USA > California > Los Angeles County > History of Los Angeles county, Volume III > Part 84
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other fine canines. During 1907-08 Mr. and Mrs. Hastings were again in Paris, and while there their son Wells, Jr., was born. A number of years ago Mr. Hastings bought a house in Farmington, Connecticut. This house was built in 1740, and it is one of four houses in that community adorned with hand carved wood work made by British prisoners during the Revolution.
The late Mr. Hastings began writing while a boy, and his first important story was "The Wooden Indian." While in Yale he was chairman of the Yale Record, and he wrote a number of college plays. For a number of years he was a regular contributor of verse, essays, short stories and plays to the magazines. He was for a time editor of Hampton's Magazine, and wrote for the Century and the American, and contributed a number of detective stories to the popular magazines. His first book, pub- lished in 1911, was a collaboration with Bryant Hooker, called the "Professor's Mystery," and he also wrote "The Man in the Brown Derby" in the same year. He was a member of the Episcopal Church, was a progressive in politics, and was a member of the Yale and the Players Clubs. One of his essays, entitled "Our Children," has been translated in many foreign languages.
Mr. Hastings was talented in other arts. He modeled beautifully and painted well. During the late war he served on the Exemption Board in Farmington, Connecticut, and for several months he worked sixteen hours a day in patriotic duty. As a result of his son's illness the family came to California, and Mr. Hastings became interested in the moving picture industry with D. W. Griffith. Cutting and editing, he helped Mr. Griffith in producing "Broken Blossoms." He wrote many stories for Dorothy Gish, one of the best known of which was "The Ghost in the Garret," in which Dorothy Gish starred. For about two years he was in the East with Mr. Griffith, but the attractions of California sunshine caused him to return here. After their fourth sojourn at Claremont on a ranch he went with "Realart" as head of the editorial department until that company dissolved. He then became a scenario and continuity writer, and had much to do with the production of "Way Down East." He was an art connoisseur, had a rare library, and his most intimate friends were men of international reputation in the world of arts and letters.
Mr. Hastings' funeral service was held at St. Mathias Church in Hollywood, and at the same time memorial service was being held in St. Thomas Church in New York City, where hundreds of his friends paid him their last reverence.
Mr. Hastings is survived by Mrs. Hastings and five children, the oldest now eighteen years of age. Mrs. Hastings for twenty years was the most intimate companion of her husband in his home and in all his artistic and literary work. Her own talents have shone to no mean advantage. She has done much good work in sculpture, paints with an exquisite sensitiveness that is rare, and she writes as well as she paints. She has studied in Paris, in Germany and in New York.
JUAN C. DESEPULVEDA. Many chapters of Southern California his- tory are prominently involved in the DeSepulveda family annals. A number of the descendants of the original stock of this family still live in and around Los Angeles. One member of the family was the late Juan C. DeSepulveda, who was born in 1814, a son of Don Jose Dolores DeSepul- veda. He was a native of Los Angeles. His mother was also a native, she being Mariana Cia Avilla, daughter of one of the early Spanish families. Juan C. and his brother Jose are both sons of Don Jose, and as young men rendered many valuable services to the Mexican govern- ment, especially to the military forces. For this reason the Mexican government awarded the brothers the famous tract now known as the Palos Verdes Rancho and also forty acres of what is now the town of
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San Pedro, including the principal business sections of that harbor city. The brothers also inherited much of their father's land, and their wealth was such that they never had to do a day's labor in all their lives. In early years their ranches were well stocked with cattle and horses, and they also raised grain extensively. All their laborers lived on their ranches. Frequently a fiesta would be held on the DeSepulveda ranch, and guests would come from as far away as Monterey. All were quartered and cared for throughout the fiestas, which sometimes lasted for two weeks or more.
Juan C. and his brother were both educated as lawyers. Juan became judge of the Justice Court and was later county supervisor. He and his brother made their home at Palos Verdes, which had four houses.
The first wife of Juan C. DeSepulveda was Felepe Alleneire, a daughter of Spain. She was the mother of four daughters and one son, all now deceased. The second wife of Juan C. DeSepulveda was Susana Ruiz, a daughter of Francisco Ruiz. She was born February 27, 1853, at Boyle Heights, on a portion of the original Ruiz Spanish grant. She was sixteen years of age when in 1869 she became the wife of Juan C. DeSepul- veda. Six children were born to them, and the five now living are Mrs. Elisa Miehle, Mrs. Leonidas Day, Dolores, Juan and Andrew DeSepulveda.
The mother of these children died May 31, 1923, being one of the last representatives of the old regime in Los Angeles County. Four generations of her family were natives of California, and not one had ever gone outside the state. The land owned by the late Mrs. DeSepulveda around San Pedro has a valuation of approximately forty million dollars. A short time before her death she sold a two thousand foot frontage to the Southern Pacific Railway for a fortune. The DeSepulvedas lost the Palos Verdes Rancho largely through fraud. Jose DeSepulveda died at Palos Verdes a number of years ago, while Juan C. passed away in 1898, when eighty-four years of age. Both brothers had been instrumental in bringing California into the Union. Juan owned the first schooner in San Pedro harbor. He also gave the first bells for the old Mission Church.
One of the daughters, Mrs. Miehle, has a son, John Joseph (Juan Jose), who has been a camera man, for the Fox studios, for the United studios and now for the Hollywood studios.
CHARLES W. YOUNG for fifteen years has been one of the men most aggressive in promoting the development of the Eagle Rock community and cooperating in every movement for the welfare of that prospering town of Los Angeles County. Since 1915 he has been in the real estate business, and conducts a general service in real estate, loans, exchanges, rentals and insurance.
Mr. Young was born at Geneseo in Henry County, Illinois, May 8, 1865. He was educated in the public schools of his native town and the Daven- port Business College, and had an extensive experience in farming, raising and shipping fine horses, and for two years before coming to California his home was in South Dakota.
Mr. Young came to Los Angeles in 1905, and for two years was in business buying and selling grocery stores. His home has been at Eagle Rock since 1907, and he gave a great deal of time to the duties of public office for some years. He acted as chairman of the Glendale Union High School Board, was mayor of Eagle Rock, city clerk four years, and also served as superintendent of street construction. In the real estate business he handled not only properties in and around Eagle Rock, but also in the cities of Los Angeles and Pasadena. He is a member of the Eagle Rock Realty Board and the State and National Real Estate associations. He belongs to the Eagle Rock Chamber of Commerce, and is a former trustee of the Congregational Church.
On November 23, 1899, Mr. Young married Miss Emma Eleanor Hines,
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also a native of Geneseo, Illinois, where she was educated. Mrs. Young has an active part in the social life of Eagle Rock, being one of the directors of the Twentieth Century Club. Much study has made her an authority on the Spanish period and Missions of Southern California. Mr. and Mrs. Young have one child, Amber Eleanor, now a student in the Southern Branch of the University of California.
SIDNEY ELWOOD GRANT, for a number of years was in the real estate business in old Mexico, and since coming to Glendale he and his wife have developed one of the notable sanatoriums of the county, a rest home, known far and wide for its splendid appointments and service.
Mr. Grant was born in Henderson, Kentucky, January 11, 1859, son of John W. and Elizabeth (DeAsker) Grant. He acquired a public school education in his native town and at Evansville, Indiana, and as a youth served an apprenticeship to learn the marble cutter's trade. For several years he was in the marble business at Denison, Iowa, and Atlantic, Iowa, and following that was located for several years at Shawnee, Oklahoma. Mr. Grant from Oklahoma went to old Mexico and engaged in the real estate business at San Dieguito. In 1911 he came to Los Angeles, and a' short time later to Glendale, where he bought property at 1209 East Lex- ington Street. He and Mrs. Grant then established the institution known as "Arbor Rest Home," starting with only seven rooms. They now have building equipment practically covering their ground, 175 x 156 feet, and with forty rooms have accommodations for thirty people. Every room is electrically heated. It is an institution giving a service deserving of its title. Most of the patients are elderly people, and one of them was William Dowing, who reached the age of 101 years.
Mr. Grant is an independent in politics and is a Mason and Odd Fellow. In October, 1884, he married Miss Virginia Eureka De Sisson, of Ottumwa, Iowa. She died in 1897, leaving four children : Ray E., of St. Louis, Mis- souri ; Horace J., of Shawnee, Oklahoma ; Enid E., wife of LaMar D. Cros- trait, of San Antonio, Texas; and Miss Vera Maude, living with her father at Glendale.
In 1901 Mr. Grant married Miss Daisy Dean, of Adair, Iowa. She was born in Iowa, and is a graduate nurse of a hospital at Des Moines. She is the active superintendent of the Rest Home. Mrs. Grant is a mem- ber of the Presbyterian Church, belongs to the Professional and Business Woman's Club of Glendale, and is a member of the Eastern Star and the Rebekahs.
FRANK B. TURNER is senior member of the copartnership Turner and Carson, realtors at Montrose. Mr. Turner is a man of varied business experience, is a veteran of two wars, and has been associated with George W. Carson at Montrose since September, 1922. They handle a general business in real estate, exchanges, loans, and insurance. They have devel- oped and put on the market one of the very attractive sub-divisions in this section of the county, Lacayada Acres, a tract of eighteen acres.
Frank B. Turner was born in Jersey City, New Jersey, September 19, 1873. He was educated in the public schools there, and for a number of years was associated with his father, Jerome Turner, in the sash, door and blind business. As a young man Mr. Turner volunteered for duty in the Spanish-American war, served eight months and was corporal of Company K of the First United States Engineers. He was on active duty in Porto Rico.
After leaving his father's manufacturing establishment in 1908 Mr. Turner was in the automobile business at New York City and Jersey City until 1916. He then became a Federal employe in the quartermaster's department of the National Military Home at Dayton, Ohio. On July 5, 1917, from there he enlisted as a private in the One Hundred Twelfth Ammunition Train, Headquarters Company, and subsequently was trans-
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ferred to Ordnance Department, holding the rank of sergeant. On June 3, 1918, he was released on account of disability, and for some months recuperated at Fort Stanton, New Mexico. In September, 1920, he came to California, locating at Montrose, and for about a year and a half was associated with the firm Collins & Tillinghas, realtors. In March, 1922, he engaged in business for himself and later in the same year became asso- ciated with Mr. Carson. Mr. Turner is a member of the Montrose Chamber of Commerce, being one of its directors.
On May 15, 1921, he married Miss Bernice Burlingame, of San Fran- cisco. She was born near Lansing, Michigan, and was reared and educated in the South. Mrs. Turner is a member of the Royal Neighbors and the La Crescenta Woman's Club.
WILLIAM HARRISON McCOY is a business man of long and active experience in California, a recognized expert in everything connected with the drilling of oil wells and the manufacture and installation of oil well machinery. After retiring from the oil well business in Long Beach he took the lead in establishing the California College of Commerce, "The School of the Golden Rule," of which he is manager. A brief sketch of the history of this educational institution of Los Angeles County is given in the following sketch.
Mr. McCoy was born in Columbiana County, Ohio, August 12, 1867, son of Hugh and Margaret (Hays) McCoy. His father, who died in 1910, at the age of sixty-eight, went all through the Civil war as a soldier in Com- pany C of the 10th Ohio Regiment, and never missed an engagement of the regiment, though he was twice wounded in battle, once in the wrist and once in the ankle. After his wound he learned to write with the left hand, and later wrote with equal facility with either hand. Mrs. Margaret Hays McCoy, who died when her son William H. was twenty-two years of age, was a woman of splendid character, and was an aunt of the well known Will Hays, former postmaster general, now head of the movie industry. William H. McCoy and Will Hays are first cousins.
Mr. McCoy is the oldest in a family of five sons and one daughter, all living in California, and there was one son deceased.
His father was a farmer and stock raiser, and William H. McCoy had all the routine of hard work of a farm boy, though he was given oppor- tunity to attend school regularly during the winter seasons. After leaving grammar school he attended Mount Hope Academy at Rogers, Ohio, and the Ohio Northern University at Ada.
At the age of twenty-one he began teaching in his home county, and two years later moved to Illinois and for four years taught in Champaign County. He was principal of the school at Broadlands, Illinois. While teaching an opportunity came, which he accepted, to enter the service of the Monroe Manufacturing Company. With this concern he began his experience in connection with machinery used for drilling, and in time became an expert in drilling machinery, particularly that used in connection with oil wells. In 1901 Mr. McCoy returned to Ohio, and with his two brothers engaged in the contracting business. Later Mr. McCoy became associated with the Star Drilling Machine Company in the oil fields of Illinois, continuing his work in that state for four years.
In 1911 he came to Los Angeles in the interest of the Star Company to develop its business on the western coast. In 1913 the company decided to establish a plant at Long Beach, and Mr. McCoy took charge, established the plant, and was personally responsible for the rapid growth of the firm's business. This industry is now one of the most important of Long Beach, and while the company's main plant is at Akron, Ohio, the Long Beach branch is a manufacturing and distributing agency that has supplied the machinery for the drilling of oil and water wells and the operation of mines in California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Mexico, and the west coast of South America. Mr. McCoy for twelve and one-half years was with the
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Star Drilling Machine Company, and was the active manager of the Long Beach plant. There is probably no one on the west coast more thoroughly conversant with the technical details of oil well machinery.
After leaving this business in 1920 Mr. McCoy was given a large share of the responsibility in connection with the movement among local citizens and business men to establish a high class business school at Long Beach, resulting in the opening of the California College of Commerce on June 20, 1921, with an enrollment of about fifty students. Since then more than five hundred young people have received the training of this school, and at the present time the college has about two hundred students, all that the present facilities can provide for.
During the World war Mr. McCoy was head of the Vigilance Com- mittee in Long Beach, and made that organization exceedingly useful in cooperating with the general government in patriotic movements and par- ticularly in the bond campaigns. Mr. McCoy was asked to take the lead in the Victory Loan drive, but could not accept on account of business responsibilities. He is a republican, is a Knight Templar Mason, a member of Long Beach Lodge No. 888, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, is affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of America, the Court of Honor, the Long Beach Rotary Club, and is a former director of the Long Beach Chamber of Commerce. He was also president of the Long Beach Harbor Industrial Association until the last year of the war, when it was merged with the Chamber of Commerce. Mr. McCoy is a member of the First Christian Church, and has been president of the Ohio Society of Long Beach for the past five years.
In Douglas County, Illinois, May 15, 1895, he married Miss Emma Elizabeth Campbell. They have five children: Irwin H. volunteered at the beginning of the World war, was rejected, but finally was inducted into service as quartermaster's sergeant in Motor Truck Company No. 331 at Camp Wadsworth, South Carolina. He is now a traveling salesman in California for the Sherwin-Williams Paint Company. The younger chil- dren are: Byrna, wife of H. B. Guthrie, of Long Beach; Gladys, Mrs. Theodore Starr, of Long Beach; and Russell Hahn and William H., Jr.
CALIFORNIA COLLEGE OF COMMERCE, "The School of the Golden Rule," and also "The school where business is taught as business is done," is one of the private educational institutions of Los Angeles County, but its ideals of service and the work it has done, entitle it to special mention among the educational facilities of this county.
A hundred and fifty leading business and professional men and women of Long Beach, feeling the need of a place in their own town where young people could secure just the training they need for genuine service in the business world and receive it under conditions and amid surroundings that would help build character, organized the California College of Commerce, dedicated to service primarily under the principle of the Golden Rule. The school started with little more than this great ideal, and it has since been filled to its capacity with ambitious young people. The school is located on the third floor of the Exchange National Bank Building, and its equipment includes all the mechanical facilities and devices of a modern business office. Besides this technical training the study is directed along courses involving the fundamentals of a thorough business education. The school opened its doors June 20, 1921, and since then has trained hundreds of young people for work and for the better expression of their talents.
The president of the college corporation is Mr. F. B. Lewis, a capitalist, the vice president is Dr. H. H. Heylmun, the secretary is Mr. J. R. Williams, the treasurer, Mr. F. H. Dill, and the business manager Mr. W. H. McCoy. The directors include Mr. J. B. Cook, of the L. B. Trust & Savings Bank, C. C. Lord, of C. C. Lord & Company, L. Roy Myers, real estate, John Hewitt, of Hewitt's Book Store, V. E. Nielson, of the college faculty, John H. Feers, of the Feers' China Store, and George M. La Shell,
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builders supplies. The faculty at the opening of the school comprised three teachers, and the different departments are now under the direction of Mr. F. D. Smith, principal, Mr. V. E. Nielson, of the commercial department, Mrs. Alice Mckinnon, of the typing department, Miss Nettie Ward, of the shorthand department, and Miss Mabel Crain and Miss Mame E. Goodell.
THOMAS C. YOUNG, M. D., took to his profession unusual abilities and training, and after completing his education in medical schools and in hospitals and clinics has engaged in private practice at Glendale, where he is regarded as one of the ablest men in the field of general surgery.
Doctor Young was born in Madison County, Iowa, November 7, 1885, and was educated in the grammar and high schools there and at Winterset, Iowa. He did his pre-medical work in Drake University at Des Moines, Iowa, and in 1907 came to Los Angeles and entered the Los Angeles College of Osteopathy, where he was graduated with the degree Doctor of Osteopathy. He then entered the California Eclectic College at Los Angeles, graduating Doctor of Medicine in 1914. For two years he was a clinical interne in the Los Angeles County Hospital. During 1917 Doctor Young spent three months at the Mayo Brothers clinic at Rochester, Minnesota, and for nine months attended the New York Post Graduate School and Bellevue Hospital in New York City. With this equipment he returned to California and had since engaged in general practice at Glendale, specializing in general surgery. He is a member of the County, State, Los Angeles and National Eclectic Medical societies. He also belongs to the Glendale Clinical and Pathological Society. Doctor Young is a member of the staff of the Research Hospital at Glendale.
He is affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and is a member of the Kiwanis Club and the Chamber of Commerce. His office is at 620 East Broadway in Glendale, and he has occupied one office longer than any other professional man in the city. Doctor Young has the distinction of having been the first professional man in Southern California to pilot his own air plane, and has frequently made trips from one town to another for consultation purposes.
He married, August 14, 1910, Miss Garnet Baird, of Winterset, Iowa, where she was born and educated. Mrs. Young is a member of the Glendale Tuesday Afternoon Club, the Eastern Star and the United Presbyterian Church.
ALFRED R. JOHNSON, president of the Suburban Realty Company, Incorporated, at Glendale, has made an unusual record of business exper- ience and was a lieutenant in the air forces during the World war. The Suburban Realty Company was established in March, 1922. Mr. Johnson is president, H. J. Blackmore, is vice-president, A. Roe Johnson, secretary and treasurer, and J. Will Johnson, Comptroller. The company operates on a capital of $75,000, and does a general real estate, sub-division, rental, building loan and insurance business. They also maintain architectural departments. Ten salesmen are employed by the company, and they just finished marketing the Suburban Heights tract of thirty-five acres and they do an extensive acreage business.
Alfred R. Johnson was born in Scott City, Kansas, October 28, 1888, and his exceptional business experience has been concentrated within a life of nearly thirty-five years. He attended public schools at Pueblo, Colorado, graduated in 1907 from Culver Military Academy in Indiana, and took a course in civil engineering in the University of Colorado in 1911. For a time he was in Chicago in the employment business, was then traveling freight agent at Pueblo, Colorado, for the Rock Island lines for five years, and following that he was with the Cudahy Refining Company, and then with the Sivelan Refining Company, acting as city salesman for one year, then in charge of sales at Denver and subsequently at Omaha, in charge of Nebraska and Iowa territories.
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On September 1, 1917, Mr. Johnson enlisted as a private in the Signal Corps, air division, and in April, 1918, was commissioned a second lieutenant in the air service. He was on duty at eighteen Northern flying fields. At Langley Field he was commissioned as first lieutenant and for a time was an instructor in the Wilbur Wright field at Fairfield, Ohio. From there he went to San Diego, California, and finally to March Field at Riverside, California. He was given his honorable discharge with the rank of first lieutanent December 1, 1918.
After leaving the air service Mr. Johnson went with the City Service Corporation, first in New York City, then in Philadelphia and then in Chicago, where he had charge of the business over eleven states. On November 1, 1923, he came to Los Angeles and was salesman and later tract manager for the James Investment Company until he established his present business. Mr. Johnson is a member of the Glendale Realty Board and the State Realty Association, belongs to the Chamber of Commerce, is a Mason and belongs to the Society of Friends Church.
On August 12, 1911, he married Miss Anna Roe, of Pueblo, Colorado. She was born at Canyon City, Colorado, and was educated in the public schools of Pueblo, and is a graduate in domestic science from the Colorado State Normal at Greeley. Mrs. Johnson is a member of the Eastern Star and a life member of the Tuesday Afternoon Club of Glendale.
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