USA > California > Los Angeles County > History of Los Angeles county, Volume III > Part 65
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George A. Nadeau was born in Quebec, Canada, March 27, 1850. He died in his seventy-third year, February 14, 1923. His father had come to California when the son was nine years of age. The mother and other
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children remained behind at Minnesota, where George A. was educated in the public schools. In 1875 he and his mother came to California by ship around the Horn.
In 1881 George A. Nadeau married Nellie Tyler, whose people came to California when she was three years of age. Her parents were Jeremiah and Elizabeth Tyler. Jeremiah Tyler brought the first fine carriages and harness to California. The Tylers were of old English family and Colonial settlers in America. On coming to California the Tylers first lived at Susanville in Northern California in a mountain valley town, and the family still owns the old ranch there. Nellie Tyler Nadeau died in May, 1917.
After coming to California George A. Nadeau was associated with his father in the freight and transportation business. At that time the Nadeaus operated the first line in California between San Francisco and the Mexican border. The old town of Bowdy on Mona Lake was one of the outposts to which the Nadeau team's and wagons brought supplies for the residents of the valleys and the mines.
After George A. Nadeau left freighting, he bought an extensive rancho, and for many years was engaged in farming and stock raising. His ranch became famous for its live stock, particularly its fine horses. The home on which he spent his last years, a ranch of 160 acres, is now the heart of the industrial center of Los Angeles. About fourteen years before his death he sold a part of his ranch, which now adjoins the property of the Goodyear plant.
George A. Nadeau was a most punctilious man, soul of honor, and while he held many mortgages on valuable properties he never foreclosed, even though it was to his own good advantage. During the great profiteering era in and following the war when rents went up on all kinds of property in Los Angeles, the late Mr. Nadeau persisted in his conservative policy and steadily refused to take advantage of the number of opportunities presented for unusual profits. He was a member of the Chamber of Commerce.
Mr. Nadeau left a large and valuable estate to his four surviving children, who are: Joseph A. Nadeau, Delbert G. Nadeau, Mrs. C. C. King and Stella N., wife of D. B. Bennett, all residents of Los Angeles.
WILLIAM F: BOTSFORD was permanently associated with constructive movements and measures in California for many years and his name appears on many of the original charters to some of the pioneer business corpora- tions in and around Los Angeles.
The Botsford family originated in England. One of them was granted a large tract of land containing a ford, and he was henceforth known as Henry of Botts-Ford. The Botsford family supplied some of the earliest settlers in the colonies of America. A large tract of land granted to the family in New York by the Government for services during the Revolu- tionary war, is still occupied by some of the descendants.
The father of William F. Botsford was Captain John Botsford. He married Miss Ann Huxtable, who was born on the Isle of Man. After his marriage he took his bride in a birch bark canoe across the Sarnia River from Sarnia to Port Huron, Michigan, and thenceforth was a prominent business man and citizen of that Michigan city. He was a cooper by trade and built and operated the first ferry boat that ran across the river from Port Huron to Canada. His business relations were widespread and he had many dealings with the Indians. He made staunch friends of the red men and in turn was made a chief of the tribe.
William F. Botsford was the youngest of five sons and was born at Port Huron, Michigan, in 1853. He attended the University of Michigan and then took a very prominent part in business affairs in Port Huron, building and owning the Botsford grain elevator and being general manager of the steamship lines of the Grand Trunk Railway operating on the Great Lakes, He came to Los Angeles in 1891. He was the first man to plant and grow celery on a commercial scale in California. He also developed what is
Edward P.Bailey
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now known as the C. C. Chapman Ranch at Fullerton. He was president of the old California Bank until it merged with the American National Bank, of which he was made president. Much of the strength of his later years and his financial resources were devoted to the construction of an electric railway sixty miles long, extending from Vallejo through Napa to Rutherford. Mr. Botsford was a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason and Shriner, a member of the California Club, the Los Angeles Country Club, the Jonathan Club, the Bolsa Chica Hunt Club and the San Joaquin Hunting Club.
In 1890 he married Monimia Laux, a native of Illinois and a daughter of Carl Laux, a sketch of whom precedes this. Mrs. Botsford survives her husband. Of her. seven children six are now living :. Mrs. Max Jenney ; John W .; Dorothy, who is a graduate of Stanford University, pursued post graduate work in the Chicago School of Civics and Philanthropy, and is making child welfare work her profession; Mrs. Ben Williams of Los Angeles ; Frederick L., a law student ; and Wilma C., also a student.
Mrs. Botsford is a woman of talent and has long been prominent among Los Angeles women in club, social and artistic work. She is well known as a pianist and composer. Among her many songs published are "Bound," which has been sung by Emmy Destinn and Anna Case ; an oriental song called "Clouds," adapted from a poem by Tagore ; and "Deep in the Heart of You." She has written many accompanied readings, presented in Los Angeles, but these have not been published. Mrs. Botsford is a member of the Southern California Woman's Press Club.
The late Mr. Botsford was an art lover and the home is full of rare treasures garnered from all corners of the globe, and with its beautiful library, music room and art treasures is one of the most distinctive of the many beautiful homes of Southern California. Mr. Botsford died in Los Angeles in May, 1912.
CARL LAUX. One of the prominent old time business men of Los Angeles, was born in the South of Germany and was brought to America by his parents when he was a youth. He was reared in Connecticut and was educated at Trinity College. He gave up his early plans for the min- istry and became a druggist instead. The family was of French ancestry and the name was formerly spelled DeLaux.
Carl Laux during the Civil war served as a hospital steward all through the conflict. After the war he engaged in the drug business at Chicago, remaining there until 1883, when he came to California. At Los Angeles he established his drug business at First and Commercial streets, near the St. Charles Hotel, and later founded the Sun Drug Company, retiring from it a few years before his death, which occurred in 1914. He was a Mason, a member of the Grand Army. of the Republic and an ardent republican.
The wife of Carl Laux was a direct descendant of Count Osterman, who was chief adviser to Peter the Great of Russia. Mrs. Laux is now eighty-one years of age and lives next door to her daughter, Mrs. M. L. Botsford. Mr. and Mrs. Carl Laux had seven children : Mrs. M. L. Bots- ford, Mrs. Caroline Bryant, E. C. Laux, Herbert G. Laux, who is general manager of the Big Dome Porcupine Mines of Canada, Mrs. Robert Granger and Carl Laux, Jr.
EDWARD P. BAILEY, N. D., M. D., Opth. Dr., D. O., D. C., who is estab- lished in the practice of his profession at Long Beach, and who specializes as a neurologist, physio-therapist and doctor of ophthalmology, is a man who has found many things to see and to do. Along divers lines has he proved his power to achieve largely and well; his activities have invariably been of constructive order; his outlook on life is broad and sane; his objective stewardship has been shown in deeds rather than words; and, above all, he "has done things." Within the necessarily circumscribed limitations of an article for use in this publication, it will be impossible to survey in detail the really remarkable and specially interesting career
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of Doctor Bailey, but the brief sketch here offered will signify much to the person who has facility in reading "between the lines."
Edward Percy Bailey was born at Kilmore, Victoria, Australia, May 7, 1867, and is a son of John and Clara Hedges (Minty) Bailey, the former a native of Devonshire and the latter of Bristol, England. John Bailey left England for service in the Crimean war, and thereafter went to Australia, he having won much fame as a railroad builder. His marriage was solemnized in Australia, his wife having been young when she accom- panied her parents from England to that island continent.
Doctor Bailey was given the advantages of various schools and colleges in Victoria and New South Wales, Australia. Among these may be noted the following named: Government Technical College, Sydney (1906) ; Sydney University; Gordon College, New South Wales (1896). In Australia he pursued also his early study of medicine and surgery, but in his profession he has never been satisfied unless marking time with cumula- tive acquirement of technical knowledge. Thus he has continued investiga- tions and study of all new methods advanced as having curative value, the result being that to-day he holds twelve diplomas from schools of healing- from the regular, or allopathic, to chiropractic. He has stated, with the characteristic humility that ever comes with broad knowledge, that the more he studies and graduates the more helpless and ignorant he feels. In this connection he gave the further appreciative statement: "The subject of studying the body beautiful, its care, use and abuse, is illimitable, and from practical experience I can say no school of healing is entitled to one tithe of what it claims in healing value, but all have much of merit and should be studied and used, insofar as values are demonstrated."
Doctor Bailey came from Australia to the United States in 1908, on what was supposed to be a six months' holiday trip from Sydney. He became so impressed and satisfied with Southern California that he has never returned to his native land. However, his alert spirit of adventure has not been denied expression in the interim, for he has traveled through Canada and Mexico, besides visiting every state in the Union, and, as he says, with definite emphasis, he is "always glad to get back to Long Beach."
As touching the professional attainments of Dr. Bailey it may be recorded that in 1909 he was graduated in the McCormick Medical College and also the Sheldon-Leavitt Psycho-Physiology College; that in 1912 he was graduated in the Palmer School of Chiropractic; and that he has likewise been a student in the California Eclectic Medical College. In brief, he holds degrees as follows: Doctor of Medicine, Doctor of Neurology, Doctor of Ophthalmology, Doctor of Optics and Doctor of Chiropractic.
Apropos of the earlier experience of Doctor Bailey are the following quotations from a newspaper article: "He is an Australian, born within rifle shot of the famous Bendigo gold fields in that country. His father and brothers were railway builders, and for a time prior to entering college he did construction work with them in the Australian jungles. A large portion of Australia's 5,000,000 inhabitants are aboriginal natives, form- ing the lowest and most treacherous species of humanity, and it was among these, in territory where white man never before had trod, that Dr. Bailey experienced many adventurous thrills attendant on his engineering labors." Of a later period in the Doctor's career of adventure the same article continues as follows: "Besides being an extensive traveler and bushman in Australia, Doctor Bailey spent considerable time in the wilds of Mexico along the west coast, seeking a location for a colony proposition and riding horseback inland from the coast at Mazatlan to Mexico City. The Doctor has traveled throughout every state in the Union and the northwest sec- tions of Canada, and he has always enjoyed a peculiar faculty of making friends with wild animals."
As a traveler of broad and varied experience Doctor Bailey has most pleasing association with kindred spirits through his membership in the Adventurers Club of Los Angeles, of which he is secretary, and that of Long Beach, of which he is president. In the Los Angeles Times of
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October 29, 1922, appeared a most interesting article recounting the experi- ences of Chester Ellsworth, a fellow member of this club, by whom he has been dubbed the "Single Shot Grizzly Bear King." This account was written and contributed by Dr. Bailey and tells of the exploits of Mr. Ells- worth as a hunter of the grizzly bears.
Laying aside the title of Doctor, we shall now give brief account of the World war service of Lieutenant Colonel Edward P. Bailey, depart- ment inspector for the State of California in the great organization known as the World War Veterans, to affiliation with which veterans of all of the allied nations in the great war are eligible.
From an article published in November, 1920, are taken the following extracts, with minor modification : "To the present date, November, 1920, Dr. Bailey has treated some ninety-two veterans, at no cost to anyone except himself, but it was done for the cause he has had so much at heart. Being over the age limit, he was not eligible for foreign service, but was appointed assistant to the recruiting officer and medical examiner in Long Beach for both the British and Canadian authorities as soon as the United States entered the war, and since the armistice he has been examiner for disability and pensions for these departments. The Long Beach Brigade of World War Veterans was the first practical organization of the kind organized in the United States, and Dr. Bailey not only served as its commander but also was awarded by the international organization an honorary com- mission as major, in April, 1919. In June of that year he was a delegate to the encampment of the World War Veterans in Illinois, and it was in this connection that the brigade at Long Beach was formerly organized as Kitchener Post, No. 1, World War Veterans, while preferment came to Doctor Bailey in his appointment to the office of department inspector for California, with the rank of lieutenant colonel.
Following is a transcript of a document received by Doctor Bailey from the office of the British secretary of state for foreign affairs. "The atten- tion of His Majesty's Government has been called to the valuable services which you rendered to the Empire in the late War, in various spheres of activity, notably in connection with the recruiting of volunteers, in the promotion of patriotic organizations, the encouragement of cordial rela- tions between British subjects and American citizens, and in the care of the wounded. It is my privilege to address you on behalf of His Majesty's Government this letter of acknowledgement as a testimony of Britain's appreciation of the patriotic labors which you devoted to the cause of the Empire in the hour of its need" and signed by Lord Curzon.
Doctor Bailey is at the present time medical examiner for pensions and for reconstruction work for the British and Canadian authorities for Imperial, Australian and Canadian ex-service men, and for his service in this capacity he maintains completely fitted offices at 1307 East Ocean boulevard, Long Beach.
The Canadian Club of Los Angeles claimed Doctor Bailey as its presi- dent in 1912-13-14 ; in 1920 he was president of the Canadian and British Club at Long Beach ; he was commander of Kitchener Post, No. 1, World War Veterans for the period of 1919-21. The Doctor was made president of the California Association of Neuropathic Physicians and Surgeons in 1920 and is still the incumbent of this position at the time of this writing, in the winter of 1922. He is identified with leading medical societies and associations, is an influential member of the Inter-Cities Club of Southern California, is a life member of the California Federation of State Societies, and as a staunch supporter of the principles and cause of the republican party he is serving in 1922 as chairman of the republican committee of his precinct. He is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, including the Order of the Eastern Star, and is past patron of the Court of Amaranth, at Long Beach. He is identified with the Long Beach Chamber of Commerce, and with various representative civic and cultural organizations. He is an appreciative patron of the fine arts, of literature and of all agencies that make for human advancement and happiness. The Doctor has, indeed, "done things," and that he has done all of them well his host of friends will gladly attest.
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GEORGE H. KING. The profession of the law has many able representa- tives in Los Angeles County, as it has elsewhere, and those practicing at its bar are to be found in the forefront of constructive action along many lines, for the bar association is composed of good and public spirited citizens and enthusiastic Californians, whose efforts are directed toward a further expan- sion of the wonderful possibilities of this favored region. One of these successful attorneys and leading citizens of the county is George H. King of Glendale, whose capable handling of his numerous cases proves his skill and resourcefulness, and results in favorable decisions for his clients in the majority of instances.
George H. King was born at New Orleans, Louisiana, January 10, 1873. His educational training was obtained in the public schools of Saint Louis, Missouri, to which city his parents had removed during his childhood, and in those of Chamberlain, South Dakota, where he completed the high-school course. Deciding upon becoming an attorney, he studied law under the preceptorship of Hon. W. A. Porter, a very eminent lawyer of Chamber- lain, and, passing the requisite examinations of the state, was admitted to practice his chosen profession by South Dakota officials in 1894. Imme- diately thereafter he entered upon the practice of his calling, and was elected the first prosecuting attorney of the newly created County of Lyman, South Dakota, which office he held for four years, during that period prov- ing his fearlessness and ability. In 1898 he went to Norfolk, Nebraska, and continued his practice in that city for four years, when once more he changed his field of operation and went to Benton City, Washington, where he was numbered among the effective practitioners of that section. He was also engaged in active practice at Portland, Oregon, Port Angeles, Washington, where he served as police judge and city attorney until 1921, in that year resigning to come to Glendale, where he has found the environ- ment for which he was seeking, and where he has settled permanently. His practice is a general civil and criminal one, and he has built up a very wide connection throughout the county. Mr. King belongs to the Los Angeles County Bar Association and the California State Bar Association. He is a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Knights of Pythias, the Knights of Khorassan, the American Exchange Club, and the Glendale Chamber of Commerce, and is active in all of these organizations.
On August 27, 1911, Mr. King was united in marriage with Miss Mabelle Aldrich .of Tekonsha, Michigan, and they have three children : Audry Jean and James G., and Mabelle Theresa. Mrs. King was born, reared and educated at Tekonsha, Calhoun County, Michigan. She belongs to the Pythian Sisters. Both Mr. and Mrs. King are very popular socially, and they have gathered about them a congenial circle of friends whom they delight to entertain in their beautiful home at Glendale.
CAMERON D. THOM. No community is likely to show much develop- ment until it secures the services of a first-class realtor because the ordi- nary citizen is not versed in the proper methods to adopt in order to expand the confines of the community, and to attract to it new capital and additional population. In fact the handling of real estate has been, within recent years, raised to the dignity of a profession, and the men engaged in it have not only achieved for themselves a calling that is profitable, but have also rendered a service that can hardly be over estimated. Because of the possibilities in such work this profession is now claiming some of the most able men of all sections of the country, particularly in those regions where the conditions are particularly favorable for the further development. Nowhere are these more numerous than in Los Angeles County, and needless to say that no region in the entire United States can show a better class of realtors, nor point to more constructive accomp- lishments, than can Los Angeles County. One of these alert and public- spirited men, who not only has been successful himself, but has carried with him a number of others in his onward progress, is Cameron D. Thom,
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president of the Glendale Realty Board, and president of the Glendale Realty Company, the latter with offices at 13112 South Brand Building, Glendale.
Cameron D. Thom was born at Los Angeles, California, August 12, 1878, so he has the distinction of being a Native Son of the great Golden State. His father, Cameron Erskine Thom, was born in Virginia, and was one of the men who, with the courage that carries men far, joined in the great overland rush of '49 to the gold fields. Unlike many, he remained in California, being for a time engaged in mining in Northern California, but subsequently he yielded to the lure of the southern portion of the great state, and located at Los Angeles. He was a man of parts, an attorney, and engaged in the practice of law at Los Angeles, becom- ing one of the most distinguished men of his day. He served Los Angeles County as prosecuting attorney, and the City of Los Angeles as mayor, and represented the county in the State Assembly. When war was declared between the two sections of the country, as was but natural considering his birth, he espoused the cause of the South, and served as a a major in the Confederate army. About 1873 he located in Los Angeles where he had large land holdings, amounting to approximately 500 acres of land, and also about 3,000 acres near Glendale and here his long and useful life ended in 1916. His widow survives him and makes her home at Los Angeles. Her maiden name was Belle Hathwell.
The educational training of Cameron D. Thom was acquired in the public schools of his native state, and he early became a prominent factor in realty circles in connection with the management of his father's proper- ties. In 1901 he went into the real-estate business at Glendale, and is one of the largest realty operators in his section. In 1919 Mr. Thom, James A. Endicott and B. F. Bourne established the Glendale Realty Com- pany, of which Mr. Thom is now the sole owner, with offices at 1 and 2 Flower Block, to handle real estate and insurance, but removal was later made to the present location. The Glendale Realty Company handles its own subdivision, the Bellhurst Tracts, of 200 lots, one of the most desir- able and exclusive residential districts of Glendale. Employment is given to six persons.
The Glendale Realty Board, of which Mr. Thom is president, was established in September, 1920, with the following original officials: Charles Guthrie, president; Cameron D. Thom, vice president; E. P. Hayward, secretary; and Roy D. King, treasurer. There were twenty- five charter members, but at the beginning of the second year the mem- bership had dwindled to twelve. At present the organization, which is in a most flourishing condition, has sixty-four active members, and twenty- five associate members, and offices are maintained at Room 7, 111 East Broadway, Glendale. The present officials are: Cameron D. Thom, presi- dent; A. M. Yale, vice president ; E. P. Hayward, secretary ; and R. D. King, treasurer. The governing committee is composed of the follow- ing members: Charles B. Guthrie, Cameron D. Thom, E. P. Hayward, Roy D. King, Arthur Campbell, A. M. Yale, W. A. Horn, H. M. Miller and James W. Pearson.
Mr. Thom maintains membership with the California State Realty Board and the National Realty Board. He belongs to the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, of which he is past exalted ruler, the Masonic fraternity, the Kiwanis Club, and the Chamber of Commerce. Like his father, when war broke upon this country, he enlisted in the service, and fought in the Spanish-American war, and is now a member of the Spanish- American Veteran Association.
On March 1, 1903, Mr. Thom was married to Miss Susie Livingston of Los Angeles, a daughter of Richard and Jennie Livingston. Mrs. Thom was born in Northern California, and educated in the schools of Los Angeles. Mr. and Mrs. Thom have two children: Cameron Livingston and Virginia, both of whom are at home. Mrs. Thom is very active as a member of the Tuesday Afternoon Club, and in other social organizations,
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