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 37

Author: Armor, Samuel, 1843-; Pleasants, J. E., Mrs
Publication date: 1921
Publisher: Los Angeles : Historic Record Co.
Number of Pages: 1700

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Mr. and Mrs. Perkins were active in building up the Community Church established at Villa Park under the auspices of the Congregational denomination, and since his removal to Santa Ana, he and his household have supported and attended the Congre- gational Church at Santa Ana. He is prominent in the Orange Lodge of Odd Fellows. where he is a past grand, and with a frank, sincere, winning disposition, is influential in many ways, and often in times of emergency, for good among his fellow-men.

ROBERT HENRY ENGLISH .- A native of Ireland, the years of whose young manhood were spent in Canada, but whose residence in the United States covered a period of more than forty-five years, is Robert Henry English, one of Orange County's stanch pioneer citizens, who had a large part in the early development of this locality, coming here, as he did, when the country was practically a wilderness. He was born in County Carlow, Ireland, about twenty miles from Dublin, in 1850, the son of Thomas and Esther (Agar) English. The father, who was a farmer, was born in the same county, but was of English ancestry, the mother also being a native of Ireland. In 1860 the family came to Canada, settling near Woodstock, Ontario, and there Thomas English engaged in farming.

Robert H. English grew up on his father's farm, learning to help with the farm work while he attended the public schools of the vicinity. When he reached the age of sixteen he entered the employ of the firm of Oswald & Patterson, machinists and foundrymen, at Woodstock. Being apt at mechanics he soon became an efficient machinist and foundryman, and also learned to be a capable steam engineer, running

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the stationary engine in the plant of Oswald & Patterson the last year or two he was in their employ. He remained a trusted employee of this firm for nearly eight years, during which time he was united in marriage with Miss Matilda Meadows.

In 1873 Mr. English moved with his family to Platte County, Nebr., and was there during the terrible "grasshopper years" of 1873-4-5, when these pests were so numerous that they actually darkened the sun. Mr. English's crops were entirely eaten up and it was then that his knowledge of machinery stood him to good advantage. He purchased a steam thresher and began operating it, and was thus able to earn a living, even in the face of the severe financial loss the failure of his crops had caused. He was determined to seek a better eountry, however, so with his family he came to California, reaching Los Angeles February 23, 1875. They soon came down to what is now Orange County and Mr. English purchased land and began at once to make improvements. Always with a decided penchant for doing things on a big scale, he continued to buy land and at one time owned five different ranehes, aggregating 388 aeres. For several years he farmed 2,500 acres of land on the Bolsa Chico and the mesa at Huntington Beach to barley. On much of the land purchased by Mr. English reelamation work was necessary, and he spent much time and labor in bringing his holdings up to a high state of enltivation.

While Mr. English's interests were largely in the field of agriculture, he also engaged in other lines of work that have contributed to the development of the material progress of Orange County. In 1886 he engaged with Grant Brothers as a sub- contractor and helped on the grading of the Santa Fe Railway as far south as the San Joaquin Ranch, now the property of James Irvine. He also continued to operate steam threshing outfits in Orange County from the time of his arrival here until 1912. In that year he went to Santa Ana and for four years was street superintendent there; during his ineumbency the city of Santa Ana put in seventeen and a half miles of gravel and oil streets and eleven and a half miles of macadamized streets.

Mr. and Mrs. English became the parents of five children: William H. resides in Santa Ana; Susan M. is the widow of the late Frank J. Johnson and lives at Los Angeles; Ida May is the wife of Dunean E. Sova of Los Angeles; Fred J. and John T. are twins. The former is a prosperous ranchman in Bolsa precinct; he married Miss Ida May Hickey of Perris, Cal., and they have one son-Frederick Gerald. John T. married Miss May Jacobsen of Orange and they are the parents of two children- Harold R. and Ella Marie. Mrs. Robert H. English passed away December 27. 1916. and Mr. English survived her until October 6, 1920, when he died at the residence of his son Fred. Mrs. English was a member of the Episcopal Church, as were the parents of Mr. English, but he embraced the doctrine of the Baptists. In political matters he was an independent, preferring always to consider the qualifications of the candidate and the principles at stake, rather than adhering to striet party lines. Fraternally he was a member of the Maccabees and the Fraternal Aid Association.

SAMUEL B. EVERETT .- For nearly half a century Samuel B. Everett has been identified with the agricultural interests of Orange County, in the vicinity of West- minster, having located there December 1. 1875. He is a worthy descendant of an honored New England family and is justly proud of being a grandson of Eleazer Everett, the young patriot who served his country during the Revolutionary War. Eleazer Everett was stationed at Boston Harbor, afterwards at Providence, R. I., and when he received his honorable discharge from Captain Heath's company on April 8. 1778, after three distinct enlistments, he was but nineteen years of age. He was among those that witnessed the death of the noted British spy. Major Andre, in 1780.

Samuel B. Everett was born in Francistown, N. H., November 10, 1840, the son of Williard and Frances S. (Dodge) Everett. The family moved to what is now Metamora, Ill., in 1843, becoming pioneers of Woodford County, and there earved out their future from the virgin soil. Both Mr. and Mrs. Everett were school teachers and took such pride and pains in the careful and thorough instruction of their young son. that he received a more liberal and extensive education than most young men of his day. During the dark days of the Civil War, when the disruption of the Union, for which his grandfather, Eleazer Everett, had fought, was threatened, the patriotie young grandson determined that the Union must be preserved at all costs, and proved that he was a worthy descendant of his illustrions grandfather by joining Company G. Fourth Illinois Cavalry, serving for two years and ten months in the Western depart- ment of the army, during which time he was in many engagements with the enemy, hut escaping without a seratel.

On September 3, 1867, in Oberlin, Ohio, Samuel B. Everett was united in marriage with Miss Clara Spees, a native of Ohio, and a teacher in Natchez, Miss., where they met. Three children were born to them: Arthur taught school in Southern California

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for twenty-two years; he married and became the father of three daughters and two sons, his death occurring in 1916 through an accident; Clara E. and Clarence B., twins. both died in infancy. Mr. Everett lived in Livingston County, Ill., about eighteen months after his marriage, then removed to Fremont County, Iowa, and thence to Ida County in that state, where Mrs. Everett passed away. In 1874 Mr. Everett returned to Woodford County, Ill., and there on September 13, his second marriage occurred, when he was united with Miss Sarah Lamson. She was a native of New Hampshire, born there on May 1, 1841, and in 1854 came to Metamora, Ill., with her parents, William and Sarah (Starrett) Lamson. The father, who was a glass worker in New Hampshire, engaged in the brokerage business after coming to Illinois and there ac- cumulated a competency. He removed to California in 1877, and both he and his wife passed away here.

Two children were born of Mr. Everett's second marriage, William and Justin, both now deceased, named after their mother's brothers who served throughout the Civil War. They resided in Iowa for a year after their marriage, coming to California in 1875, William Bradford Lamson, Mrs. Everett's brother, a four-year veteran of the Civil War, having come to this state in 1873. They first located at Westminster, but in 1876 they went to live on a forty-acre ranch, where they followed general farming for a number of years, during which time Mr. Everett was interested in the dairy business, having at one time twenty-five head of dairy stock. After disposing of his ranch Mr. Everett moved to his present place in 1884, an inheritance from his wife's father of fifty acres, where he has continued general farming. They have sold off from time to time until they have the original home place of five acres.

Mr. Everett is an honored member of Sedgwick Post, No. 17, G. A. R., while his wife is a member of the Women's Relief Corps. In religious matters Mr. Everett is a member of the Seventh Day Adventist Church and was the first elder of the church at Garden Grove; Mrs. Everett is a Presbyterian.

LINN L. SHAW-The steady growth and the increased prosperity of Orange County is directly the result of the early settlers in this locality, who have spent the better part of their lives in developing its latent resources and in building up a com- munity which socially and economically ranks with any in the state and has during the years attracted the better class of citizenry to help in the further advancement of this ideal home community. Prominent among these pioneer citizens is Linn L. Shaw, of the realty firm of Shaw & Russell, who for nearly thirty-five years has been identified with the progress of Santa Ana.

Descending from sturdy New England stock, Linn L. Shaw was born at Mar- shalltown, Iowa, July 29, 1866, his parents being Chancy and Mary (Morrison) Shaw, both of whom were natives of Maine. Attending the grammar and high schools of Marshalltown until the age of fourteen, Mr. Shaw left the schoolroom to learn the printer's trade, apprenticing himself to a local paper in his home city. Continuing there until he had become proficient in his chosen work, in 1883 he went to Plank- ington, S. D., and later was at Mitchell and Sioux Falls, in that state, spending in all about three years there. Returning to his lowa home in 1886, he found quite a number of its residents preparing to go to California, as that was the beginning of the great boom periods of the Golden State. An opportunity offered to secure free transportation to the coast by accompanying a shipment of fine horses of several prominent citizens of Marshalltown who were removing here, and Mr. Shaw at once availed himself of this chance. Arriving at Los Angeles he worked for a few weeks on the Los Angeles papers, but hearing of the new town of Santa Ana he decided to try his fortune there, and locating there in December, 1886, he has since made it his home. Clerking for a time in the music store of A. L. Pellegrin, he was soon offered a position on the Pacific Weekly Blade. The next year, when the Daily Blade was started by A. J. Waterhouse, who had been one of the founders of the Weekly Blade, Mr. Shaw was made city editor of the daily paper, a position he held until the dissolution of this journal in 1889.

Mr. Shaw's next connection with the printing business was as proprietor of a printing plant, which he afterward disposed of, retaining the position of foreman until 1893, when he purchased a half interest in the Orange County Herald, conducting this as a daily and weekly until 1903, with E. S. Wallace as a partner. In the mean- time, in August, 1902, Mr. Shaw was appointed postmaster of Santa Ana, and the increasing duties of this office was one of the prime reasons for the disposal of the Herald, which was absorbed by the Blade. Conscientious and efficient in the discharge of this important office, Mr. Shaw served as postmaster until 1913, directing the postal affairs of the district with judicious economy, yet keeping the service up to a high standard.

Mr and Mrs. P. Amiante

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In 1917 Mr. Shaw formed a partnership with Roy Russell in the real estate business, and this firm has taken a prominent place among the realty dealers of this vicinity, dealing in high-grade properties and handling a large volume of business. Mr. Shaw's long residence here and his consequent familiarity and thorough under- standing of soils and land values of Orange County, combined with his enviable reputation for square dealing, give him a deserved prestige in the realty world.

On February 5, 1889, Mr. Shaw was married to Miss Hope E. Grouard, the daughter of Benjamin F. and Dr. Louisa (Hardy) Grouard, pioneer residents of Santa Ana, whose decease occurred many years ago. Four children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Shaw: Faith, Ted, Marjorie and Carol.

A stanch Republican, Mr. Shaw has always been deeply interested in politics, and a familiar figure, not only in local affairs, but political councils of the state, at one time holding the office of vice-president of the State League of Republican Clubs. A leader in fraternal circles, Mr. Shaw has twice been master of the Santa Ana Lodge of Masons, a charter member of the Elks, the first council commander of the Woodmen of the World and a member of the Maccabees.

PATRICIO YRIARTE .- For many years one of the largest sheep raisers in Orange County, Patricio Yriarte, spent the later years of his life on his large ranch in the vicinity of Brea. Born in Spain, in the Pyrenees region, on March 17, 1861, he received his education in the schools of his home neighborhood, remaining in his native land until young manhood, when he decided to seek his fortune in America. Reaching New Orleans April 2, 1885, Mr. Yriarte came across country to Los Angeles later the same year.

Settling in what is now Orange County he became a sheep raiser and for a number of years he ran large bands, grazing them on the land that is now Yorba, Yorba Linda and the San Joaquin ranch. As the country began to be more thickly settled and the grazing area reduced, Mr. Yriarte decided to give up this business in 1897. He then leased land in the neighborhood of the present home and farmed it to hay and grain. In 1905 he purchased his ranch of 160 acres southeast of Brea; here he conducted exten- sive ranching operations, raising corn, grain, hay and domestic stock. Besides his own holdings he also rented large acreages, at one time have 1,200 acres under cultivation. He took up his permanent residence on his Brea ranch in 1905 and here he resided for the remainder of his life.

On May 6, 1883, Mr. Yriarte was married to Miss Pascuala Arrese, who like himself was a native of Spain, born May 19, 1861, and reared in the same locality, and receiving her education there before her migration to America. Mr. and Mrs. Yriarte were the parents of five children: Felix, who is with the Union Oil Company at Brea, married Celestina Lorea, who was also born in Spain and who came to America and made her home on the Yriarte ranch until her marriage; they are the parents of four children-Mary, Jose, Pauline and Margaret; Agustin is the manager of the Yriarte estate and makes his home on the ranch; his wife is Lorenza Lorea, who made the trip alone from her native Spain, arriving here December 18, 1909, and making her home on the Yriarte ranch until her marriage to Agustin on October 4, 1916; three children have come to bless their home: Julian, who is with the Standard Oil Company at Whittier, married Miss Inez Dolly, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Dolly of Whit- tier; Ysabel resides on the home ranch with her brother Agustin; Mary makes her home with her brother Felix at Brea. Agustin and Julian Yriarte are members of the B. P. O. Elks, the former at Anaheim and the latter at Whittier and of the Knights of Pythias at Brea.

In 1904 Mr. and Mrs. Patricio Yriarte, with four of their children, made an ex- tended trip abroad, visiting their old home in the Pyrenees of Spain and spending ten months on the trip. On returning home they took up their residence on their ranch and here Mrs. Yriarte passed away on March 17, 1915, on her husband's fifty-fourth birthday, the death of Mr. Yriarte occurring but a few weeks later, on April 19, 1915. In 1910 Mr. Yriarte erected the Yriarte Building in Anaheim, on Center Street, next to the Valencia Hotel. On November 24, 1905, Mr. Yriarte became an American citizen, having received his final papers that year. During his many years of residence in Orange County he was loyal to all movements that had for their aim the betterment of conditions in general and the advancement of moral and social conditions.

After the death of Mr. Yriarte the 160-acre ranch was apportioned equally among the children, but it is still known as the Yriarte ranch, being left in one body of land. Sixty acres of the ranch, owned by the sons, is now devoted to citrus fruit, having been set out by Julian and Agustin Yriarte. The whole acreage is kept up to a high state of productivity and is one of the valuable properties of the Brea district.

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WALTER M. PARKER .- Prominent among those whose memory will long be kept green, both by those who knew him personally, and could themselves appreciate his rare worth, and also by those who are always ready to honor the pioneer and path breaker to whom posterity is necessarily indebted for many blessings, was the late Walter M. Parker, a native of Stockton, N. Y., where he was born on May 7, 1844. His father, Leonard Parker, also now deceased, was a native of Hamburg, Erie County, N. Y., where he first saw the light on March 1, 1818. He married Catherine Kennedy, who was born in Montgomery County, N. Y., on October 22, 1820. Leonard Parker passed away on April 3, 1902, and his wife died twelve years before, on the fifteenth of October. They were married at Stockton, N. Y., on September 16, 1838, and came with their family to Anaheim in 1871, Mr. Parker taking up the work of a vineyardist. Still later he cultivated oranges, owning a sixty-acre ranch; whereas they had raised cattle and sheep in earlier days. They had ten children.

Walter Parker went to the public schools, and when he was old enough, became a veterinary surgeon. After coming to Orange County, he set up a regular practice, and in that scientifically interesting and humane field continued for many years, accomplishing no end of good in the relief of the dumb animal, and getting to be very well known beyond the confines even of the county. He also owned a fruit ranch of forty acres, made raisins, and built the first raisin drier in Orange County. He was best known, however, as a veterinary surgeon. Later he located at Iowa Park, Tex., where he engaged in the rasing of cattle; and there he died on May 14, 1908.

He had heen in the Civil War as a member of the Seventeenth Illinois Cavalry. and at Richland, now Orange, then in Los Angeles County, on June 28, 1873, he was married to Miss Barbara Kraemer, a native of St. Claire County, Ill., and the daughter of Daniel Kraemer. She has always been the center of a circle of devoted, admiring friends, and is as popular today with her stories of experience with the Indians, who were friendly, in the early days of Anaheim. One daughter, Miss Elenora A. Parker, is a teacher in the Anaheim public schools.

ELIJAH P. JUSTICE .- A pioneer not alone of Orange County, but of the state of California, Elijah P. Justice, one of the county's most honored old settlers, is now living retired with his excellent wife, who has proved such a capable and courage- ous helpmate, on the Justice ranch near Westminster. Despite the fact that he has reached his eighty-second birthday, Mr. Justice possesses a truly remrakable memory and can recall names, dates and incidents, and describe with graphic detail the perilous happenings of his journey across the plains. A native of the Hoosier State, Mr. Justice was born in Pulaski County, Ind., November 10, 1838, and there he spent the days of his early boyhood. In 1853, when a lad of fifteen, he went to Texas with his father, remaining there for four years, then starting across the plains with ox teams for California. At that time there were many warring bands of Indians scat- tered over the plains, and time and again they were set upon by these marauders. They lost practically all of their cattle and barely escaped with their lives. In addi- tion they encountered innumerable other hardships, and it was with a great sense of thankfulness that they finally reached the settlement at San Bernardino. Later Mr. Justice became a freighter, and for these rough and hardy plainsmen even the Redskins had respect, for the freighters feared nothing and took no chances in being surprised by the Indians. Mr. Justice recalls vividly how at a certain place in Arizona a number of freighters encountered a band of hostile Redskins, and the battle that followed was a victory for the freighters, who counted seventy-two braves killed by their bullets.

A native daughter of California, Mrs. Justice, too, has passed through many of the strenuous experiences that were typical of the pioneer days of the state. She was before her marriage to Mr. Justice Miss Martha Adeline Cotman, and she was born November 24, 1853, in San Diego County, near the San Luis Rey Mission. Her parents were John and Mary (Bohna) Cotman, natives, respectively, of Louisiana and Arkansas. Mr. Cotman came to the state in 1852, later meeting an accidental death. Mrs. Justice was the eldest of the Cotman children, and her mother's second marriage, which did not prove a happy one, made her childhood full of hardship, and she had very few opportunities for education or other advantages. She made the acquaintance of Mr. Justice at Azusa and was married to him on September 26, 1869, when she was not yet sixteen years old. Throughout all the years of their early struggles, when there were many hardships and days of toil, she has ever been ready to aid and encourage, and much of the prosperity that they have attained is due to her wise habits of thrift and conservation. Generous and hospitable, she has rounded out more than a half century of wedded life, and is much beloved by a large circle of children and grandchildren. Ten children have been born to Mr. and

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Mrs Justice: Clara is the wife of P. L. Glines of Covina, and is the mother of four children: Martha is the wife of George Yost, a raisin grower near Fresno, and has three boys; Laura is the wife of Roy Richards, an employee of the Salt Lake Rail- road; they have two children and reside at Long Beach: Oliver P. married Miss. Lulu Fisher and is a freighter and farmer at Merced; they lost their only child through an accident; Leona died at the age of eighteen months; Wiley Wells is employed on the Irvine ranch; Jesse A. was killed in an automobile accident Janu- ary 1, 1918; Roy C. is employed on the Emery ranch as an engineer and machinist; Rhoda V. is the wife of George Taylor, a machinist; they have four children, and reside at Huntington Beach; the youngest is Benjamin Franklin. Mr. and Mrs. Justice have one great-grandchild.

After reaching San Bernardino at the end of his journey across the plains, Mr. Justice remained there for about two years, locating in the vicinity of Azusa in the fall of 1859. The outlook there was far from encouraging, as the plain was covered with cactus and sage brush, but Mr. Justice obtained title to a tract of land there and started in to cultivate it, but his water rights were illegally cut off. Being unable to get the matter adjusted satisfactorily, he deemed it best to dispose of the fand, and he removed to El Monte, renting land there which he devoted to stock raising and general farming for four years. In 1882 he disposed .of everything but his cattle, which he drove to what is now Orange County, locating in the vicinity of Westminster, and here he has since made his home. There were very few settlers here at that early day, the place being almost a wilderness, but with true wisdom and foresight Mr. Justice perceived that the soil could be made to yield abundantly if given the proper cultivation. His first purchase was a tract of forty acres, at that time covered with tules and willows, for which he paid only twenty dollars an acre, the same land now being valued at more than $500 an acre. At the time he bought the land it was so wet that he lost many of his cattle, the ground being too soft to bear the weight of the animals. It took much hard labor to drain this land and bring it under cultivation, but Mr. Justice's judgment has been amply rewarded in the years of abundant returns he has received. It is to men and women of the stamp of Mr. and Mrs. Justice that Orange County owes a great debt for the transformation that has come about through their faith in its possibilities and the willingness to work to bring about these results.

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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 37

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