History of Los Angeles county, Volume III, Part 77

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

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Charles L. Cronk attended public schools in Kansas, and after 1903 his education was acquired at Long Beach. In 1909, at the age of nineteen, he went to work for the Exchange National Bank of Long Beach, being mes- senger boy at $25 a month. He was promoted to bookkeeper, and after three years became bookkeeper for the First National Bank of Long Beach. He resigned in 1919 as assistant cashier to take charge of the Old Savings Bank of San Bernardino, an institution that was incorporated in 1889. In December, 1920, it was reorganized as the San Bernardino Valley Bank, and Mr. Cronk continued as its cashier and later as vice president until the bank was sold in 1922. Mr. Cronk helped organize and became manager of the San Bernardino Clearing House. He is a graduate of the Los Angeles Chapter of the American Institute of Banking, a purely educational organization for the officers and employes of banks, and he was instrumental in organizing and became the first president of the Orange Belt Chapter of the association.

While at Long Beach during the war Mr. Cronk had charge of all the Liberty Loan drives under the title of assistant manager, and was assistant chairman of the Victory Loan drive in San Bernardino. He served two terms as vice president, and became president of the San Bernardino Chamber of Commerce, succeeding Judge Rex B. Goodsell, who was appointed collector of internal revenue in Los Angeles. After a few months Mr. Cronk also resigned, on May 1, 1922, at which date he also retired from the San Bernardino Valley Bank, and then returned to Long Beach and became manager of the local office of the California Company.

Mr. Cronk in the three years he lived at San Bernardino made himself an indispensable citizen of that locality, and when he left there it was said "this city lost one of those natural leaders of civic enterprises whose com- munity patriotism was transmitted into real service."

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Mr. Cronk is a life member of San Bernardino Lodge No. 836, Ben- evolent and Protective Order of Elks, is a Rotarian, a republican, and since returning to Long Beach has become a member of Palos Verde Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, and the Long Beach Chamber of Commerce. On February 19, 1912, at Long Beach, he married Miss Mary Sans Souci, a native of Rhode Island. They have one son, Frederick Cronk.

EDWIN O. LOUCKS. Prominent in the law and also in public affairs in Los Angeles County, no citizen of San Pedro stands higher in public esteem than Edwin O. Loucks, formerly a member of the California legis- lature, who is senior member of the important law firm of Loucks & Phister, at San Pedro. Although not a native son, Mr. Loucks entertains a deep love for California which he has made his chosen home for a number of years and in which state he has won both political and professional distinction.

Mr. Loucks was born at Aurora, Kane County, Illinois, December 3, 1876. His parents were Charles and Phebe Elizabeth Loucks, the former of whom was a lawyer by profession. During the Civil war he was in the service of the Federal government as a paymaster in the United States Navy.

Edwin O. Loucks was mainly educated at Washington, D. C., and was graduated from the Central High School in that city, and in 1901 was graduated from Columbian University with his Bachelor of Law degree. Shortly afterward he went west as far as Oklahoma and engaged in the practice of his profession at Lawton, in Comanche County. Prior to this, however, he had been in military service, as a private in Company C First District of Columbia Volunteer Infantry in the war with Spain, and during his term of service in Cuba in 1898, participated in the siege of Santiago. After his honorable discharge he returned to Washington and completed his law studies in Columbian University.

In 1912 Mr. Loucks came to California and established himself at Los Angeles, where he became an active citizen and ultimately an influential one. He engaged in the practice of law there with much success and became an important factor in republican politics. In 1917 he was made deputy city prosecutor of Los Angeles and served as such until 1921. when he was elected to the General Assembly and served with marked ability in the Forty-fourth Session, as a representative of the Seventy- first District. He is a member of the Republican State Central Com- mittee from Los Angeles County, and is credited with being not only an able party organizer but a wise, constructive leader.

Mr. Loucks was married at Los Angeles, California, to Miss Florence Hart, who was born at Saginaw, Michigan, and is a daughter of William H. Hart, a well known resident of that city. Mr. and Mrs. Loucks have one daughter, Frances Alice Pitcher.

Since coming to San Pedro, Mr. Loucks has been associated in the practice of law with Mr. Phister, under the firm name of Loucks & Phister, with offices in the Marine National Bank Building. This firm has a wide reputation as specialists in Admiralty and Maritime law, and are also general practitioners, with high standing in their profession. Mr. Loucks is a member of the Los Angeles County Bar Association.

Personally Mr. Loucks has very important financial interests at San Pedro and elsewhere. He was one of the organizers of the Marine National Bank of San Pedro, of which he is a director, and is a member of the Advisory Board of the Marine Bank and the Pacific Southwest Trust and Savings Bank, and is attorney for three branches at Harbor. He is a member of the San Pedro Chamber of Commerce and active in encourage- ing worthy movements for the city's welfare. He belongs to the Masonic fraternity, a member of Hollywood lodge; is past exalted ruler of San Pedro Lodge of Elks, No. 966; and is past commander of J. Franklin Bell Camp of Spanish War Veterans. Mr. Loucks is a member of the Los Angeles Athletic Club, the Wiltshire Country Club, and is president

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of the Southern California Alumni Association of the Kappa Sigma National Greek letter fraternity.

MONTGOMERY PHISTER, junior member of the law firm Loucks & Phister, at San Pedro, went into service in the navy soon after graduating from law school, and did not begin active practice until the war was over, since which time he has made an enviable record as one of the younger members of the bar of Los Angeles County.

Mr. Phister was born at Denver, Colorado, September 6, 1879, son of Charles Stuart and Belle (Wanamaker) Phister. Most of his life has been spent in Southern California. He attended public school at San Diego, graduated in 1913 from the Long Beach High School and then went East to take his pre-legal course in the University of Chicago. Subsequently he returned to California and graduated with the Doctor of Laws degree in 1918 from the University of Southern California. During the war in 1918-19 he was a sailor with the United States Battle Fleet in the Mediter- ranean and other European waters.

After his honorable discharge he located at Los Angeles and became trial attorney for the firm Tanner, Odell & Taft, and since 1920 has been a member of the firm Loucks & Phister at San Pedro. Mr. Phister tried and won on appeal the case of the Marine Hardware Company vs. the Schooner Mountaineer. In this case a question of the first instance was involved limiting the Admiralty Jurisdiction of Federal Courts. Mr. Phis- ter acted as city prosecutor of San Pedro in 1920. He is a director of the Guarantee Finance Company and is a member of the Republican State Central Committee.

Fraternally he is junior warden of .Point Firmin Lodge (U. D.), Free and Accepted Masons, is also a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and the college fraternity Delta Theta Phi, of which he was Dean in 1918. He is a member of the Los Angeles Athletic Club and is a Methodist. He married at Los Angeles, November 9, 1921, Helga Loraine Winther.

L. E. PAULL is one of the vigorous and successful exponents of real- estate enterprise in Los Angeles County, maintains his office at 241 East First Street in the City of Long Beach, and his more important operations at the present time include his activities as selling agent for the Chateau Thierry tract, of 204 acres, and the Long Beach Boulevard tract, of forty acres, these two areas being specially attractive subdivisions of Long Beach and offering excellent investment opportunities.

Mr. Paull was born at Bellaire, Ohio, and is a son of Christopher and Eliza J. (Baumgardner) Paull, the former of whom died when the subject of this review was five years of age and the latter of whom was a resident of Youngstown, Ohio, at the time of her death, September 13, 1917. Christopher Paull was a prosperous farmer near Bellaire, Ohio, at the time of his death, when he was still a young man, and his widow was left to care for their young children, two sons and three daughters. One son and one daughter have since passed away. After having profited by the advantages of the public schools of Bellaire, Ohio, L. E. Paull completed a course in the Bellaire Business College. For the ensuing six months he was employed in a real-estate office at that place, and for the ensuing period of two and one-half years he was employed in the electrical department of the La Belle Iron Works, at Steubenville, Ohio. He then took a position in the wholesale dry-goods house of the W. S. Walker Company, at Steubenville, and with this concern he continued his alliance thirteen years, besides which he there held, about ten years, the position of chief executive or manager of the fraternal organization known as the Protective Home Circle.

Mr. Paull continued his residence in the old Buckeye State until 1920, in February of which year he established his residence at Long Beach, California, where he forthwith initiated his association with real estate

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HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY

enterprise, in the capacity of salesman in connection with the development of South Gate Gardens, a tract that was being exploited by the Charles. B. Hopper Company. After one year of effective work in this connection Mr. Paull became associated with the John P. Mills organization, and within eight months he won three prizes given by this concern for effective salesmanship. In October, 1921, Mr. Paull assumed the position of sell- ing agent for the Chateau Thierry and Long Beach Boulevard tracts, and in the sale of lots on these tracts he has made a remarkable record, with a record of gross sales to the amount of $2,000,000. Boulevard Park sub- division has also been entirely sold out. He was in impaired health when he came to California and his capitalistic resources were at the time summed up in $1,500. Within two and one-half years he has accumulated through his successful operations in the local real-estate field about $150,000, and his status is that of one of the most successful, reliable and progressive representatives of the real-estate business in this section of the state. He became the sole owner of the Long Beach Boulevard tract of forty acres, which he purchased for a consideration of $160,000, and which he recently closed out by final sale of all lots, the sale of the property having brought to him $240,000. He is the owner of two attractive bunga- low courts at Long Beach, and has other valuable holdings in this district of Los Angeles County.

Mr. Paull has been specially active and influential in the work of the fraternal order known as the Protective Home Circle, with which he and his wife have been affiliated fifteen years. He organized the lodge of this order at Steubenville, Ohio, and served also as district deputy for the fraternity. He is affiliated also with the Modern Woodmen of America and the United Commercial Travelers, is a republican in political allegiance, he and his wife hold membership in the Methodist Episcopal Church, and he is an active and popular member of the Long Beach Chamber of Com- merce and the Long Beach Realty Board.

December 20, 1905, recorded the marriage of Mr. Paull to Miss Mar- garet M. Ingler, who was born and reared at Steubenville, Ohio, and they have three children: Edgar, Eloise and Billie, all of whom were born at Steubenville, Ohio, and all of whom are still at the parental home.

ALBERT WILLIAM VASEY. In the upbuilding and extension of any community, no business interests equal that of banking in importance. A sound conservative bank is the foundation stone of commercial con- fidence. Such an institution at Long Beach is found in the Golden State Bank, which is operating with a paid in capital of $200,000, and num- bers among its officers and board of directors, men of financial responsi- bility and proved business sagacity.

Albert William Vasey, president of the Golden State Bank of Long Beach, California, was born at Bellflower, McLean County, Illinois, Janu- ary 24, 1876, a son of Lucius A. and Amelia (Tobey) Vasey, the latter of whom died when he was three years old. Lucius A. Vasey was born in McHenry County, Illinois, in August, 1849, and was graduated from the Illinois Wesleyan University in the class of 1871, having removed to Bloomington in 1865. He was married there to Amelia Tobey, who was born in Columbia County, New York, and prior to her marriage had been a valued teacher in the public schools. Her death occurred in 1879. Mr. Vasey followed farming in McLean County, near Bellflower, until 1885, when he removed to Le Roy, in which place he still resides, having been retired for some years.

Albert W. Vasey was graduated from the high school at Le Roy, Illinois, in the class of 1893, following which he entered the Illinois Wes- leyan University at Bloomington, from which he received his degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1897, and then took up the matter of a future career. This is an important decision that faces every young man and happily for Mr Vasey, he determined on a line of business for which Nature had abundantly qualified him by endowing him with high personal character,

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industry, thrift and sound judgment. True, these qualifications are factors of importance in any vocation, but they are absolutely essential in banking. For the first twelve years of his business career, Mr. Vasey was connected with J. Keenan's Bank at Le Roy, where he had thorough training. At the end of that period he went to New Mexico and became cashier of the First National Bank of Cimarron, which was a leading financial institu- tion of that section, and under the close attention and careful limiting of credit by Mr. Vasey, its property was greatly increased.

Mr. Vasey continued with the First National Bank of Cimarron until February, 1920, when he sold his interests there and came to Long Beach, California, arriving on June 1, 1920. In September following he bought an interest in the First National Bank at Gardena, California, becoming vice president and cashier of that institution, but sold his interest when, in association with the late Edward H. Wallace, he became one of the organizers of the Golden State Bank at Long Beach. When this bank opened for business on January 3, 1922, Mr. Wallace occupied the position of president, while Mr. Vasey was vice president of the institution, a condition which was terminated by the death of President Wallace on June 26, 1922. At the meeting of the board of directors on July 12, 1922, Mr. Vasey was declared president and so continues. The present officers of the Golden State Bank of Long Beach are: A. W. Vasey, president ; H. R. Simonson, vice president ; J. E. Davis, vice president; J. S. Crow, cashier ; M. W. Daubney, assistant cashier, and R. D. Fuller, assistant cashier.

Mr. Vasey was married at Bloomington, Illinois, October 30, 1902, to Miss Maude Batterton Kilgore, who is a daughter of Thomas Beach Kilgore, a leading citizen of Bloomington. Mr. and Mrs. Vasey have four children : Lucius Beach, a graduate of the Colfax County High School at Raton, New Mexico, who is a student in the University of Southern Cali- fornia ; and Pierce Kilgore, Elizabeth and Thomas Kilgore, all of whom are in school at Long Beach. A graduate of the Illinois Wesleyan Uni- versity in 1897, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts, Mrs. Vasey is promi- nent in church and social circles, being president of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and a member of the P. E. O., the D. A. R., and the Ebell Club of Long Beach.

In political life Mr. Vasey is a republican in national affairs but in local matters exercises his own judgment according to his ideas of good citizenship. He belongs to the Chamber of Commerce and to the Adver- tising Club of Long Beach, the Optimist Club, the Virginia Country Club, the Petroleum Commercial Club, and is an active and liberal member of the First Methodist Episcopal Church of this city.

WILLIAM C. FLEMING. Among the men who have watched and par- ticipated in the gradual development of Los Angeles County, one who has spent his entire career as a ranchman is William C. Fleming, whose valuable property is located on Cate Lane, two miles east of Whittier Boulevard. Mr. Fleming has seen the population of the county grow by leaps and bounds, has watched the automobile gradually replace the horse as a means of conveyance, and has taken part in various movements which have served to bring about progress. He is conceded to be one of the well-to-do citizens in a community noted for its prosperity.

Mr. Fleming was born on the old Fleming ranch two miles north of Downey, California, October 17, 1870, a son of J. P. and Mary Elizabeth (Johnson) Fleming. There were seven children in the family: William C .; Susie, the wife of L. E. Dahling, a large peach-grower of Yuba City, California; John L., a prominent attorney-at-law of Los Angeles; Frost, of Lamanda Park, California ; David P., of Wilmington, this state; Eula, the wife of Richard Morton, of Colegrove, this state; and Ella, the wife of S. Geer, of Puente, California. J. P. Fleming, the father of these children, was born at Spring Creek, Madison County, North Carolina, and in early youth migrated to Texas. In 1868 he joined a wagon train to make the

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journey overland to California, and in this train was Miss Mary Elizabeth Johnson and her parents. Upon their arrival at Downey, California, Mr. Fleming and Miss Johnson were married, and Mr. Fleming purchased a small ranch two miles from Downey, where were born the seven children. Mr. Fleming engaged in farming and cattle buying, and during the early days was forced to meet and overcome numerous hardships and obstacles, but his industry and good management won him a substantial fortune and he is now living in comfortable retirement at Los Angeles.

The educational training of William C. Fleming was gained in the Gallatin school, and the greater part of his boyhood and youth was passed on the home ranch, where he became familiar with all the duties of the place and developed into a full-fledged "buckaroo." In 1901 he moved to his present ranch on Cate Lane, on the old Cate Road, a famed bit of garden land that is exceptionally valuable. He is the first man on the Case ditch, one of the oldest and most valuable water rights in Southern California. While his earlier years were spent in the saddle, forking a cow pony, of more recent years he has made use of the automobile as a means of recrea- tion and has visited many points of interest in the state. On one of these jaunts he drove his parents over the old freight trail to Texas and thence to their old North Carolina home, covering a journey in days that formerly required months. Mr. Fleming has always followed ranching and is of the type of Californians who belong to the days of hospitality and real out-door living.

Mr. Fleming has been twice married, and by his first marriage has three children: Randolph, born in 1904, who is attending high school at El Monte; and Victor and Victoria, born in 1906, who are attending school. Mr. Fleming's second marriage was with Miss Ida Pallett, who was born May 23, 1875, at Rivera, California, daughter of William A. and Sarah E. Pallett, the latter born near Mount Diablo, California. William A. Pallett was born in Tennessee and moved to Missouri with his parents at the age of five years. In 1860 they came to Mendocino and Lake counties, California, and in 1867 Mr. Pallett went to Rivera, where he purchased the old Hadley ranch of 500 acres. In 1900 he disposed of his holdings and took his family to Argentina, South America, but later returned to the United States and took up their residence at Santa Ana, where they now reside.

FRANK B. DAMRON, D. D. S., has been successfully established in the practice of his profession at Long Beach since the year 1909, and liis large and representative clientage stands in evidence alike of his technical ability and his personal popularity. The Doctor is one of the prominent representatives of his profession in Los Angeles County, has served as president of the Long Beach Dental Society and was president of the Southern California Dental Society for the year 1921, he being now a member of the Executive Council of this organization. He is a broad- gauged and progressive citizen, is a stalwart republican, is affiliated life member with the local lodge of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and with the Xi Psi Phi dental fraternity, and is a member of the Kiwanis Club and the Virginia Country Club. The finely appointed offices of Dr. Damron are established in suite 614 of the First National Bank Building at Long Beach.

Dr. Damron was born at Macomb, Illinois, on the 27th of February, 1880, and is a son of William Pace Damron and Edna (Bonham) Dam- ron, who were residents of St. Louis, Missouri, at the time of their death, the father having been for many years in the service of the Missouri Pacific Railroad.

In the public schools of his native city Dr. Damron continued his studies until his graduation in the high school, as a member of the class of 1898, and thereafter he attended the University of Pennsylvania, in the City of Philadelphia. After his graduation in the department of dentistry of the Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, Dr. Dam-

person

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HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY

ron was for a time engaged in the practice of his profession at Ford, Kentucky. He later established himself in practice at Lincoln, Nebraska, and in 1909 he engaged in practice at Long Beach, California, where unqualified success has since attended his able professional activities. He is the owner of one of the attractive residence properties of the city and is financially interested in oil properties in this section of the state.

In June, 1908, at Plattsmouth, Nebraska, Dr. Damron wedded Miss Sally Agnew, who was educated in the University of Nebraska. Mrs. Dam- ron died in December, 1910, at Long Beach, California, and is survived by one son, Charles Parmele Damron, who was born in the City of Los Angeles, July 23, 1909.

On the 15th of June, 1912, was recorded the marriage of Dr. Dam- ron to Miss Ethel N. Bridge, of Monroe, Wisconsin. Mrs. Damron was born and reared in the Badger State and was graduated in the musical conservatory of the University of Wisconsin.

NELSON EVANS took up the profession of photography, and became nationally known as an artist, and died when at the height of his fame.

He was born in Columbus, Ohio, June 6, 1889, son of Charles F. and Mary L. (Hopkins) Evans. His father is now living retired in Columbus, Ohio, after leading an active life as a coal operator of the Hocking Valley coal mines. He is of old Colonial ancestry, and his son Nelson was a mem- ber of the Sons of the American Revolution. Mrs. Evans was a native of Philadelphia and a daughter of Thomas Charles Hopkins and Mary Ann. Christine Hopkins. Her ancestors came to the United States in the ship Amsterdam, which made the voyage in 1750. Her father was a descendant of Essex Hopkins, of the queen's navy. Mrs. Evans' grandfather, John Christine, fought under General Cadwaller as a captain. Mr. and Mrs. Evans were the parents of two sons, Charles Hopkins and Nelson Evans. Charles Hopkins Evans was with Battery H, First Artillery, during the Spanish-American war, and went to the Philippines as first sergeant of the 41st New York Regiment and lost his life in the service in 1901.

Nelson Evans was liberally educated in the Coles Latin School at Colum- bus, at Princeton Preparatory School and Kenyon College. He is survived by his mother and father and one sister, Mrs. Claire Evans Finlay, of New York City.

Nelson Evans made the choice of photography as a career against the wishes and desires of his father, but his achievements fully justified the choice. His photography was something original and new, and like the old masters he created characters. He took countless pictures of Mary Pick- ford, the Talmadge sisters, and many other screen favorites. For several years he did much of the "still photograph" at many of the moving pictures studios at Hollywood. It was in 1915 that he established his charming studio in Hollywood. His parents are now keeping this as a memorial to him, and it is in the charge of his own secretary, Miss Ruth Dowdall. Mr. Evans was a student of all religions, being especially fond of metaphysics. During the World war he enlisted and was commissioned first lieutenant in charge of photography supplies for the aviation service and was stationed in New York City. It was during this period that he made a camera which he prophesied would be the greatest camera of all in aviation use, and this prophecy is in a fair way of being fulfilled. He was a great collector of the Old Masters and rare old books.

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History of Los Angeles county, Volume III, Part 77

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