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 127

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 127

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In 1891 C. R. Nutt was united in marriage with Minnie Bond, a native of Mass- achusetts. She was one of the organizers of the Women's Club of Huntington Beach and served as its first secretary. This union has been blessed with two children: Helen, who is now Mrs. Fountain of Los Angeles; and Charles R., Jr., who for five years has been a musician in Headquarters Company, First Infantry, U. S. Army, having the rank of corporal. Fraternally Mr. Nutt is a member of Huntington Beach Lodge No. 380, F. & A. M .; also of Huntington Beach Lodge No. 183, I. O. O. F., and is secretary of the Huntington Beach Lodge of Modern Woodmen of America.

ChasR. nuth

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HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY

HENRY LAE .- A native son of Orange County, of French parentage, Henry Lae is making a fine success of ranching near Brea, in partnership with his brother, Louis Lae. He is the son of Joseph and Mary Lae, the father coming to America in 1885 from the Basses-Pyrenees, in the southern part of France. Sheep raising is one of the principal means of livelihood in that mountainous country and being accustomed to that work Mr. Lae became a sheep herder on the ranch of Domingo Bastanchury, known throughout Southern California as the largest sheep owner in this section, having as many as 20,000 sheep in the early days when this great industry was at its height. When the country began to be more thickly settled and the sheep ranges cut up into small ranches, the industry gradually ceased to exist commercially, and for a number of years a flock of sheep has been a rare sight in this county. Like many others who had been engaged in this business, Joseph Lae took up farming. leasing eighty acres from the Union Oil Company on the east side of the Fullerton-Brea Boulevard. Here with his sons he raised large crops of hay, continuing here until his death, which occurred in November, 1918, the mother having passed away in 1896, at their home in Fullerton.

Born at Fullerton, November 4, 1895, Henry Lae has spent all his life in this vicinity. He attended the Fullerton schools, meanwhile assisting his father in the ranching operations and early learning to do all kinds of farm work. After the death of his father, with his brother, Louis Lae, he leased eighty acres of land from the Union Oil Company and the same amount from the Coyote Land Company, this being situated on the Fullerton-Brea Boulevard, across from the tract formerly operated by the father. They have been very successful in their work here and their yearly crop of hay brings them an excellent price.

Two of the Lae brothers served in the World War, Louis being for eight months in the Coast Artillery, while Phillip saw twenty months' service in Headquarters Com- pany of the Three Hundred Sixty-fourth Infantry, Ninety-first Division, and went through the big drives of the war.

GEORGE N. WERSEL .- Of French and Dutch ancestry, George N. Wersel has inherited the thriftiness and industry that characterize both of these nations, and this heritage has had no small part in the success that he has achieved. Born in Cincinnati, December 14, 1861, George N. is the son of Frank and Mary (Wagner) Wersel. Mr. Wersel was born in Holland and Mrs. Wersel in France, both of them coming to America when they were children.

One of a family of five sons and two daughters, all of whom are living, George N. Wersel was educated in the public schools and the Academy of the Holy Cross in Cincinnati. His father had for years been engaged in the upholstering business at Cincinnati, and after his schooling was completed George Wersel took up this work, serving an apprenticeship under his father, later going into business with him, and continuing in this line for many years.

Coming to California in September, 1913, Mr. Wersel spent a few months in Los Angeles, coming from there to La Habra, where he purchased the ten-acre ranch on La Mirada Avenue which is now his home. Seven acres of the ranch are devoted to walnuts, while the remaining three acres is set to lemons, and the whole tract shows the gratifying results of intelligent care and painstaking work. Mr. Wersel has estab- lished an excellent irrigating system, water being furnished by the La Habra Mutual Water Company. He markets his walnuts through the California Walnut Growers Association of La Habra, and his lemons through the Mutual Orange Distributors. In 1914 Mr. Wersel built a beautiful hungalow on his ranch, and here he resides with his sisters, Agnes and Estella Wersel.

Mr. Wersel is held in high esteem by the people of his locality, who appreciate his many excellent qualities, his integrity and reliability. Nonpartisan in his political views, he is nevertheless interested in the welfare of the country in the largest and broadest sense, and believes in casting his vote for the best men and measures. In fraternal circles he is affiliated with the Elks and the Knights of Columbus.

GEORGE M. EABY .- That a man need not own extensive acreage in order to exercise important influence in a community is demonstrated by George M. Eaby, the proud possessor of a modest but enviable grove of citrus and walnut trees, who has had a hand in the late development of La Habra and vicinity. He was born near Laton. Rooks County, Kans., on May 21, 1876, the son of Aaron S. and Cordelia (Gregory) Eaby, early settlers of the "Garden of the West," the father, a Pennsylvanian, having moved there in 1874, a year after the mother, who came from Iowa. Aaron Eaby was a farmer; hence, while he attended the local schools, George spent his boyhood and youth on the home farm. Later, he attended the Kansas Wesleyan University at Salina, there completing his days of schooling.

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In 1896 Mr. Eaby came to California and settled at Whittier, where he worked on various ranches. The next year, on September 23, he was married to Mrs. Alice Prentice, a native of Iowa, where she was born near Des Moines. Her maiden name was Alice Hites, and she was the daughter of Joseph and Catherine Hites; and she attended the country school near Des Moines.

In 1906 Mr. Eaby purchased six acres on La Mirada Avenue, west of La Habra, three acres of which were set out to walnuts; and the remaining three acres he set out to Valencia oranges. Seven years later he built his own home there. He buys the water he needs for irrigation from the La Habra Water Company, markets his walnuts through the La Habra Walnut Growers Association, and his oranges through the Index Orchards of the M. O. D. of Redlands.

A Republican in matters of national political import, and always ready to advance the principles long set forth by that great body, Mr. Eaby is a broad-minded American, favoring the best men and the best measures, particularly in local movements, for the attainment of ends difficult or impossible when partisanship prevails. He takes a keen interest in all that happens at La Habra, having the utmost confidence in the ever- increasing prosperity of this highly-favored region.

LUCIAN T. ROGERS .- An enterprising, self-made horticulturist, whose disposi- tion to work hard when he works, and to play hard when he plays, has enabled him to become a successful citrus rancher, is Lucian T. Rogers, a native son proud of his association with the great Pacific commonwealth. He was born amid the excitement of the greatest boom Southern California has ever known, at Santa Ana, on May 29, 1888. the only son living of Joseph C. Rogers, a very successful Iowan who came to California in 1884 and now lives, a retired rancher, at Long Beach. He had married Miss Margaret Voris, an admirable lady, who died at Fullerton in 1908, the mother of three children, of whom our subject was next to the youngest.

He attended the grammar school at Fullerton, and then went to the Browns- berger Business College in Los Angeles, from which he was graduated in 1908. Then he worked for Fullerton Mutual Orange Association for over two years.

When he took up ranching, he assumed the responsibility of managing and de- veloping a twenty-eight and one-third acre ranch on East Chapman, the property of his father and, to facilitate marketing, he joined the Fullerton Mutual Orange Growers Association of which his father was president. Mr. Rogers is also a member of the Fullerton Walnut Growers Association. He also took stock in the Anaheim Union Water Company. The ranch, mostly devoted to raising Valencia oranges, may well be regarded as a model for one of its size, and the fruit he raises is also of a superior quality. Mr. Rogers also owns eight and half acres in Yucaipa Valley which he has set out to an apple orchard.

On June 12, 1910, Mr. Rogers was married at Fullerton to Miss Ida Speheger, daughter of Abraham and Rebecca (Fritz) Speheger, farmers of Bluffton, Ind., where Ida was born. Her father died in August, 1918, being survived by his widow. Miss Speheger came to Fullerton on a visit to her brother Fred and here she met Mr. Rogers, the acquaintance resulting in their marriage. They have been blessed with one child, a soti, Donald Lucian.

Both Mr. and Mrs. Rogers are interested in every worthy endeavor for the up- building of a community, and they gladly discharged their responsibilities toward the late war and war-work. Mr. Rogers was for some years a member of the Knights of Pythias, and a good "mixer" in every circle to which he gives his time.

JOSEPH O'DONNELL .- A successful horticulturist who has attained to still higher and better things in becoming so widely esteemed for his sterling character and his genial, kindly nature, is Joseph O'Donnell, the progressive orange grower, who was born in Fayette County, Ohio, twenty-six miles from Columbus, on July 18, 1859, the son of Patrick O'Donnell, who died there, honored for his vigorous participation in the Civil War, towards the close of the great conflict. He had married Bridget Breslan, and she also died in Ohio.

The second oldest of the six children in the family-two of whom are living- and the only one in California, Joseph was taken when seven years old to the neigh- borhood of Indianapolis, Ind., and for a brief period sent to the public schools. He was compelled, however, to go to work early, and to get such instruction as he could in the limited winter sessions of the school. When he was fourteen, his mother died and he began to "paddle his own canoe."

For a while, he worked on a farm as a carpenter, and then for sixteen years he was with F. A. Fletcher, of the Indiana Blooded Stock Company, breeders of fine Hereford cattle, traveling for that enterprising man for eight years and placing his

Phoebe a. Burbank

Coni n. Burbank

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HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY

blooded stock for him. He shipped into Portland, Ore., thirty-four years ago the first Herefords ever consigned there, and he also sent cattle of high grade to Washing- ton, where they were disposed of by auction sale. His full-blooded stock was, in fact, the first put up at auction in Portland, and received the highest price of any up to that time.

In 1896 Mr. O'Donnell resigned and went to Indianapolis, where he was on the police force for seven years. Then he was with the Atlas Engineering Works for another three years, serving them as a machinist. In 1906, he went to Boise City. Idaho, and there he was in the transfer business until, in 1908, when he located here.

He bought his present twenty acres, then raw, land, on Rio Vista Avenue, raised seedlings, which he budded to Valencia oranges, and set out an orchard, consisting of twenty acres of rich soil, well located. With this wonderful soil as an almost magical stimulant, Mr. O'Donnell has been able in this short time to evolve a full- bearing orchard. When he bought the place, he had only $150 with which to start, and for the first four years he raised sweet potatoes. Now he has sixteen acres of Valencia oranges, four acres of Navels, while the balance of the acreage is given up to residence and yards. Naturally, he belongs to the Mutual Orange Growers Associ- ation in Anaheim.

Mr. O'Donnell was married in Morgan County, Ind., to Miss Mary Dove, a native of that state, and they have one child, Harold, a graduate of Anaheim high school, class of 1920. She shares her husband's interest in independent political action, and is a devoted member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

MRS. PHOEBE ANN BURBANK .- A well-read, deep-thinking woman with an interesting personality, who has attained, in the school of hard work an enviable self- poise, is Mrs. Phoebe Ann Burbank, the owner and manager of a well improved orange and walnut grove of thirty-one acres. She was born near Watsonville, Santa Cruz, Cal. Her father was the late John M. Bush., Sr., a native of Kentucky, where he was born on April 10, 1829; and her mother had been Sarah A. Watson, who was born in Inde- pendence, Mo., eight years later. John M. Bush migrated with his parents from Kentucky to Clay County, Mo., at the beginning of his teens; and in 1849, when the country was electrified by the startling news of the discovery of gold in California, he sought and obtained parental permission to cross the plains, and soon set out overland to seek his fortune. Having remained in the Golden State, he married in 1851; and when gold-digging petered out, he went in for farming. He farmed in Santa Cruz County and was engaged in sheep raising until about 1869, when he located in Santa Ana Canyon and purchased a large ranch and engaged in sheep raising until his death February 8, 1913, followed seven years later, by Mrs. Bush, who died March 26, 1920. aged eighty-four. She had 105 descendants-ten children, fifty-five grandchildren, and forty great-grandchildren. The ten children are Mrs. P. J. Ralls, Charles T. and Jonathan Bush, Mrs. L. J. Stone and Mrs. Lillie Holloway, all of Kern County; Mrs. Elizabeth Borden, of San Bernardino; and J. M. and T. Taylor Bush, and Mrs. Phoebe A. Burbank, of Olive, and Mrs. S. C. Howard, of Long Beach.

Miss Phoebe Bush was reared on the old Bush ranch from a child and received her education in the public schools. She was married in Anaheim to Corri N. Burbank. a native of Vermont, where he was born on February 28, 1865, and who was twenty-one when he assumed the new responsibility. He had come out to California when a mere youth, and settled in San Diego County, where he had an uncle, Mathias Stone, and for more than twenty years Mr. and Mrs. Burbank lived an ideal life until November 26, 1907, when he died, aged forty-two. Mr. Burbank learned the miller's trade in the Olive Mills under Dillen Bros. and after their marriage he continued as miller even after the Dillens sold their interest and the new mill was built. He was a splendid miller and was head miller when he quit to locate on the thirty-one acres of land Mrs. Burbank inherited from her father's estate which they set to oranges and walnuts. Since he died she continues to run the ranch, assisted by her son Raymond C. C. She is a member of the Foothill Orange Growers Association. Mr. and Mrs. Burbank had four children, all of whom are married and doing well. Phoebe Frances married J. A. Allen by whom she had one child, Edith Huldah, who is at present fourteen years old. Now she is Mrs. A. R. Balok, and resides at West Park, Pa. Huldah Ann is the wife of G. E. Shell and resides at El Segundo, Cal., she has two children-Ray- mond E. and Evelyn P. Raymond C. C. Burbank manages his mother's ranch; he is twenty-six years of age, and the husband of Miss Nellie Shell, of Orange; they have two children, Thelma I. and Curtiss L. Burhank. Clarence M. is a pumper for the Santa Ana Valley Irrigation Company, and married Miss Elizabeth Breau of Long Beach. They have two children-Mildred E. and Purl M. All of these children and grandchildren shower their affection upon Mrs. Burbank.

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HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY

ARCH M. EDWARDS .- Among the thoroughly wide-awake business men of Orange County who are deeply interested in advancing permanently the best interests of this part of the Golden State must be mentioned Arch M. Edwards, formerly a mem- ber of the well-known firm of Edwards and Pattillo, transfer agents of Fullerton. He was born on a farm in Benton County, Ark., in September, 1884, and grew up amid the sturdy environment of that state still so much in the making. His father was A. J. Edwards, who had married Miss Jane Wilson, and they were devoted parents who sought the best for their children.

Arch, therefore, attended the rural schools while he helped his father on the farm; and at the age of twenty-one, when he had performed his filial duty, he left home. For a while he worked at various jobs, and finally he took the important step of migrating west to_California. Later he returned to his home in the East; but in 1907 he came back to Fullerton and for four years worked on a ranch here.

At the end of that period, he bought a ranch of ten acres for himself, which he has reset to Valencia oranges, and at the same time he went in for general teaming for other ranchers. He also began to care for orchards. Enjoying a reputation for both experience and conscientious industry, Mr. Edwards never had any trouble to find all that his hands and a long day could do.

In 1918, he formed the Edwards and Pattillo Transfer Company, which grew with the city and employed seven men and five trucks, all their own, and maintained a monthly payroll of about $1,100. He sold out his interest in June, 1920, to devote his time to his ranching interests.

On September 1, 1906, Mr. Edwards was married to Miss Lydia Brown of Arkan- sas, like himself a live and patriotic citizen, and is a member of the Fullerton Club. A Democrat in matters of national politics, Mr. Edwards is above party and partisan- ship particularly when it comes to local issues, and no resident of Fullerton lines up better as a consistent "booster" for both town and county.

CAYETANO CASTILLO, JR .- An apt and enterprising young farmer whose success is due in part to his very thorough knowledge of the citrus industry, is Cayetano Castillo, Jr., the dry-ranch manager of Yorba, highly esteemed for his upright, Christian character. He was born on April 3, 1893, on a small ranch near Yorba, the fifth sou of Cayetano Castillo, and Navarro, his devoted wife. Both parents are living on their eight acres at Yorba, where their chief crop-barley, to be made into hay-is secured by dry farming. His father came as a pioneer from Mexico to the Yorba district, but his mother was born on the Irvine ranch.

Cayetano, the lad, attended the school of the district and so grew up one of a family of eleven children, and the fifth in the order of birth. Teresa, the wife of A. Coronado, the rancher at Yorba, is the eldest, while the next is Gertrude, now Mrs. Pete Romero, the walnut and citrus rancher at the same place. Alexander married Miss Adelfina de Ruiz; Beranda is the wife of Stephen Reyes of Fullerton; Edna R., the next after Cayetano, is Mrs. Domingo Romero, a rancher; Ange is the wife of Celestine Bleecker of Orange; Theodore L. married Jennie Roderquez, and is deceased; Frank married Evelyn Robertson; he enlisted in the great World War, and was honorably discharged at San Francisco from the U. S. Army on January 19, 1919; Helen E. is at home, and so is Natalia.

Cayetano Castillo, who is at present employed by Herman F. Locke in citrus development at Yorba, never married, desiring to afford a home for his parents. For the past two years, he has also assisted the superintendent of county roads in looking after the excellent highways of Orange County. He is a Republican in matters of national politics, and belongs to the Catholic Church at Yorba. Few, if any, young men of Yorba merit and receive a larger share of the respect of their fellow-citizens than Mr. Castillo, a standing he has won by his industry and integrity.

HARRY E. MATTHEWS .- Among the most substantial and popular citizens of the county, in which he has now resided for a number of years, making more than a decade, Harry E. Matthews resides on his own ranch south of Tustin, which he purchased in January, 1909. He took it when it was in an unreclaimed state, and straightway set out his orange trees and made the other needed improvements, but by hard, steady work his place is now bringing in the handsome returns for which he labored. His products are Valencia oranges and walnuts, and there are none better in the county.

Born in Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa, on August 28, 1858, Mr. Matthews is a son of Fenelon and Mary (Hogin) Matthews, natives, respectively, of South Caro- lina and Maryland, who were pioneer settlers of Iowa, where Fenelon Matthews became a well-known merchant and successful business man. Showing his patriotism for the Stars and Stripes, he volunteered his services in an Iowa regiment on the break- ing out of the Civil War, serving until the close of the war, being honorably dis-

Sarah E. Harvey Charles & Harry

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charged as sergeant. He came of an old Southern family that is traced back to Welsh and French descent. Mr. Matthews spent his boyhood in Keokuk County, Iowa, where his education was acquired at the common schools. When he first began to work for a living, after his school days, he entered the mercantile field, and a mer- cantile career he continued even after he moved to Kiowa, Barber County, Kans., in 1877. He joined to it, however, the enterprise of stock raising, having acquired 320 acres of land; 160 he devoted to crops and the remainder to grazing.

For a number of years Mr. Matthews was under-sheriff of Barber County, Kans. He made a splendid record as an officer, and having an enviable record as a citizen, it is no wonder that when his term of office expired, he was offered the nomination for the office of sheriff. He declined the office and the honor, however, but more than evér retained his popularity, and none of this popularity has he lost since he came to the Golden State. As he was in Kansas, so he is in California; those with whom he becomes acquainted are his friends.

In 1886 Mr. Matthews was united in marriage at Kiowa, Kans., to Miss Sarah May, the daughter of Charles and Carrie (Harding) Rumsey, who were early settlers of Barber County, Kans., and later also removed to Tustin, where Mr. Rumsey died in August, 1920, his widow being spared, and still lives at her home on Main Street. The happy union of Mr. and Mrs. Matthews has been blessed with twelve children, three of whom are now deceased. The others are Gertrude, the wife of Andrew L. Cock, who resides at Delhi; Fenelon C., who is ranching near Tustin, and married Edith Stearns; Van A. is a farmer at Kiowa, Kans .; Alice is Mrs. D. C. Kiser of Tustin; Jessie is Mrs. Verne Maynard, also of Tustin; Carrie E. is wife of Glyde Cooper, and resides near El Toro; George is serving in the United States Navy, while Frank and Harry are still under the paternal roof.

A Democrat in national politics, and a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Mr. Matthews is a member of the Masonic order, to which he has belonged for years. He is well informed, and, being a man of pleasing personality, is an inter- esting conversationalist. He does not regret selecting Orange County for his home and that he cast his lot here, for he finds by comparison it has the most ideal climate, and is undoubtedly the most productive and prosperous county for its size in the world.

CHARLES E. HARVEY .- Well known throughout Southern California as a wide-awake business man and one especially well posted on orange growing and development, Charles E. Harvey was born in Switzerland County, Ind., March 18, 1856, and raised on his father's stock farm in Jefferson County of that state. When reaching his majority he located in Filmore County, Nebr., and there became foreman of a large ranch for a period of three years. In 1880 he came to Los Angeles and became manager for the Continental Oil and Transportation Company for five years, during which time he traveled on the road as salesman. He made the journey back to Indiana, and returned to California, this time to settle in Riverside, where he resided for twenty-seven years, and had charge of the upkeep and development of orange groves, also owning groves of his own.

On October 7, 1913, Mr. Harvey came to Fullerton, and became special agent for the James F. Jackson Fertilizer Company; later Mr. Jackson combined with two other companies and formed the Southern California Fertilizer Company, dealing in manure, fertilizer, bean straw and melilotus seed, lime, etc. Mr. Harvey's territory covers all of Orange County, the Montebello and Whittier district and San Diego County. In 1919 he sold 4,000 cars of fertilizer, his customers being the leading ranchers in his territory, and he has also sold to the San Fernando Valley. The manure is taken from the dairy ranches and stables all over Southern California, including Kern and Imperial counties. The secret of Mr. Harvey's success as a sales- man is his reputation for honesty and fair dealing, always giving value received, and the fact that he is one of the best-posted men in the state on the needs of orange groves, being a grower himself and with many years of experience in the citrus industry.

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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 127

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