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 82

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 82

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J. M. CALLAN .- An enterprising, progressive citizen, whose burning desire for years at last drove him "back to the soil," is J. M. Callan, now handsomely rewarded for the struggles of the past in the possession of one of the best-developed groves in Orange County. A native son, proud of his association with this great state, he was born in El Monte, on July 4, 1867, the son of J. M. and Ruth J. (Glenn) Callan. The father came to California in 1850, and the mother reached here in the hardly less stirring days of a decade later. J. M. Callan, Sr., settled at first in Northern California, and when he came south, he pitched his tent at El Monte.

Our subject thus went to school at El Monte, and finished his education at the Woodbury Business College. His father having died when he was an infant, his mother married a second time, then becoming the wife of M. F. Quinn. The lad helped his stepfather until he was seventeen years old, and then he began to work for an uncle who had a ranch of 2,400 acres, and raised stock. This uncle was A. T. Currier, senator from the thirty-eighth district.

On November 5, 1891, Mr. Callan was married to Miss Lenore Bronson, a native · of Savannah and the daughter of A. C. and Fannie (Green) Bronson, also early settlers

Betsey ann Hazard

Robert Samuel Hazard

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HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY

of California. She was educated at Walnut and Spadra, and was particularly fortunate in having superior opportunities, from which she profited, for the study of music.

While a boy, it may be mentioned, J. M. Callan served as page during three sessions of the state legislature, and thus had the best chance to see and hear notable men, and to be present on historic occasions. He came to know, in particular, Hiram Johnson, and has always cherished the friendship then formed. He was also a carrier of telegrams between Los Angeles and San Dimas, and went the whole distance on horseback. After his marriage, Mr. Callan farmed for four years, and then, in 1896, he went to Arizona, trying his luck at silver and lead mining, south of Casa Grande, in the Vekol district. After two years in that state, he returned to California and worked in the railway mail service. He traveled on various lines, but chiefly on the Southern Pacific, and ran especially between Los Angeles and El Paso, and Los Angeles and San Francisco.

His main interest, however, has always been ranching, and in 1912 he purchased ten acres in oranges and eight acres in walnuts, grubbed up the latter and set out Valencias. In 1916 he purchased an additional twenty-five acres, also devoted to oranges, and like the other ranch, well watered by the Anaheim Union Water Company. Now he is a director in the Anaheim Orange and Lemon Growers Exchange; and his son Forrest is living upon a part of the homestead, and also forwarding by his work the progress of California horticulture.

Two sons were born to Mr. and Mrs. Callan. Glenn M. is the elder, and is engaged in business in Fullerton; and the other is Forrest B. Callan, who married Miss Selma Salveson, and they have one child, Lenore. Mrs. Callan died on November 30, 1918, and on July 1, 1920, Mr. Callan married Mrs. Bertie Bronson, born in Kentucky, but a resident of California for several years.

Mr. Callan is a Democrat in national politics, although nonpartisan enough in his support of local measures likely to help the town and county, and he is a member of the Masonic Lodge, holding membership in Fullerton Lodge No. 339, F. & A. M., and in Fullerton Chapter, R. A. M.

MRS. BETSY ANN HAZARD .- The ancestry of Mrs. Betsy Ann Hazard dates back to the early days of the Pilgrim Fathers, when two White brothers came over in the Mayflower, and from one of these Mrs. Hazard is directly descended. The White family figured prominently in the Revolutionary War and in the early history of Massa- chusetts and of New York, Mrs. Hazard herself being a pioneer of lowa; she was born at Erieville, Madison County, N. Y., her parents being Elijah and Betsy (Cook) White. Elijah White was a blacksmith at Erieville for many years, having come there from his native state of Massachusetts, Mrs. White also having been born at Williamstown, in that state. They were the parents of four children: Charles, William, Austin, who died at Fallbrook in 1916, and Betsy Ann, of this review, and the only one living. She was reared and educated at Erieville and on February 14, 1858, at Leeville, N. Y., was married to Robert Samuel Hazard, who was also born at Erieville, N. Y., in 1833, only half a mile from the birthplace of Mrs. Hazard; he was the son of Ira and Clarissa (Brown) Hazard, both of whom were born in New York and lived there until their death, the father being a well-to-do farmer and dairyman, and was the first child born in that village.

Mr. and Mrs. Hazard remained in New York for a year or so after their marriage, when they removed to what was then considered the far west, settling in Blackhawk County, Iowa, in 1860. Here they hought a partially improved farm of eighty acres. which they cultivated until 1877. They then drove their cattle out to Redwillow County. Nebr., and later to Hitchcock County, in that state, moving into a deserted dug-out that had heen occupied by settlers who had been eaten out by grasshoppers and ahan- doned the place. In 1881, Mr. and Mrs. Hazard, with their children, came to California, settling in the Westminster district in August of that year. They purchased fortv acres northwest of Bolsa, paying $700 for the tract, and moved on it February 6, 1882, and there engaged in ranching until Mr. Hazard's death, which occurred very suddenly from heart failure on November 23. 1895, while he was at work in the field. Mrs. Hazard resides on the home place and rents the land to her grandson, Robert F. Hazard.

There were five children, two now living, horn to Mr. and Mrs. Hazard, all natives of Iowa except the third child, who was born in New York: Bertha resides on the home farm with her mother: Frank hecame a prosperous rancher in the Westminster precinct. the owner of 120 acres of land there; he passed away on January 22, 1916, at the age of forty-five years. He was married to Alice Marden of Westminster, who died in 1900, leaving three children-Harry is a rancher at Lancaster, Cal., is married and has two living children, Eugene and Alice; Robert F. is a rancher in the Westminster district, farming the land of his grandmother, Mrs. Betsy Ann Hazard; he has three children

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Roland, Clyde and Kenneth; Luella, who married Gifford Giles and lives at Santa Ana; she was reared by her grandmother, Mrs. Betsy Ann Hazard, her mother having passed away when she was but two weeks old; the youngest of the Hazard children, Grace. is the wife of Harry Bush, a shipbuilder at Harbor City, Cal., and they have one daughter, Ethelwyn, now Mrs. Harry Griswold of Exeter, Cal.

Coming from a long line of patriotic forbears, it is but natural that Mrs. Hazard should feel an intense loyalty to her country and this she expressed in a practical way during the stirring time of the late war, being especially active in the work of the Red Cross. While she has never allied herself with any particular church, she has always lived an exemplary Christian life, governed by the principles of the Golden Rule. She has never found any religion higher than the truth and she considers it her privilege to discover truth anywhere and everywhere, adhering to the highest concept of life as it is unfolded. A firm advocate of temperance, she has been a member of the Women's Christian Temperance Union, the Good Templars and other prohibition organizations.

HARRY RAY .- A pioneer business man of Brea, Orange County, Harry Ray has been closely identified with the commercial interests of this fast-growing city since 1911, during which time he has been classed among the upbuilders of this district in all progressive movements. A native of Ohio, he was born at Cincinnati on March 25, 1878, a son of Samuel and Louise (Hoffman) Ray, the latter still living and the mother of seven children.

The third eldest of the family, Harry Ray received his education in the excellent schools of his native city, also fortunate in having been able to pursue a course in the high school as well. When his school days were over he entered the mercantile business there and thoroughly equipped himself for his career in life. When twenty- three years of age he decided to come West, feeling that the best opportunities were to be found here rather than in the crowded marts of the East. On his arrival he secured employment with the Stern-Goodman Company at Fullerton, and for ten years was in their store in that city. In 1911 he was sent to the new town of Brea to open a branch store for his company, and was made manager of it, having demonstrated his ability and integrity during his ten years' service with them in Fullerton. He later bought their interest and for three years carried on a flourishing business for himself and expanded the business to large proportions during that time. He then sold out to Joseph Weiss, and was made manager for him, continuing in that position until he resigned to embark in the general gents' furnishing business for himself, where he is to be found catering to the best element of the prosperous oil-producing center.

Public-spirited and active in all forward movements of the locality, Mr. Ray was the prime mover in organizing the Chamber of Commerce and was honored with the first presidency of that organization, and later served another term, and as a booster for the community he exerted a strong influence for the good of the entire section. He is a Republican in politics and fraternally is a member of the Knights of Pythias, the Foresters and the B. P. O. Elks of Anaheim.

FELIX BOZENTA MODJESKA .- Among the most popular favorites at Balhoa Boach, indeed throughout all Orange County where the memory of Madame Modjeska, as both a genius and a noble woman, is held so dear, none enjoys a more enviable position than the grandson of the famous Polish-American actress, Felix Bozenta Modjeska, and his talented wife, residing on Modjeska or Bay Island, where the divine interpreter died on April 9, 1909, and which she willed to her two grandchildren, the aforesaid. He was born at Omaha, Nebr., on August 6, 1887, when his father Ralph Modjeski, the noted civil engineer of Chicago, was engaged on the Union Pacific bridge then being stretched across the Missouri River at Omaha. Ralph Modjeski was born at Cracow, Poland, in 1861, and came to the United States with his mother in the year of our national Centennial, 1876. Later, he graduated from the Coll. des Ponts et Chaussees, at Paris, at the head of his class, with honors, and in 1911 was made a Doctor of Engineering, by the University of Illinois. On December 28, 1885, he mar- ried Felicie Benda, of Cracow, a niece of Mme. Modjeska, by her beloved brother Felix, by whom he had two sons and a daughter-Felix Bozenta, the subject of our review; Marylka Stewart, wife of Sydney Pattison, professor of English in the University of Arizona at Tucson, and Charles E. J., who is at present a student at Cornell Uni- versity. Ralph Modjeski, who is now a member of the eminent firm of Modjeski and Angier, also independent as Ralph Modjeski, has been a consulting engineer at Chicago since 1892, and for years has maintained an office in New York City, and he has been identified with the designing and completing of many of the great engineering works in the land, among them the Thebes Bridge across the Mississippi and the Quebec Bridge in Canada, also one at Memphis, Tenn., and many others. He is an honored

Susan E. Chaffee

A.J. Chaffee

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HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY

member of several of the leading clubs of Chicago and New York. He resides on Hyde Park Boulevard, Chicago, and has an office on Michigan Avenue.

The early life, therefore, of Felix Bozenta Modjeska was mainly spent at Chicago, where he attended the public schools and De La Salle Institute and the University high school. He also studied electrical engineering at Armour Institute, and enjoyed the instruction of men noted the world over for their mastery of modern electrical science, and so became himself a recognized electrical expert. He was married at Davenport, lowa, to Miss Dorothy Hill, of Western Springs, 111 .; and in 1910, following his revered grandmother's death, he and his wife came West to inherit their enviable property. They have two children, Felix G. and Ralph.

Some time ago, Mr. Modjeska formed a partnership with R. M. Simberg for the establishing and conducting of an electrical engineering and supply business at Balboa and Newport Beach; and Mr. Simberg takes charge of the store at the latter place, while Mr. Modjeska manages the business at Balboa. As might be expected of those who began with a reputation for exceptional ability and who have since added to their laurels and by strict attention to the wants of their patrons, increased their number of appreciative friends, these gentlemen have done well from the start; and they bid fair to "grow up with the country," and to come in on the crest of the waves, at the high tide of the beaches' prosperity.

ALBERT J. CHAFFEE .- Residents of Garden Grove for nearly forty years, Mr. and Mrs. Albert J. Chaffee occupy an honored place in the community for the contri- bution they made to the upbuilding of this section of Orange County. A native of Illinois, Mr. Chaffee was a son of Eber C. and Anna ( Davis) Chaffee, his birth occurring April 27, 1848, in Kane County, near Elgin, in that state. Eber C. Chaffee was born at Bellows Falls, Vt., and when a youth learned the trades of tanner and currier, but after removing to Kane County, Ill., in 1839, he became interested in agriculture, im- proving a farm of 400 acres there. Mrs. Chaffee was also a native of Vermont, born at Rutland, of Welsh and English descent; both parents died at the Illinois homestead.

Albert J. Chaffee spent his early life on the home farm in Kane County, Ill .. attending the public schools there and later the Seminary at Aurora, the Academy at Elgin and the Rock River Seminary at Mt. Morris, 111. For a while he took up the profession of a school teacher, teaching two years in Iowa and one in Illinois. Later he became interested in dairying, running an extensive dairy near Elgin for many years. He was one of the early promoters of that industry in that section, which has since become famous throughout the country as a butter-producing market. He continued there until 1881, when he decided to remove to California, settling at Garden Grove directly on his arrival here. For a number of years he engaged in the dairy business on the peat lands in the Westminster and Bolsa districts, but later gave over his time to general farming, in which he achieved splendid success. Through different purchases he at one time owned 140 acres of land, but disposed of most of it, retaining a small acreage where he erected his commodious farmhouse, the trees which he planted now having grown to a great size. Here his family make their home.

Of the twelve children of the Chaffee family, only two are now living: Alonzo D. resides at Wasco, Ill., and is eighty years of age; and Dorr B .; who is seventy-eight years old, makes his home in Los Angeles, where he is well known. Of the brothers who are deceased may be mentioned Dr. John D. Chaffee, who came to Garden Grove in 1875 and was widely known there and at Long Beach, where he had an extensive practice until his death in 1907; Simon E. Chaffee was justice of the peace and notary public at Garden Grove for many years and died there in 1916, at the age of sixty-nine years; the oldest brother, Sereno S. Chaffee, was a man of means and figured in the business and political circles of Los Angeles, becoming a strong Prohibitionist before his death in 1894. at the age of sixty-eight; another brother, Fernando H. Chaffee, was a prominent resident of Long Beach, living to be eighty years old, and dying in 1908. Of Mr. Chaffee's three sisters, Mrs. Sarah M. Johnson was a resident of Garden Grove before her death in 1899; Addie F. died in Illinois at the age of ten years: Mrs. Marcia A. Ryder died in 1916 in Long Beach, aged eighty-six years, her son, Dr. Burns Ryder. being a well-known physician there.

Mr. Chaffee's marriage, which occurred in 1873, united him with Miss Susan E.' Ambrose, the daughter of Rev. Samnel Ambrose, a well-known minister of the Rock River Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Illinois. Mrs. Chaffee was born in Maine, but was reared in Illinois from the age of six. Six children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Chaffee: Mettie E. is in the Deaconess work in Los Angeles: Edward A. is a large rancher and apricot grower at Garden Grove: Dr. Burns S. Chaffee, a physician at Long Beach, is a graduate of Johns Hopkins University, where he spe- cialized in surgery. He was a surgeon in the army during the late war, serving in

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France, and was commissioned a captain; Ralph A. is a resident of Garden Grove; Leila B. graduated from the Santa Ana high school and later from the Los Angeles Normal, and is now taking a domestic science course at Santa Barbara; she taught five years in the Garden Grove grammar school; an infant daughter died at the age of ten days in Garden Grove.

Mr. Chaffee was a member and trustee of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Gar- den Grove; always a hard worker, he lived a clean, industrious and useful life, and was found furthering every good work, especially the cause of temperance and national prohibition. He died June 4, 1920, aged over seventy-two. Mrs. Chaffee, who is also a faithful member of the Methodist Church, ably seconded her husband in all his good works and is beloved by the entire community.

NOAH ULYSSES POTTER .- A highly esteemed family of Orange with an unusually interesting association with the great World War, is that of Noah Ulysses Potter, whose sturdy sons vie with him in popularity. He was born in Madison County, Iowa, in 1869, the son of Ephraim Potter, a native of Michigan who settled in Iowa, and there farmed. He also married there, taking for his wife Miss Mary Blosser; and there he died. He had two brothers in the Civil War, one of whom was killed. All of their five children are still living; but only the youngest-the subject of our sketch -is in California. Mrs. Potter, the beloved mother, survived to give joy to all who knew her, until March, 1920, when she died.

Reared on a farm, Noah attended the local public schools, and after a while learned the carpenter's trade, in time marrying Miss Minnie O'Brien, a native of Illinois. He worked at his trade in Madison County until 1902, when he located in California. Four years before he had come to the Golden State for the first time, and had remained here nearly a year, mostly at Santa Cruz; and then he returned to Iowa. The spell of California, however, had seized him as it has so many others, and when he came he chose Orange as the most attractive place, promising the most for the future. For the first two years after coming here he worked at his trade as a carpenter, and since then he has been in business for himself.

Mr. Potter has been exceptionally successful and has erected many buildings of note. Among these are the Jorn Block, the Ainsworth Block, the Smith and Grote Block, the Pixley and Edwards Block, the Eltiste Garage, the Struck Garage, the Boring Buildings, the Christian Church, as well as many of the finest private residences in the city. He built his own residence on East Palmyra Street.

A Republican in national political affairs, Mr. Potter was appointed on the non- war construction committee for Orange County during the period of the war. His son, Cland, who is a carpenter and assists him, joined the aviation section of the U. S. Army and was stationed at Rockwell Field in this state until he was honorably dis- charged in March, 1919, when he resumed work with his father. Another son, Ray- mond, who is also a carpenter and assists his father, was in the war as a member of Battery B, of the Anti-Aircraft, serving overseas, and was in active service in France for six months. After the armistice had been signed he returned home and was hon- crably discharged. A third son was in the U. S. Naval Reserve Force, and in the returned to tell the tale, he is with the Griffith Lumber Company at Orange. All three of these worthy sons are members of Orange Post No. 132 of the American three of these worthy sons are members of the Orange Post No. 132 of the American Legion. The family are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

Mr. Potter was made a Mason in Orange Grove Lodge No. 293, F. & A. M., and belongs to Orange Grove Chapter No. 99, R. A. M. Mrs. Potter belongs to the Her- mosa Chapter, O. E. S., and is justly popular in the circles in which she is active and best known.

FRED A. GROTE .- An enterprising and liberal-minded young man who, by his own unfailing energy and close application to the duties of the day, has risen to a prominent place in the business circles of his native city, is Fred A. Grote, who was born at Orange on March 22, 1886. His parents were Henry and Wilhelmina Grote, the well-known pioneers, and in the order of birth he was the fourth of six children.

He was sent to the. local schools for his early education, and in Santa Ana he continued his studies at the Orange Business College. When his student days were over, he entered the store of the Ehlen and Grote Company, of which his father was a large owner, and beginning at the bottom, advanced through various departments until he became assistant manager. Since then he has become one of the largest stockholders, and as a controlling factor, is director and secretary of the company. He belongs to the Commercial Club and also to the Merchants and Manufacturers Association of Orange, in which organizations his counsel is often sought, and in un- organized channels he makes his influence felt in an encouraging, helpful way.

H. W. Head Maria Caldwell Head

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HISTORY OF ORANGE COUNTY

Mr. Grote is also interested in citrus culture, and owns a ranch of twenty acres east of Orange, which he has set out and improved with Valencia oranges and lemons. He is a member of the Santiago Orange Growers Association and the Central Lemon Association at Villa Park, and loses no opportunity to advocate the introduction of the most approved, up-to-date methods and appliances.

While at St. Louis, Mo., Mr. Grote was married to Miss Mathilde Schuessler, a native of that city and a graduate of Strassberger's Conservatory of Music at St. Louis; and their union has been blessed with the birth of one child, a daughter, Elinor. Mr. Grote is a member of St. John's Lutheran Church.

A Republican in matters of national political import, and a most loyal American citizen, always solicitous for a high standard of civic honor, Mr. Grote knows no political partisanship when it comes to boosting Orange, town and county, nor does he allow party preferences to stand in the way of endorsing the best men and measures. In this respect, he sets the best example for civic reform and growth.

MRS. MARIA E. HEAD .- Preeminent among the most interesting factors in the history of romantic California must be rated the lives of such genuine and worthy pioneers as the late Dr. H. W. Head, who passed to his eternal reward on December 5, 1919, and his estimable companion who so admirably sustains his standards in her charming home life at 520 East Sixth Street, Santa Ana. He was born in Obion County, Tenn., on January 1, 1840, and as a decidedly pioneer physician settled at Garden Grove in the far-away Centennial year of 1876. At Rives, then Troy Station. Obion County, Tenn., on August 18, 1869, he was married to Miss Maria E. Caldwell, a daughter of Waller H. Caldwell, a well-known farmer of Obion County, Tenn., where he was also a pioneer. He was born in Henry County, Tenn., lived to hunt not merely wild turkeys but grizzly bears in Obion County, when he first essayed to set up his home there, and died there in 1891, almost eighty years of age. He was married in Obion County to Elizabeth Morgan, who died when Mrs. Head was only eleven years old. She left five children-three girls and two boys, of whom there are only two living: our subject and a brother, Waller J. Caldwell, a farmer in Obion County. In May, 1917, Dr. and Mrs. Head took an extended trip East, to visit their old Tennessee home, and on the journey they stopped at Washington, D. C., and shook hands with President Wilson.

Dr. Head studied medicine under his father, Dr. Horace Head, perhaps the leading physician of Obion County; attended the Academy at Troy, Tenn., and later matriculated at the Nashville Medical College, graduating in the spring of 1869. Prior to his beginning the study of medicine he enlisted in the Civil War as a Confederate soldier and participated in the following battles: Shiloh, Perryville, Murfreesboro, Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge (both battles), Cut Creek, Rocky Ford Ridge, Resaca, Adairsville, New Hope Church, Pine Mountain, Dead Angle, Beech Tree Creek, Atlanta, Jonesboro, Franklin, Nashville and Sugar Creek. At the battle of Franklin he came out with such torn clothes and so bedraggled and powder-stained that his own uncle did not know him. The company in which he served throughout the war was the one in which he had enlisted-the "Avalanche"; it was made up at Troy, Tenn., and he became its captain. After his marriage, Dr. Head went to live at Troy and there he practiced until he came to California. The first captain, by the way, who organized the "Avalanche," was John W. Buford; and when he was promoted to the office of colonel, Dr. Head was made captain. Dr. Head was a valiant soldier, remained prominent in Confederate circles, and numbered his friends by the thousands, as was evidenced by the attendance and demonstrations at his funeral, which was attended by admirers and mourners from far and near. He had been commissioned lieut .- colonel and judge-advocate on the staff of Maj .- Gen. S. Lerchfield, on January 1. 1905, and at their twenty-ninth reunion at Atlanta, Ga., in 1919, he was made surgeon-general of the Pacific Division of the United Confederate Veterans. Always an earnest advocate of education, he was for twenty-eight years a trustee of the Garden Grove school.

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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 82

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