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 169

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 169

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JAMES G. ROBERTSON .- An expert electrician with an extensive knowledge, both scientific and technical, of his interesting subject, and is widely regarded as one of the best in his field in all the county, is James G. Robertson, who was born near Marshfield, Mo., on January 21, 1873, the son of Daniel W. Robertson, a lumber mer- chant in Marshfield, and one of the real pioneers of that country. He had married Miss Mattie A. Shackelford, who proved both a very devoted wife and mother. She bestowed loving care upon the subject of our sketch, while he attended the district school of their neighborhood.

When he was of age, he went into the telephone business, erecting a private tele- phone system, having four central offices and about 1.000 telephones. He also organized and installed the electric lighting plant for Marshfield, equipped with a fifty kilowatt generator. He ran both the telephone and the electric lighting plant for six years,

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when he sold out to a company, and came west to California. He arrived in 1911, and came, luckily, direct to Santa Ana. Since coming here he has purchased a five-acre grove at 2680 North Main Street, which he devotes to oranges and walnuts.

In 1911, Mr. Robertson started an electric contract business in Santa Ana, and was soon active in wiring houses, installing motors and making electrical repair work. He also handled a large stock of general electrical supplies. Now his store is located at 303 North Main Street, and is one of the popular headquarters in the city, patrons knowing that they will find there just what they need, and often what is not obtainable even in larger cities.

On October 21, 1896, Mr. Robertson was married in Marshfield, Mo., to Miss Margaret Nelson, a native of Bedford County, Pa., and the daughter of J. W. and Hester Nelson. Her father was a farmer, and he moved with his family to Missouri in 1885. Two sons have blessed the union. Orlyn is at Pomona College, and Fred is in the Santa Ana high school. The family attend the First Methodist Church at Santa Ana.

THEODORE BROTHERS .- The life story of the Theodore brothers shows what can be accomplished by pluck and perseverance. Coming to America poor boys, they have, in a new country, by their own unaided efforts, built up a prosperous business and, in keeping up with the times in every respect, have given the community the benefit of their efficient business methods.

The Theodore Brothers, Gus M., Nicholas and George, were born in Tripoli, Greece, where they grew up and received a good education in the public schools. Gus M., when a boy of sixteen, was the first to migrate to the United States and begin making his way in the New World. His first employment was with the Santa Fe Railway, in Chicago, and in 1902 he located in Los Angeles, Cal., and there started in to learn the laundry business.

After working in different laundry plants in that city, in 1910 Mr. Theodore came to Anahem and went to work for Mr. J. E. Fisher, who owned the Anaheim Laundry. After one year the new employee bought out the laundry, and in partnership with his two brothers, Nicholas and George, has since carried on the business, during which time they have built up the concern to a high degree of efficient management, conducting a modern laundry in every respect, located at 412 South Lemon Street. All the old machinery has been taken out and new and modern installed, the firm being always in the market for any appliances which will increase the high standard of the business. They have recently installed a $4,000 water softener, and have their own well and pumping plant on the property; five wagons are used for the con- venience of their patrons, and their trade is drawn from a large territory surrounding Anaheim; when they acquired the business, in 1911, but fifteen hands were employed, while fifty-five are now kept busy, an example of the growth of the business. The two younger brothers came to the States six years later than Gus M., and have since been engaged in the laundry business.

While devoting their time to business, Theodore Bros. have also found time to enter into projects formed for the further advancement of Anaheim and Orange County, and are active members of the Chamber of Commerce and of the Mer- chants and Manufacturers Association of Anaheim, as well as the Mother Colony Club. As evidenced by their business methods, they are "live wires" and enthusiastic over the splendid future they see in store for this section of California. As one would naturally suppose, they are members of the Laundry Owners Association of Southern California, as well as the California Laundry Owners Association and the National Laundry Owners Association.

JOHN EELLS .- A representative citrus grower who has accomplished much since he came here in 1904, is John Eells, who is the owner of a fine ranch on the Loara Road, near Anaheim. Born near Waupun, in Fond du Lac County, Wis., October 13, 1873, he is the son of Horace and Elizabeth (Cooper) Eells, who were early pioneers of that part of Wisconsin. The father cleared up seventy acres of timber land in Fond du Lac County and farmed it for a number of years.

Coming to California in 1904 with his parents, John Eells located near Anaheim, purchasing a ranch of twenty-seven and a half acres from Joseph Dauser, which was devoted to walnuts and Navel oranges. Later he disposed of this property, at different . times, and then with his brother, Charles Eells, bought a tract of forty acres on North Loara Road, this being a part of the old Browning estate. This they leveled and set out to Valencia oranges, later he and his brother dividing the property. Since then Mr. Eells has disposed of five acres of his share, leaving a fine grove of fifteen acres, eleven acres being in Valencia oranges, three acres in Navels and the remainder in deciduous fruits. The ranch is producing an excellent yield, which Mr. Eells markets

Theodor Briz

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through the Anaheim Fruit Growers Association. In 1906 he built a comfortable resi- dence on his ranch and there he has since made his home. Six years later he sunk a water well on his property which is the finest well in the vicinity. It pumps 100 inches of water and he supplies some of the ranchers of his neighborhood with irrigation water from it. In 1919 Mr. Eells purchased an additional five acres of vacant land west of Anaheim and this he has also set to Valencia oranges. He is giving all his holdings the best of attention and care and is being rewarded in the fine grade of fruit that is being produced.

Mr. Eells first marriage occurred at Waupun, Wis., when he was united with Miss Tillie Erickson, a native of Sweden, who came to America when a young woman. She passed away in February, 1916, leaving two children, Doris and Marion. On January 4, 1917, Mr. Eells was married to Miss Eleanor Herring, who was born near Salem, Ore., the ceremony being solemnized at Anaheim. While the care of his property occupies the greater part of his time Mr. Eells is always found ready to take his part in every movement that will promote the public good, and he has evinced his interest in edu- cational matters by serving as a member of the board of school board trustees of the Loara district. In political matters he is unbiased by party slogans, believing the fit- ness of the man for the office rather than party affiliation is the prime requisite.

HENRY D. WITT .- A rancher who cultivates in the most scientific fashion with a modern tractor, and who boasts, therefore, of one of the choicest grove properties in this section; is Henry D. Witt, the son of the well-known Michael Witt and his good wife Sarah (Trumpey) Witt. He was born in Monroe, Wis., on September 11, of the great Centennial Year, and he has kept pace with the growth of the second century of the nation ever since.

When Henry was six years old, in 1882, his parents came west to California and brought him along, thus almost making him a native son of the Golden State; and it happened, therefore, that he was brought up to attend the public schools of Santa Ana, fortunate in having one of the best systems of education for a small town; and later, when ready for it, he pursued a profitable course at the progressive business college in the same city.

For some years, he lived at the Seventeenth Street home, where the family lived for eighteen years; and when that was sold in 1902, the father built his home on the South side of La Veta Street between Flower and Main. The same year, Henry D. took charge of the rural mail route No. 2, running to the north and the west of Orange, and in a short time was a welcome visitor to the homes in that area.

In 1903, he purchased five acres of orange trees from his father, who had set ont a promising grove and in 1906 built a neat home on the same ranch land, providing for the service of the Santa Ana Valley, Irrigation Company; and later he bought five more acres, in walnuts, adjoining. He joined the Santiago Orange Growers Association and also the Richland Walnut Growers Association at Orange.

On September 27, 1906, Mr. Witt was married to Miss Emma Schroeder, a native of Santa Ana and the daughter of Fred and Verena Schroeder. Her parents came from Kelleys Island, Ohio, to California in 1880, and settled in Santa Ana; and in this town she also received her education at the public schools. Two children have blessed their union-Velma M. and Robert F.

Mr. Witt is a member of the Evangelical Association of Santa Ana, and belongs to the ranks of the Republicans. When it comes to helping along worthy local projects, however, neither Mr. nor Mrs. Witt are limited by partisanship, and they contribute heartily toward the best men and the best measures.

ARTHUR L. TRICKEY .- An energetic rancher, whose ambition, industry, keen powers of observation and ability to look ahead have made him a successful operator of a part of the great Irvine ranch, is Arthur L. Trickey, who resides on the Laguna Road about two and a half miles from Irvine. He was born near Wichita, Sedgwick County, Kans., on August 21, 1889, and grew up in that state until his fifteenth year, profiting by many of the advantages offered by the more settled older commonwealth. His father, R. L. Trickey, who died in California in 1919, was a grain buyer at Derby, Kaus., and owned a farm of 240 acres, which his sons ran while the father gave his attention to grain.

In 1904 our subject came to California and settled at Tustin; but it was not until 1911 that he came to the Irvine ranch, where he is now harvesting his ninth crop. He takes pride both in the product of his labor and the soil he cultivates, and also in the trim appearance of his farm; and thus, while developing and advancing, he gets all the fun that he can out of what some people regard as only exhausting toil.

This disposition to look on the optimistic side of life is not surprising to those acquainted with the Trickey stock. His father was a native of the good old state of

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Maine, and in Kansas married Miss Addie Brownlee, who was born in Illinois, and who is still living at Tustin, the center of a group of devoted friends, at the age of sixty years. Nine children were granted these worthy pioneers: Albert is a farmer in Peters Canyon on the Irvine ranch; Roy farms in Sedgwick County, Kans .; Willie is also a farmer in Kansas; John is the manager of Zaiser's lease near Tustin; Arthur L. is the subject of this sketch; Ellis cultivates a part of the Whiting ranch; Addie is chief operator at the Tustin telephone exchange; and Myron works for his brother Arthur. The eighth-born, Walter, died in infancy.

In 1910, at Garden Grove, Mr. Trickey was married to Miss Bertha Jessup, the accomplished daughter of Thomas Jessup, the rancher and orange grower living near Garden Grove; and two children-Lloyd and Thelma-have blessed their fortunate union. Mr. Trickey belongs to the Modern Woodmen at Santa Ana, and none is more popular among its many members.

THOMAS B. TALBERT .- An efficient and faithful public official, invaluable to Orange County because of his integrity, foresight and high sense of civic duty, whose identification with this part of the great commonwealth of California is memorialized in the postoffice bearing his family name, is Thomas B. Talbert, a native of Illinois, who was born at Monticello, in Piatt County, on March 5, 1878. His father was James T. Talbert, a native of Greenville, Muhlenburg County, Ky., who emigrated to Macoupin County, Ill., in 1858. He enlisted as a volunteer in the Civil War on August 7, 1862, and was honorably discharged in June, 1865. He married Miss Rachel Weddle, a native of Piatt County, Ill., and a member of the Spencer Weddle family of that section, all of whom were quite prosperous.

Next to the youngest of a family of nine children, six of whom are living, Thomas B. Talbert came out to California with his parents in February, 1891. He attended the grammar schools at Long Beach and also spent four years at the high school at that place. Following this he engaged in dairying and farming at Long Beach for three years, and then, in about 1898, he moved to the lower Santa Ana Valley, and there bought land in what was known as Gospel Swamp. After being there about one year, his father, brothers and he started the townsite and postoffice now known as Talbert, and Thomas B. Talbert was appointed the first postmaster. He bought a little general merchandise store that had been started by John Corbett, and built up a good business in this line, continuing there for about four years, when he sold out. Then he spent a year on a ranch at Talbert, and in 1904 moved to Pacific City, now Huntington Beach, which had just been started, and where he began selling real estate.

Mr. Talbert was among the very first to engage in growing sugar beets in Orange County and was also a pioneer in the celery industry, growing celery for several years, and was an active member of the Celery Growers Association of Orange County. He is today the oldest realtor in Huntington Beach and is considered one of the best judges of real estate values here. He is interested in oil development and was one of the promoters of the H. K. and T. Syndicate that are drilling for oil three miles south of Irvine on the Irvine ranch. He was a promoter and is a director in the West Whittier Oil Company, drilling at Huntington Beach with most excellent prospects. He is also extensively interested in oll lands and leases here. For the past seven years he has had the agency of Ford cars and is now one of the proprietors of the City Garage, located on Fifth Street, Huntington Beach. The business is conducted under the firm name of Talbert and Company, his partners being Messrs McDonald and Bergey, and they have the agency for both the Ford and Dodge cars.

In August, 1909, a vacancy occurred on the board of supervisors of Orange County caused by the resignation of George W. Moore; and to that office Mr. Talbert was appointed by Governor Gillett to fill the unexpired term. Since that time-such is the endorsement of his public services given by the people themselves-Mr. Talbert has been elected to the same office three times, once in the fall of 1910, again in 1914, and finally in 1918; the last two times he was elected at the primaries. He was also elected by his fellow supervisors to the chairmanship of the board in January, 1911, and he has been elected to the same enviable position every two years since. As an appre- ciation of his worth in other departments of local activity, Mr. Talbert has been a director in the First National Bank of Huntington Beach since the bank's early history.

Mrs. Talbert was in maidenhood Miss Margaret Elizabeth Crum, a daughter of Dwight M. Crum, and a member of a highly respected family originally from Fairbury, Il1. She is a graduate of the University of California and was a teacher of languages at the Huntington Beach Union high school up to the time of her marriage, the cere- mony occurring at Compton, July 17, 1912. They have been blessed by the birth of a son, Thomas Van. By his former marriage Mr. Talbert has one child, Gordon B. Talbert.

3.3. ETalbert

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Mr. Talbert drove the team that cut the first drainage ditch in the Talbert Drain- age district. This was the beginning of the improvement that drained the swamp lands of this district, which gave Orange County her rich peat lands and made possible the development of the beet and celery industry. As supervisor his great ambition has been to see this county become one of the greatest sections in the United States, and during his years as a realtor he has been instrumental in locating a sugar factory at Huntington Beach, and an oil-cloth factory, as well. He was a strong advocate and factor in obtaining the Coast Highway and in the voting of bonds for the beginning of the county's harbor at Newport Bay, which will soon have admirable shipping facilities. Indeed, many of the improvements of the county have been carried out under Mr. Talbert's supervision; these include the establishment of the County Farm Hospital and the Detention Home, and the building of bridges and many miles of good roads. It is easily apparent, therefore, how fortunate Orange County has been in the prolonged career and services of such a faithful and capable public servant.

ROY F. SPANGLER .- It is not often that one finds such a combination of com- petency as in the case of Roy F. Spangler, a thoroughly trained electrician and engi- neer, an experienced and aggressively progressive farmer, and a far-seeing, wide-awake manager, at present in charge of the Wassum lima bean ranch, a part of the famous Irvine ranch, itself going back to the historic San Joaquin. He was born and reared in Santa Ana, and is the son of the late David Franklin Spangler, a native of Penn- sylvania and a pioneer blacksmith whose highly-interesting old shop will be recalled by many as one of the landmarks of Santa Ana of thirty years ago. The shop still stands, in fact, on Sycamore Street, being run by our subject's brother, George, and is prob- ably the oldest, as it is today the leading smithy in Santa Ana.

Roy was born on May 5, 1887, and his mother was Miss Dora Beard before her marriage on Oregon, where she was born. She is living, an honored resident, at 638 Birch Street, Santa Ana. There are four children: George, the blacksmith; Charles, who resides at Pasadena; Roy F., our subject, and Edith, now the wife of Flake Smith, the popular clerk at the Santa Ana postoffice.

When a lad, Roy worked with his father in the blacksmith shop, and he was in the junior year of his course at the Santa Ana high school when his father passed away. It seemed advisable then that he should leave school; so he started to master electrical work. He wired houses, and put in five years for W. E. Houston on power, motor and other work. He was then engaged by the Edison Company for nine years, making fourteen in all as the period of his life devoted to electrical work. During this time, Mr. Spangler was married to Miss Jeanette Milstead, a native of Arkansas, reared in Oklahoma. When twenty-two years old, she came to California. Two children have blessed this union-Harold and Howard.

In February, 1920, Mr. Spangler came to the Wassum ranch as manager. He has charge of four hundred acres devoted to the growing of lima beans, and this land is under lease by Howard A. Wassum, a member of the Board of Supervisors of Orange County, and one of its largest farmers and bean growers. No better choice could be made, nor could Mr. Spangler wish for a more interesting task than to develop this part of the Irvine acreage, for he knows the value of land and how to appreciate forethought and fidelity, in its care.

C. BRUCE STOCKTON .- A tenant of the celebrated Irvine ranch who, having made a pronounced success in the important technical field of well drilling, is more than "making good" as a lima bean grower, is C. Bruce Stockton, a member of one of the historic families of California, and the husband of a lady highly esteemed for her progressive work, before her marriage, as an educator. He was born at Saticoy, in Ventura County, on December 5, 1882, and grew up there where his father, George W. Stockton, was both a rancher and a landowner. His mother, popular as May Beekman in her maidenhood, was a native of Sierra County, Cal., and the daughter of a Cali- fornia pioneer. She is still living in Los Angeles, at the ripe age of sixty years. George W. Stockton was a native of Illinois, and his father was I. D. Stockton, a physician and surgeon who saw strenuous service in the Black Hawk War. Both father and grandfather crossed the plains in 1849 and as something more than pastime, fought the "pesky Redskins." They settled in Sonoma County, and later moved to Kern County, and then built up the Stockton stock ranch fifteen miles south of Bakersfield, now called the Lakeside ranch of the Kern County Land Company's holdings. George W. Stockton moved over to Ventura County, and there became a well-to-do rancher. He died in Los Angeles. at the age of fifty-nine years.

Five children were born to this worthy couple and grew to maturity. G. G. Stock- ton is an oil man well known in South America, and stationed near Caracas, in Vene- zuela; C. Bruce Stockton is the subject of our sketch; Irene has become the wife of

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Walter Cook, the rancher on the Irvine; E. E. Stockton, the owner of the Lake ranch in Ventura County, resides in Los Angeles and is in the hardware trade; and Myrle is the wife of H. L. Carpenter of Los Angeles. Through the fact that the father of I. D. Stockton was closely related to Commodore Robert Field Stockton, and hence to the Commodore's grandfather, Senator Richard Stockton, signer of the Declaration of Inde- pendence, C. Bruce Stockton is related to a circle of Americans known for having, each one of them, accomplished something worth while for the world, and something very definite, and needed, for the advancement of their country. Bruce's early educa- tion was in the public schools in Ventura and later attended the preparatory schools at Bakersfield, in the more quiet days before anyone suspected that the broad meadows were soaking with oil, and when the discovery and the ensuing excitement transformed that locality, he went to work in the Kern River oil fields as a roustabout, became a tool dresser and later a driller, and worked to develop, in particular, the much-needed petroleum. Then he entered the oil fields of the Santa Fe at Fellows and of the Southern Pacific at Maricopa; and after acquiring seven years of valuable experience, he jour- neyed to Mexico. He drilled at Tampico and Tuxpan, and when the United States Government landed troops at Vera Cruz, came out of the country as a refugee on one of the U. S. war ships to Galveston. Returning to Taft, he later went south to the Island of Trinidad, off the coast of Venezuela, where he drilled for a year and a half. Once more he came to California, and for a year farmed on the Irvine ranch.

At Los Angeles, on June 26, 1916, he was married to Miss Ethel Rouse, a native of Colton, Cal., and the daughter of John M. and Olive (Leonard) Rouse. When she was eight years of age, she was brought by her parents to Los Angeles, and in 1910, she graduated from the Polytechnic high school, and still later from the Los Angeles Normal. Then she taught school, for a year in Riverside County, for three years in the city of Los Angeles, and for a year in Kern County. One child has blessed their fortunate union-a daughter, Lois May. The family attend by preference the Presby- terian Church, while holding broad, sympathetic views toward all who are seeking to make life more worth the living. Mr. Stockton belongs to the Santa Ana Elks, and in politics seeks to act according to his best judgment, independent of partisan bias or dictation.

JUAN PABLO PERALTA .- A highly respected citizen is the old settler, Juan Pablo Peralta, living on the Santa Ana Canyon-Road, four and a half miles northeast of Olive, where he owns a small ranch. Although living frugally-a modest abstinence apparently favorable to his health, judging from his massive build-he is a proud old Californian, and with good reason, for he is a worthy descendant of early Spanish military officers from Catalonia, Spain, who came out to take charge of the port of San Francisco in the Yerba Buena days. He and his family, therefore, are well-known and respected.

Juan Pablo Peralta is the son of Juan Pablo Peralta, who was born near what is now Buena Park. He married in Los Angeles, Neavis Lopez, a native of that city, and died on May 21, 1852. Nine days later, May 30, the subject of our sketch was born, the last of eleven children-nine girls and two boys-and he grew up to raise stock on land with an association especially close toward his family. His grandfather, Juan Pablo Peralta, born in San Francisco, had been married in San Diego, and came up to the Santa Ana River and became the owner of Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana, which was the name of the Peralta Grant. His father, also Don Juan Pablo Peralta was born in San Francisco, and he knew General Vallejo very well, and had interests at Oakland and at San Leandro, where to this day the name Peralta denotes old landmarks.

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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 169

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