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 131

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 131

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On September 6, 1916, Mr. Watson was married to Miss Beatrice Durkee, a native of Sioux Rapids, Iowa, and the daughter of Joseph E. and Lucinda (Stewart) Durkee, natives of Iowa, who were married in Minnesota. Her father was a public school teacher, and for twenty years served as superintendent of schools in Buena Vista County, Iowa. In 1908 they came to California, and settled in Los Angeles, where the mother died in February, 1909, leaving three children-Beatrice, Florence and Ruth. The following month Mr. Durkee removed to Orange County and bought a ranch of twenty acres, three and a half miles to the northwest of Anaheim, and there he is still living. Two children have blessed this happy union, June and Maxine.

The three Watson brothers, Floyd E., Errol Trafford and Harold Arlington, operate the ranch of one hundred twelve and a half acres belonging to their father, Jonathan Watson, and cultivate forty-five acres given to walnuts and the balance mostly in oranges. The walnut trees are from four to thirty years old. They use two tractors in operating the ranch, this being at least so far as the Watsons are concerned, a horseless age. This is all the more strange since Jonathan Watson, aided by his sons, was noted as a breeder of standard and draft horses. Errol Watson is director in the Orange County Walnut Growers Association at Santa Ana. California need not worry when its future destiny lies at the disposal of such brain and brawn as mark the conservative aggressiveness of these Orange County young men.

LEE O. MYERS .- Among the wide-awake, far-seeing and scientifically operating ranchers who have been "doing things" in Orange County may well be mentioned Lee O. Myers, who is proud of his birth, as a native son, at Susanville, in Lassen County, Cal .. in 1881, the son of Cyrus Myers, the blacksmith, who died from a sad accident when our subject was only five years old. He had married Miss Barbara Scherer, a native of Illinois, an amiable, devoted woman; and she proved a very lovable mother and guardian to her four children in their hour of need. Among these dependents, Lee was the youngest. For nine years he lived in Santa Paula with his uncle, and until his seventeenth year he was educated at the public schools of his district. Then, for two years he was employed by the Lacy Manufacturing Company of Los Angeles, and it goes without saying, in view of that extended, single engagement, that he made himself, through his intelligence, industry and fidelity, invaluable to that firm.

On November 11, 1903, Mr. Myers was married to Miss Mette Hansen, the young- est daughter of the late Charles and Mrs. Mette Hansen, old pioneers in the Placentia district; and two children, Philip Alvin and Charles Richard, have blessed the union.

a.T. Miller

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They now are old enough to attend the Placentia grammar school, and with their parents go to the Presbyterian Church at Placentia.

Later, Mr. Myers, having sold six acres he had owned in the Placentia district, bought twenty-five acres of the original Charles Hansen tract then owned by the Thum Bros., and five acres he afterward disposed of to accommodate his mother-in-law, Mrs. Hansen. Thrift and time profitably spent on the ranch have brought Mr. and Mrs. Myers success; and he is very naturally a member of the Anaheim Union Water Com- pany and the Fullerton Walnut Association. Although preferring his home to the best club in the world, Mr. Myers was for some years an Odd Fellow. He is out and out a loyal, enthusiastic American, and during the recent war supported the work of the Red Cross whenever and however he was able.

AUGUSTUS G. MILLER .- A highly-esteemed member of the Masonic frater- nity of Fullerton, and a citizen who has become a man of affairs in other departments of life, adding by his daily labors to the stability of institutions and furthering the aims of commerce and finance, is Augustus G. Miller, the rancher of East Orangethorpe Avenue, and vice-president of the Placentia-Fullerton Walnut Growers Association. He was born in Chicago, Ill., on June 26, 1864, the son of August Carl and Rose (Bar- tels) Miller. The father came from Hanover, Germany, in 1852 to escape military oppression, and for six years was busy in New York City as an expert sugar boiler in Havemeyer's Sugar Refinery. In 1858 they came on to Chicago, Ill., and continued in the sugar industry until the Civil War broke out in 1861. He then offered his services as a soldier in the Federal Army; but he was refused enlistment on account of a crippled right hand. This led him to turn to the mercantile field, in which he accumu- lated a small fortune; but the Chicago fire of 1871 burned up all of his holdings and left him stranded, penniless.

He then moved away in 1874 into the valley of the Des Plaines River, just west of Chicago, where he leased a farm of 140 acres and went into market-gardening for the Chicago trade; but four years later he removed to a farm of 140 acres near Fort Scott, Kans., in 1880, and there in Bourbon County he raised corn, grain and cattle. He was assisted all this time by our subject, who profited greatly on account of his father's experience and dependable guidance.

In about 1895 they sold out and joined our subject at Fullerton and with him they had a comfortable home until their death. The father died January 26, 1913, while the mother survived until the following March. Of their three children Augustus is the only son and the second oldest of the family; his two sisters are Mrs. Bertha Leaton and Mrs. Mathilda Greenwalt of Los Angeles. Augustus received his education in the public schools of Chicago although his advantages were somewhat limited on account of having to work to assist his father make a living, after the total loss in the Chicago fire. However, by self study, reading and business experiences he has become a well- informed man.

On October 19, 1889, Augustus Miller was married at Uniontown, Kans., to Miss Minnie Teague, a native of Bourbon County, Kans., and the daughter of Calvin T. Teague and Mary Holt, his wife. Both the Teague and Holt families were early settlers in Kansas, and Joab Teague, Mrs. Miller's grandfather, rode 250 miles on horseback carrying from Jefferson City, Mo., the first apple trees brought to Uniontown, Kans. He planted the trees there and took the gold medal in 1876 with apples from the trees exhibited at the Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia. Mrs. Miller's father taught school in Kansas in the log-cabin schoolhouse days, and first directed the course of many who afterward attained prominence in the western world.

Just after the great "boom" in Southern California realty, Mr. Miller came to California in February, 1891, and was made superintendent of the Gordon Ranch in the San Joaquin Valley, near Hanford in Tulare County; and there he remained until 1894. In that year he removed to Riverside, and became superintendent of the San Jacinto Land Company. He had 800 acres under his charge, and 600 acres of these he laid out and planted to oranges and lemons. The land was hilly, and the laying out of the rows of trees was difficult in the extreme; he superintended the care of them for eight years and today it is a very valuable orchard.

As early as 1899 Mr. Miller purchased eighteen acres, which he improved while superintendent of the San Jacinto Ranch. Half of this acreage is set out to Valencia orange trees and half to walnuts, and the whole is under the Anaheim Union Water Company. In February, 1913, he purchased twenty acres at Woodlake in Tulare County which he developed by setting out oranges and olives, and now he has a fine grove there of five-year-old trees in a frostless belt.

Of the two children granted Mr. and Mrs. Miller, Mamie became the wife of Rufus G. Killian and resided at Woodlake until she passed away June 25, 1919. Merrill

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H. is a graduate of Fullerton high school, now with the Union Oil Company. The family attend the Presbyterian Church. Mr. Miller is a Republican in national political affairs, but nonpartisan when it comes to local movements; he is an original stock- holder in the Standard Bank of Orange County in Fullerton, a director in the Anaheim Union Water Company, and a member and director of the Anaheim Orange and Lemon Growers Association. He is also a past master of Fullerton Lodge, No. 191, F. & A. M. and was a prime mover in the building of the new Masonic temple of which he is trustee. He is also a member of Fullerton Chapter, R. A. M., in which he is serving as chaplain and is a member of Santa Ana Council, R. & S. M. He is at present serving his second term as patron of the Eastern Star, to which excellent organization Mrs. Miller also belongs. Mr. and Mrs. Miller were active in all the recent war and Red Cross drives, Mr. Miller being captain of the local bond drive committee.

JOHN R. PORTER .- A leading financier of Orange County whose influence among the old-timers of both Santa Ana and Orange is continually felt, and for the best, is John R. Porter, a man known to attend strictly to his business, to drive the same along, and never to allow his business affairs to drive him along. He is cashier of the National Bank of Orange, and though primarily most devoted to that well- established and prosperous institution, he is ever ready to give a helping hand to any other establishment of value to the Orange County communities. He was born in Galesburg, Ill., in 1867, and was educated at Knox College, from which he was graduated with the degree of B. S. in 1886. Then he came out to California, and at Santa Ana was soon employed by the Commercial Bank as bookkeeper. When the Bank of Orange was opened in the boom year of 1887, he removed to Orange and became the new bank's bookkeeper. The bank bought their present corner on the Plaza and then erected their imposing building, and from the first they have enjoyed an excellent patronage.

In 1889, however, Mr. Porter resigned his position in the Orange bank and returned to Santa Ana, having been elected the first tax collector of Orange County; and in January, 1890, he entered upon the duties of the office. A year of the work satisfied him, especially as the First National Bank of Santa Ana offered him the tellership; and so he resigned to work for that banking house. In 1893 he resigned again, having purchased an interest in a new shoe store in Santa Ana; and there he continued until July, 1895, when he returned to Orange, as cashier of the Bank of Orange-a position of increasing responsibility which he has filled with signal ability.

In 1906 the bank was nationalized and named the National Bank of Orange, starting thus with a capital of fifty thousand dollars; and later the capital of the bank was increased to $100,000. Now the deposits total over $1.250,000. In 1906 was also started the Orange Savings Bank, affiliated with the National Bank of Orange, and of this Mr. Porter has also since been cashier. Undoubtedly, both of these splendid institutions owe much of their progress and prosperity to Mr. Porter's conservative policy and careful management, for it is looked upon as one of the strongest banks in Orange County. The character of its officers has had much to do with favoring it with the confidence of the public; and never yet has that confidence been shaken.

Some time ago Mr. Porter improved ten acres of orange grove on Batavia Street, but this excellent property he has recently disposed of. He now owns a walnut orchard. He is a member of the Santiago Orange Growers Association, and most emphatically believes that it is the cooperation of the growers, there brought about, that spells the success of the enterprise.

Mr. Porter was made a Mason in Santa Ana Lodge, F. & A. M., and is now a member of Orange Grove Lodge, No. 293, F. & A. M. He belongs to Orange Grove Chapter, No. 99, R. A. M., and to the Santa Ana Commandery, No. 36, K. T. He is also a life member of Al Malaikah Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., and a member of the Santa Ana lodge of the Elks.

DILLARD E. FORD AND RAY FORD .- The Ray Ford Company of Santa Ana, the popular and well-known dealers in hay, grain and feed, is composed of Ray Ford and his father, Dillard E. Ford. Ray Ford is a native son, born at Fullerton, August 30, 1897; his father is a native of Missouri, while his mother, who in maiden- hood was Polly Steele, was born in Georgia. They are the parents of seven children: Helena, Ray, Le Roy, Richard, Russell, Mary and Eleanor.

Dillard E. Ford located in Fullerton in 1895, where he was engaged with the St. Helena Ranch Company, north of Fullerton, and planted walnut trees which were among the first planted in that district. Later he purchased land near Placentia, part of which he sold, and on this same land oil is now being developed. Afterwards Mr. Ford located at Huntington Beach, being one of the pioneers of that thriving beach city. having been there when the town was laid out, and became foreman of the Huntington

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Beach Company. He was also foreman of the Bolsa Ranch, then owned by Robert Norton. For three years Mr. Ford was engaged in raising celery in the peat land section of Orange County. Later he became buyer for the Interstate Fruit Distributors Association, the first association to ship fruit and vegetables out of Orange County.

In 1912, when the Holly Sugar Factory at Huntington Beach was built, Mr. Ford entered their employ and so efficient has been his service that he is still with the company and now fills the important post of agriculturist. On Fairview Avenue, south of Santa Ana, Mr. Ford owns a five-acre ranch set to young walnut trees, and here he also engages in poultry raising, having 500 chickens in his flock. He has always taken an active interest in the growth and development of Orange County and at one time was the owner of fifty-five acres near the race track, south of Santa Ana, which he devoted to sugar beets. Fraternally Mr. Ford is an Odd Fellow, a member of Downey Lodge.

Ray Ford received his early education in the public schools of Huntington Beach and Santa Ana, after which, for a year and a half, he looked after his father's ranch. His next employment was as storekeeper for the Holly Sugar Factory at Huntington Beach. During the World War he valiantly responded to the call of his country, en- listing June 29, 1918, in the U. S. Navy as a seaman gunner. He was attached to the U. S. Mine Carrier Lakeview, and saw fourteen months of service, receiving his honor- able discharge August 16, 1919. After leaving the Navy Mr. Ford returned to Santa Ana. where, in partnership with his father, they bought the feed store of R. S. Smith on North Birch Street. They deal in hay, grain, mill feed, fuel, seeds and poultry supplies. Mr. Ford is making a splendid success in his new enterprise.

On January 14, 1920, Ray Ford was united in marriage with Miss Florence N. Cary, born at Talbert, a daughter of Robert J. Cary, who was formerly a rancher there but is now a resident of San Bernardino County.

DENNIS J. McCARTHY .- A well-traveled and well-informed rancher who is particularly familiar with Alaska, having visited and thoroughly explored that country several times, is Dennis J. McCarthy, at present farming to the northeast of Anaheim. He was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, on February 5, 1857, the son of Jeremiah McCarthy, a railroad man, who had married Mary Holland. They were both born in County Cork, Ireland, but were married in England and there they followed farming until 1854, when they came to Cincinnati, Ohio. During the Civil War Jeremiah McCarthy was in the government employ as a wagon maker.

In 1865 they removed to Osgood. Ripley County, Ind., where they purchased a farm and resided there until their demise. This worthy couple had seven children Dennis J. being the second oldest. The lad attended the Ripley County schools, and just how hard he had to strive for what educational advantages he enjoyed may be gathered from the fact that he walked four miles to the schoolhouse, which was opened for only four months in the year. Like his father, he took up railway work, and it was not long before his services were fully appreciated by those employing him.

In 1881 he came west to Colorado for railroad construction, and the next spring to Wyoming and in the fall of 1882 proceeded on to San Francisco, Cal. For a short time he was busy in railroad building in San Francisco and vicinity, and then he re- moved to Idaho and settled at Pocatello, where he took up bridge building. From Pocatello, he worked for the Oregon Short Line out toward Butte, Mont., and Hunt- ington, Ore., Granger. Wyo., and Ogden, Utah, and he assisted in erecting some of the most notable bridges along the great railway lines.

In 1902, Mr. McCarthy returned to California and settled in Anaheim, where he purchased ten acres at the corner of North and Sunkist avenues. It was bare land when he acquired possession; but in 1914 he set out a fine grove of Valencia trees, and now he owns one of the handsome, promising orchards of the county. His land is served by the Anaheim Union Water Company, and he markets through the Red Fox Packing House.

Mr. McCarthy is an authority on Alaska, although he speaks with modesty of what he has seen and accomplished there, having made no less than five trips to the land of the Midnight Sun. He first went there in 1898, at the time of the rush to the Klondike for gold, and in partnership with S. W. Evans went over the White Pass, leaving Skagway February 1. over the snow. They took 3,500 pounds of provisions, as well as tools, and used one horse and two sleds on this trip and camped on snow over forty feet deep. In 1899, he made a second trip, and the next year a third. In 1916 he went to Anchorage, Alaska, and the next year to Juneau. He was an eye- witness to stirring events in historic days, and took an active part of the making of history in Alaska. It is no wonder, therefore, that he is nonpartisian in politics, and decidedly believes in selecting men fit for office regardless of party.

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HENRY DEAN POLHEMUS .- An interesting representative of a fine old Cali- fornia family long identified with the pioneer history of Orange County, is Henry D. Polhemus, who was born on the old Polhemus ranch on the State Highway, south of Anaheim, April 27, 1890, the son of Henry D. and Emma M. (Hanna) Polhemus. Henry D. Polhemus, Sr., was born in Valparaiso, Chili, October 13, 1843. His father, John Hart Polhemus, was the American minister to Chili at the time, serving during President Tyler's administration. In 1849 they made the voyage back to the States, locating at Mt. Holly, Burlington County, N. J., where Henry D. received his prepa- ration for college and entered the Jersey Collegiate Institute. After completing a course there he entered a pharmacy, continuing until August 26, 1862, when fired by patriotism he enlisted in the Twenty-third New Jersey Volunteer Infantry and rose to the rank of hospital steward. He was in the battle of Fredericksburg, December 13, 1862. He continued in service until June 27, 1863, when he was honorably discharged by reason of the expiration of his term of enlistment. .

In August, 1863, he migrated to California via Panama and made his way on to Empire City, Nev., where he was assayer for the Silver State Reduction Works for one year when he returned to San Francisco and became agent for the San Francisco and San Jose Railroad until the fall of 1868, when he resigned and came with the Los Angeles and San Bernardino Land Association with whom he continued for several years. In February, 1876, he became agent at San Rafael for the North Pacific Coast Railroad and in May, 1877, he assumed the same position for the company at Tomales. In 1880 he came to Anaheim and purchased thirty-five acres on what is now the State Highway at Flores station on the Southern Pacific where he was agent for a time. However, he soon engaged in farming and improved the place to walnuts. He died in 1900. His widow survives him and resides in Artesia; she was born at Clintonville, Va., November 5, 1852. Her father, John Hanna, was also a pioneer of Orange County and had a thirty-five-acre ranch on the State Highway, having located in this section as early as 1862.

Henry D. Polhemus was sent to the grammar schools of Katella, and later attended the Harvard Military School at Los Angeles. On September 21, 1912, he was married to Miss Christine Joens, a native of Oakland, and the daughter of John and Sophia (Hansen) Joens, who were early settlers of Oakland. Her father was a merchant of Oakland, and he came to Los Angeles and was prominent as a produce merchant there at the time of the marriage. Mr. and Mrs. Joens now reside at the Polhemus home. Two children have blessed the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Polhemus, and they bear the pretty names of Evelyn Martha and Henry Dean, Jr. Mr. Polhemus took an appren- tice's course in electrical work in the International Correspondence School, and was engaged by the Los Angeles Railroad as an electrician up to 1907. Then he went with the Southern California Edison Company as operator at the Katella Station, and was with them for over three years. He resigned and in 1911 was engaged by the Union Oil Company as chief electrician and has had charge of their electrical work in the Southern division, extending from Santa Paula in Ventura County to San Juan Capis- trano and he also had charge of their telephone line as well as all construction work.

On his twenty-first birthday, Mr. Polhemus was given by his mother ten acres of land on Placentia and Cerritos avenues, and although it was barren then, he has since set it out to Valencia orange trees now bearing. He has a trim ranch, and markets through the Anaheim Mutual Orange Distributors Association. Mr. Polhemus was made a Mason in Anaheim Lodge No. 207, F. & A. M., and politically he votes for the best man irrespective of party.

WILLIAM L. YORK .- A successful horticulturist and a conservative, yet pro- gressive financier of philanthropic tendencies, distinguished as one of the public-spirited citizens in the La Habra Valley, and certainly one who has inspired others to do their best for society and in particular for their home district, William L. York occupies an enviable position in Orange County. He was born in Aledo, Mercer County, Ill., in 1865, the only son of Charles York, a Kentuckian, who migrated to Illinois and there did yeoman service as a pioneer. He owned many head of oxen, and took up the work of a prairie breaker, hiring out his ox teams. Once, long ago, he visited Cali- fornia, but he never settled here. He owned a farm of 320 acres, where he raised stock and grain, and he served his fellow-citizens as tax collector of his township for many terms. This farm had been preempted by the maternal grandfather, Zachariah Landreth, from the U. S. Government, when that state was a territory, and he sold it to Charles York, and on this farm both Charles York and his wife died. Some of the apple trees on the place are from seventy to eighty years old, and when our subject and his wife made a trip East last year, they found the farm still kept up to its normal condition. Mrs. Charles York was Miss Jane Landreth, a native of the state of Pennsylvania, but born of English parentage.

1.4. Towner.

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William York attended the district school, and then studied for a term at Heding College; and when he was twenty-one years of age, he assumed the management of the farm. Later, during the winter months, he taught school. On March 20, 1890, he was married to Miss Clara Bell Tenney, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. S. H. Tenney. pioneer agriculturists in Mercer County, Ill. She also was a pupil of the common schools of her district, afterward attended Simpson College, and, when sixteen years old, taught the district school. In fact, for a term after their marriage, both Mr. and Mrs. York taught school.

Mr. York farmed in Illinois until 1902, and for three terms he was a justice of the peace in Mercer County. When he came West, his destination was Whittier, and there he paid the record price up to that time for ten acres of citrus fruit. In 1911 he sold his Whittier holdings and bought seventeen acres of year-old Eureka lemons at La Habra. He is a member of the La Habra Valley Water Company, and is vice- president of the La Habra Citrus Association. He is also president of the First National Bank of La Habra, which is operated in connection with the Federal Reserve.

Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. York: Frank Albert enlisted November 17, 1917, in the Twenty-sixth Engineers, as a private of the first class, and was trained at Camp Dix. He was overseas for nine months, and during that time was on the front for seven months, and participated in the Argonne and the Meuse offen- sives, and fought at Chateau Thierry and at Metz. In April, 1919, he was honorably discharged from Camp Fremont. After leaving the army he married Miss Clara Bald- . win, and they have one daughter, Willa Jane. He is engaged in the oil production busi- ness as a driller. Maribel, the second child, is the wife of David F. Lemke, the rancher at Placentia, and now has three children, Cloise Dudley, John York and Robert Lewis. Mr. and Mrs. York and family are Methodists, and Mr. York is a church trustee. In national politics he is a Democrat, but in local movements decidedly nonpartisan.

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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 131

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