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 51

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

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In the spring of the Centennial year of 1876, he arrived in California and came on to the Anaheim district, then in Los Angeles County, after a run through the north- ern part of the state; and for a couple of years he worked out by the month on neighboring ranches. In 1878 he was married to Miss Louise Jane Kellogg, a native of Napa, Cal., and a member of a pioneer family; and after marriage, he started to farm in the West Anaheim section on the Garden Grove Road. He had ten acres of his own, and in addition he leased land.

At the end of four years, Mr. Evans located at Pasadena, becoming a pioneer in the truest sense of the word, for when he arrived there in 188], the place was so small that farming was the chief occupation. He lived there for seven years, and farmed 600 acres to grain in what is now the heart of the city. He was there, in fact, through the big "boom," and also dealt extensively in real estate.

Returning to Anaheim in 1892, he raised sugar beets for the Los Alamitos Sugar Factory; but since 1900 he has followed realty exclusively, dealing extensively in orange groves. He has made a special study of soils and relative land conditions, and has become an authority on that subject; and as the oldest dealer in real estate in Anaheim, in the matter of years of service, he enjoys an esteem and influence such as anyone might covet.

Mr. Evans is also a member of a syndicate which has large land interests in Guatemala, Central America, known as the Guatemala Agricola Central Company. acting as one of its directors, and they hold a large tract of land which is devoted especially to cocoanuts, pineapples, and also to sugar cane, grain and stock raising. In addition, he has extensive mining interests in Sonora, Mexico, which is being oper- ated as the Esperanza Mining Company.

Ten children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Evans. Alice is the wife of H. M. Barker of Iowa. Francis is a lumberman in Siskiyou County. Leonard A. is a grad- uate of the University of Southern California, holding the diploma through the law school, and is a well-known practicing attorney at Anaheim, with offices in the First National Bank Building. Russell is chief engineer of the pumping station of the Gen- eral Petroleum Oil Company at Nenach. Bayard H. is a member of the fire depart- ment in Los Angeles. Lawrence J. is with the ship yards at Mare Island Navy Yard. Orilla May is a graduate of the Los Angeles College of Osteopathy and practicing at Redlands. Carrie is at home. Benjamin is an engineer at Nenach. Jennie is a grad- uate of the Anaheim high school and now at home.

Mr. Evans helped to organize the First Christian Church in Pasadena, in 1881, and the First Christian Church in Anaheim, in 1890; and he has been an active member ever since.

HUGH T. THOMSON .- A very interesting family, immediate and in its many worth-while connections, is that of Hugh T. Thomson, the manager of the Jotham Bixby Company's large ranch, as he is also manager of the Peralta Tract, in Villa Park Precinct. He was born in Chicago on August 23, 1871, and growing up there, came to California in 1892, when he was twenty-one years old. He had been married in Chicago, and on arriving here, purchased a ranch of ten acres in the Villa Park Precinct. He was at that time wholly nnfamiliar with ranch work, and had had no experience in ranching or orcharding. He was apt. however, and learned rapidly.

Having settled in this vicinity and become acquainted with the late Jotham Bixby. he became an employe on his ranch, and arose to be foreman and superintendent, and was continued in the employment of the Bixby's for a period of twenty-three years. After coming to the Jotham Bixby ranch, Hugh Thomson studied civil engineering and became a practical civil engineer. When the Jotham Bixby Company was organ- ized. and this ranch was taken over by the new corporation, Mr. Thomson remained with the new company; he also had to do with the Bixby Development Company, a subsidiary concern engaged in improving and selling off the Peralta Hills Tract of 400 acres. He set out orchards on this place about fifteen years ago, and now they are in full bearing.

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Of all the hard work he has done, however, none gives him more satisfaction than his recent war work. He became enthused about this at Los Angeles when he heard an address by Will H. Hays, Chairman of the Republican National Committee; and he accepted the local secretaryship of the campaigns for the second, third, fourth and fifth loans, and successfully put his constituency over the top every drive in record-breaking time. He was also in charge of two Red Cross drives. In the year 1918 alone he put in five months' time on war work.

He was born, as has been stated, in the early seventies, the son of Somerville Thomson, a wholesale baker in Chicago, who was burned out and ruined during the great Chicago fire. He was a Scotchman by birth, and came to the United States when a young man. He married Elizabeth Boyd, who died at Ontario, Cal., in 1917.

When he married, Mr. Thomson chose for his wife Miss Emma Conger, a cousin of Edwin H. Conger, the American Minister to China at the time of the "Boxer" siege of Pekin; and four children have blessed this fortunate union: Hugh Conger Thomson, who was foreman of the Bixby Company, owns a ranch in Villa Park; Somerville Thomson, having returned from war service in France, is at present foreman, in place of his brother Hugh; and there are Margery and Lois, schoolgirls. The family attend the Congregational Church at Villa Park, where Mr. Thomson is a prominent member. He has also done good civic service as a trustee of the Villa Park grammar school, and was on the building committee when the new school, thoroughly up-to-date, was erected. In every way he is interested in the development and permanent, healthy growth of Orange County, and never fails to help along any good movement likely to benefit any of its rising communities.

ANSON LAMB .- The history of the Lamb family in America dates back to the early colonial days. The founder of the family in this country was Terry Lamb, who came from Ireland in the early days of New England and fought in the War of the Revolution under George Washington. During the period of his service he was cap- tured by a band of Oneida Indians, but later a force of cavalry came to his rescue and saved his life. After the Revolutionary War was over the Government took upon itself the task of educating the Indians in the constructive arts of peace, and Mr. Lamb was appointed a teacher to instruct the Oneida tribe and in the course of his work he taught them the trades of blacksmithing and carpentering, as well as the science of farming. Afterwards he settled in Onondaga County, New York, where he established the family home, and here he lived, an honored and respected citizen, until his death in 1824. He and his wife, who was a native of New England, were the parents of five children: Terry, Timothy, William, John and Nancy. Of these children, John became one of the pioneers of Grand Rapids, Mich., and here he lived to the ripe old age of eighty-four years, prominent in the political affairs of his locality and a staunch adherent of the old school of democracy. During his early manhood he had farmed in New York state, and while there married Mary Chase, a native of that state. who passed away at their Michigan home at the age of ninety-six.

Mr. and Mrs. John Lamb were the parents of eight daughters and three sons, and one of the latter was Anson Lamb, the subject of this review. At the time of his birth, August 25, 1818, his parents were still living in New York, and his early years were spent on the old homestead there. He began farming when but a youth, having been brought up to a knowledge of agricultural pursuits, but later he became second mate on a boat plying on the Ohio River. During the Civil War he was in the Govern- ment service and after the close of hostilities he located at Nevada, Iowa, where he worked at blacksmithing and also operated a threshing machine. During his residence here, his wife, Caroline (Bartholomew) Lamb, whom he had married in New York, passed away in Dubuque, when their son, William D. Lamb, Orange County's well- known pioneer citizen, was only four years old. Ten years later father and son started across the plains in a Mormon freight train, locating at Salt Lake City. There they embarked in the lumber and sawmill business in Mill Creek Canyon, about nineteen miles from Salt Lake City. Here they developed a remarkably successful business, which they continued in for several years. In the meantime, William D. Lamb had been married to Miss Elizabeth Holt, and shortly after that, about the year 1869, he came to California, settling in what is now Orange County, and becoming one of its best-known settlers and a large ranch owner. Anson Lamb was associated with his son in many of his extensive undertakings and he became the owner of 800 acres of land, 149 acres belonging to the Stearns Rancho, of which William D. Lamb was for many years manager. The remainder of the acreage was formerly a part of the Laguna Rancho. He did much pioneer work in the development of this region and contributed valuably to its agricultural upbuilding. This property descended to the grandchildren. His death occurred at the ranch in August, 1906, at the age of eighty-eight years.

Anson Sfarich

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HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY

STEPHEN F. CLARKE .- Many years of various business experiences have gone to make up the thorough knowledge and understanding of human nature which has contributed .so largely to the success accompanying the efforts of Stephen F. Clarke, of Orange, who is known throughout Orange County as one of its sterling and progressive citizens. A descendant of good old New England stock, Mr. Clarke was horn at Boston, Mass., in 1859, his parents being Isaac P. and Caroline (Frothingham) Clarke, both natives of the Bay State, where they passed their entire lives, the father attaining the age of eighty-four, while Mrs. Clarke passed away when seventy-three years of age. There were five sons and one daughter in the Clarke family, as follows: Eben B. of Pittsburgh, Pa .; George F. of Boston, Mass .; Isaac Wells, also a resident of Pittsburgh; Charles McClellan of Buffalo, N.Y .; Edith R. of Pittsburgh; and Stephen F. of this review.

Fortunate in a family environment where a thorough education was considered of prime importance, Stephen F. Clarke was given exceptional advantages and unlike many youths of his age he appreciated these opportunities. Being naturally of a studions disposition he made good use of his time and when his school days were over he was well grounded in all the subjects that are the basis of true education. Taking a special course in drawing, he subsequently made use of the technical knowledge thus acquired when he served as draftsman with the board of park commissioners of Boston. Notwithstanding his pleasant environment and splendid prospects for a successful future amid the cultured surroundings of his birthplace, Mr. Clarke was imbued with the spirit of the early pioneers and chose rather to carve out his future in a new and undeveloped region.

Leaving the parental home in 1883 he chose California for his future home and not long after arriving here he purchased a twenty-acre tract near Orange, ten acres of which had already been planted to oranges, the remainder being uncultivated land. At that time there was much activity in the grape industry in this district, hundreds of acres being planted to vineyard and a number of wineries being established, Mr. Clarke set out ten acres of grapes, but with the gradual dying out of this industry, due to several causes, he later experimented with other crops, among them figs and barley, but while he attained a reasonable success he came to the conclusion some years ago that citrus fruits were the best all-around paying crops. His acreage is now divided between Navels and Valencias and the grove is one of the heaviest producers in this locality, bringing in a handsome income. Mr. Clarke has given his property the most intelligent care and he is rewarded in seeing the value of it increase from $3,500, which he paid for the entire acreage, to what it is today with adjoining land selling for $6,000 an acre besides a sanguine possibility for oil.

In 1908 Mr. Clarke returned to his native state, the occasion being the solemniza- tion of his marriage to Miss Katherine Keith Alger, which occurred on July 20, 1908, at the family home of the Algers at Yarmouth Port, Mass. Mrs. Clarke is the daughter of Francis and Izette (Matthews) Alger, both descendants of old and re- spected families of the Bay State. Mr. and Mrs. Clarke are the parents of one daughter, Izette Caroline.

In addition to his horticultural holdings Mr. Clarke has also given considerable time to other developments, spending three years at Copperopolis, where he was asso- ciated with Fred Ames of the Union Copper Mines. Of recent years he has given much time to the study of the mineral resources of Orange County and it is his belief that this county will be the largest producer of oil in the state of California. An in- dependent in his political views, Mr. Clarke is vitally interested in every movement that concerns the welfare of the nation as well as the purely local issues and during the war he not only gave generously of his time and endeavor in all the drives, but also served as a private in Company Seventy-six, California Military Reserve of Orange.

ANTON SCHILDMEYER and MRS. LOUISA SCHILDMEYER .- When, on December 20, 1919, Anton Schildmeyer passed to his eternal reward, Orange County lost one of the most conscientious of her experienced and industrious ranchers, and one who had long operated on such broad lines as to entitle him to the credit of having been a true empire-builder. He was a studious, widely-read rancher, and his well-planned orchards, symmetrical yards, drying-houses, poultry houses, garages and machine sheds, show the manner of man that he was. He had reached his sixty- fourth year, so that his life may be said to have been fairly well rounded out.

Mrs. Schildmeyer was born near Louisville, Cass County, Nebr., and became a social favorite as Louisa Brunkow, a daughter of Frederick and Ann C. (Panskey) Brunkow. She was educated at the ordinary public schools, and was married in 1882 to Mr. Schildmeyer. Three miles east of Greenwood they bought a farm of 200 acres, which they conducted with success. On March 9, 1893, they came to California, and

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in August of the same year they commenced to build their two-story, eight-room frame house. He owned two ranches at the time of his death-the home ranch of thirty-three acres, and the ranch where his son, Oscar A. Schildmeyer, resides, three miles northeast of Orange, a fine tract of fifty-five acres. He also owned other valu- able personal property, and he became a stockholder in the Farmers and Merchants Bank of Santa Ana.

Five children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Schildmeyer-three girls, who first saw the light in Cass County, Nebr., and two boys of Orange County birth. Marie A. is the wife of John Gobbruegge, a rancher of Riverside, and the mother of two children. Emma C. married Arthur Hoeffer, a rancher of Owensmouth, Los Angeles County. Martha S., who is at home, is a graduate of the Orange high school and a graduate registered nurse. Oscar A., the rancher living north of Orange, married Merl Brown, and has one child, a boy baby, named Robert. Frederick William operates Mrs. Schildmeyer's place. The family are members of the Evangelical Association of Santa Ana, to whose building committee Mr. Schildmeyer belonged. Mrs. Schildmeyer is a member of the Ladies' Aid and Women's Foreign Missionary Society of said church. This estimable lady continues to reside at the Schildmeyer ranch of thirty- three acres, four acres of which are devoted to the culture of Valencia oranges, two to the growth of Navels, six to apricots, soon to be superseded by Valencias, and the balance to walnuts. The property has long been exceptionally productive, and under the skillful management of the enterprising son, bids fair to become even more so as the years go by.

MATHIAS NISSON .- A prosperous rancher, prominent for years as one of the most successful horticulturists of Orange County, is Mathias Nisson, who was born on March 31, 1847, in Tondern, North Schleswig, near the boundary line of Denmark and Germany, the son of Nis and Esther Nisson, a member of a long line of educators, his grandfather and uncle both being renowned as instructors. Very naturally, therefore, he enjoyed the best of educational advantages in the superior schools of his native land. In 1873, when twenty-six years of age, he bade farewell to home, friends and the scenes long so familiar and dear to him, not because he loved his Fatherland less, but because he believed that the New World would offer greater opportunities.

Passing through New York City, he stayed for a short time in Chicago, and then went to the vicinity of Paxton, Ford County, Ill., where he worked on various farms for three years, and at the same time he attended the district school for a winter's term at Paxton. When 1876 rolled 'round, California began to be more talked about, inci- dental to the Centennial at Philadelphia, and after a while Mr. Nisson concluded to leave Illinois and make for the Pacific Coast.

That same year, therefore, he reached Orange County and on the fourth of November arrived at Santa Ana, where for four years he worked on various farms. Then in 1880 he purchased twenty-one acres, his present place at 2500 North Main Street, and in his efforts to do something with the land, he went through the hardships of the early grape industry. After the vines had been grubbed out, he planted his own nursery stock, which he next set out. He had five acres in prunes and five acres in apricots. Later still, he grubbed ont both the prunes and the apricots and gradually set the whole out to walnuts and oranges. Now he has eleven acres of walnuts, nine acres of Valencia oranges and one acre of Navels and as his ranch is under the service of the Santa Ana Valley Irrigation Company, he has an abundance of good water.

For fifteen years Mr. Nisson was a director in the Santa Ana Valley Irrigation Company, serving as president of the board for several years. He also has a joint ownership with John Maier and Henry Rohrs in a pumping plant that throws sixty inches of water. This well is used during the dry season. Mr. Nisson has also im- proved his ranch with a handsome and commodions residence. He was an organizer and is a director in the California National Bank of Santa Ana, a director in the Santa Ana Steam Laundry, and also a stockholder in the Santa Ana Commercial Company, of which he has been a director. Believing in cooperation, he was one of the organizers and thus a charter member of the Santa Ana Walnut Growers Association, serving as a director for several years. He was also a charter member and a director of the Santiago Orange Growers Association at. Orange.

In San Francisco, on July 12, 1888, Mr. Nisson was married to Miss Charlotte Laederich, a native daughter, born in San Francisco. Her parents, Jean Jacques and Louise (Weiss) Laederich, were natives of France, who came to New York City in 1848. In 1849 Mr. Laederich took the gold fever and started for the new Eldorado, com- ing in a sailing vessel around Cape Horn to San Francisco, so was an Argonant in the true sense of the word. His wife joined him in 1852, coming by way of Panama, cross- ing the Isthmus on muleback with Indian gnides. Mr. Laederich was prominent in

Mathias Nisson.

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the business and social life of San Francisco in those early days and was a member of the first vigilance committee.

At an early age Mrs. Nisson removed with her parents to Santa Clara, where she received her education and grew proud of California and its institutions. Two children blessed their family life: Clarence A. married Vera Montgomery, and they are living on a citrus grove in Tustin with their two sons-Clarence A., Jr., and Richard Mont- gomery; Estelle G. graduated at Stanford University with the degree of A. B., after which she did graduate work at Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, Pa., taking a war course in employment management and industrial supervision, then spending some time in New York City in the personnel division of the Retail Research Association.

The family take an active part in the work of the First Presbyterian Church of Santa Ana; they did their part in the bond drives during the late war and they are alert to contribute in any way to the elevation of civic standards and the election of the best men or women, irrespective of party politics. Mr. Nisson belongs to the Santa Ana Lodge of Odd Fellows and with his wife is a member of the Rebekahs.

ANDREW GUSTAV BLOM .- Probably one of the best known and most expert steel rolling mill men on the Pacific Coast is Andrew Gustav Blom, who is now living on his eighty-acre ranch, beautifully situated in Villa Park. It is one of the finest properties in the vicinity, seventeen acres being set out to oranges and lemons, fifteen acres of hay land and the balance foothill land, in the neighborhood of the oil-producing section of Orange County. When Mr. Blom purchased this place, in October, 1919, it was already improved with a beautiful, commodious mansion, located on a hill commanding a wonderful view of the Santiago Valley, and with its winding roads, beautiful trees and flowers, it is indeed one of the beauty spots of this section. The house is furnished with every convenience enjoyed by the city dweller and sleeping porches and sun parlors add to its attractiveness.

A native of Vermland, Sweden, Mr. Blom was born there on January 8, 1861, and was the fourth eldest of a family of nine children, seven of whom are still living. His parents were Olaf and Annie Blom, both of whom were born, married and died in Sweden, the mother passing away when Andrew was but eleven years of age, leaving the following children: Britta, the wife of Nils Person, a carpenter and builder of Chicago, Ill .; Charles John, in the automobile business at Ishpeming, Mich .; Mary, the widow of Olen Urban, resides on her farm at Washburn, Wis .; Andrew Gustav, of this review; Olaf August, the largest wholesale iron and steel merchant in Stockholm, Sweden; Mina resides in Stockholm; Emma is the wife of A. W. Stark, who is in the hotel business at Milwaukee, Wis.

Olaf Blom, the father, was an iron and steel worker, and Andrew started to work in the steel mills when but a small lad, running the big water-power hammer for his father when he was only nine years old. After his mother's death the home was practically broken up and Andrew went to Toosby, another steel town, where he ran a power hammer for a year. After a short visit at his old home he then went to Soderhamn, in the eastern part of Sweden, where he was engaged in railway con- struction work; later he located in the large rolling mill town of Munkfors Brook, making railroad iron for construction work. During these twelve years Mr. Blom gained a wonderful training in all the many and varied processes of the steel industry, but, possessed of an unusual amount of energy and ambition, he felt that the New World offered greater opportunities for advancement. Accordingly, he sailed from Gothenburg, Sweden, in April, 1882, expecting to locate at Worcester, Mass., where a sister was living. He worked his way over on a vessel that landed at Philadelphia, Pa., and soon his money gave out and he had to barter a feather pillow for a night's lodging-the last of his possessions, with the exception of his clothing. Reaching Worcester, Mass., he went to work in the wire mills of Washburn, Moen & Co .. remaining there for about six months.

Mr. Blom's next move was to St. Louis, Mo., where he obtained work in Helmbacher Forge and Rolling Mill, now well known as the American Car and Foundry Company. Before he had been there three years he was made head roller, a position which he was well qualified to fill through his many years of thorough training. For twenty-four years he remained with this company, gaining a well- deserved reputation for being one of the most expert rolling-mill men in the country, and establishing himself in an authoritative position in this great industry. During his years of residence in St. Louis Mr. Blom was also actively interested in the realty business, building, buying and selling many residences and apartment houses there.

On July 7, 1905, Mr. Blom came to Los Angeles to take the responsible position of head roller with the Southern California Iron and Steel Company, located at Fourth and Santa Fe Streets, holding that position continuously until 1917, when the

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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 51

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