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 61

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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After the expiration of his services in the legislature Mr. Eygabroad was elected auditor of Brown County for two terms of two years each, afterwards occupying the office of county commissioner for three years. During all of this time he was active in the realty business, buying and selling farm lands in South Dakota. For three years he was president of the First State Bank of Hecla, S. D., disposing of his interest in that institution when he came to California December 26, 1908, on account of his health. Locating at Anaheim, he bought an orange grove at the corner of Center and Walnut Streets, to which he gave his care. and in this salubrious climate and the enjoyment of his work he regained his health. Since then he has dealt extensively in orange groves and is now the owner of eight groves in the vicinity of Anaheim.

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HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY

In 1913, in connection with F. C. Krause, he organized the Anaheim National Bank, of which he was president until he disposed of his interest to Mr. Krause. He has since been active in real estate circles, subdividing and putting on the market the Johnston- Honck tract, an addition to Anaheim, and later he laid out the Vista del Rio Rancho tract, and has already disposed of most of it. Besides his realty transactions, Mr. Eygabroad is president of the Orange County Mutual Telephone Company. In 1918 he became interested in the First National Bank of Anaheim and is a director of that institution, was an organizer of the Anaheim Citrus Association, having been a director since its beginning, and is a member of the Northern Orange County Exchange. He still owns valuable farm lands in South Dakota, preferring to keep some interests where he was successful in his early years. In 1916 he drove his own car through to South Dakota, from there to New York, and back to California, taking in Yellowstone Park and making the whole trip in less than three months. Part of his trip was made over the old California emigrant trail over which his father had journeyed with ox teams, fifty-seven years before, some of the scenes being familiar to him from his father's description of his early trip.

Mr. Eygabroad's marriage which was solemnized March 1, 1887, at Kilbourn, Wis., united him with Miss Nettie Stearns, and two children were born to them, a daughter, Lilly, who is now the wife of Lynn Birdsall and the mother of two children; and Lonnie who died at six years of age. In his religious convictions Mr. Eygabroad is a Metho- dist, and ever since he was twenty-one years old he has been active in church work and has taught a Bible class. In his political views he is a Republican, and while living in South Dakota was elected chairman of the Republican County Central Committee in 1900. He is now a member of the Orange County Republican Central Committee and is chairman of the finance committee of Anaheim district. Prominent in the ranks of the Masons, he was made a Mason in Frederick Lodge, S. D., and later was a mem- ber of the lodge at Hecla, in that state and he is now affiliated with Anaheim Lodge No. 207, F. & A. M., serving as master of this lodge during the building of the Masonic Temple. He is a member of the Chapter at Aberdeen, S. D., and in that city was exalted to the Knights Templar degree, Aberdeen Commandery, but now a charter member of Fullerton Commandery, K. T. He belongs to Yelduz Temple, No. 38, A. A. O. N. M. S., at Aberdeen, S. D., and is a member of the Southern California Association of Past Masters at Los Angeles, and with his wife is a member of the O. E. S. He also holds membership with the Odd Fellows and Elks at Anaheim.

As one of the progressive business men of Anaheim, Mr. Eygabroad is naturally prominent in the Chamber of Commerce, and he has always been a leader in furthering the many projects which have been promulgated for the upbuilding and prosperity of this section, and not alone has he accumulated a comfortable fortune for himself, but he has contributed generously to the growth and wealth of the community, where he enjoys the sincere esteem of his fellow-citizens.

JOHN C. MAIER .- A retired merchant whose success was undoubtedly dne, in part, to his wise conservatism, is John C. Maier, now active as a rancher, whose straightforward Christian life has contributed to make him a representative citizen of Orange County. He was born in Cass County, Iowa, on August 20, 1858, the son of Sebastian Maier, a millwright by trade, who had married Miss Sophia Hazelmeyer in Germany, his native country, and came to the United States in 1850, when he had been married only a few years. Columbus, Ohio, was their destination, and there Mr. Maier followed his trade for a couple of years. After a while they removed to West- point, Iowa, and in the spring of 1853 took up there some 320 acres of raw government land, and secured title.

John attended the common schools of Westpoint, and when sixteen years of age commenced a three-year apprenticeship in a tinshop at Atlantic, Iowa. Later he found steady employment as plumber and tinsmith for six years. On the death of his father in 1879 he took charge of the home farm and ran it till he disposed of it to come to California. In 1882 he brought with him to California his already aged mother, to whom was accorded an additional ten years of life in more balmy Southern California, and who died in 1893.

In 1883 Mr. Maier entered the employ of the McFadden Hardware Company, at first working for only three months; but later becoming financially interested in that well-established concern, he remained with them for twenty-three years, continuing to build up an extensive hardware and plumbing trade. He did the plumbing and tir work in such notable structures as the First National Bank, the Medlock Building, and the Lacy and Chandler buildings, the Brunswick, now New Santa Ana Hotel, and many others. For the past twelve years he has been retired from active business life, although still controlling and guiding important interests. In 1890 he bought ten acres

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on Santiago Street, which he afterward sold at a good profit. In 1899 he purchased his present home site with twenty acres of walnuts and oranges at the northeast corner of C and Seventeenth streets. He also has other real estate, including thirty acres of walnuts and oranges one and a half miles northeast of Garden Grove, with a fine well and pumping plant. He has also owned and improved various other ranches. He is a stockholder in the Santa Ana Valley Irrigation Co., and in the Santa Ana Walnut Growers Association. To provide surplus water for irrigation during the summer he became associated with Mathias Nisson and Henry Rohrs, Jr., and they sunk a well and installed an electric pumping plant, giving them over fifty inches of water. The pumping plant on his Garden Grove ranch has a capacity of 100 inches, sufficient for the ranch as well as supplying some of the neighbors.

In 1887 Mr. Maier was married to Miss Louisa Bartling, a schoolmate, the daughter of Henry Bartling; she was a native of lowa. Four children have blessed their union: Gertrude died at the age of seventeen; Henry J. married Mabel Laux of Garden Grove, and they live on the Maier ranch; Edwin G., a rancher, resides at home; while Ethel is in Sonoma County. All of Mr. Maier's children have gone through the Santa Ana schools, proud of their association with Orange County as native sons and a native daughter, and Edwin, the second son, enlisted in the service of his country on May 21, 1918. He was sent to the Naval Reserve at San Diego, and was on the Eastern Coast until 1919. He had extensive trips to the island possessions of the United States, and made three trips to Nova Scotia, having enlisted as a fireman and been promoted as an engineer, and he was finally honorably discharged at San Francisco. Mr. Maier was bereaved of his first wife in 1911, and in 1916 he was married a second time to Miss Minnie Schuler of Pasadena, the daughter of George Schuler of Galena, 111., where she was born, the youngest in a family of eleven surviving children.

A Republican in matters of national politics, and a strong advocate of the building up of home, rather than club life, Mr. Maier contributes something to steady local finances in the wise investments he has made in California National Bank stock and in the management of his excellent rauch holdings. In more respects than one, therefore, Mr. Maier may be spoken of as a pioneer and an exemplary citizen.

LEROY BENNETT .- A good man who, after years of unremitting labor, has succeeded in acquiring a comfortable competency, is Leroy Bennett, whose years are brightened with the recollection of creditable service in the Civil War. He was born in Athens County, Ohio, on December 22, 1845, the son of Clinton Bennett, a native of that section and a farmer; he was in the Civil War as a Union soldier in 1861, but was crippled and discharged, and in 1864 he enlisted in the One Hundred Fifty-first Ohio National Guard, and was with his son, our subject, in Washington, until he was mustered out. He came to Humansville, Polk County, Mo., in 1865, and after farming industriously for years, died there. Mrs. Bennett was Johanna Wells before her marriage; she was a native of Ohio and died in Missouri, the mother of seven children, the oldest of whom was Leroy. A younger brother, Samuel J., who enlisted in the Sixty-third Ohio Regiment in the Civil War, died in Orange.

Leroy Bennett was reared on a farm, attended the local public schools, and left the plow to enlist for service in the cause against slavery and for the preservation of the Union, in April, 1864, joining the One Hundred Fifty-first Ohio National Guard, Company K., and was stationed at Washington, until mustered out at Camp Chase, Ohio, in August, 1864. The following year he removed to Missouri and helped on the home farm; and in that state he remained until his marriage, in 1867, to Miss Susan Minerva Wrentfrow, a native of Missouri and the daughter of James Wrentfrow, who came from Tennessee to Missouri. She had two brothers, James and A. F. Wrentfrow, in the Union Army, and both acquitted themselves as men.

After his marriage, Mr. Bennett engaged in farming in Missouri until 1894, and on New Year's Day started for California, first stopping at Burbank, in Los Angeles County, for a year; but in February, 1895, removed with his family to Orange County and located at Orange. He then bought his present place, a promising tract of an acre, which he improved by the setting out of oranges and the building of a residence; but Mrs. Bennett, esteemed and mourned by all who knew her, died on July 31, 1912, leaving a void in both the home where she had so well presided, and the heart of her devoted husband. With her he has always attended the Methodist Church and served on its official board for several years.

Four children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Bennett: Hester A., now Mrs. W. E. Jones, presides over Mr. Bennett's household; Carrie N. is Mrs. Wm. F. Black of San Jacinto; Sarah Olive is Mrs. J. Z. Smith of Long Beach; and Harriet Eddith, Mrs. Amos Kaiser, also lives in San Jacinto.

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Mr. Bennett is a Republican in matters of national political import, but knows no partisanship when work or support is demanded for local uplift or progress, and seeks to help along the best men and the best measures. He never forgets the ideals of the nation for which he fought, and renews his patriotic youth in the circles of Gordon Granger Post, No. 138, G. A. R., of which he is a member.

HARRY B. HANDY .- A railway section foreman for a decade and a half who has carefully studied present-day devices in the constructing of railroads, is Harry B. Handy, popular with all who know him, on account of his modest, unassuming person- ality. He was born at Nevada, Story County, Iowa, on September 1, 1879, the son of Owen Handy, who came to that county from Illinois and who had married Miss Mary A. Parker, who came from Buffalo, N. Y., a sketch of their lives appearing elsewhere in this volume. They had four children, and Harry was the eldest son.

Harry Handy went to school at Villa Park, in what was then in the Mountain View school district, and grew up with ranch surroundings. His father was superin- tendent of some eighty acres of vineyard, owned by 1. W. Hellman and Morris L. Goodman, of the Farmers and Merchants Bank, and in this way our subject has come to be identified with the later agricultural interests of this locality.

November 17, 1897, witnessed the marriage of Harry Handy and Miss Mary Aline Horton of Orange and formerly of Iowa, and from this fortunate union have come two children-Orval B., born in June 19, 1898, and Robert Le Roy, born November 14, 1899. These sons are at present on the United States Revenue cutter Unalga, and on the Alaska coast; the eldest was in the United States service two years and the youngest has served one year.

H. B. Handy has been in the employment of the Southern Pacific Railroad for the past fifteen years as section foreman on the Los Angeles division, Tustin branch; and for six years he was zanjero and foreman on the ditch of the Santa Ana Valley Irrigation Company. He belongs to the Central Lemon Growers Association and to the Villa Park Orchards Association. The family live on a ranch at Center Drive and Villa Park Road where the tractor, representing the modern way of doing things, is used throughout for farm work. Mr. Handy finds part of his social recreation in the circles of the Odd Fellows at Orange, honored there as one of the past grands. He also works under the national banner of the Republican party for better citizenship, and has been active as a supporter of the movements for the local schools and the community church.

HANIGAN C. MOBERLY .- A veteran of the Spanish-American War with an interesting record for manly service in the Philippines, who has seen great improve- ments effected in and around Orange, is Hanigan C. Moberly, who was born in Loogootee, Martin County, Ind., on August 7, 1874, the son of Irvin Moberly, a native of Kentucky and a member of a well-known Southern family. He settled in Indiana, and there led a prosperous farmer's life, and there he died. Mrs. Moberly was Sarah Calvin before her marriage, and she also was a native of Kentucky. There were two girls and three boys in the family, and of these Hanigan was next to the youngest.

When only five or six years old he was left an orphan, and until he was old enough to hustle for himself he lived with relatives and did a boy's chores about the farm. He first came to Hamilton County, Nebr., in 1891, and there, until January, 1892, he continued working at farm labor. Then he came to California and stopped at Los Banos, Merced County, where he worked on the canal survey for four months.

In May, 1892, Mr. Moberly removed to Orange, and for four years was employed on a fruit farm. Then he engaged in the confectionery business, and later was with Ben Davis & Company in the bicycle trade. When the Spanish-American War broke out, however, he could not refrain from offering his services to his country; and on August 14, 1899, he enlisted. He joined Company D of the Thirty-fifth U. S. Vounteer Infantry, which was mobilized at Vancouver, Wash., and sent to Manila, P. I., and he served throughout the Philippine insurrection, or until May 2, 1901, when he was mustered out at San Francisco. He was in the following engagements: a skirmish at Arayat, P. I., on Nov. 10-11, 1899, and another at San Miguel de Mayumo on December 11, 1899; a battle at Balubid, P. I., on June 11, 1900; a skirmish at Sibul, P. I., on June 12, 1900, and one at Santa Lucia, P. I., on October 29, 1900. He was commissioned corporal on March 25, 1901, or shortly before his return to Orange.

Having retained his interest in the bicycle concern, Mr. Moberly and his partner started at Orange the first auto repair shop, in 1904, at the same time taking the agency of the Tourist automobile; and there, on North Glassell Street, near the Plaza, Ben Davis & Company continued until the spring of 1908, when the firm was dissolved. This move afforded Mr. Moberly an opportunity for foreign travel, and he made the most of it. Sailing for Costa Rica, Central America, from there he went to Panama.

Dastanchury

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Then he crossed the ocean to London, and after an extended trip of eighteen months, during which he saw and learned more on account of what he had seen and experienced in his previous travel to and from the Philippines, he returned to America and California. Coming west he stopped for a while at Indiana, and in dne time, glad to be home again, he arrived in the Golden State.

Taking up work again, Mr. Moberly started in the laundry business with the Orange branch for the Santa Ana Steam Lanndry, and since the fall of 1910 he has been established at the corner of Lemon and La Veta streets. He began with a horse and wagon; but it was not long before the business grew to such dimensions that he required an auto delivery, and he still serves customers obtained in the beginning. The Orange plant is at the address already mentioned, and there he has his office. Personal attention, promptness and an earnest effort to give every patron the maximum of good service for the least cost have wrought the usual wonders popularly termed "prosperity."

Since coming to Orange Mr. Moberly was married to Miss Elizabeth Williams, a native daughter born at Riverside; and with his good wife he resides at 536 East Palmyra Street. He also owns an orange grove of seven and one-third acres, half a mile north of El Modena. In national politics a "black Republican," Mr. Moberly is a very "white" nonpartisan when it comes to supporting local issnes likely to make for the development of Orange and Orange County, in which great civic work he is second to none in both good will and practical activity.

D. J. BASTANCHURY .- A progressive young man willing to help through his time, labors or other means all worthy projects, who has become an influential leader among the men of Orange County doing worth-while things, is D. J. Bastanchury, who has demonstrated his resourcefulness by improving one of the finest ranches in the state, now a famons show place along the State Highway between Fullerton and La Habra. A native son proud of his birthright, and of whom California may well be proud, Mr. Bastanchury was born at Anaheim on August 24, 1881, the eldest of four children born to Domingo and Maria Bastanchury, natives of France, who were pioneer settlers in what is now Orange County. Domingo Bastanchury engaged in sheep raising, and prospered in spite of dry years. He enlarged his flocks, and with deep foresight purchased land from time to time, in order to provide range for his sheep, until he became owner of from 8,000 to 10,000 acres in the La Habra Valley, extending to the built-up portions of Fullerton. He was eventually a very wealthy man, and before his death was rated a millionaire-the most tangible evidence of his rare busi- ness acnmen. Survived by his widow, his monument is administered by his sons, who have developed the largest citrus orchard in the world. Mrs. Bastanchury has retained her mental gifts to a rare degree, and can relate many interesting incidents, as one of the oldest living settlers in the county, of the ever-interesting early days.

D. J. Bastanchury, as the first-born in the family, was familiar with stock raising as a lad, and after completing the work of the local schools, attended St. Vincent's College in Los Angeles, from the commercial department of which he was graduated in 1899. He continued with his father for a while, and then he entered the offices of the Capitol Milling Company in Los Angeles, and later was also in the employ of the Globe Mills. After that he purchased the Whittier Milling Company, and engaged in buying and selling grain for himself. He extended the milling and grain business to Fullerton, and had the satisfaction of seeing a large trade built up when he sold out, in 1910, to take up the development of his large ranch. This consisted of 400 acres on the State Highway, between Fullerton and La Habra, and was then only a stubble field. He sunk several wells and developed water, and next installed electric pumping plants. These have afforded some 300 inches of water, and by means of his extensive cement pipe lines, he has an ample supply of water for the irrigating of all his holdings. He set out Valencia oranges, lemons and walnuts, and now the whole place is an orchard, presenting an up-to-date, well-kept appearance indicative of the most scientific procedure highly creditable to Orange County and California.

Mr. Bastanchury is also interested in fine stock and is making a specialty of breeding pure-bred Berkshire hogs of the finest blood obtainable. His stockyards are located on the extreme west of his ranch and cover about fifteen acres; the whole is divided into snitable pens with running water in each pen and cement platforms for feeding, the whole being thoroughly sanitary. The buildings are large and roomy and are painted white or covered with whitewash, presenting a splendid appearance. The heads of his herd, both male and female, were obtained from selected stock from Gentry in Sedalia, Mo .; Baker of Thornton, Ind .; Lovejoy of Roscoe, Ill .; Sid Williams in Kentucky, and also some from the famous stock farm of Mr. Humphreys near Stockton, Cal. His exhibit at the State Fair at Sacramento received highest awards, as did his exhibit at the Livestock Show at Los Angeles and the county fairs at Tulare

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and Riverside; and no wonder, for he spares neither money nor labor to secure and further develop the best blood for the head of the herd.

At the old Mission town of Los Angeles, Mr. Bastanchury was married to Miss Elizabeth Depweg, a native of Ohio and a lady of culture and refinement, who is a splendid helpmate to her husband, encouraging and aiding him in all his ambitions. They have completed an attractive modern residence, where in true Californian style they dispense a large-hearted hospitality; a home that is delightfully brightened by their four children-Domingo, Catherine, Elizabeth and Frederick. He is a member of the La Habra Citrus Association and fraternally is a member of the Santa Ana Lodge of Elks. He is a stockholder in the Union Bank and Trust Company of Los Angeles, and also an original stockholder and director in the Citizens Commercial and Savings Bank of La Habra, where his counsel as well as his optimistic influence is of the greatest benefit. A man of pleasing personality, as well as of the aggressively progress- ive action, Mr. Bastanchury never fails to encourage anything which makes for the upbuilding, as well as the building up, of the county in which he lives and prospers, and toward the speedy development of which he and his family have contributed so much.

MISS JUSTINE WHITNEY .- Prominent among the officials of Orange County whose personality as well as their efficient public service have entitled them to the highest esteem and confidence and rendered them justly popular is the experienced and accommodating county recorder, Miss Justine Whitney, who has filled that office of peculiar responsibility for several years past and bids fair to be in requisition for years to come. She is a danghter of Nathaniel Bradish Whitney, who married Miss Rhuby H. Houghton, both New Yorkers of English descent, and was born in Lewis County, in that state, near the home of Franklin B. Hongh, one of the greatest American historical students and scientists, who was the author of the pioneer county history published in the United States. She attended the local country school and later matriculated at the Dekin Business College, in Syracuse, from which she was graduated in 1898, well equipped for the ordinary commercial affairs of life. She was also prepared to instruct others, and for some years tanght school in New York, after which, like other East- erners who have made a success, she came West and followed newspaper work in California. She was employed in the office of the Daily Californian at Bakersfield, and next came to the Daily Evening Blade at Santa Ana.

On March 1, 1903, Miss Whitney was made deputy recorder of Orange County, and served with untiring fidelity in that office until April, 1914. She was then elected to be county recorder, and assumed the duties of that office in January, 1915. Four years later, when the public had ample time to judge of both her ability and her faithful performance of duty, and also of her acquired, invaluable experience, she was re-elected and is now serving a second term. Although a Republican in matters of national political moment, Miss Whitney endeavors to define her attitude toward local issues in a strictly nonpartisan manner, and to support the best men and the best measures, and in every way to upbuild, as well as build up, the city and county in which she lives and is primarily interested.

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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 61

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