and also as a medium for promoting and upholding high stand- ard of ethics in this line of important business enterprise.
Mr. Morrison, under the title of the Morrison Land Company, insti- tuted active business at Lankershim on the 20th of May, 1920. He has been a vital and forward looking exponent of the general real-estate busi- ness and has been associated with the exploitation and development of important additions and sub-divisions, including the Yocum estate tract, the Lindsay tract, and the tracts of the Bennett and Willard estates, as well as the McGarvin tract and several smaller areas. In these connections he finds ample opportunity for advancing the civic and material progress of the Lankershim District, and he has distinct prestige as one of the promi- nent, reliable and substantial exponents of real-estate enterprise in Los Angeles County. In connection with his general real-estate business he gives attention to exchanges and rentals, and has departments devoted to insurance and the extending of loans on real-estate security. In his office employment is given to three assistants.
Mr. Morrison was born in the historic old capital city of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and the date of his nativity was July 17, 1890. He is a son of George P. and Alice Elizabeth (Richardson) Morrison, and his father developed a prosperous business as a contractor and builder at Baton Rouge. Mr. Morrison gained his early education in the public schools of his native city, and thereafter was associated with farm industry in Louisiana until 1909, when he came to California. He remained in the City of San Francisco until February, 1914, when he removed to Tulare County and engaged in ranch enterprise, as an agriculturist and stock- grower. Later he was engaged in the real-estate business in San Francisco, and eventually he returned to Ventura County, where he was identified with the same line of enterprise until he established himself in business at Lankershim, as noted in a preceding paragraph. He is a stockholder in the First National Bank of Lankershim, is affiliated with the Masonic fra- ternity, including the Mystic Shrine, and in addition to being at the time of. this writing the president of the Lankershim Realty Board he is identified also with the California State Realty Board and the National Realty Board, and is a director in the California State Real Estate Association.
November 3, 1919, stands as an important date in the career of Mr. Morrison, since it recorded his marriage with Miss May C. Duval, who was born and reared at Saticoy, Ventura County, where her early educa- tional discipline included that of the high school. Mr. and Mrs. Morrison have one child, George Walter. Mrs. Morrison is affiliated with the Order of the Eastern Star and is a popular factor in the social activities of Lan- kershim.
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