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 178

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 178

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JOHN JOHNSTON .- The efficient chief engineer of the Anaheim Brewery, John Johnston has been a resident of the United States for nearly twenty-five years. He is a native of Scotland, having been born at Glasgow on Christmas Day, 1869, and is a son of John and Catherine Johnston, both natives of the land of the heather. The Johnston family consisted of nine children, five of whom are living, two being residents of California. John Johnston, Sr., died in Canada, Mrs. Johnston still making her home there.

John Johnston was reared and educated in the Dominion of Canada. In 1896 he came to the United States, and after stopping for some time in New York, he migrated to California in 1905, locating in Los Angeles, where he remained for three years. In 1911 Mr. Johnston moved to Anaheim and accepted his responsible position with the Anaheim Brewery, having under his supervision five engines, and has continued with the company nine years. He is an expert machinist, with thirty years of experience. and is regarded as one of the most efficient engineers in this section of the state.

In 1901 Mr. Johnston was united in marriage with Miss Ellen Trelfer of Canada and four children were born to them: Francis, Lillian, James and John. During the World War James served in a California regiment of infantry stationed at Camp Kear- ney. Mr. Johnston and his children are all musical and their playing is greatly enjoyed and appreciated by their many friends in the community, where they have gained high repute as musicians.

The second marriage of Mr. Johnston united him with Miss Margaret Fitzpatrick of Belfast, Ireland. Fraternally, Mr. Johnston is a member of the Anaheim Lodge No. 1346, Elks, and Anaheim Aerie of Eagles.

JOHN S. RUNYAN .- A highly esteemed resident of Santa Ana who attained the enviable distinction of being one of the most public-spirited citizens of the town in which he had previously lived-Medicine Lodge, Kans .- is John S. Runyan, who was born in Turbotville, Northumberland County, Pa., on October 27, 1853. His father was George Barton Runyan, a farmer and an early settler in the Keystone State, who had married Miss Elizabeth Schuyler, also a member of an early family there. The lad was sent to the high school at Turbotville, and then to the State Normal school at Bloomsburg; and afterwards for five years he taught school in Montour County, Pa. In 1878 he moved to Lawrence, Douglas County, Kans., and there for a couple of years taught school.

In 1880 he made a new departure in going to Barber County, Kans., and engaging in the cattle business. Four years later he was in the general merchandise trade in Medicine Lodge in that state; and there he remained until August 1889. On the twelfth of that month he entered the First National Bank of Medicine Lodge and for five years was the bank's assistant cashier; and in 1894 he became the cashier. After that he rose to be vice-president of the bank; and he was also associated with other banks in Kansas.

On November 26, 1885, Mr. Runyan was married in Warrensburg, Johnson County, Mo., to Miss Nannie R. Holmes, a native of that town and of a fine old Virginian family that migrated to Missouri. Her father was Benjamin A. Holmes, and her mother, in her maidenhood, was Miss Sallie A. Douglas. Miss Holmes took a complete

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course at the Warrensburg State Normal, where she was graduated, receiving a life certificate as a teacher; and afterwards she taught in Johnson County, and later in the high school at Liberty, Mo., until her marriage.

In 1911, Mr. Runyan came to California for his health, and settled at Santa Ana; and the next year he built his home at 416 South Birch Street. In 1919 he purchased ati interest in an orange grove near Placentia, and in July of the same year he bought an interest in a lemon grove at Yorba Linda. He also purchased stock in the First National Bank of Santa Ana.

While in Medicine Lodge Mr. Runyan was city treasurer for twelve years, and he also served on the city council of Medicine Lodge a number of terms, never allowing his preference for Republican political doctrine to interfere with his administration of local office. He tried to begin life aright in his profession of religion, and in Santa Ana found it natural and easy to help the congregation of the First Baptist Church in 1913 begin the erection of their handsome edifice. He is chairman of the board of trustees, was on the building committee, and is also a member of the committee of finance of said church.

For sixteen years in Medicine Lodge Mr. Runyan was both a member of and treasurer of the board of education. Having no children of their own, they set out to rear and educate a niece, Miss Una Holmes, who was a native of Missouri and lived with Mr. and Mrs. Runyan in Kansas, and on August 7, 1907, was married to C. C. Lewis, the private secretary of the late Senator Chester 1. Long of Kansas, with whom, during the season of 1907, they enjoyed the inspiriting life of the capital, Washington. In the spring of 1909 Mr. and Mrs. Lewis went to Phoenix, Ariz., and later they came to Monrovia, where Mrs. Lewis died, on February 13, 1916. Then Mr. Lewis returned to Phoenix. Ariz., and is now with the State Water Commission. Two children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Lewis. The elder is a girl, Helen by name, and the younger is called John Runyan.

ROBERT WILSON .- A full and worthy life has been the portion of Robert Wilson; from stirring events in his boyhood and early life he passed to the more peaceful pursuits of the business world, and his sterling traits of character have made for success in both. A native of Canada, Mr. Wilson was born near Guelph, Ontario, August 15, 1852, the son of James and Elizabeth (Ramsey) Wilson, born in Scotland and on the Isle of Man, respectively, but married at Eden Mills, Ontario. The father was an engineer in sawmilling, and later in the manufacture of oatmeal. He made the oat mill on exhibit at the International Exposition at London in 1862 that was awarded a medal. His death occurred in Ontario.

Robert Wilson was the second eldest in a family of four boys and one girl, and he is the only one now living. He was reared at Eden Mills, Ontario, where he ob- tained his education in the country schools. In 1866, when a boy of fourteen, he enlisted as a bugler in a Canadian company of volunteers, and was in the famous Fenian Raid and in the battle of Ridgeway, June 6, 1866. For fourteen years he served under Queen Victoria in the Canadian Militia, was bugler of No. Two Company, First Ontario Riflemen, went with them to Ft. Garry, now Winnipeg, in 1871, and was in the Reil Rebellion of that year. Afterwards he was in Infantry Company No. One. Twenty-eighth Battalion, and later on was in an engineering corps in the second Reil Rebellion in 1884-85, and was at the Battle of Batoche. As early as 1866, between his different enlistments, Mr. Wilson learned the trade of baker and candy maker, and in 1873 located in Buffalo, N. Y., entering the employ of Sibley & Holmwood, wholesale candy manufacturers. Eighteen months later he returned to Stratford, Ontario, and again served in the militia; later he settled in St. Paul, Minn., where for twenty-one years he carried on a bakery of his own with success. While there he was local corre- spondent for Eastern magazines devoted to the bakery trade.

The year 1906 marks the arrival of Mr. Wilson in Anaheim. He purchased the Powell Bakery, on West Center Street, which he carried on with success until June 28, 1915, selling out to B. Jensen, and since that date he has lived retired, with the record of having been in the bakery business for more than forty-eight years, which speaks for itself as to the steadfast qualities of the man.

Mr. Wilson was twice married, his first wife being Mary Jane McIntosh, a native of Ontario. . Her father was for many years in the employ of the Grand Trunk Rail- way, coming to Montreal from Scotland, and was the first boilermaker employed by that company, continuing until his death at Port Huron, Mich. Mrs. Mary Jane Wilson died July 7, 1915, leaving three children: Robert, a printer of Los Angeles; Mrs. Agnes L. Every of Tacoma, Wash., whose husband is claim agent for the Northern Pacific Railway; and Clarence, a graduate of Stanford University and a civil engineer by pro- fession, of San Francisco; he was a member of the Interstate Commerce Commission that recently completed a physical valuation of the different railroads, and he is now

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with the Pacific Gas and Electric Company in San Francisco. He enlisted in the Third U. S. Engineers in the World War and was stationed at Camp Humphries, Va.

For his second wife Mr. Wilson married Mrs. Jennie A. Keeling, also a native of Canada, and they are among the esteemed citizens of Orange County. He was made a Mason in Ancient Landmark Lodge, St. Paul, Minn., and is now a member of Anaheim Lodge, F. & A. M. He has also been a member of the Odd Fellows for forty-five years and is a charter member of Anaheim Lodge No. 1345, B. P. O. Elks, and of the Modern Woodmen. For years he was a member of the Anaheim Chamber of Commerce.

ANTON C. CARLE .- A thoroughly experienced and successful farmer, whose intelligence and industry have spelled for him and others a well-merited prosperity, while his uprightness of character and general dependability have won for him the confidence of all who know him, is Anton C. Carle, the lessee for eighteen years of a ranch not far from El Toro, where he lives and labors with his devoted and gifted wife, in a home made the more attractive through a promising, ambitious daughter, preparing for a business vocation. He was born in Alsace-Lorraine, France, on May 10, 1878, and like all the inhabitants of that region enjoying better advantages, learned both French and German. At Dinsheim, too, the famous vineyard place not so far from Strassburg, he was married, on July 21, 1900, to Mary Catherine Kuntz, a native of that place, where she was born on December 3, 1880, the daughter of Martin Kuntz, of Alsace-Lorraine. He was an expert machinist, but died in 1907, and his wife, whose maiden name was Madeline Myer, was born in the same place. Seven girls were born to Mr. and Mrs. Kuntz, and they attended the schools of the Catholic Sisters.

Mr. and Mrs. Carle were married when she was nineteen years old, and on August 6, 1900, they bade goodbye to parents, and other relatives and friends, and began their honeymoon trip with a voyage across the Atlantic. They sailed from Hamburg and landed in New York, from which city they took the train across the continent, and alighted at Los Angeles on August 26. In Dundee, Los Angeles, and also at Loma Linda and Glendora, Mr. and Mrs. Carle worked out together-he as gardener and she as housekeeper, and when they had made a good start for them- selves, they came out to El Toro.

Here he worked for Dwight Whiting, at first as a gardener, and among other things he then accomplished he set out 487 acres of eucalyptus, now almost a forest, half a mile to the northeast of El Toro. He had almost eighty men working under him, and this gave him a chance to add Spanish to his fund of languages, so that he now speaks French, German, English and Spanish. He first came to El Toro in 1904, and when, five years later, Mr. Whiting died, he took a lease on 320 acres and began to rent. He now raises hay, barley and oat-hay, mixed and pure, and the balance in beans and wheat-eighty-five acres of the former and twenty acres of the latter, and in their comfortable home about two miles from El Toro they reflect with both happy and sober thoughts on the past.

Mr. Carle's father was also named Anton, and he was born at Gresweile, in Alsace, as was his wife, whose maiden name was Clementine Doersaff. She died two years before our subject came to America. She had twelve children, ten girls and two boys, and among these Anton was the eighth child in the order of birth. He learned gardening in Alsace, but he worked, while there, mostly as a weaver of cloth. He wove woolen, cotton and silk goods, and he still has some of the fabrics that he wove himself.

His first work here was in Dundee at viticulture and horticulture, and then for Mrs. Frank Taylor, at the corner of Central and Adams streets in Los Angeles, and from there he went to Loma Linda, where he made the beautiful drives from the rocks, planned the roadways and laid out the flowers. In this unpretentious but pleasant manner Mr. Carle began his association with the Southland; today he owns the busi- ness block, including the barber shop and pool hall, opposite the railroad depot at El Toro, which he built, and for two years he ran a butcher shop, after which he re- modeled it and now rents it as has just been stated. He uses eighteen head of horses and mules in his farming operations. He also owns a number two special Ventura bean thresher, and during the season is kept busy threshing in the neighborhood. He is prosperous, and he wishes everyone else to be equally successful. He is an American through and through, and during the recent war patronized each issue of the Liberty Bonds, and otherwise supported the war activities. He is a naturalized American citizen and a Republican.

In 1906 Mrs. Carle returned to Alsace-Lorraine on a visit, and took with her their daughter, Emma Juanita, now a student in the Orange County Business College. They had a fine time, and have been talking about it with satisfaction ever since. They have also thought of their home associations with sorrow, for great changes have occurred where once all was so attractive.

a & Clark

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AMBROSE F. FISHERING .- Perseverance and optimism have ever been the outstanding characteristics of Ambrose F. Fishering, now a successful rancher near Anaheim, and these qualities, combined with steady, industrious application to the task at hand, have enabled him to rise above circumstances that would have daunted one less courageous. Mr. Fishering's early memories carry him back to the Buckeye State, where he was born at Xenia,, August 16, 1868, the seventh child in the family of Henry and Mary (Beall) Fishering. The father was born in Germany, but came to Ohio in the early days, when he was a lad of sixteen, and he was for many years in the mercantile business in Xenia.

Mr. Fishering's early education was gained in the public schools of his native city, but his opportunities in that line were limited as he left home at the age of thirteen to make his own way in the world. He learned the furniture trade when but a boy and followed this line of work until he was of age, when he went into the retail grocery business at Dayton, Ohio. He was meeting with good success when the flood of 1899 wiped out his business completely, destroying all that he had. Too ambitious and energetic to be routed by even this disaster, he rebuilt and soon was forging ahead more rapidly than ever, only to suffer a second loss of all his possessions in the great flood of 1900, that caused such a terrible loss of life and property in this Ohio city.

These experiences determined Mr. Fishering to locate in the West, so. in 1901 he came to Los Angeles, Cal., and though practically without capital he undertook the purchase of five acres of land in the Sunrise tract, now Huntington Park, where he built the first house. He took a position with the Van Vorst, Burman Furniture Com- pany in Los Angeles, later connecting with Barker Brothers as foreman of their frame department, a position which he held for fourteen years, driving back and forth with a horse and buggy to his work. In the meantime Mr. Fishering divided his five-acre tract into town lots and sold them off, making a handsome profit in the transaction.

In 1908 Mr. Fishering came to Anaheim and soon after purchased ten acres on Loara Road and Lincoln Boulevard. This was a rough, unattractive piece of land, in poor condition, and one with less foresight and courage than Mr. Fishering would have hesitated to bny it, not being able to see its possibilities. He went to work on it at once, however, developing a sixty-inch water supply, and setting out a citrus grove from his own nursery stock. He has taken great pride and pleasure in bringing his ranch, which they have named El-No-Care-O, up to a high state of cultivation, and works unceasingly to keep it in this condition. Despite the losses he sustained before coming to California, he has retrieved his fortunes and has accumulated a competence since his arrival here.

On April 16, 1902, Mr. Fishering was married to Mrs. Sadie J. (Burton) Myers, formerly of Iowa, but a resident of Los Angeles for a number of years. By her first marriage she was the mother of a son, Edmond B. Myers, who is an expert mechanic and served on a submarine in the Atlantic during the war. Mr. and Mrs. Fishering are the parents of one son, Robert Huntington, so named because he was the first child born in Huntington Park. He graduated from the Anaheim grammar school and in July, 1919, enlisted in the U. S. Government radio service and is now at Mare Island (1920). Mrs. Fishering has ever been a capable helpmate to her husband, cheerfully aiding him in all his undertakings, and he gives to her due credit for a great degree of the success they have attained. They have recently erected a fine residence on their ranch and here they live in comfort. Seeing the necessity for co-operation in all local affairs, Mr. Fishering is a member of the Anaheim Citrus Association and gives his loyal support to the affairs of that organization. He marches under the Republican banner and is a firm adherent of the policies of that party.

CHESTER H. KENYON .- A self-made, scientifically-operating farmer, who has learned by hard study the best of all the various methods for the production of abundant crops, is Chester H. Kenyon, the well-known rancher of Glen Avenue, Tustin, among the best supporters of the Santa Ana Valley Irrigation Company and an energetic member of the Santa Ana Walnut Growers' Association. He was born near Mt. Union. Henry County, Iowa, on March 8, 1884, the son of Wm. H. and Flora (Hale) Kenyon, the father being a native of Wisconsin. Mrs. Kenyon died when our subject was eight years of age, and then he was taken by att aunt, Mrs. Amelia Crellin, a sister of his father, by whom he was reared. There were three children in the Kenyon family, and Chester was the oldest.

Chester attended the common schools in Henry County, Iowa, until he came to California with his uncle and aunt, Mr. and Mrs. Crellin, in October, 1899, and then he finished his schooling here. In June, 1899, these foster parents first came to Tustin, and two days after their arrival they purchased the "Nat Brown" place, now the home ranch of a brother of Mr. Kenyon. They returned to Iowa, sold out and brought the

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boys along. While attending school Chester worked this estate for his uncle, while he went to work also for other ranchers. In about 1908 his father followed him to Tustin, and for the first time perhaps enjoyed a balmy climate and some well-earned rest; he also became an orange grower and makes his home in Tustin. Chester Ken- yon's first holding was a five-acre citrus grove, which he later sold. In 1913 he bought eleven and a half acres, which he devoted to walnuts; and this is now the home place, where he has erected a very comfortable residence. He has added eight acres of wal- nuts adjoining, so now has nineteen and one-half acres. He is also at present raising beans, of which he has thirty acres on the San Joaquin ranch, so that, altogether, he manages about seventy acres.

The day after Christmas, 1908, Mr. Kenyon was married to Miss Jessie Scott, the daughter of Chester H. and Elcina Scott, farmer folks of Kansas, who later removed to California. One daughter, Marjorie, has blessed this union. Mr. and Mrs. Kenyon liberally supported Red Cross and War Loan work during the War, and are always ready to lend a hand, when needed, for social uplift and advancement.

R. W. EDENS .- Orange County has been fortunate to draw within its boundaries men of energy, resourcefulness and brains, who have devoted their time and talents to the development of its diversified resources. Among the men who have closely iden- tified themselves with the oil industry is R. W. Edens, of Fullerton, a large stockholder and general manager of. the Mid-Central Oil Company, now drilling for oil in proven territory at Huntington Beach. He also is financially interested in other companies that are now drilling in that locality. Besides these extensive interests, Mr. Edens is one of the proprietors of the Orange County Fertilizer Company, and a member of the firm of Edens and Wagner, dealers in oil lands and leases, and investments, with offices in the Amerige Block, Fullerton.

A native of Kentucky, R. W. Edens was born in Cumberland County, September 26, 1875, and was educated in the public schools of his native section until he was sixteen, then he came to California, and in Ventura County, secured employment in citrus orchards. He assisted in setting out the famous Lemoneira Orchard, the largest lemon ranch in the world. After he had labored in the orchards of Ventura County a number of years he left there and located in Fullerton in 1904. This was then a small country village with scarcely any civic improvements, and here he opened the first garage, thus showing that he was strictly up-to-date. He then had the agency for the Maxwell and Chalmers cars, also sold auto trucks. As he succeeded he formed a partnership with John E. Wagner, of Placentia, and organized the Orange County Fertilizer Company, which confines its business to Orange and Los Angeles counties. They specialize in barnyard manure and commercial fertilizer, and to conduct their business they operate five motor trucks, three of which they own. This company has played an important part in the development of the citrus fruit industry in the county since its inception, the volume of business aggregating about $15,000 per month.

The marriage of R. W. Edens united him with Miss Mollie Matthews, a native of Pennsylvania. She is a member of the Presbyterian Church in Fullerton and a lady of many accomplishments who shares with her husband the esteem of a wide circle of friends. Fraternally Mr. Edens is a member of Fullerton Lodge No. 394, F. & A. M .; Anaheim Lodge No. 1345, B. P. O. Elks, and of the Fullerton Board of Trade.

Mr. Edens is a man of the strictest integrity, liberal and progressive in his ideas and methods; a live wire and a booster who takes an interest in every movement that has for its aim the promotion of the best interests of the community, and especially of Fullerton, where he makes his home and is popularly conceded to be a leader in all that seeks to elevate the best in citizenship.

LILLIAN PREST FERGUSON .- A painter regarded by many critics as fore- most in the delicate art of portraiture, is Mrs. Lillian Prest Ferguson, whose charming personality canot fail to hasten the fulfillment of her dream for Laguna Beach as a center of the best art. She was born in Ontario, Canada, the only daughter of Thomas Prest, a banker and real estate broker at Windsor, who had married Miss Sarah Smith, a daughter of Samuel Smith, the first mayor of Guelph, Ontario. When Lillian was ten years of age she went with her parents out to the great Northwest, and lived in a sod house; and she has many tales to tell of the hardships endured there. There were no schools in that territory at that time, and her mother sent her to Winnipeg, where she was educated in a convent under the instruction of Sister Mary Xavier.

She had a natural talent for portrait sketching, and was early given some instruc- tion; and when only sixteen years of age she finished her first real work. It was a portrait of the mother of Archbishop Taché, a prelate she has always admired, and to whom she has felt peculiarly indebted for her early success; and some months later she put the last touches to a portrait of the Archbishop's father. She remained in

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Winnipeg some months, studying and painting, and then she went to Toronto, where she studied with W. L. Forster. She returned to Winnipeg and was made an instructor in the Winnipeg Art School, where she remained until her marriage with Peter Fer- guson, an attorney of Ontario, with whom she toured England, Scotland and France. Then she became a student at the Academie Julien of Portraiture in Paris, and there made rapid progress under the renowned Professor La Fevre. On another trip to Europe she studied in Holland, with her instructor, Alexander Robinson, and from there she made various sketching trips to the most picturesque parts of the Continent. exhibiting her work the next season at the gallery in Paris.

Coming west to California in 1915, Mrs. Ferguson settled for a while at Carmel- by-the-Sea, fortunate in the pleasant association with William M. Chase, who gave instruction in portraiture. Since 1912 she had made sketching trips to Laguna Beach; for, having once become familiar with the unrivalled attractions here, she needed no incentive to urge her to return. During 1918 Mrs. Ferguson planned and erected her home place one and a quarter miles south of the Laguna Beach Hotel, and she has started a school of pottery at Laguna Beach, in which she herself gives expert instruc- tion during the winter months. At other times she is generally to be found at her truly remarkable studio at the beach.

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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 178

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