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 79

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 79

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At Santa Ana in 1889 Mr. Pollard was joined in marriage to Miss Catherine Wood- house and they are the parents of seven children: Walter J., who resides in Tustin. is a rancher at Delhi; Albert is farming at Delhi; Clarence is a student at the University of California at Berkeley; William is farming with Walter: Jennie is a student nurse at the Methodist Hospital, Los Angeles; Helen and Ronald are at home. Albert. a member of the American Expeditionary Forces in the World War, saw service in France and he also saw service, prior to going abroad, on the Mexican border: Clar-

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ence was at Camp Lewis; and William served in the army at Camp Kearny, where he was stationed when the armistice was signed.

Mrs. Pollard is a native daughter, born at Bolsa, five miles west of Santa Ana, and the daughter of John and Mary J. (Cook) Woodhouse, born in Scotland and Missouri, respectively. Her father was a sailor for fifteen years and came around Cape Horn to San Francisco at the time of the discovery of gold and in 1849 quit the sea and went to the mines, following gold mining for fifteen years with its ups and downs, during which time he met Miss Cook, who, when a child, had crossed the plains with her parents to Sonoma County; after their marriage they came to Bolsa and were farmers until their demise. Mrs. Pollard, who was educated in the public schools of this county, is a woman of rare attainments, good judgment and much business acumen and has always encouraged her husband in his ambition and thus assisted and helped him in every way. Cultured and refined, they are both highly esteemed and appre- ciated by all who know them.

Republicans in matters of national political import and nonpartisan supporters of every good movement for the uplifting of the community, Mr. and Mrs. Pollard are Presbyterians, but give their support with equal heartiness to any rational program for religious growth.

JACK JENTGES .- Up-to-date and progressive in every feature of its life and development, Garden Grove attracts energetic, progressive men who are on the lookout for a place where wealth is poured into the lap of the worker who will use the intelligence with which he has been endowed. Among the men of this order residing at Garden Grove, Jack Jentges is worthy of special mention. He was born December 12, 1873, at Korich, Canton of Kapellen, in the independent grand duchy of Luxemburg. His father, Peter Jentges, a farmer in Luxemburg, and his mother, Mary Ann (Engels) Jentges, were the parents of eight children, six of whom, four boys and two girls, grew to maturity. Five of the children are living: Jack and his brother Harry, residents of Garden Grove; Michael, a farmer at Heron Lake, Minn .; and a sister and brother in their native country of Luxemburg.

Jack Jentges was educated in the public schools of his native land and speaks and writes French and German fluently. He was eighteen years old when he left home and sailed from Antwerp for America's shores, and landing at New York, he proceeded to Iowa, where he worked by the month as a farm hand for two years, and attended the public school for two months one winter. His knowledge of English was acquired after coming to America. From Iowa he came to California in December, 1894, with a depleted pocketbook, and learning that employment was to be had at Westminster, he went there and secured work with John H. Edwards at fifteen dollars per month on the Edwards ranch. He continued to work for Mr. Edwards as a ranch hand for several years, and afterward engaged with Lawsing and Larter, for whom he worked four or five years.

The marriage of Mr. Jentges united him with Miss Dorothy E. Watkins, a native of Goldendale, Klickitat County, Wash., daughter of Charles and Elizabeth (Kurtz) Watkins. Her father, a native of Milwaukee, Wis., and her mother, a native of Indiana. were both descended from good old Pennsylvania stock. Her father is living at Santa Ana. Mrs. Jentges was two years old when her parents removed from Washington to Shasta County, Cal., and was nine years old when her mother died. After her mother's death her Grandmother Watkins reared her and an older and a younger sister. She was twelve years old when she accompanied her father and the family to Santa Barbara, Cal., and at fifteen she removed with the family to Orange County and lived at Westminster and also at Wintersburg, where she was her father's housekeeper. She moved to Santa Ana with her father and his family, and was married at Santa Ana December 1, 1911. Mr. and Mrs. Jentges are the parents of two children, Gertrude May and Thomas William.

After his marriage Mr. Jentges worked for the Golden West Celery and Produce Company at Westminster and Smeltzer, being engaged in the business when it was at its zenith. Later he rented land, became an independent celery grower and was among the unfortunate growers who suffered the loss of all they had when the celery blight came and celery growing failed. With eighty dollars in his pocket he moved to Santa Ana and went to work, making pipe for irrigation; January, 1911, he embarked in the business for himself at Garden Grove, was very successful in the six years that he was engaged in the occupation, built up a fine business and acquired a reputation as an irrigation contractor. He laid 80,000 feet of pipe in Orange and Los Angeles counties, and received $20,000 for one contract alone. In 1914, with Mr. Rogers, he added the feed business to his cement business, under the firm name of Jentges and Rogers. Later

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Famine S. Greenleaf.

EF Greenleaf

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he purchased Mr. Rogers' interest, then sold the feed business to Dungan and Dungan, continuing the cement business one year. He then purchased back the feed businss and continued both lines of business from 1917 until December 12, 1919. In 1919 Mr. Jentges purchased a house on Fourth Street at Garden Grove, where he lives with his family. He also owns property upon which in 1920 he erected an up-to-date, reinforced concrete building, 50x120 feet in dimensions, for a first-class garage. The building is strictly modern, with machine shop, rest rooms, display rooms, etc. Polit- ically he makes a study of questions relating to government and votes his honest convictions. regardless of party affiliations. Fraternally he is a member of the I. O. O. F. at Westminster, and the Canton at Santa Ana. Mrs. Jentges is a member of the Rebekahs at Westminster. Thoroughly reliable and enthusiastically enterprising, Mr. Jentges is now engaged in the trucking business. He is a live wire in the development and upbuilding of Orange County, and his sterling qualities of mind and heart make him a man well liked and respected by all who know him.

MRS. FANNIE S. GREENLEAF .- Among the highly-esteemed landowners of Orange County who have shown the most commendable foresight and the most ad- mirable public-spiritedness in the handling of their properties, must be mentioned Mrs. Fannie S. Greenleaf of Santa Ana. She is a native daughter of the Golden State and was born near Sacramento in 1855, the daughter of Robert and Lucilla (Sproule) Moore, who crossed the great plains in 1853, and stopped for a short time at the mining town of Gold Hill and later made settlement on the American River near Sacramento. When their daughter was four years of age the family removed to Sonoma, and there, while they managed a small fruit orchard, she attended the Sonoma Academy. She lived in Sonoma for eleven years and then went with her parents to Hollister, where she lived with her sister, Mrs. Lucilla A. Snyder, while her father carried on a sheep ranch eighteen miles from that town. After that the family moved onto a sheep ranch in the Panoche Valley.

At Hollister, on June 19, 1877, Miss Moore was married to Dr. Edward F. Green- leaf, a native of Mississippi, born in Yazoo County, on November 22, 1841, the son of Dr. Eli F. and Mary C. (Mcintyre) Greenleaf, who removed to Clark County, Mo., when Edward F. was a lad. There he received his schooling and then took up the study of medicine and was graduated from Lind University-now the Northwestern University-of Illinois. After his graduation in 1864 the young physician began his practice at Leland, LaSalle County, Il1. In 1867 he came to California and his first location was at Millerton, in Fresno County, after which he located in San Benito County, where he taught school at the New Idria mines and at the same time practiced his profession. The Greenleafs lived there until 1882, when they moved into Los Angeles County and settled at Santa Ana, which was the scene of the doctor's opera- tions until his death on October 22, 1906. Here he improved a fine ranch and pros- pered, having the esteem of all with whom he came in contact. The original home site of thirty-five acres on what is now Greenleaf Street was purchased in 1881, but the family lived in the town until their ranch could be improved for a home. In 1883 they moved onto the tract and have since resided there, in the house that was erected by the doctor. Dr. Eli Greenleaf had settled here as early as 1871 and had acquired some good land and part of this is still owned by the Greenleaf family.

Three children blessed the union of Dr. and Mrs. Greenleaf: Walter Frank, born at the New Idria quicksilver mines, on March 12. 1878, graduated from the Santa Ana high school and on December 25, 1907, married Miss Nellie C. Coke, a native daughter. whose parents were old settlers. They were J. H. and Alice E. Coke, the former still a resident of Downey. Frank is manager of his mother's ranch and one of the rising young men of Santa Ana. The second son was Elvin J. and he was born in Santa Ana on October 7. 1882, was educated in the public schools of his native city and in May. 1909, was united in marriage with Miss Mary Agnes Finn, a native of Ireland. They had one son, Charles Frank, the only grandchild of Mrs. Fannie Greenleaf. Elvin J. died in 1915 and his widow makes her home with Mrs. Greenleaf on Greenleaf Street. The third son and youngest child is Clifford A., and he was born on March 31, 1891. educated in the Santa Ana schools and married Nola R. Kennedy and they reside in Los Angeles, where he is employed as a traveling salesman.

Mrs. Fannie S. Greenleaf is an interesting conversationalist and is a firm believer in the preservation of California history. She is of an artistic temperament and many products of her hrush are to be seen in her home. Of a quiet disposition, she enjoys the companionship of her children and grandchild and has always done her part to make Orange County, and Santa Ana in particular, a better place in which to live. She belongs to the Eastern Star Chapter in Santa Ana and is beloved by a wide circle of stanch friends.

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MRS. ANNA DERKSEN .- A resident of Anaheim and vicinity since 1889, Mrs. Anna Derksen is so well posted on various local conditions, of recent years and the immediate present, that she is among the most sanguine in her hopefulness for the future of all Southern California, and especially in the matter of the development of oil interests in this section. She was born in Westphalia, Germany, the daughter of Christian Schlueter, a native of that country and a shoemaker, who died there, as did also her mother, whose maiden name was Maria Deiter. They had seven children, and Anna was the fourth in the order of birth.

She grew up in Westphalia, and in 1868 was married there to Henry Derksen, a native of the picturesque Black Forest village of Muehlingen, on the Rhine. He was a coal miner, and in 1881 they migrated to America and Pope County, Ark., where they bought a farm of eighty acres and followed agricultural pursuits. Seven years later, Mr. Derksen died there. It had been their dream to come to California: hence, the following year Mrs. Derksen removed to the Golden State.

She settled in Anaheim, then a very small place, and rented a ranch; she bought cows, and poultry, and made butter and also sold eggs. She raised what feed was needed on the ranch, and little by little so progressed that she was able to rent, and then to buy the forty-eight acres she at present manages, and which she has since improved. When she first took hold of the land, there was not a tree upon the place; and she herself has set out everything. Now she has a walnut orchard of ten acres, and sixteen acres of Valencia oranges; the whole, irrigated by the Anaheim Union Water Company, forming one of the most desirable places of its size for miles around.

Mrs. Derksen, who has a son, Henry, in the service of the Santa Fe Railroad Company at San Bernardino, is a devout member of the Catholic Church at Anaheim, and finds pleasure in participating in any good work, religions, social or political, likely to benefit the community. She is a good student of California affairs, and is especially well-posted on oil conditions; her knowledge and her optimism leading her fellow ranchers to fortify their faith in the glorious future in store for Anaheim and the environing country.

CLAUDE EDGAR AND GUY SMITH .- The sons of one of La Habra's esteemed pioneer settlers, and one whose early development work meant much to this vicinity. Claude Edgar and Guy Smith, sons of Stephen M. Smith, are following in the footsteps of their father and continuing the splendid work which he began. A native of Kentucky, Stephen M. Smith was born in the vicinity of Lexington on August 6, 1859, and was a son of Thomas and Lottie (Cordell) Smith, who were also natives of that state, the father a stock raiser in that famous Blue Grass region. When but fifteen years of age he left the home of his boyhood days and started out to earn his living in Texas. There he spent a number of years, and was active in the cattle business in different parts of the state when that industry was at its height there. Com- ing to California in 1884, Mr. Smith engaged in general farming before locating at Rivera, Los Angeles County. Here he at once entered into the active development of the town, becoming its first general merchant and it was not long until his business assumed large proportions. He remained at Rivera for eleven years and during all that time he occupied the position of postmaster there, to the entire satisfaction of the Government and the citizens whom he so faithfully served.

In 1897 Mr. Smith came to La Habra Valley and purchased a tract of 1041/2 acres at the corner of Central and La Mirada avenues. The prospect was far from being an attractive one as the land was in its raw state and covered with wild mustard, but Mr. Smith at once applied himself energetically to the task of its cultivation and was unusually successful in carrying out his plans. Practically all of the acreage was set out to walnuts, from nursery stock which he himself raised. In later years Mr. Smith disposed of some of the acreage and the Pacific Electric and Salt Lake Railroads both came through the ranch, each taking off considerable portions of it, so that it now consists of sixty-five acres.

While located at Rivera, Stephen M. Smith was united in marriage with Miss Emma Montgomery, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. H. L. Montgomery of that place. Three children were born to them-Claude Edgar. Guy and Matilda. Claude Edgar Smith was born at Rivera, January 16, 1887, and there his early school days were spent. Later, when the family had taken up their residence on the La Habra ranch, he attended the high school at Fullerton, supplementing this with a course at Whittier College. Accepting a position on the sales force of the Studebaker Automobile Company of Whittier, he remained with them for five years, during which time he became sales manager for the Whittier district. He then was with the Hudson Automobile Company at Whittier for the next four years, after which he spent a year driving racing cars. Leaving this hazardous field, Mr. Smith took up publicity work for the Studebaker people. his territory covering all of Southern

Mary Stodart archibald Stodart

HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY

California south of Santa Barbara. On April 21, 1906, Mr. Smith was married to Miss Lillian M. Kellam, a native of Illinois, who came to Rivera with her par- ents in 1889. They are the parents of a son, Stephen E., who attends school at La Habra. Mr. Smith is prominent in the ranks of the Elks, having been made a member of the Whittier lodge. Guy Smith was born at Rivera on March 14, 1890, and so was but seven years old when his parents moved to La Habra. Here he grew up, attending the public school at La Habra, and later the high school at Fullerton. He then became interested in the garage and auto repair business and had two shops, one at La Habra and one at Whittier. On May 30, 1916, at Bellingham. Wash., he was married to Miss Ellen Alice Smith, the daughter of Albert G. and Ellen Alice Smith. She was a native of California, having been born near Los Angeles; her father, who is a railroad engineer, removed to Bellingham, Wash., with his family in 1906. Mr. and Mrs. Guy Smith are the parents of one child, Lorraine.

Owing to the ill-health of their father, the Smith brothers took over the manage- ment of the ranch at La Habra in 1917, and have since given their entire time to its operation. The entire acreage is set out to walnuts, five acres being budded trees. For many years one of the finest properties in the La Habra district, it is continuing to thrive under the expert care given it. One of the best pumping plants in the vicinity is on the ranch, producing 100 inches of water. Fortunately the father is rapidly recovering his health and hopes to be able to take an active part in the ranch manage- ment soon. A valued pioneer, he stands high in the esteem of the whole community.

MRS. MARY STODART .- With the courage and fortitude so characteristic of woman, when new and untried responsibilities devolve upon her, Mrs. Mary Stodart. of the Buena Park district in Orange County, has shown her business acumen in directing the management of her ranch affairs for many years. She has had the cooperation of her sons in making the ranch what it is today and is deserving of the highest praise for her work of development.

Mrs. Stodart was born in Washington Territory, on January 5, 1863, while the great Civil War was in progress. Her parents were Mr. and Mrs. John Condra. and were born in Tennessee but removed to Washington Territory and became pioneers of that part of the Northwest. Mr. Condra was a farmer and met with fair success in his operations. He was a well-educated man and was a writer of some note on political questions, as well as civic matters. After the death of his wife in Wash- ington, who left two children, Mary and a son John, Jr., the father sold out his interests there and removed to California, coming via steamer to San Francisco and thence on a prospecting trip down to the southern part of the state and finally located in Los Angeles County in 1868, settling at Los Nietos, near where the city of Whittier now is located. Here he improved a ranch and followed diversified farming up to the time of his death, when he was sixty-three years old. His son died at the age of twenty-one and is buried by the side of his father at Whittier.

Mary Stodart was educated in the public and private schools and for a time after their removal here attended the school at Los Nietos. Her first husband was the father of her first-born, a son, Frank W. Davison, who is an electrician by trade and resides at San Diego. He married Alice Clark of Los Angeles and they have a son, Delbert Davison. On October 1. 1891, she married Archibald Stodart, a native of Scotland, born there in 1846. He came to California in 1887, and settled near the Condra homestead. By this marriage four children have been born; Mrs. Grace Davis, who lives near the ranch operated by her mother. She has two children, Viola and Donald; John Archibald, horn February 2, 1895, is superintending the affairs of the ranch and with his two brothers operates two trucks and does heavy hauling in any part of Orange County and vicinity; Charles Edward, comes next and then George Adam. All three sons live at home and are interested in the conduct of the ranch of twenty acres located southwest of Buena Park. This property is an inherit- ance from her father and she has owned it for more than thirty years and all the improvements on it have been made by herself and her sons. The children are all natives of Orange County and have contributed towards the development of their home county and are highly respected by all who have the pleasure of knowing them. For three years the family conducted a dairy ranch in the Cypress district and when that place was sold they moved back to the old homestead. Mr. Stodart died in 1913. at the age of sixty-seven years. He had been an invalid for seven years before his death and the management of the ranch devolved upon his wife, who showed her ability in directing the affairs of the ranch and at the same time rearing her family to lives of usefulness.

Mrs. Stodart has in her possession a family tree of the Stodart family which traces the name back to 1565 in Scotland, bringing the names down to the present generation, a valuable heirloom for her descendants. She is an interesting talker

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and recounts the condition of Los Angeles as she remembers it at the time of their removal here, when her father camped on Aliso Street, at a time when it was covered with wild oats and mustard. She is a pioneer of Orange County and has watched with interest the development of the ranches, towns and cities, also to see the wonder- ful increase in property valuations all over the Southland. She takes great pride in the success her sons are making in their operations and enjoys the esteem of a wide circle of friends. She is public spirited and gives her aid to all measures for the betterment of her county, particularly the district where she has made her home for so many years.

RUDOLPH M. FRICK .- A very progressive rancher, much ahead of his time in agricultural pursuits, is Rudolph M. Frick, who resides on the corner of Tustin and Fairhaven avennes, in Orange, where he has lived for the past eighteen years. He was born in Austria on April 8, 1863, and is the son of John and Katherine (Zimmerman) Frick, who died in their native land. They had eight children, two of whom emigrated to the United States, one being the subject of our interesting review, and the other is Joseph Frick, a farmer now in Canada.

Rudolph was reared and educated in Austria, and when twenty years of age left for the United States in 1883, and located at St. Paul, Minn., where he worked for four years. He removed to Glasston, Pembina County, N. D., in 1887, and there for four- teen years grew steadily prosperous. He engaged in general farming and stock raising and came to hold 480 acres devoted to raising grain. In November, 1898, Mr. Frick. impressed with the greater resources of California, came West, and early pitched his tent in Orange County, and from the beginning of his life here he easily established himself in the good graces of his neighbors and friends, assisted by his excellent wife, Miss Armilde Raedel before her marriage, to whom he was joined in wedlock in Glasston on February 17, 1892. She was born at Denbig, Addington County, Ontario, the daughter of Gotthard and Caroline (Pacholke) Raedel. natives of Germany, who came when young folks to Ontario, Canada, where they met and were married, and where they followed agricultural pursuits until they removed to Manitoba; six years later they removed to and were among the early settlers of Glasston, Pembina County, N. D .. and as pioneer homesteaders improved a farm. Mrs. Frick was the youngest of their four children, and received a good education in the schools of North Dakota. Their marriage has resulted in the birth of thirteen children, twelve of whom are living. Louise C. is the wife of Clarence Boone of Long Beach; Armilde P. is Mrs. George Leichtfuss of Helendale; Martha A. is Mrs. Herman Upahl of Tustin; Rudolph A., Reinhard F., Eda C., Walter R., Cora M., Alfred R., Dorothea E., Hilda W. M. and Lorenz W. R.

Mr. Frick's home ranch consists of fifteen acres devoted to oranges, lemons and walnuts. It was raw land when he purchased it, and he first set out apricots, which he found did not yield satisfactory returns, so he set out Valencia oranges, and added a comfortable residence and modern improvements, all of which have made the property more valuable. In addition he owns seven acres across the road from his home place, as well as twelve acres, two miles northwest of Orange and ten acres at McPherson, making his holdings total forty-four acres, principally in Valencia oranges, thus yielding a splendid income.

The family are members of the Lutheran Church at Orange, and while in North Dakota Mr. Frick was a trustee of the congregation, as well as the school district. He is a member of the McPherson Heights Citrus Association, as well as the Foot Hill Orange Growers Association. A most patriotic American, Mr. Frick and his family take pride and pleasure in fulfilling every civic duty, and thus hastening the healthy development of the nation, the state and the county of his adoption and choice.

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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 79

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