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 80

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 80

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C. C. VIOLETT, M. D .- Prominent among the first citizens of Garden Grove, Dr. C. C. Violett, the physician and surgeon, enjoys the distinction of exerting a powerful and beneficent influence in favor of everything making for the healthy develop- ment and permanent growth of the young town. He was born in Gallatin County. Ky., on December 7, 1863, the son of Dr. C. F. and Susan (Dean) Violett, both born and reared in the Blue Grass State. The elder Violett was a well-known physician and extensive landowner, who had 300 acres of improved farm land devoted to hay, grain, corn and stock. They had eleven children-five boys and six girls-and among them C. C. Violett was the youngest son and next to the youngest child.

Although born amid the roar and din of the great conflict proceeding between the North and the South, Dr. Violett has no recollection of the Civil War. He does recall an incident, however, and one none too pleasant, of the Reconstruction period. His parents owned a fine country home, to which fifty or more Federal soldiers came

R. M. Frick

armilde L. Brick

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and ordered his mother to prepare a dinner for them. This she could not do, as she was destitute of groceries and other food, and they were compelled to retire unsatisfied; but their overbearing demeanor left an impression of horror indelihly stamped on the child's mind. He attended the public school in his home district, and the high school at Williamstown, Ky., and soon chose medicine as his future field of endeavor. This choice was undoubtedly due to the exceptional association of his family with the development of that science in Kentucky, two of his brothers. J. W. and J. D. Violett, also being physicians. He commenced his studies with his father and continued with his brothers, and J. D. Violett became in particular his preceptor, and was also the organizer of the first medical society in northern Kentucky.

After graduating from the medical department of the University of Louisville, with the class of '92, where he was offered an interneship by D. P. Yandell, the professor of surgery, he hung out his shingle in his home town, Napoleon, where his father and mother lived, old and feeble. In 1899 he went to Texas, and on April 26, married there Mrs. Elizabeth Wharton, a widow, who had been a schoolmate with him at the Williamstown high school. She was in maidenhood Miss Elizabeth Bailey, a native of Sussex County, Va., where she was born and reared. As schoolmates they were very fond of each other, but the young man did not feel prepared financially to assume the responsibilities of the married state, and the twain who were destined for each other, parted for different paths. Miss Bailey married M. F. Wharton, a brother of the Baptist evangelist, H. Marvin Wharton of Virginia, but her husband died in 1895 in Texas, to which state he had gone for his health. After his death, Mrs. Wharton, who had enjoyed superior educational advantages, having taught four years in her Alma Mater at Taylorville, Ky., and also near Louisville and in Virginia, had returned to her vocation and was teaching in the high school at Uvalde. Mrs. Wharton had one child by her first marriage, Malcolm F. Wharton, Jr., who has been brought up in the Violett home. While attending the State Agricultural College in Oregon, young Wharton, showing the patriotic spirit of his ancestors, enlisted in the U. S. Navy, and after two years and eight months he came out a first class pharmacist's mate from the naval hospital in Washington, D. C. He belongs to the Sons of the American Revolution, through his great-grandfather, Malcolm Wharton, who lost both hands while carrying messages for General Washington. After his discharge, Malcolm F. Wharton returned to Corvallis, Ore., to complete his collegiate course. One child has blessed the union of Dr. and Mrs. Violett-a daughter. Ruth, who graduated from the Santa Ana high school and is now attending Redlands University, where she is pursuing a course in music and is majoring in the piano.

Returning to Kentucky with his bride, Dr. Violett continued his practice at Napoleon until February, 1901, when he removed to Kansas, and for a year and a half practiced at Lindsborg. The persistent call of California, however, at length drew him here and to Orange County, and with his family he settled at Westminster, where he took up his practice again. In 1906 he removed to Garden Grove, coming here carly enough to see the advent of the Pacific Electric Railway in the town. He welcomed it, as he welcomed everything else of benefit to the community, for he is by nature a good booster. The same year he built a bungalow residence, and now he owns a home with an orange grove of five acres, which he set out himself. He has added a ten-acre orchard of walnut trees, six years old, a mile northeast of Garden Grove, which he also looks after in person.

In 1911 Dr. Violett established the modest but very efficient cottage hospital of four beds and an operating room at Garden Grove, which has served the community admirably, proving a very necessary adjunct to this growing section. His family practice is constantly increasing and he has more than he can do. He is a member of the American Medical Association, the State Medical Society, treasurer of the Orange County Medical Association, and, last but not least, a member of the Volunteer Medical Service Corps.

Dr. Violett helped organize the Chamber of Commerce, which was first known as the Business Men's Association, and when, in June, 1919, it became the Chamber of Commerce, he was made its president. In national politics a Democrat, he is a member of the Democratic Central Committee of Orange County. For ten years past Dr. Violett has been a member of the Board of Trustees of the First Baptist Church at Garden Grove and is now the treasurer. He is a well-known Mason and is a member of Santa Ana Lodge No. 241, F. & A. M., Orange Chapter No. 73, R. A. M., Santa Ana Commandery No. 36, K. T., and he belongs to Al Malaikah Temple. A.A.O.N.M.S. of Los Angeles. Mrs. Violett is a member of the Eastern Star at Santa Ana. Dr. Violett

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is a past master of the lodge at Napoleon, Ky., where he was made a Mason, and was master there for four years, in different terms.

During the war Garden Grove made an excellent record, going over the top in all the drives, the Liberty and Victory loans, and in all the other activities, but in the work of the Red Cross, especially, a great service was accomplished, and for this much credit is due to the ability and initiative of Mrs. Violett and her associates, for through her efficient organization as chairman of the Garden Grove anxiliary the work was speeded up and there was a most generous response from the whole community in garments, money, time and labor. Out of this spirit of patriotism and activity has grown the establishment of the Red Cross Community nurse of Orange County, who is now operating in the public schools of Garden Grove. This was bronght to the notice of the public by the establishment and operation of a rest room and first aid station at the Orange County Fair. Mrs. Violett has served her community in many other ways, the most lasting, perhaps, being the establishment of Orange County's Parent-Teachers' Association.

SOREN CHRISTENSEN .- A most highly respected pioneer of the Garden Grove section of Orange County is found in the person of Soren Christensen, a resi- dent there since August, 1890, when he settled on his present ranch two miles north- east from the town. An interesting personality, he has a fond of reminiscences of the early days of Southern California, particularly of Los Angeles in 1869, the year of his arrival there in the old Mexican adobe town. Broadway was then known as Fort Street, barley fields abutted the town where Sixth Street now is, there was not a honse on the hill, no street cars, and Government land was to be had below what is now Exposition Park. Like thousands of others Mr. Christensen could not foresee the present condition, and of course let "slip" many chances to become wealthy. His stories are replete with character sketches of many of the men who later became prominent in varied circles there.

A native of Denmark, Soren Christensen was born on September 16, 1843, the son of N. C. and Catherine M. Christensen, who had ten children in their family, six of whom grew to years of maturity, and two of the sons, the oldest and youngest of the family, live in Southern California. Onr subject was reared in his native country until he reached young manhood, attended the schools of his district and was con- firmed in the Lutheran Church, which, by the way, he has a picture of and is among his treasures. Leaving home he followed the sea as a common sailor and he landed in San Francisco on May 1, 1865, sailing through the Golden Gate on a ship he boarded, after running away from the one he had shipped on, at Mazatlan. He was barefooted, had worked his passage on the William Richardson, landed withont a dollar except the one a kindly sailor gave him to bny some shoes. Thus he had to begin at the very bottom of the ladder and he followed the sea in vessels plying up and down the coast until he tried his luck in mining in Inyo County, where he worked in the smelter at Swansey, when its first run was made. That life did not appeal to him and he left it to seek other fields of endeavor.

In 1869 he arrived in Los Angeles and soon entered the service of the Griffith Lumber Company, with whom he remained for fifteen years. It was in their interests that he first came to Santa Ana to establish a branch yard, the same year that the Sonthern Pacific was finished to that town from Anaheim. Crocker Bowers was the local agent. This was when the town boasted of a store, and bnt a few scattered houses to mark the place that has since taken the lead in this part of the state.

In 1890 Mr. Christensen made a deal for sixty acres near what is now Garden Grove, trading his property in Los Angeles for the ranch, upon which the former owner had erected a brick house, but which has since been razed; there was also a well 176 feet deep on the place. The ranch was practically raw land, but with char- acteristic energy the new owner began to improve it and found that two crops conld be raised instead of one if irrigation could be secured and he put down another well of the same depth, and now has plenty of water for all purposes. He set the land to oranges, installed a modern pumping plant operated by electric power, and altogether has been very successful. He still retains thirty-eight acres of his original purchase, having sold off the balance to his children as they grew up.

Mr. Christensen was united in marriage in 1876, in Los Angeles, with Miss Johanna C. Johnson, a native of Sweden, but who had come to the United States in 1869, and to Los Angeles in 1875. She has heen a good helpmate and together this pioneer couple look back upon a life well spent and to the future without fear. for they have lived by the Golden Rule and won a wide circle of good friends. Their marriage has been blessed hy the birth of eight children, six of them living: Clara M., is the wife of Bruce S. Boyer and lives at Indio: Carl J., is at home; Serena, is teach- ing in the Twentieth Street school in Los Angeles; Herman W., lives in Long Beach

S. Christensen

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and has two bright children, Leroy and Leslie (the only grandchildren in the Chris- tensen family); E. Martin, is a rancher in Orange County; Agnes, married S. W. Gibson and died January 13, 1920; and Albert R., is also living at home. All the children are graduates of the high school, and Carl served in the Spanish-American War, and Albert in the World War, and because of efficient service was made a sergeant and detailed as a mustering officer.

Mr. Christensen is a self-made man, proud of the success he has attained through honest effort and believes in progress, doing all he can to help build up the county of his adoption as a member of the Garden Grove Walnut Growers' and Orange Growers' Associations. His good wife shares in the esteem in which he is held by all their friends.

J. T. DUNLAP .- A well-cultivated ranch of some of the best Orange County soil is that of J. T. Dunlap, who resides on Brookhurst Street, near Anaheim, and grows citrus fruit, according to the most approved methods of science and personal experience. He has sixteen acres, sufficient to afford anyone ground for modest pride; and if that should prove insufficient, then Mr. Dunlap can fall hack on the fact that his is a native state which has produced more presidents and more representatives of the Union in high station than any other. For he was born in Ohio in 1854, the son of William Dunlap, who was twice married and had ten children. Mrs. Elizabeth (Fonts) Dunlap was the mother of our subject and five other children besides.

J. T. Dunlap was reared and educated in Missouri, to which state his father moved while he was yet of tender years. Through the occupations of boyhood, the young man settled down to agricultural pursuits as the most likely always to guarantee him a living, and an honest one at that; and this keeping close to Mother Earth brought various hlessings in its train.

In the Centennial Year of the Republic, when California was beginning to be talked about in the East, Mr. Dunlap came to the Golden State and settled in San Benito County, where he remained up to 1884, when he removed to Oregon; but in 1903 he returned to Colusa County, Cal., and in 1911 he came to Orange County.

The following year he purchased his present ranch, then raw land, and began to set out the trees which are today the objects of real interest to those engaged in citrus culture, and which amply pay for themselves. He belongs to the Garden Grove Orange Association and delights in participating in both such work and discussion as will tend to advance California horticulture.

In 1882, Mr. Dunlap was married to Miss Melissa DeVaul, a native of Missouri. and three children have blessed their union. One is Mrs. Ethel Schroeder; another, Alice, is a trained nurse; and a third is Mrs. Hazel Suggett. In politics Mr. and Mrs. Dunlap are independent, but they work hard for the best men and the best measures. and are very loyal to local community interests.

WILLIAM A. COLLMAN .- A modest, hard-working rancher, who has done something to advance horticulture in California while attain'ng success for himself, is William Collman, who lives three miles to the southwest of Fullerton, on the Brook- hurst Road. His own life has been varied with interesting experiences, and he represents those of an earlier generation, who were prosperous and influential in their sphere.

He was born in Freeport, Ill., on November 10, 1872, the son of Albertus Collman, a man of many lines of business and associated in particular with a brother. C. O. Collman, who was the head of the German Insurance Company of Freeport. William attended the Freeport common schools, and later the Nagle Business College, and he spent his early days at home. After his father's death, on July 3, 1880, he went to Nebraska and embarked in business with his brothers.

In 1896 Mr. Collman came to Fullerton, and purchased, at first, four acres on the Garden Grove Road. After a short time, however, he sold the same, and then he bought twenty acres on the Brookhurst Road. Ten acres of this was already set out. and the other ten he himself set out to Valencia oranges. He has an interest in the Brookhurst Water Company, which owns a pumping plant with a capacity of about seventy-five inches of water, thus guaranteeing him an excellent irrigation supply. He markets his oranges through the Anaheim Orange and Lemon Association, and is again well served. He cultivates the grove with a tractor, and in other respects follows the last word of science and uses only the most approved methods and apparatus.

At Los Angeles, on January 18, 1912, Mr. Coffman was married to Miss Ella Hetrick, a native of Nebraska and the daughter of a worthy Nebraska farmer; and two children have come to brighten their home: Albertus and Wilma. In 1913 he built his cosy country home. He is a member of the B. P. O. Elks of Anaheim, and believes in the fitness of the political candidate for office, rather than party endorsement.

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CYRUS G. SPARKES .- The poultry industry is fast taking a leading place in the commercial life of Orange County and the enterprise conducted by Cyrus G. Sparkes and his partner, Alvin O. Melcher, is the only one of its particular kind in the state. The place of business is located on Fairview Avenue, Anaheim, where their unique plant was erected in 1918, and still in its infancy, bids easily to outdistance others in the state as an up-to-date hatchery for commercial purposes. The building, erected of hollow tile, and circular in form, is a two-story structure, sixty feet in diameter, built in the most modern manner and equipped with a heating plant of three units so piped as to distribute heat to the various compartments where eggs are placed for hatching and maintain a temperature of 101° to 103° on all levels in the building without the aid of a fan; the humidity is maintained at 56 per cent without the aid of artificial moisture. The entire building is well ventilated and can hatch 1,000,000 eggs as easily as 100. These eggs are arranged on trays and exposed to an equal degree of heat in all parts and the necessity of having to turn each egg daily is done away with. Heat- ing, ventilating and moistening is done at the same time by the installation of the Pemberton System, installed after careful study by Mr. Sparkes and his partner. The demand for chicks is becoming so great that this institution bids fair to become one of the most remunerative hatcheries in the state and does away with the old incubator system so long in vogue all over the country.

Mr. Sparkes owns the ranch on which the hatchery is located and the land is given over to walnuts, oranges and lemons, and is in a high state of cultivation and very productive. All the improvements on the place have been the result of careful study by Mr. Sparkes, who has been a resident of the county since 1893. He is proud of being a native son of California, for he was born in San Bernardino on June 2, 1859, the son of George W. and Luanna (Roberts) Sparkes, who came across the plains with ox teams in 1852 and settled at Diamond Springs. This pioneer couple had eight children, five of whom are still living, viz: E. A. Sparkes, Mrs. Hattie Carter, Mrs. Sadie Keller; Cyrus G., and R. J. Sparkes, and three of these live in Orange County.

Cyrus G. received his education in the public schools of this state and followed agricultural pursuits nearly all his life and has been a pioneer in many activities. He was married in 1890 to Miss Mary E. Davis, a native daughter of this state, whose father, D. S. Davis, came as a pioneer in the days of gold and here he married Miss Clara Brown, a native of Missouri, in 1849. One son has blessed this union, James G. Sparkes. Mr. Sparkes is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America of Anaheim and is a real booster for Orange County.

A resident of Orange County since 1911, Alvin O. Melcher has entered into the spirit of this western commonwealth and has become a typical Orange County booster. He was born in Sheboygan County, Wis., on January 31, 1893, the son of M. F. and Bertha Melcher, and is the seventh child in a family of ten children. Of this family, three of the children and their mother reside in Orange County. For forty years the father was town clerk of Sherman, Wis., and is now deceased.

A. O. Melcher was united in marriage in 1915; with Miss Vivian Fox. a fair native daughter, born to Mr. and Mrs. Frank Fox, pioneers of Anaheim, and two daughters have been born to this couple, Olive and Thelma. Mr. Melcher was formerly occupied as a builder of houses. He is a member of the B. P. O. Elks of Anaheim.

EDWIN TILL .- A progressive, prosperous rancher who was formerly a successful Philadelphia merchant, is Edwin Till, now well and favorably known, in addition, as a contractor, making a specialty of finishing new homes. He is never without plenty of work, his patrons living at Fullerton, La Habra, Long Beach, Yorba Linda, and from the latter place to the beaches. He was born in London on October 9. 1856, the son of Edwin and Eliza Till, and grew up in the world's greatest city, under the guidance of his father, who was a contractor, operating on a large scale. He attended the London schools, and was thoroughly prepared for a career at home or beyond the seas. At- tractive as England was and always is, Mr. Till elected to leave his native land and to come to America.

He settled in Philadelphia, and there as an enterprising leader in the mercantile world built up a moderately large business. From Philadelphia he went to Chicago, and from Chicago to New York; and in each of these places he conducted a dry goods store for a year. When he returned to Philadelphia it was to resume the selling of dry goods, and in that city and field he continued until 1894, when he sold out and came to California. Locating at Latin, near Los Angeles, he lived there for six years, when he came to Orangethorpe, and in 1900 purchased a ranch of ten acres. The land was bare, but by hard work and close attention to the problem in hand, Mr. Till developed the land in an admirable manner, setting it out to Valencia and Navel oranges. He also built a home on the ranch. At first he went in for chickens, but he soon

mary & Sparkes Cyrus & Sparker

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discontinued the poultry enterprise, and confined himself to citrus fruit. His land is under the Anaheim Union Water Company, and that is equivalent to saying that it is well-watered.

At London, on March 6, 1884, Mr. Till was married to Miss Adelaide Wyatt, a native of London and the daughter of James and Adelaide (Barton) Wyatt, the latter be- ing a descendant of Lady Sarah Barton. Her father was a stone contractor and helped build the famous Spurgeon Tabernacle in London. Two sons have resulted from this fortunate marriage. Fredric James is living in Los Angeles and is in the garage business, and James Fullerton is an electrician with the Union Oil Company of Brea. He married Ruby McNeil and is the father of a girl, Edna, and a son, Wyatt James; while Fredric James became the husband of Miss Mary E. Hart. In 1892 Mrs. Till returned to England to witness the coronation of King Edward-a wonderful sight, as one might have expected of one of the greatest spectacles in modern history; and she was also fortunate in being an eye-witness to the Queen Victoria Jubilee in 1887, celebrating the fifty years of that beloved sovereign's reign. As if, perhaps, to remind the observing world of Britain's great naval strength, there were seven miles of ships lined up in close formation at the grand review at Portsmouth. Mrs. Till was one of the organizers of the Parent-Teachers' Association of the Orangethorpe school district, and with her husband has always been a liberal supporter to all movements that have had the betterment of general conditions and the upbuilding of Orange County.

ALBERT H. SITTON .- The development of the automobile industry has led to the creation of various related enterprises, among them being that of the modern garage; and these enterprises have called for the brains, experience and aggressive initiative of thousands known in other fields as successful men of affairs. One such man is Albert H. Sitton, proprietor of Sitton's Garage, a native son born at Downey on June 18, 1878.

His father was Brice M. Sitton, a farmer who married Miss Nannie B. Harris whose folks had crossed the great plains by ox-teams in early days. Mr. Sitton arrived in Nevada in 1869, and three years later reached California. Years afterwards, Mr. Sitton was killed, and Albert had to assist in the support of his mother and his sister. The family had settled in Los Angeles County near Orange in 1880, where the mother still makes her home.

The younger of two children, Albert attended the public schools of Orange County and then engaged in the bicycle trade in Santa Ana. On January 1, 1900, he went to Fullerton and for a couple of years continued to repair cycles; and next he embarked in business for himslf. It was only a step, and a very natural one, to work into auto- mobile repairs and sales; and now, with northern Orange County as his field, he is the wide-awake agent for the Overland and Willys-Knight. Self-made in more respects than one, with his own hand at the helm, Mr. Sitton has been so successful that he needs to employ ten men.

On August 27, 1902, Mr. Sitton and Miss Rose B. Rogers were married at Fuller- ton, the bride being the daughter of Joseph Rogers, a rancher. Mrs. Sitton was horn in Iowa. One son, Arthur, has blessed the union, and with his parents attends the Baptist Church at Fullerton. When recreation time comes, Mr. Sitton likes to hunt and fish. He is a Republican in party politics, but an American first and last, as seen by his record of service with Company L of the Seventh California Regiment in the Span- ish-American War. For twelve years, Mr. Sitton has been a school trustee; and while a member of the school board the present grammar school building was erected. He served one four-year term as a city trustee.

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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 80

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