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 59

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 59

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the state has been developed on this land. There are sixteen acres in all in the ranch, which is at 420 Cambridge street, and the orange trees, bordered with walnuts, are said to constitute one of the finest ranches of the kind in the district. Mr. Hayward is a member and has been a director of the Santiago Orange Growers Association, and was a director when they built the new packing house. He helped start the Orange County Fumigation Company, which has grown to large proportions, and he is at present one of the stockbolders.

At Orange Mr. Hayward was married to Miss Callie M. Graves, a native of Green Bay, Wis., and a graduate of the Oshkosh Normal School. She was a teacher, and came to Orange a young lady. They have three children-Dorothy, who is in the Orange Union High School, Mary Louise and Lucile. Mrs. Hayward is a Presbyterian.

Mr. Hayward is a Republican in national politics, but independent in local affairs; he is a trustee of the grammar schools of Orange, and is president of the board. There are now three schools, instead of one, in the district-a real progress since the days when he went to school there. He is also a member of the board of city trustees of Orange, having been elected in 1918 for four years. He was chairman of the police committee and a member of the street committe until 1920, when he was chosen president of the board, a position he is filling with zeal and to the satisfaction of his fellow-citizens.

CAPTAIN ANDREW HARRINGTON BIBBER .- A very interesting represen- tative of fine old Revolutionary stock is Captain Andrew Harrington Bibber, renowned in the late Civil War, and doubly honored today as the husband of a lady whose singular talents and exceptional personality have enabled her also to attain social eminence such as always affords influence for good.

Mrs. Annie L. Bibber was born at St. John, N. B., the danghter of John Annesley, also a native of that place, and the granddaughter of Daniel Annesley, who crossed the Atlantic from Devonshire, and settled at St. John, where he became a shipping merchant operating so extensively that he owned his vessels, and made sixty or more ocean trips. John Annesley was a mill owner, but he gave up milling on account of ill-health, after which he took a government position under Queen Victoria; and that responsible post he held until his death. Mrs. Annesley was Lucy Hayden before her marriage, and she was born at Beacon Hill, Boston; Grandfather Aaron Hayden was a native of Massachusetts, and was born in the neighborhood of what became Hayden- ville. He was a merchant in Boston, and married Ruth Alden Jones, of that city, who proudly traced her New England lineage back to the famous John Alden. Lucy Hayden, in fact, was the sixth lineal descendant of the illustrious patriot, and resided at St. John until she joined Mrs. Bibber at Orange, and here she breathed her last. Of the six children in the family, three grew to maturity and are still living; the other two, besides Mrs. Bibber, being Mrs. Frances Paine, of Berkeley, and Mrs. Lucy C. Coulson of the same town.

The youngest of all, Mrs. Bibber was educated at St. John's Young Ladies' Academy and at Vassar College. At Eastport, Maine, on Sept. 27, 1876, she was married to Captain Andrew Harrington Bibber, a native of Lubec, Maine, and the son of Charles Bibber, a native and merchant of the same state. His mother was Adeline Harrington, and she was born at Eastport, Maine. Grandfather Andrew Harrington was a business man whose family belonged to some of the original settlers of Concord, Mass. There were eleven of the Harrington brothers in the Revolutionary War, and all fought in the battle of Lexington, and one, Jacob Harrington, was the first man killed in that battle. so that the Harrington home at Concord, Mass., is now maintained as a relic of Revolutionary headquarters.

Captain Bibber served as captain of the First Maine Cavalry throughout the Civil War, or for four years and seven months, and was present at Appomattox at the surrender of Lee. His regiment was in two hundred engagements from Bull Run to Appomattox. After marrying, he brought his wife to Eastport, Maine, engaging in the dry goods business. His spare moments he gave to painting, for he was an artist of ability, and noted as a marine painter. He exhibited his work in an art gallery in Philadelphia, and at Williams & Evarts well-known art rooms at Boston, and at each exhibition received his quota of praise.

In 1890 Captain and Mrs. Bibber came out to California and located at Orange, where they purchased twenty acres between Schaffer and Cambridge streets, tc Culver and Palmyra; and this acreage they set out to oranges. They also built a fine residence. From 1895 until 1901 Captain Bibber was again active as a dry goods merchant, this time at Orange, but in the latter year he sold his mercantile business and on October 7, 1912, he died. During his latter years he again devoted himself to painting, and Mrs

Joseph SA hunston.

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Bibber possesses some fine specimens of his art. The Bibbers laid out ten acres of the land in lots, and this was soon sold and built up. In 1919 Mrs. Bibber sold her larger residence and her ten-acre orange grove, and since then has had built for herself a comfortable bungalow at the corner of Van Bibber and Harwood streets.

One child blessed this marriage of Captain Bibber and Miss Annesley-Alice Alden, a graduate of the Girls' Collegiate School of Los Angeles, where she was a member of the Class of '03, and she is now the wife of Ray O. Van Bibber, who is engaged in the oil business.

Captain Bibber's first wife was Miss Sarah Houghton of Eastport, Maine, a daughter of the Hon, Partman Houghton, who was a member of the state legislature in Maine. She died in Boston, leaving a daughter, Edith Prince Bibber, who also makes her home with Mrs. Bibber. She was educated at Vassar College, and teaches music in the El Modena schools, and she has built herself a studio adjoining their home, where she teaches private pupils.

Captain Bibber was a Unitarian, while Mrs. Bibber is a member of the Baptist Church of Santa Ana. She is also one of the early members, and one of the executive committee of the Ebell Club of Santa Ana. Both Captain and Mrs. Bibber have been Republicans; and he was a member of the Southern California Commandery, Military Order of the Loyal Legion, and also a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, being thrice commander of Granger Post.

JOSEPH S. THURSTON .- A resident of California for half a century, Joseph S. Thurston has slight remembrance of any other locality, having been brought here by his parents when a babe of two years. A successful, self-made man, he has acquired large realty holdings entirely through his own industrious efforts and has been for a long time the leading rancher, fruit and vegetable grower at Laguna Beach. Born November 26, 1868, in Cash Valley, Utah, Joseph S. Thurston was the seventh in order of birth of a family of fifteen children. His father was George W. Thurston, born in Huron County, Ohio, while his grandfather was Thomas J. Thurston. His mother, Sarah Lucina Snow before her marriage, was born at Chester, Pa., while her parents were en route from Vermont to Illinois. Grandfather Erastus Snow was a native of Vermont and there he married Artimesia Berman, and they were early settlers of Hancock County, 111.

Mr. Snow and Thomas J. Thurston and others were members of the pioneer train to Salt Lake City. Mr. Snow and a comrade, Orson Pratt, went ahead of the train. and as Mr. Snow had a splendid, swift riding horse, he blazed the way for the train. picking the trail and camp sites, as well as furnishing provender by hunting. After arriving at Salt Lake he helped lay out the town. He was very prominent in the early days of Salt Lake City and became one of the head men in the Mormon Church, being one of the first group of twelve apostles. He was sent to and founded St. George City, Utah, and there he died. Thomas J. Thurston became a bishop in the Mormon Church aand passed away in Utah. George W. Thurston and his wife engaged in ranching near Salt Lake City for a time and then removed to Weber County, where he engaged in freighting and made sufficient money to purchase machinery for a grist mill, building the first mill in Cash Valley. While living there a little son died of diphtheria and tlien a still harder blow fell on the family when one of their little daughters was stolen by the Indians. While residing in Utah, George W. Thurston and his wife withdrew from the Mormon Church.

In 1870, Mr. and Mrs. G. W. Thurston, with their children, came to San Francisco, but remained there only a few weeks, going by boat to San Diego. Here they acquired land and began raising stock and grain, but being warned of trouble brewing among the stockmen, they sold out and came to Tustin in 1871. Camping at the old artesian well east of Tustin for about six weeks, they then took up the original homestead of 152 acres at Aliso Beach and in the canyon. The Thurston ranch is the most scenic and picturesque of any on the coast of Orange County, and has a frontage on the ocean of a quarter of a mile, extending back three-fourths of a mile inland.

Joseph Thurston began making himself useful at a very early age. When about five years old he herded ducks along Aliso Creek to see that coyotes did not prowl up and get them, and at other times by watching that the ground squirrels did not make too much havoc with the patch of young corn; in each case he would be gone from the old farm house practically the entire day. When eight years old he was told to watch the cattle off the wheat patch in the canyon. He started up the canyon with his lunch zealously keeping his eye out for the patch of wheat. At that season of the year the country was all green and all looked alike, but he finally located the wheat and faith- fully guarded it. This he kept up for seventy-two days without interruption, marking the time by cutting a notch for each day in a stick. During this period he had no dog,

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but had some experience with squirrels eating his lunch and also with wild cats, but was not afraid of them, except once when he had to go into the dense brush to drive the cattle out where he had previously seen a cat. He always carried a tough stick about thirty inches long which he kept in readiness, determined that if the cat should jump out at him he would hit him once, at the least. This stick he carried with him for years, and afterwards when his dog cornered a large cat, he killed it with the same stick. Most of his time for seven years was spent herding cattle on the hills and many times was where he could look down into Laguna Canyon. During these years he was taught to read and spell, the lessons being usually taught him at home by some of the children and he was also taught to write, being given a little time each day until he had filled out two primary copy books, while his mathematics consisted of some of the neighbor's children showing him how to subtract, multiply and divide; that is all the assistance he ever had in obtaining what is commonly known as an education until he was thirty-six years old, when he hired a man and his wife to take care of the ranch as best they could and went to Los Angeles, where he attended Woodbury's Business College for a period of three months, a most enjoyable experience, as he had excellent surroundings, staying at the home of Judge and Mrs. W. A. Cheney. While herding cattle he had always carried his books, but had to carry the same ones for years not having any new ones, Ray's primary and second arithmetic being among the number, but he says he could always find something new in them.

At the age of fifteen his older brother left home and Joseph then had to devote his entire time to the farm work and when he was nineteen, his father left home and the entire responsibility of the farm rested on his shoulders. However, he took hold of the work and as usual mastered the situation, so that in 1891 they managed to build a new house and it was not until then that he had ever slept in the house where the rest of the family were since he was a small boy. In 1893, at the age of twenty-five, feeling that a change was absolutely necessary and hoping that some of the other boys would take care of the ranch he left home, and it was during very trying times, being the time of Coxey's army and work was about as scarce as money. He worked on threshing machines at $1.50 a day; he helped put in some of the first paving in Santa Ana at $1.75 and boarded himself, and he worked for Will Halesworth on the desert, 144 days at one dollar a day.

When he came back to the ranch in the fall of 1895, his mother had moved to Santa Ana and the other children had gone out to work and he found things in a state of chaos. So he and his sister and her husband, W. H. Walles, came down to work the place, but they stayed only about one year and then he was left to work the ranch alone, doing the work previously accomplished by the whole family, and this with his nearest neighbor four miles distant. For seven years he was confronted by that situ- ation; they were seven long years of toil and privation, for five of them were the dryest the country had known and one of the others was only half a crop. A volume could be written about his experiences and hardships of those years of constant work and worry. In speaking of it he says, "he felt like one who was trying to sweep the water back from an island that was gradually being submerged."

There were times when he felt like deserting, but then would come the thought that his mother depended on him, and the ranch and all the efforts they had put forth would go for naught if he failed to hold the fort, and that would never do. It was a lonely situation but he kept going. With the small market in Laguna limited to about ten yeeks a year and with the expense of twelve months, together with all the pests that naturally would come to the only place (his being the only place for many miles where fruit and vegetables were raised) where they could find what they wanted to eat, the situation was intense. There were birds by the thousands, mice, rabbits and gophers and the surrounding country harbored thousands of squirrels; then there were skunks, coons, coyotes and wild cats, as well as numerous kinds of bugs, all bent on getting all they could of his produce, so at times he found it almost impossible to raise anything. So between these pests and the regular work, to say nothing of the housework and keeping up the machinery and numerous other things that had to be regulated, including trying to make financial ends meet there was plenty to keep him in a fighting mood; so much so that when some well-meaning individual who really wanted to be pleasant would say, "What a beautiful place, pray what do you find to do down here?" he would really find it difficult to keep his temper. During all this time he has cared for his mother, who now resides at Santa Ana at the age of eighty years. A remarkable fact in the family is that of the fifteen children, thirteen grew up to maturity and all are living, there having been no death in the family since nearly sixty years ago, when they were living in Utah. The little girl, Rosetta, who was stolen by the Indians when she was three years old, was never heard from in spite of extended search, and this was always a great grief to the family.

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After a number of years Mr. Thurston purchased the home ranch and later added to it 161 acres, so that the Thurston ranch now comprises 313 acres. In 1919 he acquired the 528-acre tract at Laguna known as the Rogers place, which brings his holdings up to over 800 acres. His principal products are early vegetables, melons, corn and fine apples, and he has made a reputation for growing string beans, being the first to ship to the San Francisco and Los Angeles markets and bringing as much as thirty cents a pound. For irrigation he has a pumping plant, while domestic water is piped to his residence from mountain springs. Mr. Thurston has recently leased his ranches for oil, and the Rogers place is now being exploited for oil, with splendid prospects.

One of Orange County's enthusiastic citizens, Mr. Thurston can always be counted upon to aid in any progressive movement for its betterment, and this is but natural when one considers the wonderful success that he has made here entirely through his own unaided efforts. He was in this region five years before any one settled at Laguna, so he is the oldest settler in this locality, having located here two years after Santa Ana was founded. Very affable and of a pleasing personality, upright, honest and enterprising, he is a man any community may justly be proud of. While a liberal in politics, he inclines toward the principles of the Republican party and is a firm advocate of prohibition.

JOHN W. ELLIOTT .- A hard working man whose beautiful home very pleas- antly testifies to his success, is John W. Elliott, the retired carpenter, so well and favorably known, with his kind-hearted, devoted wife, for a lively interest in the homes and the welfare of other folks in the community. He was born at Schleisingerville. Washington County, Wis., on November 4, 1847, the son of Thomas and Jane Elliott. His father was a farmer; and while John worked on the farm to help his parents, he attended first the district school of his home town, and later the Cedar Valley Seminary.

In the spring of 1865, Thomas Elliott removed with his family to Floyd County, Iowa, and settled near the town of Rudd; and in 1869 John Elliott became the first clerk of Rudd Township. The father and five of his sons owned jointly a section of land, which they devoted to the raising of corn and hogs; and in 1874 John purchased a quarter-section near the old homestead. In 1886, he sold the Rudd farm and removed to Osage, Mitchell County, Iowa; and near there he ran a market-garden farm of ten acres. This he held onto until 1901, when he came out to California.

At Santa Ana Mr. Elliott took up building and helped to erect the Public Library. the City Hall, the Intermediate school on Sycamore Street, and many of the best business establishments and private homes in Santa Ana, thereby helping materially to build the town and to guide the public taste.

On June 13, 1880, Mr. Elliott had been married near Rudd to Miss Emily Neville, a native of Fond du Lac, Wis., and the daughter of Dr. and Mary (Lancaster) Gallup. One child, Elsie E., who is living at home, has blessed this happy marriage. Mr. Elliott is a staunch Republican in matters of national political import; but his strong love for the community in which he resides, and his deep interest in community progress, never permits him to mix partisanship with a vigorous support of every good measure and candidate proposed.

JACOB DITCHEY .- An enterprising and progressive resident of Orange, whose equally industrious wife shares with him the good will and esteem of a large circle of friends, is Jacob Ditchey, who for many years of his life was engaged in farming in Indiana and Colorado, and later in the Golden State. The success he has made is all the more praiseworthy, since it was in the face of obstacles that would have daunted one of a less courageous spirit. A native of Ohio, where he was born at New Wash- ington, Crawford County, in 1855, Mr. Ditchey was orphaned at an early age, a circum- stance whose sadness was increased by the unkind treatment he received by the family to whom he was bound ont. Unworthy of their trust, they put him to work instead of sending him to school and thus deprived him of the opportunity to secure anything beyond the rudiments of an education.

Even these hard circumstances did not quench his ambition, however, and as soon as he reached his majority he started out for himself, and at fourteen years of age began working out on farms in Ohio. In 1873 he removed to Clinton County, Ind. He established family ties in 1882 by his marriage to Miss Flora A. Misner, born at Rossville, Clinton County, Ind., and the young couple engaged in farming there until 1905, when he removed with his family to Colorado, where he continued agricultural pursuits at Longmont. For a long time he had been attracted to the balmy climate of the Pacific Coast, hoping some time to make his home there, so in October, 1910, he came with his family to California, and located at Orange. For several years he

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followed horticulture and met with deserving success. In 1913 he completed his modern bungalow at 421 South Orange Street, where he resides with his family. He now gives his time to his duties as janitor of the Grammar School at Orange, as well as being janitor of the City Hall.

Mr. and Mrs. Ditchey were the parents of six children, four of whom are living: Ward C. is an employe in the Santa Ana Post Office; Ross is a graduate of the Orange County Business College and now resides in Los Angeles; Dayton D. served his country during the World War, being stationed at Camp Lewis and later in North Carolina; Stella M. is a graduate of the Orange Union high school and is now with the Orange County Trust and Savings Bank. Realizing the handicap that he experienced through his inability to procure a good education, Mr. Ditchey has been especially zealous in giving his children every opportunity within his means. Liberal and kind hearted, he has always been ready to make sacrifices and practice self denial in order to help others, and this generous spirit, combined with his tireless habits of industry, makes him one of the community's dependable citizens.

G. H. FLESNER .- A liberal-minded, progressive citizen of Anaheim whose pros- perity has very naturally made him love California, the Golden, is G. H. Flesner, who has the added blessing of a good housewife, an excellent helpmate, a true companion. Nearly ten years ago he located at Anaheim, and both he and his friends have good reason to regret that he did not come here years before.

He was born near Champaign, in Champaign County, Ill., on February 16, 1887, the son of Henry Flesner, an early settler, who broke the raw prairie of Champaign County, improved his first holdings, and bought more and more land, until in all he had four hundred of the best acres. And there he died, in 1908, his sterling merits known to all the community. He had married Miss Folke Classen, a worthy woman of her day and generation, who now resides in California, sharing the comfortable home of her son, our subject, who is the only child of the family still living.

He was brought up on a farm, and attended the usual public schools of his locality, after which, for two and a half years, he went to the Watertown, Wis., high school. From his boyhood he assisted his folks upon the home ranch and after his father died he ran the farm, which included not less than 240 acres in operation. In 1911 he came to California, and the following year he disposed of the Eastern home.

On coming here he bought a ranch west of Anaheim, but after a year sold it again. Then he purchased the place on East Santa Ana Street, consisting of twenty acres, thirteen of which are in Valencia oranges and seven set out to walnuts. He also owns four and a half acres on Broad Street, planted to Valencias of the choicest variety. He owns an electrical pumping plant, and he has a fine residence on the property.

While yet in Illinois, on October 9, 1904, Mr. Flesner was married to Miss Gertie Duitsman, a native of Pawnee Rock, Rush County, Kans., but who was reared in Illinois. Her father was Henry Duitsman, and he had married Miss Ricken Debuhr, who is now dead. They were farmer folk, and her father still resides on the old homestead. Five children blessed the fortunate union of Mr. and Mrs. Flesner- Frieda, Rosie, Henry, Bertha and Carl, all of whom are at home. The family attend the Lutheran Church, of which Mr. Flesner is a trustee; and in national political affairs he works for the advancement of the Republican standards.

CLAUDE NEWTON ELLIS .- An industrious, straightforward business man who is naturally again and again rewarded, in his various enterprises, with an enviable success, is Claude Newton Ellis, for nearly two decades a Californian by adoption, and second to none in his loyalty to the Golden State. He was born in Silex, Lincoln County, Mo., May 3, 1879, the son of Clark Ellis, who was also a native of Missouri and became one of the extensive farmers and stockmen in Lincoln County, and later removed to Montgomery County. Isaac Ellis, the grandfather, was a Kentuckian equally well and favorably known as a raiser of fine stock in his day, and made a good record as a soldier in the Civil War. Clark Ellis married Miss Jennie McDowell, a native also of Missouri; but she died at the age of twenty-three, three years after Claude was born. She had three children, and our subject was the second in the order of birth. Clark Ellis died in his native state.

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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 59

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