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 41

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 41

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

"If with pleasure you are viewing any work a man is doing,

If you like him or you love him, tell him now; Don't withold your approbation 'till the parson makes oration, And he lies with snowy lilies o'er his brow.

No matter how you shout about it, he won't really care about it; He won't know how many tear-drops you have shed.

If you think some praise is due him, now's the time to slip it to him, For he cannot read his tombstone when he's dead.

350

HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY

"More than fame, and more than money, Is the comment, kind and sunny, And the hearty, warm approval of a friend. For it gives to life a savor, and it makes you stronger, braver, And it gives you heart and spirit to the end;

If he craves your praise-bestow it; if you like him, let him know it- Let the words of true encouragement be said.

Do not wait till life is over, and he's underneath the clover,

For he cannot read his tombstone when he's dead."

"I take it as I go along That life must have its gloom, That now and then the sound of song . Must fade from every room; That every heart must know its woe, Each door death's sable sign, Care falls to everyone, and so I strive to bear with mine.

"Misfortune is a part of life; No one who journeys here Can dodge the bitterness of strife Or pass without a tear. Love paves the way for us to mourn, Our pleasures breed regret. One day a sparkling joy is born, The next-our eyes are wet.

"Each life is tinctured with a pain Of sorrow and of care, And now and then come clouds and rain, Come hours of despair. And yet the sunshine bursts anew, And those who weep shall smile, For joy is always breaking through In just a little while."

GEORGE W. BUCHANAN .- A man who has really had much to do with the building up of the town of Orange is George W. Buchanan, since the spring of 1914 superintendent of city strets. He was born in Lafayette township, Medina County, Ohio, on February 13, 1863, the grandson of Samuel and Nancy (Wilson) Buchanan, natives, respectively, of Washington County, Pa., and Brooke County, Va., and representatives of fine old Southern stock. They had a son, George C. Buchanan, the father of our subject, who was born in Wellsburg, Va., and became a carpenter and builder, and also owned a farm in Lafayette township. On October 12, 1854, he war married to Miss Lydia Carlton, a native of Ohio, where she was born in 1835, the daughter of John and Catherine (Amon) . Carlton. In 1864 he enlisted in the Civil War and served as a member of Company D, One Hundred Sixty-sixth Regiment, Ohio National Guard. In the fall of 1910 they came to California and spent over a year in Orange, the father dying in June, 1914, and the mother in July, 1914. The other child of their union is now Mrs. Ida F. Moody of Long Beach.

George W. Buchanan, the younger child, was educated in the grammar schools of his district, and at the Medina high school in Ohio. He then learned the car- penter trade under Henry Prouty, and followed that and farming until his marriage on May 24, 1885. This occurred at Lafayette Township, and his bride was Miss Susan E. Chamberlain, a native of that district, and the daughter of John Chamber- lain, who was born in Greenfield, N. H., on June 25, 1829. His father was Abraham Chamberlain, a native of Vermont, where he was born in 1792, who had married Mary Clark, born in 1791, with whom, and their family, he migrated in an ox-cart from Greenfield to Westfield Township, Medina County, Ohio. As there were seven children in the fold, it was quite an undertaking. At Westfield Abraham Chamberlain `purchased land in the solid timber and hewed out a farm. In 1856 John Chamberlain was married to Mary Devereaux, who was born in 1830 in Oswego County, N. Y., the daughter of John and Mehitable (Craw) Devereaux. John Chamberlain and his wife were very successful farmers, and owned a farm of 280 acres in Lafayette Township, where they were highly respected.

351

HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY

Of the three children in the Chamberlain family, Susan E. is the only one living who completed her education in the Medina high school. She is not only a cultured woman, but she has been favored with much business acumen, so that she has proven a valuable helpmate to her husband. They farmed together on the old John Chamber- lain place, improving the farm and meeting with such success that they had it almost entirely tilled when they sold it in 1904. The last three years of their life in Ohio they resided in their comfortable residence at the county seat, Medina.

In 1904 Mr. and Mrs. Buchanan came to sunnier California, and for ten months resided at Redlands. During this time they looked around carefully, and finally, after due deliberation, selected Orange as the best of all places for a home. Mr. Buchanan purchased lots and built his beautiful residence at 192 North Shaffer Street.

For a time Mr. Buchanan followed building, and was superintendent of the work of erecting the Carnegie Library at Orange; he was also the inspector in charge of the building of the first big reservoir for the Orange City Waterworks. In 1909 he was appointed a trustee of the city of Orange to fill the vacancy caused by the resigna- tion of R. C. Dalton, and for fifteen months served his fellow-citizens with singular ability and fidelity. He was chairman of the street committee at the time when the street improvements began in Orange, and later he provided the necessary data for the construction of a sewer three miles long, and watched over the building of this extensive work until it was all completed.

In May, 1914, Mr. Buchanan was appointed superintendent of streets, for which responsibility he was abundantly equipped, and since then he has had charge of all street building and improvement. He is also plumbing inspector, and inspector of electric wiring and sewer connections.

Two children came to add happiness to Mr. and Mrs. Buchanan, and to do honor to a long-honored family name. Stacy M., assistant teller in the First National Bank in Los Angeles, served his country in Company E, One Hundred Forty-third Field Artillery, Forty-third Division, which went overseas. Mildred became Mrs. Osman Pixley, and resides at Orange. The family attend the First Methodist Episcopal Church of Orange, where Mr. Buchanan is a member of the board of trustees. In national politics Mr. Buchanan is a standpat Republican. Fraternally, he is a member of the K. O. T. M., and Mrs. Buchanan is a member of the L. O. T. M.

FRANK L. AINSWORTH-A successful man of business and finance, whose positive moral influence is felt in notable movements for the betterment of the city or county, is Frank L. Ainsworth, former president of the board of trustees, or mayor, of Orange. He was born in Monticello, Jones County, Iowa, in 1858, the son of Lewis Ainsworth, who had married Miss Persis Bartholomew. When he was one year old, Frank L. was brought by his parents to California, by way of the Isthmus of Panama, and reared at Weaverville until he was eleven years old; but in 1869 the family returned to Iowa, this time traveling in one of the first transcontinental trains. He thus attended school in California and Iowa, and was for a while a student at the Monticello High School. In 1878 the Ainsworth family moved to Cloud County, Kans., and Mr. Ains- worth engaged in farming and stock raising near Glasco. Ten years later they all moved to Salem, Ore., and there, for two years, Frank was employed as teller in the Ladd & Bush Bank. In 1890 he resigned and returned to Kansas with the rest of the family; and with his father, brother and sister he started the Ainsworth Bank of Glasco, taking the position of cashier. When the hank was incorporated as the Glasco State Bank he continued as its cashier, until 1900.

In that year, at the dawn of the new century, Mr. Ainsworth followed the lure of California and located at Orange; and, wishing out-door work, in connection with his father and brother-in-law, F. W. Butler, he established a lumber business. They opened up in 1902, constructed the first planing mill, started the first lumber yard at Orange, and soon did a very flourishing business. The firm name was the Ainsworth & Butler Lumber Company, which later became the Ainsworth Lumber and Milling Company, and it stood for reliability in every particular. In 1903 M. O. Ainsworth, a brother, bought out Butler's interests in the business. In 1914 the Ainsworths sold out their lumber interests, and since then Frank L. has been engaged in ranching. He is the owner of an orange and a walnut orchard near Santa Ana, and is a stockholder in and vice-president and director of the National Bank of Orange; is also a stockholder in the Orange Savings Bank and in the First National Bank of Santa Ana.

While in Kansas Mr. Ainsworth was married to Miss Emma Hostetler, a native of Pennsylvania, whose parents were early settlers of the Garden of the West. They have three children living. Allie is now Mrs. Gearhart, of Los Angeles; Mae has become Mrs. Burkett, of Orange, and Marjorie is at home.

352

HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY

Mr. and Mrs. Ainsworth and family have a fine residence on East Chapman Avenue. They attend the First Christian Church of Orange, in which for years Mr. Ainsworth has been prominent as an elder; was superintendent of the Sunday school for fifteen years, and has been a member of the Southern California Missionary Board. He joined the Odd Fellows lodge at Glasco, Kans., and is still a member there. Mr. Ainsworth is a Republican in matters of national politics, and a member of the Re- publican Central Committee. of Orange County; he was a trustee of the city of Orange for four years, the last two years being president of the board of trustees. He is intensely interested in every enterprise for the improvement and growth of Orange County, and Orange and Orange County may well be congratulated upon such citizens as Frank L. Ainsworth, public-spirited to the core.

CONWAY GRIFFITH .- A much-loved and admired artist of the present gifted colony at Laguna Beach is the pioneer, Conway Griffith, who is fond of God's great outdoors, and while on the range in New Mexico in his early days, got to know the West as it really is. He was born in Clark County, at Springfield, Ohio, the son of C. W. Griffith, who was a manufacturer in that city. He had married Miss Catherine Conway, a native daughter of Virginia, who maintained the tradition of her family by living to the ripe old age of seventy-four.

As a boy, Conway was devoted to art, and in time he was an instructor for years in the School of Design at Cincinnati, teaching a special method of painting on china. He had the first establishment in America where the china ware was baked in a spe- cially-built kiln. His health was poor, however, so he decided to strike out for the West. With a chum he spent a number of years in Mexico and Colorado, and became heavily interested in ranches and cattle. He accomplished something more than to ride the range, however, for he profited by the opportunity there, and at Denver, to study landscape painting. He was also in old Mexico for eighteen months, and there invested in stock. When he sold out, it was to celebrate the regaining of his health.

In 1898 he made a short visit to California, stopping at Riverside and Colton, but did not stay, however, until 1904, when he came to Los Angeles from New Mexico. He had always been fond of marine painting, hence he soon set up his studio at Cata- lina, where he remained for four years, off and on, returning frequently to the main- land, and sketching to his heart's content. Since the spring of 1906, however, Mr. Griffith has been established at Laguna Beach, finding, as others have, that this locality has charms and advantages nowhere else hereabouts to be enjoyed. On account of his long residence here, Mr. Griffith is recognized as the pioneer artist of Laguna Beach; but he also makes annual trips to the mountains and desert for the purpose of sketching.

Mr. Griffith's brother, A. H. Griffith-at whose home the mother made her home until her death-is a noted art critic of Detroit, so that our subject seems to have come to his own talents very naturally. As a self-taught artist, he has an individual interpretation which is much appreciated by the admirers of his work. He is a regular contributor to the art exhibits at Los Angeles and San Francisco, and is a member of the California Art Association, and a charter member of the Laguna Beach Art Association. He also belongs to the Laguna Beach Chamber of Commerce, and in national political affairs is a Republican.

SIMEON TUCKER .- One of the substantial citizens of the community whose increasing interests in Mexican lands has by no means diminished his enthusiasm for Orange County and its future prospects, is Simeon Tucker, who was born in Stockton, Jo Daviess County, Ill., on June 1, 1847. His father was F. L. Tucker, a native of Green Mountain, N. Y., who settled in Illinois about 1835, and was a pioneer merchant at Stockton, when he had the post office on his farm, and he had to haul things to and from Galena. In 1859 or 1860 the elder Tucker set out across the plains for California; and arriving in Tuolumne County, he tried his fortune at mining. And there he died, in March, 1884, esteemed by those who knew him in his rugged Americanism. He had married Miss Marcia Hunt, a native of the Nutmeg State, but she died in Illinois. She was the mother of six children, among whom Simeon, the youngest, is now the only one living.

Brought up at Stockton, Simeon attended the Illinois district school, and for some years assisted his father on the farm and in the store. In January, 1874. having come out to California, he worked on a fruit ranch at Shaw's Flat, at thirty dollars a month. after which he peddled fruit. In 1875 he came to Westminster, then in Los Angeles. now in Orange County, and buying a ranch he engaged in general farming, raising hogs and hominy.

When he sold out, at the end of five years, Mr. Tucker came to Anaheim, and in 1881 bought a place in the same district, but one mile below. He put in a vineyard, and

353

HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY

two years later it died. Then he set out St. Michael and Mediterranean sweet oranges, and otherwise considerably improved the place. Later he traded it for a ranch in the Newhall Mountains in Los Angeles County. He went into the hotel business at San Francisquito Canyon, and the large stone building he then acquired is still standing.

In the meantime, having thirty-four acres in East Anaheim, he bought forty acres more, all raw land, with cactus and other brushwood covering the surface. He cleared the land, leveled it, drove ont the rabbits and gophers, and in many ways agreeably improved it; and then he raised orange trees from seed, and budded them to superior Valencias. He sunk wells, installed an engine and had a fine pumping plant. He devoted forty acres to oranges, and he was the first to set out oranges in this district. In 1914 he also set out twenty-five acres of lemons. He raised much alfalfa, and now he not only has an electrical pumping plant for himself, but he supplies water to seventy-five acres belonging to other ranchers.

In addition to his valuable California holdings, Mr. Tucker owns two sections of land in Sonora, Mexico, and he has a stock ranch of 18,000 acres at Hermosillo in the same state.

In 1881 Mr. Tucker was married at Anaheim to Mrs. Lizette (Parker) Beckington, a native of Marengo, McHenry County, 111., and the daughter of Leonard Parker. She came to California in 1871 and settled with a brother at Anaheim, and later her parents bought land in the East Anaheim district, near Madame Modjeska's home. In 1908 Mr. Tucker built a new, handsome residence. One son, Earl Robert, who was born on the first ranch they had, has blessed this fortunate union; he married Miss Laura Lensing, a native of Missouri, and assists his father. Mrs. Tucker has a daughter by her former marriage, Mrs. Lottie Bush.

Mr. Tucker has always, both as a genuine American and as a Socialist, been interested, not merely in building up a community, but in the more difficult, more important work of upbuilding as well; and when he lived near Newhall he served with satisfaction to all as a school trustee.

JAMES HARVEY GULICK .- A most interesting illustration of keeping one's family tree record so that it may become a contribution to history, is afforded by James Harvey Gulick, who can trace his ancestry back to good old pre-Revolutionary stock. Henry Gulick was a captain of the Second Regiment of Hunterdon County, N. J., in the Revolutionary War. He married Mary Williamson of that county, and of their several children one, a son, Nicholas Gulick, of New Jersey and New York. served a part of his time with his father's command. He married Elizabeth Gano, also of those two states. She was of Huguenot stock, and one of their children was William Gano Gulick, of Clark County, Ind., and Cincinnati, Ohio. He married Sarah Adams, and their son was named Martin Nicholas Gulick. He married Eleanor Welch in Clark County, Ind., 1841, and the same year moved to Macoupin County, Ill. After living on his farm at Plainview for more than fifty years he came to Tustin, Orange County, Cal., and died in 1900.

Their son, James Harvey Gulick, was born at Plainview, Ill., June 18, 1844, and there he attended the district school and lived with his parents on the home farm. After the Civil War broke out, he enlisted in Company A, One Hundred Twenty-second Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and served in the West, as some called it at that time, and the last half of his service under that intrepid leader, Andrew Jackson Smith, commanding the Sixteenth Corps. He was in spirited engagements in Tennessee, Alabama, and Mississippi; was in action at Parkers' Cross Roads, Tenn., and Tupelo, Miss., and present at Nashville, Tenn., and Fort Blakely, Ala. He received his dis- charge July 15, 1865.

After returning to the Illinois home, Mr. Gulick attended the best business college in St. Louis, and then taught school in several counties in western Missouri. On December 6, 1868, he was married in Appleton, Bourbon County, Kans., to Miss Laura Jane Palmer, the daughter of William and Mary Palmer, of Greenbush, Warren County, 111. A forbear of Mrs. Palmer, Walter Palmer, came from England in 1629, and her father from New York, and her mother from Ohio. They lived in Chickasaw County, Iowa, during the Civil War, and in 1865 moved to Bourbon County, Kans. Mr. Gulick went to Wilson County, Kans., in 1869, and took up 160 acres of government land, to which he added 240 more, which he devoted to grain and stock.

On removing further west to California in the "boom" year 1887, Mr. Gulick came directly to what is now Orange County and for a while he and his family lived in the Greenville district. Then they removed to Villa Park; in 1893 he sold that farm and moved to the Richfield section, where he purchased 107 acres. Seventy of these he set out to walnuts and the rest in various crops. After nineteen years there, however, he disposed of that holding and came to Santa Ana. Here he purchased a home at 1702 Spurgeon Street, where he has resided ever since. Ten children, eleven grand-

354

HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY

children and four great-grandchildren have called this worthy couple blessed. William Nicholas married Mrs. Julia Scovil and is living in Tustin; Mary Eleanor died in in- fancy; Phillip Frederick passed away at the age of nineteen; Fanny Ethel married William Wagner of Long Beach; Lena May married William L. Hewitt of Santa Ana; Arthur Quinn married Jessie M. Lough and is living at Fullerton; Winnie Hope also died in infancy; Laura Helen married William Huntley of Tustin; James Mark married May Wiley and they reside at Hemet; George Asbury married Maggie Forbes and they live at Tustin. Mr. Gulick belongs to the Sons of the Revolution at Los Angeles, and those that are interested in Gulick genealogy are invited to inspect a fifty-page manuscript on file in the library of that order in Los Angeles.

WILLIAM M. SMART .- Highly esteemed as a member of a distinguished family of Santa Ana, the late William M. Smart, was interesting as a gentleman long foremost in movements for the educational and intellectual advancement of the community. He was born at Xenia, Ohio, September 29, 1848, a son of Rev. James P. and Elizabeth (McClellan) Smart. Reverend Smart served as a pastor of the United Presbyterian Church near Xenia for twenty-two years, or until his death. W. M. Smart was given a good public school education and afterwards attended the Xenia Seminary, after which he was for years engaged in the coal business at Xenia with his brother John, until he sold out to him to come to California.

In 1887 he arrived in Santa Ana and for a time served as secretary of the Mc- Fadden Lumber Company, later he was for two years secretary of the Santa Ana Valley Irrigation Company, and from 1901 until 1914, up to the time of his death, he served as secretary and manager of the Santiago Fruit Growers Association. Mr. Smart had been a member of the Santa Ana board of education and of the library board, giving freely of his services when the present building was erected. In politics he was a Republican in national affairs, but most nonpartisan when it came to putting his shoulder to the wheel and working for the best candidates making for local improve- ments. He was a member of the United Presbyterian Church and lived an exemplary Christian life.

The marriage of W. M. Smart, on October 31, 1882, at Xenia, Ohio, united him with Miss Lydia C. the daughter of William and Mary (Collins) Anderson, substantial farmer folk of the Buckeye State. She was educated in the public schools of Xenia and in Ohio Central College at Iberia, an institution now of national repute on account of President-elect Harding having been a student there. To Mr. and Mrs. Smart six children were born: Mary A., is· recognized as a professional photographer and is proprietor of the Mary Smart Studio, Santa Ana; Janet, is the wife of Henry L. Thomp- son of Moline, Ill., and the mother of a son, Carson F .; Fannie M., is a teacher in the public schools of Bisbee, Ariz .; James P., who married Miss Loraine Scott, is a rancher in Oregon, and he was formerly in Y. M. C. A. work in Los Angeles for years; he has two children-Margaret and James P., Jr .; William A., is connected with the Oregon State Agricultural College at Corvallis; and Carson M., is a surveyor and civil engineer in the employ of the city of Los Angeles. William A., and Carson M. were in the United States service during the World War, the former as a second lieutenant of heavy artillery and in line for promotion when the armistice was declared. Carson M. reached France, but did not see active service. Mrs. Smart had the honor of serving on the Santa Ana Board of Education at the time when the Polytechnic was built, and she also is a member of the United Presbyterian Church. William M. Smart passed away on October 11, 1914, mourned by a large circle of friends in Orange County.

ADONIRAM JUDSON SANDERS .- The memory of a worthy, self-sacrificing and attaining pioneer such as the late Adoniram Judson Sanders, known by all his friends as plain Judson, is not likely soon to be forgotten, especially when his esteemed widow. herself one of the oldest settlers in these parts is following in his steps. He was born in Yarmouth, N. S., and came of English and Scotch descent; and there he was reared and received his education in the local schools. In his youth he showed a natural aptitude as a mechanic and he, therefore, followed the machinist's trade. Later, he came out to Minnesota, locating at Le Sueur, where he followed his trade, and it was there in December, 1865, he was married to Miss Elizabeth McPherson, who was born in Chaumont, Jefferson County, N. Y., the daughter of Hugh McPherson, born in New Hampshire, but of Scotch descent. The McPherson family were among the first settlers in the Granite State, and Grandfather William McPherson served in the Revo- lutionary War. Hugh McPherson was a captain in the New Hampshire State Militia, and was also a farmer; and he followed agriculture when he removed to Chaumont Bay, N. Y. He married Betsy Butterfield, a native of New Hampshire, and the grand- daughter of Peter Butterfield, who was of English descent and also served in the Revolution. Mr. and Mrs. Hugh McPherson were Presbyterians, and died at the old

HMM. Swart

357

HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY

home farm at Chaumont, N. Y. They had thirteen chillien, and Mrs. Sanders was the youngest and is the only one now living. She completed her education at Watertown Academy, and looks back to those girlhood days, in northern New York, as among the happiest of her long career.

After his marriage, Mr. Sanders followed his trade in Minnesota, and in 1873, they came out to California and purchased a ranch two miles east of Orange, where they resided for thirty-six years. The land was a raw cactus and brush patch when they first took hold; but they cleared it and brought it under cultivation, although for the first five years they had very little water. They set out a vineyard of muscat grapes, and soon enjoyed the credit of making among the finest raisins in the vicinity. Indeed, a Los Angeles grocer selected some of their raisins as the best obtainable hereabouts and sent them on to President and Mrs. Cleveland.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

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 41

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