History of Los Angeles county, Volume III, Part 71

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

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LOUIS G. SUSEMIHL, who is engaged in the successful general practice of his profession at Ocean Park, with offices in the Marine Bank Building, has made for himself a strong vantage-place as one of the able and rep- resentative members of the bar of Los Angeles County. He is one of the progressive and liberal citizens of Ocean Park, where he is actively identified with the Chamber of Commerce and where in a fraternal way he is affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He is a member of the Los Angeles County Bar Association, the California Bar Association, and the American Bar Association.

Mr. Susemihl was born in the City of Davenport, Iowa, October 8, 1869, and his parents, Ludwig and Elizabeth (Peters) Susemihl, now venerable in age, are sterling and honored citizens of Ocean Park, Cal- ifornia. Ludwig Susemihl was born in Denmark and came to the United States about the year 1848. He became a pioneer settler in Iowa, and prior to his removal to California he had been for many years successfully

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established in the real-estate business at Davenport, Iowa. His wife was born in Germany, near the River Rhine.

Louis G. Susemihl profited fully by the advantages of the public schools of his native city, where also he completed a course in a business college. At the age of seventeen years he there entered the law office of the firm of Murphy & Gould, under whose effective preceptorship he continued his study of the law until 1898, when he was admitted to the bar of his native state. Thereafter he continued in the practice of his profession at Davenport until 1907, when he came to California and established his residence at Ocean Park. Here he has built up a sub- stantial and representative general practice, and has appeared in connection with much important litigation in the courts of this section of the state.

HON. ERNEST RILEY RATTERREE. The late Hon. Ernest Riley Rat- terree of Los Angeles, was best known to the people of this city as a successful and reliable realtor, but he was also a resourceful and highly- trained attorney, and had served with distinction on the bench. In every- thing he undertook Judge Ratterree displayed a brilliant aptitude . for accomplishing constructive results, and his death, when he was still in the very prime of useful manhood, was deplored as a heavy loss to his friends and the community generally.

Judge Ratterree was born at Charlotte, North Carolina, in 1878, a son of James R. and Aramenta Ratterree, who moved to Little Rock, Arkansas, when he was but a child of eight years, and he was reared in that city, and received his educational, professional and business training in that city and at Fort Smith. When only sixteen years old he began his connection with the real estate business, and while building up a reputation as a forceful and brilliant operator, he studied law and was admitted to the bar. For four years he served as police judge and judge of the Juvenile Court of Little Rock, and was noted for the soundness of his decisions. Organizing the Arkansas Land Congress, he was one of the most vital influences in securing immigration to Arkansas, and was equally industrious in his realty operations when he moved to Toledo, Ohio. In connection with his service to Arkansas through the medium of the Arkansas Land Company, he was its secretary and as such brought over 20,000 new settlers to the state. While judge he was authorized to name the delegates to the Conservative Congress held at Saint Paul, Minnesota, and also had during his term as judge, the naming of the delegates to the National Irrigation Congress held at Pueblo, Colorado.

As judge of the Juvenile Court Judge Ratterree was the right man in the right place. Possessing the understanding mind he was able to handle the boys brought under his jurisdiction most capably and satisfactorily, and they lost one of their best friends when he retired from the bench. After 1911 he concentrated his efforts upon his real estate business, and continued to operate most successfully. In 1915 he became a resident of Toledo, Ohio; was president of the Toledo Commercial Club; a member of Maumee River Yacht Club, and one of the city's most active citizens.

In 1918 Judge Ratterree became a resident of Los Angeles, this city offering him almost unsurpassed opportunities as a realtor. Organizing the Ratterree Brothers realty firm, he at once took the place in his profes- sion to which his abilities entitled him, and when he died, although he had only been here four years, he was accounted one of the leading realtors of this part of Southern California. He and his wife accompanied the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce.on its trip to Honolulu and Mexico. Judge Ratterree also was interested in banking, and was one of the organizers of the Bank of America, one of the sound banking institutions of Los Angeles. His associate in his real estate business was his brother, James Noble. Allen H. and Dr. Ira C. Ratterree, also brothers, are engaged in the real estate-business in Los Angeles. Judge Ratterree and his partner handled building and subdivisions, their last property opened being Washington Square subdivisions. They have all been richly rewarded

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for their efforts, and Dr. Ira C. Ratterree has resigned from his large medical practice so as to devote all of his attention to real estate. Not only did Judge Ratterree operate extensively in Los Angeles County real estate, he invested heavily in it, and left a very large estate. His residence at 2103 Buckingham Road is valued at $45,000, outside of the ground value. Mrs. Ratterree and James N. Ratterree continue the realty business, which is still under the name of Ratterree Brothers, the office being situated in the Black Building. Judge Ratterree's many activities and interests proved, however, too much of a strain on his vitality, and for four months prior to his demise he was seriously ill, so much so that, accompanied by his wife, he made a trip to Rochester, Minnesota, and consulted with the famous Mayo Brothers, who frankly told him his case was hopeless. Returning to Los Angeles he, sustained by his religious faith, set his house in order and passed quietly away April 8, 1923.

On November 12, 1910, Judge Ratterree was married to Miss Lucile Myers of Carmi, Illinois, a very talented musician, the ceremony being performed at the home of Rev. Ben Cox. Mrs. Ratterree became a student of Catholicism, and was made a Catholic in 1915, and in 1921 Judge Ratterree was also received into the same fold. They were members of Saint Paul parish, Los Angeles. Funeral services were conducted at the church, and interment was made in Calvary cemetery. Judge Ratterree- is survived by his widow, his little daughter, Lucile Ernestine, his parents and his three brothers. Although Judge Ratterree was only spared to round out forty-four years, his brief span of life was filled with more accomplishments than are effected by many who live out the full allotment of years, and his high sense of honor, his uprightness, and his flaming sincerity make his memory one which is cherished as a precious possession by his family and intimate friends.

THOMAS BELL, whose death occurred on the 22d of April, 1918, was a native son of California and a representative of a family whose name has been closely and worthily linked with the history of this state for more than sixty years. In 1858 William C. Bell crossed the plains with team and wagon, and on the 20th of October of that year arrived at El Monte, the family having continued its representation in Los Angeles County during the long intervening years, and having been one of much influence in con- nection with civic advancement and agricultural development.

William C. Bell, the honored pioneer representative of the family in California, was born in Washington County, Pennsylvania, September 17, 1832, the second in a family of five sons and two daughters born to William and Jane (Caldwell) Bell, both likewise natives of the old Key- stone State. In 1850 the family moved from Pennsylvania to Richland County, Illinois, where William Bell developed and improved a farm and also worked at his trade, that of millwright, both he and his wife having passed the remainder of their lives in that state. William C. Bell was fifteen years of age when he left Pennsylvania and went to Concord, Ohio, where he learned the shoemaker's trade. He was about twenty years of age when he made his first start for California, in 1852. He took passage on the old Ohio river packetboat "Saluda," which was wrecked by the explosion of its boilers at Lexington. From that point Mr. Bell made his way on foot to St. Louis, Missouri, whence he continued his journey to Clinton, Illinois, where he worked at his trade. In 1857 he went to Texas, and in the following year he came to California, by the Southern route or trail across the plains. In this journey he was a member of the company of colonists commanded by Captain Coffee, and after his arrival at El Monte he engaged in overland freighting between Los Angeles County and points in Arizona Territory. With this pioneer enterprise he continued his active association fifteen years, and he then settled permanently at El Monte, which place continued his home until the close of his life, his name meriting a place of honor on the roll of the sterling pioneers of California. In the spring of 1859, at El Monte, Mr. Bell married Rebecca

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Helena Birdsall.

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Ann (Fears) Cundiff, who was born in Illinois and who came across the plains to California in 1858. She was one of the loved and venerable pioneer women of El Monte at the time of her death, in 1901. Of the children the eldest was Thomas, subject of this memoir, the names of the other two sons being Charles M. and John. Of the two daughters Susie became the wife of George Wardling, and Anna married a man named Baker.

Thomas Bell was born at El Monte on the 5th of October, 1859, and was there reared to manhood, his educational advantages having been those of the common schools of the locality and period. As a young man he engaged in independent farm enterprise by leasing the old Temple farm near El Monte. On this place of four hundred acres he conducted a successful dairy business, with an average of about twenty-five cows. Finally he purchased a tract of twenty acres on Lexington road, two and one-half miles south of El Monte, and this land he cleared of its growth of willow and tule and planted it to soft-shell walnuts. In 1894 Mr. Bell disposed of his prosperous dairy business, which he had developed to broad scope, and thereafter he lived virtually retired until his death. He was affiliated with Lexington Lodge No. 104, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, at El Monte. Mr. Bell was a man of sterling character, did well his part in advancing the development and prosperity of his native county and ever commanded the unqualified esteem of his fellow men.

In 1910 Mr. Bell added ten acres to his original holding on Lexington road, and on this aggregate tract of thirty acres he developed a fine walnut grove, besides which the place has become a center of specially successful celery culture, for which the soil is admirably adapted.

Mr. Bell married on the 7th of March, 1907, Mrs. Ermenia A. Harvey, nee Venegas, whose first husband, James W. Harvey, died June 11, 1902. Mrs. Bell's parents were pioneers of California, and after their death she was, as a child, adopted and reared by C. Venegas and Jesus Araiza, her foster mother. Her mother, whose maiden name was Fannie Bishop, was born in California, of German ancestry, and she died at the birth of her daughter Ermenia (Mrs. Bell). Mrs. Bell was adopted when she was a child of one year and ten days and her foster father likewise died before she had attained to adult age. She was nineteen years old when her loved foster mother passed away. Mrs. Bell first attended an orphan school con- ducted by Sisters of the Catholic Church at the corner of Alameda and Macy streets, Los Angeles. There she continued her studies five years, and she completed her early education by attending the Ranchito School, one mile south of Pico. She has been from childhood a devoted communi- cant of the Catholic Church, the faith of which was held by her parents and also her foster-parents. Mr. Bell was a Protestant in religion.

Opposite the old mansion of Governor Pico, on Whittier Boule- vard, Mrs. Bell is the owner of a valuable place of eighteen acres, this being a heritage from her first husband and being now leased for oil development. She owns also her beautiful home at 114. East Angelemo Street, San Gabriel, this property having been purchased by her in 1920. Mrs. Bell was born in Los Angeles May 19, 1878, and is the only child of her parents. Mrs. Bell pays high tribute to the devotion of her loved foster mother, who was left a widow with limited means and who was unsparing in her work to provide ways and means for the care and educa- tion of the little adopted daughter, whose filial love and solicitude continued until the gracious bonds were severed by the death of the mother. By her second marriage Mrs. Bell has one son, Thomas Bell, Jr., who remains with her in her attractive home at San Gabriel. Mrs. Bell has shown marked ability in the management of her properties and still retains ownership of the thirty acres developed by Mr. Bell on Lexington road.

MRS. HELEN A. BIRDSALL had lived in Los Angeles thirty-seven years, and her life here and in the East was a remarkable example of christian service and devotion to the cause of humanity.

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She was born at Palmyra, New York, November 23, 1835, and was the last survivor of the thirteen children of Dr. Samuel Moore. Her father was the first homeopathic physician in New York State. His first patients were the famous Fox sisters who founded spiritualism. Mrs. Birdsall's mother was Ruth Sherman. The birthplace of Mrs. Birdsall was, only a few miles from Mormon Hill, where a great celebration of Mormons was held in 1923 to commemorate the anniversary of the finding of the tables on which were inscribed, according to Mormon tradition, the fundamental doctrines of that church.

Mrs. Birdsall was educated at Lyons, New York, and was married to Charles Birdsall of Utica, New York, May 2, 1860. Mr. Birdsall died when their only child was six years of age.

Mrs. Birdsall possessed great ability in a literary way, and had written a great many stories and performed an immense volume of work in other capacities. She was for over twenty-two years associate editor of the Woman's Missionary Friend, a magazine published in Boston and having a world wide circulation. For many years she was president of the Kings Daughters, of which she was a charter member, Mrs. Eliza (Gen) Otis being the first president of that famous organization, while Mrs. Birdsall was the second, she serving for a number of years and being president emeritus at the time of her death. For twenty-five years she acted as recording secretary of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of the First Methodist Episcopal Church of Los Angeles, and was especially interested in foreign missionary work.

Mrs. Birdsall and her daughter Helen Daisy came to California in 1886. Her daughter is Mrs. Frank E. Olds of Los Angeles. Mrs. Olds was educated in New York and attended a finishing school at Clifton Springs, that state.

While prominently connected with the First Methodist Episcopal Church at Los Angeles in various capacities, Mrs. Birdsall's most notable work was as superintendent of the Chinese Mission Sunday School, of which she was superintendent twenty-five years and had never missed her Sunday duties once in all that time. The Young Woman's Auxiliary of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society was named in honor of Mrs. Birdsall only two months before her death.

She passed away at the age of eighty-seven, after a long life of fulfill- ment and noble purpose on April 22, 1923. She had been married nearly sixty-three years. Her daughter, Mrs. Olds, was married on one of the mother's wedding anniversaries and in her mother's wedding dress. Mrs. Birdsall is also survived by a grandson, Reginald Olds, who volunteered when seventeen years of age, three days after America entered the World war, serving in the navy until the armistice was declared and during that period was with the Pueblo air convoy service, crossing the ocean twelve times. He is a graduate of the U. S. C. and is engaged in business with his father, F. E. Olds, who is the largest exclusive manufacturer of tombstones west of the Mississippi.

At the funeral services for Mrs. Birdsall the officiating minister was Doctor Helms of the First Methodist Episcopal Church, and he was assisted by Chan Kiu Sing, the Chinese Methodist pastor of the Mission. The active pall bearers were all members of the Helen Birdsall Auxiliary of the Foreign Missionary Society, and the honorary pall bearers were older women of the missionary society who had been associated with Mrs. Birdsall. She was buried in part of her wedding outfit from 1860.

Helen M. (Mrs. Robert) Allan, president of the Helen Birdsall Auxiliary, wrote the following tribute :

MRS. BIRDSALL An Appreciation

The Master appeared in our garden one day And plucked from its stem one flower away.

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So long we'd enjoyed its fragrance so rare, So long had its perfume been spilled on earth's air, That He longed to behold it filling the place He'd chosen in heaven, and wished it to grace.

The flower thus plucked was full-blown and rare, The soul of a woman, pure-white and most fair.

Snow of many winters on her hair was softly laid,

Suns of many summers in her eyes still gently played ; Wreath of wrinkles showed not worry, doubt, nor fret of care, Sunshine born within the soul had left its imprint there,

Life illumined by the light till windows of that face

Lit up the darkened ways and soothed sore hearts in every place.

She spent her days in ceaseless service here, In fellowship with Christ, to her, most dear, And sought to show her love for fellow-man; So, as she reached the end of life's long span, With truth, they called her "Great Heart," "Spirit White," A soul which knew of naught but heaven and light, In which there was no dearth of joy and love, A soul of life, full-fit to greet her Lord above. HELEN M. (MRS. ROBT.) ALLAN, President of the Helen Birdsall Auxiliary.

GEORGE W. HAZEN. For a number of years before his death, which occurred February 25, 1923, George W. Hazen was head of the Treasury Department's Secret Service in California and Arizona, with headquarters at Los Angeles. He had been in the Federal Secret Service and a Federal employe for thirty-five years, and the organization and the effective power of this branch of the Federal government on the Pacific Coast were largely personified in the late Mr. Hazen, one of the ablest secret service officers in the country.

He was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, February 22, 1859, son of Laurence P. and Theresa Hazen. His father was for many years prominent in Cincin- nati affairs, serving as chief of police, chief of detectives and chief of the fire department. George W. Hazen after completing a public and high school education in Cincinnati became a detective, and soon entered the Federal government employ, his first duty being as body guard to President Cleveland. He joined the Federal service in New York in the early nineties. Subsequently he was given the difficult task of organizing the Government Criminal Investigation on the Pacific Coast. His head- quarters at first were in New York City, and from there in Seattle, Wash- ington, and later at San Francisco, and finally was in charge of the Los Angeles district of the Federal Secret Service. It was his unusual service record that brought him the important honor and responsibility of organ- izing the Secret Service on the Pacific Coast. At that time the coast was overrun with counterfeiters and other violators of the Treasury Depart- ment laws. It would be impossible to note even a list here of the many important captures of criminals which he effected. Only a short time before his death he arrested four men charged with counterfeiting and circulating spurious Bank of England notes, thus breaking up a conspiracy to flood the coast with a million dollars worth of paper.

Mr. Hazen's home was at Alhambra, where he died. His funeral was conducted in All Souls Catholic Church at Alhambra, and he was laid to rest in San Gabriel Mission Cemetery. He was a member of Lodge No. 99, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and Council No. 621, Knights of Columbus, and was active in church and philanthropic affairs. Mr. Hazen married, September 1, 1906, Mary Minor, of Memphis, Tennes- see, a daughter of Alexander and Alice (Reeves) Minor, descendants from

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old Southern families of French-English descent. Mrs. Hazen survives him, and one son, George Anthony Hazen, Jr., now twelve years of age.

ORNA H. SKÈEN, of the firm Skeen & Skeen, general insurance agents, Burbank, California, is an ex-service man, and soon after the close of the war came to California and has since been engaged in the insurance business in Los Angeles County. The firm of Skeen & Skeen, comprising O. H. and C. L. Skeen, was established January 1, 1922. Their offices are in the Victory Building at Burbank. They handle fire, life, casualty, automobile and all other forms of insurance, representing ten of the standard companies. Their field is the San Fernando Valley.

Orna H. Skeen was born at Winnsboro, Texas, July 31, 1887, son of Richard E. and Ruth (Babb) Skeen. His father was a merchant in Texas and came to California in 1919, and is now living retired at Hollywood. O. H. Skeen attended public schools at Winnsboro, and finished his educa- tion in Austin College in Sherman. For five years he was a traveling representative of Marshall Field & Company of Chicago in Texas and Louisiana. He gave up his work on the road to join the colors as a private in Company E, 185th Infantry Regiment. He was in the service six months, receiving his honorable discharge December 16, 1918. Mr. Skeen on January 1, 1921 began the insurance business at Los Angeles as representative of the Providence Life & Trust Company and remained there until establishing a business at Burbank with his brother.

Mr. Skeen is a member of the Chamber of Commerce, the Kiwanis Club, is a Royal Arch Mason, and he and his wife are members of the Eastern Star. He belongs to the Sunset Canyon Country Club and is financial secretary of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Burbank. May 18, 1916, he married Jessie Lee Sharp of Sulphur Springs, Texas. Mrs. Skeen was born and educated in Illinois.

OTTO F. BRANT. The late Otto F. Brant was born at Hamilton, Ohio. July 5, 1860. He was educated in the public schools of Southern Ohio. At an early age he worked for the railroad as telegraph operator, later he became agent for the C. S. H. & D. and the Nickel Plate roads. He married Susan E. Thomas of Hamilton, Ohio. Owing to sickness in the family he came to California in 1888. After looking over the situa- tion on the Pacific Coast, he decided Los Angeles held the greatest promise for the future. This thought he always cherished, declaring that California was the garden spot of the world, and why live elsewhere.

Soon after his arrival here, he, with O. P. Clark purchased the Los Angeles Abstract Company, which afterward became the Title Insurance & Trust Company. It is an interesting fact that Mr. Brant conceived and originated the idea of escrowing business transactions, which plan gives all parties at interest perfect protection. He was vice president and. general manager of this prominent corporation until his death on March 14, 1922.

Mr. Brant was prominent in the business and financial world of the Southwest. Although of a retiring disposition, his sound advice was sought after by a great number, many of whom owe their success to his advice and good judgment. Through his connection with the Title Insur- ance & Trust Company and his personal affairs he was connected in one way or another with practically all the developments of the Southwest. During the war he became interested in the Los Angeles Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company, which has been a great asset in the building of our harbor. In the early days he with several others were the pioneers in the Imperial Valley, then a sand waste, now a garden spot of productivity. In 1910 the old Lankershim Ranch, a very large tract of land in the San Fernando Valley, was purchased with associates and now, after great development and improvements, there are smooth roads and all sorts of intensive farming can be seen as far as the eye reaches. Here he founded the Brant Rancho, which is known throughout the United States as having the second largest herd of pure bred registered Guernsey cattle

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History of Los Angeles county, Volume III, Part 71

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