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 31

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 31

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Always active in the interests of education, Mr. Joplin was instrumental in the organization of the Trabuco and Olive school districts. He took an active part in the founding of Orange County and his Trabuco precinct obtained the banner, because all votes were for county division and the organization of Orange County, and not one vote against it. One of the organizers of the Humane Society of Orange County in about 1900, Mr. Joplin has been its president ever since and very active in its work. He was one of the organizers and president of the first Fish and Game Protective Association of Orange County, and was one of the promoters of the Santa Ana Cham- ber of Commerce, serving as director for several years. He is prominent in the ranks of the Odd Fellows and was one of four organizers of the Orange County Veteran Odd Fellows Association, serving as its first president, and takes an active interest in the Orange County Historical Society. Some years ago Mr. Joplin sold his large ranch and since then has bought two small ranches, comprising a little over 300 acres of land in Belle Canyon, and these he devotes to stock raising and horticulture.

WILLIAM H. BROOKS-A very interesting pioneer who has the distinction of being the first white man to live at Laguna Beach, also of now being the very oldest living resident of this place, his first habitation being a cabin located back of where the present postoffice now stands, is William H. Brooks, rancher and mail carrier. He was born in Ellis County, Texas, on September 9, 1855, the youngest son and child of Spencer Brooks, who was born in New York in 1823, went to Illinois a young man and there married Miss Sylvia Heminsway, a native of Vermont, where she was born in 1828, and who had gone out to Illinois in her youth. The family went to Texas and remained there two years, and not liking the country returned to Illinois and Winne- bago County, where Mr. Brooks was a stockman and farmer. There he died in 1857. but his widow came west to California and died at Laguna at the age of eighty-four years. One of the sons, Oliver S. Brooks, enlisted for service in the Civil War when he was sixteen, served three years, and he died at Laguna in 1897.

William H. Brooks spent his boyhood and youth on the open plains of Kansas and Colorado, became an expert with the rifle, and knew Wild Bill, Buffalo Bill and all of the scouts of those early days. In 1875 he had left home at Burlington, Kans ..

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and arrived in Los Angeles when the now flourishing city was but a Mexican adobe village with nothing to presage its future greatness. The family had moved out to western Kansas in 1861, and they operated a stage station on the overland stage route to California. Those were the days when the country was infested with Indians and many a time this young lad stood guard with the men of the station to protect the people from the red men, and he also experienced many narrow escapes with his life. After these early experiences it was but natural that he should want to come to the Far West in search of a permanent location.

Arriving in Los Angeles County, Mr. Brooks went to Downey, at that time one of the most flourishing and wide-open towns in the Southland, and here he engaged in ranching. It was that same year that he wandered down to Laguna Beach on a hunting trip, and seeing the advantageous location for ranching he took up a gov- ernment claim of what is now the town site of Laguna Beach, and was joined some few months later by his brother, the late "Nate" Brooks. Some time later Mr. Brooks sold his holdings here to an uncle by marriage, Henry Goff, for the paltry sum of fifty dollars cash. At the time of the boom in the Southland Mr. Goff sold off much of the land in lots and small acreage. As Mr. Brooks took notice of the rapid trend of affairs towards the development of the place he began to buy back property as he could until he became owner of considerable town property. As the beach city grew apace he has sold off much of his holdings at very advantageous prices and invested in alfalfa land in Antelope Valley.

In 1882 Mr. Brooks had finished his apprenticeship as a blacksmith under Hank Stow, of Anaheim, and established a shop of his own in Los Angeles, and for years he was the smith employed by the I. W. Hellman Street Railway Company when horses were used to draw the cars. His next shop was in Santa Ana, then at Laguna Beach, later at Calabasas and then Bakersfield. Mr. Brooks built the hotel and store at Laguna, but this was burned down in 1895, and it was then he went to Bakersfield. He served as constable of Laguna for twelve years, was deputy sheriff for two years, and postmaster for three years, and during his time he witnessed many interesting incidents that relieved the monotony of life at the little village. After being away for some years he returned in 1912 and took up his residence at Laguna, and since 1914 he has been mail carrier there. Since 1919 he has been interested in ranching in Antelope Valley, where he and his sons own valuable land.

On July 4, 1878, at Downey, W. H. Brooks was married to Miss Annie Clapp, born at San Jose, a daughter of Frank Clapp, a planter of Kentucky, where he was born. Her mother was Ruth Condit before her marriage. The family located in Alameda County, Cal., in 1856; Mr. Clapp died in Santa Ana in 1897, and the widow died there in 1907. An uncle, Frank Hartley, was one of the officers who captured the bandit, Vasquez. Five children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Brooks: Josephine is the wife of Maston Smith, of Corona, by whom she has two children, William and George. By her first union with Harry Kelly she had seven children, six now living, and three of these daughters are living and married and have five children. The next younger than Josephine is Robert F., who is married, but has no children; Walter R. married Miss Stevens, but they have no children; Clarence H. married Miss Throll and they have two children, Eleanor and William; Roy, the youngest son, is not mar- ried. All of the sons live and farm in Antelope Valley. Mrs. Brooks is known to her intimates as "Aunt Annie." and she has the honor of giving the name to . Arch Beach, the attractive strand to the south of Laguna. Both Mr. and Mrs. Brooks are highly esteemed by all who know them in Orange County.

MRS. HATTIE W. ROSS .- A highly-honored representative of a pioneer family of Santa Ana is Mrs. Hattie W. Ross, the rancher and landowner, whose home at 1429 North Baker Street is always the center of warm-hearted hospitality. She was born at New Madrid, Mo., the daughter of Frederick W. and Virginia Maulsby, who were cotton planters, owning between 7,000 and 8,000 acres of choice Missouri land. Mr. Maulsby received his early education in the Southern Missouri Academy, and later was clerk of New Madrid County, Missouri.

Miss Maulsby came to Santa Ana with a sister, Mrs. Kate Doyle, now of El Monte, arriving at Santa Ana in September, 1885. She thus saw both Orange and Santa Ana develop from their infancy. When the plaza in Orange was laid out she assisted in the entertainment. On August 18, 1886, at the old Doyle home near Santa Ana, she was married to U. J. Ross, oldest child of Josiah and Sarah Ross, who grew up in Santa Ana, but was born in Watsonville. He is now foreman for the Hammond Lumher Company in Los Angeles. Mr. and Mrs Josiah Ross came across the plains in an ox-team train in 1865 and settled in the Salinas Valley for a short time, coming down to Los Angeles County and settling in what is now Orange County a year later. Then there was for the most part only Mexican and Spanish settlers here, and

Granville ASurgeon

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considerable trouble was had with the natives. The early settlers' grain would be endangered by the Mexican ponies, which were allowed to graze at random, and it was necessary to kill many of these ponies before the Spanish element took any meas- ures to keep their animals off the land they had sold to the early settlers. Josiah Ross came across the country in prairie schooners, and if anyone "had a story to tell," he certainly did. The wild mustard grew so tall that even when one stood on the driving board of the prairie schooner it was impossible to see over the fields. When dried, the mustard was used by the Ross family in place of firewood. Mrs. Eva Sweetster, sister-in-law of Mrs. Ross, was the first girl born in Santa Ana.

Josiah Ross purchased 275 acres of land at one dollar an acre, and a part of this tract is now the home place of Mrs. Hattie Ross. The rest of the land is still owned by Josiah Ross' descendants. Mrs. Ross is the owner of an eight-acre grove interset with walnuts and apricots. Her house was built on this ranch in 1907.

Four sons honor Mrs. Ross: Ernest F. is at home; Raymond married Miss Cora Huntington of Santa Ana; Melvin is married to Miss Cora Hazelwood, a Nebraska girl, and they live at Pasadena; and Carroll B. lives at home, a graduate of the Santa Ana high school and an employe of the Hammond Lumber Company of Santa Ana. Ernest Ross hauled the first and last loads of gravel to build the beet sugar factory at Delhi, and he was given a gold locket by the company. Raymond Ross was in the United States Navy during the late war, and did valiant service as a gunner on the U. S. S. "Dakota."

GRANVILLE SPURGEON .- Prominent among the names worthy to be per- petuated in the annals of Orange County, and particularly in the development of the city of Santa Ana, is that of the late Granville Spurgeon, whose sterling life and character will ever leave its impress on the community in whose upbuilding he was so loyally interested for many years.

The Spurgeon family traces its lineage back to England, the early representatives of the family settling in Virginia. The grandfather of our subject removed from the Old Dominion State to Bourbon County, Ky., during the days of Daniel Boone and other early pioneers, and here Granville Spurgeon, Sr., was born and reared. When he reached young manhood he was married to Lovina Sibley, who was born in Prince Edward County, Va., and who was directly descended from an influential English family. Removing to Columbus, Ind., in 1830, Mr. Spurgeon engaged in farming near there, for about ten years, when the family located in Clark County, Mo. After several years spent in agricultural pursuits there they removed to Alexandria, Mo .. where Mr. Spurgeon engaged in the mercantile business and took a prominent part in the affairs of the community. It was during this period that Granville Spurgeon, Jr., the subject of this sketch, was born, on August 19, 1843, at Louisville, Ky., the family being on a visit there at the time.

Granville Spurgeon was educated in the private and public schools of Missouri, and also had the advantage of a course in a business college in that state. In 1849 his father had made the trip overland to California, and engaged in mining for eighteen months. As the years went by he again felt the call of the West, and in 1864 he again set out on the long journey, this time accompanied by his family, five months being spent in crossing the plains. They settled in Solano County. Cal., and here both parents passed away. Granville Spurgeon remained in Solano County for two years, then with his brother Benjamin and a sister he went to Watsonville, Santa Cruz County. In November, 1867, these two brothers joined their older brother, William H. Spurgeon, in Los Angeles County, taking up land between Compton and Los Angeles. William H. left them the following year, purchasing a tract of seventy-six acres belonging to the old Santiago de Santa Ana Grant, and here he laid out the town of Santa Ana. On the death of Benjamin Spurgeon in 1870, Gran- ville Spurgeon joined his brother William H., entering into partnership with him. and from that date until his death, which occurred August 7, 1901, he was continu- ously identified with the development of Santa Ana, taking a prominent part in every undertaking and enterprise that gave this community its well-grounded. sub- stantial start and enabled. it to take its place as one of the representative cities of Southern California, so that the name of Spurgeon will ever be indissoluhly associ- ated with its history.

With his brother, W. H., Granville Spurgeon conducted the first mercantile estab- lishment in Santa Ana, and for many years this was the leading establishment of the town. Later he established a thriving fire insurance business, continuing in this for a number of years, finally disposing of it at a good profit on account of his health. In later years he purchased a tract of 100 acres of peat land, devoting this to the produc- tion of celery. This was at the period when celery growing was at its height in Orange County, and Mr. Spurgeon was most successful in raising some of the finest

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celery ever grown here. During his early years here he acted as agent for the Wells Fargo Express Company, and later was appointed postmaster of Santa Ana, an office he filled for a number of years with the ntmost satisfaction to the community. In fraternal circles Mr. Spurgeon was prominent in the ranks of the Odd Fellows, the Encampment and the Rebekahs, serving for sixteen years as treasurer of the subordi- nate lodge. While a believer in the principles of the Democratic party, he was essen- tially too broadminded to be swayed by mere partisanship, especially in local politics. At the time of his death, in 1901, he was one of the oldest residents of Santa Ana, and in his passing this city lost one of her stanch upbuilders and one who occupied a distinctive place in her development. Commencing life withont means, Mr. Spur- geon's habits of thrift and industry, coupled with good business judgment, enabled him to amass a competency, and his life presents a record well worthy of emulation.

Mrs. Spurgeon, who before her marriage was Miss Frederica Reinhold, is a native of Milwaukee, Wis., where she received an excellent education. Coming to Cali- fornia in 1875 on a pleasure trip she met Mr. Spurgeon, at that time a leading mer- chant of Santa Ana, this acquaintance leading to their marriage the following year. They took up their residence in the house at Sixth and Main streets that Mr. Spur- geon had erected for his bride, and this remained the family home during his lifetime. After his death Mrs. Spurgeon disposed of the property and purchased her present home on North Broadway. Now among the oldest settlers of Santa Ana, Mrs. Spur- geon well remembers the early days of this now prosperous city, when what is now the finest residential section was a wilderness of wild mustard, and bearing little prom- ise of the beantiful shady streets, attractive homes and well-kept lawns of today. A continuons resident of this city for forty-five years, with the exception of a year spent at Maniton, Colo., for Mr. Spurgeon's health, Mrs. Spurgeon has always taken the deepest interest in the welfare of the community, and, like her late husband, has shown a public spiritedness that has meant much to the advancement of the social and moral good of the whole neighborhood.

Of the two adopted daughters of Mr. and Mrs. Spurgeon, May S. is the wife of R. H. Ballard, president and general manager of the Southern California Edison Company, and they reside in Los Angeles. They have one daughter, Harriet, who is attending Vassar College. Helen S. is training for a professional nurse at the Good Samaritan Hospital, Los Angeles.

JUSTIN M. COPELAND .- Among the well-known educators who deserve the gratitude of posterity may well be mentioned, and in foremost place, the late Justin M. Copeland, a native of New Hampshire, where he was born on St. Patrick's Day, 1835. His father, the Rev. David Copeland, was a Methodist minister and became a pioneer clergyman in Southern Wisconsin. Justin M. began his education at Kent's Hill Semi- nary, Maine, later attended the Middletown College, in Middlesex County, Conn., and finished at Lawrence University, Appleton, Wis., to which town his parents had moved in 1857. When fifteen years of age he commenced his teaching in Maine, where he taught a term of school in Winthrop; then he taught in Connecticut, later in Wis- consin and then moved to Odell, Ill., where he taught for two years. On his return to Wisconsin he served for several years as an instructor at Fond Du Lac, next going to Kansas, where he purchased a farm near Derby which he worked in summer, while he taught in winter. In 1876 he went south to Key West, Fla., and there conducted a school for two years, when he returned to his ranch near Derby, Kans.

In May, 1881, he came west to California and settled in Old Newport, now Green- ville, and for two years he tanght the district school. He also taught in other places in Orange County, among them Villa Park, Trabuco, Aliso Canyon, New Hope and Newport, and only when his eyesight failed him, and he could no longer do justice to the work, did Mr. Copeland give up a work very dear to his heart and in which he had been so signally successful-a wonderful career, having tanght over forty years.

On September 7, 1860, in Chicago, at the home of the bride's brother, Henry French, Mr. Copeland was married to Miss Mary E. French, a native of South Chester- ville, Franklin County, Maine, who was born March 20, 1836, the daughter of Isaac and Eliza (Brown) French, worthy Yankee farmer folk of good old Maine. Four brothers of the French family came from England to Massachusetts in 1620, in a ship of the Mayflower party, and later some of the brothers went to New Hampshire and then to Maine. Mrs. Copeland's Great-grandfather French came from New Hampshire to Maine, and her grandfather, Joseph A., and two brothers were among the founders of Sonth Chesterville, Maine. Mrs. Copeland had two brothers in the Civil War, Captain Henry French, and Joseph French, who was in a Maine regiment of cavalry and who now lives on the old Joseph French place. She attended Kent's Hill Semi- nary, and when a young lady came west to Chicago, where she resided with a sister and a brother. She had made the acquaintance of Justin M. Copeland while the Rev.

Justin M. Copeland

Mary Ellen Copeland

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David Copeland was on that circuit and the acquaintance continued and resulted in their marriage.

On retiring from the pedagogical field, Mr. Copeland purchased 100 acres of land in Orange County, which he disposed of to advantage during the early days of the great boom; and later he purchased twenty acres handsomely set out as an orange grove at Riverside, which has since proven very valuable ranch property. This ranch is now in charge of their only child, Joseph Eugene, who is a graduate of the Univer- sity of Southern California, and married Miss Carrie Wilson, daughter of J. A. Wilson of Santa Ana. Mrs. Copeland is also the owner of a walnut grove on Grand Avenue, Santa Ana. In March, 1915, at the ripe old age of eighty, Mr. Copeland passed to his eternal reward, rich in the esteem and affection of those who best knew him. Mr. and Mrs. Copeland were firm believers in cooperation, hence they were members of both the local Citrus Association and the Santa Ana Walnut Growers Association, since their organization.

Mrs. Copeland belongs, as did her exemplary husband, to the First Presbyterian Church of Santa Ana, in whose religious and social work she participates as best she can for one of her age. Public-spirited to a remarkable degree, she also took a very active part in the work of the Red Cross during the recent war, and at the age of eighty-two knit not less than 150 pairs of socks for the soldiers.

THOMAS J. WILLIAMS .- A native of Wales, Thomas J. Williams, one of Orange County's honored pioneer ranchers, brought with him to this country the sturdy characteristics of his Welsh forbears, the Williams family being men of power- ful physique and long-lived, some of them living past the century mark. Mr. Williams was born at Carmorden, Glamorganshire, Wales, April 23, 1852, the son of John and Martha (Binon) Williams; the father was a farmer as was the paternal grand- father, John Williams, who lived to be 104 years old. Mrs. Martha Williams' father. Thomas Binon, was a carpenter of Glamorganshire, Wales, and also lived to be 104 years old. There were two sons and six daughters in the Williams family, Thomas J. being the sixth in order of birth, and the only one in America. He had only "fair educational advantages, as there were no public schools in their locality, and every family had to pay tuition for each of their children, so in the case of large families, schooling was something of a luxury, and, too, his schoolhouse was seven miles away.

In early youth, Thomas J. Williams was apprenticed for four years to learn the blacksmith's trade, receiving as payment his board and clothes. His training in this work was very thorough, and included plow work and horseshoeing. During the haying and harvesting season he worked on the farms of the neighborhood, one year swinging the scythe and cradle for sixty-seven days straight. In those days their agricultural implements were very primitive, and the first threshing machine Mr. Williams ever saw he owned and operated-a flail-and the first mowing machine he was familiar with was wielded in the sweat of his brow in the form of a Welsh scythe.

On December 25, 1870, Mr. Williams was united in marriage with Elizabeth Williams, who was no kin, although of the same name. She was born in the same shire as her husband and educated in the subscription schools. Her parents were James and Mary (John) Williams and she was an only child. The father was a farmer in Wales and passed away in her early childhood. Her mother married a second time to David James and they came to San Bernardino in 1853, where they farmed for a number of years; Mr. James passed away at San Bernardino, and the mother spent her last years at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Thomas J. Williams, passing away at the age of ninety years.

In 1872, T. J. Williams decided to try his fortune in America, and accompanied by his wife and infant son, James, landed at Castle Garden, May 3, of that year. They went directly to Newark, Lincoln County, Ohio, and lived there for about five years, Mr. Williams working in the rolling mills there, making iron railroad rails. While in Newark, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States, and cast his first vote for Rutherford B. Hayes as president. In 1876, they came on to California, reaching San Bernardino December 26, remaining there until the following April, when they located in the New Hope district, now Orange County, then Los Angeles County, rent- ing land belonging to the Rancho Los Bolsas. For six years he farmed on rented land, then purchased twenty acres of land, later investing in two more twenty-acre tracts, which comprises his present well-kept ranch of sixty acres. For four years he raised corn and hogs, but had to sell his meat as low as two and a half cents a pound. Later he engaged in dairying and general farming, growing alfalfa, barley, corn, beets, potatoes and chili peppers, and has set out an apple orchard of three and a half acres. besides a family orchard. He has put down two wells, one ten-inch and one seven- inch, and has two pumping plants run by electric power, producing 100 inches of water,

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sufficient to furnish ample irrigation for all his land. He also has a well, windmill and tank for domestic purposes.

Mr. and Mrs. Williams have had eight children: James, born in Wales, died in Newark, Ohio; John J., born in Newark, Ohio, died at San Pedro at the age of forty- two, leaving a widow; Mary Ann, now Mrs. Swindler of Anaheim, is the mother of four children; Thomas died at the age of nine years; Martha is the wife of Will De- venney, a rancher of Orange County; Elizabeth is the wife of Fred Mersel, an orange grower and rancher of Santa Ana; they have one child; George is in the U. S. Navy, having served in Asiatic waters and now in the Philippines; he married Miss Irene Lee of Santa Ana and they have one child living; Margaret married Henry Devenney, a rancher at Wasco, Kern County and they have one child.

In the early days, Mr. Williams was well acquainted with the McFadden brothers. John, Robert and James, those pioneers whose names will always be associated with the early development of Orange County. He was connected with the construction of their railroad, the Santa Ana & Newport, and also worked at loading and unloading their boats which ran between San Francisco and Newport. Always public spirited and progressive, Mr. Williams helped organize Orange County and has always been keenly interested in its development, and is now a promoter of the Santa Ana River Protection District. While a supporter of the Republican party, he is inclined to be liberal in local affairs, voting for the best men and measures. He served four years as constable of Westminster township. Mrs. Williams is a member of the Church of Latter Day Saints. Mr. Williams still looks after twenty acres of his land, which is devoted to apples and alfalfa, and rents out forty acres. He and his family stand high in the whole community, a tribute to their more than forty years of useful citizenship.

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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 31

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