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 138

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 138

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In 1872 C. F. Bennett was united in marriage with Miss Helen Beach, who was also a native of Connecticut, and in 1878 they decided to seek their fortune on the great plains of the West and so removed to Nebraska, making the long journey from Illinois in a prairie schooner. Mr. Bennett engaged in cattle raising until the range became too limited through the settling up of the country. He then settled at Arapahoe, Nebr., where he conducted a hotel as well as a large merchandise business. Coming to California in 1885, they settled first at San Diego, a small town at that time, as the railroad to that point had not yet been built. They remained there but a short time, coming up the coast to Oceanside, where they purchased a forty-acre hillside farm. During the boom, they disposed of their holdings at a profit and came to Tustin, where he purchased ten acres, subsequently developing it and making it one of the choice properties of that locality; he now has twenty-two acres in Tustin and Santa Ana; also owns a sixty-acre ranch at El Toro. One of the authorities on irrigation in the country, Mr. Bennett installed one of the few private irrigation systems at El Toro taking water from Aliso Creek, also put in a well and pumping plant, and his active interest in promoting irrigation movements had much to do with the advancement of land values. He and his wife still reside on their home place at Tustin.

Mr. and Mrs. C. F. Bennett are the parents of three living children-Frederick W., Charles A., and Harvey F., their only daughter, Pearl Edna, having passed away some years ago. Harvey F. Bennett was born at Tustin on October 31, 1892, and was reared on the Bennett homestead there. He received a good education in the grammar school at Tustin and at the Santa Ana high school, but being ambitious and anxious to

John at. Warne . Sarah E. Warner.

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get a start for himself he began farming while he was in his senior year at high school. He located at El Toro in 1911, and as a reward for the thrift and industry of his early. years he is now the owner of a choice ranch of twenty acres half a mile southeast of El Toro, ten acres of which is in budded walnuts, now twelve years old, the other half of his acreage being set to three-year-old Valencia oranges. In addition to this Mr. Bennett manages the sixty-acre ranch belonging to his father, thirty acres of which is in walnuts, the remaining thirty being planted to apricots, interspersed with walnuts. The management of both holdings, comprising eighty acres, naturally brings with it much responsibility and hard work, but Mr. Bennett is making a splendid success, which is richly deserved.

Mr. Bennett's marriage, which occurred in 1914, united him with Miss Frances Lillian McDonald, a daughter of T. F. McDonald, the well-known carpenter and builder of Santa Ana. Two little girls have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Bennett-Helen Marie and Beverly Ellen. Mrs. Bennett is a social leader in the community and in the circles of the Episcopal Church at El Toro, where she teaches in the Sunday School and is prominent in the work of the ladies' aid. While Mr. Bennett is inclined to the political policies of the Democratic party, he is broad minded and nonpartisan in local affairs, believing the interests of the community are best conserved by voting for the best men and measures.

JOHN H. WARNE .- A well-to-do rancher of the Bolsa district, who has won his success entirely through his own industry and enterprise, is John H. Warne. One of England's sons, he was born in the County of Cornwall, March 8, 1870, the son of John and Betty (Pascoe) Warne. The parents were substantial farmers, the home place being near Truro, and there they both lived and died. Besides John H., they were the parents of one daughter, Mary E., now widowed, and who is a resident of England. He attended the common schools of his birthplace and was brought up in the Wesleyan faith, his parents being devoted members of that denomination. Up to the age of seventeen he lived on the home farm, where he assisted his father in all the labor about the place, getting the foundational training for the life of a rancher which he has led in recent years. In the fall of 1887, however, he determined to strike out for himself, encouraged by the stories he had heard of the greater opportunities awaiting young men in America. After a very stormy voyage on the SS. Celtic, he landed at Castle Garden, October 9 of that year. He went directly to Ishpeming, Mich., and at once obtained employment in the iron mines there. It was hard, unpleasant work, for the most part underground, but Mr. Warne remained there for three years, in the meantime practic- ing thrift and economy and saving as much of his wages as possible.

In 1890 he decided to move on westward, and so made the journey to Los Angeles, going later to Hanford, Kings County, where he secured work on farms in that locality. After eight years in Hanford, he returned to Ishpeming, remaining there for two years, coming back to California in 1900 and locating this time at Santa Ana. He purchased forty acres of land in the vicinity of Bolsa and has since made it his home. He started in at once to cultivate his holdings and has continued to make improvements from year to year. He has developed several flowing wells on his place and installed an up- to-date pumping plant, and has $5,000 worth of cement pine and open ditches for irriga- tion. He has also erected an attractive bungalow, a fine large barn and other buildings and the whole ranch has the well-kept, prosperous appearance that hetokens the progressive farmer. He has added to his first holdings hy three subsequent purchases and now has 162 acres, all in a body.

Mr. Warne was united in marriage on September 20. 1905, to Miss Sarah E. Mc- Garvin, a daughter of Richard and Nettie (Vance) McGarvin, natives of Missouri, com- ing to Los Angeles County in 1875, settling in the New Hope section, then called Gospel Swamp, but both now deceased. Mrs. Warne was born in Orange County and was reared and educated in the Garden Grove district. Mr. and Mrs. Warne have three sons: John L., Henry William, and Thomas Wesley. Generous and kindly to all, Mr. Warne is always progressive in his ideas and gladly conforms to the best thought and reform movements of the day, and his life under two flags has broadened his views and widened his sympathies for common humanity.

DEMPSEY W. GOULD .- Fulton County, Ill., was the birthplace of Dempsey W. Gould. his birth occurring near Lewistown in that state on January 21. 1876, his parents being Thomas and Christina (Wadkins) Gould-born in Browne County, Ohio, and Fulton County, Ill., respectively. Thos. Gould when a youth enlisted as a drummer hoy in Company I, One Hundred Forty-sixth Ohio Regiment of Infantry, rising to the rank of first lieutenant. He came out to Illinois where he became a well known veterinary surgeon, and was also engaged in agriculture, the home place being situated ahout seventeen miles south of Lewistown. Grandfather Samuel Gould was born in Scotland and came to America when but a boy, settling in Ohio at first and later

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coming to Illinois, where he was a pioneer in Fulton and Schuyler counties. He pre- empted land here in the early days and engaged in farming on the virgin prairie soil. Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Gould were the parents of ten children; six daughters and two sons are still living. The fifth child in order of birth, Dempsey W. Gould is the only one of the family residing in California. He received his education in the country schools of the neighborhood and from the age of fifteen he has made his own way in the world without financial assistance from others. For a time he worked out on farms in the locality, later engaging in farming on rented land in the county of his birth. In March, 1907. with thirteen other young men from Fulton County, he went to Payne County. Okla., to engage in raising cotton. The experiment was a disastrous one, however, and they lost everything they had invested. Without financial resources and with a wife and two children depending upon him for support, one less resolute than Mr. Gould would have given away to discouragement, but he has always met reverses with a courageous smile and wrested success from circum- stances that would have daunted one of less determination and energy.

Borrowing the sum of $100, Mr. Gould brought his family from Oklahoma to Cali- fornia and took a job as track man for the Santa Fe Railroad at Capistrano, at a dollar and a half per day. He continued to work for the Santa Fe for nearly two years, becoming an extra section foreman. It was natural, however, for one of his agricultural training to gravitate back to the land, so he worked with a threshing crew for a season. In 1912 he came to El Toro, and leased 250 acres of land and this amount he has increased from time to time until he now operates 700 acres on the O'Neill or Santa Margarita ranch, southeast of El Toro. Here he engages in grain farming on an extensive scale, the larger part of his acreage being devoted to barley. Mr. Gouid owns the house and other buildings and a full complement of farm implements and has forty-two head of mules, horses and colts.

On June 6, 1901, at Havana, Mason County, Ill., Mr. Gould was united in marriage with Miss Lillian Trapp, who was also born near Lewistown, Ill., the daughter of John Trapp born in Illinois, a prominent Fulton County farmer who is now deceased; her mother was Elizabeth Freeman who, at the age of eighty-one, is living in El Toro. Of their nine children Mrs. Gould is the youngest.

Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Gould-Bruce M. who assists his father on the farm, and Ferne, and both are social favorites. A Republican in politics, Mr. Gould takes a lively interest in the questions of the day, is a good talker. and his affability has made for him a large circle of friends.

MRS. IDA B. KING .- California, justly appreciative of both her sons and her daughters, is especially proud of those women who, called upon to assume the serious responsibilities of life in a. world still largely managed by the stronger sex, have dis- played such signal fitness for their work that they have not only held their own, but have often pointed the way, and perhaps by far better routes or means of travel, to others with even longer experience. Such a leader in the feminine world in the manage- ment of important affairs is Mrs. Ida B. King, widow of the late Charles H. King. and daughter of the well-known pioneer of Santa Ana, Samuel Ross. For twenty-six years past she has been a tenant on the Irvine ranch, probably the oldest tenant, there- fore, on the historic San Joaquin; and, as one of the first generation of Orange County girls, she herself has a most interesting association with the history of Southern California.

Growing up in the city and county of her birth, Mrs. King was married in 1894 to Charles H. King, a native of Waitsburg, Wash., where he was born on January 19. 1873, the son of Samuel and Sarah Ann King, who early came to Washington. After he had braved the dangers of the great plains and had helped to establish law, order and civilization in the North. Mr. King came south to Orange County, and settled first at Orange and later at Garden Grove. Charles was reared and educated in that vicinity: and as his father was a rancher, he took naturally to the life of the agriculturist, and after a while commenced to raise grain for himself on the Freeman ranch near Inglewood.

Encouraged by his success, he branched out in 1891 on a larger scale by coming to Orange County and leasing, on shares. 320 acres on the San Joaquin ranch. Prior to his coming there, no one had ever attempted to raise barley and beans on the San Joaquin ranch; and neighboring farmers watched his venture with scientific interest. He demonstrated that he knew what he was about not only in the quality of the beans he raised, but in the fifteen or more sacks yielded by each acre at the harvest. He was among the first to purchase a gasoline traction engine to plow his land, and that innovation alone made him locally famous, for he could turn up from ten to fifteen acres of the soil a day, and go twelve inches deep for his beans, which, with horses or mules, is a very difficult task.

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Mr. Es Mr. Miguel Fraca

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Mr. King was a Republican in politics, and took a very live interest in local political happenings. He was a deputy registration clerk on the Myford board at every election, represented his precinct at county conventions, and was a member of the county central committee. Affiliated with Santa Ana Lodge No. 142, Knights of Pythias, he also belonged to Santa Ana Lodge No .. 794, B. P. O. E. He died on May 14, 1911. Since his death, Mrs. King has continued to manage and develop the estate, and she has done so with rare ability. She now operates 300 acres of the James Irvine, or San Joaquin ranch, of which fifty acres are devoted to the making of hay and 250 to the growing of lima beans. She also owns ten acres at Tustin, now planted to oranges, upon which she intends soon to build.

Three children give joy and solace to this admirable woman, whose life is lived in part for the advancement of the best and most permanent interests of Orange County and the promising Southland. Mildred is the wife of Joe Branson and resides at Madera. Ruth has become Mrs. Fred Rising, and lives at Los Angeles. And Herald is at home. at the interesting age of fifteen. Another son, Roscoe, died when eight years of age. She is also rearing a grandchild, Lamar Hossler, to whom she also gives her motherly care and devotion.

MIGUEL ERRECA .- One of the pioneer stockmen of Southern California. Miguel Erreca was born near Aldudes, Basses Pyrenees, on the line between France and Spain, August 10, 1854, a son of Juan and Marie Erreca, who were well-to-do farmers, owning a place of 500 acres, but both passed away before Miguel left that country. They had three children, two of whom grew up, our subject being the only one now living. His brother Juan came to California with Miguel and they were partners for eleven years, when Juan returned to France and died two years later.

Miguel Erreca was brought up on the home farm, and this place he still owns in partnership with a nephew. Having heard good reports of splendid opportunities awaiting young men who were not afraid to work he came to California in 1873 and made his way by the Overland stage from Los Angeles to San Juan Capistrano, where he had a cousin, Bernardo Erreca, who was engaged in the sheep business. He had arrived in the old mission town at one o'clock one February morning. The next morn- ing he got up a little late and looked out to see what the place was like. He saw a band of vaqueros, all horseback; they had long whiskers and long hair that covered their ears and eyes and, as he says, looked like a hand of goats. Big pistols were hanging at their sides and big knives in their belts. He was at first a little frightened but when he got outside and up closer he heard them talk Spanish and entered into conversation with them. They were half Mexicans and half Indians but all turned out to be good fellows. He lived eleven years in San Juan Capistrano among those people and found them square and reliable. After working two months for Chas. Landell he went to work for his cousin. Bernardo Erreca, and continued with him for seven years and six months. Bernardo Erreca had four partners, among them two Orroqui brothers: one of them is now dead, but the other, Juan Orroqui, is still living and was one of Miguel's first bosses; he now resides on Garnsey Street, Santa Ana. eighty-two years of age and totally hlind-but Miguel still visits him and tries to bring him comfort and cheer in his unfortunate condition.

After working for Bernardo Erreca for over seven years, Miguel and his brother purchased a half interest and they continued together successfully. Two years later they bought more sheep from Erreca's old partners and leased all of the Trabuco ranch and ran 20,000 head of sheep. About two years later Miguel and his brother bought Bernardo's interest and ran the whole ranch and flocks. They did well and their flocks increased. There was no market for the sale of sheep to speak of in Southern California at that time, so once every two years they would drive two flocks of about 2,500 head each to San Francisco and dispose of them, the entire trip and return consuming about three months. Sheep at that time sold from $1.50 to $2.50 a head, including the wool. Later on Miguel bought his brother's interest and continued business alone with his headquarters on the Trabuco ranch of 26,000 acres.

It was the custom of the ranchers in those days to go to San Juan Capistrano to buy their supply of groceries. They would hitch their horses in front of the store and be all loaded up when they would go in to have a final smile and then they would keep on smiling till supper was announced, and after supper again had to have a few more rounds, and so the horses stood hitched outside until after midnight. They never found anything missing from the wagons in those days for they were all good, honest and reliable people. They would then start for their homes, arriving in the wee sma' hours of the next morning.

Mr. Erreca was offered the whole of the Trabuco ranch for $4.00 per acre and 1 banker in Los Angeles advised him to buy it and said he would furnish him the money and give him all the time he wanted, but Miguel was too conservative and would not

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risk it, but afterwards saw he had made the mistake of his life. A couple of years later Richard O'Neill bought the ranch and he, of course, lost the lease of it. Mr. Erreca then leased a part of the Irvine ranch, a tract 6,000 acres, which extended from Newport to Tustin; here he ran sheep for nine years and then sold out. Mean- time, in 1883, he had purchased four acres on Hickey and Sixth streets, between Olive and Baker streets, Santa Ana, built a residence and made it his home. He then began farming on the James McFadden ranch and then leased land in various parts of Orange County. One year he had 3,700 acres in grain; one season he lost about $50,000 but he kept on and finally paid the debt one hundred cents on the dollar; he later farmed 1,700 acres on the Moulton ranch for seven years. In 1917 he quit farming and sold his outfit. He now makes his residence on his four-acre tract that he has set to Valencia oranges.

Mr. Erreca was married in Los Angeles, where he was united with Miss Marie Oronos, born in Bigorre, France, an estimable woman of a lovable disposition of whom he was bereaved on February 6, 1894. She left him two children: Juanita, a graduate of the Orange County Business College is now the wife of Lem Conkle, who resides with Mr. Erreca and she presides gracefully over her father's home and ministers devotedly to his comfort; Marcelina is the wife of Chas. Eckles of Santa Ana; Lem Conkle was in the U. S. Navy during the World War, serving overseas for eighteen months. Mr. Erreca is one of the oldest settlers of this section of California, is a highly respected man whose veracity and integrity have never been questioned. As a young man he was noted for his great strength, activity and endurance. In 1887 he made a trip back to his old home in France and had an enjoyable time but was glad to get back to the land of gold and sunshine. He is a member of the Catholic Church in Santa Ana and politically is a Republican.

HOMER L. COLE .- The eldest child of M. C. and Ella (Delavan) Cole, pioneers of Orange County, Homer L. was born at Deansboro. N. Y., on December 22, 1878. He attended the public and high schools at Oneida, N. Y., coming to California with his parents in 1898. On June 15, 1905, he was married to Miss Jessie M. Hoffman, who was born at Mendota, La Salle County, Ill., one of seven children born to John B. and Mary J. (Thomas) Hoffman, the latter of whom is still living at 521 East Pine Street, Santa Ana. Grandfather Hoffman was one of the pioneer settlers of LaSalle County, Ill., and a large landowner there.

Homer L. Cole is well known as a successful contractor and builder, having been engaged in this line of work since 1910. In 1913 the firm of Bishop and Cole was formed, continuing until 1918, and they specialized in the erection of walnut ware- houses and in the invention of machinery for use in these warehouses. Among the buildings for which they were contractors are the following: Fullerton-Placentia warehouse at Fullerton; Irvine Association's building at Tustin; the Capistrano Asso- ciation building at San Juan Capistrano; and the Saticoy Association's house at Ventura. Messrs. Bishop and Cole also perfected the walnut vacuum machine which sorts out the worthless or "blank" walnuts and is in use in many of the large walnut ware- houses. They also invented a machine for cleaning the mold from walnut meats which has been found a most useful adjunct to the industry. Mr. Cole is also an experienced walnut grower and, previous to taking up the work of contracting and building, he operated the forty-acre ranch of his uncle, Directus Cole at Anaheim. He now man- ages the sixty-acre walnut ranch of his mother in Wintersburg precinct, and under his expert attention it is showing handsome returns. Mr. and Mrs. Homer Cole are the parents of one son, Clifford Delavan Cole.

BENNIE W. OSTERMAN .- Preeminent among the most perfectly arranged and scientifically managed ranches in all Orange County, if not in the entire state, must be mentioned the two important holdings of Messrs. Osterman and Osterman, the bonanza farmers near El Toro, whose junior member is the subject of our sketch. A native son with plenty of pride in the Golden State, Mr. Osterman was born at Newport Beach on November 4, 1896, where his mother was then visiting, for his parents lived on their noted ranch in the Trabuco Canyon. His father is John Osterman, who first came to California in 1890. and five years later took the decisive step of acquiring by purchase the fine property referred to. He was born in Price County, northern Wis- consin, on October 18. 1872, the son of Peter and Hannah (Andrews) Osterman. His father was a pioneer woodsman, and at the early age of twelve, John began to swing an axe in the lumber camps on the Wisconsin River, abandoning the Wisconsin lumber field only in 1890, when he determined to come to California.

He found work on a ranch near Redondo, and soon secured a better engagement on the San Joaquin ranch, where he remained for about a year. In the autumn of 1893 he came to Orange County, and in Trabuco Canyon hired himself out for wages

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to do farm work. At the end of two years, he had saved enongh, and had also become sufficiently posted on ranch property values, to be able to buy his first eighty acres, to which he soon added another one hundred sixty. The land was in poor shape when he took hold of it; but he set out fruit and other trees, made various improvements, and transformed it, by his own exhausting efforts, into the showplace it became. He set out in particular olive trees, peaches and apricots, and reserved the remainder of the land for pasturage. His public-spiritedness was soon evident to his fellow-citizens, who elected him road superintendent, and for years he was entitled to much of the credit for the excellent roads, both built and repaired during his administration.

Besides managing his own homestead ranch, Mr. Osterman in partnership with William J. Waller, leased 2,000 acres of the Whiting ranch near El Toro, and before long had 1,600 acres under cultivation, all in barley, of which in 1909 they gathered some 14,000 sacks. Naturally a mechanic, Mr. Osterman invested heavily in farm machinery, and, besides harvesting for himself, he contracted to gather in the crops of other ranchers.

John Osterman was twice married. His first marriage, in 1895, united him with Miss Sadie Havens of Trabuco who died in 1901 and left him two sons-Bennie W. and George D., a cement contractor of Santa Ana. Through his second marriage, in 1903, a sister of his deceased wife, Miss Lillie Havens, became his life companion, and two children, Ethel and Elmer, blessed that union. A third Miss Havens, Rose E., became the wife of William E. Adkinson, the rancher and game warden of the Trabuco district. These ladies were the daughters of George F. Havens, now well known as a resident of Santa Ana, aged eighty-three, and a native of Pennsylvania. He served four years in the Union Army, and married Miss Millie Copeland, who died in 1894. The Havens came from Texas to California in 1883, and had eight children.

Bennie W. Osterman was sent to the El Toro grammar school and then was graduated from the high school at Santa Ana, a member of the class of '14, and five years later, on April 2, he was married to Miss Cynthia Munger of El Toro. In time, he became the junior member of Messrs. Osterman and Osterman, the partner being his father. They have two large ranches near El Toro, and our subject resides on the Whiting ranch of 1,200 acres on the Trabuco Road, where 900 acres are under the plow, and 300 are in rough pasture range. The other farm they operate consists of 840 acres, and is a part of the L. F. Moulton and Company's ranch. In addition, John Osterman owns an orange orchard in Tustin where he resides.

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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 138

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