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 142

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 142

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Mr. Winters owns in his home place, half a mile north and a quarter of a mile east of Garden Grove, a nice little ranch of five acres of Valencias. He bought the land in 1914, and set it out himself. In November, 1918, he purchased another ten acres and set that out to Valencias; and inasmuch as this second ranch is at the very edge of the town, it must be regarded as unusually choice property. He owns still another ranch of five acres, which he bought just one year later, and that is in full bearing, a quarter of a mile to the south; and to each of these he has given the touch of the experienced horticulturist, so that they bid fair to add materially to the show places of which, more and more, Garden Grove may boast.

Mrs. Winters, esteemed by her wide circle of friends as a very attractive and agreeable lady, and a most helpful neighbor and friend, enters heartily into the various projects of her husband, and so proves to him the best of helpmates, and to the com- munity, the most progressive of citizens.

JOHN O. GUPTILL .- An energetic young man with ability as a machinist, and an agriculturist. John O. Guptill is a son on Charles E. Guptill, whose sketch appears elsewhere in this work. Born near Shirland, Winnebago County, Ill., December 13, 1880, he accompanied his parents when they removed to his maternal grandfather's farm in Rock County, Wis., and was seven years old when the family migrated to Canton, Lincoln County, S. D., and he was reared on his father's 120-acre Dakota farm, where he assisted his father in his farming and stock raising operations. Later he moved with his father's family to Springfield, S. D., where they resided from 1901 to 1909. In the latter year he came to Los Angeles, Cal., where he worked at various pursuits until he came to Garden Grove in 1913.

The marriage of Mr. Guptill, which occurred in January, 1917, united him with Miss Elizabeth Trumpy, who was born at Ramona, near Madison, S. D., and they have one child, John O., Jr. In addition to managing his ten acres Mr. Guptill carries on a prosperous freight and transfer business, and is the owner of a ton-and-a-half truck, which he uses in his business. He is a helpful factor in local affairs at Garden Grove, where he and his wife are welcome in social circles, and are forming an ever-widening circle of friends and acquaintances. It is to such young Americans as John O. Guptill that our country looks for its future advancement and betterment, socially and financially, and his public spirit and interest in the upbuilding of Garden Grove is an evidence of his faith in the future of the community.

E. A. PEARSON .- In the history of the country no industry has taken greater strides than the automobile business, and about the busiest place in Garden Grove is Pearson and Butler's garage on Euclid Avenue. Mr. Pearson is a native of Philadelphia, and was born in the City of Brotherly Love, September 7, 1888. Educated in the public schools, supplemented with a business college course, he learned the machinist's trade as a young man, and with wise foresight as to future conditions became an expert in the automobile line. He came direct from his native state to Santa Ana, Cal., going thence to Hollywood, where for several years he was engaged at his trade. There he was united in marriage with Miss Geneva Ball, and they are the parents of a daughter, Elizabeth.

In 1917 Mr. Pearson located at Garden Grove, and in June of that year engaged in the automobile business with Mr. Butler, under the firm name of Pearson and Butler. Mr. Pearson has made good at every step of his business career, and in the Garden Grove garage the young men are prepared to do repair work on all makes of autos, trucks and tractors. Vulcanizing is well and expeditionsly done, and they deal in Fisk, Goodrich and Oldfield tires, Ford parts, and keep a well selected line of other auto parts and accessories. Thorough machinists and auto men, their efficient service, courteous treatment and square business methods have won so large a patronage that

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the first Euclid Avenue shop became too small to accommodate their large and increas- ing business, and they have made arrangements for a long lease on a building erected to accommodate their trade, where is to be found one of the finest and most up-to-date garage buildings in Orange County. In recognition of their high standing among auto- mobilists Messrs. Pearson and Butler's new place is the garage for the Southern Cali- fornia Auto Club at Garden Grove.

Mr. Pearson is an enthusiastic member of the Garden Grove Chamber of Com- merce, and has entered whole-heartedly into the advancement of the community in which his lot is cast, and the people have reciprocated by making him thrice welcome to Garden Grove, and fully appreciate their advantage in having a man in their midst who is accounted one of the best informed automobile experts in the country.

SOULE C. OERTLY .- The attractive twenty-acre ranch located on Euclid Ave- nue half a mile north of Garden Grove, and owned by Soule C. Oertly, is of note among the many well-cared for places on that thoroughfare. Mr. Oertly was born at Lex- ington, Ky., February 28, 1887, and was five years old when he accompanied his parents, Conrad and Eliza ( Widmer) Oertly to California. The parents, natives of Switzerland, are mentioned on another page of this work.

When Soule Oertly, who is the oldest child of his parents, was three years old he accompanied his parents on a trip to their old home in Switzerland, and remained in that country until he was five years of age. Returning to the United States the family settled in Los Angeles, and in 1907 removed to Garden Grove. Soule attended kindergarten in Switzerland and also in Los Angeles, afterwards attending the Los Angeles public schools. He was twenty years old when he came to Garden Grove, where he assisted his father. His marriage occurred at Garden Grove in 1912, uniting him with Miss Dorothy Head, a native of Detroit, Mich., and daughter of George and Elizabeth (West) Head of Garden Grove, who was educated in the Garden Grove, Los Angeles and Santa Ana schools. Mr. and Mrs. Oertly are the parents of three children, Ellen E., George C., and John W., who was born in Alberta, Canada.

Mr. Oertly formely conducted a cement pipe manufacturing business at Garden Grove and at the same time engaged as an irrigation contractor, putting in irrigation systems for different ranchers in the vicinity. He is considered an authority on irriga- tion, and on laying out orange and lemon groves. For two and a half years he had charge of Dr. Johnston's Rancho Vista Del Rio, above Olive, laid out the ranch, put in the irrigation system and planted the place to Valencias and lemons. In 1916 Mr. Oertly and his family went to Canada, where he became acquainted with Mr. C. S. Nohle, and for six months was engaged as a traction engineer. He did his work so competently that he was appointed superintendent of Mr. Noble's Grand View farm of four and a half sections, and engaged in raising wheat, cattle, hogs, and in dairying. He remained in Alberta until after his brother Bernhard's death, then resigned his position and returned to Garden Grove, where in 1919, he purchased his present ranch. In addition to caring for his sixteen acres of young orange trees and four acres of lemons, which is interplanted with lima beans, he does a great deal of grading and putting ranches in shape. He also cultivates and cares for H. A. Lake's seven and a half-acre ranch.

In their religious convictions Mr. and Mrs. Oertly are members of the Baptist Church and Mr. Oertly is one of the active workers in and standbys of the Y. M. C. A. at Garden Grove. He has many warm friends at Garden Grove and enjoys an enviable reputation for his public spirit and integrity.

HARRY C. FULTON .- Among the later comers to the Talbert district of Orange County, Cal., is Harry C. Fulton, son of W. T. Fulton, owner of the townsite at Camarillo, Ventura County, and for the past thirty-five years a well-known and leading citizen of his section.

Harry C. Fulton owns the highly cultivated forty-acre ranch located one-half mile west of Talbert, and is a native son of California, born near Camarillo in Ventura County, November 5, 1891. He is one of several Ventura County boys who have made a success in western Orange County. When an infant three weeks old he was made a half orphan by the death of his mother. His education was acquired in the public schools and at Brownsberger Business College, Los Angeles, after which he entered the United States postal service as a rural mail carrier in his native county. He was the first mail carrier who ever carried mail out from Camarillo, and he served Uncle Sam efficiently eight years and seven months before he resigned from the position. During the latter part of his service as mail carrier he farmed forty acres in Ventura County, and found ranching to be profitable, thoroughly learning the business of grow- ing lima beans successfully. Mr. Fulton purchased the ranch near Talbert in 1917, and has grown two crops of lima beans, in 1918-19, with splendid success and good profit.

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His marriage was solemnized in 1913, and united him with Miss Mildred E. Sten- strom, a native of Tacoma, Wash., who was reared in her native state and in Ventura County, Cal. She is a most estimable woman, an excellent helpmate to her devoted husband and a fine mother to their two interesting children, Harry Charles, and Char- lotte. Mr. Fulton inherits from his sturdy pioneer ancestry the independence and self-reliance that is developed through strenuous experience with hardship in a new and undeveloped country. Successful in his chosen vocation he may confidently hope for the future success in life that attends maturer years and rightly directed energy.

FLOYD B. KEALIHER .- A large and important industry of Orange County, one not so generally known as the orange and oil enterprises, is the growing and marketing of chili peppers, which has developed, in less than twenty-five years, into a million dollar industry, and statistics show that Orange County grows more than three-fourths of all the peppers consumed in the United States.

The grinding and shipping of chili peppers has become an important business in the county and among the most prominent and successful men engaged in this special enterprise is F. B. Kealiher, whose plant is located just outside of the city of Anaheim, to the southwest, where he has for twenty-three years been successfully engaged in this work. He is a native of Illinois, born in Bureau County, July 24, 1876, a son of Hugh F. and Daisy (Murdock) Kealiher. Hugh F. Kealiher was born in Maine in 1843, a son of Sewall and Jane Kealiher, natives of Maine and Ireland, respectively. Mr. and Mrs. Sewell Kealiher were the parents of twelve children, six of whom are living, Hugh F. being the sixth child in order of birth. He was reared in Maine and Missouri, his parents having migrated to the latter state in 1857. In 1862, Hugh F. Kealiher enlisted in the Union Army and was mustered into the First Missouri Cavalry. His three brothers, John, William and Amos, were also in the Union Army during the Civil War.

Upon his return home after the war, Hugh F. Kealiher settled in Michigan, where he followed the trade of a builder and continued his work along that line until recent years. He moved to California, locating in Anaheim in 1894, and is a member of Sedg- wick Post, G. A. R., of Santa Ana. In 1875, he was married to Miss Daisy L. Murdock, and of this union one child, F. B. Kealiher, the subject of this sketch, was born. In 1918, Mrs. Kealiher passed away. Mr. Kealiher's second marriage, which occurred on August 12, 1919, united him with Mrs. Mary McCain, widow of John R. McCain; she is promi- nent in the circles of the Women's Relief Corps, being past president of the organi- zation at Santa Ana.

Floyd B. Kealiher was reared and educated in Nebraska, whither his parents moved in 1878. In 1894 he came to California, and in 1897 engaged in growing chili peppers, and in 1900 he began to ship independently. The demand for ground chili caused him to install a mill in 1904, being the only one in the county. The extensive- ness of his business can better be understood when one realizes that he ships 100 tons of ground chili per season, which is shipped from Anaheim, and from 300 to 400 tons of pod chili, which is shipped from his warehouse in Garden Grove, from which place, in 1919, he shipped approximately 600 tons. In the operation of his plant he uses a fifteen- horsepower gas engine, and his product is shipped throughout the United States, where it is extensively used by large canning companies.

In 1904, F. B. Kealiher was united in marriage, at Long Beach, with Miss Anna Belle Beach, a native of Minnesota, and of this union one child was born, Vernon, who is now deceased. Mr. Kealiher was bereaved of his wife on April 30, 1918. Fraternally, he is a member of Anaheim Lodge No. 199, I. O. O. F., and of Anaheim Lodge No. 1345, B. P. O. Elks.

FRANK WARREN CROUCH .- Among the successful ranchers of the Garden Grove district is Frank W. Crouch, who was born at Potosi, Grant County. Wis .. November 30, 1867, and was four years old when his parents, R. M. and Maria A. (Foltz) Crouch, removed to Plymouth County, Iowa, where his father filed and proved up on a homestead of 160 acres. The father is a native of Jamestown, N. Y., and was twelve years old when he went to Wisconsin, where he grew to manhood. At the breaking-out of the Civil War he enlisted in Company I of the Twenty-fifth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, and served a year and a half when he was discharged. There were three children in the paternal family: Frank Warren, of Garden Grove; Lillie M., the wife of W. H. McNeill, residing at Hollywood; and A. Blaine, a barber at Early, Iowa. R. M. Crouch and his wife live at Hollywood, Cal.

Frank W. was reared in his native state and acquired his education in the com- mon schools. afterward attending the Normal School for a short time. He followed farming in Iowa, and became the owner of 120 acres, which he disposed of in 1900 and joined his father, who was conducting the Bank of Hinton at Hinton, Iowa. Frank became cashier of the bank, and remained with the institution six years.

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In 1893 he married Miss Effie Patterson, in Iowa, a native of Peotone, Will County, Ill., and they became the parents of a son named Kenneth W., whose ill health caused Mr. Crouch to dispose of his Iowa interests in 1906, and come to Cali- fornia. The lad regained his health in the genial California climate, and graduated from Leland Stanford University, and is now employed by the Standard Oil Company in San Francisco. With wise foresight, Mr. Crouch planted eighteen acres of his twenty- eight-acre ranch, one and a half miles west of Garden Grove, to a eucalyptus grove, and is now cutting the timber, which yields fifty cords of stove wood to an acre. Fra- ternally he is a member of the Santa Ana lodge of Masons, and also belongs to the Modern Woodmen of America Camp in that city. He is a member of the Garden Grove Farm Center, and of the Walnut Growers Association, and in his service as a member of the board of trustees of the Alamitos grammar school has been helpful to the best interests of that school district. A broad-minded, enterprising man, he is ever ready for the advancement of his section of country, and his courteous friendliness as a host is supplemented by the cordial welcome extended by his wife to those who are privileged to partake of their hospitality. They have many warm friends and are highly respected in the community.

GEORGE P. WILSON .- Prominent among the men of affairs who have helped to make Balboa what it is today-one of the really important centers in Orange County, and a community full of promise for the future-must be mentioned George P. Wilson, the pioneer business man there. He was born at Fairmount, Minn., on August 28, 1883, the son of J. R. Wilson, a native and a pioneer of that state, who also became well known to Santa Ana, where he settled with his family in 1899. He was a contracting builder and carpenter used to undertaking large and important commissions; and he died at Santa Ana, about five years ago, at the age of sixty-seven, having completed a life of hard work and very useful activities. He had married in Minnesota Miss Ella Cham- berlain, a native of the same state as himself, and a lady who made many friends wherever she resided.

Mr. Wilson came to California first in 1897, and at first stopped at Glendora for a year. Then he moved to Santa Ana, and later went to Garden Grove, where he finished his schooling. Then he came back to Santa Ana, and for a while had a cigar and confectionery store in Santa Ana.

When he took up his residence in the undeveloped Balboa, he worked for a while for the Newport Bay Investment Company, now the Balboa Land and Water Com- pany, and he helped to build the roads leading to Balboa. He also ran on the Bay a pleasure boat of his own, named the Comet; and later on he managed the boat for the Balboa Land and Water Company. He also worked for a while with Boswell, the cement contractor there, in each engagement acquiring a more varied experience and getting better and better posted on Balboa and its possibilities.

Eight years ago, he embarked in business for himself, and now he has an attractive establishment at the corner of Main and Bay avenues, where he deals in stationery, papers, soda water and confectionery. His honesty and his willingness to try to accom- modate and serve have been decided factors in securing for him a good patronage, and in keeping the patrons once so secured.

In Los Angeles, Mr. Wilson was married to Mrs. Chloe Saunders, nee Baker, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Cana Baker. With his wife he enters heartily into the social as well as the business and political life of Balboa, and besides belonging to the Balboa Yacht Club, and the Chamber of Commerce of Newport Beach, is also a member of Santa Lodge of Elks. He was elected to the city council of Newport Beach, served four years, was reelected, and after serving two years of his second term, resigned, having given six years to the public service in the capacity of city father, and during that time enjoyed the confidence of his fellow-citizens so much so that when a vacancy occurred October 4. 1920, he was again appointed a trustee and is again serving the city with some of his old colleagues.

GEORGE TOURNAT .- The well-known and highly respected citizen, George Tournat, whose twenty-acre ranch lies northwest of Garden Grove, migrated from 'Texas, his native state, to California in the fall of 1909, and for ten years has resided on his well-improved acres, which are devoted to the culture of citrus fruit and walnuts. His father, H. Tournat, preceded him to California in 1906, and settled in Santa Monica where he died, his mother passing away when he was eighteen years old.

Mr. Tournat was born July 17, 1865, near San Antonio, and his early life was passed on his father's Texas farm. Educated in the common schools he afterward went to Virginia, where he attended the Agricultural and Mechanical College at Blacksburg one year. Returning to Texas, he was married in 1891 to Miss Lillie Bundren, a native of Mississippi and eight children have been born to their union, of whom the

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seven now living were born in Texas: Clara, is the wife of Monte Preston, a druggist at Downey, Cal .; Thomas E. is operator at the Pacific Electric sub-station at Stanton, he was a musician in the artillery during the late war; Waldo E., secretary of the Garden Grove Farm Center, is a graduate of the Santa Ana high school and later attended Leland Stanford University, enlisting from there into the U. S. Navy, in which he served until the close of the late war; Georgia is a graduate of the Orange County Business College at Santa Ana; Stella is a graduate of the Santa Ana high school and now attending Junior College; and Leigh is a student in the Santa Ana high school; Grace is in the Garden Grove grammar school, and Mary, who was born at Garden Grove, died at the age of three. After his marriage Mr. Tournat continued the occupation of farming, and became the owner of 166 acres near San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas.

Mr. Tournat has planted and improved his Garden Grove ranch, and has five acres in Eureka lemons, five acres in Navel oranges, five acres in Valencias, and five acres in walnuts. He built a beautiful bungalow home on the ranch, and the property is well equipped with barns, sheds and wells for irrigation. He has installed a pumping plant and has a new up-to-date air-pressure automatic pump run by electric power. Ever ready to embrace modern conveniences that tend to the lessening of labor, his ranch is not only equipped outside with these latest adjuncts, but in his attractive and up-to-date home he has an electric cooking range. In addition to his ranch Mr. Tournat.owned twelve acres of unimproved land, which he gave to his sons, Thomas and Waldo, to assist them in getting a start in life. The boys are engaged in the nursery business, budding and raising Valencia orange trees for nursery stock, and are meeting with deserved success in their new venture,

Mr. and Mrs. Tournat are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Garden Grove, and their interest is ever to advance the general welfare of the community, among whom they are social favorites and are warmly esteemed by their large circle of friends.

FRANK J. BUCHHEIM .- A wide-awake young native son who, as a progressive rancher employing up-to-date apparatus and scientific methods, promises to make his way rapidly in the agricultural world, is Frank J. Buchheim, who resides on East Seventeenth Street, Santa Ana, on a nine-acre ranch, part of the original thirty-acre tract purchased by his father, Frank S. Buchheim, in 1880, and now devoted to the culture of walnuts and oranges. The father was born in Austria in 1844 and emigrated to the United States with his parents in 1856, when he was only twelve years of age. He located in Faribault, Minn., and there prospered as a young agriculturist, leaving the plow only to serve his adopted country in the Civil War, but he was spared the roughest experiences owing to the near close of the struggle.

From Minnesota, Mr. Buchheim removed to California in 1880, and on arriving here purchased thirty acres of waste or barren land, in the development of which he had many and varied experiences. He made numerous improvements and these were added to by his heirs, for he had twelve children, ten of whom are still living. In Minnesota he married Miss Caroline Zymon, a native of Germany, who came to Min- nesota when she was a girl of nineteen. Frank S. Buchheim was a successful horti- culturist in Santa Ana until his death, which occurred in 1904, when he was sixty years of age, while his wife passed away when almost sixty-nine years of age. Her mother, Mrs. Beatrice Zymon, also came to California, spending her last days with the Buch- heims, passing away at the advanced age of ninety-three years. Mr. and Mrs. Buchheim were the parents of twelve children: Lydia, Mrs. Hemenway, lives near El Toro; Aaron at San Juan Capistrano; John at Garden Grove; Jacob is at Downey; Henry at Capistrano; Josie, Mrs. Whisler, at El Toro; Paul at Capistrano; Frank J., the subject of our review; Emile, also at Capistrano; and Minnie, Mrs. Hoeffner, of Bloomfield, Nebr .; all are successful farmers. Emma and Frederick are deceased.

Frank J. spent his boyhood on the farm, attending the public school in Santa Ana, and from a lad on assisted his father on the home place. On the death of his father he took charge of the ranch for his mother until her death, when he purchased nine acres of the ranch, with the home residence, and continues to make his home here, while he also owns seven and a half acres on Santiago Creek, at El Modena, his ranches being devoted to growing oranges, lemons and walnuts. In Santa Ana, on December 1, 1915, occurred the marriage of Mr. Buchheim, when he was united with Miss Annie Barg- sten, born in Hanover, Germany, the daughter of Claus and Margreta (Jers) Bargsten, who were farmer folk in Hanover. Mrs. Buchheim came to Orange, Cal., with her uncle. Jacob Bargsten, in 1912, as he was returning from a visit home. Jacob Bargsten was one of the pioneer settlers of Orange. Mr. and Mrs. Buchheim have been blessed with two children; the younger, Robert Frank, is living. They attend the Lutheran Church and take part in all of its benevolences.

Frank& Buchheim

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Having a desire to see his parents' pioneer home in Minnesota, Mr. Buchheim has made two trips back to that state and also extended his travel to the Atlantic Coast, visiting New York City and other Atlantic ports. Although he was charmed with the country in the East, yet in his estimation it does not equal California, and Orange County in particular.

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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 142

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