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 62

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 62

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Miss Whitney belongs to the Sycamore Lodge of the Rebekahs, where she passed through the chairs, and in 1896 was appointed district deputy president of District No. 50, comprising the Rebekah lodges of Orange County, and served for a year. She is a communicant of the Episcopal Church, but is broad-mindedly interested in religious and social endeavor generally, and takes pleasure in helping, in a modest way, to make the world a better place in which to live.

RICHARD T. DAVIES .- A well-known figure in Orange County and popular with all who know him, R. T. Davies, of Fullerton, has been a factor in the develop- ment of the city in which he has been a resident for years. A native of South Wales, he was born at Carmarthen, March 31, 1867, the son of Lewis T. and Mary (Evans) Davies, who had three children, of which number R. T. was the oldest. Both parents have long since answered the final roll call.

Richard T. attended the excellent schools of his native shire and later farmed in that fertile country, so that he knows what hard work means and appreciates the opportunities offered to men who are willing to work to earn a place for themselves in this great commonwealth of California. When he was twenty-five years of age he came to America and for four years he was engaged in farming near Hiawatha, Kans., learning the ways of this country so that he could better advance in any line of endeavor he chose to enter. In the fall of 1896 Mr. Davies came to Orange County and in Orange-then a small village-he found employment in a packing house to learn the details of the business thoroughly, and gradually he worked his way through

Frank S Gates

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the various departments during the ensuing seven years. In 1903 he removed to Fuller- ton and for several years he packed fruit for a Los Angeles concern, each succeeding year becoming more closely connected with the citizenry of this section of the county. In 1912, he decided he would embark in business for himself and accordingly he estab- lished a packing house at Placentia and in time employed fifty or more people and used the most modern of machinery and methods. He continued this business until the fall of 1920, when he sold out the business and equipment and leased the building -which he owns-to give his time and attention to his growing interests.

Mr. Davies owns orange groves aggregating forty-six acres, and these he is bring- ing to a high state of production, as they were originally run-down groves when he purchased them. His thorough knowledge of the orange and lemon industry makes him an authority on the subject, and all this he has brought to bear in the develop- ment of his groves.

At Orange, Cal., in 1902, R. T. Davies was united in marriage with Miss Gertrude Charlotte Kennedy, daughter of William R. and Gertrude Kennedy, both living in Anaheim. Mr. and Mrs. Davies have been granted four children, John Wesley, Harold, William and Gertrude, all natives of the Golden State, and being educated in the best of schools here. Mr. Davies is a stand-pat Republican and has always taken a very active interest in local and in state politics and has served in the councils of the party for years, but never can be induced to accept any office. He is an active member of the Board of Trade and the Fullerton Club, and participates with vigor in all civic movements likely to improve, uplift and advance the community. He is a life mem- ber of the Santa Ana Lodge of Elks, and belongs to the Knights of Pythias and the Odd Fellows in Fullerton. R. T. Davies is one of the real "boosters" of Orange County and is a leader in advocating all improvements that build permanently. With several associates he is interested in oil development of the county, which industry he has witnessed from its infancy until it has grown to be of such proportions that it is astonishing the world.

FRANK S. GATES .- A representative business man of Orange County, now re- tired, whose various operations have always stimulated the commercial life of the Southland, is Frank S. Gates, a contractor in brick and stonemason work, who was born in Chicago, Ill., on November 9, 1862. His father was Francis A. Gates, a native of Massachusetts, who had married Miss Sarah Fitch, a belle of the Bay State. They came out to Cheyenne, Wyo., in the late sixties, with their family, and for a couple of years conducted there a restaurant which was one of the best establishments of its kind in the town. In 1870 they arrived in the Anaheim district of Los Angeles County. now Orange County, and for seven years Mr. Gates raised grapes on his ranch half a half a mile to the south of Anaheim. He next bought forty acres of land five miles southwest of Anaheim, where he lived many years and raised corn. He had one of the early artesian wells on his property, with a seven-inch pipe and giving three inches of water, which was used for irrigation purposes. He was a pioneer in experimenting with the date, which he planted from the seed, and was one of the first in America to culti- vate that fruit. He sent his product to the World's Fair in Chicago, and such was their quality that they readily took the first prize. Mr. and Mrs. Gates are now both de- ceased, but three children represent them worthily. The subject of this sketch lives at Anaheim; a daughter is Mrs. William Huff of Long Beach; and there is another son, James L., at Anaheim.

For a while Frank S. Gates worked on the home ranch with his father, and then he learned the brick and stonemason's trade at Anaheim. His first employment was with the Santa Fe Railroad Company, when he helped to build the road then being constructed from San Bernardino to San Diego. He had two teams and looked after the grading; and while working near Perris, he had an interesting experience. The men were camping out in tents when a heavy snowstorm came on, the temperature dropped to ten degrees below zero, and snow piled up in drifts eighteen inches over the tops of the tents, frozen so hard he could walk over them. Often, too, the Santa Ana River was full of water, and fording was difficult and dangerous. The country between Anaheim and Santa Ana was a thick tangle of willows, many feet high. When he first came to Anaheim, there were two stores, ten saloons and a few houses.

Mr. Gates followed brick and stonemason contracting for thirty years, and many of the old landmarks he built are still standing. These include the Rossmore Hotel in Santa Ana and the Hotel Rochester and the Dobner Block in Orange. He also built the old Spurgeon Block where the first postoffice was located, and the Lacey Block on Main Street, Santa Ana. He built and owns the modern brick block on North Lemon Street, Anaheim, occupied by the Romaine Garage. His son Irving was asso- ciated with him for eight years and now carries on the business and makes and installs 23

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artificial cement blocks. He specializes in porch and mantel construction in fine cottages and bungalows, and a very able workman he has proven to be.

When Mr. Gates married, he took for his wife Miss Cornelia R. Ryder, a native of Boston, who died in Anaheim, on September 8, 1918, leaving behind her a very enviable record for usefulness to society. She established the Floral Nursery at 119 South Illinois Street, now being carried on by her son, Howard E. Gates- the only nursery in Anaheim, and known throughout the county for its large variety of flowers. Four children blessed this fortunate union of Mr. and Mrs. Gates. Howard E., is mar- ried and has one child, Morgan Gates. Adalaid is the wife of Merle G. Anlauf of Santa Paula, and has three children: Helen, Glenn and Virginia. Irving, the successor of his father's business; and Inez, the wife of Roy Ivins, of Santa Ana, and the mother of one daughter, Blanche. Frank S. Gates served for six years as a trustee of the City of Anaheim; he is an Odd Fellow, belonging to Anaheim Lodge No. 199, and to the Encampment, the Canton and the Rebekahs, Lodge No. 268; and he is a member of Company No. 10236, Modern Woodmen of America. For three years he served in the National Guard of California, Company E and in Company G four years as quarter- master sergeant. He was a member of the volunteer fire department in Santa Ana three years, and lived in that city for six years. Mr. Gates has lived many years in Orange County, has been successful and is now practically retired from active business.

James L. Gates, already referred to as the brother of our subject, was born on his father's ranch, near Anaheim, on March 5, 1875, attended the Alamitos school, and the Central school at Anaheim, after which he took a thorough course at the Los Angeles Business College. In the spring of 1898 he went to Alaska, and for seven years he remained there in the Dawson district, mining and hunting. When he returned to Anaheim, he took a course in assaying, and then he went to Clark County, Nev .. where he spent two years. His next removal was to Acton, Cal., where he mined for two and a half years. About seven years ago Mr. Gates returned to Anaheim, and since then he has been engaged in selling new and second-hand furniture. He married Miss Bessie Stewart, of Nevada, and has one son, Stuart. He belongs to the Odd Fellows and attends the Catholic Church.

HENRY ANDREW SCHREINER .- The late manager of the Globe Grain & Milling Company, Henry Andrew Schreiner, brought to his present business operations, the most desirable wealth and power for any ambitious man-a rare combination of ex- perience, character and ideals, which contributed to the increasing success of all that he undertook. He was a native of Wisconsin, although almost a native son, and so added another esteemed name to the long list of those hailing from the Badger State. He was born at Milwaukee on January 18, 1885, the son of Andrew and Annie (Risch) Schreiner, natives of Bavaria and Wisconsin, and came to Los Angeles, Cal., in 1889, where they engaged in the grocery business on West Washington street, near Figueroa. Andrew Schreiner passed away in Los Angeles and his widow still makes her home in the Southern metropolis. Henry A. was the only child of the union and attended both public and private schools, and later St. Vincent's College, from which he was graduated in the commercial course. During these years of study, Mr. Schreiner laid broad and deep those foundations easily discernible by all who analyze his make- up. He first entered the employ of the Whittier Milling Company, which was sold after a year and a half to the Globe enterprise; and when the latter opened their place at Fullerton in about 1909 he became the Globe's manager. For two years he was president of the Fullerton Club, and was a charter member of the Board of Trade. On April 9, 1913, Mr. Schreiner was married in Fullerton to Miss Emma Salveson, of Fuller- ton, whose parents were Hans and Tonnette (Tollofsen) Salveson natives of Sog- gendal, Norway, where Mr. Salveson followed mining and farming until 1878, when he came to St. Joseph, Mo., where he was married; after this they farmed at Maysville, Mo. In 1888 they came to Fullerton, California from Brown County, Kans., and thus they are among the oldest settlers here, the town just having started at that time. Later they purchased twenty acres of raw land on North street in East Anaheim, which they improved from cactus and brush to a splendid Valencia orange grove. However, most all of these years they have made their home in Fullerton. This worthy pioneer couple have ten children: Sophia, Mrs. Simpson of Alhambra; Ida, Mrs. Shaw of Oakley; Sigwald of Fullerton; Emma, Mrs. Schreiner; Theodore resides in Brea; Herbert makes his home under the parental roof; Selma, Mrs. Callan of West Orangethorpe; Melvin served overseas in the U. S. Army, and was in the battles of Argonne and St. Mihiel and since his return, with his brother Herbert, he operates the Salveson Orange ranch; E. Franklin, who is with the Union Tool Company at

Danforth & Carles W.w.

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HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY

Brea; Louise, Mrs. Swink, resides at Brawley. Mrs. Schreiner was born at Horton, Brown County, Kans., but reared in Fullerton, where she received her education in the public and high schools.

Mr. Schreiner was a stockholder in the Globe Grain and Milling Company. and as manager of the Fullerton mills for the company had an enviable record as a business man. He improved a small orange grove at 638 West Commonwealth Avenue. where he built his residence and made his home until his death. February 3, 1920, a sad loss to his family and friends. Popular and fond of social life, Mr. Schreiner belonged to Anaheim Lodge No. 1345 of the Elks. He was public-spirited and second to none in advocating and working for civic improvement. The same high standards demanded by Mr. Schreiner for business efficiency and attainment he applied without reservation to the conducting of affairs in official life and the performance of duty, in political matters, by the ordinary and average citizen.

DANFORTH C. COWLES, M.D .- A member of the medical profession of Orange County of superior training, whose skill and conscientious attention and care to every patient has enabled him to rise to well-deserved prominence in his chosen field, is Dr. Danforth C. Cowles, who stands high in the profession, not only in Cali- fornia, but in the East, where he was very prominent as a surgeon, having a splendid record in Minneapolis, Minn., so that he was not long in establishing a successful prac- tice after locating here. Of Southern lineage, Dr. Cowles was born at Richmond, Va., February 22, 1875. His father was Dr. Ransom F. Cowles, a native of Virginia, who after obtaining his bachelor's degree at the University of Virginia, went abroad, grad- uating from the University of Heidelberg as an M.D. He practiced in Richmond, Va., until the Civil War started, when he served as a surgeon in the Confederate army. He was married to Miss Dulcinea Rowe, also a native of the Old Dominion. After the close of the war he continued to practice in Richmond, and there both he and his wife passed away. They were the parents of two children of whom Danforth C. was the younger. The older son, Frank, chose a military career, and was killed during military activities in Brazil.

Danforth C. Cowles early experienced the cares that are reserved for more mature years. He received the foundation of his education in the public schools, and at the age of fourteen, an orphan, was thrown upon his own resources for a livelihood. He earned a living by driving a mule in the coal mines, and with indomitable pluck and perseverance worked his way through the Virginia Military College, graduating with the class of 1892 as a civil engineer. He was engaged in this capacity for a few years with some of the big mining companies in the West, then entered the University of Minnesota as a student, graduating from the medical department in 1901, with the degree of M.D. The mantle of the father descended upon the shoulders of the son, and he spent two years at Bellevue Hospital, New York, acquiring an invaluable experience. and then going abroad, where he spent three years doing post-graduate work in Edin- burgh, Vienna and Paris. Returning to Minneapolis, Minn., he established a lucrative practice, remaining there for eighteen years. In 1918 he removed to Fullerton, Cal., and his professional skill rapidly became well known, so that he has acquired a large clientele, his patients having implicit confidence in his ability.

In Minneapolis, June, 1900, Dr. Cowles was united in marriage with Miss Ragnhild Sorensen, a native of La Crosse, Wis., whose father was a well-known editor of La Crosse, and later of Minneapolis, Minn. She passed away in 1914, leaving him one child. Danforth C., Jr., now a bright, sturdy lad of eight years. In June, 1918, Dr. Cowles' second marriage occurred, when he was united with Miss Anna Hicks, a graduate nurse and a very cultured, refined woman, who is a great aid and encourage- ment to Dr. Cowles in his profession.

Politically Dr. Cowles is a Republican, and in his religious associations is a member of the Christian Church, in which he is an elder. Fraternally he is a Scottish Rite Mason and a Shriner, being a member of Zorah Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., at Minneapolis. His Blue Lodge membership is now in Fullerton Lodge No. 339, F. & A. M. His fraternal relations are further extended by affiliation with the Knights of Pythias, and of Anaheim Lodge No. 1345, B. P. O. Elks. He is a member of the American Medical Association, the State Medical Society and the Orange County Medical Association; and also of the Fullerton Club and the Hacienda Country Club. An enthusiastic booster, Dr. Cowles is active in the circles of the Fullerton Board of Trade, and he is as well known for his public spirit and tireless activity in the interests of his adopted city. Fullerton, as he is for his skill as a surgeon and medical prac- titioner. Dr. Cowles has traveled extensively in many parts of the world, and during his residence in Minneapolis he made trips to Europe each year, and there visited the hospitals and attended the Old World clinics.

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ELWOOD COATE .- A man of exceptionally high character and agreeable per- sonality is Elwood Coate, who was born at Pleasant Hill, Miami County, Ohio, on December 12, 1843. His father was the Rev. Samuel T. Coate, a native of Miami County, and also a merchant, who in 1853 removed with his family to Marengo, Iowa, and after five years settled in the neighborhood of Le Grand, Marshall County, where he was a successful farmer, and where his wife died. In 1882 he removed to Cloud County, Kans., and there resided until his death, when he closed an enviable record of forty years service in the Christian Church ministry. Mrs. Coate was Harriet Anthony before her marriage; she was a native of Ohio, and was educated at Earlham Academy in Indiana. She was a cultured, refined woman, esteemed for her liberal education. and as a minister in the Christian Church, to which she, too, had been ordained, she was a gifted public speaker. She died in Iowa in 1881.

The Coates are of English extraction, and may proudly trace their family tree back to Marmaduke Coate, who came from Cumberland, England, to South Carolina, and joined the Society of Friends. He had a son, William, and he in turn had a son also named Marmaduke-the great-grandfather of the subject of our sketch. He removed from North Carolina to Pennsylvania, and there with a Mr. Coppock, bought 5,000 acres of land from the Indians, some of which now lies in the rich oil belt of western Pennsylvania. In 1806 he came to Miami County, Ohio, and bought land at twenty- five cents per acre near Pleasant Hili; and the old home place he erected is still stand- ing. Grandfather James Coate was born in Ohio. On his mother's side Mr. Coate is descended from John Furnas, also a native of Cumberland, England, whose father was a lord and large landowner. John Furnas has four sons born in England-William, John, Thomas and Jonathan. John Furnas had married Mary Wilkinson, the ceremony occurring in the meeting house of the Friends. They came to North Carolina, arriving in Charleston on February 18, 1763; and while they were in the harbor, another son, Joseph, was born, who, when he grew up, married a Miss Teague. The name was originally Furness, and was changed to Furnas in South Carolina. The father was an early pioneer in Iowa, when government land went begging at $1.25 per acre, although later the land was rapidly gobbled up.

There were ten children in the Coate family, six of whom are still living: Susan W. Conway, in her eightieth year, the widow of a Civil War veteran, lives at Bloomfield, Iowa; Elwood; Esther C. Rose lives at Tucson, Ariz., the widow of Captain Rose, of the Civil War; D. A., of Parsons, Kans .; Cynthia Ann Stallings, of Oswego, Kans .; Olive Hart, of Macksburg, Iowa. Elwood Coate was reared in Ohio until 1853, when he removed to Iowa with his parents. There he was educated in the public schools and fully caught the spirit animating all Americans as more and more the great struggle between the North and the South came to a focus; and on March 26, 1864, when he was twenty years of age, he enlisted as a volunteer in Company I, Second Iowa Volunteer Cavalry, and was mustered in at Davenport on April 9, 1864. He served in Missouri, Kentucky, Mississippi, Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia, and was in the battles or skirmishes of Tupelo, Cormory's Cross Roads, near Harrison, Littlehatchee River, Old Town Creek, Shoals Creek, Campbellsville, Lynville, Columbia, Spring Hill, West Harpeth, Franklin and Nashville, and then on Hood's retreat, at the Battle of Spring Hill, Lawrenceburg, Richland's Creek, Tuscambia, and various other places After the war Mr. Coate served in the South during the Reconstruction period, and the regiment was honorably discharged at Selma, Ala., on September 19, 1865. He returned home October 6, 1865.

After the war Mr. Coate established himself in the harness business at Le Grand, Iowa, but owing to ill health he sold out and learned the cabinetmaker's and the carpenter's trades, which he followed for eighteen years, engaging in contracting and building. During that period he was also township clerk and school director. In 1885 he removed to Oakland Township, Cloud County, Kans., and having previously purchased 160 acres of land, he added more until he had 480 acres. He engaged in raising grain and stock and also in horticulture, raising peaches and apples. He was elected township clerk and was re-elected to the office, serving two terms of two years each. After three years as county treasurer, Mr. Coate returned to his farm and remained two years, when his wife's health became impaired and he sold out and came west to California. This was in 1905, and he at once located at Orange, and for some time owned and managed an orange ranch, which he later sold. With his son, he still owns seventeen acres of Valencia oranges and lemons.

Mr. Coate's first marriage occurred in lowa, on February 1, 1866, when he was joined to Susan Elleman, a native of Ohio, who died two years later, leaving one child, Orin M. who resides at Orange. He was married a second time, 1869, to Sarah Diefenbaugh, of Ohio, by whom he has had three children, two of whom are still

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living. Herman E. is an orange grower, living near Orange, with his wife and four children; and Samuel Rush was a banker, but is now an orange grower near Anaheim. Mr. and Mrs. Coate also reared a motherless girl, Bessie Wilkins, who is now living on Grand Street, Orange.

Mrs. Coate lived for ten years after coming here, and then she passed away. Two years later, at Santa Ana, on June 12, 1918, Mr. Coate married again, taking for his bride Mrs. Myra E. Morse Holderman, a native of Johnson County, Iowa. Her father was Nathaniel J. Morse, a native of Ohio and a pioneer farmer in Iowa, where he died, closing his useful life when only twenty-five years of age. Her mother was Emily Parks in maidenhood; she was born in Indiana and died in Tustin, Cal. The town of Morse, Iowa, on the B. C. R. & N. Ry., was named for an uncle, Edwin K. Morse. An only brother, Charles N. Morse, is now a resident of Tustin, Cal. Myra E. Morse was married the first time in 1867 to Upton Holderman, a native of Iowa, who also served in the Civil War, a member of Company A of the Twenty-second Iowa Volunteer Infantry. After the war he was a farmer in Iowa, and then moved to the vicinity of Hastings, in Adams County, Nebr., where he farmed for twenty years. Then he came to Tustin, in Orange County, in February, 1893, and bought an orange grove of twenty acres, served four years on the board of supervisors from the Fifth District, and there died in 1913. They had seven children, six of whom grew up and are living: Uppie Ethel is Mrs. Walter E. Parker, of Omaha, Nebr .; Emma is the wife of J. C. Lamb, tax collector of Orange County; Myron is a contractor and builder of Bakersfield; Lyda is Mrs. Eugene Marsh of San Pedro; Nelson Miles grew up in Tustin, and was familiarly called "Neb," was a bugler in the National Guard, and then educated at Occidental College. He served with troops at the San Francisco fire and earthquake, April and May, 1906, and was very efficient as a bugler. He was a natural tactician and deeply interested in military affairs and served as captain on the Mexican border, then as captain in the World War, and was overseas in the Second Division. He was in the famous Lost Battalion, when six hundred of our brave men were surrounded by Germans. They had only two days' rations, yet they held the Germans off for six days until, through the agency of a carrier pigeon, they were discovered and relieved by troops who reached them just in time to save the balance of about one hundred. Captain Holderman was wounded ten times during these six days, but he recovered and served in the Army of Occupation, and returned home in the fall of 1919. He is now commander of the National Veteran's Home, at Yountville, Cal., with the commission of colonel. He is married and has two children. The youngest child of Mr. and Mrs. Holderman is Upton Grant, now a rancher, living near Tustin.

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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 62

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