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 151

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 151

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In 1905, he removed to Orange County, Cal., and more than ever he has prospered in his latest environment. He came here with some $15,000, and this he has invested so wisely that it has multiplied materially. Besides his home ranch on Santa Clara Avenne, Mr. Pollock has another farm of twenty acres near Anaheim, upon which he has placed his son, Roy Pollock, who cultivates both oranges and lemons.

Mr. and Mrs. Pollock have had two children, but only one has survived. Roy married Miss Carrie White, by whom he has had four children, three of whom are still living. Mr. and Mrs. Pollock are members of the First Methodist Episcopal Church at Santa Ana, and politically are staunch Republicans, and he is naturally a worthy member of the Grand Army of the Republic at Orange.

HANS VICTOR WEISEL .- Prominent among the attorneys of Orange County is Hans Victor Weisel, of Anaheim, where he maintains offices in the Golden State Bank Building. Although not a native of this state, Mr. Weisel has spent much of his life here, coming here with his parents when he was a lad of but nine years. His birth occurred in Milwaukee, Wis., November 6, 1883, and he is of German and French descent, his parents being Peter and Josephine (Cordes) Weisel, the latter a native of Milwaukee, Wis. Both parents are now deceased. The family came to California in 1892, and Hans, who was the seventh child in order of birth of the nine children, re- ceived the greater part of his early education in the grammar and high schools here.

Later he attended Rose Polytechnic Institute at Terre Haute, Ind., where for two years he gave his time and attention to the study of electrical and chemical engineering. However, having decided upon a career in the legal profession, he returned to California and entered the College of Law, University of Southern California, where he graduated in 1907. Coming to Anaheim, he entered the practice of law, and after three years he Formed a partnership with Roger C. Dutton, under the firm name of Weisel & Dutton. This partnership continued until 1915, and since that time Mr. Weisel has maintained his own offices.

Taking a deep interest in politics, Mr. Weisel was honored by election to the House of Representatives of the State Legislature of California, serving in 1912-14. In politics he is a Republican and was a firm supporter of Roosevelt and Johnson. Fra- ternally he is an Elk and a member of the Alpha Tau Omega.

On September 25, 1910, occurred Mr. Weisel's marriage to Miss Evangeline C. Gentry, a native daughter of California, and two children have been born to them, Victor G. and Anita E. Their home is at Brookhurst and Mr. Weisel is also the owner of an orange grove. Fond of ontdoor life, he enjoys especially the sports of hunting and fishing. Deeply interested in all matters of local import, he is progressive and wide awake in his views and a firm believer in the future of this part of the state.

MISS BELLA J. WALKER .- Among the educators of Orange County who are entitled to the highest confidence and esteem, partly because of their character and personality, and partly on account of the high standards they have set and attained in their academic work, may be named Miss Bella J. Walker, the head of the department of English in the Anaheim Union high school. She comes of a family well known for its identification, through her father and brothers, with the Christian ministry, and is herself rated as a brilliant instructor. She enjoys a popularity not only complimentary in the highest degree to herself, but helpful to the institution in which, under the general leadership of its able principal, she has the honor to teach.

Miss Walker was born in Cayuga, in the province of Ontario, Canada, and is the daughter of the Rev. J. L. Walker, a Methodist minister who was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, and came out to Canada when he was ten years old. He married Miss Eliza- beth A. Baldwin; and when our subject was in her third year, they crossed the line into the United States and settled at Columbus. At the end of two years, according to the custom in the Methodist Church, Mr. Walker went on to the L'Anse Indian Mission in the Northern Peninsula, and for many years presided over various charges in Michigan.

Miss Walker received the best training possible in the grade schools, considering that she was compelled so often to change her schools and teachers, and in 1893 was

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graduated from the Ypsilanti Normal College. Then, for seven years, she taught in the high school of Republic, Mich. After that, in 1902, she studied at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, and then, for two years, she was both principal and in- structor in the high school at Petoskey, Mich. In 1904, she went to Owosso, in the same state, and became an instructor in the County Teachers' Training School; and she was there until 1907.

In that year, Miss Walker journeyed west to California, to visit her brother, J. Franklin Walker, who was principal of the Anaheim Union high school; and during her visit she purchased five acres on North Street. She went back to Michigan, however, and taught for a year; and in 1908 she returned to the Golden State with her father and sister, Margaret. She built a home on her ranch, and within a year the trio moved onto the five acres. Her beloved mother had passed away in Michigan, and her father went to his eternal reward, rich in the works of eighty-four years, in 1916 while residing in California.

Having once established herself as a member of the Anaheim community. Miss Walker joined the staff of the Anaheim high school and was made head of the English department; and in that very responsible position she has served the commonwealth ever since, contributing what she could toward the highest efficiency in the study of English, both for the present and the opening years to come. When she first saw the high school at Anaheim, her brother as principal was in charge of seventy-nine pupils; and now the school has four hundred. A sister, Miss Margaret Walker, married J. K. Langdon, and lives in Anaheim; and this social relation, together with such activity as Red Cross work during the progress of the late war, has added to the happiness of Miss Walker's residence in the early Orange County town.

The Reverend Mr. Walker found cactus and brush on the land on North Street purchased when they came, and he developed the waste into splendid acreage. Now it is devoted to the cultivation of citrus fruit. and supports seven and eight-year-old Valencia orange trees, irrigated by Section No. 2 of the Water Company. The success of his labors there was but such as one might have expected who had followed his long and successful harvesting as a reaper of souls.

JACOB S. SWINDLER .- About two miles south of Anaheim is the highly culti- vated and well-kept walnut grove and orange orchard of Jacob S. Swindler. He was born on October 6, 1852, in Montgomery County, near Crawfordville, Ind., in a log house, and when quite young his parents moved to Missouri where he was reared and educated.

His parents, Joseph S. and Salina (Lyter) Swindler, had a family of eleven children, nine of whom grew to maturity, and six are now living. Jacob S. is the only member of the family living in California. During most of his life he has followed farming although he learned the trade of a carpenter, which he had found of great benefit to him, even in ranching, as the knowledge of the trade enables him to do his own carpenter work, and at times he has done work for his neighbors. Mr. Swindler resided in Missouri until 1900, when he went to Idaho, bought a ranch of 160 acres near Lewiston, where he remained until coming to California in 1911.

Mr. Swindler has been married three times; his first wife was Miss Catherine Davis of Missouri, to whom he was united in February. 1879, and of this union three children were born, two of whom are living: Virgil C .; and Laura, Mrs. Alfred Edwards of Missouri. Mrs. Swindler passed away in 1883. On October 22, 1886, he was united in marriage with Miss Maggie Boyd, she died in April, 1913, in Orange County. Mr. Swindler's present wife, before her marriage, was Mrs. Mary ( Williams) Wiley. She and Mr. Swindler were married on June 13, 1914, and one daughter. Dorothy Elizabeth, has been born to them. Mrs. Swindler is a native of Ohio, of Welsh parents, and is the mother of three living children by her former marriage: Fannie, Ethel and W. Victor Wiley. Mrs. Swindler has lived in California since a year old. Her parents came to what is now Orange County in 1876, and settled in Gospel Swamp, where they have since lived. She was reared and educated here, and in 1900 was married to Victor L. Wiley. She spent six years in Iowa after her marriage, but came back to California, where Mr. Wiley died in 1908.

Mrs. Swindler is the owner of a ranch of ten and one-third acres which is well improved, and since her marriage to Mr. Swindler he has given it his especial attention, making many improvements which have enhanced the value and attractiveness of the property by setting out six acres of Valencia oranges and four acres of walnuts. Mr. Swindler owns eleven and one-quarter acres of walnuts near by, all of which he looks after in person. Mr. and Mrs. Swindler are members of the Christian Church and are highly respected citizens of the community, where they have many warm friends. In politics they are Republicans.

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HERMAN F. MEYER .- An industrious and enterprising orange grower, residing on Katella Road and Palm Avenue, in the Anaheim district, is Herman F. Meyer, the owner of a five-acre orange orchard, about seven years old. His ranch is well improved and a modern residence adds to its attractiveness. Mr. Meyer was born on September 5, 1857, at Chicago Ill., a son of Herman .and Wilhelmina Meyer, natives of Germany. Herman Meyer, Sr., learned the trade of a shoemaker in Germany but after emigrating to the United States he followed agricultural pursuits. The family settled in Iowa, where the father engaged in farming until he passed away in 1900. After the death of her husband, Mrs. Meyer moved to California in 1907, with her son Herman F., and she passed away at Los Angeles in 1911. Mr. and Mrs. Meyer were the parents of eleven children, seven of whom are living, and four brothers, Henry, August, Charles and Herman F., reside in California.

When Herman F. Meyer came to California in 1907 he went to Santa Cruz, where he lived for six and one-half years, subsequently going to Aromas, San Benito County, where he owned about sixty acres which he devoted to general farming and fruit raising. In 1918 he removed to Orange County and located on his present place, and as a result of his diligent work he has become one of the successful ranchers there.

On June 4. 1896, Mr. Meyer was united in marriage with Miss Anna M. Rudolph, daughter of Valentine and Catherine Rudolph, and they have become the parents of six children: Edgar, Marie, Carl, Albert, Merten and Herman. Mrs. Meyer is a native of Cedar Lake, Ind., where she was born on December 21, 1870. Mr. and Mrs. Meyer are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church and politically they support the Republican ticket. A former marriage of Mr. Meyer, in 1884, united him with Miss Sophia Frevert, and two children were born to them, Hulda of Santa Rosa, and Esther, who is now deceased.

EDWARD KARLOFF .- An enterprising, successful orange grower who is known as a liberal-minded, public-spirited citizen, ready at all times to do what he can both to build up the town and the county and also to help in the great work of upbuilding, or improving things socially and educationally, is Edward Karloff, who was born in Posen, Germany, on March 5, 1868, and there attended the public schools. As early as 1891 he was fortunate in being able to come out to America and to Chicago, and there he soon found work in the great stockyards. Then he took to gardening, and made a success of that; and when he decided to push on still further to the West, he was ready for the new and severer problems awaiting his attention.

In 1894 he arrived at Anaheim and at once went to work on a ranch as a farm hand, getting one dollar and a quarter a day for from twelve to fifteen hours of labor, and boarding himself. He was frugal, however, notwithstanding these adverse condi- tions, and by 1902 had saved enough to be able to buy his present place of ten acres on Ball Road. It was raw land then; but his industry, guided by intelligent reflection, soon transformed it into improved land, and there he set out Valencia oranges, interset with walnuts which his enterprise had raised independently of the nurseries, and today all are bearing finely.

While in Germany, Mr. Karloff was married to Miss Louisa Kroeger, a native of Posen and a woman with the desirable domestic virtues and accomplishments for which Germans are so favorably known; and they have three bright children-Elsa. Bertha and Walter. The family attend the Anaheim Lutheran Church; and Mr. and Mrs. Karloff, intense in their patriotic Americanism, subscribe to the political creeds of the Republican party, although in supporting desirable local projects they are non- partisan in the extreme. Mr. Karloff thinks that Orange County can have only a brilliant future; and Orange County naturally expects but one result from the hard work of Mr. and Mrs. Karloff to make a happy home and a prosperous ranching estate.

JOHN F. GUTHRIE,-Descended from Scotch ancestors who were early settlers of Virginia, John F. Guthrie is himself a native of the Old Dominion. He was born October 14, 1874, near Nathalie, in Halifax County, Va., his parents being Thomas and Sallie Guthrie. His father, who was also a native of Virginia, was the owner of a 400-acre tobacco plantation in Halifax County, and here John F. spent his boyhood days, receiving his education in the schools at Nathalie. When he was twenty-two years of age he took an extensive trip through the Southern States and also made a visit to Cuba and Porto Rico. During the year 1897 he farmed in Florida, near Braden- town on the Manistee River. The following year, when the Spanish-American War broke out he enlisted for service and was in the quartermaster's department of the U. S. Army, being stationed both in Cuba and Porto Rico.

Returning to his old home in Virginia at the close of the war, he farmed there for two years, but the trips that he had taken gave him a taste for travel and a keen desire to see more of the world. Accordingly he set out for California, and arriving

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at Los Angeles, engaged in various kinds of work, being for a time with the Kerckhoff- Cuzner Lumber Company and later spending a short time on a ranch near Compton.

On April 2, 1907, Mr. Guthrie was married to Miss Emma Ahrens, the ceremony being solemnized at Los Angeles. She is a native daughter of California, her parents, Fred and Caroline Ahrens, residing at Main and Nineteenth streets at the time of her birth. Mr. Ahrens, who was a cabinet maker by trade, came to California from Grand Rapids, Mich., in 1886, following his trade after locating in Los Angeles. Mr. and Mrs. Guthrie are the parents of two sons, Randolph and Arthur.

Shortly after his marriage Mr. Guthrie removed to San Mateo, where he spent six years with the Wisdom-Loop Lumber Company, as foreman of their San Mateo yards. He then gave up lumber yard work and came to Orange County, purchasing ten acres of land on Magnolia Avenue in 1912. At the time he bought it, it was barren cactus land and he set to work to develop it, setting it out to Valencia oranges. He has used the most up-to-date methods in his ranch work and has been very successful, the income from his orchard increasing steadily each year. Mr. Guthrie has a private pumping plant on his ranch and has one of the best pipe systems in the vicinity, having three sets of valves across the property. Besides caring for his own ranch Mr. Guthrie rents from 50 to 100 acres of land each year on which he does truck gardening, raising corn, tomatoes, beans, etc.

Mr. Guthrie takes an active interest in all civic affairs and has served on the school board as a trustee. A believer in the principles of the Republican party, he gives his support and vote to the nominees of that party. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Masonic order and with his wife attends the Grace Lutheran Church at Ana- heim. During his residence in San Mateo Mr. Guthrie was appointed by Governor Gillett to fill a vacancy on the sanitation committee of the hospital in that vicinity, and he discharged the duties of this office to the satisfaction of everyone.

MISS MABLE McGEE .- One of the most capable and successful business women of Brea, and one who, in fact, has the distinction of having filled four city offices, is Miss Mable McGee, dealer in real estate, insurance, investments, bonding, etc. She is a native of Page County, Iowa, and received her early education in the grammar and high schools of Coin, Iowa, which was supplemented with a special commercial course in Amity College, and subsequently a business and commercial course in the Omaha Business College, at Omaha, Nebr. She fitted herself for the vocation of a stenographer, and she held positions of responsibility in this line of work in Omaha, Nebr., Denver, Colo., Wyoming and New Mexico.

In 1912, Miss McGee came to Los Angeles, Cal., and in 1914 located in Brea, soon after this thriving little town had started. For three and a half years she was in the employ of Stern and Goodman and Ray Brothers, and later became stenographer for the firm of Salveson-Brown; afterwards she was stenographer for the city attorney of Brea, Albert Launer. While in the latter office she decided to seek the position of clerk of Brea, and at the polls was duly elected to that important office in 1918 for a two-year term, ending in April, 1920. That she ably filled the office to the utmost satisfaction of the citizens of Brea is attested to by the fact of her appointment to the additional positions of city recorder, city assessor and deputy tax collector.

In addition to her many civic duties Miss McGee engaged in the real estate and insurance business, is notary public and public stenographer. The busy and successful career of this young business woman furnishes a splendid example of what can be accomplished by women who are specially trained for their specific lines of business. By her splendid achievements in the civic life of Brea, Miss McGee has won for herself a prominent place among the citizens of this growing and prosperous little city.

FRED BENTJEN .- A very successful horticulturist, who attributes much of his progress to the ambition, striving and self-denial of his good wife, is Fred Bentjen, rated by all who know his warm advocacy of both popular and advanced education as one of the truest-hearted of Americans. He was born in Germany on February 4, 1863. the son of Dietrich and Helen (Janscen) Bentjen, farmer folk in that country, noted for their intelligence and up-to-date ideas, and he was twenty-three years old when he left home to come to America. He sailed from Bremen for New York, and then went on to Nebraska. While at home, he had helped his father with the farm work, and in the new West he always found engagements enough, continuing for nine years as a laborer on a farm. Once he went back to his native country; but it was only for a visit and he not only returned to the United States, but he married at Pender, Thurston County, Nebr., on March 29, 1895, Miss Helen Wolffe, also a native of Germany.

Selling out his interests at Pender, he moved to Boone County, in the same state. where he went in for general farming, raising in particular on his 200 acres grain and stock, and also potatoes. In 1909 he came west to California and for three years lived

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at Richfield; and in 1912 he removed to West Anaheim. There he planted fourteen acres of citrus trees now six years old and full hearing, and three acres of walnuts; joined the Farm Center, became active in civic work under the banners of the Repub- lican party, and also became a stockholder in the Anaheim Orange and Lemon Growers Association. He bought into a well company having a plant pumping 100 inches and serving twenty ranchers, and he assumed charge of the well and the pump, which are located on his ranch.

Six children have blessed the fortunate union of Mr. and Mrs. Bentjen: Anna is now the wife of Otto Rohrs, the rancher of Orange, and has one child; Tillie is married and is the wife of Dick Heitshusen, an oil man of Brea, the ceremony having taken place in July, 1920; Fred entered the army in defense of his country, but was not sent to the front on account of the armistice, and now he is ranching and living at home: Ida is the wife of Raymond Grimm, a rancher of Anaheim; Lena resides at home, and so does Mary. All the children were born in Nebraska, and confirmed in the Lutheran faith. Mr. Bentjen has served as a member of the board of the Anaheim German Parochial School.

DAVID D. GARDNER .- An expert celery grower who is also a good business man is David D. Gardner, who owned ten acres three and a half miles northeast of Huntington Beach, and grows twenty acres of celery on rented land. He is a partner with his brother-in-law, Wallace W. Blaylock, and together they are widely known as celery experts.

He was born in Madison County, Nebr., on March 2. 1884. the son of David Gardner, a rancher, who had married Miss Sarah Hetzler. In 1892 they removed to California, taking with them their family of six children. Here the father passed away, in 1906, and the mother is now living, retired, in the La Bolsa district, in Orange County. Adam Gardner, who is in business in San Francisco, was the first born of the family: then came Al, who lives at home; after that Ralph, the rancher at Oakdale; then David, our subject; next Earl, who owns twenty acres and rents seven hundred, and lives a quarter of a mile from Bolsa; and finally, Lida, the wife of Frank Burton, the rancher, of Stanton, Orange County.

David was eight years old when he came to Orange County, and in 1907 he was married to Miss Johnnie Girdner Horton, a native of Arkansas, and the daughter of Warren H. and Laura Horton. The former died here in 1907. Mrs. Gardner is a near relative of Dr. Girdner of New York. Four children blessed this union: Hayden, Mabel, Geraldine and David.

Mr. Gardner planted his farm of ten acres to beans and beets, and this alone affords him a good living. He has a good partner, and some of their celery will bring $1,500 an acre, netting each partner a handsome income. As a family, the Gardners have valuable connections and many friends, being highly esteemed for their ideals and public spirit.

WALLACE W. BLAYLOCK .- The successful culture of celery in Orange County owes much to Wallace W. Blaylock, like his partner, David D. Gardner, a noted celery expert. He lives with his interesting family on his ranch of twenty acres in the Talbot- Wintersburg district, where he is known and respected as a very successful farmer. In national politics, he has always supported the Democratic platforms; but he has cast aside partisanship in endorsing the best men and the best measures for local develop- ment, with the result that today he enjoys life in one of the most favored areas in all the Golden State.

He was born in Franklin County, Ark., in the Ozark country, famous for its large. red apples, on September 11, 1863, and there attended the public schools. His father was Robert Blaylock, a native of Georgia and a member of a fine old English family that had settled in the South; and his mother was Agnes Blaylock, who was born in Tennessee. They married in Arkansas, and there Robert Blaylock died when Wallace was only twelve years of age. Mrs. Blaylock lived to be seventy-six, and died in California. Five of their children grew up; and among them Wallace was the second in the order of birth. Mrs. Blaylock came of Scotch ancestry, and Grandfather Blay- lock reached the grand old age of 103; Wallace, therefore, has very naturally inherited exceptional virility.

When he was twenty-one years of age, Mr. Blaylock came west to California and settled at El Monte, in Los Angeles County; and in 1900 he returned to Arkansas There he married Miss Emma Horton, a sister of Mrs. D. D. Gardner. Mrs Blaylock's uncle was the noted New Yorker, Dr. Girdner.

Mr. and Mrs. Blaylock have five children: Both Frances and Charles are in the high school at Huntington Beach; while Julienne, William and Wallace, twins, are attending the grammar school of the Wintersburg district.

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EARL CHESTER DUTTON .- The Buckeye State claims Earl C. Dutton, the progressive young rancher of the Anaheim district, as a native son. He was born in Albany, Athens County, Ohio, on July 11, 1882, a son of W. H. and Ida ( Linscott) Dutton. They were the parents of two children, C. Clifford and Earl Chester Dutton, the subject of this review.

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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 151

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