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 39

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 39

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FIRST NATIONAL BANK, TUSTIN .- The history of the finance and the finan- cial institutions of a community are an index to its growth and development as a whole, and the First National Bank of Tustin, Cal., has been conspicuously successful since its establishment, February 5, 1912. Organized with a capital of $25,000, its volume of business grew from its inception to a marked degree, and judicious man- agement increased its capital to $50,000, with deposits amounting to $286,887.96. W. C. Crawford was the first president of the institution and C. J. Cranston its first cashier. Its present officers are: C. E. Utt, president; John Dunstan, vice-president; C. A. Vance, cashier; W. S. Leinberger, assistant cashier; directors: C. E. Utt, John Dunstan, Sherman Stevens, V. V. Tubbs, I. L. Marchant, C. A. Miller and C. A. Vance.

C. A. Vance, cashier of the bank, has displayed his perfect knowledge of the banking business in the creditable manner in which he has filled his important position. He is a native of Kansas, and in 1912, having disposed of a bank in his native state, removed to Chula Vista, Cal., where he organized the Chula Vista State Bank. He sold this bank in August, 1916, and January 1, 1917, located at Tustin.

William S. Leinberger, assistant cashier of the bank, is a native of Nebraska, and was born in 1883. He is the son of L. F. and Kate Leinberger, natives of Pennsylvania and Ohio, respectively. He was reared and educated in the public schools of his native state, and in 1910, at the age of seventeen, migrated to California, first locating at Alhambra, Cal., graduating from the business college there, later teaching bookkeeping there for a year. He then was with the Alhambra Savings Bank until he took his present position as assistant cashier in the Tustin First National Bank.

JOHN O. FORSTER .- Prominent among the ranchers, business man and polit- ical leaders of San Juan Capistrano must be mentioned John O. Forster, who was born at Los Flores, San Diego County, on August 14, 1873, the son of Don Marco Forster, who married Guadalupe Abila, a daughter of Don Juan Abila, once the owner of the San Miguel Ranch. Don Marco's father was the famous John Forster, or Don Juan, who was born in England, migrated to California during the Spanish regime, and married Ysidora Pico, a sister of Pio Pico, the last governor of California under the Spanish regime. Don Marco was born in Los Angeles in 1839, and became one of che largest landholders in Orange County, owning 15,000 acres of very choice hill, pas- ture and grain land. Before the Eastern settlers came, father and son carried on a very extensive business in the raising of cattle, sheep and horses, allowed to roam over their vast estate, and they had as many as 5,000 head of horses and five times that number of head of cattle. Fences were then unknown, and cattle and horses ran wild. Santa Margarita Ranch, as the property was designated, included many thousands of acres of rich land, and was one of the choicest and most productive of the old-time estates. Pio Pico also owned a large estate near Capistrano, some of which, joined to a part of the Forster property, made more than a handsome holding.

Don Marco Forster died in 1904, the father of six children, among whom John O. was the third in the order of birth. The others were Marco H., Frank A .- a part- ner in various enterprises with our subject-George H., Ysidora, the wife of Cornelio Echenique, and Lucana, later Mrs. Thomas McFadden of Fullerton. When Don Marco passed away, John O. Forster was made an executor.

Romantic was the career of the founder of this virile family. Don Juan Forster, who was a captain of one of the fine old sailing vessels of early days, married into a

3.09. West

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long-established and wealthy Spanish family, and so later came to control one of the most noted principalities of pre-pioneer days; and equally romantic has been the history of Don Juan's renowned ranch. The ranch really included three old Spanish grants. the Santa Margarita, the Mission Viejo, at San Juan Capistrano, and the Trabuco, each with its own romantic history. The two first-mentioned originally belonged to the Picos; but in the forties John Forster, having captured the heart of Don Pico's sister, secured the ranchos also. John Forster became esteemed and powerful as Don Juan; and on his death left such a heritage that it would have required in the days of no irrigation a small fortune to manage, and manage successfully. As it was, his heirs assumed indebtedness to keep the property; and when much of it was heavily mort- gaged, it passed into the hands first of Charles Crocker, then of James Flood, and finally of Richard O'Neill.

John O. Forster attended the public schools at San Juan Capistrano, and later studied at St. Vincent and Santa Clara colleges. Then he went to work on his father's ranch, caring for his cattle, and after that, for four years was proprietor of a general merchandise store and was postmaster at San Juan Capistrano. In that old historic town, too, he was married in 1900 to Miss Mae Marshall, a native of Virginia City, then residing at Reno, Nev., a lady who has proven the most helpful of life-mates. Mr. Forster has become the prime mover in the San Juan Capistrano Walnut Associa- tion, and he is also interested in the Capistrano Water Company. He belongs to the Mission Church, and for eighteen years has been a member of the board of trustees having charge of the grammar school. In 1901 he erected his comfortable home, amid some seventy acres of walnuts.

Frank A. Forster, John's brother, who was born at Los Flores on December 7. 1871, is in partnership with John and other members of the family, the children of the long-honored pioneers thus preserving a pleasant tradition of early days. With com- mon interests and generous sympathies, these thoroughly representative Californians are able to accomplish enough to give new force to the old adage, "In union there is strength," and to renew the assurance that property and wealth need not and onght not to be a bone of contention, but rather a source of felicitation among near of kin.

HON. Z. B. WEST .- Orange County has never failed to appreciate the worthiest of its judiciary, and distinguished among these who have deserved the highest esteem and confidence may be mentioned Hon. Zephanian B. West, the efficient and popular judge of Department One of the Superior Court, at Santa Ana. He was born in Wayne County, Ill., on March 1, 1852, and first came to the Golden State in the great "boom" year for Southern California, in 1887. His father was Samnel West and he married Miss Margaret A. Hoover. To this union there were born nine children, five boys and four girls. They settled and did yeoman work in pioneering in Southern Illinois, encountering every hardship incident to making a farm and a home in a new and unsubdued wilderness country, such as that was at that time. They were very poor and upon the subject of our sketch-he being the eldest of the children-the burden of assisting in supporting the family fell very heavily, but ever mindful of his duty as a faithful son, he manfully remained with his parents and shared their burdens and hardships until he was twenty-one years of age; then launched out in pursuit of an education for which he had longed and thirsted; and without aid from any one, even to the extent of one cent, he pressed on and by self-denial, with indomitable energy, optimistic courage and the greatest sacrifice, completed the education he so much desired and began his professional career which has moved onward to higher and more worthy attainments and to his present important and influential position.

Mr. West graduated in 1876 from the National Normal University of Lebanon, Ohio, upon the completion of the full teacher's course prescribed by that splendid institution with the degree of B.S., and three years later from the Central Normal College of Danville, Indiana, with the degree of A.B. He then read law in Illinois and was admitted to the bar, upon examination before the Supreme Court of that state, in 1885. He was thus well grounded in legal subjects before he left his native state to push out into the world.

Coming to California, he settled at Santa Ana and here opened a law office for general practice; was city attorney for seven years, and conducted the legal proceed- ings by which the Santa Ana Water Works were installed-Santa Ana being the second city to take such action under the municipal law as it then stood. He was chairman of the Board of Education of Santa Ana for four years, and served five years on the State Normal School Board, and was acting in that capacity when the Normal School at San Diego was erected. He was also appointed by the Board of Supervisors district attorney of Orange County, to fill a vacancy for two years, and at the general election in 1902, when he had well established a wide reputation for clear thinking and honest, fearless dealing, he was elected judge of the Superior Court 16

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for six years, and has since succeeded himself each consecutive six years; so when he finishes his present term he will have served in that high office twenty-four years. In addition to his undergraduate work, the real foundation laid for much of this public service was Judge West's experience as an Eastern pedagogue. He was superintendent of schools of the city of Fairfield, Il1., for two years, and county school superintendent of Wayne County, Ill., for five years, and was engaged in school work altogether for about fourteen years-a part of this time before he had graduated from college.

At Fairfield, Ill., on May 20, 1885, Mr. West, who is of English and Scotch-Irish descent, married Miss Elizabeth E. Wright, a daughter of Stephen and Emma Wright, of English ancestry; and their fortunate union has been further blessed by the birth of five children: Lulu A. West married R. Victor Langford, and Z. Bertrand West, Jr., married Miss Linna Yarnell. The other children are Marguerite E., Frank Gordon and Edmund C. West. Judge West is a member of the First Baptist Church of Santa Ana, and was superintendent of the Sunday school for almost twenty-eight years. He is still a valued and influential member and also of the Men's Club of that Church.

The Judge is a stanch, broad-minded Republican, and has unbounded confidence in the principles of that great party. He has been initiated into three branches of Masonry, knows the mysteries of two branches of the Odd Fellowship, is a Maccabee and a member of the Fraternal Brotherhood. This interesting career, so typical of American progressive manhood, is of double appeal, for it reveals the many-sidedness of the Judge and easily explains his broad sympathies and his ability-so widely appre- ciated by both the legal fraternity and the public in general-to enter into almost every phase of social, business and political life, and so render justice far more surely than would have been possible had he not run the gamut.

WILLIAM J. EDWARDS .- A resident of Orange County for more than forty- six years, William J. Edwards has contributed a large share to the development of the Westminster district, where he continues to make his home. Born in Derinda Township, Jo Daviess County, I11., April 22, 1858, Mr. Edwards grew up there on his father's 150-acre farm, attending the schools of the neighborhood. His parents were Samson and Diana (Rogers) Edwards, of whom mention is made on another page in this history.

Coming to California in 1874, John H. and William J. Edwards rented a tract of 320 acres of land in the Westminster district, which they farmed in partnership. going in on a large scale in raising grain, potatoes and live stock. After five years the partnership was dissolved, William J. carrying on the ranching alone and meet- ing with great success, later renting 160 acres from his father, which he farmed for sixteen years, then bought it. He had purchased his present place of forty acres in 1881, and gave it to his three older children, but in 1914 and 1915 bought it back. He is also the owner of the original Edwards homestead of forty acres, which he purchased in 1916. He also has owned and improved three other ranches in the Westminster and Wintersburg precincts, and had 1,280 acres of land in Arizona, near Casa Grande, also property at Seal Beach. In 1914 he erected his attractive bungalow on the Santa Ana-Huntington Beach Boulevard, which he has named "The Tortoise Shell."

In 1878, William J. Edwards was married to Miss Ella Johnson of Garden Grove, born in Solano County, the daughter of Irvin and Elizabeth Johnson, who came there from Missouri. She passed away in 1891, leaving five children: Ernest William, a rancher near Bishop, Inyo County, is married and has five children; Eliza- beth Lillian is the wife of Glenn L. Baker, a rancher in Tulare County, and she is the mother of six children; Harry James resides in Hemet, and has two children; Frances Henrietta is the wife of J. W. Stufflebeem, a rancher at Visalia, and they have one child; Bessie Ellen is the wife of George Harris of Lemon Cove, and she has one child by her first marriage with James Harvey. Mr. Edwards' second marriage, which occurred in 1892, united him with Miss Nettie Kelley, born in Nebraska, the . daughter of John and Mary J. Kelley, both now deceased. Six children have been born to them: Eugene J. is a rancher near Wintersburg and has one child; Cecil Violet is the wife of Benjamin Craig of Phoenix, Ariz., and has two children; Sylvia Juanita is the wife of Albert G. Kettler, a rancher of Buena Park; Ben Samson, Rufus Henry and Nettie Adelaide are at home.

Of late years, Mr. Edwards has been interested in the citrus and walnut industry and he now has twenty acres devoted to orchard, his Valencia grove now being four years old. Although always a very busy man, with many business interests, he has never allowed himself to become so absorbed in business cares as to forget that a reasonable amount of recreation is a necessity in everyone's life. A number of years ago he had a wagon fitted up especially for camping trips, with sleeping and cooking facilities ingeniously arranged. With his family he has taken many camping trips in this wagon, one trip several years ago being through the Yosemite Valley. Mr. Ed-

Hay Kellogg

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wards has had the wagon mounted on a Ford chassis so that it is now more of service than ever, especially for long trips, and during the early part of the year 1920 he drove it on a long camping trip 'in the mountains. Mr. Edwards is a member of the Westminster Drainage District and of the Lima Bean Growers' Association of Smeltzer. An independent, both in religious and political matters, he has lived a consistent, upright life, following his own creed of justice and honesty in all his dealings with his fellowmen. He helped to make the division of Orange from Los Angeles County, and has lived here all those years.

HIRAM CLAY KELLOGG .- Perhaps no one does more to help in the develop- ment of a new country and particularly to benefit future generations than the efficient civil engineer, and for this reason the name of H. Clay Kellogg of Santa Ana, is indelibly associated with Orange County. His works will live as monuments after he has passed hence. From the earliest days of the county up to the present time, and not alone in this section is his work known, but throughout the state and beyond its confines he has long been recognized as one of the most able men in his profession. The favorite saying of the famous educator, Horace Mann, "We should be ashamed to die until we have done something to help the world," is one of the favorite maxims of H. Clay Kellogg. A native son of California, he was born near St. Helena, Napa County, on Admission Day, September 9, 1855, the eldest son and child of Benjamin Franklin and Mary Orilla (Lillie) Kellogg, both descendants of old New England families who were among the pioneer settlers of Illinois. A sketch of the family is given on another page of this history.

Even in his early years Mr. Kellogg manifested a decided inclination towards the profession of civil engineer, and he was fortunate in being privileged to obtain the necessary education and training to perfect himself in his chosen calling. In 1879 he was graduated from Wilson College (now extinct) at Wilmington, Cal. During the time he attended this institution, through the friendship of Captain Smith, the engineer in charge of this section of the Coast Survey, Mr. Kellogg was fortunate in being employed to work out the triangulations of the survey of the Wilmington and San Pedro harbors and was furnished the necessary instruments for that purpose. After completing his course in the college he did not engage in his profession for about four years as he had taken contracts to set out vineyards at Anaheim, Placentia and Pasadena, this being the period when the grape industry was at its height in Southern California.

Mr. Kellogg's first. important contract was the laying out of the town of Elsinore. in Riverside County, in 1883. The following year he was made chief engineer of the Anaheim Union Water Company, just organized, and ever since that date he has been employed as engineer or consulting engineer for the company. He held a like position with the Anaheim Irrigation system until the district was declared invalid. In 1885 he was chosen to fill the office of deputy county surveyor of Los Angeles County. In 1888 he surveyed and built the railroad running from the center of San Bernardino, through Colton to Riverside and operated it for eight months. This is now a part of the Southern Pacific system. In 1886-87 he laid out South Riverside, now Corona, remaining as engineer of its water system until 1900. In 1894 he was selected for the important post of constructing engineer of the dam at Gila Bend, Ariz., where he remained until the completion of the work.

Upon his return to Orange County, which section of the state has been his home since the year 1869, he was elected county surveyor, serving until January, 1899, when he was elected city engineer of Santa Ana. The work before him was the development of the sewer system of the city, a task that he was most competent to undertake and which he completed to the satisfaction of everyone. In 1900 he went to Honolulu, where he was engaged as chief engineer by the Wahiawa Water Company, and built two immense reservoirs by damming up both forks of the Kaukonahua River, running each side of the Wahiawa Colony; he also constructed a canal from the mountains to irrigate the colony and as an adjunct. to the reservoirs, one of these having a capacity of 2,500,000,000 gallons. The waters of these reservoirs irrigate the lands of the Wahiawa Agricultural Company, being carried by a canal seven miles in length. In 1905 he was employed as consulting engineer to make a report on, and revise the plans of the Naunna dam above Honolulu and this dam has been constructed on his plans.

Upon the organization of the holding company for the Santa Ana Valley Irrigation Company and the Anaheim Union Water Company, known as the Santa Ana River Development Company, to look after the water supply and protect the water rights, Mr. Kellogg was employed as engineer, and still holds that important post. His duties are to measure the water each year from the source to the intake of the canals near the county line in Orange County and make such necessary investigations for lawsuits

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which occur in the protection of their rights, and in this field he is recognized as an authority and always called upon for expert testimony. In 1906, when the Newbert Pro- tection District was organized to control the water of the Santa Ana River from Santa Ana to the ocean, a distance of ten and one-half miles, he was appointed engineer and still holds that position. In 1910, after a period of twenty years, he returned to Corona, arranged for and built the storm drains and sewer system for the city, two previous attempts having failed.

Mr. Kellogg has constructed many miles of paving and built bridges in various cities and counties in Southern California, and has built up a clientele second to none of any other engineer in the state. With a decided talent for architecture, he designed the attractive residence at 122 Orange Street, Santa Ana, which has been his home for a number of years. During the year 1918-19 he constructed a beautiful mausoleum, 100x200, of concrete, marble and bronze, at Oakland, Cal., a credit to Mr. Kellogg as a builder, and had he not chosen the profession of engineering, he doubtless could have won fame and success in the architectural field.

Mr. Kellogg has been twice married; his first union was with Miss Victoria Schulz, a native of Iowa. She passed away in 1891, leaving a daughter, Victoria Sibyl, who was graduated from the Westlake School for Girls in Los Angeles. She is the wife of Ralph R. Michelsen, born in Los Angeles, a mechanic who works in steel, but with a strong penchant for raising poultry. They have two bright children, Ralph Copeland and Charlotte Augusta. Mr. and Mrs. Michelsen reside in Orange County. In 1895, at Portland, Ore., Mr. Kellogg was married to Miss Helen V. Kellogg, a native of Wisconsin, who spent her early life in North Dakota, and is a graduate of the high and normal schools and of the State University of North Dakota, a talented lady who presides over the family home and is an invaluable helpmate to her gifted husband. This union has been blessed with four children-Helen, Hiram Clay, Jr., Leonard Franklin and Oahu Rose.

In fraternal circles Mr. Kellogg is a Mason, having been made a member of Santa Ana Lodge, No. 241, F. & A. M .; and he belongs to the Chapter; the Council, where he has been illustrious master; the Commandery, in which he is a past eminent commander, and is a member of the Al Malaikah Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., in Los Angeles. For years he was prominent in the Native Sons of the Golden West, serving as president of the Invincible Parlor, and also held the office of deputy district grand president for fourteen years, and is now among the oldest of the Native Sons of Cali- fornia. He has always been prominent in the affairs of the Technical Society of Civil Engineers of the Pacific Coast. Notwithstanding the busy life he has led, H. Clay Kellogg has never neglected his duties as a citizen of the county, but has given of his time and means to further those projects that have had as their aim the betterment of social and civic conditions and in all such work he has had the active cooperation of his wife and they have a wide circle of friends wherever known.

JOHN H. EDWARDS .- Now living retired at Santa Ana, John H. Edwards occupies a distinct place among the honored pioneer ranchers of Orange County, as for close to half a century he has been identified with its progress, and through his aggressiveness and energy liberally contributing to every enterprise, not only of his own neighborhood, but of the whole country round about.

While the greater part of his life has been passed in California, Mr. Edwards is a native of Wisconsin, and there he was born near Hazel Green on October 16, 1855. His parents were Samson and Diana (Rogers) Edwards, honored residents of Orange County for many years, a sketch of their lives being found elsewhere in this history. During the early boyhood of Mr. Edwards, his parents removed to Jo Daviess County, Ill., and there he remained until early manhood. Then, in 1874, he came to California with his father, Samson Edwards, and located near Westminster in Orange County, and there they rented a ranch, which they cultivated together until John H. was twenty-one years of age. He then entered into a partnership with his brother, William J. Edwards, and for a number of years they were engaged in ranch- ing, leasing land which they devoted to corn, barley, potatoes and live stock. They also maintained a dairy and conducted a meat business, running wagons over a wide scope of territory, and as they were energetic and progressive, they soon became leaders in the agricultural development of the Westminster section.

In 1882 Mr. Edwards purchased a ranch of his own near .Westminster, and here he made his home until his removal to Santa Ana. His original purchase was a tract of forty acres, and this he added to until he owned 270 acres of valuable land. In connection with his ranching Mr. Edwards conducted a thriving butcher business for a number of years. In 1907 he rented the land to his two eldest sons, who have since given the ranch their careful attention, keeping it up to the same high state of cultivation. Despite his busy life in the early days of development of Orange County,

Monsignor

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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 39

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