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 163

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 163

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His able father died when John was two months old, and he attended the grammar school at Placentia, and for sixteen years he worked for his mother and the estate. In Placentia, November, 1902, he was married to Miss Lena Hansen, a schoolmate and the daughter of Chas. and Mette Hansen, of Placentia; she also was born in Placentia. Two children have resulted from this marriage: Wilton C. attends the high school at Fullerton; Ardeth attends the Placentia school.

For some years, Mr. Wagner leased land and farmed grain, cabbage and corn under what has been known as dry farming, and in 1905 he became the owner of twenty acres of a citrus grove, where he took out eight acres of walnuts and planted his own nursery stock setting ont Valencia orange trees. With this ranch, he has done very well, solving his irrigation problems through the Anaheim Union Water Company, and marketing through the Placentia Orange Growers Association. Later, he became inter- ested in transportation as a public service, and organized the Wagner heavy hauling and transfer service, which operated six F. W. D. trucks and trailers. This business he sold to others, some time ago.

Mr. Wagner erected a very substantial two-story residence on his ranch about twelve years ago, and this, the center of a generous hospitality, has been the mecca of many ever since, at joyous social engagements. With his good wife, he supported vigorously all the war loans and other activities of the various drives, and in times of peace he endeavors, as an enthusiastic Republican, to stimulate a higher regard for civic duty and true Americanism. His own life has been affected in an interesting manner by the fortunes of his beloved mother, who passed away in October, 1901, having reared and educated her children and left a nice estate. Many were the hard- ships undergone by the family in those early pioneer days, in order to win out for a golden future. The estate left by Mrs. Wagner was settled three or four years after her death, agreeable to all of the five heirs, who were mutually benefitted.

Mr. Wagner is a charter member of the Anaheim Elks, Lodge No. 1345 of the B. P. O. E., and it is needless to say is among the most popular and welcome visitors there. He maintains a horseless ranch, a fact of the more interest in comparison with the early history of the land, and all the work there is done by tractor power. Two years ago he formed a partnership with Robert Edens under the firm name of the Orange County Fertilizer Company, located at Fullerton. They are also extensively interested in the realty business, maintaining an office in Fullerton, and are engaged in leasing and subleasing oil lands at Huntington Beach, Ventura and San Diego. Mrs. Wagner is a member of the Ebell Club of Fullerton.

John & Wagner.

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FRANCISCO ERRECARTE .- Another couple from the Basses-Pyrenees whe have contributed something definite toward the development of Orange County, and in thus "making good" with their own enterprises, have deserved the highest respect of their fellow citizens, is Francisco Errecarte and his good wife, a compatriot with him and an able helpmate in his California ventures. He was born at Navarra, Spain, fifty- two years ago, and came to America when he was nineteen years old, having grown up in Spain on his father's farm. He already understood farming and stock raising, and when he settled at San Juan Capistrano he had no difficulty in making himself valuable to E. Oyharzabal, for whom he herded sheep and cattle for twenty-two years.

When he married, he took for his wife Miss Juanita Espinal, who was also born in the Basses-Pyrenees and came to America when, like himself. just nineteen years old and full of ambition and hope. Seven children came to them-Cipriano, Mary, Julia, Stephen, Margaret, Pedro and Joaquin. All are bright and interesting, and give promise of useful, successful lives.

Mr. and Mrs. Errecarte have a valuable ranch of twenty-three acres conveniently located about two miles east of Capistrano, on the Capistrano Hot Springs Road. They take comfort in their modest home, and look back complacently to the years of hard work when Mr. Errecarte ranged the hills for years, and Mrs. Errecarte worked at the old Mission Inn Hotel, and for private families, and both learned the value of frugality with industry. Ten acres of their ranch is set out to walnuts, and he uses three horses in the processes of farming.

HARRY LEE WILBER .- No field of healthful entertainment has developed so extraordinarily in the past half century as has the motion picture industry, for the extension of which the eager public is indebted to such enterprising men as Harry Lee Wilber, the secretary of the Fullerton Board of Trade, a native of Albion, N. Y., where he was born on June 20, 1875. His father, Jerome J. Wilber, was a newspaper man connected with the Associated Press at Washington, and he married Miss Alice Lee, a gifted lady of Denver. Harry was an only child, and he came with the family to California in 1885.

Having attended the grammar and high schools of San Diego, Mr. Wilber grew up in Denver to engage in editorial work there. He was in turn city editor of the Rocky Mountain News, the Denver Post and the Denver Times, and in each position of responsibility he proved the man for the job; but he was far-seeing enough to recognize the great possibilities in the motion picture industry, and in 1914 moved to San Diego, where he and his partner maintained two of the best moving picture theaters the city has ever had. At the end of three years, he came north to Fullerton, and since then he has enjoyed unprecedented support of a venture made upon edifying lines. As secretary of the Board of Trade, Mr. Wilber has been as generous to others as the public is generous to him, and has left unturned no stone needed to advance the commercial or other interests of the community generally.

At Golden, Colo., on March 23, 1897, Mr. Wilber was married to Miss Nellie Wilmot, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. R. D. Wilmot. They have two children: Winifred, now attending the University at Berkeley; and Alice, at Fullerton Junior College. Formerly president of the Denver Press Club, Mr. Wilber now confines his club life largely to the circle of the Elks and the Fullerton Club of which he is a director.

JOHN FRANKLIN WALTON .- A highly respected citizen whose family has been in Orange County, and closely identified with its development, for so many years that they have seen many changes, is John Franklin Walton, the rancher of Placentia Avenue, Anaheim. He was born in Carthage, Mo., on February 21, 1866, the son of John Q. A. and Katherine (Snodgrass) Walton. His father was a building con- tractor and erected the first court house that Carthage ever had-a historic edifice, since it was burned down during the Civil War. His father joined the Confederate Army, and saw hard service under Colonel Joe Shelby.

When John was a year old, his parents removed to Washington County, Ark., and there his father had a farm, although he generally worked at his trade. John was sent to the graded schools of Washington County and received a good start for the battle of life. Two of his brothers, D. H. and W. T .. having gone to California in 1884, John, accompanying his father and a sister came out in the great boom year of 1887. Their mother was to have come with them, but she died just prior to the time of their moving.

The elder Walton came to Santa Ana and made that town his home for a couple of years, and six months after their arrival the daughter Maggie died; while the father lived until February, 1908, when he died at the age of eighty-six years. John left home and worked out for two years in San Bernardino County. During the following three years, he farmed with his brother, W. T. Walton, on the Irvine Ranch; but in 1896

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he went to the state of Washington, and at Oakesdale, Wash., he was married on July 23, 1896, to Miss Alice Skidmore, a native of Morgan County, Ala., where she was born near Hartsell, the daughter of Robt. A. and Susan (Lassiter) Skidmore. Her father was a planter, and raised much cotton. Her folks moved to Washington County, Ark., and settled in the vicinity of Mr. Walton's home; and so the well-mated couple were educated in the same school. Then her parents moved on to Oakesdale, and there she lived until she was married.

After their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Walton settled in Redlands, Cal., where they resided for five years; and then they spent another five years in Los Angeles and vicinity. In 1906 they purchased from the Stearns Rancho Company eighteen acres on Placentia Avenue, all bare land; they cleared and leveled it and twelve acres they set out to Valencia oranges, and three and a half acres to walnuts. This season, the balance will be set out to oranges and he markets through the Anaheim Cooperative Orange Association and is also a member of the Richland Walnut Association of Orange.

Four children blessed the union of Mr. and Mrs. Walton: Robert, Wallace and Kitty are students in the high school at Anaheim, and Marvin is in the grammar school. The family are members of the Methodist Church, South, of Santa Ana, Mr. Walton being a member of the official board, and he endeavors under the leadership of the Democratic Party to effect whatever civic reforms are possible. He was here at the time of the county division and voted for the organization of the county.

EARL D. GAGE .- A successful, home-loving rancher, who attributes much of his success to his clever, devoted wife, and who has, as a Republican advocating the prohibition of alcohol, lived to see many of his dreams and wishes realized, is Earl D. Gage, of Fullerton, who was born in Nemaha County, Kans., the only son of Charles Gage, a farmer, who had married Mary Walker and they now make their home at Fullerton. Earl attended the public schools of his home district; but his education was more or less interfered with by the hard work of the farm, for his father's farm of eighty acres along the military road between East and West Kansas was devoted mostly to the raising of corn, and the crop had to be attended to with religious punctuality.

In 1890, Mr. Gage came west to Fullerton, and for a while was employed at horticultural and orchard work. A year later, he was instrumental in assisting his parents to dispose of their holdings in Kansas, and to bring them out to the sunnier conditions of Southern California. After working for other folks for eight or ten years, Mr. Gage in 1900 purchased thirty acres of Edward Atherton, at one time the caretaker of the California Ostrich Farm, which he set out to citrus trees. He had his own nursery; but he also sold many buds and trees. He planted three and a half acres of avocados, and as they are practically in the frostless belt, they are doing very well. He joined the Placentia Orange Growers Association, and in 1916 he erected a fine residence on his ranch. He also took stock in the Anaheim Union Water Company.

On January 11, 1909, Mr. Gage was married to Miss Mayme Clark, a native daughter of California, who was born in Los Angeles. Two children, Lydia and Mildred, blessed their union, and attend, with their parents, the First Baptist Church where Mr. Gage is a member of the board of trustees. During the recent war, Mr. and Mrs. Gage liberally supported all the loan and Red Cross drives, and they are ever ready to assist in all that makes for the upbuilding and improvement of the community.

MARY E. WRIGHT, D. O .- An osteopathic physician and surgeon of marked ability, who is making a splendid success in her profession in Santa Ana, is Dr. Mary E. Wright, a graduate of the College of Osteopathic Physicians and Surgeons of Los Angeles, who, before locating in Santa Ana, practiced her profession in Los Angeles and Pomona.

Dr. Wright was born near Danville, Ill., a daughter of Benjamin Browning, a native of England. Mr. Browning was an early settler of Placer County, Cal., where he was engaged in fruit growing. Dr. Wright received her early education in the public schools of Oakland, which was supplemented by a Normal School course in Stockton, after which she taught school for a number of years in the northern part of California. She is deeply interested in the science of osteopathy, which has accom- plished such wonderful and restorative results and alleviated suffering humanity after many other systems have failed, and has established a large and appreciative clientele since her coming to Santa Ana, only two years ago.

Dr. Wright is a member of the State and County Associations of Osteopaths, as well as the Women's Osteopathic Club of Los Angeles. She keeps abreast of the times in literary and civic circles and is an honored member of the Ebell Club of Santa Ana, a member of the Present Day Club and the Book Review Club of Santa Ana. During the World War her three sons, Frank B., Chester M. and Lawrence C. Wright, served their country with the American Expeditionary Force in France.

Earl DiGage

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D. B. GREGORY .- Born near Jackson, Mich., on December 17, 1868, D. B. Gregory is the son of Halsted and Agnes Gregory. His grandfather was a pioneer of the pioneers of Michigan, where he took up Government land, and our subject has to this day his grandfather's deed. His father, therefore, was a prosperous Michigan farmer. D. B. Gregory was sent to the grade country school near Jackson, and later he studied at the Cleary Business College of Ypsilanti, while he spent his early days on his father's farm.

On November 29, 1897, Mr. Gregory was married to Henrietta Hudson, who was born near Lansing, Mich., the granddaughter of an Englishman who migrated from England to the United States and settled in Michigan. They belonged to the famous Hudson family of the British Isles, and traced his lineage proudly back to the well known explorer so intimately connected with American history, Henry Hudson.

After his marriage, Mr. Gregory assumed the responsibility of running his father's farm of 240 acres, which he devoted to general farming; and when he came to Cali- fornia in 1907 and settled near Los Nietos, he purchased twenty-seven acres of walnuts. For five years he lived on that ranch, and then he sold it and purchased his present fifteen acres on the State Highway, twelve acres of which have been set out to wal- nuts, and three to oranges. He has a private pumping plant affording a capacity of seventy-five inches, and is a member of both the Anaheim Walnut Growers Asso- ciation and the Anaheim Citrus Fruit Association. A Democrat in matters of national politics, Mr. Gregory belongs to the Odd Fellows, among whom he enjoys an enviable popularity.

ROY R. DAVIS .- The extent to which modern conveniences have added attrac- tion, particularly to American life, is shown in such service as that of the Fullerton Ice Company, directed in part by the city trustee, Roy R. Davis, one of the firm's energetic members. He is another native of Nebraska who has made good in California, and in succeeding after the fashion so satisfactory to the world, has made the world itself a deal better for his having living and worked in it.

He was born in Cass County on June 5, 1881, the son of William R. and Mary Emma ( Harmon) Davis, who settled in Nebraska in 1856, and who came to California about a decade ago, and are now living at Fullerton, where they arrived in March, 1910. They were granted seven children, four of them living, the first born being the subject of our sketch.

Roy attended the grammar and high schools at Weeping Water, Nebr., and then farmed until he was twenty-eight. Since coming to California in March, 1910, he has been engaged in the manufacturing of ice; and after an extended experience, following the most recent developments and methods in that field, the company now employs fifteen men, and none of them are ever idle, caring for a steadily increasing business. A man above his party, Mr. Davis knows how to combine business with politics; he is public-spirited and inclined to cooperate to a marked degree, and is, therefore, widely respected and enjoys the good will of all who are fortunate to know or know about him. He is a member of the California national reserves, and was appointed, in 1917. to fill a vacancy in the city council, to which he was elected in 1918, also being chief of the fire department of twenty members. He belongs to the Board of Trade and the Fullerton Club.

In August, 1909, occurred the wedding, at Pasadena, of Mr. Davis and Miss Harriett Inez Hesser, the daughter of Wm. Hesser, who had the first greenhouse in Nebraska. He died in Pasadena in 1917. Mrs. Davis was born at Murray, Nebr. Two sons, William R. and Wesley A., have blessed this union. Mr. Davis is a member of the Woodmen of the World.

LEO. F. DOUGLASS .- A highly progressive rancher who has spent most of his life in the vicinity of Orange and not only has come to be intimately acquainted with the development of this part of California, but has himself. in his own skilful handling of his ranch, contributed toward the enriching of the commonwealth, is Leo F. Doug- Jass who was born in Ottumwa, Iowa, on October 26, 1892, the son of B. R. and Lillie M. Douglass. His father was an Jowa farmer, and came . west to El Modena, Cal., when our subject was eight years old. And there, for a number of years, he owned and ran the El Modena store.

Leo attended the common schools of El Modena and also the high school at Orange, and later took up ranching with his father on 160 acres in San Bernardino County. At the end of the year, they sold out; and then his father moved back to Orange and made that town his home.

With his father, Mr. Douglass then purchased forty-five acres in the Katella pre- cinct between the Santa Ana River and Placentia Avenue, and together they cleared the land, graded and leveled it, and set it out to Valencia oranges, which are well 54

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watered by a private pumping plant having a capacity of eighty inches flow. Since then the elder Douglass has sold off ten acres, leaving thirty-five in the ranch.

On September 22, 1914, Mr. Douglass was married to Miss Gertrude Perry, a native of Nebraska, where she was born near Maynard, the daughter of W. W. and Hattie Perry. Her father came to California and purchased an orange grove on Collins and Tustin avenues, and there Mrs. Douglass was living at the time of her marriage. Two children blessed the union, Herbert P. and Theodore R. Douglass. Mrs. Douglass is a member of the Orange Methodist Church, and as such takes pleasure in participating in whatever makes for the uplift of the community; and Mr. Douglass, as a loyal Re- publican and a still more loyal American, endeavors to elevate the standard of citizenship.

JOSEPH E. WAGNER .- A native son of California, born at Placentia, April 20, 1880, Joseph E. Wagner is a son of Charles and Josephine (Andrada) Wagner, who were born in Germany and Elizabeth Lake, Cal., respectively. His maternal grand- father was also born in California and still lives at Elizabeth Lake, almost eighty-eight years of age. Charles Wagner, on emigrating to the United States, first located in Michigan, where he followed mining until the discovery of gold in California when he joined the rush to the new Eldorado, crossing the plains in 1849 in an ox-team train to California. Later he was attracted to the stock business in the Elizabeth Lake coun- try of Southern California, where he engaged in sheep raising and where he was married. In the early seventies they located at Placentia and engaged in sheep raising in the Brea Canyon district. He was accidentally killed while hauling brick from Anaheim Landing to his ranch when our subject was two months old, in June, 1880.

The mother continued farming and stock raising and afterwards married John Wagner, a brother of her first husband. They bought seven acres in Placentia which they improved to oranges and where they made their home. Afterwards they pur- chased eighty-six acres in the northeast part of Placentia which they first set out to vineyard, but when the vines died they set out Valencia oranges and walnuts and later on the walnuts were dug out and the land set to Valencia oranges. John Wagner died in 1898 and Mrs. Wagner passed on in 1899. Her only children were by the first marriage, five in number as follows: Chas. C. a rancher at Placentia; Lucy, Mrs. Ortega of Fullerton; Josephine, Mrs. Berkenstock of Placentia; and John E. and Joseph E., twin brothers who reside on their ranches in Placentia.

Joseph E. Wagner from a lad learned farming and received a good education in the public schools of the Placentia district. During these years he assisted his mother to improve the ranch and he was nineteen years of age when she passed away. A year later he became possessor of twenty-seven acres of the old home, which is located on the Yorba Linda Road and which was devoted to Valencias, Mediterranean sweets and Navel oranges and walnuts. Since then he has dug out the walnuts and set Valencia oranges and has budded the Mediterranean sweets and Navels to Valencias, making a very valuable and choice orchard. Later he sold twelve acres, so he has fifteen acres left. In 1920 he completed a large and beautiful residence of Swiss chalet design and his is one of the show places of the vicinity.

Mr. Wagner was married in Placentia, being united with Miss Emily Heinzman, born in Indiana, who came to Anaheim when four years of age, where .she attended school and two children have blessed their union, Elmer James and Ione Olive. Fra- ternally he is a member of Anaheim Lodge of Masons and is a charter member of Anaheim Lodge No. 1345, B. P. O. Elks. Believing in cooperation, Mr. Wagner is a member of the Placentia Orange Growers Association and is a decided protectionist and Republican.

JOSEPH OLIVERAS .- A native son of the Golden West, Joseph Oliveras .was born in San Juan Capistrano, December 26, 1886, where he grew to manhood, receiving his education in the public schools. From a lad he worked on the ranches and learned to drive the big teams in the grain fields; when he reached the age of twenty he began to ride the range after cattle on the O'Neill ranch and became adept at riding, roping and branding. He continued to advance steadily and in due time became foreman of cattle on the San Mateo ranch for Mr. O'Neill and filled the position faithfully and well. In 1919 he was transferred to Mission Vejar ranch near San Juan Capistrano, where he is filling the same position and there he makes his home with his wife and his family of seven children.

Mr. Oliveras was married in Santa Ana, being united with Miss Vivian Record, who was born in San Juan Capistrano. He is a lover of fine horses and has trained several thoroughbreds for polo horses and disposed of them at a good price. In his line of work he is held in high regard by his employer. In national politics he is a Republican, while fraternally he is a member of the Knights of Columbus.

Joe. Hiltschu Flora Hiltscher

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JOSEPH HILTSCHER .- A rancher with an interesting family history is Joseph Hiltscher, of Romneya Drive, to the southwest of Fullerton. He was born in Stern- berg, in Mehren, Austria, on February 24, 1873, the son of a weaver by trade who made the finest kind of linen, especially for the table. His name was August Hiltscher, and he had married Frederika Bockisch. He used to sell his linen in America, and having heard so much about the New World, he decided to come out to the United States. They had five sons, and Joseph was the middle one and attended the usual graded schools of his native country.

In 1886, the family crossed the Atlantic Ocean, sailing from Hamburg on the steamer Retzia, and landed at Castle Garden, New York, from which city they came direct to California and Anaheim. Here August Hiltscher purchased, only three weeks after his arrival, twenty acres on Orangethorpe and Nicholas avenues. It had been a vineyard, but at the time of the blight, the vines were rooted out. The newcomers planted ten acres to apricots and peaches, and ten acres were left for general farming and the raising of corn and stock. Later, these open ten acres were planted to walnuts. Since that time, the apricots, peaches and walnuts have been pulled out, and the entire twenty acres is now devoted to Valencia oranges. August. Hiltscher died in 1891; his widow, with the aid of her son, Joseph, made the above improvements and she died while on a pleasure trip in the Yosemite Valley in August, 1919, aged sixty-nine.

On May 29, 1899, Joseph Hiltscher was married to Miss Flora Weisel, a native of Wisconsin, where she was born in Milwaukee, the daughter of Peter and Josephine Weisel. Her father was a manufacturer of ice-cooling and refrigerating systems, and installed cooling plants in breweries and packing houses. In 1892 Mr. and Mrs. Weisel brought their family of nine children to California, and in their later years enjoyed a balmier climate. Mrs. Hiltscher was educated in the schools of Milwaukee and in Ana- heim. Six children have blessed the happy union of Mr. and Mrs. Hiltscher. They are Peter, Josephine, Alphons, Carl, Frederika and Max; and they all attend the Catholic Church at Anaheim.

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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 163

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