History of Los Angeles county, Volume III, Part 9

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

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Ada Miller, the mother of Charles A. Bodell, was a daughter of Emily DeMont (Bliven) Miller, a direct descendant in the female line of the old Bleddynn family of Wales, the original Welsh Royal House. Ada Miller was born in Auburn, New York. She was a life long friend of Governor Steward, with whose daughters she attended boarding school, as did Libby

Chas. a. Bodell

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HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY

Bacon, later the wife of General Custer. She was a friend of Sereno Payne, New York Congressman for many years, and a sister-in-law of Mary Towne Burt, for many years president of the W. C. T. U. of New York State.

Charles Arthur Bodell had a home of substantial comfort and all the opportunities for a liberal education. During his third year in the Middle- town High School he sustained injuries while playing football, but subse- quently continued his studies under a private tutor preparatory to the entrance examinations for Columbia University. About that time his eye- sight failed, and he had to resign further thought of a college career. After a year's rest he went into business with his brother, Thomas Towne, who was then Eastern sales agent of the Union Drawn Steel Company of Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania. He began his service as an accountant with the Union Drawn Steel Company in its offices in the Postal Telegraph Building at New York in 1900. Leaving the East in 1905, Mr. Bodell moved to Salt Lake City, Utah, and soon became interested in the mining industry. From 1907 to 1919 he was associated with the American Smelting and Refining Company. During the depression in the copper industry after the great war Mr. Bodell came to Los Angeles, and since then has been engaged in the investment security business. He opened the Pasadena office for R. W. Hadden & Company in March, 1922, and was its manager until he bought out this branch. His office is in the Chamber of Commerce Building.

During the World war Mr. Bodell joined the Officers' Training Camp at Fort Douglas, Utah, but later was given an honorable discharge on account of an impairment of eyesight that had been overlooked at the entrance examination. For a short time he was a member of the Draft Board at Ray, Arizona. He is an independent in politics, and a member of the Pasadena Chamber of Commerce.

At Salt Lake City, February 28, 1914, Mr. Bodell married Miss Leone Emerson, daughter of Henry Emerson, of Beaver, Utah. Her grand- father. Watkin Rees, was one of the pioneers of Utah, and his brother at one time served as a Lord Mayor of London.

A. E. NELSON. The experiences of A. E. Nelson since coming to Cali- fornia from his native state of Minnesota in 1894 adds but another page to the history of California, on which is written a series of successful ven- tures, sponsored by good judgment, brought about through hard work, and culminating in the development of Mr. Nelson into one of the most success- ful walnut growers of the El Monte District. He was born in 1863, a son of E. F. and Louisa (Sheldon) Nelson, who had three children, of whom A. E. Nelson was the eldest, the others being: Zella, who reached Califor- nia before her brother, A. E., was the wife of Fred Stang, manager of the El Monte Creamery, and died in 1917; and Carrol S., who is now living at Pasadena, California.

When Mr. Nelson first reached California, in 1894, he spent a year at Pasadena, where he was engaged in a grocery business, and then bought a fruit ranch in the northern part of Pasadena and conducted it for seven years, selling it then at a profit. In the meanwhile, in 1898, he purchased twenty acres in the El Monte District, which forms a portion of his present ranch. This was wild land, with no irrigation. In 1900 he moved on this property, and began at once to improve it, planting it to soft-shell walnuts. Since then he has made it thoroughly modern in every respect, having one of the nicest homes in his part of the city. In 1903 he sunk a well, from which he has developed over 150 inches of water, which furnishes ample water supply. In 1919 he added, by purchase, twenty acres additional, all in walnuts, and he has other walnut interests in the San Gabriel Valley, and is admitted to be one of the most successful and influential walnut growers in Southern California.

Mr. Nelson married Miss Fannie Engle, a native of Minnesota, and they became the parents of the following children: Walter E., who was born in Minnesota in 1892, was educated in the public schools of California, and is now engaged in walnut culture with his father. He married Miss Belle

HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY

Martin, a native of Pennsylvania, and has two children, Esther, who was born in 1920, and Albert, who was born in 1922. Bessie, who was born in Minnesota in 1894, was six weeks old when brought to California. She graduated from the El Monte High School and the California State Normal School, and is a teacher in the Pasadena public schools, and very influential in her calling. Frank H., who was born in 1897, graduated from the El Monte High School, also from a three-years' course in the Occidental College, and one at the Moody Bible Institute of Chicago, and is now an advanced student in theology at the University of Chicago, and is a young man of extraordinary abilities. Arthur was born on the home ranch on Maxon Street in 1910.

An enthusiast on the subject of prohibition, Mr. Nelson has zealously worked for the principles of the prohibition party. His family are Presby- terians. An upright, honorable man, he deserves his present prosperity and high standing, for he has worked hard to secure what he now possesses.

WILLIAM IRWIN. A visitor to Los Angeles County, looking for the first time at the magnificent estates planted to walnuts or citrus growths, is liable to think that this paradise has been won without much effort, and to envy what he thinks is an easy existence. In such a supposition he is far from the truth. The men who are now owning and operating these profitable ranches have, almost without exception, won their present prosperity through the hardest of work, the strictest of economy and the practice of good management. Such has been the course of William Irwin, proprietor of a fine grove of English walnuts, and a dairyman of more than local repute, located at El Monte.

William Irwin was born in County Antrim, Ireland, July 4, 1869, a son of William and Margaret Jane (Knox) Irwin, both natives of County Antrim, Ireland. They had nine children, and William Irwin of this notice was the fifth in order of birth. Until he was twenty years of age William Irwin, the younger, resided on his father's farm, and he attended the local public schools. When he was twenty, however, he left Ireland for the United States, and for the first three years was engaged in farm work in the Genesee Valley, New York. In 1896 he came to California, and for four years was employed in Los Angeles, and then, in 1900 entered the employ of the J. D. Durfee ranch, and continued there for four years. When he came to the United States he was a penniless young man with his own way to make, his sole capital being his willingness to work and save. By 1904 he had sufficient money to go into the dairy business upon a small scale, and from then on he has continued in it, expanding his operations with the succeeding years, and building up a very desirable connection. His initial dairy herd was pastured on leased land from E. J. Baldwin, but he kept on the outlook for a bargain, and when the Baldwin estate was placed on the market he bought twenty acres of it on Durfee Avenue, formerly Pico Road, and began at once to improve the property. He immediately began the erection of a modern home, the first residence erected on the estate after the death of Mr. Baldwin. He also set out walnuts which now form one of the most valuable groves in this district, and he is accepted as an authority on walnut culture, just as he is an expert on dairying. For a number of years every step of the way upward was difficult, but now he has the satisfaction of knowing that he is one of the wealthy and successful men of his community, and that all he has he has earned by his own efforts and good management.

In 1904 Mr. Irwin married Miss Elizabeth Irwin, who was born at Carnlea, County Antrim, Ireland, May 26, 1871, a daughter of Robert G. and Mary (McMurdy) Irwin, also natives of County Antrim. The Irwin family came to the United States in 1888, and after a year in Brooklyn, New York, spent four years in Denver, Colorado, and five years in San Francisco, California, after which they came to El Monte.

Mr. and Mrs. Irwin have five children, namely: William Robert, who was born December 15, 1905, is attending the El Monte High School; Vir-

HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY

ginia Elizabeth, who was born May 6, 1907, is also attending the El Monte High School; Thomas Andrew, who was born November 30, 1908, is attend- ing the El Monte grammar school; Susie Marie, who was born Septem- ber 20, 1910, is attending the El Monte grammar school; and Dorothy Agnes, who was born September 10, 1914, is attending the Mountain View grammar school. Mr. Irwin and his family are members of the Presby- terian Church. He is a republican. Coming of fine old Irish stock, Mr. and Mrs. Irwin have become thoroughly Americanized, and are numbered among the most desirable citizens of their neighborhood.

JAMES B. FREER, whose attractive home at Monrovia is situated at the corner of Lime and Primrose streets, was born in Missouri, on the 15th of April, 1843, and is a son of William H. Freer, an honored California pioneer concerning whom ample record is made on other pages of this work in connection with the personal sketches of Jackson, Lee and Thomas Freer, sons who likewise continued residents of Los Angeles County. The parents of James B. Freer were numbered among the historic forty-niners in Cali- fornia, and he whose name initiates this sketch was a lad of six years at the time of the memorable and hazardous journey across the plains from Missouri to California. The family left Missouri in April, 1849, and six months elapsed before the destination was reached. The emigrant train of which the family was a part encountered no trouble with the Indians while en route, but trains both preceding and following were attacked by the Indians, who killed various members of the companies. Upon arriving at Green River the Freer party was compelled to construct a raft, as high water made the fording of the stream an impossibility, and the cattle were made to swim across. At one time on the journey it was found necessary to use four or five yokes of oxen to pull a wagon up the mountain trail, and small trees were attached to the wagon to ease its way down the slope, Mr. Freer of this sketch recalling that he ran down the newly made trail with bare feet. The family home was established in Santa Clara County, and there James B. Freer was reared to manhood under the conditions of the pioneer days, when history was in the making in California. In 1869 he removed to Ventura County, where for the ensuing twelve years he was engaged in the live-stock business. There was celebrated his marriage to Miss Sarah Hopper, who likewise was born in Missouri and who was an infant when she accompanied her parents across the plains to California. Of the eight children of this union seven are living at the time of this writing, namely: Albert, Mrs. Mary Miller, Ida (Mrs. William Ayres), Henry, Wallace, George and Eldridge.

In 1878 Mr. Freer removed with his family to the vicinity of El Monte, Los Angeles County, where he rented and established his residence on the place owned by his father, just north of Savannah. Two years later he removed to Puente, where he rented a farm, to the management of which he gave his attention eight years. He then disposed of his interests in Los Angeles County and removed with his family to Pendleton County, Oregon, where for the following two years he was engaged in farming and stock-raising. He then returned to the Puente District of Los Angeles County, and about one year later he purchased a ranch one mile north of El Monte, the place having forty-four acres and ten acres having been planted to walnuts. He set out walnut trees on the remainder of the tract. Here he continued his successful activities until the year 1911, when he sold the property, which had been developed by him into a valuable place of excellent improvements, and purchased his present home place at Mon- rovia. Here he has since lived virtually retired, in the enjoyment of the rewards of former years of earnest endeavor and with a record of having done well his part in connection with civic and industrial progress in the state in which he figures as a sterling pioneer citizen. He has gained success and prosperity entirely through his own efforts, and incidentally he has known and participated in the various activities that have marked the advancement of Southern California from the conditions of the frontier to

HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY

those of opulent prosperity in the present day. His reminiscences of the early days are full of interest from an historical standpoint. He voted against the extension of state aid in constructing a railroad to Los Angeles County in 1872, as he believed, as did many others, that the incidental expenditure would bankrupt the country, besides destroying the well estab- lished overland freighting business, teams of twenty or more mules having at that period been employed in the transporting of freight from California to Arizona. As a boy of nine years he was commissioned to make a trip to San Jose, and on the return trip he saw the bodies of two Spaniards hanging from a tree near the road, his boyish consternation having caused him to make the best possible speed to his home, that he might impart the news to his father. It turned out that the Spaniards had been thus executed by the Vigilantes. As a boy he attended a primitive schoolhouse, equipped with slab seats and benches, the building itself having been of logs, while' a dry-goods box sufficed for his desk and a smaller box for a seat. His first schooling was received beneath the shade of a tree in Santa Clara County, a sort of pen having been made about the tree by the use of cornstalks which broke the force of the wind. In case of rain the pupils were dis- missed from the sylvan school and sent to their homes. In his third year in school a rough lumber shed was constructed for a schoolhouse, no glass being available for windows, and the shutters over the window openings being raised to admit light during school hours. Mr. Freer states that all of the pupils drank water from the same bucket and dipper, and, notwith- standing modern sanitary ideas in this connection, none of the children con- tracted disease of any kind. His early education was acquired mainly in these little subscription schools of the pioneer days, and after he was twenty- one years of age he attended school two terms at San Jose. By application at home and by the lessons gained in the practical school of experience he has rounded out a really liberal education, and is a man of broad views and mature judgment. On the journey across the plain from Missouri he and his older brother Alexander rode the entire distance on horseback. As a lad of seven years he was with a man at work in driving a bunch of cattle on the overland trip, and they came upon twenty freshly made graves, evi- dently those of emigrants killed by Indians. No Indians were in sight, however, and thus the man and boy kept on their way. Mr. Freer takes much satisfaction in having been identified with the development and prog- ress of the state that has represented his home from his childhood, and he is one of the honored pioneer citizens of Los Angeles County.

JUDGE FRANK C. DUNHAM. A Pasadena attorney whose residence and active connection with the bar in that city covers a period of twelve years, Judge Dunham has achieved a place among the leading members of the bar of the county.

Like so many other prominent Southern Californians, he is a native of Iowa, born at Estherville, Emmet County, that state, April 1, 1884. He was the third in a family of five sons, and three of these sons took up railroading as a permanent career and became locomotive engineers. The parents, Henry A. and Anna Bell ( Lowe) Dunham, were natives of Minne- sota, where the Dunhams and Lowes were numbered among the pioneers. Henry A. Dunham was for more than thirty years a locomotive engineer, at first with the Burlington and later with the Rock Island Systems.

Frank C. Dunham was the only one of the sons to choose a profession outside the business of railroading. He was educated in the public schools of Iowa, graduated in 1904 from the Iowa City Academy, and then entered the University of Iowa, where he was graduated A. B. in 1908. After his university career he came to California, entered the law school of the University of Southern California at. Los Angeles, was admitted to the bar July 23, 1909, and graduated L.L. B., with the class of 1910. For a brief time he was associated with the Los Angeles law firm of Valentine & Newby. In May, 1911, he established his home at Pasadena, and opened his law office in that city August 1 of the same year. In the same month

HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY

he was appointed justice of the peace of Pasadena Township to fill an unexpired term of three and a half years, and served in that capacity until 1914. On Christmas day of 1918 he was appointed police judge of Pasadena, a vacancy caused by the death of Judge McDonald. His first appointment to this office came from the city commissioner, and he was later reappointed by the city director under the new charter. In addition to his official duties Judge Dunham carries on a general practice as an attorney, and has offices in the Citizens Savings Bank Building.

He is a member of the Pasadena and Los Angeles County Bar Associ- ation and the American Bar Association, is an independent republican, and throughout his professional career has been deeply interested in good government matters. He is a life member of Pasadena Lodge No. 672, B. P. O. E., is a member of the Pasadena Golf Club, and during the World war was a member of the Home Guard organization of Pasadena.

His home is at 995 North El Molino Avenue. On June 22, 1910, he married Miss Amy L. Atwood, daughter of M. W. and Carrie (Tindell) Atwood, of Pasadena. Her father for many years was a prominent figure in the prohibition party in Southern California. Mrs. Dunham was born in Illinois, and she and her husband were childhood friends. She died at Pasadena September 26, 1914. On November 1, 1916, at Pasadena, Judge Dunham married Miss Bertha Victoria Hollins, who was a very close friend of his first wife. She was born and reared in Kentucky and was about sixteen years of age when her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Hollins, came to California, and they are now living at Glendale. Judge Dunhanı is the father of four children, Lovina Bell, Flora A., Francis and Clarence Addison. All four children were born in Pasadena.

EDMUND FICKEWIRTH, who resides in his attractive home on Thienes Avenue, three miles south of El Monte, has been a resident of Southern California for fifty years, was a young man when he came to this state, and by his own energy and good management has here achieved substantial prosperity. He is one of the sterling and popular citizens of his community and has to his credit a generous record of contribution to the civic and industrial development of Los Angeles County.

Mr. Fickewirth was born in Saxony, Germany, April 16, 1840, and is a son of Traugott Fickewirth, who passed his entire life in Saxony, and who there became a well-to-do tanner. His children were eight in number, six sons and two daughters, and the eldest son, now ninety years of age, in 1922, being still a resident of Saxony. In his native land Edmund Ficke- wirth attended the gymnasium, which corresponds to the high school of the United States, and in the heavy work of the school he often studied by candle light at home until the small hours of the morning. In the winter season school was in session from seven o'clock in the morning until three in the afternoon, and in the summer season the school session began at six in the morning. Though he left school as a youth of sixteen years Mr. Fickewirth has ever continued an appreciative student and reader, and reads, writes and speaks with fluency the German, French, English and Spanish languages, besides which he studied Greek and Latin in his youth- ful school days. At the age of sixteen years Mr. Fickewirth entered upon a two years' apprenticeship to the tanner's trade, his father paying eighty dollars for his training and his compensation during the period of appren- ticeship having been only his board. He became a skilled workman, and continued his service as a journeyman at his trade in Germany and France until he had attained to the age of thirty years. In the meanwhile he had given the required three years of service in the German Army.

In 1870 Mr. Fickewirth came to the United States and entered the employ of one of his older brothers, who conducted a wood yard in the City of Detroit, Michigan. He was finally admitted to partnership in this business, which eventually was expanded to include the handling of coal. In 1872 Mr. Fickewirth sold his interest in the enterprise to his brother and then came to California. He took a position in a furniture store at

HISTORY OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY

Los Angeles, and in 1873 he purchased eighty acres of land near Compton, this county. On this place he engaged in farm enterprise, and within a few years he sold forty acres of the tract. The remaining forty acres he retained until January, 1922, when he sold the property at the rate of $1,000 an acre, he having purchased the land in 1873 for twenty dollars an acre. In addition to developing and improving his home place at Compton Mr. Fickewirth rented from "Lucky" Baldwin 3,500 acres of land in Puente Valley, in which valley in 1896 he purchased 332 acres on the Puente-Covina Boulevard. Of this tract he planted fifty acres to soft-shell walnuts, and the place, now one of the valuable and well improved tracts of that district. is under the effective management of his sons, Anthony, Frederick and Oscar, who have increased the walnut acreage to 270 acres. In 1892 Mr. Fickewirth gave further evidence of his good judgment and increasing financial prosperity by purchasing twenty acres of swamp land just west of the Durfee Road on Thienes Avenue. He tiled and drained this land, which he set out to walnuts, and he has here erected buildings and made other improvements. It is on this place that he now resides. He has interests also in gold and silver mines in Mexico, and in winning substantial success he has ever been mindful of the civic stewardship which this involves, and has stood forward as a liberal and public-spirited citizen. He is a staunch republican and is a valued member of the local Walnut Growers Association. Mr. Fickewirth has a fine family of twelve children, and all have been given excellent educational advantages. His sons Walter and Oscar gave valiant service with the American Expeditionary Forces in France in the late World war, both having entered military service soon after the nation became involved in the great war. Walter enlisted in the Three Hundred and Sixty-third Infantry, a California regiment, and was assigned to duty with its ammunition traîn. In this connection he was frequently under terrific shell fire while engaged in delivering ammunition to the front-line trenches, and so heavy was the enemy's fire at one time that he was compelled to remain in the shelter of the trenches nine consecu- tive days and nights. He fortunately escaped wounds, and after the close of the war returned to his native state and received his honorable discharge. Oscar became a member of the One Hundred and Twenty-eighth Infantry, a Michigan regiment, and he passed unscathed through many of the great and historic battles of the war, including the Argonne, Chateau Thierry, Verdun and Vimy Ridge, in which last mentioned engagement his company went into battle with 250 men and at night came out with only nineteen men. Both he and his brother thus lived up to the full tension of the great conflict, and their records in this connection shall ever reflect honor upon their names.

CHARLES B. ALEXANDER, M. D., has won through effective service his prestige as one of the able and successful physicians and surgeons of Los Angeles County, and is engaged in active general practice at Alhambra, with office in the Weber Building.

Dr. Alexander was born at Scottsville, judicial center of Allen County, Kentucky, on the 21st of April, 1875, and is a son of Jacob W. and Louisa (Chandler) Alexander, both likewise natives of the historic old Blue Grass State. The father was prosperous in his business activities until he invested in two band-saw mills, the operation of which proved unprofitable and entailed large financial loss. Dr. Alexander was early thrown largely upon his own resources, but his energy and determination enabled him to obtain a liberal education. After attending Spottsville Academy he entered the medical department of Barnes University, in which he was graduated in 1901, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. In 1907, after an effective post-graduate course in which he specialized in surgery, he received a sup- plemental degree of Doctor of Medicine from the same school. He worked his own way through medical school, and at one period sold newspapers on the streets of St. Louis, Missouri, to add to his financial resources to be devoted to his college expenses.

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History of Los Angeles county, Volume III, Part 9

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