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 47

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 47

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He was one of the organizers of the La Habra Midway Oil Company, in which he is also a director. This company is composed of local men and has 116 acres of land under lease, both of Mr. Espolt's ranches being included in the same. The terms of the lease, which runs for twenty-five years, call for the drilling of wells for oil, and their first well is located north of the upper boulevard, less than a mile from La Habra. From all surface indications and reports of competent geologists and oil well locators, the prospects are bright for a successful culmination of the plans of the originators of the enterprise.

That Mr. Espolt is a man of diversified interests will be seen by his activities since branching out for himself. While he lived in East Whittier he designed and manu- factured three types of ladders for picking fruit. These were the peg top, flat top and straight ladders, and he found a ready sale for his product during the several years he was in the business. He is deeply interested in the welfare of Orange County and liberally cooperates with all movements for advancing the commercial prestige of the section of the state he has selected for his home.

On Easter Sunday, April 23, 1905, Mr. Espolt was married to Miss Hazael Ruth Cline. A native of Arkansas, she came to California with her parents, Linn and Clementine Cline in 1893, and was educated in the grammar schools of Fullerton and the high school at Whittier. Her mother passed away when she was a small child, and her father, who has spent the greater part of his life in the mercantile business, is now the proprietor of an establishment at Ramona Acres, near Los Angeles. Mr. and Mrs. Espolt are the parents of two children: Ayetrell is a student at the Fuller- ton high school and Clementine attends the grammar school at La Habra.

Although the care of his property consumes much of Mr. Espolt's time he has never been too absorbed with his own interests to forget or neglect his duties as a citizen, and he voices his political opinion through the candidates of the Republican party. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Elks and Odd Fellows of Whittier.

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JAMES RANDOLPH MEDLOCK, M.D .- Only a few persons appreciate the patience, self-denying application, weight of care and anxiety and the enormous respon- sibility which attend the life of the conscientious family physician. During the thirty- six years that Dr. James Randolph Medlock pursued the practice of medicine in South- ern California he was known not only for his skill and assiduity as a physician, but for his enthusiastic interest in the development and fostering of all worthy enterprises that had as their aim the upbuilding of the commercial and agricultural interests of Orange County.

James Randolph Medlock was born in Lawrence District, S. C., January 24, 1837. Though not richly endowed with material wealth, his parents gave him the priceless heritage of a noble Scotch ancestry. His early education was received in the local schools, but he was ever alert to reach out beyond their limited curriculum into all branches of study. When still a lad in his teens-his parents both having died-he moved to Bentonville, Benton County, Ark., where at the age of eighteen he entered the office of Dr. John Gray as a student of medicine. He remained in this office for three years and the latter year was, as Dr. Gray testifies, "riding with me in the practice of medicine."

In 1859 he graduated from the Cincinnati Medical College and returned to Ben- tonville, where he resumed the practice of medicine independently. Here he remained until the outbreak of the Civil War, when he enlisted in the Confederate Army and was in active service until near the close of the war. When the conditions of the country permitted he began practicing at Huntsville, Ark. Practice in this locality was ex- ceedingly difficult owing to the mountainous nature of the region and the severe weather. The only way in which Dr. Medlock could climb the steep hills and ford the swollen streams was on horseback with his medicines and instruments packed in saddle bags. Such strenuous practice, in addition to owning and operating a drug store, began to wear on him, and after taking a post-graduate course at the St. Louis Medical College he decided to come to California. Arriving here in 1876, he located at Orange, which was then in Los Angeles County. He purchased forty acres, which he set to oranges, and later developed a twenty-acre walnut grove. Two years of his long residence in the Golden State were spent in Northern California, near Sacramento, but the delightful climate of the Southland and its great opportunities for development in agriculture and citrus culture appealed so strongly to him that he returned to Santa Ana, where he continued to practice until his demise on November 10, 1913.

Dr. Medlock merited his recognition as a family physician by his knowledge and true skill, genial and sympathetic manner, never seeking notoriety by questionable methods. He was closely identified with the city of Santa Ana and was very public spirited. He was one of the organizers and served as a director of the Farmers and Merchants Bank of Santa Ana and at the time of organization was urged to take the presidency, but declined on account of the large practice lie could not neglect. He was interested in the development of the water and gas companies and the first street car line in Santa Ana. He also added to the material development of the city by pur- chasing a 300-foot frontage on North Main Street, in the 800 block, the property extending through to Sycamore Strect, and here he erected his home. He also built and owned business blocks on Fourth, near Main, and the Medlock Block at the corner of Fifth and Main Streets.

At Ozark, Ark., in 1869, Dr. Medlock was united in marriage with Miss Martha McFerrin Adams, a native of Arkansas, and to them were born two children, one of whom grew up-a daughter Velda, who married C. A. Gustlin of Santa Ana. Mrs. Medlock's father, Abner Adams, born in Kentucky, was a merchant in Arkansas, but died many years ago. Her mother, Mary S. (Berry) Adams, a native of Tennessee, came to California in 1876 and spent her last years with Dr. and Mrs. Medlock at Santa Ana. Mrs. Medlock is very active in civic affairs and is a charter member of the Ebell Club, which was organized at her home, and is also a charter member and past matron of the Eastern Star. She was one of the organizers of the First Presby- terian Church of Santa Ana, and has always been active in Church and missionary work. Reared in an environment of culture and refinement, she is a woman of rare attain- ments and pleasing personality, radiating pleasure on her many friends who enjoy her for hospitality and kindness.

Dr. Medlock was no ordinary man or physician. He was a man of deeds more than words. He was a man of action, alert, resourceful, always ready; a man of judicial mind, he saw both sides on all questions. Hundreds of mothers could testify to his skill as an obstetrician. It was in the maternity chamber at the hour of midnight that Dr. Medlock was the dominant figure, "a shadow of a great rock in a weary land." He always met promptly and successfully every emergency and did it quietly and with- out ostentation. A "doctor of the old school," he rode a horse and carried saddle

James R. Medlock M. D.

martha In Medlock

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bags to the remote homes in an Arkansas wilderness, and it was there that he became self-reliant and resourceful before coming to California. No night was too dark or storm too severe for him to answer the call of suffering.

Fortunate in being well born, Dr. Medlock had in his makeup the Scotch ancestry of oak. He inherited from his forbears a contempt for the hypocrite or deceitful quack; he was the soul of honor and always signed his letters, "Sincerely yours." He himself was sincere, genuine, honest, unaffected, candid, cordial and true. Dr. Medlock was an honored member of the American Medical Association and of the state and county societies, and fraternally was a prominent Mason of the Knights Templar degree, as well as a Shriner.

JUAN GLESS .- A native of far-away Spain, Juan Gless is one of El Toro's pioneer settlers, having come there thirty-five years ago, when all of this section of Orange County was given over to sheep raising, thousands of them grazing over the . land that has in later years been transformed into highly cultivated ranches and orchards. Navarro, Spain, was Mr. Gless' birthplace, and there he first saw the light on April 25, 1861, his parents being Bernard and Juana Gless, farmer folk near Aldudes, who spent their lives in that section, both having passed away some years ago at the old home.

There were six children in the Gless family: Pedro and Gracian reside in France; Pierre resides with our subject; Mrs. Juana Bidart of El Toro; Mrs. Ysabel Yaureguc of Ventura, and Juan of this review. The home place of the Gless family was on the line between France and Spain, and here Juan was reared, learning when but a lad to take care of sheep and cattle, that being the principal industry of the region. Having heard good reports from some of their countrymen who had migrated to California, telling of the success awaiting young men of brain and muscle who were willing to work, Mr. Gless left the old home for the New World, reaching California in October, 1885. Finding employment with S. Chavorie and LeFur at Newport, he continued with them for three years, when he purchased a band of sheep and started out on his own account, ranging them on the plains and in the mountains, and incresa- ing his herds until he had 6,000 head. He made his headquarters at El Toro, but in the old days he ranged his sheep as far north as Los Angeles up to what is now Seventh Street, that locality then bearing no indication that in the years to come it would be the business center of the metropolis of the Pacific Coast.

In Los Angeles, November 14, 1904, occurred the marriage of Mr. Gless, when he was united with Miss Antoinette Carle, who was born in Alsace-Lorraine, France, the daughter of Antoine and Clementine (Derzoft) Carle, Alsatian farmers. The mother passed away in 1899, and the following year Antoinette came to Los Angeles with her father and his family. In the Carle family were four children: A. C., a rancher in El Toro; Julia, now Mrs. Falkenberg, of Los Angeles; Estelle, wife of Geo. N. Vusich, resides in Los Angeles, and Antoinette, the youngest, made her home in Los Angeles until her marriage to Mr. Gless. Her father afterward resided at El Toro, making his home with Mr. and Mrs. Gless until his death in 1915. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Gless continued to reside at El Toro until they bought their present place in 1907. It is a splendid ranch of 135 acres, thirty acres being a bearing orchard of apricots. They also engage in general farming and stock raising, in whch they are very successful. Mrs. Gless has been an able helpmate to her husband, encouraging him in his ambition and assisting him in every way possible, and he attributes much of his success to her assistance and advice.

Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Gless: John P. and Madeline Estelle. The family are members of the Roman Catholic Church at El Toro, and Mr. Gless shows his belief in cooperation by membership in the California Prune and Apri- cot Growers Association.

FREDRICK STANCKEY .- Thirty-four years ago Fredrick Stanckey became identified with the Anaheim section of Orange County, and for thirty years has owned his well-kept and productive ranch on the County Highway, located half a mile west of Anaheim. This honored pioneer is justly proud to be recognized as a self-made man, for he has, in the face of seeming insurmountable difficulties, won commendable success. When one realizes that Mr. Stanckey arrived in Anaheim with but two dollars in cash-a stranger in a new country, unfamiliar with the language and surroundings, with a family to support-and today is the owner of a profitable orange grove, and has in the meantime supported and educated his family and accumul- lated a generous bank account, they can truthfully say he has more than made good, and his record may well be envied and admired by the succeeding generation.

Fredrick Stanckey was born in Poland in 1845, a son of Michael and Anna Stanckey, natives of Germany who moved to Poland in early life. Their family con-

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sisted of seven children, three of whom emigrated to the United States, Fredrick being the only member of the family now living. From Poland the family migrated to Russia, and in that country Fredrick was united in marriage with Miss Gustena Lauf- man, a native of Poland, born in 1843. Mr. and Mrs. Stanckey lived in Russia for eighteen years, where they reared a large family of children. Two children passed away in Russia and one in Orange County. The eight living are: Augusta, Mrs. George Simms; Adolph, Amelia, Mrs. George Lenz; Robert, John, Frederick, Bertha, Mrs. Ed Sterling, and Julius, the latter being born in Anaheim. The sons are ranchers and are doing well. Mr. and Mrs. Stanckey are members of the Baptist Church at Anaheim, and are highly esteemed in the community for their high ideals of citizenship and unquestioned integrity of character.

WILLIAM SCHUMACHER .- The name of William Schumacher, supervisor of Orange County, stands for progress, efficiency, and the highest ideals in business methods in the conduct of the county's affairs. This probity of character and sterling worth as a citizen of Orange County, are duly recognized by the public and strongly attested by his long and faithful service as a supervisor, being elected in 1912.

Mr. Schumacher is not only a native son of the Golden State, but of Los An- geles County, where he was born in 1881, the son of Joseph and Mary Schumacher. Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Schumacher were the parents of three children, William being the eldest child in order of birth. Joseph Schumacher passed away in 1887.

In 1903 William Schumacher purchased his present ranch of 100 acres, located south of Buena Park on Almond Street. Forty acres of his ranch are devoted to citrus fruit, the remainder to general farming. When he purchased the place it was a dairy farm, but he soon began extensive improvements; set out orange trees, which are now in their sixth year, prolific bearers; constructed modern buildings, and in every way made of his ranch an up-to-date place. Mr. Schumacher is emphatically a man of energy and action, giving substantial encouragement to every plan for the promo- tion of the county's welfare, especially for the section he has the honor to represent.

For three years he served with great success as president of the Chamber of Commerce of Buena Park; is president of the Citrus Orchards Association, and fra- ternally is a Mason and member of Buena Park Lodge No. 357, F. & A. M., Fullerton Chapter, R. A. M., Santa Ana Commandery, Anaheim Lodge No. 1345, B. P. O. Elks.

In June, 1918. William Schumacher was united in marriage with Miss Lulu Crum, daughter of D. M. and Lydia Crum. Mr. and Mrs. Schumacher have a large circle of warm personal friends in the county and are most highly esteemed in their community.

JAMES MERRICK HAZARD .- A grandson of a '49er, and a member of a very prominent California family who has seen much development in the great Golden State, is John Merrick Hazard, who first came to Los Angeles in the early seventies. He was born in Ionia, Mich., on October 5, 1857, the son of Charles Hazard, a native of that state, who followed carpentering and building. He served in the Civil War, and was married to Miss Amelia Chrysler, also a native of Michigan. In 1870 he came out to Los Angeles, and a year later the family joined him. Grandfather Mer- rick Hazard had 'crossed the plains to California in 1849, and had ventured into mining; and after three years he returned East for his family, crossed the plains again, and settled in Los Angeles. He bought various pieces of land in and around the city, and died here, a member of the Society of California Pioneers. His son, Henry T. Hazard, came the second trip later, and in 1889 he was elected to the high office of mayor of Los Angeles. Charles Hazard owned a ranch on Slauson Avenue, and died in Los Angeles in 1902. His widow is still living, past eighty-six years of age, and resides in Orange County. Four children were born to this worthy couple. Amelia is Mrs. Farris, and lives in the Commonwealth district; James Merrick is the subject of our review; William Herman is in Santa Barbara, and Nellie M. is Mrs. Donaldson, of Templeton, California.

James Merrick went to school in Michigan, and in 1871 came to Los Angeles, at one of the most interesting periods in the city's history. According to Mr. Hazard's recollection, there was no cross street south of First until one came to Ninth, and that was called Squaw Lane. . He attended school in the Green Meadow district, and early learned the routine work of a farm, so that hie ran the ranch of eighty acres, and raised grain and stock. He continued at home until he was eighteen years of age, when he learned the trade of the carpenter. Later he engaged in contract building, and erected the first house in Ontario for his residence, and also worked on the building of the hotel for Chaffee Brothers.

In 1886 Mr. Hazard removed to Templeton, in San Luis-Obispo County, where he bought a farm and went in for the raising of grain and stock. He was troubled,

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however, with squirrels, which destroyed his crops. After a couple of years he went to Stanford University and assisted, for nine months, in the building of that new institution. Then he removed to San Francisco, and worked at the building of coal bunkers, and when they were completed, and James Kinsman was superintending their operation, Mr. Hazard remained also and acted as foreman, with a hundred men under him. In 1899 he served as construction engineer in the Quartermaster's Department, U. S. A., in the Philippines, returning to San Francisco in 1900.

While residing in San Francisco, however, Mr. Hazard suffered much from sciatica, and this led him to quit the place and to go to Pittsburg Landing, Cal. There, with the same James Kinsman, he built a factory for briquettes; and, when he had recovered his health, he returned to San Francisco. Three months later, the sciatica again attacked him, and then he came down into the Southland; and as Mrs. -Hazard liked the change, he decided to remain. He was for a year at Long Beach, and then in 1906 he bought forty acres of land in Orange County, on North Street and Anaheim Road, raw and covered with cactus and brush; but he cleared and leveled it, and set ont the entire tract to Valencia oranges, and raised and budded the trees. He also cleared for himself some twenty acres on Anaheim Road in the Common- wealth district. Of his former holdings, he has sold all but thirty acres, and on these, an honored "old settler," he resides in comfort.

At San Jose, Mr. Hazard married Miss Ella V. Mayo, a native of San Jose, and the daughter of James Mayo, who was superintendent of the New Almaden Quick- silver Mine. She was a most estimable lady, and her demise on February 5, 1919. was widely mourned. A son, James Mayo Hazard, is the well-known rancher and horticulturist, who takes care of the Hazard ranch.

In national political affairs, Mr. Hazard lets his Republican colors fly to the breeze; but he is too much of a pioneer to be willing to permit partisanship to bias or hinder him in the support of any worthy local measure, and nowhere is there a better "booster" for state, county and town. The family attend the Episcopal Church

OTTO DARGATZ .- A successful orange-grower, fortunate in his wife as a prac- tical, industrious helpmate, is Otto Dargatz, who entered upon a tract of sagebrush and cactus and, by intelligent, hard labor, transformed the wild land in the most creditable manner into a fine orange grove, situated on Olive Street, in Anaheim, to which city he came in 1894. He was born in Coeslin, Pomerania, on June 10, 1869, reared on a farm and sent to the North German schools. His father was Carl Dar- gatz, who removed with his family to Russia, where they spent eleven years; and there he passed away.

Called upon to do the usual military service expected of a young man of his age, Otto returned to Germany, was released from service, and then went back to Russia, where he helped improve the home place. However, he could not get a deed to the property, on which account he sold out and returned to Germany with his mother.

A brother, Albert, had come out to California and had done well; and, influenced by his example and letters, Otto, after a year and a half at home, concluded to follow. He arrived in Anaheim in 1894, and eighteen months thereafter his mother and sister joined him. She later passed away in Canada, while with our subject. At first he went to work on farms in and around Anaheim, and then he bought ten acres in West Anaheim, which he sold to his brother.

In 1899 he went to Alberta, Canada, and homesteaded 160 acres of land, which he improved by grubbing out and clearing, and by planting grain. When he had man- aged this successfully for four years, he sold it and returned to California and Ana- heim. He bought back the old ten acres, and three months later sold them again. Then he purchased his present nineteen acres on Olive Street-at that time a stretch of cactus and brush, calling for much hard work to clear and level; he sunk a well, and in copartnership with others, put in a pumping plant. He raised his own nursery stock of orange trees; he budded them as Valencias, and he set out his entire acreage to that variety of citrus fruit tree. He also bought a place in Wasco, Kern County, which he improved to alfalfa and then sold, and in December, 1919. he purchased twenty acres in West Anaheim, which he has set out to Valencia oranges.

At Anaheim, Mr. Dargatz was married to Miss Emelia Peters, a native of Poland, who came to California as a young lady. Four of their children are still living. Leo is ranching in West Anaheim; Herman, Martha and Awalt are at home; Arthur died June 17, 1920, at sixteen years of age. The family belong to the German Baptist Church of Anaheim, where Mr. Dargatz is a trustee. He is a Republican in national politics, and a nonpartisan "booster" of anything worth while likely to help Anaheim and Orange County.

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HENRY KROEGER .- A resident of Anaheim enjoying the enviable distinction of being the oldest living settler in the town is Henry Kroeger, who was born in Bramstadt, Holstein, then a part of Denmark, on November 24, 1830, where he was reared on a farm. He learned the cooper's trade, responded for military service, and when the Revolution of 1848 broke out on the twenty-third of March, in both Germany and Holstein, he fought with the forces of Denmark as lieutenant in the heavy artillery. during 1848 and 1849, and was an aide-de-camp on the staff of General Von Wissel.

Breaking away from the associations of home and fatherland in 1854, Mr. Kroeger came to America and to far-away San Francisco, and there started a cooper-shop. Two years later, he joined the Vigilantes and helped preserve law and order in the Bay City by meting out a little law to those who had never really known the desired-for blessing. In 1858, he bought a share in the Los Angeles Vineyard Society from Colonel John Froehling, and another share from Mr. Leutkens, six or eight months after the society's organization, and in 1860 he made his first visit to Anaheim.

In 1862, he settled here with his family, and began, with the rest of them, to raise vines. He opened a winery and set up a distillery, and contributed his share to the development of this industry until the middle eighties, when disease struck the grape vines, and disaster spread over the Southland. Convinced that it was "all up" with the vineyards, Mr. Kroeger set out Valencia and Navel orange trees, transforming his twenty acres on East Center Street, and his hundred acres, besides, in Fullerton. North of Anaheim, he came to have twenty acres in walnuts, and to the southwest of the same town, another twenty acres of the same nuts. With Messrs. Rimpau and Melrose, he owned a two-fifths interest in 130 acres in Placentia.

He built for himself a fine residence on East Center Street, where he still dwells, and he erected the old Commercial Hotel, on the present site of the Valencia Hotel. He also built Kroeger's Hall, and he put up another building adjoining the hall, and still another to the west-all in the early, bustling days of Anaheim, when the good burghers, enjoying life rather according to the Old World standards, were fond of "doing things" and needed roofs under which to give way to their activities. He owned a good deal of other valuable property in the county, and in 1888 built the Hotel del Campo, in association with others. This enterprise was not a financial success; and much of the loss, unfortunately, fell upon him.

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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 47

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