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 35

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 35

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where they procured an entire new set of sails and then continued the journey to San Francisco, reaching there in September, 1852, after a voyage of five and one-half months.

From San Francisco Mr. Robinson went up to the mines on the Yuba River, later going on to Placerville, where he mined with considerable success, clearing up some money. Here he was married in March, 1854. to Miss Letty Bolton, the daughter of Richard and Lucretia (Redmond) Bolton, natives, respectively, of Ireland and Canada. She was also born in Canada, only about twelve miles from Mr. Robinson's birthplace, although they had never known each other until they met at Placerville. She had come across the plains in 1851 with the family of her brother-in-law, John Johnson. Later Mr. and Mrs. Robinson went up into British Columbia, where he mined for a time on the Fraser River, but did not meet with much success. In 1859, with his wife and child he went back to Canada to visit his old home, returning in 1862 to California, making the trip, both going and coming, by way of Panama. On reaching here he settled in Sonoma County with his wife and three children, twins having been born to them during their stay in Canada. Here Mr. Robinson purchased a farm of 230 acres five miles from Petaluma, and improved it, building a dairy barn that was at that time the finest in the county. Here he contracted tubercular trouble and, not being able to stand the heavy fogs, he sold out and bought a 200-acre farm in Colusa County, farming it for three years and completely recovering his health.

In 1884, Mr. Robinson removed to Garden Grove where he has since made his home. He purchased seventy-five acres of land here and farmed it for a number of years, but he disposed of all of it except five acres where the home stood many years; he has a remarkably good memory and keen mind for a man of his years and enjoys recalling the interesting events of his past life. Mrs. Robinson died on August 23, 1920, aged almost eighty-nine. Mr. and Mrs. Robinson had nine children, eight of whom grew to maturity: Isaac resides in Stockton and is deputy county treasurer and tax collector; Chester Allington lives at Ascot Park, Los Angeles, and has five sons, one of whom, Capt. Ralph Redmond Robinson, was with the Marines throughout the whole campaign in the late war. He was with the detachment of Marines that was a part of the famous Second Division and was in action at the Argonne, St. Mihiel and Champagne, where he saw terrific fighting. He is still serving with the Marines and is now stationed at Port au Prince, Hayti; Forest Wellington died at the age of thirty-three years, leaving one son, Chalmers, who is an oil man engaged in the Fullerton field; Mina Anna is the wife of Harvey V. Newsom, a rancher at Garden Grove, whose sketch appears elsewhere in this work; Frank Bolton resides'in Los Angeles; his son, Ray Albert Robinson, who is a crack shot, became a captain in the war, training troops at Quantico, Va. He was aide-de-camp to General Butler and while stationed at Brest on General Butler's staff, he lived in Napoleon's old house there. He is still in the service at Quantico, Va .: Addie May is the wife of Capt. Joseph Newell, who is captain of the largest supply ship in the U. S. Navy; they reside at West Newbury. Mass .; Richard Byron has a ranch of forty acres near Galt; Porter died at the age of four years at Colusa; Alice Bertha, the youngest of the family, resides with her father.

A few years ago Mr. Robinson came near losing his life in a railway accident, and was laid up for a year. The accident happened while he was crossing the railroad tracks at Santa Ana, and by a curious coincidence he had just been on a jury in a case brought to recover damages for death and injury sustained to a family who had met with the accident at the same railway crossing in Santa Ana. For many years Mr. Robinson was a stanch Republican, casting his last vote on that ticket for James A. Garfield as President, but since that time he has been a consistent Prohibitionist. He was converted at the age of nineteen and is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Garden Grove. Always on the side of that which made for the uplifting and improvement of the community, Mr. Robinson has ever stood high in the esteem and respect of a large circle of friends.

MRS. SUSAN BELT .- Of Southern lineage, but of uncompromising Union allegiance, Mrs. Susan Belt, an Orange County pioneer and widow of James H. Belt, is a woman possessed of great strength of character and executive force. Her husband, who came of a fine family, was born in Johnson County, Ark., in 1840. His grandfather, Middleton Belt, the founder of the American branch of the family, was a native of England who settled in Maryland and afterwards removed to Tennessee, where he settled and reared his family. The father of James H. Belt. Dotson Belt, was probably born in central Tennessee, and his mother, Miss Penelope Laster before her marriage. also was born there. The parents were planters, and James H. followed in the footsteps of his father and became a successful cotton grower. At the outbreak of the Civil War his sentiments were strongly with the Union, and perceiving that he would be con- scripted he left home, taking his best horse, started for the Union lines, and with his

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handkerchief tied to the ramrod of his gun approached the picket line. He enlisted in Company L of the Fourteenth Kansas Cavalry and served until the close of the war. In the meantime the home folks, because of their Union sentiments, suffered terribly.

Mrs. Belt recalls some very exciting incidents that she underwent also during those trying times. She and her seventy-five-year-old father were making garden in the spring of 1863 when a band of bushwackers rode up and began shooting at them. Eight shots were fired at her father and little brother, and the father was killed by the bullets of the guerillas. Mrs. Belt's maiden name was Susan Brown, the daughter of Reuben and Martha (Hines) Brown, the father a native of Maine and mother born in Tennessee. Her parents settled in Missouri after their marriage and the father became a farmer and stockman. Mrs. Belt was born in Missouri, September 10, 1844. the youngest girl and the eighth child in order of birth in a family of ten children, and was three years old when her parents moved to Sebastian County, Ark. She received her education in the subscription schools of Arkansas, and July 31, 1863, was united in marriage with Mr. Belt. It was thought that the war was about over, but her husband had to go back to the lines and was in several battles after that. He was in the Western army and was honorably discharged after the close of the war. Mr. and Mrs. Belt moved on to eighty acres of land in Sebastian County, Ark., given them by Mr. Belt's father. He prospered while there, but suffering from the after effects of the measles, which he contracted in the army, and which as a result of taking cold settled in his eyes and on his lungs, came to California for his health during the seven- ties, accompanied by his family. They settled at Bakersfield where they were taken with chills and fever, and from there went into the mountains near Tehachapi and remained a year and a half. Recovering their health they came to Los Angeles County. and later settled in the vicinity of Santa Ana, where Mr. Belt bought twenty acres of raw land on the river. Mr. and Mrs. Belt became the parents of four sons, William, Joseph, Henry and Jasper, and four daughters, Emma, Cora, Bertha and Maude; of the eight children, five are living. She has one granddaughter, Fay L. Sutton.

Mrs. Belt is an interesting conversationalist; her reminiscences of early days, with their halo of romance and adventure, is an ever interesting topic of conversation. She has a large circle of friends by whom she is highly esteemed, and her comfortable home is noted for its good cheer and hospitality. In her political sentiments she is a stanch Republican, and a member of the Woman's Relief Corps, while Mr. Belt was a member of the Grand Army of the Republic.

CHARLES LORENZ .- In the early period of Anaheim's history, Charles Lorenz. now deceased, located in this now up-to-date city of Orange County, his advent being on October 22, 1859, soon after the town site was first laid out. He was born in 1814. in Crossen, Germany, but removed to Berlin while quite young. He learned the trade of a machinist, and so thoroughly did he master the intricacies of that line of work that he became an expert, and to him belongs the honor of having constructed the first locomotive in that section of Germany.

In 1845 Mr. Lorenz was united in marriage with Louisa Schidler, the ceremony being solemnized in Berlin. During the year 1850 he left Germany, intending to come to California, but after being on the sailing vessel about six months decided to land in South America, where he spent two and a half years in Valparaiso, Chile, and five and a half years in Concepcion. While there they learned to speak Spanish and this helped them after coming to California. His youngest daughter, now Mrs. Louisa E. Boege, was born in Valparaiso in 1852; the eldest daughter, Mrs. Elmina C. Dorr, was born in Berlin, Germany, in 1848. During the early part of 1859, Mr. Lorenz, accompanied by his wife and two daughters, sailed from Chile for California, landing at San Francisco, where they remained but a few months and, later stopped a short time at San Luis Obispo. In October of the same year he arrived in Anaheim, coming from San Pedro with a twelve-mule team, and he soon opened the first blacksmith shop in the new town. In March, 1860, he purchased twenty acres on South Lemon Street, where he planted a vineyard and made and sold wine. He helped organize the German Meth- odist Church and was an Odd Fellow. Later on Mr. Lorenz sold all but one acre of his land, and here his two daughters now reside. He lived to the advanced age of eighty-five, his death occurring in 1902, his wife having passed away in 1885.

His daughters, Mrs. Louis Dorr and Mrs. Henry A. Boege, are among the pioneer citizens of Anaheim, having come here over sixty years ago. At that time the country between Anaheim and San Juan Capistrano was a wilderness, as was the territory between here and Los Angeles.

LOUIS DORR, a native of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Germany, married Elmina Charlotte, the eldest daughter of Charles Lorenz. He left his native country when a

Eng C. S . Witters

Joseph. Pois Granges

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young man to reside in England and afterwards went to Australia. In 1862 he arrived in Anaheim, where he was engaged as a bookkeeper; he also owned a vineyard and made wine. Mr. and Mrs. Dorr were the parents of seven children, five of whom are living: Louis, the oldest member of the family, is a forest ranger and resides near Palmdale; Charles is a miner at Tonopah, Nev .; Agnes and Dorothy are living at Los Angeles, where they conduct a cafeteria; and Arthur is a mining man and is in Mexico.

Mr. Dorr passed away in 1895. Mrs. Dorr lived in San Francisco and in Los Angeles for about fifteen years, then came back to Anaheim and has lived here ever since and has been a witness of the wonderful growth and development of the county.

HENRY A. BOEGE was united in marriage in 1871 with Louisa Emilie Lorenz, the youngest daughter of Charles Lorenz, the ceremony being performed at the Lutheran Church, Anaheim. He was a native of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, and came to Anaheim when nineteen years of age. He opened a butcher shop and also did teaming and freighting. At one time he owned a vineyard west of Anaheim. Later on he superintended the ranch of his father-in-law and at one time was engaged in street work for the city of Anaheim. His death occurred in 1893. He was a member of the Odd Fellows Lodge.

JOSEPH P. desGRANGES .- Numbered among the oldest settlers of what is now Orange County and one of the few remaining pioneers of Fullerton, who has become a leader in horticultural circles and is regarded as an authority on the early history of Orange County, is Joseph P. des Granges, the rancher of East Chapman Avenue, Fullerton, whose philanthropic sympathies and patriotic sentiments have made him popular among all know him. He was born at St. Louis, Mo., on June 8, 1858, and with a brother came to Anaheim on May 1, 1873. Los Angeles was very primitive at that time, the United States Hotel being one of the very few brick buildings in the city.

The des Granges family are of old French-Huguenot stock. Early members of the family who, as the name indicates, were landowners of France, were obliged to flee for their lives from their native land at the time of the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. They first found refuge in Switzerland, but later settled in Prussia, where the family thrived in their new surroundings. Otto des Granges, the father of our subject, was a university man and a civil engineer by profession. Locating at St. Louis, Mo., he became extensively interested in manufacturing, establishing an iron manufacturing plant. His wife was in maidenhood Miss Josephine Harff.

As early as 1871 Otto des Granges came to San Francisco, soon afterwards coming down to what is now Fullerton, then in Los Angeles County. Here he purchased eighty acres of raw land, and with the help of his son improved it and brought it to a high state of cultivation, and here the parents resided until their demise, the father at the age of ninety, the mother surviving until 1914, when she passed away at the age of eighty-six. Of their family of four children, Joseph was the third in order of birth, and he was fortunate in receiving a good schooling during the residence of the family in St. Louis, Mo., before their migration to California.

Joseph was only fourteen years of age when he began to assist his father in the development of their California ranch, and very naturally he learned a good deal for a boy of his age. The land was in its primitive state, covered with sunflowers and mustard of an unusual height, and they truly found here in the West a wild, open country, with plenty of elbow room. They raised barley and other grains, and later established a system of irrigation. That the best obtainable in irrigating facilities were eventually theirs may be inferred when it is known that Joseph des Granges was instrumental in having Anaheim equipped with the modern electric light system when Los Angeles was the only other city in this locality so favored. The first light plant which he constructed was a great success, and this was followed by others. Mr. des Granges also built and established a grist mill at Anaheim, in fact, he conducted a feed mill and store there for about ten years, and thus early played an important part in the mercantile world.

Having continued his ranching ventures, Mr. des Granges owns at present twenty acres of the original tract, set out to Valencia oranges and walnuts, and he markets his oranges through the Placentia Orange Growers Association. This year he also picked some four and a half tons of the finest Japanese persimmons in the county from young trees just coming into bearing. He exhibited them at the University of California Fruit Exhibition and received the second prize.

On March 23, 1904, Mr. des Granges was married to Miss Genevra Estabrooks, the daughter of George Melvin and Eliza B. (Paige) Estabrooks, born in New Bruns- wick and Maine, respectively. The father was an expert millwright in the construction of water-power mills, and he removed to Stillwater, Minn., where he followed his trade; both he and his wife passed away there. Of their three children, Mrs. des Granges

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was the youngest; after her graduation from the Stillwater high school she engaged in teaching in the public schools, as well as teaching music. In 1900 she came to Fullerton, where she has since made her home. A cultured and refined woman, she presides grace- fully over her husband's home, where they entertain their many friends and dispense a true, old-time California hospitality. One child has blessed this union, Josephine, who attends the Fullerton high school. By a former marriage, Mr. des Granges has a son, Harry E., who has a battery and ignition works at Los Gatos.

Mr. des Granges has seen many changes since coming to this region in 1873. In fact the most optimistic resident of those days could not have conceived the wonderful transformation that has taken place, with the increase in land values from fifteen and twenty dollars an acre to $5,000 to $6,000. It is to men like Mr. des Granges, who were not afraid to venture and work, that Orange County owes much of its present development and greatness, so in this section he is indeed a pioneer of pioneers.

CHARLES O. RUST .- A "captain of industry" who contributed something definite and important to the development of the commercial interests of Southern California, is the late Charles O. Rust, who was vice-president of the Wickersheim Im- plement Company of Fullerton, who resided on his ranch at 619 North Palm Street, Anaheim. He was born at Crescent City, then in Mendocino, now in Del Norte County, Cal., on November 26, 1858, the son of Carl F. Rust, who had married Miss Sophia Horn, like himself a native of Germany. His father came to California in pioneer days and located in that part of Mendocino County, where he busied himself transporting on the backs of burros those supplies so much needed by miners, and which had to be brought from Crescent City. Later he was in the general merchandise business in that town, and only in 1861 succeeded in getting south to locate in Anaheim. He was one of the original colonists and purchased forty acres of land on North Palm Street, where he had a vineyard set out and as soon as they began bearing he located on his ranch in 1861, and began the making of wine from his vineyard, but he was not allowed to long enjoy the fruits of his labors for in 1868 he passed to his eternal reward. He was a tanner by trade, and had the repute of having established the first tannery in Los Angeles, now Orange County, setting it up on his home ranch. He bought the hides from the Spanish, had ten vats sunk into the ground, and from the neighboring mountains brought the oak bark for tanning. Two children were born to this worthy couple-one being Chas. O., our subject, and the other a daughter, now Mrs. A. S. Browning, of Los Angeles, who was born on the old ranch at Anaheim.

Educated in the schools at Anaheim, the first teacher Charles had was Professor Kuelp, although afterward he went to a school in Anaheim taught by the late J. M. Guinn, the historian. He finished his studies in Los Angeles and San Francisco, and in 1878 returned to the ranch at Anaheim. During his forty years' residence there he made much of the best wine and brandy for which Orange County was noted. After the grape disease killed the vines he set the ranch out to oranges and walnuts. The greater part of the twenty acres is now in full-bearing Valencia oranges and walnuts, all of which trees were planted by him. The mammoth sycamore trees on the place, however, were set out by his father, and are today a beautiful memorial of the old pioneer. Mr. Rust owned other valuable real estate in the county, including a fine orange grove of twenty acres one mile west of Fullerton and he also owned valuable property in Los Angeles. He helped to organize the Anaheim Citrus Fruit Associa- tion, and served on its board of directors. He was also a director in the Orange Growers Exchange of Orange County and as stated above was vice-president of the Wickersheim Implement Company.

When Mr. Rust married, he chose for his wife, Miss Kate Snedaker, a native of Iowa, born near Guthrie Center. Her father was Samuel Blair Snedaker; who was born near Great Bend, Pa., in 1811, descended from old Knickerbocker stock, the ancestors having immigrated from Holland to New York in 1632, locating in what is now Flat- bush, Brooklyn. Some of the ancestors on the Snedaker side were in the Colonial and Revolutionary wars, while Samuel B. Snedaker's mother was a native of England. He was reared on farms at Clyde and Lyons, N. Y. After his first wife died he removed to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he became captain of a packet boat running on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers to New Orleans. In New Orleans he was married a second time. being united with Miss Ann Neary, who was born in the north of Ireland. He pros- pered and became a man of large affairs; among other property he owned a tobacco plantation. Selling this and his other interests before the Civil War he moved to lowa and became a pioneer farmer at Guthrie Center. Desirous to migrate still further west, in 1862, he brought his family across the plains in a train of seven wagons. In spite of the Indian troubles they reached California safely and he was for a time engaged in the hotel business at San Andreas, Calaveras County. In 1865 his wife died, leaving four children. He finally located in San Francisco, where he was engaged in the furniture

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Kate S. Rust

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business until he retired, coming to Anaheim in 1881, where he spent his last days in the home of his daughter, Mrs. Rust, passing away in 1897. Mrs. Rust was the young- est child and received her education in San Francisco. After graduating from the Rincon school she was engaged in teaching in Calaveras County for two years, until 1881, when she came to Anaheim with her father and sister and here she met and married Mr. Rust. Their union was blessed with two children. Percy was educated at Belmont Military Academy and is married to Ruth J. Hauser; they have two children, Ruth Jacquelin and Chas. Warren. Elsa is a graduate of Marlborough School, Los Angeles, and Columbia University, New York, receiving the degree of Bachelor of Science degree from the latter institution.

The family are members of the Episcopal Church. For twenty years Mr. Rust was a trustee of the town of Anaheim, and for most of the time served as mayor, or chairman of the board and during his service marked the beginning of public improve- ment in Anaheim, which has resulted in making it the beautiful and modern city it is today. He also served for many years on the school board; was a director of the Anaheim Union Water Company; a member of the Board of Trade of Anaheim, and also of the Mother Colony Club. He was a charter member of Anaheim Lodge No. 1345, B. P. O. Elks. Politically he was a stanch Republican. He passed away in Oak- land, where he and Mrs. Rust had gone for the cool climate of summer, on October 7, 1920, mourned by his family and friends. In his death Orange County and Anaheim lost one of its best citizens and upbuilders. Since his death Mrs. Rust resides at the old home and aided by her children looks after the affairs left by her husband.

JOSEPH P. MOODY .- The ranch and residence of Joseph P. Moody are situated one mile west and north of Cypress, in Orange County, Cal. Mr. Moody is one of the well-known and highly respected stock and poultry men in his section, and has been engaged in the poultry business since 1914. His thirty-one acre ranch is well tilled and highly productive, and his poultry stock consists of about 700 single-comb White Leghorns of the best laying strain. His poultry house, 118 x 20 feet, has a cement floor and is up to date in every way; he pumps his water and grinds his feed by electricity. Twenty-three acres of his ranch are in alfalfa and a good family orchard. He has resided in Orange County and on his present ranch since 1896, and has been an active and progressive rancher from the first, buying his land when it was in almost a wholly unimproved state and bringing it up to its present state of productiveness.

Mr. Moody was born in Carthage, Ohio, November 20, 1848, and is the son ot Henry and Nancy Moody, natives of Kentucky and Ohio, respectively. The father crossed the plains with others in the memorable year of '49, making the journey over- land without serious mishap in about five months. In 1850 he returned to his family in Ohio, and in 1852 made his second trip to California, this time by water via the Isthmus, and accompanied by his wife and two children. When within one day of landing at San Francisco his wife died and was buried at sea, June 5, 1852. He again engaged in the occupation of mining, as he had done upon his previous visit to the state, and continued the occupation several years. In course of time he married Mrs. Murphy, by whom he had two children; Stephen H. and Mary, who is now Mrs. Brewster. He died in 1894.

Joseph P. Moody was three and a half years old when his mother died at sea, and he was reared by Mrs. Catherine Alderman of Grass Valley, Nevada County, Cal., a most worthy woman. Because of surrounding conditions Joseph's early education was somewhat neglected, nevertheless he acquired a practical training for business purposes, and is a self-made man both from a business and educational standpoint. While his younger life was spent in agricultural pursuits he did little manual labor, always taking up some pursuit in which he had the oversight and direction of others. He engaged extensively in the sheep-raising industry, having as many as 2,500 sheep in one flock, and in ranching near Paso Robles, San Luis Obispo County.

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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 35

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