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 60

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 60

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Claude N. Ellis was brought up on the stock farm in Lincoln, and then in Mont- gomery county, Mo., and studied for a while at Pike County, in Bowling Green and then at Watson Seminary, in Ashley, Pike County. When, however, his father became ill, he returned home to take charge of the farm; and having formed a partnership with his father, took up farming and stock raising in earnest, and continued at the same until 1903, when he sold out and came west to California.

J. Luther Marcon ML

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He located in Orange; and here, in March, 1904, he married Miss Lillian Northrop, who was born in Hopedale, near Boston, Mass., and came to California in August, 1898. She accompanied her father, James H. Northrop, the inventor of the Northrop loom, manufactured in Hopedale and used in putting out seventy-five per cent of all the cotton goods manufactured. He retired and chose California as a home place for his latter days; and coming here undertook ranching, and in time invented a date-pitting machine. He is living and resides in Santa Ana. After their marriage, Mr. Ellis had charge of the Northrop ranch, and next he bought an orange ranch in El Modena; later he sold this and removed to Coachella Valley, where he bought a homestead and a deserted claim and proved up on it-that is, he and Mr. Northrop had 320 acres, where they were among the pioneers in raising the date palm, and also figs for commercial purposes. He had two large pumping plants, and laid 28,000 feet of cement piping.

During this time Mr. Ellis went to St. Louis, Mo., and spent nine months at the St. Louis College of Embalming, from which he was graduated in 1912, after which he returned to his California ranch. He became a funeral director in Indio, and was also a merchant there; at the same time that he maintained on his farm the finest teams of horses and mules, as well as the latest types of tractors. In October, 1918, he sold out; and the following March he bought out Blank & Mead, the undertakers at Orange, and established his present business. He has a chapel, an operating room and a morgue, and Mrs. Ellis is also an embalmer- the only licensed woman embalmer in Orange County. Mr. Ellis belongs to the Southern California Funeral Directors' Association.

Mr. and Mrs. Ellis have one child, J. H. Northrop Ellis; they belong to the order of the Rebekahs. Mr. Ellis is a member of Orange Lodge No. 225, I. O. O. F., and Mrs. Ellis of Sceptic Chapter, No. 163, O. E. S. Mrs. Ellis belongs to the W. R. C. and he to the Modern Woodmen of America. Both husband and wife are members of the First Presbyterian Church of Orange.

JOHN LUTHER MAROON, M. D .- No greater evidence could be had of the success in every way of Dr. John Luther Maroon as a physician and surgeon since his advent in Santa Ana in 1917 than in the exceptional confidence reposed in him as one of the most representative medical men of the state by a large number of Santa Ana's best citizens. They find in him a good neighbor and a model citizen, who is devoted to his high professional work, and who goes about doing good with a sympathy and assurance which begets confidence and optimism, and in itself works miracles in the healing art. Dr. Maroon was born in Cleveland, Bradley County, Tenn., in Novem- ber, 1873, the son of Samuel W. Maroon, a member of one of the fine old families of Tennessee and a merchant who was a leader in the commercial world of his part of the state. He married Miss Sarah Elizabeth Henderson, a representative of another family equally held in high esteem in the South, a charming lady of accomplishment and beauty. They are now both dead; but their six children-among whom our subject was the fourth in the order of birth-attested to their nobility of character, and the good influence they bequeathed to others.

John Luther Maroon attended the grammar schools of his locality, and later en- joyed the advantages of the Chattanooga high school. Then he matriculated first at Grant University at Chattanooga, Tenn., and then at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tenn., where he was graduated in 1912 with the M.D. degree. Having well equipped himself for the practice of medicine by close application under the direction of some of the most learned medical instructors of the day, Dr. Maroon spent a year at Chat- tanooga Hospital in his native state, and for three years joined the medical fraternity at Portland, Maine, where his agreeable personality soon made for him a host of friends. In 1916, however, he let the pendulum swing far to the westward and came to Cali- fornia, long noted for its pick of surgeons and physicians; and for a year, he was house surgeon at Loma Linda Hospital in Loma Linda.

He has now been a resident of Santa Ana for three years, having established him- self here in 1917 in the practice of medicine and surgery, and it hardly needs to he said that he is doing very well. He is highly esteemed as a Fellow of the American Medical Association, and stands equally high as a member of the California State Medical Society and of the Orange County Medical Association. His scientific bent, his soundly- trained mind, and his helpful ideals have enabled him to grasp the latest word or cue, and to suggest where and how others may follow in his lead. As a skillful surgeon he has been able to dare and effect what not every practitioner of surgery would attempt, while as a consulting or visiting physician he has brought light and hope to the sick room, and easily induced those inclined to despondency to hope, look up, go forward, save themselves. Dr. Maroon is very conscientious in his examinations, having always in mind the deep welfare of the patients and no accommodation he can render them is

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too hard or difficult for him to do. It is noted that his patients are very loyal and have explicit confidence in him, counting his friendship an acquisition to the family.

Two children, bearing the names of Catherine and Dorothy, add to the attraction of the doctor's hospitable home, which is pleasantly situated in a suburban walnut grove at 407 West Seventeenth Street-a large modern bungalow, tastefully furnished. A Republican in national politics, Dr. Maroon is decidedly nonpartisan in all matters affecting local life and development, and has both caught and disseminated the Orange spirit which leads to helpful loyalty to Orange County and her promising towns. As has already been intimated, it has been the boast of California since her entrance amid the sisterhood of States that her medical men and women have been and are, both in respect to ability, experience and character, second to none in the world; and not only may Orange County therefore congratulate itself that Dr. Maroon pitched his tent at Santa Ana, but it is a subject of interest to the old state when such an aggres- sively progressive man of science comes here instead of going to some other corner of the waiting world.

MILO BAILEY ALLEN .- A rancher whose present prosperity is the result of his industrious, untiring work of development, is Milo B. Allen, senior member of Allen Brothers, whose ranch of seventy-seven acres lies on Euclid Avenue, north of Garden Grove. Born at Spring Valley, Fillmore County, Minn., January 9, 1880, he is the son of Lucian Waite and Rhoda Ann (Conklin) Allen. The father was born in Erie County, Ohio, and came to Minnesota in the early days, being one of the pioneer wheat growers of that region, and there he lived for more than fifty years. Mrs. Allen was a native of Pennsylvania, and came out to Minnesota when a young girl, and there she met and married Mr. Allen. This branch of the Allen family are lineal descendants of Robert Allen, a brother of Ethan Allen of Revolutionary fame, and the traditions of this old colonial family were well sustained by Lucian Waite Allen, who had an excellent record in the Civil War. He served for four years in the Union Army with the Third Minnesota Volunteers as principal musician in his regiment, being a fifer. He was considered the best fifer in Minnesota, and after his removal to Southern California he was often asked to play in military bands on patriotic occasions. His death occurred in 1914, at the age of seventy-seven years.

Milo B. Allen spent his early years on the home place at Spring Valley, Minn. Here he attended the local schools, the Spring Valley high school, the Spring Valley Normal, and later taking a three years' course at the Minnesota Agricultural School at Minneapolis, where he graduated in 1901. Thus he was unusually well equipped for the undertaking in which he has made such splendid success. In 1905 Lucian W. Allen came to California, locating in the Garden Grove district, where he bought twenty acres of land. A few months later Milo B. Allen and his brother, Joseph Garfield, whose sketch also appears in this work, also bought a tract of twenty acres. It was a stubblefield, and they at once began to improve it, leveling and irrigating it. putting in several miles of cement tile. They have made subsequent purchases in small amounts, and under the name of Allen Brothers they now jointly own and operate a ranch of seventy-seven acres. Of this, fifty 'acres have been set to Valencia oranges, that are from three to ten years old; twenty-five acres are in Eureka lemons, and two acres in a family orchard of decidnous fruits. They have developed an inexhaustible supply of water, having a well 195 feet deep. They irrigate by means of an electric pumping plant with a forty-five foot lift. Besides irrigating their own ranch they furnish water to others, having a sufficient supply for 140 acres. During the years of development the brothers did a tremendous amount of work in bringing their holdings up to their present high state of cultivation, for some time raising lima beans and peppers between the trees to help pay expenses. Now the trees are in full bearing and the income received by them reaches a handsome figure.

In 1902 .M. B. Allen was united in marriage with Miss Hattie Crosby, a native of Fillmore County, Minn., where their marriage occurred. She is a sister of C. G. and C. B. Crosby, both prominent citrus growers of Garden Grove. Mr. and Mrs. Allen are the parents of seven children: Lucile, who was born in Minnesota, Ruth, Lawrence, Burton, Dorothy, Gertrude and Marjorie. In February. 1919, Mr. Allen was elected president of the Garden Grove Orange Growers Association, and he is filling this responsible position with the greatest success and satisfaction to all con- cerned. This association, which was organized in 1916, met a long-felt want on the part of the citrus growers of this district. Its first president was John D. Arkley, who served for two years, followed by James Henry, who occupied the office for one year. up to the time Mr. Allen was elected. E. L. Dozier has ably filled the position of sec- retary and manager since its organization, and J. O. Arkley is now the vice-president.

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The other directors are: J. O. Arkley, Fred Andres, A. E. Snitiger, Anson Mott, F. G. Rosselott, James Henry and Mr. Allen. Mr. Allen, with his family, is a member of the Baptist Church at Garden Grove, and he is a member of the board of trustees. The family are very prominent in the social life of the community, and Mr. Allen's affability and generous spirit have made him justly popular among a large circle of friends; his rise to affluence is indeed well deserved, as it is the result of intelligent, well-directed industry on his part.

JOSEPH GARFIELD ALLEN .- Dating back to the earliest colonial days, the Allen family has reason for pride in its history. Patriots ever, and always in the fore- front at any time of their country's need, one of the outstanding members of this notable family is familiar to everyone-Ethan Allen of Revolutionary fame, the hero of Ticonderoga. It was a brother of this famous soldier, Robert Allen, who is the progenitor of two of Garden Grove's most influential citizens, Joseph Garfield Allen and Milo B. Allen, who as partners in the firm of Allen Brothers, are among the most prosperous citrus growers in this section, their grove of seventy-seven acres being situated on Euclid Avenne, north of Garden Grove.

Joseph Garfield Allen was born at Spring Valley, Minn., January 12, 1882. He was the son of Lucian Waite and Rhoda Ann (Conklin) Allen, natives of Ohio and Penn- sylvania, respectively, who were both among the early settlers of Fillmore County, Minn., where they met and married. There were nine children and four are now living, all residents of California: Mrs. Charles Maas of Santa Barbara; Mrs. Amy Graves, of Garden Grove; Milo B. and Joseph Garfield, of this review. Mrs. Lucian W. Allen passed away at their Minnesota home in 1896, and in 1905 the father came to California. Joseph G. was reared on the home farm in Fillmore County until he was about fifteen years old, and received a good education in the schools of the district and in the high school at Spring Valley. Later he completed his education with a course at Western College at Toledo, Iowa, now known as Leander Clark College, and upon locating in Orange County he and his brother have worked together in harmony to develop their citrus groves, as is shown in the sketch of Milo B. Allen.

J. G. Allen was married in 1909 to Miss Bertha Oertly, a daughter of Conrad Oertly; she is a talented and accomplished woman and an excellent helpmeet. They have three children, LeRoy Richard, Archie Eugene and Junior Garfield. The family belong to the Baptist Church at Garden Grove and Mr. Allen is the choirmaster, as both he and his brother have inherited much of the musical talent of their father. He is a member of the Garden Grove Orange Association, the Garden Grove Farm Center and the Central Lemon Association of Villa Park. An advocate of prohibition, he is always to be found on the constructive side of all the questions of the day. A hard and industrious worker, agreeable and gentlemanly, he and his family have a large circle of warm friends.

L. W. HEMPHILL .- An enterprising, public-spirited man who stands high in the estimation of the people of Orange, who have chosen him to be one of their city trustees, is L. W. Hemphill, who was born at Millford, Dane County, Wis., on August 14, 1874, the son of S. K. Hemphill, a native of New York, who settled in Wisconsin and married Miss Alice Brelsford. They were farmer folk of the finer American type, and in 1875 brought their family to California and settled a mile south of Orange. Later, they bought the ranch, setting it out with grapes, which failed on account of the blight; after that he ordered orange trees, of the St. Michael, Mediterranean and seedling types, which in time he budded to Navels. He also ran a citrus nursery. Finding that Valencias did better he budded some and set the balance to this species.

Mr. Hemphill followed orange culture here until 1905, when he sold out and located at Long Beach, where he engaged in the sale of real estate, and this he followed until he retired, to make his home in that city. His good wife had passed away in 1884. They had three boys and a girl, and all are living save one of the sons. Alice has become Mrs. Ellsworth, of Yakima, Wash .; Earl is in Placentia; and Lawrence WV. is the subject of our sketch.

At first the lad went to school to Mrs. Alice Armor, and then he continued to attend the public grammar school. From a boy he learned orange culture and the work in a nursery, under his father on the home ranch. and during boyhood, also, he worked for three or four years in a packing house. Then he clerked in Canfield's Grocery, and after that was in the service of D. C. Pixley's Hardware Store. With Clifton Hamilton he then started a shoe and novelty store at the corner of North Glassell and the Plaza, in Orange; but after two years he sold out, and next suffered a

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siege of illness. After that he had charge of the boot and shoe department of the Ehlen & Grote Company, and he gave that up only when he decided to take up real estate. He not only sold, but bought and improved several ranches, and did something for Orange in opening subdivisions. He put on the market the Hemphill & Paxton subdivision, on East Culver Avenue, consisting of ten acres, now handsomely built up; also the Thermalita tract on North Glassell and Walnut streets-this last enterprise in partnership with D. C. Pixley and Charles Ehrman There were ten acres in this tract, and all are also now sold and built up. With his brother-in-law he bought and improved twenty acres, setting them out to oranges.

He himself bought fifteen acres at Olive, on the Santiago Boulevard, which he improved with oranges, building a residence and making there his home for some years; and then, with Mr. Spencer, he bought forty acres of sage brush and cactus on Anaheim Boulevard, which he cleared and leveled. He put in a pumping plant and set out Valencia oranges, and now it is one of the finest groves in the county. Finally he sold this at a handsome profit. All this time he was located on his ranch in Villa Park; but in March, 1919, he sold this also, and settled in Orange. He built a residence on South Orange Street, which he later sold; and now he is located at the corner of Palm and Olive, having built two residences here.

At Orange he was married to Miss Flossie P. Spencer, a native of Iowa, who came here as a child and attended the local public schools. Both husband and wife are members of the Methodist Church, and Mr. Hemphill belongs to the official board. In the spring of 1920 he was elected a trustee of the city of Orange, and he is now chairman of the committee on streets, and also a member of the police commission. He gives promise of being just the man for these peculiar responsibilities, and Orange is to be congratulated on the choice of such a public servant.

MRS. EMMA BURCHFIELD COOPER .- An admirable example of California womanhood, a worthy representative of other worthy Americans, long influential in the communities in which they lived and amid the civilization they helped to guide and develop, is Mrs. Emma Burchfield Cooper, who has long been successfully interested in horticulture in Orange County and is now the owner of a fine ten-acre ranch at Hemet, devoted to apricots and walnuts. Pennsylvania was Mrs. Cooper's native state, her birthplace being near Meadville, in Crawford County. She came of an old family of that vicinity, her parents, David and Elsie (Scowden) Burchfield, both having been boru there. Grandfather Burchfield was a tiative of Ireland, but came to Crawford County, Pa., in the early days and engaged in agriculture there, residing there until his death. Mrs. Cooper's maternal grandfather, David Scowden, was also of an old Pennsylvania family and spent his whole life there.

After farming in Pennsylvania for a number of years. David Burchfield brought his family to Illinois, settling in De Kalb County, and was there engaged in agriculture until a short time before he passed away, his death occurring at his old home in Pennsylvania, whither he had gone on a visit. Mrs. Burchfield survived her husband for some years, spending her last days in Iowa in the home of her daughter, Mrs. Cooper. The youngest of a family of ten children, only two of whom are now living, Mrs. Emma Burchfield Cooper came to Illinois with her parents at the age of nine years and was reared on the home farm in DeKalb County, receiving a good education in the public schools there. On reaching young womanhood she was united in marriage with Oliver Cooper, who was born near Belfast, Ireland, his father being a minister of the Presbyterian faith. After their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Cooper decided to locate in Iowa, and they became pioneer settlers of Story County; here they homesteaded 160 acres of raw land, putting the first plow in the virgin prairie soil, and improved and built up a nice home. Like the pioneers of every age and country, their task was far from being an easy one, but with youth, strength and ambition on their side, they were happy and successful in their undertaking.

After some years, however, Mr. Cooper's health failed and they decided to seek a milder climate; as a result they came to California, settling in Orange County. Pleased with the prospect of spending the coming years in this balmy climate, with its beautiful surroundings, they purchased a ranch at Villa Park, disposing of their holdings in Iowa. There was twenty acres in their Villa Park place, and through their care and cultivation it became one of the finest orange groves in that locality. The responsibility of its care became too heavy, however, on account of Mr. Cooper's continued ill health, so they sold it and removed to East Palm Avenue, Orange. Mr. Cooper then carried out a long-cherished desire to visit his old home in Ireland, and three months after he arrived there he passed away and was laid to rest beside his father and mother.

Chans, Eggabroad,

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After her husband's death, Mrs. Cooper continued to be actively interested in horticulture, purchasing a ten-acre ranch at Olive, which she later traded for a ranch at Hemet, which is devoted to apricots and walnuts. This she still owns and super- intends most capably, as her many years of experience have given her a thorough knowledge of the varied branches of horticulture.

Mrs. Cooper is the mother of six children: William, who was born in Illinois, died in Iowa at the age of six years; James is a farmer near Des Moines, Iowa; Ralph is also engaged in farming at Springville, Iowa; Lettie is Mrs. Williams of Orange; Bertha, Mrs. Ferguson, resides with her mother; and Maude, now deceased, was the wife of Warren Fletcher. Mrs. Cooper still makes her home at 641 East Palm Avenue, Orange, and takes an active interest in all that concerns the welfare of the community. A firm believer in the future greatness of Orange County, she has, herself, done her full share toward its horticultural development. She has reared and educated her family, giving them every advantage possible, and has lived a useful and self-sacrificing life, and her influence has ever been on the side of good. A member of the Mennonite Church at Orange, Mrs. Cooper is active in its work; politically she is a stanch Repub- lican and a firm believer in the principles of that party.

CHARLES H. EYGABROAD .- Emphatically in accord with the true western spirit, especially in the development of Orange County along broad and enduring lines, and one whose confidence in its future grows with his own ever-increasing success, Charles H. Eygabroad had prior to his coming here held a distinguished place in the financial and public life of South Dakota, where he had a prominent part in helping to shape the destinies of that commonwealth in the early days of its statehood.

Iowa was Mr. Eygabroad's native state and there he was born at Fredricksburg, Chickasaw County, on October 25, 1863, the son of John J. and Catherine (Worth) Eygabroad, natives of Utica, N. Y., and Germany, respectively. The Eygabroad family were of old Knickerbocker stock who came from Holland and settled in New Nether- lands, now New York, in about 1765. Great-grandfather Eygabroad, who was born in Holland, was but a child when he accompanied his parents to the New World, and at the breaking out of the Revolutionary War, although he was only thirteen years old, he enlisted as a drummer boy, and after three years he carried a musket, serving throughout the whole seven years of the war, and was at memorable Valley Forge with General Washington. Grandfather Charles Eygabroad was a blacksmith at Utica, N. Y., and here John J. Eygabroad, the father of our subject, was born. He came to Free- port, Ill., where he followed his trade, and in 1849, with three companions he crossed the plains with ox teams to California, mining there for three years, when the gold excitement was at its height. Returning by way of the Isthmus of Panama in 1852, he walked across to the Atlantic side, finally reaching his old home at Freeport, where he was married. Here he engaged in farming until he removed to Chickasaw County, Iowa, where he bought Government land for $1.25 an acre. This he improved and he became one of the prosperous, successful farmers of that district, where he and his wife resided until they passed away.

The fifth in order of birth of a family of eleven children, Charles H. Eygabroad received his fundamental education in the rural schools of his native state and this was supplemented by the broader education acquired in the best and most practical of schools-the school of experience. He remained in the paternal home until he reached his majority, then sought his fortune in Dakota Territory in 1884, where with a capital of $1.50 he homesteaded land in Brown County, near the present town of Hecla, S. D. With the undaunted spirit of the pioneer he taught school in the winter, farmed in the summer months, and turned his hand to blacksmithing and anything else he could find to do. He was justice of the peace, performed marriage ceremonies and practiced law; and when, during this time, South Dakota was admitted to the Union. Mr. Eygabroad was elected a member of the state legislature in 1894. He was a member of the educational committee of the House, acting as its chairman, was chairman of the Federal relations committee and a member of other important committees.

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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 60

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