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 176

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 176

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At Bisbee, Ariz., February 15, 1904, Mr. Wood was married to Miss Veronica Jane White, a daughter of Patrick and Jane White, and a native of Tempe, Ariz. Mr. and Mrs. Wood are the parents of four children: John Albert, Mary Patricia, Allan William and Wilson Dowling. The family home is at 422 West Broadway, Anaheim.

While Mr. Wood is a Republican in politics, he is broad-gauged when it comes to issues affecting only the community in which he lives. In fraternal circles, he is affiliated with the Odd Fellows, being a member of Lodge No. 19, at Bisbee, Ariz. He was made a member of Elks Lodge No. 671, at Bisbee, but is now a charter member of Anaheim Lodge No. 1345, of the Elks.

ULYSSES S. AMACK .- The distinction of being the leading contractor and builder of fine homes in Orange County belongs to Ulysses S. Amack. He is a native of Missouri, born March 9, 1869, in Putnam County, and when two years of age the family moved to Iowa. He was the second child of three children born to Bartholomew and Julia Wilson Amack, born in Indiana, who lived in Missouri, and later Iowa. The father served in Company I, Twenty-third Missouri Volunteer Infantry, in the Civil War for eighteen months, when he was honorably discharged by reason of physical dis- ability, with the rank of corporal. He had studied medicine under Dr. Carlisle of Putnam County, Mo., and had also taken a course at the Keokuk Medical College and received his degree of M. D. and was just going to start practicing medicine in Summerset, Iowa, when he died from heart failure, January 14, 1872. Ulysses was reared on a farm and received his early education in the country schools. When he was three years old his father died. His stepfather, H. D. Ockerman, was a carpenter, and he taught Ulysses the trade, which he naturally had inherited a taste for, as both his paternal and maternal relatives were mechanics. He was quite young when he began his appren- ticeship and after becoming a proficient carpenter he followed his trade successfully in Norton County, Kans., from 1884 till 1890, when he removed to Denver, Colo., where he followed the trade until he returned to Iowa.

In 1902 Mr. Amack came to Long Beach, Cal., where he engaged in carpenter work for four years, then locating at Anaheim. At first he was employed by others, but for the past ten years he has conducted a contracting and building business for himself. At one time he was a member of the contracting firm of Amack, Bever & Wilson of Anaheim, who constructed a number of the leading business blocks there, among which, worthy of note, mention is made of the Yungbluth Block and Carroll Block. Mr. Amack has made a specialty of fine homes, and from February, 1919, to October, 1920, he has besides others to his credit the construction of homes for the

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following residents of Anaheim: M. E. Beebe, Andy Koch, Oscar Dykeman, George Barry, Fred Wisel, Harry Spielman, Franz Jauernik, J. W. Sebastian, J. W. Duck- worth, and many others; also seven bungalows for the Anaheim Improvement Com- pany and three for the Anaheim Union Water Company. Besides these homes at Anaheim he has also constructed residences for James A. Jensen and Oscar Dykeman at Fullerton; the Golden State school building, east of Anaheim, and the club house for the Anaheim high school.

In recognition of his splendid ability as a dependable, high-class builder, the high school board of education for many years secured Mr. Amack to make the repairs and improvements of buildings until now he has too much work on hand. He is a member of the First Methodist Church and served as a member of the building com- mittee during the erection of their beautiful house of worship, and is a member of the board of trustees.

In Wayne County, Iowa, on March 17, 1895, Mr. Amack was united in marriage with Miss Sadie E. Wolf, a native of Ottumwa, Iowa. She was the daughter of Josiah and Minerva (Travis) Wolf, born in Ohio and Indiana, respectively, who were farmers in Wayne County, Iowa. Her father died in lowa, and her mother spent her last days in Long Beach. Mrs. Amack was educated in the schools of Albia, lowa. Mr. and Mrs. Amack had three children, and two are living: Wayne W., a graduate of the Anaheim high school, who is a natural mechanic, is foreman of his father's building business and also fills the position of draftsman; and Coy, attending the high school. In fraternal circles Mr. Amack is a member of the Odd Fellows and the Woodmen of the World, and with his wife is a member of the local Rebekah lodge, and in national politics are Republicans.

DR. HESTER TRIPP OLEWILER .- Although but a recent addition to the professional circles of Santa Ana, Dr. Hester T. Olewiler, the able and efficient osteopathic physician and surgeon, with offices at 1141/2 East Fourth Street, has estab- lished a large and growing practice.

Dr. Olewiler is the wife of Claude E. Olewiler and is a native daughter and a descendant of an honored pioneer family. She was born in Riverside County, her parents being William B. and Alice (Hopkins) Tripp, the former a native of California, while her mother was born in New Mexico while crossing the plains to California. Grandfather Tripp laid the first brick in San Bernardino. Dr. Tripp was reared in Hemet, Riverside County, where she attended the public school and graduated from the Hemet high school. She served two years as an apprentice in the Hemet Public Library and as assistant librarian.

After severing her connection with the library she attended the Los Angeles College of Osteopathic Physicians and Surgeons, where after taking a full course of four years she was graduated in 1918 with the degree of D. O. For a while she prac- ticed her profession in Los Angeles and on July 10, 1919, opened her office in Santa Ana. Dr. Olewiler stands high in her profession and is a member of both the state and county associations of osteopathic physicians, being chairman of the public educa- tional committee of Orange County; she is also a member of the Los Angeles Women's Osteopathic Association. She is fast winning a reputation as a skillful and conscien- tious practitioner and can look forward to a long and useful career.

WALDO R. McWILLIAMS .- An experienced lumber dealer who has naturally had much to do with building interests in Orange County, thereby laying the founda- tions in one generation for the welfare of another, is Waldo McWilliams, the genial and accommodating manager of the Gibbs Lumber Company of Fullerton. A native of the Hawkeye State, he was born at Hedrick, Iowa, on March 1, 1890, the son of Samuel McWilliams, a lumber dealer, who married Miss Berthenia Smith, a native of Iowa. The family came to Los Angeles in 1902, and both parents are still living and are residents of Pasadena.

Educated in the public schools of Los Angeles, Mr. McWilliams attended the Los Angeles high school for two years, and then engaged in the lumber trade in that city. After that, he worked at various places, for a while at the Anaheim yard, then coming to Placentia as manager, and finally settling as manager at Fullerton. His father had formerly been manager of the Fullerton yard, and after Waldo McWilliams was married he came to Fullerton to remain. It was not long before he had become a live member of the Board of Trade and the Fullerton Club.

On June 9, 1915, Mr. McWilliams was married to Miss Clara Linebarger, the ceremony taking place at San Diego. The bride was a daughter of Dallison S. and Ellen Linebarger, and a native of California. Husband and wife attend the Christian Church, and Mr. McWilliams votes the Democratic ticket. He is fond of out-of-door sports, and especially interested in baseball.

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RAYMOND F. FRANTZ .- A highly respected citizen who has risen from routine newspaper work, both in the circulation and mailing departments in Santa Ana and in Los Angeles, to become a very successful horticulturist making a specialty of citrus fruit, is R. F. Frantz, familiarly known as "Ray" of Palm Drive, La Habra district, one of the most outspoken enthusiasts for Orange County, despite that his ranch prop- erty is almost over the county line. He was born in Argonia, Sumner County, Kans., on October 29, 1886, the eldest son in a family of three boys and three girls, the son of F. E. Frantz now of the escrow department of the Whittier National Bank, and for- merly the banker at Argonia. F. E. Frantz is a native of Virginia, came to Illinois and Kansas as a pioneer, and now at sixty-eight years of age, enjoys the best of health. He had married Miss Mary Waugh, of Alsace-Lorraine, whose bi-lingual training made her familiar from childhood with both French and German.

The subject of our review, who was brought to California a babe of three months, and to Orange County when ten years old, attended the grammar schools of Santa Ana and Los Angeles, and then for a term went to the commercial department of the high school in the larger city. After that, he entered the employ of the California Whole- sale Hardware Company in Los Angeles, and still later, he and his father opened and managed a hardware and implement store at Whittier.

In 1910 he purchased a citrus grove of two acres in East Whittier, and later he purchased a fourth interest in forty-one acres, and assumed the management of the property. This gave him valuable ranching experience, and for years he has been in close touch with the growing of citrus fruits. More recently he has bought thirty-one acres, and Mr. Espolt sixteen acres of a trim ranch of forty-seven acres, set out-to Valencia oranges and Eureka lemons, and he has joined the La Habra Citrus Asso- ciation, and has undertaken to farm sixty acres of rented land as a dry-farming enter- prise. He uses a tractor and all the other up-to-date machinery desirable. He is a member and president-1920-1921-of the La Habra Chamber of Commerce, is also identified with the Farm Center, and served as vice-president of that useful organization.

On September 7, 1910, Mr. Frantz was married to Miss Alma W. Espolt, daughter of William Espolt, the pioneer citrus rancher, of Whittier. She was born in Iowa, and has one child, Maribel Louise. Mrs. Frantz is a high school graduate, and is active in the Woman's Club of La Habra, and in Red Cross work. Mr. Frantz was a com- mitteeman for "drive" work during the late war, and he belongs to the Blue Lodge and the Royal Arch Masons.

LEASON F. POMEROY .- Orange County has been fortunate indeed in the caliber of the men who have elected to make their homes and carry on their business interests within the confines of this fertile spot. Men of affairs, alive to the oppor- tunities to be found here, they have each one aided in bringing about the present prosperity of the county, and in so doing have advanced their own interests as well. Among these, Leason F. Pomeroy, dealer in automobiles, stands out from the ranks as an enthusiastic "booster" for his home community and keenly alive to the advan- tages to be found here. He was born in Adams County, Nebr., on a farm, February 23, 1877. When he had reached five years of age the family moved to New York state and he was educated in the schools of East Aurora, that state, and later engaged in the mercantile business with his father, and for twenty-two years he lived in New York state.

Seeking newer fields, Mr. Pomeroy returned to his old home in Nebraska and for seven years farmed 320 acres, meeting with success. In 1910 he came to Anaheim and bought twenty acres of land one and one-half miles east of town. One-half of. this was in bearing Valencia oranges and he planted the remainder to the same variety, developing a finely producing grove, which he sold in 1919.

In March, 1919, Mr. Pomeroy entered the automobile business, at 134 South Los Angeles Street, and he is agent for the Chalmers and Hupmobile cars, both high class in every respect, the Hup car notable especially for the fact that its engineers have built a chassis so free of complications that it is easily understood by the mechanically- inclined owner and quick aid given. Mr. Pomeroy is also agent for the Swinhart tire.

The marriage of Mr. Pomeroy united him with Velma M. Eckersley, a native of Illinois, and two sons have been born to them: Wray S., and Leason F., Jr. Fra- ternally, Mr. Pomeroy is a member of Anaheim Lodge, No. 1345, B. P. O. E .; he is a member and was one of the governors of the Mother Colony Club, and in March, 1918, he was elected a member of the Anaheim Board of Education and was clerk of that body. He has also served as a director in the Anaheim Mutual Orange Growers' Asso- ciation, and is a member of the Chamber of Commerce and the Merchants' Asso- ciation. It would be hard to find a man more fully in accord with the western spirit of progress than is Mr. Pomeroy, or one more willing to work for the advancement of his district.

Raymond F. Frantz

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WILLIAM J. FISCHER .- One of Anaheim's earlier settlers, a man highly esteemed among his associates, was William J. Fischer, who contributed generously to the upbuilding of both the business and the agricultural development of this locality. Born in Saxony, Germany, July 26, 1856, Mr. Fischer came to the United States in 1872 at the age of sixteen years. He had learned the trade of cooper in New York and engaged in this line of work in that city. In 1879 he came to California, locating at San Francisco and here he entered the employ of the Dreyfus Cooperage Company, coming to Anaheim in 1881 in the interests of this company. He later bought twenty acres of land in North Anaheim, planted a vineyard and later sold it to Peter Schu- macher of Fullerton. Mr. Fischer also erected a cooper shop on North Lemon Street, near Chartres Street, and here he carried on a large business, making barrels and casks for the wine makers, at one time having six men in his employ. He also planted ninety acres in walnuts near Anaheim for the Dreyfus Company and for a time he also engaged in wine-making.

Mr. Fischer was united in marriage in 1882 with Miss Clara Hattemer, who was born in the Rhine country, Germany. She came to New York in 1872 and ten years later to Anaheim, when she and Mr. Fischer were married. Of the five children born to them, three are living: Birda is the wife of William Zimmerman, an orange grower of West Anaheim; William J., deceased; Clara Maude is the wife of Victor W. La Mont, and the mother of two children-Victor and Allen; Charles H., a rancher in Pomona, married Miss Hazel Cook and they have one daughter, Lela; and Robert, deceased. The children were born, educated and reared in Orange County.

Mr. Fischer died on October 26, 1906, and his passing made a void in a large circle of friends and in the community, for his sterling qualities and devotion to the best interests of Anaheim had given him an honored and esteemed place. He was a mem- ber of the Fraternal Aid and of the Ancient Order of United Workmen and was very popular in membership of these organizations. Mrs. Fischer has been an upbuilder of Anaheim and has erected two houses on property they owned. She has witnessed the wonderful development of Orange County and is classed as one of the stanch pioneers.

EBON R. RYAN .- An experienced and successful rancher, who has followed general farming and had just set five of his fourteen acres to oranges when he sold out to buy five acres near Garden Grove, which is set to walnuts, is Ebon R. Ryan, who enjoys the esteem of all who know him. At various times he has owned other parcels of land in Orange County, and as a result of which he is able today to form a judgment of his own as to what are the best producers.

A native of Kentucky, he was born on July 20, 1877, the son of Joseph and Ann Elizabeth Ryan, both of whom were natives of the Blue Grass State and farmed exten- sively and successfully. They had fourteen children, and of these Ebon was the twelfth in the order of birth. When eight years old, his parents migrated to Indiana, and there he was reared and educated.

In 1914 Ebon R. Ryan left Indiana for the Pacific Coast; and not long after arriving in Orange County he was appointed foreman for the Water Company at Yorba Linda, in which position he rendered satisfactory service. He saw little prospects for advancement and financial betterment, however, and therefore took up farming, and few ranchers, therefore, throughout the Southland would appear to have better prospects for the future.

In 1900 at Butlerville, Ind., Mr. Ryan married Miss Myrtle Stewart, a native of Kentucky and daughter of James N. and Mary Stewart, and six children have been born of this union; they are Gladys, George, Paul, Mary, Kenneth and Robert. Mrs. Ryan has two sisters and a brother in Los Angeles County.

OSCAR A. SCHILDMEYER .- A successful horticulturist who owes much of his progress to clear thinking and rational industry is Oscar A. Schildmeyer, who manages a fine ranch of fifty-five acres, thirty-five acres owned by his mother, one and a quarter miles north of Orange, and an additional eighteen acres above the average across the road. Forty-eight acres of the first-mentioned tract are given to Valencias; seven acres to lemons, and eighteen acres to Navel oranges. He was born on Febru- ary 2, 1894, and grew up in Orange, where he worked for his father. On June 30, 1917, he was married in Los Angeles to Miss Mirl Brown, a Santa Ana girl, whose parents, Mr. and Mrs. David Brown, reside at Santa Ana. Mrs. Brown was born in Missouri and reared in Kirksville, and was seventeen years old when she came to Cali- fornia with her parents and three brothers and two sisters. One child has blessed this union of Mr. and Mrs. Schildmeyer-a son, Robert Oscar.

In 1919, Mr. Schildmeyer bought ten acres of oranges in the Olive precinct, a part of the original fifty-five; in the operation of his farm properties he uses only the 58

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most up-to-date methods and machinery, and these include a draw-bar tractor of twenty horsepower.

Mr. Schildmeyer entered the U. S. service in the World War on August 6, 1918, but was honorably discharged at Camp Lee, Va., on December 16 of the same year. He is a member of the American Legion at Santa Ana. Before the war he served in the United States Marine Corps for two years, and went all over the Asiatic stations on the SS. "Brooklyn." He was stationed at Cavite, in the Philippine Islands, for three months before being sent out on the "Brooklyn," and had an excellent oppor- tunity of seeing something of Philippine life. He served in the military police of the Eighth Division, and was honorably discharged from the Marine service on Novem- ber 5, 1916. All in all, Mr. Schildmeyer is a very interesting personality, as he is also an Al ranch manager. An instructive glimpse of the development of the Schild- meyer estate is afforded in another sketch in this work-that of Mrs. Louisa Schild- meyer, the mother of our subject.

HARRY MAYER .- A modest, industrious rancher, whose live interest in the progress of the community makes him naturally an efficient road foreman of the Silverado precinct, is Harry Mayer, who was born in Kolmar, Upper Alsace, Germany, on February 5, 1875. He learned the baker's trade in neighboring Mnelhausen, and as a baker worked in that city for a year. At the age of sixteen, he came to the United States and traveled widely throughout the central and western country; and by 1893 he reached Colorado. He enlisted in the U. S. Army at Fort Logan, and served both there and at Fort Russell. After a service of three years and three months, he was honorably discharged, and returned to civic life.

On October 18, 1896, Mr. Mayer was married to Miss Sophia Bukoutz, a native of Wamego, Kans. She was reared with a public school education and the work and com- forts of a home farm, and in 1893 moved to Colorado with her parents. Mr. Mayer farmed in that state for ten years, ably assisted by his wife. On May 22, 1907, he arrived in California, and at El Modena purchased five acres. Meanwhile he worked for John King, hauling fumigating equipment. In 1912 he sold his ranch, and the next year took a trip back East to see the Colorado folks. He was wise enough, however, not to remain there, but returning to California, gave three years to the raising of grain and hay.

In 1917, Mr. Mayer came to Silverado Canyon and bought his present ranch, where a well was recently sunk, in a search for coal. The finest artesian water was struck, instead, so that he now has a good flowing well. Bringing his ranch up to a high state of cultivation keeps him busy part of the time; and he is also employed as road foreman in charge of the Silverado Canyon Road and the roads of the Silverado precinct.

Six children have become the pride of Mr. and Mrs. Mayer: Mary is the wife of Frank Berry of Black Star Canyon; Margarette is Mrs. Walter Whistler of El Modena; Irene is at home; Henry is a student at the Silverado school; and there are Anna and Lois. In national politics a Republican, Mr. Mayer is first, last and all the time such a thorough American that he is ready to support any good local movement, regardless of partisanship.

JOSEPH LAUTENBACH .- The quaint old city of Wittenberg, Germany, red- olent with memories of Luther's day and the Reformation, was the scene in which the childhood days of Joseph Lautenbach was set. He was born in that city February 29, 1884, and reared in the vocation of his father, who followed the shoe-making busi- ness. Young Joseph worked at his trade in the old country, and when twenty-four years of age, in 1908, came to Pasadena, Cal. He soon secured employment with The Innes Shoe Company of Los Angeles, but like many another of his nationality, was ambitions to work for himself. After nine months in California, he located at Anaheim, June 14, 1909, and with the undaunted spirit that seems to be the heritage of successful men, opened a small repair shop on Center Street, in a room four by ten feet in dimen- sion, and with a capital of ten dollars, eight of which he expended for leather with which to start his business. The shop was a success from its inception, and in four months' time he installed modern machinery for shoe repairing, being the first man in Anaheim to install electrically-driven machinery for this work. In November, 1914, when the new modern brick block at the corner of Center and Lemon Streets was com- pleted, he moved his shop to that location, occupying the corner store in the building. He put in a full line of ladies' and gentlemen's shoes and conducts the shoe store in connection with the repairing department. He carries a full line of the famous Craw -- ford shoes for men. His business has made rapid strides, and he is now one of the prosperous merchants of Anaheim.

Hurry Haltero

Ada & Holters.

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His marriage in 1914 on Christmas Day united him with Miss Caroline Link, a native of Gridley, Ill., danghter of William Link, a retired orange grower of Anaheim, and they are the parents of a four-year-old son, named Wesley. Mr. Lautenbach has recently erected a cozy and comfortable new home at Anaheim. In his fraternal affilia- tions he is a member of the Sons of Herman, and has passed all the chairs. A worthy citizen and a capable business man, Mr. Lautenbach is self-made in the broadest mean- ing of the term, and has demonstrated what an ambitious and energetic young man can accomplish in a country where opportunities are ripe for those who have the dispo- sition to take hold of the situation and make the most of it.

HENRY WALTERS .- The junior member of the enterprising and progressive firm of Livenspire & Walters, brick contractors of Santa Ana, Henry Walters was born in Louisville, Ky., July 19, 1877. He was reared and educated in the metropolis of the Blue Grass State, and there he also learned the trade of a brickmason. As a virile and vigorous young man he was intensely interested in the great American game and became a professional ball player, filling the position of an outfielder. He played with the Rock Island, Ill., Jacksonville, Fla., Decatur, Il1., St. Joseph, Mo., and Newark, N. J., teams.

As a brickmason, Mr. Walters became a great factor in the construction of large buildings throughout the country, working on and superintending some of the finest blocks in the country, from among which especial mention is made of the largest church and bank building in Maysville, Ky .; the J. M. Atherton and the Stark Block, both fifteen-story buildings, in Louisville, Ky. In Cairo, Ill., he was foreman of the construction of the passenger depot for the Louisville & Nashville Railway Com- pany; also for the freight depot and sheds 500 feet long, for the same company. In Terre Haute. Ind., Mr. Walters was foreman of construction on the five-story building for the Young Women's Christian Association.

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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 176

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