History of Los Angeles county, Volume III, Part 68

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

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Mr. Sheldon was born at Oregon, Illinois, on the 23d of July, 1877, and is a son of Joseph E. and Jennie E. (Southard) Sheldon, both of whom died when their son Allan D. was a boy. Joseph Vroman Sheldon, the younger of the two children, has been for many years a resident of Nome, Alaska, where he has large mining interests and is engaged also in the bank- ing business. The father was a representative merchant at Oregon, Illinois, and there his death occurred.

In the public schools of Hart, Michigan, Allan D. Sheldon continued his studies until he had duly profited by the advantages of the high school, and as a young man he had the distinction of becoming a pioneer in the great rush of gold-seekers into the Klondike District of Alaska. In the spring of 1899 he there participated in the Atlin rush, and one year later he came out of that district and joined the great stampede into Nome, in the spring of 1900. He remained in Alaska eight years, during about five of which he was identified with transportation and lighterage business. He then became associated with gold mining. He was president and manager of the Nome Lighterage Company, and served also as manager at Nome for the Hamilton Steamship Company, besides having been continu- ously the secretary of the Johnson Lighterage Company. After this he had experience in superintending one of the richest mines in the Seward Peninsula of Alaska, gold to the value of $2,000,000 having been taken out under his management of the mine. While thus in the very thick of productive activities in the Arctic region Mr. Sheldon took occasion to "come outside" and make his way to Seattle, Washington, where on the 30th of May, 1905, was solemnized his marriage with Miss Minnie L. Cooper, of Hart, Michigan. His young bride accompanied him on his return to Nome, and there they remained three years, at the expiration of which, in the fall of 1908, they returned to Seattle, where they maintained their home six years and where Mr. Sheldon served as private secretary to Captain E. W. Johnson, owner of the above mentioned mine in Alaska.

In the autumn of 1914 Mr. Sheldon came to Pasadena and became associated with the late A. C. Vroman, an old friend of the family, who was here engaged in the book and stationery business and who had always manifested deep interest in and affection for Mr. Sheldon. The death of Mr. Vroman occurred about. eighteen months after Mr. Sheldon had here joined him, and in continuing the business Mr. Sheldon became vice president of the A. C. Vroman corporation, in consonance with a request that had been made by the deceased founder of the enterprise. Mr. Sheldon continued as vice-president until the fall of 1920, since which time he has been president of the company, of the stock of which he now owns eighty per cent.

The executive policies of Mr. Sheldon have been of most liberal and progressive order, and the new store of the company is conceded uniformly to be one of the finest book stores in the United States. In the establish- ment is a most interesting department, a Spanish library room of seven- teenth century type, the while a Spanish patio of the same period is fitted

{ Brigham Thoresen leTessere -

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up and is visited by tourists from all sections of the Union, owing to its attractiveness and its definite integrity in the matter of design and equipment.

Mr. Sheldon is a stalwart in the ranks of the republican party, and while a resident of Nome, Alaska, he was a member of the Republican Central Committee of the territory. In the Masonic fraternity he has received the thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite, his initiation into the great fraternal order having occurred at Nome, and his Mystic Shrine affiliation being with Nile Temple at Seattle, Washington. He is actively identified with the Pasadena Chamber of Commerce and other representa- tive civic and business organizations in his home city, including the Kiwanis Club and the Merchants' Association, and in the World war period he served loyally as a member of the Home Guards. He is a life member of Camp Nome No. 9, Arctic Brotherhood. His wife is a member of the Shakes- peare Club and is a popular figure in the social and cultural activities of the community. The attractive family home is at 1678 North Raymond Avenue, and the three children of the home circle are Lenore Josephine and Allan Vroman, who were born at Nome, Alaska, and Southard Cooper, who was born at Seattle, Washington.

In the preceding sketch may be found a memorial tribute to the late Adam C. Vroman, founder of the business of which Mr. Sheldon is now the executive head.

BINGHAM T. WILSON is a man who has won distinction both as an author and as a resourceful and influential figure in connection with business affairs of broad scope and importance. He has been prominently identi- fied with civic and industrial development and advancement in California, and is one of the influential and honored citizens of Covina, where his beautiful home is situated at the corner of Citrus and Cypress avenues.

Mr. Wilson was born at Grafton, West Virginia, November 8, 1867, and is a son of Rev. William Coleman Wilson and Harriet (Davisson) Wilson, both natives of the historic old State of Virginia and both repre- sentatives of Colonial families that gave patriot soldiers to the nation in the War of the Revolution. Mrs. Harriet (Davisson) Wilson died many years ago, and Rev. William C. Wilson, a distinguished clergyman of the Methodist Episcopal Church, passed the closing years of his long and useful life in the State of California, where he died at the age of eighty- seven years. The parents of the subject of this review came to California in the year 1880 and established their residence in the Boyle Heights Dis- trict of Los Angeles. In 1885 Rev. William C. Wilson purchased twenty acres of land at what is now the northeast corner of Citrus and Cypress avenues in the City of Covina, two and one-half acres of the tract having already been planted to seedling oranges, and some of these venerable trees being still in evidence on the property. This locality, then thinly settled and few marks of improvement along material lines, was known as Citrus Corners, and a store and postoffice were the only definite establishments in what is now the fair little City of Covina. Rev. William C. Wilson reclaimed the remainder of his land planted the same to citrus fruit trees. He met with many trials and perplexities as a pioneer in this district, includ- ing the devastation caused by lack of water for irrigation in the dry years, when even fifty inches of water turned from the river into the dry ditches would sink into the earth before reaching its destination. Mr. Wil- son placed barley sacks in the gopher holes of his irrigating ditches in an effort to conserve the supply of water, and at times he hauled water from the river in barrels in order to preserve his trees. He was a man of fine intellect, of high ideals and of assertive progressiveness -- a man well qualified for leadership in community affairs. He and his wife were of patrician old Scotch Colonial ancestry in Virginia, and inherited much of the constructive pioneer spirit of their Revolutionary forebears. Of the two children who survived the parents the subject of this review is the younger. Jeanette Bird, the only daughter, became the wife of Charles Wesley Munger, an influential business man and citizen of Los Angeles, and there she continued to reside until her death.

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Bingham T. Wilson was afforded the best of educational advantages in his youth, including those of the fine old University of Virginia, at Char- lottesville. He early gave evidence of superior literary talent, and he effectively gave play to this talent by producing many works that have contributed to his fame as an author. Among his more celebrated works may be noted the following: "The Tale of the Phantom Yachts," "The Village of Hide and Seek," "The Hypocrite" (poem drawn from the Tenth Commandment ), and "Ye Mountaineer." These works were pub- lished by the Lyceum Publishing Company, Brooklyn, New York, F. Tenny- son Neale, New York, Consolidated Booksellers, New York, and the Cald- well Press of New York. His literary productions have not only brought him high reputation as an author, but have also brought substantial finan- cial returns.

Mr. Wilson is president of the Wilson Furrowing Machine Com- pany, a subsidiary of the Western Pipe & Steel Company, a million dollar industrial corporation in the City of Los Angeles, and he was the manager of the Luther Burbank Company in Los Angeles, which became the sole distributor of the horticultural products of the great California horticul- tural wizard in whose honor the company was named. The versatility of Mr. Wilson has been further shown along mechanical and inventive lines, and among his valuable inventions is an automatic furrowing machine, for the use of citrus orchardists, this splendid device being manufactured exclusively by the Western Pipe & Steel Company, with which its inventor is associated, as previously noted. This invention has proved of inestima- ble value in perfecting the irrigation system in citrus orchards and is widely in use in California. Mr. Wilson is the owner of a fine citrus orchard at Covina, is one of the influential capitalists and men of affairs in Los Angeles County, and is a leader in the cultural life of his home state, the beautiful family home being known for its gracious hospitality and as a center of much of the social life of the community. Mr. Wilson is a republican and strong in his allegiance to the party and ever ready with his contribution to any worthy cause.

Mr. Wilson wedded Miss Emma Gibson, who likewise is a native of Virginia and a representative of an old and aristocratic family of that commonwealth. Mr. and Mrs. Wilson have two children, William C. of Los Angeles, and Miss Harriet M., who remains at the parental home.

William Coleman Wilson is a singer of note. He was first tenor in the Winter Garden "Four," a fine quartette that recently went over the Orpheum Circuit. He carried the leading part in the military act "Sweeties," and was but recently starred as first tenor in Klaw & Erlanger's "Million Dollar Doll," a comic opera. During the war Mr. Wilson reorganized the marine quartette of Mare Island, which raised from $3,000 to $5,000 per night for the United States Government dur- ing the entire war. He is the author of the official song of the United States Marine Corps, "U. S. spells us." At present he is engaged in the music business in Alhambra.

WILLIAM LUTHER MASON was born at Albany Mine, Michigan, in which state he spent his earlier years. His parents were Edwin L. and Rebecca (Turner) Mason, the former of whom was born in the State of New York and the latter in Scotland. Their marriage took place in Michi- gan, and two children were born to them: William L. and Edith, the latter being the wife of R. T. Vent, of Berkeley, California. Throughout the greater part of his life Mr. Mason's father was a banker at L'Anse, Michigan, and both parents died there.

William L. Mason was educated in the public schools of L'Anse and the University of Michigan, and in 1888 graduated from the University Law School with his degree of LL. B. In the same year he was admitted to the Michigan bar, located in Detroit, where he built up during the next ten years a large practice and lucrative professional connection. Other interests then claimed his attention for a time, which led to his visiting

John R. Williams

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Alaska and British Columbia, where mining and prospecting occupied him for some years.

In 1908 Mr. Mason came to California, and this state has been his home ever since. For nine years he was a resident of Los Angeles, and during a part of this time he was associated with the Westrobac Company, but did not resume the practice of his profession until after he was admitted to the California bar in 1919. In 1917 Mr. Mason came to San Pedro and opened the Mason Hotel. In 1919 he established himself in the prac- tice of law at San Pedro, and is now associated with C. H. Hamlin, under the firm name of Mason & Hamlin, their offices being conveniently situated in the Ferl Building, on Seventh and Beacon streets. They are general practitioners of high professional standing, and Mr. Mason is a member of the Los Angeles County Bar Association.

Mr. Mason married at Los Angeles, on November 24, 1915, Miss Emma Gall, who was born and educated at Detroit, Michigan. They have no children.

In political life Mr. Mason is a republican, but he has never been will- ing to accept a political office for himself, although in his travels and his wide association with men of varying minds he has become convinced that for stable government politics must have an established place. Mr. Mason is a Knight Templar Mason, and belongs also to San Pedro Lodge No. 966, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and to the Rotary Club at San Pedro.

JOHN RICHARD WILLIAMS, better known as "Jack" Williams, governor of the Second District of Rotary International, is one of the strikingly ag- gressive men of Southern California, who has done much to develop the remarkable prosperity of Long Beach and the American Southwest. He is not a native-born American, but it would be difficult to find anyone more rousingly American in thought, word and deed than he. His birth occurred at Rhoscefnhir, on the Isle of Angelsea, North Wales, August 11, 1879, and he is the fourth child of the eleven children born to John and Mary Williams.

Until he was twelve years old Mr. Williams attended school and sang as a choir boy, for he inherits the natural musical gifts of his countrymen, at Llangefni, county seat of the County of Angelsea, but was then compelled to leave school and go to work in order to assist his father in caring for the large family. For five years he worked in a grocery store of his native village, and then took another similar position that paid better wages, at Carnarvon, North Wales, in the same county. Subsequently he was a clerk in a Liverpool store of Ridgeway's Limited, extensive tea-growers and im- porters. After a year with this concern he went to another Ridgeway store at Belfast, Ireland, and it was in this connection that he learned to speak the English language, for, although nineteen years old when he reached Bel- fast, he had up to then only spoken Welsh. So competent did this youth prove himself that within a year he was made manager of the store, and served as such from 1899 to 1906, and could have continued in this position as long as he desired, but his ambitions had been awakened and he decided to venture further afield, and in order to do so, went to his old home, and for nearly five years was engaged in a large retail and wholesale tea and coffee business, in the meanwhile forming new connections, and perfect- ing himself in the English language. In 1911 he sold his business and came to the United States, his objective point being Los Angeles, of whose possibilities he had formed so favorable an opinion from the accounts given him by an Irishman at Belfast.

Upon his arrival at Los Angeles he worked in a grocery for two years, and then, having in the meanwhile married, in 1913 he came to Long Beach and bought the Berlin bakery, immediately changing its name to the Eureka bakery, in which he had a partner, a Scotchman, John Nimmo by name. In October, 1919, Mr. Williams became the sole proprietor, and not only owns the business, but the realty, two-story brick building, bakery, garages and stores on the ground floor and apartments above.

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On March 27, 1918, John Richard Williams became a member of the Long Beach Rotary Club, and that action brought him into public notice, and through the medium of the club he has proven himself to be as effi- cient a booster for Long Beach and Southern California as he is a sound and successful business man, and that is saying considerable. Although he had arrived in the United States but seven years prior to his joining the Rotary Club, he entered upon a campaign of energetic and effective war work which put to shame many a man whose forebears helped to wrest the country from the hostile Indians during the Colonial days. He worked day and night in behalf of war work, spoke, prayed and sang for success to the "boys ;" manned drives for patriotic contributions, and served on the vigilance committee to look after slackers. He was elected president of the Long Beach Rotary Club for 1920-21, and in 1922 was elected gover- nor of the Second District by acclamation at the convention held at San Francisco in that year.

Every Fourth of July a great community celebration is held at Long Beach at which the guests of honor are the newly naturalized Americans. All who since the preceding anniversary of Independence day have become United States electors are with impressive solemnities given American flags and copies of America's creed. Then a new-made citizen responds in behalf of the honored recipients.

On July 4, 1921, it was Mr. Williams' lot to respond for the newly naturalized. So great an impression did his notable address make that he was asked to accept this service again on July 4, 1922. The speech he deliv- ered on this latter occasion will go down in local history as a classic of sound Americanism and merciless indictment of aliens who remain aliens.

On December 2, 1912, Mr. Williams was married at Los Angeles, to Mrs. Charlotte Lewis, a widow, whose maiden name had been Williams. Her family had come to America from South Wales, when she was seven years old, and located at Wilmington, just adjoining Long Beach. While both Mr. and Mrs. Williams can speak Welsh, the North and South Wales dialects are so radically different that neither can understand the other in their native tongue. Fortunately, however, both speak English as well. Mr. Williams is a member of the Long Beach Lodge, Benevolent and Pro- tective Order of Elks. He belongs to the Virginia Country Club and the Long Beach Chamber of Commerce. The First Presbyterian Church of Long Beach holds his membership.

HUGO FRED MEYER. In the City of Long Beach a mercantile estab- lishment which in its service well merits the large and discriminating sup- porting patronage that is accorded to it is that owned by Hugo F. Meyer. The representative enterprise is conducted under the title of the Meyer Millinery Company, and the handsomely equipped and appointed estab- lishment is situated at 242 Pine Avenue. Mr. Meyer gives his close personal supervision to the business, and his personal popularity has had not a little to do with enhancing that of the attractive establishment which they conduct.

In an old homestead that has been held by the family for more than six hundred years, in the province of Lorraine, France, occurred the birth of Hugo Fred Meyer, but he was reared in Westphalen, Germany, in the Ruhr District, which is the stage of French military occupation at the time of this writing, in the spring of 1923. The father of Mr. Meyer was of French and Scotch ancestry and the mother of French lineage. Mr. Meyer was afforded the advantage of historic old Heidelberg University, and after leaving this institution he became a military attache in diplomatic service, with the rank of second lieutenant. In this connection he served in turn at St. Petersburg, Russia, and Constantinople, Turkey. After hav- ing been in this service about two years he became involved in a duel, as the result of which he had to retire. Under these conditions he deter- mined to establish his home in the United States, and the year 1883 recorded his arrival in New York City. He had much of the spirit of adventure,

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and thus he made his way to the West and gained two years of practical experience as a cowboy in the Panhandle District of Texas, after having been for a time in Missouri and Kansas. In this connection he drove cattle from Texas to Kansas City, and in his activities throughout the West in that early period he met with manifold experiences and adventures. He was shot three times, but in each case triumphed fully over his injuries. He became a member of Company D of the Fourth Regiment of the Missouri State Militia, and in this connection his previous military training proved of marked value.

Mr. Meyer is a son of Bernhardt and Bertha (DeMuth) Meyer, the former of whom still resides in Germany and the latter is deceased, she having passed away when the subject of this review was a child. The father was formerly influential in governmental affairs and served for some time as German ambassador to Holland. He whose name introduces this sketch was reared in luxury, but he early gave evidence of democratic impulses and sentiments, and this led to disagreements with other repre- sentatives of his family. The appeal of the United States has been great to him and he has proved one of the most loyal and appreciative of American citizens. His heart has ever been attuned to human sympathy and toler- ance, and he has always been ready to aid those in need, with no thought that any other course could be possible. Those who know him best unite in the verdict that he is always remembering those who are forgotten, and it may well be understood that his benevolences and charities are invariably direct, unselfish and timely. He had his full share of adversity and hard- ship after coming to the United States, has wandered about with neither money nor food, and it is such early experiences that has quickened his spirit of human sympathy and helpfulness.

After remaining in the West some time Mr. Meyer returned to New York City, where he eventually became buyer for one of the leading millinery importing houses of the city located on historic Fifth Avenue and made fifty-one trips abroad. He continued to be associated with the one wholesale millinery importing house of New York for the long period of twenty-three years, and thereafter he was engaged independently in the wholesale and retail millinery business in the national metropolis about five years. About the year 1910, primarily for the benefit of the health of his wife, Mr. Meyer came to California. After passing a brief interval in the City of Los Angeles he established his residence at Long Beach, where he has built up a large and prosperous wholesale and retail millinery busi- ness, his establishment being the largest and finest of the kind in Long Beach and giving employment to a corps of about forty persons.

Mr. Meyer is a republican in political allegiance, and is well fortified in his opinions concerning economic policies. In New York City he was a leader in the independent movement in the old Thirty-third District, and as an independent candidate for membership on the county committee he opposed the strong Brookfield and Platt faction and won the election by a three to one vote, Theodore Roosevelt having been a member of the committee at the same time, and Mr. Meyer having had many pleasing conferences and talks with this distinguished American citizen. Mr. Meyer was a delegate at the time when the independent republicans elected their first mayor of Greater New York City. He is an active and valued mem- ber of the Long Beach Chamber of Commerce, is affiliated with the Fra- ternal Brotherhood, and he and his wife are members of the Christian Science Church.

Mrs. Meyer, whose maiden name was Regina Horn, was born in New York City, but was educated abroad, where she attended a Ursuline Convent, though not a communicant of the Catholic Church. Mr. and Mrs. Meyer have three children, all of whom were reared in New York City: Bertha is the wife of Albert G. Adams, a prominent lawyer in New York City and who was at one time an executive of the government department of justice; Leah is the wife of Benjamin Levy, a member of a well known family of Fresno, California; and Miss Ruth remains at the

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parental home, 1435 East Ocean Avenue, Long Beach, this home being a center of gracious and unostentatious hospitality.

WILLIAM AKINS. To no one body of business men is a community more indebted, perhaps, for its development and improvement than to its realtors. As a rule they are apt to be men who have had business experi- ence in other lines, and they need this discipline, for the real estate busi- ness has many complexities. In Los Angeles County, where there is more desirable property on the market than in many other sections of the country, wonderful development has taken place within a compara- tively few years, through the efforts of well qualified realtors, a number of whom have homes and interests at Santa Monica and Ocean Park. A prominent dealer of the latter place is William Akins, who as owner and proprietor of the Akins Realty Company has been an active force here in real estate and insurance circles for the past eleven years.

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History of Los Angeles county, Volume III, Part 68

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