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 175

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 175

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At McKittrick, Mo., February 11, 1884, Mr. Koch was married to Miss Minnie K. Lindhurst, a native of St. Louis, Mo., and a daughter of Adolph and Louisa (Kall- meyer) Lindhurst, early settlers of Missouri where her father died while the mother came to California and passed away here in 1920. Mrs. Koch was the oldest of their four children. Mr. and Mrs. Koch are the parents of three children: Adolph H. is a rancher at Yorba and is the owner of an eight-acre citrus ranch; his wife, before her marriage, was Miss Myrtle Bubach; Albert W. married Miss Lula McClelland and is with the Standard Oil Company at Fullerton; George A., who married Miss Hattie McCoy is with the Union Oil Company at Anaheim. The family are all members of the Anaheim Evangelical Church and Mrs. Koch is prominent in the work of the Women's Circle of that church. Mr. Koch was made a Mason in Yorba Linda Lodge, No. 469, F. & A. M., is a member of Fullerton Chapter, R. A. M., and also a member of Fullerton Lodge, No. 103, I. O. O. F., in which he is past grand and has served as representative to the Grand Lodge, and he is also a member of the Modern Woodmen of America. In politics Mr. Koch is an adherent of the Republican party, although not blindly partisan in his views. Unselfish, liberal-minded and a conscientious Christian worker, he well deserves the comfortable fortune that he has accumulated entirely through his own industry and perseverance. Since leaving his home state twenty years ago he had made two trips back and so appreciative and enthusiastic is he over Cali- fornia, and particularly Orange County, that each time he was delighted to be back in the land of sunshine and flowers.

ROBERT R. SMITH .- A merchant whose happy combination of conservatism and aggression in enterprise has brought him substantial success in commercial returns, is Robert R. Smith, the well-known dealer in feed, fuel and ice. He was born and reared on a farm near Rockford, Winnebago County, Ill., on September 25, 1861, and he grew up in Illinois on a farm. His father was Robert C. Smith, and he had married Catherine Stewart. Both parents are now among the silent majority.

The fourth in the order of birth of seven children, Robert attended the rural schools of Illinois, and then helped on a farm until he was twenty-six years of age, when he engaged in the grain and stock business in Orchard, Mitchell County, Iowa. Later he removed to Traer, Tama County, Iowa, where he continued the same line of business for seven years, coming to Santa Ana. Cal .. in 1905. His first trip to California was as early as 1887, then another trip in 1892, when he was married in Santa Ana to Grace Smiley, a sister of his late partner, by whom he has had three children: Stewart is the athletic coach at Fullerton high school, having served in the U. S.

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Marines during the World War; Carson, who was a chemist in the U. S. service at Washington, is now with the Goodyear Rubber Company at Akron, Ohio; Harold is attending the Santa Ana high school. After locating in Santa Ana in 1905, Mr. Smith established himself in the grain business as Smiley and Smith, at 401-403 West Fourth Street, which continued until 1915, when he purchased Mr. Smiley's interest and continued the business of retailing feed, fuel and ice until December, 1919, when he sold out to give all of his time to real estate. The family attend the United Presby- terian Church. In national politics Mr. Smith is a Democrat, and both he and his family are distinguished for their public-spiritedness.

Few men in Santa Ana are better or more favorably known than Robert Smith. He was elected to the school board in 1915, for a four-year term; and during that period was president of the board of trustees for three years. He installed the Junior College and advocated such radical changes in the direction of the best business methods in the management of the schools that debts were cleaned up, and when he left that high office he turned over to his successor everything in apple-pie order.

It may be added that Stewart Smith has enjoyed the honor of coach at both the Santa Ana and the Fullerton high schools, where he has made a record for handling boys; while Carson Smith, the Washington chemist, who directed the services of twenty subordinates, has made a record for handling men.

JOB DENNI .- A native of Canton Unterwalden, Switzerland, Job Denni was born on September 30, 1878, at Geswil. He was educated in the public schools of his native country and is the only one now living of a family of four children born to his parents. Job Denni lived in Switzerland until 1902, then decided to seek his fortune in the United States, and having an uncle, Lonis Denni, who had been a resident of Southern California since 1881, living in Los Alamitos, Orange County, he came here and his first employment was with the Los Alamitos Sugar Company. So faithful was he in the discharge of his various duties that he soon won the good will of his em- ployers, and also mastered the English language by persistency of purpose so that he is proficient in his knowledge of that tongne and feels that it has had no small assistance in his success.

Mr. Denni's uncle was engaged in the dairy business at Los Alamitos, leasing land from the Bixby Land Company. After working for his uncle by the day, master- ing the details of the business, he took over his uncle's interests in 1912 and has since been the successful proprietor of what is known as Dairy No. 2. Mr. Denni owns 150 head of fine Holsteins, besides which he has an interest in other herds. His stock is kept largely on sugar beet pulp, the home dairy ranch being contiguous to the sugar company's plant. This is one of the oldest dairy ranches in Orange County and under the management of its owner produces on an average of 90,000 pounds of milk per month, which he finds market for in Los Angeles and Long Beach. The ranch covers 500 acres of ground and he grows large quantities of alfalfa and grain. Previous to buying out his uncle he operated Dairy No. 1, in Los Angeles County, near Signal Hill.

On April 18, 1910, at Long Beach, Job Denni was united in marriage with Miss Juanita Enfield, a native daughter, born in San Francisco. Her parents were of French and German extraction and her mother is still living at Long Beach, but had been a resident of San Francisco for forty-five years. Four daughters have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Denni-Juanita, Mary, Marguerite and Josephine. Mr. Denni is a member of the Knights of Columbus of Anaheim.

In 1905 Mr. Denni began buying land in the Cypress district, making his first purchase of ten acres, and to this he has added from time to time until he now owns 120 acres, twenty acres of which he has set out to Valencia oranges and the balance is used for alfalfa and barley. He put down a fine well, 618 feet deep, installed a pumping plant and put in a cement pipe line for irrigating his acreage, even supplying his neighbors with water, such an abundant supply did he get. He was the very first man to install a pipe line and many of his neighbors have profited by his example and have connected up with his line. By his progressive methods he has demonstrated that his section is a coming Valencia district and thereby enhanced the value of the properties thereabouts. It had been said that citrus fruit could not be grown successfully west of Magnolia Avenne and when Mr. Denni bought his land, which was composed of what is known as dead sand upon which grain would not grow six inches high, people said it was useless, but his experimental work has won commendation and others are following in his footsteps and many acres have been set to oranges. Mr. Denni is a self-made man and by his industry and close application to business has won for himself a decided success and stands high in the esteem of all who know him for his square dealings.

Job Deni

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RUPERT BEST .- A pioneer of the early eighties, who is hale and hearty in his discharge of home duties at the age of seventy-two, and is still highly esteemed as a most useful citizen, is Rupert Best, for many years an active member of the Maccabees and long their valued organist. Now he lives retired at 1150 Hickey Street, visited regularly by devoted friends who find pleasure in talking with him about old times. He was born in Cornwallis, Kings County, Nova Scotia, on October 29, 1848, the son of Elisha and Mercy Ann (Bishop) Best. His father was a farmer in the fertile valley of Cornwallis, who raised potatoes, apples and various kinds of fruit; and while Rupert was attending the district school, he lived at home and helped his father to run the farm, thus gaining a valuable experience.

At the time of attaining his majority, Mr. Best left home and went to Halifax where for five years he clerked in a shoe store. Then, having learned the ins and outs of that business, he himself embarked in the same line, and continued to sell shoes until he came to California in the fall of 1882. On October 15 of that year he arrived at Santa Ana, and having purchased forty acres six miles to the southwest of the town, he lived there eleven years, enjoying the companionship of and assisted by his family. He devoted his ranch to general farming, and for the most part raised potatoes, barley and alfalfa.

The twenty-fifth of November, 1878, witnessed the marriage at Halifax, Nova Scotia, of Mr. Best and Miss Alice Maude West, the daughter of James T. and Sophia West, who were early settlers of Nova Scotia. Mr. West owned two ships and engaged in trade between the West Indies and Nova Scotia, sending from Halifax cargoes of dried, salted and pickled fish and bringing back West Indian products, including sugar. Mrs. Best had been educated at the district school in Halifax, and proved an excellent lielpmate to her devoted husband. In 1893 he traded his ranch for his present place at 1150 Hickey Street, Santa Ana, which he improved with a modern residence and here he has since resided. On February 8, 1918, Mrs. Best passed away, mourned by her family and friends.

Six children blessed this fortunate union: Ida B. is the wife of Charles F. Coult- hard, the alfalfa rancher of Chino; Charles Newton, the second-born, affords his father a comfortable home: Lilly is Mrs. Deardorff of Lents, Ore .; Percy L. is a driller at Oil Fields; Louis K., of Sixth Street, is employed by the Edison Company; and Eddie Grant is also with that firm. In national politics a Democrat, Mr. Best always works and votes for the best men and the best measures in local affairs, irrespective of party.

Mr. Best has always been devoted to the study of music, and for twenty-five years, or from 1892 until 1917, he served as the organist to the Knights of Maccabees. This extended period speaks much for the vitality of this rugged gentleman who has passed his three score years and ten. Mr. Best's mother was also of an exceptionally hardy constitution. She joined him in California at the age of seventy-four, and it is said that the balmy climate of the Golden State, and particularly Orange County so benefitted her that she was able to add nearly a quarter of a century to hier life, attain- ing the fine old age of nearly ninety-six.

JAMES CLOW METZGAR .- How much of the success of the Chamber of Commerce as the livest kind of an agency in promoting permanently the best interests of Santa Ana is due to the labors, well directed and untiring, of its secretary, James Clow Metzgar, those who are familiar with his exceptional gifts and fortunate training, as well as his unselfish devotion to the day's work on hand, know. He was born at Monongahela City, Washington County, Pa., on July 19, 1876, the son of Daniel H. Metzgar, a dentist of Pittsburgh and a war veteran. He married Mary Virginia Clow, the daughter of Dr. James L. Clow, whose father was a pioneer of Pittsburgh and once owned land from the center of the present Pittsburgh business district five miles up the Alleghany River .to Sharpsburg. James Beach Clow, father of Dr. Clow, was the first town clerk of Pittsburgh and the first elder in the first Presbyterian Church established there. He was a son of Captain Clow of the Revolution, and both families are on record in the first United States census, published in 1790, in the Pittsburgh district.

James C. Metzgar attended the common and the high schools of Pittsburgh, and later entered the service of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, in its telegraph department. In 1902 he came West to California, and took up real estate and bond brokerage. At present he is the secretary of the Santa Ana Chamber of Commerce, and also of the Associated Chambers of Commerce of Orange County and the Santa Ana Merchants and Manufacturers Association.

At Uniontown, Pa., on March 14. 1899, Mr. Metzgar was married to Miss Belle Hustead, daughter of William Hustead, a prominent coal operater of that city, who had married Mary Brown. Both the Husteads and the Browns were pioneer families

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of Fayette County, Pa. Three children were born of this union: Miss Mary Virginia Metzgar is now at the Westlake School for Girls in Los Angeles; James Hustead Metzgar has been attending the Santa Ana high school; and Edgar Clow Metzgar is deceased. The family attend the Presbyterian Church. Mr. Metzgar belongs to the Orange County Country Club, the Masons, the Odd Fellows and the Elks. In national politics a Republican, he is at all times nonpartisan in his "boosting" for Santa Ana and Orange County.

A thorough American, Mr. Metzgar naturally takes pride in his ancestry. His father's family came from Holland, and descended from the French Huguenot, Thebald Metzgar, who established the North German Lloyd Steamship Company, and died in 1642, leaving a large estate, later taken over by the Holland Government. His mother's family, on the other hand, came from pure Scotch blood, descending from Captain Clow of the Dragoons in the American Revolution. He was the youngest son in a family of twelve, and the only one who came to America.

FELIX YRIARTE .- A public-spirited, highly-esteemed citizen of Brea, who warmly advocates popular education and furnishes the best of examples of industrious citizenship in working eight hours a day in the shops and fhen eight hours on his ranch, is Felix Yriarte, who was born in Basses-Pyrenees in Spain, November 20, 1884. and came to America in 1889, when he was five years of age. His father was Patricio Yriarte, a sheep and cattle owner and herder, and his mother, Pascuala (Arrese) Yriarte, was also a native of Navarra, in the Basque country. When eleven years of age, Felix tended the flocks of sheep at Olinda, and there was then a number of oil wells there. His father controlled, under lease, 4,000 acres, and had 6,000 head of sheep in an open, wild country. Felix went to school in Orange County, Cal., and here learned his English.

These good parents lived at the old ranch home in Brea until the death of both in March and April of 1915, and our subject worked on the farm for his father until he was twenty-five years old. He had full charge of the machinery and the farm work, and when the time for a larger development came, he was instrumental in erecting the very first oil well derrick of the Brea Canyon, in the hills south of Brea, where the field has proven the largest in the county.

Now Mr. Yriarte understands oil production as well as anyone, and he has also become an expert acetylene welder and does the most difficult lathe work in the shops of the Union Oil Company at Brea. This is interesting in contrast to Mr. Yriarte's experience in San Diego some years ago, when he was swindled out of $4,000 through an unwise land investment. He had an estate of thirty-three acres left him by his father, which he improved to lemons and sunk his own well and sold in November, 1920. On Orange Street, at Brea, he erected the first residence, in 1909.

At Los Angeles, on December 2. 1909, Mr. Yriarte was married to Miss Celestine Lorea, a native of the Spanish Basque country, who came to the United States in 1906. Four children have blessed this union, and they are Mary, Joseph, Paulina and Mar- guerita. Mr. Yriarte is a member of the Knights of Pythias, and also of the order of D. O. K. K. of Los Angeles.

WILLIAM J. FITSCHEN .- A young and promising rancher whose career is all the more interesting because he is a native son, and one alert to every opportunity presented by the great commonwealth of California, is W. J. Fitschen, resident on La Veta Avenue, Orange, where his beautiful fourteen-acre ranch is exclusively devoted to citrus fruits. This property, formerly part of the estate of his father, Henry Fitschen, who bought it in 1906, he has owned for several years.

Mr. Fitschen was born in Orange County, in April, 1890, and is the son of Henry and Anna Fitschen, natives of Germany, from which country they emigrated to the United States in 1878. The next year they moved west to California and Orange County, and ever since Henry Fitschen has been one of the producers of Orange County. There were nine children in the- family, all Americans by birth, and they bear the names of William J., Anna, Henry, Emma, Frederick, Louisa, George, Mary and Louis.

Brought up and educated in Orange County. where he enjoyed the advantages of both the common and the high schools. Mr. Fitschen early engaged in agricultural pursuits, and so has traveled further in that scientific and industrial field than most men of his age. On June 2, 1915, he was happily united in marriage to Miss Wanda O. Schoeneberg, daughter of Mrs. Marie Schoeneberg, by whom he has had two children, Marie and William. She is a native of Wisconsin, and is a fine type of the Western woman of that part of the country. The family are worthy members of the Lutheran Church, and are among those most enthusiastic for all that spells the permanent development of Orange County on the broadest and best lines.

Felix Griante

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HUBERT H. DALE .- A Minnesotan so keenly alive to the trend of modern trade that, foreseeing the development of the automobile industry, he was able to take the tide at the flood, as Shakespeare says, and attain to fortune, is Hubert H. Dale, of the well-known firm of Dale & Company, proprietors of the auto body, top and sheet-metal works at 418-428 West Fifth Street, Santa Ana. He was born at Fairmont, in the North Star State, on December 14, 1879, the son of D. A. Dale, who became a hardware merchant of Santa Ana and has had a pleasing part in the fitting out of many settlers in this favored region. He married Miss Amy J. Allen, who became the mother of five children, among whom Hubert H. was the oldest. All the family are now living.

The lad grew up in Minnesota and attended the excellent grammar and high schools in the vicinity of his home. Then he took a course in a business college, and thereafter engaged in the livestock business in Chicago. He next went to Wisconsin and entered the trade in building materials; in each of these undertakings acquiring more and more experience of value later when he joined the busy, competitive workers on the Coast.

In 1912, Mr. Dale came to California and Fullerton, and for five years he was engaged in making well casings-a line of activity he abandoned only to take up another, his present occupation, still more attractive. Now he has a large, modern shop, equipped with every kind of machinery needed; and with a trained staff of twenty-five men, he handles the bulk of the business in his field for Orange County. The reputation of the establishment, not only for fair dealing but also for experience and facilities enabling it to meet almost any emergency, has very naturally brought it steady patronage, with very little solicitation.

At Oshkosh, Wis., on November 11, 1910, Mr. Dale was married to Miss Ivy Guenther, a daughter of August Guenther and a native of Wisconsin; and two children, Hubert H., Jr., and Loraine M., have blessed their union. The family attend the Episcopal Church. Mr. Dale is an Elk and a Republican.

Though unable to give much time to public affairs without the neglect of his business, Mr. Dale accepted election as city trustee in April, 1919, and notwithstanding his brief residence here, he has made his presence and influence felt in the unfailing support of every movement likely to advance Santa Ana and Orange County within and beyond California.

JOSEPH HOLTZ .- A self-made rancher who has become prosperous and also ex- pert as a beekeeper, is Joseph Holtz, who was born at Herringen, Kreis Saarburg, Lorraine, on May 12, 1870, the son of Louis and Margareta Holtz, with whom he lived in that district on a farm until he was twenty, meanwhile enjoying the usual common- school education and learning the ins and outs of scientific agriculture. In the fall of 1890, he came to the United States quite alone, traveling almost direct to Los Angeles, and from Los Angeles to Orange. Here he worked on farms when vegetables were the main crops, and raised potatoes and cabbage. After a while, grapes were planted and raisins became the crop. However, as the growers were not organized there was no profit from the enterprise and labor.

In 1894, he came to Silverado Canyon and became interested in the raising of bees. He spent the summers in bee culture, and during the winters worked out as a ranch hand. In 1901 he purchased a half-section of land, and this is now the site of his ranch in Silverado Canyon.

Only an adobe house was standing on the property, and he set out to improve the land in many ways. In 1905, he built a ranch house, and the same year he married, in Santa Ana, on January 24, Miss Mary A. Veith, born at Humphrey, Nebr., the daughter of Ignatz and Julia Veith. They came from Columbus, Nebr., in 1903, and having enjoyed community advantages had been able to give their daughter a good common school education. Immediately after the marriage, the husband and wife moved onto the ranch, so that the improvements now there are their handiwork.

They have ten acres in barley, three acres in wheat, three acres in corn, ten acres in alfalfa, and this alone yields from four to seven cuttings a season. Water is obtained from Silverado Creek by private right of irrigation; the acreage was originally railroad land. There is an acre of all kinds of fruit trees for domestic use; and there are also horses, cattle and chickens, and some 160 colonies of bees, and the season of 1920 yielded him thirteen tons, being the best season hic ever had; he is a member of Cali- fornia Beekeepers Association.

Six children have come to bless the domestic life of Mr. and Mrs. Holtz. Joseph L., Alban P., Margaret M., Henry A., Agnes A., and Marie A. The four eldest attend the Silverado School, of which Mrs. Holtz is one of the trustees. The family attend the Catholic Church of Santa Ana, and Mr. Holtz is a member of the Knights of Columbus. In national politics, they are Republicans.

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ALBERT WILLIAM WOOD .- Not every popular official so well deserves the honors accorded him as does Albert William Wood, the constable of Anaheim Town- ship, the late marshal of the city of Anaheim and license tax collector, nor does every favored office holder succeed so well in carrying his honors with modesty and dignity. A native of Quebec, Canada, where he was born on June 27, 1875, Mr. Wood was the son of a farmer, John Wood, now deceased, whose wife was Miss Grace Wilson before her marriage. They were the parents of nine children and Albert William was the seventh child.

From twelve years of age he was reared at Vankleek Hill, Ontario, and there received his education in the grammar and high schools, helping on the home farm and teaching for two years after his own schooling was finished. Next he matriculated at McGill University at Montreal, expecting to study medicine, but he found at this time that his health would not permit him to continue the confinement necessary to complete the course, so decided on a business career. Entering a provision house, lie clerked there for a couple of years, and in 1899 came west to Bisbee, Ariz., where he engaged in the livery and undertaking business, and under the firm name of Fletcher and Wood, came to have the leading business in this line in that frontier mining town. Wishing to locate in California, he disposed of his interest in the busi- ness in 1911 and came to Anaheim. For two years he ran a livery stable, then sold out and went into general contracting and ranching, continning in this for some time.

On May 1, 1918, Mr. Wood was appointed city marshal of Anaheim and the same year was elected constable of Anaheim Township, and he is now filling the duties of that office as well as that of deputy sheriff. In May, 1920, he resigned his office as city marshal and license tax collector in order to engage in business, and he was the proprietor of the People's Service Station at 130 South Lemon Street, and also agent for the Motor Transit Company at Anaheim, said to be the largest stage company in the world. In November, 1920, an opportunity presented itself for him to engage in the real estate business with J. S. Howard and disposing of his business to advantage he is now devoting his time to his official duties and the Howard Realty Company, their offices being located on South Los Angeles Street.

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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 175

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