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 137

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 137

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

A wide-awake, progressive and scientific farmer, Mr. Clinard richly deserves the splendid financial success that he has made, as it is due to his industry and intelligent work alone, as all the capital he had when he reached California amounted only to a few hundred dollars. A man of powerful physique, Mr. Clinard is the personification of energy and his genial nature makes him popular among a wide circle of friends. He is a member of the Santa Ana Lodge of Elks.

JASPER N. TRICKEY .- A merchant with many years of valuable experience to his credit, who has become one of the leading business men of Balboa, is Jasper N. Trickey, a doubly interesting personality on account of his wonderful vitality and daily activity at the age of eighty-two. He was born at Exeter, Maine, on September 25, 1838, the son of William H. Trickey, a native of New Hampshire who was in the shoe business. He had married Miss Abagail Nudd, also a native of the Granite State, who lived to be fifty-or twenty-two years younger than her husband, when he died-and left eight children. Originally, the Trickeys came from Exeter, England, in 1640. They were shipbuilders and manufacturers, and settling at Portsmouth, Mass., did much to establish what in its time was one of the greatest of all American industries.

Leaving Maine when he was seventeen years old, Mr. Trickey came to California via Panama and landed at San Francisco in April, 1856. He went up to Oroville and for two years ran a fruit business there. Then he moved on to Victoria, B. C., where he transacted business for four years; and for another four years he was on the Fraser

1276

HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY

River, engaged at the same time in merchandise business. He was later still a mer- chant in Salt Lake City, and while there he saw the last rail laid and golden spike driven at Promontory Point, 1869, connecting up the Union Pacific with the Central Pacific Railroad.

When he left Salt Lake, he returned east to Wichita, Kans., and he helped build up that city. During the same period, he went to Clinton County, Mo., and was married to Miss Harriet Stover, a native of Ohio. He spent thirty years in Sedgwick County, Kans., and gave of his best to help build up Wichita and other places, all the while engaged in general merchandising.

In 1899, Mr. Trickey returned to California and settled at Santa Ana; and there, at the corner of Fourth Street and Broadway, he had one of the choicest grocery stores in Orange County. He bought a residence at Santa Ana, and this he still owns. On selling out, he came to Balboa in November, 1914, and here he has conducted a first class grocery ever since. He also owns good residence property at Balboa. As a representative business man of so many years experience, Mr. Trickey's choice of the political creeds of the Republican party is interesting.

Six of Mr. and Mrs. Trickey's children are still living, although the eldest child, Clarence, died in 1919 at Mesa, Ariz., where he ran a large furniture store. He left a wife, Lunette Turner, and two children, Helen and Margaret. Frank is married to Ethel Newman of Kansas and has two children-Phyllis and Keith; he has been deputy city clerk at Mesa, Ariz., for the past two years. Paul is with Smart and Final Com- pany, wholesale grocers, at Santa Ana. He married Flossie Talcott and has four chil- dren-Evelyn, Beverly, Pauline and Virginia. Lawrence clerks for the Spurgeon Furni. ture Company, and resides at Santa Ana with his wife, who was Ethel Rose, and has one child-Lawrence L., Jr .; Melvin lives with his wife, Maxine, at Pomona; John and Hope assist their father. Mr. Trickey is a Knight Templar, being a member of the Santa Ana Commandery; nor has that worthy organization a worthier member or one more devoted.

LINCOLN JOSEPH CARDEN .- One of the best-informed men in the busy realty world of Santa Ana, and therefore one of the most optimistic regarding the future of Orange County property of every description, is Lincoln Joseph Carden, for the past sixteen years engaged, as few have been, including even the most enthusiastic native sons, in "boosting" this favored section of the rich and promising Golden State. He was born in Danville, Iowa, on January 15, 1860, the son of William Carden, whose birthplace was sixteen miles from Cincinnati, Ohio, and who grew up a farmer. He came west to Iowa in 1855, pioneered in Des Moines County, farmed extensively at Danville, and died in 1866, at the age of thirty-seven. He had married Miss Elizabeth Miller, a native of Ohio, who died in Iowa in 1890. They had eight children-seven boys and a girl-and all are living save the daughter and a son.

The fourth youngest and the only one in California, Lincoln Joseph, was brought up on the home farm and attended Howes Academy at Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, after which he studied at Christian College in Oskaloosa, Iowa. Then he taught school in Des Moines County for five years, after which he married Miss Minnie A. Lyons, a native of Winfield, Iowa, and the daughter of Hugh and Elizabeth Lyons. As an old settler, her father was an extensive farmer, prominent in Iowa politics, and a member of the assem- bly in the Iowa legislature.

Following their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Carden removed to Henry County and engaged in the hardware and implement business; and there they continued until 1904, when they came to California and Santa Ana, and for a year Mr. Carden was in the general merchandise business. Then he began his career as a realtor, and such has been his success in this field, that he has continued in it ever since. He is now the senior member of Carden, Liebig & Seamans, who have their offices at 307 North Main Street. They handle both city and country property, and make a specialty of ranches. Mr. Carden himself is interested directly in horticulture, having owned and improved several ranches, and so is able personally to judge of many points at issue in the selling and buying of farm property. He is an ex-director of the Chamber of Commerce, and a stockholder and a director in the Orange County Trust and Savings Bank. A Republican in matters of national politics, he has not allowed partisanship to influence him in his willing service as a member, for a term, on the board of education.

Three children blessed the union of Mr. and Mrs. Carden: Jessie has become Mrs. Jabe Hill of Santa Ana, her husband being a member of Hill & Carden, the clothiers; Lester T. is the other member of that firm; and Helen is at home. Mr. Carden was made a Mason in Santa Ana Lodge No. 241, F. & A. M., and he also belongs to the Santa Ana Lodge of Odd Fellows. The family are members of the First Presbyterian Church, where Mr. Carden has been a trustee for the past twelve years.

H&burden,

1279

HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY

FRANK W. MILLEN .- The right man, in the right place, at the right hour would seem to be Frank W. Millen, of the well-known firm of Millen and Lampman, dealers in sand and gravel, who are doing as much as any one in Orange County to solve the vexing problems attending the dearth of houses and the urgent demand for buildings and building materials. He is a man of wide experience, excellent judgment and con- scientions attention to business; and is very popular with all who have occasion to have dealings with him.

Mr. Millen was born in Henderson County, Ill., on May 8, 1872, the son of John and Sarah (Gordon) Millen. His father was born in Indiana and married in Illinois; and in that latter state both his mother and he himself were born, on the same old family farm. He grew up in the vicinity of his birth, and not far from his birthplace served his apprenticeship to the carpenter's trade.

In 1906 Mr. Millen came out to California and settled in Santa Ana; he worked at his trade for about one year, then took up the contracting business on his own responsibility and built many residences during the nine years he followed the business. Santa Ana has been his home ever since, with the exception of two and a half years when he and his partner were cement contractors at San Pedro. In 1917, Messrs. Millen and Lampman removed from the harbor, and recently they have further ex- panded by leasing a tract of five acres on the Long Beach road, one quarter of a mile west of the County Hospital. There they have installed a hoist and screen drawn by an eight-horse power gas engine; and this is perhaps the largest deposit of pea gravel and clean sand to be found in Orange County. A careful analysis has shown it to be free from dirt-an advantage that only the builder appreciates. The carefully-wrought screens sort out four grades, all the way from plastering sand to pea gravel for foun- dations, curbs, gutters and sidewalks. Their product is delivered to the contractors in Orange County and adjacent territory by truck. Their capacity now averages fifty yards daily and they are rapidly increasing their plant.

Both Mr. Lampman and Mr. Millen are experienced, energetic and highly progres- sive operators; and in view of the growing markets touching their field, it is safe to predict for them a constantly increasing trade. Already they are one of the elements of strength, and most promising, in the Santa Ana commercial world.

HENRY W. WITMAN .- A ranchman who has had an extensive, varied experi- ence, and has so well succeeded that he has become an excellent beet grower, a public- spirited citizen and a good neighbor, is Henry W. Witman, at present operating 150 acres on the Irvine ranch. He was born at Catlettsburg, Ky., July 13, 1860, situated on the Ohio and Big Sandy Rivers, and was reared in the oil fields of West Virginia. His father was Charles Witman, a pioneer West Virginia oil operator, who at one time had 100 pumping wells. He was married in Kentucky to Miss Ann McMillan, a native of Aberdeen, Ohio, and the daughter of Wm. McMillan, a Scotch-Irish millwright. The Witmans during several generations were identified with Pennsylvania, and Henry Witman, a brother of Charles, was also a pioneer in the oil enterprise and made a specialty of the manufacture and vending of tools and machinery for sinking oil wells, his headquarters being at Parkersburg, W. Va. Mr. and Mrs. Charles Witman came to California in 1885, and they both died at Los Angeles, having each reached the ripe old age of eighty-one.

As Henry Witman grew up, he also got into the oil game, and at twenty-one in Volcano, W. Va., September 21, 1881, he was married to Miss Emma C. Mudge, a native of Philadelphia, Pa., but a resident of Parkersburg, W. Va., and a graduate of the Lees- burg, Va., Seminary. Mr. Witman himself was a graduate of the celebrated Eastman Business College at Poughkeepsie, N. Y. Mrs. Witman is a daughter of Daniel C. and Emily (Carr) Mudge, born on Long Island, N. Y., and St. Louis, Mo., respectively. As a young man Mr. Mudge was located at Council Bluffs, Iowa, with a firm of Indian traders. Returning East he was married in Virginia after which he was with Hood. Bonbright and Company, an importing firm in Philadelphia, Pa. Later he was super- intendent of coal mines in Pennsylvania and then in West Virginia. After he retired they resided in Yonkers, N. Y., until their death. On her mother's side Mrs. Witman's ancestors fought in the Revolutionary War.

After his marriage, Mr. Witman took up the lumber business in the great saw mills of the Alleghany Mountains, in West Virginia, and for two and a half years was in the service of a Baltimore Lumber Company. In 1887, however, during the great "boom" in realty here, he came out to California and settled at Hueneme, in Ventura County, where he engaged in hardware and plumbing until 1900, when the Oxnard Sugar Factory started up, and he removed his business to Oxnard where, aside from his hardware and plumbing business, he was associated with E. A. Chambers in drilling artesian wells. For twelve years he continued in business and under President 46

1280

HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY

Mckinley and President Roosevelt he served as postmaster of Oxnard. He was also secretary of the board of trustees of the Oxnard Union high school for ten years.

In 1908, with the same partner, E. A. Chambers, now deceased, he leased a ranch of 700 acres at Tomato Springs on the Irvine ranch, Orange County, and for five years farmed to lima beans. Then his partner died, and Mr. Witman then turned over the lease to his son, H. W. Witman, Jr., who is still farming there. 1n 1913 ne dis- posed of his interests in Ventura County and moved to Orange County and took his present lease on the Irvine ranch.

Mr. Witman has wrought a magical transformation in the 150 acres he is oper- ating. He devotes 100 acres to sugar beets, and fifty acres to barley hay, and it is safe to say that there are no more attractive fields anywhere in the Aliso district, the whole presenting a very different sight from that beheld by him and W. G. Mitchell, manager of the Irvine Company, with whom he drove through there seven years ago. Then there was such a morass of wild mustard and sunflowers that they had to stand up in their wagon to see where they were. He put the first plow in the soil and the land is now a choice beet and market garden district, recently drained by the Irvine Company, which supplies all the water needed, from wells pumped by electricity.

Five children have blessed this marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Witman. Roy B., the eldest, is in the furniture and plumbing business at Oxnard. Mary M. is the wife of Harry C. Bohlander, a beet grower on the Irvine ranch. Ellen B., the third born, became the wife of L. L. Edmunds, chief engineer of the Crockett Sugar Refinery, residing at Crockett, and died on May 8, 1920, leaving two children: H. W., Jr., already referred to, is the lima bean grower on the Irvine ranch, and Daniel Phillip, who grad- uated from the Harvard Military School at Los Angeles, in June, 1920, is farming beets on the Irvine ranch with his father.

A Republican in national politics, Mr. Witman was for years active in Ventura County politics as central committeeman and delegate to county conventions. Fra- ternally he was made a Mason in Volcano Lodge in West Virginia, in 1881 and on coming to California was a charter member of Hueneme Lodge No. 341, F. & A. M., which was afterwards removed to Oxnard and named Oxnard Lodge No. 341, and there he was the second master. He is a member of Oxnard Chapter, R. A. M., and of Ventura Commandery No. 4, K. T. and Al Malaikah Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., Los Angeles. He is also a life member of the Santa Ana Lodge of Elks and a member of the Eagles of Oxnard. Mrs. Witman is a member of the Episcopal Church as well as the Ebell Club of Santa Ana and both took an active part in the Red Cross and war drives in the Irvine district.

WILLIAM HENEKS .- Descended through the paternal genealogy from sturdy residents of Holland, that little country famed for its thrift and frugality, William Heneks has inherited many of the sterling qualities of his forbears, and these, com- bined with his own initiative and determination, have brought him a large degree of success. Mr. Heneks was born in Montgomery County, Pa., in 1844, his parents being John and Mary (Treichler) Heneks. The father, who combined the occupation of blacksmith with agricultural pursuits, was also a native of that state, Grandfather Heneks having settled in eastern Pennsylvania shortly after coming over from Holland. Eight children were born to Mr. and Mrs. John Heneks: John Parker, Lydia Ann; Effinger, who lives in Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Joseph; David; Elizabeth, who resides at Santa Ana with her brother William; Mary, who died in Iowa; and William.

Up to the age of twelve years, William Heneks resided on the old home farm in Pennsylvania, attending the local schools of the community. In 1855 the Heneks family removed to Cedar County, Iowa, and here he received but little opportunity for any further education, as he early began to do farm work, helping establish the family home in the new country, as the locality now occupied by large towns and rich farms was as yet comparatively sparsely settled and the magnitude of its present prosperity as yet undiscerned. By dint of industry and good management he became the owner of a good farm of 120 acres and this he farmed with splendid results for a number of years, also being associated with his sister, Miss Elizabeth Heneks, in the cultivation of the eighty-acre farm she had acquired.

An older brother, John Parker Heneks, came to California about 1898, his health requiring a milder climate; he was a veteran of the Civil War, having participated in Sherman's famous march to the sea and the many hardships he had undergone had sadly impaired his health. Although comparatively an invalid and unable to take any active part in business he was much impressed with the wonderful possibilities apparent in this beautiful country, and he wrote to his brothers and sisters, urging them to come to Orange County and enjoy its wonderful climate and take advantage of its oppor- tunities. At the time of his death, 1900, William Heneks and his brother Effinger, now

A.l Carrillo Petra lcarrillo

1283

HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY

ninety-three years old, came to Santa Ana and even during their short stay at that time they were much impressed with this part of the country. In 1903 William and his . sister Elizabeth disposed of their farming interests in Iowa and came to Santa Ana. For a year and a half they lived on Pine Street, removing from there to 1406 East First Street, where they purchased a twenty-acre walnut ranch, Mr. Heneks at once set to work to improve the place in every possible way, putting in cement pipe lines for irrigation and bringing the whole ranch up to a high state of cultivation, so that it became one of the best paying properties in the vicinity. In January, 1920, they dis- posed of this ranch at a handsome figure and he and his sister now reside at their beautiful home at 702 South Broadway, Santa Ana, one of the south side's most attrac- tive places, with its well-kept lawn, walks, arbors and flowers, and here they enjoy the fruits of their useful and industrious lives. They enter heartily into the spirit of Santa Ana's progress and the community is indeed fortunate to have gained such worthy and estimable residents.

JUAN GARIBALDI CARILLO .- The name of Carillo is one that is well known in Southern California, the family having been among the largest landowners in this section, and prominent in the history of its early days. J. G. Carillo, or Garibaldi, as he is familiarly known by his friends, the subject of this sketch, is the son of Jose R. and Vincenta (Sepulveda ) Carillo, the latter being the daughter of Francisco Sepulveda, who was the owner of a large rancho west of Olive. At the time of her marriage to Jose R. Carillo she was the widow of Thomas Vorba, of the well-known Spanish family whose name is linked with the early days of Orange County.

Jose R. Carillo was the owner of a large Spanish grant in San Diego County, now called Warner's ranch. It was three miles square and comprised 5,760 acres. He also owned the Rancho San Jose, adjoining Warner's ranch, a tract of over 25,000 acres. Mr. and Mrs. Carillo were the parents of nine children, six daughters and three sons, Garibaldi being the youngest in order of birth. He was born on the Carillo ranch in San Diego County, May 19, 1861. His father died in 1864. having been shot from ambuscade at Cucamonga Creek. Garibaldi then lived with his mother on Warner's ranch until 1870, when they moved to Anaheim, where he went to school and also worked out on farms to help his mother. When sixteen years of age, he with twelve others drove 900 head of horses belonging to Don Juan Forster to Utah, remaining there two years, when he returned home. He farmed near Corona, Riverside County, for five years, and then became foreman for Don Marco Forster at Capistrano, which position he filled five years: then as foreman for Richard O'Neill an additional five years, when he resigned to go to Nicaragua, Central America, in 1893; for two years he dealt in coffee, rubber and hides, shipping to New York City, when he was taken sick and returned to California in 1895. He then became foreman for James McFadden, a posi- tion he filled with ability for five years, when he quit and located a homestead of 160 acres near Hot Springs, Riverside County, where he resided and brought it to a high state of cultivation. He then returned to Santa Ana and spent one year as a foreman and then quit to engage in partnership in cattle raising with James McFadden on the place he is now on, known as the Aliso ranch of 1.487 acres-five miles east of El Toro, and the next year he leased the ranch and since then has engaged in farming and raising cattle, horses, mules and hogs, in which he has been very successful. heing a member of the California Cattle Growers Association. He is also the owner of a ranch of 160 acres in Riverside County and this he devotes to stock raising, having for the past fifteen years used the Forest Reserve for a stock range.

In San Luis Rey, March 4, 1900, Juan G. Carillo was united in marriage with Miss Petra Ortega, who is also a descendant of two distinguished Spanish families. She is the daughter of Juan D. and Eduvige (Tico) Ortega, and both parents are still living, the father being the manager of the James McFadden ranch at Santa Ana. Grand- father Miguel Emidio Ortega, who owned the Ortega grant in Santa Barbara County, covering two leagues, married Concepcion Dominguez, who died in 1909 at Ventura at the age of ninety-seven years, after an eventful life covering a long vista of years, in which she saw the country grow from the small settlement clustered about the Mission to a thriving city and prosperous countryside. The old Ortega homestead, where she passed so many years of her life, has long occupied a place among the interesting land- marks of Ventura and its reproduction on paper has become familiar to thousands throughout the United States and foreign lands, as it is used as a trademark by E. C. Ortega, the wealthy owner and founder of the Pioneer Chile Packing Company of Los Angeles, a son of Dona Concepcion Dominguez Ortega.

Mrs. Petra Carillo is descended from the Tico family through her mother, whose brother. J. J. Tico, was one of Ventura's oldest residents, his death occurring there in 1919. His father, Fernando Tico, who married Maria Jesus Ortega, was given the Ojai

1284

HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY

grant, covering four Spanish leagues, by Governor Juan D. Alvarado, the Ticos being among the first Spanish families to settle in Ventura County.

Mr. and Mrs. Carillo are the parents of seven children: Carlos and Vincenta at- tend the Capistrano Union high school and Vincenta took the prize in the Liberty Loan speakers' contest at Trabuca school in 1919; Juanita, Bennie, Jerome, Randolph and George. Identified with this locality for half a century, Mr. Carillo stands high in the esteem of a large circle of friends and with his interesting family takes an active interest in all that pertains to the welfare of the community. The family are communicants of the Catholic Church at El Toro and in politics Mr. Carillo is a Republican.

HARVEY F. BENNETT .- The son of one of Orange County's best known pioneer citizens who contributed much to the advancement of the vital interests of the county, especially in the early days, Harvey F. Bennett is himself a native son of the Golden State. The Bennett family traces its ancestry back to the earlist colonial days, some of that name being among the first groups of those brave souls who risked the dangers of the deep and the barren conditions of a new land. They were identified with the early agricultural upbuilding of this country and fought valiantly in its wars and were always prominent in its public affairs.

Charles F. Bennett, the father of the subject of this sketch, was born at Kent, Litchfield County, Coun., April 23, 1842, his parents being William and Sarah (Brun- sen) Bennett. William Bennett was engaged in various manufacturing enterprises at Litchfield, but in 1851 he removed with his family to the then sparsely settled regions of LaSalle County, Ill., settling near Deerpark, where he took up a tract of virgin land, which he brought under cultivation, at the same time devoting some attention to manu- facturing various articles. Charles F. Bennett received his early education at the old Connecticut home, where as a small boy he had the great fortune to come under the personal influence of Wendell Phillips and William Lloyd Garrison, so that he was from a child inculcated with the principles of abolition, and in later years this was increased by a personal acquaintance with Abraham Lincoln and John C. Fremont. Coming with his parents to Illinois, his boyhood was spent on the home farm in LaSalle County, and even then he was identified with many stirring scenes in aiding slaves in their flight toward liberty. When the Civil War broke out he was taking a preparatory course in the Chicago University, and he soon enlisted. In August, 1862, he was assigned to the Douglas Brigade, participating in thirty-two engagements with this organization, among them the battles of Shiloh and Vicksburg. He had charge of the guard at General Sherman's headquarters during the famous march to the sea and vividly recalls the consultation between Sherman, Grant and Logan regarding the decision to take this line of action, which proved to be the turning point of the war. Mr. Bennett was slightly wounded several times and had many narrow escapes, being grazed with bullets on a number of occasions. When he received his honorable dis- charge, with the rank of first lieutenant, at the close of the war, the hardships and privations had greatly impaired his health, but after two years he was again suffi- ciently restored in strength to take up active work. For a number of years he engaged in teaching school in various parts of Illinois, and was also interested in stock raising near the old Bennett homestead.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

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 137

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