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 48

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 48

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In 1857, at San Francisco, Mr. Kroeger was married to Sophia Husman, a native of Hanover, Germany, who died on July 30, 1903. They were granted fourteen children, and just seven of the number are living today. Henrietta is Mrs. Schindler of Anaheim; William is at Fullerton, and so is his next youngest sister, Sophia, Mrs. Matter. Henry J. is a horticulturist of Fullerton, Louis is active at Anaheim, and Pauline, who owns the old home on East Center Street, is the wife of John Brunworth of Anaheim. Amelia. the youngest of those surviving, is the wife of L. D. Bradley of Riverside. Mr. Kroeger was the second mayor of Anaheim in 1868. He was prominent in church circles and helped build up the first churches in town.

When the war broke out between the United States and Spain, Henry Kroeger, patriotic American and still a doughty soldier in his martial spirit, offered his services to General Nelson A. Miles, for the coast defense in California. Dewey, however, made such short work of the Spanish navy in Pacific waters that this generous offer was not accepted; and the veteran pioneer was permitted to continue in his peaceful daily walks, amid an environment recalling days of happiness and comfortable prosperity certainly not eclipsed in many ways by those of more modern times.

D. G. COLE .- A member of the real estate firm of Cole & Hardy of Santa Ana, D. G. Cole has been identified with the realty business of Orange County since first coming here in 1897. Mr. Cole was born on September 2, 1854, in Rock Run Township, Stephenson County, Ill., a son of Wilson and Charlotte (Deighton) Cole, the father a native of New York State, while Mrs. Cole was born in England. Wilson Cole was one of the pioneer settlers of Stephenson County, having come there with his family in the early forties. He was a prominent farmer there until his death, which occurred in 1866 when D. G. Cole was but twelve years old, the mother having passed away four years previous. There were eight children in the Cole family, all boys, and seven of them grew up to maturity.

Naturally, the loss of both parents made Mr. Cole's early life much more difficult, but the energy and determination to succeed were strong within him, and especially was he desirons of securing as good an education as possible. He began working out on farms by the month when but a lad, improving the meager educational opportunities that his circumstances afforded. When he was seventeen years of age, he went to Nebraska with his older brother, Adelbert Cole, now a well-known physician of Britt, Iowa. They took up pre-emptions in Hamilton County in that State, but D. G. lost his

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because of his minority. He then returned to Stephenson County, and attended school at Freeport, Ill. He then attended the college at Dixon, Ill., later taking the teacher's examination and teaching school for one term in Stephenson County, Il1.

Returning to Nebraska, Mr. Cole purchased the farm of his brother, Adelbert Cole, in Hamilton County, and here he became interested in agriculture, continuing there until 1897, when he came to California and located in Orange County. Shortly after coming here he began dealing in real estate, and since that time he has been actively engaged in the purchase and sale of both city and ranch property the greater part of the time.

Mr. Cole is perhaps even better known in Orange County as a walnut grower, as he has for many years been interested financially in this industry and is a member of the Santa Ana Walnut Growers Association. He is the owner of three fine walnut ranches, one of forty acres at Garden Grove, a twenty-acre grove at Santa Ana, and one of twelve acres at Tustin, on Williams Street, where he lives. Through years of practical experience he has gained a thorough knowledge of walnut production, and in his community he is considered an authority on the subject, and his holdings show the care of an experienced grower.

In 1881, Mr. Cole was united in marriage with Miss Johanna McCarthy, the ceremony being solemnized at Harrison, Winnebago County, Il1. Mr. and Mrs. Cole are the parents of four children. The three eldest were born in Nebraska: George, married Miss Maude Williams and lives near Garden Grove; Fred L., married Miss Leo Yost, of a pioneer Santa Ana family, and they are the parents of two children; Myrtle, is now the wife of Ernest Wakeham, a rancher at Stockton, Cal., and they have four children; Ralph was born in Orange County, and resides at the home place.

Beginning life under disadvantages, owing to the death of both his parents when he was quite young, Mr. Cole is indeed deserving of the splendid success he has made, and he is now numbered among Orange County's most substantial citizens. A man of strict integrity, he has always been enthusiastic in the promotion of every project advanced whose tendency is to benefit the entire community. Mr. and Mrs. Cole are members of the Congregational Church at Santa Ana, and in political matters Mr. Cole is a Republican. Fraternally he is a member of the Santa Ana Lodge of Masons.

THOMAS JESSUP .- Among Southern California's big industries, that of horti- culture has attracted men of intelligence, many of whom have gained a competency in this vocation, and the county's rapid growth and consequent increasing prosperity is largely due to their good judgment and efforts.

Thomas Jessup, an extensive and successful rancher, is the owner of a well-kept and remunerative forty-eight-acre ranch three-quarters of a mile southeast of Garden Grove, forty acres of which is in walnuts and the remainder planted to Valencia oranges. He raises lima beans on his property, interplanting the walnut trees with the legumes, and also owns a ten-acre Valencia orange grove at Fifth and English, Santa Ana. Additionally, he rents 600 acres of the James Irvine ranch, on which he raises lima beans. He has been one of the tenants of the estate since 1900.

Mr. Jessup was born near Fairbury, in Livingston County, Ill., December 30, 1859, and is the son of Richard Jessup, a native of Queens County, Ireland, and Ellen (Dunne) Jessup, a native of Pennsylvania. His parents were married in Pennsylvania and removed to Livingston County, Ill., to become prosperous farmers. They reared a family of eight children, four of whom survive, and Thomas is the only one of the family living in California. He grew up on his father's farm and was educated in the common schools. His marriage occurred in Livingston County, and united him with Miss Effie M. Johnson, a native of that county, and the only daughter of W. H. and Mattie C. (Tyler) Johnson. After his marriage he continued the occupation of tilling the soil in Illinois until February, 1888, when he removed to Garden Grove, Cal., which at that time was a part of Los Angeles County. Grain farming abounded there at that time, and there was little else. Mr. and Mrs. Jessup are the parents of eight children: Harry, a rancher on the San Joaquin, married Miss Lillian Beswick, and they have two children; Bertha is the wife of A. L. Trickey, a rancher on the San Joaquin, and she is the mother of two children; Vera is single and is a telegraph operator in Los Angeles; Stella is the wife of Harry Reel, an orange grower at Orange. George died at the age of three and a half; Gladys graduated from the Anaheim high school and is now a student in the State Normal; Thomas is in the Anaheim high school; and Effie is a student in the Santa Ana high school.

In the machinery he uses Mr. Jessup is up to date. He has a forty-five-horse- power Holt tractor and a full complement of horses, mules and machinery for properly carrying on his extensive agricultural and horticultural enterprises. He sunk a well 351 feet deep on his ranch, giving him plenty of water for irrigation. Actively energetic

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HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY

and progressive, his success is due to close application and excellent management. He is recognized as one of the broad-minded, public-spirited citizens of the community, and is justly popular among his many friends and neighbors. He lives contentedly and happily with his family in his commodious country residence, which is perhaps the largest residence in Buaro Precinct. Politically he casts his vote with the Republicans.

RICHARD MELROSE .- The bar of Orange County has been distinguished by the high character of its personnel, as may be illustrated in the life, character and accomplishment of the well-known attorney, Richard Melrose, who was born at Glasgow, a member of one of the most honored families of Scotland, pleasantly associated with Scotch history and tradition. The date of his birth was February 4, 1850, and his parents both died when he was a child. There were seven children in the family, and he was the youngest child. The first fourteen years of his life were spent in Scotland, and the first instruction he received was given him by his mother.

Having come to the United States in 1864, Mr. Melrose for seventeen years engaged in newspaper work, a part of the time on the Pacific Coast; for he arrived in California as early as 1864, and settled in Los Angeles in 1865. He removed to Anaheim in 1870, studied law privately, and was admitted to the California bar at Los Angeles in 1887. Mr. Melrose is thus the oldest attorney in Los Angeles County, and of especial interest as a counsellor who has practiced law alone during most of the time. Always active as a Republican in national and state politics, Mr. Melrose was appointed postmaster by President Chester A. Arthur in 1884: was presidential elector in 1904, on the Roosevelt ticket, and he served in the state legislature in 1909. For fourteen years he was a trustee of the State Normal School at Los Angeles, and he was chairman of the board for eight years. During the recent war he was a member of the exemption board for Orange County.

At Anaheim, in 1874, Mr. Melrose was married to Miss Mary Kuchel, a native of Indiana, and three children were born to them: Jessie, now Mrs. F. A. Backs, Jr., Winifred and Allan. There are two grandchildren, Florence Backs and Richard A. Melrose, both worthy descendants of a worthy progenitor. Mr. Melrose belongs to both the Knights of Pythias and the Elks; and he and his devoted wife live in com- fortable retirement, buoyed up with the memories of useful and pleasant years.

FRANK SHANLEY .- Orange County has never failed to honor those distin- guished pioneer citizens who helped to lay broad and deep the foundations for the great commonwealth of California, and among those whom posterity ever will honor for both his character and life, and their influence upon his own and succeeding gen- erations, is the late Frank Shanley, whom the green isle of Erin claimed with pride as the land of his birth. When he was two years of age, his family removed to Edin- burgh, Scotland, and there in that beautiful and romantic city of the north he was reared and educated.

He learned the trade of the shoemaker, and specialized in the making and fitting of "uppers," starting in at his ninth year, giving seven years to the apprenticeship, and becoming a journeyman at the early age of sixteen. For a while he followed his trade in England; but convinced that the New World would offer greater advantages, he crossed the ocean to America, arriving in New York in the month of August.

He located first at Pittsburgh, and there opened a little workshop; and as it was the period when the high-legged boots were going out of style, and the modern shoes coming in, he was swamped with orders which, notwithstanding the help given him by his wife, he could hardly fill. Later, he entered the employ of the McCarten Shoe Company, and his work proving more than satisfactory, he was taken into the firm. The name of the establishment was then changed to that of McCarten & Shanley, and on the death of the former, Mr. Shanley purchased his share in the firm and continued the business alone.

In 1896 he sold out, came west to California, and located at Anaheim; and in April of the same year he bought fifteen acres of walnut and fruit orchard on South Lemon Street, which he greatly improved. He built a fine, two-story home, and otherwise added to his property. Prior to this, and during the boom in Salt Lake City, he bought property there and erected a very creditable business block, an ornament as well as an addition to the city, which is now the property of his wisely-managing widow.

As a genuine path-breaker in movements of much significance for the future, Mr. Shanley was one of the founders of the First National Bank of Anaheim, and as its vice-president, took an active part in its management. He was very proud of the growth and success of the bank, and actively participated in its affairs until the time of his death. He was elected president of the American Savings Bank of Anaheim

7. Should

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upon its organization May 22, 1905, serving until January 11, 1916. Soon after his arrival here he was elected to the office of justice of the peace, and as Judge Shanley he discharged this serious and delicate responsibility to his fellow citizens for four years. He was public-spirited to a large degree, and was always ready to put his shoulder to the wheel and advance in any legitimate way the best interests of Anaheim.

In the good old Quaker town of Darlington, England, on the Skerne, over which is a picturesque bridge of several arches, and not far from the famous cathedral city of Durham, on May 17, 1864, Mr. Shanley was married to Miss Marie C. McCabe, a native of England, but a popular lass of Irish parentage, who now resides in a fine modern bungalow at 201 South Palm Street, Anaheim, the center of a large circle of admiring friends. Mr. Shanley was always fond of children, and they liked him, and his devoted wife shared his pleasure in giving to charity. In his will he bequeathed a third of his estate to the St. Catherine Orphanage of Anaheim; he had been a good host, and only after his death, on July 10, 1918, was the old homestead sold. "Cali- fornia has reason to be thankful for many blessings, and among them for such lives as that of Mr. Shanley, who worked hard and, having once established himself and his household on a firm, self-respecting and independent basis, began to do good, when- ever and wherever he could, and with means he had a perfect right to dispose of as the generous impulses of his kindly heart and the sound conclusions of his trained mind dictated.

DAVID R. S. SHAFFER .- Hale and hearty at the age of eighty-three, with a truly remarkable memory for names and dates, and with the lucid and logical mentality and physical vigor of men many years his junior, David R. S. Shaffer is living retired on his twenty-acre ranch near Westminster. A Southerner by birth, Mr. Shaffer was born in Page County, Va., in the Shenandoah Valley, eighty miles south of Harpers Ferry, October 23, 1837. His parents were Isaac and Mary (Rothgeb) Shaffer, both natives of the Shenandoah Valley, as was his paternal grandfather, Samuel Shaffer. Isaac Shaffer passed away during the Civil .War, his widow surviving him until 1881. There were five children in the Shaffer family, David being the only son; one sister is still living, Mrs. Mary C. Gander, eighty-four years of age, who lives in Butler County, Missouri.

David Shaffer was educated in the common schools in the vicinity of his home and also in a seminary at Luray, Va., and as soon as he was old enough he helped in the work about the farm. He continued on the home place with his father, assuming more and more of the responsibility, until he was twenty-three years old. In the meantime he had taught several terms in the village school near his home, and he became ambitious for better opportunities than his home surroundings afforded, so in 1860 he set out for what then seemed the Far West, settling in Cooper County, Mo., teaching school there and in Moniteau and Morgan counties. When the Civil War broke out he was working in the mill of his cousin, John Rothgeb, in Cooper County. Although we was of Southern birth, he was always opposed to slavery, and was an ardent Whig. He refused to join the "Bushwhackers," as the marauding bands of Rebel sympathizers were known, and was threatened with hanging. He then returned to Ohio, locating in Cheshire, in Gallia County, engaging at the carpenter's trade in summer seasons and teaching during the winter months; but before long he enlisted in the Ohio National Guard; he had in the meantime belonged to the famous "Squirrel Hunters." For two years he did guard duty on the Ohio River, and when Lincoln's last call for troops came, on May 4, 1864, the national guard regiment of which he was a member enlisted as a whole, being mustered in as the One Hundred Forty-first Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Mr. Shaffer continued his work of guard duty, being stationed on the road to Charlestown, W. Va., to guard supply trains. He received his honorable discharge in September, 1864, being mustercd out at Gallipolis, Ohio.

Mr. Shaffer took up the carpenter's trade again after the war was over, locating at Addison, Ohio, and here later he established himself in the mercantile business in this town on the banks of the Ohio River. For nineteen years he continued in business there with uninterrupted success, but in 1884 there was a big flood in the river, in which he lost much of his stock and also suffered damage to his buildings, the whole amounting to over $6,000. He then started a broom factory in Addison, but after a short while he decided to remove to California. He first located in Santa Barbara County, in September, 1890, where he engaged in ranching until the fall of 1891, when he went to Los Angeles County and took up a homestead claim in the Antelope Valley, and lor seven years made this his home, following dairying, stock and poultry raising. In 1899 he left his property and came to Orange County, purchasing the twenty-acre ranch near Westminster where he still makes his home, later disposing of his

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homestead in the Valley. For thirteen years he continued in its active management and developed it into a very profitable property through general farming, dairying and poultry raising.

Mr. Shaffer's first marriage occurred in June, 1865, when he was united with Miss Louisa Roush. She passed away in 1881, leaving three children: Joseph V. is now in California and has two children in Riverside; Vesta D. is the wife of Ambrose Chapell of Columbus, Ohio, and has one daughter; David Howard came to California with his father, and passed away at Santa Barbara in 1910, leaving a widow and one child. In 1884 Mr. Shaffer was married to Miss Alice Hill, a native of Mason County, Va.

Early in life Mr. Shaffer espoused the cause of Prohibition when it was far from being popular, and canvassed Gallia County, Ohio, in the interests of that party in 1881. He became an orator of note in the Prohibition ranks, and his strong personality, clear ideas and native eloquence made him a mighty power against the liquor traffic; he rejoices to have lived to see the enforcement of the laws for which he labored so earnestly for so many years. For the last twenty-six years he has worked with the Socialist party and is proud of its advancement thus far. A true humanitarian, he has always been a liberal in his ideas, and is a great admirer of the works of the late Robert W. Ingersoll. He is a member of Sedgwick Post No. 17, G. A. R., at Santa Ana. Living retired now in his comfortable home, he can look back upon a clean, consistent, industrious, studious and well-spent life.

PRESCOTT ALLEN .- A successful rancher of the kind that has always re- flected the highest honor upon Orange County is Prescott Allen, whose experience as a progressive walnut grower might well point the way to and encourage others in the same field. He owns a beautiful home ranch of thirty acres at 614 South McClay Street, Santa Ana, where so late as 1910 he built his fine modern residence.

He was born in Oxford County, Ontario, Canada, near the town of Ingersoll and eighteen miles from Woodstock, the county seat, on June 18, 1836, the son of Nathan Prescott Allen, who came to Canada from New York State soon after the War of 1812. He was born in Mohawk County, New York, and on March 7, 1822, was married to Miss Armena Mott, a native of Albany County, New York, where she was born on September 10, 1804. They had ten children, of whom Prescott is the sixth it order of birth; and of this large family, besides our subject only a sister, Mrs. Sarah Louisa (Allen) Dawes, is now living. She was born on July 27, 1838, and is now a widow, residing on French Street, Santa Ana.

Mr. Allen was educated in the common schools of Canada, and helped his father clear up a farm of 278 acres. He had to grub, to clear away stumps and stones, and to swing the cradle, axe and scythe; for at that time the great reapers were not in- vented. In February, 1862, he came to California by way of the Isthmus, and on the twenty-eighth of that month he landed at San Francisco.

For a while, he went into Nevada at the time of the Comstock excitement, and there he tried the hard labor of the logging camps, but had to give it up on account of the mountain fever. He went back to Sacramento and worked at various pursuits, and in 1863 he ran a ranch and went broke in the attempt to raise tobacco. Then he started anew and worked at various places.

After three years of life in California, Mr. Allen returned to his home in Canada, and when he had been there a couple of years, he was married, on November 21, 1867, to Miss Lydia J. Talbot, who was born on November 15, 1836, and died near Silver City, N. M., March 30, 1892. Four children blessed the union. Minnie died Novem- ber 20, 1869, aged five months; May is the wife of J. W. Carter, the cashier of the First National Bank of Silver City, N. M .; Edith is the widow of Joe E. Sheridan, mine inspector for the state of New Mexico. He was an editor, a postmaster and a very prominent citizen there, and his demise, on July 17, 1920, was widely regretted, leav- ing his wife and daughter Margaret, Mrs. Fay, who was also bereaved of her husband, and they in turn had a little daughter named Margaret Louise. Mrs. Sheridan and Mrs. Fay now make their home on Lyon Street, Santa Ana. Margaret, the fourth child, presides gracefully over her father's house and gladdens the lives of all privi- leged to know her.

The progenitor of this branch of the Allen family was James Allen, a relative of Rev. John Allen, who was a powerful Puritan preacher driven from England and led to join the Puritans who migrated to the New World. He helped to establish the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and in 1637 was the first settled minister at. Dedham, Mass. This family has always espoused the cause of education and the ideals of the higher life, and, according to authentic records, sixty-five persons of the name of Allen had been graduated from New England colleges before the year 1825, and of this

Prescott allen

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number seventeen were ministers of the Gospel. General Ethan Allen was of the same family; so was General Israel Putnam, and some of the leading advocates of temperance have sprung from the Allen stock. Nathan Prescott Allen, the father of our subject, for example, helped to organize the first temperance society in Canada- a sturdy millwright and farmer, who let his light shine in the neighborhood in which he dwelt.

He died in the summer of 1865, and Prescott and an older brother, Horatio A. Allen, took over the father's estate and paid off the balance of the heirs. He worked on the old home farm for two years, or during 1865-66, and then sold out; and a few days after his marriage he came West to look for more promising fields. He farmed for a while in Afton, Union County, Iowa, and bought out a store sixty miles west of Chariton, in that state, at that time the western terminus of the Burlington Rail- way. He continued as a storekeeper at Afton for twelve years, and still later for three years he had a store at Shenandoah, in Iowa. He then went to Silver City, N. M., and for three years engaged in mercantile pursuits, and next he took up ranch- ing, setting out twenty-five acres of fruit trees and raising some 2,500 goats.

From Silver City, Mr. Allen moved to California, and in 1897 settled on his pres- ent place. Only eight acres were then planted to walnuts; but he afterwards bought fifteen additional acres of six-year-old trees, and since then he has set out about twelve more acres, so that he now has, all in all, about thirty acres of excellent walnuts.

A Republican in matters of national political import, but a citizen who believes in nonpartisanship in the administration of local affairs, Mr. Allen is a member of the First Methodist Episcopal Church of Santa Ana and, with his family, always ready for the upbuilding as well as the building up of town and county.

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History of Orange County, California : with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its earliest growth and development from the early days to the present, Part 48

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