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 132

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 132

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H. FRED TOWNER .- A man who believes in turning out only the highest stand- ard of work is H. Fred Towner, the well-known manufacturer of agricultural imple- ments and tractor attachments at Santa Ana. He was born at Santa Ana on September 26, 1882, the son of A. J. Towner, who had married Mrs. Augusta E. Hamilton. His parents came from Syracuse, N. Y., in 1880, and settled at Santa Ana, where they ranched. A. J. Towner was a gunsmith by trade and also conducted a sporting goods store. Fred's grandfather, Judge James William Towner, an attorney by profession, was the first judge of the Superior Court in Orange County and when he resigned in 1897 he was presented with a gold-headed cane by the Orange County Bar. This cane is now a prized heirloom in the possession of our subject. A. J. Towner died in Santa Ana, while his wife passed away at the home of a daughter in New York. Their daughter Xarifa succumbed to influenza while on a visit to Michigan.

Tiring rather early of the tasks at the public school, H. Fred Towner left his books because he preferred to work. At the age of seventeen he began to learn the blacksmith trade under W. C. Young, a pioneer blacksmith of Santa Ana, working for wages until October, 1914. The following year he built the first part of his present place and in 1920 he erected a larger building adjoining and now has a building 100 by 90, and on the rear of his lots a warehouse 30 by 90. His establishment is splen- didly fitted out with modern machinery and he employs about twenty-one men, each of them skilled in his particular line. The factory is located at 105-07-09-11 North Main Street and it is Mr. Towner's intention to continue to enlarge his plant and to give work to a still larger force of employees.

The establishment is equipped as an up-to-date machine shop, with lathes, shapers, high-speed drills, power punches, shears, automatic thread cutters and triphammers, as well as hacksaws and emery stands, the whole being operated by electric power from motors of a combined capacity of thirty-two and a half horsepower and it is the con- sensus of opinion that it is the best-equipped machine shop in the county. He is the largest manufacturer of agricultural implements in the county and is equipped to do all kinds of work in this line. His motto is, "If nobody else will build it we will," and he has handled a number of jobs that no one else. on the coast would attempt and has made a success of them because of his initiative and experience.

Mr. Towner's specialty is the building to order of farm implements, such as sub- soil plows, cyclones, bean planters, bean cutters, cultivators, furrowers, gang plows and other farm machinery. He has patented a subsoil plow which has an oscillating standard, and has taken out a second patent on this subsoiler, which oscillates below the frame instead of in the frame; he has taken this out to protect his first patent and they are the only oscillating subsoilers on the market that one can back up with. He also has a third patent on the subsoiler called the Perfection subsoiler, an attachment to the Oliver plow, and it is an exclusive Fordson automatic tool. He has also in- vented and manufactures a patent hitch for Fordson and Samson tractors and a patent

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roller hitch for them and tractors of similar construction. At the present time Mr. Towner furnishes all the extension grousers for Fordson tractors for all the Pacific Coast states and all the extension grousers for the Samson tractors in the state of California. He also carries a large stock of steel, heavy and light bolts and nuts, as well as coal and general blacksmith's supplies for the retail trade.

On May 14, 1905, Mr. Towner was married to Miss Anna Schlasman, the cere- mony taking place at Orange. Three sons blessed the union: James William, who died when he was fourteen months old; H. Frederick and Rutherford Glenn. The family occupy their own home at 833 North Baker Street, on the corner of Towner Street, named for his father. Mr. Towner belongs to the Maccabees and is a life member of the Elks. While a Democrat in national politics, in local matters he is a man above mere party lines. He is a believer in church and educational institutions and is always ready to contribute his share toward worthy enterprises and is a mem- ber of the Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Towner was a member of the old Santa Ana Volunteer Fire Department and for some years served as its vice-president.

EDMUND E. KNIGHT .- After an interesting life, many years of which were spent in a foreign land, Edmund E. Knight, the proprietor of the well-known Guatemala Avocado Nursery, located in Orange County in 1914, purchasing a tract of five acres on North Eureka Avenue, Yorba Linda, where he has since made his home. Born at Utica, Mich., May 4, 1860, Mr. Knight was the son of Philip Atwood Knight, who was a member of one of the earliest classes to graduate from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. For fifty years he was a prominent physician and surgeon at Utica. passing away there at the age of seventy-seven.

Educated in the public and high schools of his native town, Mr. Knight remained there until he was eighteen years of age, when he came West with an uncle, and for five years remained in Nevada and San Francisco. In 1885 he went back to the old home in Michigan on a visit and was returning to San Francisco by way of Panama when he decided to stop off at Guatemala, and he remained in Mexico, Central and South America for a period of thirty years. He established himself as a railroad contractor in different parts of those countries, and a part of the tinie was engaged in general merchandising and farming. At the time of his leaving there he was the oldest American resident in point of years of continuous sojourn in Guatemala. During his residence there he married into a well-known old Spanish family, and two children. a son and a daughter, were born to this union: Alfred is a train dispatcher in Honduras; Ellen. Mrs. Martina Vernon, resides at the family home at Yorba Linda. Mrs. Knight passed away in Guatemala.

Mr. Knight had made numerous trips to the States, and on his trips to California came to the conclusion there was a splendid opening here for raising avocados. At the time of the first Balkan War railroad building in Central America ceased because the companies could not borrow the money to finance their building, so Mr. Knight sold his holdings and came to Los Angeles. After looking over different portions of Southern California, he selected Yorba Linda as the most suitable because it is practically frostless and has an abundance of good water. So, in March, 1914, Mr. Knight began an extensive planting of avocado seedlings on his ranch at Yorba Linda, and shortly afterward went direct to Guatemala, Central America, to procure avocado buds from the best trees fruiting in that country, famed for the finest avocados. It was necessary for him to obtain a special permit from the United States Government to import these buds, and in order to insure them arriving in proper condition he had a special refrigera- tor box built on board ship to preserve the buds in their dormant state. Returning to the United States, he brought with him the first successful shipment of the famous Guatemala hard-shell avocado, comprising 41,000 buds, and from these he was able to grow eighty-one sturdy trees. He is the only individual that has imported avocado buds into the U. S. from Guatemala and made them grow, and this two years before the Bureau of Plant Industry of the Department of Agriculture at Washington did it successfully. From the beginning Mr. Knight was quick to see the wonderful possi- bilities in the avocado industry in the United States, and his thorough study of all angles of this comparatively new branch of horticulture has made him one of the authorities in this part of the country, and he has contributed largely toward putting the industry on a successful commercial basis. He has developed Linda, Queen, Kist and Knight varieties, all of them the choicest qualities, and he finds a ready market for all the fruit he grows. He was a pioneer in the use of the overhead or spray system of irrigation, and also was the first to demonstrate that the avocado thrives best where the ground around is not cultivated. In addition to his choice nursery of avocados, he has an orchard of 600 to 700 trees, it being the first close-set orchard of avocados in California.

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Mr. Knight's second marriage occurred at Los Angeles on April 29, 1919, when he was united with Mrs. Florence ( Wade) DeVries. She was born at Fremont, Mich., a daughter of Warren and Jennie Wade. Her father was a lumberman, being president of the Michigan Lumber Company. He died in 1910, being survived by his widow. Mrs. Knight is a graduate of the Ypsilanti State Normal and was supervisor of manual training of the Pontiac schools for twelve years. She has one son by her first marriage, Wade DeVries, a senior at the University of Michigan. Mr. Knight was made a Mason in California Lodge No. 1. F. & A. M., San Francisco, and is a charter member of Yorba Linda Lodge No. 469, F. & A. M., as well as Fullerton Commandery, K. T., and with his wife is a member of Yorba Linda Chapter. O. E. S. A charter member of the California Avocado Association, Mr. Knight is one of its most enthusi- astic members, and never misses a meeting of the organization. A liberal in politics, be is interested in all the progressive movements of the locality. Fond of outdoor life, he finds much recreation in exploring the high Sierras.

A. K. CRAVATH .- A public-spirited official who has labored long and accom- plished much at his own private expense for the benefit of the mass of his fellow- citizens, is A. K. Cravath, the wide-awake and popular deputy sheriff of Orange County, who was born in Chesterville, Knox County, Ohio, eight miles from Mount Vernon, on April 23, 1852. His father, Samuel P. Cravath born in Genesee County, N. Y., was a cabinet maker, with his own shop and trade; and he had married, in Pennsylvania, Miss Katherine Freeman, born in Crawford County, Pa. They moved to Will County, Ill., in 1855, and there Mr. Cravath rented a farm for three years; after which they removed to Worth County, Iowa, where t .: ey purchased a quarter-section farm lying along the Minnesota state line, which they devoted to corn and stock.

The lad, A. K., was educated at the district school at North Wood and finished his studies in the Baptist Seminary at Osage, lowa. Then he returned to the home farm and continued to assist the folks at home until June, 1872. In that year he came to California with his sister, Mrs. C. C. Watson and her husband, a Civil War veteran who had lost an arm, and settled in San Diego County, where Mr. Watson purchased a ranch of 320 acres in Powey Valley, which he devoted to dry farming and stock raising. Mr. Cravath continued to live and work in San Diego County until he acquired 880 acres in one tract in Powey Valley, and 870 acres in another tract in Bernardo, half way between Powey and Escondido. The home place, however, he sold in 1886, and then he became assistant manager in the Escondido Land & Town Company. which was operated by San Diego capital, and with that company he remained for eight years.

When he sold out his interest in 1894, he removed to Santa Ana, and he has lived in the latter town ever since, serving as deputy sheriff for eight years under Lacy and for four years under Jackson, at the present time being associated with the district attorney's office as special investigator. Nearly all the time he has been connected with the police and constable departments. In national politics a Progressive Republican, Mr. Cravath has endeavored most conscientiously to discharge his duties as a citizen in favor of the highest civic standards, independent of all partisan considerations.

Mr. Cravath may be said to be the father, in many respects, of Escondido, where he built the first home and the first business block-at the corner of Grand Avenue and Lime Street-then known as the Escondido Bank block and now familiar as the home of the Escondido National Bank, which he organized in the boom year, 1887: a prime mover in incorporating the city of Escondido he was a member and chairman of its first board of trustees. He built, in fact, many of the best homes in Escondido, and spent the best years of his life, and the best part of his private capital, in develop- ing, first the water system of Escondido, and then the water supply in the neighboring valley, thereby bringing to a high state these much-needed public utilities. He brought the water down from the San Luis Rey River, from what is known as Palomar in the Smith Mountains, accomplishing a great engineering feat. by means of tunnels, ditches and flumes, in leading the water across intervening ridges. One tunnel of 640 feet through sol'd rock, at San Luis Rey River, connected with a flume and then a ditch, carried the flow for sixteen miles through what are known as horseshoe bends, to Valley Center and after that through another tunnel 470 feet long, emptying the water into a reservoir in Little Bear Valley, from which the supply was sent to various parts of the valley. This work was completed in the fall of 1893. and has ever since proven one of the most useful public utilities in Southern California. The cost of the ditch line was first estimated by the consulting engineer, John D. Schuyler, to be sure to approximate a round quarter of a million dollars; but it only cost $93,000, a matter of congratulation to all concerned. He was twenty years ahead of his time and had a hard time getting the people interested and to see the vast benefit of own'ng the water rights. Mr. Cravath was sheriff of San Diego County, filling the unexpired term of

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John L. Folk, filling the office made vacant through his removal, by the Superior Court. He completed the term but was not a candidate for reelection. This exacting work made him familiar with criminal cases, and he has long enjoyed the reputation of being among the best-posted men on Southern California criminal affairs.

On December 1, 1877, Mr. Cravath was married to Miss Kate Sikes, a native daughter who first saw the light in Santa Clara, where she was educated at the district school. Her parents were Zenis and Elizabeth Sikes and her father owned 2,200 acres of the Bernardo ranch in San Diego County, which he purchased after he had come from Santa Clara in 1872. Nine children, three sons and six daughters, were born to Mr. and Mrs. Cravath. Bertha was the wife of Harold Welch and she died in Colo- rado, leaving a son, Newell, whom Mr. and Mrs. Cravath have raised from a babe: Howard A. is a druggist at Bakersfield: Clifford C. resides at Laguna Beach, and is . the manager of the Philadelphia "Nationals" baseball team; Gertrude R. is deputy county clerk of Kern County; Arlie M. is assistant secretary of the Chamber of Com- merce of Santa Ana; Irene resides with her parents; Verian is employed in the Unique Clothing Store at Santa Ana: Muriel D. is the stenographer of Messrs. Koepsel and Eden at Santa Ana, and Bert S. is employed by the U. S. Government in Arizona, devel- oping water wells for the Navajo and Hopi Indian Reservation.

JOHN HENRY LANG, M. D .- Since 1911 Dr. John Henry Lang has been a resident of Fullerton and among the town's leading surgical and medical practitioners. He is a native of Cape Girardeau County, Mo., where he was born July 26, 1882. His father. W. E., now deceased, and mother. Mary C. (Schultz) Lang, were farmers, and of their family of nine children John Henry was the seventh child in order of birth. He received his preliminary education in the public schools of his native state and at the State Normal school at Cape Girardeau, and in choosing a profession in life chose that of his grandfather, David Lang, a prominent M. D. in his day and generation. Dr. J. H. Lang's professional training, which has placed him among the foremost exponents of the science of surgery and medicine wherever he has prac- ticed, was acquired at the St. Louis University Medical Department, from which he was graduated with the class of 1906 with the degree of M. D. In selecting a place to begin the practice of his profession he chose Centertown, Mo., where he practiced successfully for five years before locating at Fullerton, Cal., in 1911. His surgical work is generally performed at the Fullerton Hospital. On two different occasions he took post-graduate courses at St. Louis and Chicago.

His marriage occurred October 17, 1906, uniting him with Miss Carrie Blanche Milster, a native of Perry County, Mo., and they are the parents of three children: Beatrice Lucile, Helen Dale and Howard Milster. Dr. Lang is a member of both state and county medical societies and vice-president of the latter. He was chief examiner of the exemption board for northern Orange County during the World War, and is the present city health officer. He is a director in the Standard Bank of Orange County, as well as the Home Builders of Fullerton, and is interested in citriculture, owning a Valencia orange grove. In his religious associations he is a Methodist, and in national politics he is a Republican. In local issues he lends his influence toward electing the man best fitted for the office, regardless of party affilia- tions, and is a member of the Board of Trade. Fraternally, in his Masonic connec- tions he is a member of Fullerton Lodge No. 339, F. & A. M., and Fullerton Chapter R. A. M., of which he is past high priest, and is a charter member of Fullerton Commandery No. 55, K. T., and with his wife is a member of the Eastern Star, in which order they are both past officers. Dr. Lang is also a member of Santa Ana Council R. & S. M., and is a past chancellor of the Knights of Pythias of Fullerton, as well as affiliated with various other fraternal orders. He is also a member of the Fuller- ton Club. His advice and opinion carry the weight of influence and authority in all of the societies with which he is connected, and his painstaking professional efforts and maintenance of high medical ethics render him an invaluable addition to the medical fraternity of Orange County.

BENJAMIN J. FOSS .- Believing that the solution of the labor problem is not in the continual reduction of hours, but rather by increasing production by applying more hours to work. Benjamin J. Foss has put his theories into practice by developing his fourteen-acre ranch at Yorha Linda while pursuing his duties as a conductor on the Pacific Electric Railway at the same time, and he attributes his success to the fact that he gets the same recreation out of his ranch as he would from any outdoor sport.

A native of Norway. Beniamin J. Foss was born at West Toten in that northern country on September 27, 1885. His parents were John and Lina (Evenson) Foss, the father being a merchant in this Norwegian town. One of a family of thirteen children, Benjamin spent his boyhood days in the region of his birthplace, attending

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the public schools there. Before he had reached the age of fifteen he decided to emigrate to America, and he arrived here on April 8, 1900, going to Boyd, Minn., where an uncle, A. A. Roseth, resided. After working for several years in the lumber mill of his uncle, he decided to secure a better education, so he went to Montevideo, Minn., where he attended the public school for two years, and one year in high school. getting a general business education, which has since been of the greatest value to him. For a short time he worked as an apprentice in the paint business, but in 1904 he entered the employ of the Twin City Transit Company at Minneapolis as a conductor. continuing with this company for five years.

Coming to Los Angeles, Cal., in 1909, Mr. Foss the next day after his arrival obtained employment with the Pacific Electric Company as a conductor, through the credentials which he had earned in the East. For ten years he gave the company efficient service on the Los Angeles-La Habra-Yorba Linda line. During that time he was frequently consulted in making improvements on the time schedule, one of the most beneficial being the tying up of his car at Yorba Linda at night, thus giving the people of this locality the advantage of a late car out of Los Angeles and an early car in the morning.

In 1913 Mr. Foss purchased fourteen acres of open, barren land at Yorba Linda, and here he set about to develop his tract in his spare moments off duty. He set out a large part of the acreage to citrus trees and established a well laid out system of irrigation. In 1915 he erected a fine, comfortable residence on the ranch, and since that time has made it his home. He has recently sold four acres of his holdings, and he has leased his ranch for oil development, and as an oil well is now in process of drilling with good prospects, Mr. Foss may realize a handsome addition to his income from this source. In 1919 he resigned his position with the Pacific Electric and is now with the General Petroleum Oil Company.

On June 30, 1915, Mr. Foss was married to Miss Julia Bond, a native daughter of the Golden West, the ceremony being performed in Orange County Park. Her parents are B. F. and Laura May (Holladay) Bond, her father being one of Long Beach's pioneer realty dealers. Mrs. Foss, who is a woman of many accomplishments. was educated at the Huntington Park Training School and Long Beach high school. Mr. and Mrs. Foss are the parents of one son, Norman Olaf. They attend the Friends Church at Yorba Linda. In 1912 Mr. Foss returned to his native land for a visit, and four months were spent there and in touring Europe, when he returned to America. more than ever enthusiastic over the land of his adoption. He received his final naturalization papers on July 21, 1915, and is one of Orange County's most loyal citizens, ever ready to give of his time and means to every movement for the public good. In 1916 Mr. Foss was elected to the directorate of the Yorba Linda Citrus Association, a post he still occupies. In political matters he is a strong adherent of the Republican party.

HENRY W. DANIELS .- Beginning a meritorious career as an educator at the early age of sixteen, Henry W. Daniels is now enviably esteemed as a pedagogue of longer continuous experience that any member of the Fullerton high school faculty. Michigan was Mr. Daniels' native state, and there he was born at Onstead, on December 18, 1861, the third oldest of five children born to Calvin and Mary (Monagin) Daniels. The father was a native of Painted Post, Steuben County, N. Y., while the mother came to New York state from her native land, Ireland, when a child of three years.

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Daniels came west to Michigan, settling in Lenawee County, and here Henry W. Daniels spent his early years on his father's well-kept farm. When sixteen years of age he obtained a teacher's certificate and for two years taught a district school. He then entered Adrian College, making his way through his own efforts, and after two years in college he resumed teaching, the next ten years being spent in the high schools at Ridgeway, Rome and Clinton, Mich. He then entered the University of Michigan at Ann Arhor, graduating from there in 1898 with the degree of B. S., C. E., and B. P. The following year the degree of M. S. was conferred on him by Adrian College.

Following his graduation from the university, Mr. Daniels became the principal of the high school at Newago, Mich., remaining there two years, when he became superintendent of schools at St. Louis, Gratiot County, Mich., resigning there after a period of five years to come to California. In the fall of 1905 he came to Palo Alto, where for six months he did graduate work at Stanford University, and after that he was instructor of chemistry for a semester at Pomona College. At the end of the school year he came to Fullerton and was made head of physics and chemistry in the high school there. Four years later he was made head of physics and mathematics, continuing until 1919, when he was relieved of physics, so that he could devote all his time as head of mathematics.

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In 1912 Mr. Daniels bought seven and a half acres of fine land on East Chapman Street, Fullerton, which he planted to Valencia oranges, and when he bids adieu to the lecture-room he will know just where to turn to continue usefully busy. Since 1910 Mr. Daniels has served as a member of the board of trustees of the Fullerton Public Library, and his efficient service in this direction will always associate him pleasantly with this up-to-date town.

On July 27, 1892, at Ogden Center, Mich., Mr. Daniels was married to Miss Jennie McComb, born at Coldwater, Mich., the daughter of Thomas and Isabelle (Patterson) McComb; the father, who was a business man of Ogden Center, Mich., was a native of Mt. Morris, N. Y., while Mrs. McComb was born in Belfast, Ireland. Mrs. Daniels was reared at Ogden Center, later completing her education at Davis College, Toledo, Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Daniels are the parents of one son, Donald H. They are active in the membership of the Christian Church at Fullerton. Mr. Daniels was made a Mason in Tecumseh Lodge at Tecumseh, Mich., of which he is past master, and is now a member of Fullerton Lodge No. 339, F. & A. M. He is also a member of Fullerton Chapter, R. A. M., and of the Consistory. He also cooperates in com- munity affairs by membership in the Placentia Orange Growers Association. With his wife he participated in all the notable drives of the war and gave his support to all the various war activities.

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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 132

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