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 71

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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DOMINGO ERRAMUSPE .- A native son of the Golden West, whose rise amid the inspiring and favoring conditions of agricultural life in Southern California has given him a level business head, is Domingo Erramuspe, one of the bonanza farmers operating a trim ranch of his own fortunately situated between the Moulton and the Irvine or San Joaquin ranches, and believed to be valuable oil land. He was born in Los Angeles on September 3, 1877, the son of John Erramuspe, one of the early landowners south of Santa Ana, who came from the Basses-Pyrenees country in France, and brought with him a devoted wife, who was Miss Grace Etcheverria, a native of Navarra, Spain. After they were married in the old country, they migrated to South America, where Mr. Erramuspe had two brothers, and for five or six years they remained south of the Equator, speculating and trying various ventures, before they came northward to California in 1870. Here, on the old O'Neill Ranch, east of Capistrano, he ran 20,000 sheep for Louis Lartiga. Two children were born to these parents, who have been dead now for the last ten years; the elder, Domingo, the subject of our instructive sketch, and Bernardo, who resides at San Jacinto and is en- gaged in ranching.

Domingo grew up around Santa Ana, and there, in 1911, he was married to Miss Marie Etcheverria, a native of Navarra, Spain, a woman with just those accomplish- ments needed for the happy domestic life of a well-equipped ranch, and one who has entered heartily into all of her husband's ambitious plans. Two children came to cheer them further, Grace and Dominique. In 1915, Mr. Erramuspe had his comfort- able home built, a pretty two-story dwelling, with all modern improvements. In national political affairs preferring the platform of the Republicans, Mr. Erramuspe is a good mixer, a good booster, and supports well-endorsed local projects without any political or religious bias whatever.

At present Mr. Erramuspe is cultivating 168 acres absolutely in his own right, while he also leases and farms 700 acres of the Moulton Ranch, and 500 of the Whit- ney, and 350 acres of the O'Neill ranches, or nearly 1,700 acres in all. Fourteen hundred acres of this are under the plow. Drilling for oil will soon begin on his home place, and there are indications that the flow of the precious liquid will be ample when once the source has been struck. He uses four eight-mule teams and has a sixty horsepower Holt Caterpillar tractor for motor power, and farms strictly accord- ing to the most scientific methods, getting assured, superior results.

Domingo Erramuspe

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HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY

EARL G. GLENN .- A pioneer resident of Santa Ana who has been privileged to see much of the town develop, and a popular social favorite who has been closely identified with fraternal lodge life and the activities of the local fire department, is Earl G. Glenn, the efficient U. S. mail carrier, who was born in Springville, Iowa, on May 21, 1870. His father, Frank Glenn, moved to St. Paul, Minn., in 1878, and lived in that city for six years as the auditor of the St. Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba Railroad. He had married Katherine Wynans, and in 1884 they removed to Iowa, going back to Springville. Three years later, in the great "boom" year, they came out to California, but it was not until 1888 that Earl Glenn, who wished to complete his schooling, followed them to the Golden State and the "promised land." His success, with a foundation of education acquired in the St. Paul high school and the junior college at Springville, a high standard of character, and a genial, winning person- ality, has made him feel that the promises California then held forth she has since quite made good.

In 1888, then, Mr. Glenn came to Santa Ana, and for a year, under Rev. A. T. McDill he worked as a printer on the Santa Ana Herald, putting in the next year on the same paper with Messrs. Shaw and Wallace. When he left them, he was employed on the Morning Blade; and when that was made an evening paper, he became fore- man of the job printing department. In 1895 he quit printing altogether, and then he became an employe of J. A. Hankey in the bicycle trade. He was a racing rider, and in 1897 established the record that still stands as the best local effort in Orange County today: he rode twelve and a half miles on a dirt course in thirty minutes and thirty-one seconds.

Mr. Glenn was a charter member of the Santa Ana National Guards in 1890, and reenlisted in 1899, and spent two years in the Philippines, where he saw spirited action in eleven engagements. In 1901 he was honorably discharged. On his return he spent another year with Mr. Hankey in the bicycle business. The next year, however, Uncle Sam laid hold of Mr. Glenn as the most desirable candidate for mail carrier service in Santa Ana. and he has been serving the public in that capacity ever since, to the joy of the public and the satisfaction of his colleagues.

On April 8, 1903, Mr. Glenn was married to Miss Nina Mansur, a daughter of Carlos F. and Columbia L. Mansur, and a native daughter proud of her association with California, where she was born at Camptonville, in Yuba County, in December, 1870. Carlos F. Mansur was a pioneer of Santa Ana, coming here first in 1876, and locating here permanently in 1881. He was born in Barnston, Canada, July 8, 1840, where he was reared until he was seventeen, when he migrated to Randolph Center, Wis. He was married there on September 8, 1861, to Columbia L. Gale, born in Goshen, Vt .. October 16, 1843. The day after his marriage Mr. Mansur enlisted in the Eighth Wisconsin Regiment, serving until the close of the Civil War. After the close of the war he returned to Canada, but in 1867 came to California, via the Isthmus of Panama, locating at Camptonville, where he engaged in the dry goods business and was postmaster. In 1876 he made his first trip to Santa Ana, coming here to make his home in 1881. For a time he was manager of an orange packing house. He was one of the organizers of the Orange County Savings Bank and was its cashier for many years, until he resigned about 1902 and retired from active life. making his home in Santa Ana until his death in 1915, Mrs. Mansur having passed away in 1912. Mr. and Mrs. Mansur were the parents of six children: Ozro is the secretary of the Santa Ana Valley Irrigation Company; Fred is secretary of the Orange County Title Company: Nina is the wife of Earl Glenn of this review; Albert lives in Los Angeles; Lelia is Mrs. Talbott of Brooklyn, Iowa; Carl makes home in Los Angeles, Active in the formation of Orange County, Mr. Mansur was the first county treasurer, serving two terms. A stanch Republican, he was prominent in the ranks of the G. A. R., and was commander of Sedgwick Post, Santa Ana. In fraternal circles he was affiliated with the Masons, being a member of the Blue Lodge and past high priest of the Chapter. He was also a member of the Elks.

Mrs. Glenn was sent to the Santa Ana public schools, and was graduated with honors from the high school of this city. She belongs to the Baptist Church. Two children have blessed the union of Mr. and Mrs. Glenn: Margaret is the older, and then there is Frederick, and they are both pupils of the grade schools.

Mr. Glenn has been active as past master in Santa Ana Lodge No. 241, F. & A. M., and past chancellor in the Knights of Pythias; and he is also a member of the Elks and the Redmen of Santa Ana. He has belonged to the Santa Ana Band. and has the longest continuous service in the Santa Ana Volunteer Fire Department. having been identified with that organization for the past twenty-four and a half years, or through the period when it ceased to be a volunteer department and was made a city fire department. With his wife, he helongs to the Eastern Star.

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HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY

During the recent war, Mr. and Mrs. Glenn supported vigorously the cam- paign of the Government in the various drives, and they both participated in practically all of the war activities. In 1905 Mr. Glenn purchased their home place at 1803 North Broadway, where he has lived with his family for the past fifteen years, and he also came to own four lots closer in on Broadway. So early did they pitch their tent on North Broadway that they camped there, so to speak, when there were only a few other houses that far out.

LEWIS TUTTLE WELLS .- A splendid example of what a man may do who intelligently, honorably and persistently battles against adversity, is afforded by Lewis Tuttle Wells, the well-known and influential rancher in the Talbert district of Orange County. He was born in Lincklaen, Chenango County, N. Y., on October 20. 1852, the son of John R. Wells, a New York State farmer who was a native of Rhode Island. He had married Cordelia E. Sanders, who was born in New York and was a near relation of Professor Sanders, once so well known as the author of Sanders Union Series of text-books. Elisha Wells, our subject's grandfather, was born in England and settled in Rhode Island, and there, too, he was married.

Lewis Wells grew up in New York State, hut as his parents were poor, he had a hard time acquiring an education. Until he was eighteen, he enjoyed but three months a year of schooling; and during the two years, from his eighteenth to his twentieth year, when he stayed at home, he went to the De Ruyter Institute, when harvesting was over, and there made such progress that he was able to pass the required examinations and secure a second-grade teachers' certificate. He taught in Chenango County the next winter, and the next year was able to go to the State Normal at Cortland, N. Y. He then took an examination successfully for the first-grade teachers' certificate, taught again, and went to school, besides; and while again engaged in teaching, took the next important step of his life.

When he was twenty-four, at Brookfield, Madison County, N. Y., he was married to Miss Jane E. Silliman, of that place; after which he taught for another year. Then he removed to Rooks County, Kans., where he farmed for eighteen years. The results were, all in all, very satisfactory until the fifth year when a disastrous hail storm and cyclone destroyed all the crops; and he had to return to teaching, to keep from starving. He taught for four years, and in the meantime his wife died, leaving him with four children. Two of these went to his own school and were taught by him in Kansas. In 1891-92 he had a large wheat crop but only received thirty-five cents a bushel for it.

Mr. Wells sold out in 1897 and came to California, stopping for a while at Los Angeles, where he worked at whatever he could best find to do. Then he came to Artesia and rented a ranch of ten acres. About that time he heard of the peat-land district at Smeltzer, in Orange County, and going there, he bought and sold fruit and vegetables for a couple of seasons. After that, he came to Talbert.

Getting acquainted with W. T. Newland, he rented sixty acres from him for three years. He cleared the land, but during the first two years made nothing; the third year he had the land in such shape that he put twenty acres into sugar beets and the balance in corn and cabbage, and cleared about $1,000 above expenses. He then bought forty acres, his present place-a fortunate purchase-and two years ago, bought another forty acres, so that he now owns two ranches of forty acres each, excellent land, both in the Talbert district. He resides upon one of these, and one of his sons lives upon the other, the last purchased, which is at Talbert Station. He also owns five houses in Huntington Beach, and also six lots there. He raises two crops a year on his land-a crop of barley and a crop of corn. His ranch is very productive and raised pumpkins of monster size, in fact, so large a man alone could not lift one: also raised a sweet potato weighing eighteen and three-quarter pounds, and it, with the monster pumpkin, was sent to the Louisiana Purchase Exposition at St. Louis and placed with the Orange County exhibit. For many years he raised celery and was very successful; in one year his two-thirds shares from nine acres realized him $1,860; how- ever, of late he raises sugar beets and lima beans. Many years ago he also set out an orchard of apples, peaches, pears and plums which he finds very profitable, and his hard, intelligent labor has brought him success. He donates two and a half acres of his ranch for a government experiment station. Since oil was struck at Huntington Beach, he has leased for oil.

Mr. Wells was married a second time, in 1910 in Orange County, to Mrs. Maude (Shanklin) Perry, a native of Kentucky, who had married Harvey Perry. She had two children by him-Lorina, who married Berry Stice, the butcher at Santa Ana, and Eugene, who is in the U. S. Navy on the battleship New Mexico; and her union with Mr. Wells has been blessed with two other children-Lavaughn and L. T. Wells, Jr.

Lewis @ kelly

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HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY

Mr. Wells' children by his first wife are: Lena, who is the wife of George Gilbert, a rancher in Kansas, is the mother of two children; Arthur, another rancher in Kansas, who is married and has five children, and owns 320 acres of land; Seahury. who married Helen Huffman of Kansas, and resides with her and his two children on one of Mr. Wells' ranches; and Gertrude, the wife of Clyde Gilbert, the rancher at Talbert, who has five children. Mr. Wells is a member of the Knights of Pythias at Huntington Beach, and also of the Odd Fellows there.

REUBEN A. ADAMS, M. D .- The passing of a physician of such high rank in the history of American medicine as the late Dr. Reuben A. Adams, and an influential leader in the Grand Army of the Republic, deserves more than ordinary mention; for such men, in more senses than one, have become both pillars and founders of the Union. He came of a noted New England family, and was born at Marion, N. Y., on April 3, 1841, where he spent his boyhood, attended the local public schools and graduated from the Marion Collegiate Institute. From hoyhood he was intensely patriotic; and when the Civil War threatened to destroy the Federal Government, he enlisted, in August, 1862, in Company D. One Hundred Sixtieth Regiment New York Volunteers, and went to New Orleans with General Banks' expedition, serving under him throughout the Louisiana campaign. He was present at the siege of Port Hudson, and later fought under General Sheridan in his engagements in the Shenandoah Valley. participating actively, all in all, in fourteen battles. He was twice wounded-the first time at Fort Bisland, in Louisiana, and the second time at Cedar Creek, Va., and carried the scars the remainder of his life. When he was mustered out of service at the close of the war, Dr. Adams received the exceptional honor of a letter of com- mendation signed by every surviving officer of his regiment. This he prized even far more than the rare and costly presents and thanks from the imperial household of Japan, for service to a prince and officer of the Japanese army and navy, whom hc came to know when the foreigner was in distress.

On returning from his arduous service in the Civil War, Mr. Adams took up his studies at the Homeopathic Medical College of Pennsylvania, and was graduated from the Hahnemann College of Philadelphia on March 4, 1868. In July of that year he lost no time to establish himself at Churchville, N. Y., where he successfully practiced medicine until May, 1873. Then, ambitious for a field with greater possibilities, he removed to Rochester, N. Y., where he soon took rank with the most prominent physi- cians of the day. His ability as both a physician and a surgeon was recognized in his appointment, in 1874, as the city medical officer, and in assuming that responsibility he became one of the first homeopathic physicians to occupy that position.

Dr. Adams also served as president of the Monroe County Homeopathic Medical Society, vice-president of the Rochester Hahnemann Society, and also vice-president of the New York State Homeopathic Medical Society. He was a member of the New York Homeopathic Medical Society, and of the American Institute of Homeopathy. and was consulting physician on the staff of the Rochester Homeopathic Hospital from its incorporation in 1887.

His voluntary and strenuous participation in the War for the Union naturally led Dr. Adams to cherish fondly all the associations of that awful conflict, and as a member of the George H. Thomas Post, G. A. R., he was proud to have taken part in the original presentation of a United States flag to each of the thirty-five schools of Rochester, thus starting a patriotic movement that has extended pretty generally throughout the United States. He was fond of fraternal life, was a thirty-second degree Mason and a Shriner.

Besides working long, aggressively and conscientiously for the advancement of homeopathy, Dr. Adams was twice unanimously elected medical director of the De- partment of New York, of the Grand Army of the Republic, and at the forty-ninth annual encampment, held in Washington, in September. 1915, he was unanimously elected surgeon general of the Grand Army. He also found time to direct the general management of a large grain farm in North Dakota, and orange groves and English walnut orchards in Southern California. He first came to Orange in the late eighties, at the height of the great realty "boom"; and while others could not see beyond their face and therefore failed, he looked deeper and further into the future, and invested in both country and city property, even developing the same at an initiatory loss. He left two sons, John Adams, of Orange, Cal., and Sidney I. Adams of Rochester, N. Y .; two brothers, Dr. Myron H. Adams and Seth Adams; and two sisters, Mrs. Louise Snyder and Mrs. Helen Gilbert of Marion, and a grand-daughter, Elizabeth Fiske Adams, of Rochester. When he died. in his seventy-seventh year, he breathed his last at his Rochester home, at No. 3 Upton Park, on December 9, 1918.

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HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY

JOHN ADAMS .- An enterprising, successful and influential citizen of Orange County, who is greatly interested in the development of this favored section of Southern California and has, therefore, become one of the effective "boosters" of the region, is John Adams, a native of Rochester, N. Y., and the son of Dr. Reuben A. Adams, who is mentioned on a preceding page of this work. John was educated in the grammar and high schools of Rochester, and later commenced the study of medicine at the medical college; but other matters having absorbed his main attention, he did not graduate. In 1908, on the contrary, he located at Orange to take active charge of the management of his father's property, and since then he has continued the im- portant work of developing the holdings.

The home ranch and also his residence is located on Batavia Street, where he grows Valencia oranges; while the large ranch is at the corner of North Main Street and the Santa Fe track, and there he has fifty acres of Valencias and fifty acres of walnuts. Besides teams he uses two tractors in the operation of the farm; and in all the departments he applies the most modern methods and the most up-to-date ma- chinery. He is a member of the Santiago Orange Growers Association, and also a member, vice-president and director of the Richland Walnut Association.

While at Rochester, Mr. Adams married Miss Dora A. Hooker, a native of New York, and an accomplished lady who has shared his ambition, his toil and his rewards. In the same city he was made a Mason, in Genesee Falls Lodge No. 507.

Orange bid high, from the beginning of her history as a county, for just such go-ahead settlers as John Adams, the worthy bearer of a long-honored name; nor did either the city or the county of Orange bid in vain. The result has been a degree of prosperity, reflecting the high intelligence of their citizens, highly creditable to the state called Golden.

CARL G. JORN .- A young man who has been in close touch with the city of Orange since he first came to California at the age of fifteen and who has materially aided as well as shared in the prosperity of the fast-developing town, is Carl G. Jorn, the well-known insurance man. He was born at Chicago, Ill., in 1880, the son of Charles Jorn, who had a real estate, insurance and loan business at the corner of Twenty-sixth and Wells streets and spent several winters in the Golden State. He died in Chicago in 1913. He had married Marie Moehlenbrink, who died when Carl Jorn was four and a half years old. Of this union he is now the only child living. However, he has a half-brother, John F. Jorn, who is continuing his father's business in Chicago under the old firm name, Charles Jorn & Company, and his half-sister, Mrs. Lydia Jaeger, who also resides in Chicago.

Having attended the local parochial school. Carl Jorn was sent to Concordia College in Milwaukee for a couple of years, but on account of failing health he came west to California in 1895, and for fourteen months remained at Orange, where he attended the Orange County Business College at Santa Ana, the proprietor then heing R. L. Bisby. Then he returned to Chicago and entered the employ of the J. K. Armsby Company, having a good position in their main office. That fall his health failed again and he came West once more, settling again in Orange, and resumed his studies at the business college, and during this time was secretary to R. L. Bisby of that college. On the completion of the course he spent three months as a stenographer in Los Angeles, when he again returned East with his father and for six years was with him in business in his office until again the lure of California drew him to the West.

In the spring of 1906, Mr. Jorn journeyed back to Orange, where he started an insurance business. He also became the agent of the Oliver Typewriter Company, and - such was his success and years of service that he became the dean of agents in Southern California. In 1913 he returned to the East for the summer on account of the illness of his father, which terminated in his death, but he did not give up his association with the Pacific commonwealth, in whose bright future he has such unbounded faith. As early as 1909 Mr. Jorn bought the northwest corner of Chapman Avenue and the Plaza, and with his father erected the original Jorn Building, which he has since materially enlarged. He carries on an important real estate and insurance business and was once secretary of the Orange Chamber of Commerce, in which he is still a member. It is but natural for one so optimistic for the future of the citrus industry and land values that Mr. Jorn is also interested in horticulture and owns an orange and lemon grove in the Peralta Hills above Olive. He was also the first secretary of the Associated Chambers of Commerce of Orange County. He belongs to the Merchants and Manu- facturers Association, in which he is untiring in his efforts to develop the commercial interests of the town and county, and as a Republican he is no less tireless in helping to elevate civic standards.

Garl & Corn

641

HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY

At Orange, on July 13, 1909, Mr. Jorn was married to Miss Bertha Loescher, a native of Iowa; she came to California with her father, who located at Orange, and is now making his home with Mr. and Mrs. Jorn. One child has blessed this union, a daughter, Mary Louise. Mr. and Mrs. Jorn are active members of the Lutheran Church of Orange, in which they are both very influential. Mr. Jorn is the leader of Circuit B, District Three, California and Nevada District of the Lutheran Laymen's League, and in that capacity is in close touch with the different congregations of the circuit from Santa Barbara to San Diego and from the Coast to the Colorado River. He also be- longs to the Lutheran's Men's Club and the Orange Men's Club. Both husband and wife are intensely interested in the various movements for sociological uplift for the community and Mr. Jorn is rendering valuable service as a member and clerk of the library board of the Orange Public Library; in fact, there is no movement for the building up of Orange and the enhancing of its commercial importance that does not receive his hearty support.

ALEXIS EVERETT FRYE, A.M., LL.B .- Among the regular summer visitors at Newport Bay is Alexis Everett Frye, author of the most widely-used text-books in the world. His winter home is the beautiful "Villa Cuba," at Redlands, on the pic- turesque ridge joining Prospect Park with Smiley Heights. His summer home is the stately villa known as "Miramar," meaning "Seaview," fronting on the smiling bay at Newport. As one of his own poems expresses it:

"And for his home the cunning hand That chisels peak and headland bold, With chips of sand forms arm of land 'Twixt smiling bay and ocean cold.

"Then bloom of snow-white foam he brings, To beautify the sculptured rim, Like brazen sea the Scripture sings, With flowers of lilies round the brim."

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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 71

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