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 130

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 130

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Mr. Baumgartner was born on February 9, 1861, in Columbia, Boone County, Mo., and there received his scholastic training. He was able to attend the public schools until he was twelve years old, and then for three years he was a farmer boy. During the next two years, the family having returned to town, he continued his schooling, and for a short time he was a student at the Missouri State University. It will thus be seen that he was almost entirely self-educated. In his early youth Mr. Baumgartner forecast and laid the foundation for his newspaper career by becoming a newsboy; and with the exception of the three years he spent on the farm, he sold St. Louis and Kansas City newspapers on the streets of Columbia most of the time between the ages of eight and seventeen, and part of that time conducted a general newsstand there. When seventeen, on account of threatened ill health, he went to Texas, driving thither in a wagon from his home in Columbia, to Sherman, in Grayson County. Returning to Columbia a few months later, he worked as a reporter on the Boone County Sentinel. and soon became the manager and lessee of that paper. In 1885 he became a reporter on the St. Louis Chronicle, and in August of that year he married Lida Sexton, a native of his home town. Soon after his marriage he returned to Columbia. Mo., to assume, in a large measure, the editorship and management of the Columbia Herald, in which position he continued until August, 1887, the summer of the great "boom" year. when he came out to California for the first time.

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His first newspaper work in this state was as a reporter on the San Diego Union, and from there he went to Riverside, in the spring of 1891, and after a few months as editor of the Riverside Phoenix, he established the Riverside Reflex, a weekly paper which, within a few months, absorbed the Phoenix. His next progressive step was the consolidation of the Riverside Reflex with the Riverside Daily Press. From that time on, as related above, Mr. Baumgartner's progress as a California newspaper man has been steadily onward and upward.

Mr. Baumgartner has always been active in district, state and national newspaper organizations. He was for five successive terms president of the Southern California Editorial Association, and in 1907, at the convention in New Orleans, he was elected president of the National Editorial Association. The following year he presided over the convention at Detroit and took the National Convention on an eight days' excursion through eastern Canada. By reason of having held the office of president of the National Editorial Association, Mr. Baumgartner became a life member of the organi- zation, and now holds the office of past president.

He is essentially an all-around newspaper man, being equally at home in any department of the business. He is a forceful and graceful editorial writer, and as a business builder he has few equals in country newspaper fields. Every paper with which he has ever been connected has been not only a business, but a journalistic success. Although often solicited to enter public life, Mr. Baumgartner has preferred to be just a newspaper man, and the only public office he has ever held was one involving much hard work without pay-that of a member of the California State Conservation Commission.

CHRISTIAN ANDERSON .- A hard-working, self-made man who has become a very successful rancher, partly perhaps because he believes in treating the other fellow as he would like to be treated himself, is Christian Anderson, the youngest son of Andres and Meta Christina (Jepsen) Thygesen, who was born in Schleswig-Holstein, northern Germany, July 10, 1865, and came to America on March 28, 1888. He went to the usual, thorough schools, and at fourteen was confirmed, so that he pushed out into the world to care for himself, at an age when many boys are still enjoying the environ- ments of a pleasant home. Both of his worthy parents are now dead.

Mr. Anderson had California, fortunately, for his destination, and he was also lucky to come direct to Fullerton. In the fall of 1892, he purchased twenty acres of open land to the east of Fullerton, and for a while his chief crop was cabbage; but in 1894 he began to set out citrus trees, and by fall he completed the first five acres, and he has kept setting out oranges until the twenty acres was set to fruit. Then he pur- chased, in 1904, the twelve acres adjoining, which is in walnuts. In 1900, he built for himself on the ranch both a dwelling and the necessary outbuildings, all of which are creditably substantial.

Mr. Anderson is a charter member of the Anaheim Union Water Company, and he also owns stock in the Placentia Bank. He markets his oranges through the Pla- centia Orange Growers Association and his walnuts through the Fullerton-Placentia Walnut Association. A brother, Nels Anderson, has three wells producing oil on his land, and is fast becoming interested in oil prospects, and Tige Anderson of Placentia is another brother. Mr. Anderson is a Republican, and as such endeavors to elevate the standards of American citizenship, and to increase the spirit of patriotism.

PETER STOFFEL .- The same qualities of perseverance, industry and thrift that made possible the success of Peter Stoffel as a grain farmer and stock raiser in Kansas have insured the gratifying prosperity which has attended his efforts since he came to California and engaged in citrus culture. Although not a native of the United States, Mr. Stoffel has no recollection of any home other than this country. He was born in Luxembourg, Germany, July 9, 1864, and when only two years old, in April, 1866, his parents came to America, locating in Jackson County, Iowa. Here he received his early education in the public schools. In 1877 the family moved to Kansas. locating in Sedgwick County, near Wichita, and Peter finished his education at a

business college in Wichita. His father was a large farmer, owning several farms, and at first Mr. Stoffel rented land from his father, but later he bought 160 acres and developed this acreage into one of the best farms in the county, raising grain, cattle and hogs. Always very active in politics, he was prominent in the local affairs of his party, being a member of the Republican Central Committee and the Congressional Committee. For fifteen years he was assessor and trustee of Attica Township, Sedg- wick County, and for nineteen years clerk of the school board.

In 1880 Mr. Stoffel's brother made a visit to Anaheim, Cal., and sent such glowing accounts back to his brother that in July, 1906, he also came to Anaheim, and was so much pleased with the country that he decided to locate here. He bought the Wallace

Christian Anderson

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grocery store on East Center Street and enlarged the business, employing six clerks, and he also purchased his present house and six lots at 520 West Center Street. After four years he sold out his grocery business. In the meantime he had bought twenty- nine acres of raw land four miles southwest of Anaheim, and there he has developed one of the best fruit ranches in the district, five acres being in lemons and the remainder in Valencia oranges. He paid $15,000 cash for this place, and has since added many improvements, including a pumping plant. In 1920 the grove produced 4,000 boxes of oranges. In July, 1919, he bought twenty acres more near by, which he leveled and which he has set to walnuts. He gives his personal attention to the care of these places, and the hard work that he has put in shows itself in the fine grove he has developed. He and his brother were the first men to come to Anaheim from Sedgwick, Kans., and with his enthusiasm over the possibilities of Orange County, Mr. Stoffel has not been content alone to reap the benefits of climate and soil, but has encouraged a number of his former neighbors and friends in Sedgwick County to locate here, in that way showing them the road to prosperity and at the same time helping in the development of the wonderful resources of the county. All the settlers who have come through Mr. Stoffel's recommendation are well pleased with the locality, and have bought ranches and prospered.

Mr. Stoffel's marriage united him with Mary E. Geiger, a native of Indiana, and they are the parents of ten children, eight of whom are living: Mrs. Johanna Kramer of Anaheim; Bernard A., who served his country during the war, being stationed at Camp Lewis with a machine-gun company; Mrs. Annie E. Volz. deceased; Joseph, deceased; Edward H .; Cora A .; Otto J., with his father on the ranch; Victor; Clara; and Herman J. They are also rearing a grandchild, Frank Volz, the son of their deceased danghter. Progressive and enterprising, Mr. Stoffel occupies an honorcd position in the community for his sterling and substantial qualities as a citizen.

ALFRED SHROSBREE. - An interesting English-American couple who, as pioneers at Huntington Beach, have done much to lay broad and deep the foundations there, are Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Shrosbree, who are enjoying their retirement after many years of hard work. Mr. Shrosbree was born at London, on February 17, 1844, and grew up in the delightful environment of Old England, under the inspiration of a scientifically-inclined parent; for his father, William Shrosbree, was a taxidermist, and mounted animals gathered from various quarters of the earth. He ran a taxidermist's store in the world's metropolis, and was visited by globe-trotters. He was born, married and died in London. He married Miss Maria Webb, also of London, who passed away in that city. They had nineteen children, among whom Alfred Shrosbree was the fourth child in the order of birth, as he is the only one of the family now living, although nine grew to maturity. Several of the brothers were taxidermists.

Alfred attended the common schools and was brought up in the Church of England. He learned the ivory-carver's trade in all its branches, and was proficient in carving, turning and flat work. Later he took up the trade of the carpenter and builder, but suffering severely from bronchitis, at the age of twenty-seven he determined to seek relief by a change of residence and air-that is, to come to America. He sailed from Liverpool on August 31, 1881, taking passage on the steamer City of Brussels, and landed at New York City. At first he came west only as far as Adams County, Nebr., where his wife's father, Richard Miles, lived and farmed; and there the bronchitis left him. He has never been back to England since.

In Nebraska, in 1883, Mr. Shrosbree was married to Miss Elizabeth Miles, a native of Oxfordshire, England, who had come to America several years before; and for twenty years he worked as a contractor and builder, with headquarters at Blue Hill, Webster County, Nebr. In 1901 Mr. and Mrs. Shrosbree came to Long Beach and lived there a year: and then, for a year, they lived in South Pasadena. In 1903 they came to Pacific City, now Huntington Beach, and at the new and promising resort Mr. Shrosbree followed his trade.

Since coming to California Mr. and Mrs. Shrosbree have witnessed many exciting events. They happened, for example, to he in the great disaster at Long Beach on Empire Day, 1913, at the falling of the approach to the Auditorium, and they fell with the crowd through the pier to the bottom. Both were hurt-Mrs. Shrosbree sustaining two broken ankles and ribs, and Mr. Shrosbree having his nose and right shoulder and several ribs broken. Of the 300 people that went down thirty-seven were brought out dead, and four of the injured persons died. Mr. and Mrs. Shrosbree showed their magnanimity hy not presenting a claim for damages.

There was no school and no post office at what is now Huntington Beach when Mr. Shrosbree first pitched his tent there, and as as there was also no Episcopalian Church, they joined the Baptist denomination, of which they are members. He is a

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naturalized citizen, of course, and a Republican, but in local matters is nonpartisan. At the age of seventy-seven, he resides happily with his wife and, as a patriotic pioneer, enjoys the esteem of a wide range of friends and acquaintances. He was active at his trade until the Long Beach disaster, and then he and his wife were forced to retire. Mrs. Shrosbree is found in every good work intended for the general welfare of the community, and as a model housekeeper takes particular pride in their Ocean Avenue home, which abounds with art and other evidences of the refined and cultivated mind. Mr. Shrosbree built his fine bungalow residence of eight rooms at 630 Ocean Avenne, and this is only one of several houses he has erected at Huntington Beach, and one of four that he still owns.

JAMES ERVIN LUTHER .- A well-posted and most interesting early settler, who has not only contributed something definite toward the building up and improve- ment of the country, but is able to boast with modest pride that both his father and his grandfather crossed the plains in 1851 and for three years underwent all the privations and rigors of the miner's life here, is James Ervin Luther, who was born in Bennington, Shiawassee County, Mich., on January 4, 1851. His father, James Martin Luther, was a native of New York and was educated at Granville College in Ohio, after which he married Miss Elizabeth Jacohs, who was born in New York State. Grandfather Ellis Luther had married Amelia Ervin who was a native of England, and the daughter of James Ervin, a sea captain, who owned his own vessel and also a large, comfortable residence on the ocean front in New York City from which his family could always watch for his coming. Piloting a valuable cargo, also owned by him, he arrived within sight of New York harbor one evening, and was sighted by his faithful wife and children, just as a severe storm arose; and the next morning not a vestige of ship or cargo could be seen, nor was the veteran captain and his supposedly sturdy vessel ever heard from again. James Martin Luther, who traces his ancestry back to the famous German of the Reformation, Martin Luther, was a teacher until his hearing became affected, when he became a clerk on the Erie Canal; after his marriage they resided at Lansing, Mich., until he came west. After mining in Nevada, he accompanied his father to San Francisco and then back to the East hy way of Panama; and he did clerical work and was postmaster at Northstar, Gratiot County, Mich. Later still he was a farmer, and he spent his last days with our subject in Orange County, where he died in 1916, at the age of ninety-three. Mrs. Luther, his beloved life-companion, gave joy to the same home circle until 1915, when she passed away at the age of eighty-seven. Her father, Mark Jacobs, a Vermonter, became a farmer in Michigan, and died at Brighton, Livingston County. They had five children, all of whom grew to maturity; and the eldest of the family, our subject is one of three still living.

James Ervin Luther was reared at North Star, near Ithaca, and while attending the public schools, worked on a farm, continuing to assist his father until he was twenty-four years of age. Then he came to California and arrived at Santa Ana in November, 1874. The place was then a mere hamlet, but a year later he purchased ten acres, the nucleus of his present valuable property, in the Chapman and Glassell tract on Yorba Street; and moving onto it, he built there a small house. Three very dry years succeeded, however, and he had to work out to tide over the critical period. while he did his best to improve the place.

He first set out grapes, but they died; and then he planted apricots, a few of which are still standing and bearing. Two years later, he bought another ten acres, and still later ten more; and having sold five acres, he now has a fine farm of twenty- five acres. Nine acres of these are set out to Valencia oranges, and the balance are given over to apricots; and one year he had seventeen tons of dried fruit. He belongs to the California Prune and Apricot Association, and also to the Santiago Orange Growers Association, and in both of these excellent organizations he is appreciated both for the quality of his products and his care in preparing them for the market.

At Orange, on March 6, 1886, Mr. Luther was married to Miss Mary McClintock, a native of Pittsfield, Ill., and the daughter of John R. McClintock, who was born in Indiana of an old Tennessee family. He settled in Illinois and married Nancy Cline. of Pennsylvania parentage, and became a farmer at Pittsfield. There Mrs. McClintock died, hut Mr. McClintock is still living, at Long Beach, enjoying life in the eighty- second year of his age. There were seven children in that family, and Mrs. Luther, who was the eldest, received the best of educational advantages in Illinois. In 1882. she and a brother, W. O. McClintock, came out to Los Angeles, and that same year she removed to Santa Ana. One child, Porter G. Luther, has blessed this union, and he is foreman for the gas engine tractor company in Bakersfield. Mr. and Mrs. Luther are members of the Christian Science Church at Santa Ana, and Mr. Luther marches under the banners of the Republican party.

JE Sutter

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CHRIS PAULUS .- A liberal-minded, kind-hearted and very progressive rancher who has had many interesting, if not always agreeable, experiences in a series of alternating "ups and downs," is Chris Paulus, who has at length reached a state of independence, with a fine Valencia orange orchard and a comfortable home. He came to California in the late nineties; and if Mr. Paulus and the Californians have any regret in the matter, it is that he did not settle here years before. He was born in Washington County, Wis., in 1845, the son of Chris Paulus, a farmer, who had forty acres there, and in 1848 moved to Ozaukee County, in the same state, where he cleared the timber land for a home. He had married Miss Catherine Hiltz, who proved to him an excellent helpmate. They had ten children, six of whom grew up; and among them Chris was the second oldest child. He was reared on a farm, and sent to a log schoolhouse; and growing up a good axeman, he helped to clear the home farm of 120 acres of solid timber, remaining home until he was twenty-three. Then he removed to Cerro Gordo County, lowa, where he worked for six months. He then made his way to Sedalia, Mo., and took up farming. Then he worked for many years at the stock yards at Sedalia, holding the position of foreman for almost three years.

On February 4, 1874, Mr. Paulus was married to Miss Catherine Dexhimer, who was born near Cleveland, Ohio, the daughter of William and Elizabeth (Hultz) Dex- himer, farmers in Ohio, then early settlers of St. Genevieve County, Mo., later at Hannibal, and in 1868 he located in Sedalia, Mo. After his marriage Mr. Paulus farmed on a farm of eighty acres that he had bought in 1869. The drought and grasshoppers destroyed the crops, and in the fall of 1874 they returned to Sedalia, where he began well drilling, which he followed for twelve years, finally using a steam well rig. During this time he bought property in Kansas City and started a blacksmith shop; but when the boom "busted" there, Mr. Paulus again returned to Sedalia and took up well drilling. As early as 1869 he decided to come to California; but he put it off until 1897, when he removed to San Bernardino, where he made a trade for a ranch of ten acres. He built a residence, dug a well and resided upon and improved the property for four years; but in the end he was beaten ont of it, and lost all that he had invested.

Once again Mr. Paulus began all over, locating at Compton, where he rented forty acres for the growing of beets; but at the end of the year he was $170 in the hole. Then he rented 100 acres from the Seaside Water Company, raising thirty-three sacks of barley per acre, but the second year the crop was a failure. He next went to Downey and rented thirty acres, and there he tried to raise hogs; but he lost all his hogs and traded for a house in Los Angeles, where he worked for the Lacy Manu- facturing Company, punching washers. He forged ahead, but was laid off; and then he took up farming again, and searched for months until he found his present property. He traded his house and two lots for five acres on the corner of Olive and Sunkist Avenues, and there were only eighty-one orange trees set ont; he himself set out the rest, all Valencia orange trees, now in full bearing. He has also helped improve other orchards. His soil is superior; he uses the best of fertilizers, and plenty of them; he has an excellent pumping plant, originally started by the Orange Grove Water Com- pany, and his highly-productive ranch is now cared for by his son, Walter, who uses a tractor and a team, and follows the latest, most scientific and practical methods of agriculture. An example of the increase in valnes is shown by the fact that he bought it for $1,850, and he has lately refused $30,000 for it.

Eight children have blessed the union of Mr. and Mrs. Paulus: William, Peter and Jacob are in Los Angeles; Walter, as has been stated, is ranching; Charles is also in Los Angeles; Fred is at McKittrick; Katie is Mrs. Robert Law, of the same place; and Elizabeth is Mrs. Fred Law, and lives at Anaheim. The family are members of the Presbyterian Church at Anaheim.

CHARLES W. MORROW .- A highly intelligent native son of California, whose love of good reading has assisted him in working for a higher standard of citizenship. is Charles W. Morrow, who was born in what is now Orange County on April 10, 1885, the son of George Clinton Morrow, whose sister, Mrs. Adaline Wright, crossed the great continent in the famous year of 1849, as did a brother, Harrison Morrow.

George C. Morrow was born in Ohio, and as his health was poor he therefore sought outdoor employment. Going to Iowa when a young man, he farmed there and drove a stage, later driving a stage in Nebraska. He had come to California in 1865, when Mr. and Mrs. Wright made their second trip, remaining there but a short time, driving freight teams from San Pedro to Los Angeles. Upon his return to Iowa he was married to Sarah Jane Hutchings, a native of Ohio, but who had lived in lowa from the age of nine years. Returning to California in 1871, Mr. Morrow settled in Los Angeles County, driving the stage from Anaheim to Los Flores. Mr. and Mrs. Morrow had eight children: Thomas Benton, George Clinton, Jr., Mrs. Maggie May Bowden, Mrs. Madge Christensen, Mrs. Nellie Fenton, Mrs. Annie Wheeler, Sylvester 44

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and Charles W. Mr. and Mrs. Morrow are still living and reside in the Villa Park district, Orange County, the father being eighty-five and the mother seventy-six years of age. . They celebrated their golden wedding anniversary on September 15, 1919.

Charles W. Morrow was sent to what was then called the Mountain View school, now known as the school at Villa Park-the name having been changed as late as 1908-09-and lived to serve as one of the trustees of that institution. He acquired three acres of his own, which he has well improved and where he has lately built a fine residence; and he is the manager of a tract of Valencia oranges, owned by his father, set out to Valencias and lemons. He is also a director in the Gray Tract Water Association, which is now supplying service to 600 acres of citrus land, having plenty of wells to insure against drought. He also belongs to the Villa Park Orchards Asso- ciation. On September 15, 1908, Mr. Morrow was married to Miss Mabel Stutheit of Villa Park, a talented lady, noted especially for her accomplishment in music, who came to California from Kansas with her parents. Two children have blessed the union of the younger couple-Lillian Bernice and Hazel May.

Mr. Morrow is a Democrat in matters of national political import, and yet quite nonpartisan when it comes to doing his duty by local movements. He belongs to the Community Church, and is honored as one of its trustees. All in all, Orange County as well as Villa Park may congratulate itself on such thoroughly loyal and active citizens as Mr. Morrow.

ERROL TRAFFORD WATSON .- An industrious and exceptionally able young man is Errol Trafford Watson, the second son of the widely-known and well-beloved pioneer, Jonathan Watson, who shares in the active management of the Watson ranch, raising in particular oranges, lemons and walnuts. He was born on June 3, 1894, and twenty years later graduated with credit from the Orange Union high school. His father being a rancher and horticulturist, Errol was therefore naturally interested in ranch work, and so has easily become expert in farm management. Like his father, who is known to have out-shot Buffalo Bill, he loves hunting in the great outdoors, and always carries a gun with him when he goes for a walk in the open. Should ravens, hawks or other birds get too close to the chicken yard on the Watson premises, there- fore, they invariably suffer the penalty.

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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 130

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