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 74

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 74

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Mrs. Toney is a member of the Spurgeon Memorial Methodist Church of Santa Ana, and continues to take a live interest in public affairs, as did her lamented hus- band. who was a school director in both Arizona and New Mexico. She has had six children, and three are still granted her. Mrs. Sarah C. Harper is the widow of the late Francis M. Harper of Deming, New Mexico. William Toliver is a cattleman of Superior, Ariz. Mrs. Maude E. Cox is the widow of Thomas M. Cox, and lives at home with her mother. She was born in Alhambra, N. M., attended the district schools of Silver City, in that state, and on March 7, 1906, was married to Thomas M. Cox. Mrs. Toney has fifteen grandchildren and eleven great-grandchildren living.

DALLISON SMITH LINEBARGER .- Prominent both in civic affairs and in the horticultural development of Orange County, Dallison Smith Linebarger is a native of Oregon, born near Albany, August 1, 1862. When he was a small child the family moved to California, and he was reared in Ventura County, where he later followed stock raising and ranching. As early as 1899 he located in Fullerton, and bought the livery stable of Thomas Jennings, and with two partners established the business under the firm name of Davis, Drown and Linebarger. They also owned a branch stable at Olinda and besides doing a large livery business they did teaming to the oil fields, hauling derrieks and machinery. Mr. Linebarger was general manager of the concern. which was conducted ou an unusually large scale, using fifty head of horses, a large bus, and all the necessary equipment for the success of such an establishment.

During this time Mr. Linebarger followed ranehing as a side issue, raising stock and grain in Los Angeles and Orange counties, also owning an orange grove near Yorba, which he later sold. In 1910, he sold out his interest in the livery business and that year he began the development of some land which later was increased to about seventy acres, lying between Fullerton and Brea, and this he has devloped into one of the finest orange and lemon orchards in the county; forty-two acres are in lemons, and the balance in Navel and Valencia oranges. It has taken large sums of money and hard work to bring the property into its present state of cultivation, but the right man was at the helm, and it is now in full bearing, with three wells and pumping plants installed and cement pipe lines for irrigating purposes; one of the show places of Orange County.

As further evidence of his devotion to the advancement of his section, Mr. Line- barger has served ten years as supervisor of Orange County, being elected to the office three times on the Democratic ticket in a strong Republican district. the Third. During his term of office the good roads movement was started, and many of the beautiful boulevards which have made Orange County famous were begun by the sale of honds.

The marriage of Mr. Linebarger, which occurred in Ventura County in 1882, united him with Ellen Stone, and six children were born to them, five of whom are living: Cephas A., William L., Archie A., Mrs. Clara McWilliams, and Clema D. The sons are all ranching for themselves and meeting with the success warranted by the sons of such a father. It is to such men as Dallison Smith Linebarger that Orange County owes its rapid rise to prosperity, and they and their families make up the representative citizenry of this wonderful county, which stands apart even in a state full of wonders. Mr. Linebarger is a member of the Fullerton Lodge of Odd Fellows.

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HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY

GEORGE L. WRIGHT .- A wide-awake caterer to the public, who has come to establish one of the most prosperous enterprises in Santa Ana, is George L. Wright, proprietor of Wright's Transfer, now an indispensable organization in local life. He was born near Osage, in Mitchell County, Iowa, on July 23, 1860, the son of John A. Wright, a farmer. His mother before her marriage was Miss Mary Fay. The family came West and the father died in California four years later, or in 1913. The good mother also passed away. There were seven children in the family, and George was the third child.

He attended the schools of Iowa as a boy, and then helped his father at farm work. Then he wandered to South Dakota for a couple of years, and on December 19, 1885, arrived in Santa Ana. For a year he busied himself with real estate, and then he worked as a carpenter until he went into the transfer business. On July 3, 1887, he started his venture with one horse, and now, as the oldest transfer proprietor in the city, and the one operating most extensively, he has three anto trucks, and cares for most of the Santa Ana transfer trade.

But Mr. Wright has not only made a success in private business enterprises, he has also participated, as a man full of civic pride, in public life. His national political bias makes him a Republican, and his known fitness for the responsibility of a city father led to his being elected councilman for four years. He held office during the term when the city hall was erected, and he was also charged with the duty of providing an addition to the waterworks and of extending the city's paving. One of the pioneers of Santa Ana, he has seen the city grow from a mere village.

Mr. Wright has resided here long enough to recount the building-up of the entire city of Santa Ana, and in fact the development of Orange County, for he tells of when there were but few business blocks-and they were of pioneer construction- and the streets were unpaved. Nor were there any oranges or walnuts growing here- abouts; the principal industry was the growing of grapes for raisins but the soil was not adapted for their successful culture and the business was later abandoned. He remembers the time when but ten carloads of oranges were shipped from the state and when 110 cars of raisins were sent ont from Orange alone. The old pioneers are passing away and to hear such men as Mr. Wright tell again the story of the local conditions is an interesting circumstance. He has always put his shoulder to the wheel and given every project the necessary "boost" to bring Orange County before the eyes of the world at large.

In 1887 Mr. Wright married Emma Moore, and their union was blessed with the birth of four children. Fay Linton has been both a private soldier and instructor in the United States Aviation service and he married Miss Avis Winkle, born in Orange County the daughter of a pioneer family; while Mary has become Mrs. E. T. Brennan. Burton is at Berkeley, attending the State University. Vera died when she was ten and a half years of age. The family are Unitarians and Mr. Wright belongs to the Odd Fellows, the Woodmen of the World, and the Fraternal Brotherhood.

ALBERT C. WILLIAMS .- A financier and a vigorous promoter of everything calculated to steady the financial resources of both Tustin and Orange County, Albert C. Williams is a native son of California, born near Healdsburg, Sonoma County, October 15, 1858, the only son of Washington Williams, who was born in Missouri and came to California, across the plains, in 1853. Here he had married Elizabeth Martin, a native of Tennessee, and a member of a family well-known in Georgia, whence they originated. They came to California in 1856 by the overland route, in an ox-team train, and located in Sonoma County, and so they also became pioneers of the Golden State. Mrs. Williams failed to enjoy the best of health in the North, and she and her husband came south to Tustin in 1874, arriving here on September 23, after twenty-two days of hardship, crossing the mountains with teams. Washington Williams died in 1911, and his devoted wife followed him three years later.

After completing this ardnous journey with all their supplies. Mr. Williams and his family located on twenty acres on what is now known as Williams Street-a thoroughfare bearing their name-and McFadden Street, in Tustin, and Albert C. Williams, in 1874, helped his father to erect the temporary dwelling that two years later was supplanted by a better home. The son also worked upon the farm, while he attended the grammar school at Tustin. His father acquired twenty-four acres at Delhi, which was also farmed to grain and stock. He was an agriculturist and an horticulturist, and he owned several threshing outfits. Associated with his father, A. C. Williams withstood the disastrous effects of the several dry years, and by "sticking it out" reaped the benefits. In 1880 he took a trip north to Oregon, driving four horses hitched to a big covered wagon, going via Siskiyou and Jacksonville, returning' to Crescent City, Cal., and there he remained for a winter, coming back to Tustin in May, 188]. When he was twenty-two years old he worked a vineyard.

Ser L. Wright.

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at Villa Park, raising grapes, apricots and apples. He set the land later to walnuts, receiving as his share sixteen acres of the thirty-six acres. At the present time he owns nine acres-four and a half on each side of Williams Street-and his last crop of walnuts was nine tons. He markets through the Santa Ana Walnut Association, and is a member of the Santa Ana Valley Irrigation Company. In 1888 he went north to Fresno County, purchased eighty acres there, and set the same out as a vineyard. He also has financial interests in oil and mining stocks.

On November 6, 1889, Mr. Williams was married to Caroline Fatima England, a native of Calaveras County, Cal., and three children have made still happier their union: Ralph E. married Miss Lorina Burd of Santa Ana, and they have one son, Howard E. When Ralph was sixteen years old he entered the Glenn Martin Auto Machine Shop, and later, when Martin began to make aeroplanes, he helped him with the first plane ever constructed in Santa Ana. Martin went East after a few years, and became famous. Then Ralph entered the employ of the William F. Lutz Company, and he also worked for the Santa Ana Commercial Company, and it was while there that he started his own shop, in 1915. A. C. and Ralph E. Williams, father and son, became interested in the manufacture of "Silver Beam" spotlights, and they enlarged their factory; soon, however, removing to Los Angeles, where they were afforded greater facilities. Ralph is now secretary and manager, and A. C. is vice-president, and the company is known as the Williams Manufacturing Company, and is incor- porated under the laws of California. Ernest R., the second son in the order of birth, is foreman of the machine shop in the Williams Manufacturing Company, and is an expert tool maker. He married Miss Marguerite Ruth Brown, of Princeton, N. J. He enlisted in the recent war, and served his country from January 1 to December 3, 1918. Albert G. is a graduate from the Tustin grammer school, class of 1920.

Mrs. Williams was active in Red Cross work during the World War, and the whole family generously supported the various loan drives. Mr. and Mrs. Williams are both members of the Fraternal Aid Union, in which Mr. Williams has gone through the various chairs. They also belong to the Methodist Church. Mr. Wil- liams is a Democrat, but not an office seeker, and believes in both trying to make the world better, and in enjoying the world as it is.

WILLIAM T. MITCHELL .- An aggressive and successful real estate operator who has attained both influence and affluence despite the handicaps of early life, is William T. Mitchell, a native of Cedar County, Mo., where he was born on a farm on August 9, 1866. His father was James C. Mitchell, a farmer, and he married Miss Jane Fleeman, who shared the hard work of an agricultural life.

Because of the conditions at home, William enjoyed but very limited educational advantages, and when the opportunity presented itself, he learned and followed the carpenter's trade. In 1903 he came to Santa Ana, and for a while he worked as a carpenter for A. C. Black. Then, with C. G. Ramsey he engaged in contracting, and finally he undertook contracting and building for himself. He has erected many of the better class residences in the city.

In 1918, on account of war conditions, Mr. Mitchell entered the real estate field. and therein he has been very successful. His practical experience as a builder, and his wide knowledge of realty and other matters in California, together with his good judgment and high sense of honor, have enabled him to be of much service to others in advising them reliably as to purchase, sales, or investments.

On Christmas Day, 1889, Mr. Mitchell was married to Sarah Elizabeth Savage, and three children have blessed their union. Cammie B. is Mrs. L. S. Haven; and there are Philip T. and John B. The family attend the Christian Church, and Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell have long been active workers in the cause of prohibition.

EDWARD A. LONG .- A worthy descendant of an honored pioneer family of Orange County. Edward A. Long, the successful truck farmer, residing southeast of . Stanton, was born at Santa Ana on October 15, 1878, the son of Thomas Y. and Melissa A. (DeWitt) Long. In 1859 Thomas Y. Long crossed the plains from Texas to California in an emigrant train of oxen and wagons. Without the fearless and courageous pioneers who endured the hardships and dangers and the discomforts of pioneer life and modes of traveling, the great commonwealth of California would still be a wilderness with barren plains. Those who have more recently come to California to enjoy the highly improved conditions existing today do not always realize what a great debt of gratitude they owe to these early settlers, who laid the foundations of a greater civilization and permanent prosperity.

Thomas Y. Long was born in Tennessee, and was eighteen years old when members of the Long family, consisting of his father and mother and his brothers and sisters, as well as some of their friends, making up a train of some twenty-threc people, started on the long overland journey to California. The company invested

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their money in cattle, buying them for five dollars per head, and accumulating about 3.000 head which they planned to drive across the plains and mountains into the Golden State of which they had heard so much, and where they anticipated disposing of the entire band at a good profit. In crossing the Indian infested plains in Arizona the company were many times attacked by the Apache Indians, who finally over- powered them and succeeded in stampeding and capturing the entire herd of cattle, leaving only the-wagons and-oxen. "After a long, tiresome and hazardous journey of five months the train reached California.

Arriving in this state the Long family located in San Bernardino County, where Thomas Y. engaged in teaming to and from Anaheim Landing and onto the desert to the mines and he also mined for a time. He was married in San Bernardino to Miss Melissa A. De Witt, a native of Iowa but who had been brought across the plains by her parents when she was a small child. She was reared and educated in San Bernardino and they lived there for two years after their marriage and then Mr. Long bought twenty acres of land south from Santa Ana, paying thirty-five dollars an acre for it. That land is now. with improvements, easily worth thousands of dollars per acre. He improved the ranch and lived there with his family until the fall of 1888, then sold out and moved to the vicinity of Garden Grove and in that locality members of the family have since lived and prospered. It was on their home place there that both Mr. and Mrs. Long passed their last days. He died in 1905 at the age of sixty-one, his widow surviving until April, 1919, when she passed away at the age of sixty-nine. They became the parents of six children: Thomas is deceased; Edward A. of this review; Lena became the wife of E. E. Miles; Jesse is a rancher near Stanton; Ray is also living nearby; Nellie became the wife of Arthur Lindley a rancher in this county.

Edward A. Long, the subject of this review, born at Santa Ana, was reared and educated in Orange County. With the exception of fifteen years spent in the well- drilling business, he has followed farming and now owns a twenty-acre ranch southeast of Stanton, where he carries on truck farming.

In 1905 Mr. Long was united in marriage with Miss Winifred McKee, daughter of Joseph and Mattie (Funk) McKee. Three children have been born to them, only one of whom, Helen, is living. Mr. Long is held in high esteem in the community and is rated as one of its substantial and progressive citizens.

FREDERICK H. TAYLOR .- The trite saying, "Tall oaks from little acorns grow," in illustrating the magnitude that may be attained from very small beginnings, has an exemplification in the growth and importance that Taylor's factory, at Santa Ana, Cal., for preserving California fruits, has attained. Fred H. Taylor, president of the company, was born at Freeport, Ill., July 8, 1877, and is the son of . Fred G. and Elizabeth (Sharp) Taylor, who came to California from their Eastern home in 1886 and located at Santa Ana. The mother of the family, in common with other good housekeepers, looked after the interests of her family table by preserving fruit for family use. Then, wishing her Eastern friends to taste of the toothsome dainties that California produced, she sent some of it to old friends in the East. They were so pleased that their appetites were whetted for more, and from a few pounds of pre- serves prepared on the kitchen stove the birth of a new industry was heralded. Tons of fruit are annually prepared and shipped to various places all over the United States. The large plant occupies a commodious concrete building equipped with all necessary modern machinery to facilitate the preparation of the fruit for consumption. One hundred and fifty people are employed in preparing it, and the pay roll amounts to $50,000 per annum, while business amounting to over $300,000 annually is transacted.

Fred H. was a lad of seven years of age when he came with his parents to Cali- fornia, and his education was acquired in the public schools and in the larger school of experience. When the business began to expand, he with his brother J. E., took over the management of the business, the mother retaining her interest in the same. In January, 1918, Fred H. took over the interest of his brother, and in March, 1918, he incorporated the business as Taylor's, a close corporation, of which he is president and manager; he has enlarged the plant, the new buildings all being constructed of concrete and are fireproof. The large warehouse on East Fourth Street has sidings from bath the Southern Pacific and the Santa Fe railroads.

A very interesting feature of the business is the marketing of the product, for all of the' goods are sold directly to the consumer, with a trade now reaching intc nearly every state in the Union. After twenty-seven years the business has grown to such proportions that it is now the largest of its kind in the county, and the goods are still prepared practically the same as when they started on the cook stove, only on a larger scale. Mr. Taylor has personally made and invented appliances to facili

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HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY

tate the manufacture. which has increased from 100 cans to 20.000 cans, and each can has the same care as when they started. The company built and own their twenty- ton ice plant, as well as a commercial storage plant with a capacity of twelve cars.

Mr. Taylor's marriage occurred in Sacramento January 1, 1905, uniting his destiny with Miss Rena Collins, a native of Iowa, whose father, the late W. H. Collins, one of the early business men of Santa Ana, located here as early as 1887. Two children have been born of this union: Phillip and Marguerite. Politically Mr. Taylor is a strong. Republican, and fraternally is a member of the Elks.

Active in civic and business circles, Mr. Taylor is energetic and progressive, giving his support to all measures that contribute to the general welfare, and taking a deep interest in the growth and development of Orange County.

JOHN McMILLAN .- Prominent among the public officials in California of whom the United States Government may well be proud is John McMillan, the experienced and attentive postmaster at Newport. He was born at Campbelltown, Argyleshire, Scotland, on February 5, 1862, and grew up in the land of Scott and Burns until he was eighteen years of age. He learned the sailmaker's trade, and as a sailmaker went to sea for ten years, making the journey from London to Australia and return several times. In January, 1881, he came to the Pacific Coast, and sailed north from San Francisco to Enreka, and south to San Diego.

He visited Santa Ana, and after his marriage there, on December 13, 1884, to Miss Annie Mills of that city, he traveled on the tow boats from San Pedro to and from Catalina, meanwhile, until 1893, residing at San Pedro. In that year, he located at Newport, which he had first visited in 1881. He is therefore the oldest actual, continuous resident of Newport, and well merits the position of responsibility in the service of the municipality, being in charge of the water department. The water for Newport is obtained from artesian wells about four miles northwest of the town, one of the wells being 242 feet, and the other two each 264 feet deep, and is pumped into a reservoir located on the Newport Heights, and thence by gravity it goes over to Corona del Mar, Balboa and Newport. The system and supply are all that could be desired, proving one of the important attractions to would-be settlers here.

On January 28, 1908. Mr. McMillan was appointed postmaster of the town, and that dignified office he has held ever since. He has two deputy postmasters, or post- mistresses-Mrs. A. E. Jasper of Newport Beach, and Mrs. Ida Durkee of the same place, who share his popularity with the discriminating folk of the community.

Five children have blessed the fortunate union of Mr. and Mrs. McMillan: Hugh is the well-known real estate dealer at Newport Beach: Neil is employed near by; John is a student at the Santa Ana high school; Sadie is the wife of W. A. Irwin. the realty dealer of Newport Beach, and Agnes married Don Kelly, the rancher, of Burbank. Mr. McMillan has an interest in the Newport Syndicate. He is also inter- ested, but in another manner, in the Knights of Pythias of Santa Ana, being one of its most popular members.

HENRY WEST .- A sturdy old pioneer whose devotion to home duties, to- gether with an intensely patriotic interest in the world-events of recent, exciting years have undoubtedly contributed to keep him hale and hearty when nearly eighty years of age, is Henry West, who was born on March 11, 1843, in the beautiful Wiltshire country of England. His parents were Stephen and Eliza West, and his father was a mechanic. The lad enjoyed a good common school education, and then learned the carpenter's trade, at which he worked for ten years in London.

In the world's metropolis, too, on December 23, 1871, he was married to Miss Sabina H. Austing, a native of London, where she was born on March 16, 1850. Her parents were James and Sarah Austing, and her father was a brass worker. She was educated in a private school in London. On May 1, 1872, Mr. and Mrs. West migrated to America, and soon after they came west to the Pacific Coast, arriving in San Francisco on May 13.

For a while Mr. West worked in a planing mill near the water front, but in November, 1874, he came to Southern California, and traveling over San Gabriel. El Monte and east as far as San Bernardino, returned to Los Angeles when he heard of the land at Orange with the water, so he came down and hought twenty acres, and then returned to San Francisco and made preparations to move. So, in June. 1875, he brought his family here. Later he sold ten acres to his brother Arthur. He had three acres of grapes, three of oranges, and three of olives; but the grapes having been killed by blight, they were grubbed out, and so were the oranges, which had red scale. He plowed up the entire ranch, in fact, and established the well-known Santiago Jersey Farm. He had nine head of choice dairy, pedigreed cows, and he not only made the choicest butter, but he sold young stock all over the state. On account of

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the tremendous amount of care, however, Mr. West began to sell off his stock in January, 1902. Two years before that he had embarked in the orange industry, as he found his place ideal for a nursery, and he therefore raised nursery stock between the trees of his grove, supplying the vicinity with fine young orange trees. This nursery he sold out in 1905.

In 1905 it was deemed necessary to make a change for the benefit of Mr. West's health, and Mr. and Mrs. West removed to Los Angeles. He bought a home on Benton Way, north of Temple Street, where he lived until February, 1917, by which time he had regained his health. In 1917 Clarence H. West, the son, purchased the Benton Way home, and Mrs. and Mrs. West came to Orange. They leased a home, where they stayed for a year in 1918, and he bought a home on North Lemon Street, where they at present reside.

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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 74

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