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 87

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 87

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Mr. Cuprien's style of painting as seen in his marines is intensely individualistic. and one may get some idea of his ideals by his definition of the true artist: "What a man paints is what is in his mind-the expression of the inner man put upon canvas by himself." Mr. Cuprien received the gold medal at the Berliner Ausstellung; first prize at the Cotton Carnival, Galveston, Tex., 1913; silver medals at San Diego in both 1915 and 1916; honorable mention at the State Fair at Phoenix, 1916; and a bronze medal at the State Fair at Sacramento, in 1919. He is a Republican in matters of national political import, and humanitarian and philanthropic in his attitude toward society and the problems of the day.

Mr. Cuprien is a member of the American Federation of Arts, the Leipsic Art Association, the Fort Worth Art Association, the California Art Club, and the Laguna Beach Art Association, being a charter member there, and one of the board of trustees.

KARL JENS .- A noted American painter who has contributed his efficient in- fluence for the advancement of art in California and for the building up of an artistic · atmosphere at Laguna Beach, is Mr. Jens, better known as Karl Yens, who was born in Altona, on the Elbe, in nothern Germany, not far from Hamburg, on January 11. 1868, and grew up in a beautiful environment of gardens and villas, and with all the educational advantages that the Old World could offer. He pursued high school and college studies there, and took up and followed art in Hamburg, Berlin and Munich, and later in England and Scotland. When nineteen years of age, he studied at the Museum of Arts and Crafts at Berlin, under Professors Koch and Ewald, the latter the director of the institute, and these studies he continued at the Academie Julien in Paris, where he was under the guidance of the renowned Benjamin Constant and E. Paul Laurens. There he entered into sharp competition for honors, and was one of the few declared to have made much progress and been successful in 1900.

When Mr. Yens first came to America he traveled through the country as an artist, desirous of seeing the best there was and for six years made his headquarters in Cambridge, Mass. He exhibited in Boston and in Philadelphia, then moved tem- porarily to Washington, D. C., where he made a specialty of mural decoration; in New York, he later executed some mural work in theaters and private residences.

Mr. Yens had married in Germany, before coming to America, Miss Helene Grote of Cambridge, Mass., who was on her first trip to that country. Mrs. Yens died at their home in Cambridge while her husband was in Germany on a visit to his mother and left three children, Anna, Otto and Elizabeth, all of whom are in the East com- pleting their educations. In 1909, in New York, Mr. Yens was married a second time. taking for his wife Miss Katherine Petry, a trained nurse who had been rearcd and educated there, and with him she enjoys a wide popularity.

In 1910, Mr. Yens removed from the East to California and settled at Pasadena. and soon after he had established a studio at South Pasadena, he hecame, in 1911. a professor in the University of Southern California, and for nearly three years had charge of their College of Fine Arts. From 1916 to 1918 Mr. Yens was an art instruc- tor at the Los Angeles Polytechnic school.

While in the East, Mr. Yens made a specialty of portraiture, and is an expert in all mediums; being an etcher he owns his own etching press. He is particularly fond of out-door painting-landscapes and studies from nature. He called his workshop at

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South Pasadena, just beyond the Mineral Park, the Arroyo Verde Studio, and the name and the design and furnishing of the studio well bespeaks the man. Fond of roaming here and there, Mr. Yens has often limned the beauties of Southern California, depict- ing every feature with rare fidelity, and giving to all his work spontaneity and vitality.

Mr. Yens' aim to do the big and important things has been richly rewarded, for he has exhibited at all the leading exhibitions in Los Angeles and his paintings are a source of delight to the local art world. His larger works are shown in the leading exhibits in the East-The National Academy of Design and the Architectural League Club in New York; the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia; the Archi- tectural League in Washington, D. C., and other places, for he keeps up a live con- nection with the East. He took the silver and bronze medals at both the State Fairs in California in 1915-1916; was also awarded the Clarence A. Black prize for excellence in landscape painting as a result of his participation in the exhibits at Exposition Park, Los Angeles. He is a member of the California Art Club and of the Laguna Beach Art Association, and was secretary of the Los Angeles Modern Art Society.

Despite his pleasant associations with other art communities, Mr. Yens removed to Laguna Beach on November 19, 1919; and here he has been an especially distin- guished citizen ever since. An enthusiastic American, with rare confidence in our insti- tutions for the future, Mr. Yens has been able, as few others are privileged to do, to contribute much to advance the appreciation for art among a folk heretofore too busy with founding a great commonwealth always to give time and attention to the finer attractions in life. When, therefore, Laguna Beach will come to its own in the matter of high art, the influence of this progressive exponent will be sure to be recognized and acknowledged.

CHARLES A. KNUTH .- A conservative, yet decidedly enterprising leader in business affairs, who has sought to lead a Christian life through the application of the Golden Rule, is Charles A. Knuth, of the Villa Park section of Orange County. He was born in Germany on January 11, 1873, and came to America with his mother. His foster father is William Knuth, who adopted the lad and he was reared as his son. The family moved to Milwaukee, and it was there Charles A. Knuth attended school for eight years, during which time he worked at his trades, continuing until 1887, when he decided the Pacific Coast country held better inducements.

On March 17, 1887, the "boom" year, William Knuth brought his family to Cali- fornia, and at Villa Park, in Orange County, he bought ten acres of land. gradually increasing his holdings, with the aid of his children, until he owned sixty-eight acres. Charles helped set out the trees and otherwise improve their holdings and in time the. father gave to each of his children ten acres, retaining five acres upon which he and his good wife now live. While Charles was working on the ranch he found time to attend the Orange Business College, where he took a general commercial course. From 1908 to 1915 he traveled over part of the state representing, at various times, some of the best-known commission houses of Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Since its organization in 1913, excepting one year, Mr. Knuth has been foreman of the field work for the Villa Park Orchards Association, which serves over 150 growers and handles the product of more than 2,000 acres. This position has brought him in close touch with the citrus industry of the state and occupies his time so that he hires the work done on his ten-acre ranch.

On June 7, 1905, Charles A. Knuth and Marie Steffens were united in marriage and they have two daughters, Norma Marie and Marie Charlotte, both now attending school. The family belongs to the Lutheran Church at Orange. Mr. Knuth is a Republican, has served on the election boards and is a member of the Farm Center. During the war he served as a committeeman on the loan drives. He is one of the best-known and well-liked men of his section of country.

MARTIN V. ALLEN .- A well-read, reflecting, self-made man, whose hard work and honest methods have made him a sharer in all the good things of life, is Martin V. Allen, a native of Bloomington, McLean County, Ill., where he was born on Novem- ber 10, 1874. His father was Patrick Allen, a stonemason employed for most of his life by the Santa Fe, who died in 1918, at the ripe age of seventy-four. He had married Miss Margaret Allen, and she passed to her eternal reward when our subject was a mere youth. A sister of Martin died when he was twenty-four, and he is now the only survivor of his once happy family.

Having always had to work hard for a living, Martin Allen enjoyed but a few years of schooling, and so came to acquire that wide knowledge of agriculture for which he is locally famed, when he was a boy. The rudiments of the three R's. were obtained at the Church Street school in Galesburg, Ill., and so thorough was that ele- mentary training that when he came west to California in 1897 and cast his lot in with

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others who were rapidly developing Orange County, he was better equipped than many to wrestle with work-a-day problems. He started to grow barley, potatoes and corn on a ranch in Santiago Canyon, and securing his first crop of "spuds" in 1897, when prices were very low, he sold them to wholesale houses in Los Angeles and realized all that the market would allow. For eight years he followed cement contracting in Orange County and since 1908 he has been the able superintendent of the thirty-eight acres belonging to the Adolphus Busch estate in the Villa Park precinct. At one time he knew nearly every family in Orange County, but now so many settlers have come in he scarcely knows his nearest neighbors.

On July 31, 1901, Mr. Allen was married to Miss Anita Martin, a native daughter of Orange County, whose parents came to California from Texas in an ox-team train. Mrs. Martin, the mother, is still living at Villa Park, aged eighty-four. Two children have blessed their union: Ernest L. and Carl L., both attending school in Villa Park. Mr. Allen belongs to the Odd Fellows of Orange and served one term as noble grand. Both Mr. and Mrs. Allen are members of the Rebekahs. He is a Democrat in national politics, but holds himself free to vote for whom he chooses. And in busi- ness, desiring to see California go forward by leaps and bounds, and to stabilize all her development, he is an independent shipper of produce and fruit. Mr. Allen was a member of Company L, Seventh Regiment U. S. Volunteers for service in the Spanish- American War.

LEONARD O. VAUGHAN .- A resident of California since 1892, Leonard O. Vaughan of Orange County has been an eyewitness to the many marvelous changes that have taken place in Southern California since that time. He is the representative of a Virginian family and was born at Upper Alton, Ill., on June 21, 1856, a son of Cornelius B. Vanghan, born in Culpepper, Va., but a pioneer of the state of Illinois where he became a farmer at Alton. He was a member of one of the brave bands of pioneers who crossed the plains from the East to California with ox teams in 1849 to mine for gold and he met with the success of the ordinary miner. He remained here for five years and then returned to Illinois to claim his bride. When he went back he took with him several gold nuggets as souvenirs and one of these is now in the possession of Leonard O., who had it mounted as a scarf pin. The mother of Leonard O., was in maidenhood Frances M. Smith, a native of Alton, and a daughter of George Smith, who is honored as the founder of Alton, where he erected the first cabin and ran a store and established the town site on Pisaw Creek. That was at a time when Indians were very numerous in that state, but he was on friendly terms with most of them. He taught school, read law and specialized in land law, and served in the state legislature with Abraham Lincoln. Later Mr. Smith, and Dr. Benjamin Shurtleff of Boston, Mass., endowed the Baptist College at Alton, so that it became known as Shurtleff College. Cornelius B. Vaughan died in Idaho in 1904, his widow surviving him until 1918, when she died at Long Beach, Cal.

In 1858, when Leonard O. was a child of two years the family removed to Car- rollton, Mo., but at the outbreak of the Civil War, being a strong Union man, Mr. Vaughan returned to Alton with his family and from there enlisted for service in an Illinois regiment and served from 1861 to 1864, when he was honorably discharged from service. He was prominent in Grand Army circles after its organization and his G. A. R. button is one of the prized keepsakes of his son, Leonard O. After the war was over the family moved back to their farm near Carrollton, Mo., and it was here that the son attended the graded schools, after which he returned to Alton, entered Shurt- leff College and was graduated therefrom in 1876, then joined his folks in Missouri.

In 1878, at Marshall, Mo., Mr. Vaughan was united in marriage with Miss Lenora Herndon, a native of Saline County, that state, and in time they were blessed with seven children, two of whom, L. O. Jr., and Cornelius B. are now deceased. Charles H. is an automobile dealer in Los Angeles and has two sons; Gertrude is Mrs. C. E. Wagner of West Orange and the mother of one son; Edna became Mrs. Ned Cutting and resides in Los Angeles; Russell T., is an oil-well driller in Granger, Texas, and he has a son and a daughter: Howard S. conducts an oil station at Sixth and Main, and one at the Central Auto Park in Santa Ana. He is the father of a daughter. The wife and mother died in Los Angeles on August 14, 1913.

In 1886 Mr. Vaughan moved to Greeley County, Kans., and there preempted land which he farmed. A natural merchanic, in 1887 he was induced to enter the service of the Santa Fe railroad at Coolidge, Kans., as a repairer of locomotives, coming to Los Angeles in 1892 in the service of that company. In 1895 he was in the employ of the Southern Pacific at Dunsmuir as an engineer, and in 1905 he came to Long Beach and was employed as engineer at the power plant of the water department of that city. In 1914 he came to Orange County and has since resided on his twenty-one acre ranch

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devoted to walnuts, and it is one of the best groves in the locality, rapidly being recog- nized as a show place. It was in 1914, in Los Angeles, that the second marriage of Mr. Vaughan took place when he married Mrs. Martha Shaffer. She died in December, 1917. Mr. Vanghan also owns a half block in Santa Ana upon which is located the Temple Theatre, a half block where the Central Auto Park is situated and numerous parcels of land in this county and in Los Angeles, so that he gives a great deal of his time to looking after his varied interests. He is a believer in the future of Southern California, Orange County in particular; is a supporter of all movements that tend to build up and promote the welfare of the people and is highly esteemed as a successful business man. In politics he is a Republican in national affairs, locally he votes for the best men and measures and he finds recreation as a member of the Elks lodge.

MRS. MARTHA M. SHAFFER VAUGHAN .- A pioneer of Orange County be- loved by all who knew her was Martha M. Shafter Vaughan, who for many years lived on a ranch on North Main Street between Santa Ana and Orange. A native of Rock Island County, Ill., she was born and christened Martha M. Cowles and was reared amidst the pioneer environments of that state when it was known as the "far west." Her marriage to Uriah Shaffer was solemnized in Decatur County, Iowa, in 1877. Mr. Shaffer was a Virginian by birth who descended from German stock and he was reared on a plantation in Hampshire County, Va. His birth occurred there on June 16, 1820. and he attended the subscription schools in his native locality until he was twelve. when he accompanied his parents to Lee County, Iowa, and there he became a pioneer farmer on the frontier, continuing farming in Lee County for himself from 1838 until he left that vocation to come to California in 1850 to mine for gold. He was among that hardy band of Argonauts that crossed the great plains with oxen and prairie schooners and arrived in Nevada County, Cal., September 7, 1850. He was not suc- cessful in his search for the shining metal and he took up land in Plumas County and engaged in ranching. After experimenting for several years he returned to Iowa and farmed in Decatur County, and while so occupied he became the husband of Martha M. Cowles.

That same year, 1877, they came to California and to Santa Ana, on the first railroad train that ran into that town. Mr. and Mrs. Shaffer became very prominent factors in the civic and commercial life of Los Angeles County, as Orange County had not been partitioned off at that. period. When the new county was formed they con- tinued to ranch and increase their interest in the new county and did their part to make it one of the best known and richest sections of this great state. They improved a ranch of twenty-five acres of walnuts, besides doing general farming on other land they owned. Both were stanch Republicans. Mr. Shaffer died May 20, 1902, after which Mrs. Shaffer erected a large twenty-six room house on her property, after her own plans. She also operated her walnut rauch and the 300-acre ranch besides, where she raised fine cattle and alfalfa, and had sixty acres of it set to walnuts. She was a good business woman and was highly esteemed by all who knew her for her integrity and public spirit.

Mrs. Shaffer became the wife of L. O. Vaughan on January 1, 1914, who took from her shoulders the cares of business and administered the property with fine success. She passed away on December 27, 1917, mourned by all who had known her for her unselfish spirit and great helpfulness as a pioneer woman of Orange County. She was a strong believer in Spiritualism and contributed much money towards that belief.

MRS. LAVINIA AVERY MAYFIELD .- A generous-hearted, hospitable woman, esteemed and liked by all who know her, and known as a conservative and cautions operator in business, is Mrs. Lavinia A. Mayfield, who was born an Avery and christened Lavinia, the place of her birth being Rusk County, Texas. On her father's side her ancestors came to America from Scotland and were among the early Southern families to settle on the Atlantic Coast. Her grandmother, Rachel (McDonald) Avery, was born on the Atlantic Ocean. On her maternal side her grandparents came from France. Her mother. Sarah Dumas (Halton) Avery, married a second time, choosing as her husband William Henry Talley, a lineal descendant of Patrick Henry. Mr. Talley was a successful orchardist who proved a kind and helpful stepfather. Her father, Rhoderic McDonald Avery, was a pioneer in Rusk County, Texas, and died when she was a mere babe. Lavina received her education in the common schools of the locality in which she was brought up and also studied at Kidd-Key College at Sherman, Texas, after which she taught school for two years. In 1889 Mr. Talley, her stepfather, removed to California with his family, and at Covina he purchased forty acres, which he in time set out to oranges.

On March 3, 1889, Miss Avery became the wife of Dr. M. S. Jones, the eye, ear. nose and throat specialist of Santa Ana. Dr. Jones was born in Clinton County, Ill., his

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parents being natives of Virginia. He was educated at Mckendree College, at Lebanon, Ill., completing his medical education at St. Louis, there having the privilege of special courses under the celebrated specialist, Dr. William Niehaus, in opthalmology and aural surgery, and with Dr. D. B. St. John Roosa of New York. Receiving his diploma in 1869 he entered into practice with Dr. Niehaus, but after a year his health failed and he went to Shreveport, La. Here he practiced for two years, and his health being improved he returned to his old practice at St. Louis, remaining there until January 26, 1874, when he came to California. After practicing for a year in Los Angeles he located in Santa Ana, where he soon had a large general practice. Becoming an en- thusiast over the possibilities of citrus culture in this locality, he purchased a tract of sixty acres on East Seventeenth Street and Tustin Avenue, forty acres of which was devoted to oranges, and while he continued his medical practice Mrs. Jones looked after their horticultural interests, thus pioneering in an industry that has reached such vast proportions in Orange County. Dr. Jones was also very active in farming and was very successful in his undertakings in that line. Always enjoying a large and lucrative practice, he stood high in the professional circles of Orange County. He was a Demo- crat and took an active part in county politics, always working for the upbuilding of the neighborhood, on which account his death, which occurred at Santa Ana in 1908, was generally deplored. Mrs. Jones had also lost her mother, who passed away at Santa Ana the year before. Inasmuch as Mr. Talley had passed away in 1895, Mrs. Talley had disposed of the ranch property at Covina and bought residence property in Santa Ana instead. Mrs. Jones kept the orange ranch and home on East Seventeenth Street for some time after Dr. Jones' death, later disposing of it. By a former marriage Dr. Jones had two children whom Mrs. Jones reared and educated: Essie L., the wife of J. W. Jones of Boston, and George R., a rancher in Arizona. A sister, Mrs. M. R. Hall, who had removed from Colorado to Tustin, died on May 8, 1898, leaving five children in Mrs. Jones' care. The children are: Lavinia and Jennie Hall, now deceased; Bess is the wife of Sam Hill, a prominent merchant of Santa Ana; Avery Hall lives at San Pedro, and Lulu Hall is the wife of Charles F. Johnson, a postal employe of Santa Ana. Three years after Dr. Jones' death Mrs. Jones married Dr. W. S. Mayfield.

Mrs. Mayfield is a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Santa Ana, in whose various activities she takes a prominent part. She also participated in various kinds of war work, and in whatever way she can, she endeavors to live up to and practice the Golden Rule. She is an enthusiastic supporter of every worthy project for the develop- ment of Southern California and is particularly loyal to Orange County.

CHARLES E. BOWMAN .- A practical and scientific rancher, who draws upon his own valuable experience, and who has the confidence of his associates, because of his conservatively progressive methods, is Charles E. Bowman, who good-naturedly boasts that he has been a booster for Tustin and Orange County since he was ten years of age. He was born near Savannah, Andrew County, Mo., on April 28, 1871, a son ot W. D. and Ella (Galloway) Bowman, also natives of that great commonwealth. They had six children and among tlrem Charles was the second in the order of birth. In 1881 Mr. and Mrs. Bowman came west to California and settled at Tustin, where Mr. Bow- man became a fruit grower.

Charles E. Bowman attended the common schools at Tustin and later took a course at the Orange County Business College, being a member of the class of '88. As a young man he became identified with fruit packing at Tustin; the season lasting there only four months, the balance of the year he was in the employ of A. E. Bennett of Tustin, engaged in fumigating, and during this time became interested and made an exhausting study of citrus enemies and the best methods of getting rid of the pests, for when he was not packing he carried on experiments in this line. In time he was made foreman, first of the Fay Fruit Company at Whittier for two years and then for Gowen and Willard of Santa Ana, which position he held for four and a half years. Early in 1907 Mr. Bowman became a partner in a company styled Bowman and Ritchey, whose business was fumigating; later the firm was changed to Bowman and Wiley and in this partnership he continued until they owned eight different outfits, employing as many as fifty-five men. In the spring of 1916 Mr. Bowman became sole owner of the fumigating company and continued the business until 1918, when he sold it to engage in ranching. Since then, three consecutive times, he has bought, improved and sold properties in Tustin, and he has also become interested in oil production in Orange County to the extent of desirable holdings in the Richfield district. In October, 1919, he purchased a walnut and Valencia orange grove of ten acres on Laguna Boule- vard in Tustin and became a member of the Tustin Hills Orange Growers Association, and also a member of the Santa Ana Valley Irrigation Company.

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On April 30, 1902, Mr. Bowman was married to Miss Anna L. Schillinger, a native of Easton, Pa., and the daughter of William Schillinger of that city. Both her paternal and maternal grandparents were pioneers of that same place, and she thus comes from a well-established family, whose folks have always been heavily interested in manu- facturing and similar enterprises on the Delaware. A son and daughter blessed this union: Charles Clarence, who attends the Santa Ana high school and Frances Schuler is a pupil of the Tustin grammar school. The family attend the Presbyterian Church in Tustin, and Mrs. Bowman is a member of the Parent-Teachers Association at Tustin.

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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 87

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