History of Orange County, California : with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its earliest growth and development from the early days to the present, Part 113

Author: Armor, Samuel, 1843-; Pleasants, J. E., Mrs
Publication date: 1921
Publisher: Los Angeles : Historic Record Co.
Number of Pages: 1700

USA > California > Orange County > History of Orange County, California : with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its earliest growth and development from the early days to the present > Part 113

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Since her marriage, Mrs. Henning has been deeply interested in agriculture and especially in horticulture, and she now owns three fine ranches devoted to the culture of Valencia and Navel oranges, lemons and walnuts-property as fine as any highly- cultivated ranchland in Southern California. On the home place, located on Olive Boulevard, she has just completed a large, beautiful modern residence of mission style of architecture huilt of concrete, making it one of the most beautiful country homes in the county. In this age of the new woman, the scientific and commercial accom- plishments of Mrs. Henning are of such exceptional interest that Anaheim cannot fail to be proud of her as one of the representative citizens of town and county.

A. F. PLEGEL .- A prominent and influential orange grower, whose success in contributing definitely toward the development of Orange County is undoubtedly dne to the investment of his foresight and hard labor in clearing the land of cactus and sagebrush, and thereby producing some very valuable acreage for orange groves, is A. F. Plegel, who came to Orange County in the early nineties. He was born in Ger- many in 1887. the son of a worthy burgher of that country, who died there. Later, his widow, the mother of our subject, brought her only child to America, and arrived in California in 1892. At Orange, Mrs. Plegel married a second time, taking Emil Krueger for her husband; and they improved a ranch and followed farming, in East Orange. This first place of theirs, where they now reside, consists of twenty acres; and when they had made a success of that, they improved several other places.

A. F. Plegel was reared in Orange, attended the local public schools, and from a lad learned horticulture and nurserying, and for four or five years he was employed by George B. Warner in Santa Ana, in the work of grafting and budding. By 1907 he had sufficiently advanced that he was able to buy his place of twenty acres on Commonwealth Avenne, near North; like so many other places hereabouts at that time, it was merely cactus and sagebrush, but he settled there, built a dwelling, cleared and leveled the land, and sunk a well which is now pumped out by electrical power, irrigating his own place and 140 acres more. His plant has a stream of 100 inches, and he has heen able to raise from 2,000 to 3,000 sacks of potatoes a year.

Mas Ofthe Henning

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HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY

Mr. Plegel has a thorough knowledge of horticulture and the nursery business, from its first stages up, and at first commenced his nursery solely for himself. His output, however, was in excess of his needs, and the reputation he acquired for skill traveled abroad, until others insisted on his giving them the benefit of his experi- ence. He belongs to the Mutual Orange Distributors Exchange, and is often a leader in its activities.

At Orange, Mr. Plegel was married to Miss Paula Simon, a native of Germany, and three children have blessed the choice. They are Carl, Arnold and Emil, and with their parents they attend the Anaheim Lutheran Church. In national politics a Republican, Mr. Plegel allows no partisanship to interfere at any time with his "boosting" of local projects meeting the approval of the intelligent portion of the community.

FRANK NELSON GIBBS .- The development of Anaheim and, indeed, neigh- boring towns as residential and business centers is due in part to the excellent facilities for building afforded by such concerns as the Gibbs Lumber Yard, of which Frank Nelson Gibbs, the city trustee, is proprietor. He was born in Evanston, Ill., on March 9, 1880, and his father was Oscar L. Gibbs, well known in the business world. and chairman of the Evanston Board of Trade. He had married Miss Lillian N. Goodenow, a lady of attractive personality, who survives him. There were five chil- dren in the family, and Frank is the oldest now living.

His schooling began in Arizona, but when his father died and the family moved to California, he attended the schools of Los Angeles. In 1893 he began work in a planing mill, and then, still in that city, he went into the dry goods business. Afterward, he took up the handling of lumber, and in 1911 came to Anaheim, where he built his lumber yard. Soon afterward, he opened a yard at Fullerton and one at Placentia. He employs five men, and they are kept busy serving an ever-increasing number of patrons. The fact that Mr. Gibbs is, on the one hand, so well posted in the lumber trade, and that, on the other, he is intensely interested in the growth and expansion of Orange County, and has abundant faith in its future, and is always willing to cooperate in the advancement of the region, operate to his rendering the greatest service possible to his townsmen and business establishments and movements making for progress here. His election, in 1918, to the city council for a term of four years is a testimonial evidencing the confidence of those living near and dealing with him. In national politics a Republican, he is at all times above petty partisanship.

On September 4, 1906, at Los Angeles, Cal., Mr. Gibbs married Miss Elsie L. Goodhue, a native of Vermont, and the daughter of W. T. and Ellen E. Goodhue, and they have had three children-Oscar L., Ellen E. and Caroline A. The family attend the Presbyterian Church, of which Mr. Gibbs is an elder, and where as superin- tendent of the Bible School, he is deeply interested in Sunday school work. He be- longs to the Masons, Lodge, Chapter and Council, and the Mother Colony Club.

HENRY MARQUART .- Among the Wisconsin boys who are coming rapidly to the front in Orange County, Cal., is numbered Henry Marquart, a successful citrus grower and the owner of twenty-five acres in two places in Olive precinct. He was born at Lomira, Dodge County, Wis., of German and French lineage. His grand- father, Peter, was a tailor in the old country and continued the occupation after coming to America. The father, Ferdinand Marquart, was born in Westphalia, Ger- many, and was seven years old when he accompanied his parents to the New World, where they located in Dodge County, Wis. Ferdinand grew to manhood, was a farmer, and married Miss Mary Schultz, and they became the parents of eight chil- dren, five of whom grew to maturity-three boys and two girls.

Henry is the oldest son in the Marquart family, and was reared on a southern Wisconsin farm. He passed the teacher's examination and taught school in his home county in Wisconsin, putting in his time between terms working on his father's farm, until coming to California in May, 1906. For nine months he worked in vari- ous places, familiarizing himself with orchard work, all the while looking for a good place to locate and buy a ranch. He saw the fifteen-acre ranch that he now owns and resolved to buy it. Five acres of the ranch were planted to Navel oranges, which he has bndded over to Valencias. The other trees were at that time affected with the San Jose scale, and it took some time to get them back into bearing. The five acres of Valencias are in good bearing, and the remainder of the place is planted to lemons, walnuts and Valencia oranges. In 1919 Mr. Marquart bought a ten-acre Valencia grove about half a mile from his fifteen-acre home place. It is now five years old and is just coming into bearing. His place is in first-class shape, well kept and a model in every way.

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HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY

His marriage occurred in 1917 and united him with Miss Lillie Schroeder, daugh- ter of Fred Schroeder of Santa Ana, and they have a son named Wesley Martin. Mr. Marquart is a young man of excellent educational attainments, and is giving his best efforts to the citrus and walnut industries. He is not afraid of work and knows how to work to the best advantage. He has built a beautiful and commodious country residence upon his fifteen-acre ranch, where he resides with his wife and child. The residence is located on the north side of Taft Avenue, west of Tustin Street, in the very heart of the citrus belt of Orange County. Mr. Marquart is an indefatigable worker and possesses a streak of dry humor. He is well liked, and his quickness of perception enables him to see and to grasp an opportunity at the opportune moment. He is a member of the Santiago Orange Association and of the Evangelical Church of Santa Ana. In national politics he is a Republican.

PHILIP KOZINA .- A worthy representative of the foreign-born American who is thoroughly Americanized, assimilates American ideas and associates with American citizens is Philip Kozina. His fine twenty-acre ranch on Santiago Boulevard in Villa Park Precinct is planted to sixteen acres of Valencias, three acres of Navel orange trees and one acre of lemon trees. He has lived on the property for the past seven- teen years, has prospered, and is satisfied with his environment amidst the orange trees and roses.

A Czecho-Slovak, Mr. Kozina was born in Pilsen, Bohemia, February 15, 1855, the son of John and Annie (Suckop) Kozina, who were married in Bohemia and were the parents of four sons. By a singular coincidence, Philip Kozina is also the father of four children, all boys. Mr. Kozina received a good education in the local schools, after which he learned the wagonmaker's trade. From the age of twenty to twenty-three he served in the Austrian army as a corporal in the Fourth Heavy Artillery, after which he followed the carpenter's trade until he came to America in 1883, and settled at Portage City, Wis., where his uncle and aunt were residing at that time, and here he embraced the first opportunity to become a naturalized Ameri- can citizen. He worked at the carpenter's trade five years in Portage City, then went to Green Bay, Kewanee County, Wis., where he met and married Miss Katie Kulhanek, also born in Bohemia, who came when two years old with her parents to Wisconsin. The four sons resulting from their union are: Jacob, a stock raiser at Philipsburg, Mont .; Henry, a rancher in Olive precinct, who married Mrs. Antonia Blazac, and is the father of two children; Joe, who is on the Orpheum and Pantages vaudeville circuits, entertaining as a song and banjo artist, and traveling all over the Union, and Albert, who is at home, and who was in the aviation service from which he was honorably discharged.

After his marriage Mr. Kozina continued the vocation of carpentering at Ash- land, Wis., and afterwards went to Stanleysville, Kewanee County, Wis., and took charge of the farm of his father-in-law, who was getting along in years. He operated the farm for fifteen years, then sold out and came to California in 1904, first locating at Tustin. Becoming acquainted at Villa Park, he purchased and located on his twenty-acre ranch, which he has improved. His father-in-law, Mr. Matthis Kulhanek. who has attained the advanced age of eighty-four, makes his home with Mr. Kozina. On July 4, 1920, Mr. Kozina was bereaved of his faithful wife, who was mourned by the family and friends. Mr. Kozina is a member of the Central Lemon Growers Association, and in politics affiliates with the Democratic party. Though reared in the Catholic faith, the family attend the Community Congregational Church at Villa Park. They are gifted musically and the children are favorities in social circles.

DAVID MITCHELL .- Of Scotch birth and lineage, David Mitchell was born in County of Fyfe, Scotland on January 4, 1860, the son of David and Elizabeth Mitchell, natives of that country, who lived and died in the land of their nativity. Of their family of five children David is the only one living in California. He resides south of Buena Park on his forty-acre ranch, which is devoted to general farming, including the raising of chili peppers and tomatoes and has the best of facilities for realizing the greatest returns from a minimum amount of labor. There are two wells for irrigation upon the place, one with a depth of 500 feet, and the other 250 feet.

When he was twenty-five years of age, Mr. Mitchell left his native land and went to Canada where he worked in the stone quarries for about four years, then he made a visit back to his home and spent the winter. He then came to the "States" and located in Cleveland, Ohio, where he was in the employ of the Cleveland Stone Company for two years. Leaving there he next went to Iowa and worked for a St. Louis firm as a quarryman until he migrated to Flagstaff, Ariz., to accept the position of superintendent of the Arizona Sand Stone Company's quarries. This company was made up of Orange County, Cal., men and they had met Mr. Mitchell through a recom-

Philip Rozina

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HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY

mendation from his former company in Cleveland. This company employed as many as eighty men in their quarries and they got out the stone that was used in the con- struction of the Orange County court house, the Los Angeles County court house and the city hall of that city. The last big job that Mr. Mitchell filled was the stone for the present postoffice building in Los Angeles. The stone for the Spreckels mansion in San Francisco. also came from this company, in fact they shipped stone all over the country where high class material was required.

Mr. Mitchell became interested in Orange Country ranch land through his visits to the members of the company by whom he was employed and he bought forty acres, in 1893, south of Buena Park and located his family on it and began developing the tract. He made frequent visits to his family and in 1910 left the employ of the company and located permanently on his ranch and began development on a sound basis and has made of his place a valuable ranch and a good producer. He has also taken a live interest in the affairs of the county and can be counted on to help with all movements for the betterment of conditions in general and has made a host of friends who appre- ciate his true worth.

His marriage with Miss Mary Vangendern in 1890, daughter of John Vangendern, resulted in the birth of nine children: David, Ira, John, William, Elizabeth, Jennie, Cornelius, Edna and George, all single and educated in the schools of Orange County. David and Ira were in the U. S. service during the recent World War. David was in constructive work continually during his two years' service with the Twentieth Corps of Engineers in France. Ira served in the Engineers' Corps of the spruce squad- ron at Washington.

J. B. HEARD .- An experienced, competent man in the truck-hauling business, who is kept busy transporting merchandise to and from the oil fields, is J. B. Heard, who was born in Ava, Douglas County, Mo., in 1870, the son of John Heard, a native of Tennessee. He was reared in that state, and when twenty-one, removed to Missouri. He campaigned with the Union Army through the Civil War, as a member of a Mis- souri regiment, and later followed farming until his death. Mrs. Heard was Rachel McIntosh before her marriage, and she, too, was a native of Douglas County. There were eight children in the family, and our subject was the fourth eldest in the order of birth. Brought up on a Missouri farm, he attended the public schools of Doug- las County, after which he learned the carpenter's and the blacksmith's trade. Then he followed farming on his own account in Douglas County, learning a good deal that was worth while from the methods of the Eastern agriculturist. Not until 1915 did he come to California; and then he settled for a while at Taft.

He did some blacksmith work for the Associated Oil Company, and then he en- tered the employ of the Head Drilling Company as tool dresser, continuing with them for thirteen months. Returning to Missouri, he brought out his family to stay; and then he reentered the employ of the Head Drilling Company. After that he was with the St. Helen Oil Company at Taft.

On February 14, 1919, Mr. Heard located at Orange and hought three acres of land. He remained a tool dresser on the Richfield-Yorba lease until May 10, and then he entered upon his latest enterprise, that of hauling for the oil companies. He belongs to the Oil Workers' Union, and is already well-posted on conditions in the oil fields.

While in Missouri, Mr. Heard was married to Miss Artie Goforth, a native of that state, and a member of the Baptist Church, an accomplished woman capable of assisting her husband in many ways. They have had eight children. Virgil and Clay are in the oil fields; Gracie is Mrs. Rhodes of Placentia: Jewel is also an oil developer; and there are lra, Lester, Floyd and Burrell. Mr. and Mrs. Heard are Republicans.

WASHINGTON I. CARVER .- Spending the retired years of a profitable life amidst the pleasant surroundings of his orange grove, Washington I. Carver, despite his more than four score years, is alert, progressive and up-to-date in his political views, keeping abreast with the times and holding marked views on all the questions of the day.

His parents, Donald and Amanda (Skidmore) Carver, were pioneer settlers of Auburn, Cayuga County, N. Y., coming there when this was considered by New Englanders as an outpost of civilization, the father engaging in the grocery and meat business there. Washington 1. Carver was born here on January 18, 1839. the youngest of a family of five children, and when he was four years old the family removed to Wisconsin, settling at Delavan, where they remained until 1850. Going to Reeds- burg, in Sauk County, Wis., the father purchased a prairie and timberland farm, and this was the family home until 1885.

When the Civil War broke out Washington I. Carver offered his services in the defense of the Union April 15, 1861, and enlisted in Company B, Fifth Wisconsin

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HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY

Infantry, and was mustered in for three years, taking part in the campaigns of Gen- erals McClellan, Burnside, Hooker, Meade and Grant, and passing through many hard experiences in those crucial days. He was mustered out July 28, 1864, as ser- geant. In October, 1864, he was married to Miss Emily Frances Medbery, the daughter of Hiram and Nancy Medbery, the father being prominent in the public life of Mrs. Carver's native state, New York. After his marriage Mr. Carver farmed in Sauk County until 1884, when he removed to Dakota territory, took up a quarter section of land near Gettysburg, Potter County, and later took up an additional tract of 160 acres under the timber claim act. He remained on this land until he had proved up on both clainis, and then disposed of them and migrated to California.

Coming to Anaheim in 1897, Mr. Carver established a photographic business there, his wife being engaged in the millinery business, continuing in this line until 1905, when he purchased a tract of twenty-two and a half acres at North and West streets, Anaheim, paying only $1,000 for the whole tract, and this has since been the family home. Some time ago he divided his property, deeding one-third to his son- in-law, W. P. Quarton, of Anaheim, and one-third to L. C. Blake of Anaheim, another son-in-law, retaining a third of the acreage for himself. Since this division Mr. Carver has sold another five acres, so that he now has two and a half acres in the home site. This is set out to Valencia oranges and is a valuable piece of property

Nine children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Carver, three of whom, Irving, Caroline and Emery, are deceased. Those living are: Marian C., who is the wife of L. C. Blake of Anaheim; they are the parents of a daughter, now Mrs. Walter J. Jewell, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this work, and she is the mother of two children-Richard and Mary; another daughter, Mrs. Helen Perry has one son, Raymond; Walter resides in Minnesota; Katherine is the wife of W. P. Quarton of Anaheim and is the mother of three children-Dale, Irving and Dorothy Fern; Marvin resides at home: Mrs. Alice Booth has one son, Eugene, and assists her mother in presiding over the home.

Always a great thinker and a man of progressive ideas, Mr. Carver's prime interest has ever been for the masses rather than the classes, and he has for some years been a Socialist, as he was an early abolitionist. A man of highest integrity, he can look back on a busy life that has been well spent, and filled with many deeds of kindness for his fellowmen.

FRANK W. WALTON .- A pioneer citizen of the Los Alamitos section of Orange County and a man who is devoting his time and talents to the study of Nature's proc- esses in propagating, experimenting with buds and grafts and in cross pollenization to bring out new varieties of fruits, is Frank W. Walton, whose results have been phenomenal in the field of his chosen endeavor.

A native of Hancock County, Ill., Frank W. was born on May 22, 1869, the son of John and Mary (Southwick) Walton, natives of Kentucky and Massachusetts, re- spectively, but long residents of Illinois. In 1884 the family removed to Kansas and there improved a farm, but not feeling satisfied with the conditions found in that state the parents returned to Illinois in 1892. There the father passed to his reward in 1917, at the age of eighty-five, and Mrs. Walton died there in 1919, having attained to the age of seventy-five. They were the parents of seven children, six of them still living, and two of these are in California. Frank W. is a distant relative to the late Abraham Lincoln, as his grandmother Walton was a second cousin to the father of the martyred president and she came from Kentucky to Sangamon County, Ill., at the same time Mr. Lincoln settled there.

Frank W. Walton attended school in Illinois and Kansas and in his youth became a woodworker, doing fine cabinet work and also made musical instruments, such as violins, guitars and banjos. After his parents went back to Illinois he remained in Kansas, operating a fruit farm that belonged to his mother. During this time he made several trips to California, the first one in 1888, just after the big boom. He spent some time at Santa Rosa, then returned to Kansas and continued farming until 1893. when he moved to Portland, Ore. Three years later he came down to Los Alamitos, Orange County and secured employment with the Los Alamitos Sugar Company as a pattern maker, continuing with them for twenty years. During all the years that he was engaged in other lines of work he kept closely in touch with Nature, for even as a mere youth he was much interested in plant and tree life. He began making experi- ments in cross pollenization and he now sees the results of his many years of study, and some of those who know his work best consider that he has even surpassed the world-renowned wizard. Luther Burbank, in some of the varieties he has propagated. He has developed a quince, a cross between an apple and a quince, which can be eaten, cooked or treated as an ordinary apple; his varieties of pears have been so develop~ that they can be eaten every month in the year without having been placed in cold

Frank Ir alton

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HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY

storage; he has several species of grapes, propagated by himself, that surpass the standard varieties in point of excellence of flavor and they can be grown without fumiga- tion or spraying; the "Gold Dollar" apple, his specialty, will be put on the market ml 1921; numerous varieties of peaches, pomegranates, figs and persimmons are all of superior quality. Mr. Walton is enthusiastic over the climate and soil conditions of this section and declares that nowhere in the state is better to be found raising pears.

His home place at Los Alamitos is systematically and artistically arranged with fruit of his own propagation, and is the show place of the section, where the visitor is well repaid for the time spent with the proprietor, who is deeply in love with his work Not having room enough on his home place to expand his work, Mr. Walton has his nursery on the ranch owned by C. D. Clarke, near Santa Fe Springs, in Los Angeles County, where visitors are always made sure of a warm welcome.

By Mr. Walton's marriage in 1891, with Miss Josephine Watson, daughter of John and Martha Watson, two children were born, a son and daughter. the latter dying in childhood. The son, Vern H. Walton, is a mechanic in the employ of the Lord Motor Company in Los Angeles. He married Miss Dorris Terril, a native of Arkansas. while living in the state of Washington. Frank W. Walton is deeply interested in the welfare of the people of Orange County and is ever ready and willing to support all movements for the public good. Devoted to his work, yet he never shirks the civic duties of a loyal American citizen.

ALBERT A. LEE .- Among the men who have proved citizens of worth and public spirit and have rendered valuable service to Villa Park Precinct is Albert A. Lee, who traces his lineage to old Virginia, and whose family were prominent in that state among the F. F. V.'s. Mr. Lee was born near Des Moines, Iowa, October 24. 1862. He is the son of David L. Lee, and his grandfather, David R. Lee, was a second cousin of the famous General Robert E. Lee.

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History of Orange County, California : with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its earliest growth and development from the early days to the present, Part 113

Author: Armor, Samuel, 1843-; Pleasants, J. E., Mrs Publication date: 1921 Publisher: Los Angeles : Historic Record Co. Number of Pages: 1700

Author: Armor, Samuel, 1843-; Pleasants, J. E., Mrs
Publication date: 1921
Publisher: Los Angeles : Historic Record Co.
Number of Pages: 1700