History of Los Angeles county, Volume III, Part 72

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

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For Dozey

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in the world. This is a model ranch in all its different departments in every sense of the word.

His last venture was as one of the purchasing syndicate which acquired Arrowhead Lake, one of the beauty spots of the Southland.

Mr. Brant is survived by his widow and six children. Mrs. Brant resides in Los Angeles with four of the children: Mrs. Harold Bayly, Miss Susan Elizabeth Brant, Thomas J. Brant and Robert A. Brant. The other two sons, Alfred T. Brant and David Otto Brant, reside at and manage the Brant Rancho.

GEORGE KENDAL DAZEY, M. D., one of the able and representative physicians and surgeons of the younger generation in Los Angeles County, is engaged in the successful practice of his profession at Venice, with offices in the First National Bank Building.

Doctor Dazey was born at Hillsboro, Texas, on the 11th of October, 1894, and is a son of Kendal F. and Caroline (Ezell) Dazey, who now maintain their home in the City of Fort Worth, Texas, where the father is living virtually retired, after having been long and successfully engaged in business as a buyer and shipper of grain. He is a democrat and is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias.

The preliminary education of Doctor Dazey was acquired in the public schools of Fort Worth, Texas, and thereafter he continued his studies in the University of Nebraska, at Lincoln, the capital city of that state. He next entered Washington College, at Washington, D. C., and in this institution he was graduated in 1919, with the degree of Bachelor of Science. In the following year he graduated from the medical department of George Washington University, likewise in the national capital, and after receiving therefrom his degree of Doctor of Medicine he came to California and served fourteen months as an interne in the Los Angeles County Hospital, he having also served as an interne in a leading hospital in Washington during his senior year in the medical school. In September, 1921, Doctor Dazey opened his office at Venice, and his ability and popu- larity have resulted in his building up a successful and constantly expand- ing general practice in this fine little city. He is a member of the American Medical Association, the California State Medical Society and the Los Angeles County Medical Society. He is affiliated also with the Alpha Kappa Kappa medical college fraternity, the Pyramid Society, the Loyal Order of Moose and the Brentwood Country Club.

On January 13, 1923, at Los Angeles, Doctor Dazey married Miss Frances Morton French, of Santa Monica, a daughter of Morton and Venice French. Mrs. Dazey is the descendant in a long line of Colonial dames and is a niece of Octave Thanet, well-known writer and novelist who is a sister of Mr. Morton French and in private life is Miss Alice French. Mrs. Dazey is also a great-granddaughter of Marcus Morton, a former governor of Massachusetts.

A. B. SALISBURY, one of the oldest active real estate men in Los Angeles County, is a partner in the Beverly Hills Realty Company, which is a copartnership established January 1, 1920, by W. A. Reeder, Leland P. Reeder and Mr. Salisbury. The company has their offices at the corner of Beverly Drive and Burton Way, and their business is primarily develop- ing and handling Beverly Hills property. They have an eighty acre tract, and have twenty acres subdivided, the first unit having been sold and is now building up rapidly, while the second unit has just been placed on the market. The company also do a general insurance business, and handle rentals and loans.

Albert S. Salisbury was born at Hillsboro, Highland County, Ohio, May 25, 1845. He attended Bloomingdale Academy, Bloomingdale, Indiana, and finished his education in De Pauw University of that state. Mr. Salis- bury has had an interesting career of experience in the country west of the Mississippi Valley, beginning soon after the close of the Civil war and

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before the great continental lines of railway had been constructed. His first work was in Colorado with the construction department of the Kansas Pacific Railway from Eagle Tail to Kit Carson. From there he went into New Mexico and worked as a carpenter in the building of flumes in the mining district. He was at Fort Union, New Mexico, and then at Austin, Texas, where he learned photography and conducted a studio for a time at Hog Eye, Texas, a cross roads section in a large cattle country. These cross roads had a drug store on one corner and a large saloon on each of the other three. Here he proved in his life the correctness of standing for principle. He had been told that when he associated with Texas cowboys, he would have to drink with them or he would be shot. This he firmly refused to do. His business took him frequently into the saloon where bands of cowboys would always be drinking. They invariably invited him to join them at the bar, but he declined in a manner that won him their respect and friendship to the extent that they would have fought for him had it become necessary to do so. Two years later "Jim Tar-heels," a noted Texas character, with four comrades left the end of the trail, which was then at Wichita, Kansas, and rode to Peabody, a distance of forty miles, and went into camp for two days, which time they spent visiting with the one whom they had learned to regard as a friend, and during this time no saloons were visited. From 1871 for ten years he was con- nected with mercantile business and banking in Peabody, Kansas, and in Marion County until failure of his wife's health caused him to remove to Durango, Colorado, where he was connected with mining for five years. He then returned to Eldorado, Kansas, where he engaged in the lumber business for one year.

Mr. Salisbury came to California in 1887, and for six years was engaged in the real estate business at San Diego. Since then he has been a real estate operator in Los Angeles and vicinity. He is a member of the Masonic Order.

August 26, 1873, Mr. Salisbury married Miss Helen M. Van Denburg, who was born at Cohoes, New York, and was educated in the public schools of Columbus, Wisconsin. Mr. and Mrs. Salisbury have three children : William B., of Los Molinos, California ; Frank M., of Washington, D. C., and Helen Maynard, at home. William B. has a son, William B., Jr., and the son Frank has two children, Frank M., Jr., and Mary B.

HUGH R. POMEROY, who recently became secretary of the Los Angeles County Regional Planning Commission and was a member of the California Legislature from the Sixty-second Assembly District, has his loyalty to Los Angeles County established on a secure basis, that of being one of its native sons. He was born at Burbank, this county, May 29, 1899, and is a son of Edward F. and Adele (Hubbard) Pomeroy, the former of whom was born near Arlington in Lee County, Illinois, and the latter at Ottumwa, Iowa. After coming to California in the year 1893 and estab- lishing his residence at Los Angeles, where he was married, Edward F. Pomeroy here passed about five years in the service of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad, and then engaged in ranch enterprise in the vicinity of Burbank, where he and his wife still maintain their home, he being a republican in politics and he and his wife being members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Of four children the subject of this review is the eldest, and Harold E., Richard G. and Doris A. are still members of the parental home circle.

After having profited by the advantages of the public schools at Bur- bank, Hugh R. Pomeroy entered Occidental College as a member of the Class of 1920. He was granted a local preacher's license in the Meth- odist Episcopal Church and served as student pastor of the churches of this denomination at Chatsworth and at Hynes. His college days were brought to a close in October, 1918, when he enlisted in the Officers' Training School at the University of Southern California and was duly mustered into the United States Army in connection with the nation's participation

James J. Collins

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in the World war. He received his honorable discharge on the 16th of December, 1918.

After service as a teacher at Page Military Academy, Los Angeles, and at Hitchcock Military Academy, at San Rafael, he began his activi- ties in civic development work as secretary of the Burbank Chamber of Commerce, from which he quickly advanced to the secretaryship of the Chamber of Commerce at Redondo Beach. During his administration there of fifteen months the Chamber of Commerce secured the public acquisition and improvement of almost a mile of beach frontage, the acquisi- tion of a seven-acre park in the heart of the city, the extension of the school system of the city, the carrying forward of a program of street improvement and the placing of the Chamber in a position of leadership in the organization activities of the county.

As a result of this work he was elected in November, 1922, as a mem- ber of the Assembly of the California Legislature to represent the Sixty- Second Assembly District, which consists of the Santa Monica Bay ter- ritory, and which is one of the most heavily populated districts in the entire state. During the session of the Legislature he was married to Frances W. Muir, of Lankershim, the daughter of Alexander and Margaret (Beattie) Muir of that city, both of whom are natives of Scotland. Mr. Pomeroy's work at Sacramento during the forty-fifth session was marked by support of legislation of particular interest to the development of Los Angeles County. As a result of his study of the sewage disposal problem, he drafted and secured the passage of a sanitation district law, of which instant use has been made by several sections of Los Angeles County, and which Governor Richardson declared to be one of the most important laws of the session. After the close of the session, Mr. Pomeroy was chosen by the board of supervisors of the county for the secretaryship of the County Regional Planning Commission, a body which is laying out a comprehensive plan of growth for the entire county, and correlating developmental activities to conform to this plan. On June 1, 1923, he resigned his position as secretary of the Redondo Beach Chamber of Com- merce and assumed the administration of his new office.

Mr. Pomeroy is found aligned staunchly in the ranks of the republican party, has continued his active affiliation with the Methodist Episcopal Church, and is a member of Redondo Beach Lodge No. 1378, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, Redondo Beach Post No. 184 of the Ameri- can Legion, and Venice Lodge No. 1612, Loyal Order of Moose. His residence is at Redondo Beach.

JAMES FRANCIS COLLINS. In measuring personal importance and public usefulness individuals can only be lined up by their fellowmen as those who have already accomplished things, and those who have not yet done so. To the former class at Long Beach, California, belongs Lieut. James Francis Collins, consulting and supervising engineer, who, although yet a young man, has had wide professional experience, and at the present time is professionally identified with some of the greatest development projects of Southern California. He is exceedingly prominent also in the affairs of the American Legion, being an overseas veteran of the World war.

Mr. Collins was born at Florence, Colorado, November 18, 1891, a son of James F. and Lulu Collins, the former of whom was born in Ohio and the latter in Louisiana. For many years the father of Mr. Collins was prominent in railroad and political circles in Colorado. His death occurred at Victor, in the Cripple Creek District, in 1903. The mother of Mr. Collins, who through a second marriage is Mrs. Lulu (Collins) Clark, is a resident of Phoenix, Arizona.

The childhood of James Francis Collins was spent mainly in the Cripple Creek District. Later he had public and private school advantages at Denver, and then entered a newspaper office and continued to be con- nected with newspaper work until 1909. In the meanwhile, through study

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in night schools, he completed a preparatory course in engineering, and in the fall of 1909 had his first practical experience in connection with the vocation in which he has become so successful. He became a member of the field survey party in Grand Valley, Colorado, and that was but the beginning of important engineering work that has taken him into almost every state west of the Mississippi River, and into Alberta, Canada.

When the United States entered into the World war Engineer Collins became loyally interested and was sent to Camp Lewis. He entered the headquarters company of the 364th Infantry, as a private, and in October, 1917, was made sergeant and was later sent to the Engineers' Training School at Petersburg, Virginia. In May, 1918, he became a second lieuten- ant, and in July, 1918, was assigned to Washington Barracks as a member of the Engineer Corps, and while there was promoted first lieutenant.

In October, 1918, Lieutenant Collins went overseas and landed in England, being sent from there to the First Engineer Unit at Sedan with replacement troops, returning to Anges, France, in November, 1918, from which point he was sent to the engineer purchasing department in Paris. Subsequently Lieutenant Collins was returned to Anges, accom- panied casual troops to St. Nazarre and awaited transportation, no doubt with a busy man's impatience, but was ultimately safely landed at the Presidio, San Francisco, where he received his honorable discharge.

In 1919 Mr. Collins went into business, in 1920 organizing under the firm name of Willis & Collins, general engineers at Long Beach, and on January 1, 1923, Mr. Collins bought his partner's interest and has con- tinued in business as a consulting and supervising engineer, with offices in the handsome new Horne Building at American Avenue and First Street. He is engineer for all Belmont Shore Place companies, and laid out 217 acres made from tide land, which enterprise involved something like a million dollars, and is now engaged in laying out an additional 500 acres, the total cost of the whole enormous project of development not equaling the value of the property which at a low estimate will be worth ten million dollars. He is dredging, as supervising engineer, Alamitos Bay, which, it is predicted, in time will be the finest yachting harbor in the United States. Mr. Collins has many more large projects in hand, and some of these are his own. Interested in a colonization plan in the Mojave Desert, he is associated with some others in developing 3,000 acres there, a stupendous project that will require years of engineering effort to complete.

Mr. Collins married at San Diego, California, on October 3, 1916, Miss Clara Janet Barton, who was born at Denver, Colorado, a daughter of the late Elijah Barton, a former sheriff of Arapahoe County, Colorado, and a prominent citizen. Mr. and Mrs. Collins have one son, James Francis, Jr., who was born in 1918 at Tacoma, Washington.

Immediately upon his return from military life in Europe Lieutenant Collins displayed an active interest in everything pertaining to his former comrades in arms, realizing as only a tried and faithful soldier could their valor, their patriotism and the just claims they had on the consideration and gratitude of their fellow countrymen. In 1921 he was elected com- mander of the Arthur L. Peterson Post No. 27, American Legion, of Long Beach and is still a member of the Legion's state executive committee, is first vice president of the Long Beach Chamber of Commerce and is a past president of the Harbor Commission, having devoted several years to the work of advocating opening up the channels in the harbor. He is a member of the Greater Harbor Committee of 200, having taken a member- ship through his interest and enthusiasm for the development of the great harbor of the Southwest. He is a member of the American Association of Engineers, of which he is a director and past president, and is a member of the Society of American Military Engineers, and of many other organizations.

At one time Lieutenant Collins organized an artillery class at Long Beach and served as its captain, taking much interest in it. He is a mem-

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ber of Long Beach Lodge No. 327, Free and Accepted Masons, and belongs also to the Knights of Pythias and the Elks. He is vice president of the Exchange Club of Long Beach, and is valued in other social organizations, and is a church attendant although not a member of any particular body. He is an able, honorable, far-seeing man and a typical American, frank and friendly.

WILLIAM WESLEY HITCHCOCK, M. D. Among the professional men of high standing in medical science, who was in active practice at Los Angeles for over a quarter of a century, was the late Dr. William Wesley Reed Hitchcock, who was one of the organizers and for many years presi- dent of the magnificent California Hospital of this city. Doctor Hitch- cock was born at Mount Vernon, Jefferson County, Illinois, November 16, 1854, and died in his apartment in Hotel Darby, Los Angeles, California, December 17, 1922.

The parents of Doctor Hitchcock removed to Iowa in his infancy, settling in Lee County, and he obtained his education in the public schools of Keokuk, and later Keokuk College, having earned the money to put himself through college by teaching school. He had early determined on his future career and prepared for the same in Rush Medical College, Chicago, from which great school he was graduated in 1879, with his hard won degree, supplementing this with a post-graduate course in 1880, in Bellevue Hospital, New York City.

In 1881 Doctor Hitchcock established himself as a physician and sur- geon at South Bend, Indiana, where he remained for seven years, build- ing up a large practice and becoming so greatly trusted professionally that he was made health officer. It was while he was serving in this capacity that an epidemic of typhoid fever became acute at South Bend. His suspicions were immediately aroused and he insisted on analyzing the water from the city wells, his analysis resulting in recommendations that brought about the installation of the artesian wells that still supply pure water to that city. South Bend is thus greatly indebted to the energy, public spirit and scientific knowledge of Doctor Hitchcock.

The genial climate of California was factor that led Doctor Hitch- cock, in 1888, to come to this state. He became a resident of Los Angeles and immediately took his place among the able and progressive physicians and surgeons of this city. He was one of the organizers of the California Hospital and that institution flourished for many years with him as its guiding force and director of its policy. He belonged to many scientific bodies and had wide acquaintances with eminent men of his own profes- sion, one of whom of national distinction, the late Dr. John B. Murphy, of Chicago, having been a college classmate and lifelong personal friend. When the cares and responsibilities of his large practice seemed to press too heavily upon him, he decided to turn these over into younger and more vigorous hands, and during the closing years of his life he served as medical director of the Occidental Life Insurance Company at Los Angeles.

At South Bend, Indiana, in 1880, Doctor Hitchcock was married to Miss Ella M. Holler, a daughter of Hon. Christian R. and Mary E. Holler, the former of whom was prominent in political life in Indiana and for some years was a member of the Indiana State Senate. Dr. and Mrs. Hitchcock had one daughter, May, who is the wife of Dr. Dudley Fulton, one of the leading internists and diagnosticians of the Pacific Coast, and they have two daughters: Margaret, who is a student in Mills College, and Dorothy, who is a member of the 1923 graduating class in the Marl- borough School for Girls. Doctor Hitchcock is survived by his immediate family and a brother and sister, McLuther Hitchcock, of Los Angeles, and Mrs. Henry Hubbard, a resident of Iowa.

In a political sense, Doctor Hitchcock could never have been called active, although he was a careful, interested and vigilant citizen wherever he lived, but public life did not appeal to him and the only office which

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he ever accepted at Los Angeles was membership on the board of educa- tion. He frequently consented to serve on committees relating to the city's welfare, and possibly no other member of his professional prominence ever gave more freely or unostentatiously to charity. Benevolence was one of his characteristics and even long after he had retired from active practice, he manifested it among the unfortunate when appealed to profes- sionally. He was a member of the Jonathan Club and the Driving Club, both of Los Angeles.

WILLIAM THOMAS NICHOL, SR., was one of the honored pioneers of Long Beach, California, and in all of the relations of life he so ordered his course as to merit and receive the respect and confidence of those with whom he came in contact. He was a resident of Long Beach for virtually a quarter of a century, and here his death occurred at his home, 821 East Ocean Boulevard, on the 20th of July, 1918, when he was sixty-nine years of age. He was the owner of a large and well improved ranch near Oxnard, Ventura County, and an appreciable amount of valuable realty in Long Beach. In the year following that of his death his widow erected the Nichol apartment building, 821 East Ocean Boulevard, a property which she still owns and her home being there established, as is also that of their only surviving child, William T., Jr., of whom specific record is given on other pages of this volume.

Mr. Nichol was born at Newcastle-on-Tyne, England, April 12, 1849, and was reared and educated in his native land, where his parents remained until their deaths. He was about twenty-five years of age when he estab- lished his residence at Lawrence, Massachusetts, he having come to the United States in 1875. He continued his residence at Lawrence, a suburb of the City of Boston, until his removal to California, to which state he came upon the advice of his physician, in the hope of benefiting a severe throat affliction. Mr. Nichol first came to Long Beach in the year 1893, when this fine city was a mere village with no metropolitan pretentions. In the following spring he returned to Lawrence, Massachusetts, where he had maintained his home fully twenty years, and in 1895 he came with his wife and only surviving child to California, where he passed the remainder of his life and where he contributed his quota to industrial and civic development and advancement. He was engaged in the retail hard- ware business at Long Beach about one year, and then sold the business, which he had conducted in the Bartow Block, at the corner of First Street and American Avenue. Three years prior to his death he removed from Long Beach to his ranch near Oxnard, and three days after his return to the old home at Long Beach he suffered a second stroke of apoplexy and died from the effects thereof .. He had been a successful business man at Lawrence, Massachusetts, and his good judgment led him to make careful investments in ranch and city realty after he came to California.

Mr. Nichol was a staunch and well fortified supporter of the principles of the republican party, and had been influential in political affairs while residing at Lawrence, Massachusetts. In earlier years he had been an active member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and he was affiliated with the Sons of St. George and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows prior to his removal to California.

At Lawrence, Massachusetts, on the 23d of May, 1878, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Nichol and Miss Annie M. Lewellen, and of the five children of this union four died young, at Lawrence. Mr. Nichol's remains were cremated and his ashes taken back to Lawrence for interment beside mortal remains of these children. Mrs. Nichol is now one of the venerable and loved pioneer women of Long Beach, where her circle of friends is coincident with that of her acquaintances.

WILLIAM T. NICHOL, JR., is the executive head of the W. T. Nichol Company, heating contractors, with a well equipped establishment at 212 American Avenue, in the City of Long Beach. Of his father, the late

Wm + Michal.

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William Thomas Nichol, Sr., specific mention is made in a memorial tribute in the preceding sketch. That Mr. Nichol has full appreciation of and faith in his home city is shown by his statements in connection with a recently published newspaper article, from which the following quotations are drawn: "'Expansion and prosperity have gone hand in hand in the growth of Long Beach,' said W. T. Nichol of the W. T. Nichol Company, 'and the present building activity is indicative of prosperity and the thriving condition of the community. Comparing favorably, as it has, with cities twice its size, Long Beach has made strides in development calculated to arouse the interest of the entire nation.'"

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History of Los Angeles county, Volume III, Part 72

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