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 120

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 120

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Mr. Schaffert's bride was Miss Geneva P. Winslow, a native of Kansas, and the daughter of Josiah Winslow, and as her folks had come to California and had settled at Huntington Park, he decided to sell his land and elevator, and to join these relatives in the balmier clime. In November, 1917, therefore, he and his family cast off from the East and reached the Golden State; and not long afterward he located at Orange and began to deal in real estate. He bought, traded and sold for himself, and he engaged in a general realty business for others. Mr. and Mrs. Schaffert's eldest daughter, Electa, is Mrs. Easton. of Lancaster; Hazel attends the Orange high school, and there are Julius and Cecil. Besides setting out and selling several orange groves, Mr. Schaffert now owns a ranch at Lancaster, which he has improved. with a pumping plant, to alfalfa; and he owns the Schaffert Block on South Glassell Street, a fine concrete building worthy of the city of Orange.

A Republican in matters of national political import. Mr. Schaffert lends a hand, irrespective of party ties, to any and every good project likely to benefit the town and vicinity: and in all such civil work, he is ably seconded by his good wife. He belongs to the Santa Ana lodge of the B. P. O. E., the Orange lodge of the I. O. O. F., and to the Modern Woodmen of America.

Henry Schaffert.

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MARTIN R. HENINGER .- In the development of the southern section of the city of Santa Ana no one has been more active than Martin R. Heninger, who, in the fourteen years of his residence here, has seen a wonderful transformation in this part of the city-a transformation that he has had the greatest part in bringing about. Mr. Heninger is a native of Missouri and was born in Monroe County, a son of William W. and Eliza J. (Stalcup) Heninger, on November 29, 1851, and was reared on a farm and spent his early years in agricultural activities.

After his marriage, in 1882, he removed to Dakota Territory and there he engaged in the retail lumber business at Ordway, now South Dakota, remaining there for one year, when he moved to Westport, where he remained about twenty years, being one of the town's most substantial business men. He also did the banking exchange business of that town-a boon to the farmers and business men, and owned a farm of 450 acres. Selling out he then located in Aberdeen, where he bought a third interest in the Aberdeen Electric Light and Gas Company, remaining there until 1906. During the many years of Mr. Heninger's residence in South Dakota he was very prominent in Republican politics and in the public life of the State and was a member of the Constitutional Convention held at Sioux Falls which acted in the ad- mission of South Dakota to statehood in 1889. He also served as clerk of the district court of Brown County for two years-1895-96. He was appointed by Governor Sheldon, a member of the State Board of Regents of Education, but resigned on account of his business.

Disposing of his interest in the Aberdeen Electric Light and Gas Company, Mr. Heninger decided to locate in California, and arrived at Santa Ana May 15, 1906. In 1907, with his brother, H. B. Heninger, now deceased, he bought thirty-four acres of the Palmer Tract, south of First Street. They developed and platted this tract, planting trees, putting in sidewalks and curbs; later they bought additional tracts, one of ten and one of eighteen acres, which they platted and improved. These properties are known as Heninger Additions, Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 4. Many miles of street paving, side- walks and curbs were put in; $10,000 being paid out for street paving alone in one year.

When Mr. Heninger purchased this property it was a barley field, and the follow- ing year a combined harvester was at work on the property, cutting, threshing and sacking the barley. Now it is the finest residence section of the city, built up with fine homes, all of which have been erected within the past twelve years. Mr. Heninger and his brother have erected 150 houses on the property.

Notwithstanding the labor and responsibility entailed by his development opera- tions, Mr. Heninger has also been very active in the development of citrus groves. He has owned three different tracts, one of seven acres on Lincoln Avenue, seventeen acres in Lemon Heights, and five acres within the city limits. Two of these places he has improved and planted himself, subsequently disposing of them at a good profit.

Mr. Heninger's marriage united him with Miss Mary A. Way, a native of Pennsyl- vania, their marriage occurring in 1882 in Shelbina, Mo. Three daughters have been born to them: Nora L., Mrs. W. T. Elliott; Mabel H., Mrs. Fred S. Chapman, and Mildred, Mrs. N. S. Rulon, all of Santa Ana. It is quite safe to say that no other man has done as much for the development of the south part of Santa Ana as has Mr. Heninger, and he is still actively at work, many new residences heing erected on his properties. It is to men of the character and energy of Mr. Heninger that Orange County owes much for the wonderful progress made in the past few years.

JOHN SIMON FLUOR .- As a man prominent in the upbuilding of Orange County, John Simon Fluor has come to be well known throughout this section of the state. With unswerving faith in the future growth of the county, and the ability and readiness to do all in his power to advance its best interests, he has been an important factor in the development of its resources in the past ten years, and bids fair to be in the future as in the past, one of the men at the backbone of the further development of this garden spot of California.

Born February 4, 1867, Mr. Fluor is a native of Switzerland, where at an early age he took up the trade of contractor and builder. In May, 1888, he arrived in the United States and located at Oshkosh, Wis., where he was one of the founders and was manager of the Fluor Brothers Construction Company. This firm is still in existence and doing business; he built the company up to one of the best in that section, specializing in big jobs, such as factories, warehouses, etc., and erected a num- ber of large manufacturing plants in Wisconsin, and saw and lumber mills in Florida.

In the fall of 1912 Mr. Fluor located in Santa Ana, where he has since followed construction work as a contractor and builder; the following are some of his buildings erected in Santa Ana: the fine mausoleum in the Santa Ana Cemetery; the California National Bank Building; Taylor Bros.' warehouse and cannery; the D. A. Dale Block; four buildings for Oliver Halsell, including a garage and business blocks; and five

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other large garages, besides other buildings too numerous to mention. In Fullerton he erected two business blocks for George Amerige; a group of high school buildings in South Pasadena; and a school at Niland. All of his building operations bear the stamp of a master hand, with thorough attention to detail and first-class quality of material and workmanship.

The marriage of Mr. Fluor united him with Emma Sonnenberg, a native of Wis- consin, and five children have blessed their union: Peter E. who saw service in the World War in France as a lieutenant in the Aviation Corps; Fred C. in the U. S. Navy during the war; John S., Jr .; Mrs. Esther Gardner and Elsie at home. The sons are associated with their father in business. The family home is at 838 North Ross Street, Santa Ana. Mr. Fluor is a member of Santa Ana Lodge No. 794, B. P. O. Elks, and of the Chamber of Commerce.

EDWARD HENRY DIERKER .- A prominent director of the Santiago Orange Growers Association is Edward Henry Dierker, a rancher who understands the many problems of citrus culture. He was born in Monterey, Nebr., on October 9, 1875, the son of the well-known pioneer, Henry Dierker, and the sixth eldest in a family of ten children.

He was brought up on a farm in Nebraska and went to the local public schools; and having thus made an excellent start in life, he came to California in October, 1892. He settled at Orange and attended the Orange County Business College in Santa Ana, and then, for five years, he was a salesman in the Ehlen and Grote Company's grocery store. Later, in 1902, he bought the twenty acres of bare land at the corner of Lemon and West Palmyra streets, Orange, and the following year set the same out to Valencia and Navel oranges. Of all the fine ranches hereabouts, this is the closest in. and this fact alone adds to its value and prospects. All in all, it has become valuable property, and its worth is largely due to the attention and skill bestowed upon it by its owner.

Mr. Dierker is a member of the Santiago Orange Growers Association, is a director in the same, and was on the building committee when the new packing house, so attractive in its Mission style, was erected. The committee also built an ice plant, one of the finest in the state, where ice is made for precooling the fruit-cars, and for stocking cars with ice. He is also a director in the Orange County Fumigating Com- pany, to which he also gives the same honest and careful attention. Mr. Dierker is also a member of the Richland Walnut Growers Association and of the California Prune and Apricot Association.

At Orange, August 3, 1898, Mr. Dierker was married to Miss Lydia Kogler, a native of Minneapolis, Minn., and the daughter of the Rev. Jacob Kogler; and from her third year she was reared in Orange. Three children have blessed this union: Alvin, a graduate of the Orange Union high school, who is attending Stanford University as a member of the class of 1922, and during the war was a member of the student army; Celeste, who is in the Orange Union high school, class of 1921; and Florence. Mr. and Mrs. Dierker are members of St. John's Lutheran Church, where he has been trustee for fifteen years and also, for the last ten years, as treasurer of the board, a position he filled during the building of the new church. He is also a member of the Lutheran Men's Club, while Mrs. Dierker is equally active in the Ladies' Aid and Missionary so- cieties of the church. Mr. Dierker is very enterprising and progressive, and has always been ready to give of his time and means as far as he is able to aid in the building up of the county's horticultural and agricultural industries. He also applies himself to civic duties, and from time to time, under the leadership of the Republican party.

CHESTER K. LEE .- Among Garden Grove's foremost citizens and successful business men is Chester K. Lee, the efficient manager and secretary of the Garden Grove Walnut Growers Association. Mr. Lee was born September 21. 1873, at Alex- andria, Madison County, Ind., about forty-five miles northeast of Indianapolis, and is the son of A. J. and Lucy J. (Powell) Lee. The father's people were natives of North Carolina. and the mother's people were natives of Delaware, but she was born and reared in Franklin County. Ind. A. J. Lee owned a farm of 120 acres and residence property at Alexandria, Ind. He frequently visited his children in Orange County. Cal., and in the spring of 1920 disposed of his holdings in the East and purchased residence property on Spurgeon Street, at Santa Ana, where he is now living retired.

Chester K. Lee grew up at Alexandria. Ind., was educated in the public schools and attended Tavlor University, at Upland, Ind., two years, afterward being employed in the paper mill at Alexandria. In 1902 he married. at Alexandria, Miss Pareppa R. Houghton, who was born and reared in Indiana, and in 1903 the young people came to Santa Ana. Cal., to make their home. They are the parents of four children: Mary L., Erma R .. Ethlyn B., and Merle J. The first year after coming to Santa Ana,

Ed. HAtierher

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Mr. Lee worked for the Santa Ana Walnut Growers Association, then became manager of the house. He is the second oldest walnut packer in California, the one man older in the business than he being Mr. Sharp, of Santa Paula. Preferring Garden Grove as a place of residence, Mr. Lee purchased property there, and since 1914 his work has been in Garden Grove. In that year he built the Garden Grove walnut house after plans of his own, a frame building 50x80 feet in dimension, located on the Pacific Electric right-of-way. The association uses Mr. Lee's system in cleaning, fanning, bleaching and sorting the walnuts, and they are packed in new burlap sacks with the "Diamond Brand" of which there are five grades: Fancy Budded, No. 1, Golden State, Jumbos and No. 2. Mr. Lee's reputation as a walnut man has gone throughout the entire state. He is considered an authority in his line, and is often called upon for articles for the leading agricultural and horticultural papers and magazines. He is also frequently asked to go out to different places in California for the Central Asso- ciation, to instruct and give advice to other walnut growers associations, and his serv- ices have often been sought in the matter of devising architectural plans and building. and properly equipping other walnut warehouses. In 1913 he remodeled the warehouse at Santa Ana and installed the machinery; in 1917 he equipped the Santa Susana ware- house with adequate machinery, and in 1919 installed machinery in the one at Puente. In 1920 they equipped a warehouse complete, in Garden Grove, for packing budded nuts. He is an authority on bleaching, and in 1918, when the San Francisco Almond Growers Association had great difficulty in properly bleaching the product Mr. Lee was sent for and solved the matter by prescribing a bleach which did the work satisfactorily.

The year 1919 was the most successful year the association has enjoyed since its organization in 1914; twenty-eight members being added to its list, and about twenty others were added in 1920. The outlook for the association could scarcely be brighter. The production promises to steadily increase, as many young groves are coming into bearing. The oldest trees are only fifteen years old and are located on the Townsend place two miles north of town. As an illustration of the quality of the walnuts produced in the Garden Grove district, two carloads were shipped to Los Angeles, and were of such size and perfection that they were held there and packed in attractive five-pound cartons and sold in the city at fancy prices. In the cull depart- ment thirty girls are employed cracking walnuts and preparing the meats for market. The annual meeting of the association was held at the Garden Grove office Saturday, January 24, 1920. It was harmonions and enthusiastic, and all the officers and directors were reelected, viz., William Schnitger, president; F. E. Farnsworth, vice-president; and C. K. Lee, secretary. The other directors are N. I. Rice, Gorge Cook and F. B. Cleveland. In his religious association Mr. Lee is a member of the Baptist Church, and served as one of its trustees for several years. Politically he is a Prohibitionist and he is a charter member of the Garden Grove Chamber of Commerce.

CHARLES H. HOWARD .- A potent factor in the development and growth of the financial and commercial enterprises of Huntington Beach, a man of unusual resourcefulness and executive ability, is Charles H. Howard, a pioneer merchant of this thriving beach city and one of the founders of the First National Bank of Huntington Beach. He was born at Frewsburg, N. Y., January 2, 1862, and there was reared and educated. His school days being over he went to Jamestown in 1877, where he began working as delivery boy, then as clerk, and later as a partner in the same store. Thus he became a prominent merchant in that place, residing there until 1893 when he took a trip to the Golden State, locating for two years at Redlands, where he was engaged in the mercantile business, the first novelty store in that place. Afterwards lie returned East, but the lure of the land of sunshine and flowers, with its equable climate, was too strong to resist longer, so in 1906 he returned to California, this time locating at Huntington Beach. He opened a grocery store, becoming one of the pioneer merchants of the beach town.

Possessing keen business foresight and realizing the potential financial and com- mercial possibilities of the then small town, Mr. Howard became a stockholder in the First National Bank of Huntington Beach, serving as its vice-president and one of its directors. In 1916 Mr. Howard sold his grocery business and assumed the active management of the bank, being one of its largest stockholders. He continued in the banking business until 1918, when he sold out his interest, resigned his position and removed to Covina, where he purchased an orange grove. remaining there until the spring of 1920, when he returned to the city of his choice, Huntington Beach, where as of yore, in the same optimistic way he saw the great commercial opportunities and realizing this laid his plans to again enter business life. With his son, Marcus G., and his son-in-law, Roy K. Smith, under the firm name of Howard & Smith, he has estab- lished two general stores. Store Number One is located in a building he owns on the

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corner of Main and Walnut streets, and Store Number Two in a building he has just completed on the corner of Eleventh and Orange streets. His many years of experi- ence and successful business career, in connection with his high standing as a man of strict integrity and honesty of purpose enabled him to immediately establish a large and ever-increasing trade.

On his return he also became active in real estate development and built three fine residences which he sold; he has just completed a handsome house overlooking the ocean, where he intends to make his permanent home. Another of his successful enterprises is the Princess Theatre, which he built and owns. Among the many enterprises Mr. Howard was instrumental in founding at Huntington Beach, none have given him as much real pleasure and satisfaction as the organizing and building of the First Methodist Church of Huntington Beach, to which he gave freely of his time and financial help and served as president of the church board. He is recognized as one of the most public-spirited men of the city and is always ready to help promote every worthy movement that has as its ultimate aim the upbuilding and fostering of the best interests of Huntington Beach. Mr. Howard has served as president of the Chamber of Commerce and also was one of the original board of trustees of the city.

In 1886 Mr. Howard was united in marriage at Jamestown, N. Y., with Miss Adelaide M. Hazzard, a native of Little Falls, N. Y., and they are the parents of four children: Marcus G., who is manager of one of the Acme Grocery Stores in Los Angeles, married Miss Mabel Elfeld of Huntington Beach; Lillian S. is the wife of J. J. Goetz, a teacher in the Long Beach high school; Frances L. is the wife of Roy K. Smith, the general manager of the chain of Acme Grovery Stores in Los Angeles; Virginia is a student at the Huntington Beach high school.

ROY I. LOVERING .- A successful Tulare rancher who profited by his discovery that, after all, there is nothing to compare with Orange County, and straightway moved hither, is Roy I. Lovering, proprietor of the estate so well known in the Orangethorpe district and a member of a family that has prospered wonderfully in California. He was born in Lucas County, Iowa, on November 26, 1882, the son of Martin Van Buren Lovering, a farmer of that state, and his good wife Mary. He came to California when he was a baby in 1883, so that for all practical purposes, so to speak, he is a genuine native son. At that time his father came to Orangthorpe, and here purchased eighty acres on West Orangethorpe Avenue. It was then covered with wild mus- tard and sunflowers, and was known as the Baker-Lovering subdivision.

At the present time there are forty acres in the Lovering homestead, and all are in oranges, entirely under the Anaheim Union Water Company's service. The ranch was run by our subject until 1904, when he purchased 560 acres in Tulare County for a cattle ranch, and for the next six years lived there. Then he removed to Mexico, and at Ontagota had a ranch of 123 acres in grain from 1910 to 1911. Returning to Tulare County, he again ran his ranch there until January, 1916, when he concluded to return to the old homestead at Orangthorpe. He joined the Anaheim Orange and Lemon Growers Association, and with his brothers became especially interested in sixteen acres west of the Emery oil fields.

On June 8, 1904, Mr. Lovering was married in Orangethorpe to Miss Nellie Weaver, a native of Kansas and the daughter of W. W. Weaver, who married Miss Flora Birtch. The Weavers came to California in 1887 and settled at Anaheim; and there Miss Nellie went to school. Two children-Norma Doris and Jassmine Evelyn- have blessed the union. Fraternally, Mr. Lovering is a member of the Elks of Ana- heim; nor is there in that flourishing society a more active or popular member.

JESSE B. IRWIN .- A faithful public official whose interest in Orange County history is second only to his devotion to duty and his interest in the history of his family, now enhanced by the enviable war records of his sons, is Jesse B. Irwin, the popular custodian of the Orange County Park. He is the son of James and Delila (Ennis) Irwin, old settlers of Ohio, where the father died, and was born near Upper Sandusky, Wyandot County, in the Buckeye State, on September 27, 1851, the fifth child in a family of nine, six of whom are still living, three sons and three daughters.

At the age of seventeen he removed to Monticello, Ill., with his widowed mother and the rest of the family, and there helped on the farm where they raised corn. In 1871, the family moved to Mankato, Jewell County, Kans., and in the fall of 1885, Jesse joined them there and engaged in farming. On September 16, 1886, he was married to Miss Eva E. Talbert, at Salina, Kans., a charming lady born near Monticello, Ill., and there educated in the grammar schools. She is a sister of T. B. Talbert, a member of the board of supervisors of Orange County. After marriage Mr. and Mrs Irwin went to Colby, Thomas County, Kans., where Mr. Irwin engaged in the real estate business, but in 1890 they moved to Monticello, Ill., and there continued agricul-

H. F. Gardner

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tural pursuits for ten years. In 1902 he was appointed deputy county clerk of Piatt County and served until Sept. 1, 1911, working under two administrations.

In September, 1911, Mr. Irwin and family came west to California, principally for his health, settled in Huntington Beach and has ever since worked hard for the advancement of Orange County interests, and is a good "booster" for this section of the great state-an enthusiasm and a work in which his wife and all the family join.

Nine children blessed this union of Mr. and Mrs. Irwin, one child, Nettie, dying at the age of nine. Clyde C., who married on August 1, 1919, lives in Los Angeles and is an expert caterpillar mechanic; Zella was married in 1913 to W. S. Thompson of Garden Grove, at present a rancher with 120 acres at Huntington Beach; Marie D., the fourth in the order of birth, is a graduate of the Clara Barton Hospital of Los Angeles, and was married August 25, 1920, to John H. Carter, an oil worker at Brea. He was a soldier in the World War; Fay F. attended the Huntington Beach high school and is now at home; Fern G., married in October, 1918, Loraine E. Tarbox, who is engaged with his father in the hardware business at Huntington Beach; Rachel is a senior in the Orange high school; Joseph B. in Orange high school, and Esther, a student in the El Modena grammar school. Mr. Irwin, who has been an Odd Fellow since 1884, now belongs to Huntington Beach Lodge.

Mr. and Mrs. Irwin can well be proud of the war record of their sons. Clyde C. served with the Ninety-first Division of the Three Hundred Forty-Eighth Field Artillery, and trained at Camp Lewis from April 26, 1918, to the following July, when he sailed with his division from New York for France. In the latter country, he was in charge of munition trucks, and he also served in the Army of Occupation. In April, 1919, he returned to California, and at Camp Kearny, on the twenty-fifth of the month was honorably discharged. Fay F. Irwin volunteered in June, 1918, for service in naval aviation, and trained at North Island until December, when he was sent with his class to the Great Lakes Station, and there he served, until he was honorably discharged, in April, 1919, when he at once returned to California.

HENRI F. GARDNER .- An early pioneer of Orange who had much to do with the building up and improving of that section was the late Henri F. Gardner, who was born in Jackson County, Mich., in 1852, descendant of a prominent and old Connecticut family. He was educated in the public schools, after which he learned the printer's trade and then entered the University of Michigan, but on account of his health and wishing to seek a more equable climate he came to California. He spent one year working on the Anaheim Gazette and then located in Orange in 1873 and purchased twenty acres on South Glassell Street, which is still in possession of his family.

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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 120

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