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 162

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 162

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Mr. Stein has also interested himself with the horticultural development of the county, and has bought and sold orange and lemon groves; at the present time the firm own two orange and lemon ranches in this section.

The marriage of Mr. Stein, which occurred at Fullerton, united him with Claire Nicolas, a native of Fullerton, and the daughter of Pierre Nicolas, one of the pioneers of the city. Two children have blessed their union, Babette and Paul. Mr. Stein has joined in the fraternal life of the county, and is a member of the Anaheim Lodge No. 1345, Elks, and of the Knights of Pythias of Fullerton. A believer in progress and a "booster" for his section, he sees even greater advancement for Orange County in the future than has taken place in the past, and is willing at all times to do his share toward the further upbuilding of the section where he makes his home and carries on his business interests.

WALTER J. JEWELL .- An enterprising operator on a large scale in Orange County real estate who has done much to make known to the outside world the attrac- tions and advantages of this flourishing county, thereby encouraging many substantial people to settle here and establish themselves comfortably, is Walter J. Jewell, who is coming to be one of the best known realtors in the county. Michigan is Mr. Jewell's native state, and here he was born at Ann Arbor on May 13, 1881; his parents are Richard and Mary (Hall) Jewell, the father a native of England, and they came to this part of Michigan when the country was new and but sparsely settled.

Walter J. Jewell was educated in the grammar and high schools of Ann Arbor, following this with a business course in Flint College, at Flint, Mich., which in subse- quent years he has found to be of much benefit. Remaining at Flint he went to work for the Buick automobile factory, and for three years was employed in their great

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plant there. In 1906 Mr. Jewell came to California, locating at Brea, and later, for five years he was a partner in the Brea Machine Works there. During the war he helped back up the Government's shipbuilding program by working at the shipyards at Long Beach, spending a year there. Coming back to Anaheim after the close of the war, Mr. Jewell organized the W. J. Jewell Realty Company and from the beginning he has been most successful. He makes a specialty of ranch lands and leases and his realty operations now extend over practically the entire county. A close observer of land values in the years of his residence here, Mr. Jewell's judgment in matters of this sort is highly regarded and this, combined with thorough honesty and justness in his business transactions, has enabled him to close some important deals.

Mr. Jewell has also shown his faith in Orange County's prosperity by purchasing a ten-acre ranch four miles west of Anaheim; he has developed this tract into a fine Valencia orange grove, doing a large part of the work himself, and has installed a private pumping plant. The grove is in a thriving condition and bids fair to be one of the most profitable producers in the vicinity.

On June 17, 1904, Mr. Jewell was married at Anaheim to Miss Lois M. Blake of that city, a native of Reedsburg, Wis., the daughter of L. C. and Marian (Carver) Blake, Mr. Blake being connected with the Fullerton Tribune. Mr. and Mrs. Jewell are the parents of two children, Richard and Mary, and make their home in their attractive residence on their ranch, while Mr. Jewell maintains his office at 136 North Los Angeles Street, Anaheim. Mrs. Jewell is a granddaughter of Washington I. Carver, one of Anaheim's oldest and most highly respected citizens, a review of his life appearing upon another page of this history.

WILLIAM DEVENNEY .- A successful rancher whose experiments on a large scale have contributed to advancing the science of sugar beet culture in California, is William Devenney, who owns a valuable farm near Talbert, and also has 120 acres of sugar beets on rented land. He is a son of a California pioneer who married one of the excellent daughters of Orange County; and as a chip off the old block, he is a live wire, and a very likeable fellow.

He was born in Sonoma County, Cal., on March 8, 1874, the son of John Devenney, born in Iowa, who was once deputy sheriff of Orange County and died at Seal Beach in 1914, at the age of sixty-eight, when he was manager for the Stanton Bayside Land Company. He was married in Iowa to Miss Eliza McDonald, a native of that state, and came from Iowa to California. For a while he and his good wife lived in Sonoma County, and then, for a short period, they moved down to San Bernardino County, and after that came to Los Angeles, now Orange County, where Mr. Devenney bought a farm of forty acres near old Newport. He was elected road overseer for twelve years in succession, and this fact speaks well for his standing in the communities in which he moved. Mrs. Devenney died in 1918, also highly esteemed by those who knew her worth. Two of Mr. and Mrs. Devenney's children died in infancy; the other eight are: Annie, the eldest; William, the subject of our review; and Maggie, who is the wife of Jean Lytton, and resides at Orange; Henry is the fourth in order; and Sadie married Tom Harlan, of the San Joaquin ranch; Fred is foreman at the Southern California Sugar Factory; Inez is the wife of Walter Stark, and resides at Seal Beach. The youngest of the family is Lou Devenney.

William Devenney was only two years old when he came with his parents to what is now Orange County and he attended the public schools of his home district. In his youth, he was a noted sprinter, and held the Pacific Coast amateur record for 220 yards, and won his laurels on the association race track south of Santa Ana. Later, he worked for the Flood brothers, grain farmers on the San Joaquin ranch; and now, while he rents out his own land, he farms seventy acres which he rents from the Southern California Sugar Company, and another fifty acres which he leases from a private individual, so that he has 120 acres in sugar beets. To operate this acreage, he uses ten head of horses and mules. On his fifty-acre ranch in the Talbert precinct, he grows chili peppers as well as sugar beets.

In May, 1900, Mr. Devenney was married at Santa Ana, to Miss Martha Williams, an accomplished lady, who shares in his popularity. She is a native of Orange County and the daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth (Williams) Williams, natives of Wales, where they were married and afterwards migrated to Ohio, residing there until about 1880, when they migrated to California and located near Santa Ana, where they have since successfully engaged in farming at New Hope. This worthy couple have fifteen children that are living, Mrs. Devenney being the third oldest; she was born at New Hope, Orange County, and there she received her education in the public schools. She is endowed with much ability in business affairs and is of great assistance to her husband in his farming enterprises, a credit he proudly accords her.

Willian Devenuey.

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WILLIAM F. SPEER .- A splendid example of an enterprising, progressive man who, assisted by his faithful and gifted wife, is well rewarded for the attention and energy expended in developing an orange ranch, is afforded by William F. Speer, who was born in Essex County, N. J., in 1888. His father was Charles T. Speer, a native of Montclair, N. J., who was a contractor and builder, first at Montclair, then at Orange, and who made trips to California. He had married Miss Amelia Small, also a native of New Jersey, a lady of enviable traits, who died, rich in friends, in December, 1919. They had six children, three boys and three girls; and among these William was the third child.

He was brought up at Orange, N. J., attended the grammar and the high school there, and was duly graduated from the latter institution, after which he went into New York City and entered the service of Topping Bros., wholesalers in hardware and furniture, working in their offices for six years. He acquired an excellent idea of busi- ness as conducted in one of the great cities of the world, and in a practical way supple- mented his schooling so that he was well prepared for commercial work anywhere.

In 1911 he came out to California and settled in Orange County, entering the horticultural field and commencing to grow oranges; and the same year he bought ten acres of land, raw as could be found, in the Commonwealth district, which he cleared, leveled and otherwise improved. With others, he invested in an electrical pumping plant; and then set out his land to Valencia oranges. He also bought five acres which he set out to lemons, and then sold. He joined the Placentia Mutual Orange Growers Association, and both derived benefit from the same and also con- tributed to its success.

During the year 1918, at Los Angeles, Mr. Speer was married to Miss Augusta Hein; and they have one child, a daughter, Ruth. Mr. and Mrs. Speer are Republicans in their preference for national political creeds; but they are broad-minded when it comes to supporting local measures, and especially interested in forwarding the best interests of Orange County first, last and all the time.

JOHN W. MAAG .- Among the men of the younger generation of the vicinity of Orange, John W. Maag is rapidly forging to the front rank as a successful citrus grower. His twenty-two and a half acre ranch, which he purchased in 1906, is planted to fourteen acres of bearing Valencia oranges, four acres of one-year-old Valencias and four acres of walnuts.

He was born in Humphrey, Platte County, Nebr., April 27, 1885, and came with his parents to California in March, 1891, stopping four months in Los Angeles before coming to Orange, where the father bought thirty-one acres on Fairhaven Avenue, a mile and a quarter south of the city of Orange, on which he is still living. The father, J. A. Maag, was born in Germany, and the mother, Catherine (Steffes) Maag, is a native of Michigan. John W. has seven brothers and two sisters living. Two of the twelve children comprising the parental family died in infancy in Nebraska. Mr. Maag attended school at Orange and completed the eighth grade, afterward taking a com- mercial course in the Orange County Business College at Santa Ana.

He established domestic ties by his marriage, in Santa Ana, April 15, 1913, with Miss Anna Lypps, a native of Hart, Oceana County, Mich., who was reared in her native state and was grown when she came to Santa Ana, Cal. Their union has been blessed by the birth of two children, Robert V. and Lucena Marie. He is a member of Olive Heights Citrus Association and of Richmond Walnut Growers Association of Orange. He is a communicant of the Catholic Church, and in his fraternal affiliations is associated with the Knights of Columbus. Upright in character, and enterprising in disposition, perhaps there is no trait more noticeable in his life than that of energy. These valuable assets give promise of bearing rich fruitage in acquiring a comfortable competency and in placing him in the front rank among the leaders of Orange County.

RICHARD A. BIRD .- A first class caterer, very experienced in the management of both restaurants and hotels, whose care for the demands of high grade trade has made him justly popular with the community as well as the traveling public, is Richard A. Bird, one of the latest comers to San Juan Capistrano and Orange County. He owns and operates the celebrated "Palm Cafe" at this place, cleverly advertised before the eye of the motorist for miles along the Southern California highways, and also conducts the Los Rosas Hotel, which he manages under a lease. Everything about his establishment is clean, sanitary, up-to-date and appetizing in every respect; and as he is ably assisted by his wife and three sons, he is "making good" in such a manner that no one can doubt his success.

Mr. Bird was born in Columbia County, Ark., on October 22, 1870, and in that state grew to maturity. . There, too. in 1896, he was married to Miss Emma Thompson. of the same state. In 1906 he removed to Seattle, where he acquired a residence and

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property interests. On December 11, 1919, Mr. Bird came south to California; and liking San Juan Capistrano, with its historic old Mission, and seeing the business possibilities through providing for the public bound to pass that way the best service possible for their comfort, at the most reasonable prices, bought the building in which he now has his cafe, a roomy, mission style structure 102x193 feet in size, and set to work to give San Juan Capistrano what it had never had before-a first class restaurant, within the reach of everybody. That the public, a good percentage of which is not merely trans- ient, but passes through the town and stops repeatedly, appreciates what the Palm Cafe and the Los Rosas Hotel have to offer, is shown by the amount of business he does almost daily. Fraternally he is a member of Seattle Lodge No. 92 of Elks, his member- ship dating from Pine Bluff Lodge, Arkansas.

All of Mr. Bird's children were born in Arkansas, and all are at home. Richard Bernard served in the war for twenty-four months, becoming sergeant of the Fourth Aircraft Medical Corps, and was in France; and he married Miss Gertrude La Grave of Seattle. The other boys are Jennings and Thomas D. Bird.

FRANK KYLE KIRKER .- A prosperous rancher with the advantage of a valu- able experience as a mechanical engineer and successful business man is F. K. Kirker, of East Orangethorpe Avenue, Fullerton, who has attained his present success by very hard work and may therefore the more enjoy what he possesses in his promising family and handsome farm. He was born in Catlettsburg, Boyd County, Ky., on April 1, 1868, the son of James M. Kirker, the captain of a steamboat on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. He attended the grammar school of Catlettsburg and later graduated from the high school at Ironton, Ohio, just across the line, at the same time that, as a youngster, he worked as engineer with his father on the steamboat.

Later, Mr. Kirker studied the science of refrigeration and for years traveled for the York Manufacturing Company of York, Pa., selling and installing large refrigeration plants. He sold to the Home Ice and Cold Storage Company, for example, in 1905, the 100-ton plant still located on Alameda and Sixth streets, Los Angeles, and in his travels he covered the entire West, installing notable plants in Winslow and Tucson, Ariz .; San Francisco, Santa Rosa and Sacramento, Cal. In 1907, wishing to establish for himself a permanent home, Mr. Kirker purchased twenty acres on East Orangethorpe Avenue, eight acres of which were already planted to walnuts; and resetting these to oranges, he planted the entire area to citrus trees, making a specialty of the Valencia. The same year, he built a fine residence on the ranch; and superintending personally the various improvements, he attained results not generally seen hereabouts. He has a turbine pumping plant with a capacity of 100 inches, although he also owns eighteen shares of Anaheim Union Water Company stock. He markets his fruit through the Placentia Orange Growers Association of Fullerton, and is justly proud of the fine products sent by him to market. At present he has five acres of Navel oranges, two acres of walnuts, and thirteen acres of Valencia orange trees, all in bearing.

On January 1, 1905, and at Los Angeles, Mr. Kirker was married to Miss Harriet H. Schwinge, a native of Indianapolis, Ind., and the daughter of A. H. and Helen (Mc Vicker) Schwinge. Her father was of old Knickerbocker stock and her mother of Scotch descent. Her father was a business man in Indianapolis, and had one of the largest and most thriving groceries there. Three children have resulted from this fortunate marriage: James M. is the elder; and Catherine H. is the younger of the two still surviving; Helen L. died in infancy. Mr. Kirker is a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason belonging to the Los Angeles Consistory. He was made a Mason in Hampton Lodge No. 235, A. F. A. M., at Catlettsburg, Ky., but he is now a member of Fullerton Lodge No. 339, F. & A. M., and Fullerton Chapter No. 90. R. A. M., and a member of Al Malaikah Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., Los Angeles.

SCOTT R. WALTER .- A broad-minded, enterprising business man whose knowl- edge of the wants of the community in which he operates, together with his evident ambition not merely to satisfy the needs of the public, but to anticipate them, have undoubtedly spelt much of his enviable success, is Scott R. Walter, the proprietor of the Anaheim Vulcanizing Works at 156 South Los Angeles Street, Anaheim. He was born at Leadville, Colo., on October 20, 1884, the son of Samuel Walter, a native of Ohio, who married Miss Ida Roland, who was born in Maryland. When Scott was a youth his folks moved to Iowa, and there he was sent to the public schools in Polk and Benton counties. His parents soon after died, and he was thrown upon his own resources when hardly mature enough to be expected to accomplish much.

He later became a traveling salesman and during the fourteen years that he was on the road, he demonstrated repeatedly the real stuff that was in him. At first, he represented the International Harvester Company, and later he traveled for a whole- sale house handling electrical supplies and mining machinery. He started from St.

France K. Kirker

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Louis and Chicago, and journeyed throughout the Western States and as far as Alaska. In 1912, he gave up traveling, and located in Des Moines, where he was city salesman for the largest auto supply house west of Chicago.

In 1915, he drove his auto out to California to take in the Expositions, and he has been here ever since. The same year he located at Anaheim, but not before he had traveled over the state, and was thoroughly convinced of the superior attractions of this part of Orange County, and the next year he purchased a small auto tire shop at 156 South Los Angeles Street. To this he has added modern machinery for repair work, and made many other improvements; at the same time, he bought the lot and building, and added a ninety-foot addition, as one result of which he has more than trebled his tire business. He carries the largest and most complete line of tires and tubes in Orange County, and, of course, the public know it, and appreciate the fact.

He has in stock the United States tires, the Goodrich, the Firestone, and the Goodyear, and in the spring of 1919 he added the Exide Battery equipment, for re- building and recharging batteries. He sees to it personally that his warerooms offer everything in the auto electric line, and having installed the first retreading mold in Orange County, he is able to give satisfaction to those who might otherwise need to journey far for relief. While in Des Moines, he helped to organize the Iowa State Auto Trade Association, he assisted in organizing the Orange County Automobile Association, and he is now a live-wire in both the Board of Trade and the Merchants Association of Anaheim, ready at all times to help "boost" town and county.

While in Iowa, Mr. Walter married Miss Grace M. Brewer of that state; and they have one son, Scott R. Walter, Jr. Mr. Walter is a Mason, a member of the Knights of Pythias, and of Anaheim Lodge No. 1345, B. P. O. Elks.

JOHN A. FRIDD .- The orchardist has long played an important role in the development of Fullerton and the industrial and commercial interests of its environs, as may be judged from such successful careers as that of John A. Fridd, who came here about a decade ago. He was born in Winnebago County, Wis., on October 23, 1850, the son of John W. Fridd, a farmer and also a minister of the Gospel, who was a native of England. He had married Miss Mary Lathrop, who was born in New York, and they had seven children. Mr. and Mrs. Fridd are now dead.

John A. Fridd was the third child in the order of birth, and was educated in the local public schools, and at Ripon College, in Fond du Lac County; and after finishing his studies, he remained at home until he was twenty-two years of age. In 1872 he was married to Miss Addie Atkins, a native of Wisconsin and a daughter of Samuel and Caroline Atkins. Of this union one daughter has been born, Grace, now the wife of Dr. Jesse Chilton of Fullerton.

Mr. Fridd farmed for over two score years in Wisconsin, all of the time in Winne- bago County, where he became prominent in Republican politics. He served as a member of the town board of his township for eleven years; also as a member of the state assembly from the third district during the sessions of 1903-1905, two terms; and of the state senate from the nineteenth district for the session 1907-1909. He had made a visit to Orange County in 1908 and then determined that he would eventually make this his home and accordingly, in 1910, he and his wife moved to Fullerton where they now live and where they have become closely identified with the best interests of this home city.

Fond of social life, Mr. Fridd is a member of the Odd Fellows and the Masons. being a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason and a Shriner. He holds his Con- sistory membership in Milwaukee, Wis., and the Al Malaikah Shrine in Los Angeles claims his allegiance. The other branches of the order of which he is a member are in Fullerton. He is a charter member and one of the organizers of the Fullerton Club.

CHAUNCEY S. ORTON .- The founder and one of the proprietors of the Fuller- ton Ice Company, Chauncey S. Orton, one of Fullerton's most progressive and enter- prising citizens, has had a broad and interesting experience as a mechanical engineer. He was born July 9, 1880, in Cass County, Nebr., and received his education in his native state, graduating as a mechanical engineer from the University of Nebraska in 1902. For one year after graduating he was associated with the Westinghouse Machine Company at Pittsburgh, Pa., and in 1903 moved to Milwaukee, Wis., where he entered the employ of the Allis-Chalmers Company, manufacturers of engines and electrical machinery. While associated with this well-known firm Mr. Orton had charge of erecting and installing the following: A 2500-horsepower engine in the paper mill of the Barret Manufacturing Company of Peoria, Ill .; a large air compressor for the Armour Company, Chicago, and he assisted in the installation of a 20.000-horsepower plant for the Union Electric Light and Power Company of St. Louis, Mo.

In 1905, Mr. Orton formed a partnership with S. C. Campbell and D. L. McDonald and they established an ice manufacturing plant at Rock Hill. S. C. Two years later.

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Mr. Orton resigned his position with the Allis-Chalmers Company and located at Rock Hill, so that he might be better able to superintend his interests in the Rock Hill Ice Company. In 1909 he sold his interest in the ice company and came to Fuller- ton. Realizing that this thriving city needed an ice company, Mr. Orton, in partner- ship with W. R. Davis and R. R. Davis, organized the Fullerton Ice Company, in 1910, this being the first ice manufacturing plant located in the northern part of Orange County, and the third erected in the county. It has a daily capacity of twenty tons and the company contemplates erecting in the near future a cold storage plant to be operated in connection with the ice business. In addition to the manufacturing of ice the company owns an orange grove.

On October 23, 1906, Mr. Orton was united in marriage with Miss Lulu Davis, a native of Nebraska, and this happy union has been blessed with three children: William, Chauncey S., Jr., and Mary. Fraternally, Mr. Orton is a member of Fullerton Lodge No. 294, Knights of Pythias, and of the Board of Trade. During the World War he was a member of the California Home Guards of Fullerton and deeply interested in war work.

JOHN E. WAGNER .- A very successful business man highly esteemed for his conservative, yet sane methods and for his ideals and exemplary walk as a public- spirited citizen, is John E. Wagner, who enjoys not only the natural rewards for his own foresight and labors, but the benefits accruing from the life and accomplishment of both his father and his step-fathers, who previously brought his rancho to a high state of development. With his twin brother, Joseph E., he was born in the Placentia district, April 20, 1880, the son of Charles Wagner, an early settler there, and a descend- ant of pioneers at Grand Rapids, Mich. He had married Miss Josie Andrada, whose family has always been recognized as one of the most representative Spanish-American families in this part of California. Charles Wagner was noted in his day as the owner of vast sheep herds, thousands of his sheep grazing in and about the city of Los Angeles, at that time more or less of a sheep corral. Five children have survived of those who were born to this distinguished ranching couple; Lucy is the wife of James J. Ortega; Josephine has become Mrs. William Berkenstock; Charles C. is a rancher at Placentia; Joseph E. is also a rancher near by; and John E. is the subject of this sketch.

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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 162

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